Vivendi Universal vs. News Corporation

timbo_red writes: "According to a BBC story, NDS, a company 80% owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is being sued by Canal+ for allegedly cracking their smart cards, which could have had a serious effect on ITV digital, the major UK competitor to Murdochs Sky digital in the UK pay TV market."

Comments

Jurisdiction overhaul

[mcrbids]

This case underscores the global nature of society now, an issue further underscored by the Internet itself.

Really and truly, the idea of "jurisdiction" when it comes to "e-anything" is almost incomprehensible. I publish a web page here in California about barbecues and possibly break Indian law. I publish a (perfectly legal in the US) pro-nazi page with swastikas and break German law if Germans ever (god forbid) look at it.

In this kind of environment, "legal" falls to the least common denominator, whatever's left when everything illegal everywhere is removed. Not much of an argument for "free speech" since anything on the 'net is merely communication, after all.

Remember Dimitri?

At issue is that there is no international law (that the US will respect, anyway) and as a result of this deficiency, we see all kinds of craziness.

It's going to get worse before it gets better.(sigh)