Information Technology Leader » Policy & Law

Journalist recovers video of his arrest after police deleted it

Alan Fackler — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:50:00 +0000

The officer who arrested Carlos Miller A Miami journalist has recovered video of police officers arresting him after it was deleted from his camera. The man was covering a police effort to evict Occupy Miami protestors[......]

Whatever happened to that "six strikes" P2P notice system? It’s coming soon

author — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:25:00 +0000

You get five more Whatever happened to the "six strikes" system that was to help civilize the American Internet? Three years ago, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gave up its mass litigation strategy of targeting tens of thousands of alleged file-swappers[......]

Torrent search engine BTJunkie voluntarily shuts down

Michael Brown — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:38:00 +0000

Torrent search engine BTjunkie is the latest file-sharing service to fall on its sword in the wake of the Megaupload sting . [......]

A license to link? Lowe’s has one

author — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:00:15 +0000

In the course of building a large framed mirror last month—a process which cemented my belief that doing pro-quality wood staining is a black art best left to necromancers—I visited the website for hardware giant Lowe's . [......]

Over 3 years later, "deleted" Facebook photos are still online

Ken Feinstein — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Some photos just don't need to see the light of the next day. Facebook is still working on deleting photos from its servers in a timely manner nearly three years after Ars first brought attention to the topic . The company admitted on Friday that its older systems for storing uploaded content "did not always delete images from content delivery networks in a reasonable period of time even though they were immediately removed from the site," but said it's currently finishing up a newer system that makes the process much quicker. [......]

In annual tradition, advertisers cowed by NFL trademark bullying

author — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:00:20 +0000

HH Gregg advertisement Every year in late January or early February, two teams take to the field to play a football game that's watched by tens of millions of Americans. And every year, businesses launch ad campaigns to sell a variety of products—televisions, pizzas, soda—in conjunction with the game. And the overwhelming majority of these businesses avoid calling it the "Super Bowl." Why[......]

Indiana backing away from bill allowing creation "science" into classrooms

Loyd Case — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:20:00 +0000

Earlier this week, we reported on efforts by an Indiana state legislator who was interested in getting creationism inserted into the state's science classrooms. He managed to get a modified bill , one that was less sectarian but still overtly promoted religion, passed by the state's Senate[......]

FDA whistleblowers say government retaliated with spyware

Seamus Bellamy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:46:00 +0000

A group of former FDA scientists who spoke out against the agency's allegedly flawed device-approval process are suing the feds for intercepting Gmail and Yahoo Mail messages by installing spy programs on their work computers. Although the computers were owned by the government, the plaintiffs say they were explicitly granted the right to use them for personal purposes. Back in January 2009, nine scientists known as the "FDA Nine" anonymously wrote to the leader of then President-elect Barack Obama's transition team "pleading with him to restructure the agency," the Wall Street Journal reported at the time[......]

Apple updates iBooks Author EULA to clarify restriction on format, not content

Michael Brown — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:35:00 +0000

Apple updated iBooks Author to version 1.0.1 on Friday afternoon, the only change being an update to the software's controversial end user license agreement. The updated EULA now specifically only applies distribution restrictions to the interactive .ibooks format files generated by the app. [......]

"I was punched in the face": Kim Dotcom says police used excessive force in raid

Nathan Edwards — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:35:48 +0000

Kim Dotcom testifying in court Thursday Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom (read our in-depth profile ) was denied bail on Thursday by a New Zealand court. Dotcom insisted that he had no desire to flee the country and merely wanted to be with his pregnant wife and their three young children. [......]