By striking my bone gavel, I call this special Blawg Review meeting of the Skull and Bones Society to order. Ever since the passing of Demosthenes in the year 322, and since the founding of our Society here at Yale in 1832, we honor eloquence. So, today, it is altogether fitting and proper that we discuss the best posts in the legal blawgosphere from this past week.

Our friends in the Illuminati assure us that their orbital mind control lasers will wipe out any sites that aren’t “tapped out” by our Society.

What, you don’t have the WiFi password to get online here in the Tomb to view these sites? The access point you want is “322″, password GERONIMOS_SKULL.

Yes, Bonesmen, we do have many US Presidents among our alumni, plus plenty of cabinet members. It’s all described in our brochure. But don’t count on us picking favorites if two of you face off again. What a mess that was, making us choose between Brother Bush and Brother Kerry! We ended up flipping a coin when we instructed our operatives in Ohio which way the election should turn out. Don’t tell Brother Bush, he still thinks he won because his dad is a member too. Oh, and he still owes us for the whole Bush v. Gore debacle in the Supreme Court, too.

We’re not the only secret society around – we are aware of some in Charlottesville, Virginia. These, though, pale by comparison to our Bonesmen’s worldwide reach.

Before we start, kudos to Brother Gulbransen for a great job with last week’s Review. Our plans for world domination through controlling the financial markets with Facebook’s IPO are proceeding nicely.

Speaking of Facebook, Brother O’Keefe discusses Facebook’s use by lawyers, and why it will continue to be used to build relationships. Those who do, though, are opting into the use of their data by a huge company – which is why it factors highly into our New World Order!

Next up is Brother Brown with his post on a voyeuristic lawyer who took upskirt photos of his female staff with various iPhones and iPads. Take note, Bonesmen, don’t assert a CFAA claim when the staff delete the photos, that’s just bad form. Ask Brother Magog for help instead…

Brothers Coleman, Pelton, Welch and Schwimmer recently hosted “Meet the Bloggers VIII” at INTA in Washington D.C. Good job holding it underground in a windowless room, we like those. Thankfully nobody posted a photo that showed our secret handshake!

We may have to take action against Brother Pelton for warning people about one of our latest money making activities, the “International Catalogue of Trademarks.” We pride ourselves on providing zero value while funding our other plans. Our New World Order doesn’t come cheap, you know.

This week, Brother Coleman dug into the recording of the Rosetta Stone v. Google discussion at INTA to determine what really happened when Google’s Google Senior Trademark Counsel Annabelle DanielVarda spoke at the mic during the Q&A. We will not confirm or deny whether Skull & Bones kept her off the panel itself…

Brother Schwimmer’s Trademark Blog has been around for ten years. Big deal, we’ve been around since 1832!

We see that Brother Welch has updated his Fraud-O-Meter to v.2.0, but it’s in beta. So is our iPhone app that taps into Google’s live search queries!

By the way, we’ll be retaking our group photo for this year’s class of Bonesmen soon. Whoever changed the time on the grandfather clock from 8:00 to 4:20 will be punished.

A warm welcome to our brother Bonesmen involved with the NATO summit in Chicago. Way to spread the New World Order!

I see that Brother Malek has posted on IP Watchdog about the perils of being your own trademark attorney. Good advice, even if it adds more money to our coffers!

Brother Calloway reminds us, as lawyers, to have a life. We concur.

Brother Greenfield wrote several good posts this week at Simple Justice worthy of our attention, but in particular we liked his comments on integrity in social media. We also prefer blue pinstriped suits over pink hotpants as well.

Brother Greenfield also touched a chord with his post on the bravery of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, who acknowledged that he is using marijuana for medicinal purposes in violation of New York law. We admire such bravery in our public servants.

Our Sister Carter is speaking at Phoenix Comicon about the intersection of fan fiction and copyright law. It’s been years since I wrote about that topic myself. As you know, we encourage fan fiction because it helps support the revenue stream for our private island getaway. That, and Brother Remus takes a special interest in Cybermen/Dalek slash fiction for some reason…

Special kudos to Sister Granick (with comments from Brother Goldman) for discussing CISPA’s deficiencies. Too bad our Society’s support of SOPA wasn’t enough to get that enacted.

Brother Thierer’s take on what may replace advertising to support culture got us thinking. We are certain, though, that we will find a way to subvert whatever comes next…

We liked Brother Balasubramani’s post on whether someone can be defamed in one Twitter posting. We will now endeavor to try!

