Stolen ID stirs up endless troubles

Chris Hoofnagle quoted in The Register-Guard, August 26, 2012
In the case of identity theft, creditors simply pass off the costs to merchants and consumers, he said. The credit reporting agencies have little incentive to inform consumers that their numbers may be compromised because it would cost them money, Hoofnagle said. “Consumers are not customers to CRAs (credit reporting agencies), businesses are. Businesses prefer to have more information, even if some of that information is incorrect, than to have less,” he said. “Consumers have no way to opt out of the credit reporting system or to otherwise influence how these firms operate.”

America’s safer streets

Jonathan Simon quoted in The Economist, August 25, 2012

An emerging challenge for police in some cities is that tactics that prove effective in the short term may also lose them trust. Their widely used “stop-and frisk” powers in New York City, for example, may have taken thousands of guns off the street, but they have also led to furious allegations of racial profiling. “We’ve figured out that encounters with young people reduce violence, but they also have negative effects,” says Mr. Simon. “Let’s see if we can separate the two.”

Google, PageRank, and symbiotic technological change

Peter Menell writes for The Media Institute, August 24, 2012

Technological change is rarely without downside risks; nor is it uni-dimensional. Society does not just want automobiles; we want safe, non-polluting automobiles. Similarly with respect to information dissemination technologies, the proper framing should recognize society’s multi-faceted interest in promoting technological advance, expressive creativity, and freedom of expression.

Fraud, culture and the law: Can China change?

Stanley Lubman writes for The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, August 24, 2012

Counterfeit goods and scams are used to defraud millions of Chinese daily. This week alone, the country’s state media have reported the arrests of two men for fraud: one a high-profile real estate financier suspected of manipulating bids, the other a sales manager at milk producer Mengniu who reportedly tampered with production dates on milk and yogurt labels.

A verdict that alters an industry

Robert Barr and Robert Merges quoted in The New York Times, August 24, 2012

Robert Barr, executive director of the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Law and Technology, said that the user interface — the icons and other features that users see and touch — of the Nokia Windows phones look distinctly different from the iPhone. Nokia, a longtime maker of phones, also has a thick portfolio of patents to protect itself.

While Google is not involved in this case, Apple was clearly going after Android all along, said Robert P. Merges, professor of law and technology at University of California Berkeley School of Law…. “There are a lot more players in the Android world who could be involved in the future in litigation,” he said. “And it’s going to raise the cost of everyone in the Android system if the damages stick.”

Two prisoners led drug ring with help of smuggled cellphones

Barry Krisberg quoted in Indianapolis Star, August 23, 2012

Drug rings in prisons likely are “more common than we would think,” said Barry Krisberg, who teaches corrections law at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, but there’s no way to tell exactly how prevalent. Criminal conduct in prisons isn’t included in national crime statistics. But put offenders together with nothing to do, and a prison can become a “hothouse” for crime, he said.

Prison realignment: One year later

Barry Krisberg calls in to KQED-FM Forum with Michael Krasny, August 22, 2012

“The public safety measures we have are in the positive direction; the Department of Corrections has done a very responsible job of implementing it. My only quarrel is that I think we could go a little bit further, and I don’t think there’s a need to go above the court cap. Some relatively modest reforms within the spirit of what we’re already doing could get us there.”

The cost of living apart

Richard Rothstein writes for The American Prospect, August 22, 2012

When children whose parents are well educated make up a strong classroom majority, all students benefit from the academic culture established by that majority. Integration is no panacea, but without it, other reforms to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children have less promise.

It’s the Medicare and the skinny dippers, stupid!

Jennifer Granholm writes for POLITICO, August 21, 2012

We’ve all seen the empirical evidence from the Bush years to demonstrate that trickle down doesn’t work; it only shoves money to the wealthy who make decisions about investments and job creation on a global basis…. At some point, they need to present a plan and some credible evidence that it will help the American economy—and the Republicans simply can’t do that, because no such evidence exists.