The European Union needs new rules for Internet downloads that would make it easier for people to access music and films thout resorting to piracy, the bloc's telecoms chief said. Mapping out priorities of the EU's executive arm for the next five years, EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding said it should consider new laws that would reconcile the interests of intellectual property owners and Internet surfers.
N.Y. Attorney General Plans to Sue Tagged.com
Andrew Cuomo, New York's attorney general, has announced he intends to sue the spammy social network Tagged.com "for deceptive e-mail marketing practices and invasion of privacy," according to a statement put out by his office. Tagged, Mr. Cuomo said, illegally tried to lure new members by tricking visitors into providing their personal address books, which the company used to send out more invitations.
British Police Probe Reporters' Cell Phone Hacking
Britain's most senior police officer said he had ordered a preliminary inquiry into reports by The Guardian newspaper that Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper subsidiary paid about $1.6 million to settle court cases involving allegations that its reporters worked with private investigators to hack into the cell phone messages of numerous public figures.
NYSE, Nasdaq Report Attacks on Their Websites
NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group said their public Web sites were targets of "cyber attacks," though market operations were unaffected. Neither exchange would say whether the attacks were linked to a wide-ranging assault on other Web sites that included the U.S. Treasury, the State Department and the White House.
S. Korea Blames N. Korea for Cyberattacks
South Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyberattacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. government websites, aides to two lawmakers said. The sites of 11 South Korean organizations, including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry, went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency.
Microsoft Warns of Security Flaw in Explorer
Microsoft warned users about yet another serious security flaw related to its Internet Explorer browser for which there is no fix. Security firm Symantec said the vulnerability, which affects PCs using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software, is already being taken advantage of by cybercriminals.
Computer Attack Shuts Down Government Websites
The Associated Press has learned that a widespread computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the websites of several government agencies, including some that are responsible for fighting cyber crime.
Music Labels, Webcasters Reach Agreement on Royalties
After a two-year battle, record labels and online radio stations agreed on new royalty rates that cover music streaming. The new agreement treats sites differently depending on their size and business model.
Microsoft Discussing Antitrust Settlement with EU
Microsoft Corp., which has been fined $2.34 billion in European Union antitrust cases, is in preliminary talks to settle two additional probes before EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes leaves office, four people familiar with the negotiations said. Any agreement would have to resolve a case over Microsoft’s Internet browser as well as a separate investigation into word processing and spreadsheet software, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential.
U.K. Football Association Wins Some Claims Against Google
A U.S. judge dismissed some damages claims in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google and its video-sharing Web site YouTube.com but left open the possibility that non-U.S. based rights owners could seek damages for live broadcasts, if they prevail. A group of sports and music copyright holders, led by the UK-based Football Association Premier League, had argued that foreign works were exempt from any registration requirements under the U.S. Copyright Act.
More Spam Messages Using Shortened URLs
In yet another piece of anecdotal evidence of the increasing threat from shortened URLs, e-mail security provider MessageLabs said it saw a dramatic spike in the number of spam e-mails that include truncated Web addresses.
La Russa Drops Suit Against Twitter Over Name
Score one for Twitter in the legal battle over who is responsible for stopping social media imposters. After initially reporting that Twitter was going to reach a settlement with Tony La Russa, the baseball manager's lawyer filed a short statement in court on June 26 saying that he had dropped the suit -- and that Twitter made no payment to him.
Music Industry Wants to Block Woman from Downloading
Attorneys for the recording industry are asking a federal judge to bar Jammie Thomas-Rasset from downloading music, sharing music files and distributing songs to the public. The attorneys also want a judge to order that Thomas-Rasset destroy all copies of recordings that she has downloaded without authorization.
China Clamps Down on Internet User After Riots
China clamped down on the Internet in the capital of China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, in the hope of stemming the flow of information about ethnic unrest which left 140 people dead. The government has blamed riots in Urumqi -- the deadliest unrest since the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen pro-democracy demonstrations -- on exiled Muslim separatists.
Judge Refuses to Protect Blogger with Shield Law
A judge in Freehold, N.J., ruled that a Washington state blogger who posted comments about the pornography industry is not covered by shield laws that protect newspaper reporters and can be sued for defamation. Acknowledging that he was wading into largely uncharted legal waters, Superior Court Judge Louis Locascio said Shellee Hale's message board postings last year about a Freehold-based computer software company were nothing more than the rants of a "private person with unexplained motives for her postings" and cannot be given the same protections as information compiled though the process of news gathering.
Michael Jackson Memorial Ticket Holders Go Online
Craigslist and other sites were adorned with many of those lucky to have won tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial service celebrating their good fortune -- by trying to sell the free tickets. Michael Roth, a spokesman for AEG, the company that was organizing Jackson's 50 London concerts and is organizing the service, was quoted as saying: "Several apparent ticket holders posted intentions to sell the tickets on eBay, but Roth warned that the security system in place will prevent anyone from doing so."
University Sued by Blind Groups for Using Kindle
The National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind are suing Arizona State University for its use of the Amazon Kindle to distribute electronic textbooks to students, saying the device cannot be used by blind students. The groups say the Kindle has text-to-speech technology that reads books aloud to blind students, but that the device’s menus do not offer a way for blind students to purchase books, select a book to read, or even to activate the text-to-speech feature, according to a joint statement by the two groups.
Jay Leno Wins Rights to thejaylenoshow.com Domain
Comedian and talk show host Jay Leno has won a cybersquatting case against a Texas man found by a U.N. agency to have misused the domain name thejaylenoshow.com to direct Internet users to a real estate website. In a ruling, the World Intellectual Property Organization said Leno had common law trademark rights to his name after a 30-year career in entertainment, even though Guadalupe Zambrano registered the site in 2004.
Internet Advertising Industry to Allow Opting Out
The digital ad industry planned to announce sweeping new self-policing guidelines aimed at providing consumers with options for how they want to interact with online ad businesses that gather data about them. The $8.5 billion ad industry is hoping to ease consumer privacy concerns and give people more choices, including an "opt-out," about what is known as behavioral advertising.
U.S. Cybersecurity System Delayed by Glitches, Concerns
The flagship system designed to protect the U.S. government's computer networks from cyberspies is being stymied by technical limitations and privacy concerns, according to current and former national-security officials. The latest complete version of the system, known as Einstein, won't be fully installed for 18 months, according to current and former officials, seven years after it was first rolled out. This system doesn't protect networks from attack.
