John Palfrey

One thing I’ve been wondering about from time to time: the copyright implications of news aggregators and the increasingly widespread use of RSS feeds.  I’m told by serious bloggers and technologists who wrote the code — like Dave — that it’s understood that an RSS feed is to be republished and it’s not a big … Read more

Donna Wentworth suggests that the “next step is a ‘Geektivist’s Guide to Net Politics’ — telling people precisely what to do with their energies.”  I think she’s definitely right in concept, even though we might keep working on the title…

I think Larry Lessig is getting fired up, and it’s terrific.  Something is happening here.  Count me in.

I didn’t like the sound of yesterday’s Alan Greenspan testimony that touched on IP from the news reports, but the full text makes it sound less ominous.  Pretty learned guy, or else well-briefed by his speechwriters.  He’s certainly not missed the productivity gains of new technologies.  I just wonder where he thinks the “balance” should … Read more

I have a recurring feeling that the MPAA and the RIAA may just have over-reached this past week.  The lawsuit against college students by the RIAA is, definitely, a change in strategy: going after customers, and young, tech-savvy ones at that, rather than at technologists who were in the role of middle-persons.  The state-level super-DMCAs … Read more

More testimony from Matt at the MA super-DMCA hearing on Wednesday.  I hope people in other states are paying attention and re-use some of the very good points from competent technical people about why these proposed laws are a bad idea.

The ever-vigilant, ever-activist Electronic Frontier Foundation tells you what you can do to fight the patently absurd super-DMCAs being proposed in lots of states around country.

Diane Cabell is liveblogging a cool conference at Duke on intellectual property and the public domain.  Sounds like lots of focus on TRIPS and other international accords.  The webcast is available here.

The OSCOM organizers have formally announced their conference.  Keynotes: Dave Winer, Jon Udell (=> I suspect that blogs will be discussed).  The Berkman Center at HLS is a proud sponsor.  The initial response to the conference has been terrific.

CNN is reporting a statement by the Fed Chair Alan Greenspan about the importance of legal measures to protect intellectual property.  His brief statement mentions “balance,” which is certainly a good thing.  And raising awareness about the way in which we strike such a balance is certainly important.  But for some reason this statement strikes … Read more