law

The Supreme Court recently reached a ruling that will be seen by many as a victory for makers of violent video games. At least seven states have passed legislation that bans the sale of violent games, but in every case that legislation was ... overturned by a lower court. California, which passed such a law in 2005 and was immediately blocked from enforcing it, was the first to appeal to the Supreme Court. The California law caused immediate controversy: while it only banned sales where the content was "patently offensive," the threshold also required prosecutors to show a game lacked "serious ... (view more)

An old Canadian electoral law has now surfaced putting those who post voting results via social networking in trouble with police. Section 329 of the Elections Act in Canada states that anyone who transmits election results will be fined $25,000 ... dollars and could be sentenced to five years in jail. The problem is that social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are technically considered transmitting mediums. Section 329 Not Completely Senseless As it stands, section 329 is still on the books, but the law might not be as senseless as it appears. A Canadian voter in Montreal, for example, ... (view more)

After receiving an unsolicited email message ( spam ), most people would delete the suspicious message without giving it a second thought. One California man, however, is not only welcoming the prospect, but has been able to trap spammers for ... financial compensation, making a healthy living in the process. After being bombarded with spam on a daily basis, Dan Balsam had an idea: he would quit his job in the marketing field and go to law school in an attempt to fight those responsible for unsolicited email advertisements and messages. Since 2002, Balsam has fought, won and settled his way to ... (view more)

The Supreme Court is re-examining the hotly disputed issue of video game violence. In an ongoing case, it's deciding whether to uphold a California law that would ban violent games being sold to kids under 18 years of age. The law, passed in 2005, ... would have introduced a $1,000 fine for any retailer caught selling "violent" games to minors. However, it wouldn't have stopped parents or other adults buying games and letting children play them. The law soon came under challenge and in 2009 California's highest court rejected it. That ruling said that there was no conclusive evidence that playing ... (view more)

France's plan to cut off the Internet connections of digital pirates has been defanged by the country's highest constitutional body, who called the law unconstitutional. France's Constitutional Council reviews legislation that has been approved by ... Parliament before it goes into effect. The core portion of the controversial "three-strike" law could have created a new agency that, under the orders of copyright owners, would have the authority to order Internet service providers to shut down the accounts of copyright cheats who ignored two warnings to stop pirating. (Source: nytimes. ... (view more)

The Pirate Bay scandal has brought worldwide attention to the existence of numerous illegal filesharing websites, while dividing the populace into pro- and anti-copyright camps. Although the recent one year jail sentences doled out by the Swedish ... courts would make others behind torrent tracking sites a little nervous, these people will get some added assistance in the form of a fund intended to help pay for legal defense. The three Swedes behind the fund are Maria Ferm (Green Party of Sweden Youth Branch), Lage Rahm (Green Party of Sweden and Member of the Swedish Parliament) and Peter Sunde ... (view more)

YouTube has blocked user uploads and comments in South Korea: the result of a new law which bars anonymous posting. However, there is an easy way around the ban, which makes the rules virtually worthless and could even help YouTube's business. Since ... April 1st, 2009, Korea's Cyber Defamation Law means any firm with more than 100,000 different daily users must verify their identity and receive an identification number. They must then post their name and number when uploading video clips or posting comments. Google Follows Letter, but not Spirit, of Law YouTube's owner Google has complied with ... (view more)

Republican politicians have reportedly called for a sweeping new federal law requiring all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and operators of millions of WiFi access points -- including hotels, local coffee shops, and home users -- to keep records ... about users for two years to aid police investigations. The legislation would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers. Two bills (S. 436 in the Senate and H.R. 1076 in the House of Representatives) have been introduced so far. Each bill is titled "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the ... (view more)

Web users in New Zealand are today blacking out their profiles on social networking sites to highlight objections to a new copyright law that orders Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to disconnect any user or websites merely suspected of copyright ... infringements . The photo blackout, which has extended to sites including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, is just the first step in a week of protests. It will climax next Monday when websites are asked to take down their content for a day to demonstrate what life without Internet access would be like. The protests are organized by the Creative ... (view more)

Virginia's tough anti-spam law has bitten the dust after the state's Supreme Court reversed its own decision in the case of a man who sent ten million messages in just two months. As we reported in March, Jeremy Jaynes was the first American jailed ... for sending spam messages in the US. Though a North Carolina native, he was charged in Virginia because that's where the AOL servers he used are based. Jaynes got a nine year sentence (three years for each of the three counts). Though sending unsolicited messages isn't technically illegal under state law, he was busted because he didn't give his ... (view more)