All posts by admin

September 2001 Archives

September 25, 2001

Associated Press: Starbucks apologizes for charging NYC rescue workers for water

September 24, 2001

Wired News: GPS races to speeders’ rescue

September 22, 2001

Washington Post: To attacks’ toll add a programmer’s grief

September 21, 2001

TechTV: FBI investigates web domains: suspicious names registered before attack

Washington Post: Anti-terror push stirs fears for liberties

wartimeliberty.com: Freedom and security during war

CNET News.com: Yahoo News hacked, story changed

September 20, 2001

CNET News.com: eBay’s charity auction upsets some sellers (note the statement near the end of report that PayPal is deducting credit card processing costs from Red Cross donations — PayPal’s web site says that “100% of the proceeds” will be donated)

September 19, 2001

Wired News: Coalition to Congress: slow down (also see In Defense of Freedom)

September 17, 2001

NBA Playerfile: Michael Jordan

CNN: Microsoft to alter ‘Flight Simulator’ game

September 16, 2001

Seattle Times: Lingering U.S. rights vs. safety debate is revived

September 15, 2001

Los Angeles Times: Activist groups on lookout for erosion of civil liberties

Washington Post: Terrorism bills revive civil liberties debate

September 14, 2001

Wired News: Senate OKs FBI net spying

Wired News: Civil liberty the next casualty?

Wired News: Hiding like snakes in the e-grass

September 13, 2001

InformationWeek: Report: FBI seeks e-mail about attacks; Digdirt.com: E-mails link Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network to Tuesday’s bombings

Computerworld: FBI to investigate Internet’s role in terrorist attacks; Washington Post: Privacy trade-offs reassessed; objections to surveillance technology face new test after attack

InformationWeek: Cyberscuffles follow terrorist attacks; Newsbytes: Hackers discuss retaliatory cyberstrikes

Wired News: Congress mulls stiff crypto laws

Los Angeles Times: Officials call for more net security

Privacy Headquarters: How to aid investigators (a guide for financial institutions dealing with requests for information by law enforcement authorities in the wake of terrorist attacks)

Space Imaging: Attack on America (pre-attack and post-attack satellite photos)

ZDNet Anchordesk: Aftermath: How terrorists attacked your privacy rights, too

Computerworld: Consumers warned to beware of online disaster-relief scams; eWeek: Tragedy attracts spammers (also see CNET News.com, InternetNews.com, MSNBC, Wired News, and ZDNet News)

Computerworld: FBI issues cyberthreat advisory

The New Republic: Law and Order (by Jeffrey Rosen)

The Register: Taleban site hacked and defaced

September 12, 2001

Poynter.org: Front pages from Tuesday special editions; Front pages from the day after

CAUCE: Email groups warn of terrorism-related scams online

InternetNews.com: CERT says no cyber-terrorism accompanied attacks (also see Interactive Week)

Wired News: Anti-attack feds push Carnivore (also see CNET News.com, MSNBC, The Register, and ZDNet, for additional coverage of FBI serving search warrants on ISPs)

September 11, 2001

Politechbot: Anonymous remailer operators start to take remailers offline (also see Network World) — but see a contradictory report in The Register

September 09, 2001

BBC News: Offensive e-mail lands law firm in trouble

September 03, 2001

SatireWire: Windows not a virus

Ananova: Defendant faces the music rather than paying fine (Ohio man convicted of disorderly conduct is ordered to listen to four hours of polka music)

September 01, 2001

Salon.com: Copywrong? A government report giving the Digital Millennium Copyright Act a passing grade is a disaster for the general public, say critics

Privacy.Org: Rental car agencies install tracking devices

InternetNews.com: MAPS, Media3 settle mail-blocking case

August 2001 Archives

August 30, 2001

Sydney Morning Herald: London council crosses line in its harassment of motorists (traffic officials hoist legally parked car, paint yellow lines under it, put it back down, and issue parking ticket)

Ananova: Teletubbies inspire new style of jazz

AP: Court withdraws opinion on web site access (also see Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines and descriptions by Martin H. Samson and BNA)

August 29, 2001

Politechbot: Borders suspends using facecams after public outcry; follow-up: Borders says it never intended to try facecams (also see Privacy.Org)

August 25, 2001

Modern Humorist: The trolley’s last stop: What to expect on the last episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”

August 23, 2001

Decided today: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Doughney, No. 00-2289 (4th Cir. Aug. 23, 2001) (also see People Eating Tasty Animals)

August 22, 2001

CNET News.com: Anti-spam group makes up with pollster (MAPS agrees to remove Harris Interactive from its Realtime Blackhole List, after Harris agrees to confirm opt-in requests) (also see InternetNews.com)

