Why I Oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/E-PARASITES Act

Eric Goldman has a great summary of the bill and its problems. Well recommended reading.

At Web Censorship Hearing, Congress Guns for “Pro-Pirate” Google

Nate Anderson at Ars Technica had a good summary of the SOPA testimony before Congress.

In other news:

RIAA Wants ReDigi Out Of The Business of Selling “Used” iTunes Tracks

This was the most interesting new application of the First Sale doctrine in copyright this week. As I understand the business sells a copy and not the actually sold iTunes track, this one may not turn out in ReDigi’s favor. This dispute will be worth watching.

Vint Cerf: The Government Is Going Overboard in Internet Copyright Control

On November 14th, Vint Cerf spoke to the Atmosphere conference:

“He told the audience, “Remember, governance is a big word that includes human rights, freedom of speech, economic transactions on a worldwide basis — it touches everything. It’s everywhere, and that’s why Internet governance is topic A in many corners.”

PhoneDog v. Kravitz

This lawsuit over corporate Twitter followers as “property” is quite interesting. Kravitz left PhoneDog with 17,000 followers, and instead of turning over the account he changed the name from “Phonedog_Noah” to his personal name. On a Motion to Dismiss, the Court (Northern District of California) decided to deny Kravitz’s motion. Well worth reading.

Judge Rules Feds Can Have WikiLeaks Associates’ Twitter Data

On November 10th, Judge O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virgina ruled that government prosecutors can have access to information about three Wikileaks supporters’ Twitter accounts – not the content, but the metadata. This decision has been criticized by the EFF.

Finally, I’d like to note that if people are interested in my firm’s IP Webinar series, the next webinar I’m presenting will be on December 7, 2011 on “Online Works: Copyright Registration and Enforcement.” For more information, follow this link.

SOPA and other @Cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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Some recent links I found particularly interesting on Twitter include:

Net Neutrality Case Heads to D.C. Circuit

A challenge to the FCC’s new Network Neutrality rules will be heard by the D.C. Circuit, which in the past has been tough on the FCC.

Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when higher up military leaders learn that their drones have been infected with a computer virus from reading this article in WIRED.

Tracking the Trackers: When Everyone Knows Your Username

Jonathan Mayer’s article describing his research into web usage tracking is an excellent read.

Hacked!

If you’ve ever had your email hacked, you can sympathize with this great article from the Atlantic.

News and @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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This week’s @cyberlaw links are interesting to me for many reasons:

Heading Off Privacy Problems—Before They Arise

I thought this article by Julia Angwin was a good look at how some companies are undertaking “privacy-impact assessments” before undertaking new initiatives.  There’s nothing like heading off problems at the pass, and it is good to add privacy considerations to your normal checklist of items to consider before things go out the door.

Is Printing a Gun the Same as Buying One?

John Bigg’s article was very interesting to me because 3-d printing is becoming more prevalent. The article looks at the problems that arise when an item that would normally require a permit to purchase (the lower receiver for an AR-15 rifle) can be printed at home on the device you made. 3-d printers like Makerbot’s raise concerns, as John points out:

“I find it fascinating that we’re even asking these questions at this point. The fact that we are now able to manufacture usable weapon parts is an important step in the evolution of fabrication and manufacture and, if I were a weapons giant, I’d start rethinking my sales strategies. When a company of rebels can print their own AK-47s (a concept that is still a ways off), whose fault is it? The person who made the plans? The fabricator? The company whose rifles they copied?”

Stay tuned, this debate will have far reaching implications in years to come.

Typosquatting Continues to Pose Dangers to Enterprises, Consumers

Mary Roach’s article did a good job pointing out the concern with “doppelganger” websites – which are like a typical typosquatting domain, but instead of being a misspelling it’s merely missing an important dot, like “mailyahoo.com” instead of “mail.yahoo.com.”  This is one case where proactive defensive registrations can be quite helpful, which Mary recommends along with other good advice.

US Net Neutrality Rules Finalized, In Effect November 20

I’ve been following the Net Neutrality debate for years, and now the FCC’s still-controversial final “open-internet” rules [PDF] will be in effect on November 20, 2011. Now, the legal challenges can begin.

