Five Years Ago
This week in 2018, a report confirmed the deep flaws of automated facial recognition software in the UK while its use was spreading in the US, not least because (as the ACLU found out via documents it obtained) Amazon was handing out cheap tech to law enforcement. We looked at how the recording industry hid its latest attempt to expand copyright, while copyright was being used to prevent an actress from showing her own demo reel, HBO successfully fended off a stupid copyright and trademark lawsuit brought by a graffiti artist, and the EU was gearing up to break the internet with copyright. We also wrote in detail about how you shouldn’t put your hopes in the FTC to police net neutrality.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2013, the major Hollywood studios all sent bogus DMCA takedowns about the Pirate Bay documentary, garnering a response from the filmmaker in the form of a video open letter, while Swedish prosecutors were trying to say that the Pirate Bay’s domain registrar is an “accomplice” in infringement. This was also the week of a notable shift in the online economy for small creators: the launch of Patreon.
Meanwhile, Prenda was having a bad week. A very, very, very, very bad week (with one teeny, tiny bit of good news).
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2008, ABC was still excited about the idea of DVRs that don’t let people fast forward, while we noted how far behind mainstream media was on the subjects of DRM and the DMCA, especially while music DRM was collapsing. We saw an important court ruling on the right to resell software, the MPAA got two more sites to settle for merely linking to infringing content, Japan successfully misused copyright law to convict a virus author, and we wrote about how copyright battles are about controlling new technologies.
