Internet rights v Pirate ones

Plans to make internet access a “fundamental right” are to be dropped, a move that paves the way for European law enforcement agencies to cut off web users who have been caught downloading pirated films and music.reports the FT this morning

The European parliament has agreed to drop an amendment that was aimed at countering so-called “three strikes” laws, legislation that allows law enforcement agencies to shut down internet connections that have been allegedly used for illegal file-sharing .

Want to charge for content-is it in the public interest

According to Peter Scheer,media compnaies that are considering charging for content may need to consult a lawyer.

Writing at the Huffington Post he says that

Information wants to be free, but the creators of information also need to eat. Which of these interests ultimately prevails, although partly a business issue, depends fundamentally on legal considerations. To charge for access to editorial content, the owner has to have the legal right to prevent competitors from offering it (or as much of it as customers are willing to pay for) for free. And thanks to the vagaries of intellectual property law, the boundaries of this "right" are, at best, unclear.

The answer centres around what he defines as fair use.This he explains is

a doctrine of copyright law that basically blesses (what otherwise would be infringing) uses of a copyrighted work when the uses are both insubstantial and deemed to be in the public interest

New Zealand government backs down on internet copyright law

A good story coming out of New Zealand where the online community has rallied against government plans to introduce a copyright law.

If you had noticed that a number of twitter users have blacked out their profiles,it was to protest against the proposed move which

Protesters say Section 92A of the Copyright Amendment Act could force the closure of any internet account following any accusation of breach of copyright, even if it was not proven.

Now the New Zaland government has backed down after PM John Key

told journalists that Cabinet had discussed the issue today and decided to delay the implementation for one month until March 27.

The hope is that the sector will come to a voluntary agreement on the proposals

A private or public matter

So when I become famous for 15 minutes do I want my holiday snaps from Flickr published on the web?

Over on the BBC editors blog Steve Herrmann

When is it acceptable for us to make use of personal pictures and video available on the internet?

And comments

With the growth of social networking and personal websites, it has become far easier for the media to get hold of such pictures. If we do use them, can this be justified?

I have a rather objective opinion on this. Anything published on social networking sites,is to me in the public domain and therefore its use can be sanctioned.Those that are published on personal well that is a different matter.There is a public interest issue which can overide this but in genreal terms permission should be asked.

Finally as Steve points out

The boundary between what's public and what's private isn't always easy to define online, and I think it’s also true to say it’s not something people always give a huge amount of thought to when posting.