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Comment Sensational but misleading headlines on this, aye. (Score 1) 1431

As Jaborandy points out, the texting was only prelude to an "altercation". This is what prompted the shooting, and undoubtedly we will hear some version of self-defense claim from the shooter's attorney eventually. The news outlets' packaging of this story as practically an execution for the offense of texting is misleading to say the least. For those of us who don't have the time to delve into the details of these stories, the risk is we come away from the headlines with a false impression of what happened. This is not in any way to judge the merits of the case or exonerate the shooter (it would be extremely hard to imagine him feeling his life was in danger from a 43-year old suburban parent there with his wife), but just to say be careful what conclusions you jump to.

Just to stir up the pot a little, I'll say this: it's another example of Florida's asinine gun permit clause which mandates that concealed weapons stay concealed as opposed to "open carry". Several of these high-profile shootings probably would have been avoided if the eventual victim knew beforehand that their opponent was armed.
GNU is Not Unix

Dealing With a GPL Violation? 204

Sortova writes "For many years now I've been maintaining OpenNMS, a free and open source network management framework published under the GPL. A couple of years ago it came to our attention that a company called Cittio was using OpenNMS as part of their proprietary and commercial network management application. I talked with Jamie Lerner, the Cittio founder, and he assured me that Cittio was abiding by the GPL. However, we were recently contacted by a potential client who was also considering Cittio's Watchtower, and it appears that they are not disclosing that they are using GPL'd code or at least not in the clear and concise fashion required by the GPL, including the offer of source code for all of the code they are including and any changes being made to that code. Since the copyright for OpenNMS is held by a number of commercial companies, the Software Freedom Law Center is not able to help us defend or even investigate a potential violation. I was curious if anyone here on Slashdot had experienced anything similar or has any advice?"
Security

Paypal Advises Users To Stop Using Safari 362

eldavojohn writes "Over concerns for lack of an anti-phishing mechanism for Safari, Paypal is telling its Mac users to use another browser. An author from Ars Technica reveals that he has been using Camino and has fallen victim to a Paypal related phishing scam via e-mail so this story must hit home for him. 'Currently the Apple browser does not alert users to sites that could be phishing for your info, and it lacks support for Extended Validation. PayPal is, of course, a popular site among phishers in their neverending search for personal information, user IDs, and passwords. While it's not entirely fair singling out Safari (other Mac browsers like Camino also lack this support), it is perhaps at least a helpful reminder of the threat.'"
The Courts

Geek Wins Copyright Lawsuit Against Corporation 616

Chris Gregerson writes "I work as a stock photographer/web developer. I saw a photo of mine used in Vilana Financial's full-page phone book ad. They wouldn't pay the licensing fee, and I wrote about it online (mirror). They sued me for defamation, producing a sales agreement signed by one ' Michael Zubitskiy' (who they said took the photo and sold the rights to them). I sued them for copyright infringement, and they added claims against me for trademark infringement, deceptive trade practices, and tortuous interference. There was a trial I'll long remember on the 5th of November, and the judge recently issued her verdict (PDF; mirror). She ruled Vilana Financial forged the sales agreement and willfully infringed my photos, and awarded me $19,462. All claims against me were denied. I represented myself during the litigation."
Censorship

Scientology Given Direct Access To eBay Database 684

An anonymous reader writes "The Church of Scientology can delete auctions from eBay with no supervision under the VeRO program, and has used this to delete all resale of the e-meters Scientologists use. This is to stop members from buying used units from ex-members instead of buying from the official (and very expensive) source. Given Scientology's record of fraud and abuse, should eBay give them this level of trust? Will this set a precedent for other companies that want to stop the aftermarket resale of their products?"
Software

UK Report Slams EULAs 239

draevil writes "Britain's National Consumer Council has completed an investigation into the practice of software End User License Agreements(EULAs) with the conclusion that many consumers are signing away their legal rights and agreeing to unfair terms, which they could never have scrutinized before purchase. The report also acknowledges that even if the EULA were available prior to purchase, it would be unreasonable to expect an average consumer to understand the terms to which they were agreeing. Here are the full report (PDF) and a summary." The NCC recommends that the European Commission bring softwre licenses under the same consumer protections that apply to other products in the EU.

Comment here's some legal refs (Score 1) 251

Though it's a bit late in the discussion, for future reference anyone wanting to research this further can visit their local law library (in the U.S. most municipalities have one, or the nearest law school) and look for these two treatises:

_Gilson on Trademarks_ by A. Lalonde, K. Green, and J. Gilson, published by LexisNexis ~ Matthew Bender;

and

_Callmann on Unfair Competition, Trademarks and Monopolies_ [4th Edition] by L. Altman, published by Thomson ~ West.

And no, this material is not readily available without actually visiting a law library because the publishers make scads of money selling them to rich lawyers.

Cheers.
--rat_axe the law librarian.

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