IT Lawyers’ Cases in Brief
Laurence Eastham summarises some of the judgments which have been published in the last two months and which are of interest to IT lawyers….
Publishing & social media
Digital Music and Online Intermediaries
The Trustees of SCL are delighted to adopt this important contribution to the debate on solutions to the problem of unlawful file-sharing and its effect on copyright holders as an SCL Policy Document. The Document, written by Professor Chris Reed and Berna Akcali Gur, reviews the legal issues surrounding copyright in digital music and the potential liability of ISPs and suggests a move to a long-term solution where access providers pay licence fees to content owners – and users receive the music free of restriction. The Paper is one product of the highly successful SCL Forum, held in September 2009 and hosted and sponsored by Herbert Smith LLP….
Rotten Windows and Government Cuts
This post is about cuts – beginning with my irritation over media attitudes to IT projects (that some politicians seem to reflect), and ending with some speculation about what might be cut that affects IT lawyers….
Olympic Discuss
On discussion and the value of online exchanges of view…
21 Today
No, it’s not the Editor’s birthday, notwithstanding that damnably deceptive youthful look. It is SCL’s Twitter followers who have the key to the door. But what is it the door to?…
Libel, Blogging and Immunity
Clive Freedman reports on a new case that addresses the liability of the operator of a blog with multiple contributors where one of the posts is libellous. To what extent is immunity as an information society service provider available?…
Newzbin and the Digital Economy Bill
Members of the Motion Picture Association had a big win in the High Court this week. And then asked themselves an interesting question….
Internet Libel: Archive, Context and Snippets
An action for libel was struck out where the original article was archived and could be read only in the context of later pieces which removed any sting. Moreover, it was held that a publisher could not be liable if a Google search snippet was defamatory when the original material from which it was derived was not….
Read More… from Internet Libel: Archive, Context and Snippets
EDPS and PbD
The office of the European Data Protection Supervisor has been working overtime. In addition to its work on video surveillance guidelines, it published an Opinion on ‘Promoting trust in the information society by fostering data protection and privacy’ on 18 March. The focus is on privacy by design (PbD)…
Transformations – Lecture Report
SCL members and guests were treated to a fascinating cultural exchange last night as Samuel Mani Kallupurakal, Head of Legal at Infosys Technologies, presented the Annual Lecture to an appreciative audience….