Tag Archives: law

Over the last couple of years, there has been plenty of debate surrounding in-game loot boxes and whether or not they should be considered gambling. Investigations have been launched and politicians have gotten involved all across the world. While some countries took the view that loot boxes were fine, others …

In theory, facial recognition technology offers an incredible boon to the capture of criminals, but the reality is far different. In its current state without regulation, it’s incredibly flawed and poses a number of threats to privacy. These human rights concerns are what have prevented Microsoft from liaising with law …

New anti-piracy plans are being laid by the Council of the European Union, with a leaked document revealing the possible introduction of “indiscriminate internet surveillance.” The proposal is pushed by the Estonian government while it currently retains the bi-annual EU presidency. The original proposal’s “upload filter” is kept intact with …

ASUS has been named as one of three hardware companies currently under investigation by the European Commission for potential anti-competitive practices. It is looking into whether ASUS, Denon and Marantz and Philips and Pioneer, restricted the pricing options of online retailers, forcing the cost of consumer electronics and other items, to …

During the 2015-2016 year ending in March, a total of 206 people were prosecuted utilising new ‘revenge porn' laws introduced at the start of last year. This comes out of a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) report, which looks at many aspects of sexual offences against men and women. A big reason for …

Following on from an almost year-long consultation on the matter, the UK government has decided that two-year maximum prison sentences for those caught sharing copyrighted material online might not be enough, and now wants to push for a ten-year maximum sentence instead. According to an Intellectual Property Office report, this …

Sports are a major part of many people's lives, with some living and dying by the results of their favourite teams. For those that aren't hardcore fans of any one entity though, fantasy sports can be a fun way to imagine how you'd do as a team manager, or a …

The European Parliament has passed a law today that will put a stop to mobile roaming data fees by June 2017. This law was passed as part of a larger legislation, which also wanted to strengthen Net Neutrality laws but unfortunately was left with some major problems that could allow …

If you've used iTunes CD ripping feature recently, did you know you were breaking the law? If you backed up your PC to a remote cloud platform, did you know you were taking part in an illegal activity? Yes, thanks to a recent overturning of revised copyright legislation by the …

Theresa May will need to go back to the drawing board is she wants to try and force through the controversial Communications Draft Bill, otherwise known as the Snooper's Charter, as a High Court judge has ruled it unlawful in its current guise. The piece of legislation was said to …

A new draft law being considered by Chinese parliament could increase the censorship of its internet even more, making information harder for average citizens – without the knowledge of proxies – to access. It's raising concerns among international businesses operating in the region too, as they would need to comply …

In her continued attempt to stamp out ‘extremism' wherever she thinks it might be, British home secretary, Theresa May, has called for regulatory body OfCom to be given powers to vet TV shows before broadcast to see whether they have any extremist material not suitable for viewing audiences. This move has …

Section 215 of the United States Patriot Act is set to expire on the 1st of June, potentially killing off a lot of the NSA and other US based intelligence forces' abilities to spy on individuals without going through official channels. That's something that a  lot of US law-makers don't …

The BBC appears to have fallen foul of the drag-net effects of automated DMCA takedown tools, as in an effort to curb piracy of the on-hiatus motoring show, Top Gear, it's demanded that the show's own IMDB page be removed, along with other bizarre URL's like the DailyMotion home page. …

Following on from the UK's general election taking place last week, many people have their eyes on the re-elected prime-minister David Cameron, to see if (among other things) he will make good on promises he's made in the past that tech firms dodging British tax law would be strapped down …

US President Barack Obama has criticised Chinese plans to implement new anti-terror laws which would see all tech firms doing business in the country forced to hand over encryption keys and to provide back doors in software to allow the military to gain digital access to whatever they want.  While …

Posting nude or compromising photos or videos of individuals without their permission is set to become a criminal offence in England and Wales, making the practice of posting “revenge porn,” online, illegal. This falls in line with other parts of the world, like Victoria in Australia, which banned the practice …

China looks set to turtle up its tech industry in the near future, with the government soon to debate a new draft legislation that would see foreign tech companies need to meet security minimums before being able to sell to Chinese banks. The plan is thought to be to make …

Britain's favourite hate figure and Sun columnist, Katie Hopkins, is once again under fire for comments made on Twitter. This time around though she's garnered police attention after over 7,000 people signed a petition demanding that the authorities take action for her “racist” and “offensive” tweets. Hopkins is a semi-regular …

The British government has taken time out from its ban on female ejaculation and face-sitting in porn, to targeting legitimate sexual crime on the Deep Web, with PM David Cameron announcing new legislation to target those that solicit images from children and a new initiative to go after those that …

Chances are, unless you were reasonably well versed in copyright law, you weren't aware that until very recently, it was actually illegal for you to copy media you owned. That's right, taking that CD and ripping it to your PC, or taking songs you've downloaded and putting them on an …

Showing just how out of touch it is with the state of pornography, the British government is set to further limit how it can be sold in the UK, with new legislation set to come into play on the 1st December. It's called the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 act and …

The UK Government is looking to crack down on severe Internet trolling, raising the current maximum prison sentence from six months to two years if the amendment to Criminal Justice and Courts Bill as well as the Malicious Communications Act go through. This news follows on from the harassment of TV Presenter, Chloe …

Contacting employees outside of work hours could soon become a criminal offence in Germany thanks to the efforts of one minister who believes our ever connected world is causing far too much stress. To investigate this phenomenon, she's now commissioned a report to see if the law is actually viable. …

With copyright and intellectual property law in the messy state that it currently finds itself in the US and other western nations, a lot of time legislating behind the bench is the most common way for changes in the climate to be made and that looks to be the case …

Hot off the back of helping to improve the privacy of European citizens, the EU parliament has just voted in favour of improving net neutrality across the entire region too, making it much harder for internet providers to throttle or block services from competitors. It's also called for an end …

Although EA's recent release and butchering of seminal classic Dungeon Keeper on mobiles was perhaps the worst example of a ‘free to play' game being anything but, the practice of tricking people into playing “free” games that turn out to be little more than an exercise annoying you enough to pay …

Ah those politicians, they do love their vaguely worded bills don't they? We've had SOPA and PIPA before with their thinly veiled restrictions on freedoms and now there's a new one, though admittedly in a different sort of vein. Known as the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union …

Ever downloaded an app that didn't work? Paid for a streaming movie that kept getting stuck? Couldn't get a new song to play on your phone? Well soon you'll be legally entitled to a refund thanks to an update of the consumer bill of rights. As it stands, there are …

A controversial ‘SkyNet' three strikes law against internet piracy in New Zealand came into force on the 1st September 2011 which has halved online piracy according to the Record Industry Association of New Zealand. From August to September 2011 when the new law took effect, the number of times the …