Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

  • Furious freetards blitz the wrong SOPA

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Angry copyfighters barraged a small Scottish food certification agency with abuse last week – in the belief they were protesting against hated US anti-piracy legislation. The Scottish Organic Producers Association – whose website is at sopa.org.uk – was perplexed when it found itself on the receiving of dozens of nasty and illiterate emails. Remarkably, nothing…

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  • We can ditch the laws when the Valley’s snotty web teens grow up

    We can ditch the laws when the Valley’s snotty web teens grow up

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    I am going to propose something that may sound radical, but really isn’t. Legislation like SOPA ideally isn’t necessary in an ideal world, and this idea comes about through voluntary agreement. The Stop Online Piracy Act was proposed because of a tragic impasse, a lack of agreement between two powerful and deeply entrenched sides. Although…

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  • Perhaps there’s no ‘Third Ecosystem’?

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    There’s a whiff of something – it isn’t desperation, more like earnest exasperation – around Microsoft’s phone business these days Humiliatingly, Nokia was forced to deny rumours last week that it was planning to break up and sell its crown jewels to Microsoft. Normally a company can remain impervious to Twitter-born gossip, particularly from a…

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  • Parody is illegal, say barmy bureaucrats

    Parody is illegal, say barmy bureaucrats

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The IPO chose Office Party Friday last week to unveil 15 more proposals on intellectual property reform. This is traditionally the most alcoholic workday of the year – and ministers might need another stiff drink as they digest the surprises that ideologically fanatical bureaucrats have been preparing for them.   Among the proposals is the…

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  • BT’s gift to Google: A patent war over ads and Android

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    It’s open season now. BT is the latest company to sue Google, alleging patent infringement, but this latest barrage extends beyond Google’s Android software – it touches to other Google services too. These include maps, music, social networking and its advertising services, including Adwords, claims BT. …

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  • The bureaucratic elite and the Google Review. The story continues…

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    It’s also a stealth project – ECL was omitted from the Executive Summary that only hurried politicians and the media ever read The Business Department BiS has launched a copyright consultation, inviting views on the recommendations raised in the "Google Review", as the "Hargreaves Review into IP and Growth" became known. Hargreaves was tasked with…

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