Articles on Internet Law


Grand Jury Convened Over Facebook Poking Arrest  319 Views (comments)
In case you hadn't heard of the Facebook poking arrest that happened last month, Shannon D. Jackson was arrested for 'poking' Dana Hannah on Facebook - meaning that Jackson used the Facebook "poke" function to "poke" Hannah which, while perhaps rude, childish, and annoying, doesn't usually rise to the level of an arrestable offense. However in this case, it is alleged that the poke violated the terms of a protection order (think "restraining order") which Hannah had in place against Jackson. Now the whole thing has been referred to a grand jury.

Facebook Status Update Enough to Release Suspect from Jail  530 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A 19-year-old New York man has been released from New York's notorious Rikers Island jail after a court agreed with his Facebook alibi that he couldn't have been robbing two people at gunpoint while at the same time posting a status update to Facebook from his father's house, twelve miles away from the scene of the crime.

Prostitution Lawsuit Against Craigslist Dismissed  402 Views (comments)
A Federal court has dismissed the prostitution lawsuit brought against Craigslist by Chicago's Cook County Sheriff's Department and Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart. Sheriff Dart had argued that because the Craigslist erotic services section helps to arrange meetings between hookers and johns, and steers people to places where they can pay for erotic services, Craigslist is in violation of laws against prostitution, and that it should be shut down. Dart added that "the sheer number of daily postings has made it impossible to stymie Craigslist generated prostitution."

Amazon Settles with Student Whose Study Notes they Remotely Removed from Kindle  536 Views (comments)
Amazon has closed a chapter of its history that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has called "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles." Bezos was, of course, referring to Amazon's removing, without warning, copies of Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from the Kindles of nearly 2000 customers.

Court Uses Twitter to Order Imposter Twitterer to Stop Twittering  411 Views (comments)
The High Court in the UK took the unusual step last week of allowing service of a court order on Twitter and, perhaps even more unusually, it worked! The order required that an anonymous defendant cease posing on Twitter as Donal Blaney, the blogger behind Blaney’s Blarney, and abandon the imposter account. The imposter account, using the monicker "Blaneysblarney", looked identical to the Twitter account under which Donal Blaney actually posts, at "Donal_Blaney".

New FTC Rules on Bloggers Blogging and Internet Marketers Marketing Testimonials and Endorsements Explained  2,137 Views (This article has 5 comments)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today published its updated rules governing the publication of endorsements and testimonials by "consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities" (in other words, everybody). The updated rules governing online testimonials and endorsements arguably now cover bloggers, Internet marketers, affiliates, and others who promote (including through endorsing or testimonial) products or services on the Internet. The bottom line is, if you talk about a product or service, and if you put it out on or via the Internet, and if you stand to gain on it, you'd better disclose that relationship.

Second Life Sued in Real Life for Virtual Stealing of Virtual Sex Toys  527 Views (comments)
Linden Labs, creator of the popular virtual reality portal SecondLife, has been sued in first life (in other words, real life) for "allowing" Second Life players to counterfeit the SexGen brand of virtual sex toys sold in Second Life by Storker Serpentine (a/k/a in real life as Kevin Alderman). Alderman is joined in his suit by Second Lifer Munchflower Zaius (known in real life as Shannon Grei), who sells virtual clothing in Second Life. Apparently nowhere has it been suggested that any of these players Getta Life.

New Twitter Terms of Service Bars Anyone Under the Age of 18  933 Views (This article has 1 comment)
As we recently wrote, Twitter has just posted a new Terms of Service. And, intentionally or otherwise, Twitter has banned anyone under 18 years old from using Twitter.

Want to Get a Divorce in France? Text Messages Now Considered Evidence.  1,520 Views (comments)
A court in France - which does not have no-fault divorce, so absent an agreement to divorce you must prove that one of the spouses did something bad - has ruled that text messages can now be used as evidence of adultery.

Another Missouri Mom Arrested for Cyberharrassment of Teen Girl  702 Views (This article has 1 comment)
One would think that after the Megan Meier suicide and the case and cyberbullying law that flowed therefrom, that no right-thinking adult would be horrid - or foolish - fake posts on a public forum targetted at harrassing a teenager. But that's just what Elizabeth Thrasher did, and to add to the unbelievable nature of her actions, she is from the same area of Missouri as Megan Meier's tormentor!

Facebook Sued Over Privacy Concerns  494 Views (comments)
A group of Facebook users has sued Facebook for violation of their privacy, and privacy law in general. The group, which includes two children under the age of thirteen, an actress, and a professional photographer, have sued Facebook in California Superior Court, alleging that Facebook's practices violate California online privacy laws which make it illegal to reveal users' private data for commercial gain.

AT&T’s New ToS Prohibits Customers from Class Action Suits Against AT&T  885 Views (comments)
AT&T has amended the language of its Terms of Service (TOS) to prohibit AT&T's customers from participating in any class action lawsuits or class arbitrations against AT&T.

Amazon Sued for Reaching Out and Removing 1984 from Student’s Kindle  1,336 Views (This article has 2 comments)
In a scene that seems straight out of, well, 1984, Amazon reached out across its WhisperNet network and removed all copies of Animal Farm and 1984 itself from every Kindle and Kindle 2 which had purchased and downloaded the books from Amazon. So high school student Justin Gawronski has sued them, claiming in his lawsuit that the loss of his copy of 1984 has cost him far more than the cost of the book, and includes the loss of all of the notes he'd taken and attached to the book on his Kindle, and the value of the effort in creating them.

Property Management Company Sues Tenant Over Single Tweet on Twitter  1,911 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Amanda Bonnen - the woman formerly known as @abonnen on Twitter - was apparently unhappy with the mold growing in the apartment which she rented from property management company Horizon Group Management LLC. Earlier this year she said as much on Twitter, tweeting a Tweet (a Twitter message) in which she said "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay." Whether or not Horizon thinks that a moldy apartment is ok, they clearly think that talking about their moldy apartments isn't - this week Horizon slapped Amanda Bonnen with a lawsuit in which they ask for $50,000 in damages for that single Tweet.

Apple Sued for Colluding with Mafia in Bugging Man’s iPods  1,317 Views (This article has 1 comment)
From our "Now I've heard it all" department, Gregory McKenna (misreported in many articles as "George McKenna") is suing, among others, the St. Louis County Police Department, the FBI, and Apple Computers for allegedly allowing the Mafia to bug his iPods (along with his house, his cars, and more) and allowing them to play sinister songs with hidden messages to him on his iPods.

Apple Throws Down Gauntlet - Disables iTunes Sync for Palm Pre and Other Smart Phones  746 Views (comments)
iTunes won't sync with your Palm Pre or other smart phone, when previously it would? Your Palm Pre isn't broken - Apple has intentionally disabled the ability for non-iPod or iPhone phones to synch with iTunes in it's newest version of iTunes, iTunes 8.2.1.

Class Action Lawsuit Against Facebook for Click Fraud and Overcharging Advertisers  829 Views (comments)
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook, alleging that Facebook is charging advertisers for more clicks than their ads actually receive, and also that Facebook is not doing enough to curtail click fraud which is resulting, the lawsuit says, from competitors clicking on an advertiser's Facebook advertisment in order to use up their allotted clicks and run up the advertiser's Facebook advertising bill.

Positive Recommendations on LinkedIn Used in Lawsuits Against the Recommender  770 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Employment attorneys are warning of a new trend: the use of positive recommendations on Linked-In as evidence in lawsuits against the recommender. Here's how it works: an employer gives a positive recommendation on Linked In for an employee. The employee is later let go. The positive recommendation on LinkedIn now becomes ammunition and evidence in a lawsuit against the employer for discrimination, harrassment, or other improper firing practices.

Lori Drew MySpace Suicide Conviction Overturned  746 Views (comments)
If you were among those who were upset by the criminal conviction of Lori Drew - the mother behind the MySpace incident that lead to the suicide of thirteen-year-old Megan Meier - you are either about to be relieved, or outraged, depending on where you stood on the case. Lori Drew, who had been facing felony charges due to her involvement in the case, received, instead, three misdemeanor convictions. Now a Federal court is overturning those convictions.

California Governor Schwarzenegger Vetoes California Affiliate Program Tax, Overstock Reinstates California Affiliates  1,083 Views (This article has 2 comments)
It seems like only yesterday we were reporting that, due to California's legislature (among others) being poised to pass a tax on affiliate programs (which some were also calling an "advertising tax") such as those run by Amazon and Overstock, these and other companies were resorting to dumping the affiliates in those states and that, in fact, Overstock had just dumped all of their California affiliates for that very reason. In fact, it was yesterday. And in response, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the tax increase which the California legislators had passed, including the problematic affiliate tax provision.

Affiliates Getting Dumped from Coast-to-Coast as States Contemplate Internet Sales Tax Laws  1,248 Views (This article has 2 comments)
With ever more states either passing or contemplating passing an Internet affiliate program sales tax, the two edges of that particular sword are being felt from coast-to-coast, as associates are being slashed from the lucrative affiliate programs of some of the largest Internet companies.

Paypal Introduces “Proposition and Pay People to Do Stuff” Service  1,201 Views (This article has 1 comment)
In an interesting move that may or may not be tied to the economic times, Paypal has introduced a new service in which it exhorts you to proposition people and offer to pay them to do stuff. Or, as they say in one of their online ads, "Get stuff done for money". "Get stuff done for money," says the ad. "Use PayPal's "Do Stuff for Money" to get your friends to do stuff for money. Because sometimes just asking isn't enough."

Greed Concern of ISPs Over Bandwidth Usage Triggers Legislation to Regulate ISPs  630 Views (comments)
It had to happen sooner or later. The heydey of the wild frontier Internet, where ISPs had unfettered artistic license to create the landscape they wanted, is over. Like Adam and Eve in the proverbial garden of Eden, it was theirs to lose, and lose it they are about to, it seems. Now, as some Internet providers are moving to restrict bandwidth usage and charge outrageous amounts for “over usage” - much like the phone company once did, legislation has been introduced to regulate ISPs, and even to have a Federal agency oversee them - much like the telephone companies now do.

North Carolina to Enact Amazon Affiliate Tax  1,043 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Following in New York's footsteps, North Carolina is set to enact a similar Amazon Affiliate Tax, by which we mean that sales generated by someone in North Carolina via an affiliate program will be taxed (New York enacted an affiliate sales tax last year, over which New York was promptly sued).

Germany Poised to Pass Law to Target and Censor Websites  531 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Germany will be voting tomorrow on their proposed Internet censorship law, which would create a list of verboten websites (primarily dealing with the underaged in inappropriate situations) that will be targeted for official German governmental censoring. It was only a few months ago that Australia's plan to censor websites that it deemed inappropriate or illegal blew up in its face, with the list of censored website being leaked to and widely published on the Internet.

Louisiana Legislators Approve Internet Tax on All Users  783 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The legislators in the state of Louisiana have approved an across-the-board Internet tax on all users. Any Louisiana resident who has an Internet account will be charged the tax, and ISPs will be required to collect it from them.

Website Held Liable for the Way Google Search Excerpted It  736 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A website in Holland - Miljoenhuizen.nl - has been held liable for the summary that Google search turned up for its site. Yes, you read that right - they were held responsible for the fact that Google excerpted and concatenated text from their webpage in a way that suggested that the plaintiff, the BMW dealership Zwartepoorte, had gone bankrupt.

EU Sues Sweden for Failing to Implement Online Data Retention Policy  594 Views (comments)
The European Commission has sued the country of Sweden for failing to implement the European Union (EU) Data Retention Directive - a mandate of having in place data retention legislation aimed at codifying how and for how long an ISP must retain user data.

Feds Dictate that Reviews on Blogs Should Disclose if Review is for Sponsor or Advertiser  511 Views (comments)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is getting ready to issue new guidelines which state that bloggers who review a product or service are under an obligation to disclose to their readers if the product or service being reviewed is a sponsor of the blog, or if the blogger otherwise is getting compensation (sometimes known as "Blogola", as a play on the word "payola) for the review.

Inappropriate Twittering, Facebooking Leads to Criminal Appeals in Trials  765 Views (comments)
Following closely on the heels of the defendant who was acquited because the arresting officer revealed too much on MySpace and Facebook, two different trials are being appealed due to jurors Twittering and Facebooking about the trial, including in one extremely high-profile case.

Criminal Uses Google Maps to Steal Roofs Off Buildings  996 Views (comments)
Forget terrorists using Google maps to find targets; criminals are already way ahead in that game, using Google Earth maps to find their next victims - even stealing the very roofs off buildings that they have found using Google maps!

BBC Rents a Russian Botnet and Spams and DOSes in Name of Journalism  786 Views (comments)
The BBC is under fire today for a stunt that it pulled a few days ago, in which it rented a Russian bot net (also sometimes called a spam bot), and then sent millions of pieces of spam, and DOSed a corporate server.

Worst Problem on the Internet is Stupid Users, Survey Says  4,293 Views (This article has 10 comments)
Stupid users are the worst problem on the Internet, according to this survey of more than 600 Internet users.

Popular Internet Microlending Site Kiva Funding Cockfighting  922 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The Internet can be used for all kind of great things, and certainly one of those great things has been the development of the microlending sites - where users contribute a small amount of funds, and then the microlending site extends a small business loan (typically up to a few hundred dollars) to individuals to allow the recipient to get on their feet by starting or furthering a small business. However, one site is funding cock fighting, which is not only a horrible blood sport, but is illegal here in the United States. Perhaps more astonishingly, the CEO of the site, Kiva.org, is justifying the practice!

Criminal Defendant Acquited Over Arresting Officer’s Facebook and MySpace Remarks  1,492 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Gary Waters is one lucky perp. Already on parole for a burglery rap, he was arrested for gun possession, and went to trial. And then, he was acquitted because of comments that the arresting officer Vaughan Ettienne had made on Facebook and MySpace.

Craiglist Sued for Being World’s Biggest Pimp  1,023 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Craiglist has been slapped with a lawsuit by the Cook County Sheriff's Department (Chicago) for being, in essence, the world's biggest pimp. The lawsuit contends that Craigslist is "the single largest source of prostitution in the nation."

Proposed Law Would Require Google to Blur Buildings to Thwart Terrorists  796 Views (This article has 7 comments)
Legislators in California - that state of the eternal budget crisis - have decided that it's a good idea to spend money trying to force Google to blur Google Maps images of what are known as "soft targets" for terrorists, such as schools, churches, hospitals, and government buildings, to protect them against terrorist attacks. Because you know, terrorists can't find an address without Google Maps.

