The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges.
Pentagon Should Thank Hacker, Former Hostage Says
The Pentagon should thank NASA hacker Gary McKinnon for "exposing the fragility" of U.S. military systems, according to Terry Waite. Waite, who was held hostage in Lebanon for four years after being kidnapped in 1987, said that McKinnon's motives were "harmless," according to an article by Jack Doyle, a Press Association legal affairs correspondent.
WIPO Reports Record Number of Cybersquatting Cases
Companies and celebrities ranging from Arsenal football club to actress Scarlett Johansson filed a record number of "cybersquatting" cases in 2008 to stop others from profiting from their famous names, brands and events, a United Nations agency said. The most common business sector in which complaints arose was pharmaceuticals, due to websites offering sales of medicines with protected names.
More Than 8,000 Comcast Customer Records Exposed
A list of more than 8,000 user names and passwords for customers of Comcast, one of the nation’s largest Internet service providers, sat unprotected on the Web for the last two months. Kevin Andreyo, an educational technology specialist in Reading, Pa., and a professor at Wilkes University, came across the list Monday on Scribd, a document-sharing Web site.
E-mail Scam Warns About Fake Bomb Explosion
Security experts warned of a new insidious e-mail scam that features false information about a bomb explosion in the recipient's hometown and leads to a malicious Web site. The e-mail includes a link to what looks like a news article on a Reuters page about the bombing.
Most Internet Users Concerned About Online Privacy
More than 90 percent of respondents called online privacy a "really" or "somewhat" important issue, according to the survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by TRUSTe, an organization that monitors the privacy practices of Web sites of companies like I.B.M., Yahoo and WebMD for a fee.
Pro-Kremlin Activist Says Group Launched Estonia Attack
An activist with a pro-Kremlin youth group said he and his friends were behind an electronic attack on Estonia two years ago that paralyzed the NATO state's Internet network. Ex-Soviet Estonia blamed the Russian government for the attack at the time, though Moscow denied involvement.
Berners-Lee Warns About Too Much User Tracking Online
Surfers on the Internet are at increasing risk from governments and corporations tracking the sites they visit to build up a picture of their activities, the founder of the World Wide Web said. Tim Berners-Lee, whose proposal for an information management system at the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN 20 years ago led eventually to the World Wide Web, said tracking website visits in this way could build an incredibly detailed profile of who people are and their habits.
E-Book Website Says Amazon Threatens Kindle Violation
An e-book Web site said Amazon.com invoked the 1998 law to prevent books from some non-Amazon sources from working on its Kindle reader. Amazon sent a legal notice to MobileRead.com complaining that information relating to a computer utility written in the Python programming language "constitutes a violation" of the DMCA, according to a copy of the warning letter that the site posted.
Lawsuit Claims Teen Hurt by Exploding iPod Touch
Apple has been sued by the mother of a 15-year-old boy who said his 16GB iPod Touch exploded in his pants pocket, burning his leg. Apparently one day in class the boy "heard a loud pop and immediately felt a burning sensation in his leg," according to a copy of the complaint.
Microsoft Argues Against Class-Action in Vista Case
Microsoft is disputing an attempt to reinstate class-action status to an ongoing lawsuit against its Windows Vista Capable sticker program, a case that threatens to drag on and is reflective of the difficulties Microsoft has encountered by releasing its disappointing Windows Vista OS. In court papers filed in a U.S. District Court in Seattle, Microsoft asked the court not to reconsider applying class-action status to the suit because people knew exactly which version of Vista they would receive through a coupon program called Express Upgrade Guarantee.
Lawmakers Working on Internet Privacy Legislation
A top U.S. lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives said he is working to develop a bill to impose mandatory guidelines on Internet companies to protect user privacy, because the current voluntary approach is falling short. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat from Virginia that heads the telecommunications subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, described his intent as putting "mandatory guidelines applicable to all Websites."
BBC Warns Internet Users About Risks of Malware
Software used to control thousands of home computers has been acquired online by the BBC as part of an investigation into global cybercrime. The technology programme Click has demonstrated just how at risk PCs are of being taken over by hackers.
White House Keeps Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Secret
Last September, the Bush administration defended the unusual secrecy over an anti-counterfeiting treaty being negotiated by the U.S. government, which some liberal groups worry could criminalize some peer-to-peer file sharing that infringes copyrights. Now President Obama's White House has tightened the cloak of government secrecy still further, saying in a letter that a discussion draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and related materials are "classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958."
Freeh Says Cybersecurity Needs More Attention
Echoing recent comments from government and industry representatives, a former FBI chief said the intelligence community would be the wrong place to put complete responsibility for cybersecurity. Louis Freeh, who served as FBI director from 1993 to 2001, told audiences at the FOSE 2009 conference that when the director of the Homeland Security Department's National Cyber Security Center resigned, he tapped into a strong historical resistance in the United States to centralized power, particularly in intelligence and military units.
Reporters Group Cites Limits on Internet Freedom
"The Internet represents freedom, but not everywhere." So begins the annual "Internet Enemies" report by Reporters Without Borders -- and that's probably the cheeriest line in the entire 39-page document.
EU Gives Microsoft More Time to Prepare Defense
Microsoft confirmed that the European Commission's competition bureau has granted the company extra time to prepare its defense against allegations that it illegally tied Internet Explorer to Windows in the European Union. The case began in late 2007, when Norwegian browser maker Opera complained that Microsoft's default bundling of IE with Windows unfairly damaged its efforts to build a substantial user base in the European Union countries.
Lawyer Says Google Need Not Identify Blogger
A New York lawyer says a magazine model has no justification for trying to unmask the anonymous blogger who called her offensive names. The blogger's lawyer, Anne Salisbury, agreed that the comments about Liskula Cohen may be disgusting. But she said they're opinions protected as free speech.
Governments Overstate Net's Terrorism Role, Report Says
Western governments have overstated the role the Internet plays in the recruitment of militants, and measures to block extremist material are "crude, expensive and counterproductive," a report said. Any attempts to filter or restrict access to sites grooming potential suicide bombers would be impractical and ineffective, said the study by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence in London.
Craiglist Boasts of Drop in "Erotic Serices" Ads
Craigslist released numbers it touted as evidence of its success in reducing the volume of "erotic services" ads appearing on the Web classified site in an apparent response to a federal lawsuit that accuses the site of facilitating prostitution. The number of ads for such services is down 90 percent to 95 percent during the past 12 months on Craigslist sites that serve five major U.S. cities, according to information posted on a company blog.
