This Week In Techdirt History: August 20th – 26th

Five Years Ago

This week in 2018, after years of fighting, Prenda boss Paul Hansmeier followed the path of John Steele and pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The DOJ was trying to force Facebook to break encryption on voice calls, the EU was moving forward with legislation demanding rapid removal of “terrorist content”, and there was another entry in the string of rejections from courts of the silly claims that YouTube provided material support for terrorists. Meanwhile, 23 Attorneys General were urging the Appeals Court to restore net neutrality, and we wrote about how the fact that its repeal didn’t instantly destroy the internet doesn’t mean it was good, or okay.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2013, the NSA revealed that it performs 20 million database queries every month, while the latest info from leaks revealed that the agency can spy on almost anything and sets its own filters, and that a program continued for three years after being found unconstitutional. A declassified FISA Court opinion showed that the NSA repeatedly lied to the court as well, while we got more confirmation and then admission that analysts frequently intentionally abused their powers. Things also got ugly when the UK government detained David Miranda, and forced The Guardian to destroy hard drives with the Snowden info on them under orders that came directly from Prime Minister David Cameron.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2008, the RIAA had Pandora on the ropes, while it settled with Denise Barker (who had challenged the constitutionality of the damaged in her case) for $756 per song, and a RIAA executive jumped ship and went to the ESA, sparking speculation that it would start suing over video game piracy. An ABC/Disney memo highlighted the company’s hypocrisy over copying, while a panel of entertainment industry lobbyists at a conference fell into the old pattern of demanding everyone else (mainly ISPs) protect their business model. And in the UK, a woman was fined nearly $30,000 for sharing pinball game software, though it turned out that this was a default judgement that the law firm was portraying as a hard-won victory.