Criminal Defendant Ordered to Decrypt Own Hard Drive  1,200 Views (comments)
If Sebastian Boucher thought that encryping the data on his hard drive would protect him from prying eyes, he may have been right. But if the Derry, New Hampshire resident, who is originally from Canada, thought that it would protect his 5th Amendment right against self incrimination, he may have another think coming.

Google Settles Class Action Book Scanning Copyright Infringement Lawsuit  1,976 Views (comments)
It's no secret that Google is scanning entire books and putting them on the Internet. In fact, we reported their first wholesale scanning project - scanning books from five major libraries - more than four years ago. That lead to outcries and debates over whether Google's scanning of books was copyright infringement, and sure enough, in what seemed like a New York minute, the Author's Guild sued Google over that scanning.

Invasion of Privacy Lawsuit Against Google Street View Van Dismissed  1,424 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The Google Streetview lawsuit filed by Aaron and Christine Boring, claiming invasion of privacy because the Google Street View van snapped pictures after going down their posted, private road, has been dismissed by the Court.

14 Year Old Girl Arrested for Texting in Math Class and Hiding Phone in Her Buttocks  1,609 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Yes, it's true - we couldn't make up a story like this. A 14 year old Wauwatosa, Wisconsin girl has been arrested for disorderly conduct after refusing to stop texting during math class, and then hiding her cell phone among her buttocks and claiming she had no cell phone on her. The girl, whose name is being withheld, but whose parents are named Brian and Lynn, is a student at Wauwatosa East High School.

Facebook Responds to Concerns over New Facebook TOS  722 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Facebook has responded to the concern engendered by the new Facebook TOS with a post by none other than Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg himself. In his comments, Zuckerberg tries to allay the fears of Facebook users by saying that even though the new Facebook TOS says that Facebook can use all user-generated content however they want, and forever, they wouldn't really do so. Unfortunately, that doesn't cut it.

Teen Anthony Stancl Uses Facebook to Trick and Blackmail Other Boys Into Having Sex with Him  5,446 Views (This article has 1 comment)
An 18-year-old boy has been charged with blackmailing as many as 31 teen boys into having sex with him. Anthony Stancl - who calls himself Tony Stancil - of New Berlin, Wisconsin, tricked his victims by posing as a girl on Facebook, and having his victims send nude pictures and videos of themselves to "her". Then Anthony Stancil told them that if they didn't have sex with him, or let him perform a sex act on them, that he would post the pictures and videos to the Internet.

Proposed Law Would Require Cell Phone Cameras to Make “Click” Sound  1,074 Views (This article has 2 comments)
A new proposed Federal camera phone law would require all cell phone cameras to make a "click" sound when snapping a picture (to emulate the sound of a shutter snap), and would further require that there be no means of disabling the click sound. The proposed "Camera Phone Predator Alert Act", introduced by Republican Congressman Peter King, from New York, is presumably aimed at reducing the instances of upskirting, and of people surreptitiously using their cell phone to snap pictures of credit cards and other identity-stealing activity.

Court Upholds Sales Tax on Affiliate Sales Generated in New York - Amazon Tax Applies to All NY Affiliates  1,582 Views (comments)
A New York court has upheld New York's affiliate sales tax law, dubbed "The Amazon Tax", which requires that sales tax be collected for all sales originating in New York pursuant to a commission agreement (such as an affiliate program), regardless of the fact that the merchant is not actually in New York - such as Amazon.

Adult Website Users Who are Lied to by Underage Minors Have No Recourse, Says Federal Court  1,519 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A Federal court has ruled that an adult user of an adults-only website (in this case Sex Search.com) has no recourse against the site after having been tricked by an underaged user into believing that she was an adult when they had sex. The case against SexSearch .com by "John Doe" was brought after Doe learned the hard way that the woman with whom he was having sex was not 18, as she had claimed, but only 14.

States Require Sex Offenders to Register Their Passwords  1,084 Views (comments)
Starting tomorrow, January 1, 2009, sex offenders in Georgia will be required by law to provide the state with all of their Internet usernames, email addresses, screen names, and passwords. Georgia joins Utah in this requirement.

Vietnam Censoring Bloggers  625 Views (comments)
The government of Vietnam is getting ready to clamp down on the thriving Vietnamese blogging culture. In fact, the Vietnamese government is putting in place new regulations aimed at curbing just about any form of free speech in Vietnamese blogs. The new regulations, approved this month, include rules that ban all posts that the government feels undermine the national security of Vietnam or that disclose Vietnamese state secrets. The rules, written by the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications, also ban any posts that contain “inaccurate information” that could potentially damage the reputation of individuals and organizations.

Teens Sending Naked Pics of Self Receive Novel Sentence  4,902 Views (This article has 2 comments)
It’s no surprise that today’s teens are more advanced than ever. Not only are today’s teens more advanced on an academic level and a technological level, but they are more advanced on a sexual level as well. Everything from the Internet to cell phones offer teens a perfect outlet to express themselves sexually. Unfortunately, these same outlets allow teens to exploit one another sexually, leading to what amounts to criminal activity without the teen ever realizing he or she has committed a crime.

You’ve Been Served - on Facebook!  1,021 Views (This article has 2 comments)
An Australian court has allowed someone to be served with notice of a lawsuit - by message on Facebook!

Internet in Uproar Over Verdict for Lori Drew in Megan Meier Teen Suicide Case  1,590 Views (This article has 2 comments)
The case against Lori Drew, the woman who was involved in the creation of a fake MySpace character that eventually lead to the suicide of troubled teen Megan Meier, who was the target of Drew's charade, has concluded, and the Internet is in an uproar over the verdict.

Online Dating Giant eHarmony Required to Create Same Sex Dating Site  1,229 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Online dating giant eHarmony is required to create a new online dating site for same sex couples under the terms of a settlement with the State of New Jersey's Civil Rights Division. The new service will be called Compatible Partners (not "Compatable Partners", as some sites are reporting, which is a mis-spelling.

Classmates.com Lies When They Say “Classmates Looking for You” Says Lawsuit  1,955 Views (This article has 2 comments)
How many of us have gotten the same email from Classmates.com? "6 Classmates are Looking for You!" - "See Who has Visited your Profile!" Well, according to a lawsuit brought by Anthony Michaels against Classmates, the online reunion giant is lying.

Personal IP Addresses Not Protected by Privacy Rules in UK, Germany  1,123 Views (comments)
A German court has ruled that an IP address is not afforded the same privacy protections that Internet users enjoy for their names and other personally identifying information, even though a user may have a static IP address which is directly linked to the user alone.

Craigslist Calls Hookers in an Effort to Deter Sex Ads  1,900 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Internet classifieds giant Craigslist is cracking down on advertisers who use the Craiglist "erotic services" section to pimp themselves or others.

Google, MS and Yahoo Sign Global Network Initiative to Protect User Privacy in Other Countries  1,768 Views (comments)
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all signed on to the Global Initiative Network, pledging to protect the privacy of their users around the world, including - perhaps particularly - users in countries such as China, where demands that ISPs rat out their users are routinely made.

FBI Takes Down “Dark Market” Cyber Criminal Ring  965 Views (comments)
The FBI has announced that they have taken down a group of cyber criminals known as "Dark Market". The bust was the culmination of a two-year undercover operation, with an FBI agent who called himself "Master Splyntr" infiltrating the Dark Market.

Feds Take Down Worldwide VPXL Spammers Lance Atkinson and Jody Smith  4,085 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Authorities in the U.S. and New Zealand have coordinated to take down big time male enhancement and supplement spammers Lance Atkinson and Jody Smith, and their Target Pharmacy, Canadian Healthcare, Inet Ventures, Tango Pay, Click Fusion, and TwoBucks Trading spam operations. Lance Atkinson and Jody Smith were the muscle behind what Spamhaus has called "the biggest spam gang in the world," and they recruited countless affiliates to send their spam through a spam affiliate program called Affking.

Teen Faces Child Porn Charges for Sending Nude Cell Phone Pics of Self  10,982 Views (This article has 4 comments)
A teenaged girl is facing felony child pornography charges after sending nude cell phone pix of herself to classmates. The teen, from (really, we couldn't make this up) Licking Valley High, was charged with, among other things, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material (the cell phone pics), as well as possession of criminal tools.

Nevada Businesses MUST Encrypt Email Starting Next Week Under Law  1,305 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Under a law which takes effect next week, Nevada businesses must start encrypting their email, or face a penalty.

City Sued Over Order to Remove Link to Police Department from Website  1,594 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Last year Jennifer Reisinger of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was ordered to remove a link from her website to the Sheboygen police department. Reisinger, who runs Brat City Web Design, had linked to the Sheyboygen PD from her community spirit site, Sheboygen Spirit. Despite the fact that the link to the Sheboygan police department was among several other links to various Sheboygan public service sites, the Sheboygan city attorney demanded that the link to the police department be removed - and, the demand was made via a Cease and Desist letter. Then the Sheboygan police department started a criminal investigation into the link! All because, Jennifer Reisinger alleges, she supported an effort to recall Sheboygan Mayor Juan Perez.

Big Time Law Firm Resorts to Spamming  1,559 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Whenever somebody starts ranting about "the damn lawyers", of which I'm one, mind you, I'm fond of saying "you know, 95% of the lawyers out there... make the other 5% of us look really bad." It's tongue-in-cheek, of course, because people expect the message following the "..." to be that 95% of the lawyers are good, and it's the small 5% that are the bad apples. And, of course, in reality usually the numbers do flow in that direction. But unfortunately, sometimes, it's all to true. But even I, jaded though I am, was stunned when this little gem - this blog comment spam - advertising the firm of Gersowitz, Libo & Korek - landed on the Internet Patrol today.

"Complete Privacy Does Not Exist" Statement WRONGLY Attributed to Google in Lawsuit  1,703 Views (comments)
The Internet is all abuzz today with a line from Google's response in the invasion of privacy lawsuit filed against Google by Aaron Boring and Christine Boring of Pennsylvania. That line is "Complete privacy does not exist." There's only one problem - Google didn't actually say it.

Spammer Jailbreak  1,159 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Prolific spammer Eddie Davidson was arrested last year, and, in April was sentenced to twenty-one months at the Federal prison in Florence, Colorado - about 3 hours north of Denver. This past Sunday, Davidson escaped from Florence Prison, and is at large.

Lawyers Use Information Gleaned from Social Media Sites Against Defendants  1,190 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The rise in social media sites such as Facebook and Myspace has been a boon for prosecutors, who are finding incriminating pictures on such sites - pictures which have been admitted as evidence in court, and used to increase penalties, sentences, and prison time!

Employees with Mobile Work Email Can Sue for Overtime, Warn Legal Experts  1,689 Views (comments)
Employees who read and send work email after hours - particularly using an employer-provided mobile device such as a Blackberry - may end up suing their employer for overtime hours incurred while performing work-related email tasks on the devices, outside of the course of the normal business day.

“Gmail” Outlawed in Germany - To Access Google Gmail in Germany Requires Go-Around  2,744 Views (comments)
Google had its Gmail tail handed to it on a platter when a German court held - not once, but twice (in preliminary and final orders) - that it could not use the name "Gmail" in Germany, as it infringed on a prior user of that name. As a result, Google is banned from using the Gmail name in Germany, and German Gmail users and others in Germany who wish to access the Google email service are banned from accessing the service via the Gmail name.

Inadequate Security on Employer-Provided Computer Could Lead to Arrest for Child Porn  1,331 Views (comments)
It was almost exactly a year ago that a Connecticut jury convicted substitute teacher Julie Amero because the computer in the classroom in which she was substitute teaching started displaying pornographic pop-ups during the the class; nevermind that it was the fault of school for not providing adequate security protection on the computer. Now the same thing has happened to Michael Fiola, of Massachusetts. Michael Fiola lost his job and was arrested because the laptop his employer gave him had inadequate security and was compromised by a child-porn downloading trojan.

MySpace Poser Lori Drew Whose Charade Lead to Teen’s Suicide Pleads “Not Guilty”  1,590 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Lori Drew, the woman who pretended to be a teenaged boy named Josh Evans on MySpace, for the sole purpose of harrassing teen Megan Meier - which lead to Megan Meier's suicide - and who was arraigned and charged in Federal court in May, has pleaded "not guilty".

Cell Phone Termination Fee Wars Heat Up - New Laws and Class Action Lawsuit Proposed  5,892 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Have you ever been hit (or even just threatened) with a cell phone service provider's early termination fee - that is a fee for early cancellation of your cellphone service? Held hostage by your cellular service provider because of exorbitant (spelled "extortionist") early termination fees and clauses? Check out these new proposed laws and lawsuits against AT&T (Cingular), Sprint / Nextel, Verizon, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Alltel, Qwest and others!

NY Sued Over Affiliate Tax on Companies with an Affiliate Earning Affiliate Income in New York  1,475 Views (comments)
As promised, the state of New York has been sued over its new "affiliate tax", by which it is looking to boost state revenues by collecting as much as 50 million dollars in sales tax from companies that have affiliates in New York who are earning affiliate income in New York. That means that if your company has a super affiliate guru in New York - someone who can really make money with your affiliate program - you are going to get hit with a super affilliate tax on all the sales that they generate for you.

MrChimp2007 Ordered to Stop Posting Videos of His Crimes on YouTube  8,219 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Andrew Kellett, known on YouTube as MrChimp2007, has been served with a restraining order that prevents him from adding to his extensive YouTube collection of 80 videos showing off his unlawful behaviour, including dangerous, reckless and high-speed driving; drug use; and theft. His parents must be so proud.

New CAN-SPAM Rules Effective This Month Require Single Action Opt-Out, Designated Senders, and More  1,828 Views (comments)
Four new rules have been issued by the Federal Trade Commission which augment and amend the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. These four new rules amending the CAN SPAM Act take effect this month (June, 2008), and affect all senders of commercial email who have an email list of any size. Here's what the new CANSPAM Act rules are. For a full explanation of what you must do in order to comply with the new rules (including the complicated "Designated Sender" rule), you can download a recording of ISIPP's teleseminar, describing the rules and how to comply in detail, for just $39.97. [Download the recording of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 new rules teleseminar here! $39.97, 49 minutes long]

Legislation would outlaw U.S. Companies Dealing with Countries that Censor the Internet  1,111 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The Internet has opened to many of us opportunities to communicate, to share information, and to learn about the rest of the world. We take this almost for granted in the United States. Many countries, though, run scared from the free flow of information and ideas, believing that by repressing the Internet they can continue to repress their population. The Global Online Freedom Act of 2007, also known by its rather more prosaic name, HR 275, is a bill that would outlaw US companies from dealing with countries that censor the internet, and in particular from "disclosing personally-identifiable information about a user, except for legitimate foreign law enforcement purposes."

