December 17, 2001
November 28, 2001
N.Y. Times (via Int'l Herald Tribune): Rivals mobilize alternatives to U.S. system (Europe, China, Russia, and Canada are developing navigation systems to serve as alternatives to U.S.-controlled GPS)
November 21, 2001
AP: Health care company unhappy with Philip Morris' planned
name change to Altria (Altria Healthcare Corp. says it doesn't want to be associated with cigarette maker)
November 20, 2001
November 12, 2001
October 29, 2001
October 25, 2001
CNET News.com: MSN.com shuts out non-Microsoft browsers (remember "DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run"? It's back!)
October 18, 2001
October 15, 2001
October 10, 2001
InternetNews.com: Britney Spears hacked into CNN.com (prankster posts fake version of CNN site with false news report, then promotes the hoax by exploiting CNN's own "e-mail this" service)
Wired News: Osama has a new friend (also see Snopes.com: Bert Is Evil!; Fox News: Bin Laden's felt-skinned henchman?; Bert working with bin Laden?; Fractalcow; the original Bert and bin Laden image; and the poster that used the image: photo #1 [Dutch news agency ANP], photo #2 [Reuters], and photo #3 [Reuters] / larger version of #3)
October 09, 2001
October 05, 2001
September 25, 2001
September 24, 2001
September 22, 2001
September 21, 2001
September 20, 2001
CNET News.com: eBay's charity auction upsets some sellers (note the statement near the end of report that PayPal is deducting credit card processing costs from Red Cross donations -- PayPal's web site says that "100% of the proceeds" will be donated)
September 19, 2001
September 17, 2001
September 16, 2001
September 15, 2001
September 14, 2001
September 13, 2001
InformationWeek: Report: FBI seeks e-mail about attacks; Digdirt.com: E-mails link Osama bin Laden's terrorist network to Tuesday's bombings
InformationWeek: Cyberscuffles follow terrorist attacks; Newsbytes: Hackers discuss retaliatory cyberstrikes
Privacy Headquarters: How to aid investigators (a guide for financial institutions dealing with requests for information by law enforcement authorities in the wake of terrorist attacks)
Computerworld: Consumers warned to beware of online disaster-relief scams; eWeek: Tragedy attracts spammers (also see CNET News.com, InternetNews.com, MSNBC, Wired News, and ZDNet News)
September 12, 2001
Wired News: Anti-attack feds push Carnivore (also see CNET News.com, MSNBC, The Register, and ZDNet, for additional coverage of FBI serving search warrants on ISPs)
September 11, 2001
Politechbot: Anonymous remailer operators start to take remailers offline (also see Network World) -- but see a contradictory report in The Register
September 09, 2001
September 03, 2001
Ananova: Defendant faces the music rather than paying fine (Ohio man convicted of disorderly conduct is ordered to listen to four hours of polka music)
September 01, 2001
August 30, 2001
Sydney Morning Herald: London council crosses line in its harassment of motorists (traffic officials hoist legally parked car, paint yellow lines under it, put it back down, and issue parking ticket)
AP: Court withdraws opinion on web site access (also see Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines and descriptions by Martin H. Samson and BNA)
August 29, 2001
Politechbot: Borders suspends using facecams after public outcry; follow-up: Borders says it never intended to try facecams (also see Privacy.Org)
August 25, 2001
August 23, 2001
Decided today: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Doughney, No. 00-2289 (4th Cir. Aug. 23, 2001) (also see People Eating Tasty Animals)
August 22, 2001
CNET News.com: Anti-spam group makes up with pollster (MAPS agrees to remove Harris Interactive from its Realtime Blackhole List, after Harris agrees to confirm opt-in requests) (also see InternetNews.com)
August 16, 2001
CNET News.com: Gateway closes a half-dozen Country stores (is it finally starting to dawn on Gateway that their entire comparative advantage arose from not having to collect sales tax -- an advantage they lost by opening retail stores? ... naah, they're probably just reinventing the wheel once again)
August 13, 2001
New York Times: Rebels in black robes recoil at surveillance of computers (federal judges disable monitoring software)
August 10, 2001
August 08, 2001
New York Times: Rebels in black robes recoil at surveillance of computers (federal judges disable monitoring software)
New York Times: Rebels in black robes recoil at surveillance of computers (federal judges disable monitoring software)
August 07, 2001
August 05, 2001
Wired News: Mantle, Mays and AOL discs (AOL CDs are becoming increasingly popular among collectors) -- seems strange, but it beats actually using AOL
CNET News.com: Spiegel charges credit cards in coupon gaffe (retailer accuses customers of misusing its online coupon codes, then posts charges to customers' credit cards for the amount it says they owe, prompting investigations by FTC, BBB, and MasterCard)
July 31, 2001
July 29, 2001
July 27, 2001
Wired News: In order to have your advice ("The most clueless people in the world are those who click on attachments in their e-mails...")
