A Canadian Court Might Jail Woman for Giving Pigs Water
Animal activists say the trial is raising awareness to their cause. Continue reading A Canadian Court Might Jail Woman for Giving Pigs Water
Category Archives: courts
The NSA and "Intelligence Legalism"
Interesting law journal paper: "Intelligence Legalism and the National Security Agency’s Civil Liberties Gap," by Margo Schlanger: Abstract: This paper examines the National Security Agency, its compliance with legal constraints and its respect for civil liberties. But even if perfect compliance could be achieved, it is too paltry a goal. A good oversight system needs its institutions not just to… Continue reading The NSA and "Intelligence Legalism"
Visiting a Website against the Owner’s Wishes Is Now a Federal Crime
While we’re on the subject of terrible 9th Circuit Court rulings: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has handed down a very important decision on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act…. Its reasoning appears to be very broad. If I’m reading it correctly, it says that if you tell people not to visit your website, and they… Continue reading Visiting a Website against the Owner’s Wishes Is Now a Federal Crime
Password Sharing Is Now a Crime
In a truly terrible ruling, the US 9th Circuit Court ruled that using someone else’s password with their permission but without the permission of the site owner is a federal crime. The argument McKeown made is that the employee who shared the password with Nosal "had no authority from Korn/Ferry to provide her password to former employees." At issue is… Continue reading Password Sharing Is Now a Crime
Anonymization and the Law
Interesting paper: "Anonymization and Risk," by Ira S. Rubinstein and Woodrow Hartzog: Abstract: Perfect anonymization of data sets has failed. But the process of protecting data subjects in shared information remains integral to privacy practice and policy. While the deidentification debate has been vigorous and productive, there is no clear direction for policy. As a result, the law has been… Continue reading Anonymization and the Law
Should You Be Allowed to Prevent Drones from Flying Over Your Property?
Good debate in the Wall Street Journal. This isn’t an obvious one; there are good arguments on both sides…. Continue reading Should You Be Allowed to Prevent Drones from Flying Over Your Property?
The Small Town Judge Who Sees a Quarter of the Nation’s Patent Cases
Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap didn’t design this system, but he’s been a willful participant in it. Continue reading The Small Town Judge Who Sees a Quarter of the Nation’s Patent Cases
Julian Sanchez on the Feinstein-Burr Bill
Two excellent posts. It’s such a badly written bill that I wonder if it’s just there to anchor us to an extreme, so we’re relieved when the actual bill comes along. Me: "This is the most braindead piece of legislation I’ve ever seen," Schneier — who has just been appointed a Fellow of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard… Continue reading Julian Sanchez on the Feinstein-Burr Bill
Companies Handing Source Code Over to Governments
ZDNet has an article on US government pressure on software companies to hand over copies of their source code. There’s no details because no one is talking on the record, but I also believe that this is happening. When asked, a spokesperson for the Justice Dept. acknowledged that the department has demanded source code and private encryption keys before. These… Continue reading Companies Handing Source Code Over to Governments
Another FBI Filing on the San Bernardino iPhone Case
The FBI’s reply to Apple is more of a character assassination attempt than a legal argument. It’s as if it only cares about public opinion at this point. Although notice the threat in footnote 9 on page 22: For the reasons discussed above, the FBI cannot itself modify the software on Farook’s iPhone without access to the source code and… Continue reading Another FBI Filing on the San Bernardino iPhone Case