trial

Waiting on the Pirate Bay verdict

The four defendants in the high-profile Pirate Bay trial face year-long jail terms if found guilty when the verdict gets announced in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday. But even if prosecutors get their way, it's less evident whether a legal victory would also translate to a broader deterrent against illegal file sharing.

Clearly, this case is being viewed on both sides of the Atlantic as a potentially landmark decision in the heated controversy surrounding unauthorized Internet file sharing. The prosecution accuses the four men standing trial--Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundstrom--of making copyright-protected material available through … Read more

Courts, coach cry foul over Twitter

You know a Web app has come into its own when it gets banned in courtrooms and locker rooms.

Twitter, which went from being just another Web geek service to an Internet phenomenon lampooned on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," is now becoming a nuisance for at least two American institutions--the judicial system and the NBA.

Some judges and lawyers believe the integrity of trials is being threatened by jurors posting comments about cases on the popular microblogging service.

Lawyers for a building products company are asking an Arkansas court to overturn a $12.6 million judgment … Read more

The Pirate Bay trial to begin in Sweden

File swappers are expected to be keeping their eyes on a court in Sweden this week as a landmark copyright-infringement trial gets under way.

The four men behind the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay go on trial Monday in Stockholm, accused of helping millions of Internet users illegally download protected movies, music, and computer games. The defendants--Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, and Carl Lundström--face up to two years in prison and a fine of 1.2 million kronor ($143,529) if convicted of being accessories and conspiracy to break Swedish copyright law.

Two of … Read more

Now we have open source for clinical trials, too

I mentioned the other day that I've been hearing about scads of new open-source projects, commercial and otherwise, but I had not yet heard of OpenClinica, which TMCnet profiles today.

Since its debut in 2005, OpenClinica [developed by Akaza Research] has quickly become the most popular open source clinical trials software in the world. Akaza Research previously announced that it had experienced 2,000 OpenClinica downloads as of August 2006. Today's announcement represents a growth of 700 percent since that time....Akaza Research takes the position that its professional open source approach is key to helping to facilitate … Read more

Felony charges dropped against teacher in porn/spyware case

A Connecticut substitute teacher arrested four years ago for allegedly showing students porn on a classroom computer has been cleared of the felony charges--for now--after experts pointed the finger at spyware.

Julie Amero, 41, agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, pay a $100 fine, and surrendered her teaching license, according to the Hartford Courant. The ordeal left her hospitalized for stress and heart problems, the report said.

The Superior Court judge in Norwich on Friday tossed out the charges that she had endangered children by intentionally causing "pop-up" pornography to display on her … Read more

Fun flying with Power Downloader

Kitty Kilobyte is off to Europe for her annual vacation abroad. Like many of us, she loves travel but hates flying. When she asked Power Downloader if he had any advice--such as a program that was so boring it would put her to sleep for 10 hours--he came back with an alternative plan.

Instead of boring herself to sleep, Power Downloader suggested Kitty try a brain challenge--an engaging game that would take her mind off the pre-flight horrors of the TSA and the in-flight trauma of getting stuck with the middle seat. Power D's recommendation this week is MahJong Suite 2008. … Read more

Where you don't mess with the Yu-Tang Clan

YU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NOTHING TO BUCK WITH! Founding members the Yza, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah (aka Tony Starks) keep it cutty and explore tech's first format war; skyrocketing Wii Fit prices; losing water on film; and our culture's lousy obsession with movie remakes. McLovin and Sr. Sean Connery also stop in to discuss Mr. BAKalar's questionable fashion choices. EPISODE 104 Download today's podcast

Trial of ReiserFS programmer takes bizarre turn

The ongoing murder trial of Hans Reiser, the 44-year-old Oakland, Calif., computer programmer accused of killing his wife, took a rather interesting turn Wednesday with rambling testimony from Reiser's father, who said he had warned his son about "techno-geeks" who are into sadomasochism, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Yep, you read that right. During a break with jurors present, the witness, Ramon Reiser, 65, also did one-armed push-ups in the courtroom, the Chronicle wrote.

The trial has been living up to predictions it would be one of the most sensational in local recent memory. Driving that … Read more

On shovelware: A rant

HP is far from the only shovelware offender, but it's certainly among the worst. Buy a PC from any large manufacturer, and you'll likely find the desktop littered with icons for free software trials. Software companies pay hardware manufacturers to get their apps (or links to their apps) preloaded on systems so that their products sit in front of a captive audience as it powers up a new PC for the first time. This arrangement helps the software companies acquire more paying customers, and it helps the hardware manufacturers' bottom line, particularly with low-end systems where margins are … Read more