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The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Complaint Dismissed as "Boilerplate"

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The decision many lawyers had been expecting — that the RIAA's "boilerplate" complaint fails to state a claim for relief under the Copyright Act — has indeed come down, but from an unlikely source. While the legal community has been looking towards a Manhattan case, Elektra v. Barker, for guidance, a case in which amicus briefs had been submitted by various industry groups and the US Department of Justice (see case file), and from Warner v. Cassin, a similar motion in the same Court's Westchester division, the decision instead came from Senior District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California, in a decision denying a default judgment (i.e. the defendant had not even appeared in the action). Judge Brewster not only denied the default judgment motion but dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Echoing the words of Judge Karas at the oral argument in Barker , Judge Brewster held (pdf) that "Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant. However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on "information and belief" Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, Plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate that this allegation is anything more than speculation. The complaint is simply a boilerplate listing of the elements of copyright infringement without any facts pertaining specifically to the instant Defendant. The Court therefore finds that the complaint fails to sufficiently state a claim upon which relief can be granted and entry of default judgment is not warranted." An HTML, non-pdf, versions of the decision is available on p2pnet.net."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Short on Funds? Fails to Pay Attorneys Fees

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Can it be that the RIAA, or the "Big 4" record companies it represents, are short on funds? It turns out that despite the Judge's order, entered a month ago, telling them to pay Debbie Foster $68,685.23 in attorneys fees, in Capitol v. Foster, they have failed to make payment, and Ms. Foster has now had to ask the Court to enter Judgment, so that she can commence "post judgment collection proceedings". According to Ms. Foster's motion papers (pdf), her attorneys received no response to their email inquiry about payment. Perhaps the RIAA should ask their lawyers for a loan."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Thompson Says Florida Bar Requested Psych Test (joystiq.com)

Submitted by
MBCook
MBCook writes: "The referee for Jack Thompson's Florida Bar issues, Sheila M. Tuma, has allegedly requested that Thompson seek psychological testing and accept a 91-day suspension of his law license. The e-mail explaining the situation was sent to GamePolitics by Thompson himself. The claim could not be verified as the Florida Bar did not respond to requests for comment. The recommendation comes following issues stemming from Thompson's Bully case last year where there were issues regarding his professional conduct."
Biotech

Submission + - The world's longest carbon nanotube

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "As you probably know, carbon nanotubes have very interesting mechanical, electrical and optical properties. But they are 'small.' Now, researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have developed a process to build extremely long aligned carbon nanotube arrays. They've been able to produce 18-mm-long carbon nanotubes which might be spun into nanofibers. Such electrically conductive fibers could one day replace copper wires. The researchers say their nanofibers could be used for applications such as nanomedicine, aerospace and electronics. Read more for additional references and an illustration showing a CNT array image of UC's mission statement."
Windows

Submission + - Dell To Offer Win XP On Consumer PCs Again

Submitted by phalse phace
phalse phace writes: With so many consumers still asking for Windows XP to be loaded on Dell's consumer level PCs, the PC maker has finally decided to make that as an option. 'Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft's mainstream launch of the operating system in January. However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP as part of its IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas. Starting immediately, Dell said, it is adding XP Home and Professional as options on four Inspiron laptop models and two Dimension desktops.' The Dell models with the Windows XP option are: Dell Inspiron 1405, 1705, 1505, and 1501; and Dell Dimension E520 and E521.

Feed California Senate attempts to ban RFID tracking of students (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Wireless

It looks like the backlash from one California school's attempt at mandatory RFID tracking of students could end up prompting a statewide ban of the practice, if the state Senate has its way. In that first instance, Brittan Elementary School in Sutter, California attempted to require all students to carry RFID-equipped ID cards that would allow them to be tracked throughout the school, supposedly to simplify attendance-taking and reduce vandalism. That plan quickly backfired, however, and the school put the kibosh on the program. Under this new law, all schools would be prohibited from requiring students to carry RFID cards (or, presumably, be implanted with 'em) until 2011, when the practice would be reconsidered, according to The Register. Democrat Joe Simitian (who introduced the legislation) doesn't seem to be stopping there though, also proposing bills that would place a temporary ban on RFIDs in driver's licenses, add additional privacy safeguards to RFID-enabled government IDs and, of course, restrict forced RFID implants in people.

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NASA

Submission + - NASA's future inflatable lunar base

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "If you think that future NASA's moon camps need to have a science fiction look, you might be disappointed. Today, NASA is testing small inflatable structures. In fact, if these expandable 'tents' receive positive reviews, astronauts will 'camp' on the moon as early as 2020. These 12-foot (3.65 meter) diameter inflatable units could be used as building blocks for a future lunar base. Right now, a prototype is tested at NASA's Langley Research Center. But NASA also wants to test other inflatable structures in the not-too-friendly environment of the Antarctic next year. Still, it's too early to know if NASA's first habitable lunar base will use inflatable or rigid structures. Here you'll find more details about this project and pictures showing this NASA's inflatable lunar basic unit during and after deployment."
Software

Submission + - RIAA's "Expert" Witness Testimony Now Onl

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The online community now has an opportunity to see the fruits of its labor. Back in December, the Slashdot ("What Questions Would You Ask an RIAA "Expert"?") and Groklaw ("Another Lawyer Would Like to Pick Your Brain, Please") communities were asked for their input on possible questions to pose to the RIAA's "expert", Dr. Doug Jacobson of Iowa State University, who was scheduled to be deposed in February in UMG v. Lindor, for the first time in any RIAA case. Ms. Lindor's lawyers were flooded with about 1400 responses. The deposition of Dr. Jacobson went forward on February 23, 2007, and the transcript is now available online (pdf). For those who would like an ASCII text version they can cut and paste, go here. Ray Beckerman, one of Ms. Lindor's attorneys, had this comment: "We are deeply grateful to the community for reviewing our request, for giving us thoughts and ideas, and for reviewing other readers' responses. Now I ask the tech community to review this all-important transcript, and bear witness to the shoddy "investigation" and 'junk science' upon which the RIAA has based its litigation war against the people. The computer scientists among you will be astounded that the RIAA has been permitted to burden our court system with cases based upon such arrant and careless nonsense.""

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