11 February 2013

Canada Denies Patent For Drug, So US Pharma Company Demands $100 Million As Compensation For 'Expropriation'

An increasingly problematic aspect of free trade agreements (FTAs) is the inclusion of investor-state provisions that essentially allow companies -- typically huge multinationals -- to challenge the policies of signatory governments directly. The initial impulse behind these was to offer some protection against the arbitrary expropriation of foreign investments by less-than-democratic governments. But now corporations have realised that they can use the investor-state dispute mechanism to challenge all kinds of legitimate but inconvenient decisions in any signatory nation. Here's a good example of how this provision is being invoked to contest a refusal by Canadian courts to grant a patent on a drug, as explained on the Public Citizen site: 

On Techdirt.

UK National Curriculum: A Level Playing-Field?

Just over a year ago, I reported on a remarkable speech by the UK Education Secretary Michael Gove that contained the following words:

On Open Enterprise blog.

NZ, Don't Make Our Mistake on Software Patents As Such

A couple of months ago, an MEP asked the European Commission an interesting question:

On Open Enterprise blog.

Another Terrible Idea From Russia: Using Whitelists To Control Access To The Internet

Techdirt has been reporting on a steady stream of bad tech ideas coming out of Russia, including content monitoring, banning children from using WiFi, anti-piracy laws requiring takedowns in 24 hours and -- of course -- site blocking. But such blacklists are too permissive for some Russians: over on Google+, Peter Lemenkov pointed out that one region is now introducing whitelists (original in Russian): 

On Techdirt.

Here's A Taste Of What Publishers Will Do If First Sale Rights For Foreign Goods Disappear

As Techdirt reported a few months back, the Supreme Court Justices seem rightly concerned about the "parade of horribles" -- things that would happen if the decision in the Wiley v. Kirtsaeng copyright case over whether or not you have the right to resell a foreign-made product you bought were applied generally. In the oral arguments, the line of Wiley's lawyer was essentially: nothing bad will happen, because copyright holders would never dream of using the decision to make outrageous demands. 

On Techdirt.

European Court Of Human Rights: No, Copyright Does Not Automatically Trump Freedom Of Expression

As many know, copyright had its origins in censorship and control. But over the last few hundred years, that fact has been obscured by the rise of the powerful publishing industry and the great works it has helped bring to the public. More recently, though, laws and treaties like SOPA and ACTA have represented a return to the roots of copyright, posing very real threats to what can be said online. That's not because their intent was necessarily to crimp freedom of expression, but as a knock-on effect of turning risk-averse ISPs into the copyright industry's private police force. 

On Techdirt.

10 February 2013

Copyright: Finally, the Evidence is Coming

Back in 2011, I noted that one of the most significant achievements of the Hargreaves report was its shockingly revolutionary suggestion that copyright policy should be based on the available evidence, not "lobbynomics". The fact that this even had to be said shows to what depths policy-making had sunk - something clearly demonstrated by the disgraceful Digital Economy Act, or the extension of copyright term for musical performances, both of which were passed despite the evidence, rather than because of it.

On Open Enterprise blog.

What's the next big platform for Linux?

Linux has a problem: it's running out of platforms to conquer. It's already the top operating system for smartphones and supercomputers, and is widely used in embedded and industrial systems. It's true the Year of the GNU/Linux desktop continues to be five years in the future, but the rise of tablets makes up for that in part. 

On The H Open.

First Big Pharma Company Announces Support For Clinical Data Transparency Campaign: Who's Next?

It would be something of understatement to say that the spiralling cost of healthcare has become a highly-charged political issue in the US (and elsewhere). But wherever people stand on the funding of medicine, there is an implicit assumption that it works, and is worth even the exorbitant prices that pharmaceutical companies may charge. Sadly, that's often not true. 

On Techdirt.

