A flurry of filings in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s electronic surveillance case against AT&T this week hit the 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, as AT&T and the U.S. appealed U.S. Dist. Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s refusal to void the suit and EFF filed to dismiss the appeal. Calling Walker’s reasoning “speculation and unsupported inference,” AT&T said the case should be dismissed because pretrial discovery of evidence would compromise its trade secrets and state security, an argument the govt. echoed. EFF said AT&T and the govt. must show a “significant threat of irreparable injury” to get the case thrown out. The next district court hearing is set for Aug. 8.
A flurry of filings in Electronic Frontier Foundation’s electronic surveillance case against AT&T this week hit the 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, as AT&T and the U.S. appealed U.S. Dist. Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s refusal to void the suit and EFF filed to dismiss the appeal. Calling Walker’s reasoning “speculation and unsupported inference,” AT&T said the case should be dismissed because pretrial discovery of evidence would compromise its trade secrets and state security, an argument the govt. echoed EFF said AT&T and the govt. must show a “significant threat of irreparable injury” to get the case thrown out. The next district court hearing is set for Aug. 8.
The WTO established a panel to explore whether U.S. Internet gambling restrictions comply with international trade doctrine. A complaint filed with the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) by Antigua & Barbuda argues that the U.S. hasn’t lived up to its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) promises with respect to the provision of cross border gambling and betting services. The former British colony first filed a WTO case against the U.S. in 2003, but officials argued that pending legislation would make matters worse. The House passed a measure this month intended to cut the flow of cash from bettors to gambling sites. Lawmakers voted 317-93 for the Internet Gambling Prohibition & Enforcement Act (HR-4411), which combined legislation by Reps. Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Leach (R-Iowa). The Senate doesn’t have a bill yet but Sen. Kyl (R-Ariz.) wants his colleagues to fast-track the issue once a measure is introduced (WID July 14 p1). Congress’s actions are “expressly contrary to the recommendations and rulings of the DSB,” Antigua said. The country wants the WTO panel to find that the U.S. hasn’t acted to comply with DSB rulings and decide that the Wire Act, the Travel Act and the Illegal Gaming Business Act remain in violation by the U.S.
If Congress rejects net neutrality legislation, leaving it to FCC, FTC and DoJ Antitrust Div. regulators to rule case by case, that campaign’s success will depend on shining the beam of Federal Register publicity on rulings, plus other factors, Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf said Mon. The Internet pioneer faced off against fellow Web wizard David Farber at a Center for American Progress-sponsored debate on the hot-button topic that has pitted online service providers and consumer groups against telecom and cable giants.
If Congress rejects net neutrality legislation, leaving it to FCC, FTC and DoJ Antitrust Div. regulators to rule case by case, that campaign’s success will depend on shining the beam of Federal Register publicity on rulings, plus other factors, Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf said Mon. The Internet pioneer faced off against fellow Web wizard David Farber at a Center for American Progress-sponsored debate on the hot-button topic that has pitted online service providers and consumer groups against telecom and cable giants.
The British Phonographic Institute (BPI) pressed 2 U.K. ISPs to shutter 59 accounts suspected of unauthorized file- swapping. The Mon. request to Tiscali and Cable & Wireless signals the start of a tougher campaign against P2P uploaders, BPI said. Since 2003, BPI has focused on individual uploaders, filing legal action against 139 and winning the 4 cases that have gone to court. Moving against ISPs will let the industry deal with more cases more quickly and efficiently, BPI said. It’s unacceptable for ISPs to “turn a blind eye to industrial-scale copyright infringement,” Chmn. Peter Jamieson said: “We are providing Tiscali and Cable & Wireless with unequivocal evidence of copyright infringement via their services. It is now up to them to put their house in order and pull the plug on these people.” BPI counts 17 Tiscali and 42 Cable & Wireless Internet Protocol addresses used to upload significant numbers of music files. It wants the ISPs to suspend the accounts until the users agree to stop unauthorized file- sharing. Both ISPs’ terms of use bar use of accounts for infringement, BPI said. Cable & Wireless and its ISP, Bulldog, “have an acceptable use policy that covers illegal file-sharing,” the company said, adding that should mean any accounts used for such activity are closed. “We will take whatever steps are necessary to put the matter right,” a C&W spokesman said. Tiscali got BPI’s letter “by e-mail at 10:15 this (Mon.) morning and we will be dealing with the request in the normal manner,” it said. The ISP doesn’t automatically suspend customer accounts on request, “but on occasion do so pending investigation,” it said. Tiscali is reviewing the information and will “respond appropriately,” it said. ISPs don’t condone intellectual property theft, but those providers aren’t liable for illegal file-sharing because U.K. law treats them as “mere conduits” of information, said the U.K. ISP Assn. (ISPA). Passing on information about subscribers to the BPI may violate privacy laws, ISPA said. “The BPI is a trade association, not a law enforcement organization. It should therefore go through the appropriate channels to demand action from ISPs. Today’s demands from the BPI lack any judicial input,” ISPA said.
