federal law

Two organizations representing the blind have settled a discrimination lawsuit against Arizona State University over its use of Amazon's Kindle e-reader device.

Arizona State is among several universities testing the $489 Kindle DX, a large-screen model aimed at textbook and newspaper readers.

Last June, the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind joined a blind ASU student in suing Arizona State, alleging that the Kindle's inaccessibility to blind students constituted a violation of federal law.

Stung by an embarrassing electronic leak last month revealing ethics investigations into dozens of lawmakers, Congress moved Tuesday to prohibit federal employees from using the same type of Internet file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives struggled Wednesday for a way to stop Internet bullying of children without violating free speech.

Bullying always has been mean-spirited, but a House Judiciary subcommittee was told that federal law does not make it a crime to engage in "cyberbullying" that becomes destructive to its young victims. The worst examples resulted in child suicides.

Rep. Linda Sanchez's bill would make severe electronic bullying a crime, defined it as repeated, hostile and severe communications made with intent to harm.

AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission to launch an investigation into Google Voice. AT&T suggested that Google's free service may violate federal communications laws.

AT&T pointed to news reports about Google Voice that indicate the service restricts users from making calls to areas where wireless carriers charge high access fees. Other telephone service providers are restricted from this practice under federal law. AT&T seemingly wants Google to play by the same rules.

DVD copying software sold by RealNetworks Inc. appears to be an illegal pirating tool, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a legal battle that's been closely watched in Hollywood and elsewhere.

The Seattle-based company's RealDVD software violates federal anti-piracy law and also goes against a contract RealNetworks signed to gain keys to unscramble DVDs, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said.

DVDs are embedded with anti-piracy technology that prevents copying, Patel noted.

DVD copying software sold by RealNetworks Inc. appears to be an illegal pirating tool, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a legal battle that's been closely watched in Hollywood and elsewhere.

The Seattle-based company's RealDVD software violates federal anti-piracy law and also goes against a contract RealNetworks signed to gain keys to unscramble DVDs, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said.

DVDs are embedded with anti-piracy technology that prevents copying, Patel noted.

A federal judge has ruled that a Boston University student violated copyright laws when he swapped music online, paving the way for a jury to begin considering damages Friday.

Joel Tenenbaum, 25, of Providence, R.I., admitted on the witness stand Thursday that he downloaded and shared hundreds of songs by Nirvana, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins and other artists.

In what turned out to be a nightmare for the defendant, a federal jury on Thursday ruled that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs. Record companies were awarded $80,000 per song, for a total of $1.92 million.

This is the second time Thomas-Rasset went to trial on the matter. The single mother from Minnesota had planned to appeal the first ruling that came down from a different federal court in October 2007. But the judge in that case decided he had given the jury erroneous instructions and a new trial was ordered.

PC maker Dell Inc. on Tuesday formally banned the export of broken computers, monitors and parts to developing countries amid complaints that lax enforcement of environmental and worker-safety regulations have allowed an informal and often hazardous electronic-waste recycling industry to emerge.

Although Dell's announcement does not mark a significant change in the PC maker's behavior, environmental groups hope that by making its standards public, Dell will raise the bar for other electronics makers.

Minnesota officials are trying a novel tactic to block online gambling sites -- using a federal law that enables restrictions on phone calls used for wagering.

The state's Department of Public Safety said Wednesday it had asked 11 Internet service providers to block access to 200 online gambling sites.

The state is citing a federal law that requires "common carriers," a term that mainly applies to phone companies, to comply with requests that they block telecommunications services used for gambling.