- First U.S. GPL lawsuit filed: The makers of GPL licensed software BusyBox are suing Monsoon media for using the software without redistributing the underlying source code. This could be a case to watch–especially since “BusyBox” already makes a potentially neat case name.
- 9 ways for a Web 2.0 company to commit legal suicide, in preview of EFF Bootcamp: It’ almost too easy to throw some code together and generate a little venture capital; or at least easy enough where important legal issues are evidently frequently overlooked (the article quotes the EFF’s Fred von Lohmann, “Half the companies you blog about have copyright or privacy legal issues simmering just under the surface. Since most of them are thinly capitalized, when they get into trouble, they’re likely to call EFF for legal advice. Several already have.”). Perhaps this is another case of how easy it is to overlook unknown or “obscure” laws?
Author: john
Big changes in e-mail
Two high-impact changes in the e-mail world today: Mozilla confirmed that they will spin Thunderbird off into a subsidiary, and Yahoo purchased Zimbra.
While both are (at least in part) open source products, it will be interesting to watch how these moves affect their evolution. Neither will bring changes soon, but my guess is that these events may slow push e-mail technology–hopefully making it a more manageable experience.
Links: First Sale Doctrine, Privacy Standards, and Ad Blocking
- Autodesk Sued By eBay Seller For Pretending Right Of First Sale Doesn’t Exist | Techdirt: Here’s an interesting mix of a number of issues… first sale, the DMCA, and shrinkwrap licensing.
- Call for global privacy standards | Google: Google is pushing for international privacy standards. This could potentially have a substantial impact on how the future, more personal, web functions. (story at Ars)
- Web ad blocking may not be (entirely) legal | CNet: It’s amazing how much of this comes down to use policies, which nobody reads anyway. Pretty good analysis here.
Patry: Non-profit, non-partisan education in copyright
The Patry Copyright Blog: Non-profit, non-partisan education in copyright
Inspired by a response by the director of the Copyright Alliance to a previous post, Patry takes on an issue I’m hoping to take on in my own research: how do we educate the public about copyright.
Patry argues that the Alliance practices “‘education’ of a distinct type; equating copyright education overwhelmingly with stopping file sharing,” rather than a “balanced viewpoint.” This type of “education” happens on both sides of the debate (example: the Association of Research Libraries produces material which they hope will “encourage the campus community to confidently and assertively exercise their rights.”)
The difficulty here is that copyright has developed to be so complex and indeteriminate that I would argue any effort at copyright education (short of quoting the law) will end up being political. The result of this is when the law is put into action by creators and users of copyrighted works, they have their choice of interpretation. Additionally, educational materials are easy to ignore.
In my opinion, a better approach than education about copyright is to involve the public more in the debate over pending copyright reform. Giving people the feeling that their voice has been heard increases the chance that they will buy in to the resulting law. I believe promoting compliance in this way is a much cheaper and (eventually) less political way to go.