887 Topics
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 | As [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3596.html"]predicted[/URL], a number of cyberbullying laws were put into effect after the suicide of Megan Meier last fall, which left prosecutors unable to charge the Missouri woman who created a fake MySpace person to mock the 13-year-old girl with anything other than violating MySpace's terms of service. Not surprisingly, … |
| | Do cats have a taste for porn? Somehow I doubt it, and I doubt that a jury will fall for it either no matter how much one alleged downloader of the most disgusting of pornographic images tries to insist that's what actually happened in his case. When found in possession … |
 | Now if you had invested in an Apple iPod Touch and it, well, exploded after you dropped it you probably would not be too happy about. You probably would contact Apple and explain what had happened, and you might be happy to accept a refund. But what if that refund … |
 | Skype might stop next year. The service's owner, eBay, has said that it is in dispute with the VoIP system's founders (see a report [URL="http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/news/rss/924222/Skypes-future-shaky-warns-eBay/"]here[/URL] but it doesn't say much more than I'm going to repeat here) and that if the new owners can't get the underlying technology from the … |
| | Gary McKinnon is either a UFO-obsessed nerd who happens to suffer from a form of autism, or a fugitive from justice who was responsible for the biggest military hack of all time. The description varies depending upon whether you are a balanced individual with no axe to grind or the … |
| | There has been a lot of comment in the past on Gary McKinnon and his hacking into US military computers. Readers might understand that some of the comment in the UK has been about how he should have been tried over here, there's no need to extradite him and if … |
| | A company has been awarded a patent for providing episodic media downloads, which essentially gives it a patent on all forms of podcasting. The company, VoloMedia, calls itself the "leading provider of advertising and reporting solutions for portable media, extending the reach of video and audio from the PC to … |
| | A group of University of Washington students and professors has developed an application called Vanish that automatically makes data used with it disappear after eight to nine hours. The open-source software is [URL="http://vanish.cs.washington.edu/download.html"]downloadable[/URL] now, as well as information about how to use it and a research paper about its development, … |
| | Kazaa has decided to join Pirate Bay in becoming a legal peer to peer service. This raises interesting questions for moralistic pedants like me. The full details of the story are [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8159560.stm"]here[/URL] but that's not what I want to discuss. I'm more interested in what sort of message it sends … |
 | Just like the international gang summits in Los Angeles, Linux needs a collective, "sit-down" to discuss the future of this now formidable operating system. I'm not talking about a nice little get together with keynote speakers with high-powered, 10,000 foot views of where Linux is and where it's going. And … |
| | Security stories abound on the Internet, and as we enter a new month an old one has resurfaced. There are legal questions over the Sarah Palin hacking event last year. Graham Cluley has [URL="http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/07/01/legal-arguments-sarah-palin-email-hack/"]blogged[/URL] about it. For me he's buried the main point right at the end of the story. … |
 | In the final days of a failing model, old media made one last futile attempt to save its fading way of life by trying to expand copyright law to exclude fair use and linking. Just this morning, my DaniWeb colleague, Sharon Fisher wrote a post called [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4479.html"]This Blog Post Could … |
| | If Richard Posner, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, gets his way, blog postings like this one could be illegal. On his [URL="http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2009/06/the_future_of_n.html"]blog[/URL], Posner recently suggested that copyright law might need to be expanded. "Expanding copyright law to bar online access … |
| | I am probably showing my age here, but I can recall when relationships started as a result of face to face meetings. If those relationships came to an end, they ended the same way as a rule. OK, a few cowardly types might have resorted to a 'Dear John' letter … |
| | Seems like a silly question, right? But $80,000 per track is exactly how much Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother from Minneapolis, has been charged. Well, I say charged but actually she was fined this amount for each of 24 songs downloaded via a file-sharing site at the end of a …  |
| | Given that some courts have found that people can be [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3596.html"]charged[/URL] for violating the terms of service of a particular site, it's important to keep track of what the terms of service are so you don't inadvertently violate them. (Incidentally, some other [URL="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/mass-sjc-tosses-calixte-warrant"]courts[/URL] are finding that violating terms-of-service policies are … |
| | Busy this weekend? President Barack Obama and his IT staff are [URL="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/05/21/Opening/"]asking for ideas[/URL] through June 3 to help make government more open. The call for ideas first went out on May 21. So far, there's [URL="http://opengov.ideascale.com/"]1171[/URL]. People can vote thumbs up or thumbs down on the ideas. "Then on … |
