With thousands of blogs and so many lawyers online, legal ethics experts say that collisions between the freewheeling ways of the Internet and the tight boundaries of legal discourse are inevitable -- whether they result in damaged careers or simply raise eyebrows. Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University Law School, sees many more missteps in the future, as young people who grew up with Facebook and other social media enter a profession governed by centuries of legal tradition.
Head of Copyright Office Criticizes Google Book Deal
In testimony before the House Judiciary subcommittee, Marybeth Peters, U.S. Register of Copyrights, in her first detailed comments on the subject, blasted the Google Book Search Settlement as "fundamentally at odds with the law." In a blistering assessment of the deal, Peters told lawmakers that the settlement is in essence a compulsory license that would give Google the ability to engage in activities, such as text display and sale of downloads, that are "indisputable acts of copyright infringement."
Senator Wants Changes to Rules for Broadband Grants
A key U.S. lawmaker expressed concern that much of the eastern part of the United States could be disqualified from broadband grants because of the way remote communities are considered. Rick Boucher, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, said at a hearing that some rules governing the $7.2 billion program of loans and grants are too restrictive and urged administrators to be flexible.
British Boxer Wants Facebook to Delete "Defamatory" Posts
British boxing champion Amir Khan and his promoter, Frank Warren, have launched a legal campaign to force Facebook to tackle "highly defamatory" or abusive postings. The pair has engaged lawyers to threaten the social networking site with libel action over entries by users and to complain at the amount of time taken to remove offensive material.
Electronic Goods Website Found to Violate EU Laws
More than half of websites selling electronic goods and tested in an EU investigation were breaking European laws aimed at protecting consumers. The analysis of 369 websites selling mobiles, DVD players and games consoles in 28 European countries found that 203 of them held misleading information.
Obama Warns Teens About Social Networking Sites
President Barack Obama warned American teenagers of the dangers of putting too much personal information on Internet social networking sites, saying it could come back to haunt them in later life. The presidential words of advice follow recent studies that suggest U.S. employers are increasingly turning to sites such as Facebook and News Corp's MySpace to conduct background checks on job applicants.
Software Group Updates "Don't Copy That Floppy" Campaign
The Software & Information Industry Association, is reviving the anti-software-piracy video campaign for the Internet era, and plans to launch "Don’t Copy That 2." The software trade group acknowledged that the message, while still relevant, was "sort of in need of a facelift," said Keith Kupferschmid, its senior vice president for intellectual property policy.
German MP in Pirate Party Faces Child Porn Charges
A German MP who recently quit the Social Democrats for the Pirate Party has been charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. Prosecutors in Karlsruhe said Joerg Tauss is suspected of acquiring child porn in over 100 cases between May 2007 and January of this year, and saving it to his cell phone.
Microsoft Rivals Seek to Acquire Linux-Related Patents
Microsoft Corp. has suggested in recent years that companies using the Linux computer-operating system might be violating Microsoft patents. Now, in an effort to avert any legal threat that might discourage the adoption of Linux, a group of Microsoft rivals is about to acquire a set of patents formerly owned by the software giant.
More Groups File Briefs Opposing Google Book Settlement
Several groups opposed to Google's Book Search settlement filed court briefs outlining their concerns on the last day such briefs would be accepted. As expected, lawyers for Microsoft, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a coalition called the Open Book Alliance blasted the deal as anticompetitive and detrimental to consumers.
Flight Simulator Site Publisher Identifies Hacker
The publisher of a flight simulator site targeted by a hacker in May says it has presented a file of evidence to UK police identifying the perpetrator. Avsim said it had "incontrovertible evidence" about the hacker's identity.
Older WordPress Blogs Vulnerable to Worm
A worm is circulating that can post malware and spam to some WordPress blogs using outdated versions of the blogging software, according to a post by Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress.
Password-Hacking Services Proliferate, Despite Law
A number of services boast of having little trouble hacking into such Web-based e-mail systems as AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook and Hotmail, and they advertise openly. And, experts said, there doesn't appear to be much anyone can do about it.
Google Moves to Satisfy European Book Concerns
In a move to assuage European publishers' concerns over book digitization, Google said European books still listed as commercially available will not be included in its online registry of orphaned and out-of-print works -- unless rights holders give their express authorization. The search giant also said it will let two non-U.S. representatives onto the eight-person board of the Books Rights Registry, which was set up to govern the proposed books settlement reached with U.S. publishers and authors who sued Google in 2005.
Amazon Offers Free Books, Refund After Kindle Deletion
Amazon.com is offering free books or $30 to Kindle customers whose copies of the George Orwell novels 1984 and Animal Farm were deleted from their electronic reading devices in July. When Amazon erased the books from Kindles, citing a problem with the rights to the books, the company issued refunds to the buyers.
First U.S. Center for Internet Addiction Opens
In a suburb of high-tech Seattle, what claims to be the first residential treatment center for Internet addiction in the United States just opened its doors. It opened in July and for $14,000 offers a 45-day program intended to help people wean themselves from pathological computer use, which can include obsessive use of video games, texting, Facebook, eBay, Twitter and any other time-killers brought courtesy of technology.
Appeals Court Stays Injunction Against Microsoft Word
A U.S. Court of Appeals has granted Microsoft Corp's request to stay an injunction imposed by a federal court that would have halted sales of some versions of its popular Word application. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Microsoft had met requirements to merit a stay of the injunction.
Disability Groups Support Google's Book Project
A coalition of civil-rights and disability groups in favor of Google's book-scanning project held a press conference to marshal support for improving access to knowledge, the key benefit of Google's deal with authors and publishers to create a new kind of digital library. They fear that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain digital access to knowledge previously stored in libraries at expensive universities or rich communities could be hampered by the opposition to the settlement from some authors and privacy advocates.
Europe Extends Investigation of Sun-Oracle Merger
European regulators delayed the proposed takeover of Sun Microsystems by the software company Oracle, indicating that the combination could squelch the growth of a popular, free corporate database program owned by Sun. The decision by the European Commission to extend its investigation into the deal, worth $7.4 billion, is especially sensitive because the Justice Department has already approved the merger.
Trojan Horse Can Record Internet Calls, Symantec Says
Along with keyloggers that track what you type, now we have to worry about malicious software that listens in on our voice over Internet Protocol conversations. A Symantec security blog disclosed a new Trojan horse "that records VoIP communications, specifically targeting Skype."
