Tech Law

Big business can be intrusive - especially when that big business is run by your government. Even more so when your government is China. Peter Svensson of the Associated Press (via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer) writes:
A U.S. maker of network management systems said Wednesday it had received an order from Shanghai Telecom Co. for a system [...]

Ouch! Oh, this has just got to hurt. Nothing says ‘busted’ like being told to pay a huge fine for spamming people with junk ads. Hmm, perhaps there is something to this U.S. CAN-SPAM Act after all?

Sam Williams of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Why the eBay Supreme Court case matters so much.
In monetary terms, the Supreme Court case being heard next Wednesday - pitting online retail giant eBay Inc. against its left-in-the-dust competitor MercExchange - might seem trivial. MercExchange, which won the original suit in 2003, by proving to a Virginia jury that eBay’s [...]

David Kravets of the Associated Press (via The Washington Post) writes:
A group of voters sued the state and 18 counties Tuesday in a bid to prevent them from using Diebold Election Systems’ electronic voting machines in California’s general election.
The suit - filed by the advocacy group Voter Action on behalf of about a dozen voters [...]

What deals go on between executives behind the locked doors at online giant Amazon.com? As it turns out, probably the same sorts of deals that go on behind locked doors at every other company. But not all executives get such harsh words from behind the judge’s bench in a court of law. Allison Linn of The [...]

I’m usually the last person in a room to proclaim “there ought to be a law…” However, there are times when I’ve contemplated murder (for which I’m told there are laws) against people who lack simple manners in public - and nowhere is this more apparent than in a typical movie theater. (Well. Maybe the [...]

The .xxx domain for adult sites has been been proposed for some time, and while it seems like a great idea in theory, I’m sure many in the adult industry will be up in arms about it. After all, if you owned hotwetsanta.com, would you want to be forced to give it up? The AFP (via [...]

Be careful what you search for. In the continuing clash between Google and The Bush Administration, there’s some give and there’s some take. Michael Liedtke of the Associated Press (via ABC News) writes:

One Big Brother wants to see what dirt the other Big Brother’s got on us. Michael Liedtke of the Associated Press (via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer) writes:
The Bush administration will renew its effort to find out what people have been looking for on Google Inc.’s Internet-leading search engine, continuing a legal showdown over how much of [...]

Avast, ye! In the ongoing battle between Copyright lawyers and filesharing enthusiasts, Swedish filesharing site The Pirate Bay hoists the Jolly Roger high and declares that it’s here to stay. Ann Harrison of Wired writes:
Magnus Martensson, a legal adviser for the Swedish branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, insists that [...]

Amid recent discussion about controversial means of fighting spam (including AOL’s and Hotmail’s “e-mail taxes”), one issue is whether anti-spam laws can provide an effective alternative. With that in mind, one of my recent experiences might shed some light on how such laws actually play out in front of judges.

Are you one of the three-million Americans who were more than a little worried that their precious BlackBerry gadgets would become costly paperweights if judgment were to swing in favor of the company that was suing to shut down their production for alleged patent violation?
Peter Svensson of the Associated Press (via BusinessWeek) reports:
Research In [...]

“Crack down, smack down, you’re busted!” OK, perhaps not you personally. But if someone you know is pirating DVDs, might be best to stay clear from them for the next few months to be safe…

Going to far or is Yahoo making the right call? Speaking for myself, I am not someone who even uses Yahoo mail so my opinion is not on the chopping block today on this matter…

Well now, I guess that takes care of that! It seems that the p2p server known as Razorback2 on the eDonkey network has been terminated thanks in part to Belgium and Switzerland law enforcement. It took them long enough, but I guess that it’s better late than never.

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Time Warner and and Universal Studios are suing Samsung over a DVD player which was not only a retail failure, but had the additional misfortune of being hacker-friendly.” In an article in The Korea Times, a Samsung spokesman (who had not yet seen the text of [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
I was wondering if and when this would happen. Two sites, the OSx86 Project and Win2osx.net were offline today. The main OSx86 Project site is actually up, but the front page of its forum says:
“Welcome! We’re sorry to report that despite our best efforts, the OSx86 Project has [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
You can read the full 54-page PDF here. It’s part of a review of the effectiveness of the DMCA (reviews must be conducted every 3 years). Ars Technica and the Electronic Frontier Foundation both have analyses of the document, and it seems evident that besides applauding the DMCA, the [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
There is much discussion over the broadcast flag and the analog hole, and though the courts have overturned the FCC’s attempt to enforce the broadcast flag, HBO has thrown its hat into the ring with an FCC filing that to say the least is disturbing.
Read More about HBO Here
[tags]dvr,pvr,realtechnews,michael santo,hbo,tivo[/tags]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls are placed on most digital books. Librarians are concerned that such DRM may make it difficult, if forecasts in digital vs. hard copy publications come to pass, for libraries to continue to provides citizens the resources they do today.
Read more on Libraries and DRM [...]