Friday, September 15, 2006

Somehow, they still don't get it.

http://techdirt.com/articles/20060914/095323.shtml

Sony Says Canadians Are Different Than Americans When It Comes To Rootkits

from the they-can-take-it dept

We were just saying how Sony's rootkit is still causing technical problems for users -- and it turns out it's still causing some legal ones as well. While Sony ended up settling the US-based lawsuit against it concerning the rootkits in the US, it took them a bit longer to work out the details in Canada. You would think that it wouldn't be too hard to knock out a similar settlement, but it turns out that Sony BMG apparently believes Canadians deserve different treatment than those of us in the US. Apparently, among a bunch of odd assertions, Canadians don't need the same settlement terms because they already benefit from the US settlement -- and therefore, it's okay that Sony BMG not have any new copy protections reviewed by independent researchers for security issues (as they agreed to in the US). It's apparently okay for them to install copy protection without telling people in Canada, which again, they cannot do in the US. It's true that many CDs will all be pressed the same way for the North American market -- but that doesn't explain why Canadians don't deserve the same deal as the folks in the US received.



http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004897.php

Required Reading for Product Reviewers

September 10, 2006

CDT has published a white paper setting out criteria on which DRM-restricted products and services should be judged. The paper should be required reading for every product reviewer who evaluates digital media products and services, suggesting specific questions that reviewers should be asking when examining DRM-restricted offerings.



http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012478.html

September 14, 2006

Transcripts of Supreme Court Oral Arguments Available Free Beginning In October

Supreme Court press release: "Beginning with the October 2006 Term, the Court will make the transcripts of oral arguments available free to the public on its Web site on the same day an argument is heard by the Court...The Court's current contract reporting service, Alderson Reporting Company, will now utilize the services of a court reporter in the Courtroom and high-speed technology to transcribe the oral arguments more quickly. Transcripts can be located by clicking on the "Oral Arguments" prompt on the home page of the Court's Web site and selecting "Argument Transcripts." Transcripts will be listed by case name and the date of oral argument. Transcripts are permanently archived beginning with the 2000 Term on the Court's Web site. Transcripts prior to the 2000 Term are maintained in the Court's Library."



He's probably right.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/11/porth_county_kiddyprinting/

Headmaster justifies fingerprinting pupils

By Mark Ballard Published Monday 11th September 2006 16:54 GMT

The headmaster of Porth County Comprehensive School in South Wales has defended fingerprinting all 1,400 of his pupils days after their parents were told about the scheme last Wednesday.

Children had their fingers scanned for a system that will replace the old fashioned school register with biometric scanners in every class room.

Parents campaigning against (http://www.leavethemkidsalone.com/) having schools take their childrens' fingerprints have complained that it is being done without their consent, and sometimes without their knowledge.

... The system, called Vericool, was developed by Anteon, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a firm that specialises in developing systems for the military and intelligence services.

It will register children for lessons by scanning their fingers when they enter a classroom at the start of a lesson.



I'm sure someone will sue MySpace over this...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MYSPACE_MURDER_PLOT?SITE=VALYD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Rage Over MySpace Photo Leads to Arrest

Sep 15, 12:24 AM EDT

MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- A 22-year-old woman was arrested after authorities say she tried to hire someone to kill another woman whose photo appeared on her boyfriend's MySpace.com Web page.

Heather Michelle Kane was booked Tuesday for investigation of conspiracy to commit murder, Mesa Detective Jerry Gissel said.

Kane was arrested after she met with an undercover police detective at a grocery store, authorities said. Court records show Kane offered to pay $1,000 to have the woman killed - $500 up front and $500 after the job was completed.

But the report said Kane gave the undercover officer only $400 at the meeting and planned to pay the rest of the money later.

The records say Kane gave the undercover officer photographs taken from her boyfriend's social networking Web page of the woman she wanted killed. She also requested a photo of the woman's dead body.

It wasn't clear if the boyfriend and the targeted woman were romantically involved, Gissel said.



http://techdirt.com/articles/20060914/130411.shtml

NY Wants To Make Life Difficult For Blogging Lawyers

from the can't-do-that dept

Greg Beck writes "New York is proposing new "ethics" rules on attorney advertising that would make it difficult for lawyers in New York to blog or in many cases even send an email. The rules are so out of touch with technology that, for example, a blog would have to be printed out and saved for a year (with an extra copy mailed to the state) every time it is updated." This isn't the first time we've seen this. Last year, there was a similar issue in Kentucky. As Greg's post shows, lawyer blogs would also have to include additional info announcing that it was advertising, while listing the names and law firms of any participating lawyers in the largest font found on the page. Funny, that: even lawyers can't seem to understand that the laws they're writing for themselves aren't any good.



