Wired details a DMCA dispute that is pitting ISP Verio against veteran thing.net communications from New York, a hybrid non-profit (serving the arts community) and for-profit telecom service. Thing.net hosted a site that lampooned Dow Chemical, using the company's trademark, resulting in the termination of their service by Verio.

Yahoo and NCR (founded in 1884 as National Cash Register Company) are battling over computer patents and associated licensing fees in the District Court in San Francisco. On December 13, Yahoo filed suit against NCR (4:02-cv-05813, Yahoo! Inc. v. NCR Corporation
Saundra Brown Armstrong, presiding) claiming it is not infringing NCR's patents.

This New York Times article reports on the anticipated trail in the Western District of Washington that pits the 50 person Lindows.com against the Microsoft behemoth in an effort to revoke the Windows trademark and protect against Microsoft's claims of copyright infringement.

Judge John C. Coughenour's March 15, 2002 30 page ruling in this ongoing battle between the two companies stated "..the Court finds that Lindows.com has met its burden of proof in rebutting the validity of the Windows trademark..." To review the text of pre-trail documents, court rulings and press on this case, you can visit this Lindow's page.

Washington state and telecom provider Verizon are involved in a lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court Western District of Washington, over the collection and distribution of customer data to third parties for marketing purposes. The state's position is that customer privacy should prevail over sale of their data, while Verizon is pushing the FCC to prevent other state AG's from regulating use of customer data. See this article for more background.

On December 26, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor issued an order granting a temporary stay in DVD Copy Control Association v. Matthew Pavlovich (S 100609), pending receipt of further documentation relevant to the case. The DVD Copy Control Association has been fighting a three-year long battle to protect the Content Scramble System (CSS), a program that prevents users from accessing DVD content on "unauthorized devices." The CSS is covered under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). See the California Supreme Court decision in Pavlovich, filed November 25, 2002, here.

This Wired article by the co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, Lauren Weinstein, argues against the merits of internet filters in favor of education and personal responsibility.

A new Pew Internet and American Life report released today indicates that the Internet has "become a mainstream information tool." The 60% of Americans who have access to the Web rely on it as a primary information resource. They use it routinely to locate data from local, state and federal government agencies, to answer health related questions, to purchase products, and to read the news.

JD's Blog mentioned a new site, Protect Fair Use, that is championing the right to make backup copies of DVDs. The site provides background on the copyright law as it applies to digital media, links to related pending legislation as well as to the DMCA, and press about how consumers have been impacted when attempting to exercise their fair use rights.

This website campaign ties in with the litigation involving major movie studies and "321 Studios", a company that distributes DVD copying software. See my previous postings on this copyright conflict here and here.

In this Law.com article, a litigation partner from NY's Paul Weiss reviews what he considers the top 12 IP cases of 2002.

This San Francisco Chronicle article speculates that Yahoo's December 23 announcement that the company has acquired search engine Inktomi will likely result in several important ramifications. Yahoo's tracking and monitoring of its growing population of users will increase, along with associated activities geared toward exponentially increasing the marketing of products and services to already ad-saturated consumers.

Penn State Prof. of Journalsim R. Thomas Berner's commentary on the December 10 Australian Internet libel case highlights concerns voiced elsewhere that ramifications of the case may include blocking access to sites in other countries to avoid more such litigation.

The EU Directive 2001/29/EC (22 May 2001) "on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society" has only two signatories as the deadline for its adoption came, and went. Only Greece and Denmark agreed to implement the EU's counterpart to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), much to the disappointment of software, music and film industry lobbyists who have worked to obtain support for wider implementation of the directive.

This New York Times article focuses on the issues that will confront government agencies in 2003 as they work to comply with the requirements of the new E-Government Act. The act has the dual purpose of creating comprehensive, user-friendly portals to government documents that are currently widely dispersed among various agencies, along with providing a means by which citizens can make public comments on what data should be made available. However, these goals are now clouded by a perception that there is an increased emphasis on using e-gov technology to implement a cohesive means of collecting personal data on citizens.

