The legal issues surrounding junk e-mail detection and removal continue to discourage internet service providers from employing pro-active filtering techniques. Many ISPs are concerned about being sued for filtering false-positive (incorrect) "junk" e-mail messages in compliance with the various anti-spam regulations currently under consideration in the United States.  Read more »

The rapidity of mobile communication technology development has exceeded all expectations, but significant social and legal implications remain unexamined. Five years ago, the first tidings of discontent surfaced in response to the mobile revolution that was about to sweep through Western society - the public/private dichotomy was becoming blurred, and people were afraid of what technological solidarity would bring.  Read more »

In more sedate news, the Washington Post has an interesting, if overstated, article about how the ephemeral nature of the internet is affecting academic research. Apparently, sources cited in research papers and theses change their Universal Resource Indicators ('URIs') very frequently, rendering references obsolete and gradually delegitimating the citing work.  Read more »

These days, it seems that spam (which has, despite being a trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation, fallen into common usage as a result of Monty Python) is an unavoidable consequence of having and utilising an e-mail address of some sort. Various proposals have been put forth, some legislative, others software-based, but all have failed to curb the growing tide of unsolicited electronic mail.  Read more »

A disgruntled Verizon customer has filed a class action lawsuit against their internet service provider (‘ISP’), seeking compensation for losses incurred as a result of their aggressive mail filtering policy.

Since 22 December, Verizon’s mail servers have been configured to automatically reject connections from Europe and other parts of the world, including China and New Zealand. Says one frustrated customer:  Read more »

A year after a sweeping United States anti-spam law went into effect, there is more junk e-mail on the Internet than ever. Since the Can Spam Act went into effect in January 2004, unsolicited junk e-mail on the Internet has come to total perhaps 80 percent or more of all e-mail sent, according to most measures. That is up from 50 percent to 60 percent of all e-mail before the law went into effect.  Read more »

A US judge has dismissed a felony spamming conviction that had been called one of the first of its kind, saying he found no ‘rational basis’ for the verdict and wondering if jurors were confused by technical evidence.
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While cable companies focus on adding data and voice services, telephone companies get ready to roll out television programming using IP technology. The goal: beat cable at its own game. By Michael Grebb.

Originally by Wired News: DAT's Entertainment, 12:23 PM

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An FCC decision that forces broadband and VOIP companies to enable government surveillance of their networks stretches federal law to the breaking point, civil libertarians say.

Originally by Wired News: Politics, 12:23 PM

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The US federal government moves ahead with a trial of e-passports that are readable at a distance, despite criticism that they endanger Americans. United Airlines pilots and crew are the test subjects.

Originally by Wired News: Politics, 12:23 PM

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New regulations making it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet phone calls will also make computer systems more vulnerable to hackers, say digital privacy and civil liberties groups. While the groups don't want the Internet to be a safe haven for terrorists and criminals, they complain that expanding wiretapping laws to cover Internet calls -- or Voice over Internet Protocol -- will create additional points of attack and security holes that hackers can exploit.  Read more »

Jurors weigh 144 charges against e-mail marketing contractor Snipermail.com, which is accused of swiping data from Acxiom. It's the largest data-theft case the government has prosecuted to date.

Originally by Wired News: Politics, 12:23 PM

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daria42 writes "It looks as if the $7 million Microsoft won from spam king Scott Richter won't go into a Swiss bank account and never be seen again after all. The company plans to dedicate a cool $5 mil to helping law enforcement agencies address computer-related crimes. Another $1 million will go to New York State to "expand computer-related skills training for youths and adults", with the rest being flagged to pay Microsoft's legal costs."

Originally by samzenpus at Slashdot: Your Rights Online, 12:25 PM  Read more »

Law firms, newspapers and other businesses are encouraging employees to post blogs on company-sponsored Web sites, hoping the blogs will boost their marketing and customer service efforts. Media lawyers, however, are warning that blogs pose serious libel and defamation issues, noting that staff-written blogs legally are indistinguishable from articles in a newspaper or broadcast.

Originally by Law.com - Tech Law Practice Center, 9:37 PM  Read more »

No group would seem to be more similarly situated or innumerable than junk fax recipients, but New Jersey judges are at odds over whether those besieged by unwanted paper may sue as a class. This month one judge certified as a class those who received unsolicited faxed advertisements for Spanish Yellow Pages and related entities in the past six years. But another judge recently ruled the other way in reversing her grant of class certification last year.

Originally by Law.com - Tech Law Practice Center, 4:28 PM  Read more »

'Three people accused of running a huge computer spam operation have been indicted on charges of violating a law aimed at cracking down on unsolicited e-mails, prosecutors said. James Schaffer, Jeffrey Kilbride and Jennifer Clason were each charged on Thursday with two counts of fraud and one count of criminal conspiracy under the US law known as CAN-SPAM, which is meant to diminish unsolicited e-mail messages.'

Originally by Law.com - Tech Law Practice Center, 8:59 PM  Read more »

'Australia's competition watchdog has warned that media laws need to keep pace with new technologies such as broadband Internet and third-generation (3G) mobile phones.'

Originally by ABC News: Politics, 9:43 PM

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‘NEW YORK (Reuters) — As Corporate America wades into the burgeoning world of internet weblogs, companies are being warned they could face legal hazards when employees are let loose in the free-wheeling blogosphere. …  Read more »

'As usual in the business context, spontaneous [equals] dangerous, at least in a legal sense. "You can try to control it through policy," says one consultant who advises companies on electronic discovery and risk management...'

Originally by Walter Olson at Overlawyered, 8:38 PM

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'One of the benefits of electronic commerce is speed, partly due to the elimination of administrative delays. Yet conducting contract negotiations through exchanges of drafts by e-mail could not only harm the process, but also, paradoxically, slow it down, says lawyer Stanley P Jaskiewicz.'

Originally by Law.com Legal Technology, 8:40 PM

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Melinda Bird and Katrina Nugent must be cursing e-mail's 'reply all' and 'forward' functions after they lost their jobs.

Originally by Commentary | ZDNet.com.au, 8:47 PM

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wellington writes "Google is facing a renewed threat of legal action from a company that claims to own the intellectual property rights to its GMail e-mail service. Independent International Investment Research, a British company that specialises in research and has several leading City investment banks as clients, argues that it launched "G-Mail web based email" in May 2002."

Originally by CmdrTaco at Slashdot: Your Rights Online, 12:58 AM  Read more »

VoIP provider Packet8 accidentally disclosed the e-mail addresses of 21,000 of its subscribers. If criminals get the list, Packet8 customers could become the target of phishing attacks.

Originally by NewsFactor Network, 12:58 AM

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VoIP development is posing a threat to state-protected telecom carriers, calling into question China's willingness to let technology advances into the marketplace.

Originally by NewsFactor Network, 12:59 AM

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The United States is still the superpower of spam, beating China and South Korea to again claim the dubious honour in the latest survey of the origin of unwanted email clogging the world's inboxes.

Originally by ABC News: Science and Technology, 6:32 PM

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