Federal Court Exonerates MySpace in Pete Solis Underaged Girl Case  2,273 Views (This article has 5 comments)
A Federal court today has slammed the door on the family who was trying to sue MySpace because 19-year-old Pete Solis had met their underaged daughter through MySpace, and had, they claim, sexually assaulted her. Nevermind that the girl had lied about her age when creating her profile, which is why Peter Solis thought she was 18 (and why he was able to find her on MySpace at all). The court had some choice words for the family.

Supreme Court Says Advertising Child Pornography with No Real Children or Even With No Children at All Still Punishable Under Law  1,441 Views (This article has 1 comment)
In a decision that could have far-reaching ramifications for thousands of Internet advertisers and businesses, the Supreme Court of the United States this week affirmed a law which criminalizes advertising pornography as involving children even if the children don't actually exist (such as are CGI), are not actually minors (such as very young looking adults playing the part of underaged children) or, in fact, even if there are no children in the images at all!

Woman Whose Posing as Teen Boy on MySpace Led to Megan Meier’s Suicide Indicted in Federal Court  3,035 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Lori Drew, the Missouri mother who posed on MySpace as 'Josh', a 16-year-old boy, drawing 13-year-old Megan Meier into a fraudulent and faux relationship that ended tragically with Megan Meier taking her own life, has been named in a federal indictment and summoned to appear in US District Court in Los Angeles in June.

Federal Subpeona Email Hoax from Subpoena@uscourts.com Snares CEOs  1,313 Views (comments)
Service by email of a subpena does not constitute legal service, yet thousands of CEOs and upper-level executives across the United States have recently been taken in by an unwelcome email in their inbox. The email, claiming to be a Federal subpoena (or, if you're from California, "subpena") from "subpoena@uscourts.com," bears the seal of the U.S. District Court, and demands the recipient present themselves at a grand jury hearing in San Diego on May 7th. In addition the email contains a link and the instruction that the linked document should be downloaded and printed.

California Seeks to Tax Music Downloads - MP3s Become MP3+8 Percent  3,188 Views (comments)
99 cent iTunes downloads will go the way of the dodo if California state lawmaker Charles Calderon gets his way. His proposal, AB1956, seeks to tax music downloads, adding 8.25-8.75% sales tax to music purchases made online, and increasing the purchase price to $1.08.

State of Virginia to Require Internet Safety Classes in Public Schools  1,520 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Concerned about the general increase in online crime, cyber-bullying, and sex offenders preying on underaged children, the state of Virginia has become the first to mandate that public schools offer Internet safety classes to all grade levels.

Class Action Lawsuit Against the RIAA Claims Extortion and Racketeering  1,912 Views (comments)
A class action lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims that the RIAA has used extortion and rackateering practices in the witch-hunt-like way that it has gone after people whom it claims have downloaded music illegally - "defendants" who include children, people who don't own computers, and even dead people (downloading from the afterlife requires a heck of a strong wifi signal!)

The Impulse Media Group Lawsuit Decision Explained  2,933 Views (This article has 5 comments)
The decision in the lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Impulse Media Group was handed down this week, and for many it was a shocker. There were many claims of spam from Impulse Media Group's affiliates, and so many thought that the lawsuit was a slamdunk. It wasn't.

Proposed Settlement of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Hot Coffee Lawsuit: Hot Coffee San Andreas Style Means Cash Back for Grand Theft Auto Buyers  3,985 Views (This article has 2 comments)
If you purchased the game Grand Theft Auto SanAndreas, you may be entitled to a refund under the terms of the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Hot Coffee settlement. Grand Theft Auto San Andres (GTA San Andreas) was shipped with explicit content which could be revealed by the third-party Hot Coffee mod. The GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee lawsuit was filed after children and others were unwittingly exposed to the Hot Coffee hack in San Andreas.

Spammers Worse than Prostitutes and Pimps, Says Action of former NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer  2,304 Views (This article has 4 comments)
We in the anti-spam field have known it all along, but the events of this week confirm it: spammers are worse than prostitutes, pimps, and those involved in plying the human traffic trade. Clearly that is the only way to interpret the actions of former N.Y. Attorney General and soon-to-be-former Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer this week was linked to - and has admitted to - ties to a prostitution ring spanning several countries, and boasting some of the highest-paid call girls in world - some commanding more than $5,000 per hour. But that was chump change for some of the extremely wealthy clients of the ring, which operated through a group and website known as the Emperors Club VIP

Craigslist Ad Seeks Hitman to “Eradicate” Poster’s Lover’s Wife  2,035 Views (comments)
Melanie McGuire has been dethroned as holder of the "most stupid use of the Internet for criminal activities" by Ann Marie Linscott, who posted a help wanted ad on Craigslist seeking a hit man to kill her lover's wife.

Mother Whose Online Harassment of Teen Lead to Teen’s Suicide May be Charged with Fraud  4,199 Views (This article has 6 comments)
Lori Drew, the woman who was the adult involved in the cyber harassment and cyber bullying of Missouri teen Megan Meier, which ultimately led to Megan hanging herself in November, is the subject of a Grand Jury investigation which has been convened to determine whether Lori Drew can be charged with fraud for her fraudulant use of MySpace.

Mega Spammer Alan Ralsky and Son-in-Law Indicted Along with Several Other Big-Time Spammers  1,996 Views (comments)
Mega spammer Alan Ralsky has been indicted under Federal anti-spamming law, along with ten other spammers involved in Ralsky's operation, including Ralsky's own son-in-law, Scott Bradley ("Oh dad, how could you?) Other spammers charged include Judy Devenow, also of Michigan; James Bragg, of Arizona; California spammers John Brown, William Neil, Anki Neil, James Fite, Francis Tribble; and How Wai John Hui, of Vancouver, Canada and Hong Kong, and Peter Severa of Russia.

RIAA Says Copying Music to Computer for Personal Use OK, Washington Post and Blogs Have it Wrong  3,463 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Much has been made in the media this week about the news that the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) has announced, through one of their lawsuits, that they now consider it illegal for you to copy music from a CD you have purchased to your own computer, for your own personal use. The one thing that everyone seems to be overlooking is that the RIAA has not said this at all. In fact, they have explicitly stated that they are not concerned with people copying music to their computer (or iPod, or other personal MP3 player) for their own personal use.

Adult Friend Finder Slapped by FTC for Explicit Pop Ups  22,730 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Adult FriendFinder has been roasted by the FTC for forcing explicit ads - in the form of graphic pop-ups for Adult Freind Finder, advertising the Adult Friendfinder network - on people who were not only not looking for Adultfriend Finder, but who weren't looking for an adult finder service at all - such as children. Adult Friend Finders has reached a settlement with the FTC, under which Adult FriendFinders - and Adult FriendFinder affiliates - must cease and desist from displaying explicit ads unless the user is actively seeking out that sort of content, or has...er..explicitly consented to see such content.

Police Crack Internet Child Porn Ring as Child Pornography and the Law Clash  3,955 Views (comments)
For those of you who wonder why people make child pornography videos, it's because it pays. Fortunately, child pornography and the law don't mix. While people may try to find countries that sell child pornography videos, child pornography is illegal virtually everywhere. Last week police cracked an Internet child pornography ring with 2500 customers in 19 countries, leading to 92 arrests.

Yahoo Settles with Jailed Chinese Journalists Whom Yahoo Helped Identify to Chinese Government  1,917 Views (comments)
The lawsuit against Yahoo over the jailing of two Chinese journalist whom they helped the government of China to identify has been settled, after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang met with the families of the two journalists. In a rush of pollyanic* optimism, their lawyer says "It's no longer possible for a corporation to say 'We were just following orders'."

Perhaps the Stupidest Thing Ever to Do with Your Cell Phone - Carry Child Pornography On It  3,860 Views (comments)
A twenty-three year old Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for carrying child pornography on his cell phone. Kenneth Patrick Jeffries II will have spent more than 25% of his life in prison by the time he gets out.

Lawsuit Against Target for Failing to Make Website Accessible to the Blind Turns Into Class Action  2,262 Views (This article has 5 comments)
A little over a year ago we told you that Target was being sued for failing to make their website accessible to the blind. Now the judge in the case has certified the case to be a class action, meaning that blind people and advocates for the blind around the country can pile on. And yet, the questions still remain: should organizations have an obligation to make their websites accessible to the blind?

Web Sheriff Helps the Prince Formerly Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince to Crack Down on Internet Copyright Infringement  2,867 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Prince - who was formerly known as "the artist formerly known as Prince", due to his adoption of a symbol in place of his name for a period of time - has engaged the aid of online rights audit and enforcement firm Web Sheriff. On behalf of Prince, WebSheriff has threatened both YouTube and eBay with lawsuits if they don't remove what Prince claims is infringing material. Web Sherrif principle John Giacobbi says that eBay and YouTube need to "smell the coffee."

Website Advocating Tax Free Life and Claiming Federal Income Taxation Unconstitutional Ordered to Stop  2,718 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The givemeliberty.org (Give Me Liberty .org) website, which advocates a tax free life, claiming that the Federal income tax is unconstitutional - has been ordered to remove their information from the Internet. Robert Schulz, the individual behind GiveMeLiberty.org, and the founder of both We The People for Constitutional Education and We The People Congress, has sworn to appeal. Schulz claims that the 16th Amendment is unconstitutional because it was never ratified. (While there had been many a taxact previously, including those imposing such diverse taxation as wigasoline taxes and a marijuana taxact, it is the 16th Amendment from which Congress modernly draws its broad power of taxation.) You may recall from elementary school U.S. history class that it was the issue of taxation without representation that ultimately and famously led to the Boston tea party and, eventually, the American revolution. Schulz's claim is that the issue now is taxation without ratification, and tax year return end make peoplewerx.

Boy Meets Girl, Boy Dates Girl, Boy Posts Nude Picture to MySpace, Boy Goes to Jail  42,077 Views (This article has 7 comments)
Anthony Rich of Bradenton, Florida was himself no older than 17 when he met and dated his then girlfriend, who was 15. With only a two year difference, and with both teens being under 18, you might think that there was no problem. But then they broke up - and Anthony Rich - at age 17 - posted a nude picture of his 15 year old ex-girlfriend to her MySpace page. And now, two years later (and thus over the age of 18), Anthony Rich is facing 30 days in jail for child abuse and attempted child abuse.

Court Rules that Online Contracts Cannot Be Unilaterally Changed by One Party  2,628 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A Federal court ruled last week that online contracts cannot be unilaterally changed - that is changed by one party without the consent of the other party - in the matter of Joseph Douglas versus Talk America, which purchased the service to which Joe Douglas was subscribed from America Online (AOL).

Self Professed Pedophile Jack McClellan’s Seattle Tacoma Everett Girl Love Stegle.org Website Declared Legal but Knocked Offline by Internet Ire  13,733 Views (This article has 11 comments)
Self-professed pedophile Jack McClellan ran his Seattle Tacoma Everett Girl Love website at stegl.org openly and, by all accounts from legal authorities, legally. You see, Jack McClellan has no criminal record, and as best as anyone can tell (and of course he claims) McClellan has never actually molested or illegally touched a minor. He just loves them. But his website - which we recreate here - was knocked offline by an outraged public.

Edward Ray Barton Case Overturned On Appeal - Existence of Illegal Files in Cache Only not ‘Possession’  4,475 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Edward Ray Barton is a very lucky man. You may recall that we reported that Barton was convicted of possession of child pornography after investigators had found child pornography files on his hard drive. However now his conviction has been overturned on appeal.

Jury Convicts Substitute Teacher for “Allowing” Racy Pop-Ups on Classroom Computer  2,476 Views (This article has 3 comments)
A Connecticut jury convicted substitute teacher Julie Amero of felony "risking injury to a minor or impairing the morals of a minor" when a classroom computer in the Connecticut school classroom in which she was substitute teaching began displaying graphic pornographic pop-ups.

Yahoo Sued Over Jailing of Chinese Journalist  2,316 Views (comments)
The mother of a Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was jailed for ten years by the Chinese government after Yahoo cooperated with Chinese authorities and revealed Shi Tao's identity and personal details to them, is suing Yahoo in U.S. Federal court.

Federal Court Ruling Boosts Laws About Email Privacy  11,738 Views (This article has 2 comments)
In a Federal ruling this week, personal email privacy laws received a shot in the arm, as the Court ruled that laws about email privacy preclude the government from demanding access to an individual's email from their ISP without notice to the individual, unless they have a warrant based on probable cause.

Is Spamming Worth It? Ask Robert Soloway - Sitting in a Federal Jail without Bail for Spamming  4,026 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Score one for the forces of good, as one of the United States' most notorious spammers, Robert Soloway, was not only arrested this month, but denied bail, so egregious were the charges against him, and, the court felt, the odds of him skipping town to avoid those charges.

Is Virtual Rape Crying Virtual Wolf?  6,397 Views (This article has 13 comments)
I read an article this week about "virtual rape". Yes, really. That would be virtual sexual assault on your virtual online character or persona. This is all coming out now because, I kid you not, someone from Second Life reported a virtual rape to the police in Brussels. And they are investigating it. Oh for pete's sake, give me a break! How tenous a grasp on reality do these people have? And how the heck can there be "forced online sexual activity"? Isn't that nearly an oxymoron?

Digg Digs in its Heels Over DVD Cracking Posts, Refuses to Cease and Desist  1,619 Views (This article has 1 comment)
HD-DVD Nacht is the name of a new DVD cracking code to allow you to bypass the HD DVD encryption which keeps you from copying DVDs. Digg is the name of the social networking site in the middle of a battle with AACS (Advanced Access Content Systems) because Digg's users posted the code. Repeatedly. First Digg took it down in compliance with AACS' cease and desist demands, but after an uproar from their users, Digg did an about face, let them post the code, and said to the AACS, essentially, "bring it on."

IRS to Tax eBay and Other Auction Income - You Can’t Say that We Didn’t Warn You  3,956 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Two years ago we warned you that the IRS was going to look at taxing income made by selling things on eBay. Some of you didn't believe us. Some even counselled not to worry about it. But sure enough, it's almost certainly going to happen, and sooner, it would appear, rather than later.

Blogger Josh Wolf Freed from Jail After Providing and Posting Disputed Video  9,092 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Blogger Josh Wolf, of joshwolf.net, has been released from jail - from what is being called the longest contempt of court sentence in the history of U.S. journalism - after turning over a video which showed essentially nothing of interest, and answering a total of two questions for Federal prosecutors.

