An Evidence‐Based Forensic Taxonomy of Windows Phone Communication Apps

Communication apps can be an important source of evidence in a forensic investigation (e.g., in the investigation of a drug trafficking or terrorism case where the communications apps were used by the accused persons during the transactions or planning activities). This study presents the first evidence‐based forensic taxonomy of Windows Phone communication apps, using an existing two‐dimensional Android forensic taxonomy as a baseline. Specifically, 30 Windows Phone communication apps, including Instant Messaging (IM) and Voice over IP (VoIP) apps, are examined. Artifacts extracted using physical acquisition are analyzed, and seven digital evidence objects of forensic interest are identified, namely: Call Log, Chats, Contacts, Locations, Installed Applications, SMSs and User Accounts. Findings from this study would help to facilitate timely and effective forensic investigations involving Windows Phone communication apps.     

我国公司法上关联交易的皈依及其法律规制——一个利益冲突交易法则的中国版本

我国2005年《公司法》对关联交易作出了规定,但无论是在法律理念上还是在制度构建上均有进一步提升的必要。因为:关联交易本质上是一种利益冲突交易,法律对待关联交易的基本态度应当是保持理性的中性立场,衡量关联交易有效性的标准应当是公平标准,包括平衡运用程序公平与实质公平。同时,根据关联交易具体表现形式的不同,对公平审查的侧重也应有所差异。另外,封闭公司的本质特性要求其关联交易同样应当强制披露。     

Health insurance reform: standards for electronic transactions--HCFA. Proposed rule

This rule proposes standards for eight electronic transactions and for code sets to be used in those transactions. It also proposes requirements concerning the use of these standards by health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers. The use of these standard transactions and code sets would improve the Medicare and Medicaid programs and other Federal health programs and private health programs, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the health care industry in general, by simplifying the administration of the system and enabling the efficient electronic transmission of certain health information. It would implement some of the requirements of Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.     

An Android Communication App Forensic Taxonomy

Due to the popularity of Android devices and applications (apps), Android forensics is one of the most studied topics within mobile forensics. Communication apps, such as instant messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP), are one popular app category used by mobile device users, including criminals. Therefore, a taxonomy outlining artifacts of forensic interest involving the use of Android communication apps will facilitate the timely collection and analysis of evidentiary materials from such apps. In this paper, 30 popular Android communication apps were examined, where a logical extraction of the Android phone images was collected using XRY, a widely used mobile forensic tool. Various information of forensic interest, such as contact lists and chronology of messages, was recovered. Based on the findings, a two‐dimensional taxonomy of the forensic artifacts of the communication apps is proposed, with the app categories in one dimension and the classes of artifacts in the other dimension. Finally, the artifacts identified in the study of the 30 communication apps are summarized using the taxonomy. It is expected that the proposed taxonomy and the forensic findings in this paper will assist forensic investigations involving Android communication apps.     

Health insurance reform: standards for electronic transactions. Office of the Secretary, HHS. Final rule

This rule adopts standards for eight electronic transactions and for code sets to be used in those transactions. It also contains requirements concerning the use of these standards by health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers. The use of these standard transactions and code sets will improve the Medicare and Medicaid programs and other Federal health programs and private health programs, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the health care industry in general, by simplifying the administration of the system and enabling the efficient electronic transmission of certain health information. It implements some of the requirements of the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.     

电子提单冲突法问题研究

电子提单主要用于国际海上货物运输和国际贸易与融资中,这注定了电子提单交易中会产生大量的法律冲突。电子提单的发展尚处于初级阶段,各国法律对其规定多处于空白状态,即使少数已有规定的,彼此间也大相径庭,更何况电子提单除了海商法外,还要涉及电子商务法、电子证据法等问题,这些都使得电子提单的法律冲突问题相对于传统提单而言要远为复杂。     

Failure by certain charitable organizations to meet certain qualification requirements; taxes on excess benefit transactions--IRS. Notice of proposed rulemaking

This document contains proposed regulations relating to the excise taxes on excess benefit transactions under section 4958 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), as well as certain amendments and additions to existing Income Tax Regulations affected by section 4958. Section 4958 was enacted in section 1311 of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2. Section 4958 generally is effective for transactions occurring on or after September 14, 1995. Section 4958 imposes excise taxes on transactions that provide excess economic benefits to disqualified persons of public charities and social welfare organizations. The proposed regulations clarify certain definitions and rules contained in section 4958.     

An Evidence‐based Forensic Taxonomy of Windows Phone Dating Apps

Advances in technologies including development of smartphone features have contributed to the growth of mobile applications, including dating apps. However, online dating services can be misused. To support law enforcement investigations, a forensic taxonomy that provides a systematic classification of forensic artifacts from Windows Phone 8 (WP8) dating apps is presented in this study. The taxonomy has three categories, namely: Apps Categories, Artifacts Categories, and Data Partition Categories. This taxonomy is built based on the findings from a case study of 28 mobile dating apps, using mobile forensic tools. The dating app taxonomy can be used to inform future studies of dating and related apps, such as those from Android and iOS platforms.     

