http://current.com/e/88856223 “Give me a good reason why you’re filming around.” BakelBlog discusses some of the filming restrictions proposed in the UK and the resulting reactions of “community support officers” when folks try to film in public streets. → Read More
The MPAA may have some explaining to do following remarks of one of its lawyers in the Jammie Thomas trial. The remark in question, as written by Marie. L. van Uitert: It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement In other words, the MPAA shouldn’t have to provide “direct proof”—it’s pesky!—when suing old ladies, dopey college kids and John and Jane Does for as much as $150,000 per copyright violation. How does that make sense, in human terms? Never mind the $150,000 per copyright violation—movie tickets are, what, $10 these days?—but the MPAA believes it should be able to extract such funds merely because, you know, it’s “difficult” to prove any wrongdoing? Stunning. How old and unreasonably rigid is our legal system that this type of thing can be taken seriously? Oh now I’m all worked up again. via TorrentFreak → Read More
It was bound to happen, and today it’s official: Craigslist is countersuing eBay, claiming unfair competitive practices, fraudulent business claims, copyright infringement and more. The auction site has a roughly 25% stake in Craigslist, and Craigslist wants it back, and the filing says that Craigslist wants eBay to divest its shares. We’ll have to see how this pans out when it goes to court, but it’s looking like eBay, the company that trades on people being good to each other, wasn’t taking its own medicine. → Read More
Just a quick note for those of you who purchased replacement power adapters for your iBook or Powerbook, the ones that cause sparks and start fires that burn you and your family alive: you’re getting a refund. Depending on which adapter you have and for which portable, you could receive up to $79 from Apple in a class action settlement. This is addition to the power adapter recall Apple had a few years back, but not related to the battery recall of two years ago. Does your adapter qualify? You’ll have to wait to find out. The final ruling is expected in September, but Apple will likely have a place on its website where you can input your serial number and see if you get cash. → Read More
More news in Atlantic vs. Boyer, a case of the RIAA coming down hard on an innocent user and the user fighting back. Yesterday we brought news that the defendant’s attorneys filed a countersuit yesterday and that the judge has dismissed it. Turns out the RIAA filed for a dismissal, but today the judge put aside the RIAA’s dismissal request and will allow the countersuit to stand. This means the RIAA’s got a fight on its hands. Normally the defendants back down and try to get out with as little loss as they can, but it’s great to see someone standing up to these big jerks. → Read More
So you know how all those people have been up in arms about the adult content in games like GTA IV? And how they think that the ratings need to be tougher? A few politicians don’t think they go far enough. They want to actually start using retail cashiers to police who buys what, IDing people when they purchase to make sure they’re of age. I’m OK with this for cigarettes and alcohol, but for a game? Games aren’t dangerous, but I guess someone has to think about the children. Or, how about if they go about the real work of congressmen, trying to end the war, feed the homeless, and fixing our gas prices? Yes, Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah), I’m talking to you. STFU & GBTW. → Read More
I love it when people fight back against the RIAA. Their bullying tactics are getting old, and it seems the courts are realizing this. Last week a judge made it clear that making files available for download — seeding a file to a P2P network, for example — is not copyright infringement. There are other stories of people fighting back, and Atlantic vs. Boyer. Boyer’s attorneys are being awesome and countersuing the RIAA for a number of offenses, and it’s a juicy, lovely list. The counter-suit states that the RIAA’s wrongdoings include civil conspiracy (to commit extortion, illegal investigations, and computer fraud), computer fraud and abuse, trespass, deceptive and unfair trade practices, declaratory judgment, and abuse of process. Wow. Sadly, the judge dismissed the countersuit, though that’s surprising. Hopefully Boyer’s attorneys will think of something else to screw the RIAA right where it hurts. → Read More
GTA IV is still in the news. This week, Take Two, the publisher of the game, is suing the Chicago Transit Authority for pulling the game’s ads out of bus terminals and shelters without explanation. Take Two paid Titan Outdoor, the group that handles advertising for the Authority, $300k for a six-week ad campaign. Titan Outdoor pulled the ads in response to a deadly crime wave that hit the city just as the ads were going up. Take Two, it seems, would like its money back. We’ll keep you posted on how this develops. → Read More
This is bad for the RIAA, but good for file sharers. Yet another judge today disagreed with the RIAA’s assertion that making copyrighted works available — say, on a P2P network like BitTorrent — is not copyright infringement. This marks the second time the law has sided against the RIAA on this exact same issue. The judgment basically says, “leaving something out for someone to steal does not make them an accessory to theft,” and we agree. Will this stop the RIAA from continuing with its ridiculous lawsuits? No way. Other than counting all of its money that never goes to artists, it has nothing better to do. → Read More
Where there is crime, there is a victim, or so the adage goes, and in this case, you’re likely one of the victims yourself. Eddie Davidson was the spam king of Louisville until he was caught in 2007, and he was sentenced today to 21 months in a federal PMITA prison. Davidson sent out millions of spams, from fake rolexes to junk stocks. He was convicted on tax charges and for falsifying header information in emails. Oh, and fined almost three-quarters of a million bucks. → Read More
If you own an smartphone manufactured by HTC running Windows Mobile, you’re about to receive a free software update. We don’t know when it’ll hit or what it will do, but it’ll do something. HTC has been criticized by some for what they consider poor implementation of of graphics acceleration in certain handsets, saying that the devices are sluggish due to poor drivers for video. The update, that HTC today confirmed is coming, will likely fix this problem, though the maker offered no specifics. There’s a class-action suit pending, though it’s unknown if it will ever go to court. While many are upset with HTC over its handling of video on its devices, many others have a “you get what you pay for” attitude, more or less echoing HTC’s line. → Read More