Millions of PCs Claimed to be “Vista Capable” Aren’t Says Lawsuit Against Microsoft  2,455 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Millions of PCs that were sold as being "Windows Vista Capable" aren't, according to a lawsuit filed this week against Microsoft. The Windows Vista lawsuit, on behalf of an as yet undetermined number of consumers who purchased PCs in the past year with the expectation that they would be able to run all of the Windows Vista features, alleges that Microsoft knowningly and intentionally mislead consumers by allowing PC manufacturers to label PCs on the market as "Windows Vista Capable" when that meant only that the PC hardware would be able to run Vista Basic, and would not be able to run all the features that everyone is anticipating from Vista.

Child Online Protection Act (COPA) Struck Down by Federal Court  1,583 Views (This article has 2 comments)
A U.S. District Court has struck down the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), saying that, among other things, that technlogical and filtering solutions do a far better job of protecting children from harmful and offensive online content than can a law.

MySpace Sues King of Spam Sanford Wallace for Phishing, Spamming and Gaming MySpace  3,893 Views (This article has 2 comments)
MySpace has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the once (and future?) King of Spam, Sanford Wallace. MySpace says that Wallace "implemented a phishing scheme to falsely gain access to MySpace user profiles.

If You Use RegisterFly You Need to Find a New Registrar - RegisterFly Loses Domain Registrar Accreditation  1,576 Views (This article has 1 comment)
RegisterFly has lost their accreditation to act as a domain registrar. What this means is that if you have registered domains through RegistrFly, you need to find a new domain registrar and transfer your domains to them. And ASAP, as RegisterFly has been ordered to cease registrar operations by March 31st!

Google M for Murder - Google Search Results Help Identify Alleged Murderess  8,237 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Melanie McGuire is currently on trial for the murder of her husband, William McGuire. And while many people now know that your Google and other search engine searches can be discovered, apparently back in 2004, Melanie McGuire did not. For among the searches that the prosecution has found on her computers - searches which she conducted on the days leading up to the murder - were searches for "instant poisons", "undetectable poisons", and "fatal digoxin doses." And while those alone don't necessarily prove intent, another search, "how to commit murder" is pretty unambiguous.

eBay Buyer Can’t Sue Out-of-State Seller in Home State, Says Court  6,643 Views (This article has 4 comments)
In what is believed to be a first of its kind lawsuit, a court has held that a person who buys something through eBay from an out-of-state seller cannot sue the seller in the buyer's home state.

Lawsuit Filed Against Winfixer (a/k/a ErrorSafe, WinAntiSpyware, WinAntiVirus, SystemDoctor and DriveCleaner)  13,320 Views (This article has 51 comments)
Are you one of the countless people whose Windows PC has been affected by Winfixer, ErrorSafe, WinAntiSpyware, WinAntiVirus, SystemDoctor, or DriveCleaner? A class-action lawsuit has just been filed by attorney Joseph M. Bochner against the makers of Winfixer (which is the same as ErrorSafe, WinAntiSpyware, WinAntiVirus, SystemDoctor and DriveCleaner), and you may want to get on board!

Towards a Nanny Internet  3,142 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Network neutrality, laws requiring dating sites to perform background checks and ISPs to rat out their users, laws banning anonymous posting, and cyber bullying legislation. Is it all part of a move towards a nanny Internet?

RIAA Threatens Colleges and College Students: Pay Us Now or We’ll See You in Court  2,469 Views (This article has 2 comments)
The RIAA has sent 400 letters to 13 colleges and universities demanding that they put the squeeze on as many as 400 students for downloading music for free. The "pre-lawsuit" college letters from the RIAA tell the students that they may settle with the RIAA "at a discounted rate" or face a lawsuit.

Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller Sues to Find Out Who Said Mean Things About Him on Wikipedia  2,759 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller has filed a lawsuit to learn the identity of someone who said mean things about him on the wildly popular Internet collaborative resource site Wikipedia. The entry, which claimed Zoeller abused both alcohol and drugs, and his wife, was removed from Wikipedia, so why is Zoeller still suing?

Man’s Laptop Confiscated by Police Because He Used Free Wifi Outside Public Library  4,736 Views (This article has 9 comments)
Brian Tanner was parked outside his local public library in Palmer, Alaska, using their free wifi, when police confiscated his laptop. It's true that he was using it to check in on his Internet-based game, Conquer Club (similar to Risk) - but it's also true that Brian Tanner, who is 21, is a moderator for the Conquer Club portal, and so it's not a case of some teenager with an Internet game addiction.

Police to Check Cell Phone Records of Drivers in Accidents for Timing of Calls and Messages  6,817 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Police are going to start checking the cell phone records of drivers who are involved in accidents. It's already happening in the U.K., and is being discussed in the U.S. in the context of both hearings on the proposed "Hang Up and Drive" Federal law, and by advocacy groups who advocate that cell phone records should be checked after a crash to see whether cell phone use may have contributed to the crash, just as we now check for alcohol.

Man Fired for Visiting Internet Sex Sites While at Work Sues, Claims Sex Addiction is Disability that Makes Him Unfireable Under ADA  7,055 Views (This article has 5 comments)
A New York man who was fired from IBM for visiting sex-related sites on the Internet while at work has sued IBM, claiming that he has a sex addiction, and that his addiction entitles him to protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). James Pacenza, of Montgomery, New York, in a $5 million lawsuit against IBM, alleges that IBM improperly fired him, claiming that the firing was improper because his actions were the result of a sex addiction triggered, he says, by post-traumatic stress syndrome. 58-year old James Pacenza is a Vietnam war veteran, who says that seeing his fellow soldiers killed in action lead to a stress which in turn lead to his sex addiction.

Lawsuit Against MySpace Dismissed! Lawsuit by 14 Year Old Alleging Sexual Assault Against Pete Solis and MySpace Dead in the Water  4,648 Views (This article has 5 comments)
The lawsuit against MySpace and MySpace user Pete Solis by a 14 year old girl has been dismissed by a Federal judge. The lawsuit, brought by the girl's family, and followed by copycat lawsuits against MySpace by three other families, alleged that Pete Solis lied about his age in order to gain the girl's confidence, and that Pete Solis than sexually assaulted the girl. Of course, the lawsuit failed to mention that the girl also lied about her age, or her profile would not have been publicly visible.

Proposed Law Would Require ISPs to Forward All Pornographic Images of Children - Including Drawings - to Central Agency  3,233 Views (This article has 4 comments)
A new law, called the the "Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act", or SAFE Act, proposed by Senator McCain and Senator Schumer, would require any ISP to report and forward to a central agency any image which came through or was hosted on their system which meets the Federal definition of child pornography. This includes drawings and cartoons of children, if they could be considered inappropriate, even if the children don't actually exist in real life, and ISPs that fail to report such images would themselves be subject to stiff penalties.

The Beatles iPod - Release of the Anticipated Yellow Submarine iPod Rumoured for Valentine’s Day  3,830 Views (comments)
The much-rumoured and long hoped-for Beatles iPod, in the form of a Yellow Submarine iPod - a yellow iPod with the entire Beatles catalog loaded on it - came one step closer to reality with Apple Records (properly known as Apple Corps LTD) and Apple Computer burying the hatchet and bringing to a close their long-standing feud over the Apple trademark.

Bone-Headed Idea of the Year: Make Sex Offenders Register Their Email Addresses and Chat Names  2,658 Views (This article has 2 comments)
The British government is considering making registered sex offenders register their email addresses and chat names - including names that they use in chatrooms along with their other details. Good idea. Let's have them register what sort of clothing they wear, while we're at it.

ParisExposed.com Website Peddling Paris Hilton’s Personal Effects and Data Slammed by Court  4,081 Views (comments)
A website exposing and selling personal information and personal items belonging to Paris Hilton, owned by Bardia Persa, has been ordered by a Federal judge to cease and desist from selling the items pending a hearing. The items were purchased by Bardia Persa for $10 million from Nabil and Nabila Haniss, who in turn had purchased them for a little over two thousand dollars. I'm betting that they purchased the items at a storage locker auction; and storage locker auctions are perfectly legal.

Three Sentenced for Child Molestation Plot Hatched in Chat Room  2,866 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Some complained, some praised, when Yahoo closed their chat rooms to those under 18 in an effort to help protect children. Yahoo and other chat sites also routinely close down chat rooms which have 'themes' which are related to illegal activities, such as child molestation. Now three men - David Beavan, Alan Hedgcock, and Robert Mayers - have been sentenced in the UK for plotting in a chat room to molest 13- and 14-year-old sisters.

MySpace Sued by Four Families for Failing to Protect Their Children from Predators  2,903 Views (This article has 7 comments)
Last June we reported that the family of a 14-year-old girl had filed a lawsuit against MySpace for failing to protect their daughter from Pete Solis, a 19 year old "predator". Now this girl's family, along with three others - and the same attorney - have filed cases against MySpace in Los Angeles, claiming in the lawsuit that MySpace had not done enough to protect their daughters from predators which they claim, MySpace knew were there.

Apple Sued Over iPhone Name - Lawsuit by Cisco Against Apple Cell Phone No Surprise  2,609 Views (This article has 3 comments)
It should come as no surprise at all - at least to any regular readers of the Internet Patrol - that Cisco has filed a lawsuit against Apple over the iPhone (the Apple cell phone) trademark. As we told you earlier, Cisco aquired the Linksys iPhone, along with the trademark, when Cisco aquired Linksys several years ago. Was Apple relying on an expectation of neighborly cooperation from fellow Silicon Valley giant Cisco when they knowingly chose to use Cisco's trademark for their own iPhone, announced this week? Or did they perhaps expect their now famous use of the letter "i" to help them carry the day on this one?

Apple Announces its iPhone - Someday  2,236 Views (This article has 1 comment)
As expected, Apple announced their iPhone - combination Apple cell phone and iPod - this week at Macworld. What wasn't expected was that they announced a product which won't be available for at least six months, and which may not even exist yet other than as a handful of iPhone proto-types. Here's what we think is going on.

419 Nigerian Scammer Arrested with $4.5 Million  5,295 Views (This article has 14 comments)
We keep telling you that Nigerian 419 and British Lottery scams work because people actually send these scammers money. In case you didn't believe us, police in Holland have arrested a Nigerian man over the holidays who is being charged with being involved with a 419 scam, and he had cash amounting to $4,599,577 in his pocket!

The iPhone Already Exists - and It Belongs to Cisco and Linksys, Not the Apple Cell Phone!  2,827 Views (This article has 4 comments)
The long-awaited announcement by Apple of an iPhone - an Apple cell phone - is believed by many to be due in just a few short weeks. However news that Linksys, now a division of Cisco, has owned the iPhone brand for years has the market abuzz and agog. Does this mean a legal battle brewing between giants Cisco and Apple? Regardless, emotions run surprisingly high over such a seemingly small thing as a name and even the letter "i".

BlackBerry Sues BlackJack  3,341 Views (This article has 3 comments)
RIM, the makers of the Blackberry phone, have sued Samsung, the makers of the Blackjack phone. How ironic.

Online Maps and Directions Blamed for Man’s Death in Snowy Oregon  2,705 Views (This article has 6 comments)
James Kim, his wife Katie, and his two daughters, found themselves snowbound and stranded on Bear Camp Road, between Grants Pass and Gold Beach, Oregon. But were they mislead by an online mapping service such as Google Maps?

Websites that Dis Barney Safe from Barney’s Lawyers, Says Settlement in Stuart Frankel versus Barney  1,816 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A settlement announced this week will protect websites that poke fun at or even talk badly about the purple dinosaur that everybody loves to hate, Barney. The settlement came in the lawsuit filed by Stuart Frankel against Barney's law firm, Gibney, Anthony and Flaherty.

California Supreme Court Rules that Free Speech Trumps Libel When Individuals Quote Defamatory Statements on Internet  2,039 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Free speech consideration protects alledged slander and libelous quotes which are posted to the Internet by third parties - including individuals and websites - said the California Supreme Court this week in its ruling in the case of Barrett v. Rosenthal. The case centered around an email sent to Ilena Rosethal, director of the Humantics Foundation, in which Tim Bolen gets particularly nasty about two doctors - Dr. Terry Polevoy and Dr. Stephen Barret.

Hormel Loses Law Case Over the Word “Spam”  3,708 Views (This article has 4 comments)
In a move which may have surprised nobody more than it surprised canned meat company Hormel, Hormel lost their legal effort to regain control over their trademark "SPAM".

Has Scott Richter Really Stopped Spamming? $27.4million Lawsuit by Infinite Monkeys.com Says “No!”  3,531 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Ronald Guilmette and his company, Infinite Monkeys.com, have filed a $27.4 million lawsuit against spam king Scott Richter and his OptInRealBig.com. Richter claims he is no longer a spammer, Ronald Guilmette says it ain't so. Also named in the lawsuit are four of Richter's customers, including Florida-based National Associate Credit Services, Inc..

Should Websites Have to Be Accessible to the Blind? Lawsuit Against Target Says Yes  1,860 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Target has been sued for failing to make their website accessible to the blind. But should they have to?

Starbucks Sued for Retracting Email Offer for Free Drink! 114 Million Lawsuit Over Free Coffee  2,559 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Starbucks has been sued for retracting and failing to honor an email coupon which was distributed to people who never should have had it in the first place.

New York Times Bars British Internet Surfers from Online Article About British Terror Investigation  12,388 Views (This article has 4 comments)
The New York Times this week barred web surfers coming in through UK-based IP addresses from reading an article about the terror investigation which is currently ongoing in Britain. "Details Emerge in British Terror Case" read the Times headline, but surfers in the UK could get no further.

Man Charged with Theft of Services for Using Free Wifi at Coffee Shop Pleads Guilty to Trespass  2,250 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Remember when we told you about Alexander Erik Smith, the man charged with theft of services for repeatedly using the free wifi offered by the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop in Orchard, Washington? Well, Alexander Erik Smith has pleaded guilty to trespass in the case.

The Power of the Internet and One Paperclip - Kyle MacDonald Trades His One Red Paper Clip for a House (and a Part in “Donna on Demand”)  2,466 Views (comments)
Some of you may recall Kyle MacDonald and his quest to trade one red paper clip for a house. Well guess what. Kyle MacDonald has done it! In fact, in not quite a year, Kyle MacDonald has managed to parlay one red paperclip, through a series of trades including a part in the movie "Donna on Demand", into a real house.

