CS 345 Test 1

Google definition of fake news Original goal of yellow journalism Goal now of yellow journalism

" a journalism that is based upon sensation and crude exaggeration" to sell more newspapers ad revenue, ego, parody gone wrong and more

Patent Trolls Features

-"are entities that don't create products themselves, but instead buy patents and make money from lawsuits" Broad claims of infringements with hope defendant will settle (as settling would be cheaper than mounting a defense)

Eric Tucker

-35 years old, had 40 twitter followers -11/9/2016 took photo of some charter busses in Austin, couldn't think of another explantation of them being there than it being Trump protestors -made tweet, it was false, was for software contest -Reddit picked it up where additional commentary added, then by Free Republic, picked up by FB groups Robertson Family Values and Donald Trump Commander in Chief 2020 -Austin's Fox tv station decided to call bus company to learn more about why the busses were charted (ACTUAL journalism, but this didn't stop the viral fake news)

Swartz criminal charges

-ACTION: downloading the entire JSTOR library of academic articles -charged with wire fraud and violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (11 counts) Penalty faced: -$1,000,000 fines -35 years in prison

Innovatio result

-CISCO, Netgear and Motorola joined together to defend the lawsuit -federal district court that heard the case set the value at 10 cents per device -CISCO, Netgear and Motorola settled by paying 3.2 cents per device for $2.7 million total. -legal fees: $13 million -Innovatio agrees to settle

Government Employees Insurance Company v. Google

-GEICO sued claiming violation of the Lantham Act by Google because their mark was being used in a way (as a keyword) that mislead consumers to believe there was implied association between the other company and GEICO, and this use of their trademark caused confusion -the 2 insurance companies -made think the two Geico's have association/people are confused

Tucker continued

-Gateway Pundit got tweet, added more commentary -by 9PM prez Trump tweets about professional paid protestors -around noon, 11/11/16 the software company that charted the busses for the conference releases a statement -at 2pm Tucker tweets he may have been "flat wrong" -it was shared 16,000 x on Twitter and 350,000 on fb, just went with gut feeling

RankBrain

-Google added it over summer '16 -machine learning program -to make PageRank more responsive to resources with increasing page views -rely lesson AUTHORITATIVE sources, more on POPULARITY -fake news viral load increases hit in short period ex. If you google about Clinton, sex ring, fake news will be at top

Patent troll ex. Innovatio Ventures, LLC

-Innovatio Ventures bought patents from tech firm Broadfirm -Innovatio sent demand letters to hotels and restaurants end users for $2,500 each claiming their provision of WIFI to their customers violates his patent -patent rights: exclude OTHERS from making, using, selling (claiming use violates patent) -sue people b/c they use product

Judicial Activism Against Trolls

-London Has Fallen cases: download illegally -On Feb 15, a judge split the statutory minimum damage award ($750) among all 28 defendants, instead of the requested $2,500 (plus $2600 attorney fees) -he wants more evidence

3 types of patents

-Plant (20 years from filing): real plants -Utility (20 years from filing): function, ex. device, process -Design (14 years from filing): appearance ex. decorative thing, design on bottom of Nike shoe -sometimes takes 3 years for patent application to get approved

Issues in trademark: use but not in competition

-Ray Ma was worried about keeping up with his air pods -it was observed that the AirPod case actually looked like a dental floss case -had idea of creating a label for the AirPod case to disguise it as floss -printed vinyl stickers sized correctly and began to sell them on Etsy -"Oral O Glides" to put AirPods in, $5 -listing removed based on a complaint from Proctor and Gamble -article makes point that he had no bad intent to compete in floss industry but he still was violating trademark -he has re-created the sticker to be just called "Flossy"

Jane Perez' Yelp review of her contractor

-Virginia, house remodel, contractor did bad job, go on Yelp -went to Supreme Court -lower court--rewrite review -V. SC.-can't censor speech, not make her write different review -article notes that it is with the advent of the internet that "regular people" now participate in online criticism

Ex. Washington Redskins case: PRO FOOTBALL INC. v. Amanda Blackhorse

-Washington Redskins marks cancelled -Supreme Court denied certiori -Native American Tribe "disparages Native Americans" ex. like Woodbridge -appealed to Supreme Court, they didn't agree to hear it, case was closed

