A dozen Hollywood production companies have filed a new lawsuit against file-sharing website The Pirate Bay. Columbia Pictures, Disney Enterprises, Universal Studios and 10 others are demanding the site's operators be fined and prevented from distributing TV-series including "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" and films such as "Batman."
Taiwanese Firm to Pay Family in iPhone Suicide Case
A Taiwanese firm which makes products for Apple in China is to pay a "condolence payment" to the family of an employee who committed suicide. Sun Danyong killed himself after an iPhone prototype went missing from the company where he worked in Shenzhen.
Michael Jackson's Death Encouraged Cybercriminals
When Michael Jackson died on June 25, his fans mourned -- and cybercriminals swung into action. Within 38 hours, they forged alliances with familiar partners to trigger global spam campaigns that capitalized on the singer's death.
Oracle Sues Qtrax Music Service for $2 Million
Oracle, the giant enterprise software company, has accused Qtrax, the legal peer-to-peer music service, of copyright infringement and breach of contract in a $2 million lawsuit filed in Northern California. Qtrax is the music service that was ridiculed in January 2008 after the four major labels denied the company's claims that it had licensing agreements with them.
BlackBerry Maker May Buy Nortel Wireless Patents
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has held talks with Nortel Networks on buying next-generation wireless patents that were not part of Nortel's $1.13 billion wireless asset sale, a source familiar with the situation said. Bankrupt Nortel sold a portfolio of CDMA and next-generation LTE wireless assets to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson.
AVG Virus Software Mistakenly Blocks Some iTunes Users
AVG's free antivirus product temporarily blocked users from getting to iTunes, detecting it as a Trojan, the company said. "AVG discovered the false alarm in the virus signature engine relating to some localization components of iTunes (so not iTunes as a virus but rather some localization components of iTunes) and it was fixed within 5 hours," AVG spokesperson Siobhan MacDermott said in a statement.
Start-Up Seeks to Get Revenue from News-Copying Sites
A start-up called Attributor, based in Redwood City, Calif., is proposing an approach that is more carrot than stick as news organizations try to do something about the many Web sites that simply copy articles and paste them into their own pages. It has developed an automated way for newspapers to share in the advertising revenue from even the tiniest sites that copy their articles.
Groups Want Amazon to Change Policy on E-Book Sales
A growing number of civil libertarians and customer advocates wants Amazon to fundamentally alter its method for selling Kindle books, lest it be forced to one day change or recall books, perhaps by a judge ruling in a defamation case -- or by a government deciding a particular work is politically damaging or embarrassing.
Internet Phone Service Called Security Threat in Russia
Russia's most powerful business lobby moved to clamp down on Skype and its peers, telling lawmakers that the Internet phone services are a threat to Russian businesses and to national security. In partnership with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's political party, the lobby created a working group to draft legal safeguards against what they said were the risks of Skype and other Voice over Internet Protocol telephone services.
Microsoft Offers Choice of Browsers in Europe
Microsoft has made a new proposal to European competition regulators that it hopes will end their row over the firm's Internet Explorer web browser. It proposes that European buyers of its new Windows 7 operating system will be offered a list of potential browsers when they first install the software.
Craigslist Still Faces Sex-Related Allegations
Two months after Craigslist promised to rid itself of advertisements placed by prostitutes, law enforcement officials say the online classified ad site is still in the business of selling sex. From a sheriff who has no intention of dropping his lawsuit to an attorney general who suggests that he and colleagues could further pressure the company to crack down on online prostitution, they say they are not through with Craigslist.
Gates Criticizes U.S. Policy on Immigration, Privacy
In a far-ranging speech, Bill Gates criticized the American government's policy on immigration and data privacy, predicted giant leaps in technology in the near future and explained why he had to shut down his Facebook page.
Bezos Apologizes for Amazon's Deletion of E-Books
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos issued an apology to customers over last week's surprise deletion of a number of books that Kindle owners had purchased and downloaded to their devices: "Our 'solution' to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles."
Groups Urge Google to Protect Privacy in Book Service
Google should promise to protect the privacy of consumers with its Book Search service, the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Samuelson Law Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC Berkeley Law said in a letter to the search giant.
RIM Warns of Virus in UAE Software Upgrade
Research In Motion Ltd. warned BlackBerry users in the United Arab Emirates that a software upgrade recommended by their wireless carrier was actually surveillance software that could enable unauthorized access to the popular smart phone. RIM, which makes the BlackBerry, said it didn't authorize the upgrade.
Antitrust Approval Expected for Amazon-Zappos Deal
Amazon.com's purchase of shoe seller Zappos.com, known for attentive customer service, will likely race through an antitrust review unscuffed, antitrust experts said. While Amazon.com is buying a rival to its disappointing Endless.com site, the nearly $1 billion deal will likely be approved since neither Amazon nor Zappos is a major shoe distributor, despite their online fame, experts said.
AP Plans Way to Track Use of Stories Online
The Associated Press, taking a hard line against Web sites that run stories without permission, said it is creating a way to track and control the distribution of its articles online. The AP and its 1,400 member newspapers fret about how and where their articles are repurposed online, noting that bloggers and Web portals sometimes run stories without permission.
Federal Government Called at Risk of Cyberattack
The federal government is at risk of being unable to fight off attacks on the nation's computer networks unless it strengthens its cyber-security work force, according to a report. The nation's security could be in jeopardy because not enough workers are sufficiently trained to protect computer systems from hackers, criminals, terrorists and foreign governments, the Partnership for Public Service and consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton found after studying 18 federal agencies and interviewing experts inside and outside government.
Amazon's Deletion of E-Books Raises Legal Questions
Legal experts are divided on whether Amazon broke its own contract with consumers by removing some e-books. The fine print in the company's terms of service gives consumers the "right to keep a permanent copy" of purchased titles, but also reserves Amazon's "right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the service at any time."
Google's Spending on Lobbying Increases 30%
Google spent $950,000 lobbying lawmakers, regulators and the White House on issues ranging from cloud computing to copyright in the second quarter, according to public lobbying disclosures. The sum tops the $880,000 it spent in the first quarter and represents a 30% increase from the second quarter of 2008, when it spent $730,000.