14 Year Old Girl and Mom Sue MySpace for $30million for Date Gone Wrong  8,615 Views (This article has 12 comments)
A Texas girl and her mother, who claim that the girl was misled by Pete Solis, a 19 year old on MySpace who claimed to be a high school senior, are suing MySpace for $30million.

Man Charged with Theft of Services for Using Free Wifi at Coffee Shop in for a Brewed Awakening  7,977 Views (This article has 34 comments)
Alex Eric Smith parked his truck outside the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop regularly for months, using Brewed Awakenings' free wifi without buying anything. Now he has been charged with theft of services.

Motion Picture Association (MPAA) Accused of Hacking - Hires exTorrentSpy Employee Robert Anderson to Break Into TorrentSpy Servers  3,586 Views (comments)
TorrentSpy, run by Valence Media, has accused the MPAA of hacking into their computers by hiring an ex-employee, Robert Anderson, to hack into their servers. Not uncoincidentally, TorrentSpy was on the receiving end of a lawsuit by the MPAA just a few months previous.

Spammer Fined Millions, Decides to Become Anti-Spam Consultant Instead - Ryan Pitylak Goes Straight?  1,956 Views (comments)
If you have ever received mortgage spam, you've probably been spammed by Ryan Pitylak. Now following lawsuits against him by Microsoft and the Texas AG, Pitylak says he's going straight and doing anti-spam consulting.

MySpace Sues TheGlobe.com  2,715 Views (comments)
Social networking giant MySpace.com has filed a lawsuit against once-rival TheGlobe.com for sending spam to MySpace users.

Public Website Has No Right Against Those Who Accessed the Website in Express Violation of the Website’s Terms  1,089 Views (comments)
In the case of Snow v. DirecTV, a Federal court has ruled that a public website has no right against people who access the website despite the website having expressly excluded them from accessing the site.

Gary McKinnon, the NASA Hacker Known as Solo, to be Extradited  2,471 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Gary McKinnon, the hacker known as "Solo", who infamously hacked into NASA and Pentagon computers, and who claimed that once there he found dozens of other hackers, and proof of aliens, has lost his fight against extradition to the United States for prosecution.

Internet Gambling is Illegal in the US - and Has Doubled in the Past Year  5,615 Views (comments)
A recent study has shown that Internet gambling in the United States has doubled in the past year, and that many people who take part in Internet gambling have no idea that what they are doing is illegal.

Google Sued for Purveying, Profiting from, Child Pornography  5,799 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Google has been sued by New York politician Jeffrey Toback, who claims that Google intentionally provides and promotes - indeed that Google's business plan includes - child pornography.

Three New Competing Net Neutrality Bills Introduced in DC by Markey, Eshoo, Stevens and Wyden  1,826 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Dueling Net Neutrality bills have been introduced in Washington DC this week, one by Democratic House representatives Markey, Eshoo, Inslee and Boucher, the other by Republican Senator Ted Stevens and Democrat Senator Daniel Inouye. Oh yes, and another one by Senator Wyden.

Spam King Alan Ralsky in Custody, Spam Network in Jeopardy  1,562 Views (comments)
Word on the street has it that Alan Ralsky, the so-called Spam King, has been taken into custody by the Department of Justice (DOJ), where they are attempting to put the squeeze on him to have him give up all his spammer cronies and their spamming networks.

Blog Postings Cost Lawyer His Job When Read by Judge  3,388 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Lawyer Jay Kuo had at least some not so insignificant others reading his LiveJournal.com blog that he wasn't counting on - including the judge in the criminal trial he was prosecuting. Now Kuo, producer of the upcoming musical, "Insignificant Others", is not only out of court, but out of a job.

Net Neutrality Clause Shot Down by Feds  1,627 Views (comments)
Efforts to legislate net neutrality were shot down today, with the House Commerce Committee rejecting a rider clause to the pending "Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Efficiency (COPE) Act of 2006", and voting 42-12 to pass the COPE act absent the net neutrality clause.

Chinese Writer Arrested for Posts to the Internet  1,385 Views (comments)
Chinese writer Yang Tianshu was arraigned this week for posts which he made to the Internet. Yang Tianshu was just released in January 2005 following a Christmas Eve, 2004 detention for similar writings.

An Open Letter to ISPs re: Net Neutrality  1,634 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Net neutrality is a hot topic right now. Here's what one Internet business owner and customer has to say about it.

California, Feds Slam Spammer Who Used Affiliates  3,016 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Spammers Optin Global, Vision Media Limited, Qing Kuang “Rick� Yang, and Peonie Pui Ting Chen have been held accountable for affiliate spam sent on their behalf.

Verizon Wireless Agrees to Compensate Customers for Lost Email to Settle Verizon Lawsuit  3,330 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Resolution in the Verizon lawsuit! Verizon Wireless has reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit which pitted Verizon Wireless customers against Verizon Wireless and its policy of blocking all incoming email from outside of the United States.

Thieves Use Bluetooth Phones to Find, Steal Laptops  3,631 Views (comments)
Applying new technology to an old profession - thievery - high-tech thiefs are now using regular old bluetooth-enabled phones to locate laptops to steal.

University of Memphis Law School Students Protest Banning of Laptops  2,029 Views (comments)
Law students in Professor June Entman's class at the University of Memphis Law School are protesting Entman's banning of laptops in the classroom.

States Consider Requiring Background Checks for Online Dating Sites  4,048 Views (This article has 5 comments)
With the murder of Josie Phyllis Brown by MySpace date John Christopher Gaumer, and Lori Leonard by Internet date Shawn Doyle, laws requiring that online dating sites perform criminal background checks are starting to crop up around the country.

Computer Technician Busts Child Porn Enthusiast, and His Employer Gets Blasted for it!  11,438 Views (This article has 50 comments)
So this guy walks into the Quidnunc computer repair shop in Seattle, and says "my computer doesn't work - I can' t open certain image files; can you fix it?" The Quidnunc technician fixes it, and low and behold, he finds that those image files contain dozens of pictures of kiddie porn.

Blackberry Customers Lose Service Despite RIM and NTP Settlement  1,833 Views (comments)
After the massive patent infringement lawsuit by NTP against Blackberry's RIM, after months with millions of Blackberry users worried that they would forever lose their beloved Blackberry service, and pondering life without their Blackberries, and whether there was a Blackberry alternative, and after the 11th hour settlement between Blackberry and NTP to ensure that Blackberry users wouldn't lose their service, guess what?

New Jersey Law Would Ban Anonymous Forum Posting  53,514 Views (This article has 3 comments)
New Jersey Assemblyman Peter Biondi has introduced legislation that would essentially ban anonymous forum posting, and which would hold forum hosts liable for defamatory statements and injury made on their forums!

“Net Neutrality” Explained  2,909 Views (This article has 7 comments)
What is "net neutrality"? We've been getting a lot of questions asking us to explain what this new term, "net neutrality" means. So we will. It all started with the introduction of the "Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006".

Blackberry Lawsuit Settled  2,642 Views (comments)
At last, Research in Motion seems to have seen the light, and has gone back to the bargaining table, and settled the multi-million dollar lawsuit against them. But you'd still be better off with a Sidekick, in my opinion.

Downloading Porn Is the Same as Making Porn, Says Court  7,475 Views (This article has 8 comments)
Downloading pornography can now get you charged with crime of creating pornography! Meaning that if you download it you are subject to the same laws and penalties as if you had made the pornography yourself, camera in hand.

T-Mobile Sues LocateCell.com for Selling Your Cell Phone Records  4,044 Views (comments)
T-Mobile has sued cell phone records broker LocateCell.com because your - yes, your - cell phone records are more likely than not being made available for sale, without anyone's permission.

“It’s Immoral, but the Money Makes it Right,” says Apprehended Botnet Operator Jeanson Ancheta  2,571 Views (This article has 3 comments)
"Bot Herder" Jeanson James Ancheta, the BotNet operator taken down by the Feds, told colleagues of operating the botnet of more than 400,000 infected PCs, "It's immoral, but the money makes it right."

Supreme Court Declines RIM Job in Blackberry’s Research in Motion v NTP Case  2,639 Views (comments)
Blackberry maker Research in Motion, also known as RIM, has suffered another blow in the patent infringement lawsuit brought by patent-holder NTP. As the walls close in on RIM, an injunction may be imminent.

Feds Demand Your Search Records from Google in Lawsuit Where Your Privacy Gives Way to Witch Hunt for Child Porn Searchers  2,323 Views (This article has 3 comments)
The Feds want your search records from Google, in a lawsuit designed to prove how much searching there is being done for child pornography. Should you be worried? You bet you should. And guess what. AOL, MSN and Yahoo have already given those records up.

Utah Cites First Child Email Address Registry Offender - Too Bad He’s in the Wrong Country  1,880 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The state of Utah has issued their first citation under their recently-enacted Child Protection Email Address Registry and related laws. Too bad they slept through class the day they taught Federal and international jurisdiction.

Upskirting Photographer Photographed Upskirting  16,188 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Daniel Thurman was been caught in the act of upskirting, and now you can see the picture! Moral of this story? If you're going to up skirt (and please don't upskirt, but if you are going to up skirt), don't upskirt where there are security cameras!

Annoying People Anonymously Over the Internet Now a Federal Crime  2,272 Views (comments)
Effective January 2006, it is now a Federal crime to attempt to annoy someone anonymously over the Internet. In fact, it's a Federal crime to post to the Internet any obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent, with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person.

High School Student Michael Stone Arrested for Encouraging People to Hit F5  2,719 Views (This article has 7 comments)
Michael Stone, a senior at Lake High School in Ohio, has been arrested for causing his high school's computer to slow down. You see, Michael Stone encouraged people to press F5, and refresh their computer screens.

RIAA Martyr Patricia Santangelo - RIAA Takes Internet Illitereate Mom to Mat  1,921 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Patricia Santangelo may become the first victim of the RIAA to achieve martyr status. Unwilling to admit to something that she did not due, Patricia Santangelo is standing up to the RIAA and defending herself - literally - in court.

Microsoft and Google Settle Kai-Fu Lee Case  1,519 Views (comments)
Microsoft and Google have settled the lawsuit which resulted from Google's poaching of top executive Kai-Fu Lee. Is this the end of it?

Download Bomb Making Instructions, Go to Jail  3,862 Views (This article has 2 comments)
A suspected Al Qaeda terrorist has been convicted for downloading bomb-making instructions. Is that reason enough?

Sober Worm Convinces Pedophile to Turn Self In!  2,428 Views (This article has 3 comments)
The Sober worm, and its fake email from the FBI, has accidentally caused a German pedophile to turn himself in!

The RIM Blackberry v. NTP Lawsuit Explained: You’re Not Likely to Lose Blackberry Service  3,144 Views (This article has 2 comments)
The RIM Blackberry law suit with NTP has been in the news a lot lately. But what does this lawsuit really mean for users of the RIM Blackberry?

Match.com Responds to Match.com Lawsuit  10,245 Views (This article has 20 comments)
As reported here last week, online dating giant Match.com was served with a lawsuit claiming that they engaged in fraudulent and deceptive business practices, and specifically alleging that they used paid shills to go out on dates with their customers, and to write ...

State of Texas Sues Sony BMG Over Music CD Rootkits  1,955 Views (This article has 3 comments)
The State of Texas has become the second plaintiff to file a lawsuit against Sony BMG, using the Texas anti-spyware law.

Lawsuit Filed Over Utah’s Child Protection Email Address Registry  2,431 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Free Speech Coalition sues Utah over Child Protection Email Address Registry

Online Personal Dating Services Use Fake Ads and Date Bait, Claims Match.com Lawsuit and Yahoo Personals Lawsuit  24,850 Views (This article has 130 comments)
Online personal dating services pad their ad inventory with fake ads, and use employees as "date bait", contends both a Match.com law suit and a Yahoo Personals law suit.

U.S. to Retain Control of the Internet, Says UN Agreement  1,179 Views (comments)
After months of hand-wringing, the international community, in the form of the United Nations, has backed off and left control of the master DNS files with ICANN and the United States.

Sony BMG Pulls Rootkit - Sony BMG Statement on Pulling Rootkit  1,575 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Sony BMG has announced that it is temporarily stopping the use of the rootkit technology which has gotten them so much bad press and into so much hot water.

Lawsuit Filed Against Sony BMG Over Sony Rootkit  1,538 Views (This article has 2 comments)
A lawsuit has been filed against Sony BMG over the recent discovery that Sony has been including a rootkit on their music CDs.

Skype Uses Your Computer to Route Other Peoples’ Skype Calls  4,989 Views (This article has 5 comments)
Skype uses your computer's resources to handle Skype traffic which has absolutely nothing to do with you, and it's all completely legal because you agreed to it.

Law Would Make it Illegal to Have Unsecured Wifi - Enforced Wireless Network Security  2,496 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A law being proposed in New York would mandate wireless network security by making it illegal to maintain an unsecured wireless network.

Microsoft Tracks Zombies to the Source, Sues Zombie Seeders and Spammers  2,067 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Microsoft's legal team has successfully tracked a zombie network to its seeders and spam sources, and is now suing them to the wall.

Yahoo Chat Rooms: You Must Be Over 18 Now  20,158 Views (This article has 246 comments)
Yahoo chat rooms have been closed off to anyone under the age of eighteen, following an agreement between Yahoo and NY's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer. "We need to be vigilant to protect our children," says Spitzer

People Doing Stupid Things: Spammer Makes Death Threat to Investigator  3,776 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Talk about people doing stupid things! How stupid do you have to be to make a death threat against an officer who is investigating you? Spammer stupid!

California Offers Identity Theft Protection With a New Anti-Phishing Law, with Private Right of Action!  5,390 Views (This article has 11 comments)
Identity theft protection in the form of a new phishing law has come to California. It not only outlaws phishing, but gives individuals who were scammed by phishers the right to sue.

Google Sued by Authors Guild for Copyright Infringement in Scanning Books Online  1,635 Views (comments)
Google has been sued for copyright infringement over the book scanning under their Library Program. The class action lawsuit was filed by the Authors Guild, and authors Herbert Mitgang, Betty Miles, and Daniel Hoffman.

Microsoft Sues Eight Companies for Software Piracy  2,775 Views (This article has 4 comments)
BWT Industry Technology Service d/b/a Computer Max, Data Day USA, Winvtech Solutions a/k/a Winvision Computers and Winvision Technology,Global Computing, Ion Technologies, Compustar, and Chips & Techs have all been sued today by Microsoft for software piracy. Says Microsoft, "Consumer input is key to understanding sources of illegal activity."

Google’s Scanning Books Online - Copyright Infringement?  2,039 Views (comments)
Google is in the process of scanning books from libraries around the world and putting them online. But is it copyright infringement? Should Google be allowed to scan books and put them online even when the books are not in the public domain, and are subject to copyright protection? Some say yes, others say no.