August 16, 2001

CNET News.com: Gateway closes a half-dozen Country stores (is it finally starting to dawn on Gateway that their entire comparative advantage arose from not having to collect sales tax — an advantage they lost by opening retail stores? … naah, they’re probably just reinventing the wheel once again)

Reuters: U.S. sites fail EU privacy test

AP: Online court cases move forward

August 13, 2001

Politechbot.com: Dmitry Sklyarov, spamware author? Elcomsoft sells email harvester

New York Times: Rebels in black robes recoil at surveillance of computers (federal judges disable monitoring software)

The Register: Old code defeats new CD anti-ripping technologies

Bugnosis Web Bug Detector

August 10, 2001

InternetNews.com: First PDF worm hits PC users

August 08, 2001

New York Times: Rebels in black robes recoil at surveillance of computers (federal judges disable monitoring software)

New York Times: Rebels in black robes recoil at surveillance of computers (federal judges disable monitoring software)

August 07, 2001

CNET News.com: Web sites prey on rivals’ stores

Ad blocking hosts file

August 05, 2001

Wired News: Mantle, Mays and AOL discs (AOL CDs are becoming increasingly popular among collectors) — seems strange, but it beats actually using AOL

CNET News.com: Spiegel charges credit cards in coupon gaffe (retailer accuses customers of misusing its online coupon codes, then posts charges to customers’ credit cards for the amount it says they owe, prompting investigations by FTC, BBB, and MasterCard)

July 2001 Archives

July 31, 2001

Ananova: Husband’s internet date turns out to be his wife

Privacy Foundation: Digital Copyright Act harms research

July 29, 2001

Dave Touretzky’s Gallery of CSS Descramblers and Gallery of Adobe Remedies

July 27, 2001

Monkeyphonecall.com – Monkey phone call for you! – Monkey phone calls!

Wired News: In order to have your advice (“The most clueless people in the world are those who click on attachments in their e-mails…”)

Wired News: Hey SirCam, where’d you go?

July 25, 2001

CNET News.com: Privacy advocates take aim at Windows XP (also see AP, N.Y. Times, Privacy.org)

July 20, 2001

Wired News: What pops up must come down (irritating ads spur more users to install adblocking software)

PrivacyHeadquarters.com: Sound familiar? Customers seek to assert nonexistent rights (informational web site with industry perspective says banks should be able to ignore customers’ privacy opt-out requests if they aren’t submitted using the bank’s own form, even if the customer uses a standard form notice like this)

July 19, 2001

AP: Britannica.com users say farewell to free read (Let’s see here … it didn’t succeed when they charged for it, and it didn’t succeed when they made it free, so now they’re going to charge for it again. Why not pay people to use it, instead? They’d lose a little on each customer, but they could make up for it in volume, right? Is it too late for me to patent that business model?)

Wired News: Fixing a hole where spam comes in

July 18, 2001

CNET News.com: Copy-protected CDs quietly slip into stores

July 17, 2001

Wired News: EU drives privacy global

July 11, 2001

CNET News.com: eBay, PayPal open new chapter in feud; Start-up auction site sues PayPal

The Register: Europe bottles spam ban

OK, I hate to give them a free plug, but this web site is definitely worth checking out: Anybirthday.com Birthdate Search Engine. You can search for anyone’s birthday (in the USA), and about half the time you’ll find it. (You’ll also get the person’s zip code, which you can look up using one of these links: Census, ZipInfo, ZipFind.) Supposedly this data comes from “public records” … but I have my doubts.

Winchester (UK) City Council: Get your butt here

July 10, 2001

The Register: Europe holds key vote on spam tomorrow

July 09, 2001

London Sunday Telegraph: Why Britain needs more Meccano and less Lego

July 06, 2001

CNET News.com: Blocking spam before it slams you

July 05, 2001

AP: Milosevic’s luggage gets lost (alternate links: 1 2 3)

Wired News: Lawyers: Keep Barney pure

AP: Lilly gaffe: ‘They’ve got Prozac’ (manufacturer accidentally releases e-mail addresses of hundreds of Prozac users)

July 03, 2001

InternetNews.com: E-tailers duel on shipping charges (Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com both are offering free shipping on orders of two or more items — though you may be able to find better prices through BooksAMillion.com or PriceFarmer.com)

July 01, 2001

Law Blog was featured in Blog Heaven: A simple way to converse, collaborate, and communicate, an article about weblogs in the July 2001 issue of Small Business Computing Magazine

