Tuesday, September 24, 2013, by Timothy McKeever In March, a post on this blog reported on the story of Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed, who, at that time, had created a fully functional lower receiver for an AR-15 assault rifle using a 3-D printer. That article discussed the possible need for new regulation to address …
Tuesday, September 24, 2013, by Tony Lucas In a tweet, nearly two weeks ago, Twitter announced publicly that it had confidentially submitted IPO registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The tweet reignited a debate over the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, signed by the President Obama last April. However, Twitter is …
Thursday, September 19, 2013, by Christian Landreth Excitement surrounding the September 20, 2013 release of the iPhone 5s has been somewhat tempered by privacy concerns related to Apple’s new Touch ID technology. Touch ID is a security feature that “uses a laser cut sapphire crystal, together with the capacitive touch sensor, to take a high-resolution …
Thursday, September 19, 2013, by Gabriel Kussin The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Google, the largest search tool on the internet, can be sued for violations of the U.S. Wiretap Act after inadvertently collecting information from unencrypted wireless networks from its Street View camera cars. In affirming the Northern District Court of …
Tuesday, September 17, 2013, by Stella Kreilkamp In late August, New Jersey governor Chris Christie signed a social media privacy law, which goes into effect December 1, 2013. New Jersey is the twelfth state to do so, along with Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Washington. Social media privacy …
Tuesday, September 17, 2013, by Matthew Henry Article One, Section 8 of the United States Constitution states that Congress has the power “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The number of patents awarded in …
Tuesday, September 17, 2013, by Ikee Gardner The U.S. Secret Service – responsible for protecting the safety of the President, Vice President, their families, and various other distinguished visitors to the United States – is usually the subject of news stories concerning its noteworthy investigative operations. Offering thorough security and protection to prominent politicians and …
Thursday, September 12, 2013, by David Fitzgerald US District Judge Richard Seeborg approved a settlement last week between Facebook and 614,000 members of a class action suit originally filed in 2011. The crux of the lawsuit stemmed from Facebook’s alleged misuse of its users’ personal information—including “names, photographs, likenesses, and identities”— without consent in generating …
Thursday, September 12, 2013, by Rory Fleming For many, the Internet represents the best aspects of a free world: it is egalitarian (in theory), most anyone can have their say (not all of it is nice), and a user is all ready to go once service is turned on. Users expect nowadays to pay a …
Tuesday, September 10, 2013, by Natalie Deyenka This past April 2013, things were looking pretty good for Aereo, a company that offers streaming from major broadcast channels on a number of compatible devices such as iPhones, iPads, or televisions using a system of individual antennas. Not too thrilled at the prospect of having their content …