Ben Goldacre is the author of the Guardian column Bad Science (and eponymous blog). Dr Goldacre is a champion of rationality in a world enamoured with sloppy thinking, uncorroborated anecdotes and dodgy statistics. For many years he has been at the forefront of the battle against the pernicious MMR vaccination Read more…
Edinburgh University honorary graduate Joanne Kathleen Rowling (right) has won her case against Steven Vander Ark, the author of the Harry Potter Lexicon (the site is now down). I have been following this case with interest, as I believe it is a prime example of the growing conflict between traditional Read more…
Scientology has had a long and interesting history at the courts in using copyright law to remove content which it deems infringes its rights (*cough*censorship*cough*). Scientologists have repeatedly used copyright law in order to remove most references to aliens, Xenu, volcanoes, and DC-10 planes from public debate by alleging that Read more…
I found this wonderful timeline of Internet memes yesterday, so many happy memories of hours wasted in front of a YouTube screen… but I digress. I have been frustrated by the seemingly unstoppable war on evidence waged by copyright policymakers, a frustration made worse by the nagging certainty that there Read more…
Some years ago, James Boyle made a compelling case in favour of evidence-based policymaking in an article attacking the European database right. Since then, I have become a strong believer in injecting some empirical evidence into copyright debates that are often filled with anecdotes of starving artists, scaremongering tales of Read more…
A bit early on Sunday morning to try to organise an uprising, but this is what Lilian Edwards is doing this weekend. On Friday she wrote a long and detailed post about the way in which the 3-strike rule is going to be introduced by stealth this Monday July 7 Read more…
The British media has been covering heavily the the news that the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Virgin Media have sent its first batch of threatening-yet-polite letters to some of its customers. The move seems to have backfired a bit, as inevitably a disgruntled student has come out claiming that Read more…
If you can’t beat them, send them a polite letter. This seems to be the latest strategy from the BPI. As the three-strikes policy seems to have failed, several outlets are reporting that the BPI has reached and agreement with Virgin Broadband to issue letters to its customers if there Read more…
I’ve been reading Danny O’Brien’s excellent post on troubled French three-strikes-and-you’re-out law. Nick Jondet at French Law also informs us that the controversial piece of legislation will be presented later this month. This has left me wondering whatever happened to three-strikes here in the UK? Those inclined to follow this Read more…
I never knew knitting was so popular. Yours Truly had a strange day yesterday, being quoted in The Times, and interviewed in the Daily Mail. The story has travelled far, it has been reported in Wired, Down Under, and even on the CBBC Newsround site (you know you have made Read more…