In this article, Companies Are Divided on Providing Online Data, the New York Times examines the growing trend among corporate websites to limit the amount of financial data they make available to investors, who often make corporate sites their first stop when conducting research. While some companies choose to continue to provide a deep archive of financial reports that stretches back to the 1980s (such as Home Depot), many others are limiting the reports they provide to only one or two years, contending there are numerous free and fee-based sources available to obtain such data.

U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, Southern District of New York, ruled that what he termed "explosive" e-mail messages authored by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Vice Chairman Donald Layton could be used as evidence in the bank's lawsuit against 11 insurance companies over $1 billion in unpaid loan guarantees stemming from the collapse of Enron.

Recent news articles point to a growing controvery over proposed surveillance programs to collect and review personal data generated by daily online transactions by citizens. This New York Times article, Many Tools of Big Brother Are Up and Running, concludes that the foundation for much of the work to conduct widespread surveillance has already been completed, and in large measure, is already in place in the military sector. The article highlights the role of Extensible Markup Language (XML) in facilitating access to data streams across platforms, thereby accelerating the information collection process by programs tasked with such goals, such as the Total Information Awareness Office.

Negative responses continued to reverberated in the press after the White House announcement last week of plans to expand monitoring of Internet usage. Internet News reports that the White House was busy doing damage control over the privacy issues that are at the heart of The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (draft version), the details of which remain fluid as debate about the final report intensifies in anticipation of its release in early 2003.

It remains to seen how, if at all, this December 24, 2002 Notice of Open Meeting from the Federal Register, issued by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security National Infrastructure Advisory Council, on the White House National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, will impact the debate.

Newsday reports that more than half of New Jersey's county clerks are transitioning to e-filing for the processing of deeds and mortgages, resulting in faster turn-around time for documents. The remaining NJ counties are expected to similarly adopt e-filing within the next five years.

Beginning in 2003, the Federal District Court in New Jersey will switch from using snail-mail in favor of faxing documents to "consenting parties" as they transition to the implementation of an e-filing system, according to this law.com article.

Sebastien Paquet, Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science and Operations Research department at Université de Montréal, has published a useful, well documented guide on what he calls "personal knowledge publishing," commonly known as weblogs. Part one of the guide is here, and part two is here. Mr. Paquet reviews the history of weblogs, weblog applications, weblog content and authorship, examples of blogs that effectively communicate topical information, blogs as publishing tools, and pros and cons of the technology.

The Washington Post reported on a municipal issue that could prove to have far reaching consequences for the government's use of e-mail to conduct meetings. Fredericksburg Circuit Court Judge John Whittier Scott Jr. decided that a group of City Council members who used email to communicate about, and reach decisions, concerning critical issues that included development contracts, "violated open meeting laws."

The Library of Congress Copyright Office has a new site for public comments submitted in response to the proposed rulemaking "on exemptions from prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works." The comments were submitted between November 19 and December 18, 2002, and include the individual's name, organization (if provided), a summary of the comment, and the option to view the full-text in PDF or download it via FTP.

Creative Commons, the non-profit organization whose focus is providing workable alternatives to current copyright laws for the digital world, has created a new public domain copyright license for web content. See their press release here,
and read about how the licensing process works from the perspective of an early adopter, pioneering attorney/blogger Denise Howell.

According to this Editor & Publisher article, newspapers are doing a good job of communicating with readers via the web, as they comprise ten of the top twenty highest rated online news sites.

In anticipation of the December 27, 2002 national elections, the Kenyan government is essentially blocking Web access by disabling the country's only Internet backbone service, called Jambonet.

