Tuesday, May 29, 2012

FREE SPEECH ALERT: Stop Lawfare Against Bloggers!


This story has been going on for the last few weeks (well, longer, but I've seen lots of posts about it recently). I admit to reading about it and then dismissing it as just more infighting in the blogosphere, but things seem to really be getting out of hand. Also, I try to not post anything too political (sometimes I can't help myself), but I think this issue should transcend partisanship.

You probably don't know about Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day, so click here for the back story.

More people from all political backgrounds are coming to the defense of bloggers being targeted by Brett Kimberlin, et al., for having the audacity to spread the truth about his background online. I'm all for spirited discourse, and, even though I don't like it, I think we should also allow for nasty, personal attacks and general mean-spirited-ness in the name of free speech. If Kimberlin doesn't like what's being said about him, then he can respond in kind. Instead, he has taken to abusing the legal system in an effort to silence those bloggers with whom he disagrees and, in doing so, harms the freedom of all of us to express ourselves online without fear of SWATing or Legal Abuse.

via Popehat (hat tip to Michelle Malkin):
Despite what you believe, you can be imprisoned in America for writing about public controversies. Aaron Walker--who until recently blogged as Aaron Worthing--found that out today. 
I first wrote about Aaron when I sent out the Popehat Signal seeking pro bono help for him in Maryland in connection with his disputes with convicted bomber and perjurer Brett Kimberlin. Much more recently, I wrote about him when he revealed how Kimberlin had pursued him in retaliation for his writing, including making a demonstrably false criminal accusation against him. 
After Aaron temporarily prevailed over Kimberlin and told his story, Kimberlin sought, and obtained, a new "peace order" (Maryland law-speak for a restraining order) against Aaron, trying to portray Aaron's protected expression as harassment and threats. 
Today Aaron showed up in court in connection with that order, and was taken into custody for violating it--apparently on the grounds that by blogging about Kimberlin's behavior, had had violated the peace order. 
... 
Today is a setback for freedom of expression and a victory for sociopathy and the abuse of the legal system for crass political ends. But it is not over. Not by far. It's time to pull in some First Amendment heavy hitters to assist. It's time to get more attention to the situation, and inflict the Streissand Effect even more than Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day already did. It's time to fight.
Have a blog? Know someone who does (me)? Support free speech and call out legal BS like this that is meant to stifle speech in the blogosphere.

Death of a Law Firm


Following the recent death of the venerable firm Dewey & LeBouf, the WSJ features an Op-Ed discussing the problems with the old law firm business model and the need for reform.
It is easy to think that greedy lawyers are getting their just desserts. But this should not blind us from seeing that there is a better way for America's law firms to do business. 
The problems these firms face today are twofold: Large clients are increasingly using in-house counsel to reduce costs, and the public is increasingly taking the do-it-yourself route given the growing access to a variety of legal services and documents on the Internet. The rational response would be for new, low-cost legal firms to start up, and for incumbents to reduce costs and attract new clients by providing innovative services.
But that is happening only to a limited extent because of state licensing requirements and American Bar Association (ABA) rules. Deregulation could open the market and transform the legal industry for the better. 
But, but, but ... what about all of us who already racked up huge student loans to jump through the ABA hoops? Deregulation?? Poor people will spontaneously combust, or something! Only people who graduate from really elite, elitist universities can be smart lawyers! That's not fair!

Terminator Apocalypse Update: Meet "FLAME"


via Wired:

Big weekend for those following the Terminator Apocalypse. New details are emerging about malware, known affectionately as "Flame," which has been operating under the radar for at least two years and has infected a slough of countries, including Iran. Remember that Stuxnet virus (way cooler name than Flame, btw) from a couple years ago? The one that screwed up the Iranian nuclear reactors? Yeah, same kinda thing.

