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Fred von Lohmann, likely the technology's sector most recognized legal advocate, has called it quits as senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

One of Grokster's lead attorneys in the landmark MGM v. Grokster case, von Lohmann confirmed he is leaving EFF to take a job as Google's senior copyright counsel. In an e-mail Wednesday, von Lohmann declined to comment further.

If you're a fan of unimpeded innovation, the free distribution of content over the Web, and Internet users' right to privacy then you should take your hat off to von Lohmann. The way his … Read more

The heat is being turned up on the company representing the producers of "The Hurt Locker" as it wages a wide-ranging litigation campaign against illegal file sharing.

In Arizona, a law firm called White Berberian recently began advertising on its site that it will defend those accused of illegal file sharing by Dunlap Grubb & Weaver. That is the firm, which also goes by the name U.S. Copyright Group, that is filing lawsuits on behalf of filmmakers who claim their movies were pirated by thousands of peer-to-peer users.

In addition to the Oscar-winning film "The Hurt … Read more

The massive earthquake in Haiti in January destroyed a third or more of the country's banks and ATMs, but even before the quake fewer than 1 in 10 Haitians had ever used a traditional bank.

Aiming to broaden access to financial institutions and aid in the recovery, the Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Tuesday a plan to back up to $10 million in funding to spur the use of cell phone banking, an approach that has worked elsewhere to bring financing to the poor.

"Out of the ruins of Haiti's tragic … Read more

Suing people for illegal file sharing appears to have made a comeback.

News that Voltage Pictures, producers of the Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker," filed a federal copyright complaint last week against 5,000 alleged file sharers caught many in the file-sharing community off guard. Hadn't the film and music industries dumped a litigation strategy in favor of a much more subtle approach, one that didn't drag fans into court where they stood to lose thousands of dollars?

It's true, the trade groups for the major players in both these sectors, the Motion Picture Association … Read more

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood apparently goofed by suggesting that a prominent pro-technology attorney acted improperly in dealings with the firm that oversees LimeWire.

Two weeks ago, Wood granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America in the trade group's copyright case against Lime Group, parent of file-sharing service Lime Wire, maker of the LimeWire software. While Wood's decision generated enormous interest from file sharers, as it likely means the end of LimeWire, according to legal experts, Wood's written decision stirred controversy in legal circles by including a short note about lawyer … Read more

The trade group for the top four record companies is ratcheting up the pressure on a pro-technology attorney who may have offered controversial advice to file sharing service LimeWire.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, in the Southern District of New York, last week ruled in favor of the music industry in its copyright case against the company that operates LimeWire. Wood included in her 59-page decision a reference to Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group for tech companies and Internet users.

In describing testimony from Lime Wire founder Mark Gorton, Wood … Read more

The lawyers who do most of the jousting over Internet copyright issues were abuzz last week after learning that a federal court judge suggested one of the more prominent among them had advised clients to destroy evidence.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood issued a 59-page decision in Manhattan granting summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America in its long-running copyright fight against file-sharing service LimeWire. The order opened the door for the top four record companies to force a closure of the service.

In addressing an issue of whether statements made by … Read more

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to a couple of researchers investigating the use of ultrasound as a reversible male contraceptive.

The technique already works on rats, according to James Tsuruta, of the University of North Carolina, who led the research.

"We think this could provide men with reliable, low-cost, non-hormonal contraception from a single round of treatment," he said.

Read more of "Gates grant to fund testicle-blasting contraceptive" at CBSNews.com.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has not given up any of his editorial privileges, despite reports to the contrary, the Wikimedia Foundation said Monday.

In a blog post written Monday morning, Wikimedia Foundation communications director Jay Walsh formally addressed a growing controversy that began with reports last week suggesting Wales had lost many of his privileges in the wake of a Wikipedia community uprising.

The community discontent--which seems real to some--stems from moves Wales made to unilaterally pull down a series of what were said to be pornographic images from the online encyclopedia and some of its related sites.

Afterwards, … Read more