Area for IP trolls: The Race to Patent Blockchains

-a blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a ledger (list) of records that are time-stamped -the data is this database cannot be altered or modified, so it can serve as a real record of a transaction -common use of block chain records? bit coin, record keeping, impossible to cheat the system

Prenda law arrests

-arrested 12/16/2016 -18 counts in the indictment (fraud, perjury, money laundering) -it appears some of the movies were uploaded to Pirate Bay by the Prenda firm -BIG issue: concealing personal stakes in these 200 cases -copyright troll: send stuff out hoping to get responses and get $

Copyright "Trolling"

-bringing cases seeking statutory damages for illegal downloading or unlicensed use of work -previously, the Prenda porn case Main areas: -porn -fabric ex. Lily Pulitzer fabric design -unauthorized use of images ex. take from website, doesn't make it yours

Aaron Swartz

-child genius/teen prodigy -at 14, participated with the W3C as an author of RSS -at 15, helped program the Creative Commons website -developer partner of Reddit -creator of Demand Progress activist movement Helped lead the fight against SOPA and PIPA -copyright infringement, take down whole website, mandatory jail time ex. girls dancing to Beyoncé video

Copyright infringement Penalties in the US Code Civil recoveries

-civil court -holder can be awarded actual damages OR can elect statutory damages -range: $750-$30,000 -if infringement was willful, statutory increases to $150,00 -innocent infringer: $200

Rights to record?

-clearly 1st amendment protects right to record police in their duties in public space in general -opinion notes no need to be an actual journalism -Gilk says video VITAL to 1st amendment protection

Facts/ruling of Perez

-contractor disputes Perez's review, sue for $750k -a lower court ruled that Perez would need to re-write her review, forcing someone to write something & the 1st amendment -Va S. Ct said can't censor speech before determination of defamation but it would be appropriate to award damages later if defamatory

Passage of Consumer Review Fairness Act

-enancted Dec. 15th, 2016 -passed by both houses and signed into law by prez Obama -avoid non disparagement clauses -void contract clauses that prohibit or restrict a consumer from engaging in review of seller's goods, services or conduct

Gilk v. Cunniffee, 2011 1st Circuit

-federal case -at Boston Commons, a public parks in downtown Boston, Glik observed Boston police arresting a man -because the force looked excessive, Glik decided to film from 10 ft away -after officers ask if Glik's cell phone video included audio recording -he was arrested on a number of charges (disturbing peace, aiding escape) including wiretapping b/c his phone recorded audio -is that interfering?

Why did Swartz download the JSTOR catalog (September 2010) from MIT?

-frustration about libraries not sharing catalogs -penned the "guerrilla open access manifesto", idea that INFORMATION IS POWER -"word's scientific/cultural heritage is being digitized", but locked up in private corporations -"we need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world." -arrested Jan 2011, charges July 2011 -Sept 2011, JSTOR releases public domain archive -new federal charges Sept 2012 -he had a political motivation for this, wants a sharing culture

What did Aaron Swartz do?

-he faced a multi-million dollar fine -new project, downloaded whole library files catalog (JSTOR), MIT turned over info to secret service, fed. criminal case, arrested

Lee v. Tam

-in 2006, a group of Asian Americans came together to form "The Slants" -unable to trademark band because "disparagement" -going to supreme court now -is it different if you want to call yourself this?

Rosetta Stone v. Google

-in 2009, Google changed its AdWords to allow the use of other people's trademarks in keywords as well as ad text -Rosetta claimed this change in policy caused confusion and led to consumers buying fake or counterfeit software -Rosetta sued for direct, contributory (like inducement) and vicarious trademark infringement -at trial, evidence of a memo at Google citing confusion of customers when other people's trademarks appear in ad text -consumers bought fake material -saying Google is helping -Google settled -SETTLED (undisclosed)

Trademark problems

-infringement -dilution -your mark can become generic

What is a Defensive Patent License?

-innovators put their work in the commons so that others can use and innovate with it, but NOT patent it -Creative Commons but for patents -wouldn't bring claims

Patent troll statistics

-it is estimated that 1/2 of patent lawsuits are brought by trolls -of these, trolls win just 25% that aren't settled -trolls that bring 8 or more lawsuits are only 10% likely to win a case -more lawsuits=less wins -average patent lawsuit costs $2 mil; hence the settling -lots of people just settle to get it to go away because broad claims and huge amount of $

Does FB have a duty to help diversity our experiences and understandings? obligation?