June 2001 Archives

June 29, 2001

The Register: UK Govt protects right to spam

The Register: Random executions: Hotmail gets tough on spam

June 27, 2001

Reuters: Principal attacked for not letting students cheat

Ananova: Police travel 120 miles to arrest man over library books

Reuters: Student sues professor over class demonstration (former Pace law student sues Torts professor and university after he pulled away a chair as she sat down)

Wired News: EBay fraud law: any takers? (also see CNET coverage and Tauzin/Wilson press release)

June 26, 2001

AP: Freelance writers win case over electronic reprint rights (New York Times Co. v. Tasini, No. 00-201 (June 25, 2001) (175K PDF))

Ananova: Internet mix-up sends couple to Italy instead of Spain

SatireWire: Survey: Majority of web users are undercover FBI

The Onion: Nobel fever grips research community as prize swells to $190 million

Cease and desist letter from law firm to humor site that threatened to kill Barney (even more ridiculous than another firm’s letters to flyingbuttmonkeys.com)

June 22, 2001

CNET News.com: A profitable e-business idea: Go sue a spammer

June 21, 2001

The American Humane Association’s Film and TV Unit rates movies based upon the treatment of animals during production. Check out their reviews of Freddy Got Fingered and Joe Dirt.

CNET News.com: IM chats don’t fade from PCs’ memories

June 20, 2001

CNET News.com: Rental-car firm exceeding the privacy limit? (car renter fined for speeding detected by GPS device)

Wired News: As American as curry pie

June 19, 2001

Privacy.Org: Senate passes Student Privacy Protection Act

June 15, 2001

BBC News: Square fruit stuns Japanese shoppers

June 14, 2001

CNET News.com: Trojan horse targets Word users (yet another security hole attributable to sloppy Microsoft code)

June 13, 2001

As if X-10′s new “popunder” ads on the N.Y. Times web site and elsewhere weren’t annoying enough, the company now lets you opt-out of the annoying ads — but you have to let them place a cookie on your hard drive in order to opt out. (Actually, they’ll put a cookie on your hard drive when you visit their web site, whether or not you opt out.) Yet another argument for an opt-in rule, if you ask me.

June 11, 2001

AP: Can McVeigh killing be hacked?; San Antonio Express-News: Net security experts expecting bootleg video of McVeigh execution; search eBay for McVeigh execution video

June 08, 2001

St. Petersburg Times: Clothes make the inmate (jail trusties say their new uniforms make them look like the Hamburglar)

June 07, 2001

Cyberspacelaw: Washington spam statute upheld

June 03, 2001

RISKS: Converting Pi to binary: Don’t do it! (why it is illegal to compute pi in binary)

Wired News: FTC powerless to protect privacy

May 2001 Archives

May 17, 2001

CNET News.com: EU considers Net traffic, e-mail archive (police demand that all Internet communications be recorded and maintained for up to seven years) (also see Politechbot, The Register, and Statewatch)

May 15, 2001

BBSpot: Protestors clash in Portland (violence erupts between PETA and PETV)

May 13, 2001

Wired News: What they (don’t) know about you (personal info purchased by FBI often contains errors)

CNET News.com: AT&T’s hand caught in spam jar?

May 10, 2001

Privacy.Org: Industry funded study overstates cost of privacy

May 09, 2001

Washington Post: Rite of refusal: ‘Opt-out’ marketing forces consumers to speak up or be charged

May 08, 2001

iMarketing News/DM News: N.Y. court to rule whether targeted e-mail was spam

May 05, 2001

Wired News: Program catches copycat students

May 02, 2001

Wired News: Buy a shot, wave to the camera (also see ChicagoBarCams.com)

SiliconValley.com: Pushing the delete button on spam

May 01, 2001

Privacy.org: Annual police wiretap report released

April 2001 Archives

April 30, 2001

CNET News.com: Pirated Office XP copies flood Malaysia

April 26, 2001

Federal Trade Commission press release: FTC supports legislation to limit junk e-mail (also see Spam Laws)

The FTC’s position may sound reasonable, but in fact the Commission favors a horrid out-out bill, S. 630. The FTC praises that bill in its testimony, saying that it “could make the use of commercial email a more effective marketing tool, because consumers likely would be more willing to trust the contents of a piece of UCE if they know the source of the email.”

The FTC has been studying the spam issue for several years; you’d think that by now they would have figured out that the problem doesn’t have anything to do with the content of communications. An effective spam law could help solve the spam problem, but legislating an opt-out rule would only make it much, much worse than it already is.

