Tag: law

Department of the Treasury issued guidance on virtual currencies

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fincen.gov (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) issued FIN-2013-G001.

A user of virtual currency is not an MSB* under FinCEN’s regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations. However, an administrator or exchanger is an MSB under FinCEN’s regulations, specifically, a money transmitter, unless a limitation to or exemption from the definition applies to the person

*MSB = money services businesses.

Groklaw – SCEA vs.Hotz

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Groklaw – Hotz Ably Fights for His Motion to Dismiss – Tells Court SCEA’s Case Doesn’t Belong in CA.

I am starting to follow this case.  very dramatic; a bit more interesting than Cariou vs. Prince.

Hotz’s Reply to a SCEA motion

The message that Sony Computer Entertainment America (“SCEA”) is conveying to George Hotz (“Mr. Hotz”) and the public is of great consequence. SCEA advocates and encourages the Court to accept that simply by connecting to the Internet, you are consenting to jurisdiction anywhere in the world. SCEA has taken advantage of these unfamiliar concepts in order to present the Court with misleading sets of facts and affidavits.

Mr. Hotz is a 21-year-old individual who resides in New Jersey. He is not a multinational company, or even a company at all–he is just one person. He did not profit from his actions in question and he did not sell any circumvention devices. He is however, known for being a prodigy in the computer programming field. Mr. Hotz’s actions which gave rise to the controversy are simple: (1) Mr. Hotz published code he independent created (“Code”)(2) Mr. Hotz used the Code on his Playstation Computer, and (3) Mr. Hotz posted his findings on his personal blog.

SCEA filed this action, claiming jurisdiction over Mr. Hotz is proper in California. SCEA then flooded the docket with affidavits from its lawyers and employees, offering ambiguous and misleading information. SCEA then indicated that it would undoubtedly confirm that jurisdiction in California is proper for Mr. Hotz through jurisdictional discovery. Now, after Mr. Hotz’s computer hard drives, and a graphing calculator have been impounded, and Mr. Hotz’ discovery responses have been timely submitted, SCEA still is unable to present evidence to refute the jurisdictional challenges asserted by Mr. Hotz. Instead, SCEA has only continued to flood the docket with dubious information, such as irrelevant hearsay blog postings filed under seal, and misleading affidavits from enigmatic employees with no explanations of the source of their personal knowledge.

 

The War on Cameras – Reason Magazine

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The War on Cameras – Reason Magazine.

It has never been easier—or more dangerous—to record the police.

Be aware you can go to jail for recording(video and audio) and photographing public officials, especially the police.

“There’s this idea that just because charges are dropped, there’s no harm,” Miller says. “But that isn’t right. There’s definitely harm when someone is illegally arrested and has to spend a night or more in jail. Your life is disrupted. You now have legal bills to deal with. There’s also harm when a cop wrongly tells someone they can’t photograph or record. He’s intimidating them into giving up their rights.”

DMCA fixed.

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From the EFF

EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers
Rulemaking Fixes Critical DMCA Wrongs
San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won three critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions today, carving out new legal protections for consumers who modify their cell phones and artists who remix videos — people who, until now, could have been sued for their non-infringing or fair use activities.

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Wired.com on the story.

Ars Technica also explains