Yesterday, Sun Microsystems announced its new "Open Media Commons," with a goal of "[s]pecify[ing] open, royalty-free digital rights management and codec standards" to "ensur[e] intellectual property protection." The problem with this approach is that making DRM "open" and "royalty-free" doesn't make it any less damaging and counter-productive. People have...

When seamstress Laura Flores first heard about a software product called Dress Shop that would help her make and print dress patterns, she was thrilled. At last, she could customize classic dress designs on her computer -- and, according to the ads, it would be "fast, fun and easy." At...

Did you know that President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act mandates that public high schools turn over private student contact information to local military recruiters or risk losing federal education funding? Not only that, but the Pentagon has compiled a database of more than 30 million young people, including...