Websites displaying child pornography fell by almost 10 percent in 2008, but most of those images were still being peddled by commercial sites, an Internet watchdog said. In its annual report, the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation said 74 percent of child abuse web addresses tracked worldwide were of a commercial nature.
Three Swedish ISPs to Erase Users' Traffic Data
Having apparently been scared off illegal file sharing in large numbers by a new Swedish law that went into effect April 1, pirates in that country now have a new safe harbor to escape law enforcement. Three Swedish Internet service providers, among them Tele2, one of the country's three major broadband operators, have stated that they will erase traffic data to protect their customers' privacy.
RIAA to Accept Small Payment in High-Profile Case
After battling a suburban family for four years over music downloads, the recording industry has agreed to accept $7,000 -- paid in installments -- to settle its federal piracy lawsuit. If approved by a judge, the settlement will end a well-publicized tussle that began with five record companies accusing Patricia Santangelo, a mother of five, of illegally downloading and distributing music.
Economic Problems Take Obama's Focus Off Technology
Almost one hundred days into his presidency, Barack Obama has yet to advance most of the strong technology policies he promised during the campaign. Thanks in large part to the economic crisis, Mr. Obama has yet to put forward his new cybersecurity strategy, or even fill some important technology-related vacancies.
Spammers Take Advantage of Fears of Swine Flu Outbreak
Exploiting worries over the swine flu outbreak, spammers flooded the Internet with millions of e-mails peddling counterfeit drugs as remedies and seeking to steal credit card data, a security firm said. Many of the e-mails direct recipients to websites for fake online pharmacies, according to McAfee Inc, the world's second-largest security software maker.
FTC Chair Says Online Tracking Firms Get "Last Chance"
Companies that track consumer behavior on the Web for targeted advertising without proper consent are near their "last chance" to self-regulate, the head of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said. Privacy advocates say regulations on big phone and Internet companies, such as AT&T and Google, are too lax, giving the firms excessive control over consumers' personal information.
Court Orders Apple to Pay $19 Million in Memory Patent Case
In a rare public legal defeat, Apple this week was found to have infringed on a patent for computing technology and has been asked to pay $19 million in damages. A court handed down the amount after ruling that Apple had "willfully" violated three claims in a patent for predictive snooping of cache memory that helps shuttle information between a processor, its memory and other elements of a computer.
U.K. Drops Proposal to Create Database of Net Use
Britain has ruled out a controversial proposal to set up a government database to store Internet and telephone traffic, saying it prefers to have such information held by private companies. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says the data is needed to combat terrorism and other crimes.
SEC Regulations May Apply to Some Social Networking Activities
Blogs and tweets can run afoul of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations on corporate communications. But sanitizing such posts risks hurting credibility with online audiences.
Pirate Bay Decision "Will Have Huge Impact," Lawyer Says
The recent Pirate Bay decision in Sweden "will have a huge impact, particularly against BitTorrent sites and services," said Jo Oliver, who has been leading since becoming the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's general counsel in June 2008.
Weeks After Fear, Conficker Worm Starts to Activate
A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said. Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.
Broadcom Gets $891 Million from Qualcomm in Settlement
Qualcomm Inc. said it agreed to pay $891 million to Broadcom Corp. over four years as part of a settlement of a series of bitter legal disputes between the rival chip makers. Under the deal, Qualcomm and Broadcom agreed to end their litigation and exchange rights to each others' patents.
Twitter User Arrested for Threatening "War"
An Oklahoma City man who allegedly threatened on Twitter to turn a tax protest into a massacre has been arrested on suspicion of making interstate threats in what is believed to be the first federal prosecution based on posts made to the micro-blogging site. Using the micro-blogging site, Daniel Knight Hayden allegedly threatened to start a "war" against the government at the Oklahoma City Capitol where a "Tea Party" tax protest was planned.
Craigslist CEO Defends Site After Murder
In the wake of the murder of Craigslist-advertising masseuse Julissa Brisman, and the arrest of Philip Markoff, Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster of Craigslist gave interviews to Martin Bashir of ABC's Nightline. Their attitude was both defiant and a little uncomfortable.
Oklahoma Department of Human Service Loses Laptop
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services reported that a laptop was stolen from one of its employees. The laptop contained the personal data of people receiving government assistance, specifically those enrolled in the following programs: Medicaid, Child Care assistance, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Researchers Identify First Mac-Specific Trojan Horse
Blogs are buzzing about what two Symantec researchers have called the first harmful computer program to strike specifically at Mac. This Trojan horse program, dubbed the "iBotnet," has infected only a few thousand Mac machines, but it represents a step in the evolution of malicious computer software.
White House May Get Bigger Cybersecurity Role
The federal official overseeing a 60-day review of the U.S. government's cybersecurity efforts indicated that the final report recommends shifting more responsibilities to the White House. "It provides the president with recommendations for a White House organizational structure that can effectively address cyberspace-related issues," Melissa Hathaway, acting cyberspace director for the White House's National Security and Homeland Security councils, said at the RSA computer security conference.
Court to Hear Arguments on Real's DVD-Copying Software
RealNetworks says it wants to help increase DVD sales by allowing people to copy their movie discs. Hollywood studios say that idea will only hurt their already struggling business. The two sides square off in a federal court to determine who prevails.
Online Bank Security Called Privacy Threat
A widely used technology to authenticate users when they log in for online banking may help reduce fraud, but it does so at the expense of consumer privacy, a civil liberties attorney said during a panel at the RSA security conference. When logging into bank Web sites, users are typically asked for their user name and password. But that's not all that is happening.
Hospitals Affected by Conficker, Security Official Says
The Conficker worm infected several hundred machines and critical medical equipment in an undisclosed number of hospitals recently, a security expert said on Thursday in a panel at the RSA security conference. "It was not widespread, but it raises the awareness of what we would do if there were millions" of computers infected at hospitals or in critical infrastructure locations, said Marcus Sachs, director of the SANS Internet Storm Center and a former White House cybersecurity official.
