Photo by rootstocks VidAngel offers what is functionally a video-on-demand (VOD) service plus “filtering” for viewers who want to see mainstream fare with certain naughty bits—sex, foul language, violence, etc.—removed. To provide this service, though, VidAngel allegedly violates the copyright owners’ exclusive right of reproduction and public performance, as well as Section 1201 of the DMCA prohibiting circumvention of technical protection ...
Returning to the generalization that the internet is the “best thing ever to happen to democracy,” I have to ask this: if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, how do we like the soufflé so far? Admittedly, the unprecedented scope of the Women’s March on January 21 would not have been possible without social media; but at ...
photo by DevonYu Well, here we go. I’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop, and it looks like Josh Tabish, campaigns director for Vancouver-based OpenMedia, has decided to be among the first to throw a loafer. In an editorial for Wired, he warns that “the copyright barons” are coming now that Trump is in the White House. It has a been ...
Photo by CarlosYudica Remember that theme “make the world better” that’s been pitched, promoted, and even believed by many a Silicon Valley innovator? Well, according to Evan Osnos, writing for The New Yorker, a considerable number of tech-industry billionaires, rather than ask themselves what they might do as leaders to effect positive social change, are instead preparing for the day we ...
photo by tomasmikula Because today is the five-year anniversary of “Blackout Day,” the day millions of users were suckered into doing the internet industry’s bidding for no good reason, the always-relevant BuzzFeed offers us a missive published by the organization ReCreate Coalition called “12 Things You Can Do Because Congress Protected Internet Freedoms,” by which they mean backed off the passage of ...
