Many Usernames Can Be Used to ID and Track Individuals, Researchers Say

If you have the same username on eBay, Google and MySpace, there’s a good chance you may be identifiable. French researchers at the National Institute for Computing and Automation Research in Grenoble have found that about half of the individuals who use the same moniker on multiple sites like these…

Feb 17, 2011 1:28 AM CST

Expanding Field of Forensic Botany Helps Point Detectives to Suspects

When it comes to pointing the finger at a murder suspect, plants are gaining an increasing role in the criminal justice community. Although the use of expert testimony by botanists dates back at least to the 1935 “trial of the century” in New Jersey over the kidnapping and slaying of…

Feb 1, 2011 12:07 AM CST

Children Conceived with Dead Father’s Sperm May Be Entitled to Survivor Benefits, 3rd Circuit Rules

Children conceived by way of in vitro fertilization with their father’s sperm after he had died cannot be denied Social Security survivor benefits simply because the law has failed to keep pace with advances in reproductive technology, a federal appeals court has held. The posthumously conceived twins in this case…

Jan 7, 2011 11:51 PM CST

Prosecutors Can Use Dog DNA Evidence at Owner’s Murder Trial

Prosecutors in Wisconsin have won the right to use DNA evidence from an accused killer’s dog at the defendant’s upcoming murder trial. Michael Haydon, 44, is charged with the 2003 murder of a Rib Mountain, Wis., who Haydon suspected was sleeping with his estranged girlfriend, the Wausau Daily Herald reported.…

Jan 7, 2011 7:27 PM CST

Appeals Court Reinstates Uniloc Win in Microsoft Case, But Calls for New Trial re $390M Jury Award

A federal appeals court has reinstated a jury verdict against Microsoft Corp. in favor of anti-piracy software maker Uniloc USA Inc. However, a $388 million jury award to Uniloc in the patent case was “fundamentally tainted,” requiring a new trial on damages, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…

Jan 4, 2011 7:00 PM CST

Apple App Aims to Squash Sexting

Jan 1, 2011 9:20 AM CST

Despite Hi-Tech Safety Equipment, Lack of Training Aided Oil Rig Disaster, NY Times Reports

After the Deepwater Horizon blew up in an inferno of flames in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, many assumed the fire on the drilling rig was an inevitable result of the oil spilling out of the undersea well that its crew had mistakenly failed to seal. But in…

Dec 28, 2010 1:04 PM CST

Lawsuits Say Unique Apple iPhone and iPad IDs Let Advertisers Profile & Track Users Via Apps

Updated: By giving each iPhone and iPad a so-called Unique Device Identifier or UDID, Apple Inc. has made it possible for advertisers secretly to track which applications individuals download and how frequently they use them, in violation of federal and state computer, consumer and privacy law, two federal lawsuits contend.…

Dec 28, 2010 11:16 AM CST

Creative Legal Minds May Be Able to Protect a Cocktail, IP Law Profs Say

You can’t copyright a drink recipe. But some aspects of a creative cocktail might be protected under other legal theories, according to two law professors writing a guest column in the Freakonomics blog of the New York Times. Trademark is one, say Kal Raustiala, UC-Los Angeles and Chris Sprigman of…

Dec 23, 2010 10:52 PM CST

Legal or Not, ‘Scrapers’ Compile Data on What People Say Online

For years, court records and real estate transactions have been fair game for those who collect and compile data for others. But today much, much more is available online. And scrapers are digging up and organizing data ranging from cell phone numbers to social networking comments, for a price, reports…

Oct 12, 2010 11:56 PM CDT

Can Carrier Block Texts Based on Content? T-Mobile Tells Federal Court the Answer Is Yes

In what the Threat Level blog of Wired describes as the first federal case addressing whether wireless providers are permitted to block text messages based on their content, T-Mobile USA Inc. argued in a filing (PDF) yesterday in federal court in Manhattan that it does have this power. The issue…

Sep 23, 2010 11:41 PM CDT

Federal Appeals Court Stays District Judge’s Ban on Stem Cell Research

In a three-paragraph order today, a federal appeals court has temporarily lifted a district judge’s preliminary ban on government funding of some research on stem cells from human embryos. By preserving the status quo for now, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., panel plans…

Sep 9, 2010 8:14 PM CDT

Gap Between Sci-Fi and Reality May Be Narrowing in Justice System

Is the Tom Cruise hit Minority Report the future of justice? It’s closer to reality than you might think, according to a panel that spoke Friday at the ABA’s 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Advances in artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and neuroscience were among the hot topics at the provocative,…

Aug 6, 2010 10:42 PM CDT

FCC’s Closed-Door Confab with Industry Reps re Net Neutrality Rules Worries Observers

Left-out consumer advocates are complaining that the Federal Communications Commission has been conducting closed-door meetings since June with industry giants about proposed net neutrality rules. Following word that the FCC had a rare Saturday sitdown last weekend with AT&T Inc., Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., Josh Silver worries that…

Aug 3, 2010 9:33 PM CDT

Beyond Big Brother: Some Web Hosts Are Watching Your Every Keystroke

There’s a cost to that free content you probably enjoy on the Internet—a loss of privacy. Web hosts are watching what you read, what you say, what you buy and where you go online, via cookies and other tracking tools that enable them to assemble—and sell—detailed profiles to other companies,…

Aug 2, 2010 11:02 PM CDT