Cory Doctorow

11.21.09

Saving Your Set

The Issue: Studio execs want to control what your TV can do. Here's the inside story of how they were stopped . . . this time

By Cory Doctrow Posted 07.12.2005 at 1:00 am 0 Comments

May 6, 2005, should be a holiday. It´s When a U.S. circuit court of appeals saved your TV by stopping the â€broadcast flag,â€ an innovation-killing regulation Hollywood had essentially blackmailed the FCC into enacting.In 2002 the major studios threatened to withhold shows and movies for broadcast on digital TV (DTV) unless the government gave them control over the design of DTV devices.

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Supreme Court Strikes a Blow against P2P Sharing

"Rip, Mix, Burn" more than an Apple marketing campaign, it was a rallying cry that meant "Take control of your music!" Well, today the Supreme Court killed Rip, Mix, Burn, or at least the innovative spirit behind it.

Posted 06.27.2005 at 1:00 am 0 Comments

In the MGM v. Grokster case, several major record labels successfully sued a group of peer-to-peer (P2P) software companies for producing software that permitted copyright infringement (that is, online trading of commercial music) when the court believed that a different, less-efficient design might have prevented it. The justices ruled against P2P companies Grokster and Streamcast because they believed that the companies intended for their users to infringe copyright with their service.

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