Copyright Basics webinar and @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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HP Touchpad’s Fate

Jonathan Ezor’s review of the HP Touchpad I linked to last week became more timely after HP’s announcement that it was discontinuing the platform. It looks like WebOS may live on in some form, but the TouchPad itself is being phased out. Sad, really, as among Jonathan’s conclusions was the following nugget:

“With its ease of setup and support, true multitasking, Bluetooth keyboard compatibility, Flash-enabled browser, and Synergy, the HP TouchPad represents a solid choice for law firms and legal departments that want to add tablets to their technology portfolios.”

Too bad. I used Palms before they were even called Palms (I had a Pilot 1000 back in the day), and was quietly rooting for HP to do well after it acquired Palm.

Fake Apple Stores in China

On Ron Coleman’s Likelihood of Confusion blog, guest author Paul Jones offered his insight into the fake Apple Stores that were recently spotted in China. His insight isn’t that China is finding it hard to crack down on infringers, but rather the remote nature of the province and its inability to have a real store:

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province, in the far south of China. The province borders on Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. It is thus far inland and is not one of the richer coastal provinces where foreign retailers first open their stores. But Kunming Prefecture has about 6 ½ million people. In other words there is demand there but no supply.

The entire article is well worth a read.

The Challenge of Producing Secure Devices

This article in Security Week was interesting for its insight into the world of developers. The pressure on developers to ship devices is so strong that they may have to ship devices with security flaws in order to meet deadlines. Chris Eng of Veracode is quoted as saying:

“I don’t think that every tiny bug, every tiny security bug, has to be fixed before it goes out the door,” he said. “Ideally you fix as many as you can but there’s always going to be some date where you have to ship stuff and you have to prioritize…but you also shouldn’t forget about them.”

This is relevant as many security issues today come from these vulnerabilities which may never be completely patched. There will always be someone who hasn’t applied the recommended security patches, etc., and thus perpetuate the problem caused by the hardware being released this way.

Copyright Termination

I liked this article by Larry Rohter on the upcoming battle over recording artists who can now file termination notices for their master recordings dating from 1978. The recording studios say no deal, however, claiming that the master recordings are works made for hire and thus not eligible for termination. As the article notes,

“Independent copyright experts, however, find that argument unconvincing. Not only have recording artists traditionally paid for the making of their records themselves, with advances from the record companies that are then charged against royalties, they are also exempted from both the obligations and benefits an employee typically expects.”

Artists already filing notices include Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Bryan Adams, Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Waits and Charlie Daniels.

This Week’s @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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In the speech, entitled “Code is Law: Does Anyone Get This Yet?“, Lessig discusses some of the problems with copyright law’s application to regulate the digital world. I can’t adequately summarize the speech; it needs to be experienced. Here is a link. Lessig makes effective use of Keynote as the presentation platform and sprinkles the speech with video clips that demonstrate the Remix culture.

I was particularly struck by his evocation of John Philip Sousa‘s concern that recorded music would stifle culture. Sousa was worried that the youth would no longer gather and sing the old songs, or the songs of the day. Lessig proposes that Sousa would approve of the Remix culture as a modern day example of what he wanted to preserve.

At the end of the speech, Lessig tied these concerns about copyright law and internet regulation into a call to action to support the grassroots organization he helped start, Rootstrikers. Lessig proposes that many of the problems with current copyright law come from issues with how our politicians are funded. I personally doubt this by itself will bring the desired change, but it can’t hurt.

The rest of Techshow was also remarkable. I enjoyed the Macintosh and e-discovery sessions. I also learned some good workflows for integrating my new iPad into my practice. All in all, it was another remarkable conference. I am looking forward to Techshow 2012, which will be from March 29-31. Perhaps I will see you there.

Reactions to Lessig’s Keynote Speech at ABA Techshow 2011 is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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To me, here’s the heart of the argument to take a side:

Either you think Net Neutrality should apply no matter how you access the Internet, or you’re Googizon and say wireless networks don’t count. You either expand the open Internet for everyone and continue building an amazing resource for free speech and innovation, or you invest in private toll lanes for the select few. You either believe the FCC should have the power to protect Internet users, or you want a toothless watchdog. You have to choose.

I believe netizens should carefully review all network neutrality proposals and figure out what makes each one different. They should determine which ones they can support and which ones they can’t, and why. They should then make their choices or preferences known, through grass roots efforts if necessary.

I respect that reasonable minds can differ on the questions here, but either way you must choose and make your preference known.

Net Neutrality – Avoiding the “Mushy Middle” is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

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Fact 1 – it’s a proposal, not a bill actually winding its way through congress.

