A recent phishing scam targeting users of Apple Inc.'s .Mac and MobileMe online services has successfully duped hundreds into divulging credit card and other personal information, a security company saidy. According to Dan Clements, the president of CardCops, the identity protection division of California-based Affinion Group Inc., the phishing campaign scammed between 100 and 200 people with mac.com addresses in just one day.
Palm Asks Independent Developer to Rename Website
Well-known independent Palm OS developer Dmitry Grinberg has received what purports to be a cease and desist letter from Fenwick & West, LLP, a Bay Area law firm that represents Palm Inc. The letter demands that Grinberg: (1) rename his website (formerly PalmPowerups.com) and (2) rename PalmSDHC in order to avoid "consumer confusion."
Ruling Supports "Artistic License" for Software
A Federal appeals court overturned a lower court's decision in a copyright case that could strengthen the legal foundation of certain software such as Linux and online services such as Wikipedia. The court ruled that conditions of an agreement called the Artistic License were enforceable under copyright law, supporting a basic tenet behind open-source software and other creations that the general public is allowed to freely modify and distribute.
EBay Wins Belgian Court Ruling Against L'Oreal
EBay, owner of the largest Internet auction Web site, said a Belgian court rejected a claim by L'Oreal that eBay didn't do enough to prevent the sale of counterfeit cosmetics. The decision was the second court ruling that backed eBay in a case over the sale of knockoffs by vendors using the company's Web site.
Lawmakers Respond to FCC's Plan for Free Wi-Fi
The clock is ticking on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's free wireless broadband proposal, with organizations on both sides of the debate stepping up their arguments. Two lawmakers and a company that backs the FCC's plan are among many groups that filed letters with the commission over the past couple of weeks, responding in part to T-Mobile's filing of the results of its technical laboratory test.
Google Denies Stripping Data from Maps of Georgia
Several reports suggest that data from Georgia and the neighboring countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan has been stripped from Google Maps. Google says that's not so. While its Web maps shows only the outlines of those three countries -- without roads or even the capital cities marked -- Google says that the lack of information is not new.
ISPs, Google Disclose Info About Tracking Practices
Several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. And Google, the leading online advertiser, stated that it has begun using Internet tracking technology that enables it to more precisely follow Web-surfing behavior across affiliated sites.
Law Enforcement Faulted for Online Consumer Protection
While Web users drown in spam and fend off scams aimed at stealing their money, U.S. federal and state law enforcement authorities are doing little to resolve what has become a multi-billion-dollar problem, a think tank said. In the 20 states that give a number for consumer complaints, there were roughly 20,000 Internet-related complaints in 2007, said the group, which surveyed officials in all 50 states but received widely varying amounts of data.
Georgia Fighting Back Online, Security Researcher Says
Researchers studying botnets have reported an increase in attacks on Georgian Web sites, including that of the country's president, within the last two weeks. While the attacks -- Web site defacement and denial-of-service packet floods -- are reminiscent of the Internet attacks waged against Estonia in May 2007, Jose Nazario, security researcher for Arbor Networks, said that he's seeing evidence that Georgia is apparently fighting back, attacking at least one Moscow-based newspaper site.
European Court Delays Extradition of Hacker to U.S.
The European Court of Human Rights will hear an application to halt the extradition of Gary McKinnon, a British man accused of hacking into almost 100 U.S. military computers, his lawyer said. The court's full chamber will hear McKinnon's application on Aug. 28, which delays a U.S. request for his extradition by two weeks, McKinnon's lawyer Karen Todner said.
Judge Orders ConnectU to Transfer Stock to Facebook
A San Jose, Calif., judge ruled that ConnectU, the start-up that the brothers founded with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra, must transfer its stock to Facebook as part of the settlement acquisition, despite the claims on behalf of ConnectU that Facebook failed to disclose its true valuation when negotiating the terms of the settlement. The start-up's founders alleged fraud on Facebook's part, and claimed that irreparable harm would ensue from the settlement going through in its present form.
Georgia Accuses Russia of Launching Cyberattack
The Georgian embassy in the U.K. has accused forces within Russia of launching a coordinated cyberattack against Georgian Web sites, to coincide with military operations in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. A Georgian embassy spokesperson said that Web sites had been unavailable over the weekend, claiming this was due to Russian denial-of-service attacks.
Tiffany Appealing Trademark Ruling for eBay
Tiffany & Co. announced on that it is appealing a recent federal court decision that said eBay is not responsible for policing counterfeit listings on its auction site. In July, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled that eBay could not be forced by trademark law to examine individual auction listings.
Congress Probing Deeper Into Online Privacy Practices
Online data collection and privacy policies are attracting the attention of Congress. There is no broad privacy legislation governing advertising on the Internet. And even some in the government admit that they do not have a clear grasp of what companies are able to do with the wealth of data now available to them.
San Francisco Updating Computer Security Measures
San Francisco is being forced to overhaul security measures on the computer network that controls data for its police, courts, jails, payroll and health services, as well as other crucial information, after the technology administrator entrusted with the system blocked access for everyone but himself last month and for days refused to reveal the password, even from jail.
Social-Networking Sites Attracting Plenty of Hackers
Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are fast emerging as some of the most fertile grounds for malicious software, identity thieves and online mischief-makers. The biggest danger from social networking sites is that they are all tripping over themselves to embed powerful features that most subscribers will never use, such as digital image or media files with the ability to download content from third-party Web sites, said Shawn Moyer, chief information-security officer at Agura Digital Security, a Web and network security firm.
Three Men Plead Guilty to Online Gambling Charges
Three men who helped promote the online gambling firm BetOnSports have pleaded guilty to federal charges. Attorneys for the Miami men said they were minor players caught up in a high-profile investigation.
Judge Blocks Talk About Hacking Subway Cards
A federal judge granted the Massachusetts transit authority's request for an injunction preventing three MIT students from giving a presentation about hacking smartcards used in the Boston subway system. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the students, anticipates appealing the ruling, said EFF senior staff attorney Kurt Opsahl.
CNN Warns About "Fraudulent" E-mail Not from CNN
A spam message purporting to be from CNN has been circulating the Internet, CNN reported on its blog. The message, claiming to contain CNN's Top 10 news stories and videos of the day, is fraudulent and did not originate from CNN, the news operation said.
Spammers Using Olympic Interest to Their Advantage
Public interest in the Olympic Games is helping spammers, who are using text related to the games in e-mails to get users to click through to their malware and phishing Web sites, or to go to product sites, according to an executive at Symantec. While spam is increasing overall as a trend, there has been a spike ahead of the Beijing Olympics, said Shantanu Ghosh, vice president of Symantec's India product operations.