IP Address Typo Leads to Couple Being Accused of Child Porn  2,673 Views (This article has 4 comments)
A typo (typographical error) in an IP address led to Brian and Sarah Doom being wrongl accused of child pornography. "Oops," said Cox, the fumble-fingered ISP. "See you in court,", said Brian and Sarah Doom.

Microsoft Issues Lawsuit Challenge to Google: Settle  1,520 Views (comments)
Microsoft to Google: "We can settle this lawsuit tomorrow if Google will agree to take today's preliminary injunction, keep every word without a single change, and enter it as a permanent injunction..."

Paris Hilton’s Teen DFNCTS Hacker Pleads Guilty - Member of Defonic Crew Team Screen Name Club  3,678 Views (This article has 5 comments)
The Defonic Crew, also known as the Defonic Team Screen Name Club, or just DFNCTSC for short, is the hacking group to which the young hacker who hacked Paris Hilton's Sidekick belonged. Now the youngest member of Defonic Crew has pleaded guilty to the hacking.

Kai-Fu Lee Can Work at Google, Says Judge  1,735 Views (comments)
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, the former Microsoft executive who left MSFT to join Google, and over which Microsoft sued Google, may start his job at Google pending the outcome of the trial, the Court says

Microsoft Code Thief William Genovese Jr Meant No IllWill  1,736 Views (This article has 1 comment)
William Genovese Jr. goes by the code name "illwill" or "xillwillx", and admits to trying to sell stolen Microsoft Windows source code. But he wants you to know that he meant no illwill.

Early Movie DVD Releases Contemplated While MPA Gets Warrant for All of New Delhi  3,074 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Movies may be available simultaneously in the theaters and on DVD as studios contemplate earlier release dates for DVDs in an effort to get the jump on movie pirating. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Motion Picture Association has gotten an open search warrant for the entire city of New Delhi, India.

Spyware Users and Author of Jealous Lover “Lover Spy” Spyware Program Indicted  2,604 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Jealous Lover Spyware "Lover Spy" users are arrested along with Lover Spy's author, and charged with all sorts of nasty crimes. If you're thinking of using spyware to spy on an ex, don't.

Kutztown 13 Plea Bargain - High School Drops Felony Charges Against 13 Students for “Hacking”  1,799 Views (This article has 2 comments)
The Kutztown 13 are a group of 13 high school students who repeatedly end-ran security and other limiting and monitoring software installed on their school-issued laptops, installed their own software, and generally showed a blatant disregard for the school's efforts to limit their access to the Internet, software downloads, and each other from their school laptops. The school filed felony computer trespass and theft charges against the Kutztown 13, and cries of outrage and indignation arose across the country in support of the Kutztown 13.

Zotob Botzor.exe and Mytob Worm Authors Arrested, Identified as Farid Essebar and Atilla Ekici  1,896 Views (comments)
The Zobot Botzor.exe (a/k/a worm-rbot.cbq, rbot.cbq, and rbot.ebq) and Mytob worm authors are believed to have been arrested in Turkey and Morroco. Authorities in both countries, in cooperation with the FBI and Microsoft, arrested Farid Essebar and Atilla Ekici, using online nicknames Diab10 and Coder, who are believed to have authored the worms.

AOL Mailing List Thief Jason Smathers Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison  1,892 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Jason Smathers, who pleaded guilty to stealing a list of 92 million email addresses from America Online (AOL), has been sentenced to one year and three months in prison. According to reports, Judge Alvin Hellerstein gave Smathers a sentence on the lenient ...

Librarian to be Fired After Offender Uses Library Computers to Access Illegal Sites  2,179 Views (This article has 11 comments)
Florida librarian Sue Martin has been suspended, and the Valparaiso City Commissioner is recommending that she be fired, after Michael Bushee, a registered offender, used the Valparaiso library's computers to access illegal online child-themed content. Authorities claim that three male minors also ...

Federal Copyright Office to Require Internet Explorer to Access Online PreRegistration Service  1,792 Views (This article has 1 comment)
People seeking to take advantage of the Federal Copyright Office's recent rules allowing an online preregistration of copyright may find that they can only preregister their copyright if they use Internet Explorer.

Search Marketing Company 180 Solutions Sues Affiliates Over Botnet Installation of 180solutions Software on Users’ Computers  1,714 Views (comments)
Search marketing company 180 Solutions has filed a lawsuit against several of its own affiliates, after it discovered that those affiliates were using botnets to install the 180solutions solution on unsuspecting users' computers, without their permission. 180 Solutions explains that they "provide search assistant ...

King of Spam Scott Richter Steps Down from Throne and Pays Microsoft $7million  1,665 Views (This article has 1 comment)
King of Spam (make that former King of Spam) Scott Richter has closed a chapter in his book of spam kingness, and has settled a lawsuit with Microsoft for a cool $7million. Which of course leads one to wonder just how much ...

In Stunning Victory, Court Notes Law Lets You Block Spam  1,432 Views (comments)
In a stunning victory (please note irony in use of the word "stunning"), a Federal court has slapped down the appeal of high volume email deployer White Buffalo Ventures, an online dating service also doing business as LongHornSingles.com. The reason for the ...

Israel Gets Tough New Spam Law  1,908 Views (comments)
The Knesset, Israel's parliament, has just passed a tough new law aimed at spam, unsolicited text messages, and junk faxes. The new law requires a recipient's opt-in, meaning that a commercial message must be solicited - the recipient must have agreed to ...

Major Piracy, Phishing Arrests Around the World  2,009 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Argentine authorites have arrested fifteen people in a multinational phishing scam, and, separately, the U.S. FBI has arrested 8 people in a global online piracy investigation, spokespersons for the agencies have said. In the phishing scam, which was truly international, police arrested suspects from ...

FTC Survey Tests Top E-Tailers’ Compliance with Can-spam’s Opt-Out Provisions  1,222 Views (comments)
In a survey to test whether top e-tailers are allowing consumers to opt out of receiving promotional or marketing messages, the FTC has determined that 89 percent of the online merchants it tested are honoring requests to halt future mailings. The CAN-SPAM Act, which ...

Adult-Themed Website Perfect 10 Sues Google, Amazon Over Search Results  2,335 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Perfect 10, an online and offline publisher of adult content, has filed a lawsuit against Google and Amazon, claiming that by turning up images of Perfect 10's... um... "models"... in searches for, oh, who knows, maybe "nekkid women", Google and Amazon's A9 are ...

Court Stops ex-Microsoft Kai-Fu Lee from Starting Job at Google  1,648 Views (comments)
In an at least temporary victory for Redmond giant Microsoft, in a lawsuit which defending Mountain View giant Google is calling "a charade", a Washington state trial court has ordered ex Microsoft employee Kai-Fu Lee to refrain from starting his new job at ...

Law Suit Over Hot Coffee - Legal Storm Brewing for GTA:SA  3,463 Views (This article has 8 comments)
A New York woman has filed a lawsuit over Hot Coffee. No, she didn't scald her lap, and no, the defendant is not McDonalds. Rather, 85-year-old Florence Cohen is suing the publishers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas over the so-called "Hot Coffee" mod which opens up previously-hidden scenes from the game. Very explicit scenes.

Hackers, Government Unite to Take Down Terrorist Websites  3,458 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Hacking and politics have contrived to make strange bedfellows. According to a report by the British news organization, The Sun, hackers have come forward and started to take down web sites which are fomenting terrorism, and inciting terrorist acts - something ...

With No 1st Amendment, Britain to Shut Down Websites Which Incite Terrorism  1,351 Views (This article has 2 comments)
It is not something which could be done in the United States, what with the First Amendment and all; and whether that is for the better or not is a debate to be had elsewhere. But the British government has announced plans ...

National Online Porn Filters Installed and Porn Tax Considered  3,376 Views (comments)
Governments around the world are using various methods to crack down on Internet porn in general, and that involving children in particular, and the United States is considering the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005 (more about that in a minute). The ...

Enormous Global 419 Nigerian Scam Bust  3,790 Views (comments)
In what is being hailed as one of the largest spam&scam busts of the decade, and the biggest 419 bust in history, the FBI and Spanish police have collaborated to arrest three hundred and ten (that's right, 310) people in Spain, all of ...

National Online Sex Offender Registry Opens for Business  3,050 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened their online National Sex Offender Public Registry for business. The controversial registry collates information from all of the online state registries, allowing for people to search all of the online databases at once to determine ...

Spam Blacklist Owner Not Responsible for Damages to Email Sender, Judge Rules  1,650 Views (comments)
In a victory for the little guy, Joe Jared of Osirusoft, a DNSBL (DNS Block List, although many call them blacklists - not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you), has been exhonerated by a California court when the judge ruled that ...

Mariam Abacha Convicted! Nigerian 419 Scam Fraudstress Jailed  3,892 Views (This article has 5 comments)
We've all seen variations on the theme. "I am Mariam Abacha, widow of the late Nigerian head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha. After the death of my husband who died mysteriously..." They always end with a plea for you to help them ...

Utah Opens Child Email Address Registry for Business, All Commercial Mailers Must Comply by August 15th  2,383 Views (This article has 1 comment)
From Aunty's friends over at the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy: The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) is warning that all commercial email senders are now required to either comply with the child protection email address registries and registry ...

Fly the Unfriendly Skies - Feds Want Broad In-Flight Internet-Tapping Anti-Terror Access for Fly-Fi  2,037 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Ever since the FCC approved wireless Internet access on U.S. flights, the promise of fly-fi on domestic flights has titillated U.S. passengers. Up until then, fly-fi had eluded domestic U.S. flights, although fly-fi has been available on European and Asian flights for ...

Real Estate Agent Sued for Offering Online Mapping of Properties  1,268 Views (comments)
Wow, this is a heads-up for all of you real estate agents out there. Apparently REAL believes that they have a lock on any use of online maps in connection with a real estate business: Federal Lawsuit Alleges Agent Violates 1991 U.S. Patent ...

Crime Pays! Microsoft to Reward Sasser Informants  1,525 Views (comments)
It turns out that crime does pay, after all. Informants, that is. Microsoft has announced that they will pay out a promised $250,000 USD reward to two informants who helped lead authorities to Sasser creator Sven Jaschan. The teenaged Jaschan was tried ...

Google Wins Rights to Typos  3,167 Views (comments)
This just in: Google wins rights to typos. Seriously. According to their recent press release, the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) has issued a ruling giving to Google the rights to the Internet domain names "googkle.com", "ghoogle.com", "gfoogle.com" and "gooigle.com". Google had filed a complaint ...

Sasser Suspect Scores Suspended Sentence  1,673 Views (comments)
Sven Jaschan, the German teenager who created the Sasser worm, has now been convicted of creating Sasser, and has received a suspended sentence for his deeds, along with an order to perform community service. The twenty-one month suspended sentence is due in large part ...

Use Open WiFi - Go to Jail  5,468 Views (This article has 17 comments)
Florida, the state known for not being able to keep pants on their spammers, has become what is believed to be the first state in the nation to prosecute someone for using someone else's open wifi. Mind you, there is no evidence that Benjamin ...

Sasser Suspect Sven Speaks (and Confesses)  1,613 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Sven Jaschan looks like, and by most accounts is, a typical teenager. That is, except for that small matter of bringing hundreds of thousands of computer systems around the world to a screeching halt - or at least a snail's paced crawl ...

Interesting Report on the Evolution of Cybercrime (News Release)  1,840 Views (comments)
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- McAfee, Inc., the leader in Intrusion Prevention and Security Risk Management solutions, today announced the results and availability of the McAfee(R) Virtual Criminology Report, which examines how a new class of criminals are using the Internet ...

Teleseminar to Answer Questions About New Child Protection Email Address Registry Laws  1,721 Views (comments)
The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) is offering a teleseminar to help email senders, and email marketers and email service providers in particular, understand what they need to do in order to comply with the new child protection email address ...

EarthLink Evidence Leads to Criminal Conviction in ‘Timeshare Spammer’ Case (News Release)  1,877 Views (comments)
Prosecution among the first under the federal CAN-SPAM Act ATLANTA, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthLink's investigation of Peter Moshou, aka the "Timeshare Spammer," has resulted in Moshou pleading guilty today to violating the CAN-SPAM Act on a federal charge brought by the ...

Internet’s Way-Back Machine will Save Advocate (News Release)  2,051 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Archive.org, the Internet's Way-Back Machine, will save Consumer Advocate from false charges of defamation. (PRWEB) July 1, 2005 -- An Internet service may save a consumer advocate from a lawsuit that claims more than $2 million in damages. Gloria Wolk of Laguna Hills, California, ...

U.S. Phisher Implicated in Global Phish Netting  1,595 Views (comments)
In case you had any doubts about the global nature - the complex world-wide intricacies - of phishing networks, doubt no more. Case in point: Douglas Harvard and Lee Elwood were both sentenced in England this week to several years in jail ...

Google Sued for Not Protecting Adsensers from Click Fraud  1,470 Views (comments)
You may recall that earlier this year Aunty lectured you about click fraud, and even mentioned that Google was suing an outfit over their alleged click fraud. In fact, last month Aunty showed you a news release from a company which tracks ...

How to Go from Spamming to Prison in 6 Short Months  2,217 Views (This article has 8 comments)
For all of you naysayers who insist that the Federal anti-spam law should be called the "YOU-CAN-SPAM" act instead of the CAN-SPAM act, and who say that it will never be a useful tool, Florida spammer Peter Moshou just might beg to differ. In ...

California Seeks to Ban Remote Internet Hunting of Live Game  2,273 Views (This article has 1 comment)
California Senator Debra Bowen, known for her tough stance against spam, is now taking a shot (no pun intended) at what she sees as another Internet scourge: real-time remote Internet hunting of live game. While some consider the Senator's stand on the remote ...

RIAA Continues Enforcement Of Rights With New Lawsuits Against 784 Illegal File Sharers  1,516 Views (comments)
The body of Grokster was barely cold in the grave, when this press release came across Aunty's desk: WASHINGTON – As part of its continued efforts to promote legal online services, educate fans about the right and wrong way to enjoy digital music, and ...

PopUps Ok, Says Court, WhenU Wins Landmark Internet Decision  1,605 Views (This article has 1 comment)
[Says Wells Fargo "We see today's decision as a set back for consumers' struggles to protect their desktop (sic) from deceptive, confusing and intrusive forms of advertising. This form of advertising can create confusion for impacted customers who visit financial sites and ...

