from the that-was-that dept

This Week In Techdirt History: September 22nd – 28th

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, we learned more about how easy it was to buy access to people’s movements from companies gathering license plate data, while AT&T was proclaiming that it could not be sued for selling customer location data just as readily. A big EU ruling thankfully said the right to be forgotten was not global, while another required Google to put certain links at the top of search results. A French court declared that Steam gamers really do own the games they buy, while in the US, a court said fair use nullifies a French rightsholder’s attempt to extract money from an art scholar. This was also the week that we announced our anthology of speculative short stories, Working Futures.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, NSA cheerleader Ben Wittes was attempting to attack NSA critics while CIA boss John Brennan was lying about his lies. The Seventh Circuit upheld a fair use win but did so in a convoluted and problematic way, while we looked at a copyright question around taking selfies in museums. Law enforcement was predictably freaking out over Apple and Google’s decision to encrypt phone info by default, leading to lots of attempts to spread FUD, while the EFF offered a rundown of epic failures to regulate cryptography. Meanwhile, a patent troll was brushed off in its attempt to sue the FTC for investigating its shakedown scam.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, the case was finally settled over a blogger who tracked patent trolls, while some were defending another patent that was interfering with the sale of Microsoft Word. A court smacked down an attempt to double dip on copyright and trademark damages, the music industry was still pushing for three strike systems, and we wrote about why DMCA safe harbors are so important. The Google books settlement was called off and set to be renegotiated, Eminem’s misguided lawsuit about Apple was getting started, and Elton John was flip-flopping about whether he supported kicking people off the internet. Also, President Obama officially nominated Victorial Espinel to be the first IP Czar.