19 歲的英國寫了個機器人程式產生上訴文件,半年成功消滅了一億的罰單

看起來是用 template 加上一些問題組合成的:「A 19-year-old made a free robot lawyer that has appealed $3 million in parking tickets」、「A teenager has saved motorists over £2 million by creating a website to appeal parking fines」。

會問一些問題,然後產生一份文件讓你上訴:

Once you sign in, a chat screen pops up. To learn about your case, the bot asks questions like "Were you the one driving?" and "Was it hard to understand the parking signs?" It then spits out an appeal letter, which you mail to the court. If the robot is completely confused, it tells you how to contact Browder directly.

網站名稱叫做 www.donotpay.co.uk 也很清楚目的 XDDD

英國法院認為 GCHQ 偷黑別人機器是合法的

出自「Tribunal rules computer hacking by GCHQ is not illegal」這篇報導。在 Edward Snowden 爆料美國與英國政府都在幹黑的後,Privacy International 就提出訴訟控告 GCHQ,但前幾天法院認定這樣是合法的:

Campaigners Privacy International have lost a legal challenge claiming the spying post's hacking operations are too intrusive and break European law.

The case was launched after revelations by US whistleblower Edward Snowden about the extent of US and UK spying.

接下來的戰場會變成在 Investigatory Powers Bill 上面?還是會繼續有上訴?

HTTP Status Code 451

前陣子送出的 HTTP Status Code 451 要通過成為標準了:「Why 451?」。

Today, the IESG approved publication of "An HTTP Status Code to Report Legal Obstacles". It'll be an RFC after some work by the RFC Editor and a few more process bits, but effectively you can start using it now.

取自「華氏451度」這部講出版物言論自由的作品 (紙的燃點是華氏 451 度),在 Internet 時代,451 剛好在 HTTP Status Code 4xx 的範圍,被拿來用做「因法令限制而服法提供內容的 Status Code」。

在文件開頭說明了這個代碼的用途:

This document specifies a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) status code for use when resource access is denied as a consequence of legal demands.

英國將 10Mbps 上網訂為法定權利

在「UK govt to make 10 Mbps broadband a legal right」這邊看到英國政府打算更新法案,逐步將 10Mbps 上網速度訂為法定權利。

目前法定權利是 28.8Kbps 的撥接速度:

Currently, the minimum USO for data access in Britain is just 28.8 Kbps, or dial-up speeds.

打算在今年年底拉高為 2Mbps,並且在 2020 年拉高為 10Mbps:

Under the proposal, the minimum speed specified by the USO will be raised to 2 Mbps by the end of the year, before further increasing to 10 Mbps by 2020.

英國首相 David Cameron 公開說明,internet 應該被認定為基本權利:

"Access to the internet shouldn’t be a luxury; it should be a right – absolutely fundamental to life in 21st century Britain," Cameron said.

OS X El Capitan (10.11) 軟體授權文件的白話翻譯

有人把 OS X El Capitan 的軟體授權文件翻譯成白話的 22 條英文說明:「OS X El Capitan License: in Plain English」,也就是這份文件:

其實有不少有趣 (?) 的設計...

Google 的書本掃描服務被認定為「合理使用」

Google 的書本掃描服務被認定為合理使用:「Google's Book-Scanning Project Ruled to Be Legal `Fair Use'」。

“Google’s unauthorized digitizing of copyright-protected works, creation of a search functionality and display of snippets from those works are non-infringing fair uses,” U.S. Circuit Judge Pierre Leval wrote on behalf of the court. “The purpose of the copying is highly transformative, the public display of text is limited and the revelations do not provide a significant market substitute for the protected aspects of the originals.”

看起來是一路打到第二巡迴上訴法院了?(負責紐約地區)

FBI 的搜索「創意」被美國法院否決

Zite 上看到「FBI can’t cut Internet and pose as cable guy to search property, judge says」這篇文章,講 FBI 的「創意」被法院給否決。

搜索的手段是這樣發生的。FBI 的人先把網路給剪斷,然後偽裝成修復工人進去搜索:

The Las Vegas court frowned on the FBI's ruse of disconnecting Internet access to $25,000-per-night villas at Caesar's Palace Hotel and Casino. FBI agents posed as the cable guy and secretly searched the premises.

