If that wasn't absurd enough, this plea comes despite overwhelming forensic evidence that Amero was not responsible for the pop-ups and that the school district's IT manager, detectives and prosecutors knowingly misled the court to cover their own asses. In the end, Amero will pay a $100 fine and give up her teaching credentials. Even though she feels vindicated by the ruling, I can't imagine that it makes up for the 4 years of misery she has endured. One can only hope that she will be able to turn around and sue these morons into oblivion. [Courant via Boing Boing Gadgets]

The prosecutors also think that because the video highlights the boy's disability, it could violate Italian data protection laws. Google has yet to receive official charges, but sources have told Reuters that the employees will be charged and expect them to face trial on February 3rd 2009. The company said it's worried about the precedent this could set for censorship on the internet, and I have to agree. At least one of these employees has never lived in Italy, and furthermore, the video was uploaded to a server in the US. But on top of all that, the bigger question is how can you punish these Google employees for something one of their users did? If they do get convicted it threatens YouTube, Google Video, and just about every site with user generated content. So even though making fun of the disabled is totally uncool (and despite my proud Italian heritage) I'm going to have to mildly scold Italy for this one: not cool Italy, not cool. [Reuters via PCWorld - Image via ian larson]

At that point, it appears that Huang got herself a lawyer and demanded that Asus pay the equivalent of $5 million US dollars in compensation. If they did not comply, she threatened to break the news of their shady support practices to the media. In March of 2006, Asus had both Huang and her lawyer arrested for extortion. Nearly a year later, she was released after the powers-that-be determined that the evidence against her was inadequate.

Now, Huang is suing Asus again—this time for defamation, selling defected products and false accusation. She has even set up a website detailing Asus' offenses against their customers. It certainly appears that both parties are not free from blame here, so I highly doubt that she will be successful with the lawsuit. Either way, the whole situation is pretty frightning. [Danwei via Boing Boing Gadgets and Asus315]

Best Buy claimed that the laptop would be up and running within 2 to 6 weeks. After about two months she received numerous calls from the repair center assuring her that the laptop would be out of the shop in no time. To make a long story short, the laptop was lost, numerous calls were placed, most of the Best Buy employees ignored her and acted like dicks, and when pressed further, they only offered her a $900 gift card in compensation. That offer was later upped to $1100 and a $500 gift card after the D.C., attorney general's office got on the case—but Campbell was now concerned that private information stored on the computer was at risk.

She is now suing the store for $54 million over lost property and the possibility that she has been opened up to identity theft. She realizes the sum is absurd, but she also wants to draw attention to what she feels is "atrocious customer service." Don't worry Raelyn, plenty of attention has been drawn to that issue over the years. [Daily Tech]