This Week In Techdirt History: September 26th – October 2nd
from the those-were-the-days dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2016, we looked at how the internet of things was fueling an unprecedented rise in DDoS attacks, while the DHS was offering its unsolicitied (and likely unhelpful) assistance in securing it, and we also learned more about the likely reason for the NSA’s trove of hacking tools being discovered and published. The CFAA emerged at the center of a political dispute, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear an important Section 230 case, and the DOJ decided that copyright infringement could be grounds for deportation, while the RIAA was going around acting as though SOPA had passed, even though it didn’t. Also, in an extremely silly move, four state AGs filed a lawsuit to block the IANA transition, which was quickly tossed out by a judge.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2011, the Senate let the copyright lobby set up shop in the Senate building during the PROTECT IP debate, while the House version of the bill added in a provision covering cyberlockers, an “analyst” from Disney was cheerleading for the bill. Canadian politicians were pushing for their own terrible copyright reform law, while we looked at how the EU’s copyright extension was harming classical music. Multiple countries were getting ready to sign ACTA on the weekend, until it turned out that some weren’t actually going to do it, even though the US planned to use its signing statement to defend the unconstitutional aspects of the agreement. Meanwhile, Righthaven suffered another huge loss, and continued trying to avoid paying legal fees, though it only succeeded in getting a brief reprieve.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2006, the fight between Google and European newspapers continued with the papers trying to reinvent robots.txt, new companies were trying to find a way to charge money for social media, and we wondered if it was possible to see the actual FCC data on broadband penetration. Microsoft was going after the anonymous person who cracked their copy protection system, the MPAA was touting its bizarre use of DVD-sniffing dogs, and Hollywood was raising the stakes in its claims of the damages from piracy. Meanwhile, a judge sadly agreed with the RIAA that Morpheus had induced infringement, while Limewire was hitting back hard against the RIAA with a lawsuit alleging antitrust and consumer fraud.
