Technology and the law

Jeff Seul has launched a new blog, which addresses the confluence of technology and law: (via Malevolent Design)

Technology often disrupts existing norms or exposes the absence of norms in some domain, just as it often disrupts existing markets or creates new ones. Being a corporate and IP lawyer in the tech world is a great job for anyone who believes in the constructive potential of science and technology and who wants to help shape the social and economic spheres in ways that encourage and support technological innovation and appropriate uses of technology. The relationship between technology and norms is often recursive: as technology affects the world and begins to influence existing norms, social forces sometimes begin to influence how a technology evolves or is used.

The recent lifting of the ban on short range FM transmitters in the UK is an example of the way in which legal systems interact with developments in technology — the question remains as to how long copying music on to your iPod will remain illegal.