Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the New York Times stood up for Section 230 and called out the politicians who were lying about it, like Rep. Gosar who had previously been sued for blocking constituents on social media, while we tried to put an end to the myth that big tech was censoring conservatives (and that platforms legally had to be neutral) and looked closer at Josh Hawley’s latest bill that would make him product manager for the internet. And, as expected, Nick Sandmann’s lawsuit against the Washington Post was quickly dismissed.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, Michael Hayden had a moment of accidental honesty and admitted that Ed Snowden was a whistleblower, while the EFF was asking the court to declare that the NSA’s “internet backbone” collections were unconstitutional, and Keith Alexander was going around asking for $1 million a month for his cybersecurity services. The recording industry was going after Ford and General Motors for cars with built-in CD rippers, City of London police were pulling some ridiculous shenanigans to “fight piracy”, and Prenda received another appeals court smackdown. Also, a podcasting patent troll was trying to run away from a lawsuit after realizing podcasting didn’t make much money.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, an earlier patent troll was stepping up to claim it owned pretty much all podcasting. The Associated Press was trying to get out of having to talk any more about its plans for news DRM, Hollywood was still calling for more movie DRM, and Barnes & Noble was defending its practice of putting DRM on public domain ebooks. A new ruling in Europe said that an 11-word snippet could be copyright infringement, a publisher was nervous about letting an author quote a single sentence, and we saw what might be the first defamation lawsuit over a tweet.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the New York Times stood up for Section 230 and called out the politicians who were lying about it, like Rep. Gosar who had previously been sued for blocking constituents on social media, while we tried to put an end to the myth that big tech was censoring conservatives (and that platforms legally had to be neutral) and looked closer at Josh Hawley’s latest bill that would make him product manager for the internet. And, as expected, Nick Sandmann’s lawsuit against the Washington Post was quickly dismissed.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, Michael Hayden had a moment of accidental honesty and admitted that Ed Snowden was a whistleblower, while the EFF was asking the court to declare that the NSA’s “internet backbone” collections were unconstitutional, and Keith Alexander was going around asking for $1 million a month for his cybersecurity services. The recording industry was going after Ford and General Motors for cars with built-in CD rippers, City of London police were pulling some ridiculous shenanigans to “fight piracy”, and Prenda received another appeals court smackdown. Also, a podcasting patent troll was trying to run away from a lawsuit after realizing podcasting didn’t make much money.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, an earlier patent troll was stepping up to claim it owned pretty much all podcasting. The Associated Press was trying to get out of having to talk any more about its plans for news DRM, Hollywood was still calling for more movie DRM, and Barnes & Noble was defending its practice of putting DRM on public domain ebooks. A new ruling in Europe said that an 11-word snippet could be copyright infringement, a publisher was nervous about letting an author quote a single sentence, and we saw what might be the first defamation lawsuit over a tweet.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, we reiterated the all-important point that there is no legal distinction between a “platform” and a “publisher”, and explained why the freedom to decide what content to facilitate is essential to Section 230, while the Supreme Court signaled its recognition that social media sites don’t have to allow all speech. Genius picked a dumb fight with Google over song lyrics, which quickly got even dumber. And Congress was stirring up a moral panic about deepfakes, while Kim Kardashian got one such deepfake taken down with a copyright claim. Also, Prenda’s Paul Hansmeier was finally hit with a fine and prison time.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, more details emerged about how the US government had no idea to solve a problem like Ed Snowden, while congressmen were admitting that the NSA spied on Americans without a warrant. Techdirt received our first right to be forgotten request, and we breathed a sigh of relief (while also chuckling) as an appeals court ruled that having “dirt” in your domain name doesn’t remove safe harbor protections. Another copyright troll ran away upon details of its practices coming to light, and a new ruling repeated the forcible case that Sherlock Holmes had entered the public domain.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, Hulu was accused of being “anti-American” for providing free content, while Blu-Ray was allowing users to make copies with a lot of strings attached. A French court ordered a P2P news site to cover recent file sharing convictions, while the NY Times was correcting its false article about the Pirate Bay appeal but still getting it wrong. Also, the much-anticipated penalty in the Jammie Thomas case arrived, clocking in at an absurd $1.92 million that was quickly defended by a bunch of RIAA mouthpieces.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the FCC was remaining in denial about the lack of broadband competition, while we asked why all the antitrust attention was focused on Big Tech but not Big Telecom. Officials in Germany were pushing for encryption backdoors while Facebook was considering going ahead and undermining its own encryption regardless, and the EU Court of Justice was suggesting that maybe the entire internet should be censored and filtered. The targets of Devin Nunes’s cow lawsuits were fighting back, and some drama at YouTube once again demonstrated the impossibility of content moderation.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, a failed patent troll was hit with legal fees and the Supreme Court issued two more smackdowns of the CAFC, while Malibu Media was trying to get more ammo against its targets and the EU Court of Justice ruled that just viewing stuff online isn’t copyright infringement. The EFF argued in court that the NSA knowingly and illegally destroyed evidence, while the UK government was trying (and failing) to hide details of GCHQ fiber line taps, while courts in both countries were holding secret trials related to terrorism. Also, we hit the one year anniversary of the very first Snowden revelation, and noted that while much had changed since then, it wasn’t enough.