Issue-spotting the Live Web, attorney Denise Howell muses about cutting edge technology-related legal issues.
Denise Howell is an appellate, intellectual property and technology lawyer who enjoys broad industry recognition for her expertise on the intersection of emerging technologies and law.
Apple touts the forthcoming iPhone as a 'breakthrough' Internet communications device. Maybe so when it comes to browsing, email, and SMS, but the iPhone appears primarily to concern itself with consumption, not production. Apple further appears to be passing on the opportunity to tightly integrate and leverage Google's innovations in email, blogging, and document management.
Uncut video of Saddam Hussein's execution is prevalent on the Web and prompting much discussion among legal and political bloggers and scholars.
Copyright law in general and many license scenarios generally bar re-use of a work for commercial purposes. But determining what is commercial and what is not becomes increasingly difficult as the world becomes increasingly connected, and people can and do post a variety of materials in a variety of contexts. In our mashed-up world, "commercial" becomes hard to pin down, even when an employee posts something to an employer-hosted blog.
Per Google's 2006 Zeitgeist:"podcasting" was the 4th most popular Google News search of the year; "Bebo" and "MySpace" were the #1 and #2 most popular Web searches;"Metacafe" and "video" were the #4 and #7 most popular Web searches; "Wikipedia" and "wiki" were the #6 and #10 most popular Web searches; and"Radioblog" was the #5 most popular Web search.
When I read The Support Economy a few years ago, it resonated in a Cluetrain-esque sort of way. If I recall correctly, one of its main premises is that due to the considerable pain presently involved in managing one's relationships with vendors, an economic shift would take place around alleviating (and hopefully eliminating) this pain.
James Au blogs The Second Life of Judge Richard A. Posner, a transcript of last week's Creative Commons event, complete with lawyers-cum-furries.
Among the things given away freely by many Live Web participants during the holidays are unsolicited product reviews and gift buying advice. Is it possible to associate financial remuneration with such activity while still preserving the integrity of the recommendation process? If so, AttentionTrust may be among the first to chart the course, and open digital identity schemes will likely play a key role.
While many members of the federal judiciary would be hard pressed to de-activate their caps lock key, Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner held forth last night in Second Life on issues of Constitutional law and national security.
After its negotiations with MySpace broke down, there was no downside to Universal Music Group suing MySpace for copyright infringement. The suit will be a significant factor in any future negotiations, and can be dismissed down the road without terribly dire consequences if UMG so chooses. Should the suit go forward, it is slated to do so in front of Stephen V. Wilson, the trial judge in MGM v. Grokster.
In a controversial and somewhat rogue decision, in Barrett v. Rosenthal the California Court of Appeal found a newsgroup user subject to defamation liability for posting a third party's comments. In a decision that brings California law in line with the realities of modern Internet usage and recognizes the desire of Congress to protect online speech, the state's Supreme Court has reversed this decision.