Microsoft Before the U.S. Supreme Court

Does Microsoft have to turn over to U.S. authorities the content of emails stored overseas? NPR’s Nina Totenberg has a short (2 min, 26 sec) presentation of the case, United States v. Microsoft Corp. transcript available, but the presentation page of the audio gives more information about the case. A much longer (1 hour) analysis of the issues involved in this case can be found on the First Mondays podcast for February 26. The oral arguments in the case will soon be available here.

Jurisdiction in Cases Involving Stored Data

NPR’s All Tech Considered of March 3 has a report about a case in Brazil where prosecutors are trying to get data stored on Facebook’s WhatsApp to go after drug dealers. The report also examines the broader question of what country’s law applies when the rules about data privacy vary from country to country. 4 min 20 sec, transcript available.

Summaries of Recent UK Supreme Court Judgments Available on YouTube

The UK Supreme Court records the short presentations made by its justices explaining the court's decisions. These are usually 5 to 7 minutes long, with no transcript, but very clear, with more information available if you click on "show more". Recent cases have involved

• human rights - whether the living arrangements made for a mentally incapacitated person amount to a deprivation of liberty
• private international law/Rome II Treaty - how English courts should deal with the assessment of damages in claims arising out of fatal accidents abroad
• workers'  rights - whether a solicitor who is a partner in an LLP (limited liability partnership) can be considered to be a "worker" and so protected as a whistle-blower
• property - whether the use of a recreational ground was "by right" or "as of right"
• evidence - the proper use of linguistic experts in asylum claims
• international family law - grandparents' rights of custody and the The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction.

Foreign law in U.S. courts

NPR's All Things Considered of September 8, 2010 has a story about the effort by a legislator in Oklahoma to adopt a constitutional amendment in his state which would bar judges from considering Shariah or any foreign law.
4 min 34 sec, something like a transcript, with a few errors.