Reforming Non‐Possessory Secured Transactions Laws: A New Strategy?

Non‐possessory secured transactions are key components of market economies. National and international legal reform projects have been advanced to further their use and broaden access to credit. Yet reforms appear to be limited by practical obstacles posed by national legal categories. This article shifts the focus from domestically defined categories to the operational rules that allow secured transactions to perform their economic function of managing credit risk. This shift leads to a reconsideration of the rules governing publicity and an examination of the policy issues underpinning the evolution of publicity. The article argues that international publicity standards, based on a registry system, could offer a new strategy for reforming secured transactions laws. The recently adopted UNCITRAL's Registry Guide is analysed and considered as a possible tool for reforming national secured transactions laws.     

论金融机构的适当性义务——基于行为要件的分析

金融机构适当性义务的作用不仅在于保护弱势交易主体,还在于克服金融交易中的信息不对称现象,实现交易中的义务与风险合理分配,进而通过买方的自主决定实现金融交易中的真实意思自治,构建金融市场公平公允的交易环境。为保证其作用发挥,有必要明确该义务的行为模式,使金融交易者明确自己的行为预期,促进交易者理性与市场效率提升。在目前阶段,适当性义务的预期行为模式应包括存在推荐服务时的了解产品、了解客户、适当性评估、记录保存行为,与指令交易中的警示与救援行为。     

论国家豁免中商业交易的认定

在国家豁免领域内,各国的国内立法和国际条约都规定国家从事以追求利润为目的的商业交易不得援引豁免。但是,如何建立一个公认的法律标准来认定商业交易则并非易事。由于所有对商业交易的定义都是难以捉摸和模糊不清的,很难清楚和准确地将某一行为归于商业行为或非商业行为。在确定一个行为是否是商业交易时,法院通常将行为的目的或性质确定为验证行为特征的辅助手段。但不论是行为的目的或性质都不能提供完全满意的区分标准,因而产生了另一种更广义的区分标准,即混合标准。鉴于目前尚未找到共同的国际标准,在区分商业行为和主权行为时,联合国国际法委员会所提倡的混合标准说仍不失为一个较为理想的折衷之道。     

Measuring Government Favouritism Objectively: The Case of Romanian Public Construction Sector

Government favouritism in the allocation of public funds raises costs for any society in which corruption prevails. Particularistic transactions can be identified in three different situations: uncompetitive awards of public contracts when there is only one “competitive” tender, when public money is spent on contracts supplied by politically connected firms, and a situation of capture in which one private contractor obtains a disproportionate share of contracts issued by some public agency. This present research has tested for the relevance of those three types of particularistic transactions that signal government favouritism as they apply to the Romanian construction sector for the period from 2007-2013, and to do so has made use of original public procurement databases. Furthermore, it will be proposed here that the “kickback”—a percentage of particularistic awarded values—can be used as a measurement of corruption. Even conservatively estimated, kickbacks account for much of the cost borne by any society that fails to eradicate corruption. For our purposes here, amounts of kickbacks at county level have been controlled against criminal convictions for corruption at county level. As a result, data analysis provides strong evidence that kickbacks based on particularistic allocation of public funds are indeed relevant in the measurement of corruption, and the steps used to evaluate kickbacks can be used just as well for other countries.     

Parties’ legal capacity in electronic commerce transactions

The aim of this article is to scrutinise the uncertainty of the Iranian Electronic Commerce Law (IRI ECL 2004) provisions especially on the issue of capacity of parties. Issues of parties’ legal capacity have been resolved in traditional contracts but they are still debatable in electronic commerce transactions. Under UK law, contracts formed by minors for things other than necessities are unenforceable against the minor but enforceable against the merchant (seller) while according to US uniform commercial code in online contracts capacity is not recognized as a legal excuse to nullify a contract. At the mean time, contracts made by incapacitate person is considered null under Iranian law. In spite of technical developments such as digital signatures and smart cards used in verifying the identity and capacity of parties in electronic commerce transactions, the legal certainty on capacity of parties is still questionable. The article also examines the application of traditional contract general rules on parties’ legal capacity in Iran to electronic commerce with reference to EU law. The EU law which is already at an advance stage serves a guide for future development of e-commerce law in Iran.     

DISTINGUISHING FACTS AND ARTIFACTS IN GROUP-BASED MODELING*

Group-based methodology (SPGM) has been presented as suitable to test for the existence of subpopulations not directly observable. Several criminological studies have used this methodology, and it is fair to say that typological theorizing has been spurred by its development. In particular, much of the empirical support for Moffitt's taxonomy (1993, 2006) is from studies using SPGM. In a small simulation experiment, I investigate whether SPGM is suitable for such tests, and I examine the extent to which similar trajectories might equally well result from mechanisms suggested by general theories. I conclude that, as it is usually applied, SPGM cannot provide evidence either for or against a taxonomy and that the usual findings can be explained by competing theories. I argue that this result is not only because of the methodology characteristics but also because of the modeling strategy applied.     

