Fraud on the Internet reported to U.S. authorities increased by 33 percent last year, rising for the first time in three years, and is surging this year as the recession deepens, federal authorities said. Internet fraud losses reported in the United States reached a record high $264.6 million in 2008, according to a report released from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.
TomTom Ends Patent Suit with Microsoft via License
GPS navigation device vendor TomTom has agreed to pay Microsoft to settle patent-infringement cases the companies filed against each other in the last five weeks, but Microsoft will not pay fees to TomTom. TomTom will pay Microsoft to license patents for technologies in its car navigation and file-management system, effectively settling a case Microsoft filed against it last month in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and with the International Trade Commission, Microsoft said.
Google Offers Free Music Downloads in China
Google launched free downloads of licensed songs in China, while sharing advertising revenue with major music labels in a market rife with online piracy. Lee Kai-Fu, president of Google in greater China, said one reason Google lagged in the mainland search market was because it did not offer music downloads, the missing piece to its strategy in a market where it trails leader Baidu.com.
Canadian Lawmaker Wants to Question Google on Maps
An Ottawa-area MP is to ask a federal committee to request the head of Google appear to defend a controversial venture that saw camera-equipped cars prowling 11 Canadian cities taking images. The motion, to be filed by Nepean-Carleton Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, a member of the access to information, privacy and ethics committee, will ask Google Inc. chief executive Eric Schmidt to appear before the Canadian government.
Espionage Network in China Said to Threaten PCs
Nearly 1,300 computers in more than 100 countries have been attacked and have become part of an computer espionage network apparently based in China, security experts alleged in two reports. Computers -- including machines at NATO, governments and embassies -- are infected with software that lets attackers gain complete control of them, according to the reports.
EC Says U.S. Gambling Ban Violates WTO Commitments
A U.S. Justice Department crackdown on European online gambling companies violates U.S. commitments under the World Trade Organization, the European Commission said in a draft report. But the European Union executive, which oversees trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, said it would seek a negotiated solution with the United States rather than file a groundbreaking complaint at the WTO.
Egypt Releases Blogger-Activisit After Seven Weeks
Egyptian authorities have released a 22-year-old Egyptian blogger and activist after nearly seven weeks in detention, an Egyptian human rights group said. Police detained Diaa Eddin Gad on February 6 outside his home in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya. London-based rights group Amnesty International said in February that his incommunicado detention in an unknown location put him at danger of torture.
Kodak Revises Storage Rules, Highlighting Online Risks
The Kodak Gallery's decision to change its policies on online photo storage illustrates the risks people face as they increasingly rely on privately run services to handle their digital memories and communications. These services often state in the fine print that they can change the rules at any time, and users have little recourse when they do.
Cybersecurity Experts Cautious About White House Plan
The comprehensive cybersecurity legislation currently in development in the Senate aims to bring high-level government attention to the serious problem of cybersecurity by giving one White House official oversight of critical network infrastructure. Yet the proposal in the draft legislation to give the national cybersecurity adviser the ability to disconnect federal or "critical" networks under threat of cyberattack may create more uncertainties than solutions, at least initially, cybersecurity experts warn.
Phishing Scam Uses IRS Logo, Promises Stimulus Funds
Fraudsters are using the logo of the Internal Revenue Service combined with the promise of federal stimulus money to dupe cash-strapped people into divulging credit-card information to a phony Web site, the International Trademark Association said. It's the latest example of attempted identity theft rising amid the current economic turmoil, hitting a range of areas from mortgages to tax returns.
Canadian Police Announce Internet Child Porn Arrests
Nearly 60 people have been arrested in what Canadian police said was the country's largest investigation into child pornography on the Internet. The charges including sexual assault, and possession and production of child pornography, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Canadian Judge Orders Website to Identify Posters
An Ontario Superior Court judge has ordered a pair of website owners to turn over identifying information about eight people being accused of defamation after posting anonymous comments. "In my view, the defendants are under an obligation to disclose all documents in their power and control," Justice Stanley Kershman said in a ruling delivered Monday to defendants Connie Wilkins-Fournier and Mark Fournier of Kingston, Ont., who run the website Free Dominion.
Comcast, Cox, AT&T Helping Music Industry Online
The Internet service providers that have agreed to work with the recording industry to battle illegal file sharing are starting to come forward. Joe Waz, a senior vice president at Comcast, the nation's second largest ISP, told a gathering of music industry executives that the company has issued 2 million notices on behalf of copyright owners, according to multiple people who were in attendance.
Fake Police Department Twitter Page Shut Down
After complaints from the City of Austin and the Texas attorney general's office, the social networking site Twitter has shut down a fake account that pretended to issue Austin Police Department bulletins with official-sounding messages that included "warming up my radar gun for SXSWi." The page now states that the account "has been suspended due to strange activity."
ACLU Sues Over Prosecutor's Threats for "Sexting"
The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Pennsylvania prosecutor over his threats to charge three teenage girls with child pornography for allowing themselves to be photographed partly clothed with cellphone cameras. The case involves the growing practice among teens of "sexting," a play on the term texting, in which nude or semi-nude photos are sent on cell phones or posted on the Internet.
Security Experts Trying to Stop "Conficker C" Worm
A computer-science detective story is playing out on the Internet as security experts try to hunt down a worm called Conficker C and prevent it from damaging millions of computers on April Fool's Day. The anti-worm researchers have banded together in a group they call the Conficker Cabal.
Google Claims China Blocking YouTube Website
Google said that its YouTube video-sharing Web site had been blocked in China. Google said it did not know why the site had been blocked, but a report by the official Xinhua news agency of China on Tuesday said that supporters of the Dalai Lama fabricated a video that appeared to show Chinese police officers brutally beating Tibetans after riots last year in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
Trading Child Porn Online Grows Despite Enforcement
Over the past decade, agents and computer experts have gone after hundreds of people who solicit sex from kids or trade child pornography online. Despite the publicity, the bad guys haven't gone away, as trading child porn online and grooming underage targets in chat rooms has exploded nationwide.
Ga. Court Revives Suit Against Net Travel Companies
The Georgia Supreme Court revived a hotly contested lawsuit by the city of Atlanta against online travel companies that claims the firms are illegally pocketing millions of dollars in hotel tax revenue. The city filed suit in 2006 against 17 Internet travel reservation companies, including Expedia, Travelocity.com, Hotels.com, Priceline.com and Obitz.
U.K. Group Files Complaint Over Google's Street View
A formal complaint about Google's Street View has been sent to the Information Commissioner. Drawn up by lobby group Privacy International, it cites more than 200 reports from members of the public identifiable via the service.
