Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group Corp. are among record companies asking advertisers to stop using Baidu.com Inc. Web sites because they claim the Chinese search engine encourages copyright violation. The companies, also including Bertelsmann AG and Sony Corp.'s Sony BMG venture, have joined music industry associations in China, the world's biggest Internet market by users, to step up efforts to combat online piracy.
Phony Online Profiles Triggering Lawsuits
Phony profiles on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are triggering lawsuits by school officials and public figures who claim that their reputations are being damaged online. Specifically, plaintiffs are suing individuals who are creating fake profiles of them, replete with derogatory comments, obscenities, unflattering photographs and, in some cases, sexually offensive information.
Time Warner Cable Experimenting with Broadband Limits
New Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas, will have monthly allowances for the amount of data they upload and download. Those who go over will be charged $1 per gigabyte, a Time Warner Cable executive told the Associated Press.
Hackers Change Link on Phoenix Mars Lander Site
The Web site for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission was hacked over the weekend with readers of the main news article redirected to an overseas Web site, a spokeswoman for the mission said. Someone was able to access the site and change the "read more" link to connect to an outside site that was in a foreign language, said Sara Hammond, spokeswoman for the mission being led by the University of Arizona.
Best Buy Tests Free Program to Recycle Electronics
Under pressure to help dispose some of the electronic waste it helped create, Best Buy Co. is testing a free program that will offer consumers a convenient way to ensure millions of obsolescent TVs, old computers and other unwanted gadgets don't poison the nation's dumps. The trial covers 117 Best Buy stores scattered across eight states that will collect a wide variety of electronic detritus at no charge, even if the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer didn't originally sell the merchandise.
Overstock.com Sues New York Over Sales Taxes
Overstock.com said it filed a lawsuit to challenge a New York law requiring Internet retailers to collect and pay New York state taxes on sales to New York consumers even if the retailer does not have a physical presence in New York. The online retailer said it named the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, tax commissioner Robert Menga and Gov. David Paterson as defendants in the complaint filed with the New York Supreme Court.
City With Private Roads Gets Deleted from Google Maps
A Minnesota city of 4,500 residents has demanded that Google Maps remove images of its homes from the website's Street View feature, where any Internet user can glimpse a home from the nearest road. North Oaks' unique situation, in which the roads are privately owned by the residents and the city enforces a trespassing ordinance, may have made it the first city in the country to request that the online search engine remove images from Google Maps.
Comcast Hackers Surprised at Attention for Attack
The computer attackers who took down Comcast's homepage and webmail service for more than five hours say they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. The hackers known as "Defiant" and "EBK" expressed astonishment over the attention their DNS hijacking has garnered.
Dish Networks Seeks TiVo Patent Ruling from Court
A month after an appeals court confirmed that Dish Network's DVR software had indeed violated a TiVo patent, Dish is retaliating with a lawsuit of its own. The Colorado-based satellite TV provider filed suit in Delaware, asking the court to declare that Dish's current DVR software does not violate TiVo's '389 patent.
Mother in Internet Suicide Case Works Against Bullying
When Tina Meier's 13-year-old daughter committed suicide after being bullied on the Internet, her grief was so encompassing she felt at times she couldn't breathe. But in recent months, the Missouri woman has focused on ways to protect other children from bullying, even leaving her job as a real estate agent to dedicate herself to the Megan Meier Foundation.
FCC to Consider Free Wireless Internet Service
Federal regulators may require the winner of airwaves being auctioned off by the government to provide free wireless high-speed Internet service across a large swath of the country. The Federal Communications Commission at its June 12 meeting will likely vote on an order setting terms of the spectrum auction that could include the free Internet service provision.
Hackers Deface Comcast Site for Several Hours
Hackers took over and defaced Comcast's Web portal for several hours overnight, leaving a cryptic message on the site that the company's 14.1 million subscribers use to access e-mail, news and technical support. The front page of Comcast.net went down and was replaced with a note saying the hackers had "RoXed" Comcast, according to postings at BroadbandReports.com.
Piracy Fight Blamed for Shutdown of TV Website
One of the most popular Internet-based television networks was shut down all weekend, a casualty in the entertainment industry's fight against pirated material. The outage at Revision3, which features shows such as "Diggnation" and others targeted at techies, highlighted the risks of serious collateral damage in the usually invisible but bare-knuckled technological war between copyright holders and pirates.
Court Dismisses Antitrust Suit Against Amazon.com
Amazon.com and Borders Group won dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by a customer challenging the companies' online marketing agreement. Amazon.com customer Gary Gerlinger didn't pay higher prices for books, and thus suffered no harm, after the retailer took over the unprofitable Borders Web site in 2001, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled.
Report Says Privacy Concerns Could Slow Internet Ads
Federal, state and consumer discomfort with Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other companies tracking consumers' online behavior could slow the growth of Internet advertising, a financial services research group said in a report. The organization, Stanford Group Co., cited moves by the state legislatures in New York and Connecticut to ensure consumers' privacy online; the Federal Trade Commission's call for industry self-regulation; and complaints by lawmakers as signs that the advertising model may face some controls.
Judge Says Dell Engaged in False Advertising
A New York judge concluded that Dell engaged in repeated false and deceptive advertising of its promotional credit financing and warranties. State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi ordered the computer retailer to more clearly disclose that most customers don't qualify for free financing or get "next day" repair service.
Citysearch Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for Click Fraud
A Los Angeles-based law firm with a history of targeting online media companies for click fraud filed suit against Citysearch, the directory site owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, as well as Ticketmaster, the ticketing site that IAC is attempting to spin out into a separate publicly traded company.
Anti-China Internet Legislation Faces Opposition
A proposed federal law that would slap extensive regulations on technology companies doing business in China and other nations deemed to be unreasonably "Internet-restricting" is facing an uncertain future due to opposition from the Bush administration and telecommunications providers. The House of Representatives bill says that search engines, Web e-mail services, and other Internet businesses may not place servers with user account information in those nations.
U.S. Complains to WTO About European Tech Tariffs
The United States has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over European tariffs on high-tech goods like computer monitors and printers. The duties, which are as high as 14 percent, make American high-tech goods less competitive in the European Union, according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association.
U.K. Plan Would Ban Computer-Generated Child Abuse Images
Drawings and computer-generated images of child sex abuse would be made illegal under proposals announced by Justice Minister Maria Eagle. Owners of such images would face up to three years in prison under the plans.