Brother Ezor’s discussion of the judicial misunderstanding of technology in the People v. Kent child pornography case was spot on. We may subvert many things, but even we draw the line there.

Be sure to check out Sister Pynchon’s explanation of how young women lawyers can succeed in big law firms.

Brother Guadmuz (the Technollama) asks whether jailed convicts should have access to social media.

Sister Cannavina lists six ways to protect your identity online – as if that will protect you from us!

Blue hats are not part of our dress code, Sister Monahan, but we do know all about Klout.

Sister Gellis discusses regulating privacy and technology at her Digital Defense blog. She discusses privacy from government and privacy from individuals, but forgets about privacy from secret societies like ours!

For you Bonesmen working in the legal field, Brother Hull discusses why you tell the client rep not to bring her notes to her deposition. A sneaky tactic that is well within the rules, but worthy of note by us!

Brother Granat’s discussion of Legalzoom and its impact on the legal industry is also worthy of note. We’re all in favor of disruption!
 
We liked Brother Baron’s discussion of the science of persuasion. He reminds us that “Knowledge is power, and knowledge of the details of people’s lives gives power over them.” We’re all in favor of that kind of power!

We’ve been monitoring a multi-blog discussion of the issue of whether lawyers could be replaced by computers. Sister Black’s post, as well as Brother Brown’s and Brother Lambert’s posts are all well worth reading. We believe the Borg and Mentats are in the legal profession’s future – the question is how soon? We will let you know when we’re ready…

As a secret society, the principle of open justice is foreign to us. Still, we applaud Brother O’Dell’s post about open justice in the Irish courts.
 

We close this Review by reminding ourselves why we honor eloquence. Demosthenes was referred to by Cicero as the “perfect orator who lacked nothing.” We hope these posts will be received equally well. Bonesmen, you will next hear from us when the time is right. When we’re ready for the New World Order, you will know.

Yours in 322,
Brother Thompson

Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

Blawg Review #322 is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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There were emails which showed knowledge or awareness by YouTube of certain works, but the record was not clear whether any of the works at issue in the case were among these. The District Court will need to look into these emails on remand.

On remand, the District Court will also need to determine whether YouTube was willfully blind to allegations of infringement, as well as whether YouTube had the “right and ability to control” infringing activity. The Court envisions renewed summary judgment motions on these issues once they are fully developed. Some additional discovery may be needed.

My take on the decision is that this is a good step forward in the case. YouTube won on several issues that shows it generally qualifies for Section 512 immunity. Viacom, et al, won the right to have a further determination of whether there is some liability by YouTube for the infringements of their works on the site. I fully anticipate that either side could prevail in the end; we’ll see what the evidence the Court is asking for shows.

Stay tuned…

Thoughts on Viacom v. Google is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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I covered the following topics:
- Trademark Overview
- Domain Name Overview
- Domain Name Formats
- Domain Names as Trademarks
- Domain Names Including Trademarks
- UDRP
- ACPA
- Cybersquatting and Typosquatting
- Hypotheticals

For those of you who need Illinois MCLE credit, information on requesting credit can be found there as well.

Trademarks and Domain Names Webinar Recording is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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Why I Oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/E-PARASITES Act

Eric Goldman has a great summary of the bill and its problems. Well recommended reading.

At Web Censorship Hearing, Congress Guns for “Pro-Pirate” Google

Nate Anderson at Ars Technica had a good summary of the SOPA testimony before Congress.

In other news:

RIAA Wants ReDigi Out Of The Business of Selling “Used” iTunes Tracks

This was the most interesting new application of the First Sale doctrine in copyright this week. As I understand the business sells a copy and not the actually sold iTunes track, this one may not turn out in ReDigi’s favor. This dispute will be worth watching.

Vint Cerf: The Government Is Going Overboard in Internet Copyright Control

On November 14th, Vint Cerf spoke to the Atmosphere conference:

“He told the audience, “Remember, governance is a big word that includes human rights, freedom of speech, economic transactions on a worldwide basis — it touches everything. It’s everywhere, and that’s why Internet governance is topic A in many corners.”

PhoneDog v. Kravitz

This lawsuit over corporate Twitter followers as “property” is quite interesting. Kravitz left PhoneDog with 17,000 followers, and instead of turning over the account he changed the name from “Phonedog_Noah” to his personal name. On a Motion to Dismiss, the Court (Northern District of California) decided to deny Kravitz’s motion. Well worth reading.

