Month: March 2012

Politiskt motiverade visiteringar vid gränsen kan vara olagliga

An outspoken supporter of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning can continue his lawsuit against the federal government over a border search-and-seizure conducted in 2010 after his return to the U.S. from a Mexico vacation, as a federal court ruled Wednesday that his constitutional rights may have been violated.

A federal judge denied the government’s motion to dismiss the case brought by David Maurice House, an MIT researcher, finding that the government’s search-and-seizure of his electronics may have violated his right to free speech – even if agents have the right to search travelers at the border for no reason.

“Although the agents may not need to have any particularized suspicion for the initial search and seizure at the border for the purpose of the Fourth Amendment analysis, it does
not necessarily follow that the agents, as is alleged in the complaint, may seize personal electronic devices containing expressive materials, target someone for their political association and seize his electronic devices and review the information pertinent to that association and its members and supporters simply because the initial search occurred at the border,” U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper wrote.

(via: Wired Politically Motivated Border Searches Could Be Unconstitutional, Judge Rules | Threat Level | Wired.com)

Megaupload släpper stämning för att fokusera på brottsmålet

Embattled Megaupload is dropping a lawsuit against Universal Music that accuses the label of unlawfully removing from YouTube a four-minute video Megaupload produced featuring Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, will.i.am and others praising the notorious file-sharing service.

In dropping the suit, Hong Kong-based Megaupload is shifting its attention to criminal charges in the United States where its founder, Kim Dotcom, and top employees are accused of being responsible for facilitating wanton copyright infringement. Dotcom and four others were arrested in New Zealand in January, where they remain free pending possible extradition to the United States to face charges in one of the government’s largest criminal copyright-infringement cases.

Megaupload Drops Universal Lawsuit to Focus on Criminal Charges | Threat Level | Wired.com

Microsoft blocks piratebay.com links in instant messages

The Pirate Bay goes to great lengths to keep itself widely available , but here’s something it can’t stop: Microsoft is now blocking links to the site in instant messages across all its systems.

“We block instant messages if they contain malicious or spam URLs based on intelligence algorithms, third-party sources, and/or user complaints. Pirate Bay URLs were flagged by one or more of these and were consequently blocked,” explained Microsoft in a statement to The Register.

(via: Microsoft Is Blocking Pirate Bay Links in Instant Messages)

ACTA-läget just nu

Henrik Alexanderson, som jobbar för piratpartiet i Bryssel har skrivit en uppdatering om vad som händer i ACTA-avtalets väg genom EUs byråkrati.

Jag har just varit på ett möte med Europaparlamentets utskott för medborgarrättsliga frågor, LIBE – där man har diskuterat hur man skall hantera Acta-avtalet.

Bland annat är ledamöterna rätt vankelmodiga vad gäller om parlamentet skall göra som kommissionen och sända Acta till EU-domstolen. (Det lutar dock åt att det inte kommer att ske.)

Det finns en uppenbar osäkerhet om hur parlamentet skall gå vidare. Men tågordningen lär slås fast i morgon förmiddag – på mötet med utskottet för internationell handel, INTA.

Några konkreta saker kom dock fram:

EU-kommissionen står fast vid att sända Acta till EU-domstolen, även om det har dragit ut på tiden.
EU-kommissionen hoppas vara klar att sända Acta till EU-domstolen i slutet av april eller början av maj. (Det formella beslutet har dock inte fattats ännu.)
Kommissionen är också av uppfattningen att om ett EU-land säger nej till Acta i den nationella ratificeringen, då blir det inget Acta alls. (Men det finns motstridiga besked om den saken.)

(via: Henrik-Alexandersson.se: ACTA: Läget just nu, Henrik har även skrivit mycket annat om ACTA på sin blogg, läs det!)

Scammers Are Targeting Megaupload Users With Fake Legal Threats

At least two scams targeting users of file-sharing services have emerged over the last few days. So far the reports all come from overseas, but if it’s happening in Germany then similar scams in the US are very likely. Watch out.

The scams both try to trick users into thinking they’ve been busted for copyright infringement and that they’ll be on the hook for huge legal penalties unless they pay upfront settlement fees online. According to TorrentFreak, the first of the two scams appears to target former Megaupload users. The users received emails like the one above from a fake German law firm that claims to represents major entertainment companies. The scam provides no details about what you supposedly stole.

(via: Gizmodo – Warning: Scammers Are Targeting Megaupload Users With Fake Legal Threats)

Kommentar på kriminaliseringen av kryptering

Swedish MP to criminalize encryption | copy is right

Swedish member of parliament Johan Pehrson is infamous for his love for using police methods to solve any problem. In the discussion about the Data Retention Directive in Sweden, he’s now opened up the question of criminalizing the use of encryption. I can’t even tell what a madness this is. This actually feel so unrealistic to me, that I can’t even relate the tiniest bit to this piece of information with anything but laughter.