Sounds as though the state department is going to ask China explain the seemingly government-led attacks on Google’s servers. If it is in fact true that China is behind the attacks, it really puts the US government in a difficult position. It has not defended companies like Google from legal attacks (such as demands to …
Marketplace featured a funny story about brands that parody trademarks. They feature names like “The North Butt” and “Lardashe.” It’s too bad that the companies can’t take a joke (or that the law won’t let them). Winkelmann started The South Butt as a spoof of The North Face’s fleece jackets worn by so many kids …
Making science into a matter of opinion or controversy is perhaps a new trend in Journalism. Ars Technica poses the question of whether this is good journalistic practice. They explain one telling situation: [Autism is] a complicated message, which really requires a credible and authoritative source to convey. ABC News responded to that requirement by …
The RIAA has asked the FCC that network neutrality rules not prevent anti-piracy efforts. “In these comments,” the RIAA wrote, “we encourage the FCC to stay its course and explicitly support, encourage, and endorse ISP efforts to fight piracy.” At first blush, this appears to be an innocuous request, yet historically ISPs have had little …
John is a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He studies the social impact of media technology law and policy, with a special emphasis on copyright. He also is an instructional technology consultant for DoIT-Academic Technology.
John doesn't update his blog often, and many of the thoughts are probably half-baked. While the web has sort of an eternal memory, the current and future reader is urged not to take all of this too seriously.
Think of this blog as "John thinking out loud."
(For more on this idea and why I blog, please see this category.)