July 20, 2001
Wired News: What pops up must come down (irritating ads spur more users to install adblocking software)
PrivacyHeadquarters.com: Sound familiar? Customers seek to assert nonexistent rights (informational web site with industry perspective says banks should be able to ignore customers' privacy opt-out requests if they aren't submitted using the bank's own form, even if the customer uses a standard form notice like this)
July 19, 2001
AP: Britannica.com users say farewell to free read (Let's see here ... it didn't succeed when they charged for it, and it didn't succeed when they made it free, so now they're going to charge for it again. Why not pay people to use it, instead? They'd lose a little on each customer, but they could make up for it in volume, right? Is it too late for me to patent that business model?)
July 18, 2001
July 17, 2001
July 11, 2001
OK, I hate to give them a free plug, but this web site is definitely worth checking out: Anybirthday.com Birthdate Search Engine. You can search for anyone's birthday (in the USA), and about half the time you'll find it. (You'll also get the person's zip code, which you can look up using one of these links: Census, ZipInfo, ZipFind.) Supposedly this data comes from "public records" ... but I have my doubts.
July 10, 2001
July 09, 2001
July 06, 2001
July 05, 2001
AP: Lilly gaffe: 'They've got Prozac' (manufacturer accidentally releases e-mail addresses of hundreds of Prozac users)
July 03, 2001
InternetNews.com: E-tailers duel on shipping charges (Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com both are offering free shipping on orders of two or more items -- though you may be able to find better prices through BooksAMillion.com or PriceFarmer.com)
July 01, 2001
Law Blog was featured in Blog Heaven: A simple way to converse, collaborate, and communicate, an article about weblogs in the July 2001 issue of Small Business Computing Magazine
June 29, 2001
June 27, 2001
Reuters: Student sues professor over class demonstration (former Pace law student sues Torts professor and university after he pulled away a chair as she sat down)
June 26, 2001
AP: Freelance writers win case over electronic reprint rights (New York Times Co. v. Tasini, No. 00-201 (June 25, 2001) (175K PDF))
Cease and desist letter from law firm to humor site that threatened to kill Barney (even more ridiculous than another firm's letters to flyingbuttmonkeys.com)
June 22, 2001
June 21, 2001
The American Humane Association's Film and TV Unit rates movies based upon the treatment of animals during production. Check out their reviews of Freddy Got Fingered and Joe Dirt.
June 20, 2001
CNET News.com: Rental-car firm exceeding the privacy limit? (car renter fined for speeding detected by GPS device)
June 19, 2001
June 15, 2001
June 14, 2001
CNET News.com: Trojan horse targets Word users (yet another security hole attributable to sloppy Microsoft code)
June 13, 2001
As if X-10's new "popunder" ads on the N.Y. Times web site and elsewhere weren't annoying enough, the company now lets you opt-out of the annoying ads -- but you have to let them place a cookie on your hard drive in order to opt out. (Actually, they'll put a cookie on your hard drive when you visit their web site, whether or not you opt out.) Yet another argument for an opt-in rule, if you ask me.
June 11, 2001
AP: Can McVeigh killing be hacked?; San Antonio Express-News: Net security experts expecting bootleg video of McVeigh execution; search eBay for McVeigh execution video
June 08, 2001
St. Petersburg Times: Clothes make the inmate (jail trusties say their new uniforms make them look like the Hamburglar)
June 07, 2001
June 03, 2001
May 17, 2001
CNET News.com: EU considers Net traffic, e-mail archive (police demand that all Internet communications be recorded and maintained for up to seven years) (also see Politechbot, The Register, and Statewatch)
May 15, 2001
May 13, 2001
May 10, 2001
May 09, 2001
May 08, 2001
May 05, 2001
May 02, 2001
May 01, 2001
April 30, 2001
April 26, 2001
Federal Trade Commission press release: FTC supports legislation to limit junk e-mail (also see Spam Laws)
The FTC's position may sound reasonable, but in fact the Commission favors a horrid out-out bill, S. 630. The FTC praises that bill in its testimony, saying that it "could make the use of commercial email a more effective marketing tool, because consumers likely would be more willing to trust the contents of a piece of UCE if they know the source of the email."
