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Freedom to Differ 

A blog that speaks freely about legal issues facing the media and the internet. It mainly covers issues relating to the legal regulation of the internet and the media, but at times Constitutional law issues and politics are discussed. While the focus is on Australia, developments in other nations around the world are considered as well.
Post Frequency: 25.4/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 09:11:39 Recent Entries: 2028
Go to Freedom to Differ, find other International Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Duncan Riley's new project
Posted on May 06, 2008Australian blogging celebrity Duncan Riley is leaving TechCrunch to start a new project, The Inquisitr. Read what TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has to say about Duncan's sad departure here. You can also read Duncan describe his new project here (and watch him on a video), or listen to him on a...
An internet mystery
Posted on May 06, 2008Wired presents an internet mystery, how much of the internet's traffic really is file sharing? How much of the traffic on the internet is peer-to-peer file trading? Everyone seems to agree it represents a lot of the traffic, but the truth is no one knows (with the possible exception of...
Wikipedia seeks CDA immunity ... and should get it
Posted on May 06, 2008Wikipedia seeks immunity under the Communications Decency Act: Online encyclopedia Wikipedia is asking a court to dismiss a libel lawsuit brought by literary agent Barbara Bauer, who alleges that she was described as "The Dumbest of the 20 Worst" in an article...
The Empire Strikes Barack
Posted on May 04, 2008The latest viral video hit focused on Barack Obama:
Chlamydia spreads virally on Facebook
Posted on May 04, 2008TechCrunch's Duncan Riley highlights an unusual Facebook application: A new app from the American Social Health Association aims to spread Chlamydia on Facebook to raise awareness of the disease. The Morph Monkey Facebook app looks fairly benign at the start...
Murdering the internet
Posted on May 04, 2008Newsweek has a fascinating interview with Professor Jonathan Zittrain: If you say that the iPhone is the greatest invention of your lifetime, few would bat an eye. If you stay up all night playing Halo 3 like some deranged supermarathoner bent on blasting strangers a continent away on your Xbox...
More and more downloaded music
Posted on May 04, 2008More and more people are downloading their music rather than buying CDs: Digital sales of music represented 10 percent of the total worldwide music market in 2007, up from six percent in 2006, according to In-Stat. By 2012, digital music sales will represent an impressive 40 percent of all music...
Google diminishing domain names
Posted on May 04, 2008At WebProNews, Barry Welford asks is Google driving down the value of domain names? Robin Cannon in Search Engine Journal asks the somewhat puzzling question, ?Is Google Trumping The URL?? Apparently more and more people use Google to find websites than type in the URL in the address bar of...
Happy birthday
Posted on May 03, 2008Spam turns 30: Spam - the scourge of every e-mail inbox - celebrates its 30th anniversary this weekend. The first recognisable e-mail marketing message was sent on 3 May, 1978 to 400 people on behalf of DEC - a now-defunct computer-maker. The message was sent via Arpanet - the internet's...
Online alter egos
Posted on May 03, 2008The Washington Post explains the rise of online alter egos on sites like Facebook and MySpace: Since joining Facebook and MySpace two years ago, Luke Mitchell has amassed 476 friends, mostly buddies from high school and college. It was a great way to keep in touch, until his boss showed...
"When does kinky porn become illegal?"
Posted on May 03, 2008BBC News looks at a new UK law banning "extreme pornography": A bill outlawing the possession of "extreme pornography" is set to become law next week. But many fear it has been rushed through and will criminalise innocent people with a harmless taste for unconventional sex...
Introducing an investigative humorist
Posted on May 03, 2008The Washington Post profiles Adam Chodikoff, a researcher for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: So here's Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq four years ago, describing the situation in a TV interview in September 2003: "We're not in a quagmire," he's saying confidently...
Anti-piracy video controversy
Posted on May 03, 2008The Sydney Morning Herald reports on an Australian anti-piracy video that has backfired on its creators: An artist featured in a new campaign pushed by the Australian music industry to discourage illegal file sharing and change the public's perception that musicians live like royalty says he was duped into joining...
Radiohead's All I Need
Posted on May 03, 2008The Daily Tube drew my attention to Radiohead's latest music video: Radiohead teamed up with MTV to produce this poignant video for their single "All I Need," which shows the dichotomy of two children's lives: one, a privileged Western child, the other, bound by the laws of servitude and silence...
Most influential political pundits
Posted on May 03, 2008The Telegraph has put together a list of the top 50 US political pundits. Here is the top ten: Karl Rove Chris Matthews Sean Hannity Rush Limbaugh John Harris and Jim Vandehei Matt Drudge Tim Russert Jon Stewart David Brooks Mark Halperin Read the full list here.
