At Stake: The Net as We Know It

Posted on December 18, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

Leading Internet companies are gearing up for a clash with the phone and cable giants early next year as Congress begins to redraft the telecom laws for the broadband era, concerned that the network operators will soon be able to put a chokehold on the Web by blocking consumers from popular sites in favor of their own. Or they could degrade delivery of Web pages whose providers don’t pay extra.

That could result in an Internet of haves, who can afford to pay the network operators more to ensure smooth service, and have-nots.

KurzweilAI < Business Week

FEC: Blogs Are Just As Much “Press” As Everyone Else

Posted on November 21, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

This morning, the Federal Election Commission unanimously approved Advisory Opinion 2005-16, agreeing that the Fired Up! sites were entitled to the same press exception from campaign finance laws as are the New York Times, National Review and Sean Hannity.

The AO states in relevant part:

Fired Up qualifies as a press entity. Its websites are both available to the general public and are the online equivalent of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication as described in the Act and Commission regulations.

—-

The Commission concludes that the costs Fired Up incurs in covering or carrying news stories, commentary, or editorials on its websites are encompassed by the press exception, and therefore do not constitute “expenditures” or “contributions” under the Act and Commission regulations.

This is a major victory for Internet free speech advocates.

FiredUp!

Sony BMG sued over cloaking software on music CD

Posted on November 13, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

One lawsuit has been filed and more are planned against record company Sony BMG after several of its music CDs were found to covertly install controversial anti-piracy software on computers.

Experts say the software places customers at risk because it secretly installs a sophisticated cloaking technique to hide its presence and activity on a computer. Once installed, the same cloaking technique could be hijacked to hide other, more malicious programs such as computer viruses. These fears have proven well founded after a malicious “Trojan horse” program that uses the CD software to hide itself was discovered on 10 November.

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Mothers could be sued for injuring unborn children: Alberta bill

Posted on November 3, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

Alberta’s justice minister says he will be introducing legislation allowing children injured in car accidents while still in the womb to sue their mothers.

It would mark the first such law in Canada, if passed by the legislature. Justice Minister Ron Stevens says the bill will be up for consideration at the end of November.

The action has sparked concerns by opposition parties and the insurance industry, fearing it might open the floodgates for mothers to be sued for anything they do while they are pregnant.

CBC

via Meaghan

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Google to Put Copyright Laws to the Test

Posted on September 19, 2005 by billycuts

NEW YORK – Copyright laws written long before the digital age are about to be tested as Google Inc. attempts to scan millions of books and make their text fully searchable on the Internet.

Yahoo

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Government Defies an Order to Release Iraq Abuse Photos

Posted on July 28, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

“Lawyers for the Defense Department are refusing to cooperate with a federal judge’s order to release secret photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

[...] In early June, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan ordered the release of the additional photographs, part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to determine the extent of abuse at American military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan and at Guant?namo Bay, Cuba. Judge Hellerstein… rejected arguments from the government that releasing the photographs would violate the Geneva Conventions…”

CommonDreams

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MGM v. Grokster: Supreme Court unanimous against Grokster

Posted on July 11, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

In a unanimous ruling Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court held that software companies are responsible for illegal use of their services if they intend for their customers to use the software primarily to swap songs and movies illegally. The decision came down in the high-profile case, MGM Vs. Grokster, which pitted Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks, the developer of the Morpheus file-sharing system, against one of Hollywood?s biggest players, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

In the majority opinion, written by Justice David Souter, the court said, ?We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties.? The case will now return to a lower court, which will decide whether the services have in fact encouraged copyright infringement.

Mix

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Forget police radars – satellites will monitor your speed and apply brakes as necessary. Consider yourself owned.

Posted on July 6, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

IT IS the ultimate back seat driver. Motorists face having their cars fitted with a ?spy? device that stops speeding.

The satellite-based system will monitor the speed limit and apply the brakes or cut out the accelerator if the driver tries to exceed it. A government-funded trial has concluded that the scheme promotes safer driving.

Drivers in London could be among the first to have the ?speed spy? devices fitted. They would be offered a discount on the congestion charge if they use the system.

TimesUK

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Supreme Court reverses death penalty conviction

Posted on June 13, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a black death row inmate who said Texas prosecutors unfairly stacked his jury with whites, issuing a harsh rebuke to the state that executes more people than any other.

The 6-3 ruling Monday ordered a new trial for Thomas Miller-El, who challenged his conviction for the 1985 murder of a 25-year-old Dallas motel clerk. It was the second time justices reviewed the case after a lower court refused to reconsider Miller-El’s claims.

CNN

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Justices won’t reinstate liberal media ownership rules

Posted on June 13, 2005 by DrQuickbeam

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from broadcast and newspaper groups that sought to restore government rules that would have eased restrictions on media ownership.

Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling that threw out the Federal Communications Commission regulations as unjustified.

USA Today

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Congress confuses file sharing with manslaughter

Posted on April 22, 2005 by Administrator

By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Published Thursday 21st April 2005 16:01 GMT

Making a movie available electronically prior to its release can now result in a three year sentence, thanks to the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act approved Tuesday by the House. The Senate has already passed its own version, and the final bill is expected to be signed by the President.

The bill also calls for three years in cases where a person is caught recording a movie in a theater with a camcorder – and six years for a second offence. It also indemnifies theater operators against all criminal and civil liabilities arising from detaining suspects “in a reasonable manner.” (Welcome to movie jail.)

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High Court Asked to End Religious Teatime

Posted on April 14, 2005 by billycuts

A small Christian group’s drinking of ceremonial tea could be curtailed if the Bush administration has its way before the Supreme Court.

The administration is challenging the New Mexico group—O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal—and its practice of drinking hoasca, a sacred herbal tea that members believe connects them to God. The tea contains dimethyltryptamine, a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act and one the administration claims is banned by international treaty. The Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the case, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, No. 04-1084, at its conference Friday.

Law.Com

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Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest

Posted on April 12, 2005 by billycuts

A sprawling body of visual evidence, made possible by inexpensive, lightweight cameras in the hands of private citizens, volunteer observers and the police themselves, has shifted the debate over precisely what happened on the streets during the week of the convention.

For [Dennis] Kyne and 400 others arrested that week, video recordings provided evidence that they had not committed a crime or that the charges against them could not be proved, according to defense lawyers and prosecutors….

Of the 1,670 cases that have run their full course, 91 percent ended with the charges dismissed or with a verdict of not guilty after trial.

NY Times via Nanovirus

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Same-sex marriage foes set broader agenda

Posted on April 7, 2005 by billycuts

Topeka ? Now that Kansas voters have changed the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, what’s next?

The Rev. Terry Fox of Wichita, one of the primary supporters of the same-sex marriage ban, said Christians have been energized by the debate over same-sex marriage and they are eager to flex their political muscles.

“This has awakened the body of Christ,” Fox said.

LJ World

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The 91-Pound Acid Trip

Posted on March 25, 2005 by billycuts

Leonard Pickard
By Ryan Grim from Slate

On Nov. 25, 2003, a federal judge sentenced Leonard Pickard and Clyde Apperson to life and 30 years, respectively, for one count each of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute more than 10 grams of LSD and one count each of possession with the intent to distribute more than 10 grams of LSD. That afternoon, the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration celebrated the sentencing with a press release describing the bust in the case as the “Largest LSD Lab Seizure in DEA History.”

But how real is the 91-pound number? Based on my inquiries and official testimony, I’ve concluded that the drug operation the DEA broke up had less than a half-pound of LSD on hand, enough to make only 10 million hits of 20-microgram acid.

Slate

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Nerdshit

Category Archives: Law