View source for Ilaw: News and Views

==April==
'''ICANN seeks to end Domain Tasting''' We talked about  [http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/04/29/1822223.shtml this] in class. 20Â¢ doesn't sound like a lot, but the top 3 domain squatters would face bills racking up to $2.2 million a month.

'''Microsoft COFEE''' "Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June." [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004379751_msftlaw29.html Seattle Times]

'''New CAPTCHAs?'''-- Researchers continue to try and stay ahead of crafty bots and bits of code.  Some of the latest techniques involve showing a group of images and asking a user to locate the geographic center point of an image.  Then, the user is presented with a second image and asked to select one of several words which best describes the picture shown.  The idea is to "humanize" the process of human authentication, though at the expense of more difficult (and annoying) devices.  [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080423-researchers-stay-step-ahead-of-bots-with-image-based-captcha.html Ars Article][http://alipr.com/captcha/ Example of New CAPTCHA] --[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 15:14, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

'''"Making Available" Theory Rejected in ''Atlantic v. Howell''''' -- An Arizona District Court denied summary judgment for the RIAA who argued that by making available allegedly infringing files for download by others, one is violating copyright law, even if no one actually downloads any files. The RIAA's theory of liability was based on the exclusive distribution right.  The defendant had stated in a deposition he was unaware KaZaA was sharing files from songs he had ripped from his own CDs on to his computer. The court also indicated in the case that downloads by MediaSentry, the company the RIAA uses to investigate file sharing, was not enough to establish distribution.[http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/atlantic_v_howel/Atlantic%20v%20Howell%20SJ2%20order.pdf Order via EFF]  --[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 14:55, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

'''Muxtape''' http://muxtape.com/ "a simple way to create and share mp3 mixtapes" or a "ticking legal time bomb?" via [http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogs/dnxf/~3/263583159/muxtape-and-the.html The 463]

'''The Writers Strike and Copyright''' An excellent analysis of the real issue behind the WGA strike: copyright.  [http://lessig.org/blog/prager.pdf pdf] via [http://lessig.org/blog/2008/04/the_most_interesting_part_of_t.html lessig]

'''UMG v. Augusto''' "An eBay seller is taking on Universal Music Group (UMG) in court after the record industry giant targeted his online music sales with false claims of copyright infringement. EFF and the San Francisco law firm of Keker & Van Nest LLP are representing Troy Augusto, whose online auctions included sales of promotional CDs distributed by Universal. Copyright law's "first sale" doctrine makes it clear that the owner of a CD is entitled to resell it without the permission of the copyright holder. Nevertheless, Universal claims that CDs marked as "promotional use only" remain the property of Universal and thus can never be resold." via [http://www.eff.org/cases/umg-v-augusto EFF]  [http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/16/law-of-the-game-on-joystiq-rip-consumer-rights/ Law of the Game Blog Analysis] [[User:Dominik|Dominik]] 11:29, 25 April 2008 (EDT)

[http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2008-04-22-InternetBandits_N.htm Cracking the 'Great Firewall' of China's Web censorship] 

[http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gu9ZaCyyLpmK4hqelMtZkdBZMpsgD906F8OG0 NJ court requires subpoena for Internet subscriber records] NJ Supreme Court says state constitution goes further than Fourth Amendment

'''9th Circuit Says Laptop Searches at the Borders is Okay'''  A few years back, Michael Arnold was stopped by customs after deplaning from a trip to the Philippines at LAX.  With him, he had a laptop, six CDs, an external HDD, and a flash drive.  The customs officer asked him to boot up his machine, and began browsing the pictures folder on the desktop.  The officer eventually found some pictures that appeared to be child porn, and the laptop was seized.  Arnold successfully argued to the district court that the search constituted an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment, analogizing a laptop to "home" and "the human mind."  The 9th Circuit, however, disagreed and pointed to precedent which already allows searches of briefcases, luggage, wallets, purses, pockets, papers found in pockets, pictures, films, and other graphic material.  [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080423-laptop-searches-at-the-border-no-reason-no-problem.html Ars Article] [http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/6D5D931898D8168188257432005AC9B8/$file/0650581.pdf?openelement Opinion]--[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 11:09, 23 April 2008 (EDT)  

'''J.K. Rowling sues over online lexicon of Harry Potter characters''' - http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/22/sunny.potter/index.html
Everything was fine and dandy till he got a deal to publish in book form! 

'''Soviet Domain Name (.su) Resists Death''' - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24204807/
Here, ICANN has been unable to do away with the gaining-in-popularity .su domain. 