The FTC has been studying the spam issue for several years; you'd think that by now they would have figured out that the problem doesn't have anything to do with the content of communications. An effective spam law could help solve the spam problem, but legislating an opt-out rule would only make it much, much worse than it already is.
April 24, 2001
April 23, 2001
April 22, 2001
April 20, 2001
Wired News: Linking records raises risks (also see GAO Report GAO-01-126SP, Record Linkage and Privacy [1.4 MB PDF])
April 19, 2001
April 18, 2001
Reuters: Bald is bad for discipline, says former referee (a London newspaper reports that soccer referees are more likely to impose penalties on bald or shaven-headed soccer players, apparently because they are perceived as more aggressive)
April 17, 2001
Associated Press: Where did I come from? (Ellis Island officials and the Mormon church offer new database of immigration records, ellisislandrecords.org)
Declan McCullagh's politechbot.com: Brown U professors demand crackdown on anonymous "injurious" email
April 16, 2001
April 13, 2001
April 12, 2001
April 10, 2001
MasterCard International: Cease-and-desist letter to rec.humor.funny (apparently MasterCard can't buy a sense of humor)
April 09, 2001
Purdue University Police: Help identify riot suspects (also see criticism by Prof. Mathieu Deflem; Purdue Exponent editorial)
offshoremp3s.com: Offshore Napster Server Initiative (an effort to establish a Napster server in a jurisdiction beyond the reach of major governments and the RIAA)
April 08, 2001
Federal Communications Commission press release: FCC releases policy statement providing guidance to broadcasters regarding indecency statute
April 06, 2001
CNET News.com: MSN filter sparks subscriber ire (Microsoft ISP begins blocking outbound port 25 traffic in anti-spam effort)
Wired News: Fine print not necessarily in ink (experts question enforceability of clickwrap contracts)
April 05, 2001
April 04, 2001
April 03, 2001
March 31, 2001
March 30, 2001
Verio is censoring John Gilmore's email under pressure from anti-spammers (if this page is down, see the mirror at Cryptome)
March 27, 2001
CNET News.com: EU asked to tone down privacy standards (also see Reuters) (let's see here ... several years ago the European Union enacted a directive to protect the privacy of Europeans, and now American companies are suddenly upset that they may not be able to invade the privacy of European citizens as they do with Americans ... what's wrong with this picture?)
March 26, 2001
Newsbytes: Lawmakers try to seal officials' e-mail, net records (Indiana General Assembly considers legislation to bar public access to public officials' e-mail) (also see Indianapolis Star)
March 24, 2001
SatireWire: Foot-and-mouth first virus unable to spread through Microsoft Outlook (scientists confirm that the disease cannot be spread by Microsoft's e-mail application, marking the first time that Outlook has ever failed to propagate a major virus)
Chronicle of Higher Education: Judge halts effort by Bates College to prevent disclosure of student e-mail messages
March 23, 2001
March 22, 2001
Ananova: AOL to ban time at work (company will try to reduce stress by prohibiting employees from wearing watches or looking at clocks)
March 21, 2001
March 20, 2001
Reuters: Lawmaker punished for fake radio interview (Canadian M.P. suspended from committee post after his assistant impersonated him on air)
March 18, 2001
WXII NewsChannel 12 (Piedmont, N.C.): Fast-food restaurant makes X-rated mistake (Chick-Fil-A distributes kids activity book containing link to explicit web site)
March 16, 2001
BBC News: Larry Potter returns to print (author of '80s Larry Potter books sues author of Harry Potter series, citing numerous instances of alleged plagiarism)
March 15, 2001
Washington Post: The address you leave behind (startup change-of-email-address company Re-Route.com says it will forward e-mail for $10 per person per month)
... gee, $10 a month seems a bit steep to me, especially since they're going to send spam to each sender whose message they forward. (Worse yet, unless your old ISP has accepted a payoff from Re-Route.com to keep forwarding your mail, you'll still have to keep paying that ISP's monthly fees.) How about $0.01 per person per month, and no spam? Uh, wait, I can do this myself for free, and not risk having someone at Re-Route.com read my e-mail, spam my correspondents, market my new e-mail address or other personal info, or lose my e-mail while they're bouncing it across the country and back.
