[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #417: Battling giants

Wed Dec 24 10:30:35 EST 2014

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #417: Battling giants
December 24th, 2014

Rock'em Sock'em RobotsHere's something a little different for you. We've 
noticed quite a few stories lately about big tech companies getting into 
disputes with big countries and organizations - and we're not talking 
about Sony and North Korea, which was more of a sneak attack than a 
confrontation. Taking these disputes as the theme of this week's 
/4cast/, we're highlighting four different stories from one source (/Ars 
Technica/) about some big battles currently going on. Depending on how 
these disputes are resolved, it's possible that one or both of the 
parties involved will change their ways, which might also affect us 
small folk. For now, though, it's just interesting to watch from the 
sidelines.

  * Hollywood v. Goliath: Inside the aggressive studio effort to bring
    Google to heel
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/how-hollywood-spurned-by-congress-pressures-states-to-attack-google/>
    (Ars Technica | Joe Mullin) "Attorneys at Sony were on a short list
    of top Hollywood lawyers frequently updated about the MPAA's
    'Attorney General Project,' along with those at Disney, Warner
    Brothers, 21st Century Fox, NBC Universal, and Paramount. The
    e-mails show a staggering level of access to, and influence over,
    elected officials. The MPAA's single-minded obsession: altering
    search results and other products (such as 'autocompleted' search
    queries) from Google, a company the movie studios began referring to
    as 'Goliath' in around February 2014. The studios' goal was to
    quickly get pirated content off the Web; unhappy about the state of
    Google's voluntary compliance with their demands and frustrated in
    their efforts at passing new federal law such as SOPA
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act> and PIPA
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act>, the MPAA has turned
    instead to state law enforcement."
  * Microsoft tells US: The world's servers are not yours for the taking
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/microsoft-tells-us-the-worlds-servers-are-not-yours-for-the-taking/>
    (Ars Technica | David Kravets) "The appeal is of a July court
    decision demanding that Microsoft hand over e-mail stored on an
    overseas server as part of a US drug trafficking investigation.
    Microsoft, which often stores e-mail on servers closest to the
    account holder, said the e-mail is protected by 'Irish and European
    privacy laws.' But a US judge didn't agree. 'It is a question of
    control, not a question of the location of that information,' US
    District Judge Loretta Preska ruled
    <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/usa-tech-warrants-idUSL2N0Q61WN20140731>.
    The order from the New York judge was stayed pending appeal."
  * In wake of restrictive data law in Russia, Google pulls its
    engineers
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/in-wake-of-restrictive-data-law-in-russia-google-pulls-its-engineers/>
    (Ars Technica | Cyrus Farivar) "The move comes a few months after
    Russia passed a new law
    <http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-steps-up-new-law-to-control-foreign-internet-companies-1411574920?mod=WSJ_TechWSJD_NeedToKnow>,
    taking effect in September 2016, that will require data
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/new-russian-law-represses-social-media-bloggers/>
    held on Russian citizens to be kept in-country. The Kremlin and the
    Russian data protection authority known by its local acronym
    Roskomnadzor
    <http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d501137c-bcae-423d-b470-1a63d9fe1b79>
    have used the law as a way to exert more pressure on Russian
    companies and foreign companies doing business in Russia, like
    Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others. Many Russia observers note
    that this law is likely to drive tech companies out of the country."
  * The predictable result of Spain's "Google tax": No more Google News
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/the-predictable-result-of-spains-google-tax-no-more-google-news/>
    (Ars Technica | Joe Mullin) "The Spanish Ministry of Education,
    Culture, and Sport published a response
    <http://www.mecd.gob.es/prensa-mecd/actualidad/2014/12/20141211-tasa.html>
    (Spanish) calling the Google News closure a 'business decision' and
    emphasizing that the newspapers' websites were still available
    directly, as well as through Google's regular search. The Spanish
    'Google tax' effort followed shortly after German publishers gave up
    their effort to get an 11 percent cut
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/german-publishers-want-an-11-percent-cut-of-google-news/>
    of gross revenue from Google News. Technically, there's still a
    'Google tax' in effect in Germany, but it was up to individual
    publishers to try to collect, and they have generally given up on
    such efforts."

*/Articles from Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:/*

  * MPAA study: Google's role in online piracy unchanged.
    <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=62c28a5e-3026-451d-96d2-c5bb497654d7%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4214&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=96046061>
    (/Telecommunications Reports/, 10/1/2013, p19-20)
  * Data protection jurisdiction and cloud computing - when are cloud
    users and providers subject to EU data protection law? The cloud of
    unknowing.
    <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=5ec9b776-0db3-410e-9c6f-cf45e5910a54%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4214&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=cph&AN=78192341>
    (/International Review of Law, Computers & Technology/, July-Nov.
    2012, p129-164 | W. Kuan Hon, Julia Hörnle, and Christopher Millard)
  * Domestic institutions and the taxing of multinational corporations.
    <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=beda73ca-f80a-43ba-8df5-f23cb7e147a6%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4214&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=92886750>
    (/International Studies Quarterly/, Dec. 2013, p751-759 | Nathan M.
    Jensen)

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