InternetNews.com: Consumer groups rally to decry spam before Senate meeting

April 24, 2001

Detroit News: Cub Scout mom: Race judges cheated

Scientific American: Publish free or perish: Life scientists are urging publishers to grant free access to archived research articles

April 23, 2001

CNET News.com: Small claims court becomes spam battlefield

April 22, 2001

BBC News: Lying around is ‘good for you’

April 20, 2001

Slashdot: Paper: Technical and Legal Approaches to Spam

Daily Californian (UC-Berkeley): Law students resist faculty appointment

Wired News: Linking records raises risks (also see GAO Report GAO-01-126SP, Record Linkage and Privacy [1.4 MB PDF])

April 19, 2001

CNET News.com: Giving spam the network boot

Bankrate.com: Internet fraud: credit crooks and the new economy

April 18, 2001

Chicago Sun-Times: Sorkin navigates troubled waters (also see Los Angeles Times)

The Onion: Accountants pack Times Square for fiscal new year

Reuters: Bald is bad for discipline, says former referee (a London newspaper reports that soccer referees are more likely to impose penalties on bald or shaven-headed soccer players, apparently because they are perceived as more aggressive)

Ananova: Billy Bass helps train fish eagle to hunt

April 17, 2001

Associated Press: Where did I come from? (Ellis Island officials and the Mormon church offer new database of immigration records, ellisislandrecords.org)

CNET News.com: Broadband fans busted over Gnutella

Declan McCullagh’s politechbot.com: Brown U professors demand crackdown on anonymous “injurious” email

April 16, 2001

Letter to OMB regarding chief privacy counselor (see also politechbot.com)

April 13, 2001

U. of Virginia Cavalier Daily: Exposure to cats may reduce risk of asthma

Reuters: Clowns told to get custard pie insurance

N.Y. Times: Safety of chocolate egg is questioned

April 12, 2001

Privacy.Org: HHS will implement health privacy regulations (also see statement of HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson; HHS HIPAA page; Peter Swire’s home page; and Health Privacy Project)

Wired News: Hate groups will hate these ads

CNET News.com: Electronic smells creator closes shop

Associated Press: Higher ed now controls dot-edu (also see EDUCAUSE press release)

April 10, 2001

MasterCard International: Cease-and-desist letter to rec.humor.funny (apparently MasterCard can’t buy a sense of humor)

April 09, 2001

Purdue University Police: Help identify riot suspects (also see criticism by Prof. Mathieu Deflem; Purdue Exponent editorial)

offshoremp3s.com: Offshore Napster Server Initiative (an effort to establish a Napster server in a jurisdiction beyond the reach of major governments and the RIAA)

Bloomberg: Jurors misstate MP3.com payment

April 08, 2001

Federal Communications Commission press release: FCC releases policy statement providing guidance to broadcasters regarding indecency statute

April 06, 2001

CNET News.com: E-filing to put “brief” in legal filings?

CNET News.com: MSN filter sparks subscriber ire (Microsoft ISP begins blocking outbound port 25 traffic in anti-spam effort)

Wired News: Fine print not necessarily in ink (experts question enforceability of clickwrap contracts)

April 05, 2001

Wired News: Some camera to watch over you

April 04, 2001

Newsbytes: Study: Few surfers block Web-tracking ‘cookies’

Declan McCullagh’s politechbot.com: What happened with the subpoena: Report from Tacoma courthouse

April 03, 2001

AP: Lawyer says California suit against DoubleClick alive and well

March 2001 Archives

March 31, 2001

Augusta Chronicle: Fax ruling puts spam in hot seat

March 30, 2001

Declan McCullagh’s Politechbot.com: A censorhappy syadmin, a clueless spammer, and a “no joke” rule

Verio is censoring John Gilmore’s email under pressure from anti-spammers (if this page is down, see the mirror at Cryptome)

March 27, 2001

CNET News.com: EU asked to tone down privacy standards (also see Reuters) (let’s see here … several years ago the European Union enacted a directive to protect the privacy of Europeans, and now American companies are suddenly upset that they may not be able to invade the privacy of European citizens as they do with Americans … what’s wrong with this picture?)

March 26, 2001

Reuters: Bozo the Clown bows out

Newsbytes: Lawmakers try to seal officials’ e-mail, net records (Indiana General Assembly considers legislation to bar public access to public officials’ e-mail) (also see Indianapolis Star)

March 24, 2001

SatireWire: Foot-and-mouth first virus unable to spread through Microsoft Outlook (scientists confirm that the disease cannot be spread by Microsoft’s e-mail application, marking the first time that Outlook has ever failed to propagate a major virus)

Reuters: Chubby Teletubbies to release fitness video

Ananova: New baby clothes feature swear words

BBSpot: Mir destroys Taco Bell, kills four

Chronicle of Higher Education: Judge halts effort by Bates College to prevent disclosure of student e-mail messages

March 23, 2001

MSNBC: Cell phone jammers defy law

CNET News.com: Hardwiring copyrights

Los Angeles Times: After spam, baloney to swallow

March 22, 2001

Augusta Chronicle: Hooters faces hefty fine after losing fax lawsuit

Ananova: AOL to ban time at work (company will try to reduce stress by prohibiting employees from wearing watches or looking at clocks)

The Onion: Everything in entire world now collectible

CNET News.com: House panel votes against spam

March 21, 2001

AP: Surveillance cameras in nursing homes?

