One of the internet’s basic tenets — the right to be as much of a myopic, infantile asshat as humanly possible — is currently under attack in Arizona. A sweeping update to the state’s telecommunications harassment bill could make naughty, angry words a Class 1 misdemeanour — or worse.
If you thought phone tracking only happened to super criminals, think again. According to an investigation by the New York Times, police forces in the US are now using phone tracking — something that was previously the domain federal agents — as a routine tool.
The US legislature has cybersecurity on the brain. In the coming months, the US Congress and the Senate will consider a confusing variety of cyber-security bills — including HR 3523 (Rogers), HR 3674 (Lungren), S. 2105 (Lieberman), and S. 215 (McCain) — all of which purport to keep US companies and infrastructure safe from “cyber-attacks”. But as Congress continues to weigh this legislation and negotiate potential amendments, users should ask some serious questions about how these proposals will affect civil liberties. Here are four hard questions that Congressmembers should be asking about these bills — the answers to which the bills disagree on or dodge entirely.
Last year it was announced that Hasbro was going to sue Asus over the branding of the Transformer Prime; apparently, people all over the planet were confusing a tablet with shape-shifting robots. Now the case has been settled — Hasbro lost — but the court ruling is quite hilarious.
The Pull to Refresh action is a common gesture for mobile apps — used by the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Tweetbot, and Sparrow for a variety of commands. It may soon be a lot less common if the USPTO grants Twitter’s patent request.
The Motion Picture Association of America has a well-earned reputation for, shall we say, “moulding” its facts. But with its latest lawsuit against Hotfile, the group has apparently gone too far for Google’s tastes. The search giant has just filed an Amicus brief objecting to the MPAA’s “distortion” of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
When New Zealand authorities raided the estate of MegaUpload boss Kim Dotcom, they confiscated nearly $US200 million worth of property. But, as it turns out, the court order authorising this seizure was invalid because the police filled out the wrong paperwork. Oops.
Chimp Cop may be a loose cannon, he may play hard and fast with his feces, but he’s the best damn detective this troupe has ever seen! And if there’s anyone that can defuse that banana bomb, you can bet your sweet, red arse it’s him.
