Internet Sites and Statutory Rape

In Doe v SexSearch.com an Ohio case, the plaintiff a male was charged with felony statutory rape. The facts are that a minor posing to be a 18 year old in her profile on SexSearch.com’s website met the plaintiff online and later both met in person and had consensual sex. The plaintiff was then charged with statutory rape, for having sex with a 14 year old. Plaintiff sued SexSearch.com alleging that (1) Defendants failed to discuss that the minor (Jane Roe) lied about her age to join the website and (2) the terms of the contract to join the website were unconscionable.

The Judge held against the plaintiff on both the claims stating that the “plaintiff was not an unsuspecting customer and “he was aware the SexSearch.com membership registration process did not include an age verification procedure. Plaintiff specifically agreed to the Terms and Conditions which stated that SexSearch does not guarantee or verify any information provided by the user of the website and nothing outside of the Terms and Conditions creates warranties.”

The Judge held that section 230 of the Communication Decency Act “Interactive Computer Services” cannot be held responsible for publishing information provided to them by a member.

When the plaintiff met the minor in person he probably should have taken steps to verify her age, even if she appeared to be 18 years old, but when desire takes over good sense there is no holding back. Now the sad part is that even though the sex was consensual the adult is being held responsible and the minor goes scot free, which is totally unfair but who said that law is fair…

Can you unlock your iphone?

When all this news was released about unlocking the iPhone I thought wouldn’t there be a copyright law violation? and on then found out about the legal exception to the DMCA’s (U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act) anti-circumvention provision that allows individual mobile phone users to unlock their devices for use on other network.

Once the consumer has paid for the iPhone (a lot!) and bought it, they own it and have a right to do what they want with it, now if something went wrong with it then Apple will not cover the phone under it’s warranty. I agree with Michael Lewis, an IP lawyer who states “The exception allows circumvention of device controls “for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network,” according to language from the U.S. registrar of copyrights. So if a hacker unlocks the iPhone, then posts the unlocking code for free, he’s engaging in a legal activity and enabling others to engage in the same legal activity”.

Now that the step by step process to unlock the iPhone is published in the web and if any person can do it then how is Apple going to take legal action against each of those individuals? In fact it could be argued that Apple by exclusively tying it’s phone to AT&T is liable for antitrust violations.

Virtual Police Officers in China’s Internet

In my recent post on Google in China, I had written about how much of the information found on the Internet in China is censored by the government and if an individual is looking for information that the government considers sensitive or illegal then that user’s access to that site is either blocked or is redirected to somewhere else.

Continuing with this policy the Communist government now policies the Internet with male and female police officers. Animated officers on the beat will pop up on the screen warning the web users to abide by the law as these cartoon police zoom either in a car, motorcycle or by foot.

The government keeps a tight leash on it’s citizens and their lives which include their activities in the virtual world of Internet too if the government considers it to be politically or morally threatening. This is what is known as ruling by fear, a constant vigilance and threat is enveloped around people’s lives so that they will stay in toe and the government can keep the citizens in it’s clutches.

The one positive aspect of these virtual police is that if any user needs the assistance of a real police officer then by clicking on one of these cartoon police images the user will be directed to the real police authorities.

Google launches it’s Gphone in India!

Wall Street Journal had an article early this month that Google was to launch a mobile phone, and some of the reasons stated was that Google generates tons of ad dollars and with it’s own mobile phone it can generate a lot more ad dollars. Apart from that by launching it’s own phone it can bundle in all its applications like Google maps, Gmail, camera, videao, built in Wi-Fi technology, Global Positioning System etc. Now, Apple better watch out…

But now Google seems all set to roll out it’s Gphone to the world and the stage is to be set in India. Now most technological innovations are launched in the US, but with India suddenly being the “in place” and definitely not a country to be disregarded, Google is all set to launch it’s new Gphone with India as a back drop.

In the US, Google is waiting for the regulatory approval and it will be interesting to see if the Gphone will cause the same excitement and will have as much sex appeal as the iPhone.

Napster, Kaaza, TiVo, YouTube….

Here is a fantastic article by Cory Doctorow on subtle copyright issues and his insight on our unquenchable thirst for  getting innovative ways of getting music, movies, videos etc without really having to pay for it. I love his science fiction style of writing, maintains a tempo! 

Faith, Courage and Love

Here is a sad but uplifting saga of two families struggles when the husbands/fathers were framed on charges of murder and convicted for life sentence. For 30 years the wives kept the families together by doing whatever it took (and it took a lot) and by totally believing that their husbands did not commit the crime. They made sure that the children maintained a relationship with their father and preserved the men’s feeling of worthiness by standing behind them, for if their families did not believe in their innocence or give their unconditional love these men would have nothing to live for. The money that has been awarded to these families is substantial and even if they do get it will it bring back 30 years of tears, humiliation, agony, hardship, deprivation of a husband, a father, loss of companionship, not being there to provide for your kids (that is so important for a man), watch the kids grow up and the delight in spending time with them while they are growing up, the sheer wastage of youth, denial of happiness and joy to these innocent young men? Now for every such story that is published there must be hundreds that go through similar fate.