然後就宣稱因為這是被邀請入內,所以搜索是合法的:

The government claimed the search was legal because the suspects invited the agents into the room to fix the Internet.

不過法官顯然不買帳,引用法官的話:

Permitting the government to create the need for the occupant to invite a third party into his or her home would effectively allow the government to conduct warrantless searches of the vast majority of residents and hotel rooms in America,

也就是說,除非當事人明確知道搜索並且同意,不然這種惡搞「同意」的行為並不合法。

GNU GPLv2 的判例

OSNews 上看到 GNU GPLv2 在美國的判例:「The GNU GPL to be tested in court」。

引用的報導在「GPLv2 goes to court: More decisions from the Versata tarpit」這篇,裡面有幾個角色:

  • Ximpleware:撰寫了一套 XML parser,同時以 GPLv2 與商用版權釋出。
  • Versata:在自家產品 DCM software 使用了 Ximpleware 的 XML parser,依照後面的訴訟,看起來是沒有付錢買商用版本。而 DCM software 裡面沒有引用 GPLv2 條款,同時也當然沒有公開程式碼。
  • Ameriprise:付錢給 Versata 購買 DCM software 使用權的公司,另外取得 Versata 的授權,可以找外包商修改 Versata 的 DCM software。
  • Infosys:Ameriprise 的外包商。

起因在於 Versata 不爽 Infosys 拿他們的軟體開發同性質的軟體,結果告下去後這件事情牽扯到 GPLv2 的授權問題。

然後 Ximpleware 也跳出來告了所有人,還因為專利關係,告了 Versata 的其他客戶。

問題分成兩塊討論,一塊是 copyright,另外一塊是 patent。看了一下文章的說明,案子似乎還沒結束,但已經有些結論出來了。

在 copyright 的部份,法院要求明年二月底前必須上 patch 修正問題。也就是 GPLv2 的感染力是有效的,如果你不打算服從就要賠錢,然後把 GPLv2 程式碼拔乾淨。

而 patent 的部份有點複雜啊... Ximpleware 的控訴都不成立,不過理由沒有看懂 @_@

等有更多時間再來看其他的說明研究...

維基百科的使用條款更新,強制揭露利益衝突問題

維基百科昨天的使用條款修訂公告中,提到了「揭露利益衝突」的問題:「Making a change to our Terms of Use: Requirements for disclosure」,這份文件的最後方有簡體中文版的說明,對於看英文比較不通順的人可以先看中文版的說明。

在新版的「Terms of Use」裡面,有一個專門的章節「Paid contributions without disclosure」:

These Terms of Use prohibit engaging in deceptive activities, including misrepresentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud. As part of these obligations, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. You must make that disclosure in at least one of the following ways:

  • a statement on your user page,
  • a statement on the talk page accompanying any paid contributions, or
  • a statement in the edit summary accompanying any paid contributions.

這段修正可以從「Difference between revisions of "Terms of Use" - Wikimedia Foundation」這邊看到完整的 diff。

這是對於「付費編輯」的反制:國外甚至有專門收費找人編輯維基百科的公司在運作 (可以參考 2013 年 10 月的「Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner’s response to paid advocacy editing and sockpuppetry」這篇文章),這次在使用條款內直接增訂這一部份,將本來只是社群規範的項目變成直接上法院反制。

早該這麼做了,這件事情意義重大...

GitHub 的 DMCA 政策

GitHub 是美國公司,所以會受到 DMCA 的影響,前幾天他們公佈了收到 DMCA Takedown 時的政策與作法:「DMCA Takedown」(話說回來,help.github.com 居然沒有上 HTTPS)。

然後很有 GitHub 風格的開了一個 repository 來管這些 Takedown Notice (噴茶):「https://github.com/github/dmca」,目前已經看到兩封了,以後應該可以看到很多「範本」。其中一封是 Sony 針對 PS3 破解工具發 Takedown notice:「2011-01-27-sony.markdown」(Slashdot 的報導在「Sony Sends DMCA Takedown Notice To GitHub」)

另外一個有公開 Takedown notice 的是 The Pirate Bay,參考「Legal threats against The Pirate Bay」,這邊也有很多範本 XD (應該是只刊出大公司的 XD)