Orange County Computer Lawyer Blog

Ex University of California Berkeley Doctor Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges

A 52-year-old Oakland doctor who worked at the University of California, Berkeley, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault of patients.

Robert Martin Kevess is charged with assaulting six male patients.  The assaults allegedly occurred since 2006, when the doctor was working at the University Health Services Tang Center.  There are few details about the exact nature of the assaults that occurred.  However, according to investigators, the incidents involved patients aged between 18 and 42, who were assaulted by the doctor during medical examinations.  The patients were reportedly touched under the guise of necessary medical examinations.  According to the investigators, the doctor fraudulently conveyed to the patients that the touching was necessary for professional purposes.

This week, the doctor pleaded not guilty to several felony charges, including sexual exploitation of a patient, and sexual penetration by a foreign object.  He has also been placed under a restraining order that prevents him from coming within 100 yards of the six victims who have made the charges.  Two other persons who also came forward with allegations, but whose statements did not result in charges being filed against the doctor, are also included in the restraining order.

The doctor’s lawyers have insisted that the case has been “overcharged,” and that all medical procedures that were performed were proper and necessary, and that any sexual relations between the doctor and the patients were purely consensual.   The doctor has already resigned from the University, and his medical license has been placed under interim suspension.

Unfortunately, whenever sexual assault charges or any other sex crimes are involved, San Diego criminal defense attorneys often find that persons may be presumed guilty until they’re proven innocent.  Sex crimes belong to those rare categories of crimes in which accused persons may face stigma, censure and even ostracization even before the charges are proved.

Posted in Sexual Abuse | No Comments »

Sony Faces Billion-Dollar Class-Action Lawsuit Involving Data Theft

California class-action lawyers had been expecting a lawsuit since Sony’s hacking-related woes began.  Lawyers in Canada have now announced that they will be filing a $1 billion dollar lawsuit against Sony, representing millions of users, who had sensitive data, including credit card details, stolen by hackers.

The $1 billion class-action lawsuit will include separate incidents involving hackers who managed to break into Sony servers.  The class action lawsuit will also ask that Sony be made to pay for the expenses of fraud insurance and credit monitoring services for the victims for a period of two years.

The Canadian class-action follows the first U.S. lawsuit related to the recent intrusions against Sony in U.S. District Court.  That lawsuit has been filed by an Alabama man who is accusing the company of negligence and failing to protect, encrypt and secure sensitive data, and taking too long to notify users about the breach.

The most recent hacking incident, in which hackers broke into the Sony PlayStation Network, has caused the most serious damage.  These hackers are believed to have stolen sensitive information of more than 77 million PlayStation users.  The details include names, addresses, credit card details, and security questions.

This week, Sony confirmed that its Sony Online Entertainment PC Gaming service had also been hacked.  That security breach comes just a week after the company confirmed the intrusion into the PlayStation Network service.  According to the company, the Sony Online Entertainment breach exposed sensitive personal information belonging to more than 24.6 million users, as well as credit card information.

Sony now faces questions from a congressional subcommittee, which wants to know why the company waited to notify customers of the security breach, and how the company managed to identify how the breach occurred.  Lawmakers also want to know whether the company has managed to identify the individuals who were responsible for the breach.

Posted in Computer Crime, Computer Security | No Comments »

Huntington Beach Teachers Accused of Sexual Abuse

A teacher couple in Huntington Beach has been charged with child sexual abuse.  The couple, a 62-year-old man and his 59-year-old wife have been charged with sexual abuse of a 17-year-old male student.

According to the Orange County District Attorney and the Westminster Police Department, the two have been charged with oral copulation of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sodomy of a person below 18.  The husband was also charged with possession of child pornography.

The boy was a student at Westminster High School.  According to the charges, the married couple repeatedly invited the boy to their home beginning in March 2009.  The boy was initially invited to drink alcohol, play board games and watch movies with the couple.  Soon, the two began to molest the boy in the Jacuzzi.  The wife was a teacher at a Mesa View Middle School, while the husband taught at Westminster High School.

