Apple under federal anti-competition scrutiny, again
Apple under federal anti-competition scrutiny, again
Micah Singleton writes for The Verge:
Sources also indicated that Apple offered to pay YouTube’s music licensing fee to Universal Music Group if the label stopped allowing its songs on YouTube. Apple is seemingly trying to clear a path before its streaming service launches, which is expected to debut at WWDC in June. If Apple convinces the labels to stop licensing freemium services from Spotify and YouTube, it could take out a significant portion of business from its two largest music competitors.
I dislike hyperbole, but the fact that Apple would even engage in behavior that is capable of misperception as anti-competitive is shocking.
Image credit: “Apple Headquarters in Cupertino” by Joe Ravi. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Popcorn Time, Netflix, HBO and the future of digital media
“Super-cuts” from same-sex marriage arguments
“Super-cuts” from same-sex marriage arguments
SCOTUSBlog contributor Tejinder Singh posted 36 minutes of audio highlights from yesterday’s oral argument in Obergefell v. Hodges. The case is one of several on the Court’s docket this term focused on two specific constitutional questions:
- Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?
- Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?
I’ve embedded the super-cut below but if you’re really interested in getting a first-hand sense of how the Justices feel you can find audio of the full oral argument (more than two hours, split into two files) at Oyez. I’ll have more to say about the arguments after I’ve had the chance to listen to them in their entirety.
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Public domain photograph of the Roberts Court via Wikipedia
Re-engaging driver with questions after saying he’s free to leave is a second stop
Re-engaging driver with questions after saying he’s free to leave is a second stop
This is worth knowing if you’re a Pennsylvania resident or you find yourself frequently driving through the state. However, do yourself a favor and don’t throw it in the face of an officer whose behavior implies he or she doesn’t know about this precedent. If you’re innocent, keeping it to yourself will expedite the stop. If you’re guilty, comply with the officer and bring up this case to your public defender or private defense attorney.
Another blow to deceptively marketed "unlimited" data plans
Another blow to deceptively marketed “unlimited” data plans
Jon Brodkin at Ars Technica:
The FCC's new rules ban throttling except in cases of "reasonable network management." AT&T could argue that the throttling is necessary to keep its network running smoothly, but FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has objected to throttling of plans that are supposed to be unlimited and forced Verizon Wireless to back down from a throttling plan last year.
I have no problem with good-faith network management, but if a plan is subject to throttling, it can’t be marketed and sold as “unlimited.” The FTC is sending the right signal here in choosing to pursue this case, and Judge Edward Chen of the US District Court in Northern California has demonstrated that he understands the issue.
The network that can provide real unlimited data at usable speeds with no fine print has an opportunity to significantly increase its user base, but I haven’t found one yet. Let me know if you have.
Tim Cook: Pro-discrimination ‘religious freedom’ laws are dangerous
Tim Cook: Pro-discrimination ‘religious freedom’ laws are dangerous
Tim Cook, in an op-ed at the Washington Post:
Our message, to people around the country and around the world, is this: Apple is open. Open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. Regardless of what the law might allow in Indiana or Arkansas, we will never tolerate discrimination.
I admire the visible positions Cook is taking on more and more issues these days.
Employee Manuals Need Spring Cleaning Thanks to the NLRB
Employee Manuals Need Spring Cleaning Thanks to the NLRB
Jason Shinn, writing at Michigan Employment Law Advisor:
But this is where employers really need to be concerned: The distinction between what is permissible and what is not is somewhat anemic to begin with, and if your company’s policies are too broad or poorly worded, then whatever distinction existed may be obliterated.
The full report is available in PDF format. The National Labor Relations Act is a federal law, and Section 7 applies whether or not employees are unionized. That means, as Shinn advises in the article, that every company with employees of any kind should perform a revision of their HR policies and procedures.
Tesla will enable automated freeway driving this summer
Tesla will enable automated freeway driving this summer
Chris Taylor reporting at Mashable:
So to recap: Tesla cars will start self-driving this summer, on freeways at least. (It seems likely that once we've gotten used to that notion, autopilot for the full ride will be unlocked.) Google could have done the same thing for us a few years back, if the company were not driven by perfectionism and relentless iteration.
This is interesting. Tesla, to me, has made Google look a little old school, in a bad way. What’s more disruptive? Waiting until you’ve perfected automobile automation everywhere, or enable what you’re confident you’ve done well?
Of course, a base Model S goes for $63,570 after the federal tax credit. So I won’t be automated-ly driving around any freeways for at least a decade (student loan reform, anyone?). But the fact that Tesla can enable automated driving with nothing more than a software update speaks volumes to where the industry is headed.