According to a new survey, The Online Content Report (cost $795), web sites are increasingly migrating to fee-based content, and larger numbers of consumers are agreeing to open their wallets to pay the fees. The perspective of this report is not a shifting paradigm in consumer attitude toward pay content sties, but rather the reality that all sectors of web content (including portals, B2B, music, games, movies, etc.) have increasingly adopted fee-based business models in order to survive.

As a followup to my previous posting on the Australian Internet defamation case, this Christian Science Monitor commentary provides a perspective on how the threat of Internet libel litigation by individuals around the world may result in web censorship.

Doug Isenberg of GigaLaw.com reviews how the status quo prevailed this past year in regard to cyberlaw issues, in Congress and the courts.

California is forging ahead with privacy legislation, continuing what has become a pioneering effort to implement consumer protections that include private and public transactions. With Senate Bill 1, the California Financial Information Privacy Act, financial institutions would be required to provide consumers with written opt-in or opt-out privacy forms.

On December 18, the SEC proposed: "the mandatory electronic filing of change of beneficial ownership reports required to be filed by officers, directors and principal security holders under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Web site posting of such reports by issuers with corporate Web sites."

For months there has been talk of the launch of a new government portal, sponsored by OMB, that will allow citizens and businesses to easily locate, and then comment on, new regulations proposed by the federal government. The url of this portal is http://www.regulations.gov, but after many announcements of its impending availability, it remains vaporware.

This is but one of many glitches that have surfaced as agencies attempt to implement the extensive e-government technology plan mandated by President Bush. The status of the plan is critiqued in a new GAO report, Electronic Government: Selection and Implementation of the Office of Management and Budget's 24 Initiatives, released today. Highlights of the report are available here.

See also thispress statement by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the driving force behind the e-gov legislation, in response to the GAO report findings.

The New York Times reported that the Administration plans to widen the scope of government sponsored monitoring of Internet usage as well as the use of surveillance, to counter possible terrorist threats. Further details of such plans are still under development, and would be included in the early 2003 release of the final version of The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (the draft, issued September 2002, is available here).

Strong concerns regarding these plans quickly were voiced by industry and consumers, and InfoWorld reported the same day that Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, denied the statements made in the New York Times article.

See also this PC Magazine article, Bush Cybersecurity Plan Under Fire--Again.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued Standing Order 02-01, Electronic Access to Public Records and Sensitive Information, on October 17, 2002. The document stipulates that effective January 1, 2003, the court "intends to make electronic access to court files available through PACER by imaging documents into the court's computer system."

Bloggers may be well advised to read this Washington Post article on the potential legal ramifications of posting on work related issues, activities, products, services, etc. Blogger John Stanforth's seemingly innocuous reference to a former work project on his personal weblog resulted in a cease and desist order from his old employer.

According to this press release, a new survey indicates that the majority of Internet searching (66%) undertaken by Canadians focuses on obtaining health related data. In addition, such searches are conducted by users on at least a monthly basis. According to Ipsos-Reid, the company that conducted the survey, healthcare consistently ranks as the number one issue of concern in Canada's national polls.

There is evidence of a slow but steady groundswell of citizen concern about, and local government response to, increased online surveillance as a result of the Patriot Act. Wired highlighted the work of a new grassroots organization called the Bill of Rights Defence Committee that is assisting municipalities in the passage of resolutions opposing the Patriot Act and related executive orders. According to the organization, "21 cities, towns, and counties...have already passed resolutions."

Across the Atlantic, there is also growing concern over similar surveillance and data collection efforts focused on UK citizens. See this BBC article for details.

Once popular search engine HotBot has returned with a new look, new features, and new hopes to lure back all those users who abandoned them for Google.

InstantMessagingPlanet.com reports that as a result of acquiring the Israeli company Mirabilis (in 1998) and their ICQ technology, telecom giant AOL has obtained a patent (see the text here) on instant messaging (IM) software. This patent could cause considerable problems for the respective IM apps from Microsoft and Yahoo.