Take-Two Interactive shares fell more than 7% Mon. after the videogame publisher said it received a notice that the SEC is doing a new investigation into the troubled company - an informal nonpublic probe into some stock option grants by Take-Two since Jan. 1997. The company said that before getting the notice it had “initiated an internal review of [its] option grants,” led by an independent board committee with independent legal counsel and accountants . Take-Two said it “intends to respond to the SEC’s information request and to fully cooperate in the informal investigation.”
The British Phonographic Institute (BPI) pressed 2 U.K. ISPs to shutter 59 accounts suspected of unauthorized file- swapping. The Mon. request to Tiscali and Cable & Wireless signals the start of a tougher campaign against P2P uploaders, BPI said. Since 2003, BPI has focused on individual uploaders, filing legal action against 139 and winning the 4 cases that have gone to court. Moving against ISPs will let the industry deal with more cases more quickly and efficiently, BPI said. It’s unacceptable for ISPs to “turn a blind eye to industrial-scale copyright infringement,” Chmn. Peter Jamieson said: “We are providing Tiscali and Cable & Wireless with unequivocal evidence of copyright infringement via their services. It is now up to them to put their house in order and pull the plug on these people.” BPI counts 17 Tiscali and 42 Cable & Wireless Internet Protocol addresses used to upload significant numbers of music files. It wants the ISPs to suspend the accounts until the users agree to stop unauthorized file- sharing. Both ISPs’ terms of use bar use of accounts for infringement, BPI said. Cable & Wireless and its ISP, Bulldog, “have an acceptable use policy that covers illegal file-sharing,” the company said, adding that should mean any accounts used for such activity are closed. “We will take whatever steps are necessary to put the matter right,” a C&W spokesman said. Tiscali got BPI’s letter “by e-mail at 10:15 this (Mon.) morning and we will be dealing with the request in the normal manner,” it said. The ISP doesn’t automatically suspend customer accounts on request, “but on occasion do so pending investigation,” it said. Tiscali is reviewing the information and will “respond appropriately,” it said. ISPs don’t condone intellectual property theft, but those providers aren’t liable for illegal file-sharing because U.K. law treats them as “mere conduits” of information, said the U.K. ISP Assn. (ISPA). Passing on information about subscribers to the BPI may violate privacy laws, ISPA said. “The BPI is a trade association, not a law enforcement organization. It should therefore go through the appropriate channels to demand action from ISPs. Today’s demands from the BPI lack any judicial input,” ISPA said.
Amazon.com said Wed. it forged new direct relationships with toy manufacturers, as the e-tailer announced the launch of toy and baby online stores 4 days after former partner Toys “R” Us relaunched Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com on its own. The launches marked the official end of the relationship between the e-tail and toy giants, which started amid much fanfare in 2000 but ended early this year after a long court battle.
Amazon.com said Wed. it forged new direct relationships with toy manufacturers, as the e-tailer announced the launch of toy and baby online stores 4 days after former partner Toys “R” Us relaunched Toysrus.com and Babiesrus.com on its own. The launches marked the official end of the relationship between the e-tail and toy giants, which started amid much fanfare in 2000 but ended early this year after a long court battle.