School is the last place we should expect to find predators who want to harm your child.  Unfortunately, school is where many instances of sexual assault involving children every year either take place or originate.  In many cases that California sexual abuse lawyers come across, the perpetrator is someone who’s known to the victim.  In fact, the perpetrators depend on building an environment of trust in order to assault the victim.  School provides the perfect environment that can be misused by abusers.  A child may be at risk of sexual abuse from teachers, coaches, other school employees and even other students.

In all these cases, the school authorities can be held responsible for failing to prevent abuse.  For instance, in the case of sexual abuse involving another student at the school, a school may be held accountable for failing to identifying the student as a predator and isolating him from other students.  In the case of teachers, a school could be accountable for failing to screen adults who work in close proximity to students every day.

Posted in Sexual Abuse | No Comments »

Your Unsecured WiFi Could Have You Facing Child Porn Allegations

Your unsecured wireless routers can be used by outsiders to engage in illegal Internet activity, including child porn-related crimes, for which you might be blamed.  San Diego criminal defense attorneys are learning of increasing instances across the country in which individuals have accessed child porn websites through unsecured wireless routers belonging to other persons.

According to a report in the Huffington Post, there are far too many people out there who fail to secure their routers.  This is in spite of the fact that according to a poll conducted for the Wi-Fi Alliance, 32% of Americans admitted that they have tried to access a wireless router that was not theirs.  However, far too many Americans believe in leaving their wireless routers open for outside use.  For some, it is a spirit of generosity that encourages them to do this.

Most wireless routers will come with encryption settings, but setting up the software requires some amount of technical knowledge.  Not surprisingly, many people fail to do so, and in some instances, the failure to secure the routers could have serious consequences.

There have been cases where people have been arrested by federal law enforcement officials, after downloaded images of child porn were traced to their routers.  In New York, one homeowner found himself under arrest after law enforcement officials traced downloaded images of child porn to his router.  It was only a few days later that the officers determined that he was innocent after all.  Soon, they arrested his neighbor, and charged him under child pornography laws.  In Florida, another man had a similar experience, when a neighbor outside his building used a tin can as an antenna to amplify his wireless signal.  That neighbor downloaded 10 million images of child porn.  The man was later arrested, and pleaded guilty.

Posted in Computer Crime | No Comments »

Lawmakers Support Online Piracy Bill

A bill that would give U.S. authorities far reaching powers to crack down on online piracy, has received wide bipartisan support in Congress.  The bill would not only crack down on websites engaged in online piracy, but also piracy of movies, television shows and music.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democrat-Vermont, and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is soon to release a new version of an antipiracy bill.  A bill that was co-sponsored by Sen. Leahy was approved in November by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but failed to reach the Senate.  That bill was called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act.  Earlier this month, Sen. Patrick Leahy along with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, Republican-Texas, and representatives of the entertainment industry and labor organizations spoke about their intention to intensify the fight against piracy.   The bill is also being supported by Major League Baseball, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and trade groups with interests in film, music, and software.

The Obama administration has increased enforcement against websites that provide counterfeit or pirated goods. Most of this enforcement has involved domain seizures carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Last November alone, officers of the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security seized 82 digital domains that trafficked in counterfeit and pirated goods

San Diego criminal defense attorneys also have issues with the free-speech implications of the bill.  The challenge in the implementation of any such proposed legislation would be to ensure that there are no infringements of individual civil liberties.   The complaint has often been that authorities do not allow website owners enough time to respond before these websites are seized.  Sen. Leahy says that he and his staff are working with the Department of Justice to ensure that there is sufficient judicial review to protect owners of sites that are seized.

Posted in Computer Crime | No Comments »

Window Washer Killed in Huntington Beach Electrocution Accident

A man washing the windows of a medical office building in Huntington Beach was killed in an electrocution accident yesterday, when his washing equipment came into contact with an overhead power line.

