The U.K. government is considering the mass surveillance and retention of all user communications on social-networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo. Vernon Coaker the U.K. Home Office security minister, said the EU Data Retention Directive, under which Internet service providers must store communications data for 12 months, does not go far enough.
Developers Call iPhone's 3.0 Update "Jailbreakable"
The iPhone Dev-Team (not the Cupertino version) hasn't wasted anytime in declaring the iPhone 3.0 operating system "jailbreakable." Just hours after Apple unveiled the latest iPhone OS, a short notice appeared on the Dev Team blog that says jailbroken iPhones will not be left out of the 3.0 party.
Court Dismisses Patent Suit on Nintendo Controllers
Nintendo said that a federal court dismissed a lawsuit brought against Nintendo over patents related to the Wii and GameCube game controllers. The company has been the regular target of patent holders who are trying to collect royalties from the game company.
Hackers Exploit Old "Token Kidnapping" Vulnerability
Hackers have created exploits against a long-standing, unpatched Windows "token kidnapping" vulnerability. The appearance of attacks follows a year after security researchers Cesar Cerrudo informed Microsoft of the problem in March 2008.
Discovery Communications Sues Amazon Over Kindle
Discovery Communications, parent company of the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, has filed a complaint against Amazon.com alleging that some security and copy protection features in the Kindle and Kindle 2 violate the company's patents. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Discovery has asked for unspecified monetary compensation.
FTC Considers New Regulations for Cloud Computing
Federal regulators met to hear about whether the benefits of cloud computing justify increased regulation, as privacy activists claim, or whether such an approach would do more harm than good. "We need to be smarter about dealing with technology, and cloud computing is posing (a) risk for us," said Hugh Stephenson, deputy director for international consumer protection at the Federal Trade Commission's Office of International Affairs.
U.N. Group Urges Action Against Online Drug Sales
The U.N. narcotics watchdog issued guidelines on how to crack down on Internet drug peddling at the request of governments struggling to contain growing abuse of prescription drugs. A U.S. study last year found that only two of 365 so-called Internet pharmacies were legitimate -- selling internationally controlled substances only with the required prescription, International Narcotics Control Board chief Hamid Ghodse said.
Jurors Using Smartphones Create Legal Problems
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.