University Business: Owning Thought (who owns faculty-generated web content?)

March 20, 2001

Ananova: Cat dies two weeks after bequest secures its future

Reuters: Lawmaker punished for fake radio interview (Canadian M.P. suspended from committee post after his assistant impersonated him on air)

CNET News.com: NCAA fan loses $10 million game online

RGTonline.com: U.S. judge backs Visa, MasterCard in Internet gambling ruling

Ananova: Shopkeeper puts thief’s photo on website

USA Today: AOL deletes EarthLink e-mail, by mistake (also see AP, AP)

March 18, 2001

The Tennessean: Plane hits ‘Arrive Unhurt’ sign during crash landing

WXII NewsChannel 12 (Piedmont, N.C.): Fast-food restaurant makes X-rated mistake (Chick-Fil-A distributes kids activity book containing link to explicit web site)

March 16, 2001

BBC News: Larry Potter returns to print (author of ’80s Larry Potter books sues author of Harry Potter series, citing numerous instances of alleged plagiarism)

SecurityFocus: Verio gags EFF founder over spam

March 15, 2001

Washington Post: The address you leave behind (startup change-of-email-address company Re-Route.com says it will forward e-mail for $10 per person per month)

… gee, $10 a month seems a bit steep to me, especially since they’re going to send spam to each sender whose message they forward. (Worse yet, unless your old ISP has accepted a payoff from Re-Route.com to keep forwarding your mail, you’ll still have to keep paying that ISP’s monthly fees.) How about $0.01 per person per month, and no spam? Uh, wait, I can do this myself for free, and not risk having someone at Re-Route.com read my e-mail, spam my correspondents, market my new e-mail address or other personal info, or lose my e-mail while they’re bouncing it across the country and back.

The Onion: Starbucks to begin sinister ‘Phase Two’ of operation

SecurityPortal: URL, URL, little do we know thee (an interesting article about URL spoofing)

Ananova: Everest climber breaks toe in home fall

March 13, 2001

SatireWire: Debt-ridden unemployed relieved to learn U.S. not in recession

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego men face felony counts, a rarity, in e-mail ‘spamming’

Wired News: Want info? Feds happy to share

March 12, 2001

Newsbytes: RIAA gives Napster 135,000 reminders to stop the swaps

Washington Post: Warrant issued for Leif Garrett

March 10, 2001

Ananova: Gardener sings Elvis to create ‘King’-sized veg

March 09, 2001

Chicago Sun-Times: Should women get twice number of men’s toilets? (also see Chicago Tribune)

CNET News.com: Three indicted in sale of fake painting on eBay (also see New York Times, AP)

Techweb News: EU privacy law puts United States in bind

March 08, 2001

AP: Bob Knight intends to sue IU for firing (also see Indiana Daily Student)

AP: Wiretap charges dropped against student taper (17-year-old high school student was charged with audiotaping a chemistry lecture)

Ananova: Children to test Murphy’s Law with buttered toast

March 07, 2001

Reuters: Aimster says Pig Latin code can circumvent Napster injunction (federal copyright law makes it illegal to reverse-engineer the simple encryption performed by its Aimster Pig Encoder, according to Aimster’s CEO)

LawBlog is gay (thanks to FARK for the reference)

ISP-Planet: Three ISPs team up with controversial registrar (following launch of idealab!’s New.net registry for non-ICANN-approved top-level domains, Earthlink and other ISPs agree to configure their name servers to recognize New.net domains)

March 06, 2001

Ananova: Eagle-eyed viewer spots repeat sitcom ‘flasher’ (Nickelodeon says it will edit “Three’s Company” episode)

Privacy.org: AOL supports anonymous web posters

March 05, 2001

CNET News.com: File-swapping services seek refuge overseas (Canadian plans to set up Napster-like service in Sealand, off the coast of Britain)

The Register: Australia outlaws e-mail forwarding (also see Sunday Telegraph)

March 03, 2001

AmLaw Tech: Lexis-Nexis and West battle online

SecurityFocus: DeCSS in the funny pages (comic strip “The Boondocks” criticizes judge in DVD descrambling case)

March 02, 2001

Wired News: Napster clone’s curious terms (Aimster’s new terms of service prevent copyright holders from searching for infringements)

