from the and-then-what-happened dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2018, broadband satisfaction scores were plummeting while California was pushing forward with its tough net neutrality law and the hype around Google Fiber was giving way to delays and frustration. Emails revealed more about the FCC’s “DDoS attack” claims, and AT&T ended its quest to erode FTC authority over broadband providers. We took a look at the highlights from former Rep. Chris Cox’s amicus brief explaining section 230, and talked to MEP Julia Reda about the EU’s dangerous copyright proposal. Meanwhile, San Diego Comic-Con was fighting with Salt Lake Comic Con over the right to call yourself a comic convention.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2013, patent trolls were facing a lot of scrutiny: This American Life did a followup episode that revealed Intellectual Ventures is even slimier than previously believed, the White House itself released a report on problems with the patent system, Planet Money took on the podcasting patent troll, the Chief patent judge spoke out about the problem, and Intellectual Ventures itself… filed more patent lawsuits. Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan was getting started with his hatred of Twitter, France was getting ready to shut down Hadopi, and a Utah Sheriff was trying to use copyright to withhold mugshots.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2008, there was a big patent battle over wireless email, while one patent hoarder was caught shuffling patents around to sue multiple times. UK authorities were charging the members of a file sharing community with “conspiracy to defraud the music industry” (while the government was getting ready to extend copyright despite saying it wouldn’t), there was a copyright going on over the famous “footprints in the sand” poem, Canada was working on its own version of the DMCA, and a judge ruled on the fair use dispute between Ben Stein and Yoko Ono. We also tried to explain to Viacom why it’s in its best interest to lose its lawsuit against YouTube.
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