Law & (dis)Order | Joaquim Anguas

jul 01 2010

On the menu for today: class action

Category: Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 11:38 am

Thanks to PACER system those of us interested in adjective law in USA we never run out of interesting examples.

The last addition is a wonderful example of class action complaint: KEVIN MCCAFFREY and LINDA WRINN vs. APPLE, INC. and AT&T, INC.

Reference is UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND, 1:10-cv-01776-RDB.

See here for some background.

As for the use of PACER system, let me remind you this:

IMPORTANT NOTICE OF REDACTION RESPONSIBILITY: All filers must redact: Social Security or taxpayer-identification numbers; dates of birth; names of minor children; financial account numbers; and, in criminal cases, home addresses, in compliance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2 or Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1. This requirement applies to all documents, including attachments.”

I’ve found documents on the web showing information in clear that should be redacted. Please guys, be careful and REDACT before making this kind of documents available.

Technorati: class action, Law & (dis)Order

Tags: class action, Law & (dis)Order

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jun 15 2010

News on 873

Category: Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 9:57 am

White Berberian charges $249 to negotiate a settlement on behalf of accused file sharers. That fee will not cover any “litigation-related activities” the attorneys said on the site. Steven White, one of the two founders of the firm, stressed in an interview with CNET late Friday that he and law partner Sean Berberian won’t charge any client, unless they save the client money. He acknowledged that neither he nor Berberian are experts in intellectual-property law but said they have a good understanding of the issues. The way they see the landscape looks like this: it is in Dunlap Grubb’s interest to get the cases settled as quickly as possible, and this is where White Berberian hopes it can persuade the lawyers and Voltage Pictures to negotiate.

That’s fine, but what about people who claim to be innocent and refuse to settle? White said that for people who are innocent and want to fight, he would have a “frank discussion” about the facts of their case and the cost. According to White, the first thing that people accused of copyright infringement by Dunlap Grubb should know is that the firm is probably willing to sue a few people so that they can prove to everyone that their threats about litigation are real.”

Arizona law firm White Berberian offers help to settle case for people accused of illegal file sharing by “U.S. Copyright Group” (represented by Dunlap Grubb & Weaver). They don’t seem to be willing to litigate, which would help to see if the strategy in place works or not…

Via CNET, via BoingBoing.

Technorati: Intellectual Property, Law & (dis)Order, Lawsuit

Tags: Intellectual Property, Law & (dis)Order, Lawsuit

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jun 04 2010

Evidence Examination Started

Category: Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 10:16 am

The case I introduced here is progressing.

The last episode ends with the examintation of the evidence seized while serving the search warrant at Mr. Journalist house.

I had to look up the role of the special master.

Technorati: computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order

Tags: computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order

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may 16 2010

Single action, multiple defendants and the power of self interest

Category: Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 3:01 pm

Thus, if the plaintiff wants to sue these 2,094 defendants, it owes this court 2,094 separate filing fees, and it must file individual actions. Plaintiff then would be unable to combine together a single, massive discovery request with which to burden non-party ISPs such as TWC.”

From arstechnica:

The power of self-interest

Time Warner Cable has not always had the reputation of a white knight when it comes to helping its subscribers—the company famously tried to squeeze more cash from broadband users by applying ridiculous data caps, an issue so sensitive to it eventually drew the wrath of senators and congressmen.

But in this case, with its own self-interest also on the line, TWC has made an argument that strikes not just at a single subpoena but also at the overarching legal strategy behind the US Copyright Group’s work.”

Technorati: Law & (dis)Order

Tags: Law & (dis)Order

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may 02 2010

lawful interception / lawful spying and FRE

Category: Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 9:14 pm

Recent news have taken lawful interception to (some) media exposure.

That LEA, NSA and other agencies may be using interception and/or spying to gather intelligence is no surprise to no one.

To do so, there has to be many actors intervening, including operating system vendors, network hardware manufacturers, network providers, TTP, etc, who may release proprietary secret knowledge about their systems in order to keep a competitive advantage with the considered “bad guys”.

But reading FRE 702 and 703 (and the excellent notes here and here) one wonders in his infinite ignorance, if evidence collected using bleeding edge lawful interception techniques (those that use to be proprietary and secret) ever surfaces in trial, how is it going to stand?

Technorati: antiforensics, computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

Tags: antiforensics, computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

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abr 27 2010

Exercise

Category: Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 9:22 pm

I’ve just finished this book (excellent reading, by the way). It encourages you to critically read and comment cases. In order to test the knowledge I acquired in the read (or the lack of it, thereof), I want to evaluate the following case presented as an exercise:

Read the following text, put it into context and raise the legal issues you may find relevant.

On his birthday, Mr. Engineer, employee at a high-tech firm named Pear, goes to a biergarten and leaves behind a prototype cell phone he was working with.

Mr. Finder, also client at the bar, finds the prototype and allegedly tries to contact the firm with the purpose of returning it. Pear employees are not aware of the prototype missing and do not give Mr. Finder proper guidance to return the valuable.

Mr. Finder then contacts Mr. Journalist, editor at an online publication dedicated to gadgetry news. Mr. Finder gives the found prototype to Mr. Journalist in exchange of 5.000USD.

Mr. Journalist publishes details of the device and the name of Mr. Engineer on his online publication.

Days later a search warrant is served at Mr. Journalist’s house when he is not at home and all computers and storage media found are seized.”

Continue reading “Exercise”

Technorati: computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

Tags: computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

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mar 29 2010

Certifying lies

Category: (i)realidad,Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 7:54 pm

Packet Forensics is a firm that provides products and services to enterprises, network operators, law enforcement and defense and intelligence agencies.

It was mostly unknown, but lately it is gaining some focus because of a product of them that may be circumventing SSL.

See Wired (or Gizmodo) and arstechnica for more information. This paper from Christopher Soghoian and Sid Stamm explains the techniques they may be using.

P.S: Do not waste your time searching for the product on their website, it is not listed there.

Technorati: antiforensics, computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

Tags: antiforensics, computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

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mar 28 2010

Evidence of obstruction

Category: (i)realidad,Informática Legal — Joaquim Anguas @ 12:24 pm

To the extent that the key players can be identified early, forensically imaging their hard drives immediately will demonstrate good faith and potentially avoid second-guessing later in the investigation.”

Karen E. Willenken, counsel specializing in white-collar criminal defense at New York-based Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, makes a good point in this very interesting article.

It is focused on the importance of preserving hard drives in order to provide a strong proof support in the event of a request to produce evidence. At least in case the evidence found on them does not make you appear guilty.

Of course it does not fully apply to our legal system (Spain), but there are also mechanisms here that allow the judge to consider bad faith or to draw adverse inference from evidence (or the lack of it).

Via Forensic Focus.

Technorati: computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

Tags: computer forensics, Law & (dis)Order, peritaje en informática

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mar 01 2010