Laboratory for Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law

20/10/2019

A 23-year-old law giving technology companies legal protection from lawsuits over user-generated content remains critical to the internet’s future, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google unit and social media site Reddit Inc said in testimony released on Tuesday.

Senior executives from Google, Reddit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and legal experts are due to face questions on Wednesday in Congress about the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which critics say shields tech companies from dealing with threatening, violent, dangerous or bullying content.

Lawmakers from both major political parties have said Congress could make additional changes to the law to restrict companies’ immunity. Last year, Congress made it easier for prosecutors and s*x-trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that kept exploitative material on their platforms.

At issue is Section 230 of the act, which generally provides immunity to online platforms for content posted by users, although companies can still be held liable for content that violates criminal or intellectual property law.

Advocates say the law has helped the rapid growth of internet companies over the past 20 years and encouraged free expression.

Katherine Oyama, Google’s global head of intellectual property policy, said Section 230 incentivizes “action against harmful content” and Google has more than 10,000 people working on content moderation.

Without Section 230, search engines, video sharing platforms, blogs and other providers would “either not be able to filter content at all (resulting in more offensive online content, including adult content, spam, security threats, etc.) or would over-filter content (including important cases of political speech),” Oyama said in written testimony.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce committee released written testimonies ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, which is titled “Fostering a Healthier Internet to Protect Consumers.”

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said Section 230 has incentivized “good faith attempts to mitigate the unavoidable downsides of free expression.

“While these downsides are serious and demand the attention of both us in industry and you in Congress, they do not outweigh the overwhelming good that 230 has enabled.”

Huffman said that “all-or-nothing moderation simply isn’t feasible,” given the fact Reddit handles more than 750,000 posts and 6.3 million comments per day across over 130,000 active communities.

Danielle Keats Citron, a Boston University law professor, said courts had stretched Section 230’s legal shield far beyond what it was intended for, and instead has been used “to immunize platforms from liability even though they knew about users’ illegal activity, deliberately refused to remove it, and ensured that those responsible for the illegality could not be identified.”

In June, Republican Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation to remove immunity large tech companies receive under Section 230 unless they submit to an external audit that proves their algorithms and content-removal practices are politically neutral.

A 23-year-old law giving technology companies legal protection from lawsuits ove...

20/10/2019

Gary Glitter will not receive Joker royalties, say rights holders. Snapper Music and Universal Music Publishing Group say they own the rights to the singer’s catalogue and do not pay him

Rights holders for Gary Glitter’s catalogue of songs have stated that the disgraced rock star will not receive royalties from one of his songs being used in the movie Joker.

Glitter is serving a 16-year jail term for s*xual offences against children. He was jailed for four months on child po*******hy charges in 1999, and for three years in Vietnam after being convicted of child s*x offences in 2006.

His song Rock and Roll Part 2 is used prominently in one scene in Joker, prompting reports that Glitter could receive a six-figure sum as one of the two credited songwriters. But speaking to the LA Times, the label Snapper Music, which owns Glitter’s catalogue, said: “Gary Glitter does not get paid – we’ve had no contact with him”.

In the US, Universal Music Publishing Group said it was not paying royalties to Glitter: “Gary Glitter’s publishing interest in the copyright of his songs is owned by UMPG and other parties, therefore UMPG does not pay him any royalties or other considerations.”

Joker won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice film festival and has been a critical and commercial hit, earning nearly $550m worldwide in two weeks.

Snapper Music and Universal Music Publishing Group say they own the rights to the singer’s catalogue and do not pay him

20/10/2019

Prince's estate rebukes Trump for playing Purple Rain at rally. Use of Purple Rain reportedly breaches written agreement stating that Trump campaign would no longer play Prince’s music

Prince’s estate has rebuked Donald Trump after the US president played Purple Rain at a rally in Minneapolis, the late singer’s home town, despite having pledged to no longer play Prince’s music at his campaign events.

The Trump campaign made the agreement in October 2018 after Trump used Purple Rain during the 2016 US presidential race.

“The Prince estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs,” the estate wrote on Twitter, sharing the letter from representatives for the president that confirmed it would not use Prince’s music “in connection with activities going forward”.

The band Queen also successfully prevented Trump from using their music. We Will Rock You featured in its entirety in a new campaign advert for the president, which he posted to Twitter on 9 October. It has since been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.

Trump had played We Are the Champions at the Republican national convention in July 2016. The band said its use was “unauthorised”, and Brian May later described the president as a “very dangerous man”.

Artists including the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Neil Young, Tom Petty, REM and Elton John have previously sought to prevent Trump from playing their music at his events.