The Total Information Awareness Office (TIA) and its controversial director Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, (remembered by some for his Reagan era Iran Contra involvement), have begun to feel the heat of growing dissent concerning the activities of this project. Personal data about Poindexter has been posted on numerous weblogs (see this example) and discussed in many "mainstream" press articles, such as this one. One consequence of this cumulative criticism of the project has been the removal of biographical data from the TIA site, as noted here by computerbytesman, who has saved cached links to data that was removed.

The Memory Hole reports that the government's Total Information Awareness website has undergone significant changes to the design with which the site was originally launched. Initially, the site looked like this, and included a very prominent graphic of a single eye shining its light onto a globe below. The metaphor was obvious....we are watching the whole world, including you! The current website main page has been redesigned to exclude this graphic, and now presents a clean and simple user interface using text only, with no reference to the now banished "eye in the sky."

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced updates to its website that include new features, content and links as part of their e-gov initiative. Unfortunately, the agency has not made these enhancements in a manner that is readily apparent to users. However, there is an exception to these design problems in the new Independent Inventor Resources Web site that provides clear and direct access to useful brochures and data.

In the December 18, 2002 Federal Register there are proposed changes to sentencing guidelines for United States Courts in response to the Patriot Act and other post 9/11 laws concerning terrorism and national security.

Cryptome.org purchased copies of court documents from the USA v. Elcom ebook copyright case and has made them available at no fee here. A jury found the Russian software company not guilty on December 16, 2002.

See also this News.com article for more details about the decision, as well as the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) press release and archive of case-related links. Also, George Washington University law professor Orin S. Kerr's analysis of the decision is here.

This USA Today article quotes several librarians on their views with regard to the issue of compliance with potential FBI demands for information on patron use of public library Internet access, as required by the Patriot Act.

The FCC issued a press release today with data indicating that broadband usage in the consumer and corporate sectors increased by 27% in the first half of 2002.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court decision in Young v. New Haven Advocate, a case which merits note as it addresses the issues of jurisdiction and Internet libel, the focus of a recent high profile decision in Australia. Stateside, the court determined that two Connecticut newspapers and their staff did not defame a Virginia correctional employee via their publication of articles critical of the employee on the Web.

The High Court of Australia took a very different position on an Internet libel case decided on December 10 (see my posting here) which resulted in a flurry of articles from sources around the world warning of the possibility of web censorship resulting from a potential future wave of such litigation.

This Federal Computer Week article heralds a new direction in comprehensive data mining as a means to dramatically extend information sharing efforts among U.S. and allied military forces. A process called operational net assessment (ONA - please note you have to scroll down the alpha list to find the description) is used to create a knowledge management system that gathers data from millions of documents regardless of the language in which they are published.

This Federal Computer Week article provides commentary and illuminating details on the Total Information Awareness program's technology, objectives, data collection criteria, and funding. Far from being a small blip on the budget radar, the TIA project actually has at its disposal some $240 million in tax payer funds through 2003.

Reuters reports that ICANN announced during their December 15 meeting that there will be new topic/area specific domains added to the roster that includes .com and .org, in 2003.

A number of news sources just reported on a class action suit filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, on October 29, 2002 by Amazon.com customer Gary Gerlinger. The source of the information apparently originates from a 12/11/2002 Form 10Q filing by Borders Group, Inc. The following statement appears in the filing: "The Complaint alleges that the agreement pursuant to which an affiliate of Amazon operates Borders.com as a co-branded site violates federal anti-trust laws, California statutory law and the common law of unjust enrichment. "

The EU Commission issued a press release indicating the importance of setting standards for health related data on the web, as "Europeans access more than 100,000 health websites, making such websites amongst the most frequently used." The Commission recommended the adoption of 6 criteria for such sites: "transparency and honesty, authority, privacy and data protection, updating of information, accountability and accessibility."

For more information on the Commission's strategy concerning health online, see eEurope 2002 eHealth.

