For security reasons, the congressional delegation led by House Minority Leader John Boehner to Iraq was supposed to be secret. But Representative Peter Hoekstra Twittered his arrival into Baghdad.
As Airlines Adopt WiFi, Not All Passengers Happy
Wireless Internet service is starting to spread among airlines in the United States -- Delta and American have installed it on more than a dozen planes each, and several other carriers are planning to test it. But this new frill may be a new source of tension between passengers on packed planes.
Court Delays Hearing for Accused S.F. WAN Hijacker
The fight by Terry Childs to have a court dismiss three of the four felony charges he is facing for allegedly hijacking San Francisco's fiber optic wide-area network last year has been prolonged. Childs appeared in court for a motion hearing, but the San Francisco Superior Court has re-scheduled the hearing for February 13, said Connie Chan, deputy director at the San Francisco District Attorney's office.
Google's Latitude Service Sparks Privacy Concerns
Google's new Latitude feature, which allows users to share their locations among a chosen network of friends, has raised a number of security concerns, as many users may not be aware that it is enabled. Latitude is based on Google's My Location feature that has been in place since last year.
Phishing Attacks Misleading Hotel Consumers
Phishing fraudsters have moved on from banking sites with an attack designed to hoodwink hotel customers, according to a team of security volunteers. Hotel chains including Hyatt, TraveLodge, Comfort Inn, Ramada, Days Inn, and Wyndham are being targeted in the reported scam.
Student Charged with Using Facebook for Blackmail, Sex
An 18-year-old male student is accused of posing as a girl on Facebook, tricking at least 31 male classmates into sending him naked photos of themselves and then blackmailing some for sex acts. Anthony Stancl was charged with five counts of child enticement, two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, two counts of third-degree sexual assault, possession of child pornography, repeated sexual assault of the same child, and making a bomb threat.
Monster.com, Government Job Sites Suffer Hacks
For the second time in less than 18 months, the job-search website Monster.com was breached, along with USAJobs.gov, which Monster's parent company runs for the federal government. And yet Monster might suffer little fallout -- because the overall state of computer security is so bad anyway.
Movie Studios Confronting More Illegal Content Online
Hollywood may at last be having its Napster moment -- struggling against the video version of the digital looting that capsized the music business. Media companies say that piracy -- some prefer to call it "digital theft" to emphasize the criminal nature of the act -- is an increasingly mainstream pursuit.
Lawsuits Target Wal-Mart, Netflix in Online Video Service
A series of lawsuits filed across the country allege that Wal-Mart and Netflix benefited illegally when the world's largest retailer exited the online DVD rental business in 2005. Lawyer Daniel Becnel of Reserve, La., complained in a lawsuit filed in Baton Rouge, La., that Wal-Mart and Netflix improperly negotiated Wal-Mart's departure from the online video market that previously had only two major competitors, Netflix and Blockbuster.
Postal Service Investigating Amazon
Amazon is under investigation by the US Postal Service for "compliance with Postal Service rules," according to a one-sentence statement in the company's annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "In January 2009, we learned that the United States Postal Service, including the Postal Service Office of Inspector General, is investigating our compliance with Postal Service rules, and we are cooperating," the filing reads.
Google Increasing Its Role On Many Fronts in D.C.
Google's effort to increase its presence in Washington is as much about playing defense as offense, in some ways. Google's rivals lost a number of regulatory battles to the search giant in Washington last year and are gearing up to fight over issues expected to be hotly debated this year, including Internet openness and stricter privacy rules.
TorrentSpy Appeals $100 Million Judgment with Studios
Nearly a year since being ordered to pay the big film studios more than $100 million, TorrentSpy is launching a legal comeback. TorrentSpy filed an appeal to overturn a judgment issued by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper against TorrentSpy, which shut its doors as a result of the legal fight with the Motion Picture Association of America, to pay nearly $111 million in damages to the MPAA for infringing the copyright of thousands of films and TV shows.
Norway Drops Complaint Against Apple Over iTunes
Norway's consumer watchdog said it had dropped a complaint against Apple's iTunes after the company said songs sold via its music service would be compatible with all MP3 players, not just the iPod. "We have no reason to pursue them anymore," said consumer mediator Bjoern Erik Thon.
Privacy Advisers Want Laptop Border Policy Changed
The Department of Homeland Security's controversial policies on search and seizure of electronic devices at U.S. borders is facing a new round of criticism -- this time, from the department's own data privacy advisers. In the draft of a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the department's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee is pushing for changes to the department's authority in scrutinizing travelers' notebook PCs and digital media when entering the country.
Paroled Sex Offender Arrested for Using MySpace
The Texas Attorney General’s Office says Jesse Clay Scott used the social networking Website MySpace in violation of his parole conditions. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles frequently prohibits paroled sex offenders from using the Internet.
Companies Spend Millions to Rebuild Brands After Breaches
Organizations that experienced a data breach in 2008 paid an average of $6.6 million last year to rebuild their brand image and retain customers, according to a new study. Ponemon Institute, a Tucson-based research firm, looked at 43 organizations that reported a data breach last year and found that roughly $202 was spent on each consumer record compromised.
Lawyers See High Stakes in Kentucky Domain Fight
A battery of lawyers for Internet businesses, domain registrars, civil liberties groups and others from engaging the state of Kentucky in legal battle over that state's attempt to halt Internet gambling by seizing 141 domain names whose owners are located primarily out of state or overseas. Kentucky, which prohibits online gambling, persuaded a state trial judge last fall that the domain names were illegal gambling devices under state law, and the judge issued the forfeiture order to registrars -- not owners -- of the domain names.
Fake Parking Tickets Lead Victims to Malware Site
In a scary online-offline Internet scam, hybrid cars in North Dakota have been tagged with fake parking citations that include a Web address hosting malicious software that drops a Trojan onto the computer. The yellow tickets found on the cars in Grand Forks, North Dakota, read "PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is in violation of standard parking regulations."
90,000 Sex Offenders Removed from MySpace
MySpace says about 90,000 sex offenders have been identified and removed from its huge social networking website. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said the new figure is nearly double what MySpace officials originally announced last year.
EU Official Opposes Online Freedom Act
A European Union law to reinforce freedom on the Internet would be unnecessary and put operators in a difficult position, the bloc's top telecoms and media regulator said. The U.S. Congress has drafted a Global Online Freedom Act. Some European Parliament members want the EU to follow suit, saying authoritarian nations are increasingly censoring the Web by blocking sites and intimidating users with "cyber police."
