The technology best known for pirating movies, music and software online is increasingly being adopted by businesses as a cheap way to get video content to customers. But 90 percent of P2P downloads are still of illegally copied content, according to David Hahn, vice president of product management at SafeNet Inc., which tracks the networks.
Inventor Claims One Laptop Per Child Infringes
Ade Oyegbola, an inventor who claims the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit stole his designs for a Nigerian keyboard, recently won a round in a Lagos court. Now, Oyegbola kept the U.S. side of his legal fight alive by pressing his case in federal court.
Pages on Security Vendor's Website Attacked
Security vendor Trend Micro has fallen victim to a widespread Web attack that splashed malicious software onto hundreds of legitimate Web sites in recent days. The pages are infected with malicious code that tries to install password-stealing software on the PCs of people who visit the sites.
Cheap Labor Used to Defeat Challenge-Response Systems
Evidence has emerged that people as well as malware are being used to defeat CAPTCHAs, challenge-response systems that are often used to stop the automatic creation of webmail accounts by spammers. CAPTCHAs typically help ensure that online accounts can't be created until a user correctly identifies letters depicted in an image.
Public Officials Find Text Messages Not Private
Those supposedly private messages that public officials dash off on their government cellphones to friends and colleagues aren't necessarily private after all. Courts, lawyers and states are increasingly treating these typed text messages as public documents subject to the same disclosure laws -- including the federal Freedom of Information Act -- that apply to e-mails and paper records.
Governments Struggle with Disclosing E-mail Messages
While e-mail and text messaging has become a hugely popular way to communicate throughout society, governments at all levels are often unwilling to let the public see the e-mails of their elected officials. Officially, e-mails in all but a handful of states are treated like paper documents and subject to Freedom of Information requests.
India Denies Plans to Bloack BlackBerry Services
India is not considering banning Research In Motion's BlackBerry services at this point of time, the top official in the telecoms ministry said. Security agencies have raised concerns the service posed a risk as emails sent using it could not be traced or intercepted.
Court in Turkey Orders Access to YouTube Blocked
Turkey blocked access to the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube in response to a video clip deemed insulting to the country's revered founding father, government-run media said. A court in the capital of Ankara ordered the ban at the request of a prosecutor who had argued the clip was disrespectful to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who died seven decades ago, the Anatolia news agency said.
Syria Orders Internet Cafes to Identify Users
Syrian authorities have ordered Internet cafe users to reveal their identity, the latest measure in their "iron censorship" of cyberspace, a Syrian monitoring group said. Security officials ordered Internet cafe owners this week to take down the names and identification cards of their clients as well as the times they come and leave, Mazen Darwich, head of the Syrian Media Centre, told Reuters.
Phishing Tops Annual IRS List of Top Scams
"Phishing," Internet-based schemes of tricking people into revealing confidential financial information, topped the Internal Revenue Service's annual list of scams that taxpayers should be aware of. The IRS also warned people not to fall for predators posing as IRS representatives who tell them they must reveal personal information to obtain the economic stimulus payment.
Lawsuit Claims iTunes Infringes Distribution Patent
Apple Inc. was sued over allegations its iTunes online music store and iPod music players are illegally using a patented method for distributing digital media over the Internet. Atlanta-based ZapMedia Services Inc. sued Apple in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, accusing the Cupertino-based company of violating two ZapMedia patents.
Gates Wants U.S. to Open Airwaves for More Wi-Fi
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates urged U.S. communications regulators to free up more vacant television airwaves to be used for wireless services such as broadband Internet access. During an appearance before a Northern Virginia technology group, Gates said the so-called "white space" spectrum between analog broadcast channels could be used to expand access of wireless broadband service using Wi-Fi technology.
Cuba to Allow Sales of Computers, DVD Players
Communist Cuba has authorized the unrestricted sale of computers and DVD and video players in the first sign that its new president, Raul Castro, is moving to improve Cubans' access to consumer goods. Only foreigners and companies can buy computers in Cuba at present, while DVD players were seized at the airport until last year, when customs rules were eased.
Harvard Warns of Exposure from Hacker Break-In
Harvard University is notifying thousands of graduate students and applicants that their personal information may have been exposed by a data breach. The Ivy League school says a computer hacker gained entry to its server last month.
Shuttered Police Criticism Site Claims Censorship
Domain hoster Go Daddy has shut down a Web site that lets people criticize individual police officers, saying it was using too much bandwidth. But the site owner says he is being censored after police complained.
"Virtual Protests" Target Internet Censorship
Thousands of people are taking part in "virtual protests" against countries accused of censoring the Internet. For its first Online Free Expression Day, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has created virtual versions of nine public spaces.
Guitar Hero Game Infringes Patent, Suit Alleges
Gibson Guitar has told Activision its wildly popular Guitar Hero video games infringe one of Gibson's patents, a claim that Activision has asked a U.S. court to find invalid, according to court documents. In a letter sent to Activision in January, Gibson said the games, in which players press buttons on a guitar-shaped controller in time with notes on a TV screen, violated a 1999 patent for technology for simulating a musical performance.
Domain Name Sold for Record Nearly $10 Million
The domain name fund.com has reportedly been sold for the highest cash price ever reported: $9,999,950. A spokesperson for the buyer said the deal closed in January fulfilling a purchase agreement that had been signed in October 2007 and that all new content would soon be placed on the domain.
EBay Criticizes "Organized" Attacks in Romania
eBay is decrying the lack of interest in cybercrime by authorities in countries such as Romania, Russia, and China. The online auction site pinpoints these three countries as the source of the majority of phishing e-mails that target eBay users for personal and account details.
Intel Rebuts EU's Antitrust Charges at Hearing
Intel rebutted European Union antitrust charges at a closed-door hearing that it illegally used rebates to wrest sales from Advanced Micro Devices. Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini and other officials attended the two-day hearing that started Tuesday in Brussels.
