Via Martyn Bailey I found that the Open Rights Group has published a
fairly detailed assessment of the copyright infringement provisions of the Digital Economy Bill, by Frances Davey, a barrister who specialises in technology and media law.
Here is the "summary of the problems" from the piece:
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"The key question of who will be disconnected from the internet and for what reason is subject to no democratic control and requires no consultation to be made.
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Although the codes must be objectively justifiable, non-discriminatory, proportionate and transparent this most important question will be decided by order of the Secretary of State who is not required to be adhere to any principles of proportionality etc.
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Some decisions (such as whether there has been a copyright infringement) that affect individuals will not be subject to appeal; those that are may not have an adequate route of appeal.
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Many of the important details are left to codes of practice which will not be subject to sufficient parliamentary scrutiny - in some cases there need be no scrutiny at all.
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The Bill has an inflexible and stereotyped view of the way in which access to the internet is provided which ignores many useful and important business models: many business from Weatherspoons and McDondalds to the British Library and local community access projects will be affected and may have to cease to provide internet access."
Desire2Learn and Blackboard settle their patent dispute
[Updated 19 December]
Blackboard and Desire2Learn have settled their patent dispute, with details of the settlement undisclosed. Two anodyne quotes from John Baker and Michael Chasen are included in the media release that appears on both Desire2Learn's and Blackboard's web sites:
There is more from John Baker on Desire2Learn's blog, and [19/12/2009 update] this 15 December 2009 piece in Campus Technology by Dave Nagel has a reasonably clear potted history. Meanwhile Ray Henderson, ex boss of Angel Learning (acquired by Blackboard earlier this year), and now a senior Blackboard executive, writes a long and carefully crafted post that gives some insights into what looks to have been Blackboard's welcome decision to change its stance somewhat. Excerpt:
Note. Here is a not very systematic list of other posts related to the Blackboard patent:
requests to the US Patent and Trade Mark Office; and an application to the Court from Desire2Learn for a stay in proceedings;
Posted on 16/12/2009 in News and comment | Permalink | Comments (0)
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