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Can autonomous vehicles navigate the law? This year has been full of big news about the progress of self-driving cars. They are currently street legal in three states and Google says that on a given day, they have a dozen autonomous cars on the road. This August, they passed 300,000 driver-hours. In Spain this summer, Volvo drove a convoy of three cars through 200 kilometers of desert highway with just one driver and a police escort. Cadillac's newest models park themselves. The writing, one might think, is on the wall. But objects in the media may be farther off than they appear.
posted by modernnomad on Dec 14, 2012 - 83 comments

A report was recently released suggesting a pre-emptive ban on fully autonomous weapons - robots that can pick and choose whom to fire on. If this sounds vaguely alarming to you, don't worry - the Department of Defense issued a directive indicating that fully automous robots may only decide to tase you.
posted by wolfdreams01 on Nov 27, 2012 - 94 comments

This past July, Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill posted a three-part series about "online defamation and involuntary nudity." The first entry focused on an offender: Hunter Moore, owner of IsAnyoneUp.com (Link is NSFW.) The second entry focused on a victim: Paul Syiek, whose company was defamed by a disgruntled ex-employee on the consumer website Rip-off Report. The third profiled a Senior Copyright attorney at Microsoft, Colette Vogele, who co-founded a side project this year to help victims: WithoutMyConsent.org. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Nov 13, 2011 - 53 comments

A 35 minute conversation on medical marijuana with Michael Backes.
posted by gman on May 3, 2011 - 19 comments

The AP reports that the drug policy in Portugal is paying off.
posted by gman on Dec 27, 2010 - 39 comments

On the ethics of illegally downloading e-books; a Teleread essay full of interesting links about these modern e-reading times. Inspired in part by this New York Times Ethicist column, and brought to my attention by this ask.metafilter question.
posted by Greg Nog on Apr 7, 2010 - 159 comments

Queer female webzine Autostraddle, who interviewed media celebrity Tila Tequila shortly before the death of her fiancée, socialite Casey Johnson, uses the aftermath to discuss the complications of not having legal rights as a gay couple when the relationship becomes dysfunctional:

We don’t look at those crazy-ass toxic relationships that were so intense they carved a hole in your heart and you knew, no matter how deep the emotional connection, that at any minute your loved one could get up, walk out the door, and never speak to you again, and that it wouldn’t matter if you’d paid their bills or built a life around their demands. There is nothing tying you together besides your feelings. And that’s really frightening.

posted by divabat on Jan 9, 2010 - 51 comments

Echelon is a Mac application that, if you try to register it with a pirated serial number, will delete your entire home directory. (Windows users: This is a very, very bad thing, second only to wiping the entire drive.) Is this a good way to fight piracy, and can it even be legal?
posted by jjg on Sep 9, 2004 - 42 comments

Is it legal to moon the White House? These guys seem to think it is. I wonder if this makes their asses terrorists?
posted by clango on Oct 25, 2002 - 21 comments

Is Miranda warning enugh?? An amitted child molester may walk because he wasn't allowed to contact his consulate, why isnt this added to miranda?
posted by hoopyfrood on Sep 9, 2002 - 17 comments

Log onto an unsecured wireless LAN, go to jail. This frightening story involves a computer security expert doing a bit of war driving. The fact that he didn't access any of their files, and that they shut down the network instead of simply reading the manual on basic WEP security didn't stop them from claiming $5,000 in damages and bringing charges, with possible fines up to $250k and up to 5 years jail time.
posted by mathowie on Aug 1, 2002 - 12 comments

If citizens voted for it and juries made of citizens refuse to convict other citizens for it ... Where is the dilemma?
posted by magullo on Mar 19, 2002 - 5 comments

Who owns the rights to your website if you write a book about it?
Michael J. Hammel posed this question today on a mailing list that I am on.
posted by tamim on Nov 3, 2000 - 7 comments

Folks, this one's not a joke. The major software publishers are trying to make an end-run around the copyright laws. If this passes anywhere we're all potentially going to be bound by it. All they have to do is stick a clause in the license that says "This shall be governed by the laws of the state of Virginia."

They're also trying to make an end-run around the First Amendment. If this passes it will be illegal for you to write a review about any software package, or to reveal any information about bugs you find.

Finally, they're trying to make an end-run around property law. If it passes, you won't own the software you purchase, you'll be leasing it, and you won't be protected by state laws on commercial purchase.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Mar 5, 2000 - 5 comments