The blog
Writing & notes
Essays, notes and reflections on technology, law and life.
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Cover Your Tracks: EFF Releases New Log Deletion Tool
San Francisco, CA — Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (‘EFF’) released logfinder, a software tool to help people reduce the unnecessary collection of personal information about computer users. Often computer network servers automatically log information about who has visited a website and when, or who has sent and received email. Such data tells a lot… Read more →
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Microsoft Applies for Latitude/Longitude Patent
The United States Patent Office on Friday released details of Microsoft’s latest patent application, this time for ‘[a] computer-implemented method of reducing the number of characters required to represent coordinates within a geographically-oriented string’. In other words: latitude and longitude coordinates. If granted, this invention will join a number of other notorious US patents, including:… Read more →
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Accused ‘DDoS Mafia’ Go Free
Federal authorities in Los Angeles have dismissed a criminal complaint (PDF) filed last August against four men accused of performing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks for hire. The defendants were originally accused of carrying out attacks on behalf of Jay Echouafni, a Massachusetts businessman who sold satellite TV gear via his website. At an August 26,… Read more →
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Napster Struggles for Marketshare, Adopts New Pricing Model
Los Angeles-based Napster, now a legal site for licensed music, has a mere 270 000 subscribers and struggles to attract new users. In an attempt to differentiate itself from Apple’s offering, Napster will relaunch its online subscription service under a flat rate pricing model. Users will soon be able to download as much as they… Read more →
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Google Defeated in Second French AdWords Suit
A French court on Friday ruled against Google in a trade mark infringement case brought by Louis Vuitton, in the latest legal setback to the search giant. The Paris District Court has sanctioned Google and its French subsidiary from selling search-related keyword advertisements against trade marks owned by the luxury fashion designer, which sued the… Read more →
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Rest in PC? Claim brought against deceased defendant
Apparently not satisfied with civil claims against earthbound mortals, the RIAA has taken to suing the dead. In one of the latest batch of lawsuits, the complaint named the recently deceased Gertrude Walton as sole defendant. She stands (or, perhaps, rests) accused of sharing over 700 songs owned by member publishers via peer-to-peer networks: ‘More… Read more →
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BitTorrent Sites Proliferate Despite Takedown
This is what industry groups like the Recording Industry Association of America (‘RIAA’) are afraid of: exponential and untraceable growth of underground data distribution networks. Analysis suggests that current technologies — in particular, a method of filesharing known as BitTorrent — are indeed capable of large-scale electronic duplication of copyrighted files in relative privacy. Despite… Read more →
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European Parliament Scraps Software Patent Proposal
In a victory for free software advocates of the European Union, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI) has decided to restart the software patent directive from scratch. Since its introduction in May 2004, the proposal has been heavily criticised as inviting abuse by patent holders and placing overly restrictive covenants upon open… Read more →
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Nanotechnology Law Roundup
Law.com has published an interesting interview recently conducted by the New York Law Journal with several leading figures in nanotechnology research. They discuss the potential impact (which is, needless to say, huge) of nanoscale technological developments on law and society. With investor capital approaching USD $1bn in 2005, there is likely to be significant and… Read more →
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Eiffel Tower Prohibits Nocturnal Photography
The Eiffel Tower’s likeness has long been part of the public domain. However, in 2003 it was abruptly repossessed by the city of Paris. That’s the year that the SNTE, the company charged with maintaining the tower, adorned it with a lighting display, in which it asserts copyright, and reclaimed the nighttime image and likeness… Read more →