The National Association of Realtors agreed to give discount Internet brokers access to its listings of home sales, resolving a U.S. antitrust lawsuit that accused the trade group of trying to restrain competition. The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, calls for the realtors group to revise a policy that let real estate agents exclude their sales information from Web sites.
Yahoo Sues "Lottery Spammers" for Running Scams
Yahoo has filed suit against unnamed "lottery spammers" who tried to fool people into thinking that they won a prize from Yahoo so they'd share passwords, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information. The Internet company said it filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, citing the Federal Trademark Act, the Can-Spam Act, and related state laws.
Newspapers Want $77 Million from Google in Copyright Case
Belgian French-language newspapers said they want search engine Google to pay up to $77 million in damages for publishing and storing their content without permission. The newspaper copyright group Copiepresse said it had summoned Google to appear again before a Brussels court in September that will decide on their claim that they suffered damages of between $51.7 million $77.5 million.
U.S. Wins First Criminal File-Sharing Verdict
For the first time ever, the federal government has successfully won a jury verdict against someone accused of illegally downloading music, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. A jury in Alexandria, Va, found Barry Gitarts, 25, allegedly a member of Internet music piracy group, Apocalypse Production Crew, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.
Senator Asks Google to Remove Terrorist YouTube Videos
Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, wrote a letter to Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt asking him to "remove content produced by Islamist terrorist organizations from YouTube," the video-sharing site owned by Google. Lieberman argued that "Al-Qaida created and manages a multi-tiered online media operation that produces content intended to enlist followers in countries all over the world, including the United States."
Privacy Advocates, Law Enforcement Debate Canadian Domains
Sweeping changes to Canada's home on the World Wide Web will put the country on the vanguard of Internet privacy. But while law enforcement isn't happy about potentially losing an important investigative tool, the 500,000 Canadians whose personal information is now publicly available on the Internet shouldn't assume they are safe from wired snoops.
Microsoft Drops Plan to Scan Library Books
Microsoft is abandoning its effort to scan whole libraries and make their contents searchable, a sign it may be getting choosier about the fights it will pick with Google. Microsoft is under pressure to show it has a coherent strategy for turning around its unprofitable online business after its bid for Yahoo collapsed.
BlackBerry Maker Won't Decrypt Messages for India
The Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry mobile phones has rejected demands by the Indian government that it help decrypt suspicious text messages. Research in Motion says its technology does not allow any third party -- even the company itself -- to read information sent over its network.
Moscow Court Suspends Website of Opposition
A court in Moscow suspended the main opposition website in the troubled south Russian region of Ingushetia while prosecutors investigate regional government's accusations it spreads extremist material. The government of Ingushetia brought the case against the ingushetiya.ru website owned by local businessmen Magomed Yevloev.
Viacom Suit Threatens Legitimate Activity, Google Says
Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information" over the Web, YouTube parent Google said in a legal response to the suit. Google says the threat comes from Viacom's attempt to make sites' hosts liable for what people post.
Attorneys Debate Scope of N.Y. Internet Tax Law
Speaking on a conference call with online retailers and affiliate marketers, an attorney for the Direct Marketing Association sought to reassure them that a controversial new tax law in New York takes a much narrower scope than previous regulations, but other legal experts are not so sure. The law, enacted with the state's budget last month, said that online retailers who solicit sales from affiliates located in New York will be responsible for collecting sales tax on purchases shipped there, even if they have no employees or physical operations within the state.
Legislation Would Not Require Paper Trail for E-Voting
Computer scientists have pressed for e-voting paper trails for years, in peer reports and in testimony on Capitol Hill. Now it looks like Congress is poised to ignore this idea: forthcoming legislation will say that a backup "electronic" record is OK too.
Lawmakers Criticize Progress on Cyber-Security Threats
At a hearing, members of the House Committee on Homeland Security warned that regulatory bodies aren't moving fast enough against cyber-security threats to critical infrastructure. "I think we could search far and wide and not find a more disorganized response to a national security issue of this import," said Rep. James Langevin (D-R.I.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology.
German Police Claim Baby After Parents Try eBay Sale
Police in southern Germany say they have removed a seven-month-old boy from his parents after they tried to sell him for one euro (US$1.57) over eBay. Krumbach police spokesman Peter Hieber said baby Merlin has been put in care of youth services in the southwestern Allgaeu region and was doing well.
T.J. Maxx Worker Fired for Discussing Security Problems
A low-level TJX employee has lost his job for speaking in public about information security problems he uncovered while working for the company. In an e-mail interview, he said he was fired Wednesday for violating corporate policy by disclosing proprietary information.
Singapore Bans Access to Porn Sites in "Symbolic Statement"
Singapore has banned access to two pornographic websites in a "symbolic statement" of the country's societal values, its media regulator said. The two sites, which the regulator declined to identify but local media named as YouPorn and RedTube, work in a similar fashion to popular video-sharing website YouTube.
EU To Investigate Microsoft on Open-Source Claims
The EU executive will investigate if steps announced by Microsoft Corp. to make it easier for users of an open-source rival to work with Microsoft Office would give consumers greater choice. "The Commission will investigate whether the announced support of ODF (Open Document Format) in Office leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice," it said in a statement.
Many Large Companies Read, Analyze Employees' E-mail
A new survey finds that 41 percent of large companies (those with 20,000 or more employees) are paying staffers to read or otherwise analyze the contents of employees' outbound e-mail. In the study, which was commissioned by e-mail security provider Proofpoint and conducted by Forrester Research, 44 percent of the companies surveyed said they investigated an e-mail leak of confidential data in the past year and 26 percent said they fired an employee for violating e-mail policies, according to security portal Help Net Security.
Apple Sued Over Use of "Mighty Mouse" Name
Apple, maker of the iPod media player, and CBS were sued for trademark infringement by closely held computer-accessory firm Man & Machine over the name of Apple's wireless "Mighty Mouse" device. Apple started selling computer mice under the name "Mighty Mouse" more than a year after Man & Machine began selling waterproof and chemical-resistant computer mice to labs and hospitals under that name in 2004, according to the suit filed Tuesday in Greenbelt, Md.
Company to Pay $4.5 Million to Settle Software Piracy Suit
A Fairfax County technology company has agreed to pay a rival $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of stealing computer software. Razorsight also agreed to stop using the intellectual property from Teoco, a Fairfax County company that had developed software to process and audit billing among telecommunications carriers.
