As the start of London Fashion Week reignites the debate over ultra-thin models, psychiatrists have called on the British government to act over the soaring numbers of pro-anorexia websites. Encouraged by social networking sites like Facebook and "thinspiration" websites, growing numbers of Britons are looking online to get tips on how to starve themselves or hide extreme weight loss, says the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Microsoft Files Five Suits to Stop "Malvertising"
Microsoft filed five lawsuits against anonymous creators of what has become known as "malvertising" -- the same phenomenon that hit NYTimes.com. Malvertisements are online ads that appear to be legitimate, until they at some point attack a user's computer with malicious software or a deceptive Web page.
Spammers Target Victims Directly to Gain Edge
Spammers who flood the Internet with generically addressed spam to infect your PC also mix in viral versions targeted at specific individuals.
State Attorney Generals Oppose Google Books Settlement
Five state attorneys general have joined the opposition to Google's settlement with book authors and publishers, objecting to the way the settlement distributes unclaimed funds. The attorneys general for Connecticut, Missouri, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington joined the chorus of opposition to the settlement this week, filing briefs with Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York before the October 7 hearing to determine whether the settlement should be approved.
Lawmaker Agrees to Co-Sponsor Net Neutrality Bill
Net neutrality supporters got a boost when Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he had added himself as a co-sponsor to the Net neutrality bill introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Waxman said during a hearing for the subcommittee Thursday that it was time to make sure rules were imposed to keep the Internet open.
EBay Users Oppose Limits on Luxury Goods Sales
EBay has told European lawmakers that more than three quarters of a million people have signed an online petition demanding changes to regulations that let luxury brand makers limit who can sell their products online. The Internet company is embroiled in a longstanding feud with luxury good firms like Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, and Rolex, who say their brands are devalued by sales on ignoble auction websites like eBay.
Music Groups Seek Expanded Compensation from iTunes
Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other e-tailers for not just traditional music downloads but for downloads of films and TV shows as well. The demands by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), and other performing-rights groups, would likely lead to more price hikes at iTunes.
Lawmakers Want Answers from ICANN on New Domain Names
Two of the House Judiciary Committee's top Republicans wrote to the new head of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on to express concerns about the proposed introduction of many new top-level domains -- such as .biz, .info, and .us -- and the expiration later this month of a memo formally joining the Commerce Department and the California-based entity that administers the world's Web addresses.
Phishing Site Lures Account Info from Bank Customers
Online scammers have created a phishing site masquerading as a U.S.-based bank that launches a live chat window where victims are tricked into revealing more information, researchers at the RSA FraudAction Research Team said. After a user accesses the phishing site, the chat window messages come through the browser and not via a typical instant messenger application, RSA said in a blog post.
Social Networking Sites Called Security Targets
Social networking and user-generated content sites have become a haven for spam, spyware and phishers, according to the latest Internet security report from San Diego, Calif.-based security software maker Websense. The report found that 95 percent of user-generated comments on blogs, message boards and chatrooms are either spam or malicious.
EU Discussing Deal with Microsoft, Yahoo
EU antitrust regulators are in touch with Microsoft and Yahoo about their search engine deal, a source familiar with the situation said, with the talks seen more as exploratory than indicating any competition concerns. "There are ongoing informal discussions between the European Commission and Microsoft and Yahoo on their search engine partnership," the source said, without giving further details.
Founders of Skype File Copyright Suit Against Company
Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who became billionaires after selling Skype to eBay in 2005, filed a copyright lawsuit against Skype in the United States District Court of Northern California. The suit comes a little more than two weeks after eBay announced it would sell most of Skype for $1.9 billion to a consortium of investors led by the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
Former Inmate Pleads Guilty to Hacking Prison System
A former U.S. inmate has pleaded guilty to hacking into the prison's computer system to obtain the personal data on more than 1,100 prison service workers. Francis G. Janosko, 43, of Halifax and Plymouth, Massachusetts, confessed to computer hacking offenses.
Dell to Pay $4 Million in Deceptive Advertising Case
New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced that Dell and its subsidiary, Dell Financial Services, have agreed to pay $4 million in restitution, penalties and costs to resolve alleged fraudulent and deceptive business practices. Dell will also be required to make changes in its advertising, sales and financing practices, Cuomo said.
French Assembly Passes Law Banning Illegal Downloaders
The French National Assembly has passed a draft law that would allow illegal downloaders to be thrown off the Net. The French hard-line policy on piracy has drawn worldwide attention as nations around the globe grapple with the issue of piracy.
Corporate IT Departments Faulted for Threat Priorities
Corporate information technology departments are prioritizing the wrong threats to their computer systems, focusing on old problems and leaving their companies open to a raft of new cyberattacks targeting sensitive customer and corporate information. That is the finding of a new biannual report from the SANS Institute, a training organization for computer security professionals, whose senior staff weighed two sets of data that have not been rigorously compared to date: data on the most common attacks hitting corporate networks and data on which vulnerabilities are most prevalent on company networks.
More Hackers Using "Scareware" Tactics to Lure Victims
Instead of hacking into major online sites to embed malware, malicious hackers are going in through the front door by exploiting security holes in systems for delivering ads. This is common behavior for what is known as fake security alerts, or "scareware," designed to trick people into paying for something they don't need.
Intel Asks European Court to Set Aside Antitrust Ruling
Intel has asked Europe's second highest court to annul last May's antitrust ruling against the company, accusing the regulators of erring in law and of producing sloppy analysis, according to details of the appeal made public. The European Commission, the European Union's top antitrust authority, fined Intel a record US$1.45 billion in May for abusing its dominant position in the microprocessor chip market in Europe, at the expense of its only significant rival, Advanced Micro Devices.
German City Accidentally Advertises Porn Online
Authorities in the western German city of Gelsenkirchen accidentally advertised porn among the services on offer for residents on its website. The administrative error arose when an employee compiling the list thought that brothel owners might type "porn" into the search box to find out about the city's sex tax, said a spokesman for the city authorities.
Ex-White House Cyberspace Leader Warns of Threats
In her first public address since leaving the White House, Melissa Hathaway issued an urgent warning about the severity of the cyber threats facing America's digital networks, a message she tempered with a cautious optimism about the mounting political will toward addressing the challenges. Hathaway, the former White House acting senior director for cyberspace, resigned in August after leading a sweeping review of the federal cybersecurity apparatus that President Obama commissioned in February.