Republican Specter and Democrat Leahy Unite in Proposing New Personal Data Privacy and Security Law  1,448 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Following this year's rash of personal data security breaches, starting with the ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis leaks, and culiminating with the CardSystems hack and exposure of the credit card information of more than 40million customers, Democratic Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy has teamed up with ...

The Grokster Decision Explained: P2P File Sharing is Not Illegal!  2,148 Views (This article has 10 comments)
The Internet world is abuzz with talk about today's Supreme Court decision in the Grokster case, as it was with the Napster case before it. "Studios Win Big in Grokster Case," reads one headline; "Hollywood Wins Internet Piracy Battle," says another. ...

Lawsuit Filed Against CardSystems Over Hack and Leak  1,833 Views (comments)
As Aunty reported last week, the personal data of 40 million consumers was compromised when CardSystems Solutions had their computer system hacked. CardSystems provides back-end processing for MasterCard and Visa transactions. Now a lawsuit has been filed in San Francisco against CardSystems, requesting ...

California “Identity Information Protection Act” Would Limit Use of RFID  1,910 Views (comments)
If California State Senator Joe Simitian gets his way, California will come to the fore of states passing laws which restrict the uses of the controversial RFID chips. South Dakota is presently considering a law which prohibits implanting an RFID chip ...

New July 1st Child Email Address Registry Laws a Big Surprise Affecting All Emailers  1,974 Views (This article has 1 comment)
From Aunty's friends over at the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy: NEW JULY 1st CHILD EMAIL ADDRESS REGISTRY LAWS A BIG SURPRISE AFFECTING ALL EMAILERS, WARNS INSTITUTE FOR SPAM AND INTERNET PUBLIC POLICY "Jail Time, Large Penalties, and Private Actions Facing All Commercial ...

Canadian Adult Entertainers Unwilling to Bare All to New U.S. Rules  2,834 Views (comments)
It seems that adult-themed websites in the United States aren't the only ones up in arms over the new U.S. "Age Records" rule for adult content websites, which became a reality this week. Not only are adult industry performers in Canada concerned about the ...

TrustSoft’s SpyKiller Scam Scans Canned with CAN-SPAM  2,313 Views (This article has 3 comments)
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it has received a restraining order against and frozen the assets of TrustSoft and their SpyKiller program, a program which, the FTC says, was nothing more than a scam. According to the FTC, users who visited the ...

Adult-Themed Websites and Surfers Take Double Hit  3,240 Views (comments)
Webmasters whose websites deal with adult content may soon have to start policing the ages of the models and performers who appear in content on their website, even if they did not generate or solicit the content - indeed even if the content ...

Ever Visit a Porn Site? Even Accidentally? Your Hard Drive Could Be Used as Evidence Against You!  18,436 Views (This article has 10 comments)
Have you ever visited a porn site, even accidentally? Sure, it really does happen by accident. Heck, it's happened to me!

FTC Recommends Not Requiring “ADV” In Subject Line of Unsolicitied Commercial Email  1,804 Views (comments)
One of the things with which the Federal Trade Commission was charged under CAN-SPAM was determining whether and how to implement the requirement of including "ADV" in the subject line of unsolicited email. Now this from the FTC: In a report to Congress required by ...

Feds Set Sights on ISP Records, Vote to Protect Libraries and Book Stores from Patriot Act  2,166 Views (This article has 6 comments)
The United States House of Representatives has voted to restrict the Patriot Act so that it cannot be used to pry into the library borrowing and book purchasing of U.S. citizens. You would think that this would be a no-brainer - ...

Microsoft Nails Five U.S. Software Pirating Companies (News Release)  2,942 Views (This article has 2 comments)
REDMOND, Wash. — June 15, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the filing of four lawsuits against companies in Virginia and California for alleged distribution of counterfeit and/or illicit software and software components. Allegedly illegal or questionable actions of four companies were brought to ...

ISP RoadRunner Must Give Up Identity of User Claimed to Slander Public Relations Society of America’s Bolton  2,771 Views (This article has 2 comments)
A New York judge has ruled that Internet service provider RoadRunner must reveal the identity of a customer who sent email to the Public Relations Society of America's board of directors, claiming that the Public Relations Society of America's executive director, Catherine A. ...

Ohio Parents Plan Lawsuit if Severe Cuts to Internet-based Public eSchools Remain  2,192 Views (comments)
Did you know that the State of Ohio had something called "eSchools", which are computer- or Internet-based public charter schools? Aunty didn't know, until this came across her eDesk: COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a comprehensive legislative study that says ...

Spam King Scott Richter’s Bankrupt Real Big Notice to Creditors  2,287 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Now here is a real irony: as Aunty reported here previously, Spam King Scott Richter has filed for bankruptcy. Now his company, OptInRealBig.com must notify all potential creditors (that's people to whom he owes money or whom believe that he owes them money) ...

Canadian Press Banned from Linking to Non-Canadian Sites Talking about Canadian Robert Pickton Murder Trial  1,527 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Robert Pickton. If his name means nothing to you, and you are not from Canada, that's no surprise. But if a Canadian court's press ban is successful, the name Robert Pickton won't mean much more to Canadian citizens either, despite the fact that he is the focus of a sensational murder trial in Vancouver right now.

Gamer Killed Over Virtual Legend of Mir 3 Sword  7,759 Views (This article has 11 comments)
While it may be that addiction is not a problem for Internet gamers, apparently taking their games too seriously is. Not just a problem - but potentially fatal. According to the BBC, Chinese online gamers Qiu Chengwei and Zhu Caoyuan were both involved ...

New Law Would Kill Municipal Wifi Nationwide  1,676 Views (This article has 9 comments)
It seems like just yesterday that Aunty told you about how ISP and broadband providers are lobbying to prevent municipal wifi, which would keep you from being able to have city-wide free wifi such as some cities are now offering. Well, apparently some of ...

Should Online Dating Services Perform Criminal Background Checks?  5,176 Views (This article has 8 comments)
Herb Vest's online dating service, True.com, tauts itself as being one of the only, if not the only, online dating services which performs criminal background checks on all of its members. But that is not enough for Vest. Oh no. ...

If They Had Their Way, Free Municipal Wifi Would Never See the Light of Day  2,056 Views (This article has 4 comments)
You may have heard about the cities which are coming online and offering free wifi on a city-wide (municipal) basis. What you probably haven't heard about is the fights which often go on behind the scenes to keep you, the good ...

Feds Trying to Gain Wholesale Access to ISP Records Under Patriot Act - Again  2,539 Views (comments)
The Federal government is arguing, despite rulings by the court to the contrary, that under the Patriot Act they are, or at least should be, allowed to demand customer records and information from ISPs (Internet service providers) in secret, and without a court ...

Yahoo Sued for Failure to Remove Dirty Pictures of User  4,601 Views (This article has 13 comments)
According to Cecilia Barnes, men have shown up at her place of employment in Oregon expecting to be able to have sex with her. Which is odd, because she's not a sex therapist or a prostitute. Perhaps less odd, though, ...

Federal Law Enforcement Announces Operation D-Elite, Takes Down Elite Torrents (News Release)  2,942 Views (comments)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Richter of the Criminal Division, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Michael J. Garcia, and Assistant Director Louis M. Reigel of the ...

Use Encryption - Go to Jail (And Watch that Search History Too!)  1,804 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Just when you thought that the state of the law with regards to the Internet couldn't get any more convoluted, a Minnesota appeals court has held that a defendant's use of the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) program can be admitted as evidence against ...

Spammer’s Invitation to Date Lonely Housewives Halted by Court at FTC’s Request (News Release)  2,121 Views (This article has 2 comments)
An operation that spammed millions of consumers with graphic sexual descriptions to drive traffic to their Web sites to “date lonely housewives� has been halted by the court at the request of the Federal Trade Commission. U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve ...

Federal Anti Spyware Law to Become a Reality  1,849 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The nation is one step closer to having a Federal anti-spyware law, and all odds point to it becoming a reality before the year is out. At this very moment the House is working with two proposed anti-spyware laws, I-SPY (the Internet ...

Deleting Email Leads to $1.45billion Judgement Against Company  1,523 Views (comments)
Employees at Morgan Stanley may think twice before they delete their email, after a judge slapped a $1.45billion judgement on the financial giant because they just hit delete. It seems that during the course of a lawsuit by billionaire Ron Perelman against ...

Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy Advises Companies to Avoid Legal Trouble with Strong Email Handling Policies  1,401 Views (comments)
"Don't Become the Next Morgan Stanley" Advises ISIPP in Wake of $1.45 Billion Email Mismanagement Judgement SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 23, 2005 - The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) is advising companies to take the $1.45billion email mismanagement judgement recently ...

Information and Identify Theft Legislation Impairs Industry’s Ability to Support Judicial and Legal System (News Release)  1,268 Views (comments)
Information and Identify Theft Legislation Impairs Industry's Ability to Support Judicial and Legal System BALTIMORE, May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Council of Investigation and Security Services (NCISS), the nation's largest association for investigation and security services companies, is working with Congress to prevent any unintended ...

You’ve Got eWine - Court Says You Can Buy Wine on the Internet  2,556 Views (This article has 8 comments)
In case you thought it was bad that teenagers can buy tobacco over the Internet, a court - make that the Supreme Court - has just ruled that you can buy alcohol, specifically wine, over the Internet, and that individual states shall not ...

Court Denies TigerDirect’s Injunction in Tiger Lawsuit Against Apple  1,420 Views (comments)
The Federal Court in Florida has denied a request for an injunction by computer retailer TigerDirect in their lawsuit against Apple over the name for their latest version of OS X, "Tiger". It seems that, like Aunty, the court believes that TigerDirect's claims about ...

Federal Trade Commission Seeks Input On CAN-SPAM  1,450 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that they are seeking comments on several aspects of CAN-SPAM which they will be clarifying or modifying. According to the FTC, the proposed clarifications or modifications to CAN-SPAM include modifying the definition of "sender" to make it ...

New Chicago Law Makes Illegal Holding a Cell Phone While Driving  6,448 Views (This article has 14 comments)
A brand new law in Chicago makes it illegal to hold and use a cell phone while driving. The new law permits drivers to use headsets and other hands-free devices, but bans driving while holding a cell phone in your hand. ...

Breaking News! Court Strikes Down FCC’s Broadcast Flag!  1,290 Views (This article has 4 comments)
In a surprise move today, a Federal appeals court struck down the FCC's proposed "broadcast flag". The broadcast flag is an anti-copying scheme for digital broadcasts which the FCC was trying to force on all consumers, and into all devices capable ...

Connecticut Sues Vonage, Jumps on the ”Bad Vonage, No 911” Bandwagon  1,709 Views (This article has 3 comments)
As many of Aunty's readers know, the State of Texas sued Vonage recently for, they claimed, failing to provide adequate instructions for signing up for 911 emergency telephone services. Hogwash! Now the State of Connecticut is pulling the same thing, suing Vonage ...

Employees Can’t Be Fired for Surfing Porn on the Job  5,211 Views (This article has 27 comments)
Employees can't be fired for surfing porn on the job. That's the judgement of a court which has ruled that an employer who fired two employees caught surfing the web for porn on company time must not only reinstate them, but must ...

New York AG Spitzer Labels Intermix “Spyware” in Lawsuit  1,348 Views (comments)
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has sued online marketing company Intermix, claiming that Intermix has been distributing spyware to unsuspecting users, and that users visiting the Intermix site would end up with ad-serving pop-ups displayed on their computers, or having their computers redirected to another website, often without th user's knowledge.

Tiger Direct Directly Grabs Tiger by the Tail with Lawsuit Against Apple  1,720 Views (comments)
Computer mail-order outfit Tiger Direct has sued Apple, Inc, in the 11th hour, over Apple's use of the name "Tiger" on Apple's newest release of OS X. How stupid is that? Apple's Tiger for Mac goes on sale to the public tonight, Friday, ...

Hypertouch Serves Gevalia Coffee a Steaming Cup of Fresh Brewed Spam Lawsuit - It’s About Time  2,304 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Gevalia Coffee has been known for years in the anti-spam community as the poster child for bad spamming practices. Gevalia's efforts to deflect spam accusations to their affiliates and hired spam guns have made far more of a name for Gevalia among ...

California Attorney General Granted TRO Against Spam Group Using “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”  1,551 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Last week Aunty reported that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office, through Deputy Attorney General Ian Sweedler, had teamed up with the FTC to nail spammers Rick Yang and Peonie Pui Ting Chen, operating out of Los Angeles as Optin Global, Inc. and ...

Minnesota Next Up for New Anti-Spam Law  1,080 Views (comments)
Following closely on the heels of the success of the states of Florida and Virginia with state laws aimed at spammers, and the new state anti-spam laws introduced in Ohio, Utah, and Iowa (those four-letter vowel states are all over spam), the Minnesota ...

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and FTC Gang Up on Spammers Optin Global and Vision Media  1,615 Views (comments)
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has filed what is believed to be the first joint lawsuit uniting a state attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission against a common enemy - in this case notorious California spammers Rick Yang and Peonie Pui Ting ...

Top Spammer Jeremy Jaynes Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison  1,565 Views (comments)
Some of you may recall the trial of notorious spammer Jeremy Jaynes in November of last year. Jeremy Jaynes was considered to be one of the most prolific spammers around, pumping out an incredible 10million pieces of spam a day from his ...

Florida Sues Spammers Filary and Townsend - Microsoft Helps  1,354 Views (comments)
The state of Florida, through Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and with Microsoft's assistance, has sued two prolific spammers, Scott Filary and Donald Townsend, whom are accused of sending at least 65,000 pieces of spam, some 48,000 of which were sent after the ...

CAN-SPAM Smack Down for Spammers Hiding Behind Affiliates (Email Marketing)  2,810 Views (This article has 2 comments)
A little-known but powerful clause in CAN-SPAM ensures that spammers cannot hide behind their affiliates to avoid CAN-SPAM liabilty. Prior to the passage of CAN-SPAM, people selling products which were being advertised by spam were often able to escape liability by ...

Anti-Spam and Identity Theft Laws Come to the Heartland with Passage of Iowa Bills  1,357 Views (comments)
Iowa has joined the ranks of states which are specifically targetting spam and spyware, along with identity theft, with the passage of their new suite of computer crime bills. One bill prohibits the transmission of spam, another spyware, and a third ...

Why PC Owners Should Care About the FCC’s Broadcast Flag  1,769 Views (This article has 14 comments)
Have you heard about the "broadcast flag"? It's an anti-copying scheme for digital broadcasts which has been mandated by the FCC. The broadcast flag is essentially a two-part scheme: part one is the flag itself - a little bit of ...