| | As [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4304.html"]expected[/URL], Representative Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, has introduced [URL="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.2267:"]legislation[/URL] that would roll back a ban on Internet gambling enacted when Republicans led Congress. The legislation would allow the Treasury Department to license and regulate online gambling companies that serve American customers, according to the [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/us/politics/26cong.html?_r=1&src=twt&twt=nytimespolitics"]New York Times[/URL]. Under the current …  |
| | The continuing saga of Craigslist vs. the state attorneys general took another turn, with South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster [URL="http://www.scattorneygeneral.org/"]contending[/URL] that the continued presence of ads for "erotic services" on the site constituted a criminal violation for which Craigslist management was personally responsible, and with Craigslist management firing back … |
| | Strange but true, usually the best of enemies it would seem that [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4331.html"]Microsoft[/URL] and the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4219.html"]Linux Foundation[/URL] are in full agreement over something for a change. What is more, they are working together in order to find a solution as well. According to Horacio Gutierrez, the Microsoft Corporate Vice President … |
| | I wonder if the [URL="http://www.linuxfoundation.org"]Linux Foundation[/URL] is prepared to go to task for us, the Linux users, the Linux supporters, the Linux developers and the Linux Foundation members? I wonder if they are our [URL="http://www.nra.org"]National Rifle Association[/URL] (NRA)? I wonder if the Linux Foundation is prepared to meet the challenges … |
| | Looks like Google could be in deep water, along with the Open Handset Alliance and some 40 or so companies, over an apparent trademark infringement. Now you might think that there had been some pretty heavyweight due diligence before Google and the OHA determined to call the open source mobile … |
| | The embattled WiMAX communications standard is taking another hit as WiMAX vendor Clearwire Communications is the recipient of a class-action lawsuit by users contending that its service is [URL="http://clearwiresucks.com/blog/"]slow and unreliable.[/URL] While the lawsuit is not about Clearwire's WiMAX service specifically, [URL="http://newsroom.clearwire.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=214419&p=irol-overview"]Clearwire[/URL] is the main company providing WiMAX services in … |
| | Taser International, which makes electric stun guns, is [URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aR6xHcnBMn9M&refer=us"]suing[/URL] Linden Research Inc., the owner of the [URL="http://secondlife.com/"]Second Life[/URL] virtual environment, for selling unauthorized virtual versions of its product. The trademark infringement case claims that the online sales of virtual products are damaging the company’s reputation and hurting its sales. Second … |
| | It might seem like something of an odd question, unless your idea of a good night in is a box of popcorn and a copy of some dodgy DVD featuring a Captain Jack lookalike doing unmentionable things to his crew. Yet the answer is that these two things, the illegal …  |
| | Microsoft today released the first public beta of MS Exchange Server 2010 which forms part of the Microsoft unified communications family. As the first of many products (Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010 all to follow) which will form part of the … |
| | Here we go again. It seems like only last month I mentioned the legal efforts to restrain Google's Street View system in the UK (probably because it was). Now we're starting to see active resistance to it. Residence of Milton Keynes have made it clear that [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7980737.stm"]a handful of them … |
| | I wasn't surprised to read that the Apple iTunes store had been hacked. It was just a matter of time. I was even less surprised to see that the applications were a prime target for the hackers and pirates. I can see that peer to peer networks and illegal downloads … |
| | Remember the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3821.html"]teenagers[/URL] getting charged with child pornography for taking revealing pictures of themselves with cell phones? They're fighting back. According to an [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26sextext.html?_r=1"]article[/URL] in the New York [I]Times[/I] by Sean Hamill, 17 students -- 13 girls and 4 boys -- accepted a plea bargain requiring them to attend 10-hour … |
| | The non-technical world is starting to understand the concept of Twitter -- which means that they're starting to try to control it. Courtrooms have [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4148.html"]already begun dealing[/URL] with jurors Googling, Facebooking, and Twittering their way through the case. Now, some courtrooms are starting to set regulations ahead of time. The … |
| | When you rush legislation through Washington, like Congress did with the two financial sector bailout bills, you lose the right to complain when the outcome blows up in your face That means you Senator Chris Dodd, who actually inserted the language in the $170 billion AIG bailout bill guaranteeing the … |
| | Sexting is one of those words you might not have heard of if you are over a certain age. That age being 18 I would imagine. Sexting can best be defined as sending naked photos of yourself using your mobile phone to another phone or a social networking site. As …  |
| | Botnets are, without any doubt, a huge and growing problem. The technology news feeds are bursting to the seams with stories about them: how [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2838.html"]botnets boost click-fraud rates[/URL], how [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2838.html"]botnets control sex spam zombies[/URL], how the cyber-criminals are [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23383/1231/"]building the first mobile botnet[/URL] and even how some botnet builders are … |