Blogger one of the world's most influential people
Posted on May 02, 2008TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has been named as one of the world's most influential people, according to Time magazine: Michael Arrington, a former corporate attorney who, via his TechCrunch blog, has become one of the most influential figures on the Web, is the quintessential blogger: intense, passionate, consumed with his subject,...
Facebook in reality
Posted on May 02, 2008What would it be like if Facebook was actually played out in real life?
2008 Fugly Awards
Posted on May 02, 2008The winners of the 2008 Fugly Awards have been announced. Find out the winners here.
Twitter users = tech elite = influence
Posted on April 30, 2008Steve Rubel argues that while Twitter has a tiny reach, it is still very influential: There's been an interesting discussion over the last few days about Twitter's reach. WSJ reporter Kara Swisher surveyed her dinner party and found out that no one there uses the micro-blogging site...
Is the DataPortability logo cursed?
Posted on April 30, 2008TechCrunch's Michael Arrington reports that the DataPortability Workgroup is once again having legal problems over its logo: The DataPortability Workgroup ... now faces its second legal challenge to, of all things, its choice of logo. In February, Red Hat sent a cease and desist letter claiming trademark infringement over their...
Hulu could have saved Arrested Development
Posted on April 30, 2008An interesting post at Lost Remote: Warner Bros. is ... resurrecting the WB network ? online. The site will feature archive video of many of the WB?s classic shows. Warner Bros. is pursuing the ?long tail? of content, much like Hulu has done with its extensive lineup of vintage shows...
How to stop your inbox exploding
Posted on April 30, 2008Cory Doctorow offers five tips to stop from your inbox from exploding: I live and die in my email, receiving hundreds of non-spam messages every day. If I'm stationary and not actually feeding or playing with the baby, chances are I've got my laptop open somewhere nearby, online and downloading...
"Behind the Memes" with cewebrities
Posted on April 30, 2008Wired profiles some of the internet's biggest cewebrities: Who are the geek elite that make us laugh out loud? Chances are you've heard of a Tron-obsessed computer guy, gotten a JibJab e-card, or giggled at a Chuck Norris Fact, but you've probably never met the person (or people) behind these...
Roundtable Seminar - Reforming the Constitution
Posted on April 30, 2008Today I'm participating in a Roundtable Seminar on Reforming the Constitution at Parliament House in Canberra. For more details see my earlier post here. If you're interested in the topic, you can watch the Roundtable as a webcast here. Blogging will resume tomorrow.
Lenovo parodies MacBook Air ad
Posted on April 30, 2008Gizmodo drew my attention to this clever parody ad: Most parody videos are lame in the sense that they take one joke and stretch it to 60 seconds, but Lenovo's one joke actually works when properly executed. Not to spoil anything, but it's a send-up of the MacBook Air in...
"Lessig style"
Posted on April 29, 2008I've blogged about Larry Lessig's unique PowerPoint Keynote style (see here and here) and now a physicist explains why it is so effective. Read it here.
Should JK Rowling win?
Posted on April 29, 2008In a piece for FindLaw's Writ, Julie Hilden analyses J.K. Rowling's lawsuit against those who plan to publish an Unauthorized Harry Potter Encyclopedia and asks, who should win? Recently, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers sued a small publisher that is planning to sell a lexicon/encyclopedia of her...
The formula for a viral video hit
Posted on April 29, 2008The Daily Tube presents the formula for a viral video hit: Here's a surefire formula for viral vid success: take the Muppets, add some R-rated raunch, mix together with a little clever editing, and voila! In this case, here's Miss Piggy lip syncing Peaches' raunchy ode "F--k the Pain Away"...
Am I smug and condescending?
Posted on April 29, 2008Information Week drew my attention to this Marketplace public radio story on the typical Mac user: It was technology's turn in the earnings barrel today. After the bell, Amazon reported a 28 percent rise in first quarter profits. Apple said its profits jumped more than 35 percent...
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Scalia Opens Religious Freedom Conference
Justice Antonin Scalia gave the keynote address at a conference on...
Ads Ask New Hampshire Candidates For Religious Freedom Positions
A coalition of groups advocating church-state separation is runnin...
Must Freedom of Expression include the license to offend?
Yes
Imposing any limits on speech, no matter how seemingly reasonab...
I'm wondering about how the law applies to my marriage. How does being married differ from being single in the eyes of the law
Short answer is that it probably depends on the State you live in, whether the c...
How does assault differ from battery?
Assault requires only the expectation of contact; battery requires contact....

Must Freedom of Expression include the license to offend?
Yes
Imposing any limits on speech, no matter how seemingly reasonab...
I'm wondering about how the law applies to my marriage. How does being married differ from being single in the eyes of the law
Short answer is that it probably depends on the State you live in, whether the c...
How does assault differ from battery?
Assault requires only the expectation of contact; battery requires contact....








