There is a growing sense in copyright circles that something needs to be done about orphan works. In many ways, we can thank the Google Book Settlement for jolting policy-makers into action by including a clause in the agreement that Read more
During the early years of the decade, the topic of the digital divide received more coverage than it does now. As the Internet took off in Western developed nations, there was a deep preoccupation that developing countries would be left Read more
Interesting piece in TechDirt about watermarking content. The associated Press has convinced Boston newspaper Town News to adopts its watermarking service to stop people from copying and pasting content because the biggest threat to online news editions is widespread copying Read more
I’ve been reading some of the fascinating research coming from Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere, and a couple of things have jumped out at me immediately: Two-thirds are male 60% are 18-44 The majority are more affluent and educated than Read more
Press gag orders in the UK have a deservedly bad reputation, they are some of the worst examples of repression of freedom of speech through draconian legal measures. While one could argue that they may be justified in some cases Read more
Nowadays I am very sceptical about reading government consultation reports. After all, recent events would lead us to believe that consultation and evidence-based advice appears to be systematically ignored by decision-makers, and that the commercial interest will always prevail. So Read more
Tom Watson MP is fast becoming one of the heroes of social media circles. He has a blog, has a Twitter account, and is generally considered “one of us”, he clearly gets the online environment, and most importantly, I think Read more
I recently bought a Blu-ray DVD player for my home PC. I didn’t really need a Blu-ray player as the PS3 does the job admirably, but I was looking for a fast CD ripper and decided to go for the Read more
Last night I attended the event organised by the Scottish Society of Computers and the Law entitled Copyright law and market economics: who does the dancing and who calls the tune? with Will Page, chief economist for PRS, and Niklas Read more
Bizarre piece of news. Myspace is being sued by five families who claim that their children were sexually assaulted by men they met in the web space. Details are sketchy, but apparently five teenage girls have joined forces in order Read more