March 13, 2001
March 12, 2001
March 10, 2001
March 09, 2001
March 08, 2001
AP: Wiretap charges dropped against student taper (17-year-old high school student was charged with audiotaping a chemistry lecture)
March 07, 2001
Reuters: Aimster says Pig Latin code can circumvent Napster injunction (federal copyright law makes it illegal to reverse-engineer the simple encryption performed by its Aimster Pig Encoder, according to Aimster's CEO)
ISP-Planet: Three ISPs team up with controversial registrar (following launch of idealab!'s New.net registry for non-ICANN-approved top-level domains, Earthlink and other ISPs agree to configure their name servers to recognize New.net domains)
March 06, 2001
Ananova: Eagle-eyed viewer spots repeat sitcom 'flasher' (Nickelodeon says it will edit "Three's Company" episode)
March 05, 2001
CNET News.com: File-swapping services seek refuge overseas (Canadian plans to set up Napster-like service in Sealand, off the coast of Britain)
March 03, 2001
SecurityFocus: DeCSS in the funny pages (comic strip "The Boondocks" criticizes judge in DVD descrambling case)
March 02, 2001
Wired News: Napster clone's curious terms (Aimster's new terms of service prevent copyright holders from searching for infringements)
Washington Post: Breaking it open, making it better (hackers upgrade their ReplayTV and TiVo digital video recorders)
Wired News: Do marketers know you're sick? (proposed health privacy regulations include loophole for marketers)
March 01, 2001
The Recorder: Ground zero: Prosecutors in Silicon Valley are awash in requests for warrants to search e-mail servers (officials are flooded with complaints about anonymous Yahoo and Hotmail users)
Reuters: Eggs scrambled in truck crash (a truck carrying 10 tons of eggs crashed into another truck, scrambling breakfast-time traffic)
Reuters: Travel sites in free fall (stock prices plunge after Northwest Airlines says it will no longer pay commissions to travel web sites)
February 28, 2001
AP: Space-seeking hacker takes files (unprotected Indiana U. computer used to store and possibly distribute MP3 files; student data apparently compromised) (also see , Indiana Daily Student)
February 27, 2001
AP: County bans phoning while driving (Westchester County, N.Y., enacts law prohibiting motorists from talking on handheld cellular phones)
February 26, 2001
Ananova: Consumers would object to paying for MSN; Newsbytes: Internet users want free content, no taxes ... well, duh!
Wired News: ID, registration and DNA, please (experts discuss possibility of creating a national DNA database)
February 25, 2001
February 24, 2001
February 23, 2001
Orlando Sentinel: Barry University School of Law loses second bid for ABA approval; Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier: Appalachian School of Law wins provisional status from ABA
U. of Florida Alligator: UF's first notification letter sent to parents (university will inform parents of child's violations of campus alcohol policies)
Wired News: Beware those insidious vcards (also see CNET, Computerworld, InternetNews.com, The Register)
February 22, 2001
February 21, 2001
Deseret News: Students rally against porn (high school students in Utah march on State Capitol, chanting "Heck No, Porn")
February 20, 2001
February 19, 2001
Politechbot: Disposal fees for unsolicited ads on new computers (purchaser of new computers seeks payment from Microsoft for removal of contaminants, including "Windows 2000")
N.Y. Post: Kid cyberslams teachers (12-year-old student suspended from school for posting web site containing altered photos and insults about teachers) (also see Ananova)
N.Y. Post: Oh, brother! DWI bust for Roger (Roger Clinton arrested for drunken driving arrest less than a month after a pardon by his former presidential half-brother wiped away his criminal record) (also see Pravda)
February 17, 2001
Reuters: Bush, in Mexico foray, faces dreaded green nemesis (President Bush visits ranch of Mexican president and broccoli grower Vincente Fox)
February 16, 2001
Village Voice: Making Nike sweat (Nike declines customer's order for personalized sneaker with the word "Sweatshop" on it) (also see Slashdot and Nike iD)
Oklahoma State Daily Collegian: Alumni's privacy may be at risk (alumni group sells data to credit card issuer)
