'Rows ahead' over information law
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The information watchdog predicts "scraps" with central government over the new freedom of information laws.
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Legal dispute over storage patent is about to get going in earnest, part of a wider skirmish over security software turf.
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A controversial new law that could signal trouble ahead for independent programmers is delayed again.
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Some court cases will soon be heard online in Australia, with judges receiving lawyers' arguments by email, a state minister said Sunday.
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Negotiations for a trade agreement between the U.S. and Australia are raising a ruckus among Aussie digital rights activists. At issue is a plan to enact a law there modeled on the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act. By Patrick Gray.
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(InfoWorld) - Obtaining private records under false pretenses is bad, but some in the technology industry say it happens all the time and wonder whether new federal legislation will curb "pretexting." Pretexting came up in a discussion about tech industry legislation at the Tech Policy Forum Tuesday in San Jose, California. State charges are pending in San Jose against people charged inÂ the pretexting scandal at Hewlett-Packard (HP). Four people, including ousted HP Chairman Patricia Dunn,Â were charged in October 2006 for their part in a scheme to identify leaks to media by HP directors by obtaining their phone records and those of some reporters. Agents working on behalf of HP allegedly tricked phone companies into divulging people's phone records by pretending to be them. In the wake of the HP pretexting scandal, which promptedÂ a House subcommittee to call HP executives and others to testify, Congress passed federal legislation signed by President George Bush in JanuaryÂ outlawing pretexting. But a new bill has been introduced in the current session of Congress to direct the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to enforce the ban on pretexting. The FTC already enforces a ban on pretexting, but it is narrowly defined, said Mozelle Thompson, a consultant who once served as an FTC commissioner. "It only covers pretexting for the purpose of identity theft, and you have to show a direct harm to a consumer" because of it, Thompson said at the summit. Although some speakers at the summit criticized phone companies for not protecting call records well enough, another wondered how pretexting could be stopped. "This has been happening for years," said Shari Steele, president of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The latest bill, co-authored by Representatives Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, and Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, is a complement to the earlier pretexting ban. The FTC should enforce the pretexting ban because it has more expertise and interest in prosecuting identity theft cases than local prosecutors, a spokeswoman for Inslee said. The two introduced their bill in 2006, but it never came up for a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.
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Proposed legislation in some European nations has been accused of expanding too far beyond an EU directive and threatening citizens' privacy.
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The UK could "sleepwalk into a surveillance society" as a result of ID cards, the Information commissioner has warned. Send us your views.
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Blog: Advocacy group intends to argue against judge's decision to force companies to turn over RAM information. Group fears digital phone conversations may not longer be private.
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The Patents (Third) Amendment Bill, which might be tabled in Parliament during the coming winter session, is a Bill which will pave the way for a new patent law.
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Companies that help businesses track and search their e-mails and other electronic data are experiencing a surge of interest in the wake of federal rule changes that clarify requirements to produce such evidence in lawsuits.
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The UK music industry is set to launch legal action against people who download music from the internet.
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Net law professor Michael Geist takes a look at how open access is reshaping the way research becomes available.
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Justices are expected to hear arguments Tuesday in a case that could have broad implications for the tech industry.
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Blog: A wireless company executive warns Congress against new laws that would control the way wireless companies handle their subscribers' personal information, saying they'd be out of date "as soon as the ink is dry."
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WASHINGTON _ Slowly but surely, the government is getting Googled.  Two years ago, the Google staff in Washington was one person _ Alan Davidson, an expert in technology law.
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perspective Attorney Eric J. Sinrod explains the ramifications of a recent case on the future of open-source software.