Law and Innovation

“The U.S. government doesn’t have the power to search a home in another country, nor should it have the power to search the content of email stored overseas” (David Howard - Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft). Microsoft's overseas data warrant dispute is definitely one the cases that privacy lawyers will be watching in 2015. The fight will now take place in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit . Here is a brief summary of the main issues at stake.  The debate over privacy and technology has intensified. As it is common with new technology, the advent of cloud computing brought with it a variety of legal challenges, including privacy, jurisdictions, and intellectual property concerns. The “idea” that location is irrelevant because data simply flows in the “Neverland world of the cloud” has come to an end. Recently, a U.S. District Judge held that Microsoft must comply with a U.S. search warrant to disclose the content of digi...

Fresh and interesting article posted on Mashable concerning the big news that Apple is close to buying Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion and the real reason behind it. "(....) If Apple does buy Beats for roughly $3 billion, a deal that is widely reported to be in its closing stages, it won't be because of the headphones. (Though given the fact that Apple sells Beats cans in every Apple store in the world, and has exact sales figures for each model, keeping all that profit to itself would be a nice boost for the bottom line.) No, this is more about Beats' streaming music service, Apple's tenacious grip on music distribution, and the fact that with a deal like this, Apple could easily become a recording industry giant that cuts out the middleman entirely — a notion that keeps executives at Sony, Universal, EMI and the rest of the major labels up at night. When Apple CEO Tim Cook had a high-level summit with Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine during a visit to LA...

Fresh and interesting  article from Mashable  about 2014's tech trends:  "Major innovations and tech sea-changes were few and far between in 2013. Unfortunately, what usually follows major advancements are refinements. These days, innovation tends to happen on a nano-scale, which means most people cannot see or experience that evolution.   LCD display technology, for instance, has been around for decades; the changes we’ve lately seen in screen size, width and resolution have, mostly, refined that original idea. Same with Flash-based and solid state storage. We make the technology smaller and more stable but rarely change the fundamentals.   Like 2013, 2014's tech trends may not fundamentally change our lives, but they will improve, alter and, on occasion, impede and frustrate our day-to-day activities. Bear with me a moment as I gaze into our hazy digital future. Here are a few predictions to emerge from the gloom.   1. Smart Home Tech Explosion...