Ilaw: News and Views

March

Court holds against student copyrights to papers submitted to plagiarism scanner. A number of schools have begun using "automated plagiarism scanners" to detect plagiarized work in student papers, like turnitin.com. Students submit their work online and must agree to a clickwrap license agreement before submission. The scanner automates the plagiarism detection and generates a "originality report." Under the agreement, students' papers were also being archived on the database for use by the scanner for future originality reports. The students claimed the agreement was unenforceable and constituted copyright infringement on their papers. The court held the clickwrap agreement was enforceable over the students' arguments of infancy and duress. The court also found that even if the contract was unenforceable, the use of the papers constituted fair use. Opinion Ars Technica Article--DOBrien 09:03, 26 March 2008 (EDT)

The LATimes interviewed Rick Astley about his eponymous internet meme. Snitty 08:16, 26 March 2008 (EDT)

Some Poor Sap had an enemy post on Craig's List that all this guy's belongings were up for grabs. He got home to find 30 some odd people ransacking his house and refusing to give his belongings back, waiving their craigs list ads as proof that they had the right to take the stuff. So, is the anonymous poster allowed to keep his anonymity despite inducing 30 odd people to commit burglary? Snitty 14:39, 25 March 2008 (EDT)

The New York Times ran an article about Rickrolling. Yes, that is a link to the article. Snitty 08:14, 24 March 2008 (EDT)

In a baffling interpretation of law certain companies have been using the DMCA to coerce websites to take down 3D models of the companies products, claiming that these models, which are not being used in commerce, are violating the companies trademark. The companies are conveniently ignoring both that there is no trademark infringement, and that the DMCA is a copyright act. Snitty 14:47, 22 March 2008 (EDT)

BetaLeaks, a website specifically set up to solicit NDA-breaking information from beta testers of upcoming MMOGS and other online games. One blogger's analysis. --Dominik 16:40, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

Dismissal of Fair Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Against Craigslist Affirmed by 7th Circuit A few years ago, a consortium of Chicago attorneys sued Craigslist alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act via rental postings which contained phrases such as "NO MINORITIES" and "no children." Read some of the background here. The District Court dismissed the suit 14 November 2006, holding that Craigslist was not liable since it could not be "a publisher" of content provided by its users. The 7th Circuit affirmed. Read Chief Judge Easterbrook's opinion here. --DOBrien 19:39, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

Yale is considering blocking JuicyCampus.com an internet gossip site. The site itself raises interesting questions about liable and anonymity on the Internet. March 10, 2008.

Australian Government sticks to guns on internet porn filters, March 6, 2008

The new Labor Government has proposed ... a clean feed. That means under law, your internet service provider 
(ISP) must, if requested, provide a family friendly service that filters out X-rated pornography.

Bank Moves to Withdraw Its Suit Against Wikileaks Site, March 5, 2008

DIA keeps Wi-Fi on the mild side: Denver International Airport filters its WiFi.

Ratemycop.com gets shutdown by its provider: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/godaddy-silence.html

In-Class References

March 10

• RIPE analysis on the Pakistani YouTube "hijacking": video diagramming the traffic mis-routed to the Pakistan ISP
• “The Connection Has Been Reset”, Atlantic Monthly on the Chinese Firewall
• Quova location tracking
• Tor anonymizing software and network

March 12

• Whois tools: http://uwhois.com/ or http://whois.domaintools.com/
• http://www.nytimes.com/ref/topnews/blog-index.html
• http://juicycampus.com/privacy_policy.php

March 17

• Image search, cute cats or infringement?: http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=kittens
• Bonsai Kitten: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai_Kitten

March 19

• Open Source Group is 4 For 4 on GPL Lawsuits
• Wikimedia Commons: Upload
• Sequoia an electronic voting machine maker is threatening to sue over the possibility of people checking the security of their machines in New Jersey http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1265

March 24

• Betamax Commercial

Student Submissions

Larry Lessig leverages latent challenges against legislators via Wiki: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/stanford-law-pr.html