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Archive for the ‘policy and law’ Category.
Wired News: Orrin Hatch: Software Pirate?
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Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) suggested Tuesday that people who download copyright materials from the Internet should have their computers automatically destroyed.
But Hatch himself is using unlicensed software on his official website, which presumably would qualify his computer to be smoked by the system he proposes.
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[see also]
Lawrence Lessig:
If there were a Nobel Prize awarded for business innovation, I’d nominate the person who first thought of giving customers at convenience stores their purchases for free if the cashier didn’t offer a receipt. Convenience stores are famously vulnerable to rogue cashiers who don’t record sales. By drafting customers to police cashiers, convenience stores get an inexpensive but effective surveillance system.
But I wonder: When you get a recording while on hold that says, “Calls may be monitored to assure quality assurance,” doesn’t the passive voice already authorize you, the customer, to tape as well?
Another application and implication of the Memex. Remember
Ed Felten’s article.
Ed Felten illustrates the persistence-of-information issues raised by Memex, DARPA’s LifeLog, journalists, bloggers, expectations of privacy, and the incentives of individuals, in
Freedom to Tinker: Privacy, Blogging, and Conflict of Interest
Techdirt:
Court Says DMCA Users Don’t Need To Investigate Sites They Take Down
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Yet another ridiculous ruling surrounding the always popular DMCA rule. This one says that a copyright holder does not need to “investigate” the site they claim is distributing their copyrighted works, as long as they have a “good faith” belief that the site is infringing.
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This is particularly scary considering that the RIAA recently admitted (though, after some denial) that they’ve been sending out takedown notices accidentally when no infringement was occurring.
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OSI Position Paper on the SCO-vs.-IBM Complaint:
Eric Raymond dissects the SCO complaint lie-by-lie.
Legal Tags: Wendy Seltzer’s Weblog: Even Harvard’s Dean Misreads the DMCA:
‘A “repeat infringer” is not someone who has merely been accused of wrongdoing, but one who has been proven to have engaged in unlawful activity, twice.
The distinction is important because entertainment industry accusations are not proof of infringement; at times, they are downright laughable. Universal Studios recently sent a demand letter to the Internet Archive because some of the Archive’s public domain films had numerical filenames, apparently leading an automated ‘bot to mistake a promotional film of a seamstress-in-training for the submarine movie “U-571.” ’
Fred Baker (Cisco):
Cisco Support for Lawful Intercept In IP Networks
CNET News: Inside Cisco’s eavesdropping apparatus | CNET News.com
Information Security Magazine, April 2003 – News and Analysis:
‘Attorneys nationwide reportedly plan to deploy decoy patients at health care organizations to see if doctors, dentists, hospitals and insurance companies have the policies, procedures and protections that ensure patients’ privacy, as required by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Those that don’t comply risk hefty fines, possible criminal prosecution and costly civil lawsuits. Companies have had two years to educate staff, designate a privacy officer and adopt basic security measures. But there’s a good chance some providers will miss the deadline. … The threat of lawsuits may be a stronger motivator than government fines or jail time, says Kate Borten, a security consultant and president of The Marblehead Group in Massachusetts.
“The government has publicly stated it will be very forgiving if an organization demonstrates it meant well and has taken steps to become compliant,” Borten says. “The greater concern is the private lawsuit or bad press in a local community that will hurt business.”’
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