FOI Topics and Links of the Week
June 28th, 2010 | by Jennifer | Published in Future of the Internet, news | 3 Comments
iPad security breach. Even closed systems can be vulnerable to exploitation. A group of high-profile iPad owners, including President Obama’s Chief of Staff among 114,000 others, had their email addresses exposed by a web security group. Although it was AT&T’s network that was compromised, Apple is shouldering much of the blame, since it denies iPad customers a choice of carriers and also requires an email address to activate the device. AT&T patched the security hole, but not until after the script used to exploit it was shared with third parties. The FBI is investigating.
Facial recognition and next generation privacy. David Thompson gives an update on the progress of facial recognition software and its implications for privacy 2.0. In addition to describing the revolution in surveillance capabilities that occurs when a person can be identified on any security camera feed or in any of the more than three billion photos on Flickr, he notes that Face.com released an API last month, allowing developers free access to its facial recognition technology and the green light to adapt it for new uses. Here’s hoping the appropriate norms evolve in tandem.
Defamation liability: please fwd. A bankruptcy court in Texas has ruled that forwarding an email link can be considered defamation. The defendant in the case didn’t send a copy of the actual content, just a link to a website. Neither had he written any of the defamatory content on the website. It’s unlikely that the ruling will survive an appeal, since forwarding a link probably doesn’t amount to the required element of “publication” under a traditional interpretation of defamation law. Still, it’s something to think about the next time there’s a link to a juicy tabloid story in your inbox.
Shifting foundations of the App Store. Apple continues to indulge its discretion when it comes to approving iOS apps. This time it pulled an app for being “widget-like,” despite approving three previous versions. The frustrated developer asks “How can a company be prepared to invest into a platform that can change at any time?“
It Gets Worse: Apple Censors a Gay Kiss in Oscar Wilde Comic. In another Apple censorship story, the company appeared to block out a kiss in a comic book because two men were doing the kissing. To be fair, it’s not entirely clear to me from the pictures in the article whether the same-sex kiss was the cause of the blackout, but the author claims that similar opposite-sex scenes have gone unchanged in other comic books. As he says, “the more examples I see of Apple’s capricious censoring, the less funny it is.”
Steve Jobs at D8: Post-PC era is nigh. In the introduction of the book, JZ predicted that Steve Jobs, having launched the PC era, was about to usher it out. Now, Jobs says the same thing. According to him, “PCs are going to be like trucks … they are still going to be around,” but “one out of x people will need them.”
TiVo’s ‘Big Win’ Over Dish On Patents Looking Less And Less Solid, As Patent Office Rejects Patent Claims. Update in the TiVo-EchoStar battle: we may never find out if EchoStar will actually have to remotely kill already-purchased DVRs, because the Federal Circuit is rehearing the original patent claims en banc.
—By Jennifer Halbleib and Elisabeth Oppenheimer
June 30th, 2010 at 7:22 pm (#)
> It’s unlikely that the ruling will survive an appeal, since forwarding a link probably doesn’t amount to the required element of “publication” under a traditional interpretation of defamation law.
I started digging for better sources than _Techdirt_, which can be … opinionated.
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=08b474c7-1946-4e12-b0d9-d10d46dfc324
“The court found that Perry’s email containing hyperlinks to the blog met the “publication” element of Wallace’s defamation claim under Texas defamation law: “a statement is published when it is said orally, put into writing or in print, and the statement was published in such a way that the third parties are capable of understanding its defamatory nature.” Thus, the court found that “an email, just like a letter or a note, is a means for a statement to be published so that third parties are capable of understanding the defamatory nature of the statements.” The court also found that Perry acted with actual malice and defamed Wallace by sending the links, together with other defamatory statements.”
Disclaimer: IANAL.
June 30th, 2010 at 7:27 pm (#)
Eric Goldman noted it months ago:
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2010/03/february_2010_q.htm
“* In re Perry, 2010 WL 374770 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Feb. 3, 2010). Emailing links to a third party’s defamatory blog constituted “publication” of the blog for defamation purposes. The court doesn’t discuss 47 USC 230 at all!”
June 30th, 2010 at 7:47 pm (#)
Hey, Google Scholar has the text of the case:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10913649502886881716
Hmm …
75. Although Perry did not provide the information concerning Wallace to the Blog, Perry circulated the Blog to several people. [June 3, 2009 Tr. 186:15-17.] For example, on September 21, 2006, Perry e-mailed Hoffman, requesting that she print out the Blog and give it to people on his behalf while he remained anonymous. [June 4, 2009 Tr. 38:23-39:19; 40:16-20; 48:1-7]; [Pls.' Ex. No. 37.]
c. Perry Defamed Wallace and Bajjali
i. The Blog
(A) Perry published the defamatory statements
As discussed supra, the sending of an e-mail is considered publication for defamation purposes. Perry published the defamatory statements relating to Wallace when he sent several individuals a link to the Blog. [Finding of Fact No. 75.] Indeed, the Blog contained several defamatory statements regarding Wallace. For example, the Blog insinuated that Wallace was an armsdealer. [Finding of Fact No. 76.] Therefore, Perry’s e-mails constitute a publication based upon Texas law. Further, Perry published the information from the Blog by informing Frishberg of the contents within the Blog. [Finding of Fact No. 51.]