Hundreds of people have complained about the copyright protecting system on the long-awaited game Spore. Scathing criticism of the Digital Rights Management system have been posted by reviewers on Amazon.com.
Blogger Jailed for Disrespecting King in Morocco
A blogger who accused Morocco's monarchy of encouraging a culture of dependency where loyalty is rewarded with favors has been jailed for showing disrespect for King Mohammed, his family and rights groups said. Mohamed Erraji, 29, wrote in online newspaper Hespress that the north African kingdom had been destroyed by the practice of handing out charity or gifts such as taxi licenses to a lucky few, which encouraged people to beg.
RealNetworks Software Makes "Legal" Copies of DVDs
RealNetworks launched new software called RealDVD that lets people save DVDs to their PCs and create film libraries for watching any time, without needing the disc. The company says the software is "legal," but acknowledges that people will be able to make digital copies from any DVD, even if rented, because the software can't distinguish between rented and owned DVDs.
Advertisers Cite Antitrust in Opposing Yahoo-Google Deal
The Association of National Advertisers announced it sent a letter to the head of the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, citing its opposition to the controversial Yahoo-Google search advertising deal. The ANA, a powerful group of more than 400 companies that spend more than $100 billion in marketing and commercial advertising, said it conducted a comprehensive and independent analysis of its members and held in-person discussions with both companies before sending the letter to Thomas Barnett, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's antitrust division.
Professor Urges Tough Laws on ISP Surveillance
Even though Congress has growled loudly enough to get Internet service providers to back off their plans to sell information about their customers’ Web surfing to advertising companies, one prominent legal expert argues that the law governing the issue should still be made tougher. The issue was examined in a new paper, "The Rise and Fall of Invasive ISP Surveillance", by Paul Ohm, a former Justice Department official who now is a professor of law at the University of Colorado.
South Korean Police Arrest Four in Large Data Theft
South Korean police arrested four people over the theft of data on 11 million customers of a local oil refiner in what is being called the country's largest-ever data leak. The four, including two employees of a subsidiary of refiner GS Caltex, the country's second largest, are accused of violating laws on protecting personal information online, the National Police Agency said.
Google Reworks Chrome License on Ownership Rights
Google has rescinded an article of the user agreement for its new browser, Chrome. The initial agreement claimed rights over "any Content which you submit, post or display on or through" the browser, but Google reworded the agreement, leaving those rights in the hands of Chrome's users.
Company Postpones Plan for Controversial Ad System
Tech firm NebuAd has put on hold plans to widely deploy an online advertising technology that tracks consumers' every Web click while Congress reviews privacy concerns associated with the technique. The Silicon Valley company announced that founder and chief executive Bob Dykes was resigning. His departure comes as a number of Internet companies have suspended or canceled trials of NebuAd's controversial tracking technique, known as deep-packet inspection, marketed to companies seeking to target ads to Web users.
Phishing "Gang" Adds State-of-Art Technology
The Rock Phish gang -- one of the net's most notorious phishing outfits -- has teamed up with another criminal heavyweight called Asprox in overhauling its network with state-of-the-art technology, according to researchers from RSA. Over the past five months, Rock Phishers have painstakingly refurbished their infrastructure, introducing several sophisticated crimeware packages that get silently installed on the PCs of its victims.
Judge Says Law Protects Comments on Newspaper Site
A District Court judge found that the Montana shield law that protects reporters from disclosing anonymous sources also protects the identity of anonymous commenters on a newspaper's Web site. Judge G. Todd Baugh granted a motion filed by The Billings Gazette to quash a subpoena that sought information that may lead to the identity of those who post comments on the newspaper's online edition.
Comcast Sues to Stop FCC Ruling on Net Speed
Comcast Corp., the second-biggest U.S. high-speed Internet service provider, asked a court to overturn a Federal Communications Commission ruling that it violated policies intended to keep the Internet open. The FCC on Aug. 1 found Comcast had improperly blocked peer- to-peer programs such as BitTorrent that are used to share videos and other files, and told the company to stop.
Facebook Agrees to Test New "Report Abuse" Icon
The popular social networking website Facebook has agreed to test replacing its own link for reporting abuse with a bigger one developed by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office. Under the agreement, Facebook will display a "Report Abuse!" icon on a small fraction of its pages that display videos instead of its own link for reporting objectionable material.
Police Monitor Sites for Sex Services During Conventions
The tremendous jump in online requests for sexual services that seems to occur during large political conventions has placed police departments and advocacy groups on the alert. Denver and St. Paul police, as well as nonprofits the Klaas Foundation and the Polaris Project, have turned to classified advertising Web sites like Craigslist to monitor such illegal activities during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
Police Break Up Online Child Porn Ring in Europe
Police have broken up an Internet child pornography ring operating in at least four European countries where men exchanged details about their contacts with young girls, prosecutors said. The investigation found an online pedophile forum involving hundreds of men, mainly in Germany.
Privacy Advocates Concerned About Chrome Browser
Privacy advocates are starting to sound the alarm over a feature in Google's Chrome that sends anything typed in the browser's Omnibox back to Google. Google said that it plans to store about 2 percent of the data it gets back, along with the IP address of the computer that sent it. Google said it won't receive or store data if users turn off the auto-suggest feature or if they select a default search provider other than Google or if they are using the product's "Incognito" mode.
Domain Privacy Service Changes Amid Complaints
A company that provides a controversial service to domain name registrars says it is severing ties with Estdomains amid complaints that the Eastern European company makes it too easy to register sites that are used by spammers and scammers. Directi, through a subsidiary called LogicBoxes, had been providing an array of products and services to Estdomains, including one known as PrivacyProtect, which shields the identity of domain-name owners.
Microsoft Suggests Age Limits for "Digital Playgrounds"
Microsoft has an idea for keeping children safe online: create "digital playgrounds," sites where visitors have to prove their age using digital identity credentials. The idea was detailed in a paper Microsoft was set to release as part of its Trustworthy Computing initiative.
Judge Says Ellison Wrongly Deleted E-mails
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison failed to preserve e-mails as well as interview materials related to a book called "Softwar" that should have been supplied in connection with a shareholder lawsuit filed in March 2001 against the company, a federal judge ruledy. The plaintiffs allege that Ellison and others made false statements about the company's financial results during fiscal 2001, how the economy was affecting business, and Oracle's 11i application suite, according to the decision filed in U.S. District Court-California Northern District.
Officials Warn of Gustav-Related Internet Scams
Nearly 100 domains related to Hurricane Gustav were registered in 48 hours, security experts said, some of which may be used by bogus charity and relief scams after the storm strikes the U.S. Gulf Coast. According to television station KTAL in Shreveport, La., the office of Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has warned residents of Gustav phishing attacks already in progress.
British Man Seeks to Stop Extradition for Hacking
Lawyers for a Briton accused of hacking into secret military and NASA computers are asking the home secretary to ensure he is not jailed in the U.S. Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon, 42, who last month lost his appeal against extradition, could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 computers.
