Larry Downes writes: I’m starting to feel like the only person who thinks the Google Books settlement with authors and publishers is a good deal. One voice that seems not to be heard, however, over the din of Google competitors, panicky law professors, and regulators who wouldn’t know a workable solution to a copyright problem…
D.C. Circuit Examines Warrantless GPS Surveillance
Mike Scarcella writes: When federal authorities got a warrant to install an electronic tracking device to track a drug suspect, agents acted in an “abundance of caution,” a federal prosecutor said today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where the government is defending its ability to secretly follow suspects without judicial…
Google Adds Location History to Latitude: Feature Request, or Strategic Rollout?
Michael Zimmer writes: When Google launched Google Latitude 9 months ago, they took steps to ensure users’ locational privacy was protected. Among the most important privacy-protecting features was the fact that Google didn’t keep a log of user locations on its servers; only the most recent locational ping was stored. Not even law enforcement could…
David Irving Speaks About Hack Attack
Thomas Francis reports: In a brief telephone conversation this afternoon, Nazi historian David Irving confirmed that his websites and private email account were attacked by hackers opposed to his writings of World War II. He told me that he’s been in contact with the FBI in hopes of bringing the hackers to justice. “We’re asking…