'''International Star Registry''' - http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/12/49345
Are there many differences between ICANN and the International Star Registry (ISR)? ICANN matches domain names to IP addresses via its proprietary servers, but the blocks of IP addresses are separately assigned (also by ICANN via IANA). ISR lets you name stars that otherwise have official names assigned by the International Astronomical Union. What will happen when IPv6 is fully implemented and IP addresses become "cheaper" and harder to remember? There are several theoretical tiers of Internet that may be built without regard to implementing official standards. This includes "private" RFCs to build non-interoperable networks on top of the Internet for exclusive use.

'''Blockbuster Lawsuit Over Facebook's Beacon''' -- A Texas woman filed suit against Blockbuster claiming a privacy rights violation when Blockbuster transmitted her rental information to Facebook.  According to an article, the plaintiff cites the Video Privacy Protection Act which prohibits the disclosure of video rental and sale information.  [http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=80839&Nid=41637&p=918739 Article] --[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 15:14, 18 April 2008 (EDT)

United Nations sends [http://www.nationstates.net/unlegal.pdf Cease & Desist letter] to [http://www.maxbarry.com/2008/04/02/news.html NationStates] web game, citing violation of Trademark law.

Oregon claims copyright on their statutes, [http://www.scribd.com/groups/documents/7303-oregon-legislative-counsel?type=newest Take down notices], [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080416-oregon-publishing-our-laws-online-is-a-copyright-violation.html Ars Technica's take on the situation] [http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/15/oregon-our-laws-are.html boingboing]

[http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/jeff.yan/msn.htm  A Low-cost Attack on a Microsoft CAPTCHA] Captchas captured

[http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/fbi-director-ci.html FBI Caused Delay in Terror Case Ahead of Senate Testimony] Did FBI manufacture evidence to get NSL power? 

[http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mods/news/2008/04/chumby_hackers Programmers, DIY Types Embrace Soft, Hackable Chumby] Hack a Chumby 

[http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=4289 A Federal Subpoena or Just Some More Spam & Malware?] Scammers target CEOs with drive-by downloads

[http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2008/04/linkadage-selling-edu-blog-space.htm LinkAdage Selling .EDU Blog Space: It's Evil] Rent-a-.edu blog

'''Mac Clones''' -- PsyStar Corp., a Miami company, announced it is offering a Mac Clone called "OpenMac" for $399.  The machine is an Intel-based platform configured to run OSX 10.5 (Leopard). Using the EFI v8 emulator, Leopard can be installed directly from DVDs purchased from the Apple Store.  The announcement generated such a (positive) response from the tech community that PsyStar's website went dark after from the influx of traffic.  At issue now is the EULA on the OS X software, which expressly prohbits installing OSX on non-Apple hardware ("You agree not to install, use, or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labled computer, or to enable others to do so...").[http://www.psystar.com/ PsyStar Website] [http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx105.pdf  OS X EULA] [http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/14/psystar-site-goes-down-under-load-apple-lawyers-seen-shopping-f/ Engadget Article]--[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 14:39, 15 April 2008 (EDT)
*[http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2008/04/apple_psystar?currentPage=2  A bad legal analysis?]
*[http://gizmodo.com/380488/psystar-exposed-looks-like-a-hoax PsyStar Hoax? Questions continue]

'''No Attorney's Fees For You''' --  When Roland Amurao was accused of copyright infringement, he chose not to take advantage of a pre-litigation settlement offer from the RIAA.  Instead, the RIAA brought him to court.  After some investigation, they realized they had sued the wrong person.  In fact, Amurao's adult daughter was responsible for the allegedly infringing activities.   The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice last Friday, but Amurao was not awarded attorney's fees despite his efforts arguing for them.  Amurao finds himself in the curious position of being the prevailing party in a copyright infringement case, where the RIAA admittedly sued the wrong person, and left Amurao with a huge stack of legal fees. Arguments in the case also arose concerning MediaSentry's role as an investigator, which drew attention from the EFF.  [http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2008/01/riaa-withdraws-lava-v-amurao-case.html Summary of Motions Filed][http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-lava-v-amurao-case-closed-all.html Friday's Outcome][http://www.eff.org/cases/lava-v-amurao EFF Article] --[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 11:35, 14 April 2008 (EDT)    

An analysis of industry streaming video site Hulu's Business Model.  http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/hulu_launches_great_product_still_screwed --[[User:Dominik|Dominik]]

BU Music Downloaders win round in court http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/04/04/music_downloaders_win_round_in_court/ 

Facebook sued by claimed co-developer http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ariFOMVAXrZw&refer=us

