A security researcher has discovered fake profiles for celebrities on LinkedIn that have links to malicious code, according to a blog posting on Trend Micro's site. The celebrity profiles that are not to be trusted include ones created using the names: Beyonce Knowles, Victoria Beckham, Christina Ricci, Kirsten Dunst, Salma Hayek, and Kate Hudson.
Model Sues Google to Identify Blogger Who Insulted Her
A Vogue cover girl is suing Google in an attempt to unmask the blogger who trashed her as a "skank" and an "old hag." Liskula Cohen, a blond beauty who has modeled for Giorgio Armani and Versace, made headlines last year when a doorman at a Manhattan hot spot was jailed after smashing her in the face with a vodka bottle.
Thailand Blocks Websites for Insulting Monarchy
Thai authorities have blocked 2,300 websites for allegedly insulting monarchy and are waiting for court approval to take action on another 400 websites, Thailand's Information and Communication Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee said. Apart from the 2,300 websites, Ranongruk said his ministry is preparing to ask for court approval to close another 400 ones, according to a report by The Nation news website.
Malaysia Considering Creating "Cyber Court"
Malaysia is considering establishing a "cyber court" to deal with the increasing number of crimes related to the Internet and blogging, a report said. Communications Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor said more than 30 Internet-linked cases had been submitted to the country's attorney general in the past three years.
China Warns Websites to Block Pornography
China warned Google and other popular Web portals that they must do more to block pornographic material from reaching Chinese users, the latest in a series of government crackdowns targeting Internet content. The crackdown focused on pornography but is part of a larger Chinese effort to control freedom of expression and root out material it considers destabilizing, such as sites that criticize the Communist Party, promote democratic reform or advocate Taiwan independence.
Japanese Lawyers Want Google to Stop Street View
A group of Japanese lawyers and professors asked that Google stop providing detailed street-level images of Japanese cities on the Internet, saying they violated privacy rights. Google's Street View offers ground-level, 360-degree views of streets in 12 Japanese cities and is also offered for some 50 cities in the United States and certain areas in Europe.
Lawsuits to Delay Transfer of Bush's E-mails
The required transfer in four weeks of all of the Bush White House's electronic mail messages and documents to the National Archives has been imperiled by a combination of technical glitches, lawsuits and lagging computer forensic work, according to government officials, historians and lawyers. Federal law requires outgoing White House officials to provide the Archives copies of their records, a cache estimated at more than 300 million messages and 25,000 boxes of documents depicting some of the most sensitive policymaking of the past eight years.
CNN Anchor Caught by Twitter Phishing Scam
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez is one of the most popular users on microblogging service Twitter, with nearly 40,000 followers and a Twitterholic rank in the top 20. Unfortunately for Sanchez, it looks like he fell victim to the phishing scam that has been plaguing the popular service for several days now.
Attorney Suspended After Online Sex Arrangement
An associate who was fired from Kirkland & Ellis in 2004 after admitting he attempted to arrange a meeting "to engage in an oral sexual act" with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl has been suspended from practicing law in New York for three years. In a rare 3-2 decision in a disciplinary matter, a five-judge panel of the New York Appellate Division, 1st Department, agreed that Steven J. Lever "brought shame to himself and to this State's Bar" by using the Internet "to prey on minors for purposes of sexual gratification."
Facebook Sues Website for Allowing Portal Access
Facebook filed a complaint against Power.com in United States District Court in San Jose, Calif., accusing it of copyright and trademark infringement, unlawful competition and violation of the computer fraud and abuse act, among other things. Power.com is a start-up company based in Brazil that aims to be the portal through which people reach all of their favorite social networking sites.
Facebook Deleting Some Breast-Feeding Photos
Facebook is standing firm on a policy that has led to the removal of some photos posted by women that show breastfeeding. The deletions have spurred Facebook members to stage protests both online and offline.
California Joins More States Against Cyber-Bullying
California becomes the latest state to tackle the issue of cyber-bullying by allowing schools to suspend or expel students who commit the act. The law also singles out such harassment as a subject to be addressed by school officials.
RIAA Stops Working with Internet Music Tracker
In another sign of the music industry's recently announced retreat from a five-year-old antipiracy strategy, the Recording Industry Association of America has dumped the company it used to help it gather evidence for mass lawsuits it filed against people it claimed were illegally uploading copyrighted music. The RIAA long used a company called MediaSentry to troll the Internet in search of people who uploaded large amounts of music.
Commerce Official Questions ICANN's New Domain Plan
A proposal to create hundreds of new Internet domain names as alternatives to ".com" has suffered a setback as a key U.S. government agency warned that the plan might not benefit consumers or promote competition. In a letter sent to ICANN, a top Commerce Department official, Meredith Baker, said it wasn't clear "whether the potential consumer benefits outweigh the potential costs."
Verizon Wins $33 Million Award in Cybersquatting Case
Telecommunications giant Verizon has won a record $33.15 million judgment against Internet domain registrar OnlineNIC for cybersquatting. OnlineNIC had registered at least 663 domain names that were either identical to, or confusingly similar to, Verizon trademarks, and the court concluded that this had been designed to attract people trying to access Verizon's Web sites.
Researchers Show Weaknesses in Net Infrastructure
An international team of computer security researchers demonstrated a key weakness in the Internet infrastructure that could let hackers launch virtually undetectable attacks aimed at intercepting secured online communications when consumers visit bank and e-commerce Web sites. Academic and private security and cryptography experts from the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States said they have found a way to mimic the digital identity and authority assigned to RapidSSL, a company that helps Internet users correctly distinguish legitimate Web sites from counterfeit or hostile sites.
Music Industry to Stop Suing Individual File-Sharers
After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy. The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003.
Chinese Counterfeiters Get 6 1/2 Years in Jail
The alleged ringleaders of a Chinese counterfeiting gang that sold at least $2 billion worth of bogus Microsoft software were sentenced to prison terms of up to 6 1/2 years, in what is believed to be the harshest penalties yet under China's tightened piracy laws. The punishments meted out against the 11 defendants, and announced by the software company, could help China improve its image as a country that doesn't crack down hard enough on copyright violators, though technology and entertainment industries still say China has a long way to go.
Chamber of Commerce Opposes Net Neutrality
Broadband development should not be stifled by federal regulation that intends to make networks more "neutral," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is arguing through two papers. The papers, the first in a series of five that will examine the impact of broadband on certain user groups and for certain purposes, argue that the federal government's current loose regulatory structure has enabled broadband to become a "life-altering tool" both for the general population and for senior citizens specifically.
Publisher Sues New York Times Over News Links
A publisher of mostly small, local newspapers has sued the New York Times Co. over its aggregation of news headlines on Boston.com, challenging the practice many sites use of linking to other sources. In its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on Monday, Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse Media, which publishes more than 100 papers in Massachusetts, accuses the Times of violating copyright by allowing its Boston Globe online unit to copy verbatim the headlines and first sentences from articles published on sites owned by GateHouse, including the Newton Tab.
