Has your cellphone carrier been giving you the run around each time your request information for unlocking your personal GSM handset? Tired of being locked to a carrier because of a handset lock? The US Copyright Office issued new rights which will de-stress your move from GSM carrier to GSM carrier making your switch a whole lot easier.

Cell phone owners will be allowed to break software locks on their handsets in order to use them with competing carriers under new copyright rules announced Wednesday. Other copyright exemptions approved by the Library of Congress will let film professors copy snippets from DVDs for educational compilations and let blind people use special software to read copy-protected electronic books. [...]

Providers of prepaid phone services, in particular, have been trying to stop entrepreneurs from buying subsidized handsets to resell at a profit. But even customers of regular plans generally can’t bring their phones to another carrier, even after their contracts run out.

Billington noted that at least one company has filed lawsuits claiming that breaking the software locks violates copyright law, which makes it illegal for people to circumvent copy-protection technologies without an exemption from the Copyright Office. He said the locks appeared in place not to protect the developer of the cell phone software but for third-party interests.

Now if we could only convince congress to remove the DRM lock from purchased music. If you can’t unlock or freely use purchases bought online, do they really belong to you?

According to a California Supreme Court, bloggers or any individuals who participate in in online forums can not be sued for posting defamatory statements about others.

In deciding a case closely watched by free speech groups, the court said a federal law gives immunity from libel suits not only to Internet service providers, like AOL, but also to bloggers and other users of their services.

“Subjecting Internet service providers and users to defamation liability would tend to chill online speech,” today’s unanimous ruling said.

So, according to a California Supreme Court, we’re all free to start trash talking without worry of being singled out and sued.

Questioning the whereabouts of your partner when they’re off at “work” or on a business trip? How about worrying about your children’s whereabouts? Gemini Tracking may have a tiny device in a small cellphone shaped unit [via] perfectly suited to squash your worries concerning such questions.

Gemini Technologies is pleased to introduce the Gemtek Personal Tracking Device, a portable tracking device unlike anything else available. The Gemtek is a small device that allows consumers to remotely track the position of a loved one, pet, asset or any other important item in real-time through the Internet or by placing a phone call.

The Gemtek Tracking Device utilizes a combination of technologies – including GPS, GPRS, SMS, and GSM – in order to accurately report the current location of the device. Drop on of these bad boys in your car, someones purse, your dogs collar, or anything else worth tracking. With prices starting at $20 ranging all the way to James Bond-ish $40, your excuses for tracking valuables no longer exists.

Absurd! UCLA’s Daily Bruin has the scoop on the incident. Incredibly uncalled for and something that all students should be made aware of.

At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.

The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.

What’s more disturbing? The officers threatened to Taser any students who did not step back from the area – students requesting that the officer(s) stop. Tip from Ryan.

Think picture-in-picture. Browsing the web privately, securely, and with the knowledge that your traces of your history will not be stored on your local browser. Rather, all internet traffic happens by way of the Palary browser within your actual browser.

The Palary Browser increases your privacy on multiple fronts. On a wide front, the Browser prevents your ISP, your government, or another body from tapping your web-surfing. All data is routed through the Browser’s servers so that is impossible for these bodies to see what information you are accessing or sending. (The above assumes that you have media disabled on webpages.)

On a more local front, the Browser prevents history files, cache files, and cookie files from being saved to your computer. This means that no one with access to your computer will be able to see where you have been surfing.

Support seems to be non-existent for Safari users so make sure to check the service out with IE or Firefox. Registering a free account will enable adblocking, bookmarks, and “enhanced” website compatibility. A very snappy / speedy alternative to loading your own proxy. Pages loaded near instantly during trials runs on various websites.

Worried about your Apple notebook landing in the wrong hands when you’re looking the other way? Undercover attempts to lessen the blow of a stolen Mac by offering constant surveillance of your computer once it is reported stolen.

Undercover constantly monitors any and all network traffic to and from your Mac which includes both the internal and external IP address & router address. The application even captures regular screenshots sending the images back to the recovery center. Additionally, Undercover transmits images from the built-in iSight every 6-minutes.

All of that protection for $39 ($29 for students). Is it a worthwhile investment?

Is Google in bed with the CIA? Does it even matter? The net is not at all private and only those who have something to feel guilty about should worry. Am I correct?

Former CIA clandestine case officer Robert David Steele made some very hot comments on his appearance on the Alex Jones radio show. Steele cites his contacts within the agency with the information that Google and the CIA are involved with one another. [...] “Google was a little hypocritical when they were refusing to honor a Department of Justice request for information because they were heavily in bed with the Central Intelligence Agency, the office of research and development,” concluded Steele.

Once in bed with the CIA, is it really realistic to believe that it is possible to break the connection? Speculation of course.

Over two months ago, we reported that the US can legally search and seize laptops at border crossings, with reason or warrants.

Now, actual cases of use of this law are coming to light.

“One [person...] has been waiting for a year to get her laptop and its contents back, [...] it was randomly seized. And since [the owner] hasn’t been arrested, I assume [the owner] was just a regular business traveler, not a criminal.”

This is a really scary law considering They don’t need probable cause to perform these searches under the current law customs agents don’t need probable cause to perform these searches.

Do you think that this law is a necessity to protect our country, or another excuse for the government to pry into personal business?

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England must love being tracked, and monitored:

In an effort to reduce alcohol related violence, England is rolling out mandatory fingerprinting of all pub patrons. If a pub owner refuses to comply with the new system, and fails to show ‘considerable’ reductions in alcohol-related crimes, they will lose their license. Supposedly the town that piloted this program had a 48% reduction in alcohol-related crime.

So let me get this right. For you to get a nice cold (er…cellar cooled) pint, I need to get fingerprinted?! Any UK readers want to chime in on this?

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Scary thought, companies – such as Gillete – are able to purchase sensitive information about you – legally!? This seen on the Consumerist:

October 6, 2006

Dear Mr. Popken,

Thank you for contacting The Gillette Company.

We are always concerned when a complaint is received and appreciate your bringing the matter to our attention. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have an outside source that provides us with this information.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or comments.

Mai X.
Consumer Service Associate
010823372A

Without subscribing to any mailing lists, or submitting sensitive information like address and birth-dates, companies like Gillette are able to target consumers mailing birthday celebration(s) offering free products (with the intent to persuade you to continue using said product).

To be honest, I had never really thought about something like this being a violation of my personal privacy, but now that I think of it, it’s a bit discomforting and scary. Companies are getting your personal info from somewhere, but where?