This Week In Techdirt History: December 15th – 21st

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the biggest copyright trolls were facing some issues in court and trying new strategies, while the Sons of Confederate Veterans were sued over a bogus DMCA takedown and we analyzed the choice of venue. We also saw some particularly insane copyright damages against Cox. Avast was downplaying its collection of browsing data, William Barr was attacking Section 230, and a new bill was introduced to study the impact of SESTA/FOSTA on sex workers.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, we learned more about the coordination between the MPAA and Mississippi AG Jim Hood, while Google filed a legal challenge to his subpoenas, and Hood dared reporters to find evidence of Hollywood funding (which we did). We also looked at the MPAA’s broader plan to reinterpret the DMCA into a vast censorship machine, and its secret war on net neutrality. Meanwhile, a court found that EA’s anti-piracy software was patent infringing, and another court found that Apple’s DRM was not an antitrust violation.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, Cory Doctorow started writing about how Apple and audiobook firms insisted on audiobook DRM, while Sony’s ebook boss was also insisting on DRM and calling for higher ebook prices, and we looked at how Blu-Ray’s “managed copy” feature was going to be another Hollywood disaster. Joe Biden convened a “piracy summit” that was completely one-sided and kicked out the press. Also, the Associated Press published an investigation that revealed how Monsanto used gene patents to corner the market on seeds.