Britain and France have been the primary copyright hawks in the EU, pushing for stronger distribution monopolies and harsher penalties at every turn. With…
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Told you so: Airport-style identity checks coming to train travel
Several European countries will start requiring photo ID from passengers to ride trains, similar to airport identity checks. The requirement concerns the high-speed Thalys…
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With the TPP and the TTIP gone, what threat to liberty comes next?
Asia Nikkei has just reported that the Trump administration has formally withdrawn from the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a protectionist agreement masquerading as a…
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My impressions of Satoshi Roundtable ]I[
The third Satoshi Roundtable has just concluded in Cancún, Mexico. The Roundtable is a private gathering of 100 movers and shakers within the bitcoin…
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Understanding the fundamental, irreconcilable conflict between copyright enforcement and privacy of communication
Enforcement of copyright is fundamentally, conceptually incompatible with privacy of correspondence. You can't have the sealed and private letter in existence at the same…
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The entire modern copyright was built on one fundamental assumption that the Internet has reversed
When the copyright monopoly was reinstated in 1710, the justification was that of publishing being many orders of magnitude more expensive than authoring, and…
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In science fiction, robot witnesses to crime are seen as normal. Nobody considered the privacy implications for present day.
The Police wants the cooperation of a robotic witness to a murder case, requesting Amazon’s help in recalling what the domestic robot “Echo” heard…
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Old lady denied exchanging life savings in old banknotes for new issue; could not prove innocence of money; dies
Ethel Hülst had saved for some old-age luxury all her life, cash-in-mattress style, and wanted to exchange her old-issue-note savings for new-issue banknotes. Faced…
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