Judge Rules Feds Can Have WikiLeaks Associates’ Twitter Data

On November 10th, Judge O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virgina ruled that government prosecutors can have access to information about three Wikileaks supporters’ Twitter accounts – not the content, but the metadata. This decision has been criticized by the EFF.

Finally, I’d like to note that if people are interested in my firm’s IP Webinar series, the next webinar I’m presenting will be on December 7, 2011 on “Online Works: Copyright Registration and Enforcement.” For more information, follow this link.

SOPA and other @Cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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Also, for those who may be interested, here is the link to the recent webinar I did for my firm on “Common Trademark Application Problems.”

And now, on to this week’s @cyberlaw links -

RIAA Lawyer Says DMCA May Need Overhaul

Greg Sandoval of CNET had an interesting article, focusing on a statement during a panel discussion by Jennifer Pariser that the DMCA needed an overhaul.  She said:

“We might need to go to Congress at some point for a fix,” Pariser added. “Not because the statute was badly drafted but because the interpretation has been so hamstrung by court decisions.”

 

In a World of Cybertheft, U.S. Names China, Russia as Main Culprits

A report from the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive named China and Russia as the main bad actors in the world of cyber-espionage.

“Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage,” said the report, “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace,” which was based on the work of 14 U.S. intelligence agencies. The report also notes that “Russia’s intelligence services are conducting a range of activities to collect economic information and technology from U.S. targets.”

The Digital Death of Copyright’s First Sale Doctrine

Annemarie Bridy’s article is on the First Sale Doctrine and the effect that the Supreme Court’s denial of cert in the Vernor v. Autodesk case had on the doctrine. I heartily encourage you to read it.

Did Chevy Steal This Commercial Idea From a Popular Blog?

It was nice to be quoted by Matt Silverman in this Mashable article discussing the extent of copyright protection in the underlying concept of a blog.

Why Parents Help Children Violate Facebook’s 13+ Rule

This study by Danah Boyd, Eszter Hargittai, Jason Schultz and John Palfrey looked at the real-life application of COPPA and parents who help their children skirt its requirements. It’s well worth reading.

S. 978 – What Justin Bieber Has To Do With Online Streaming Bill

I was quoted in this article from the Christian Science Monitor discussing Senate Bill 978, the Commercial Felony Streaming Act.

TWiL 136 and @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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Some recent links I found particularly interesting on Twitter include:

Net Neutrality Case Heads to D.C. Circuit

A challenge to the FCC’s new Network Neutrality rules will be heard by the D.C. Circuit, which in the past has been tough on the FCC.

Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when higher up military leaders learn that their drones have been infected with a computer virus from reading this article in WIRED.

Tracking the Trackers: When Everyone Knows Your Username

Jonathan Mayer’s article describing his research into web usage tracking is an excellent read.

Hacked!

If you’ve ever had your email hacked, you can sympathize with this great article from the Atlantic.

News and @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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This week’s @cyberlaw links are interesting to me for many reasons:

Heading Off Privacy Problems—Before They Arise

I thought this article by Julia Angwin was a good look at how some companies are undertaking “privacy-impact assessments” before undertaking new initiatives.  There’s nothing like heading off problems at the pass, and it is good to add privacy considerations to your normal checklist of items to consider before things go out the door.

Is Printing a Gun the Same as Buying One?

John Bigg’s article was very interesting to me because 3-d printing is becoming more prevalent. The article looks at the problems that arise when an item that would normally require a permit to purchase (the lower receiver for an AR-15 rifle) can be printed at home on the device you made. 3-d printers like Makerbot’s raise concerns, as John points out:

“I find it fascinating that we’re even asking these questions at this point. The fact that we are now able to manufacture usable weapon parts is an important step in the evolution of fabrication and manufacture and, if I were a weapons giant, I’d start rethinking my sales strategies. When a company of rebels can print their own AK-47s (a concept that is still a ways off), whose fault is it? The person who made the plans? The fabricator? The company whose rifles they copied?”

Stay tuned, this debate will have far reaching implications in years to come.

Typosquatting Continues to Pose Dangers to Enterprises, Consumers

Mary Roach’s article did a good job pointing out the concern with “doppelganger” websites – which are like a typical typosquatting domain, but instead of being a misspelling it’s merely missing an important dot, like “mailyahoo.com” instead of “mail.yahoo.com.”  This is one case where proactive defensive registrations can be quite helpful, which Mary recommends along with other good advice.

