Extraordinarily good news from Communications Daily (behind a pay wall, unfortunately): The Motion Picture Association of America is unlikely to push for a broadcast flag component in DTV legislation establishing a 2008 hard date because the bill's main author, House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), is against the...

Last week we warned you about a new stealth PATRIOT-expansion bill that the Senate Intelligence Committee will consider in closed session later this week. In addition to renewing many of the USA PATRIOT Act's most troubling provisions, the new bill would give the FBI the power to issue...

The most recent edition of Regulation, a magazine published by the Cato Institute, includes an excellent article entitled "Against ISP Liability" [PDF] by Cato's own Jim Harper. Jim's article responds to an earlier article by Professor Douglas Lichtman, "Holding Internet Service Providers Accountable" [PDF], in which Doug...

Response to EFF's white paper on how to blog anonymously has been overwhelming. While there have been plenty of positive reactions, there are also a few basic criticisms we'd like to respond to. They boil down to two questions: (1) why didn't you mention more/better ways to be...

On April 14-15 (after the three-day WIPO Development Agenda meeting, a.k.a. IIM), the WIPO Permanent Committee for Co-operation for Development Related to Intellectual Property (the PCIPD) met for its fourth session. The PCIPD is a pre-existing WIPO sub-committee, formed in 1998. There's no formal relationship between the Development...

A California bill (SB 682) that would bar the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in state-issued ID cards yesterday cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee -- the first major hurdle on the way to becoming law. The good news comes in the wake of a ...

As many have reported, the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 (S.167/H.R. 357), recently passed the House, which also issued a committee report about the bill. Since the identical language had already passed the Senate in February, the measure now goes to President Bush for...