In March, a panel of the Federal Circuit affirmed a Texas district court ruling requiring EchoStar to remotely disable the DVRs of innocent customers as part of its damages for infringing on TiVo’s DVR patents. At the time, Elisabeth and JZ predicted that we would see an increasing number of similar cases as companies — […]
Game on. A featureless update released recently by TI blocks a hack that allowed owners to write their own programs for the company’s Nspire calculator. It’s not immediately obvious what rationale TI used to justify the block. It isn’t under pressure to protect the commercial interests of a partner service provider. And worst case, a […]
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 […]
Google launches Government Requests tool. Google is now making public information on the requests it receives from government agents to remove content from its search results or reveal private user data. The Government Requests tool currently displays the number and type of requests by country for the last six months of 2009. In a bit […]
Government transparency through technology. U.S. federal government agencies published their open government plans online this week. The plans detail long-term strategies for addressing one of the three identified principles of open government—transparency, civic participation, and government collaboration with public and private sectors. They can be accessed by appending “/open” to the department website address. The […]
A coalition of prominent netizens and watchdogs released its wishlist this week for Digital Due Process. Google, Microsoft, AT&T, the ACLU, and EFF, among others, are advocating for an update of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The statute, which includes the current regulations government agencies follow to access an individual’s electronic data and communications, […]
Internet Telephony Comes to the iPhone. Apple has approved an app intended to provide a virtual second line for business that allows consumers to make calls using Wi-Fi when available instead of AT&T’s cellular network. The Line2 app may allow iPhone users to downgrade their AT&T cell plans, though contracts and lack of universal Wi-Fi […]
Recently, the Electronic Freedom Foundation posted the previously secret iPhone Developer Program License Agreement – a contract that apparently all iPhone app developers are required to click-sign before using Apple’s iPhone Software Development Kit. Though a provision of the Agreement prohibits disclosure of its contents, EFF gained access by requesting it under the Freedom of […]
A roundup of happenings that bear on the issues in The Future of the Internet — Canadian Android Carrier Forcing Firmware Update. A Canadian carrier wanted users to download a firmware upgrade that fixed a glitch prohibiting users from dialing 911, so it made the upgrade mandatory. Seems reasonable. But it bundled in an update […]
