Inspiration Overload

Today, Finland has become the world leader in Internet access by ensuring that every citizen will have access to a 1Mbps broadband connection by making broadband every Finnish citizen's legal right.

Anonymous online speech can be powerful and beneficial.  You are free to leave anonymous or pseudonymous comments on this site, which encourages free discussion of political issues.  Protesters in Iran can spread ideas, corporate whistleblowers can speak out, and the government is deterred from at least one form of intrusion into personal life.  On a personal level, you can explore your identity, research controversial causes or issues, or just vent frustration.  All of these are good things and worthy of preservation.

But in the offline world there is also accountability for anonymous speech that is libelous or invasive of privacy.  By taking control of the media away from The New York Times and putting it in the hands of individual bloggers, the Internet have empowered free expression and opinion, but also empowered hundreds of millions of people to anonymously libel each other and invade each others’ privacy.

The new proposal – which was passed in the House of Lords by 165 votes to 140 – gives a high court judge the right to issue an injunction against a website accused of hosting a "substantial" amount of copyright infringing material, potentially forcing the entire site offline.

Deze video (20 minuten) is wat saai en geeft niet veel praktische voorbeelden. Maar het laat wel zien dat een flink aantal landen in het geheim bezig zijn om wetgeving rondom IP en innovatie te verscherpen. Wat niet in het voordeel van de burger is...