Over the next couple of years, the United Kingdom will be exploring new legislation that addresses “the Wild West elements” on the internet, particularly centred around social media. The proposed laws aim to quell a range of online harassment, from cyberbullying to child exploitation, offering a clearly defined punishment for …
Read More »The ESA responds to Hawaii’s loot box regulation proposals
Earlier this week, we learned that Hawaii representative, Chris Lee, had made some progress on his crusade against loot boxes in video games. Lee first gained recognition for this last year after speaking out against Star Wars Battlefront II's loot box system. Now, the legislator has proposed four new bills …
Read More »US lawmaker outlines plans for anti-loot box laws
Back in November, Hawaii representative, Chris Lee, rose to prominence in the gaming scene after he called out Star Wars Battlefront II's loot box system, blasting EA's microtransaction scheme as a ‘predatory practice'. He also branded the game as a ‘Star Wars-themed online casino' in a video announcing his plans …
Read More »UK and EU prepare legislation as Bitcoin rises over $10,000 value
It looks like the UK and EU governments are going to start taking a closer look at Bitcoin regulation. According to reports this week, both governments are growing concerned that the digital currency is being used for tax evasion and money laundering. As a result, the Treasury is making plans …
Read More »‘Porn for Geeks’ producer on why the Digital Economy Bill will kill British business
British porn producer Harriet Sugarcookie is no stranger to overreaching and economically damaging laws. Two years ago she moved her flourishing business overseas to avoid the talons of moral grandstanding on the part of UK legislation and has been very successful since. Now though, while she sees the Digital Economy …
Read More »White House refuses to back anti-encryption legislation
The Obama administration will not be backing legislation that would allow judges to force companies like Apple to weaken the security of their hardware and software in order to facilitate snooping. While President Obama's personal opinion seems to still be in favour of this sort of bill, clearly there is …
Read More »Encryption finds ally in form of U.S. senator Ron Wyden
Often it seems that politicians are either wilfully ignorant, or unconsciously so, about encryption, with the legislative changes they propose almost always railing against the obfuscating technology. Not so with all of them though, as U.S. senator Ron Wyden has promised to protect it by fighting against a push to …
Read More »The EU will end data roaming charges in 2017
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 …
Read More »UK drones should be registered claims House of Lords
The House of Lords EU Committee wants to see more restrictions placed on the use of drones in the UK, with users forced to register their ownership. This would include both commercial and personal uses of the technology, which is counter to American legislation which recently gave the thumbs up …
Read More »UK Cold caller clampdown coming soon
Have you been pestered by cold callers lately? If you live in the UK then chances are the answer is yes, but never fear, as the government has announced a new change to traditional legislation that will make it far easier to take the companies responsible to task. Even though last year …
Read More »US approves drone usage for films, not delivery
Drones were always going to need regulation. As fun a toy as they are, as they get lighter, smaller and more powerful, they have the potential to travel higher and further and that means they could not only invade people's privacy, but also pose a real hazard to civilian and military …
Read More »China to give local tech firms an advantage in banking
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 …
Read More »Music industry wants tax for music copying
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 …
Read More »SOPA like Trans Pacific Partnership derailed by US Senate
It's been a while since the internet's freedoms were threatened by something as paltry as legislation, we've had PRISM and Tempora to worry about for the last 10 months. But before that, we took on the likes of SOPA, PIPA and ACTA and won, so it's somewhat surprising that the …
Read More »Copyright law isn’t totally depressing
The internet has given us a lot of great things. We have instant communication with people on the other side of the planet, endless amounts of (mostly) watchable media content, up-to-the-minute news and even methods of circumventing dictator crack downs on expression, that have ended up aiding revolutions. But one …
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