At the end of the Week 12 slides I briefly did a recap of some slides from a keynote presentation I gave to the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Media & Communications Law Conference in 2011. Those slides touch on the theme of how to nurture the freedoms that result in creativity with a desire for content that is successfully and happily Canadian. The core thesis was that would only happen when we elevate the freedom to create to a higher point then the insecurities which breed our protectionism. Recalling that the talk was recorded and for those curious about the compatibility of these past ideas with the CRTC’s recent policy pronouncements (quite so actually), the video follows…
Seems Facebook can’t get away from egregious violations of privacy rights…the latest news indicating that their use of tracking cookies which send them data about your use of websites that carry the facebook “like” button (common on news sites, blogs, etc.) regardless of whether you’re a facebook user or have opted out of tracking. Apparently this violates EU Privacy Laws which require advance notification of tracking. They claim they are using the information for “targeted advertising” – but without any real oversight about their use of information, can we trust them?
And then there’s this little gem: “If people who are not being tracked by Facebook use the ‘opt out’ mechanism proposed for the EU, Facebook places a long-term, uniquely identifying cookie, which can be used to track them for the next two years,” explained Günes Acar from Cosic, who also co-wrote the report. “What’s more, we found that Facebook does not place any long-term identifying cookie on the opt-out sites suggested by Facebook for US and Canadian users.” “Facebook sets an opt-out cookie on all the opt-out sites, but this cookie cannot be used for tracking individuals since it does not contain a unique identifier. Why Facebook places the “datr” cookie on computers of EU users who opt out is unknown.”
For tomorrow’s class, I will be discussing the possibility of constructive trusts as a means to remedy the misuse of personal information.
Here is an optional article for you to read. The essay argues that a new common law tort called the ‘misuse of personal information’ should be introduced in the U.K., based on their jurisdiction’s recently recognized tort, ‘misuse of confidential information’.
Reining in the Data Traders: A Tort for the Misuse of Personal Information
by Sarah Ludington
Thank you for your interesting comments and questions during my presentation yesterday! Here is a copy of the slides if anyone is interested. Also additional feedback/ideas/comments are very welcome, feel free to post below!
On the topic of gamification of non-gaming industries (i.e. the adoption of game features such as scoring, badges, levelling, etc.) this is a very interesting speech by game designer Stephanie Morgan on why gamification is not necessarily effective or beneficial as it is currently being adopted –> http://www.besquare.me/session/gamification-sucks/
LEGAL CONSTRAINTS ON (DIGITAL) CREATIVITY: The Course
This is the website for the course "Legal Constraints on Digital Creativity" being offered at the Allard School of Law, UBC. Among the purposes of this website is near real-time engagement with and about course materials. As well as to solicit additional comments, reactions and thoughts from students as well as academic and creative colleagues regarding the content, pedagogy and delivery of the course.
The course is a cousin to Video Game Law which has recently completed its 8th academic year. That course examines how legal constructs apply to a particular advanced form of interactive media. This course is not fixed on any one digital form. It asks how law is altering, circumscribing and entwining our creative instincts and powers.
The course description reads:
This course examines the implications to the human creative process engendered by law and legalities.The invention of digital worlds has resulted in changes and advancements that could scarcely be imagined, with much more still to come. As significant as was the coming of the Internet, the development of software languages, and the growth of social media, they are only part of the story. Among the most profound changes is a fundamental shift in our conception and understanding of what “creativity” means and how it manifests. With today’s tools it is clearer than ever that everyone is a content creator.It is particularly in this light of the democratization of creativity that this course seeks to understand the content realms. Today many legal perspectives are rights based. Rather than another dialectic on rights, we will catalogue and debate the myriad ways creativity is in fact restrained, shaped, and altered even while “freedom of speech/expression” is acknowledged. Above all we will seek to specifically identify the roles of law & regulation in this process. In so doing we will deepen our understanding of censorship, its conventions and guises.We will travel with the creator on the journey their content traverses. In particular we will focus on how intended and received meanings are altered as a consequence of the constraints we identify. We will in every class proceed from the inside out, from the creation of an idea through stages of gestation, fixation, distribution, communication, reception, comprehension, interpretation, and understanding.Our classes will examine different levels of creative constraint, as well as cataloguing their consequences to creators, the creative process, and democracy itself. We will, employing various methods, survey the following layers of control, moving from purely private to state sponsored:a. Creative Models & Community Constraints (extra-legal)b. Technological & Structural Constraintsc. Copyright, Remixing & Moddingd. Trademarks, Patents & the IP Business (including "IP trolling”)e. Contractual Constraints (EULA’s, ToS’ and the “Post IP World”)f. Privacy, Defamation, & Personality Rights g. Industry & Medium Regulation in a Digital Age (net neutrality, neg regulation & the future of “Broadcasting”)h. Consumer Protection (“Big Data” as well as psychological manipulations or “brain-gaming”)i. Criminal/Obscenity/Taxation/Currency/Gambling Law & Regulationj. Internet Governance & Surveillance (and the meanings of “Hacking”)
On the site you will find sections for the Syllabus and for the materials. Both are, of necessity in this fast moving digital world, always works in progress.
jon
You agree that the comments you contribute to this website may find their way into the course, other iterations of the course, other courses, lectures, books, or anywhere at all, without any acknowledgment or obligation to you. That said, you are legally responsible for your comments you make to this site under all applicable laws. This site is not intended and must not be used as a source of legal advice. Please see the Terms of Use referenced at the bottom of the page for additional constraints. As well you will find a version of these words on the submission forms (unless you are a student in the course, in which case you will have full authorship privileges). And no, the irony of this disclaimer having regard to the subject matter of this website and the course to which it relates, is not lost on the writer.
Check out the UBC Video Game Law Course