This Week In Techdirt History: February 18th – 24th

Five Years Ago

This week in 2019, the EU Commission decided to mock the public by insisting all the fears about the copyright directive were myths, even as lots of real people were showing up in real life to protest, and journalists were pointing out the problems with Article 11. Amidst this, we featured a long two-part interview with a European parliament member about the regulation of digital platforms. Back in the US, Richard Blumenthal was saying some weird stuff about FOSTA, and a high-profile defamation fight kicked off when Nick Sandmann sued the Washington Post. This was also the week that we announced the winners of our first public domain game jam (stay tuned for the winners of this year's jam, coming very soon!)

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2014, while Ed Snowden's lawyer was being interrogated at Heathrow airport, Snowden himself was elected as Glasgow University Rector and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and James Clapper was admitting they should have been more transparent about Section 215 surveillance. The DHS sent out a call for a national license plate database, then quickly reversed course. Meanwhile, the FCC outlined a timid, murky plan to maybe defend net neutrality, but even that weak sauce was enough to get Marsha Blackburn up in arms.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2009, artists started intentionally infringing copyright to protest Damien Hirst bullying a teenager. Copyright lobbyists were once again demanding the US classify Canada as a piracy hotbed, prosecutors in the Pirate Bay trial dropped half the charges, and a new research paper showed how useless it is to require ISPs to be copyright cops. On the patent front, hoarding firms were discovering the ITC loophole and we saw yet another patent lawsuit over the iPhone, while a venture capitalist explained how patents can be a tax on innovation. And in California, a video game law was once again found unconstitutional.