More Good News from New Jersey for Anonymous Critics Free Speech 12/1/2000; 1:30:53 PM 'New Jersey Superior Court Judge Kenneth MacKenzie on Tuesday affirmed the nonymity of four 'John Doe' defendants accused of publishing unkind and false statements about the company for which they work.... 'Judge Wettick ruled that an anonymous author's identity must not be disclosed until s/he is given an opportunity to argue and produce evidence that the defamation lawsuit facing them is frivolous or otherwise lacking in merit.

Securicor Privacy from Companies12/1/2000; 12:16:53 PM 'Real world security company Securicor is spending £7 million on an online shopping service which will allow users to shop online without passing credit card details to online stores.... 'In effect, Securicor has set up an online mall. People who sign up to the service give all their financial details to Securicor, and the data is stored on the company's site. 'Its site will have links to participating retailers, and when a customer wants to buy something online, they go to the Securicor site where their funds are checked, and when the sale is processed.

Germany's Kampf Furor Renews Country Watch: Germany12/1/2000; 12:05:15 PM 'News this week that a Munich state prosecutor was investigating allegations that Yahoo Deutschland had sold copies of Mein Kampf could help build momentum in Germany for more sweeping restrictions on such material....'The German case differs in that it concerns a German company doing business via the Internet in Germany, as opposed to an American company doing business internationally via the Internet.

Europe Will Not Allow Software Patents for Another Year Patents 11/30/2000; 11:59:15 AM 'First, I should point out that the Conference agreed not to delete computer programs from the list of non-patentable inventions. For the meantime, the existing legal position therefore remains unchanged.... As before, computer-implemented inventions can be patented if they involve a new and inventive technical contribution to the state of the art. Technical solutions for use in data processing or for carrying out methods of doing business therefore remain patentable.

Online Privacy's New Hot Button: Access Privacy from Companies 11/29/2000; 4:41:51 PM 'Forget the opt-out, opt-in debate: The thorniest online privacy issue on Capitol Hill is whether Web retailers, network advertisers, and other companies should be required to provide consumers with the ability to access, correct, and delete their personal data from the firms' databases. "If the health-care industry can figure out how to provide access in a fair way, then we will have a framework for financial firms, online retailers, and everyone else,"

Why Software Will Never Stop Sucking Personal Commentary 11/29/2000; 1:04:36 PM OK, I can't resist, the events of the last few days in my personal life (setting up computers for a few people) have forced me to comment on this.  A few days ago, Doc Searls said on his weblog, 'It's easy to operate a car or a house without being a mechanic or a carpenter, even though it helps to have those skills.

DMCA Faces Last Big Test DMCA 11/29/2000; 12:01:36 PM 'On Wednesday, the U.S. Copyright Office will hold its final mandatory hearings in Washington, D.C. with representatives from the library associations and webcasting, content and digital music industries.... 'This hearing will seek to clarify two points of the law: whether the "first sale doctrine," which allows activities like the legal sale of used books, should apply in a digital age; and whether users should be allowed to make a digital, archived copy or adaptation of content -- be it music, video, or software application files -- to use on another machine such as a portable MP3 player.

Cyberspace Wins Free Speech Ruling Free Speech 11/28/2000; 11:41:21 PM ''Cyberspace Communications, Inc., and several other plaintiffs won a favorable ruling in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals recently in the Cyberspace v. Engler lawsuit to overturn an unconstitutionally broad Internet censorship law. The 2 page ruling affirms an injunction against enforcement of the law while the case is tried.'' The "Engler" in question is Governer Engler of my home state of Michigan.

Yahoo! Nazi tech expert backtracks Country Watch: France 11/28/2000; 5:23:37 PM 'One of the three Internet experts that decided it was technically possible to prevent French users from accessing parts of Yahoo! US' auction site has posted an apology on his own Web site, saying that the solution is "half-assed and trivially avoidable". '

BT still chasing cash for hyperlink patent Patents11/28/2000; 5:09:31 PM 'BT is still trying to extract megabucks from US ISPs following the telco's patent claim to hypertext links - and it's prepared to taken legal action if those fingered don't cough up. 'The telco also refuses to discuss the cases of others who believe they created hypertext before BT patented its version in 1976, despite film footage which many believe undermines BT's claim.