Tiger Blog Reviews » Legal

University Creates iPhone Orchestra

cgseo — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:20:12 +0000

iPhones are being used as musical instruments in a new class taught at the University of Michigan. The students who design, build and play instruments on their iPhones, will perform a free public concert on December 9. The course called "Building a Mobile Phone Ensemble" is believed to be the first of its kind. The class is taught by Georg Essl , a computer scientist and musician who has been working on developing mobile phones as musical instruments. "The mobile phone is a very nice platform for exploring new forms of musical performance," said Essl. "We're not tethered to the physics of traditional instruments. We can do interesting, weird, unusual things." "This kind of technology is in its infancy, but it's a hot and growing area to use iPhones for artistic expression." To build an instrument on an iPhone, the students program the device to play back as sound information it receives from one of its sensors. The touch-screen, microphone, GPS, compass, wireless sensor and accelerometer can all be changed so that when a user runs their fingers across the display, blow air into the mic, tilt or shake the phone, different sounds will come out of the device. The class requires some creativity and technological savvy according to Essl. "In order to come up with a creative piece you have to engage with the technology, but in order to make technology interesting, you also have to engage with the musicality. These are really hard to separate. We're trying to teach both," Essl said. Continue reading →

Perfect 10 Comes Out Swinging at Google Again

cgseo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:40:26 +0000

Those who have been following the search industry for some time, may recall that Google had some legal issues with the (former) magazine Perfect 10 (nsfw). The company, which ceased publication of its magazine, but still operates on the web, has issued a press release saying that its five year battle with the search giant is "about to heat up." This week, Perfect 10 completed its filing of a motion for sanctions against Google in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Perfect 10 is accusing Google of "widespread discovery abuse," which the company says includes multiple violations of three separate court orders. Perfect 10's legal feud with Google began back in 2004. The case dealt with Google's use of thumbnails from Perfect 10's site. It was essentially a question of whether or not that was considered fair use. Google had eventually lost the case, but the ruling against Google had been tossed out by an appeals panel . That was in 2007. However, it did not end there. Fast forward to now. "Google appears to have the view that it is above the law," says Perfect 10 President, Dr. Norm Zada. "We spent a great deal of time and effort obtaining Court orders requiring Google to produce documents critical to our case. In our view, Google has not complied with those orders." Perfect 10 says the case revolves around the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was passed by Congress in 1998 to address issues concerning copyright infringement on the Internet. "Under the DMCA, a search engine such as Google may receive limited immunity from monetary damages for copyright infringement if it complies with the requirements of the DMCA," Zada says. "The search engine must act expeditiously to remove or disable access to infringing material upon receiving notice of infringement from the copyright owner, and it must adopt a procedure so that copyright holders will not have to provide the search engine with notices about the same infringing material or the same infringers over and over." Perfect 10 says it has argued that Google has "failed to satisfy" these things. Perfect 10 says a judge ordered Google to produce its DMCA log, which the company says is defined as "a spreadsheet-type document summarizing DMCA notices received, the identity of the notifying party and the accused infringer, and the actions (if any) taken in response." Perfect 10 is insisting in its press release that Google has violated multiple court orders, and that Perfect 10 can't "fairly litigate the case" without such documents. Continue reading →

eBay Completes Skype Sale

cgseo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:49:07 +0000

It looks like the eBay-Skype spectacle has finally come to a close. Continue reading →

Anonymous Comment Costs School Employee His Job

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:58 +0000

Most of us have blogs, right? How do you react to anonymous vulgar comments? Hit SPAM, right? Yeah, me too. And so did the Director of Social Media for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Kurt Greenbaum. The first time. But when the anonymous commenter again posted the single-word vulgarity, Greenbaum tracked his IP address—to a school. Probably thinking he was reporting a misbehaving student, Greenbaum contacted the school and explained the situation. Six hours later, the school called back: they’d found the commenter—an employee. After they confronted him, the employee resigned. Most of us probably have an intrinsic notion that the anonymous commenter and Greenbaum both acted inappropriately (although there was no way for Greenbaum to know he was turning in an employee and not a student)—but perhaps the more important question is whether they were acting legally. Greenbaum, a Post-Dispatch employee, should be bound by the paper’s online privacy policy, which states: We will not share individual user information with third parties unless the user has specifically approved the release of that information. However, at the beginning of the policy, they stipulate that “Your IP address does not contain personally identifiable information, nor does it identify you personally.” So is that individual user information? Sounds like it’s not. And the Post-Dispatch’s ToS is an exercise in CYA (they define “submission” to include comments): You automatically waive any claim that any use of such content violates any of your rights, including privacy rights, publicity rights, moral rights or any other right, including the right to approve the way we use such content. You are responsible for the content of all Submissions and acknowledge that third parties may hold you responsible for content related claims including libel, invasion of privacy, misappropriation of likeness and disclosure of confidential information. You shall indemnify, defend and hold us, our parent company and our affiliated entities (including our officers, directors, owners, agents and employees) harmless from all liability and costs incurred by those indemnified in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you of the above representations and warranties and for any claims related to the content or your Submissions. And, naturally, the ToS stipulates that using the site to “upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available content that is harmful to minors in any way, or that is harassing, harmful, threatening, abusive, vulgar, obscene, defamatory, libelous, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable” violates the ToS, too. And how were Anon’s actions illegal? Well, setting aside possible obscenity charges (while legally problematic, “obscenity” is not protected under the First Amendment), the school probably also has policies—policies that dictate the use of school resources. Most likely, this comment was made on school time, from a school computer, using the school’s Internet connection. Somehow, I can’t imagine there’s a provision in the policy that allows for use of school resources for posting vulgar comments online. By violating these policies, the employee could face discipline or even termination. What do you think? Would these policies hold up in court? Comments

