A California district judge recently ordered infamous spammer Sanford Wallace to pay $711 million in damages to Facebook for his extensive spamming activity on the site. Wallace is bankrupt, so the price tag may not be very tangible to him, but that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear; the district judge has also requested that Wallace be prosecuted for criminal contempt, which could result in jail time from which no degree of poverty can save him.
Cyber Law
Categories:
Judge Dismisses Suit Alleging Craigslist is a "Public Nuisance"
U.S. District Court Judge John Grady threw out a lawsuit against Craigslist accusing it of being a “public nuisance” and of violating federal and state prostitution laws. At issue in the civil lawsuit filed in March by the sheriff of Cook County in Illinois was Craigslist’s then-“Erotic Services” section (now renamed “Adult Services”).
Categories:
Information Dissemination and Cooperation: Could Europeana provide a useful framework for Google Books?
For those who enjoy the musty smell of a library, be prepared to get your fix elsewhere, because the latest craze is digital libraries, which offer books available free on the Internet.
Can Google Earth Keep a (Trade) Secret?
It seems that almost everyone who can use a computer is familiar with Google Earth, the Google software featuring satellite imagery from around the globe. Perhaps one of your less tech-savvy relatives has called you to the computer to look at satellite images of your house. If researchers at Georgia Tech have their way, you may eventually be able to watch yourself looking at those satellite images on Google Earth.
Categories:
Smart Grid, Smart Spam, and Smart Burglars
Should Lawyers be Blogging?
One great thing about blogging is everyone can do it. If you can double-click on the Internet icon you can start your own blog. But just because everyone can blog, doesn’t mean everyone should. I am specifically talking about lawyers. Just read the complaint by Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission against Kristine Ann Peshek. Ms.
Categories:
Help Thy Neighbor? Not on Twitter's Watch.
The saying goes that “there’s a sucker born every minute.” To be sure, Internet security research officer Mikko Hyppönen knows this better than most.
What Glenn Beck Didn't Do May Come Back to Haunt Him
Interesting news on the First Amendment and Internet front comes from TechDirt.com. Apparently, a joke on Fark got a little out of hand, or perhaps it's really in-hand, depending on your point of view.
Categories:
Article: The FCC’s Regulatory Mulligan: Exploring the Options in the Wake of a Failed D Block Auction
North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, Volume 10, Issue 2, Page 313 (June 2009)
Abstract
In March 2008, the Federal Communications Commission auctioned licenses to sizeable tracts of radio frequency spectrum that will be vacated due to the analog-to-digital television conversion to occur in June 2009. The Commission conditioned the license to one portion of this spectrum—the “D Block”—on an unprecedented requirement: for the licensee to work hand-in-hand with public-safety agencies in a “public/private partnership” to deploy a nationwide public-safety communications network.
Full Article Text
Subject Areas:
You(Tube) Be The Judge
In recent decades, technology, especially the Internet, has undeniably revolutionized the practice of law -- just as it has seemingly every other aspect of society. Still, one hallmark of law seemed safe from all the change: the deference appellate courts afford the factfinding made by lower courts. But recent activity by the Supreme Court, unquestionably the guiding light in United States legal jurisprudence, appears to shift that age-old balance in an entirely new way.
Give the Foxes the Key to the Henhouse? Yes, we can.
The blogosphere was set abuzz recently by that announcement that one of the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) big guns, Donald Verrilli, has taken a high-ranking position in the Department of Justice.
Categories:
The DMCA's safe harbor provisions just got a little bit safer.
The safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) are vitally important to any online service provider—they protect the provider from being liable for any copyright infringement performed by users of the service. In the case of Universal Music Group (UMG), a copyright owner, versus Veoh Networks, a video hosting service similar to YouTube, the safe harbor protections were affirmed as protecting a relatively broad range of activities performed by online service providers.
Cybersquatting: Verizon’s Sysiphean Attempt to Stem the Tide
In December 2008, United States District Judge Jeremy D.
Categories:
eHarmony and (not so) Harmonious Civil Rights
While the recent elections held around the United States brought an end to one of the nation’s most historical and memorable Presidential races, they also seemed to reveal an intense political and cultural divide across the country concerning key civil rights issues. California voters passed Proposition 8, an amendment to the state’s Constitution that banned gay marriage. Arizona and Florida passed similar amendments as well. Additionally, residents in Arkansas effectively Read more ...
Categories:
Nevada’s Encryption Law: How Much Does it Help?
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a Nevada law that went into effect on October 1, 2008 requiring businesses “doing business” within the state to “encrypt” their customer’s “personal information.” While this law does represent an important development in the effort to protect consumers from crimes suc
Categories:
Typosquatters are Trespassing on Trademarks
Harvard Business School professor Benjamin Edelman has filed a class action lawsuit to fight the widespread trademark infringement called “typosquatting.” Typosquatting is the practice of registering domains that are very similar to the domain name of popular businesses, often purchasing domains that are common misspellings of the proper website.
YouTube and Copyright Law
Recently in the news, articles regarding YouTube, Presidential Candidates, and copyright law are getting attention. In TechNewsWorld.com, Jason Cohen wrote a blog regarding how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law that McCain voted for, was now coming back to haunt him. As a result of the DMCA, YouTube, against McCain’s wishes is pulling some of McCain’s political ads off of its website.
Facebook as a Place of Business
A recent Washington Post article entitled “A Social Network Where You Can Be Too Social” described how individuals were kicked off of Facebook for “using it too much.” For example, one young woman was kicked off the site after having sent 100 people a link to her company’s website through Facebook.
Craigslist: the Modern Criminal’s Best Friend
Craigslist.org has long been linked to advertisements for prostitution and violations of the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 USC 3604, but the website sunk to a new low last week when it facilitated the escape of a thief.
Categories:
Yahoo!-Google and Antitrust: Leave Google Alone!
In April 2008, Microsoft and Yahoo! appeared ready to sign a deal to combine the two companies. Microsoft would buy Yahoo! shares for a little over $30 apiece. But as often happens at these high levels, Yahoo! was stolen away by another suitor, Microsoft’s arch-nemesis, Google. As opposed to an outright buyout, Google sought to sell its ads to Yahoo! such that Google ads would appear on Yahoo! search pages.
Categories:
User login
