Month: December 2015

Stupid Patent of the Month: Microsoft’s Design Patent on a Slider | Electronic Frontier Foundation


For the first time ever, this month’s Stupid Patent of the Month is being awarded to a design patent. Microsoft recently sued Corel for, among other things, infringing its patent on a slider, D554,140, claiming that Corel Home Office has infringed Microsoft’s design. The design patent, as detailed by Microsoft in its complaint, is titled “User Interface for a Portion of a Display Screen” and entitles Microsoft to own this:

Source: Stupid Patent of the Month: Microsoft’s Design Patent on a Slider | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Judge Not Impressed With Government’s Warrantless 921-Page ‘Peek’ Into A Suspect’s Cellphone | Techdirt

All the DHS wanted was a warrantless “peek” at the contents of a seized iPhone. The phone, one of three seized from a person suspected of drug trafficking, was examined by the DHS, with the warrant arriving a month later. Now, all of the evidence obtained from the phone is being tossed out.

In the order granting the suppression of evidence obtained from the phone, Judge Sterling Johnson points out that the government revised its story several times during oral testimony.

DHS Special Agent Thomas Wilburt worked with the CBP to detain the suspect, Adamou Djibo, at the JFK Airport. Djibo’s iPhone was taken and examined by Wilburt, who couldn’t seem to accurately recall the details of the examination.

Source: Judge Not Impressed With Government’s Warrantless 921-Page ‘Peek’ Into A Suspect’s Cellphone | Techdirt

Registrar Shuts Down Pirate Bay Domain Names


The Pirate Bay lost all of its active “Hydra” domain names this morning. ThePirateBay.LA, .GD, .MN and .VG were suspended by their registrar, alongside several other TPB related domains. The domain troubles make the site hard to reach through the usual channels, but The Pirate Bay still has some backups in reserve.

Source: Registrar Shuts Down Pirate Bay Domain Names

Harvard Law Review Freaks Out, Sends Christmas Eve Threat Level Over Public Domain Citation Guide | Techdirt

Source: Harvard Law Review Freaks Out, Sends Christmas Eve Threat Level Over Public Domain Citation Guide | Techdirt

NSA/GCHQ Exploits Against Juniper Networking Equipment – Schneier on Security

This doesn’t have much to do with the Juniper back door currently in the news, but the document does provide even more evidence that (despite what the government says) the NSA hoards vulnerabilities in commonly used software for attack purposes instead of improving security for everyone by disclosing it.

Source: NSA/GCHQ Exploits Against Juniper Networking Equipment – Schneier on Security

Museum Sued for Art Depicting Jesus as White | Lowering the Bar


Plaintiff suffered “emotional and psychological harm” from exposure to the offending art, and four days later, he sued, demanding among other things that it be removed from the museum.

Source: Museum Sued for Art Depicting Jesus as White | Lowering the Bar

Sanders Would Dominate Money Race With Small Donor Matching Funds


Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign would now have raised almost $100 million more than Hillary Clinton’s if the U.S. electoral system provided public matching funds for small donors.

Source: Sanders Would Dominate Money Race With Small Donor Matching Funds

Netgear Shows Customers How to Share Pirate Movies – TorrentFreak

Showing users how to send large video files is a task undertaken by dozens of software and hardware manufacturers but for the folks at Netgear the issue is now a controversial one. Want to send a pirate movie to a friend after downloading it from a torrent site? Netgear apparently has an app for that.

Source: Netgear Shows Customers How to Share Pirate Movies – TorrentFreak

Martin Shkreli’s other pharma company is dramatically collapsing | Ars Technica


Following arrest of CEO, KaloBios loses CFO, accountants, is delisted from Nasdaq.

Source: Martin Shkreli’s other pharma company is dramatically collapsing | Ars Technica