Piracy and privacy

The French Assemblée Nationale is today expected to adopt a uniquely invasive measure authorizing a 'High Authority' to monitor the Internet use of individuals for copyright violation.

French internet law blocked, for now

"The UMP [President Sarkozy's center-right majority party] appears to want to erase this setback by sending the bill back to a vote as soon as possible. 'The negative vote in the Assembly slows the adoption of the text, but doesn't stop it. We will resubmit the text with a (full) reading of the bill in both…

Activities in 2007

Website engine in new hands

Oracle's proposed purchase of Sun affects the future of a key asset in which I have a huge consumer surplus. You, too, probably. Just last year, Sun bought the open-source database MySQL on which this site—like millions of others—is based. It's a vital piece of the web: not irreplaceable, but still…

Senator Conroy finds his internet filter

One immediate concern with this new direction is that history shows companies with a majority government-ownership in Australia and elsewhere become ferocious rent-seekers (think Qantas and the protection of air routes). But there's also another—perhaps less serious—way to look at today's announcement.