A Singapore firm, VueStar has threatened to sue websites that use pictures or graphics to link to another page, claiming it owns the patent for a technology used by millions around the world. The company is also planning to take on giants like Microsoft and Google. It is a battle that could, at least in theory, upend the Internet. The firm has been sending out invoices to Singapore companies since last week asking them to pay up — via Slashdot
A $US1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit over YouTube’s ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the internet, owner Google said
The MPAA won judgments totaling $4M against two sites which merely link to infringing content. They’re not arguing that it’s an infringement of their distribution right, like the RIAA has with their making available
argument. Instead, they got the sites for contributory copyright infringement
, just like RIAA vs LimeWire. To translate all that legalese into English, search engines which primarily index copyright-infringing material and the people who run them may not be safe in the US. That applies even if the sites in question do not host any infringing materials, participate in, or encourage the infringement done by their users — via Slashdot
Legal action has been dropped against a 15-year-old who faced prosecution for branding Scientology a cult
. The teenager held up a sign which read, Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult
, in May outside its headquarters in the City of London
One blogger has started an outcry about harassment as it applies to Twitter. While their written stance appears to support the safeguarding of abuse, Twitter appears to be waffling on the issue when it comes to the hard line of enforcement — via Slashdot
A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word cult
to describe the Church of Scientology. The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion. Officers confiscated a placard with the word cult
on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service
A massive UK government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials. The information would be held for at least 12 months and the police and security services would be able to access it if given permission from the courts
A Minnesota woman ordered to pay $222,000 in the first music download trial in the United States may get another chance with a jury. The issue is whether record companies have to prove anyone else actually downloaded their copyrighted songs, or whether it is enough to argue that a defendant made copyrighted music available for copying
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius won his appeal Friday and can compete for a place in the Beijing Olympics. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the 21-year-old South African is eligible to race against able-bodied athletes, overturning a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations. CAS said the unanimous ruling goes into effect immediately
California’s top court has ruled that a state law banning marriage between same-sex couples is unconstitutional. The state’s Supreme Court said the right to form a family relationship
applied to all Californians regardless of sexuality. The ban was approved by voters in 2000 but challenged by gay rights activists and the city of San Francisco. The state legislature twice passed laws to legalise gay marriage, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed them. He said California’s court system should rule on the matter
The United States has listed the polar bear as a threatened species, because its Arctic sea ice habitat is melting due to climate change. US government scientists predict that two-thirds of the polar bear population of 25,000 could disappear by 2050. However, the government stressed the listing would not lead to measures to prevent global warming
The Mormon Church has instructed its lawyers to gag the Internet over WikiLeaks‘ release of the 1968 and 1999 versions of its confidential handbook for Church leaders. Apart from attacking WikiLeaks, legal demands were sent to Jimmy Wales of the WikiMedia foundation for a WikiNews article merely linking to the material, and scribd.com has also been censored. WikiLeaks has (of course) refused to remove the documents — via Slashdot
ISPs will be granted a one-off Government subsidy towards the cost of installing filtering technology, as part of the Rudd Government’s AU$125.8 million Cyber-safety plan. The plan, as pitched during the Rudd Government’s Election campaign, will move the emphasis from parents onto Internet Service Providers to filter inappropriate content
from the Web surfing experience of Australians. The Government is yet to provide details on how much of the $125.8 million will be used for the subsidies — but with $47.6 million of that sum going to the Australian Federal Police, $11.3 million to the Director of Public Prosecutions and $14.1 million to ACMA to expand its regulatory role— ISPs shouldn’t be expecting a huge windfall
The Federal Government has moved to establish a centralised database to host and manage all Australian citizens’ personal details, so this information can be easily shared and accessed by any department. The Australian Taxation Office, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Customs, Centrelink and other departments, are discussing the possibility of establishing a common registration process to improve information sharing
Once touted as a possible third option for home broadband that could compete with phone and cable companies, the idea of providing Internet service over power lines now looks like it has died in infancy. A Texas utility company said last week that it is taking control of the equipment that was to be used in the largest planned US deployment of broadband over power lines, or BPL — and won’t be using it to provide Internet service
Even criminal hackers want to protect their intellectual property, and they’ve come up with a method akin to copyrighting — with an appropriate dash of Internet thuggery thrown in
MySpace has won a legal decision against so-called spam king
Sanford Wallace after he failed numerous times to turn over documents or attend hearings
The sharp acceleration of speculation in Internet names, a practice known as domain tasting
in which names are registered by the millions and tested for their advertising prospects, is under scrutiny
The FBI has called for new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for illegal activity
. The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller, which came during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, appears to go beyond a current plan to monitor traffic on federal-government networks. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad omnibus
authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well
MP3tunes’ CEO Michael Robertson sent out an email to all users of the online music backup and place-shifting service MP3tunes.com, asking them to help publicise EMI’s ridiculous and ignorant lawsuit against the company. EMI believes that consumers aren’t allowed to store their music files online, and that MP3tunes is violating copyright law by providing a backup service
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