The accident occurred at Beach Boulevard and Newman Avenue in front of the Huntington Beach Hospital, when the worker was standing on the ground and cleaning the windows of the building.  According to Huntington Beach Fire Department personnel, the man was using a long extension rod with a brush attached to the end of it.  As he was walking around a tree, the extension and the brush came into contact with a high-voltage power line, electrocuting the man and killing him instantly.  It was a 12,000 V power line, and the man had been using an aluminium extension rod to reach windows on the third story of the building. The victim’s body was discovered in front of the building at a little past 6:30am in the morning.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, electrocution is the fifth leading cause of occupational death in the United States.  Not surprisingly, a worker’s risk of being fatally injured in an electrocution accident increases with his proximity to high-voltage power lines.  That is why persons in some occupations are at a higher risk of such fatal electrocution deaths, including electrical and utility workers.  The most frequent cause of occupational death by electrocution is contact with overhead power lines.

However, these occupational hazards are avoidable.  Very often, negligence on the part of utility or power companies may be at the root of an electrocution or electrical accident.  The workplace is not the only place where Los Angeles electrocution lawyers find negligence linked to electrical accidents.  Electrocutions can also occur due to defective or malfunctioning electrical tools and other electrical equipment.  An unsafe property with loose or exposed wiring or malfunctioning switches could also increase the risk of electrocution or electric shock to unaware guests, customers or visitors on the property.

Posted in Personal Injury | No Comments »

California Elder Abuse Conference to Focus on Financial Abuse

More than 300 people are expected to attend Call to Action 2011, a conference in San Francisco dedicated to the growing incidence of elder financial abuse in the country.  The conference is scheduled for March 31, 2011 at the University of California San Francisco.  The summit is expected to focus especially hard on the numerous kinds of frauds and scams out there that are targeted at elderly persons.

The conference will focus on the fact that there has been an explosion in the number of consumer frauds, scams and other forms of exploitation targeting seniors.  This explosion seems to have coincided with the recession.  Speakers at the conference will be shedding light on investment, insurance and reverse mortgage fraud, targeted at the elderly.  They will also be dedicating extra attention to the special challenges facing senior citizens from fraudsters emboldened by the recession.  The conference is expected to cover the ways that senior citizens can protect their assets as they age.

One of the speakers at the conference is expected to be Mickey Rooney, a survivor of elder abuse.  Rooney is trying to focus the spotlight on this very serious American crisis, and believes that his celebrity will help raise awareness about the widespread incidence of elder financial abuse in the country.

California elder financial abuse lawyers have found that the recession has contributed to the elder abuse crisis in more ways than one. Earlier this month, a report by the Government Accountability Office claimed an increase in elder abuse around the country as states struggled with a lack of resources to keep elders safe from predators.  Around the country, many states have slashed their budgets in an effort to control spending, and unfortunately, elder care services have been one of the first services go.  This means that states are not able to conduct frequent inspections of elder care facilities and nursing homes, leaving elders at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Posted in Elder Abuse | No Comments »

San Francisco’s High Accident Fatality/Injury Rates

The city of San Francisco may soon be known for more than just its cable cars and Fisherman’s Wharf. The city is slowly emerging as among the deadliest in California, with accident fatality and injury rates that are off the charts, even to Los Angeles car accident attorneys.

According to an analysis by the California Office of Traffic Safety, San Francisco had more auto accident fatalities and injuries in 2009, than any other city with a population of over 250,000, by the number of vehicle miles driven. The city also has another dubious distinction – it has the highest number of fatalities and injuries from accidents involving pedestrians, bicycles or motorcycles.

In 2009, 3,745 people were injured or killed in traffic accidents in San Francisco. That includes 736 pedestrians, 522 bicyclists and 293 motorcyclists. That made it the deadliest city in California. This increase in fatalities and injuries in accidents in San Francisco has been seen for a while now. In 2008, the city had been ranked at number three in the number of fatalities and injuries from accidents. In 2006 and 2007, it had been at fourth position.

