Tag Archives: technology

Using privacy law to protect virtual resources rather than property law

Author’s Note: This an excerpt from an early draft of a paper I am currently writing. I.    Introduction Applying property rights  to virtual resources is often justified by arguing that property rights will allow consumers and users to better protect their interests online and in online games.  Garrett Ledgerwood, in Virtually Liable, argues “[a] court’s …

December 5, 2009 – 10:12 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Virtual Worlds | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

If not Terms of Service, then what?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an article discussing the recent banning of thousands of user-modified XBoxes. 1  The EFF’s article is intended to illustrate the dangers of Terms of Service (ToS) or Terms of Use (ToU) entered into by consumers when they use a service.  The danger is the wholesale signing away of your right to …

December 4, 2009 – 10:22 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in Virtual Worlds | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Is there a viable argument that Twitter is more like a coffee house conversation than an online publication?

Jacqui Lipton posted a cross-post at the Madisonian and The Faculty Lounge about Twitter and defamation. The following questions were posed: Is there a viable argument that Twitter is more like a coffee house conversation than an online publication?  If so, should this matter for a defamation analysis?  And, if it does, where does one …

December 1, 2009 – 5:54 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Defamation, Torts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Death of Middlemen, the Death of Lawyers

Middlemen are dying left and right.  Technology is making them obsolete, redundant. One way technology does this is by breaking down communication and travel barriers.  It is easier to communicate with someone across the world.  It easier to transport large volumes of goods across the world. Another way technology does this is by automation.  On …

November 29, 2009 – 11:52 am | By John William Nelson | Posted in General, The Future of Law | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Capturing the value of information — How Newscorp and AP can profit from the news, and how they can’t

Information is valuable.  Governments know this.  Companies know this.  Consumer rights know this.  The Associated Press and NewsCorp know this. Those last two run an entire business on the gathering and dissemination of information.  Both want us all to stop stealing their product. The Associated Press announced details on how they are going to be …

November 17, 2009 – 3:51 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Economics & Commerce | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

How Technology Changes Everything, Yet Changes Nothing

Technology makes travel faster.  Farther.  Safer, and more dangerous. Technology brings us closer.  It allows more communication.  It places us farther away.  It makes communication more difficult. Technology brings revolution.  Writing.  The printing press.  The internet.  Epochs of man measured by technology. Technology changes everything. Yet, nothing changes. Man still communicates with man.  There is …

November 4, 2009 – 10:30 pm | By John William Nelson | Posted in Polemics | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)