Hacker News with Generative AI: Legal Issues

Free Software Foundation Goes to Bat for AGPL in Amicus Brief Criticizing (socket.dev)
In a significant move for software freedom, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has submitted a legal brief in an ongoing court case involving the misuse of their GNU Affero General Public License Version 3 (AGPLv3).
Software Freedom, Legal Issues
7 points by feross 6 hours ago | 1 comments
Ninth Circuit Rules That Dating App Isn't Liable for Matching Users (eff.org)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit correctly held that Grindr, a popular dating app, can’t be held responsible for matching users and enabling them to exchange messages that led to real-world harm.
Legal Issues, Dating Apps, Online Safety
5 points by gslin 2 days ago | 0 comments
Google does not want rights to things you do using Chrome (2008) (mattcutts.com)
Alright, I’ve got another conspiracy theory misconception to dispel. 🙂 After reading through the Chrome Terms of Service, some people are worried that Google is trying to assert rights on everything that you do on Chrome.
Google Chrome, Privacy, Misconceptions, Legal Issues
161 points by gigaArpit 6 days ago | 84 comments
Defense of FOSS licensing rests on the shoulders of a guy in Virginia (theregister.com)
Updated At some point in the months ahead, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will consider an effort to reverse a California federal district court's decision in Neo4j v. PureThink.
Legal Issues, Open Source, Software Licensing
9 points by acefaceZ 7 days ago | 1 comments
U.S. soldier charged in AT&T hack searched "can hacking be treason" (krebsonsecurity.com)
A U.S. Army soldier who pleaded guilty last week to leaking phone records for high-ranking U.S. government officials searched online for non-extradition countries and for an answer to the question “can hacking be treason?” prosecutors in the case said Wednesday.
Cybersecurity, Government, Legal Issues, Military
64 points by todsacerdoti 8 days ago | 56 comments
DigiCert: Threat of legal action to stifle Bugzilla discourse (mozilla.org)
DigiCert: Threat of legal action to stifle Bugzilla discourse
Legal Issues, Open Source, Software Development, Bugzilla, DigiCert
610 points by DanAtC 10 days ago | 190 comments
Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn't illegal without proof of seeding (arstechnica.com)
Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn’t illegal without proof of seeding
Legal Issues, Piracy, Copyright, Books, Technology
698 points by isaacfrond 14 days ago | 452 comments
Ask HN: Opinion on efforts to find prior art on outrageous priced drugs (ycombinator.com)
Pharmaceuticals, Pricing, Legal Issues, Technology, Business
8 points by JPLeRouzic 14 days ago | 10 comments
The OBS Project is threatening Fedora Linux with legal action (gitlab.com)
The unofficial OBS Studio Flatpak on Fedora Flatpaks is, seemingly, poorly packaged and broken, leading to users complaining upstream thinking they are being served the official package.
Legal Issues, Linux, Open Source, Fedora, Flatpak
295 points by TheFreim 21 days ago | 216 comments
Google scraps diversity hiring goals and cites Trump's DEI orders (theguardian.com)
Alphabet’s Google is scrapping its goal to hire more employees from historically underrepresented groups and is reviewing some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Google, Diversity, Employment, Legal Issues, Politics
6 points by doener 28 days ago | 1 comments
Early Meta employee sues for sexual harassment, gender discrimination (techcrunch.com)
One of Meta’s earliest employees is suing the company for sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation, according to a lawsuit filed this week in the state of Washington.
Legal Issues, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Meta
8 points by 3apo 28 days ago | 0 comments
Tell HN: Hacker News will not delete my account – is that legal? (ycombinator.com)
Hi All,<p>I've been a member here for a good many years, but due to a couple of factors, I need to step away.
Legal Issues, Hacker News, User Accounts
19 points by _dp9d 37 days ago | 22 comments
Limited Run Games violated GPL releasing Tomba game (github.com/notaz)
Gaming, Open Source, Legal Issues
17 points by weird_trousers 37 days ago | 10 comments
It's not a crime if we do it with an app (pluralistic.net)
The core regulatory proposition of the tech industry is "it's not a crime if we do it with an app." It's not an unlicensed taxi if we do it with an app. It's not an illegal hotel room if we do it with an app. It's not an unregistered security if we do it with an app. It's not wage theft if we do it with an app.
Technology, Regulation, Legal Issues, Tech Industry
872 points by keepit 40 days ago | 609 comments
C Is Legal Again (twitter.com)
Programming, Legal Issues
11 points by fortran77 40 days ago | 5 comments
Hoarder (the name) is being stolen from me (reddit.com)
This post could have been about how hoarder reached 10k stars on Github, or about how we spent a day in the front page of hackernews. But unfortunately, it's about neither of those. Today, I received a cease and desist from someone holding the "Hordr" trademark claiming that "Hoarder" infringes their trademark.
