DruidFyr - Slashdot User

Submission + - RIAA Finally Gets Day in Court (groklaw.net)

Submitted by

CrkHead

on Friday September 28, 2007 @08:52AM

CrkHead writes: "After many years of avoiding a jury trial, Groklaw is reporting that they finally have to actually prove a case.

This is history in the making, in that this is the very first RIAA jury trial to actually go to trial in all the years since the RIAA began to sue people four or so years ago. I gather they tried to get out of this one too, but now it's set and it will happen.

"

Submission + - Florida Judge OK's Claims Against Record Companies (blogspot.com)

Submitted by NewYorkCountryLawyer on Sunday September 23, 2007 @07:26AM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: A federal judge in Tampa, Florida, has ruled that an RIAA defendant's counterclaim against the record companies for conspiracy to use unlicensed investigators, access private computer records without permission, and commit extortion, may move forward. The Court also sustained claims for violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as a claim under Florida law for deceptive and unfair trade practices. The decision (pdf) by Judge Richard A. Lazzara in UMG v. DelCid rejected, in its entirety, the RIAA's assertion of "Noerr Pennington" immunity, since that defense does not apply to "sham litigations", and Ms. Del Cid alleges that the RIAA's cases are "sham".

Submission + - 3-Part coverage of Music Industry by APR 1

Submitted by

kookjr

on Thursday September 20, 2007 @01:08AM

kookjr writes: "American Public Radio's, Marketplace, just had a three part story on the music industry. It was surprisingly consumer-friendly for a business centric show. The following links are directly to the shows, just click on the "Listen to Show" links; one, two, three."

Submission + - Record Company Collusion a Defense to RIAA Case?

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Wednesday August 29, 2007 @11:27AM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Is collusion by the record companies a defense to an RIAA case? We're about to find out, because the RIAA has made a motion to strike the affirmative defense of Marie Lindor, who alleged that "the plaintiffs, who are competitors, are a cartel acting collusively in violation of the antitrust laws and of public policy, by tying their copyrights to each other, collusively litigating and settling all cases together, and by entering into an unlawful agreement among themselves to prosecute and to dispose of all cases in accordance with a uniform agreement, and through common lawyers, thus overreaching the bounds and scope of whatever copyrights they might have" in UMG v. Lindor. The motion will be decided by the same judge who agreed with legal scholars in sustaining another affirmative defense of Ms. Lindor, in which she alleges (pdf) that the RIAA's $750-per-song-file statutory damages theory is "unconstitutionally excessive and disproportionate to any actual damages that may have been sustained, in violation of the Due Process Clause"."

Can Apple + AT&T Shut Down iPhone Unlockers? 318

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @01:47PM from the cell-phone-contracts-are-not-copyrighted dept.

aalobode writes "Do Apple and AT&T have the legal right to stop hackers from selling unlocked iPhones? Under their terms, only AT&T may sell iPhones, and Apple gets a commission. When unlocked iPhones are used on other providers' networks, AT&T and hence Apple get nothing beyond what they earned on the initial sale of the hardware. Can they prohibit unlocking? Reselling? The article in Businessweek gives the for and against arguments, but leans toward the view that the hackers may have the law on their side for once."

Submission + - Legal threats halt iPhone crack

Submitted by on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @01:24PM

An anonymous reader writes: BBC News reports that the British firm UniquePhones plan to sell software that could open the iPhone to non-US networks has been put on hold following legal threats. Apparently a 3am call from a lawyer claiming to represent AT&T warned that selling unlocking software could constitute copyright infringement and illegal software dissemination.

Submission + - AG Gonzales : "attempted" piracy should be (com.com)

Submitted by

TechForensics

on Thursday June 28, 2007 @09:46PM

TechForensics writes: "Gonzales: It's time to punish 'attempted' piracy

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9736941-7.html?ta g=nefd.only

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales created quite a stir last month when he called for an aggressive rewrite of criminal copyright laws, including prison time for "attempted" copyright infringement, life behind bars for pirated software use, and more expansive wiretap authority in piracy investigations.

If anyone doubted his seriousness about that dramatic plan, look no further than the text of a speech the official delivered in Seattle on Wednesday. See http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2007/ag_speech_07 0627.html"

Submission + - Activists take on new caller ID legislation

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28, 2007 @08:47PM

An anonymous reader writes: Activists at Binary Freedom Boston have asked people to contact their elected representatives to stop new legislation that would make caller ID spoofing illegal. Even though it can be used for fraudulent purposes, they claim that the bill is too infringing on people's right to privacy. What do you think?

Submission + - Forced to remove posts by law? 1

Submitted by

freaker_TuC

on Sunday June 24, 2007 @09:06AM

freaker_TuC writes: "Your own domain disappears from your sight, the nameserver is still serving it locally, the domain has been squatted. Reaction? With a big open mouth I looked to the domain registry info and saw the domain has been registered by someone else just right after the renewal at the registry failed and didn't even sent an update stating the domain was NOT renewed. What do you do? First, I contacted the offending party together with the registry to notify the domain has been squatted after up to 12 years of active duty stating I want it back. I could get it back for 1000$. I contacted the WIPO for domain arbitration, which costs up to 1500$ to get a panel ready, quite expensive to get your own domain back. I've posted the information at my website regarding the domain squat and warned about any identity theft because my main domain got lost which covered 95% of my private communication.

