Internet Law

Lawmaker: Feds Didn’t Spot Cyber-Attack

Saying that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t notice for months that its computer system had been attacked by hackers, a Congressman who works closely with the department is now seeking a new government investigation—and blaming the contractor in charge of the system for lax oversight. Meanwhile, the FBI reportedly…

Sep 24, 2007 7:12 PM CDT

Client’s YouTube Lawyer Video Banned

A disgruntled client can’t post video clips on YouTube complaining about his lawyer’s allegedly bad work and big bills, a Canadian judge has ruled. Superior Court Justice William Jenkins also said that client Stan Hall can’t post any further videos about lawyer Paul Ledroit without court permission, reports the London…

Sep 10, 2007 9:45 PM CDT

Nursing Homes Sue Over PI Firm’s Ad

A personal injury law firm has been sued by the owners of a nursing home chain prominently mentioned in the law firm’s Web site advertising. Genesis Healthcare Corp. contends McHugh Fuller Law Group misappropriated its trademark and logo by including these brands on a Web page seeking plaintiffs interested in…

Sep 7, 2007 5:27 PM CDT

New Practice Area: Data Security

An epidemic of computer laptop thefts has helped launch a new area of legal practice: data security. Between 600,000 and 1.5 million laptops are stolen annually, and an increasing number of lawsuits are being filed over the loss of large amounts of sensitive data that often results. Meanwhile, as new…

Sep 7, 2007 3:50 PM CDT

First ID Theft Case Over PC File-Sharing?

In what may be the first prosecution of its kind, a Seattle man has been arrested for allegedly using a file-sharing program to steal tax returns, financial aid applications and other sensitive information from individual computer hard drives. Gregory Kopiloff allegedly used Limewire to get personal information, stealing his victims’…

Sep 6, 2007 9:27 PM CDT

Police Target Craigslist Prostitution Ads

Vice squads are targeting prostitutes and johns trying to hook up through Craigslist.org, the Web site that allows users to post ads. Police say prostitutes running online ads favor Craigslist, which on just one day had some 9,000 new listings for erotic services in the New York area, the New…

Sep 5, 2007 5:14 PM CDT

Microsoft Trial Win a Legislative Loss?

A stunning $1.52 billion verdict against Microsoft Corp. in a patent case earlier this month was the impetus for planned changes in U.S. patent law. But now that the computer megalith has succeeded in getting the federal jury verdict overturned, its courtroom win is likely to mean a legislative loss.…

Sep 5, 2007 3:58 PM CDT

Google Ad Suit Settled

A blinds and wallpaper company says American Airlines has a better chance of making its trademark infringement claim fly against Google. American Blind and Wallpaper Factory has settled a declaratory judgment suit brought by Google posing an unusual legal question: whether a search engine violates a company’s trademark by allowing…

Sep 5, 2007 11:10 AM CDT

Tax Protest Site Wins Reprieve

A tax protest Web site has won a temporary reprieve from an order to turn over identifying information about people who accessed certain online information. The order would have required givemeliberty.org to give the government information about people who learned how to keep the federal government from withholding taxes from…

Sep 4, 2007 3:46 PM CDT

Watch Out, UK Wireless Thieves

Those who see nothing wrong with piggybacking on someone else’s wireless Internet service may want to think twice about doing so in and around London. British authorities have arrested a 39-year-old man seen using his laptop on the street, charging him with what the London Times describes as suspicion of…

Aug 23, 2007 4:47 PM CDT

State AGs Seek Web Protections

State attorneys general from across the nation are pushing for new laws and greater controls to make social networking Web sites safer for children. Leading the 50-member group are Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). They say sites such…

Aug 22, 2007 6:15 PM CDT

Cost of Biggest Data Breach: $256 Million

It will cost at least $256 million to correct a massive data breach involving the theft of computerized information about 45 million credit and debit cards. Reportedly the biggest such security breach ever to occur in the U.S., the yearlong theft of computer data from TJX Cos., based in Framingham,…

Aug 15, 2007 6:31 PM CDT

Tale of 2 Cities: Tampa Porn Dorm Legal, But Miami’s Isn’t

A so-called porn dorm in Tampa, in which women live and participate in sexual activities that are videotaped and publicized over the Internet, is apparently legal. But that doesn’t mean that a comparable business—featuring buffed-up young men who are paid $1,200 plus room and board to live in a house…

Aug 15, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

Quelle Crime! Teen Held for Potter Book Posted en Français

A 16-year-old has been arrested and briefly jailed for allegedly translating the entire 759-page book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, into French and posting it on the Internet within days of its July 21 release. The teen, a high school student from Aix-en-Provence in southern France, is not named…

Aug 8, 2007 7:27 PM CDT

Google Maps Make Life Less Private

It isn’t illegal. But an ambitious Google Inc. project to map metropolitan areas throughout the country is reducing the limited amount of privacy that used to apply, as a practical matter, on public streets. “The law allows you to take a picture of anything you can see as long as…

Aug 7, 2007 6:50 PM CDT