This decline in auto, pedestrian and bicycle safety in San Francisco, once one of the safest cities in California, is disconcerting, but also very familiar to Los Angeles car accident lawyers. Attitudes towards traffic safety in California have deteriorated to the extent that we now believe that being injured or killed in an accident is the price we pay for being mobile. We could look to other countries for inspiration. Countries like France and the UK have made much more significant progress in stopping accident injury and fatality rates. They have passed stronger drunk driving laws and made more effective use of sobriety checkpoints. Cities in these countries have forcefully implemented pedestrian and bicycle safety initiatives, in the process setting examples that we could be learning from.

Posted in Personal Injury | No Comments »

New California Law Criminalizes Online Impersonation

A New Breed of Criminal?

A new California law that went into effect on January 1st makes it a crime for anyone to impersonate people online. California SB 1411 makes it a crime to “credibly impersonate another actual person through, or on an Internet website or by any other electronic means for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding another person.”

That also includes opening an e-mail account, or an account or a profile on a social networking profile in another person’s name. So, all those who think it’s funny to open an outrageous Twitter profile under Kanye West’s name, may find that there are consequences to such activities.

Existing law makes it and crime when someone “knowingly accesses and without permission alters, damages, deletes, destroys, or otherwise uses any data, computer, computer system, or computer network in order to … devise or execute any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or extort.”  But this law goes much further by criminalizing many more activities.  It will be up to the courts to define exactly what activities are now illegal and what “harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding” might mean.  Further, it is unclear when setting up an account in another name is a “credible impersonation.”

The bill sets criminal penalties for violations. Specifically, a violation may be punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year in a county jail. In addition, a person who suffers damage because of the violation of these laws is now allowed to bring a civil action against the impersonator for compensatory damages and injunctive relief.

Obviously, in addition to being vague and overbroad, there are serious free speech issues involved in a law like this. The law does not deal with such issues, especially those involving satire and parody. California criminal defense attorneys expect heated debate on the bill’s implications.  It is high time the California State Legislature stops adding new crimes to the books and deals with the real problems in this state.

Posted in Computer Crime | No Comments »

Could TSA Patdown Procedures Lead to More California Highway Accidents?

There will be more than just hefty ticket prices standing in the way of airline travel for many Californians this holiday season. The new enhanced patdown procedures adopted by the Transportation Security Administration have caused many Americans to reconsider their travel options. In fact, we could be looking at large numbers of disgruntled travelers, who might consider driving instead of flying this holiday season.

Airport security procedures just went from bad to worse. Most Americans may find when they arrive at the airport that they have two options – either submit to an enhanced patdown procedure that is likely to be more than a little humiliating, or be subjected to a body scanner and exposed to doses of radiation. There’ll be more than a few Californians who will decide that this is all too much trouble and it’s better to simply drive instead.

However, Californians are more likely to be killed in auto accidents than in plane crashes. In fact, a scenario where large numbers of people give up flying to drive, is one that causes transportation officials serious headaches. This is the busiest travel season of the year, and California Highway Patrol as well as local police departments will have their hands full preventing accidents. When more vehicles are added to what is likely to be a chaotic traffic season, it only increases the risk of accidents.

California car accident attorneys’ worst fear is being confirmed by two transportation economists who have studied the possibility of a spike in highway traffic in response to the airport security procedures. One of the economists, Steven Horwitz, of St. Lawrence University, believes that there is a possibility we will see more car accident fatalities this year as people choose to drive rather than fly. When people shell out extra dollars for an airline ticket to be able to reach their destination quicker, they don’t bargain for a cumbersome security procedure that delays flights and causes more than a little embarrassment. Many of these people will simply end up on the highways instead.

Posted in New Technology | No Comments »