Washington Post: Breaking it open, making it better (hackers upgrade their ReplayTV and TiVo digital video recorders)

Wired News: Do marketers know you’re sick? (proposed health privacy regulations include loophole for marketers)

Ananova: Re-trial ‘possible’ after bored juror e-mails hundreds

March 01, 2001

The Recorder: Ground zero: Prosecutors in Silicon Valley are awash in requests for warrants to search e-mail servers (officials are flooded with complaints about anonymous Yahoo and Hotmail users)

Reuters: Eggs scrambled in truck crash (a truck carrying 10 tons of eggs crashed into another truck, scrambling breakfast-time traffic)

Reuters: Travel sites in free fall (stock prices plunge after Northwest Airlines says it will no longer pay commissions to travel web sites)

February 2001 Archives

February 28, 2001

InternetNews.com: Radiate settles spyware class action

Politechbot: Motorola scheme uses GPS to disable grey-market imports

AP: Space-seeking hacker takes files (unprotected Indiana U. computer used to store and possibly distribute MP3 files; student data apparently compromised) (also see , Indiana Daily Student)

February 27, 2001

AP: Taxpayers pay for lunch at Hooters

AP: County bans phoning while driving (Westchester County, N.Y., enacts law prohibiting motorists from talking on handheld cellular phones)

Ananova: Senator wants ban on billboards featuring the word vagina and penis (also see Hartford Courant)

February 26, 2001

CNET News.com: ACLU stands behind John Does online

N.Y. Times: Privacy advocates sound alarm over bracelet monitor

Ananova: Baseball idol signs ‘kick me’ on boy’s back (also see Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Ananova: Consumers would object to paying for MSN; Newsbytes: Internet users want free content, no taxes … well, duh!

Wired News: ID, registration and DNA, please (experts discuss possibility of creating a national DNA database)

February 25, 2001

Politechbot: U.S. medical privacy regulations may be postponed indefinitely

Ananova: Sheriff bids to embarass criminals by painting jail pink

February 24, 2001

Wired News: This spam will drive you crazy

February 23, 2001

National Law Journal: Texas Supreme Court puts an end to law firm bonuses during clerkships

AP: U.S.-bound Chinese students get lesson in scandal

Orlando Sentinel: Barry University School of Law loses second bid for ABA approval; Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier: Appalachian School of Law wins provisional status from ABA

U. of Florida Alligator: UF’s first notification letter sent to parents (university will inform parents of child’s violations of campus alcohol policies)

Ananova: Court allows artist to sell sexual Barbie photos (also see RCFP press release)

USA Today: Filtering firm stops selling lists of sites kids visit

CNET News.com: High school student wins parody case (also see Ananova, and ACLU press release)

Wired News: Beware those insidious vcards (also see CNET, Computerworld, InternetNews.com, The Register)

February 22, 2001

Politechbot: Federal judge denies order against Realtime Blackhole List

Chronicle: ‘Automatic Professor Machine’ is unveiled — by a longtime technology critic (also see UB Reporter, The APM)

AP: Hong Kong may jam phones

Ananova: Lawyer ate evidence, claim police

AP: Stolen merchandise sold on eBay

February 21, 2001

Deseret News: Students rally against porn (high school students in Utah march on State Capitol, chanting “Heck No, Porn”)

Fairfax I.T.: We’re still fair game for privacy invaders

The Register: UK rejects CD-R tax

February 20, 2001

Los Angeles Times: AOL Time Warner in privacy dilemma: Mining its huge database may irk Net subscribers

Ananova: Man ‘smuggled tobacco inside cow’s bottom’

The Independent (Banjul, The Gambia): 12-year boy fights off killer crocodile

Ananova: Bingo seat gets eight women pregnant

February 19, 2001

Newsweek: ‘Joyce DeWitt Virus’ harms almost no computers, experts say

Politechbot: Disposal fees for unsolicited ads on new computers (purchaser of new computers seeks payment from Microsoft for removal of contaminants, including “Windows 2000″)

Politechbot: Here’s what happens to email and web pages after someone dies

The Atlantic: The Reinvention of Privacy

N.Y. Post: Kid cyberslams teachers (12-year-old student suspended from school for posting web site containing altered photos and insults about teachers) (also see Ananova)

N.Y. Post: Oh, brother! DWI bust for Roger (Roger Clinton arrested for drunken driving arrest less than a month after a pardon by his former presidential half-brother wiped away his criminal record) (also see Pravda)

February 17, 2001

Reuters: Bush, in Mexico foray, faces dreaded green nemesis (President Bush visits ranch of Mexican president and broccoli grower Vincente Fox)