Fact 2 – it’s a compromise, as Google admits in its recent post discussing the lack of wireless regulation:

MYTH: This proposal would eliminate network neutrality over wireless.

FACT: It’s true that Google previously has advocated for certain openness safeguards to be applied in a similar fashion to what would be applied to wireline services. However, in the spirit of compromise, we have agreed to a proposal that allows this market to remain free from regulation for now, while Congress keeps a watchful eye.

Why? First, the wireless market is more competitive than the wireline market, given that consumers typically have more than just two providers to choose from. Second, because wireless networks employ airwaves, rather than wires, and share constrained capacity among many users, these carriers need to manage their networks more actively. Third, network and device openness is now beginning to take off as a significant business model in this space.

In our proposal, we agreed that the best first step is for wireless providers to be fully transparent with users about how network traffic is managed to avoid congestion, or prioritized for certain applications and content. Our proposal also asks the Federal government to monitor and report regularly on the state of the wireless broadband market. Importantly, Congress would always have the ability to step in and impose new safeguards on wireless broadband providers to protect consumers’ interests.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the future of wireless broadband increasingly will be found in the advanced, 4th generation (4G) networks now being constructed. Verizon will begin rolling out its 4G network this fall under openness license conditions that Google helped persuade the FCC to adopt. Clearwire is already providing 4G service in some markets, operating under a unique wholesale/openness business model. So consumers across the country are beginning to experience open Internet wireless platforms, which we hope will be enhanced and encouraged by our transparency proposal.

Fact 3 – It was announced shortly after the FCC announced that its closed door meetings with stakeholders had ended, which likely means this proposal is one which had been floated, and rejected, in these closed door meetings.

Still, after much ado about nothing, for a careful analysis I can recommend this post by Nilay Patel.

Let’s see where this debate over this proposal leads us, hopefully to a real plan.

Much Ado About Nothing – Google & Verizon’s Network Neutrality Proposal is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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- New WPA encryption hack – To be secure, wifi users should switch to WPA-2 or WPA-AES standards. http://is.gd/2C7FL
- RT @CanadianPI: The security risks of “Free Public WiFi” http://bit.ly/9INRj
- More SCO lawsuit news coming, thanks to the 10th Cir. overturning the 2007 decision re: ownership of UNIX – http://is.gd/2xY4C
- RT @HostExploit: The US-CCU issues a report on a one year old cyberwar because? http://bit.ly/j7wkH
- RT @windycitizen: 7 crimes you can commit that cost less than downloading music. http://windycitizen.com/wdzF
- Wow, predictive blacklisting could block internet attacks before they happen – http://is.gd/2oAkL
- Interesting study of the M. Jackson death coverage on Twitter – “Detecting Sadness in 140 Characters.” http://is.gd/2osvD
- Reading about the latest Facebook privacy lawsuit, it’s a laugher. http://is.gd/2mPbG
- Reading how yesterday’s Twitter and Facebook outages were DDOS attacks against one user in the Republic of Georgia – http://is.gd/26O8b
- From NetworkWorld, a Latvian ISP was cut off by its upstream provider due to ties to cybercrime. http://is.gd/24Tmq
- The acting Cybersecurity Czar has stepped down. http://is.gd/22a0V

Enjoy,
Kevin

Recent @cyberlaw posts on Twitter is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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The most interesting link to share recently is for the final report of the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency. The conclusions seem rather predictable at first glance, but there are some good nuggets in the report itself. In particular, in the “Regulating for Cybersecurity” section which begins on Page 49 (Page 55 in the downloadable PDF from the above link), there are recommendations for increasing the use of secure protocols by mandating that the government only contract with entities that use secure protocols themselves.

Another item I’ve been remiss in doing is posting my recommendations for Blawg Review of the Year in 2008. As a past host in 2008, I am eligible to post my favorite reviews. The winner will then be tabulated and announced later. My list, in no particular order other than numerical, are as follows:
- Blawg Review 148, hosted by Brett Trout. I gotta love Internet memes, even Rickrolling.
- Blawg Review 182, hosted by newly minted lawyer Dave! Gulbransen. Go ahead, take Dave’s test.
- Blawg Review 189, hosted by Colin Samuels. What can I say except that Colin does fabulous work.

Good job, all. I host again on May 25th…

That’s enough ramblings for one day, more regular posts will (hopefully) follow.

Bits and Bytes is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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Top level domain expansion coming in 2009 is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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