PROTECT IP Act

Copyright Reform as a Conservative Issue

It was so refreshing to read the following in GigaOM: Unfortunately, for now, the debate over how to fix copyright remains dominated by industry lobbyists on one side and piracy apologists on the other. The result is an unhealthy stalemate in which those who propose a middle ground risk being label ... More >>

Google Goes to Washington

During the SOPA debate, many opponents of the anti-piracy bill often tried to portray Google and the rest of the tech industry as a champion for all that is good and true as opposed to what it really is: an increasingly powerful, self-interested industry like any other. This happened particularly in ... More >>

The Copyright Standoff: Technology Pits Bad Rules vs. No Rules

How Bay Area Corporations Resemble Their (Human) Neighbors

Copyright Owners Continue to Tilt at Windmills

​Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... More >>

Megaupload Bust Highlights Absurdity of SOPA/PIPA

​Last week, just as two ill-conceived anti-piracy bills were disintegrating in Congress in the face of a massive online protest, the FBI, with help from foreign governments, was busting Megaupload, one of the biggest sources of pirated digital goods. The timing was interesting, though the feds s ... More >>

Anonymous Attempts to "Bring Down" Facebook

A day without Wikipedia was one thing, but can you imagine your life without Facebook? That's one way to test your allegiance to Anonymous, the online hacktivist group, best known locally for revealing personal information of BART police officers. The group is asking you to set aside your social-net ... More >>

SOPA Might Be Bad Policy, but It's Not Censorship

​If you're reading this, chances are that you regularly consume media online. And if you regularly consume media online, you're almost certainly seeing and reading more today than you know what to do with about the federal Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). ... More >>

Wikipedia: Should it Go Dark to Protest the Stop Online Privacy Act?

​Should Wikipedia shut itself down to protest the bizarrely clueless anti-piracy measures Congress is considering? As with many things about Wikipedia (such as whether an encyclopedia that anybody can edit is a good idea), it's not an easy question to answer. Would it even be effective? It's har ... More >>