Spammers knocked offline two weeks ago when their hosting company, McColo Corp., was shut down are finally coming back online, security researchers said. Spam volumes, which dropped about 80 percent when McColo was shut down on November 11, remained relatively flat since then until a few days ago when they started climbing up, said Matt Sergeant, senior antispam technologist at MessageLabs, now owned by Symantec.
Obama Puts Transition Website Under Open License
Barack Obama's Presidential transition website Change.gov added OpenID login for commenters and now the entire site has been put under a Creative Commons license. These concepts are no longer just the dreams of "crack-pot fringe case" advocates -- they're the official policy of the U.S. President Elect.
EU Plans Increased Action Against Cybercrime
Remote searches of suspect computers will form part of an EU plan to tackle high-tech crime. The five-year action plan will take steps to combat the growth in cyber theft and the machines used to spread spam and other malicious programs.
Dutch Software Dealer Sues Over Microsoft Pricing
A Dutch software dealer has filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission, arguing that the company's pricing policy in Europe violates antitrust laws. Company owner Samir Abdalla's complaint is that Microsoft charges at least a third more for its software in Europe than it does in the U.S.
FCC Chairman Pushing for Vote on Free WiFi Plan
Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action in December on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans, despite objections from the wireless industry and some consumer groups. The proposal to allow a no-smut, free wireless Internet service is part of a proposal to auction off a chunk of airwaves.
Net Gambling Cheating Scandals Raise Legal Questions
Even as Internet gambling grows in popularity and profits, with millions of players and billions of bets, the two biggest cheating scandals in online gambling are raising fresh questions about the honesty and security of a freewheeling industry that operates outside of U.S. law. Unlike brick-and-mortar casinos that undergo rigorous security checks, many Internet gambling sites operate in a shadowy world of little regulation and even less enforcement, a joint investigation by The Washington Post and CBS's "60 Minutes" has found.
Malware Distributors Launch Attack on CBS Website
TV network CBS has become the latest big name to have its Web site used to host malware, a security company has reported. It appears that Russian malware distributors were able to launch another iFrame attack on a subdomain of the cbs.com site so that it was serving remote malware to any visitors.
Danish Court Orders Pirate Bay Website Blocked
The IFPI has welcomed a Danish court ruling involving the Pirate Bay Web site, ordering it to be blocked in Denmark. The Sweden-based Pirate Bay is a file-sharing site that currently has 3.1 million registered users.
Judge Rules Against Limits on Internet Wine Sales
Massachusetts consumers may soon be able to order wine on the Internet from anywhere in the country -- from the largest wine makers to the smallest family vineyards. A federal judge ruled that the state's restrictions on direct shipments of wine purchased over the Internet discriminated against out-of-state wineries.
Baby Bought Online Headed to Dutch Officials for Care
A Belgian baby bought over the Internet for adoption by a Dutch couple must be placed in the temporary care of the Dutch authorities, a court ruled. According to media reports, the couple bought the boy in July from a Belgian couple in Ghent.
Group Cites Progress in Video Game Report Card
The National Institute on Media and the Family is unveiling its 13th annual video game report card to help parents choose games that are appropriate for their children as the holiday shopping season picks up. This year, citing the positive steps taken by industry officials and retailers, the group is focusing on ways parents can play a more active role in safeguarding their children from games that glamorize sex, drugs and violence.
Jury Convicts Woman in MySpace Suicide Case
A federal jury convicted a Missouri woman of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud for her involvement in creating a phony account on MySpace to trick a teenager, who later committed suicide. The defendant, Lori Drew, 49, faces up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
Some Doctors Starting to Use Electronic Prescriptions
A small group of physicians nationwide is using technology to transmit prescription orders from a computer to the pharmacy. In an effort to nudge more physicians in that direction, the federal government will begin offering bonuses in January to Medicare physicians who write electronic prescriptions.
Former TV News Anchor Gets House Arrest for Hacking
Standing contritely before a federal judge who held his fate, former CBS3 news anchor Larry Mendte apologized directly to Alycia Lane for hacking into her e-mails and spreading rumors that helped get her -- and ultimately him -- fired. In addition to six months of electronically monitored house arrest, the judge sentenced Mendte to three years of probation and 250 hours of community service, and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine by year's end.
Drug Information on Wikipedia Called Inaccurate
Consumers who rely on the user-edited Web resource Wikipedia for information on medications are putting themselves at risk of potentially harmful drug interactions and adverse effects, new research shows. Dr. Kevin A. Clauson of Nova Southeastern University in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and his colleagues found few factual errors in their evaluation of Wikipedia entries on 80 drugs.
Wash. AG Wants Limits on Cigarette Sales Online
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna says he'll ask the Legislature to ban the shipment of Internet cigarettes to anyone other than licensed wholesalers or retail stores. The Olympian reports the goal is to prevent the shipment of cigarettes to children.
Juror Dismissed After Posting Trial Info on Facebook
A female juror was dismissed from a trial after posting details of the case on Facebook and asking friends whether they thought the defendants were guilty. The woman went against strict rules forbidding jurors from discussing cases with family and friends by posting details of the sexual assault and child abduction trial on the social networking site.
Company Sues Apple Over iPhone's Web Surfing
EMG Technology announced it has filed suit against Appleo ver the way that the iPhone navigates the Internet. EMG's, patent, filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and given U.S. Patent number 7,441,196, describes an "Apparatus and method of manipulating a region on a wireless device screen for viewing, zooming and scrolling internet content."
Facebook Wins $873 Million Judgement Under Anti-Spam Laws
Facebook has won an $873 million judgment -- the largest to be delivered under federal anti-spam laws -- against a Canadian resident accused of sending more than 4 million bogus messages from members' profiles, many advertising male enhancement drugs.Facebook sued Adam Guerbuez and his business, Atlantis Blue Capital, which Facebook alleges is fictitious, in August, and accused him of sending more than 4 million spam messages in March and April.
Chinese Spies Target U.S. PCs, Commission Reports
China is actively conducting cyber espionage as a warfare strategy and has targeted U.S. government and commercial computers, according to a new report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. "China's current cyber operations capability is so advanced, it can engage in forms of cyber warfare so sophisticated that the United States may be unable to counteract or even detect the efforts," according to the annual report delivered to Congress.
