Earth: Mostly Harmless

Part 3 of RIPA Act - consultation

More on the proposed enactment of section 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Looks like some parliamentary types are starting to catch on to the reasoning coming from the computing communities.

“But the draft code of conduct has no guidance on weighing privacy against the demands of law enforcement,” said Caspar Bowden, former head of FIPR.

He questioned how police could balance the rights of victims, suspects and the general public if this was not made explicit.

Mr Bowden also questioned the wisdom of making it an offence to refuse to unscramble evidence. He said there were many scenarios that made it possible for a suspect to deny they ever had the key that unlocked encrypted data.

Already, he said, there had been one court case in which a suspect was acquitted after claiming a computer virus under someone else’s control had caused the offences for which he faced trial. Mr Bowden speculated that other suspects could use the same tactic or would fake a virus infection to get themselves off the hook.

Some fear the powers will stop people taking care with data
He also asked how someone would prove they had genuinely lost or forgotten a password and wondered if the threat of a jail sentence would hamper efforts to make users take more care of personal data.

“Will it deter the mass of honest users from properly securing their data?” said Mr Bowden.

You bet.

BBC story

Temperature in hell heading for zero: BPI Calls for Private Copying Right

An eminently sensible proposal. However, the real test will be in the final legislation (if any) which comes out of this. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that a vindication of private copying rights is accompanied by an expansion of the content lobby’s legal instruments for pursuing infringers.
I’ll be keeping track of this one. Watch [...] (…)

Patent office will ask the public to “peer review” inventions

Now there’s an idea. May I suggest “WikiPatents”?
Patent office will ask the public to “peer review” inventions:
Cory Doctorow:
The US Patent and Trademark Office has launched “Peer to Patent,” a community patent peer review project. The USPTO is overloaded with patent filings, so it does little or no investigation into patnets before rubber-stamping them, expecting that [...] (…)

Barenaked Ladies frontman on copyright reform

#If I had a million dollars / I’d reform copyright in Canada (but not real copyright, that’s cruel) #
Barenaked Ladies frontman on copyright reform:
Cory Doctorow:
The Barenaked Ladies’ Steve Page has a great editorial in today’s Canadian National Post, writing on behalf of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, a great new organization that represents many prominent [...] (…)

Consumer Electronics Association stands up to Big Content

Hopefully a sign of things to come…
Consumer Electronics Association ad campaign slams RIAA:
Cory Doctorow:

The Consumer Electronics Association is taking a brave stand against the entertainment companies’ attacks on the public’s right to record from digital radio. This is brilliant — and maybe it signals that the CEA’s members will stop manufacturing technnoloogy that controls their [...] (…)