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The Media

Submission + - The Controversy Over Content: Piracy 101

Submitted by mrneutron2004
mrneutron2004 writes: No amount of law or enforcement of law will eliminate the appeal of new technologies. The trick is determining where to draw the line between law and individual freedoms, so that the adaptations of new technology become accepted and normalized. Right now the line is not only blurry, but jumping dangerously close to having negative consequences for individual freedom and expression. http://www.fastsilicon.com/opinions-editorials/the -controversy-over-content-piracy-101.html?Itemid=2 7
The Internet

Submission + - Canadian DMCA Coming This Spring

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Canadian government is reportedly ready to introduce copyright reform legislation this spring, provided that no election is called. The new bill would move Canada far closer to the U.S. on copyright, with DMCA-style anti-circumvention legislation that prohibits circumvention of DRM systems and bans software and mod chips that can be used to circumvent such systems.
Patents

Amazon's Lawyers Jerking USPTO Around? 134

Posted by CowboyNeal from the unleash-the-busy-work dept.
theodp writes "Reacting to an actor's do-it-yourself legal effort that triggered a reexam of Amazon.com's 1-Click patent, attorneys for Amazon have fired back, deluging the USPTO with documents to review, including Wikipedia articles. With the latest batch, Amazon's high-priced law firm even requested that USTPO examiners review an archived page of Norm Quotes (yes, Norm from Cheers) and rule that it does not invalidate CEO Jeff Bezos' 1-Click patent."
Censorship

Submission + - AMD's New DRM

Submitted by
DefectiveByDesign
DefectiveByDesign writes: "Remember how AMD said they'd make use of ATI's GPU technology to make better technology? Well, not all change is progress. InfoWorld is reporting that AMD plans to block access to the framebuffer in hardware to help enforce DRM schemes, such as allowing more restricted playback of Sony Blu-Ray disks. They can pry my print screen key out of my cold, dead hands."
Encryption

Submission + - AACS Licensing Authority Throws The First Grenade

Submitted by mrneutron2004
mrneutron2004 writes: In an effort to stem the tide of discovered encryption keys, the AACS Licensing Authority announced that is has "taken action, in cooperation with relevant manufacturers, to expire the encryption keys associated with the specific implementations of AACS-enabled software." So, those with some clue will wait for BackupHDDVD and AnyDVD HD to get updated. Meanwhile the average clueless consumer who rarely even thinks about updating anything will soon be in for a shock when their HD disc playing software goes into self-destruct mode with new HD releases. The end result? Perhaps, and this is just an educated guess, more and more legitimate consumers will likely be turned into encryption cracking evildoers, simply because they want to play what they PAID FOR. Sigh... Why is this so predicatable? http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/aacs-licens ing-authority-throws-the-first-grenade-into-the-fo .html?Itemid=60
Google

Google Admits to Using Sohu Database 209

Posted by CowboyNeal from the cut-and-paste dept.
prostoalex writes "A few days ago a Chinese company, Sohu.com, alleged Google improperly tapped its database for its Pinyin IME product, stirring controversy on whether two databases were similar just due to normal research process. Today Google admitted that its new product for Chinese market 'was built leveraging some non-Google database resources.' 'The dictionaries used with both software from Google and Sohu shared several common mistakes, where Chinese characters were matched with the wrong Pinyin equivalents. In addition, both dictionaries listed the names of engineers who had developed Sohu's Sogou Pinyin IME.'"
The Courts

Submission + - Perens Counters ACT's Claim that GPLv3 is "Ris

Submitted by
Microsoft Delenda Est
Microsoft Delenda Est writes: "After ACT, a Microsoft front group, started claiming that the GPLv3 was legally "risky" and could give rise to anti-trust liability, eWeek has published a rebuttal by Bruce Perens. Aside from the fact that IBM, HP, Red Hat, and a couple dozen corporate lawyers are watching over the creation of the GPLv3, there is already precedent saying that shows the GPL is unlikely to give rise to any significant liability — Daniel Wallace v. FSF. In that case, pro se litigant Daniel Wallace was all but laughed out of the courtroom for alleging the GPLv2 violates anti-trust law, and the GPLv3 clauses in question are simply clarifications and extensions of clauses in the GPLv2. Presumably, that is why the ACT neglected to cite any precedent substantiating their allegations."
Security

Submission + - Hacking Bluetooth With a USB Stick

Submitted by ancientribe
ancientribe writes: If there's one thing that has precluded hackers and researchers from cracking Bluetooth, it's been the $10,000 price tag of the sniffer tools involved to do so. But look out: European researchers have now broken that price barrier with a prototype hacking tool based on a $30 Bluetooth USB dongle. The USB-based sniffer tool lets you eavesdrop on a Bluetooth communication session, and teamed up with other tools, access encrypted data on Bluetooth devices.

http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=121 111&WT.svl=news1_4
Security

Submission + - EBay Hacker's Conviction Upheld

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in the case of Jerome Heckenkamp, the former University of Wisconsin student convicted of federal computer crime charges in 2004 after hacking into Qualcomm, Cygnus Solutions and other companies, and defacing eBay. Heckenkamp was caught after a system administrator at the university hacked into his Linux box to gather evidence that Heckenkamp had been attacking the college mail server. The court ruled today that such counter-hacks are allowable under the "special needs" exception to the Fourth Amendment, and upheld the warrantless search. Wired has the story.

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