This Week In Techdirt History: February 2nd – 8th

Five Years Ago

This week in 2020, Facebook paid out a hefty settlement in a facial recognition lawsuit in Illinois, which looked like bad news for the also-just-sued new kid on the block: Clearview AI, about whom we were learning lots of disturbing new things. In an ongoing attempt to avoid its own similar problems, Ring updated its privacy dashboard to allow users to block all law enforcement requests for footage, while a court order revealed that the DEA was busy demanding all sorts of data from WhatsApp and other service providers. Meanwhile, we looked at the big legacy companies behind the push to turn people against Section 230.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2015, the Blurred Lines copyright lawsuit was heating up, the MPAA was telling more lies about films being easily available online through legal means, and Disney was going nuts in its attempts to block leaks about the new Star Wars films. The FCC officially started pursuing Title II net neutrality rules, and we soon had to start debunking the idea that this meant the agency was “treating the internet as a utility”, while anti-net-neutrality propaganda started reaching absolutely insane levels. Meanwhile, we learned more about the huge problems with TAFTA/TTIP, and how the USTR was using the TPP to push for a copyright term extension.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2010, the director’s commentary to Fight Club offered another story of the ridiculousness of copyright clearances in Hollywood, Billboard got snarky in responding to our pitch for how artists can make money in the age of the internet, and we looked at the recording industry’s response to the internet through the lens of the stages of grief. A new law in Australia forbade anonymous political commentary during election season, while Bruce Schneier wrote an excellent piece about why it’s impossible to actually get rid of anonymity online, even if you want to. And amidst the conversation about piracy as “theft”, we wrote about how copyright law was never based on protecting labor.