I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my Internet service cut out from time to time, and I’m strongly considering suing my ISP for periodically violating my right to free expression. Sound absurd? Good. Then, I draw your attention to Terry Hart’s recent update in the case known as Lenz v UMG. What happened was Mrs. Lenz, a grandmother, ...
Think back to January 18, 2012, the day Internet companies led a blackout (it was more gray really) of their websites in protest against the dreaded SOPA & PIPA bills. On that day, Google backed a petition with a slogan that sounded so reasonable. It said, End Piracy, Not Liberty. It was classically effective because they could count on anyone who ...
I have to admit to feeling a measure of sympathy for Debbie Sterling, CEO of GoldieBlox, who now finds her company at the receiving end of a suit by The Beastie Boys for acting with “oppression, fraud, & malice” in the misuse of the band’s song “Girls.” Why the sympathy? Because I watched Sterling’s TED talk in which she relates ...
Following up on yesterday’s brief reference to Jaron Lanier’s editorial in the New York Times, we find the same theme echoed in this coverage by Emma Green at The Atlantic. Green writes about an event at which authors E.L. Doctorow and David Simon also raised concerns regarding the disconnect between overreacting to stories about government surveillance while remaining unconcerned with ...
Adland.TV pulls no punches with its headline Goldieblox: erasing the line between “disruptive” and “douchebaggery.” Not only does the article that follows blast the toy company for its failed attempted to use legal controversy to gin up a little pre-Christmas marketing, it also justifiably takes aim at the overvaluation of the notion of disruptiveness in these volatile days. Yes, we ...