Did American companies violate U.S. law by selling hi-tech police equipment to the Chinese? The Old Gray Lady asks this today, examining a recent Chinese police equipment trade show held in Beijing where several American companies, including Motorola and DuPont, were notably present. (An old law going back to Tiananmen Square prevents American companies from selling police equipment to China.) On display: Kevlar bulletproof vests, advanced police radio systems, fancy protective boots and a device that “swiftly” copies the entire contents of a hard drive without leaving any trace of having done so. That one’s developed by Intelligent Computer Solutions, which is based in California. This all comes just a few weeks after China’s crackdown on Tibet protesters, never mind the controversy surrounding the Olympic Torch relay. Of course, all companies deny any wrongdoing, stressing that they haven’t broken any laws. Be that as it may, I wonder if it’s worth sullying a company’s image just to make a few dollars from the Chinese. Not trying to pull a Jack Cafferty or anything, but selling American-developed technology to be used by Chinese authorities, that doesn’t seem like it’d be too popular with Joe Sixpack. → Read More
I don’t know if this is more or less ridiculous than Marvel claiming sole ownership of “super hero.” At least they had a hand in, if not creating from scratch, at least popularizing the term. But Futuremark, while an established company in an area where pwnage is rampant, has neither pwned anybody (ever) or even been in a situation where pwning was an option. And let’s be frank here: “pwn” isn’t even a damn word, it’s a popular misspelling of an overused scrap of trash talk, which will probably be obsolete soon as everyone moves to voice chat. Trying to make it a trademark is not only misugided, it’s pointless. Face it, Futuremark, it was a n00b move. Law: pwnage (TM)? [Kotaku] → Read More
About a year ago, I learned that just because you don’t store copyrighted materials on your server, “facilitating the transfer or consumption” of said material is still a no-no. I was considering building a sweet video player web app (using SopCast) that streamed the Sunday NFL games simultaneously next to each other in a clickable grid that would allow someone to watch all the games at once and then click on each one to maximize that game. Alas, I never did anything with it because I found out that even though I wasn’t hosting the games, I would have been making it very easy for people to watch them without the express written consent of the National Football League. → Read More
[photopress:pirate_bay_logo.jpg,full,right]The captains of the Pirate Bay BitTorrent site will be formally charged with conspiracy to break copyright law. Pirate Bay was raided in 2006, though it wasn’t long before the site was back on its feet. Those being charged are maintaining that there’s no legal grounds for the charges against them and plan to fight the case in open court. Formal charges will be filed Thursday in Sweden. If convicted, each charged Swede could face up to $10,000 in fines as well as up to 5 years in jail. Convictions likely wouldn’t shutter the BitTorrent site, though, which is good news for you other pirate-types out there. Sweden to charge Pirate Bay in copyright case [Reuters] → Read More
[photopress:i_killed_my_treo.jpg,full,center] In the last three weeks, I’ve been to seven airports. CES, Macworld, and other travels have sent me all over the place. One thing I always check out when I run across them are airport Palm stores. See, I’m a Palm believer. They started the handheld and smartphone revolutions, we owe them a lot. And I think they have a few bright products on the horizon. I don’t stop by the stores for the hardware, I stop by to see people getting interested in smartphones. But this little travel tradition of mine might soon come to an end, as word is Palm will be shuttering 26 of its airport stores as it prepares to pay out quite a bit of money to Treo 600 and 650 owners as part of a class-action suit it settled not long ago. The final hearing is set for May 2. Many of these handsets had manufacturing problems, and those that required more than one repair are eligible for a rebate or credit. If things go as anticipated, registered owners of Treo 600s will receive $75, whle 650 owners will receive a $50 credit towards the purchase of any new Treo smartphone. Class action settlement has Palm pulling plugs [BGR] → Read More
Police in New Carrollton, Maryland are among the first in the state to use the magic of modern technology to issue tickets to motorists. Information about the driver in question is pulled from the Maryland motor vehicle database and then printed out in the squad car. Sounds very simple, no? Before this system, "officers would write out 5 copies of each citation by hand" and about 10-15 percent of tickets (nationwide) have to be thrown out because of legibility issues. One of the officers says that the time it takes him to write a ticket is about three minutes, down from over ten minutes. Police Use High-Tech Ticket Technology [WJLA] → Read More
Shame on you, Staples and HP! Lull us into a false sense of security with your hilarious Easy Button and not hilarious celebrities’-hands-doing-stuff commercials while you pull the wool over our eyes with your printer ink price-fixing. I feel violated, although that might have nothing to do with this HP/Staples stuff. These are all allegations at this point, so let’s not get too bent out of shape but a man in California is suing HP and Staples for breaking antitrust law, claiming that HP offered Staples "at least $100 million worth of ‘market development funds’ and incentives, in exchange for an agreement to stop selling third-party HP-compatible ink cartridges. According to the lawsuit, Staples then used HP’s exclusivity to raise prices on the HP cartridges it offered." → Read More
I guess it’s kind of a normal thing right now for tech companies in the far east to sue each other regularly over technicalities in order to get a leg up competition-wise. So, feeling the fever, Sharp decided to get in on the frenzy and throw down against LCD TV rival Samsung. The suits concern “brightness, response speeds and viewing angles of LCD panels,” apparently, which doesn’t say much, but I’m sure it will all come to light in five years or so when this is all wrapped up and we’ve moved on to holograms. Sharp files LCD patent suit against Samsung Elec [Reuters] → Read More
