Tag Archives: DMCA

Copywrong: Brilliantly Disruptive Startups from Napster to Pinterest

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Antone Johnson • 0 Comments

The law simply hasn’t kept pace with the largest upheaval in the distribution and consumption of content in human history, which has taken place in less than two decades since the consumer Internet was born in 1994. To a large extent, members of the general public have little idea what copyright is, how it works, or how it applies online, if at all.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: digital media, entrepreneurship, law, social media, startups, Web 2.0

When Good Legal Advice Is Worth $10 Million An Hour

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Antone Johnson • 1 Comment

One of the highest profile liquidity events in the first half of 2012 was Facebook’s deal to acquire Instagram for $1 billion. The popular mobile photo-sharing service should fit well into Facebook’s growth strategy as a public company, but its eye-popping valuation — more than that of the New York Times, for those keeping score… Continue Reading

Filed Under: digital media, entrepreneurship, law, liquidity events, Silicon Valley, social media, startups, Web 2.0

If You Build It, They Will Abuse It

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Antone Johnson • 4 Comments

As a completely made-up statistic, assume that 0.01% of users are sociopaths or predators who cause serious damage to the community and its other members. With 10,000 users, that’s one guy. With a million, it’s a hundred people. With 100 million registered users — the scale at MySpace when I left — it’s ten thousand. That kind of math illustrates why every major consumer Internet company has an abuse team that serves as the first line of defense against all kinds of ugliness.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: digital media, law, social media, startups

Crowdsourced Auto Design: Local Motors Audaciously Challenges the Status Quo

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Antone Johnson • 9 Comments

As part of Social Media Week, I visited the Autodesk Gallery for a panel discussion entitled “The Next Challenge For The Crowd: Quickly Build Real, Hard, Complex Shit That Matters (Like Cars).” With a title like that, I was not about to miss it. The Rally Fighter parked out front (around the corner from a Tesla roadster, natch) foreshadowed the fascinating discussion inside. Many of the ideas which had been swirling around in my head for the past week coalesced in this 90-minute conversation with Jay Rogers, CEO and co-founder of Local Motors; Marten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL; and Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired, moderated by Matt Johnston.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: events, law, startups