Law | s1LX - Part 2

Premier Chat 002 Wrapup: EFF transcript plus extra questions answered

// November 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

This past Wednesday, November 11, we hosted our third Ars Premier Chat. We’d like to thank again all those who participated and submitted questions. We asked our own Senior Editor, Nate Anderson to put together four questions for Fred to tackle which you’ll find immediately below. If you’re simply interested in reading a transcript of the live event, scroll down or click here .

Premier Chat 002: Fred von Lohmann of the EFF

// November 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Recently, we launched Ars Premier 2.0 , our new and improved subscriber program that offers some fantastic new benefits for subscribers. Tonight sees our third insider-only feature: a live, moderated webchat with Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In his role as senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fred has become an authoritative voice specializing in intellectual property matters. He has been involved in many noteworthy cases, including the landmark MGM v. Grokster decided by the Supreme Court in 2005. Fred is also involved in EFF’s efforts to educate policy-makers regarding the proper balance between intellectual property protection and the public interest in fair use, free expression, and innovation.

Researchers’ well-aimed stone takes down Goliath botnet

// November 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Security researchers have taken down a major spam offender, though the dip in spam levels may be only temporary. Members of the FireEye security team coordinated an attack on the Mega-D botnet (also known as Ozdok) last week by preemptively registering domains meant for the botnet’s command and control channels (CnCs) and shutting down others. Spam coming from Mega-D stopped almost instantly, proving that David really can take down Goliath every once in a while. Ever since the shut-down of McColo in 2008, the brains behind spam botnets have been much smarter about diversifying their CnCs. As pointed out by a FireEye blog post , they’re no longer relying on a single net of domains to control the botnet—instead, many current botnets have mechanisms in place that randomly generate the next block of domains that the zombie machines will look for once the current set is shut down, and the people controlling the CnCs just register those domains on the fly as needed.

Data breach notifications one step closer to law… again

// November 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Every time there’s a major data breach in retail or government, there’s a chorus of frustrated customers trying to find out whether their information was exposed to would-be identity thieves. The problem is that it’s near impossible to find out this information unless the organization in question takes the initiative to notify customers with exposed data. This, quite frankly, happens very slowly. In response to this annoying trend, members of Congress have introduced legislation that would require organizations to notify customers when their information is no longer secure. None have passed as of yet—interest in such bills peaks when data breaches happen and wanes with the next news cycle—but there are currently two bills making their way through the system that show some promise.

New wave of pirates has psoriasis, frat boy hair; no peglegs

// October 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

According to a new report (PDF) from the Business Software Alliance, “roughly 41 percent of all software installed on personal computers is obtained illegally.” And, although the US government is reluctant to bring prosecutions against noncommercial P2P users or against downloaders, the Department of Justice is increasingly willing to prosecute criminal copyright infringement cases brought to its attention by groups like the BSA. But who are these criminal masterminds, exactly?

Ignoring RIAA lawsuits cheaper than going to trial

// September 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

Jammie Thomas-Rasset and Joel Tenenbaum captured the nation’s attention they were defendants in the RIAA’s first two trials against accused online infringers. But here’s the mind-warping reality: both defendants would have been far better off monetarily if they had simply ignored the complaint altogether and failed to show up in court. That counterintuitive logic played out again this week in Massachusetts, where federal judge Nancy Gertner issued four default judgments against accused P2P file-swappers who never bothered to respond to the charges against them. Their failure to appear meant an automatic loss, and though the judge does have some discretion in setting penalties, judges often pick the minimum awards in such cases.

France passes harsh anti-P2P three-strikes law (again)

// September 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The French legislature today passed into law a second version of the ultra-controversial HADOPI “three strikes” law that targets illegal Internet file-swappers. The revised proposal does address the concerns of the “Sages” who sit on France’s Constitutional Council who objected to the first version of the law, but it does little to mollify critics. Internet disconnections of up to a year can be ordered by a single judge in a “streamlined” proceeding, while Internet users who fail to “secure” their connections can also be punished if other people use those connections to exchange copyrighted material. The National Assembly passed HADOPI 2 today by a margin of 285-225; the Senate has already passed the legislation.

US Chamber of Commerce cites #19 rank, wants tougher IP laws

// September 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The World Economic Forum—otherwise known as the group that throws the fancy Davos shindig every year—has just released an over 400-page report on the world economy (PDF). Global competitiveness was the key metric, and the US lost its number one spot this year to Switzerland. So it goes. But tucked back in the report’s list of data tables was a fascinating one about intellectual property , and it put the US in 19th place worldwide when it comes to protecting IP. What happened next was entirely predictable in a world where many executives still think that “more IP protection” is always better: the US Chamber of Commerce called for… more IP protection in the US.

Cop cops plea for e-mailing nude pics to woman he arrested

// September 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

When Calvin Schaffer pinned on his police officer’s badge on February 27, 2009, he wasn’t planning on getting himself hauled into federal court for e-mailing nude pictures of himself to a woman he pulled over in a traffic stop. But that’s exactly what happened, and Schaffer yesterday pleaded guilty in a Kansas court to a case that eventually involved even the FBI. How did a local scandal become a federal issue? As The Topeka Capital-Journal puts it, “The e-mails crossed state lines and through several jurisdictions by traveling over the Internet through servers in California and Virginia.” That was enough to trigger the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, and the feds charged Schaffer with wire fraud. The court has scheduled a sentencing hearing for November 16.

RIAA continues to squeeze Tenenbaum, wants injunction

// September 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Tech News

The gloves are coming off. Although the RIAA already won a $675,000 judgment against student Joel Tenenbaum over 30 songs shared on P2P networks, the recording industry has a fixation with going the extra mile against infringers. It is asking courts to issue injunctions against repeated infringement for both Tenenbaum and Jammie Thomas-Rasset , the only other file-sharing defendant to go to trial in the US. In a new filing with the Massachusetts federal court, RIAA lawyers rail against Tenenbaum’s “repeated lies and continued infringement,” saying that “it is likely Defendant will continue to infringe and/or act in concert with others in committing online copyright infringement of Plaintiffs’ sound recordings, especially given that he is currently promoting the online copyright infringement by countless others.”

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