February 16, 2001

Federal Trade Commission: Internet “pagejacker” settles FTC charges

Village Voice: Making Nike sweat (Nike declines customer’s order for personalized sneaker with the word “Sweatshop” on it) (also see Slashdot and Nike iD)

Oklahoma State Daily Collegian: Alumni’s privacy may be at risk (alumni group sells data to credit card issuer)

Ananova: ‘Free internet access’ lands family with £17,000 bill (“free” service caused Floridian’s computer to dial ISP in Britain)

SatireWire: Headhunting firm decapitates 250

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Protest letter to the U.S. Secret Service (agents interrogated student author of editorial asking Jesus to smite George W. Bush)

Politechbot.com: What Canada doesn’t want you to see: Info on banned site

February 15, 2001

Univ. of Wisconsin Daily Cardinal: ASM lawsuit expected against UW (student government seeks course evaluation data under Freedom of Information Act)

AP: Belgian police raid homes of music downloaders

Privacy Forum: Network Solutions sells out — domain info for sale to marketers

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Francisco mayor gets restraining order against Elvis impersonator (also see S.F. Chronicle)

USA Today: Cash crunch makes it harder to avoid e-mail ads

Christian Science Monitor: Some practical advice on protecting your identity online

February 14, 2001

Ananova: Imelda Marcos to open shoe museum

Ananova: ‘Hamburglars’ steal giant Whopper

February 13, 2001

Ananova: Computers blamed for eight-year-old’s second jury call

Ananova: Pensioner wore neck brace for 14 years – instead of four weeks

Daily Northwestern: Ex-student faces felony in attempt to change grades

Ananova: Firms face closure for mis-spelt adverts (United Arab Emirates will impose fines for mistakes in ads)

Ananova: Bentley driver douses engine flames with champagne

The Onion: Lava lamps revert from passé retro kitsch back to novel retro camp

February 12, 2001

Fox News: Gary Coleman records steamy Valentine’s Day messages

SatireWire: Court orders Napster to stop as soon as it finishes downloading Pink Floyd

AP: Head-of-state status trumps W’s drunken driving conviction

February 11, 2001

BBspot: RIAA sues mirror manufacturers

February 10, 2001

AP: Soul sale pulled from eBay

Reuters: eBay seller hocks Atlantic City beach by the pound

BBspot: Top 10 White House pranks

BBspot: Priceline offers name your own price prostitutes

Wired News: FBI goes after Bonsaikitten.com (MIT served with grand jury subpoena for info about parody site)

February 09, 2001

Detroit Free Press: Proposed law would erase free Web users’ anonymity (ISPs would be required to collect subscriber data)

Philadelphia Inquirer: High tech joins the lunch line (fingerprint scanning for school lunches) (also see MSNBC, Popular Science, Food Service Solutions, and Libertarian Party press release)

February 08, 2001

Times (London): Insurance firm admits using genetic screening

CNET: Hobby industry looks to sew up thieves’ loose ends online (trade group fights needlepoint pirates)

February 06, 2001

Reuters: Pranksters hang Volkswagen from Golden Gate Bridge

Reuters: Vatican could name cyberspace patron saint

AP: Aquarium workers ate rare turtle

News.com: Privacy group seeks review of Net access to court files

UH Daily Cougar: Electronic devices spur U. Houston to reconsider academic honesty policy

February 05, 2001

Reuters: Lovelorn peacocks terrorize British villagers

Privacy Foundation: Email Wiretapping (describes how the sender of an HTML e-mail message can see comments added by a recipient who forwards the message to someone else)

February 03, 2001

ChristianityToday: Saint Flanders: He’s the evangelical next door on The Simpsons, and that’s okily dokily among many believers

Guess who owns aoltimewarneryahoo.com?

ICANN: Third advisory concerning Register.com v. Verio litigation

February 02, 2001

Reuters: Wayward penguin treated for depression … and, also from Reuters: Study: Penguins do not topple watching aircraft

Virginian-Pilot: Senate passes bill to make students pledge allegiance (students in Virginia schools could face suspension for failing to participate in Pledge of Allegiance)

February 01, 2001

The Onion: Department of Education: Metric system thriving in nation’s inner cities

BBC News: Data theft raises child abuse fears

Automotive News: Internet security is a thorny issue, and the title of “chief privacy officer” is becoming more common

Reuters: Phony $200 bill with Bush picture used in Kentucky

Washington Post: FTC watches for violations of privacy law

Reuters: Whiskers the cat may be a serial killer

Reuters: William Shatner to host Miss USA pageant

L.A. Times: Secret cameras scanned crowd at Super Bowl for criminals (facial recognition technology identified 19 people with criminal histories) (also see Washington Post report)

Wired News: Should states regulate privacy?

