feeling
P2P Lawsuits Are Painful, Says Viacom Lawyer
Michael Fricklas, Viacom's general counsel, has recently talked to Yale Law students about P2P and its legal implications. While he declared himself as a fan of fair use without an appeal for the idea of filing lawsuits against file sharers, Fricklas is also a fan of DRM (which he thinks could be a feasible solution for online content rental and online streaming) and a supporter of the “three strikes” policy. As Arstechnica reports, Fricklas emphasized the importance of treating customers with respect as opposed to the feeling it gives you when bringing them to court which is like “terrorism.” In his speech at Yale he explained how suing end users for illegal file sharing was “expensive, and painful, and it felt like bullying.”
Continue reading »The BBC and Phorm – opting in or out?
“The news that BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media are to sell their customers private browsing data to a firm called Phorm is attracting a lot of attention on the internet,” said Eclectica in March, particularly since Phorm, “before it renamed itself, was the notorious spyware firm 121Media. The deal will affect 10 million internet users.” It did indeed attract a lot of comment, and continues to do so. In contrast, “the BBC has not mentioned the scandal at all,” said the post, going on »»» Despite it being a far bigger story that will affect far more people than the recent data losses by government departments.
Continue reading »Boston College raid: ‘No probable cause’
In April, when Boston College campus police raided a computer science student’s dorm room, they ended up seizing computers, an iPod, a cell phone, and other technology, p2pnet reported. Boston College also cut off the student’s network access. “But the student says the search was executed on an invalid warrant and is now demanding the immediate return of his equipment, and that investigators be barred from further searches or analysis of his digital data,” said the story.
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