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Porn Summit Threatens Britain
Until our politicians wise up to the fact that filtering solves nothing, endless knee-jerk proposals from politicians attempting populism will harm us all.
by Simon Phipps
The government clearly wishes to be seen to be doing something about the issues of children viewing pornography and of child pornography. To this end they have called a summit, to be chaired by Culture Secretary Maria Miller and attended...
June 18, 2013 3:46 PM Read Full Post
Data Protection Responses To PRISM "A Smokescreen"
An online privacy expert has denounced European responses to US Internet surveillance and called for legal immunity in Europe for those that report its effects.
by Simon Phipps
At the Open Rights Group conference in London recently, one of the most popular talks -- How to wiretap the Cloud (without anybody noticing) -- was given by independent privacy and surveillance expert Caspar Bowden. Until 2011 he was Chief...
June 17, 2013 9:30 AM Read Full Post
Attend These Digital Rights Events!
This weekend and next week you can join some truly excellent events about digital rights in the UK.
by Simon Phipps
At a time when we're discovering just how much our rights are being secretly undermined by government agencies in the UK and US, it's crucial that we have people researching and understanding the situation on our behalf. Fortunately, we do. In...
June 7, 2013 1:16 PM Read Full Post
The Zombie Bill Is Back
Shamelessly using the Woolwich murder for context, certain politicians are perhaps being manipulated to give the spooks the surveillance they want without the transparency they don't.
by Simon Phipps
What is the least believable moment in the latest James Bond film? There are plenty of candidates, but the one that you may have overlooked is the public hearing where M defends the actions of her agency. That may be...
May 28, 2013 9:25 AM Read Full Post
Zombie Problem: Stop Dancing On The Grave
Apparently the Communications Data Bill is dead. I wonder for how long? It's a zombie bill that has been killed before...
by Simon Phipps
In a welcome move at the end of last week, Nick Clegg announced his opposition to the communications data bill (CDB). His article in the Telegraph listed five reasons why CDB went “too far” in its attempted legislation. Among those...
May 1, 2013 1:58 PM Read Full Post
Hosting Companies Shouldn't Be Parasites
A hosting company calls for hosting companies to support the open source software that makes them successful
by Simon Phipps
Hosting companies don't exactly have the friendliest of reputations. This was highlighted again for us by the recent attempted name grab against the Python community by a UK based hosting company. Which is why an open letter asking hosting companies...
April 23, 2013 2:44 PM Read Full Post
Read Any Law Journals Lately?
That may not be your idea of fun, but there's a law journal specifically for open source that you might actually enjoy
by Simon Phipps
Are you aware that among the large body of international law research there's some dedicated solely to the legal issues surrounding free and open source software? The International Free and Open Source Software Law Review covers topics ranging from licence...
April 18, 2013 8:58 AM Read Full Post
Python Settles Trademark Dispute
Community pressure helps small hosting provider see sense.
by Simon Phipps
The Python Software Foundation (PSF) have announced they have reached a settlement with POBox Hosting Ltd of the UK over their trademark application for the term 'Python' in connection with cloud hosting and their application for a figurative trademark incorporating...
March 19, 2013 1:18 PM Read Full Post
Leveson Regulation To Impact Social Media?
The hidden dimension of the Royal Charter discussions post-Leveson is they quietly create a big new stick to punish social media users. Revenge on whistleblowers?
by Simon Phipps
Alec Muffett points out that the new Royal Charter being rushed through the UK Parliament includes some drafting that appears to drag blogs, Twitter and other social media into the penalty net. This is an extremely worrying development that needs rapid response...
March 18, 2013 3:45 PM Read Full Post
Copyright: A Modest Proposal
Maybe if we stopped saying "copy" everywhere we'd find a way to fix copyright?
by Simon Phipps
Why is a song that I play digitally or a book I read electronically subject to extensive controls that are not considered appropriate to records or books? It's because they are subject to licenses that can't be applied by...
March 7, 2013 2:13 PM Read Full Post
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