What happens if you are sued in Afganistan and don't show up in court (tomorrow) to enter a defense?

http://techdirt.com/articles/20060915/022826.shtml

Accused Spammer Sues Spamhaus, Wins $11 Million

from the what's-wrong-with-making-a-list? dept

A few years ago, a group of spammers teamed up to sue a bunch of anti-spammers, with the main target being Spamhaus, who keeps what's considered the definitive list of spammers. After their lawyers realized they had little chance of getting anywhere with the case, the spammers withdrew the case. The accused anti-spammers took on the odd move of trying to get the case to continue in order to set a precedent that it's perfectly legal to put together a spam blacklist. However, that didn't work, and you knew it was only a matter of time until someone else sued Spamhaus. That's exactly that one company that's on Spamhaus' list did. What's surprising, though, is that they somehow convinced a judge to order Spamhaus to pay $11 million for listing the company as a spammer. As the article notes, the company, e360insight, is going to have a lot of trouble collecting since Spamhaus is based in the UK and outside the jurisdiction of the Illinois-based court. While part of the reason Spamhaus may have lost was Steve Linford's decision to basically ignore the case and not show up or defend Spamhaus at all, it's still not at all clear how the $11 million was picked as the number -- but the whole thing seems problematic. All Spamhaus does is put together a list of companies or individuals who Spamhaus has collected evidence on suggesting they're spammers. Linford insists that the company in question absolutely is a spammer and he won't remove them -- and he doesn't see why it should cost him millions of dollars for being honest and keeping his list accurate. While it is true that some anti-spam blacklists can be way too aggressive, it should hardly be illegal to put one together -- especially if you have evidence to back up the claims. Spamhaus has always been one of the more respected anti-spam lists out there, and it's difficult to believe it would continue to put a company on the list if it didn't truly believe the company was guilty of spamming.



http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Tactical_Gaming_Index_Descriptions_links_demos_and_full_free_games

The Tactical Gaming Index - Descriptions, links, demos, and full free games

Dslyecxi submitted by Dslyecxi 12 hours 11 minutes ago (via http://dslyecxi.com/tactical_index.html )

Created by the author of "Tactical Gaming Done Right", this is a list of games, mods, and websites focused on tactical computer gaming. It highlights a number of games that have made an impact in the tactical genre, to include a few that are actually entirely free to play. It should serve as a solid reference for anyone interested in the genre.



Think anyone will notice?

http://internet-what.blogspot.com/

Thursday, September 14, 2006

AT&T Censoring the Internet?

Okay, so, a friend of mine attempted to visit thepiratebay.org today, and got go.com instead. Being that he was using firefox and he got the correct IP after running an nslookup we've all but ruled out spyware/adware/malware. I had him run a traceroute to thepiratebay.org, and it looked like this.

... As it looks, Either Global Crossing (GBLX), AT&T, (or both working together) are censoring requests to thepiratebay.org.



Is this a smart move? Think this might generate some competition? (Do you suppose iPods are manufactured in Asia?)

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060914-7741.html

No iTunes movies for Asia

9/14/2006 9:44:39 AM, by Eric Bangeman

When Apple unveiled the movie section of the iTunes Store on Tuesday, Steve Jobs told the audience that while the movies would only be sold to US residents at first, Apple hoped "to take this international in 2007." Two days later, it looks like "international" really means "everywhere but Asia."

Due to fears of piracy, Apple has decided to keep most of Asia off-limits for its new movie offering as well as its well-established music store. Apple Asia marketing director Tony Li broke the news, saying "We cannot comment on the specifics but it is true that iTunes is not available in Asia. That goes for music and movies."



You get caught 1/57th of the time?

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0914mr-cd14-ON.html

Suspect steals to support family

Brian Indrelunas The Arizona Republic Sept. 14, 2006 12:00 PM

Police put a stop to Steven Rex Larsen's eBay business last week when they arrested the 42-year-old Mesa man on charges of shoplifting and trafficking in stolen property.

Police said Larsen walked into Wal-Mart, 4505 E. McKellips Road, on Sept. 7 with a large cardboard box and headed to the electronics department.

He reportedly put 48 DVDs in the box, sealed it and then shipped it to his business address from a shipping counter inside the store.

"(Larsen) paid for the shipping charge but did not pay for the merchandise," according to a police report.

Larsen was stopped by a store manager and told police he had been selling stolen DVDs on eBay since February to support his family, according to the report.

Store records reportedly showed Larsen had shipped items from the store 56 times since January. Larsen told police he sent more than 30 stolen DVDs in each shipment, and he allowed police to collect stolen discs from his house.

"Hundreds of packaged DVDs were collected from his residence and were confirmed to be the property of Wal-Mart," police reported.



Gee, I never count it. I trust the computer.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=110889&ran=223062

ATM reprogrammed to give out 4 times more money

By DUANE BOURNE , The Virginian-Pilot © September 13, 2006 | Last updated 8:07 AM Sep. 13

VIRGINIA BEACH - Police are looking for a man who broke the bank - literally.

Last month, a man reprogrammed an automated teller machine at a gas station on Lynnhaven Parkway to spit out four times as much money as it should.

He then made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. [So he apparently deleted the records, too Bob]

No one noticed [riiiiight... Bob] until nine days later, when a customer told the clerk at a Crown gas station that the machine was disbursing more money than it should. Police are now investigating the incident as fraud.

Police spokeswoman Rene Ball said the first withdrawal occurred at 6:17 p.m. Aug. 19. Surveillance footage documented a man about 5-foot-8 with a thin build walking into the gas station on the 2400 block of Lynnhaven Parkway and swiping an ATM card.

The man then punched a series of numbers on the machine's keypad, breaking the security code. [What idiot allows security overrides from the customer keypad? Bob] The ATM was programmed to disburse $20 bills. The man reprogrammed the machine so it recorded each $20 bill as a $5 debit to his account.

The suspect returned to the gas station a short time later and took more money, but authorities did not say how much. Because the account was pre-paid and the card could be purchased at several places, police are not sure who is behind the theft.

During the crime, the man wore a white T-shirt with writing on the back and a red baseball cap. Police have asked anyone with information to contact Crime Solvers at (888 ) LOCK-U-UP.

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