Original post:
Anonymous Comment Costs School Employee His Job

Big Retailers Took $792 Million for Sharing Credit Card Numbers

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:33:08 +0000

A U.S. Senate report has revealed that retailers (a number of which you may already know and trust), have accepted as much as $792 million to share customers' credit-card information with direct marketing companies. Could your card number have been one that was shared? Would you have known? The companies engaging in such practices have been getting away with it because of terms buried in fine print, where customers accept offers without having to share their credit card info themselves, placing a certain level of trust in the retailers that are profiting off of sharing their info. The executive summary of the Senate document reads as follows: In May 2009, Chairman Rockefeller launched an investigation into a set of controversial e-commerce business practices that have generated high volumes of consumer complaints. Since that time, Commerce Committee staff has been investigating three Connecticut-based direct marketing companies – Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty – as well as the hundreds of online websites and retailers that partner with these three companies to sell club memberships to online shoppers. Although this investigation is not yet complete, it is clear at this point that these three companies use highly aggressive sales tactics to charge millions of American consumers for services the consumers do not want and do not understand they have purchased. Chances are, you've encountered the "offers" that utilize this strategy. TechCrunch provides a sample screenshot: So who are the companies that have been selling credit card information? Well, the following were paid over $10 million each to do so: - 1-800-Flowers.com - Buy.com - Classmates.com - Columbia House - Confi-Check - Expedia/Hotels.com - Fandango - FTD - Hotwire - InQ - Intellius - MovieTickets.com - Orbitz - Priceline - Redcats USA - Shutterfly - Travelocity - US Airways - VistaPrint Dozens more were paid between $1 and $10 Million. I won't name all of them (there is a full list here), but Yahoo is one of them. So is Avon, Barnes & Noble, eHarmony, Half.com, Pizza Hut, TimeLife, and Victoria's Secret. People have often expressed concerns about buying stuff online from brands that they haven't heard of. It turns out that some of the biggest brands are not exactly as trustworthy as some may have thought. Customers are not pleased. For the offending brands themselves, this has to be a PR and online reputation management nightmare. Read the whole report here (pdf) if you've got some time on your hands. Related Articles: > Continue reading →

Revised Google Books Settlement Still Has Critics

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:58:49 +0000

Another milestone in a significant legal dispute has passed; a revised version of the Google Books settlement was submitted to U.S. District Court late Friday. Continue reading →

Intel Pays AMD $1.25 Billion, Following That $1.5 Billion Fine

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:27:42 +0000

Update: Continue reading →

NY AG Hits Intel With Antitrust Suit

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:01:45 +0000

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit Wednesday, against Intel, the world's largest maker of computer chips. The suit says Intel violated state and federal anti-monopoly laws by engaging in a global campaign of illegal conduct revealed in emails, in order to maintain its monopoly power and prices in the market for chips. Over the last several years, Intel has landed exclusive agreements from large computer makers in which they agreed to use Intel's chips in exchange for payments totaling billions of dollars. Intel also threatened and punished computer makers that they thought were working too closely with Intel competitors. Threats included cutting off payments the computer maker was receiving from Intel, directly funding a computer maker's rivals, and ending joint development ventures. "Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," said Attorney General Cuomo . Andrew Cuomo "Intel's actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices. These illegal tactics must stop and competition must be restored to this vital marketplace." To secure exclusive agreements, Intel paid hundreds of million dollars in "rebates" to individual computer makers. The payments for exclusivity that Intel provided could make the difference between profit and loss for a computer maker. The suit alleges Intel's behavior was detrimental to consumers and to the entire marketplace for computers. Intel repeatedly pressured computer makers to guarantee it specified market share of their sales, which prevent computer makers from responding to consumer demand. With more competition, consumers would have had more choices, lower prices and better products. The suit seeks to bar further anticompetitive acts by Intel, restore lost competition, recover monetary damagessuffered by consumers and the government, and collect penalties. In May, the European Commission fined Intel a record $1.45 billion for violating antitrust rules and other practices used to exclude competitor AMD from the computer chip market. Intel is planning to appeal the fine. Continue reading →

Social Media Playing Role In U.S. Policy Making

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:21:27 +0000

Senior staff in the U.S. Congress and European Parliaments regularly access digital outlets and social media to research, influence and set policy, according to a new study by StrategyOne. Nearly every staffer (96%) uses online resources for public policy research, more than half (54%) reported learning of policy issues for the first time online and (19%) actually changed policy positions based on information and opinions they found online. Sixty percent said they access social media for personal reasons, but in addition, nearly one-third use it for communicating with professional colleagues (28%), one in five (21%) to reach out to constituents, and one in ten (9%) to research policy issues. In addition, blogs are an important resource for staffers with two in five (39%) using blogs and social media sites in the past 30 days to monitor news about issues and the same percentage (39%) to monitor constituent opinion about an issue. "When it comes to policy development and public affairs, we're seeing a digital about-face as staffers and elected officials move from face time to Facebook and other social media to research and communicate on critical issues," said Jere Sullivan, Vice Chairman of Global Public Affairs, Edelman. "Traditional communications and advocacy channels remain important and effective in all countries, but the growing influence of online cannot be overlooked and needs to be included in the mix of tools for communicating about and forming consensus on important policy issues." Continue reading →

Power.com Suit Against Facebook Tossed

cgseo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:11:33 +0000

Facebook appears to have won at least part of yet another legal fight. Continue reading →