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Deeplinks Blog

Deeplinks Blog

Offering != Distribution

Judge Marilyn Patel issued a ruling (PDF) Wednesday that settles an important question in the ongoing Napster (yes, Napster) case -- whether under the law, simply offering copyrighted material to others (say, by listing it in an index) means you're distributing it.
The record label lawyers, as ...

CommDaily: MPAA May Not Seek Broadcast Flag in DTV Bill

Extraordinarily good news from Communications Daily (behind a pay wall, unfortunately):

The Motion Picture Association of America is unlikely to push for a broadcast flag component in DTV legislation establishing a 2008 hard date because the bill's main author, House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), is against the...

ISP Liability Debate in Regulation Magazine

The most recent edition of Regulation, a magazine published by the Cato Institute, includes an excellent article entitled "Against ISP Liability" [PDF] by Cato's own Jim Harper.
Jim's article responds to an earlier article by Professor Douglas Lichtman, "Holding Internet Service Providers Accountable" [PDF], in which...

Waving Flags of Victory

In a unanimous decision, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the broadcast flag, the FCC rule that would have crippled digital television receivers starting July 1. The ruling came in ALA v. FCC, a challenge brought by Public Knowledge, EFF, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of...

Playing Hide-the-Ball at WIPO

On April 14-15 (after the three-day WIPO Development Agenda meeting, a.k.a. IIM), the WIPO Permanent Committee for Co-operation for Development Related to Intellectual Property (the PCIPD) met for its fourth session.
The PCIPD is a pre-existing WIPO sub-committee, formed in 1998. There's no formal relationship between the...

Privacy issue banner, a colorful graphical representation of a padlock

California Anti-RFID Bill Gains Momentum

A California bill (SB 682) that would bar the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in state-issued ID cards yesterday cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee -- the first major hurdle on the way to becoming law.
The good news comes in the wake of a...

AACS - More Useless DRM

In November 2002, the now-famous "Microsoft Darknet Paper" laid out the argument for why DRM is not only futile in a P2P world, but actually counter-productive (because DRM drives otherwise legit customers to the Darknet).
Well, now we have yet another example of the futility side of the...

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