-like journalism/education -she thinks NO -not duty of company

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1984)

-makes it illegal to access a computer without authorization or exceed your authorization -makes it illegal to alter, damage or destroy information on the computer -makes it illegal to interfere with other's access of the computer (ex. Denial of Service attacks (DOS)) -this federal law is used to prosecute these actions -did commit copyright infringement

Court ruled in Google case

-mere use of another's trademark is not a violation of the Latham act -displaying the ads next to results for GEICO does not imply association -BUT displaying the ads might cause confusion -GEICO and Google did a closed, out of court settlement not his -Google settled with Geico

Trade secret cont'd

-non-disclosure and confidentially agreements utilized to maintain necessary secrets -47 states (including Alabama) have adopted the Uniform Trade Secret Act -important provisions of it are definitions, defining what constitutes misappropriation, improper means of obtaining TS as well as setting out remedies if these things happen

Brand management of online reputation is a complex problem

-online disinhibition effect Target -branding not boy/girl -acted as Target's PR person, but he's not

Copyright infringement Penalties in the US Code Criminal penalties

-possible criminal charges -first time offender (unauthorized, in 180 days >=10 copies with retail value of more than $2,500: 5 years in prison and up to $250,000 fine.) -second time or more: 1 year in prison and up to $100,000 fine

Tucker after After a week, that message had ___ retweets and ___ likes. The Snopes article has been shared about __,____ times according to it's website, a fraction of the number for the fake version of the news."--NYT

-posted the tweet with "false" over it, didn't receive attention -29 -27 -5,800 -stuff gets credibility she a lot of people see it (ex. her mom likes it and she's sweet)

Filming cannot INTERFERE

-proximity is a big factor -"you need to back up" -if you are stopped for filming, be sure to ask if you are free to go, unless "officially detained", need to know your rights -don't have to answer them, 1st amendment rights

The Prenda law firm case

-representing porn producers whose works were illegally downloaded and shared, bringing copyright infringement cases against the IP address, i.e. the person at the IP address (this is also a concerning approach) -usually the people accused would settle to avoid any embarrassment -one case did not roll over

Gilk's holding

-right to film in this manner vital to 1st amendment -filming was not done "in secret" so this is not wiretapping -done openly, police tried to argue they thought it was just photos, so this is wiretapping -court didn't buy into this argument -holding: 1st and 4th amendment (arrest w/o probable cause) rights violated

Other people's use of a registered trademark in online ad keywords

-some ad networks, such as Google, allow business interests to select keywords, including registered marks of others, for that business interest's ads, producing "organic listings" of results ex. Google BMW cars, Audi has ad word BMW, other people use

Sleekcraft standard

-some courts have just used some factors instead of all nine -those are indicated with a * or ^ -later decisions have cited actual confusion as THE important element, followed by intent & buyer sophistication

London Has Fallen Opinion

-statutory damage award of $2,500 per defendant should be awarded -statutory damages are not intended to serve as a windfall to plaintiffs, and enhanced statutory damages are not warranted where plaintiffs do not even try to demonstrate actual damages

Non-disparagement clauses

-take away from worth, insult -have to sign this now for some things (contract) -private agreement (contract) that the party may not disparage (take away worth or value) the other party -can't disparage each other -can't claim 1st amendment ex. hotels NON-DISPARAGEMENT DOES NOT EQUAL DEFAMATION (can't just say what really happened) -usually reciprocal wouldn't this violate 1st amendment? no, not with gov.

If laws were broken, why is this practice controversial?

-the "mark" lacks understanding or sophistication, users who lack sophistication ex. restaurant, just trying to make food -stigma of being sued, wrongdoing forces settlement, don't want to be embarrassed -no expectation of going to court, or accumulating damages, see what you can get, trolls just thought it was a quick way to get $, didn't actually think they would go to court

Innovatio cont'd

-the routers used at these locations contained a chipset from Broadfirm -the companies that build the routers (CISCO, Netgear, Motorola) would be responsible for "licensing", but innovate is suing because the hotels and restaurants "used" the devices -CISCO states Innovatio sent 14,000 demand letters seeking a total of $4 billion -Innovatio said that they could also seek recovery from home end-users but wouldn't "at this time", saying they could ask for even more money -should blame companies

Characteristics of fake news

-untrue -unverified "reporting", to get $$, how revenue comes from clicks -similarities to "yellow journalism", supposed to check sources, tabloid journalism

Guide for crafters

-you can look up trademarks -can do it if you follow guidelines -can't use NFL logo

Four area approach to dealing with the fake news problem

1. Mark as fake news (yellow triangle) 2. Fact check 3. No $ incentives -gives users the tool

Test for getting a patent: Is it..

