Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology
Every week, I look at a software patent that’s been in the news. You can see previous installments in the series here. But this week, Luis Villa has done most of my work for me: IBM has generally been very good about supporting open source, and as steven says, they’ve been very up front about [...]
In light of the rousing success of the first Alcohol Liberation Front, we’ve decided to reprise the event this coming Monday. We’ll be at RFD from 5:30-7 PM. If you’re coming, you might want to email me at tlee -at- showmeinstitute.org so we know to keep an eye out for you. Although we probably won’t [...]
My DMCA paper focuses on the law’s most controversial section, the part that prohibits circumventing DRM schemes. When I was writing it, I briefly considered discussing its other provisions, most notably the “notice and takedown” provisions of §512. After all, EFF has a whole web site documenting the chilling effects of that provision. But although [...]
Washington Post technology columnist Mike Musgrove reminds us in his column today that the video game industry’s voluntary ratings system–the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)–continues to come under fire in Washington and in the states. Musgrove notes that: “Earlier this year, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) was one of several lawmakers who introduced bills that would [...]
With the holidays approaching, a new program providing greater access to airport concourses is underway. At select airports throughout the country, non-travelers can now enter and meet arriving loved ones, as was routine just a few years ago. Everyone entering the concourse will still be subject to physical security checks, but the program permits travelers [...]
One of the important points made in Jon Stokes’s write up of e-voting is how much easier it is to hide malicious code in a program than it is to find it. This was also a point that Avi Rubin made quite well in Brave New Ballot, when he describes a computer security course he [...]
For years, Jon “Hannibal” Stokes has been writing incredibly detailed articles on CPU architecture. He’s particularly good at presenting a lot of in-depth technical information in a way that’s accessible to moderately tech-savvy people. I’m much more capable of pretending to understand CPU architectures after reading his articles. Now he’s turned his attention to voting [...]
Today’s Cato podcast features yours truly discussing the DMCA. Anastasia was obviously a friendly interviewer, but I still found it challenging to boil the complexities of the issue down to something that could be readily understood in a 10-minute interview. We discuss the French protests from earlier this month, what the recently-passed French law did, [...]
Many months ago, Derek Slater pointed me to the paper he did while he was at the Berkman Center late last year. It’s been on my to-read list ever since, and I’ve finally gotten a chance to check it out. The paper reports on the increasing popularity of what they call “taste-sharing” tools on the [...]
After a year of debate, neutrality regulation proponents have singularly failed (Salon.com notwithstanding) to get Congress to enact their proposals. This of course could change, especially if there’s a change in the control of Congress. But, should this front-door approach fail, it now seems proponents have a plan B: sneak regulation in as a condition [...]
May 16, 2012
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
