CITP Blog is hosted by Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy, a research center that studies digital technologies in public life. Here you’ll find comment and analysis from the digital frontier, written by the Center’s faculty, students, and friends.
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Last week Hydra, a chess-playing computer, completed its rout of Michael Adams, the seventh-ranked human player in the world. Hydra won five of six games, and Adams barely escaped with…
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Posner and Becker, Law and Economics
Richard Posner and Gary Becker turn their bloggic attention to the Grokster decision this week. Posner returns to the argument of his Aimster opinion. Becker is more cautious. After reiterating…
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Book Club Discussion: Code, Chapter 5
This week in Book Club we read Chapter 5 of Lawrence Lessig’s Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace. Let’s discuss the chapter in the comments area below. For next week,…
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GAO Data: Porn Rare on P2P; Filters Ineffective
P2P nets have fewer pornographic images than the Web, and P2P porn filters are ineffective, according to data in a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Mind…
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BitTorrent: The Next Main Event
Few tears will be shed if Grokster and StreamCast are driven out of business as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision. The companies are far from lovable, and their…
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Patry: The Court Punts
William Patry (a distinguished copyright lawyer) offers an interesting take on Grokster. He says that the court was unable to come to agreement on how to apply the Sony Betamax…
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Legality of Design Decisions, and Footnote 12 in Grokster
As a technologist I find the most interesting, and scariest, part of the Grokster opinion to be the discussion of product design decisions. The Court seems to say that Sony…
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Business Model as Evidence of Intent
One interesting aspect of Justice Souter’s majority opinion in Grokster is the criticism of the business models of StreamCast and Grokster (pp. 22-23): Third, there is a further complement to…
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Grokster Loses
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Grokster, finding the company’s actions to be illegal. (Reported by SCOTUSblog.) Expect an explosion of discussion in the blogosphere. My usual one-post-a-day limit will…
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Book Club Discussion: Code, Chapters 3 and 4
This week in Book Club we read Chapters 3 and 4 of Lawrence Lessig’s Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace. Now it’s time to discuss the chapters. I’m especially eager…