The debate on voting machines is raging. We’ve moved from pen and paper and physical levers to touch screen machines running Windows, and people are understandably worried. Who’s making sure the software counts the votes correctly? Do we really need to trust the voting machine vendors? One argument is whether open-source software should play a […]
WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, is currently debating a new treaty to protect broadcasters of content. Sounds like a good idea, right? Here’s what the treaty would do, among other things: make computers as we know them illegal, because they might be used to copy protected content. suddenly give broadcasters control over content in […]
Late last week, I led a food-for-thought dinner at the Berkman Center’s ILaw Conference. My topic was privacy, and the participants were fantastic. The discussion led me to conclude one important thing: we’re not framing the privacy debate correctly. I’m a strong privacy advocate: I lean towards the European point of view where all personal […]
The Bush administration wants to add warnings to condom wrappers indicating that condoms may not prevent Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Needless to say, health experts are having a very hard time trying to fit a scientifically correct version of that complicated viewpoint on a condom wrapper. Yes, condoms don’t prevent HPV per se. So let’s ignore […]
Larry Lessig points to a discussion about the pros and cons of the project he chairs: The Creative Commons. As a member of the Creative Commons’ Technology Advisory Board, I’m a tad biased, of course, when I claim that these worries are unfounded. But hear me out. This particular anti-CC sentiment stems from the belief […]
A Princeton student was threatened with a lawsuit because he discovered and published information about how to circumvent a music CD’s copy-protection scheme by pressing the “shift” key. I was going to rant about the sad direction we are taking with this kind of approach, about how we must protect researchers’ freedom to tell the […]
Like many other large publications, Le Monde publishes editorials, which summarize issues poorly and inconsistently. Their take on file sharing initially seems balanced, but this balance is, in fact, based on false assumptions. In Le Monde’s world, the record companies are selling a product at too high a price, and this high price justifies “stealing.” […]
Hopefully I won’t have to link to Fox News too often, but it appears that Mike Hawash just pled guilty to charges of attempted terrorism. Mike is an Intel employee, originally from Lebanon but since naturalized and perfectly integrated into American society. He was said to be a material witness, a cause which allows law […]
Jonathan Zittrain writes about copyright, and why it’s so broken right now when, in theory, it could be great. As usual, he’s clear, points to incredible examples, and makes you smile along the way. This is great stuff for anyone who wants to understand why so many of us techie/law people are frustrated with copyright […]
I subscribe to T-Mobile because I get to use the funky Sony Ericsson T68i which synchronizes wirelessly with my Powerbook’s address book. To most American cell phone users, it makes sense that phones are specific to a given network: Sprint PCS phones do not work with Verizon, and that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. […]