The U.S. government has dropped -- for now -- a plan to classify the use of "proxy" servers as evidence of sophistication in committing a crime. he Washington-based U.S. Sentencing Commission was considering a change to federal sentencing guidelines that would have increased sentences by about 25 percent for people convicted of crimes in which proxies are used to hide the perpetrators' tracks.
Don Henley Sues to Stop Candidate's YouTube Video
YouTube has become the battleground in a copyright fight between singer Don Henley and a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in California. Henley, one of the founders of rock group The Eagles, has filed a lawsuit accusing Senate candidate Charles DeVore of violating his copyright. DeVore allegedly used two of Henley's hit songs "The Boys of Summer" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" in two YouTube campaign videos without authorization.
German Composer Sues Google Over YouTube Videos
German composer Frank Peterson has filed a lawsuit at the Higher District Court in Hamburg against Google/YouTube, claiming that his music videos and other audiovisual repertoire were used illegally. He states that more than 125 million streams of his productions -- of which he owns the copyrights and master rights as author, publisher and producer -- have been viewed, for which he never received payment from Google/YouTube.
Court Won't Allow Online Streaming of Music Case
Oral arguments in a music downloading lawsuit filed by the recording industry against a Boston University student can't be streamed online, a federal appeals court ruled. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous decision that allowed online streaming and said it was "bound to enforce" rules that close federal courtrooms in Massachusetts to webcasting and other forms of broadcast.
Electronic Security Breaches Skyrocketing
There were more electronic security breaches last year than in the previous four years put together and the financial sector suffered the biggest rise in attacks from hackers looking for big stashes of consumer data, according to a report from Verizon Communications. The retail sector was still the most often targeted by hackers, accounting for a third of all cases, but the sharpest rise was in financial services, which doubled its share of attacks to 30 percent of the total, Verizon said.
Phishing Scams Growing More Sophisticated
Phishing scams have grown up from the unsophisticated swindles of the past in which fake Nigerian princes e-mailed victims, who would get a big windfall if they just provide their bank account number. Even as authorities try to stamp out that con and other e-mail and online scams, scammers are getting more wily and finding new loopholes to exploit.
Microsoft Agrees to Extend Government's Oversight
In a filing with the judge presiding over its antitrust case, Microsoft agreed with a government request to extension of federal oversight by another 18 months. Combined with a two-year extension already granted to the Department of Justice last year, that will take the oversight of Microsoft's behaviors -- particularly in providing accurate documentation to licensees -- out to May 12, 2011.
Facebook Lets Users Vote on New Terms of Service
Following Facebook's privacy debacle earlier this year, the social-networking site is encouraging users to vote on whether a proposed terms of service culled from user feedback should replace the existing terms of service.
U.S. Bill Would End Tax-Free Shopping on Internet
If a little-known but influential alliance of state politicians, large retailers, and tax collectors have their way, the days of tax-free Internet shopping may be nearly over. A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Congress would rewrite the ground rules for mail order and Internet sales by eliminating what its supporters view as a "loophole" that, in many cases, allows Americans to shop over the Internet without paying sales taxes.
Many Data Breaches Linked to Few Organized Crime Gangs
A string of data breaches orchestrated principally by a handful of organized cyber-crime gangs translated into the loss of hundreds of millions of consumer records last year, security experts say. The size and scope of the breaches, some of which have previously not been disclosed, illustrate the extent that organized cyber thieves are methodically targeting computer systems connected to the global financial network.
Report Gives Details on Carbon Footprint for Spam
The mere act of people around the world deleting spam and searching for legitimate e-mail falsely labeled as junk creates the annual energy consumption equivalent in the U.S. of 2.4 million homes using electricity and the same greenhouse gas emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars using two billion gallons of gas. That's according to "The Carbon Footprint of Email Spam Report" conducted by climate-change consultants ICF and commissioned by security vendor McAfee.
Amazon UK Blocks Phorm Ad-Targeting System
Amazon has said it will not allow online advertising system Phorm to scan its web pages to produce targeted ads. Phorm builds a profile of users by scanning for keywords on websites visited and then assigns relevant ads.
AOL Asks Court for Ruling on Yahoo Patents
Time Warner's AOL has asked a federal court to rule that it is not infringing patents held by Yahoo. The request, in the form of a complaint seeking declaratory relief, cites an ongoing intellectual property dispute between Yahoo and Quigo, an online advertising company that AOL acquired for $340 million in 2007.
More Hackers Exploiting Web-Based Applications
Hackers are finding new ways to attack unknowing computer users by taking advantage of weaknesses in Web applications and browser plug-ins, sometimes turning even legitimate Web sites into a source of malicious code, according to a report issued by Symantec, the Cupertino security software company. In another trend, security experts are noticing a significant proliferation of Internet worms and other malicious activity in nations with "emerging economies," where increasing computer use has been accompanied by widespread adoption of pirated software that lacks updated security protection.
IRS Increasing Security Oversight for E-Filings
With more and more Americans using software to figure their taxes and the Web to file their annual returns, the Internal Revenue Service has decided it's time to beef up its oversight of the security and accuracy of such filings. The IRS is acting on a report by the Government Accountability Office that raised concerns about the lack of a clear system to monitor electronic tax filings prepared by software programs such as TurboTax, TaxCut or TaxAct.
Using Proxies During Crime Could Increase Sentence
A key vote on new federal sentencing guidelines would classify the use of proxies as evidence of "sophistication," increasing sentences by about 25 percent -- which could mean years or even decades longer behind bars, depending on the crime. It's akin to judges handing down stiffer sentences when a gun is used in a robbery.
Blogger Sues to Keep "Goldman Sachs" Domain Names
A blogger in the U.S. filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs to prevent the big investment bank from taking his domain names. Blogger Mike Morgan hopes to protect anti-Goldman Web sites, including www.goldmansachs666.com and www.goldmansachs13, from trademark action threatened by the powerful bank.
Prosecutors Seek 18-Month Sentence for S. Korean Blogger
Prosecutors demanded an 18-month sentence for a popular South Korean blogger who is accused of spreading false financial information in a case that has ignited a debate about freedom of speech in cyberspace. The 30-year-old blogger, a fierce critic of government economic policy, was arrested and indicted in January after he wrote that the government had banned major financial institutions and trade businesses from buying U.S. dollars.
Europe Takes Legal Action Against Britain Over Phorm
The European Commission has started legal action against Britain over the online advertising technology Phorm. It follows complaints to the EC over how the behavioural advertising service was tested on BT's broadband network without the consent of users.
Twitter Works to Repair Damages from Worm Attacks
Twitter security engineers were cleaning up following a series of worm attacks, including at least two credited to a bored 17-year-old. In the first attack four new accounts began spreading a worm, compromising about 90 accounts, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote in a posting on the Twitter blog.
