
Twenty legal battles that stand out across Ars’ 20 years of covering them - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/20-legal-cases-across-20-years-these-are-our-favorites/
======
CaliforniaKarl
Tangentially related to the article: I miss Groklaw.

It's been over six years since PJ stopped posting to Groklaw, around the time
that Lavabit shut down (see
[http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130818120421175](http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130818120421175)),
because PJ relied on email to receive documents and tips.

From the time I discovered Groklaw, I grew attached to the way that PJ not
only managed to keep a handle on the crazy machinations of long-running cases
(SCO v IBM being one of the biggest), but was able to tie all of the different
threads together into a cohesive narrative. I'm not sure any single news
source has managed to step up to Groklaw's level.

PJ, if you ever read this, please consider coming back! Since you left, groups
like the Freedom of the Press Foundation
([https://freedom.press](https://freedom.press)) have formed to provide tools
that sources and journalists may use to communicate as securely as possible.
Groups from different ends of the political spectrum — from the Washington
Post ([https://www.washingtonpost.com/anonymous-news-
tips/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/anonymous-news-tips/)) to the Wall
Street Journal ([https://www.wsj.com/tips](https://www.wsj.com/tips)) and
beyond — provide ways for sources to submit tips using Signal and SecureDrop.

In the time since you have left, there have been leaks of documents orders of
magnitude more damaging than those of corporate lawsuits; and the news
organizations which convert those leaks into reporting are doing a good job of
keeping their sources secret. Government agencies continue to press for
backdoors to encryption. And I take all of that as a sign that things seem to
be working.

So I hope you consider coming back one day!

------
StillBored
Funny, in 1999 the 9th wrote "Whether we are surveilled by our government, by
criminals, or by our neighbors, it is fair to say that never has our ability
to shield our affairs from prying eyes been at such a low ebb."

The list of things that have changed since then makes 1999 that quote look
downright insane. I'm not even going to explain how much less private everyone
is. But lets just say, back then, for the most part the government (and via
3rd parties) was probably surveying people under actual investigation less
than they currently surveying everyone in the country.

~~~
vkou
> But lets just say, back then, for the most part the government (and via 3rd
> parties) was probably surveying people under actual investigation less than
> they currently surveying everyone in the country.

Only if we selectively ignore COINTELPRO, the Red Scare witch-hunts, the
attacks on the Civil Rights & Black Power movements...

~~~
User23
The VENONA papers actually proved McCarthy right.

There is some really interesting vintage crypto associated with them. The
Soviets reused their one time pads. Whoops!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project)

~~~
fenomas
> The VENONA papers actually proved McCarthy right.

That's a pretty ludicrous claim, and the link you posted does not support it.
It says only that a Texas school board was criticized for making similar
claims.

~~~
User23
Read them: [https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-
documents/ven...](https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-
documents/venona/)

And read the link I originally shared more carefully this time.

~~~
fenomas
Again, the wikipedia link says nothing about the claim you're making except
that a Texas school board controversially tried to promote it in its
curriculum.

From further reading, the claim itself seems to originate from an Ann Coulter
book.

~~~
User23
"Significance

The decrypted messages gave important insights into Soviet behavior in the
period during which duplicate one-time pads were used. With the first break
into the code, Venona revealed the existence of Soviet espionage[23] at Los
Alamos National Laboratories.[24] Identities soon emerged of American,
Canadian, Australian, and British spies in service to the Soviet government,
including Klaus Fuchs, Alan Nunn May, and Donald Maclean. Others worked in
Washington in the State Department, the Treasury, Office of Strategic
Services,[25] and even the White House.

The messages show that the U.S. and other nations were targeted in major
espionage campaigns by the Soviet Union as early as 1942. Among those
identified are Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; Alger Hiss; Harry Dexter White, the
second-highest official in the Treasury Department; Lauchlin Currie,[26] a
personal aide to Franklin Roosevelt; and Maurice Halperin,[27] a section head
in the Office of Strategic Services."

~~~
fenomas
McCarthy's claims were far broader than that (and virtually all spurious).
From a specialist historian:

> But if McCarthy was right about some of the large issues, he was wildly
> wrong on virtually all of the details. ... virtually none of the people that
> McCarthy claimed or alleged were Soviet agents turn up in Venona. ... The
> new information from Russian and American archives does not vindicate
> McCarthy. He remains a demagogue, whose wild charges actually made the fight
> against Communist subversion more difficult.

[https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/212053/setting-record-
joe-m...](https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/212053/setting-record-joe-mccarthy-
straight-harvey-klehr)

------
mrosett
It's strange to me that they mentioned Oracle vs Google in the introduction
but not the body of the article.

It seems like in a lot of the cases involving new tech take a couple years to
get started and then ~5 years to resolve. So we got a ruling about the phone
searchers 7 years after the iPhone, a ruling about streaming 6 years after the
launch of Napster, and a ruling about "decency" 8 years after the launch of
the web.

I wonder what the big issues over the next 10 years will be. Self driving
cars? It's a bit tedious to have every prediction about the future reduce to
that.

~~~
Scaevolus
The Oracle v Google case was interesting at a corporate/technical level, but
has less impact on average people than surveillance rulings.

~~~
mrosett
I agree with respect to many of these cases. But the Waymo case or the Ross
Ulbricht case were pretty routine from a legal perspective as I understand it.
The Oracle one is establishing novel law about whether or not you can
copyright an API.

------
rwmj
No SCO vs IBM?

And did that ever finish? It was still twitching as recently as 2017
([https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/02/ibm_vs_sco_revives/](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/02/ibm_vs_sco_revives/)).

~~~
ghaff
I don’t know how much Ars covered it but it does seem like an omission. In
general the list seems to be biased against cases that are strictly about
software as opposed to bringing in criminal and other areas of law. Yes, the
case is technically still alive.

------
mfoy_
>Result: Police cannot obtain 127 days' worth of cell-site location
information about a criminal suspect without a warrant.

This was a weird one, because it seemed like they were cool with about 6 days
of unwarranted cell-site data. What's so special about 6 days?

>Result: Workers that sign arbitration agreements are bound to them and can’t
use the federal court system to adjudicate labor claims—making class-action
lawsuits in such scenarios all but impossible.

Ouch. This one sucks.

~~~
chki
Just had a law class (in Europe) and our professor told us that this is one of
the main reasons that arbitration exists (and is so prevalent) in the US: to
prevent class-action lawsuits.

~~~
mfoy_
The sentiment regarding unions and labour rights in the U.S. isn't really
moving in the right direction.

This type of clause is _especially_ scummy, however... see the following
article: [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-uber-
appeal-1...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-uber-
appeal-1.4963792)

EDIT: Especially read the bottom of the article. The arbitration clause
required over $10k USD to even begin, and takes place in the Netherlands...
What. the. actual. fuck.

~~~
walshemj
How exactly did uber try to move the case to an EU country for Canada?

There are some super rare edge case legal arguments about jurisdictions and
which laws apply within the eu for employees/workers who regularly work in
different countries but not non eu countries and eu ones.

~~~
mfoy_
It's not "a case", it's "arbitration". Arbitration is extremely... arbitrary.

~~~
walshemj
Sorry was using HR/IR slang and legally binding arbitration is not normally
arbitrary.

------
iwan2comment
I think that 6days for most property based crimes is plenty of time for
"smart" criminals to clear up physical evidence and establish an alibi. for
crimes like kidknaping or assaults [of various types] there is a window of
opportinity to rescue a person and preserve life, then after a week, a shift
into recovery mode so the family of/and a decedent will have dignity.

