Two bloggers from Azerbaijan are facing up to five years in jail after posting a video of a donkey giving a news conference on YouTube. Shortly after the video was released, Andnan Hajizade and Emin Milli were held on hooliganism charges following a scuffle in a restaurant.
Google Obtains Patent on Home Page's "User Interface"
After a five-and-a-half-year fight, Google and its attorneys have obtained a patent on the company's iconic home page, as an innovative "graphical user interface."
Domain Consulting Firm Sues Wolfgang Puck Over .food
New TLD consulting firm Minds+Machines is suing Wolfgang Puck and his wife. The lawsuit claims that Wolfgang Puck and his wife tried to interject themselves into all new TLDs Minds+Machines is working on and that Puck ceased to jointly promote .food as agreed.
NFL Bans Players from Using Twitter During Games
The National Football League announced that it had modified its social-media policy to limit Twitter and social-networking use by players, coaches, league officials, and even the media. They will be prohibited from using Twitter and from updating profiles on Facebook and other social-networking sites during games.
Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Internet Gambling
A U.S. appeals court upheld an Internet gambling ban, rejecting a challenge from an association of off-shore bookies that the federal prohibition was too vague and violated privacy rights. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia rejected arguments from Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association in New Jersey, which had filed the lawsuit hoping to legalize online betting in that state.
Privacy Advocates Push Laws on Behavioral Advertising
Privacy advocates released a series of guidelines for legislators considering regulations on behavioral advertising, calling for greater transparency and giving Web surfers more control over how the data is used. Ten groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are pushing the debate ahead of the return of Congress in September, when certain members have hinted they'd be receptive to ideas for legislation.
German Court Says Google Must Change Terms of Service
A German court has ruled that Google must change terms of service that could be interpreted to compromise a user's rights, a decision the consumer advocacy group that brought the suit welcomed as a victory for online transparency. The suit filed by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations charged that the terms of service for opening an account through Google Mail, Google Documents and other programs could be interpreted as giving the Internet search giant the right to review and even delete a user's information.
British Parliament's Website Vulnerable, Hacker Says
A vulnerability in the website of the UK Parliament appears to be exposing confidential information, including unencrypted login credentials, a Romanian hacker wrote on his blog. The SQL injection vulnerability is on this page, the hacker, who goes by the moniker Unu, told The Register.
U.S. Users Tops for Malware Infections, Microsoft Says
Windows users based in the United States are the most likely to benefit from Microsoft's malicious software removal tool, which has removed malware from nearly 2.2 million US machines, more than the other nine top countries combined. Over the same period, the MSRT has disinfected 383,378 machines in China, 282,152 in Brazil, 278,207 in the UK, and 262,539 in Korea, according to statistics Microsoft published.
Man Guides Police to Suspects Via GPS in Stolen iPhone
Using a computer to tap into the GPS function of his cell phone, a man directed police to the location of the men he said robbed him. The man used his computer to track the location of his iPhone to a Wal-Mart, where police said the suspects purchased items with his stolen credit card.
Google Says It May Disclose IP Addresses in Libel Suit
Google has reportedly sent a letter to a high-profile Caribbean investigative website called The TCI Journal saying it will supply the IP addresses used to access the Journal's primary GMail account unless the Journal supplies a legal counter-motion within the next two weeks. A libel suit filed against the Journal in Santa Clara, California Superior Court concerns its reporting of government corruption in the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Arrested Microsoft Pirate in China Seen as Martyr
Hong Lei and his partners were the biggest pirates of Microsoft Corp. software in China, but since his arrest last December, the 30-year-old creator of a popular Chinese clone of Windows called Tomato Garden Window XP has become something of an Internet hero. The phenomenon underscores the challenges faced by Microsoft and other technology companies as they battle rampant piracy in China, despite official efforts to crack down.
Microsoft Investigating Reports of FTP Security Flaw
Microsoft said it is looking into a report of a flaw in some versions of its Internet Information Services product that could allow an attacker to gain control of a system. In a statement, a Microsoft representative said the company "is investigating new public claims of a possible vulnerability in IIS 5 and IIS 6 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)."
Computer Hacker to Plead Guilty, Serve 25 Years in Prison
A computer hacker accused of masterminding one of the largest cases of identity theft in U.S. history agreed to plead guilty and serve up to 25 years in federal prison. Albert Gonzalez of Miami was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in federal courts in New York and Boston.
Burglars Watching Facebook, Twitter Users, Insurer Warns
Facebook users enthusing about an upcoming holiday or a recently purchased high-tech gadget may not just be telling their friends but also potential burglars, warns an insurance company. A survey of 2,092 social media users by British-based Legal & General found nearly four in ten, or 38 percent, of people using social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter post details about holiday plans and 33 percent details of a weekend away.
Draft Bill Would Let President Declare Internet Emergency
The new draft of a bill in Congress would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
Apple Blames "Exploding" iPhones on "External Force"
A number of iPhones that reportedly "exploded" in France were not due to the battery overheating as had been suggested, Apple has said. The firm said that all of the handsets they had seen with broken screens were caused by an "external force."
DHS Issues New Directives on Electronic Device Searches
The Department of Homeland Security released new directives covering border searches of electronic devices and media, but the government's rules leave open the question of whether individuals can be compelled to provide passwords and encryption keys. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in a statement characterized the rules as an attempt to balance the investigatory requirements for fighting crime and terrorism with privacy and civil liberties.
Facebook Announces New Modifications to Privacy Controls
In conjunction with the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Facebook announced a new set of modifications to its user privacy controls as well as its developer API, and the targets of these changes are the thousands of third-party applications built on Facebook's developer platform. That means there may be major implications for developers--some of whom rely almost exclusively on Facebook activity as a revenue source.
Italy Investigating Google Over Antitrust Concerns
Italian competition authorities said that they were investigating Google, following complaints from publishers that the company was abusing its dominant position on the Internet to deny them a fair share of online advertising revenue. Carlo Malinconico, president of the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers, said the group had complained to the antitrust authority about a "lack of transparency" in Google's search engine and Google News service, which compiles blurbs of news stories on the Web and provides links to them.
