This Week In Techdirt History: October 2nd – 8th
from the back-in-the-day dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2017, ISPs were ignoring the death of “six strikes” and still threatening to disconnect accused pirates, and also taking their third shot at getting the Supreme Court to kill net neutrality, while broadband lobbyists were gushing over the re-appointment of Ajit Pai, who was himself busy blasting Apple for refusing to turn on an iPhone chipset that didn’t exist. Newly acquired documents revealed more about the NSA’s abuse of pen register statutes, and we looked at how the agency’s “time machines” made it easy to violate Section 702 restrictions, while the House Judiciary Committee was introducing a weak surveillance reform bill.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2012, the “six strikes” plan wasn’t dead, but rather just gearing up to come into practice. We looked at the trend of using copyright as a stand-in for moral rights, MPAA boss Chris Dodd was giving a predictably dissembling interview, and we wrote about the MPAA’s overall problem of viewing its relationship with the public as one-way. We also took a look at how the CAFC had made patents so destructive, and tried to kill the myth that the constitution guarantees copyrights and patents.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2007, we wondered if investors might pressure the RIAA to change its ways, while the soon-to-be-infamous Jammie Thomas case headed to a difficult trial that resulted in a quick win for the association. We took a look at the many wrongheaded ideas in a speech by the CEO of Viacom, and the many whoppers told by a Sony-BMG exec in the aforementioned Thomas trial. Video game executives were hoping to export the DMCA around the globe, Mitt Romney learned a lesson about the pitfalls of user-generated content, and we saw an incredible example of performance rights society overreach when a UK garage was sued because its mechanics played their radios too loud.
In The Beginning…
Another edition of the Up To Date newsletter that would become Techdirt went out this week on October 4th, 1997, and included the first ever “letter from the editor” by Mike to kick things off.
Comments on “This Week In Techdirt History: October 2nd – 8th”
Jammie Thomas… I’m not sure what happened to that poor woman after her bankruptcy but kudos for standing up to the outright stupidity, and hopefully contributing to the idea that record labels had to deal with the real market and not their fantasy that everyone paid full price for every song they listened to.
I don’t wish her ordeal on anyone els, but thank you for fighting against corruption and racketeering.
Re:
What we know of both RIAA-based cases that made it all the way to a judgment in favor of the RIAA, both Thomas-Rasset and Tenenbaum filed for bankruptcy. No record exists as to whether any fraction of their exorbitant fines were paid – and I can’t imagine the RIAA would keep quiet on the money they did receive. It’d certainly be very useful for them to leverage for deterrence, and legitimize the threats they’ve been making all along.
The fact that the RIAA isn’t milking the Thomas-Rasset decision for all it’s worth strongly suggests that whatever they got from her, it wasn’t enough to get the result they wanted. And sure enough, the Thomas-Rasset and Tenenbaum results did not lead to a renewed fervor in going after individual users. These cases were not worth the money spent to bring to court, or the public backlash and dissatisfaction despite preferable outcomes.
Wherever Jammie and Joel are, they’re likely living out unremarkable lives, the RIAA marking little more than unfortunate but otherwise meaningless, banal blips in their journey – unpleasant to live through and contributing little to their personal development. It’s perhaps a shame that Jammie is the first name to come to mind when the RIAA is brought up and not, say, Tanya Andersen or Ray Scantlebury. But they are fighters, one and all – I’d say that if it wasn’t for people who fought the RIAA, it’s unlikely that modern copyright trolls would have been brought to justice.
This is big, hope Techdirt covers it:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/07/national-security-memorandum-on-partial-revocation-of-presidential-policy-directive-28/
From Obama’s EO (PPD-28):
“(b) Privacy and civil liberties shall be integral considerations in the planning of U.S. signals intelligence activities. The United States shall not collect signals intelligence for the purpose of suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent, or for disadvantaging persons based on their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Signals intelligence shall be collected exclusively where there is a foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to support national and departmental missions and not for any other purposes.”
This used to be the directive to all the spy organizations. Revoked now.
“The United States shall not collect signals intelligence for the purpose of suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent”
This is big, hope Techdirt covers it:
Biden Signs EO Removing need for FISA Warrant to Collect Information on US Citizens
From Obama’s EO (PPD-28):
“(b) Privacy and civil liberties shall be integral considerations in the planning of U.S. signals intelligence activities. The United States shall not collect signals intelligence for the purpose of suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent, or for disadvantaging persons based on their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Signals intelligence shall be collected exclusively where there is a foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to support national and departmental missions and not for any other purposes.”
This used to be the directive to all the spy organizations. Revoked now.
“The United States shall not collect signals intelligence for the purpose of suppressing or burdening criticism or dissent”