In recent months, authorities said, about a dozen Washington area residents have received e-mails telling them that they are about to be killed. The e-mails are extortion for the electronic age, Fairfax and Stafford authorities said -- scams to intimidate recipients into divulging personal information.
Blackboard Wins $3.1 Million in Course Materials Case
A federal jury in Texas awarded Blackboard Inc. $3.1 million, saying that a smaller Canadian competitor, Desire2Learn Inc., had infringed its patent for a system of delivering course materials online. The jury also found that Desire2Learn had not shown clear and convincing evidence that Blackboard's patent was invalid.
Controversial Patent Blogger Identified as Cisco Worker
Patent attorneys who followed a controversial patent blog to keep up with IP issues may lose the resource now that the anonymous blogger unmasked himself. Facing an e-mailed threat of being named, Richard Frenkel, a director in Cisco Systems' intellectual property group, identified himself as the author of Patent Troll Tracker, a blog that reports on companies that critics, including Frenkel, argue hold patents solely to sue for infringement.
Court Ordered to Reconsider Office Patent Award
A federal court which hears patent appeals told a lower court to reconsider damages that Microsoft must pay a Guatemalan inventor for infringing his software in its popular Office Suite. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit tossed out the damages award of 12 cents per copy because the lower court failed to explain how it calculated the award.
At Hearing, FCC Chairman Favors Net Neutrality
The head of the Federal Communications Commission and other senior officials said that they were considering taking steps to discourage cable and telephone companies from discriminating against content providers as the broadband companies go about managing heavy Internet traffic that they say is clogging their networks. The agency is considering new rules and enforcement decisions that would force the cable and telephone companies to more clearly disclose to consumers the circumstances in which they might delay some traffic.
Network Solutions, ICANN Sued Over "Front Running"
A Los Angeles firm has announced a class action against Network Solutions and ICANN over the former's practice of locking up domain names as soon as they are searched for on its site, which means the party searching can buy the name only from Network Solutions. They're also suing ICANN for failing to stop what is known in the industry as "front running."
Cybersquatting Up 33% in Past Year, MarkMonitor Says
"Cybersquatting" -- the use of domain names designed to mimic those of large brands -- is up 33 percent compared with a year ago, according to a study by MarkMonitor. The cybersquatters often use misspellings in website addresses to attract visitors looking for big-name brands. They make money through pay-per-click advertising or selling counterfeit products.
Pakistan Blocks Access to YouTube, Affecting Others
Pakistan has become the latest country to block access to the video-sharing Web site YouTube on the grounds that one or more videos on the site offend Islam, authorities said. The Pakistani government is also asking YouTube to remove "objectionable content," said Nabiha Mehmood, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority.
Child-Porn Cases Complicated by Digital Photo Law
Although challenges to digital photos come in all types of criminal and civil cases, they are especially pronounced in child-pornography cases because of a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a ban on computer-generated child pornography. Defense attorneys are trying to use the ruling to introduce reasonable doubt in jurors' minds about the images' authenticity.
Iranian Court Detains Site Operator for Khomeini Attack
A court detained the head of a banned conservative-run Web site which had accused a grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of betraying the legacy of the founder of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The official IRNA news agency said the Nosazi (Renovation) Web site had attacked Hassan Khomeini for opposing the decision by hardline vetting bodies to strike leading moderates from the list of candidates for March 14 parliamentary elections.
EU, U.S. Vow Crackdown on Counterfeit PC Parts
EU and U.S. senior officials said they would crack down on counterfeiting of computer components after they seized over 360,000 fake items in just two weeks in a joint operation at the end of last year. Integrated circuits and computer components of over 40 trademarks including Intel, Cisco and Philips, worth more than $1.3 billion, were seized during the operation, the officials said.
FCC to Hold Hearing on Comcast, Net Neutrality
The high-profile squabble over Comcast's slowdown of BitTorrent file-sharing traffic -- and broader questions of network handling by Internet service providers -- is set for public scrutiny at a federal hearing. This time, the Federal Communications Commission will depart its headquarters just off the National Mall in Washington and head north to a courtroom on Harvard Law School's campus in Cambridge, Mass.
Judge Lets Windows Vista Class-Action Proceed
A federal judge said that consumers may go ahead with a class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. over the way it advertised computers loaded with Windows XP as capable of running the Vista operating system. The lawsuit said Microsoft's labeling of some PCs as "Windows Vista Capable" was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to run all of Vista's features, including the much-touted "Aero" user interface.
Judge Orders wikileaks.org Domain Name Disabled
A federal judge in California has pulled the plug on Wikileaks.org, a Web site that specializes in posting leaked documents often provided by whistleblowers. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ordered that the domain name be disabled at the behest of a group of Swiss bankers who filed a lawsuit alleging that confidential information appeared on Wikileaks.org.
China Asks Websites to Censor Porn, Violence
China has called on domestic Web sites to sign a voluntary pact governing online video and audio content, saying they should exercise self-censorship to ensure a "healthy and orderly" cyberspace. Eight "central" Web sites signed the pact requiring them to eradicate pornography and violence, which had "seriously polluted the online environment and affected the growth of young people", the national broadcast watchdog said.
Moroccan Engineer Jailed for Facebook Impersonation
A Moroccan computer engineer has been sentenced to three years in jail for setting up a Facebook profile in the name of a member of the royal family. Fouad Mourtada was arrested on suspicion of stealing the identity of Prince Moulay Rachid, younger brother of King Mohammed VI.
EBay Sues Net2Phone Over Skype Patent
EBay, owner of the Skype phone service, sued IDT and its Net2Phone unit, claiming IDT's PennyTalk calling cards infringe a patent for Internet-based telephone calls. EBay owns a patent issued in 2000 for a "long distance telephone communications system" using the Internet.
More Criminal Lawyers Defending Interent Sex Crimes
Criminal defense lawyers across the country have said that sex crimes involving the Internet -- such as online child pornography or using the Internet to solicit sex from minors -- are becoming a growing part of their workload. The increase has in part been fueled by a law enforcement crackdown.
Microsoft Vows Not to Sue Open-Source Developers
Microsoft's top executives detailed steps they say will help the software giant comply with antitrust legal requirements and operate more harmoniously in a world of interconnected software. Microsoft announced that it will publish reams of documentation around its communication protocols to make it easier for third parties to connect to Microsoft products, and it also pledged not to sue open-source developers who create noncommercial software based on Microsoft's protocols.
EU Says Search Engines Must Follow Privacy Rules
European data privacy regulators said that Internet search engines based outside Europe must also comply with EU rules on how a person's Internet address or search history is stored. EU rules that someone must consent to their data being collected and give individuals the right to object or verify their information apply to search engines, the regulators' group said in a short statement as they prepare a full report due by April.