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, the Supreme Court agreed to take on the Bilski case about whether software and business models could be patented. The RIAA’s voluntary program for ISPs was not exactly a hit, ASCAP was looking to get some of that sweet video game money, and JD Salinger infamously sued the author of an unauthorized sequel to Catcher in the Rye. Apple proved the EFF’s point about arbitrary app store rejections by rejecting the EFF’s RSS reader, and Creative Commons was still facing some problems due to the blurry line between commercial and non-commercial. Also, Barbara Streisand decided to publish an entire book about the Malibu home that she once rather famously wanted to keep secret.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the government hit whistleblower David Hale with espionage charges. All four major wireless carriers were hit with lawsuits over sharing location data, while employees of AT&T and Verizon were caught up in a DOJ bust over SIM hijacking. Canada’s Prime Minister was threatening to fine social media companies over fake news, while a Canadian committee published a ludicrous fantasy pretending to be a copyright reform analysis. And, in perhaps the most notable news for us this week, we announced the conclusion of our legal dispute with Shiva Ayyadurai.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, AT&T was warning of a parade of horribles that would supposedly happen if the FCC reclassified broadband, the cable industry was lying about having invested in broadband and supported net neutrality (since the industry’s own numbers showed a general decline in investment over the years), and Tom Wheeler was revising his net neutrality plans before opening the floor to comments. Then, an initial vote on new open internet rules was reported in drastically different ways in different publications. We also wrote about why making APIs copyrightable is bad news for innovation, while Automattic announced that it wouldn’t claim copyright over its APIs.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, there was a tidal wave of lawsuits over pirated clip-art, while we continued writing about how people make a lot of bad assumptions about copyright and it’s almost impossible to live your life without infringing. The BSA released more bogus piracy numbers, the CEO of Sony Pictures was complaining about the internet, and Francea approved a three-strikes law. Meanwhile, Craigslist gave in to constant attacks by Attorneys General and started locking down its “erotic services” category, which (amusingly) actually annoyed some AGs like Andrew Cuomo and Henry McMaster, because Craigslist just did it without giving them the photo op and fawning press coverage they hoped for.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, there was a legal fight over whether it’s protected speech to flash your headlights to warn of hidden cops. We looked at how little the FCC had done to police wireless location data scandals, and how it was doubling down on bogus claims about broadband availability, as well as hiding details about fake net neutrality comments, and ignoring phone companies ripping people off. Apple was engaging in some more silly trademark aggression, this time over a bicycle path in Germany, while a motorcycle rally was continuing to assert trademarks that had been invalidated. And a broad coalition of people were calling on Congress to bring back to Office of Technology Assessment.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, what was Congress voting against? Well… bringing back the Office of Technology Assessment. Meanwhile, we looked at the ways broadband companies were killing net neutrality without actually violating it and trying to make the internet more like the old, broken phone system. Congress was also looking at competing NSA reform bills, the better of which had already been watered down, and the two sides eventually reached a compromise. And we wrote about how easy it is to casually violate copyright and how the world of copyright policymaking seems allergic to facts (as quickly demonstrated by an industry report on the dangers of pirate sites that didn’t include any data).

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, we discussed what (if anything) the Wolverine leak cost the movie at the box office. A popular video was demonstrating the beauty of remixes, while 20th Century Fox was taking down entries in its own mashup contest. California was considering a troubling photo removal law for social media, the UK was looking to wildly increase the fines for copyright infringement, Italy was taking a troubling view of the internet, and there were legal questions about Facebook blocking links to The Pirate Bay. This was also the week when the LA Times dug up and spread the funny little story of why SMS text messages are limited to 160 characters.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, there was a legal fight over whether it’s protected speech to flash your headlights to warn of hidden cops. We looked at how little the FCC had done to police wireless location data scandals, and how it was doubling down on bogus claims about broadband availability, as well as hiding details about fake net neutrality comments, and ignoring phone companies ripping people off. Apple was engaging in some more silly trademark aggression, this time over a bicycle path in Germany, while a motorcycle rally was continuing to assert trademarks that had been invalidated. And a broad coalition of people were calling on Congress to bring back to Office of Technology Assessment.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, what was Congress voting against? Well… bringing back the Office of Technology Assessment. Meanwhile, we looked at the ways broadband companies were killing net neutrality without actually violating it and trying to make the internet more like the old, broken phone system. Congress was also looking at competing NSA reform bills, the better of which had already been watered down, and the two sides eventually reached a compromise. And we wrote about how easy it is to casually violate copyright and how the world of copyright policymaking seems allergic to facts (as quickly demonstrated by an industry report on the dangers of pirate sites that didn’t include any data).