Google in China

News and information is highly censored by the government in China and China being the most populous country in the world has a huge consumer market and most businesses clamoring to get a foot into the door will cooperate or toe the line with the govenment’s stringent regulations. Google as a search engine wanting to stay in China abided by the government’s specifications.

Apparently in China different information crops up when sensitive terms that are not looked upon favorably by the government are entered into the Chinese search engine when typed in Chinese characters versus when English characters are typed into an English search engine. In the Chinese search engine such information is blocked, censored or the site will redirect the user to something else instead of finding what the user is actually seeking. Sites like BBC, New York times are blocked.

Now, every “for profit” businesses main goal is to make money so Google agreed to self censor its search engine to remain in China and gain a market share by setting up a new search engine site called Google.cn. The main rival to Google is Baidu.com and todate has been the number one search engine. After the United States, China has the largest Internet market in the world and so Google has to dig deeper to gain a major foothold and it has done it by acquiring a stake in Tianya.cn which is a Chinese community search engine. Now both Google.cn or Tianya.cn will be pandering to the governments terms and restrictions, they will not add any value in terms of offering more currently unavailable information, accuracy of content or better quality of information. All this does is helps Google get more of the market share and add money into its coffers.

More on Identity Theft

I had an earlier blog on identity theft that pulled in a lot of traffic and here is something more… In the pre Internet era, illegal operations mainly centered around smuggling of a variety of substances across borders, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping for ransom etc. Now one of the most common and much easier way to conduct illegal operations and make easy money is by identity theft.

The Internet has a wealth of information that a devious minded person would need to pursue criminal activities at their finger tips and at the click of a button. In the case of identity theft the personal information of a targeted victim in the Internet is easily available from some online activity  that the victim entered into. There are tons of sites ranging from commerce sites like Amazon to online job hunting sites like Monster or Hot jobs where this personal information can be obtained. Here is an interesting article on how the authorities bust an identity theft ring. 

Google continues to be sued under trademark law.

Geico sued Google under the trademark law stating that Google allowed competing insurers to buy the Geico mark as a keyword. American Blinds sued Google on similar issues that the sale of keyword based advertising violated the trademark law. Louis Vuitton filed a case against Google on similar claims and the French courts ruled that Google’s ad policies violated the French trademark law.

Now American Airlines has sued Google on the similar issue of search words involving its name. This lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of the Northern District of Texas states that Google violates trademark laws by selling search terms such as “American Airlines” or “AA.com” to other companies for advertising. This is important because when Google sells the right to use  a name or similar words, phrases or terms or trademarks that are confusingly similar to American Airlines to other competitors than when someone clicks on the phrase or term on Google’s ad then the competitor directs the search to the competitor’s own web pages.

In Geico the court held that there was no trademark infringement for use of keyword triggers and if a confusion occured in the consumers mind then all they had to do was click the Back button, but the court left issues of liablity open which was settled under confidentiality terms. So in essence it was a victory for Google.

The court in the American Blinds case upheld it’s right to go to trial on claims of trademark infringement, unfair competition and contributory dilution and the trial date is set in November and will be heard by Judge Fogel in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose. Now that is closer to home and it will be interesting to see what the Judge decides.

India has the most number of billionaires after the US

When I first came to the US in 1989 to pursue my master’s in law program, students at the university would ask me how come I had learnt to speak english so well after being in the US for only a month  or how did I go to school in India since India did not have any roads, or how is that I looked so healthy when people in India had nothing to eat and so on…

To the question about roads I would keep a straight face and reply answer nonchalantly “oh, I went on camels” (I hadn’t seen a live camel in India except in the zoo) and I would be thinking how come I know so much about the US and here I have come to do a master’s program and they are asking me “do you have roads?” how about “do you have schools and colleges?”

One of the main reason for this is because of the image that the media has been portraying till now in movies like “City of Joy” in which almost every Indian is either a leper or someone whose body part is missing and are all ready to die. In the Indiana Jones series all Indians are depicted as primitive savages who eat monkey brains and are waiting for this savior to come along and rescue them. I wonder where these film directors get their ridiculous ideas from about one of the most civilized nations in the world.

Now, fast forward a decade later and Forbes in a special report lists more billionaires in India than in any other Asian nation. According to Forbes only the US has more billionaires than India, which means that after the US, India has the most number of billionaires. Indians have made their mark in all fields and India has world class scientists, engineers, journalists, doctors  and the list goes on…

Morgan Stanley predicts 100 billionaires in India by 2009 in these diverse fields and there is more to it than what lies on the surface. Indian companies have been acquiring western corporations and negotiating major deals. Now all this and more to come is a far cry from from “me riding a camel to school.”