Dubbed “Flame” by Kaspersky, the malicious code dwarfs Stuxnet in size — the groundbreaking infrastructure-sabotaging malware that is believed to have wreaked havoc on Iran’s nuclear program in 2009 and 2010. Although Flame has both a different purpose and composition than Stuxnet, and appears to have been written by different programmers, its complexity, the geographic scope of its infections and its behavior indicate strongly that a nation-state is behind Flame, rather than common cyber-criminals — marking it as yet another tool in the growing arsenal of cyberweaponry. 
The researchers say that Flame may be part of a parallel project created by contractors who were hired by the same nation-state team that was behind Stuxnet and its sister malware, DuQu
“Stuxnet and Duqu belonged to a single chain of attacks, which raised cyberwar-related concerns worldwide,” said Eugene Kaspersky, CEO and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, in a statement. “The Flame malware looks to be another phase in this war, and it’s important to understand that such cyber weapons can easily be used against any country.”

Cyber warfare is becoming more widespread.

Get ready.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Did a rogue "algo" ruin the Facebook IPO?


Really interesting (also, complicated and confusing) article out about a glitch in the NASDAQ system that may have stifled the Facebook IPO, preventing the expected "pop" in share prices from occurring and possibly leading to billions of dollars evaporating into the nether.

Tyler Durden: SkyNet Wars: Presenting the Rogue Algo Responsible for Facebook's Downfall

Markets today are impossibly high tech, interconnected, and controlled by complex algorithms that are created by people but operated at such high speeds that, when things go wrong, allow problems to spiral out of control in seconds. Billions of dollars can be lost (or gained) before anyone even knows what happened. Later investigations (like the one the SEC has launched into the Facebook IPO "glitches") are incapable of repairing the damage that was done and generally fail to address the issues that led to the problems in the first place.

What's the solution? Stock up on water. Prepare for the terminator apocalypse.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Oracle v. Google Update - It's Android v. the World



Another important milestone in the case between Google and Oracle has been reached. Both sides have presented their closing arguments, meaning they’ve exhausted all of their firepower and are now ready to let the judge and jury make their verdicts. 
Oracle closed by saying Google’s wrongdoing is evident due to the chain of emails between Eric Schmidt, Andy Rubin, and Tim Lindholm where all parties acknowledged the licenses needed for them to use Java to construct Android. 
They also declined to respect Google’s claim of fair-use, stating that Android, while free to license, is still used as a commercial product to gain revenue. They are no doubt referring to revenue generated by mobile searches, ads, and the cut they get from paid apps in the Google Play Store. 
Google fired back by saying that Oracle’s idea that SSO (structure, sequence, and organization), in terms of the 37 APIs Google infringes on, can be copyrighted was made up to support their lawsuit. 
They also point out that out of 15 million lines of code in Android, only nine lines infringe on these patents. Finally, Google expectantly cited Sun’s former CEO Jonathan Schwartz, who admitted Sun allowed Google to use the code without legal recourse. The agreement was never formal, but it could go a long way for Google
According to the comments, this is the end of just the first phase of the trial looking at copyright infringement. The next phase will look at whether the patents were actually infringed, so this might go on for a while longer. In the grand scheme of things, this is just another another battle in the Smart Phone Wars, where everyone is using antiquated patent and copyright law to undercut the competition. The other front in this war is, of course, Apple v. Everyone (Samsung, Motorola, etc.), where Apple is suing everyone it can (and they are suing back) in order to restore its near monopoly in the smart phone/tablet market. Don't get me wrong, I really do like Apple's products, but this near monopoly distorts the market and allows Apple to charge higher prices for everything, hold your music (and other) files hostage through abusive license agreements. Google's Android platform is the only serious threat to Apple, which is why Apple is suing companies that make those phones. It doesn't help that Google is also being attacked on the other side by Oracle for infringing on code that will probably become irrelevant soon if it hasn't already.

I might be a biased observer (kind of an Android fanboy), but I have to say I respect the "Google" side of the war because they are pushing the open source model, which encourages more free market innovation. If you haven't heard about Android and the Open Source Project, you can find more about it HERE.