Internet Law

Bank’s Suit Over E-Mail Data Breach Can’t Be Sealed, Judge Says

When a customer of Rocky Mountain Bank needed information, an employee promptly sent it by e-mail. Unfortunately, the Gmail address to which the material was delivered apparently belonged to someone else–and an attachment that should not have been sent contained confidential information about more than 1,300 individual and business accounts,…

Sep 21, 2009 10:16 PM CDT

Feds Can Monitor Personal E-Mail Sent Privately to Gov’t Workers, DOJ Says

You might think that a private-mail sent to another U.S. citizen’s personal account isn’t subject to government monitoring. But that assumption could be wrong if the recipient is a federal government employee. Both recipients and senders have no reasonable expectation of privacy if an e-mail is opened by a federal…

Sep 21, 2009 4:43 PM CDT

Microsoft Files ‘Malvertising’ Case Against Unknown Individuals

Microsoft filed suit in Washington state court yesterday, in an effort to unmask the individuals behind five companies that allegedly have been distributing “malvertising” to users of its personal computers and services. The company has filed suit in order to enlist the court system’s help in identifying, through subpoenas on…

Sep 18, 2009 11:50 PM CDT

FCC to Promote Net Neutrality, Set New Rules

In a move seen as offering potential benefits to consumers, the Federal Communications Commission is planning to set new rules enforcing so-called net neutrality. The shorthand term refers to the practice of treating all legal Internet traffic the same way, rather than, as some companies do, making it difficult or…

Sep 18, 2009 10:08 PM CDT

A ‘Flood of Cases’ Take Aim at Anonymous Internet Critics

Anonymous comments on newspaper websites and blogs are spurring litigation, although plaintiffs often fail to win defamation awards. Harvard Law School professor David Ardia, director of the school’s Citizen Media Law Project, tells the Associated Press that such suits are on the upswing. ”We’re seeing a flood of cases involving…

Sep 18, 2009 5:00 PM CDT

Pranknet Practical Jokes Not as Funny After Criminal Charges are Filed

Following the recent arrest of two members of an online group that promotes practical jokes, fewer onlookers apparently may be finding the Pranknet antics funny. Although the international group allegedly orchestrates its pranks over the telephone, members still can cause serious damage by talking strangers into acts of vandalism and…

Sep 17, 2009 11:19 PM CDT

Sears Ends $10 ‘Spyware’ Program for Getting Customer Computer Info

The Federal Trade Commission has approved a final consent decree concerning what Ars Technica terms a “spyware” program maintained by a retailing giant to obtain information from its customers about their computer use. In exchange for a $10 payment, customers and Sears and Kmart, which are owned by the same…

Sep 14, 2009 11:15 PM CDT

7 Doctors and Nurses Suspended for Playing Facebook Photo Game at Work

Seven doctors and nurses who apparently didn’t have enough to do while working overnight in a hospital emergency department last month reportedly decided to play a popular Facebook game. Now officials say their participation in the “lying down game,” in which participants post photos of themselves lying down flat, with…

Sep 10, 2009 6:05 PM CDT

Hackers Routinely Sell E-Mail Passwords With Virtual Impunity, WaPo Reports

Think you’re personal e-mail’s secure? Think again. Hackers can obtain virtually anyone’s password, experts say, and the penalties for doing so, in the rare cases that are prosecuted, ordinarily provide little or no protection, according to the Washington Post. Those who wish to obtain someone else’s e-mail password can purchase…

Sep 8, 2009 5:44 PM CDT

Pirate Bay Tweet Puts Tenenbaum on Defensive Again in RIAA Case

Just when it might have seemed reasonable to expect a lull in ongoing coverage of the high-profile music file-sharing case of graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, a new issue has surfaced. Not satisfied with a $675,000 verdict that it won at trial in the case in July, the Recording Industry Association…

Sep 4, 2009 12:26 AM CDT

Berkeley Profs Team Up to Launch New Cyberlaw Cases Blog

Two academics at the University of California at Berkeley are teaming up to launch a new law blog that will feature what they consider the top 10 pending cases in the United States concerning Internet, software and database issues. Their Cyberlaw Cases blog will be unique says Jason Schultz in…

Sep 3, 2009 10:52 PM CDT

Judge Overturns Conviction of Lori Drew in Cyberbullying Case

A federal judge has overturned the misdemeanor conviction of a Missouri mother accused of helping to drive a neighboring teen to suicide by posing as a teenage boy who wooed then rejected the girl on MySpace. U.S. District Judge George Wu ruled Friday in the case of Lori Drew that…

Aug 31, 2009 12:02 PM CDT

Accused Record ID Theft Mastermind to Plead Guilty in 2 Earlier Cases, Feds Say

A 28-year-old Florida resident accused of masterminding what authorities say is the largest-ever computer hacking and identity theft case is expected to plead guilty in two earlier cyberfraud conspiracy cases, prosecutors say. Paperwork filed in federal court in Boston today states that Albert Gonzalez will plead guilty by Sept. 11…

Aug 28, 2009 8:15 PM CDT

Well-Known Firm Argues Ex-Con’s Pro Se Case Over Web Privacy

A federal judge today began hearing arguments in a constitutional case initially brought pro se by a Georgia sex offender over a new state law requiring him to provide his Internet account information and passwords to authorities. Terrence White is now represented by an Atlanta law firm, Bondurant Mixson &…

Aug 25, 2009 9:58 PM CDT

New Wikipedia Policy: Editors Must OK Changes to Bios of Living People

Back in the day, it may have been more acceptable to allow virtually anyone to make changes to a Wikipedia entry and simply correct it, after the fact, if the new information was wrong. But the open-source online encyclopedia is now routinely relied on as a source of information by…

Aug 25, 2009 6:20 PM CDT