网络交易的纠纷解决机制探析——基于民间法与国家法互补的视角

高风险一度是网络交易发展的瓶颈所在。近年来,网络交易平台发挥网络科技的优势,为交易者提供了一些独特的风险防范和纠纷解决机制,极大地促进了网络交易的发展规模。但此种民间型机制的局限和优势一样明显,未能有效＂定分止争＂。要真正保障网络交易的稳定发展,最大程度上解决交易纠纷,除进一步发展和规范民间型机制外,尚需对传统的官方型机制予以适当的＂网络化改造＂,最终形成两者的良性互补。     

远程在线销售的课税问题与中国的对策

远程在线销售具有区别于传统商业交易方式的特点,对中国现行的以增值税和营业税为代表的一般流转税制度提出了问题和挑战。从目前各种在线交易的内容和现行增值税与营业税的课税对象以及适应电子商务国际税收协调的发展趋势看,我国应明确认定此类交易在性质上属于现行营业税意义上的销售劳务或无形财产。对在线销售交易,中国现行营业税制度应区分境内交易和跨境交易,对前者实行提供方所在地课税原则,对后者适用接受方所在地课税原则。在跨境远程在线交易的营业税征管方式上,对B-to-B交易应适用境内接受方申报纳税的逆向课税机制,对B-to-C交易宜适用非居民企业境内税务登记代为收缴营业税的征管机制。     

The Controlling Shareholder Enforcement Gap

The regulation of controlling shareholder related‐party transactions is one of corporate law's animating concerns. A recent Chancery Court decision extends the double approval framework endorsed by the Delaware Supreme Court—independent director committees and a majority of the minority shareholders—to non‐freezeout transactions. This article explains why the Chancery Court's innovation does not decrease the risk faced by minority shareholders. Subjecting a transaction to the double approval framework is a voluntary decision. Transaction planners will willingly traverse this path if the benefits outweigh the loss in deal certainty and attendant costs. When almost every freezeout is challenged in court, the voluntary application of this framework is the logical outcome. The calculus in the non‐freezeout context leads to a different result. Non‐freezeouts must be challenged by a derivative lawsuit. The procedural hurdles inherent in the derivative mechanism affect both the demand for the ratification framework and the incentive to comply. Without a tangible threat of a lawsuit to coax voluntary compliance in the non‐freezeout setting, transaction planners have nothing to gain by subjecting the deal to the double approval gauntlet. This article's analysis reveals a large gap in the enforcement of self‐dealing transactions. Recent high‐profile litigation exposes questionable adherence to the double approval framework for obviously conflicted non‐freezeout transactions. The paucity of derivative lawsuits foretells a troubling fate for similar transactions at less enticing litigation targets. Worse yet, the superficial step toward improved minority shareholder protection stifles the discussion on additional reform.     

Fraud in letter of credit transactions: The experience of Malaysian bankers

This paper explores the issue of fraud in letter of credit (LC) transactions in Malaysia. We explore the common modus operandi used by fraudsters in LC transactions and highlight the various actions taken by banks when dealing with forged LC documents and fraudulent goods. We find that although the phenomenon of fraud in LC arrangements in Malaysia is marginal, banks have indeed experienced fraud in LC dealings. Banks actions are firmly guided by the Uniform Customs and Practice (UCP) for Documentary Credits, which clearly affirms that banks must honour payment to the seller upon full compliance of the LC requirements. Findings reveal that banks adhere to the UCP guidelines despite being presented with falsified documents that cannot be fully proven or even when there is a possibility that substandard goods are being transacted. Finally, recommendations on how banks can mitigate these problems are offered.     

The Battle of the Forms—There Is a Purpose

This article provides an alternative approach to the daunting task of teaching business undergraduates a fundamental appreciation of the flexibility of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the ability of the UCC to adapt to the needs of commerce by facilitating fair, efficient transactions. Paradoxically, we suggest using one of the most difficult sections of the UCC, Section 2-207, the often discussed "Battle of the Forms," to make UCC concepts and the relationships of those concepts to modern business transactions easier to understand. This alternative approach is also designed to help students appreciate the challenges of establishing rules to assure fair and efficient transactions and how changes in the way transactions occur impact the laws and how the laws impact the changes. This article also presents exercises, questions, and illustrative flowcharts used successfully over several years in undergraduate business law classes. These tools produce an integrated method for presenting UCC Section 2-207. While no sane individual has ever professed a love for UCC study, students and faculty have expressed tolerance and a palpable appreciation for these methods.     

Reduced payer's liability for unauthorized payment transactions under the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)

In 2015, the European legislator enacted the second Payment Services Directive, which, among other things, determines the payer's liability for unauthorized payment transactions. This paper will show that PSD2 has widened its scope and further reduces the payer's liability for unauthorized transactions, for example by making it impossible to hold the payer liable in case no strong customer authentication has been applied, by requiring supporting evidence to prove the payer's fraud or gross negligence and by applying the same rules when unauthorized transactions are initiated through a payment initiation service.