Saturday, September 29, 2012, by Anu Madan The controversial anti-Islam film trailer, “Innocence of Muslims,” has spawned violent protests and unrest spread throughout the Muslim world. The fourteen-minute trailer, which depicts Muhammad as a womanizer, fool, and child molester, remains posted on YouTube, despite objections from White House administrators. YouTube has refused to take down …
Friday, September 28, 2012, by Ashley McAlarney Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill, SB 1298, into law this Tuesday that allows the operation of “driverless cars” in the California for testing purposes. The state Department of Motor Vehicles is now required to develop safety regulations for the cars by 2015, which will include the stipulation …
Friday, September 28, 2012 by Dylan Novak The typical visionary future of a world where robots function as the human workforce is now a view of the past; instead, the new future might lie in harnessing the biotic power of animals. On August 28th, researches at N.C. State released a paper detailing their experiments with …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012, by Justin Mann On September 19, Emm Holdings, LLC filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Suing under the Freedom of Information Act, the firm is seeking evidence of the SEC’s inability to regulate the exploding field of “high-frequency trading” (HFT). HFT consists …
Wednesday, September 26, 2012, by Amanda Jones Have you ever tried to research legislation on the Library of Congress webpage? If so, the next time you go to look up your favorite piece of legislation, you will be in for a nice surprise. Congress recently debuted a new search engine, Congress.gov, to replace the THOMAS …
Friday, September 21, 2012, by Ken Jennings The House has taken the first step to extend controversial “secret wiretap” authority provided by the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Information Surveillance Act (FISA). The bill, H.R. 5949 (“FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012”), extends the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA) for five years and …
Friday, September 21, 2012, by Collier Johnson II This week, San Francisco, California made a bold step to a renewable energy future. This Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, voted 8-3 to provide a renewable energy option to a majority of San Francisco residents. Ironically, the plan will involve a major contract with a …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 by Lev Gabrilovich Five years ago, California passed Assembly Bill 32 (“AB 32”), the Global Warming Solutions Act. AB 32 requires the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) to establish a regulatory structure to monitor greenhouse gasses in California, as well as set emission targets. CARB must implement “the maximum technologically feasible …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, by Drew Hargrove This month, in Capital Records, Inc. et al. v. Thomas-Rasset et al. the Eighth Circuit held that a trial court’s award of $220,000 ($9,250 per song) in damages for willful copyright infringement was not a violation of due process. In 2005, several record companies began investigating potential …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, by Carla Gray The drought that struck the Midwest has had devastating consequences on the nation’s corn supply this summer. Because dry weather conditions can hamper many crops and reduce food supply, the Monsanto Company created “DroughtGard,” a Monsanto corn seed that is genetically resistant to drought conditions. The use of …