There is a new ruling in the impressive saga of NCSoft (City of Heroes fame) v Marvel (of Spider-man fame). For those unfamiliar with the case, Marvel Comics sued NCSoft, the makers of the popular City of Heroes MMORPG game because the game character-design engine allows users to create their Read more…
The September 2005 issue of SCRIPTed is now online. The contents of this issue are: [Editorial] Patenting Lives; by Johanna Gibson. Los contratos por adhesión en plataformas electrónicas: una mirada al caso chileno (Adhesion Electronic Contracts: A Look at the Chilean Case); by Iñigo de la Maza Gazmuri. ‘Show me Read more…
It is interesting how you come to rely on the internet. The entire web at the university of Edinburgh seems to be down since yesterday. I haven’t had access to my email since yesterday, and I feel isolated from the world. Besides, today is the first day of the semester. Read more…
A new security threat has been uncovered. The keys on a keyboard can be digitally recorded and used to determine what’s been written. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley (where else?) have been using a computer program that can pick up more than 90 percent of key sounds Read more…
This is an interesting article in Wired from Jennifer Granick. The author claims that the growing number of cases that require users of other computers for permission before using it to access the internet may stifle innovation. The article starts with some amazing examples of websites coming together to help Read more…
This happened a while ago, but I just noticed (it has been a bit of a hectic summer). The mobile payment system SimPay was supposed to become the main manner to pay for stuff with your mobile phone. The idea was for a micropayment system that you could use to Read more…
GMail is Google’s email application, right? Wrong! The name had been first used by Independent International Investment Research, a British firm that had a trade mark for Gmail. Google and IIIR have been negotiating but the UK company is sticking to its guns, they probably realise that they are sitting Read more…
Yahoo has had to provide access to Chinese authorities to the details of an email account of a journalist accused of being a dissident. The journalist was then convicted and sent to jail for 10 years. The Chinese government exercises heavy control over the internet, with filters that block some Read more…
A new and bizarre computer virus (a Trojan actually) called Yusufali-A is attacking Windows machines everywhere. The virus will scan the title of the active window and look for the following words: sexteenxxPhallusjeggerPriapusPhallicPenisExhibitionism If it finds any, then it will display the message displayed above stating how Allah knows what Read more…