On October 3, the satirical news organization The Onion filed a delightfully irreverent amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the petitioner seeking cert in Novak v. City of Parma, Ohio, et al. Even if you have no interest in the case, the brief is a good time—a deftly written panegyric to the art and relevance of ...
When the news broke that Charlie Watts had passed away, Instagram, Facebook, et al naturally bloomed with tributes, editorials, eulogies, and personal notes of gratitude for the late percussionist’s contributions to music. But although the virtual vigil has become standard practice every time a beloved cultural figure passes away, one overlooked difficulty of this and similar trends is that all ...
Tomorrow (December 18, 2020), the Senate Judiciary Committee will present draft legislation with proposed amendments to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Whatever is in the draft will probably set someone’s hair on fire—or perhaps everyone’s hair on fire who has an interest in digital-age copyright enforcement. But any initial shouting will then hunker down for the drudgery of ...
On September 30, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss the Copyright Office report, published in May, commenting on the efficacy of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Section 512 provides conditional immunity to online service providers for copyright infringements conducted by users of their services. (For a basic summary of conditions, see page here.) ...
This week, as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey emerges a champion of truth in a world of truthiness, we must not lose sight of the fact that the folly of conflating the speech right with social media platforms has played a major role in leading us to this absurd moment of conflict between Trump and Twitter. By now, almost everyone is ...
