Just a kid, so this can't possibly be about identity theft?
http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2007081816505782
Police recover Idaho National Guard data, arrest suspect
Saturday, August 18 2007 @ 04:50 PM CDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches
Boise Police have made an arrest in a string of car burglaries and recovered a thumb drive containing personal information about thousands of Idaho National Guard members stolen from one of the vehicles.
Source - Idaho Press-Tribune
Behavior profiling...
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/17/2318245&from=rss
TSA's "Behavior Detection Officers"
Posted by kdawson on Saturday August 18, @08:04AM from the picking-on-an-easy-target dept.
Stanistani sends us to MSNBC for a dyspeptic Newsweek commentary on the TSA's latest attempt to make air travel safer: the rather ominously named "Behavior Detection Officers" now working in a dozen US airports, and slated to go nationwide in 2008. They are trained in the discipline of reading "micro-expressions." The editorialist calls that a pseudo-science, but in fact it's a well-understood skill that can be taught and learned. A cursory look at this TSA program might put one in mind of Orwell's "facecrime," and that's the road the Newsweek writer goes down. Yet some who bemoan the security theater historically run by the TSA point to the gold standard of airport security, Tel Aviv airport, and wonder why TSA officers can't act more like the Israelis. Bruce Schneier wrote recently about one reason why the Israeli security model isn't completely transplantable to these shores: scale. And here's Schneier's take on behavioral profiling from a year ago. That's what the BDOs will be trying for: scrutinizing intent instead of pocket knives. Let's just hope they don't get swamped with false positives.
... Funny cartoon on profiling.
(Lawyers! Click on the link – there is an illustration you will want to copy for all of your friends – perhaps even turn into a Christmas card!)
I just love a good bad example...
Heavy Sanctions Loom Against Attorneys for e-Discovery and other “Aggrivated Litigation Abuses”
The other shoe has dropped in a case that many California attorneys were already talking about, Qualcom Inc. v. Broadcom Corp.; it hit with such a loud thud that attorneys all over the country will now take notice. Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., No. 05-CV-1958-B(BLM) Doc. 599 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 13, 2007). This is an Order to Show Cause directed against all attorneys who represented the plaintiff, Qualcomm, in a patent infringement case it brought against Broadcom. The Order specifically names 14 attorneys from two prominent law firms, one local and one national, but also includes “any and all other attorneys who signed discovery responses, signed pleadings and pre-trial motions, and/or appeared at trial on behalf of Qualcomm.” The Order requires these attorneys to appear in the District Court in San Diego on August 29, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed against them for failure to comply with the Court’s orders.
The Order to Show Cause by Magistrate Judge Barbara Lynn Major comes on the heels of the 54-page Order on Remedy for Finding of Waiver, entered August 6, 2007, by District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster. Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., No. 05-CV-1958-B(BLM) Doc. 593 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 6, 2007). There, the District Judge found “by clear and convincing evidence that Qualcomm[’s] counsel participated in an organized program of litigation misconduct and concealment throughout discovery, trial, and post-trial before new counsel took over lead role in the case on April 27, 2007.” Among other things, this first-shoe-to-drop opinion highlighted Qualcomm’s production of over 200,000 pages of relevant emails and other electronic documents four months after the jury trial (that Qualcomm lost). Judge Brewster impugned Qualcomm’s counsel and their claims that they carried out their discovery obligations in good faith, explaining:
Qualcomm counsel’s discovery responses demonstrate that they were able to locate with alacrity company records from December 2003 forward and find four or more Qualcomm employees participating in proceedings of the [Joint Video Team (”JVT”)]. Yet inexplicably, they were unable to find over 200,000 pages of relevant emails, memoranda, and other company documents, hundreds of pages of which explicitly document massive participation in JVT proceedings since at least January 2002. These examples of Qualcomm counsel’s indefensible discovery conduct belie counsel’s later implied protestation of having been “kept in the dark” by their client.
Judge Brewster’s 54 page opinion detailed the actions of Qualcomm and its counsel, concluding that these facts demonstrate “aggravated litigation abuse.” The court found “constant stonewalling, concealment, and repeated misrepresentations concerning existing corporate documentary evidence.” In spite of such discovery tactics, Qualcomm lost the jury trial, and then the full extent of its abuses was revealed. Qualcomm then fired its lead counsel, and its substitute counsel tired unsuccessfully to explain it all away. In the words of the court, the substitute lead counsel “adamantly denied the obvious and then, when the truth was discovered and exposed by the document production, sequentially contended denial of relevance, justification, mistake, and finally non-awareness.”
