The popular social networking site Facebook is not doing enough to protect the personal information it gets from subscribers, and it gives users confusing and incomplete information about privacy matters, Canada's privacy commissioner said. "It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a report on an investigation into Facebook.
Apple Asks Microsoft to Stop Running Some Ads
Apple Inc. legal representatives asked Microsoft Corp. recently to "stop running" advertisements suggesting Apple's computers are expensive, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner said. The interaction has emboldened Microsoft, which plans to continue with its "Laptop Hunter" marketing campaign after learning, however indirectly, how effective the advertisement's underlying message is in rankling Apple.
Microsoft Sues Over Instant Messaging Scams
Microsoft filed a civil lawsuit in King County Superior Court in Seattle against Funmobile, Mobilefunster, and several individuals, who Microsoft says is responsible for the intentional misuse of the service to gain the personal information of its users. In the suit, Microsoft cites a multitude of attacks including IMs that appear to be coming from users they know, as well as phishing attacks that mimic the look and feel of an outside service, or an official Microsoft support page.
Google Tells Newspapers How to Avoid Indexing
In a post written by Josh Cohen, senior business product manager, Google said newspaper publishers can easily tell search engines to take a hike. All it takes is a two-line piece of code, which he helpfully included in his post. Tuck that on your website, and no search engine will crawl it; the stories won't show up when people look for content using search engines.
Music Industry Seeking Money from Pirate Bay Sale
The music industry will attempt to seize money paid to acquire the Pirate Bay, according to a high-level music industry source and a spokesman for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the trade group representing the music industry worldwide.
Security Breaches at Twitter Expose Lapses
Twitter's latest security hole has less to do with its users than it does with its staff, but lessons can be learned on both sides. In the case of Jason Goldman, who is currently Twitter's director of product management, the simplicity of Yahoo's password recovery system was enough to let a hacker get in and gain information from a number of other sites, including access to other Twitter staff's personal accounts.
Amazon.com Sued Over Broken Device Cover
Amazon.com has been sued by a user of its Kindle electronic reader who claims the device's cover, which is sold separately, can break the screen and make the device inoperable. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, where Amazon is based, claims the covers designed and sold by Amazon to protect the device often end up cracking the Kindle screens due to pressure on the hinge.
Blogger Who Leaked Songs Gets Home Confinement
A Los Angeles blogger who leaked new Guns N' Roses songs on the Internet before their official release on the band's first new album in 17 years, was sentenced to two months of home confinement. Kevin Cogill also received one year's probation and must appear in an anti-piracy commercial under the terms of his plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Javascript Vulnerability Found in Firefox 3.5
There is a critical JavaScript vulnerability in the Firefox 3.5 Web browser, Mozilla has warned. The zero-day flaw lies in Firefox 3.5's Just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compiler.
Cybercriminals Attack Users of Microsoft Office
Microsoft warned that cybercriminals have attacked users of its Office software for Windows PCs, exploiting a programing flaw that the software giant has yet to repair. The world's largest software maker issued the warning as it released patches to address nine other security holes in its software.
Company Settles Claims of Posting Fake Reviews
Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web, the New York attorney general's office said. The company had ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on Web sites, according to the attorney general's statement.
Woman Tweets About Bank Heist, Gets Criticized
A rather unusual Twitter thread -- a bank heist, or at least its immediate aftermath, in 140-character-or-less updates -- unfolded as a Manhattan bank was robbed of $500. The woman posting the tweets was criticized online by folks who apparently thought she should have been alerting police or doing something else -- anything -- rather than tweeting.
Patent Office Rejects More Claims in Rambus-Nvidia Case
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has initially rejected an additional eight Rambus claims that Nvidia challenged, according to Nvidia. This follows the USPTO's rejection last month of 41 other claims in seven patents that Rambus had asserted, Nvidia said.
Fewer Teens Illegally Downloading Music, Survey Says
New research shows that the number of teenagers illegally sharing music has fallen dramatically in the past year. The survey of 1,000 fans also shows that many14 to 18 year olds are now streaming music regularly online using services such as YouTube and Spotify.
ICANN Considers Trademark Database to Fight Cybersquatting
The Internet's key oversight agency is considering a centralized database of trademark holders, to cut down on questionable registrations of new Internet addresses. Backers of the idea say it is needed so trademark holders won't have to spend thousands of dollars registering domain names defensively, to block someone from registering them and trying to profit -- a practice known as "cybersquatting."
FTC May Require Disclosures for Paid Sponsorships Online
The Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at paid sponsorships online and may soon require online media to comply with disclosure rules under its truth-in-advertising guidelines. A draft of the new rules was posted for public comments this year and the staff is to make a formal recommendation to be presented to the commissioners for a vote, perhaps by early fall.
All Headline News, AP Settle "Hot News" Lawsuit
AHN Media has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the Associated Press to settle a lawsuit in which the AP accused AHN of rewriting AP stories and putting AHN's name on them, the companies announced. In the settlement, AHN admitted to improperly using AP content in many instances, according to a joint news release published on the AP Web site.
IBM Sued Over Patents on Integrated Circuit Products
Patent licensing firm Mosaid Technologies said it was taking IBM to court for allegedly infringing on six of Mosaid's U.S. patents. Mosaid said the long-running dispute was over IBM's making and selling of microprocessor and application specific integrated circuit products.
Rosetta Stone Sues Google Over Ad Keywords
Rosetta Stone, the language-learning software firm, said it has filed a lawsuit against Google for trademark infringement, alleging the Internet search giant allowed other companies to use Rosetta Stone's trademark brand for online advertisements without permission. In the suit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Rosetta Stone asked the court to stop Google from allowing other firms -- including competitors -- to use its trademarks to sell ads associated with online searches.
Web Founder Wants Limits on Internet Snooping
Governments and companies should limit the snooping they do on web users. So said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, who said that growing oversight of browsing could have a pernicious effect.