The non-profit Center for Democrary & Technology is involved in keeping discussions of digital copyright issues front and center. The organization filed comments with the FCC concerning the escalating controvery over proposed copy protection systems for digital TV broadcasts for coypyright holders. They support the position that there must be a balance of the discretionary rights of consumers to use digitial products and services they have legitimately purchased.

Thousands of comments have been filed with the FCC over Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 02-231. These comments are searchable via the FCC's database here.

As I reported in November, the USPTO has undertaken an ambitious plan to transition to a paperless public access system. However, this new agency announcement indicates that there is now a greater understanding of the tremendous challenges inherent in this project, and the need to ensure that paper copies continue to be available to prevent a data gap.

This New York Times article, New Tools for Domestic Spying, and Qualms, provides important perspective on the increasingly contentious issues associated with domestic surveillance and civil liberties in the post 9/11 world. Data on citizens who use public services such as libraries, and a range of commercial services, such as flight training schools and scuba diving lessons, has been targeted for collection by various agencies, including state Joint Terrorism Task Forces. This data will be added to the controversial Total Information Awareness (TIA) system that is currently under development.

From the press release: "Fourteen scientific and technical information organizations from 10 major science agencies have collaborated to create Science.gov, the "FirstGov for Science" web site. Science.gov is the gateway to reliable information about science and technology from across Federal government organizations."

The High Court of Australia issued a ruling on December 10 in the Internet defamation case Dow Jones and Company v. Gutnick. The case may have global implications for the increasingly wired publishing world. It stipulates that Web publishers of any description (be they huge corporate entities or individual weblogers) can be sued anywhere in the world in which an individual contends the publication is available and has harmed/defamed him/her.

From the CourtExpress.com press release: "Attorneys can now choose from three levels of detail when receiving information on tracked cases. Users have the option to receive the entire docket, only new case activity, or entries that match the keyword they specify."

The Kaiser Family Foundation issued a study, See No Evil: How Internet Filters Affect the Search for Online Health Information. The focus of the study was how the choice of the 'least', 'intermediate' or 'most' restrictive web filtering options available through six high profile systems (8e6, CyberPatrol, N2H2, Smartfilter, Symantec and Websense), impacted access to both pornography and health related information from web sites.

The foundation has made the full-text of the study available in PDF only, but it is broken down into over half a dozen parts. Use this link to access a list of the various portions of the report. In addition, the full-text of the study was published in the December 11, 2002 issue of the Journal of the America Medical Association (subscription req'd), under the title, "Does Pornography-Blocking Software Block Access to Health Information on the Internet?", by Caroline R. Richardson; Paul J. Resnick; Derek L. Hansen; Holly A. Derry; Victoria J. Rideout. JAMA. 2002;288:2887-2894.

According to this new Pew Internet Project report, Online Banking: A Pew Internet Project Data Memo, there has been huge surge in consumer adoption of online banking, with a "164% increase...since early 2000." Approximately 37 million Americans currently perform their banking transactions online.

Thought I would mention what looks to be an interesting conference in London on February 5., 2003: The Politics of Code: Shaping the Future of the Next Internet. Speakers, including Larry Lessig and Esther Dyson will address issues such as privacy, open source, digital rights, id theft, other legal-tech topics.

E-mail is a ubiquitous and well accepted part of the daily work routines of most Americans according to this new report, Email at work, published on December 8, 2002 by the Pew Internet Project. An astounding 98% of employees (57 million Americans) with on-the-job Net access indicate that e-mail is a part of their daily work routine.

The American Library Association provides a guide to key provisions of the E-Government Act that impact public access to government documents. The act was passed by both the House and Senate on November 15, 2002.

References: H.R. 2458, P.L. 107-347, E-Government Act of 2002 (Dec. 17, 2002; 116 Stat. 2899; 72 pages).

