The legal implications of viruses

By now most readers will have heard something of the damage that can be caused by computer viruses. These programs are created by mischievous individuals for the sole purpose of disrupting a computer system or any software with which it comes into contact. Any victim of one of these attacks is going to concentrate initially on getting his system up and running again and his business back to normal. Subsequently he may want to consider his legal position and more importantly what redress might be available against the perpetrator if he can be found. His difficulties are only just beginning since the law will not provide immediate answers. There may be no problem on the criminal side as there is a good chance that the producer of the virus will be liable for criminal damage under the Criminal Damage Act 1971. Much more difficult to determine is the question of damages for any losses sustained during the attack. Moreover, if a software retailer has sold an infected disk to a customer who subsequently uses it to his detriment, can the supplier be sued by the customer either for breach of contract, misrepresentation or under the tort of negligence. To what extent will any exclusion clauses operate to protect the supplier from such claims and if damages are in prospect for what types of loss can they be claimed. A victim of a computer virus will have major problems quantifying his loss, quite apart from the numerous legal obstacles he must overcome in the first place to reach that stage in court.Bernard Zajac now comments on some of these questions following interviews he had with a number of US legal experts on the subject. Some interesting conclusions emerge.     

Retributivism and the inadvertent punishment of the innocent

Retributivism is generally thought to forbid the punishment of the innocent, even if such punishment would produce otherwise good results, such as deterrence. It has recently been argued that because capital punishment always entails the risk of executing an innocent person, instituting capital punishment is tantamount to intentionally taking innocent lives and therefore cannot be justified on retributive grounds. I argue that there are several versions of retributivism, only one of which might categorically forbid risking punishing innocent persons. I also argue that our moral practices reveal either that we do not hold this particular version of retributivism, or that we reject equating risking punishing the innocent with intentionally doing so. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A9102008 00005     

The legal aspects of corporate computer usage policies

In this paper we examine the legal aspects of corporate computer usage policies including their creation, management, and their relevance to corporate computer forensic investigations. Misuse of corporate computing facilities cannot only lead to a reduction in employee productivity and network bandwidth, but can also increase the risk of infection of such facilities by computer viruses and other malicious code. Moreover, it may lead to the risk of liability and legal action.     

The legal aspects of corporate computer forensic investigations

The use of computer forensics was previously limited mainly to law enforcement agencies. However, UK organisations are increasingly undertaking computer forensics activities for incidents such as fraud, money laundering, accessing or distributing indecent images, harassment, industrial spying and identity theft amongst others. In this paper we examine the legal aspects of UK corporate computer forensic investigations.     

显带染色体电子计算机辅助分析

应用委托开发的软件“中国人群区带染色体辅助分析系统”对国人染色体G带相片进行电子计算机分析。结果显示，该软件能有效快速地记录各个体核型，并能对不同个体来源的相同序号的染色体作直观比较．为染色体多态性应用于亲子鉴定创造了良好条件．     

The directive on the legal protection of computer programs

Conclusion Other matters which are essentially left to national provisions include issues of fair use (apart from Article 5), moral rights, authorship and ownership. However, the bland terms of Article 2 (dealing with authorship) was only reached after one of the more controversial proposals was rejected. This was the suggestion that the ownership of a program which has been commissioned should belong to the commissioner rather than the author. This would have been a provision which would have been out of step with most countries' copyright legislation. In any case, it is probably a matter best dealt with by contract. The author, or his employer, will be able to negotiate so that their creativity can be retained in the organisation while the commissioner can ensure that the product can be fully and beneficially used in his organisation. if that requires a transfer of the full copyright then the assignment must be contracted.Article 10(1) requires that member states shall implement the provisions of the Directive by 1st January 1991. Given that many of the requirements are already in place in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, it will be a nice matter of judgment for the United Kingdom to decide how that implementation is to occur. There are certainly a sufficient number of differences from our present law, and ambiguities as to their effect, to require some substantive modification of the scheme of the 1988 Act.     

论行政给付中的社会公平原则

在现代社会,行政权力事关社会公平的起点、过程和结果,是影响社会公平的最重要力量.行政给付作为政府配置资源的手段,应立足于弥补市场效率机制的缺陷;作为社会财富再分配机制,应立足于对市场分配机制进行纠偏,在一定程度上体现政府"均贫富"的意愿.行政给付遵循社会公平原则,有关行政给付的立法、执法等行政给付行为应以实现社会公平为首要目的.在法律保留原则之下,政府制定的社会政策以及财政政策应以社会公平为导向,在具体的执法过程中,应将公平贯穿于行政给付决定作出的全过程.     

A sudden death with lung embolism after inadvertent infusion of zinc oxide shake lotion

A 74-year old woman in postoperative treatment after a colonic surgery died immediately after perfusion of about 1.5 mL of a white emulsion which was believed to contain 1% propofol via cardiac catheter into the right atrium. It was strongly suspected that a syringe with a zinc oxide shake lotion (consisting of 20% ZnO, 20% talc, 25% glycerol and 35% water) which was intended for external treatment had been mistaken for the propofol syringe. During autopsy, an anatomic cause of death could not be found. In order to exclude an intoxication and to determine the significance of the perfusion fluid in this context, toxicological and histological investigations were performed. Propofol and other drugs applied to the patient were found in therapeutic or sub-therapeutic range. However, in comparison to a control case, the zinc concentrations determined by AAS were about 200 times higher in lung tissue, 10 times higher in heart blood and 3–4 times higher in kidney and liver tissue. No increase was seen in venous blood. Histology showed a strong embolism of the lung tissue with birefingent sharp-edged crystals, which were identified as the talcum, and an amorphous component (ZnO). The same embolism was seen to a medium extent also in the brain sections and to a low extent in heart, liver, pancreas and kidney. Pulmonary embolism by talcum and zinc oxide was established as the cause of death which occurred by syringe swap due to insufficient security precautions in the drug administration. The results are discussed in context of pulmonary microembolism cases frequently described for drug addicts after injection of crashed talcum containing tablets.     

计算机立法问题与对策

计算机犯罪是伴随着现代科技发展而产生的,具有智能性高、隐蔽性强、危害性大等特点。本文对计算机犯罪的概念进行界定,指出了计算机犯罪特征和对传统刑法理论的冲击,并结合我国刑法相关规定,提出了进一步完善对计算机犯罪立法的几点建议。     

Death associated with inadvertent hydrocodone overdose in a child with a respiratory tract infection

A 3-year-old child died of the combined effects of a bacterial superinfection and a relative overdose of hydrocodone prescribed for a cough due to a presumed viral respiratory tract infection. This case illustrates the importance of evaluating the effects of prescribed medication in assessing the cause and mechanism of death in children dying suddenly of presumed natural disease.