New UK Copyright Research Center Immediately Under Attack For Daring To Ask About Evidence

As Techdirt reported last year, some copyright maximalists in the UK seem to be against the whole idea of basing policy on evidence. Last week saw the launch of CREATe: Creativity, Regulation, Enterprise and Technology, a new UK "research centre for copyright and new business models in the creative economy." One of the things it hopes to do is to bring some objectivity to the notoriously contentious field of copyright studies by looking at what the evidence really says; so it was perhaps inevitable that it too would meet some resistance from the extremist wing of the copyright world. What's surprising is that it seems to have happened during the launch itself, as Paul Bernal, an academic who was there, reports: 

On Techdirt.

Japan Wonders Whether It Is Worth Joining TPP Negotiations After All

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement began as a cosy treaty between just three nations: Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. But once the US joined in 2010, this small-scale partnership suddenly became something much more significant. As USTR Ron Kirk put it in a press release at the time

On Techdirt.

Bayer Fights India's Compulsory Licensing Of Cancer Drug By Claiming It Spent $2.5 Billion Developing It

Back in March last year, the Indian government announced that it was granting its first compulsory license, for the anti-cancer drug marketed as Nexavar, whose $70,000 per year price-tag put it out of reach of practically everyone in India. Nexavar's manufacturer, the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer, naturally appealed against that decision, and the hearing before the India Intellectual Property Appeals Board (IPAB) has now begun. Jamie Love has provided a useful report on the proceedings; here's his summary of what's at stake: 

On Techdirt.

UK Government Fails Its First Big Procurement Test

As regular readers of Computerworld UK know, the UK government has repeatedly said that it wishes to move on from the past patterns of procurement that have seen the UK spending far more on IT than comparable governments elsewhere. For years the UK has been the IT industry's dream: a rich but gormless customer that believes everything it is told by suppliers, and happy to pay through the nose for projects that consistently fail to deliver, assuming they are even completed. Indeed, the UK government has become proverbial in the IT world for its inefficiency and incompetence in this area.

On Open Enterprise blog.

Of netbooks, tablets and Linux's revenge

Five years ago, I wrote an article about the relatively new class of netbook computers. I suggested the ultra-low price machines running GNU/Linux posed a problem for Microsoft. That's because it needed to charge something for Windows, pushing the price of Windows-based netbooks above similar systems running free software. As I wrote:

On The H Open.

Google's Other Bad Idea: Offering 50 Million Euros To French Newspapers [Updated]

Earlier this week we wrote about a strange move by Google: apparently agreeing to pay the French telecoms company Orange extra to deliver its traffic -- thus abandoning the principle of net neutrality it has championed for so long. And now here's another dubious decision: allegedly offering to pay French publishers 50 million Euros in order to settle the dispute over the display of news snippets in its search results

On Techdirt.

French National Library Privatizes Public Domain Materials

Copyright is sometimes described as a bargain between two parties: creators and their public. In return for receiving a government-backed monopoly on making copies, creators promise to place their works in the public domain at the end of the copyright term. The problem with that narrative is that time and again, the public is cheated out of what it is due. 

On Techdirt.

Russian Ministry Of Culture Publishes Draft Anti-Piracy Law; Requires Takedowns Within 24 Hours

Presumably as part of the overall agreement for Russia to be allowed to join the WTO, the Ministry of Culture there has published a draft of its anti-piracy law (via @PostActa). Here's the google translation of a story on the roem.ru site

On Techdirt.

VLC Multimedia Player Shows Changing Open Source License Is Hard, But Possible

Licenses lie at the heart of open source -- and many other kinds of "open" too. That's because they are used to define the rights of users, and to ensure those rights are passed on -- that the intellectual commons is not enclosed. Their central importance explains in part the flamewars that erupt periodically over which license is "best" -- many people have very strong feelings on the subject. 

On Techdirt.

Google Decides Smartphone Market Share Is More Important Than Net Neutrality

As a recent post noted, net neutrality is under threat in France, with ISPs like Free asking Google to pay extra for delivery of its traffic. According to this post on the Forbes Web site, Google has already agreed to pay the French telecoms company Orange in precisely this way. As well as damaging the whole principle of net neutrality, something that Google has been championing for many years, this would seem to be a pretty bad business decision. After all, if Orange is now getting paid to carry Google's traffic, why shouldn't every other telecom company out there also receive money for delivering Google's services? 

On Techdirt.

