Internet giants Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and a slew of other high profile tech companies weighed in on new rules that are currently being written to keep the Internet open. The CEOs of Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter, along with some telecommunications and media firms, such as EchoStar and XO Communications, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski supporting his efforts to create official regulation that protects Net Neutrality.
Judge Lets EMI Pursue Robertson in MP3Tunes Case
The copyright lawsuit filed by major recording company EMI against Michael Robertson, founder of MP3tunes.com, took an unexpected turn. A U.S. District judge will allow EMI to file suit against Robertson personally -- not just his company, MP3tunes, according to a copy of the judge's decision.
Don't Buy Swine Flu Drugs Online, FDA Warns
Americans should avoid buying treatments for the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, online, the Food and Drug Administration warned. The FDA issued the warning Thursday after it had purchased products over the Internet that were supposed to be Tamiflu and analyzed them.
Flash Drive with Data on 103,000 Students Missing
A flash drive containing the personal information of more than 103,000 former adult education students in Virginia was misplaced last month, state education officials reported. Officials said they do not to believe the information, which includes names, Social Security numbers and employment and demographic information, has been found or is being misused.
British ISP Calls File-Sharing Penalty "Naive"
UK ISP TalkTalk has staged a wireless stunt, aimed at illustrating why it thinks Lord Mandelson's plans to disconnect filesharers is "naive." The stunt demonstrates how innocent people could be disconnected from the network if the plans become law.
Stolen Laptop Has Data on 800,000 Doctors
About 800,000 doctors -- nearly every practicing physician in the country -- are being warned that business and personal information such as Social Security numbers, addresses and certain identification numbers may be open for a possible breach after an insurance trade group employee's laptop was stolen from a car in Chicago. The Chicago-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, a trade group for the nation's Blue Cross health insurance plans, confirmed an employee "broke protocol and transferred to a personal laptop" information that was later stolen in late August.
Advertising Group Opposes FTC's Blogging Guidelines
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has come out against new guidelines proposed by the Federal Trade Commission that would require bloggers to disclose their affiliations with sponsors, marketers, and free giveaways. The IAB claims that the rules unfairly regulate online media more than offline.
NBA Player Gains Control of 800 Celebrity Domain Names
Toronto Raptors' forward Chris Bosh won control of nearly 800 Internet domain names wrongfully appropriated from professional athletes and celebrities, his lawyer said. The ruling, which Bosh's lawyer said is the first time a court awarded third-party domain names to a plaintiff, gives the basketball player control of www.chrisbosh.com and website names that incorporated names of other NBA stars, including Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Phoenix's Steve Nash.
Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Over Sidekick Data Loss
An Atlanta woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft and T-Mobile over the Microsoft server outage that caused thousands of Sidekick smartphone users to lose their personal data. The lawsuit, brought by Sidekick customer Maureen Thompson, alleges T-Mobile, Microsoft and Microsoft subsidiary Danger failed to make good on their marketing promises that the Sidekick data service would securely and automatically back up users' data.
AT&T Says Google Voice Violates Telecom, Net Laws
AT&T stepped up its campaign for greater federal scrutiny of Google's voice service, reasserting in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission that the search giant's Web phone application violates both telecom and net neutrality laws. The FCC launched an inquiry into Google Voice's blocking of calls and began an review of whether the application should be regulated as a traditional telephone service, also known as a common carrier.
Yahoo Settles Suit Over Pay-Per-Click Ads
Yahoo has settled a lawsuit over pay-per-click ads sold by Yahoo that wound up in some shady corners of the Internet. Back in 2006 Yahoo was sued by a class of advertisers who alleged that Yahoo sold them ads that were supposed to appear on "highly targeted" sites and instead wound up on sites filled with spyware or run by typo squatters.
EFF Seeks Re-Examination for VoIP Patent
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a re-examination request to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, stating it had discovered a prior patent as well as published reference material that should invalidate a patent that had been granted to a company called Acceris. The patent that Acceris was granted describes how voice over IP technology can be used to make calls to and from traditional analog telephones.
FCC Chairman Wants to Apply Net Neutrality Broadly
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is proposing that the agency apply tougher open-Internet rules broadly, raising concerns of cable and phone companies and some lawmakers that the government could try to control efforts to offer products such as digital cable or premium business services. Mr. Genachowski's proposal suggests everything in the Internet pipe is covered by rules prohibiting discrimination against any legal Internet traffic, known as net neutrality, unless the agency says otherwise, according to FCC officials familiar with a draft circulating in the agency.
Twitter Adds "Report as Spam" Feature
Twitter has added a "Report as spam" feature to its service in an effort to get help from its users in fighting spam, the company wrote in a blog post. To stop users from simply using the spam feature as a weapon against others they don't like, Twitter said that "no automated action will be taken as a result of reporting a user as spam."
Microsoft Issues Biggest Software Patch Ever
Microsoft issued its biggest software patch on record to fix a range of security issues in its programs, including the yet to be released Windows 7 operating system. In a monthly update sent to users of its software, Microsoft released 13 security bulletins, or patches, to address 34 vulnerabilities it identified across its Windows, Internet Explorer, Silverlight, Office and other products.
Lawsuit Accuses Delta of Accessing Coalition's E-mails
The Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights sued Delta Air Lines Inc. in a federal court in Texas, alleging the airline got hacked e-mails and tried to undermine the organization, according to Houston-based The Gibson Law Firm. Kate Hanni, the executive director and founder of the coalition, which also is known as FlyersRights.org, sued the Atlanta-based airline and Dulles, Va.-based Metron Aviation Inc. after her e-mails, and those of at least two reporters, including one from USA Today, were obtained by Delta and Metron, the suit alleges.
Error Takes Down All of Sweden's Domains for Hours
The entire .se (Sweden) Top Level Domain was knocked offline for a few hours, due to an error in DNS configuration. According to the .SE Internet Infrastructure Foundation, they inadvertently sent out an incorrect zone file in connection with a planned maintenance work.
Flaw in Mac Snow Leopard Deletes Data, Report Says
A serious flaw in Apple's Snow Leopard OS appears capable of wiping user data after the user opens and closes the "guest" account on the afflicted Macintosh. According to reports, when the user first opens the guest account, closes it, and later logs back into their own account, their Home folder data has been erased.
Spammers Send Link to Video Advertisement on YouTube
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have recorded a mass mailing of spam e-mails containing a link to a video advertisement on YouTube. Although in the past, spammers have have attempted to lure people into clicking links by claiming the link would display a YouTube video, this is the first case in which the link actually did.
WhoCanISue.com Website Generates Attention, Criticism
Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm WhoCanISue.com has scores of billboards and bus-shelter signs dominating the local landscape, matching website visitors with lawyers. But critics say WhoCanISue and other online referral services degrade the legal profession and often steer the public to lawyers who operate under a business model of "bring in as many cases as you can and settle them."
