Category: Intellectual Property
Security watchdog the ICO is currently looking at 277 "data breaches" in the UK
At the moment it’s all about banking crisis and how shares aren’t even worth wasting a match on burning the certificates, but cast you minds back a year or so ago. Back when there was only one issue on our minds – data privacy.
Since the numerous high-profile cases of last year, when the government couldn’t stop leaving discs, laptops and USB drives all over the place, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office has received 277 new complaints and warnings about people’s personal data possibly being held in insecure fashions.
The NHS is the biggest culprit, with 75 outstanding cases of possible embarrassing fact-disclosure currently on the books of the ICO…
UK government not making democracy easy or fun – no "e-voting" for the UK
If you want to exercise your demographic right to say you’d rather have a blue politician representing you than a red one, you’re going to have to carry on with the tiresome old ‘ticking boxes with a pen’ system – there will be no “e-voting” for the likes of us any time soon.
Michael Wills, the minister for justice, told parliament that “The Government does not plan to introduce e-voting for the 2009 European or local elections,” meaning it’s off to the local primary school with your little postcard of power…
Mobile phones about to become electronic tags – a passport might be required to buy one
If you’re one of those people who likes to get angry about possible privacy invasions, this should get you nicely red-faced until well after lunchtime.
As part of the vague, all-encompassing crackdown on anything to do with “terrorism,” the government is considering adding mobile phones to its national database of who owns what – so you could be asked to hand over your passport in exchange for buying a cheap pay-as-you-go job…
Chinese Democracy now on pre-order, Dr Pepper quaking in its boots
Earlier this year, Dr Pepper promised that if Guns n Roses’ long-delayed album “Chinese Democracy” was released in 2008, then they’d give everyone in America, except former guitarists Slash and Buckethead, a free can of Dr Pepper…
Apple's App Store triggers ANGER and RETRIBUTION – iPint and iBeer developers come to legal blows
The Carling iPint app is apparently little more than a shameless rip-off of Hottrix’s iBeer, according to the man who created iBeer – and is now suing the iPint makers for £7m.
Steve Sheraton, who came up with the original accelerometer-powered beer-drinking illusion app that we have been assured is VERY HILARIOUS after drinking three real beers, claims that representatives of brewing group Coors asked him if they could license his creation for use as an advertising tool. Steve declined, but the major corporation went ahead and created its iPint clone anyway…
UPDATE: Oasis teasing new album 'Dig Out Your Soul' for free via MySpace today
Guess what, everyone? MySpace is still going!
And guess what, everyone? Oasis is still going! The two dinosaurs of social networking and 1990s pub rock have teamed up, with the Manchester band dumping the entire content of its new album “Dig Up Your Soul” for listening to on MySpace right now. I am, at this very minute, listening to a turgid reinterpretation of some Beatles songs, much to the anger of everyone within earshot.
The new album’s not officially released for traditional “buying” until next Monday…
Muxtape postmortem: what really happened
There were a lot of questions around the shutdown of Muxtape back in August. The cryptic message left on the site seemed to suggest that it would be back in a matter of days, but as the days passed, it seemed increasingly likely that it was gone forever. As users shifted to other sites, it was clear that the RIAA’s big clunking fist had shut down the popular music sharing service for good…
SPORESUIT: EA sued over Spore DRM
The Spore DRM Wars rumble on. The latest development is that a class action suit has been filed in the Northern District of California court. It’s being brought on behalf of Melissa Thomas, and all other Spore purchasers. That includes me, actually…
eBay Nutcase of the Week: Any American trying to sell Yankee Stadium cup holders
If you’re (a) American or (b) Japanese and are into baseball, you may be tempted to get yourself a “vial of actual infield soil taken from Yankee Stadium” – yours for around $70.
If you’re too worried to buy unofficial dirt, plenty of official dirt – with certificates of authenticity – is also available…
First simultaneous multiplatform film release – why did it take so long?
I’ve never fully understood the reasons that film studios always release movies to the cinemas first, then rental, then DVD, then finally video-on-demand services and TV. It baffles me why they’d want to make it harder for consumers to enjoy their products, especially now that digital distribution means that there’s no reason why film studios can’t just let people buy a film as soon as it’s ready.