Because a few family members passed, I got in a waiting stage of which next step I should do to regain my domain back. I received an email of the squatter threatening to sue me for defamatory comments. This person is forcing me to take this information off-line and to notify slashdot or any forums which I have posted a comment about this to remove these posts.

What can one do to stay legal? Since I know slashdot does not sensor stories; Which is the best possible step to take to get rid of this culprit for once and always without needing to shake my entire wallet for this squat? Technically, it can't be called a "squat" according him, since he has "legally" obtained the domain name after expiration. This squatter is living in the USA while I am living in Belgium."

Submission + - Universal downgrade for Sony PSP (noobz.eu)

Submitted by

javipas

on Sunday June 24, 2007 @07:36AM

javipas writes: "The PlayStation Portable made by Sony is a wonderful device for all its user base, but it's even more great for those that have been able to run homebrew applications. The firmware upgrading roadmap had made impossible to downgrade certain consoles to a 'homebrewable' firmware, but a new exploit called Illuminati has been discovered to allow this task. Using a Lumines original game UMD anyone can now access the kernel mode that allows to run any kind of homebrew application. For the moment only a little "Hello World!" demo has been released, but soon a universal downgrader will allow any PSP user to access any kind of homebrew application/task. Running games from the memory card included, of course."

Submission + - Is Yahoo Censoring Open Source ? (slated.org)

Submitted by Peter_JS_Blue on Sunday June 24, 2007 @06:16AM

Peter_JS_Blue writes: According to avid Yahoo'er, Amanda Kerik, Yahoo seems to have developed a policy of censoring answers in their "Yahoo! Answers" service, if that answer contains a suggestion to use Open Source alternatives to Microsoft software.

The gist of it is, that a fellow Yahoo'er posted a question about what to do with a PC that had run into unsolvable Windows problems, since that user did not have a Windows install disc. Amanda suggested, quite amiably, that the hapless user should simply install Ubuntu Linux, since it looked like they'd need to start over from scratch anyway. Amanda was subsequently rewarded with a warning from Yahoo that her answer was "in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.", and they promptly deleted her answer.

Submission + - FBI to restrict student freedoms (pressesc.com)

Submitted by

amigoro

on Sunday June 24, 2007 @03:57AM

amigoro writes: "US university students will not be able to work late at the campus, travel abroad, show interest in their colleagues' work, have friends outside America, engage in independent research, or make extra money without the prior consent of the authorities, according to a set of guidelines given to administrators by the FBI. Feds are going around briefing top universities including MIT about "espionage indicators" aimed at identifying foreign agents and terrorists who might steal university research."

Submission + - RIAA is out of control yet again.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 04, 2007 @03:34AM

An anonymous reader writes: The RIAA is once again at their old tricks. The band Nine Inch Nails has intentionally 'leaked' songs via USB keys hidden at restrooms during their current European tour. Sites hosting the intentionally 'leaked' songs are now being sent cease and desist orders. The link is here: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/ news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=69841 I found it via http://theninhotline.net/ When will this ever end? The RIAA is just plain out of control.

Submission + - OFFICIAL: Slashdot shit on April 1st.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01, 2007 @07:23PM

An anonymous reader writes: Anonymous researchers in North Korea have conclusively demonstrated that internet users with inflated opinions of their "comedic genius", combined with low editorial standards, make the popular geek news site slashdot.org utterly pointless on April 1st. According to the lead researcher "One or two gags are to be expected on the first day of April, but when you are in the situation where every single story is an unimaginitive and unbelievable 'prank' then you know things have gone too far!". One of his graduate students continued: "In North Korea our resources are limited, so we are forced to dedicate time and effort to the task of crafting a small number of believable ruses. In the west you squander your ill gotten capitalist riches to produce reams of unreadable dross." Analysts generally back these conclusions, although they caution that unimaginative submitters are not sufficient to explain this phenomenon alone. Linus Torvalds was overheard to mutter: "The editors must have some pretty low standards for this crap to get through." RMS was not available to comment.

Submission + - RIAA Can't Have Defendant's Son's Desktop

Submitted by

NewYorkCountryLawyer

on Sunday April 01, 2007 @05:48PM

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's attempt to get Ms. Lindor's son's desktop computer in UMG v. Lindor has been rejected by the Magistrate Judge. The judge said that the RIAA

"offered little more than speculation to support their request for an inspection of Mr. Raymond's desktop computer, based on ... his family relationship to the defendant, the proximity of his house to the defendant's house, and his determined defense of his mother in this case. That is not enough. On the record before me, plaintiffs have provided scant basis to authorize an inspection of Mr. Raymond's desktop computer."
Decision by Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy. (pdf)"

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