Tag: SUPREME COURT

Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could determine whether or not Congress can remove works from the public domain and place them under copyright. At issue is a ruling from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in July against a group of orchestra conductors, educators, publishers, and film archivists, whose professional lives rely on public domain works. The ...

A federal judge in California recently ruled that police can place a GPS on a person's car without his or her knowledge without seeking a warrant. CNN reports that Juan Pineda-Moreno's appeal was rejected for the third time in early August by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers nine West Coast states. Pineda-Moreno claimed that Oregon DEA agents had violated his privacy by ...

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently spoke at the University of Denver, and suggested that Wikileaks' publication of the so-called Afghan War Diaries could result in a court case over free speech, reports the Guardian. Sotomayor said that the relationship between unfettered speech and national security has been "a constant struggle in this society, between our security needs and our ...

Supreme Court nominees have always been subjected to perhaps the most intense vetting process of any political official. But arguably no other candidate has been under the kind of microscopic scrutiny that Elena Kagan now faces, thanks to an organization that has opened up her inbox for all the world to explore. Created by the watchdog group Sunlight Foundation, 'Elena's Inbox' is an online ...

Back in December, we told you about a group of police officers in Ontario, California, who filed a lawsuit against their chief because he read scandalous text messages they sent on city-provided pagers. Now, nearly seven months later, the Supreme Court has weighed in (in spite of their technological ignorance), and have come down in favor of the snooping police chief. The court's unanimous ...

There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web. Point the kids in this direction next time they ask where cursors come from. [From: swiss-miss] Atlantic staff editor Chris Good takes a look at how the Supreme ...

Public libraries, in theory, are supposed to be bastions of information. But with the rise of the Internet, many libraries have begun putting up online filters, to make sure users are using public broadband connections to search for actual information and not, well, porn. To many, it's a practical measure. But is it constitutional? According to the Washington state Supreme Court, it is. As the ...

The position of Supreme Court justice might be the most secure, cushy job in the country, but it's certainly not as easy as it looks. Keeping your finger on the pulse of society long enough to fairly interpret the laws governing it definitely requires some leg work. And, as we found out yesterday, the job is sometimes so difficult that obscure social phenomena can manage to completely elude the ...

The Web site of the Supreme Court has finally gotten a much needed makeover. Well, in truth, it's more than a makeover; the previous version of the site, which appeared to have been designed in 1992, has been rebuilt from scratch. The new version, which looks like it was designed in 2001, is much easier to navigate, and introduces several touches for improving navigation for regular users. The ...

After a group of police officers in Ontario, California discovered that their boss was reading texts they sent on city-provided pagers, they felt violated and took the case to court. Now, the highest court in the land is ready to weigh in, and the results could have far-reaching implications in offices across the country. As the LA Times reports, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal ...

Heads up to all you young gamers out there -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown is taking his anti-video game crusade all the way to the United States Supreme Court. On Wednesday, Mr. Brown petitioned the nation's highest court to uphold a proposed California state law banning the sale or rental of violent games to children. According to the LA Times, a federal district court shot down the ...

The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was passed in 1998 following a similar law that was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. COPA, which never went into effect, would have made it illegal for Web sites to make sexual or objectionable content available to minors. The challenge was handled by the ACLU on behalf of a coalition of writers, artists, educators, and the Salon Media ...

When former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor stepped down from the highest bench in the nation and went into retirement in 2005, she was all but guaranteed a raft of speaking engagements, thanks to her years as one of the most influential people in the nation. Few would have pegged her as a future video game designer, however. But video games are exactly what she's working on now: ...