The lawsuit filed by the Authors’ Guild directed towards Google and their project Google Books has ended with Google the victor. According to US District Judge Denny Chin, the plaintiffs’ suggestions that Google Books would hurt the market for the original work did not add up against what the project is actually capable of doing. […]
Piracy of Football Manager 2013 saw more than 10m people illegally download the game since mid-May 2013, Sports Interactive chief Miles Jacobson has revealed, with one copy even being stolen by a user in the Vatican. The title, released for PC in November 2012, was cracked on May 12th, Jacobson said during the London Games […]
If you think your peer-to-peer file sharing can be kept under wraps, think again. A federal judge in Vermont has ruled that you should have no expectation whatsoever that your P2P data is ever private.
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Last month, Yahoo lost one of its latest legal efforts to delay a search transition with its long-term partner, Microsoft, in both Hong Kong and Taiwan. The given reason was that Yahoo wanted to wait until Microsoft selected a CEO, with the going reason being that Yahoo CEO Mayer wants to back out of the […]
Apple and Samsung have been in court fighting each other over alleged patent infringement a number of times over the years. Back in August 2012, Samsung was found guilty of infringing on six patents owned by Apple. The jury awarded Apple one of the largest payouts ever given in a case of this sort for […]
In the past we have heard a story of how a father in the UK, a police officer, reported his son to the authorities over in-app purchases made on iTunes which racked up a pretty hefty bill. This was not done to scare the kid, but rather to get the credit card company to return the funds as a police report had been made. However it seems that in the US, it is an entirely different story as a 10-year old boy faces a felony charge after spending $800 on Minecraft. First of all we’re not sure how one even spends that much in game like Minecraft, and secondly a felony charge for a 10-year old boy? That doesn’t seem too right, does it?
Apparently the boy had used his grandmother’s card without her knowledge and when she noticed the discrepancy, she phoned the bank to report the suspicious activity. At this point we’re not sure if she knew it was her grandson, but the bank basically told her to file a police report, after which they would cancel the charges, which she did and ultimately landed her own grandson into a pile of legal mess. The case has since been referred to prosecutors with the child under suspicion of felony theft. What do you guys think? Doesn’t really seem right, does it?
10-Year Old Faces Felony Charges After Spending $800 On Minecraft Using His Grandmother’s Credit Card original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Given that your voice chats and text communications done through Sony’s PSN obviously goes through Sony’s servers, it is possible for Sony to listen in and perhaps even record down the things that you do, and while Sony has stated that they are not planning to do that, they did express that they do retain the sole discretion of doing so without ever telling you. For the most part we’re sure that the messages and voice chats done over PSN are innocuous in nature, perhaps a lot of swearing about who’s going to kick whose ass and so on, but in the event that an illegal activity takes place and if law enforcement requires said recordings, Sony will have no problems turning that information over.
According to the PlayStation 4’s update Software Usage Terms, “Your use of PSN and our community features may be recorded and collected by us or sent to us by other users as described in 13.1. Any information collected in this way, for example, your UGM, the content of your voice and text communications, video of your gameplay, the time and location of your activities, and your name, your PSN Online ID and IP address, may be used by us or our affiliated companies to enforce these Terms and the SEN Terms of Service, to comply with the law, to protect our rights and those of our licensors and users, and to protect the personal safety of our employees and users. This information may be passed to the police or other appropriate authorities.” For the average gamer this is probably a non-issue, but something worth taking into consideration anyway.
Sony May Or May Not Record Your PSN Voice Chats Or Text Messages original content from Ubergizmo. 
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With the government’s Project PRISM having been unveiled, needless to say many are worried about their privacy, and more importantly, will the companies we entrust our privacy to protect us against government requests? Naturally there are times when the request for information is absolutely crucial, such as information that could lead to the arrest of a criminal or to crack down on illegal activity, and while the policies might differ from company to company, Apple has decided to publish a reportin which they detail how they handle government information requests, and more importantly how it affects their customers.
According to Apple, “We believe that our customers have a right to understand how their personal information is handled, and we consider it our responsibility to provide them with the best privacy protections available.” The report also provides a table in which it lists the governments that have approached Apple for information and while Apple is not able to disclose everything, the table is a small example of the type of information requests that they receive. It’s interesting that Apple has decided to be so forthcoming with this information, and we’re not sure if this will have a positive or negative effect on them, but what do you guys think? Would you like to see more transparency from other tech companies as well?
Apple Publishes Report On How It Handles Government Information Requests original content from Ubergizmo. 
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A San Diego driver was cruising down the street recently wearing her Google Glass Explorer headset and was pulled over by the police. The woman, Cecilia Abadie, was primarily pulled over for going 80 in a 65mph zone, but the California Highway Patrol officer also issued her a citation for wearing the Google Glass device.
The citation she was issued is typically given to drivers who could be distracted by a video or TV screen inside the vehicle. Google Glass is supposed to be a wearable device that makes it easy to stay connected to your smartphone for navigation and other needs while keeping your eyes on the world around you. So in theory, you’re less distracted using Google Glass than looking at the screen on your car’s nav unit.
Abadie says that while her Google Glasses were on her face, she wasn’t using them at the time she was pulled over. Abadie says that she will seek legal counsel to consider fighting that portion of the ticket.
This definitely brings to light the behaviors and laws which might need to adapt as wearable technology becomes more pervasive.
[via Fox News]
Edward Snowden is currently living in Russia where he was granted asylum after leaking sensitive US documents having to do with PRISM and fleeing the country. Reports indicate that Snowden may be invited to Germany to testify as a witness against the United States National Security Agency. A parliamentary investigation into alleged spying by the […]
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