1. Useful? (does it work) 2. Novel? Is it new? (they will search patent database) 3. Non-obvious? not the same as prior art (is it obvious to one of the skill in the art) -importance of witnessed record keeping -preferably in notebook, not online -have witness, to prove

Intellectual property types

1. copyright: ex. music video, scripture -70 + life of author 2. trademark: symbol -apply for 3. Trade secret: information, you keep it secret 4. Patent ex. medicine -apply for -20 years -can't claim FAIR USE with copyright/trademark/patent

Caveats to Patenting Software

1. stay away from trying to patent general, abstract ideas (instead: specific implementation) 2. Internet tech & relational database more likely 3. hard to patent something that used to merely be done by hand

Online Trademark Infringement test: Sleekcraft standard

1. strength/weakness π's mark: PLAINTIFFS 2. Δ's use of π's mark 3. similarity of marks ^ 4. evidence of actual confusion 5. Δ's intent (intended this?) 6. similar channels for goods/services (or unrelated? confusion) 7. consumer's expected likely degree of care or sophistication (expensive vs. cheap) 8. product lines^ 9. other variables that may influence ex. in Geico/Rossetta Stone, they used these factors

3 factors of cross-cutting

1. who are the friends, up to us 2. which shares are shown in our feed (FB, no control, algorithm) 3. which displays do we click on/interact with

Facebook has __.___ billion users in a Web 2.0 environment

1.79 -users are the content creators and sharers

_______% of online commentary is anonymous

53%

____% of millenials use FB as primary news source

60% -for a lot of us, FB is our main news source

Trademark

A brand to identify your goods in the marketplace

Patent

A grant of protection gives the registered inventor the right to exclude others from making, selling & using the invention

Online Troll Methods of an online troll

A person who aims to upsetting someone else -mocking with outrageous, incorrect info -giving "help" that actually makes things worse

Factors on whether you can record something happening

Are you in a public place? Yes ex. hospital room, sensitive information Is the police officer performing his or her duties (public functions? -not while they're on break, can when they're doing their job Proximity? -filming should not interfere (no standard) -not being apart of the event, if interfering, they can tell you stop

Homophilly

Associate with people similar with you ex. age, status

Issues in trademark

Badly registered, parody-like marks ex. Chewy Vuitton, no one is confused with Louis Vuitton

Alice Corp v. CLC Bank US S. Ct 2014

Dealt with software that created escrow (holding $ in controversy) accounts -applied for application, denied Court invalidated their patent because it did not do more than implement an abstract idea -it didn't do anything "inventive" -it needs to embody an inventive concept ex. Amazon's one click -making harder standard to get patent, automatic process, not invented

California Civil Code Sec. 1670-8

Directly bans companies from including ND clauses in consumer contracts -Congress has considered, but it hasn't passed ex. staying at someone's apartment, Paris

Blockchaining Defensive patent strategies Do patents on software actually threaten innovation?

Distributed legers File patent, assign agreement, won't go after you for using it No amount of research can help, promote progress of stifle?

Who said this? "I'm also a very busy businessman and I don't have time to fact-check everything that I put out there, especially when I don't think it's going out there for wide consumption"

Eric Tucker -started controversy after election -said protests after Trump won -before-->he had 40 followers on Twitter

Defamation

False statements made by a plaintiff about a defendant, that was communicated to a third party, and harms the reputation -per se categories, defenses, public figures all adjust the analysis

Geraci & Fields v. City of Philadelphia

Fields was a bystander filming; Geraci was a legal observer, arrested for filming police -district court ruled their filming was not protected because it was no done to challenge or criticize the protest and as such did not contain expressive conduct under the 1st amendment

