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Felten & Co. Present SDMI Findings, Finally
chill writes: "Princeton scientist Dr. Edward Felten and his colleagues presented their paper entitled 'Reading Between the Lines: Lessons From an SDMI Challenge' at the Usenix Security Symposium. CNN has an article.
This is the paper that the RIAA threatened legal action (DMCA) over in the past, if he made his findings public. They have since backed off their threats."
Newsforge is carrying a piece on the same thing that goes into a bit more depth, and links to coverage of yesterday's press conference, and the Standard has a decent piece on it as well.
How about the following examples, then?
1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was
awarded $780,000.00 by a jury of her peers after
breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was
running amok inside a furniture store.
The owners of the store were understandably
surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving
tyke was Ms. Robertson's son.
2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles
won $74,000.00 and medical expenses when his neighbor
ran over his hand over with a Honda Accord.
Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice someone was at
the wheel of the car whose hubcap he was trying to steal.
3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol
Pennsylvania was exiting a house he finished robbing
by way of the garage. He was not able to get the
garage door to go up, the automatic door opener was
malfunctioning. He couldn't reenter the house because
the door connecting the house and garage locked when
he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, so
Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for
eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found,
and a large bag of dry dog food.
This upset Mr. Dickson, so he sued the homeowner's
insurance company claiming the situation caused him
undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of
half a million dollars and change.
4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock Arkansas
was awarded $14,500.00 and medical expenses after
being bitten on the buttocks by his next door
neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in it's
owner's fenced in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The
award was less than sought after because the jury
felt the dog may have been provoked by Mr. Williams
who, at the time, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.
5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to
pay Amber Carson of Lancaster Pennsylvania
$113,500.00 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink
and broke her coccyx. The beverage was on the floor
because Ms. Carson threw it at her boyfriend 30
seconds earlier during an argument.
6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware
successfully sued the owner of a night club in a
neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom
window to the floor and knocked out her two front
teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to
sneak through the window in the lady's room to avoid
paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded
$12,000.00 and dental expenses.