This Information Week article reports on the huge advantage recently gained by Sony Corp. in the arena of digital rights management (DRM). Their strong position was established as a result of a licensing agreement with ContentGuard Inc., owner of a significant portfolio of DRM patented technologies.

Bonzi.com is the focus of a recent class action suit that charges the company with directing traffic to the company's web site via the use of deceptive Web banner ads. Examples of these ads are available in this press release on the case here, and the complaint, filed in the Washington State Superior Court, Spokane County, here.

The Poytner Institute school for journalism maintains a range of excellent resources that are of interest to legal researchers. A recent example is their annotated list of government and academic sources for crime statistics.

President Bush signed the Net Radio Act, H.R. 5469, Public Law No: 107-321.
Click here to view previous postings on this topic.

From the press release at Rosettabooks.com: "RosettaBooks LLC, a leading publisher of electronic books, and Random House, Inc., the largest English-language trade book publisher, announced today that they have settled the pending litigation filed by Random House last year over RosettaBooks' publication of e-book editions of several Random House, Inc. titles. With no financial payment being made by either party, both sides agreed to settle their differences by partnering in further developing the e-book market through a collaborative endeavor that will expand both RosettaBooks' already substantial e-book library and the quantity of major Random House, Inc. titles available to consumers as secure electronic downloads."

321 Studios has chosen to play David to Motion Picture Association of America's Goliath in the legal arena. This small company has released a software application for $99.99 that allows purchasers to easily make copies of DVD movies to blank DVDs. The MPA contends that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 prevents 321 Studios from a blatant circumvention of DVD encryption control technology, referred to as CSS (Content Scrambling System). 321 Studios argues fair use allows consumers to legitimately make a backup copy of any DVDs they have purchased for personal use.

President Bush signed into law the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002 (Dec. 4, 2002; 116 Stat. 2766, P.L. 107-317).

For more information about this new Internet domain for children, kids.us, please see NeuStar's (the domain name manager) Proposal for Guidelines and Requirements for the kids.us Second Level Domain.

This SEC press release concerns the agency's joint action (along with the NYSE and NASD) against 5 high profile broker-dealers for violations of e-mail communications retention requirements. The text of the SEC's administrative decision is here, and the companies will collectively pay $8.25 million in fines.

The U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, issued a press release on December 2 stating its plan to implement a new e-filing and case management system in February 2003.

This article by Matt Smith was published on November 27, but took some time before generating what has resulted in continually escalating interest in the activities of the TIA program by the mainstream press, privacy advocacy groups, and alternative web sites. Mr. Smith obtained and posted personal information on TIA program director John Poindexter, including his address, home phone number, price paid for his home, and names of his neighbors (see my related posting on the consequences of this unwelcomed press here).

Patient's increasingly indicate that they want to communicate with their physicians via e-mail. However, there are major impediments to this process, including medical liability issues, patient privacy concerns, and billing considerations. However, according to this press release from the eRisk Working Group for Healthcare, new unified guidelines for physician-patient e-mail are now available that have the approval of the AMA, numerous medical societies and over 70% of the malpractice insurance carriers.

Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School have published a new report on Web censorship: Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China.

From the abstract: "The authors are collecting data on the methods, scope, and depth of selective barriers to Internet access through Chinese networks. Tests from May 2002 through November 2002 indicate at least four distinct and independently operable methods of Internet filtering, with a documentable leap in filtering sophistication beginning in September 2002."

Amnesty International has published a well researched report on the impact of state controls on Internet access to one of world's fasted growing population of users. The report provides a timeline that documents the imposition of various controls and regulations on Web access since its introduction to the public in 1995, and their impact on individuals and the society as a whole.

If you are interested in this issue, I refer you to related work on this topic referenced under my other postings here.

FatWallet.com has taken up the fight against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act with their claim that "a group of national retailers forced FatWallet.com to remove Day After Thanksgiving sales information from its site. In letters sent to FatWallet, each retailer claimed that the Copyright Act gives it a monopoly over this price data."