Use of Purple Rain reportedly breaches written agreement stating that Trump campaign would no longer play Prince’s music

20/10/2019

Google VP says guests should be informed if you have smart devices in the home

Consumer privacy is a tightrope act that no company has quite managed to nail down and that some seem to have given up on. In a recent interview with the BBC that followed Google’s event in New York, Rick Osterloh, the senior vice president of devices and services, said that homeowners might want to consider disclosing the presence of smart devices before they invite guests into their home.

The statement follows a string of incidents involving Google devices. In July, a Belgian company discovered that third-party transcriptionists were used to review Google Home and Google Assistant recordings — and that those recordings had captured private, personal information without the user’s knowledge. Last month, a hacker terrorized a family through their Nest smart thermostat. Google assured the homeowners the attack was not the result of a security breach, but had no other answers.

Smart home devices receive an unfiltered view into your home, but proper privacy practices have seemed like a secondary consideration for some time. Nest’s cameras have an LED that is always on when the camera is in recording mode (and it can’t be overwritten by the user), but knowing a camera is recording is different from knowing when a smart assistant is recording conversation it isn’t meant to hear.

In an interview with the BBC, Google VP Rick Osterloh said that homeowners should inform guests if they have smart devices that might film or record their conversations, a statement that has raised concerns over privacy. The statement follows several incidents in the previous months surrounding smar...

16/10/2019

Добрый день!

Напоминаем, что 21-22 октября 2019 года на факультете права Национального исследовательского университета «Высшая школа экономики» состоится IX Международная конференция «Право в цифровую эпоху», организованная нашей лабораторией.
Подробности: https://vk.com/it_ip_lab_hse?w=wall-84014843_2978

Также в рамках конференции проходит секция молодых ученых. Подробности: https://vk.com/it_ip_lab_hse?w=wall-84014843_2984

По многочисленным просьбам регистрация продлена до 20 октября. Доступна по ссылке: https://pravo.hse.ru/infolaw/ilconf/2019/

❗Обращаем внимание, что информация о регистрации до 20 октября актуальна только для слушателей. При желании принять участие на секции молодых ученых в качестве спикера, тезисы следует присылать до 19 октября на почту [email protected] или прикреплять файл при регистрации.

19/09/2019

Всем привет! 🥳

Команда лаборатории возвращается с каникул с радостной новостью: 21-22 октября 2019 года в НИУ ВШЭ пройдет IX Международная конференция «Право в цифровую эпоху». Принять участие можно как в качестве лектора, так и в качестве слушателя. Будет доступен синхронный перевод на английский язык.

Цель конференции – обсуждение правовых проблем в эпоху цифровой экономики.

Программа конференции предусматривает пленарные и секционные заседания, где будут обсуждаться следующие вопросы:
- Право в цифровую эпоху: доктрина и практика
- Оборот данных: направления правового регулирования
- Платформы: правовые аспекты создания и функционирования
- Авторское право в цифровую эпоху

В рамках конференции планируются выступления ведущих российских и международных экспертов, юристов – ученых и практиков.

Также 22 октября в рамках конференции состоится секция молодых ученых. На ней могут выступить студенты-магистры и аспиранты. Отбор участников будет проходить на основании тезисов. Информация о ней появится уже на этой неделе, следите за новостями!

Место проведения:
Москва, ул. Мясницкая, д. 11, ауд. 518

Время работы конференции: 21 октября с 11:00 до 18:00
22 октября с 11:00 до 15:30
Секция молодых ученых: 22 октября с 16:00 до 19:00

Телефон для справок: +74957729590*23011
По вопросам также можно обращаться на почту [email protected] или в личные сообщения Маргарита Сазонова

Ссылка для регистрации: https://pravo.hse.ru/infolaw/ilconf/2019/

Ждем всех!

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18/09/2019

Уважаемые студенты!

В феврале 2020 года будет проводиться IV Всероссийский конкурс «Модель Суда по интеллектуальным правам». На факультете права открывается отбор в команду для участия в данном конкурсе. Будем рады видеть всех желающих!

Для того, чтобы принять участие в отборе, Вам необходимо:

1. Направить CV и короткое мотивационное письмо (до 2000 знаков) на почту [email protected] до 22 сентября 2019 г.

2. Успешно прошедшие первый этап будут приглашены принять участие в очном этапе отбора, который будет представлять собой небольшое собеседование с представлением позиции по делу.

При возникновении вопросов можно обращаться на почту [email protected] или к Екатерине Лобышевой (vk.com/ekaterinalobysheva), а также писать в паблике команды НИУ ВШЭ: https://vk.com/hseipmoot

Подробная информация о конкурсе: https://vk.com/wall-77017557_744

Удачи!

