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The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

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Senate Intel Committee Blocks Former Staffer From Talking To Press About Oversight Process | 428 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
request for "mobile" theme
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, June 15 2013 @ 07:06 PM EDT
could you put a link at the top of the main page that takes you down to the
newspicks on the page? As it is, you have to scroll past a lot of old articles
to find the new newspicks articles

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

..and Happy_Birthday_to_You copyright litigaton started... ;o)
Authored by: arnt on Saturday, June 15 2013 @ 07:59 PM EDT
.. http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Samsung v. Apple
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, June 15 2013 @ 08:42 PM EDT
For those who aren't too fussed about a Brand Name,
or want a plague on both their houses, there's always

A Free Market

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrants
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, June 15 2013 @ 10:53 PM EDT
National Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too.

The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst deciding that."

If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

Declan McCullagh , CNET

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Beware Trading Privacy for Convenience
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, June 15 2013 @ 11:42 PM EDT
The rapid adoption of electronic payments may render cash obsolete in our lifetimes. The new payment methods might be more convenient, yet every transaction will be tied back to us.
...
- law enforcement in the U.S. doesn't need a warrant for many digital searches; a simple subpoena will do. This applies to cell-phone location data, information you store in the cloud, you name it.
...
The companies contending to win our trust to manage our digital identities all seem to have complementary (or competing) business models that breach that trust by selling our data.
Harvard Business Review

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Game of Thrones - updated
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, June 15 2013 @ 11:47 PM EDT
You Have No Control Over Security on the Feudal Internet
Bruce Schneier, Harvard Business Review

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Mensch - I had to look that up
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, June 16 2013 @ 12:40 AM EDT

I've only ever come across the term once before. A novel series called The Death Gate Cycle.

The "gods" referred to the "mortal" races (human, dwarf, elf) as Mensch... all the while treating them more like subjects (willing or not).

And now I find out it's a real word meaning:

    a person of honor and integrity

RAS

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Retired Federal Judge: Your Faith In Secret Surveillance Court Is Dramatically Misplaced
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Sunday, June 16 2013 @ 01:46 PM EDT
Link

Gertner, now a professor at Harvard Law School who teaches criminal law and criminal procedure, was a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer before being confirmed to the federal bench in 1993. In an interview with ThinkProgress, Gertner explained that the selection process for the secret national security court formed in 1978 is more “anointment” than appointment, with the Chief Justice of the United States — now John G. Roberts — selecting from a pool of already-conservative federal judges those he thinks are most suited to decide national security cases in secret:

It’s an anointment process. It’s not a selection process. But you know, it’s not boat rockers. So you have a [federal] bench which is way more conservative than before. This is a subset of that. And it’s a subset of that who are operating under privacy, confidentiality, and national security. To suggest that there is meaningful review it seems to me is an illusion.

...

Gertner urged the audience to be skeptical about the court’s oversight, both because of its severely conservative make-up, and its secrecy. The judge whose order was leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was Judge Roger Vinson, who authored the error-riddled federal court decision striking down the Affordable Care Act that even his fellow conservatives rejected.

---

You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Please PJ can Groklaw cover this - MS + Nokia claim open source is anti-competitive!
Authored by: TiddlyPom on Sunday, June 16 2013 @ 05:50 PM EDT
Unbelievable!

Microsoft and Nokia are claiming that Google are licensing Android 'below cost' (it's open source for goodness sake!) and want an investigation on anti-competitive grounds.

---
Support Software Freedom - use GPL licenced software like Linux and LibreOffice instead of proprietary software like Microsoft Windows/Office or Apple OS/X

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Off topic thread
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, June 16 2013 @ 09:28 PM EDT
I'm not sure where else to put this, so Off Topic it is.

After seeing a post in the news sidebar the other day, I
followed the link to IPWatchdog and had a somewhat
frustrating discussion there regarding the "computer +
software = new machine" doctrine.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2013/06/12/did-the-ptab-just-kill-
software-patents/
I'm posting under the name 'Travis'. I apologise to anyone
reading it if I didn't make my arguments as strongly or as
eloquently as I could - I'm a software engineer, not a
lawyer - but it was difficult not to devolve into ad
hominems.

Eventually, I said:
“Isn’t the implication then that software is only patent
eligible (under the concept of creating/improving a machine)
if it is installed?”

To which Gene Quinn replied:
Finally you have figured it out! Thank GOD!
Yes, software is only patent eligible if it is loaded onto a
machine. Whether that is the right test, the wrong test, or
just plain stupid… that is the law.


This seems to be a completely arbitrary and useless
distinction to me, which ignores the practical aspect that
installation is merely a distribution choice rather than a
practical part of the invention. Is this how other folks
interpret the law (as it currently stands)?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Link to Microsoft's forged video testimony
Authored by: Superbowl H5N1 on Monday, June 17 2013 @ 04:51 AM EDT

Back in the 1990's Edward Felten made a video demonstration (I think Exhibit 1202 from USA v Microsoft) showing how to remove MSIE from Windows, despite Microsoft's claim to the contrary.

http://www.justice.go v/atr/cases/f213400/213460.htm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/02 /04/allchin_heads_for_video_remix/

Microsoft responded by forging a video purporting to show how removing MSIE harmed Windows. Microsoft got called out on their forgery. Where can the forged video testimony be found as well as the most official slam of that testimony?