The end result of the 54 page opinion was to hold and order that Qualcomm had completely waived its rights to enforce the two video compression patents (5,452,104 and 5,576,767) at issue in the case. The waiver applies not only against Broadcom, but against anyone. The waiver was caused by Qualcomm’s prior inequitable conduct before the Patent Office, conduct that Qualcomm tried to cover up in this litigation.
On August 6, 2007, Judge Brewster also entered an Order Granting Broadcom Corporation’s Motion for Exceptional Case Finding and for an Award of Attorneys’ Fees (35 U.S.C. § 285). Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp., No. 05-CV-1958-B(BLM) Doc. 594 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 6, 2007). Judge Brewster there held that: “the enumerated misconduct of Qualcomm establishes the entitlement of Broadcom to all attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs incurred in the defense of this case.” If the parties are unable to agree on a reasonable number, an evidentiary hearing is to be held before the Magistrate. I would anticipate a very large fee and costs award in this case. It was filed in 2005, and tried before a jury for over two weeks in early 2007.
Back to the Show Cause Order of August 13, 2007 against Qualcomm’s many outside counsel, the Magistrate advised these attorneys that is was considering a host of possible sanctions against them for the egregious conduct the Court had observed:
As such, this Court is inclined to consider the imposition of any and all appropriate sanctions on Qualcomm’s attorneys, including but not limited to, monetary sanctions, continuing legal education, referral to the California State Bar for appropriate investigation and possible sanctions, and counsel’s formal disclosure of this Court’s findings to all current clients and any courts in which counsel is admitted or has litigation currently pending. (emphasis added)
A mandatory disclosure notice like that would be a serious blow to most law firms. Many will be watching to see what sanctions are actually imposed.
Qualcomm’s in-house legal counsel have not been immune from consequences either. For instance, Qualcomm’s General Counsel suddenly resigned the same day the Show Cause Order issued.
What's the logic here? Do they believe it is cheaper to arbitrate/settle a class action that provide the service they promise?
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/another-telecom.html
Another Telecom User Agreement Found 'Unconscionable'
By David Kravets EmailAugust 17, 2007 | 5:22:57 PMCategories: The Courts
A federal appeals court on Friday paved the way for a class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court challenging the combined mobile-phone business practices of Cingular and AT&T, which merged in 2004.
The suit, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, alleges AT&T's services "deteriorated significantly" and that customers were unlawfully induced to renew service plans to increase profits.
When class members complained about the quality of their AT&T service after the merger, "Cingular allegedly told them that it could provide members with a 'chip' that would restore their service quality," according to the San Francisco-based appeals court. To get the chip, however, customers were allegedly required to enter into new service agreements, which demanded that disputes be settled by binding arbitration.
A Los Angeles federal judge ruled that each aggrieved customer must arbitrate disputes before a mediator. The appeals court reversed, ruling the allegations could be tried as a class action. A three-judge panel of the court declared the service agreement "unconscionable" and "unenforceable."
Like a recent California state appellate court ruling challenging a similar arbitration service agreement with T-Mobile's service, the federal appeals court said (.pdf) the allegations might be better resolved as a class-action, rather than arbitrating hundreds or thousands of similar disputes separately.
Create your own textbook? I like it.
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/015763.html
August 18, 2007
Expanded Role for Wikis Role as Teaching Tools
Wiki becomes textbook in Boston College classroom - IT prof says Web 2.0 technology boosts collaboration among students.
This is for Law Librarians – but others may find it useful as well...
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/015764.html
August 18, 2007
The Challenge of Electronic Discovery: How Reference Service, Records Management and Litigation Support Interact
Materials from PLL Programs at AALL 2007 - The Challenge of Electronic Discovery: How Reference Service, Records Management and Litigation Support Interact, Speakers: John Montaña, Esq., PelliGroup, Inc. and Rachelle L. DeGregory, Esq., LexisNexis [PowerPoint document]
Short but interesting. Check the Math and Auto Repair sites.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/49d9e79d0fa64110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
Your Virtual Ph.D
With the vast array of college courses and podcasts available online, the apple of knowledge is ripe for the clicking. Here, we've narrowed the options to our favorites —the best of the geeky best, from free podcasts and lectures to accredited distance-learning programs from major universities.
On the Internet, content is king!
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Collection_of_all_Calvin_and_Hobbes_strips_in_chronological_order
Collection of all Calvin and Hobbes strips, in chronological order
Calvin & Hobbes was published from Nov 18th, 1985 to Dec 31st, 1995. Here's the collection.
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