The Night His Girlfriend Dissociated and Forgot Who He Was
The Night His Girlfriend Dissociated and Forgot Who He Was
An anonymous author writes at Vice.com:
'This is perfectly normal,' I thought, as she scrolled through her phone looking for George's name. 'I'm just a guy, standing here, getting my girlfriend's ex to vouch for my existence.'Her first attempt went through to voicemail. Quietly and tearfully, all she could say was “help me” a dozen or so times. I wondered if he was at work. It could have been hours before he was able to check his phone. In our last stroke of good fortune for the night, he called back a few seconds later. I can’t remember exactly what was said or how long they talked for; it might have been a minute, it might have been five. She mentioned that there was a man here she didn’t know who was claiming to be her boyfriend, and in a sort of exaggerated stage whisper I said, “George! It’s me!”
She listened for a little while longer and then passed the phone to me. “He wants to talk to you.” I spoke to George for a couple of minutes. I’ve never been so relieved to hear the voice of a girlfriend’s ex. He calmly talked me through the next steps – to get her into her flat, sit her down and pull up something she’d seen before on Netflix. Familiarity was key, he told me. I thanked him and returned the phone. They talked for a few more seconds, then she hung up.
“George says I can trust you.”
It’s a terrifying and well-written account you should take the time to read in its entirety.
Petraeus reaches plea deal with Justice Department
Petraeus reaches plea deal with Justice Department
Kevin Johnson and Tom Vanden Brook, reporting for USA Today:
The explosive details in the agreement show that Petraeus lied to investigators, divulged a massive amount of sensitive data to Paula Broadwell and worried about how she handled them in an interview she taped with him.
Those who want former NSA analyst Edward Snowden’s head on a plate for disseminating classified information based on his ideals, with which you may or may not agree, and then admitting it, must be really angry at former CIA director General David Petraeus for disseminating classified information to his mistress and then lying about it to FBI agents.
Right?
Goodbye Leonard Nimoy
Krishnadev Calamur, reporting at NPR:
Actor Leonard Nimoy, best known for his role as Mr. Spock, the logical half-Vulcan, half-human in the original Star Trek series and several movies, has died at his home in Los Angeles, his granddaughter, Madeleine, told NPR. Nimoy was 83.
It’s a sad day for geeks everywhere, a very sad day indeed.
Snapchat selfie gets teen arrested on murder charge
Snapchat selfie gets teen arrested on murder charge
Jill Daly, reporting at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
On Thursday, a woman told police her son had a copy of a Snapchat photo sent from the accused. Jeannette Sgt. Donald Johnston saw the photo, depicting the wounded victim in the chair as found by his mother. It also depicted a young man taking a “selfie” with the victim in the background. The photo had the name “MAXWELL” across the top and the young man was identified by Sgt. Johnston as Maxwell Morton.
The inapplicability of words like “ephemeral” and “private” to Snapchat is well-documented. But it’s not common knowledge, and this suspect’s use of the app to send photos of the deceased victim, including one of the suspect posing with the decedent, illustrates the consequences of that ignorance.
An interesting side effect of the prevalence of photo sharing apps incorrectly seen as ephemeral or private is the preservation of a photographic record of the crime or its aftermath. It’s safe to say that the selfie in question would damage the defense’s case if introduced at trial. This case involved a third-party recipient of the photos, whose mother volunteered the photos to the police, negating the need to obtain a warrant.
It’s a strange reversal of the Big Brother scenario when defendants preserve and disseminate evidence connecting them to crime. Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike should keep well-informed about popular messaging apps of all kinds. The availability, and perhaps questionable admissibility, of documentary evidence generated by smartphones is not something attorneys can ignore in good faith.
Gay marriage begins in Alabama
Gay marriage begins in Alabama
Justices Thomas and Scalia were none too pleased that their colleagues refused to continue a stay on same-sex marriages in Alabama pending the Court’s resolution of the issue later this year:
Yet rather than treat like applicants alike, the Court looks the other way as yet another Federal District Judge casts aside state laws without making any effort to preserve the status quo pending the Court’s resolution of a constitutional question it left open in United States v. Windsor [citation omitted]. This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court’s intended resolution of that question. This is not the proper way to discharge our Article III responsibilities.
Sick burn. Anyway, Justices Thomas and Scalia aren’t the only robe-wearing opponents of the decision not to continue the stay. As the venerable SCOTUSBlog reported, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court said a in memo that if any Alabama probate judge issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples:
it would be the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer of the State of Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley, in whom the Constitution vests “the supreme executive power of this state,”[citation omitted] to ensure the execution of the law.
In other words, nothing at all would happen.
