The attorney general of South Carolina is ready to launch a criminal investigation of Craigslist in connection with erotic ads appearing on the classified ads Web site. Attorney General Henry McMaster had given Craigslist a deadline to remove erotically charged material from its South Carolina listings.
Baseball Gets Patent for Blocking Some Fans Online
Major League Baseball has won a patent for technology that blocked certain fans from viewing local games online, and it may open the door for the U.S. sports league to profit by licensing it to media companies. Baseball's advanced media business was awarded a U.S. patent last month for online geolocation technology, a system that uses two or more electronic methods (such as wireless and satellite) to pinpoint the geographic location of a subscriber, the sports league said.
Microsoft to Invest in Hangzhou After Anti-Piracy Promise
In a new tack against piracy, Microsoft Corp. will make a series of investments in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, which has promised to clamp down on illegitimate software. Microsoft will build two new technology centers and make other investments in the wealthy city on China's east coast, with the aim to establish a model city where intellectual-property rights have greater protections than elsewhere in China.
Google to Allow Trademarks in AdWords Copy
Google has revised its policy on trademarks appearing in keyword ads, allowing brand names to appear in AdWords copy. "Under certain criteria, you can use trademark terms in your ad text in the U.S. even if you don't own that trademark or have explicit approval from the trademark owner to use it," Google said.
Hackers Gather Passwords from Some Facebook Users
Hackers launched an attack on Facebook's 200 million users, successfully gathering passwords from some of them in the latest campaign to prey on members of the popular social networking site. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said that the site was in the process of cleaning up damage from the attack.
Company Files Patent Suit Against Music Services
A company called Tune Hunter accused music-finding service Shazam as well as a host of consumer electronics makers, wireless service operators, and digital music retailers of infringing on its patent on a music identification system. Shazam is named along with Samsung, Apple, Amazon.com, Napster, Motorola, Gracenote, Verizon Wireless, LG Electronics, AT&T Mobility, and Pantech Wireless.
Craigslist Agrees to Drop Ads for "Erotic Services"
Online classified site Craigslist will replace its "erotic services" ads with a new adult category following pressure by state authorities after the murder of a masseuse who advertised on the site. The "erotic services" section will end within seven days and be replaced by an "adult services" category where advertisements will be individually screened by Craigslist staff, Craigslist said.
French Court Rules for eBay in Suit by L'Oreal
A French court rejected a claim from the cosmetics company L'Oreal that the online auctioneer eBay was profiting from sales of counterfeit perfumes. The court said that eBay was making a reasonable effort to keep fake goods off its site.
Real Networks Files Antitrust Suit Against Studios
Escalating its already simmering court battle with Hollywood, Real Networks has sued the six major Hollywood movie studios and the DVD Copy Control Association, a cross-industry consortium, in federal court in northern California. The Seattle-based company is accusing the studios and the association of violating antitrust law by illegally colluding to stop consumers from making "fair use" copies of their DVDs and to prevent competing DVD products from hitting the market.
Software Company Sues Google Over Keyword Ads
A small software company from Marshall, Texas, is the latest contender to take on Google in the fight over trademarks. Firepond filed suit against Google in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging that the search giant had violated its trademark by allowing Firepond's competitors to buy the trademark in a keyword auction.
EC Fines Intel $1.45 Billion for "Anticompetitive Practices"
The European Commission fined Intel a record €1.06 billion, or $1.45 billion, for abusing its dominance in the computer chip market to exclude its only serious rival, Advanced Micro Devices. The E.U. competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said the penalty against Intel, the world's largest chip maker, was justified because the company had skewed competition and denied consumers a choice for chips.
Microsoft Releases Patches to Thwart PowerPoint Hackers
Microsoft said that hackers are seeking to attack users of its PowerPoint presentation software for Windows PCs and released patches to protect them against the threat. The world's No. 1 software maker said that a version of PowerPoint for Apple's Mac computers is also vulnerable, though it has yet to find any evidence that hackers are actively seeking to exploit it.
French Lawmakers OK Bill Penalizing Illegal Downloading
French lawmakers in the lower house passed a bill that would cut the Internet connections of those who repeatedly download music and films illegally, creating what may be the first government agency to track and punish online pirates. The bill passed 296 to 233 in a show of force by President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing conservatives after an initial failure last month.
Greece Bans Google's Street View Service
Greece's data protection agency has banned Google from expanding its Street View service in the country, pending "additional information" from the firm. Authorities want to know how long the images would be kept on Google's database and what measures it will take to make people aware of privacy rights.
More Illegal Copies of Books Appearing Online
For a while now, determined readers have been able to sniff out errant digital copies of book titles as varied as the "Harry Potter" series and best sellers by Stephen King and John Grisham. But some publishers say the problem has ballooned in recent months as an expanding appetite for e-books has spawned a bumper crop of pirated editions on Web sites like Scribd and Wattpad, and on file-sharing services like RapidShare and MediaFire.
Facebook Disables Two Holocaust-Denial Groups
Facebook has confirmed that it has disabled two of the five Holocaust denial groups whose presence has caused much controversy over the past week, following attorney Brian Cuban's consistent pressure for the groups' removal. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in an e-mail: "Two of the groups have been disabled, but the other three remain."
Craiglist Facing More Pressure Over Erotic Ads
State attorneys general from across the country are stepping up pressure on Craigslist to shutter what they call the nation's busiest virtual street corner, where prostitution runs rampant. Craigslist says it has reduced by 95% the number of inappropriate listings on the erotic services section of its classified-ads website since November, when the San Francisco company reached an accord with more than 40 of the states' top prosecutors.
More States Tackle Cyberbullying as Problem Grows
Whether it is through e-mails, instant messaging, cell phones, texting or websites, cyberbullying is a growing problem. In the past 10 years 37 U.S. states have adopted legislation mandating that schools implement anti-bullying statutes.
Deceptive Marketing Online Up 17%, Report Says
As advertisers spend more online, brand name firms increasingly are seeing their names, customers and millions of dollars in sales hijacked by shady marketers. Instances of deceptive marketing to build traffic for rogue sites or to sell faux-branded products rose 17% last year, according to MarkMonitor, whose software tracks digital marketing infringement.
Attorneys General Probe Google Books Settlement
State attorneys general are looking into a proposed settlement that Google has made with author and publisher groups that would allow the Internet giant to digitize millions of books, a participant in a recent discussion on the matter said. A group of attorneys general discussed the deal in a one-hour conference call, said the director of the Internet Archive, Peter Brantley.