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, we discussed what (if anything) the Wolverine leak cost the movie at the box office. A popular video was demonstrating the beauty of remixes, while 20th Century Fox was taking down entries in its own mashup contest. California was considering a troubling photo removal law for social media, the UK was looking to wildly increase the fines for copyright infringement, Italy was taking a troubling view of the internet, and there were legal questions about Facebook blocking links to The Pirate Bay. This was also the week when the LA Times dug up and spread the funny little story of why SMS text messages are limited to 160 characters.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, Starz was going after tweets about a TorrentFreak article, then issuing a laughably unbelievable excuse and apology. The EU nations, as expected, rubber stamped the copyright directive, while the Parliament moved on to the terrorist content regulations and quickly pushed those through too. We learned some more about ICE’s fake university sting operation, while Motel 6 was set to pay out another $12 million for handing guest info to ICE. And Facebook and a very, very bad week on the privacy front, while the Sixth Circuit dumped a lawsuit attempting to hold Twitter responsible for the Pulse nightclub shooting.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, we looked at the lessons from the suspicion and denial around the NSA and the Heartbleed vulnerability, and how the agency could certainly still be using it. The Guardian and the Washington Post won Pulitzers for their Snowden coverage, leading to some backlash that got pretty bizarre. Hollywood was pressuring Australia to make ISPs act as copyright cops, Eli Lilley was pressuring Canada to approve a patent on a useless drug, and General Mills was trying out quite a legal theory about what you can agree to by “Liking” a page on Facebook.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, Google turned off uploads in Korea rather than abide by a requirement to identify and disclose users, some new research was being misrepresented to claim that “Twitter makes you immoral”, and there was one of many examples of Amazon’s DRM turning a Kindle into a paperweight. An activist group was using bogus DMCA claims to take down videos exposing its use of fake “concerned citizens”, while a news station was doing the same to hide the fact that it fell for an April Fool’s prank. And the Coldplay/Satriani copyright fight continued, with Coldplay’s filing that denied any copying.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, Starz was going after tweets about a TorrentFreak article, then issuing a laughably unbelievable excuse and apology. The EU nations, as expected, rubber stamped the copyright directive, while the Parliament moved on to the terrorist content regulations and quickly pushed those through too. We learned some more about ICE’s fake university sting operation, while Motel 6 was set to pay out another $12 million for handing guest info to ICE. And Facebook and a very, very bad week on the privacy front, while the Sixth Circuit dumped a lawsuit attempting to hold Twitter responsible for the Pulse nightclub shooting.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, we looked at the lessons from the suspicion and denial around the NSA and the Heartbleed vulnerability, and how the agency could certainly still be using it. The Guardian and the Washington Post won Pulitzers for their Snowden coverage, leading to some backlash that got pretty bizarre. Hollywood was pressuring Australia to make ISPs act as copyright cops, Eli Lilley was pressuring Canada to approve a patent on a useless drug, and General Mills was trying out quite a legal theory about what you can agree to by “Liking” a page on Facebook.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, Google turned off uploads in Korea rather than abide by a requirement to identify and disclose users, some new research was being misrepresented to claim that “Twitter makes you immoral”, and there was one of many examples of Amazon’s DRM turning a Kindle into a paperweight. An activist group was using bogus DMCA claims to take down videos exposing its use of fake “concerned citizens”, while a news station was doing the same to hide the fact that it fell for an April Fool’s prank. And the Coldplay/Satriani copyright fight continued, with Coldplay’s filing that denied any copying.

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the EU was stalwartly moving forward with Article 13 as part of its terrible copyright directive. Trump was preparing to ban Huawei, Monster Energy lost its trademark fight with Mosta Pizza, and a lawsuit against Bloomberg brought the “hot news doctrine” back into the conversation. A report showed that ICE almost never punished its contractors despite many violations, while key FOSTA supporter Cindy McCain claimed credit for stopping sex trafficking after misidentifying a child. A judge in Minnesota spent only minutes approving warrants to sweep up thousands of cellphone users, someone impersonated the New Jersey Attorney General to demand a takedown of 3D-printed gun instructions, and Sony was using copyright claims to take down its own anti-piracy propaganda.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, government officials were leaking classified info to journalists in order to discredit Snowden for doing that very thing, while Snowden was expressing his willingness to answer questions from the European Parliament. US copyright lobbyists equated fair dealing with piracy, MPAA boss Chris Dodd was pretending to be ready to discuss copyright reform, details emerged about ASCAP screwing over Pandora, and a bunch of musicians joined forces to fight against compulsory licenses for remixes. This was also the week that the world was briefly confused, and amused, by the appearance and then rapid disappearance of Nathan Fielder’s “Dumb Starbucks”.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, the biggest viral hit was the recording of Christian Bale rampaging on the set of a movie, and the director suggested Warner Bros might try to abuse copyright to suppress the clip. Dianne Feinstein was trying to sneak ISP copyright filtering into a broadband stimulus bill, the Pirate Bay trial in Sweden was set to be broadcast online, ASCAP was continuing its attacks against Lawrence Lessig and free culture, an EU Committee ignored all the research and approved copyright extension, and we learned about how US IP interests pressured Canada to join the WTO fight against China. We also had some questions about the curious fact that Google launched Android without multitouch functionality, while concerns were mounting over Google’s book search settlement.