The Once and Future Spam King: Scott Richter Files Bankruptcy on Microsoft, But Don’t Count Him Out Yet  1,848 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Many of Aunty's readers will remember that last year Aunty featured an exclusive interview with Spam King Scott Richter, during which he stated that "I actually do not do what I do for the need of money," and may also remember that he ...

If You Sell Anything on eBay, the IRS Tax Man May Cometh  7,574 Views (This article has 9 comments)
Have you ever sold anything on eBay? Be it a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary, your ex-girlfriend's wedding dress with you in it, or your unwashed underwear, the IRS may want its cut. Nothing is ...

VOIP 911: Weakness in VoIP 911 System Leads to Lawsuit Against Vonage  2,112 Views (This article has 4 comments)
The State of Texas has sued VoIP provider Vonage for weaknesses in the VOIP 911 system. Note that the issue is not with Vonage itself, but with how 911 calls are handled (or not) by VoIP systems generally. The Texas Attorney ...

Feds May Regulate “Political” Blogs and Other Political Content Providers  1,238 Views (comments)
The Federal Election Commission is considering regulating and restricting online entities and activities which run to the political, including political blogs and other political content providers and sources. Let's face it, anyone with a keyboard, a monitor, and a brain, is aware ...

Utah Gets New Internet Pornography Law  5,627 Views (This article has 4 comments)
Utah Governor Jim Huntsman has signed a new Internet pornography law into effect which requires Utah ISPs and other service providers to block pornographic websites upon a user's request. And just to make sure that no service provider has to do the ...

Spammer Sues Anti-Spammer - Cruise.com versus Mumma  1,121 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Talk about adding insult to injury. First Cruise.com, a/k/a Omega World Travel, and run by John Lawless, spams the bejeezus out of anti-spammer Mark Mumma of Oklahoma. Mumma asks Cruise.com to stop spamming him. No relief. He asks them ...

CAN-SPAM Allows ISPs to Filter Email  1,130 Views (This article has 1 comment)
There has been a lot of chaff flying around the Internet in the past few weeks about whether CAN-SPAM makes it illegal for ISPs to filter or block spam. So here's the deal: It doesn't. CAN-SPAM does not, not NOT require an ISP to accept email, ...

Download Tax? iPod Tax? Wisconsin Poised to Tax Internet Downloads  1,984 Views (This article has 4 comments)
They may not know it, but Wisconsin is poised to become the first state to tax downloads on the Internet. The download tax, referred to by some as the iPod tax, hidden away in Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's proposed budget, would tax ...

New Ohio Law Requires eBay Sellers to Get Licensed and Post Bond  4,563 Views (This article has 36 comments)
A new Ohio law, already signed and in effect, requires eBay sellers to become licensed, and to post a $50,000 bond. The new eBay auction law was signed by the Ohio governor in February, and will be effective on May 1st. ...

FCC Says ISP Blocking VOIP Dialed Wrong Number  2,435 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The FCC has spanked an ISP for blocking VOIP calls so that the ISP's subscribers were SOL. Addressing the SNAFU, the FCC indicated that an ISP blocking its users from accessing VOIP services is FUBAR. (How's that for MAU? ...

ChoicePoint Sued Over Hacking, Identity Theft  1,990 Views (comments)
Do you remember when Aunty told you that ChoicePoint had been hacked, leading to dozens of thousands of people having their private information which had been stored on ChoicePoint's servers compromised, including credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other personal information? And do ...

Lawyer Misses Court Because of Spam Filter - Give Aunty Your Stories!  2,018 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Remember when it used to be that "the dog ate my homework"? That didn't work very well, did it? Well, now it's "the spam filter ate my court appearance notice", and guess what! As it turns out, that works pretty well! Attorney Jeffrey ...

Spouse vs. Spouse: Spanked for Spying with Spector Spyware  6,532 Views (This article has 11 comments)
Using spyware to spy on your spouse's activities, even to gather evidence for an upcoming divorce, is not ok. In fact, it's against the law.

Microsoft and Pfizer Penetrate Viagra Spam Ring, Get Hard Evidence  10,182 Views (comments)
ISP giant Microsoft, and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, have (finally!) teamed up to deliver a one-two punch to those legion of Viagra spammers who are the scourge of the Internet. Aunty has been saying for ages that Pfizer needed to get involved, as in addition ...

Earthlink Files Four New Lawsuits Under That “Miserable Failure”, CAN-SPAM  1,269 Views (This article has 2 comments)
You know, for a law which people with no legal clue, but a lot of public mouth, continue to claim has been a miserable failure, ISPs like AOL, Microsoft, and Earthlink sure are getting a lot of mileage out of CAN-SPAM. In fact, ...

UCLA to RIAA: “Try RFIDing Them First”  1,854 Views (comments)
The Register is reporting today that the Recording Industry Association of America has demonstrated that death should be no obstacle to a good lawsuit. Or a stupid one. According to the report, the RIAA has filed an infringement lawsuit against one Gertrude Walton ...

Washington D.C. to Get New Anti-Spam Law  1,316 Views (comments)
The District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) is poised to get a brand new anti-spam law of their very own. Many people don't realize that Washington D.C., while a "district", is not, in fact, a state. It is the capital city of the United ...

Hormel Loses “Spam” Trademark Case Against Anti-Spam Company  1,218 Views (comments)
The original makers of spam - and Aunty does mean the meat..well, alleged meat product - Hormel, have lost a trademark law suit against anti-spam software company "Spambuster". This particular legal case adds several insults to the injury for Hormel. To start with, ...

Court Says Message Board Operators Not Liable for Libel  13,039 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that the operators of online forums are notresponsible for remarks made by users of their forums, even if those remarks rise to the level of defamation. The case centered around the "Eye on Emerson" website, which purported ...

Ohio Gets New Tougher Anti-Spam Law  1,295 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Ohio Governor Bob Taft signed into law a new, tougher anti-spam law for Ohio this week. The new law makes illegal the sending of as little as five pieces of email where the origin of the email is either altered or hidden. And ...

Verizon Sued for Blocking Email from Around the World  2,980 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Verizon Online is being sued by their subscribers for blocking incoming email from entire countries.

Prescription for Fake Viagra Pharmacy: 20 Years in Prison  11,906 Views (comments)
Two men headquartered in Florida who were selling fake Viagra and other bogus prescription drugs online, and spamming on the "pharmacy's" behalf, have copped a plea and could get as much as 20 years in prison for their actions. It is alleged that Charles ...

Earthlink Slams “Alabama Spammers”  1,267 Views (comments)
Internet service provider Earthlink has announced that it has reached a settlement with two high-profile and extremely prolific spammers dubbed the "Alabama Spammers" for their penchant for using dial-ups in and around Birmingham, Alabama. Damon DeCrescenzo and David Burstyn, alledged to be part of ...

MS Blaster-B Author Worms Way Out of Harsh Penalty  1,607 Views (comments)
Jeffrey Lee Parsons, the teenager who unleased the MS Blaster worm variant "MS Blaster B" on the world, has plea bargained his way down to a relatively light eighteen months in jail, and ten months of community service. Parsons was facing up to 3-10 ...

Vegas Porn Spam Bad - Vegas Burlesque Contest Good  3,771 Views (This article has 1 comment)
This particular FTC action was of note because it was the first which was publicly noted to include charges under the McCain Amendment to CAN-SPAM, on which I worked, and which I like to refer to as the "vendor liability" section, although others call it the "advertiser accountability" section.

Man Jailed Over Sick Tsunami Email Hoax  2,067 Views (comments)
From Across the Pond, courtesy of Chris Hunter over at Spamfo: Christopher Pierson, the sick man who sent a hoax mail to tsunami victim's friends and relatives, has been sentenced today to 6 months in prison. Spamfo published the article previously entitled 'Man pleads guilty ...

German Court Does Not Rule Email Blocking ‘Illegal’  1,338 Views (comments)
It was the misfire heard around the world. The Register earlier this week reported that a German court had ruled that blocking email by content was illegal, stating that "The Higher Regional Court now has ruled that blocking email by content is unlawful as ...

Feds Score First Criminal Conviction in Peer-to-Peer  2,239 Views (This article has 1 comment)
William R. Trowbridge, of New York, and Michael Chicoine, of Texas, will be going from file sharing to cell sharing following their guilty pleas to Federal charges of using a peer-to-peer network. Oops, Aunty means of violating copyrights on peer-to-peer networks. ...

When Spammers Sue the Spammed  1,623 Views (This article has 1 comment)
This isn't exactly double jeopardy, but somehow it ought to be. Bad enough to receive junk mail from a spammer - but then to receive a junk lawsuit as well? Ptooey! And it is exactly that with which Jay Stuler is dealing. Having ...

Sonny Outlook for Peachy Anti-Spam Law in Georgia  1,675 Views (This article has 2 comments)
Georgia's Internet citizenry got a treat yesterday as Governor Sonny Perdue introduced legislation aimed at making spamming the good citizens of Georgia (or, indeed, by the good citizens of Georgia) a criminal offense. The proposed legislation, known as the "Georgia Slam Spam E-mail Act" ...

Convict Banned from Accessing Internet  1,286 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Jeffrey Johnson may well consider this a fate worse than their locking him up and throwing away the key. I mean, which would you rather face: a life of freedom with no Internet, or life in the slammer with free Internet access. Of ...

Big Bust for Porn Spammers  4,236 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week has announced the first big bust of spammers under the so-called "plain brown wrapper" provisions of CAN-SPAM. The plain brown wrapper rules require that, in addition to the CAN-SPAM requirements for commercial email to which all commercial ...

Pop-Ups, While Annoying, are not Illegal says Court  1,613 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Is there a person among us who actually likes pop-up ads? I mean, who isn't an advertiser on the popping end? No, I thought not. Unfortunately, like loud cellphones, cigars at outdoor bistros, and over-application of cheap perfume, while they are annoying as all ...

Phillies Baseball Fan Pitches Fit, Spams in Name of Local Sportswriters  1,996 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Always remember that the word "fan" has its roots in the word "fanatic". And this is exemplified by the behaviour of Allan Carlson, a Los Angeles resident who is an avid fan of Philadelphia's baseball team, the Philadelphia Phillies. Apparently Carlson had issues ...

No Warrant Needed to Search Employee’s PC, Rules Court  2,078 Views (comments)
A Washington state Court of Appeals has ruled this week that police do not need a warrant to access and search the contents of an employee's office-owned PC. All that is needed is the employer's permission. This in the case of ...

Microsoft to Spammer: That’ll be $7.4 million, please.  1,499 Views (comments)
Microsoft has won a $7.4million judgement against a Tuscon, Arizona spammer. Glenn Hannifin, the 'proprietor' of U Save Depot, was accused by Microsoft of sending millions of pieces of spam hawking everything from software to leather jackets. The software offered included copies of ...

Spam King Sanford Wallace Comes In from the Cold  1,418 Views (comments)
The real Spam King is Sanford Wallace, who has been around in one form or another for well over a decade. It was Wallace's CyberPromotions against which many a spam lawyer first cut their spam litigation teeth.

Newsflash! Federal Court to RIAA: No, You CAN’T Have that Peer-to-Peer User’s Information!  2,398 Views (This article has 1 comment)
The United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, dealt the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a blow today when it reversed a lower court ruling which ordered internet service provider Charter to comply with an RIAA demand that Charter turn over the ...

Tsunami Tspammer Tstopped  2,533 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Some people are sick. Really sick. But Christopher Pierson, of London, England really takes the cake. Pierson, a 40-year-old father of two (oh my, his poor children), was arrested and arraigned yesterday for sending spam to those known to be looking for lost loved ones, in ...

California’s Tough New Anti-Spyware Law  1,899 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Happy New Year, Californians! In addition to a brand new year, you've got a brand new anti-spyware law! The new law, signed in September by Governor Schwarzenneger, took effect on January 1st, and makes it illegal to install software which takes control of another's computer ...

VoIP Internet Telephone Can’t be Regulated by State, Says Court  2,178 Views (This article has 1 comment)
A U.S. Federal Court has ruled this week that the State of Minnesota (and by extension all states) cannot regulate Internet telephone usage, known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), in the same way that the states presently regulate traditional phone lines and ...

MPAA Lawsuit Target LokiTorrent Fights Back  2,020 Views (This article has 1 comment)
LokiTorrent, one of the latest targets of the Motion Picture Association of America's legal crackdown on filesharing sites using the BitTorrent technology to allow users to download copyrighted movies, has vowed to fight the lawsuit, and is asking for donations to a legal ...

Only 10 Filing Days Left for Windows Users in California  2,002 Views (This article has 1 comment)
January 8th, 2005, is the deadline for Windows users to file a claim against Microsoft under the settlement in the class-action lawsuit on behalf of several California plaintiffs against the software giant. The settlement, arising from a lawsuit in which it was claimed that ...

Dutch Treat for Dutch Spammers  2,225 Views (This article has 1 comment)
Dutch telecom regulator OPTA has announced a crack down against several violators of EU anti-spam standards, including against both individuals and small businesses accused of spamming. EU (European Union) anti-spam standards are generally much tougher and tighter than are those in the United States, ...

AOL Thief Can’t Plead Guilty, Says Judge  2,351 Views (comments)
Earlier this week Aunty told you that the former AOL employee who stole the email addresses of 92 million AOL users, and then sold them to a spammer for $100,000, was due in Federal court and was going to plead "guilty" to charges ...

Former AOL Employee Who Sold Email Addresses Facing Two Years in Prison  3,129 Views (comments)
Jerry Smathers, a former AOL employee who first made the news by stealing more than 92 million AOL user email addresses, and selling them to spammers, is now facing up to two years in prison for his misdeed. Due in court in New York ...

Spammers Slammed with $1Billion Court Penalty  1,614 Views (This article has 1 comment)
We've all heard of AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Earthlink. And Aunty has noted many times on these pages the lawsuits which they have each, and together, instituted against spammers over the course of this past year. Good on ya, says Aunty. But ...

CEO of Online Auction Company Arrested for Home Porn Listed on Site  15,051 Views (This article has 3 comments)
Forget upskirting and downblousing. What do you call it when you take a video of yourself during an..um...intimate moment - with a camera phone for chrissakes? How about this one: what do you call it when you take a video of ...

10 Things You Should Know About CAN-SPAM  2,169 Views (This article has 4 comments)
[Reprinted with permission from the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy] 10 Things You Should Know About CAN-SPAM 1. CAN-SPAM applies only to commercial email. 2. CAN-SPAM applies to email for which a primary purpose ...