- The term “space marine” dates way back in sci-fi writing, but Games Workshop says it’s now a trademark [Popehat] “Site plagiarizes blog posts, then files DMCA takedown on originals” [Ars Technica; related, Popehat]
- D.C. suburban school district: “Prince George’s considers copyright policy that takes ownership of students’ work” [WaPo]
- New book Copyright Unbalanced [Jerry Brito, ed.; Tom Palmer/Reason, David Post/Volokh] “Copyright, Property Rights, and the Free Market” [Adam Mossoff, TotM]
- Neither doll left standing: “After Long Fight, Bratz Case Ends in Zero Damages” [The Recorder]
- “Podcasting patent troll” [Gerard Magliocca, Concur Op]
- “The EU-funded plan to stick a ‘flag this as terrorism site’ button on your browser” [Ars Technica]
- “The Most Ridiculous Law of 2013 (So Far): It Is Now a Crime to Unlock Your Smartphone” [Derek Khanna, Atlantic]
Posts Tagged ‘technology’
Orin Kerr on the Aaron Swartz case
A two-part post, with part 1 on the law as applied to the facts, and part II on sentencing, prosecutorial discretion, and the appropriate targets for reformist energy. Earlier here (& Greenfield; Timothy Lee and Mike Masnick on plea bargaining).
“CNET rescinds positive review because parent company is suing manufacturer”
Rob Beschizza: “While it looks like clueless corporate spite, I bet it’s really about lawyers wanting to lower CBS’s exposure to uncertainty in its boring lawsuit over contracts and copyright. … For some, it seems inconceivable not to accept legal advice after it’s been sought — even when the negative consequences of taking it are profoundly obvious.” [BoingBoing]
“What the Aaron Swartz case says about our justice system”
Programmer Aaron Swartz, a founder of RSS syndication and Reddit, committed a series of trespasses and hacks at MIT so as to download millions of papers from the JSTOR academic database, possibly with the plan of making them freely available through file sharing. When caught he returned the files and JSTOR did not recommend prosecution. In September Timothy Lee wrote in Ars Technica that while there was no excuse for Swartz’s actions, it was also mystifying that federal prosecutors were going to such lengths to stack up felony counts and legal theories under the CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act) that could send the popular techie to prison for life. Now Swartz, who is known to have been afflicted by depression, is dead, a suicide at age 26. [Jonathan Blanks, Lawrence Lessig, Glenn Greenwald, Patterico interview with Swartz lawyer Elliot Peters, Scott Greenfield, Orin Kerr (disputing premise that prosecutors overcharged), Timothy Lee/WaPo]
“Checking Facebook at Work Could Be Illegal”
Though the Ninth Circuit has differed, four federal circuit courts of appeal have read the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to criminalize unauthorized access to computers even when the breach in question was to overstep contractual terms of service or the access a computer provider intended to furnish. As reported earlier, that leaves open possibilities of private liability or even felony conviction for behavior that in no way resembles hacking. [Mashable]
“Should Industry Face More Cybersecurity Mandates?”
The NYT’s Room for Debate airs pros and cons of what could be a significant new area of federal regulation.
Peter Diamandis interview, Wired
Private space pioneer Peter Diamandis, who founded the X Prize Foundation and cofounded Singularity University, from the Wired July issue, interviewed by Ted Greenwald:
Greenwald: Could anything derail us from this path?
Diamandis: Yes: the risk aversion we’ve developed as a society. Lawyers have ubiquitous power. If someone is always to blame, if every time something goes wrong someone has to be punished, people quickly stop taking risks. Without risks, there can’t be breakthroughs. I got this from Internet law expert Jonathan Zittrain: We’ve gone from a society where if something wasn’t prohibited then it was legal to a society where if something isn’t explicitly permitted it’s illegal. In the early days of aviation, you could do anything you wanted as long as it wasn’t illegal. Now the laws are so extensive that they say, “Show me where it’s allowed.”
Suit blames smartphone app maker for bicyclist’s death
Kashmir Hill explains at Forbes:
Strava ‘player’ William “Kim” Flint got so competitive that when he lost his first place rank as “King of the Mountain” for a steep route in Berkeley, California, he raced down the road on his bike at 40 mph to try to reclaim his title. The 41-year-old electrical engineer had to brake suddenly; he flipped over a car and died on the 2010 ride, reports ABC News. Now his family is suing Strava for negligence, alleging that the start-up is responsible for Flint’s death.
More: BerkeleySide.
Department of Things You Hope Are a Joke
Turning governance of the Internet over to the United Nations system [The Hill, Josh Peterson/Daily Caller, more]
P.S. Oh joy: “U.N. could tax U.S.-based Web sites, leaked docs show” [Declan McCullagh and Larry Downes, CNet]
Victory against overbroad “hacking” law
Many will breathe a sigh of relief following Judge Alex Kozinski’s new opinion for an en banc Ninth Circuit in United States v. Nosal, establishing that (contrary to some fears) the “anti-hacking” provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act do not penalize broad swaths of computer usage that exceed “authorized” use. A ruling the other way might have criminalized many instances of employee goofing-off as well as common user violations of website terms-of-service. [Orin Kerr, Volokh Conspiracy, Ken at Popehat] Earlier here, here, here, etc.