This week, GEDmatch, a genetic genealogy company that gained notoriety for giving law enforcement access to its customers’ DNA data, quietly informed its users it is now operated by Verogen, Inc., a company expressly formed two years ago to market… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Legal Analysis’
The FCC Is Opening up Some Very Important Spectrum for Broadband
Decisions about who gets to use the public airwaves and how they use it impact our lives every day. From the creation of WiFi routers to the public auctions that gave us more than two options for our cell phone… Read More ›
Federal Judge Issues Historic Opinion for Digital Privacy at the Border
In a historic opinion on privacy at the border, a federal judge this week recognized that international travelers have significant privacy interests in their digital data and ruled that suspicionless electronic device searches at U.S. ports of entry violate the… Read More ›
What Reporters Should Look For in Latest Facebook Document Leak
NBC’s latest release of 7,000 pages of leaked internal Facebook documents has revealed how Facebook treated user data as leverage with external developers and spun anti-competitive moves as privacy improvements. As members of the press and civil society continue to… Read More ›
EFF Urges Court to Reconsider Decision That Harms Internet Users’ Ability to Protect Themselves Online
Everyone should be able to choose how they use the Internet, including being able to screen out material they don’t want and protect themselves from malicious software. The principle is core to empowering users and to ensuring that technology works… Read More ›
Inventergy Backs Away from Nuisance Lawsuit over GPS Patent
EasyTracGPS is a family-owned business that provides GPS tracking solutions to commercial shipping fleets. Recently, EasyTracGPS faced a litigation threat from Inventergy LBS, LLC, which accused it of infringing U.S. Patent No. 8,760,286. That patent supposedly claims a “[s]ystem and… Read More ›
Patents Are About Sharing Information with the Public. Don’t Shroud Them in Secrecy.
Patents give their owners the power to stop people (and companies) from doing whatever the patent claims as an “invention” for twenty years. But that power doesn’t come for free: it’s a trade. In exchange for the right to sue… Read More ›
The FCC Is Siding With Landlords and Comcast Over Tenants Who Want Broadband Choices
In December of 2016, the city of San Francisco boldly enacted the “Occupant’s Right to Choose Communications Services Provider” ordinance (also known as Article 52) that hinders a payola scheme cooked up between big cable companies like Comcast and landlords…. Read More ›
California’s ISP Deregulation Law Allows Recording VoIP Calls without Consent
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been opposing A.B. 1366, legislation by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, which would renew a law that effectively shields a huge part of the telecommunications industry from state and local regulation. Comcast and AT&T law backed this… Read More ›
AT&T Sues California to Prevent Oversight Over IP Based 911 Calls Using State Law AT&T Supported and Wants Renewed
The California legislature in 2011 passed a law to remove state and local authority over the broadband access market to “ensure a vibrant and competitive open Internet that allows California’s technology businesses to continue to flourish and contribute to economic… Read More ›