'''Couple Sues Google Over Use of Image in Google Maps''' A man and woman (the Borings) in Pittsburgh were upset over Google's use of an image of their home.  Google introduced "street view" in 2007, a feature in [http://maps.google.com Google Maps] that allows you to see images at street level.  The pictures are captured by vans which drive around with mounted cameras.  The couple is suing for, inter alia, invasion of privacy, trespass, and conversion, claiming the images caused the value of their home to decrease and caused mental suffering.  The image has since been [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1658+Oakridge+Ln,+Pittsburgh,+PA&sll=40.578531,-80.079947&sspn=0.011457,0.020084&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=40.578531,-80.079947&spn=0.011457,0.020084&t=h&z=16&cbll=40.575645,-80.079953 removed]. [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0404081google1.html TSG Article, with Complaint and Pics]--[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 11:18, 5 April 2008 (EDT)    

'''A Professor at the Univesity of Florida''' [http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/04/university-prof-says.html is claiming a copyright] in his class lectures, and, as a result, students' notes from his class, as they are, he claims, derivative works. He's going after people who commercialize students notes, which Corey Doctorow seems to think is ethically murky. I say fair use, but then again, my notes usually contain snarky comments about the cases, making them more transformative than most students'. [[User:Snitty|Snitty]] 17:15, 4 April 2008 (EDT)

Gertner rules that Boston University cannot turn over student information to the evil record companies - at least not yet. Take that, RIAA. [http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/04/04/music_downloaders_win_round_in_court/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7]--[[User:Chriswurster|Chriswurster]]

9th Circuit rules that roommates.com cannot require users to disclose their sexual orientation. [http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0347688720080403?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true]

Update on the Craigslist house ransacking incident - perps caught.  [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/28/60minutes/main3976928.shtml]

'''Second Life Seeks to Reassure Congress it Can Police Itself''' Second Life, an online virtual world, was represented at a House hearing recently.  Founder Phillip Rosedale appeared with other virtual reality experts to answer questions about the legal aspects of a virtual world on illegal activity and the company's ability to police such activity.  Virtual worlds and other MMORPGs, have become incredibly popular among gamers.  The article failed to raise some interesting questions, especially:  What exactly is the legal status of virtual property? Could a user have potential legal remedies against other users for civil wrongs? And what are the jurisdictional problems inherent in such a world?  Does the law even have a place in a virtual world?  These questions, and many others, will be the subject of debate in years to come. [http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0129847720080401?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 Reuters Article]--[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 20:47, 1 April 2008 (EDT)    

Blizzard is [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7314353.stm suing] the creator of a bot program for use with World of Warcraft for breach of contract and copyright infringement. My guess is, not having seen the complaint, that they are alleging that when he violated his license by creating and using a bot he relinquished his right to copy the program into RAM, and from that comes the copyright infringement. The other part of this is the shrinkwrap license, but again, without the filings it's hard to know what's really going on. [[User:129.10.173.46|129.10.173.46]] 20:12, 1 April 2008 (EDT)

T-Mobile is suing Engadget Mobile for [http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/31/deutsche-telekom-t-mobile-demands-engadget-mobile-discontinue/ trademark infringement] of the color magenta. Specifically of 0xED008C. You can have trademark or trade dress protection in a color, but does T-Mobile rise to that level? [[User:Snitty|Snitty]] 18:27, 1 April 2008 (EDT)

==March==

The United Nations-based World Intellectual Property Organization ousted a record number of "cybersquatters" from Web sites with domain names referring to trademarked companies, foundations, and celebrities in 2007. [http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6235857.html]--[[User:Chriswurster|Chriswurster]] 15:57, 28 March 2008 (EDT)

'''Comcast Announces Reconfiguration of Traffic Management''' In a press release today, Comcast announced it is undertaking an effort to work with BitTorrent, and other third parties, concerning traffic shaping techniques they have been openly using across their network infastructure.  Since May 2007, it has been widely known that Comcast has implemented technology which effectively hindered the use of certain protocols, namely those which utilize BitTorrent and other P2P networks.  The technology injects TCP RST packets into streams, causing users to drop connections to peers.  The rationale is that these protocols use a significant amount of bandwith, which arguably affects stream rates of other users and congests networks.  In today's press release, Comcast noted it will be "migrat[ing] by year-end to a capacity management technique that is protocol agnostic." [http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=740 Press Release]--[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 17:07, 27 March 2008 (EDT)

