Sunday, March 24, 2013, by Neil M. Barnes Traditionally, the US government has taken a serious interest in protecting the correspondences of its citizens. Opening mail addressed to another before the other person has had a chance to receive the mail carries heavy penalties. Even the government does not have limitless access to mail. Typically, …
Saturday, March 23, 2013, by Ashley McAlarney Three lawmakers re-introduced legislation on Thursday, March 21 that “require[s] police to get a warrant before using GPS to actively track suspects’ whereabouts.” The Geolocation Privacy Surveillance Act, known as the GPS Act, directs police to obtain a warrant before they can acquire a person’s location history from …
Friday, March 22, 2013, by Virginia Wooten Automatically skipping over advertisements may sound like heaven to many television viewers, but for the major television networks this ad-skipping technology seems like a potential nightmare. As of February 2013, Fox Broadcasting Company is seeking a preliminary injunction against the second-generation of Dish Network’s Hopper technology. It is …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013, by Dylan Novak In 1996, animal cloning became a prominent topic throughout the world when Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned. While Dolly was not the first cloned animals, she was the first animal cloned from an adult cell, not an embryo. Since Dolly, many more animals have been successfully cloned …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013, by Holly Bannerman Although Senate Bill 820 legalized fracking in North Carolina, the State has placed a moratorium on the issuance of permits for drilling until adequate environmental and public health safeguards are established. Impatient, some state legislators are now pushing to drill before these important protections are in place. Just …
Thursday, March 7, 2013, by Anu Madan From human cartilage to car parts, and football shoes to musical instruments, 3D printing promises to change the way we manufacture every-day items. Essentially, 3D printing technology turns a simple blueprint into a physical object. Last week, Cody Wilson, a University of Texas law student, and his nonprofit, …
Wednesday, March 6, 2013, by Kelly Anderson Last February, The Associated Press (AP) filed suit against Meltwater Group of San Francisco, a paid news subscription company that monitors the media for its corporate clients who in turn use the acquired information to evaluate the effectiveness of their public relations and marketing strategies. In the complaint, …
Sunday, March 3, 2013, by Jonathan Ambrose Fans of the horse meat scandal will be happy to hear that the European meat processing industry was recently implicated again for the mislabeling of ingredients. This time it appears that the correct species was involved, at least. The BBC reported on Wednesday that it had learned that …
Friday, March 1, 2013, by Anne Marie Tosco In December of 2009, Facebook settled a class action lawsuit aimed at its Beacon program. Beacon launched in November of 2007 and published Facebook users’ activity on third-party websites, including Blockbuster, Fandango, Gameday, Hotwire, Overstock.com, STA Travel, and Zappos.com. Plaintiffs alleged, “Facebook and its affiliates did not …
Friday, March 1, 2013, by Amanda Jones In 1978 Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”), a law governing “the surveillance of people in the United States for the purpose of collecting intelligence related to foreign powers.” The Act was amended several times in the following years, the most recent amendment occurring in 2008. …
