Technically Legal

Library of Congress releases new DMCA anti-circumvention exemptions, 5th Circuit rules in favor of Fair Use under the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, and a few major companies sued for using features in flash cookies.

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New DMCA Anti-circumvention Exemptions

Read about it on our blog.

U.S. Copyright Office Release

Provisions in DMCA: 17 U.S.C. § 1201

5th Circuit, Section 1201, and MGE v. GE, No. 08-10521 (5th Cir. 2010)

Read about it on Ars Technica

5th Circuit’s Opinion

Flash cookies: Valdez, et al. v. Quntcast, MySpace, Hulu, NBC, ESPN, et. al

Read about it on Ars Technica

Complaint (courtesy of Wired)

In other news, Ben and David Lu!! are traveling around the country and had to miss this week’s recording.  Also, audio quality might be a little poor (some nasty background noise and a few bad audio splices while editing); apologies in advance.

1 Comment Posted in: Podcast on August 2, 2010

Quon and SMS Privacy, AT&T Security Breaches, and FTC Wants to Save the Newspaper

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Quon and SMS Privacy

Analysis: Hints on texting privacy
The Opinion

AT&T Security Breaches

iPhone 4 Order Security Breach Exposes Personal Information
FBI Investigates iPad Data Breach
AT&T Explains iPad Security Breach

FTC Wants to Save Newspaper

Potential Policy Recommendations To Support The Reinvention Of Journalism

1 Comment Posted in: Podcast on June 21, 2010

In a bit of a surprise, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Quon today. The case was argued in April, and the court reverses the 9th Circuit. The Supreme Court held that the search of the officer’s text messages was constitutional.

The court realized that there was some significance in the case, but resolved it purely on a whether the search was reasonable. More detailed analysis to come. We last discussed this case in podcast episode 31.

As of writing, we’re still waiting on Bilski, which was argued in November. It’s the only outstanding case from November.

Comments Off Posted in: Links on June 17, 2010

Twitter to Sell Trademarked Ad Terms, Senators Call to End Privacy Of Pre-Paid Phones, Apple v. GPL

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Twitter to Sell Trademarked Ad Terms

Twitter May Allow Competitors to Purchase Trademarks as Keywords for Sponsored Tweets

Senators Call to End Privacy of Pre-Paid Phones

Senators call for end to anonymous, prepaid cell phones

Apple v. GPL

GPL Enforcement in Apple’s App Store
More about the App Store GPL Enforcement

Comments Off Posted in: Podcast on May 31, 2010

The iPhone Search Warrant, Google Goofs with WiFi Data, and LimeWire held liable for Copyright infringement.

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iPhone Search Warrant

iPhone Investigation Documents Ordered Unsealed (Update1)
Roommate’s Tip Led Cops to iPhone Finder
The Warrant Application

Google Goofs with WiFi Data Privacy

Google Says It Collected Private Data by Mistake
WiFi data collection: An update

LimeWire held liable for Copyright Infringement

LimeWire Likely To Shut Down Soon
CopyWrong! Kimba Wood Squeezes the Juice Out of Limewire
The Opinion

Comments Off Posted in: Podcast on May 17, 2010

You should take everything in this story with a grain of salt. The Merion School District released a report compiled by its own investigators about the alleged spying by the school into the homes of students.

Essentially the school district is saying that, yes, the webcams took upwards of 30,000 pictures and 27,000 screen shots, but all that was a result of failing to deactivate the recovery software after a lost or stolen laptop was recovered.

The school’s explanation for the spying the resulted in the lawsuit:

The report says Robbins turned in his laptop with a broken screen and was issued a loaner on Oct. 20, but school officials quickly moved to retrieve it due to outstanding insurance fees. So the tracking program was activated from Oct. 20 to Nov. 4 and captured 210 webcam photographs and 218 screen shots, the report said.

Although a technician confirmed on the first day of tracking that the laptop was “now currently online at home,” another official in the same department instructed him to keep the tracking on and later told investigators he thought he needed authorization to terminate it, the report said.

On Oct. 30, the report said, a technician saw a computer screen shot that “included an online chat that concerned him.” After consulting with a superior, he allowed school officials to look at the images.

So they loaned him the laptop, activated the software, and read his instant messages? Sure sounds like spying to me. Did anyone try calling the family to get the laptop back?

Comments Off Posted in: Links on May 6, 2010

The Supreme Court yesterday held argument in Quon a case which presents the question of what, if any, privacy interest a state employee has in text messages sent over an alpha-numeric pager provided by his employer.

We covered this way back in podcast 31. This isn’t a great case to address this issue, largely because the police department says they told all the employees they had no expectation of privacy in the text messages they sent. There’s also a wrinkle in that the government says that Quon could have just paid for the overage and not have been subject to the search. Also, the Supreme Court didn’t seem to be able to wrap its head around alpha-numeric pagers, which is worrisome.

Comments Off Posted in: Links on April 20, 2010

The Pennsylvania school that was spying on students with laptop webcams, has now been accused of snapping thousands of pictures of students, contrary to their assertions that they used the technology sparingly.

If this proves to be true, the school is in a great deal more trouble than they were at the beginning of the case.

Comments Off Posted in: Links on April 17, 2010

FCC v. Comcast, e-mail privacy, and DMCA constitutionality.

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FCC v. Comcast

11th Circuit on E-mail Privacy

DMCA v. Free Speech

Comments Off Posted in: Podcast on April 12, 2010

Just two stories this week: Summary Judgment motions in Viacom v. YouTube, and Netflix shuts down it’s second challenge.

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Motion Filed in Viacom v. YouTube

Read The Just-Unsealed Documents From The YouTube/Viacom Case Here
Broadcast Yourself

Netflix Cancels Second Challenge

FTC’s Privacy Worries Prompt Netflix to Cancel Contest

Comments Off Posted in: Podcast on March 22, 2010