Courts

A federal court has ordered a woman to use her finger to unlock her iPhone. It's the latest legal tussle in the ongoing debate pitting security and law enforcement against constitutional rights. The case involved a Los Angeles woman who had been ... arrested for identity theft. The FBI wanted to access the contents of her phone, which was protected by a fingerprint lock. Officials have not publicly revealed exactly why they wanted to access the data, or whether it directly related to the identity theft charges. Court documents show she was the girlfriend of a known member of a major LA ... (view more)

European officials have formally accused Google of breaching competition rules in the way it handles the Android system. They say the company unfairly used the system to push its search services. The claims come from the European Commission, the ... equivalent of the executive branch of the European Union. It oversees some elements of competition law that apply across 28 countries. The Commission has issued a Statement of Objections, which is formal notification that it is investigating alleged breaches. Google now has 12 weeks to respond to the claims. If found guilty it could face financial ... (view more)

The Supreme Court has rejected claims by authors that Google Books violates copyright. It ends a legal battle dating back 12 years. The legal issues originally centered on Google Library, in which the company scanned millions of books that were no ... longer being published and made them available in full. Later on Google used the same technology to scan books that are in print and add them to its search database alongside web pages and other forms of information. When users carry out a search that matches content in a scanned book, they can now see the relevant section as part of the search ... (view more)

A court has ordered Google to hand over details that could identify the people behind four accounts used for bogus online reviews. One of the accounts had assumed the identity of a dead woman. The reviews were made on the social networking site ... Google+. While the site has arguably struggled to compete with the likes of Facebook, posts there are particularly likely to show up in search results for a relevant term. In this case the reviews were of an Amsterdam daycare center, and would appear next to a map of the center's location before the rest of the "ranked" search results. ... (view more)

The Supreme Court has refused to consider a case that could have decided if the government needs a warrant to track a person's location through their cellphone. That means lower courts may continue to make case-by-case decisions on the issue. A man ... named Quartavious Davis had asked the Supreme Court to hear his case. He was sentenced to 1,941 months in prison for taking part in multiple robberies. As part of their investigation, local police acquired Davis's cellphone records from MetroPCS and were able to link him to seven crime scenes. An appeals court rejected Davis's argument, ... (view more)

Apple has told a court that it's impossible to access data in most iPhones and iPads without a password. It could lead to a legal standoff in the 'security versus privacy' debate. The comments came in a case involving a recently-seized iPhone. The ... United States Justice Department is unable to access the contents of the phone and has therefore asked the court to order Apple to help them gain access. In this specific case however, Apple is physically able to access the device's data because the phone itself is running a susceptible operating system (iOS version 7). Nonetheless, Apple has ... (view more)

Companies that don't do enough to protect customer data against hacking are more likely to be sued, thanks to a court ruling this week. A federal appeals court rejected an argument that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) overstepped its powers by ... suing a company over three hacking incidents. The company is question is the Wyndham Hotel chain, in which 619,000 customers' credit card data was leaked. According to the FTC, Wyndham failed to use suitably complex login details on accounts, stored card data on its servers in unencrypted form, and did not use adequate firewalls to protect the ... (view more)

A federal court has awarded a woman $229,500 compensation after a cable company unlawfully called her cellphone 153 times in less than a year. Time Warner Cable continued to make the automated "robo calls" even after Araceli King complained. The ... court ruled Time Warner Cable had violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, passed in 1991. The issue wasn't simply that the company made the calls without permission, but that they were automated. Robo Calls Illegal Without Express Permission With the so-called robo calls, a computer automatically dials a home phone number. If and ... (view more)

A Supreme Court judge says its time to re-examine laws that make it difficult or impossible to impose sales tax on many online sales. The decision could mean some states start collecting the tax without waiting for the law to change. Justice Anthony ... Kennedy made the comments in a Supreme Court ruling on a case involving the way Colorado attempts to collect sales taxes from companies based outside the state that sell goods to Colorado residents. At issue is Colorado's policy that any firm which does not collect and pay such taxes must provide extensive paperwork anyway. The ruling itself ... (view more)

California has passed a law that means companies can no longer ban customers from writing negative reviews on websites. Even attempting to do so could mean they firms face a financial penalty. The new law follows a protracted court battle that ... concluded this summer after an online gadget seller tried to "fine" a couple $3,500 for leaving a negative review on an independent website. A court eventually ordered KlearGear to pay more than $300,000 to the couple after its attempts to collect the "debt" hurt their credit rating. KlearGear had been trying to enforce a clause in ... (view more)