US Net Neutrality Rules Finalized, In Effect November 20

I’ve been following the Net Neutrality debate for years, and now the FCC’s still-controversial final “open-internet” rules [PDF] will be in effect on November 20, 2011. Now, the legal challenges can begin.

Copyright Basics webinar and @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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HP Touchpad’s Fate

Jonathan Ezor’s review of the HP Touchpad I linked to last week became more timely after HP’s announcement that it was discontinuing the platform. It looks like WebOS may live on in some form, but the TouchPad itself is being phased out. Sad, really, as among Jonathan’s conclusions was the following nugget:

“With its ease of setup and support, true multitasking, Bluetooth keyboard compatibility, Flash-enabled browser, and Synergy, the HP TouchPad represents a solid choice for law firms and legal departments that want to add tablets to their technology portfolios.”

Too bad. I used Palms before they were even called Palms (I had a Pilot 1000 back in the day), and was quietly rooting for HP to do well after it acquired Palm.

Fake Apple Stores in China

On Ron Coleman’s Likelihood of Confusion blog, guest author Paul Jones offered his insight into the fake Apple Stores that were recently spotted in China. His insight isn’t that China is finding it hard to crack down on infringers, but rather the remote nature of the province and its inability to have a real store:

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province, in the far south of China. The province borders on Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. It is thus far inland and is not one of the richer coastal provinces where foreign retailers first open their stores. But Kunming Prefecture has about 6 ½ million people. In other words there is demand there but no supply.

The entire article is well worth a read.

The Challenge of Producing Secure Devices

This article in Security Week was interesting for its insight into the world of developers. The pressure on developers to ship devices is so strong that they may have to ship devices with security flaws in order to meet deadlines. Chris Eng of Veracode is quoted as saying:

“I don’t think that every tiny bug, every tiny security bug, has to be fixed before it goes out the door,” he said. “Ideally you fix as many as you can but there’s always going to be some date where you have to ship stuff and you have to prioritize…but you also shouldn’t forget about them.”

This is relevant as many security issues today come from these vulnerabilities which may never be completely patched. There will always be someone who hasn’t applied the recommended security patches, etc., and thus perpetuate the problem caused by the hardware being released this way.

Copyright Termination

I liked this article by Larry Rohter on the upcoming battle over recording artists who can now file termination notices for their master recordings dating from 1978. The recording studios say no deal, however, claiming that the master recordings are works made for hire and thus not eligible for termination. As the article notes,

“Independent copyright experts, however, find that argument unconvincing. Not only have recording artists traditionally paid for the making of their records themselves, with advances from the record companies that are then charged against royalties, they are also exempted from both the obligations and benefits an employee typically expects.”

Artists already filing notices include Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Bryan Adams, Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Waits and Charlie Daniels.

This Week’s @cyberlaw Links is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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Most wireless routers come out of the box with the default setting of being wide open, i.e. with no security, so anyone can use the connection who is within range of it. Many security experts recommend that manufacturers change these defaults, but that is the situation currently.

Many security experts recommend WPA2 level encryption if your device supports it. The older type, WEP, can be cracked in less than a minute with commonly available tools, so it is not recommended. It still would be better than no encryption if that is all your device supports.

A good way to find out how to secure your own wireless network is to search Google with the terms “how to secure wireless network” along with the manufacturer’s name or model number of the device. Some general advice can be found in this WikiHow article, although I do disagree with its recommendation for MAC address filtering. I’d also recommend listening to the Security Now podcasts relating to encryption, including Episode 13, at http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm. The transcript can be found here – http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-013.htm. It’s an oldie (the show now has over 300 episodes), but that old episode is still worth listening to.

Of course, there are arguments for open wireless networks, but that should be a choice, not a default, in my humble opinion.

Securing Your Wireless Network is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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The bare minimum the judge could award for violation of the DMCA’s trafficking provision, §1201(a)(2), was $200 per infringement, and the plaintiffs were able to prove that there were 1,074,093 infringements. Accordingly, the court awarded $214,898,600. Further, the plaintiff can seek its attorneys fees as well.

For more on the case, and to download a copy of the decision, visit Satscams.com.

Court awards $214 Million for DMCA Circumvention is a post from: Cyberlaw Central

©2012 Cyberlaw Central.

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