Supreme Court Won't Hear Case Over Computer Tech's Right To Search Your Computer

from the older-ruling-stands dept

A few years back, we wrote about the case where a guy was arrested for possessing child pornography after techs at Circuit City found child porn on his computer, while they were installing a DVD player. The guy insisted that the evidence shouldn't be admissible since the techs shouldn't have been snooping through his computer -- and a lower court agreed. The appeals court, however, reversed, noting that the guy had given Circuit City the right to do things on his computer -- including testing out the newly installed software (which is how the tech claims he found the video). The guy appealed to the Supreme Court, who has declined to hear the case, meaning that the ruling stands for the time being. So, basically, if you hand your computer over to someone else for repairs, at least in some jurisdictions, they may have pretty free rein in terms of what they're allowed to access on your computer.

Filed Under: computers, porn, searches, supreme court
Companies: circuit city

Circuit City Liquidation Prices Still More Expensive Than Wal-Mart

from the liquidate-that dept

With Circuit City finally giving up the ghost last week and deciding to liquidate and close down its remaining stores, you might think there would be some decent bargains on electronics. Not necessarily. Consumerist points out that a local TV station checked out some of the prices and found that, in many cases, the liquidation prices were actually higher than buying the same items at Wal-Mart online. Apparently, the liquidation experts running the sales figure that as long as people think they're getting a steal of a bargain, they'll really believe they are.

Filed Under: liquidation
Companies: circuit city, wal-mart

Blockbuster Looks At Circuit City's Books; Ditches Acquisition Offer

from the no-real-surprise dept

We were one of a very small number of people who actually saw some logic behind Blockbuster bidding for Circuit City -- though, it seemed unlikely that Blockbuster viewed the purchase in the same way we did. Most people assumed (probably correctly) that Blockbuster didn't really have much of a plan at all, other than to merge the two struggling companies and have an even bigger mess on their hands. Blockbuster has now withdrawn the offer to buy Circuit City, gamely claiming that it has to do with "market conditions" and a better understanding of just how awful Circuit City's books appear to be. That's press release talk. What's more likely is that Blockbuster realized that everyone was right: it would screw up the merger and make a bad situation worse.

Filed Under: mergers, retail
Companies: blockbuster, circuit city

Blockbuster In Surprise Bid To Buy Circuit City

from the does-this-make-sense? dept

The news came out early this morning that Blockbuster was making an unsolicited bid to buy Circuit City, which has left many scratching their heads, saying that the synergy isn't all that obvious. Circuit City has been in trouble for a while, and Blockbuster (while a lot healthier than Circuit City) has been facing its own series of challenges. While it's unclear what Blockbuster's plans are, the deal actually could make sense if Blockbuster was really looking distantly into the future about where its market is heading. It knows as well as anybody that video delivery is moving to the internet eventually -- at which point its business model gets a lot trickier. Yet, by owning a retailer selling hardware -- and the rights to content to be distributed to that hardware, things could actually get interesting. Now, I'll say ahead of time that I doubt this is where Blockbuster is heading, but with both movie distribution rights and the ability to sell hardware, it could embrace the economics of infinite goods, by packaging content (infinite) with hardware (scarce), creating a much more compelling offering, than competitors to either firm alone.

Filed Under: consumer electronics, mergers, movies, retail
Companies: blockbuster, circuit city

Can A Computer Store Tech Look At Your Files?

from the yes,-within-some-limits dept

Declan McCullough is discussing a recent lawsuit where a guy brought his computer to Circuit City to have a new DVD drive installed. The technician who did the installation then wanted to test it out the software that came with it by playing a video. The tech found a video file on the hard drive and played it... only to discover that the video was child pornography. He called the police and the guy was arrested. The question before the court was whether or not the technician had a legal right to open a file on the hard drive. While the lower court said no, an appeals court has said that it was acceptable, because the guy had given access to the computer and the technician wasn't randomly searching, but was performing a test in a "commercially accepted manner." Of course, that seems a little odd too. If the job was to install a DVD player -- shouldn't the test have involved a DVD rather than a local file? However, it's hard to argue against the ruling too strongly. The guy did know what was on his computer and handed it to others, knowing they'd have access to the machine.

Filed Under: computer technician
Companies: circuit city

Wi-LAN Follows New Patent Hoarder Strategy: Sue Everyone All At Once

from the this-is-innovation? dept

Three and a half years ago, I wrote an article about the coming WiFi patent problem, focusing on the Canadian company Wi-LAN who claimed a bunch of patents related to WiFi technology. The company started off by suing Cisco. That lawsuit was eventually settled, but Wi-LAN clearly wasn't done yet. The company has now sued 22 different companies for violating its patents. This strategy seems to be the new strategy of patent holders: sue a ton of high profile companies all at once. It's what Sandisk did for example. Why is it becoming more popular? Because these patent holders are afraid that one of the potential targets might sue them first, seeking a declaratory judgment saying they don't infringe, and do so in a court other than the patent friendly court in Marshall, Texas. Oh yeah, Wi-LAN also notes that it's more economical to sue everyone at once. How nice of them.

Of course, Wi-LAN is hardly the only company that claims patents having to do with WiFi. It's a true patent thicket. If all these patents were actually valid and needed to be licensed no one could afford WiFi and it would be worthless. It's also worth noting that Wi-LAN's target list is somewhat ridiculous as well. It appears to be suing up and down the supply chain from chip suppliers like Broadcom and Intel to computer makers like Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Sony all the way to retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City. Assuming that all are somehow responsible for paying Wi-LAN the company could conceivably get license fees three or four times for the same computer. It's not hard to start adding up the questionable things going on here: (1) broad patents that are claimed to be important for a standard long after that standard has become widespread (2) these patents are one of many, many patents that claim to cover WiFi technology (3) filing the lawsuit against many companies at once (4) filing the lawsuit in east Texas and (5) filing the patents up and down the supply chain. This isn't what the patent system was designed to do and patent attorneys know it.

Filed Under: patents, wifi
Companies: acer, apple, best buy, broadcom, circuit city, dell, intel, lenovo, sony, texas instruments, wi-lan