The Law

ArsTechnica is reporting that Sony’s lack of regard for its customers as well as the DMCA lead it to developing the now infamous CD rootkit.
“In a new paper examining the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, a pair of lawyers argue that the music company didn’t just damage itself—it unwittingly struck a blow against DRM in general.
Deirdre […]

Talk about a chilling effect. This blows “privacy” right out of the water, shoots it a few dozen times, then chops it into itty bitty pieces and uses the pieces to make fish food.
“People of the Internet, I have a story to tell. A story with a few morals to it and a dire warning […]

File this one under “really frickin’ scary” -
“Hackers successfully infiltrated Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), one of the nation’s leading government-run research facilities. The attackers gained access by sending e-mails infected with trojan horses to ORNL employees. The lab claims that no classified information was retrieved, but admits that the perpetrators managed to acquire a […]

Don’t copy that floppy, otherwise you might lose your computer, router, and any equipment that may have assisted in some kind of file sharing. The wording of the bill is scary as hell - the proposed group can seize your assets and auction them off before you are ever accused of or found guilty of […]

While Wikipedia has been under fire for its internal policies, the encyclopedia that (almost) anyone can edit is coming under fire in Germany for … being Nazi Sympathizers?
“There’s been no shortage of stories lately alleging that Wikipedia moderators have fascist tendencies, but a new case goes one step further. A German politician has filed charges […]

The House has passed the SAFE - Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online - act with only two dissenting votes. According to engadget, the bill is a bad thing because it’s a harsh rule that requires strict monitoring of Internet connections that borders on gestapo-esque:
“The new bill requires everyone (that includes you and Starbucks) offering an open […]

In a move that will surely pique the interest of Ron Paul, the Department of justice has chimed in the Capitol v. Thomas case that the $222,000 damages sought by Capitol is not unconstitutional:
“The US government has weighed in on the constitutionality of the $222,000 damage award in Capitol v. Thomas with a brief filed […]

Structured settlements, unlike the lump sum payment of typical personal injury settlements, are paid to the plaintiff (you) over the course of time. Often the period of time is equivalent to the duration of the plaintiff’s life, with the payments taking the form of a lifetime annuity.

There are two types of settlement funding, pre-settlement funding, and post-settlement funding. Pre-settlement funding is when a person who has been injured and filed a personal injury lawsuit receives advance funds to help fund the suit or their living expenses, in anticipation of the settlement of their lawsuit.

Mesothelioma cancer law is really personal injury law applied to people who have contracted mesothelioma cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is an otherwise very rare form of cancer which invades the mesothelial cells in the membranes in the chest and abdominal cavity.

Asbestos removal laws regulate the removal of asbestos because asbestos has turned out to be such a terribly toxic substance. Thousands of people have come down with horrifying, painful cancers as a result of asbestos exposure.

Maritime law and admiralty law govern what happens on the seas (offshore), including accidents leading to personal injury cases, such as a boat accident injury. The terms ‘admiralty law’ and ‘maritime law’ are usually used interchangeably.

Class action lawsuits are a way for the court, and everybody involved, to streamline the process when many people have legal claims arising from the same event.
For example, a medication may injure many people, such as Vioxx, which has recently been in the news for causing heart problems.

In the continuing saga of Microsoft suing Google for their poaching Dr. Kai-Fu Lee to come work for Google, and Kau-Fu Lee being stopped from starting his job at Google by the Court, today the Court issued an order ruling that Dr. Lee can start his job at Google, with some restrictions, pending the outcome […]

William Genovese Jr., or “illwill” to his hacker friends, illegally obtained the source code for both Windows 2000, and Windows NT 4.0, and then offered it for sale. Genovese Jr. was busted when he sold the source code to both a private investigator, and an FBI agent. Oops.

The Kutztown 13’s tempest in a teapot appears to be slowing down to a dull roar. The thirteen high school students, who were originally charged by the school district with felony computer trespass and computer theft charges for hacking around the security and monitoring software on their school-issued laptops, have struck a deal with […]

Florida librarian Sue Martin has been suspended, and the Valparaiso City Commissioner is recommending that she be fired, after Michael Bushee, a registered offender, used the Valparaiso library’s computers to access illegal online child-themed content. Authorities claim that three male minors also accessed adult content from the library’s computers.

Search marketing company 180 Solutions has filed a lawsuit against several of its own affiliates, after it discovered that those affiliates were using botnets to install the 180solutions solution on unsuspecting users’ computers, without their permission.

How would you like to be the lawyer who is known for defending a man on charges of upskirting?
You may recall that upskirting and downblousing are the terms used for taking surreptitious pictures of people, in various states of undress, or under their dress, with your cameraphone (and then often times uploading the pictures to […]

In a survey to test whether top e-tailers are allowing consumers to opt out of receiving promotional or marketing messages, the FTC has determined that 89 percent of the online merchants it tested are honoring requests to halt future mailings.