'''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 [http://turnitin.com/static/home.html. 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. [http://www.iparadigms.com/iParadigms_03-11-08_Opinion.pdf Opinion] [http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080326-plagiarism-screener-gets-passing-grade-in-copyright-lawsuit.html Ars Technica Article]--[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 09:03, 26 March 2008 (EDT)   

The LATimes interviewed [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/03/rick-astley-kin.html Rick Astley] about his eponymous internet meme. [[User:Snitty|Snitty]] 08:16, 26 March 2008 (EDT)

Some [http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/03/25/craigslist-hoax-turns-out-to-be-pretty-craptastic/ 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? [[User:Snitty|Snitty]] 14:39, 25 March 2008 (EDT)

The [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/media/24rick.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=rick+astley&st=nyt&oref=slogin New York Times] ran an article about Rickrolling. Yes, that is a link to the article. [[User:Snitty|Snitty]] 08:14, 24 March 2008 (EDT)

In a baffling interpretation of law [http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/21/wwii-bomber-trademar.html 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. [[User:Snitty|Snitty]] 14:47, 22 March 2008 (EDT)

[http://www.betaleaks.com/ BetaLeaks], a website specifically set up to solicit NDA-breaking information from beta testers of upcoming MMOGS and other online games.  One blogger's [http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2008/03/beta-leaks.html analysis].  --[[User:Dominik|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 [http://www.craigslist.org 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 [http://www.craigslist.org/about/fair.housing.html 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 [http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?submit=rss_sho&shofile=07-1101_021.pdf here]. --[[User:DOBrien|DOBrien]] 19:39, 14 March 2008 (EDT)           

[http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23938 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.

[http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/06/2181828.htm 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.

[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/bank-asks-judge-to-dismiss-its-suit-against-wikileaks-site/index.html?th&emc=th Bank Moves to Withdraw Its Suit Against Wikileaks Site], March 5, 2008

[http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_8455504 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===

*[http://www.ripe.net/news/study-youtube-hijacking.html RIPE analysis on the Pakistani YouTube "hijacking"]: video diagramming the traffic mis-routed to the Pakistan ISP
* [http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall âThe Connection Has Been Resetâ], Atlantic Monthly on the Chinese Firewall
* [http://quova.com/ Quova location tracking]
* [https://torproject.org/ 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===
* [http://www.internetnews.com/article.php/3734866/Open+Source+Group+is+4+For+4+on+GPL+Lawsuits.htm Open Source Group is 4 For 4 on GPL Lawsuits]
* [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Upload 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===
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=BqxqYiptNe0 Betamax Commercial]

===March 26===
* [http://scrabulous.com/ Scrabulous] and [http://67.19.18.90/newimages/screenshot.gif screenshot]
* [http://flickr.com/photos/clovil/2359335809/ Scrabble]
* [http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html Copyright office circular re: games]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f219100/219126.htm Full Felten Report]

===March 31===
* http://www.google.com/search?q=google%20hacking
* http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Gallery/
* http://kaleidescape.com/

===April 9===
* http://mailinator.com/
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeerGuardian
* http://www.bugmenot.com/
* http://images.google.com/images?q=moose&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1

===April 16===
* http://www.dellago.net/
* http://www.register.com/addDomain.rcmx?addSingleDomain=Dellago.net
* http://www.register.com/product/domain/searchresults.rcmx;jsessionid=53D0F1135BD5B28AE3DC870DC25522A6.janus-production?action=searchresults&formName=box&searchString=dellcomputers&selectedTLDs=.com

* OSX EULA http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx105.pdf

===April 23===

* http://dvd.search.ebay.com/manson_DVDs-Movies_W0QQcatrefZC2QQfromZR40QQsacatZ11232QQtrgZ11233
* http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/index.html
* http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/houses/gryffindor.html

===April 28===
* http://youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE The SPAM skit
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha
* http://twitter.com/robots.txt Twitter robots.txt
* http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk/web/api-documentation Twitter API
* http://www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt

===April 30===
* http://public.resource.org/court_cases.html
* http://riya.com/index?btnSearch=people
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect
* http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=LvY&q=cozyhome+bi-fold+doors&btnG=Search
* http://www.google.com/dmca.html
* http://www.chillingeffects.org/search-comparator/search.php?se=google.co.uk&q1=Natwest%20Fraud

===Student Submissions===
* Larry Lessig leverages latent challenges against legislators via Wiki: [http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/stanford-law-pr.html Rating Legislators via Wiki]

* Creative Labs has not prepared software drivers for its products to work under Windows Vista - What happens when a person known as Daniel_K writes and distributes unofficial drivers? He gets a takedown notice! [http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=116332 Stop helping us, or we'll sue]