For the two rivals, the appeals court will be weighing the ultimate weapon in these patent conflicts -- whether, and under what circumstances, a company should be barred from selling products found to have infringed a competitor's patent rights, the most damaging blow in the hypercompetitive technology markets. The answer could reshape patent law for years to come, particularly for products such as smartphones loaded with different patented technologies.

"I think it is extremely important," said Mark Lemley, a Stanford University law professor and leading tech law scholar. "It could fundamentally change the way the patent system works in the (technology) industries." - Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News

We are writing to you as free speech and media freedom organisations from around the world to express our strong concern over the response of the US government to the actions of whistleblower Edward Snowden. We urge you to take immediate action to protect whistleblowers and journalists....

Statements by the State Department that Snowden is not a whistleblower simply because of the nature of the charges against him flatly contradict international standards on freedom of expression and information. Attempts to obstruct Snowden’s freedom of movement, his right to seek asylum, including the revocation of his passport, and other forms of retaliation also violate US obligations under international law. - Article 19

In the meantime, if you've been using the Windows version of TBB recently on hidden services servers, it's a pretty safe bet that your particular network address is now in the hands of the FBI. This, in turn, means that it's only a matter of time and effort for your real-world address to be revealed as well.

This is a classic privacy dilemma. On the one hand, child abusers may soon find themselves facing jail time. On the other hand, everyone who used hidden services for a legitimate purpose, say tracking human rights abuses in the Syria civil war, have also had their data collected. The only thing we can say for certain is that Tor's reputation, which had been as the Gold-standard of Internet anonymity, has been tarnished. - Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet

Marlinspike told CNET that he thinks the NSA is interested in hiring hackers because they tend to have an approach to critical thinking that produces an unusual mindset. Hackers are people, he said, who are "not always abiding by the letter of the law, but are not exactly harmful, either."

"The problem is that he's asking us to participate in the destruction of the zone where hackers exist," Marlinspike said. - Seth Rosenblatt, CNET

Just imagine printing a custom laptop case, slapping in some totally modular parts, and rocking out on your new laptop 3 minutes later. - MakerBot

Marc was interviewed about his situation by Corporate Counsel. Marc is no lawyer or patent expert (although he is a very funny comedian), but his understanding of the situation is dead on. - Matt Levy, Patent Progress

We believe that the web succeeds through community-developed innovation. VP8 brings that principle to video: a codec that anyone can use and build upon. The WebM Project’s next-generation video codec, VP9, is already available and we look forward to continuing our work with the broader community to help video on the open web keep getting better, faster. - Max Frost, WebM Open Media Project

We are computer security experts who have dedicated our careers to maintaining the safety and integrity of information technology systems in the service of consumers, businesses, and governments worldwide. We are also coders, developers, engineers, explorers, and users of digital technologies who care deeply about protecting those who engage in computer security research and science. We write to urge you to support HR 2454: “Aaron’s law.” ...

We recognize that there are bad actors in the world; individuals, groups, corporations, and nations that wish to use technology to manipulate, lie, cheat, and steal. We have no desire to eliminate the ability for real crimes to be investigated and criminals judged with due process. Yet while the CFAA has a core purpose of criminalizing harmful computer intrusions that we strongly support, the law has lost its way. It now poses an increasing threat to security research. In short, applied computer security research requires experimenting with computer systems. The CFAA, due to outdated wording, makes it unlawful to access a computer system “without authorization” or “in excess of authorization.” This vague wording, while not misused in the early days of the statute, has recently allowed the Department of Justice and companies litigating under the civil enforcement provision of the law to push an expansive definition that, if applied, would make much of the best work in computer security research a serious federal crime, along with criminalizing ordinary behavior like violating terms of service. - Mark M. Jaycox, EFF

[PJ: The detail that takes my breath away is that you are allowed by law in every state I have ever lived in and every state I have ever researched to refuse medical attention. Your body belongs to you, and forcing medical attention on you is a kind of invasion of your fundamental right to be left alone, an assault just as much as if someone mugs you to get your wallet.] - John Kass, Chicago Tribune

Earlier this year, a federal court said that if law enforcement agencies wanted to use NSA information in court, they had to say so beforehand and give the defendant a chance to contest the legality of the surveillance. - Brian Fung, Washington Post

The researchers presented their system on Saturday at the Def Con hacker conference and have since released a paper describing their method as well as code for others to use to develop their own system. - Kim Zetter, Wired

Until recently, its leading proponent was Nixon, who mused on the matter in a meeting in the Oval Office the day after The Times published the first installment of its reports on the Pentagon Papers. “That’s treasonable,” he said to an aide, “due to the fact that it’s aid to the enemy and it’s a release of classified documents.”

In “Fighting for the Press,” a new book about the case, James C. Goodale, who was general counsel of The New York Times Company at the time, said President Obama has followed in Nixon’s footsteps.

“Obama apparently cannot distinguish between communicating information to the enemy and communicating information to the press,” Mr. Goodale wrote. “The former is espionage, the latter is not.” - Adam Liptak, N.Y.Times

[PJ: He may not have a background in journalism, but it's clear he understands what journalism is and what it's for.] - Washington Post

WHO IS AFFECTED: In principle, all users of all Tor Browser Bundles earlier than the above versions are vulnerable. But in practice, it appears that only Windows users with vulnerable Firefox versions were actually exploitable by this attack.

(If you're not sure what version you have, click on "Help -> About Torbrowser" and make sure it says Firefox 17.0.7. - tor-announce

Similarly, others have already started to speak out against the practice. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a statement.

"When law enforcement agents and prosecutors conceal the role of intelligence surveillance in criminal investigations, they violate the constitutional rights of the accused and insulate controversial intelligence programs from judicial review," wrote ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer. "Effectively, these intelligence programs are placed beyond the reach of the Constitution, where they develop and expand without any court ever weighing in on their lawfulness. This is inappropriate, dangerous, and contrary to the rule of law." - ars technica