Taking open source foundations to the next level

Krita is a fine sketching and painting program, but few would claim that it is one of the big names in the open source world, such as Firefox or LibreOffice. That makes the following recent announcement noteworthy:

On The H Open.

The Battle for the Soul of EU Privacy

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, 2013 is already shaping up to be a year in which data protection is a key battleground. That's been confirmed by a flurry of stories around Data Privacy Day, which was yesterday in case you missed it.

On Open Enterprise blog.

Truly Stupid Ideas: Adding DRM To HTML5

You would have thought by now that people would understand that DRM is not only a bad idea, but totally unnecessary: Apple dropped DRM from music downloads in 2009 and seems to be making ends meet. Despite these obvious truths, the stupidity that is DRM continues to spread. Here, for example, is a particularly stupid example of DRM stupidity, as revealed by Manu Sporny

On Techdirt.

German Court Recognizes That An Internet Connection Is Now Indispensable For Modern Life

The German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe has acknowledged that an Internet connection is indispensable for life in the modern world, and that being cut off for several months deserves monetary compensation per day for the knock-on losses that inevitably causes: 

On Techdirt.

Colombia's SOPA Struck Down, But For Procedural Reasons

Back in April last year, we wrote about Colombia's own SOPA, the "Ley Lleras 2" copyright bill (it's version 2, because an earlier attempt to pass it failed.) This was rushed through by the Colombian government using an emergency procedure so as to have it ready as a grovelling welcome gift when President Obama came calling shortly afterwards. 

On Techdirt.

EU VP On Aaron Swartz: If Our Laws Hold Back Benefits From Openness, We Should Change Those Laws

As Techdirt has reported over the last ten days, the death of Aaron Swartz has provoked an outpouring of grief from friends and colleagues, who understandably wish to express their shock and anger at what happened. You'd expect that. What you might not expect is for a Vice-President of the European Commission to add her voice, but that's exactly what Neelie Kroes did this week. Her post is short, and worth reading in its entirety: 

On Techdirt.

We, the People; We, the Coders

It's generally accepted that one of the reasons Barack Obama was re-elected as US President last year was the superiority of the IT system his campaign team used. It will come as no surprise to readers of this blog that it was built on open source foundations, as this fascinating article in The Verge explains:

On Open Enterprise blog.

Banking Equipment Vendor Tries To Censor Security Research With DMCA Notice -- Then Backs Down When Called Out For It

Abuse of the DMCA takedown process to remove material that is awkward or embarrassing for a company is a common enough topic on Techdirt. But here's one with a slight twist. It concerns hardware security modules (HSMs), which manage the cryptographic keys and PINs used to authenticate bank card transactions. These were generally regarded as pretty secure -- until researchers started analyzing them, as Ross Anderson, head of the Security Research Laboratory at Cambridge University, explains: 

On Techdirt.

France, Cradle Of 'Three Strikes' Punishment, Explores Another Bad Idea: Killing Net Neutrality

Not content with giving the world the "three strikes" approach to copyright enforcement, France has recently shown signs of wanting to undermine one of the Internet's foundations: net neutrality. This has come about as a consequence of the French ISP Free's decision to block ads on its service. As Mike noted, this was essentially an attempt to persuade Google to pay the ISP an extra fee to carry its traffic, even though Free's customers already do that. That was resolved, at least for the moment, when France's Digital Economy minister Fleur Pellerin stepped in and persuaded Free to restore the ads

On Techdirt.

Re-inventing Academic Publishing: 'Diamond' Open Access Titles That Are Free To Read And Free To Publish

As Techdirt has been reporting, the idea of providing open access to publicly-funded research is steadily gaining ground. One of the key moments occurred almost exactly a year ago, when the British mathematician Tim Gowers announced that he would no longer have anything to do with the major academic publisher Elsevier. This then turned into a full-scale boycott: today, over 13,000 academics have pledged not to work with the company

On Techdirt.

WikiLeaks Reveals Aaron Swartz May Have Been A Source: Wise Move?

