Six technology heavyweights came together to announce an alliance to jointly license patents for the broadband wireless technology WiMax. The group, which calls itself the Open Patent Alliance, includes Intel, Cisco Systems, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, and Alcatel-Lucent.
Judge Orders Pranksters to Issue Apology on YouTube
A judge in Viera, Florida, is using YouTube to punish two boys who used the video-sharing website for a prank that ended with battery and criminal mischief charges against them. The teens posted a video of the incident on YouTube.com, alongside a number of other videos showing similar pranks.
FTC Opens Format Antitrust Probe of Intel
A global legal battle between the two largest makers of computer processors took an abrupt turn when the Federal Trade Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation of the Intel Corporation. For years, Advanced Micro Devices, a smaller rival of Intel, has been scouring the world in search of regulators in Europe, Asia and the United States who would agree to prosecute Intel for what A.M.D. maintains are anticompetitive pricing practices.
T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over AT&T WiFi Agreement
T-Mobile USA is suing Starbucks, saying the coffee shop chain secretly colluded with AT&T to offer free WiFi Internet access in its cafes despite an exclusive agreement with T-Mobile. In the lawsuit, filed in New York state court, T-Mobile alleges that AT&T and Starbucks Corp are not living up to an agreement the three companies reached over how Starbucks should transfer from its T-Mobile partnership to a new partnership with AT&T announced earlier this year.
University Paper Faults Music Industry's Tactics
A new study from the University of Washington suggests that media industry trade groups are using flawed tactics in their investigations of users who violate copyrights on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The paper finds that there is a serious flaw in how these trade groups finger reported file-sharers.
British Groups to Educate Consumer About File-Sharing
Virgin Media and the British Polyphonic Industry will work together to "educate" broadband customers on avoiding legal action while downloading music with peer-to-peer software, the organizations said. A joint release posted on the British Polyphonic Industry Web site said Virgin Media broadband customers using their accounts to illegally share music will receive letters from Virgin Media and the BPI.
ConnectU Wants Out of Settlement with Facebook
Facebook, owner of the social-networking Web site valued last year at $15 billion, is struggling to enforce a settlement of a copyright lawsuit accusing founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing computer code. Founders of ConnectU in February settled claims that Zuckerberg took their business idea in 2003 while they were students at Harvard University.
Software Update Forces Emergency Nuclear Plant Shutdown
A nuclear power plant in Georgia was recently forced into an emergency shutdown for 48 hours after a software update was installed on a single computer. The incident occurred on March 7 at Unit 2 of the Hatch nuclear power plant near Baxley, Georgia.
Lawyer Tells Appeals Court Spam Law Unconstitutional
A lawyer for a man once considered one of the world's most prolific e-mail spammers urged the Virginia Supreme Court on to strike down a state anti-spam law, arguing it violates free speech protections under the First Amendment. Lawyer Thomas M. Wolf said the state law that makes bulk e-mailing a felony is unconstitutional because it fails to distinguish between commercial messages, which are not covered by the First Amendment, and protected political and religious speech.
U.S., Antigua Won't Resolve Net Gambling Dispute
Washington and the tiny Caribbean country of Antigua will not resolve their dispute over Internet gambling by a deadline, according to Antigua and Barbuda's attorney in the trade battle. Antigua and Barbuda accuses the U.S. of crippling its lucrative gambling industry by banning Americans from placing online bets with gambling operators, including those based in the twin-island country of 70,000 inhabitants.
Software Company Sues Howard Stern Productions
A software company filed a copyright infringement lawsuit over technology used on Howard Stern's Web site that enables characters to pop up and begin talking to the viewer. Live Face on Web LLC, an Internet-based service in Southampton, filed the suit in federal court against Howard Stern Productions Inc. and others.
EFF Seeks to Stop Unmasking of Political Impostor
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is waging a constitutional challenge against an Illinois politician seeking to unmask an anonymous MySpace user accused of creating impostor profiles and posting defamatory material on them. Cicero, Illinois, Town President Larry Dominick filed a discovery petition after finding two profiles on the social networking site that claimed to belong to him.
Bank Says Sensitive Data on 4 Million Exposed
The Bank of New York Mellon says sensitive data of more than 4 million people owning shares in public companies was exposed after a box of back-up data storage tapes went missing in February. The data included names, addresses, and Social Security numbers.
Wash. Attorney General Pushes for Better Safety Online
Washington state's attorney general is only half joking when he suggests that perhaps sites like Facebook and MySpace should require members to use a credit card to sign up for access as a way to prove their identity. "We need good age and identity verification technology so that it's much harder for an individual to get online and pretend to be 15 when really it's a 45-year-old man," said Attorney General Rob McKenna at the Authentication and Online Trust Summit in Seattle.
Google Over Fraudluent Ads for Mobile Services
A lawsuit filed against Google alleges that the search company puts profits ahead of user protection by refusing to ban online ads for fraudulent mobile services, despite evident ad policy violations. "Driven by financial motivations, Google intentionally refuses to enforce its policies with respect to mobile subscription services," the complaint states.
Hong Kong Domains Top List of Most Dangerous
McAfee released a study that indicates the domains that tend to be the most dangerous or malware-prone on the Web, and at the top of the list is the Hong Kong (.hk) domain. The McAfee Mal Web report, which serves as a safety guidebook to risky online neighborhoods, reveals that 19.2 percent of all Web sites ending with the .hk domain pose a security threat to Web users, followed by China (.cn), the Philippines (.ph), Romania (.ro) and Russia (.ru).
Amazon.com Starts Collecting Sales Taxes in N.Y.
Amazon.com is giving up its sales tax advantage in New York temporarily, while its edge in Texas continues to be investigated. Amazon.com started collecting sales taxes from its New York customers.
Comcast, Time Warner Target Heavy Internet Users
Cable service operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable said that they would begin testing new approaches that would slow Internet access for heavy users and charge more to those who want additional speed. The tests come as the Federal Communications Commission wraps up an investigation on complaints that Comcast blocked certain users from sharing video, music and other files.
Privacy Advocates Want Link on Google's Home Page
Google is facing the wrath of privacy advocates once again over concerns that it's not posting its privacy policy "conspicuously" enough to comply with California law. A coalition of groups that have questioned Google's practices in the past sent a four-paragraph letter to CEO Eric Schmidt, charging that "Google's reluctance to post a link to its privacy policy on its home page is alarming."
Visto to Pay Damages in BlackBerry Patent Suit
Research In Motion Ltd. has concluded one of its legal disputes with Visto Corp., but the war of patent lawsuits between the two companies continues elsewhere. Visto has agreed to pay damages to RIM after a Federal Court judge found that the Redwood City, Calif., company infringed on three of the BlackBerry maker's Canadian patents.
