Featured Articles

iiNet sued for copyright infringement

Peter Black
November 20, 2008 07:36

This news report was drawn to my attention during a break today at the Media, Communications and Public Speech Conference:The Australian film and television industry has launched a major legal action against one of Australia's largest internet service providers for allegedly allowing its users to...

Privacy in Australia

Peter Black
August 11, 2008 02:10

The Australian Law Reform Commission’s report on privacy laws in Australia, For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice (ALRC 108), has been released. You can download the three-volume, 2700 page report here, or view the media release and accompanying briefing notes here. There is a l...

Recent Articles

"The Christmas Classic that Almost Wasn't"

Peter Black
January 04, 2009 10:42

Ronald J. Rychlak explains how copyright law helped to make It's a Wonderful Life a Christmas classic:The other night, along with many other Americans, I watched the Frank Capra classic It's a Wonderful Life. Starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, the movie has become a Christmas staple -- but...

Academic blogging

Peter Black
January 03, 2009 00:30

Jeremy Gans has decided to bring a halt to his Charterblog, which for the past year has followed the progress of Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights. Although this is a loss to the Australian blawgosphere and to anyone interested in human rights and charters of rights, it is hard to...Jeremy Gans h...

Today Popeye, tomorrow Mickey Mouse?

Peter Black
January 02, 2009 17:14

This week the cartoon character Popeye came out of copyright protection and into the public domain. Techdirt observes that it "be quite interesting to see what happens next, as it will be something of a preview of the eventual Mickey Mouse fight that will be coming":Disney was able to...

Slate V: the best viral political videos of 2008

Peter Black
January 02, 2009 15:37

In a Power Recap, Slate V presents 20 of the best viral political videos of 2008. Congratulations to Australian Hugh Atkin whose video, John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd, was the number one viral video. Slate V says it was "a perfect metaphor for McCain's defeat and maybe the best mashup of...In a...

Coming soon ... End of Year Wrap

Peter Black
January 01, 2009 20:55

As I did at the end of 2006 (see here) and 2007 (see here), the next week or so will feature a series of posts that wrap up the year, including: Best of the web in 2008; Best TV of 2008; Looking back at my predictions for 2008; Things to...As I did at the end of 2006 (see here) and 2007 (see here),...

Best legal posts from 2008

Peter Black
January 01, 2009 20:54

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...Here are what I consider to be some of the "best" law-themed posts from 2008. Again, some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent what interests me...Continuing my...

Best internet and technology posts from 2008

Peter Black
January 01, 2009 19:48

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...Here are what I consider to be some of the "best" internet and technology themed posts from 2008. Again, some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent...Continuing my...

Best media and entertainment posts from 2008

Peter Black
January 01, 2009 19:00

Continuing my end-of-year wrap ...Here are what I consider to be some of the "best" media and entertainment themed posts from 2008. Again, some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent...Continuing my...