WikiLeaks currently finds itself in a difficult position. Funds are trickling in because of a questionable financial blockade against it, and Julian Assange is stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. So it's understandable that it should want to take every opportunity to remind people that it is still around and keen to continue publishing highly-sensitive documents in a confidential fashion. But I do wonder if this series of tweets disclosing that Aaron Swartz was involved with WikiLeaks is the best way of doing that: 

On Techdirt.

Another Reason to Use Open Source: Sane Licensing

A couple of weeks ago, I pointed out how a decision in Norway involving cash registers emphasised one of the advantages of open source - its natural auditability. Here's another interesting situation that points out a further reason for choosing openness.

On Open Enterprise blog.

Australia's Spies Want To Put Members Of The Public At Risk By Using Them To Pass On Malware to Suspected Terrorists

Last year we wrote about the German police using malware to spy on members of the public. Now ASIO, Australia's national secret service, has come up with a new variant on the idea

On Techdirt.

Learning From Aaron Swartz: Content Must Not Be The End Game For Knowledge

In the wake of the suicide of Aaron Swartz, there have been many fine tributes to the man and his work. Another growing class of posts that have flowed from this unhappy event are people reflecting on the important lessons he taught them. Here, for instance, is Jeff Jarvis recounting his journey from a fairly traditional position on copyright to one that recognized how the Internet had reshaped that landscape

On Techdirt.

Pharma Companies Try 'DRM' For Drugs As A Ploy To Stymie Generics

One of the striking features of the drug world is how pharma companies become noticeably more inventive immediately before their patents are due to run out and their drugs are about to enter the public domain. That's because they need to find a way to differentiate themselves from the generic manufacturers that are then able to offer the same medicines for often vastly lower prices. 

On Techdirt.

Portuguese Government Capitulates On Copyright Levies, Despite Lack Of Support From Public And Artists

Back in February last year, Techdirt wrote about the rather pathetic attempts of the Portuguese Society of Authors (SPA) to drum up some support among its members for a new copyright levy on storage devices in the face of a public outcry at the extra costs this would impose on consumer and professional products. This was a dismal failure, and so it's probably no surprise that the Portuguese government didn't move forward with the original plans. 

On Techdirt.

Will Neelie Kroes Defend or Destroy EU Net Neutrality?

I have a lot of time for Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for the Digital Agenda. She's easily the most tech-savvy of the European Commissioners - although cynics would point out that's setting a low bar. Sometimes, she's downright radical, as in this speech about copyright, delivered back in 2011:

On Open Enterprise blog.

Toxic Cloud Computing, and How Open Source Can Help

There are so many parts to the institutions running the European Union that it's easy to lose sight of them all and their varied activities. For example, one of the lesser-known European Parliament bodies is the Directorate-General for Internal Policies. You might expect the studies that it commissions to be deadly dull, but some turn out to be not just highly interesting but hugely important.

On Open Enterprise blog.

UK Mobile Operator 3UK Filtering New Class Of 'Mature Content', Including Political Satire

Smartphones have some big advantages: they offer considerable computing power in a highly-portable form, and are available at prices that allow a broad spectrum of users to get online easily. But as we reported last year, there's a big downside, too, one that's all-the-more dangerous for being invisible to most people: overblocking of sites caused by opt-out "child protection filters" applied by some mobile operators to their Internet feed. 

On Techdirt.

Beatles' First Single Enters Public Domain -- In Europe

The Beatles remain the iconic pop group, so news on VVN/Music that their very first single has now entered the public domain is something of a landmark moment in music: 

On Techdirt.

Fighting for Open Access

As you may have noticed, this weekend the online world has been filled with news of and responses to the suicide of the young American activist Aaron Swartz. Many excellent personal tributes have been written about the man and his achievements, but here I want to concentrate on the just one aspect: the incident that led to his arrest and probably to his suicide too. Here's how Techdirt explained the situation:

On Open Enterprise blog.

Another Reason to Use Open Source: Auditability

The Norwegian Ministry of Finance seems to be taking a bit of stick at the moment. It wants all the existing cash registers in the country thrown out and replaced with new ones, as the Norwegian site E24 reports (via Thomas Steen and Google Translate)

On Open Enterprise blog.