Legal Issues, Trademark, Open Source
5 points by evanjrowley 40 days ago | 0 comments
App stores unconvinced by TikTok ban pause, which may be on shaky legal ground (theregister.com)
President Trump's executive order stalling the enforcement of the TikTok ban in the United States has created legal uncertainty for companies hosting or distributing the app. To further confuse the matter, it's not even clear that Trump's decree is within his power to issue or enforce.
Legal Issues, Social Media, Government Regulation, Business
6 points by rntn 44 days ago | 0 comments
Live London Underground / bus maps taken down by TfL trademark complaint (traintimes.org.uk)
London Underground, Public Transport, Legal Issues, Technology
224 points by fanf2 53 days ago | 86 comments
German router maker is latest company to inadvertently clarify the LGPL license (arstechnica.com)
A German case clarified that LGPL source isn't enough—it needs to be usable.
Legal Issues, Open Source, Software Licensing, Germany
64 points by tapper 55 days ago | 7 comments
Zuckerberg gave Meta's Llama team OK to train on copyrighted works,filing claims (techcrunch.com)
Counsel for plaintiffs in a copyright lawsuit filed against Meta allege that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave the green light to the team behind the company’s Llama AI models to use a dataset of pirated e-books and articles for training.
Artificial Intelligence, Copyright Law, Legal Issues, Meta, Business
10 points by croes 56 days ago | 2 comments
Aligning Automattic's Sponsored Contributions to WordPress (automattic.com)
Automattic has always been deeply committed to the success of WordPress, dedicating significant resources and talent to its development for almost two decades. However, we’ve observed an imbalance in how contributions to WordPress are distributed across the ecosystem, and it’s time to address this. Additionally, we’re having to spend significant time and money to defend ourselves against the legal attacks started by WP Engine and funded by Silver Lake, a large private equity firm.
WordPress, Business, Open Source, Legal Issues
98 points by dangrossman 56 days ago | 54 comments
Software Bugs Led to 'One of the Greatest Miscarriages of Justice' (cacm.acm.org)
In a Kafkaesque nightmare come true, nearly 1,000 individuals who ran local post offices in the U.K. were wrongly convicted of stealing money from those operations between 1999 and 2015 as a Fujitsu software system known as Horizon erroneously showed imbalances in their accounts.
Software Bugs, Legal Issues, Technology, Justice System, United Kingdom
32 points by adunk 57 days ago | 9 comments
Why clowns paint their faces on eggs (2017) (bbc.com)
Professional clowns must choose a unique facial makeup design – and they have an unusual way of ‘protecting’ it from copycats. Legal researchers Dave Fagundes and Aaron Perzanowski investigate.
Clowns, Legal Issues, Copyrights, Facial Makeup, Entertainment
37 points by NaOH 60 days ago | 28 comments
Connecticut DMV Allows Tow Companies to Sell People's Cars (propublica.org)
A law intended to deal with abandoned vehicles is making it hard for low-income people to get their cars back after they’re towed. The consequences can extend far beyond the cost of the car.
Legal Issues, Government, Poverty, Transportation
18 points by OutOfHere 60 days ago | 3 comments
Judge denies Uber's motion to block Seattle law regulating driver deactivation (geekwire.com)
A federal judge denied Uber’s effort to stop the enforcement of a new Seattle law that establishes labor standards for the driver deactivation process.
Legal Issues, Transportation, Seattle, Uber, Labor
8 points by rntn 63 days ago | 0 comments
LegalEagle is suing Honey [video] (youtube.com)
Law, Legal Issues, YouTube, Social Media
25 points by bryant 63 days ago | 4 comments
uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind honey browser extension (reddit.com)
As of 12/31/2024, I found Pie Adblock (created by the same team as Honey) violating uBlock Origin's GPL license, read below for full details
Privacy, Browser Extensions, Legal Issues
1057 points by extesy 63 days ago | 444 comments
Honey Sued in Class Action by Wendover and Legal Eagle (Wendover vs. PayPal) [video] (youtube.com)
Legal Issues, YouTube
10 points by tantalor 63 days ago | 0 comments
A Canadian Ultrarunner Was Arrested in India for Carrying a Garmin InReach (outsideonline.com)
In early December, a Canadian trail runner named Tina Lewis was two months into her extended trip to India when she ran into legal trouble due to her backcountry GPS communication device.
Adventure Travel, Running, Technology, India, Legal Issues
8 points by ortusdux 64 days ago | 0 comments
Spotify Shuts Down ‘Unwrapped’ Artist Royalty Calculator with Legal Threats (digitalmusicnews.com)
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has been busy selling stock this year, becoming a multi-billionaire worth around $7.3 billion according to Forbes. Now, the calculator for showcasing how relatively little Spotify pays to artists — and the absurd contrast to top-level Spotify executive compensation — has been shut down due to the threat of legal action.
Music Industry, Spotify, Legal Issues, Business
219 points by cpach 69 days ago | 272 comments