June 2008

Attack of the Singapore Patent Troll

June 7th 2008

According to Singapore company VueStar Technologies, images that link to other Web pages, or the method of “locating Web pages by utilizing visual images,” are a violation of their patent. From ZDNet/Asia: “Those who use visual images which hyperlink to other Web pages or Web sites … whether on the first page or subsequent pages of a Web […]

That Billboard is Watching You, and Customizing its Ad

June 6th 2008

Israeli surveillance software is being used on US billboards to gauge who is looking at an advertisement and customize its content. The billboards provide analytics on the number of ad viewers, the duration of views, and (perhaps most worrying) viewer demographics.

Chinese ‘Censor-Mascots’ Provide Friendly Intimidation

June 4th 2008

Inspired by the hideous and tacky mascots of the Beijing Olympics, the Internet Surveillance Division of the Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen and the Beijing Police have adopted animated, noseless “censor-mascots” of their own, Jingjing and Chacha. Note the play on words: jing cha means “police” in Chinese. Even as Chinese citizens use the Internet […]

Egypt Mulls Facebook Shutdown – Represses Online Activists

June 3rd 2008

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is considering blocking Facebook, the popular social networking site used in April to mobilize 80,000 supporters to protest rising food prices. As described in earlier postings, Facebook has been used around the world to coordinated even larger protests.  Blogger Kareem el-Beheiri, who covered and promoted the protest was imprisioned for 73 . See […]

Universal Music Argues That High Copyright Fines Are Unconstitutional

June 3rd 2008

Its kind of the opposite of, “do unto others”. When Universal Music lost an infringement case to Bridgeport Music, it did an unexpected thing. It apparently made a successful case that punitive damages tacked on to statutory damages are unconstitutional. As a plaintiff, Universal has argued in other cases for very high fines. It is, […]

New York Requires Online Stores to Start Collecting Sales Tax

June 2nd 2008

As reported back in November, the State of New York is now requiring e-commerce sites “doing business in the state” to collect sales tax. New Yorkers were previously required to pay sales tax, but previous court rulings had exempted out of state sites from being required to collect that tax, unless they had sufficient manpower […]

Viacom v. YouTube: Busting a Precedent?

June 2nd 2008

Viacom recently amended it $1 Billion lawsuit against YouTube (Google) for copyright infringement which it filed last year. Google claims that Viacom is trying to overturn precedent by making carriers and hosting providers liable for what their users post or transmit. Viacom claims it has found over 150,000 instances of copyright infringing material on YouTube, […]