January 2001 Archives

January 30, 2001

New York Law Journal: Court upholds dismissal of claims against Seinfeld creators

Lexington Herald-Leader: Danville Dairy Queen is paid with a $200 bill bearing Bush likeness

AuctionWatch: Auction sites ban sale of EverQuest characters (also see CNET report, Slashdot thread, players’ web site)

January 29, 2001

Ananova: Scrap metal workers find thousands in old cash machine

Fox News: ‘W’ controversy: Man’s vanity license plate gets yanked

January 28, 2001

Internet.com: West Group acquires FindLaw (also see Pioneer Planet report)

January 27, 2001

ZDNet/WSJ: Net filter spies on kids’ surfing (software maker sells data for $15,000/year to marketers and others, including the Department of Defense; also see Wired News report)

SatireWire.com: Parker Bros. replaces Monopoly money with cheaper Euro

The Oracle of Kevin Bacon

NewsNet@BYU: Playboy advertisments target BYU students

Washington Post: Democrats had most voided votes in Florida (the head of Florida’s election division says that some people intentionally invalidate their ballot by casting multiple votes)

Washington Post: Judge halts village ban on smoking in public (Montgomery County, Maryland)

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (of Wisconsin, obviously) was busy this week … he introduced 17 bills, including the Democracy for Dairy Producers Act, the Dairy Farmer Viability Act, the Dairy Promotion Fairness Act, and (my personal favorite) the Quality Cheese Act of 2001.

January 26, 2001

Wired: DeCSS allies ganging up

CNET: Battle lines harden over Net copyright

CNET: Privacy group seeks review of Net access to court files

Who is suing Jeremy’s wallet? (Canadian Tire Corp. files copyright infringement suit against web page author who posted a picture of his Canadian Tire credit card and called it “a sign of virility and sexual prowess”)

Privacy.Org: Bush opts-out of e-mail use while in office (see also NewsFactor report)

CNN: Museum wins Howdy Doody TV puppet custody battle

Industry Standard: Can this bill cut spam? (see also Spam Laws, H.R. 95)

January 25, 2001

Press release: Despair, Inc. secures official trademark registration for “:-(“, announces plans to sue millions for trademark infringement (also see TM registration)

InternetNews: Damages slashed in mySimon case (court reduces award from $27m to $50k)

January 24, 2001

U-Wire: U. Virginia students treat their profs to lunch for free

SatireWire: Study: Internet twins scandal won’t hurt B-tail sales

CNN: Study shows rats dream about running mazes

InternetNews: Texas 7 caught before building web site

CNET: Amazon auction sellers face new fees, rules

CNET: ISP takes stand in dispute over DVD-cracking code

E-Commerce Times: Report: Wired kids ready to leak private info (75% of children give data to marketers)

CNET: DEA data theft raises privacy concerns (DEA agent charged with selling data)

CNN: Constipated Scots jewel thief gives up loot

Translations: Babelfish, InterTran, FreeTranslation.com, and Worldlingo can translate text and web pages into several languages. Specialized translators are available for Aussie, Buckwheat, Cockney, Dubya, Ebonics, Elmer Fudd, Hacker, Jethro, Jive, Moo, Moron, Pig Latin, Porno, Redneck, Smurf, Spam, Swedish Chef, and Valley Girl.

National Law Journal: Texas DA probes clerk signing bonuses

January 23, 2001

CNN: ‘Bozo Show’ clown Cooky, dead at 68

CNET: Shoppers seize unauthorized discounts at Macys.com (update)

CNET: DOJ concerns shutter file-swapping service (FreeDrive drops utility used for pirating software)

CNET: FTC drops probe into DoubleClick privacy practices (also see InfoWorld report)

January 22, 2001

Chronicle: Community colleges want a more eminent domain (“.edu” restrictions criticized)

The Virtual Punchcard Server

SatireWire: Californians start email campaign for energy conservation

January 21, 2001

BBC: A database too far? (UK plans to expand DNA database)

Financial Times: Online recruiter wins ban on rivals web links (German court enjoins framed deep links)

ComputerUser: Privacy concerns reduce online sales

InternetNews: Groups clash over Hotmail spam filters (Peacefire criticizes blacklisting of spamhaus ISP)

InternetNews: EBay victorious in courtroom battle (sports memorabilia class action dismissed)

CNET: Advocacy group fights ruling on DVD cracking case (EFF says DeCSS hyperlinks are protected speech)

January 20, 2001

SatireWire: Microsoft will admit to affair with Lewinsky

January 19, 2001

Welcome to LawBlog!