Does anyone else get the feeling that Internet regulation is starting to resemble a dystopian novel? Widespread surveillance (both public and private). Censorship. Lack of transparency. Prosecution of whistle-blowers. Secret courts. Governments intent on hard-wiring morality into the network. Open standards under attack. Excessive IP enforcement. Centralised architectures. We are Read more…
The latest NSA revelations appear to have done something quite interesting. More and more people are looking at the level of surveillance, and they are beginning to wonder how it is possible for one government organisation to have such access to information. The Internet is open and free, how is Read more…
Yours Truly is writing a report on voluntary copyright relinquishment and public domain dedications for WIPO. The terms of reference of the report can be found here. As part of the work, I thought that it would be a good idea to have an informal web survey to ask people Read more…
The Internet is great. Except when it isn’t. Unfortunately, the Web is also home to racists, misogynists, homophobes, fraudsters, malicious hackers, and unsavoury characters of all sorts. It is also filled with trolls, Internet users who gain pleasure from purposefully upsetting other users by expounding views that they may or Read more…
One of the most interesting stories that has emerged from the NSA surveillance scandal is, in my opinion, the revelation that the intelligence agency has been using some of the data collected to conduct social network analysis (SNA) on the general population. This is a topic that is discussed in Read more…
A few days ago I was hacked for the first time in my life. I keep telling me that everything is fine, that given the statistics this is nothing to be ashamed of. Even experts get hacked from time to time. It was meant to happen, for someone who spends Read more…
The Swedish police has raided and taken offline Subtexter, a website where users upload and exchange fan-made files that can be used by a media player to provide subtitles to popular movies and shows before their translations have been made available by the rights holders. The action was taken at Read more…
Earlier this year, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) agreed to hold a special session of its Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) to organise a diplomatic conference later in the year in Marrakesh that would discuss a possible Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Read more…
Translation into Spanish of this article. He estado viendo diferentes versiones de la siguiente declaración de privacidad en Facebook: “Hoy día X, haciendo pleno uso de mis facultades mentales y de mi titularidad de esta cuenta en Facebook, declaro, a quien pueda interesar y en particular al administrador de la Read more…
Since September 11, 2001, whenever I was visiting or passing through the United States, I have been subjected to more “random” security checks than could ever be expected by chance alone. Similarly, I have come to expect to be stopped by the Immigration officers about 50% of the time. The Read more…