Category: Internet Law

Washington, D.C. – The FBI today reminds Internet
users who receive appeals to donate money in the aftermath of Tuesday’s earthquake
in Haiti to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before responding to
those requests. Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with
criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization
and/or a good cause.

Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain
guidelines, to include the following:

*  Do not respond to any unsolicited (SPAM) incoming emails, including clicking links
contained within those messages.
*  Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials
asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
*  Verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based
resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its nonprofit
status rather than following a purported link to the site.
*  Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached
files because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from know senders.
*  Make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others
to make the donation on your behalf to ensure contributions are received and used
for intended purposes.
*  Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions:
Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable
to identity theft.

Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who
may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via www.ic3.gov.

Wildwood New Jersey, July 4th. 2009 – At 10pm on the 4th of July, 2009, the annual Wildwood New Jersey fireworks display started off normally and with a good crowd watching from both the beach and the fanous boardwalk. The display, was exceptional. Approximately half way through the display a streaker appeared. A young man who appeared to be in his twenties, suddenly started running south to north in the area of Pine Ave., wearing only his birthday suit. The totally nude runner, ran along the beach, approxamately 20 feet in front of the the line of spectators. The crowd seemed to love it, as whoops, hollers and cheers went up from all along the spectator ranks. It is not know weather authorities apprehended or confronted the man, but in all his glory he added to the festivities of the forth of July in Wildwood this year.

Cape May County, N.J., introduced new technology on April 24 that enables anyone with a cell phone or computer to provide anonymous information to the sheriff’s office through text messaging. Tipsters can send a message to TIP411that will enable real-time, two-way chat between the tipster and the sheriff’s office. The technology also allows tipsters to attach photos or videos. Tips can also be submitted online at www.cmcsheriff.com. A third-party company removes the phone number from all messages and replaces it with an ID number before the message reaches the sheriff’s office. Cape May County is the first sheriff’s office in New Jersey to use this anonymous two-way texting technology.

Magellan Navigation, Inc., a pioneer in personal navigation devices for the consumer, is selling off its consumer products division to Mitac, maker of the popular Mio and Navman GPS brands.

Magellan, based in Santa Clara, California, announced December 15 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Magellan consumer products division to MiTAC International Corp. of Taiwan. Closing of the transaction is anticipated in January of 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed. MikeCipriano

The Magellan consumer products division has fielded the relatively high-end Magellan RoadMate and Maestro series portable car navigation systems, and the Magellan Triton outdoor handheld navigation devices.

MiTAC acquired the Navman GPS business from Brunswick in 2007, and merged it with its in-house Mio GPS unit in January 2008. The company’s GPS products include the low-end Mio Moov 200 and the entertainment tie-in Knight Rider GPS.

Magellan will keep its line of surveying and other GPS and GPS-related products, including a new PC software program called Real Time Data Server (RTDS) that offers land surveying companies the opportunity to use GNSS equipment to build their own direct IP RTK corrections server (see story below).

Magellan was the creator of the Magellan NAV 1000 — widely regarded as the world’s first commercial handheld GPS receiver, which debuted in 1989.