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Graphics

Submission + - Nice Cameras Not Allowed

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "NY Times columnist David Pogue had an interesting post on his blog a few days ago on the prohibition of DSLR cameras (Single Lens Reflex with Detachable Lens) at many concerts, shows, and arenas while pocket cameras are allowed in. Pogue brought his Nikon D80 to a freestyle motocross show and was turned away — the tour had been running into trouble with people shooting the events with professional equipment and then showing up at the next venue to sell prints. "Most outfits would simply have banned all photography," says Pogue. "These guys at least knew that only an SLR is capable of sell-worthy photos." As an amateur photographer who likes to take concert photos and put them into the creative commons I wonder (along with Pogue) if concert signs of the future will one day say "No Photography with Nice Cameras Allowed.""
The Courts

Journal SPAM: California City Sues Man for Canceling Trash Collection 4

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius

Eddie House claims to have reduced his waste to nearly nothing out of concern for the environment. He now faces a lawsuit from San Carlos for canceling his garbage-collection service. The suit seeks a permanent injunction forcing House to maintain garbage service. City officials are also seeking to recoup from House the costs of the lawsuit. The city claims that House broke the municipal code requi
Security

Submission + - Sears Web "Community" is a Spyware Install (ca.com)

Submitted by
Panaqqa
Panaqqa writes: "After several weeks of security alerts from CA and denials by Sears, spyware security researcher Ben Edelman has joined the chorus accusing Sears of surreptitiously installing Comscore tracking software on the PCs of people who join the Sears "community". Kmart (owned by Sears) is apparently involved also. After installation, the software sends details of all online activities — including secure sites such as banking — directly to Comscore, despite the Sears website's assertion that it does not share collected data with anyone. Various technology blogs are likening this breach of online privacy to the recent Facebook Beacon fiasco."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA-fighting Maine law professor speaks out

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In a fascinating interview with Jon Newton of p2pnet, Prof. Deirdre Smith of the University of Maine Law School's Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, which is the first law school legal clinic in the U.S. to have taken on the RIAA, says that "our students are enthusiastic about being directly connected to a case with a national scope and significance". She went on to say that the case (Arista v. Does 1-27 (Portland, ME)) is probably one of the first intellectual property cases the clinic has ever taken on, and that if it proceeds further, she expects to also "draw on the considerable expertise in IP among members of our faculty and the Maine Center for Law and Innovation, another program of the Law School". Congratulations to the University of Maine School of Law for giving its law students the opportunity for hands-on experience fighting the RIAA's effort to rewrite copyright law."
The Courts

Submission + - DMCA subpoenas used to protect Internet security (informationweek.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many on Slashdot accuse music and movie companies of violating privacy and legal rights when they send DMCA subpoenas, and generally excoriate the DMCA subpoena process. Will they similarly condemn AVG for sending DMCA subpoenas to search engines and domain registrars in order to discover the identity of sellers of counterfeit antivirus software? Is there a difference?
Music

Submission + - RIAA Puts Out 'Fake News' (fakenewser.com)

Submitted by
Fake Newser
Fake Newser writes: "The Recording Industry Association of America wants to communicate with TV News audiences. The company I work for just distributed this video package nationwide to TV News Stations. It already aired in Dallas and one network and one major news gathering service have requested tapes. This thing could be all over the news this week. The video you see was preceded by graphics which told stations who paid for the content and offered the name and title of the spokesperson. This is how the RIAA and other organizations get their news out and influence consumers like you. Here's the actual VNR, missing only the informational slates that preceded it on the satellite feeds.... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f09_1198188234"
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA "expert" Jacobson makes new accusatio

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Not content with his prior testimony and his previous reports, the RIAA's "expert", Dr. Doug Jacobson, has submitted a new, "supplemental" report, making new accusations against Ms. Lindor's son, in UMG v. Lindor. He makes no mention of what new development occurred to make him change his mind. The RIAA appears to have become emboldened in Brooklyn by recent rulings there in which the District Judge David G. Trager held that (a) Ms. Lindor's lawyers are not allowed to see MediaSentry's compensation and retainer agreements even though MediaSentry is plaintiffs' primary trial witness; (b) Dr. Jacobson can testify as an 'expert witness' at the trial even though he satisfied none of the Daubert reliability factors, and (c) he will continue to personally control all RIAA cases in the Eastern District of New York, rather than allow random judicial assignment by lot, which is the general rule in federal court. Upon learning of the ruling, one commentator stated that the RIAA has "been foisting supposed tech expert Doug Jacobson on courts hearing specious RIAA sue 'em all cases even though the voracity of Jacobson's evidence has been proven to be highly questionable"."
The Internet

