Month: July 2019
The new EU copyright directive: backing creatives
The new EU copyright law that copyright lawyers, artists, management and media companies have been waiting for was passed on 17 April 2019 as Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC. The directive is not law as is (although some of its provisions […]
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An Uber model for legal services delivery?
Some commentators have been asking whether law firms and other legal service organisations should adopt an Uber-like model for legal service delivery. From a narrow technological point of view I think is safe to assume that this could well happen. Looking at some of the less benign aspects of the model in practice, it seems […]
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Information overload: time to take a break?
Information overload is defined by Wikipedia as “the difficulty in understanding an issue and effectively making decisions when one has too much information about that issue” – although, ironically, it offers alternative definitions based on multiple sources! History The concept of excessive information is nothing new. Back in the 16th Century, renaissance scholar Erasmus blamed […]
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Key IT skills for modern lawyers
There is often an assumption made that young lawyers (Millennials) entering the profession have the technology skills that my generation (Generation X) and the one that went before me (Baby Boomers) lack. A life brought up with a smartphone in hand equips them to tackle legal technology in a law office standing on their head. […]
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Thinking about our digital afterlives
The internet is now not something used only by younger generations but by all ages as the digital world continues to grow apace. The ONS also reports that, since 2011, the percentage of adults aged 65 years and over who had never used the internet has declined by 27 per cent. The digital world now […]
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Airbnb should be seen as a digital service provider
Airbnb has been a phenomenal success since it was launched just over a decade ago, arguably creating more choice for travellers seeking accommodation while providing a user friendly platform which allows homeowners to rent out a spare room easily. However, it has also faced mounting criticism from various quarters: city officials claim that investors snap […]
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Porn age checks delayed (again)
Internet regulation has been very much in the public eye lately, particularly following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the government recently published its Online Harms White Paper which seeks to address some of the concerns surrounding the ‘Wild West Web’. One of the key issues regularly raised is the protection of children from exposure to […]
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