EU Data Protection and Open Standards

As happened for last year, 2013 will doubtless see plenty of battles in the domains of open standards, copyright and software patents, but there will also be a new theme: data protection. That's a consequence of an announcement made by the European Commission almost exactly a year ago:

On Open Enterprise.

OpenStreetMap: the Open Source of the Mobile Age

One of the themes of this blog has been the wider influence of open source. Everyone knows about open content projects like Wikipedia, but one open endeavour that still hasn't made the big breakthrough into the public's consciousness is OpenStreetMap. Here's how it describes itself:

On Open Enterprise blog.

World Economic Forum Warns That Patents Are Making Us Lose The Race Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Back in June last year, Techdirt reported on the warning from the World Health Organization's Director-General that we risked entering a "post-antibiotic era". That was in part because the current patent system was not encouraging the right kind of research by pharma companies in order to develop the new antibiotics that we desperately need. 

On Techdirt.

Study Shows Educational And Social Harm 'Three Strikes' Punishment Would Cause Young People

One of the extraordinary aspects of the "three strikes" approach to copyright enforcement is its blind vindictiveness. After three or so alleged acts of infringing on copyright, it's not one individual that's punished, but the entire household that depends on the family Internet connection in question, irrespective of the personal situation of those affected. This kind of collective punishment is something that is regarded as abhorrent in other contexts, but the power of the copyright industries is such that several governments around the world followed the French lead and introduced precisely this kind of scheme, and to hell with the damage it might cause to innocent and vulnerable people caught up in it. 

Techdirt.

Web Blocking's Slippery Slope: It's Never 'Just' One Site

Even against a background of repeated attempts to censor the Net, it's still possible to become a little complacent about some of the actions being taken by the copyright industries. For example, many people probably feel that blocking a site like The Pirate Bay isn't really a problem because, after all, it's just one site, right? 

On Techdirt.

Church Site Blocked By Mobile Networks, Classified Under 'Alcohol'

Against a background of the UK government teetering on the brink of imposing an opt-out Web filter "for the children", here's yet another example of how automatic categorization of sites for blacklists gets it wrong, as recounted by the UK's Open Rights Group (ORG): 

On Techdirt.

Pirated Buildings In China And The Rise Of Architectural Mashups

Although China is often glibly dismissed as little more than an imitator of others, yet another story about copying paradoxically shows it leading the way. That's because what's being cloned is an entire building complex that's still under construction

On Techdirt.

Move Over 'TacoCopter': Here Comes The 'Internet Of Drones'

As we know, the Internet works by breaking digital information up into IP packets which are then routed independently over the network, and then re-assembled at their destination. Anything made up of 0s and 1s can be sent anywhere with an Internet connection in this way, but that isn't much good for physical objects. 

On Techdirt.

Opera About Walt Disney Refused Permission To Use Disney Images

Techdirt has noted before the hypocrisy of Disney in refusing to allow others to draw on its creativity in the same way that it has drawn on the art and ideas of the past. Here's another example, but this time it's an opera that's had difficulties

On Techdirt.

The Main Problem With Patented GM Food Is The Patent, Not The Fact That It's GM

The acrimonious debate and serious lobbying that developed around California's Proposition 37, which would have required the labelling of genetically-modified ingredients in food products had it passed, is an indication that the subject inspires extreme views and involves big money. But an interesting post in Slate argues that GM labelling is really a minor issue compared to the main problem -- gene patents

On Techdirt.

Danish Court Orders Spanish Site Blocked Because It Uses Trademarked English Word 'Home' As Part Of Its Name

Daft trademarking stories are common enough, but it's always fun to come across new variations on the theme. Netzpolitik points us to this story from Denmark, where a Spanish-owned property site called HomelifeSpain.com ran into trouble because the word "home" was trademarked in Denmark by the Danish property site home.dk. This resulted in the rather incredible remedy of the website itself being banned entirely. As Netzpolitik notes, this is classic function creep: such web blocks were introduced to fight -- you guessed it -- child pornography, and yet here they are being applied in the rather less serious matter of trademark infringement. 

On Techdirt.