Stephanie Lenz is an angry Pennsylvania mother who refuses to back down from the music industry. Lenz's attorneys were in federal district court, trying to thwart a motion to dismiss her lawsuit against Universal Music Group.
Internet Ad Firm's CEO Defends Tracking Tactics
The chief executive of an Internet advertising start-up admitted that his firm could track peoples' activity on multiple Web sites without their express permission. NebuAd CEO Robert Dykes said at a House hearing that the Internet service providers with which his company partners send their customers letters 30 days before any tracking begins.
EU Makes New Antitrust Objections Against Intel
European Union antitrust regulators made new accusations against chipmaker Intel Corp., saying it paid retailers not to sell PCs using chips made by rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The "statement of objections" from the European Commission follows 2007 charges that Intel, the world's biggest microchip producer, gave computer makers rebates to limit their use of AMD chips or avoid them altogether.
Video Game Decision Strengthens Software Licenses
Blizzard Entertainment won a legal battle against MDY Industries, a maker of software that allows gamers automate the advancement of their World of Warcraft characters. The decision, if allowed to stand, could diminish consumers' already limited ownership rights over the software they buy.
EU May File New Antitrust Charges Against Intel
European regulators are preparing to file new antitrust charges against Intel Corp., expanding a probe into the U.S. chip maker's marketing and sales practices, according to people familiar with the matter. The new chargeswould allege that Intel gave major European retailers inducements not to sell computers that use chips from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., these people said.
ISP Tracked Users, Congressional Panel Told
An Internet provider based in Kansas used a monitoring technology earlier this year to track sites visited by its users, apparently without directly notifying them, according to a congressional panel investigating the action. Embarq, which serves 1.3 million Internet customers in 18 states, including Virginia, acknowledged that it used "deep packet inspection" technology provided by the Silicon Valley firm NebuAd to direct targeted advertising to users.
Charges Dropped Against New Zealand Teen Hacker
A New Zealand teenager who admitted to taking part in an international cyber-crime network has been discharged without a conviction. Police said the group hijacked more than one million computers and used them to take at least $20.4 million from private bank accounts.
Microsoft Sued for Patent Infringement on Silverlight
Microsoft's latest legal headache is a suit from a little-known company called Gotuit Media, which charges elements of Silverlight infringe on the video metadata company's patented technology. In a suit filed July 2 in San Francisco Federal Court, Gotuit charges Silverlight infringes on several of its patents and seeks an injunction against the software maker as well as damages and attorney's fees.
Academic Study Says Canada, U.S. Should OK Net Gambling
Canada and the United States should legalize and regulate online gambling to contain its potentially harmful effects because players tend to bet more frequently and aggressively than they do in casinos, a study says. The study -- conducted jointly by academics of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas -- found that online gambling is readily accessible via the Internet even though it is outlawed or in a "legal grey area" in United States and Canada.
Apple Sues Computer Maker for Selling Mac Clones
Apple Inc. has sued Psystar Corp., the computer maker that in April started selling Intel-based systems with Mac OS X pre-installed, for copyright and software licensing violations, according to court records and a Florida attorney. Apple's lawsuit charges Psystar with violating its shrink wrap license, as well as with trademark and copyright infringement.
Viacom "Backed Off" Demand for YouTube Data
YouTube will be allowed to mask important user information from records it must turn over to Viacom, Google said in a blog post. "Viacom and the other litigants have backed off their demand for YouTube user viewing histories," Google said in a statement.
Man Gets 30 Months for Sending Spam to AOL Users
A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending spam e-mails to more than 1.2 million subscribers of America Online in a scheme that foiled the Internet company's spam-filtering system. Adam Vitale, 27, was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan after pleading guilty more than a year ago to breaking anti-spam laws.
Engineer Charged with Hijacking San Franisco's Network
A disgruntled city computer engineer has virtually commandeered San Francisco's new multimillion-dollar computer network, altering it to deny access to top administrators even as he sits in jail on $5 million bail, authorities said. Terry Childs, a 43-year-old computer network administrator who lives in Pittsburg, has been charged with four counts of computer tampering.
House, Senate Holds Hearings on Yahoo-Google Deal
Both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees were holding hearings into whether Yahoo's advertising partnership with Google raises antitrust concerns. Yahoo made the deal as an alternative to the $47.5 billion acquisition offer it rejected from Microsoft -- a decision that now has Yahoo in a tough fight with shareholders.
Judge Rules for eBay in Tiffany Counterfeit Case
eBay cannot be forced to police its auction listings to identify counterfeit Tiffany & Co. products, a federal judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by the iconic 171-year-old jewelry. In what could become a landmark case for auction Web sites, the court said trademark law cannot be used to force eBay to shoulder the burden of examining individual auction listings for possible counterfeits.
Canadian Court Orders File-Sharing Site Shut Down
Canada's recording industry has won a court order shutting down a popular Quebec Internet site that allowed users to share music and films free of charge. The decision is being described as the first time a Canadian court has ruled on the grey area of peer-to-peer file sharing, which record companies say is costing them millions in lost sales.
State Employees Deleting E-mails Raise Concerns
Recent cases raise concerns that millions of public records in the form of e-mails may be disappearing before anyone outside government can read them. Experts say e-mail archiving systems and better training for state employees will help ensure e-mail is not lost.
Color Laser Printers Create New Privacy Questions
The affordability and growing popularity of color laser printers is raising concerns among civil liberties advocates that your privacy may not be worth the paper you're printing on. More manufacturers are outfitting greater numbers of laser printers with technology that leaves microscopic yellow dots on each printed page to identify the printer's serial number -- and ultimately, you, says the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the leading watchdogs of electronic privacy.
FCC Chairman to Recommend Sanction for Comcast
The head of the Federal Communications Commission said he will recommend that the agency sanction Comcast Corp. for unreasonably restricting Internet users who share movies and other material. In a victory for open-Internet advocates, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he will propose that the agency's five commissioners vote to uphold a complaint alleging that Comcast violated the FCC's open-Internet principles by improperly blocking peer-to-peer traffic on its network.
Top Tech Lawyers to Testify on Internet Advertising
Top legal counsel for Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft will address a Congressional hearing, as lawmakers examine the Yahoo-Google search advertising agreement and its potential anticompetitive effects on the future of Internet advertising. The Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcomittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will call Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith, Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan, and Google chief legal officer David Drummond to testify as witnesses.