---
Here's where you can get the computer RMS uses:
http://freedomincluded.com/

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Open source game console, ouya
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 17 2013 @ 01:16 PM EDT
This may be old news to some but the ouya is set to ship late June. It has a tegra 3 running android and is being billed as an open console.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

This Man Is Either The World's Biggest Patent Troll Or A Champion Of Innovation
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 17 2013 @ 05:28 PM EDT
Who is Nathan Myhrvold

This Man Is Either The World's Biggest Patent Troll Or A Champion Of Innovation

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Former Microsoft manager wants to create 'Starbucks of Pot'
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 17 2013 @ 05:53 PM EDT
Shively's ambitions — "We are Big Marijuana," he proclaimed — don't merely raise questions about what marijuana legalization might look like in the long run and whether large corporations will come to dominate.

Former Microsoft manager wants to create 'Starbucks of Pot'

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Businesses don't understand the European Data Protection law?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 02:29 AM EDT
`Technology resellers, distributors and service providers need to be ready for the freshly proposed European Data Protection law, IDC has said .. when the EU data protection regulation comes in - you will get fined, you will get put into jail if you breach it."'

"As a report from consultancy firm London Economics last month showed, many British businesses, particularly the smaller ones, don't really understand the main provisions of the law. Those businesses will appreciate channel partners that can help advise them on whether the products and services they're using are compliant with the new directives." link

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Appeal court upholds ruling declaring man “vexatious litigant”
Authored by: JamesK on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 10:37 AM EDT
William Malamas, 75, has sued dozens of parties in the past 25 years. A judge upheld a ruling naming him a “vexatious litigant” Monday.

---
The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Onion Pi for secure anonymous browsing
Authored by: tiger99 on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 12:55 PM EDT
Link

Original link which I saw on The H.

I don't know if this is good enough to alleviate every possible concern about abuse of power by the authorities, but it certainly must help, and isn't expensive or complex.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

ARM Notebooks
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 01:17 PM EDT

I think I'm in the market for a new notebook. What I'd really like is an ARM
powered unit.

Suggestions?

Wayne
http://madhatter.ca

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Really? Bum Ethernet Cable Scrubs Rocket Launch. Sigh
Authored by: JamesK on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 01:20 PM EDT
The re’s a reason “rocket science” is a cliche. It’s really, really hard to pull off a launch, and veteran rocket scientists barely raise an eyebrow when it doesn’t happen.

---
The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Senate Intel Committee Blocks Former Staffer From Talking To Press About Oversight Process
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 01:27 PM EDT
Link

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has taken the unusual step of actively blocking a former committee aide from talking to TPM about congressional oversight of the intelligence community. At issue isn’t classified sources and methods of intelligence gathering but general information about how the committee functions — and how it should function. The committee’s refusal to allow former general counsel Vicki Divoll to disclose unclassified information to a reporter was the first and only time it has sought to block her from making public comments, based on her experience as one of its most senior aides, since she left Capitol Hill in 2003.

---

You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Italian Court of Cassation - Amanda Knox
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 04:54 PM EDT

Having now learned of freedom from the press thanks to Groklaw, I could not accept news accounts/opinions of recent developments when they would not point their viewers/listners/readers to real documents. I bow down to you talking heads, without whom I would be los..... NOT!

Anyway, I was curious to know what the Italian Court of Cassation really said so I looked for and found a pdf of the document, which I accept as a true copy of the original (until any other belief enters my mind).

So without further blah blah..., if anyone else is interested, and without my two cents, I found this at www.truejustice.org.

I doubt that I share the views/opinions of the blogger, but at least they have the courage to post real documents. I hope there is a good english translation soon.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Google challenges U.S. gag order, citing First Amendment
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 07:55 PM EDT
Link

Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it’s forced to give the government.

The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic.

---

You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

MySQL man pages have been relicensed
Authored by: jesse on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 08:58 PM EDT
https://blog.mariadb.org/mysql-man-pages-silently-relicensed-away-from-gpl/

And are no longer generally available for newer releases.

Good thing MariaDB is taking over.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Bank of America whistle-blower’s bombshell: “We were told to lie”
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Tuesday, June 18 2013 @ 09:49 PM EDT
Link

Bank of America’s mortgage servicing unit systematically lied to homeowners, fraudulently denied loan modifications, and paid their staff bonuses for deliberately pushing people into foreclosure: Yes, these allegations were suspected by any homeowner who ever had to deal with the bank to try to get a loan modification – but now they come from six former employees and one contractor, whose sworn statements were added last week to a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts.

---

You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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