I propose all of the gay couples getting married in Alabama in the wake of the stay’s denial mail a copy of their wedding portrait to Justice Moore, for good measure.
Documents mentioned in this post:
How the DMCA criminalized DIY farm equipment repair
How the DMCA criminalized DIY farm equipment repair
Kyle Wiens, writing at Wired:
Manufacturers have every legal right to put a password or an encryption over the tECU. Owners, on the other hand, don’t have the legal right to break the digital lock over their own equipment. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act—a 1998 copyright law designed to prevent digital piracy—classifies breaking a technological protection measure over a device’s programming as a breach of copyright. So, it’s entirely possible that changing the engine timing on his own tractor makes a farmer a criminal.
It’s not just “entirely possible,” if he’s circumventing “a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under” copyright law1, he’s committing a crime.
And those folks trading information or even hardware meant to help one another get around the manufacturers’ security measures, they’re criminals, too. The law says:
No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that [enables or encourages its use in circumvention].2
The DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions were poorly drafted, are overbroad, and reflect a lack of understanding by Congress of the specific problems caused by digital copyright infringement and more appropriate solutions. If you’re interested in learning more about the problems caused by the DMCA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has done some great work toward reforming, if not the DMCA itself (yet), its interpretation and implementation.
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Id. at (a)(1)(E)(2)(A) - (C). ↩
Innocent until convinced otherwise
Innocent until convinced otherwise
Susan Perry, reporting at MinnPost.com on a study led by psychologist Julia Shaw of the University of Bedminstershire and published in the journal Psychological Science:
The results were stunning (so stunning that the researchers stopped the study after interviewing 60 rather than the 70 students they had originally thought they would need to test their hypothesis): Of the 30 students who were falsely told they had committed a crime as a teenager, 21 (70 percent) came to believe it, including 11 of the 20 who were told that the crime was an assault.
But those 21 students didn’t simply believe they had committed the crime. By the end of the three interviews, they were also providing elaborate details about the crime — including details of their interactions with police.
That’s a concerning result for a legal system substantially based on eyewitness testimony. Many of the depositions I’ve encountered as a judicial law clerk refer to events several years old. A quick search on Google Scholar reveals the questionable-at-best nature of eyewitness testimony. This is a line of research anyone involved in the legal system, including but not limited to civil and criminal attorneys and judges, social workers and expert witnesses should keep an eye on.
The science of smarter teams
This is a fascinating article about what characteristics distinguish smarter teams from less effective teams. I’m a big fan of thinking about the bigger picture of emerging research like this. Think about how it applies, and how to apply it to improve, newsrooms, law firm practice groups, corporate boards and project and product teams.
Aol dials up the stupid with 150 editorial layoffs
Aol dials up the stupid with 150 editorial layoffs
Brianna Royce, Editor in Chief of Massively, the MMORPG arm of popular gaming blog Joystiq, which is also going away, talking about Aol Corporate’s most recent stupidity:
I would like to be able to tell you truthfully that this is an equitable and just decision that makes some sort of logical sense, but the reality is that our overlords’ decisions have always been unfathomable. I know more of what I know about corporate from reading tech and finance news than through my own job. We all suspected this was coming eventually a year ago when a VP whose name I don’t even know and who never read our site chose to reward our staggering, hard-won 40% year-over-year page view growth by… hacking our budget in half. There’s nothing to do in the face of that kind of logic but throw your hands in the air.
Aol still depends, yes, depends on its dial-up revenue to survive. That is why these popular sites have been euthanized and at least 150 people laid off. Because Aol leadership, millionaires all, can’t figure out how to run their company.
Aol owns The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and at least a couple of other very successful blogs. There are people working there who know how to run a profitable blog. Is it executive hubris that prevents the brass from asking someone what the hell to do?
I hate to be morbid but thetruth is that some day relatively soon everyone willing to endure dial-up will be dead. What will Aol do then?
I don’t know, but more importantly, and infuriatingly when it means people lose their jobs, neither does anyone at Aol.
EFF Wins Battle Over Secret Legal Opinions on Government Spying
EFF Wins Battle Over Secret Legal Opinions on Government Spying
The EFF said in a press release yesterday:
The U.S. Department of Justice today filed a motion to dismiss its appeal of a ruling over legal opinions about Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the controversial provision of law relied on by the NSA to collect the call records of millions of Americans. As a result of the dismissal, the Justice Department will be forced to release a previously undisclosed opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) concerning access by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to census data under Section 215.
That’s good news. Census has historically been analyzed only in the aggregate, with individual records held by the United States Census Bureau for 72 years before public release. I’m interested in reading the OLC opinion when it’s finally released.