03/09/2019

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

HSE Price Media Law Moot Court team is looking for team members for 2019–2020 competition.

Price Media Law Moot Court Competition challenges the participants to engage in research on issues in privacy and data protection, cyber law, intermediary liability, free speech and human rights. The Competition includes Regional Rounds (4 – 6 December 2019) in Budapest, Hungary, and International Rounds in Oxford, UK (31 March – 3 April 2020). Please see the website for more information (https://pricemootcourt.socleg.ox.ac.uk)

Eligibility: HSE undergraduate and graduate students in law. We are looking for good public speakers proficient in English.
We especially encourage to apply freshmen graduate students who just got enrolled at HSE.

To apply:

1. Send your CV and a brief motivation statement describing why you are interested in participation and the Competition's issues (not more than 250 words) to [email protected].

Deadline: 11 September 2019 at 23:59 Moscow time.

2. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview. Please, be prepared to discuss one of this year’s case issues and present your position on it in a moot format.

Good luck!

Price Media Law Moot Court Competition is being hosted Bonavero Institute of Human Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford, from 1 August 2017. With the Faculty and College working in partnership, this dynamic global research institute will bring together world-class scholars and pr...

17/07/2019

В России могут появиться экспериментальные правовые режимы для инноваторов в цифровой сфере

Минэкономразвития подготовило законопроект, который позволит лицам, занимающимся разработкой и внедрением цифровых инноваций, осуществить практическое применение их продукта в условиях отказа от стандартных ограничений и без риска.

Подробнее:

Минэкономразвития подготовило законопроект, который позволит лицам, занимающимся разработкой и внедрением цифровых инноваций, осуществить практическое примене....

06/07/2019

VIII International Summer School on Cyber Law. Day 5

The 5th day of the Summer School was dedicated to the legal aspects of cybersecurity.

Andrey Zorin, the Director of the legal Department of the Orange Moscow office, drew attention to the construction of the company's cybersecurity system in accordance with the law. The programmers of Orange demonstrated the process of implementation of the cyberattacks and protection.

During the presentations of participants in the context of cybersecurity, the following main problems were identified:

- fighting international cyberattacks and creation of consultative bodies;

- observance of fundamental human and civil rights and freedoms, balanced restriction of rights for significant purposes in regulating issues of protection against cyberthreats;

- focus not only on cyberattacks, but also on cyber espionage.

In addition, Orange specialists conducted a tour to the office during which they showed the main products of the company. Special attention of participants was attracted by self-learning AI that recognizes faces.

05/07/2019

VIII International Summer School on Cyber Law. Day 4

The 4th day of the Summer School, dedicated to the legal regulation of certain aspects of AI, was held in the Moscow office of Yandex.

Roman Krupenin, the Head of legal practice in the field of technology, distribution, mergers and acquisitions, spoke about the basic principles of AI and machine learning, as well as the legal problems associated with these phenomena on the example of self-driving cars of Yandex. According to Roman, the solution of these problems cannot be achieved solely by means of legislative regulation.

Representative of Yandex Alexander Gavrilin tried to solve the problem of authorship of works created by AI through the prism of various theories of intellectual property. In the end, the speaker came to the conclusion that there is no need to recognize AI as a subject of copyright.

Ruslan Nurullaev, a lawyer at Associate Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, put the complex issue of the legal restrictions of using AI for the purposes of profiling. As a balanced solution of the problem of non-fully transparent and potential opportunity of discrimination the lawyer proposes the introduction and application of data anonymization mechanisms, transparency of scoring, the requirement of free consent of the subject of personal data, self-regulation.

Elvina Abdulina, a lawyer at Yandex, also invited the participants to discuss criminal and civil law, as well as ethical issues of liability for damage caused by drones. In this part, the audience leaned more towards a business decision. No one will buy a self-driving car if it kills the driver and passengers rather than the pedestrian. De lege ferenda may need to limit the liability of the CEO in this respect.

In addition, the participants discussed the issues of antitrust regulation of AI, AI-arbitration, patent law and e-Commerce related to the main topic of the day.

Professor Reita Soni from Jawaharlal Nehru University (India) tried to summarize all the problems described earlier in the framework of the discussion on the formation of the concept of Society 5.0 (platform society). The main problems of such a society, which require a legal solution, according to the Professor, are non-transparency of data processing and the monopoly of Internet giants on the most valuable resource – user data. The main solution of the problem is to change the logic of competition platforms to the logic of cooperation, in the interests of users with the maximum guarantee of their rights.