Groups Praise FCC's Inquiries On Net Neutrality
Ct Rules Website User Bound By Site’s Terms Of Use
Study Finds Increase In Concerns About Net Privacy
U.S. Top Court Might Restrict Patent Owners’ Downstream Licensing
U.S. Supreme Ct Declines to Hear Orphan Works Case
Digital Dilemma Arises In Child Porn Case
White House Tape Recycling May Have Erased Controversial E-Mails
Court Ruling Threatens Virtual Schools
UK Watchdog Bans Violent Video Game
Is GPS Liability Next?

GROUPS PRAISE FCC'S INQUIRIES ON NET NEUTRALITY
Two public-interest groups have praised the U.S. FCC for opening three inquiries into network traffic management practices by broadband providers and mobile phone carriers. The FCC announced Monday it would launch inquires into the blocking of some text messages on mobile phone networks, into the slowing of P2P traffic, and into what constitutes reasonable broadband traffic management.

CT RULES WEBSITE USER BOUND BY SITE’S TERMS OF USE
BNA’S Electronic Commerce & Law Report reports that a federal court in Texas has ruled that an individual who signed up for a day-trading service on a Web site that required users to accept its terms prior to entering the site was bound by a forum selection clause included in the terms. The court said that, absent a strong showing of fraud or unreasonableness, forum selection clauses are enforceable. Case name is Krause v. Chippas. (subscription required)

STUDY FINDS INCREASE IN CONCERNS ABOUT NET PRIVACY
According to the survey from the University of Southern California's Center for the Digital Future, privacy concerns stemming from online shopping rose in 2007, as the loss or theft of credit card information and other personal data soared to unprecedented levels. The study found that 61 percent of adult Americans said they were very or extremely concerned about the privacy of personal information when buying online, an increase from 47 percent in 2006. Before last year, that figure had largely been dropping since 2001.

US TOP COURT MIGHT RESTRICT PATENT OWNERS' DOWNSTREAM LICENSING
The Supreme Court yesterday appeared ready to make it harder for patent owners to demand licensing fees from companies throughout the manufacturing supply chain. The case before the court, which began when a South Korean consumer electronics maker sought to enforce three patents against a Taiwanese maker of laptop computers, has implications for many industries.

U.S. SUPREME CT DECLINES TO HEAR ORPHAN WORKS CASE
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Kahle v. Ashcroft, brought by Internet Archive and Open Content Alliance founders Brewster Kahle and Rick Prelinger in 2003, which challenged the constitutionality of the current copyright regime. Although not unexpected, the Supreme Court's refusal comes after a recent ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals raised hopes of a review and lets stand the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' rejection, effectively ending the case.

DIGITAL DILEMMA ARISES IN CHILD PORN CASE
The U.S. federal government is asking a U.S. District Court in Vermont to order a man to type a password that would unlock files on his computer, despite his claim that doing so would constitute self-incrimination. The case, believed to be the first of its kind to reach this level, raises a uniquely digital-age question about how to balance privacy and civil liberties against the government's responsibility to protect the public.

WHITE HOUSE TAPE RECYCLING MAY HAVE ERASED CONTROVERSIAL E-MAILS
The White House has acknowledged in a new court filing that it routinely recycled computer backup tapes containing its e-mail records until October 2003, a practice that could mean that many electronic messages from the first two years of the Bush administration are lost forever. The disclosure raises the possibility that the White House effectively erased e-mail related to some of the biggest controversies of the Bush administration, including the leak of a CIA officer's name, the start of the Iraq war, and the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes.

COURT RULING THREATENS VIRTUAL SCHOOLS
A U.S. court has ordered Wisconsin to stop funding virtual schools. The ruling, the first of its kind in the U.S., placed the Wisconsin Virtual Academy at the center of a national policy debate after critics raised a key question of whether virtual schools amount to little more than home schooling at taxpayer expense.

UK WATCHDOG BANS VIOLENT GAME AD
A TV advertisement for a computer game showing a shoot-out between four men was banned in the UK by the advertising watchdog for being too violent. A voiceover in the commercial for the game Stranglehold said: "Honour is his code. Vengeance is his mission. Violence is his only option."

IS GPS LIABILITY NEXT?
An automobile driver recently was held responsible for crashing a rental car into a train after following global positioning system instructions that put his rental car onto the train tracks. This raises the specter of automobile drivers pointing the liability finger at GPS providers and filing lawsuits against such providers when GPS instructions are not accurate.