{"id":28494,"date":"2023-01-08T03:51:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T03:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/08\/this-week-in-techdirt-history-january-1st-7th\/"},"modified":"2023-01-08T03:51:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T03:51:37","slug":"this-week-in-techdirt-history-january-1st-7th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/08\/this-week-in-techdirt-history-january-1st-7th\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week In Techdirt History: January 1st \u2013 7th"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the a-new-year-dawns<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

Five Years Ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week in 2018 (yes, 2018 is now five years ago<\/em>) Comcast rang in the new year with a flurry of price increases<\/a> while we looked at what the death of net neutrality would bring<\/a> as California joined the list of states proposing their own net neutrality rules<\/a>. At the same time, the FCC was preparing to weaken the definition of broadband to hide issues with competition and coverage<\/a>. Donald Trump hired Charles Harder to threaten Steve Bannon with a lawsuit<\/a>, Germany\u2019s new hate speech law went into effect<\/a>, a confused judge ruled that video game play has no copyright<\/a>, and a white noise video on YouTube was hit with five<\/em> separate copyright claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also, for what was hopefully the last time (so far, so good) the US had zero new works enter the public domain<\/a>. (Speaking of which, the following year, we would begin running our Public Domain Game Jam, and you should go join this year\u2019s edition<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Ten Years Ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week in 2013, when an expanding public domain was still a long way away, we took a look at how the Supreme Court helped create the problem<\/a>. The liberation of Happy Birthday<\/em> from copyright also still hadn\u2019t happened, so some folks were running a contest to find a replacement<\/a>. As expected, the FTC closed its investigation into Google with no charges<\/a>, though the settlement did still have at least one<\/em> problem<\/a> (or, in the eyes of Google\u2019s very angry competitors, lots of problems<\/a>). Meanwhile, Prenda Law was trying to dismiss a case after it was accused of directly violating the judge\u2019s orders<\/a>, and the lawyers who were going after Charles Carreon upped their request for attorney\u2019s fees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fifteen Years Ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week in 2008, Australia was continuing down the slippery slope of internet censorship<\/a>, while Japan was making its own big push to regulate the internet<\/a>, and China was expanding its great firewall to require government licensing for all user-generated video sites<\/a> (elsewhere, of course, user-generated video was at risk of private censorship<\/a> thanks to copyright holders ignoring fair use). Digg and others were hit with lawsuits over an infamous computer solitaire patent<\/a>, while it was open season on Vonage when it came to VoIP patents<\/a>, but at least the EFF was out there doing the hard, slow work of busting bogus patents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nFiled Under: history<\/a>, look back<\/a>
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