Defining Yellow Journalism

Frank Lewis Mott (1941 "American journalism"), prof. in journalism 1. scare headlines in huge print, often in minor news 2. lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings 3. use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseuodscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called 4. emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips 5. dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.**

Gilk cont'd

Glik has filed a civil rights claim saying his 1st and 4th amendment rights were violated by the officer's actions -arrest w/o probable cause ex. California, phone call, if record-->they have to tell you ex. Walgreens

Non-disparaging clause becoming more common in things such as

In contracts for: -employment -service -rental agreements

Trade Secret

Information or know-how that gives its holder a competitive advantage -keep it a secret as long as it is a secret, don't share, competitive advantage -reverse engineering ex. KFC, figure out 12 herbs in chicken The protection of trade secrets is keeping your information a secret -if it is figured out, reversed engineered, you are out of luck -items easy to reverse engineer should be patented (patent apps kept private for first 18 mo)

Prenda v. John Doe

John Doe suggest that there aren't any actual clients at Prenda, that Prenda actually owns the copyrights seeking recovering on, as the Prenda firm even created some of the pornography -people who received letters would normally pay, but one person didn't -law firm made own porn movies -said they are representing themselves -the court affirmed the ruling of another case on this finding that an IP address DOES NOT EQUAL a person. -you use other people's wifi, it's not always the person @ IP address, have to prove it *can't just go after people who download something from an IP address

Major change to patent law (2011)

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act -changes from a first to invent to a FIRST INVENTOR TO FILE system (which aligns with the rest of the world) -day of invention-->day of application -previously if someone could show with documentation that they executed your design first, they would have the rights to the invention -different from being able to prove it

Fake news problem of homopily

Like of the same -tendency to choose and be around people with similar interests and values ex. religion, upbringing FB newsfeed algorithm: show us other's content based on our past actions and interaction -results in a user having a social media "echo chamber": predict behavior

Registration of Marks

No trademark shall be refused registration on account of nature unless it consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, scandalous matter -insult someone, take away from them Includes marks that a "substantial composite of the referenced group" perceives as disparaging -did survey research, ordered cancel mark, if someone else uses mark, nothing can be done about it

Questions about filming 1. If officer says your filming interferes, does the officer have the right to take your camera device? 2. Can officer demand to view image? 3. Can the officer delete the recordings that were interfering?

No, have to have a warrant No, challenge the officer No, no right to do that, stand up for your rights

2 cases different?

Nothing going on to challenge, just video-ing -lacks expressive conduct

Filming Police positives/negatives

Positives: -see reality of what happened -training purposes Negatives: -police distrust -is the fact that it's filming affect anything? -not film the whole thing, turn it off

Fake news "eco-system"

Prez Obama -"where everything is true and nothing is true" -interview with New Yorker -to disseminate information, wild conspiracy theories, paint opposition in bad light without rebuttal, that has accelerated and make it difficult to have common conversation -POLARIZING

How Tech Can Help Handicap Fake News

Restricting fake news sites from participating in advertising, can't participate in $ programs ex. Google's AdSense, FB's Audience Network

Ingenuity 13 v. John Doe important points

Stole the identity "Alan Cooper" and claimed Cooper had an interest -violates legal ethics Difference between disclosing your interest and hiding your interest -intellectual property case-->attorney misconduct case Consequences: must pay attorney's fees of the other side in those cases. Law licenses have been suspended

City of Philly cases

The court is requiring the person filming to articulate or express the reason for the filming What are some possible problems? -not everyone going to agree -"have to articulate", but can't interfere? How do you do that?

IP trolls

Tries to enforce a patent beyond the patent's actual value in the prior art -try to upset people, mock news

Post truth

We are less concerned with sources than emotion/personal beliefs

Can you register a moving trademark? Can you register a color for a trademark? Can you register a sound trademark?

Yes, it's like a video fragment ex. gif Yes, if it's distinctive and non-functional (not required/essential). Yes

Fake news goes viral for

all the wrong reasons, because it's shocking opinion DOES NOT EQUAL fake news

Technology gives fake news an _______.

assist

Apps available

ex. ACLU -sends video automatically to your private youtube -some apps go directly to people watching it

In 2011, Google and Apple each spent more on ______ than on research

patents -registering/defending

Is news more susceptible than other other kinds of information packages?

yes: anyone can post, more opinion, anyone can be an editor