By Amy Wang

When the reputations of luxury design labels, headliners of Fashion Weeks around the world, are threatened by—gasp!—inelegant streetwear, whose artistic integrity prevails?

The Los Angeles–based clothing brand Kitson and its designer, Brian Lichtenberg, are notorious for their “remixing” of legendary brandings, coveted by young Hollywood stars and their civilian, scenester counterparts alike.   His recent line of punny sweatshirts commentates on the increased popularity of certain prescription drugs.  Consequently, the collection provoked almost immediate backlash from the pharmaceutical companies.  Most notably, however, Lichtenberg riffs off of high-end fashion labels.  His online store currently sells parody apparel almost exclusively.  Lichtenberg pokes fun of everyone from Gucci to The North Face.

Continue reading →

This portion of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and Center for Copyright Information’s new copyright lesson plan for second graders showcases the groups’ emphasis on permissive uses

By Evan Brown

Since the spread of high-speed data connections and the Napster revolution in the late 1990s, cultural respect for copyright has seemingly diminished (if, in fact, it ever really existed at all). A new campaign by content industry groups seeks to change this by inculcating their version of copyright law in American kids as early as possible. But is their version the one kids should learn?

Continue reading →

By Megan Fensterman

At a time when American incarceration rates are higher than they’ve ever been, one federal agency just delivered a huge victory for the ever-increasing U.S. prison population. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently passed a rule preventing inmate calling services (ICS) from blocking calls from prison that are routed through VoIP services, such as ConsCallHome (CCH), to make cheaper phone calls to their families and other loved ones. The order [LINK REDACTED DUE TO GOVT SHUT DOWN], passed Sept. 26, comes on the heels of another recent order [LINK] that established a “safe harbor” cap on rates charged by ICS companies.

Continue reading →

By Abby St. Hilaire

With recent arrests of library patrons caught viewing child pornography, the issue of porn in Washington public libraries seems to have resurfaced.  As was the issue just a few years ago, Seattle residents are again questioning whether libraries can or should filter Internet content.

Continue reading →

By Caitlin Forsyth

Do you rely on Yelp to decide whether to try someplace new? Or, do you not trust Yelp reviewers? If you see red flags while perusing Yelp reviews, you are not alone.

According to a recent report written by Michael Luca, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and Georgios Zervas, an assistant professor of marketing at Boston University, up to 20% of all Yelp reviews are fake; this figure is up from 5% in 2006. This is especially problematic in light of an earlier study by Luca: after crunching Washington State Department of Revenue restaurant data, he found that a one-star rating hike on Yelp can mean a 5% to 9% rise in restaurant revenue.

Continue reading →