| | That's what Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart is claiming as part of a federal lawsuit by the Illinois lawman. The lawsuit is seeking a ban on one part of Craigslist, namely the Erotic Services section, which is accused of acting as a clearing house for prostitution. According to [URL="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5856408.ece"]The Times[/URL] … |
| | The Maryland Court of Appeals has reversed a lower-court ruling that a website must reveal the names of anonymous posters during a defamation hearing, and has issued guidelines for how such requests should be made in the future. The court ruling laid out the following steps in its [URL="http://mdcourts.gov/opinions/coa/2009/63a08.pdf"]decision[/URL]: [LIST=1] … |
 | Unless you were unplugged and on living on a Himalayan mountaintop last week, you no doubt heard about the Great Facebook Flap of 2009. If not, then be sure to read [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4008.html"]Ron Miller's excellent recap[/URL] at TechTreasures. ComputerWorld's Frank Hayes posted a great article this morning that takes a look … |
| | I've never made it a secret that I'm a big fan of Apple products. I love my Mac Book Pro and my iPhone, but I have to say that Apple has been pissing me off lately. The company has decided to throw its legal weight around to protect its market … |
| | The Pirate Bay is, without doubt, a huge thorn in the side of the music and movies business. As the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3479.html"]worlds largest bittorrent tracker[/URL] with more than 3 million users and well over 20 million peers it constantly flips the bird at The Powers That Be. Even the threat of … |
| | [URL="http://www.webinknow"]David Meerman Scott[/URL] (who is also a fellow contributing editor at [URL="http://www.econtentmag.com"]EContent Magazine[/URL]) is an expert in social networking and using the internet as a marketing tool and speaks frequently on the subject. His best selling book, [URL="http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books.htm"]The New Rules of Marketing and PR[/URL] was published in 2007 and was … |
| | Yesterday I blogged about a blogger who didn't seem to realise he'd become a de facto publisher by putting his stuff on the Internet. He'd taken someone to court over a comment they'd made on his blog and - understandably - the judge considered that if he hadn't felt strongly … |
| | I've been watching the blogosphere or whatever we're calling it with interest for a fair while now. Not because I think it's going to take over from 'proper' journalists like me; I have 20 years' experience and although this can of course be duplicated, it kind of takes 20 years. … |
| | Security experts [URL="http://www.mcafee.com"]McAfee[/URL] confirm what we already know: when the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3023.html"]economy starts to hurt[/URL], the purveyors of malware jump in to increase the pain. With the revelation of it's 2009 threat predictions, McAfee looks ahead to a dismal year of continuing cyberthreats. Like I say, with no hint of surprise … |
| | It's true, Elvis Presley's birthplace and I are complete strangers. But if I had been there, or better still if I were planning to visit, I hope I wouldn't say anything overtly insulting about the place. Unlike, say, James Andrews, VP of Ketchum PR. He seems to have [URL="http://mumbrella.com.au/2009/01/16/two-digital-blunders-pr-man-disses-his-clients-city-on-twitter-radio-trade-bodys-rogue-email/"]embarrassed himself[/URL] … |
| | Under new a new law adopted in the UK, the British police are now permitted to access data stored on home computers without benefit of a search warrant. Worse yet, officers are allowed to hack into computers remotely without notifying its owner. Even though officials say these methods would only … |
| | Remember the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3670.html"]Idaho elected official[/URL] a few weeks back who got in trouble for forwarding a message, comparing Michelle Obama to a black widow spider, to 26 people from his official email account? It gets better. The [I]Kuna-Melba News[/I], a weekly paper that covers western Ada County and eastern Canyon … |
| | I wrote a [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3687.html"]post[/URL] the other day criticizing the RIAA for failing to understand 21st marketing techniques. The night I wrote the RIAA post, I listened to an interview on [URL="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98591002"]Fresh Air [/URL]with author and Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig, who recently published a book called [URL="http://remix.lessig.org/"]Remix[/URL], and he articulated … |
| | The time has come to drag the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) kicking and screaming into the 21st century because it clearly has a lot to learn about marketing on the internet. The RIAA had a [URL="http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/music/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212501507&subSection=Management"]good news/bad news announcement[/URL] on Friday. The good news was that it would … |
| | Facebook can claim many things, from [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3523.html"]defeating the Nazis[/URL] to [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20914/53/"]recruiting spies[/URL] and even helping to [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20618/53/"]elect Barack Obama[/URL]. Now it can add serving legal papers to the list. These days, it would appear, the legal process is catching up with the technological reality of the world we live in. … |
| | Generally speaking, it takes quite a few years of studying and hard graft before someone gets to wear the wig and robes of a barrister in the British legal system. Unless, that is, you buy them on eBay. Surprisingly, that's precisely what one man did and ended up defending a … |
| | The stock market seems to be stabilizing after yesterday’s selloff, with the Dow Jones average up 120 points, and the Nasdaq up 24 points in early trading. We’re starting to see a trend where we have more days in positive territory than not – a historical sign that suggests the … |
The End.