Submission + - Bell Canada DSL service throttles P2P arbitrarily

Submitted by Dembonez
Dembonez writes: The fine folks over at P2Pnet.net have compiled some great details on a very dirty deed. That is, Bell Canada as a DSL ISP is following the lead of Comcast in the US and Rogers up in Canada by throttling P2P traffic. Beyond what the other two are doing, Bell are imposing bandwidth caps for 'unlimited' service subsribers, stating that they've gone over the allotted bandwidth restriction for the month. Of course, nowhere in their terms of service do they outline what that restriction is for unlimited users. It gets better, though! Bell being an ILEC have 3rd party reseller ISPs. If you were to leave Bell after being identified as a heavy user, they'll deny any of their 3rd party resellers from signing you up! Bell being as big as they are, they have 3 of the 5 seats on the committee for fair competition in Canada. This means that it's highly unlikely that any complaint about unfair business practices or false advertising would be quashed. If you're in Canada and using Bell, send them a message... and go elsewhere. Want to know more? TFA: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13883
The Internet

Submission + - How Bloggers Blocked the Telecom Immunity Bill (salon.com)

Submitted by
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes: "We all know that the telecom immunity bill has been derailed (for now), but Salon has an article on how bloggers were instrumental in blocking the retroactive telecom immunity bill. It details how various political blogs worked together and came up with a plan for how just one key congressman could derail the bill. They then contacted Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) as the best candidate for the job, and convinced him to agree to the plan to stop the bill with a hold and the threat of a filibuster within mere hours. Internet activists even helped Sen. Dodd break his personal one-day fund raising record and helped bring other key politicians on board. Still, the bill isn't quite dead yet. Those pushing telecom immunity, like Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), will bring it back in January. They hope we will all have forgotten about it by then."
Government

Submission + - Colorado Decertifies Electronic Voting Machines (denverpost.com)

Submitted by CUShane
CUShane writes: "Colorado's looming primary and presidential elections were thrown into turmoil Monday when many of the state's electronic voting machines were deemed unreliable and unsecure by Secretary of State Mike Coffman," according to the Denver Post. Coffman has decertified voting machines made by three of the four manufacturers operating in Colorado: Sequoia Voting System, Hart InterCivic, and Election Systems & Software. The decision affects 53 counties in Colorado. The only company to pass the certification is Premier Election Systems (formerly Diebold Election Systems).
Government

Submission + - NY State seeking comments on ODF

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The New York State "Office for Technology" is soliciting comments about electronic records, and what formats they should be kept in. Examples given are ODF, and MOOXML. Be sure to click on "Part II" which is where all the details are hidden. Comments are due by Friday, December 28th at 5pm. http://www.oft.state.ny.us/oftnews/erecords-study.htm
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA backs down in 'unlicensed investigator' case (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Texas grandmother Rhonda Crain got the RIAA to drop its monetary claims against her, after she filed counterclaims against the record companies for using an investigator, MediaSentry, which is not licensed to conduct investigations in the State of Texas. The RIAA elected to drop its claims, rather than wait for the Judge to decide the validity of Ms. Crain's charges (pdf) that the plaintiff record companies "were ... aware that the .... private investigations company was unlicensed to conduct investigations in the State of Texas specifically, and in other states as well.....and understood that unlicensed and unlawful investigations would take place in order to provide evidence for this lawsuit, as well as thousands of others as part of a mass litigation campaign". Similar questions, about MediaSentry's unlicensed investigations, were raised recently by the State Attorney General of Oregon in Arista v. Does 1-17"
Social Networks

Submission + - Wikipedia COO was a Convicted Felon (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The Register writes:

"For more than six months, beginning in January of this year, Wikipedia's million-dollar check book was balanced by a convicted felon. When Carolyn Bothwell Doran was hired as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Florida-based Wikimedia Foundation, she had a criminal record in three other states — Virginia, Maryland, and Texas — and she was still on parole for a DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) hit and run that resulted in a fatality. Her record also included convictions for passing bad checks, theft, petty larceny, additional DUIs, and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gun shot to the chest."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA protests Oregon AG discovery request (blogspot.com) 2

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA is apparently having an allergic reaction to the request by the State Attorney General of Oregon for information about the RIAA's investigative tactics, in Arista v. Does 1-17, the Portland, Oregon, case targeting students at the University of Oregon. See The Oregonian, December 1, 2007 ("UO suspects music industry of spying") and p2pnet, November 29, 2007 ("RIAA may be spying on students: Oregon AG"). Not only are the record companies opposing the request (pdf), they're asking the Judge not to even read it. (pdf)"

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