Ananova: 'Free internet access' lands family with £17,000 bill ("free" service caused Floridian's computer to dial ISP in Britain)
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Protest letter to the U.S. Secret Service (agents interrogated student author of editorial asking Jesus to smite George W. Bush)
February 15, 2001
Univ. of Wisconsin Daily Cardinal: ASM lawsuit expected against UW (student government seeks course evaluation data under Freedom of Information Act)
San Diego Union-Tribune: San Francisco mayor gets restraining order against Elvis impersonator (also see S.F. Chronicle)
February 14, 2001
February 13, 2001
Ananova: Firms face closure for mis-spelt adverts (United Arab Emirates will impose fines for mistakes in ads)
February 12, 2001
February 11, 2001
February 10, 2001
Wired News: FBI goes after Bonsaikitten.com (MIT served with grand jury subpoena for info about parody site)
February 09, 2001
Detroit Free Press: Proposed law would erase free Web users' anonymity (ISPs would be required to collect subscriber data)
Philadelphia Inquirer: High tech joins the lunch line (fingerprint scanning for school lunches) (also see MSNBC, Popular Science, Food Service Solutions, and Libertarian Party press release)
February 08, 2001
CNET: Hobby industry looks to sew up thieves' loose ends online (trade group fights needlepoint pirates)
February 06, 2001
February 05, 2001
Privacy Foundation: Email Wiretapping (describes how the sender of an HTML e-mail message can see comments added by a recipient who forwards the message to someone else)
February 03, 2001
February 02, 2001
Reuters: Wayward penguin treated for depression ... and, also from Reuters: Study: Penguins do not topple watching aircraft
Virginian-Pilot: Senate passes bill to make students pledge allegiance (students in Virginia schools could face suspension for failing to participate in Pledge of Allegiance)
February 01, 2001
L.A. Times: Secret cameras scanned crowd at Super Bowl for criminals (facial recognition technology identified 19 people with criminal histories) (also see Washington Post report)
January 30, 2001
AuctionWatch: Auction sites ban sale of EverQuest characters (also see CNET report, Slashdot thread, players' web site)
January 29, 2001
January 28, 2001
January 27, 2001
ZDNet/WSJ: Net filter spies on kids' surfing (software maker sells data for $15,000/year to marketers and others, including the Department of Defense; also see Wired News report)
Washington Post: Democrats had most voided votes in Florida (the head of Florida's election division says that some people intentionally invalidate their ballot by casting multiple votes)
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (of Wisconsin, obviously) was busy this week ... he introduced 17 bills, including the Democracy for Dairy Producers Act, the Dairy Farmer Viability Act, the Dairy Promotion Fairness Act, and (my personal favorite) the Quality Cheese Act of 2001.
January 26, 2001
Who is suing Jeremy's wallet? (Canadian Tire Corp. files copyright infringement suit against web page author who posted a picture of his Canadian Tire credit card and called it "a sign of virility and sexual prowess")
January 25, 2001
January 24, 2001
E-Commerce Times: Report: Wired kids ready to leak private info (75% of children give data to marketers)
Translations: Babelfish, InterTran, FreeTranslation.com, and Worldlingo can translate text and web pages into several languages. Specialized translators are available for Aussie, Buckwheat, Cockney, Dubya, Ebonics, Elmer Fudd, Hacker, Jethro, Jive, Moo, Moron, Pig Latin, Porno, Redneck, Smurf, Spam, Swedish Chef, and Valley Girl.
January 23, 2001
CNET: DOJ concerns shutter file-swapping service (FreeDrive drops utility used for pirating software)
January 22, 2001
January 21, 2001
Financial Times: Online recruiter wins ban on rivals web links (German court enjoins framed deep links)
InternetNews: Groups clash over Hotmail spam filters (Peacefire criticizes blacklisting of spamhaus ISP)
CNET: Advocacy group fights ruling on DVD cracking case (EFF says DeCSS hyperlinks are protected speech)
January 20, 2001
January 19, 2001
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