The agency in charge of assigning domain names began accepting applications for domain names written in non-Latin languages, and Egypt -- a country now drawing heated criticism from human rights advocates -- became the first to apply for a domain name in Arabic. Following a controversial decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to allow Web sites written in Arabic, Russian Chinese, and other non-ASCII character sets, governments or their designees can now apply for the approval of such names.
Man Indicted for Hijacking p2p.com Domain Name
Danny Goncalves, the man accused of stealing P2P.com from co-owners Marc Ostrofsky, Albert Angel and his wife Lesli Angel in 2006 and selling it on Ebay for six figures, has been indicted for that hijacking, the first known instance of a domain thief being indicted on criminal charges.
Vonage to Pay $32 Million to Settle State Investigations
Internet phone service provider Vonage has agreed to pay $3 million to 32 states to settle an investigation into some of its business practices. In a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, the company says it also agreed to provide refunds to affected customers.
"Jailbreakers" Keep Seeking to Thwart iPhone's Limits
The iPhone and its App Store not only gave birth to a new digital frontier for mobile software, but created an entire underground ecosystem: the Jailbreak community. In addition to multiple iPhone hacker groups pumping out different unlocking solutions on a regular basis, there are several stores hosting unauthorized iPhone apps and programmers developing software strictly for hacked iPhones.
Internet Companies Want FDA to Revise Ad Requirements
Internet giants Google and Yahoo have lined up with the pharmaceutical industry in asking the U.S. government to draft new rules that would give drug companies more latitude to advertise online. Current U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations require that any mention of a drug's benefits must also reveal its risks, including detailed lists of side effects.
Judge Says Mac Clone Maker Violates Apple's Rights
A judge has ruled in Apple's favor in its copyright-infringement case against Psystar, which has been selling Mac clones running Mac OS X. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup granted Apple's request for a summary judgment, while denying Psystar's counterclaim.
Google Files Revised Digital Books Settlement
Google will loosen its control over millions of copyright-protected books that will be added to its digital library if a federal judge approves a revised legal settlement addressing the earlier objections of antitrust regulators. The concessions, filed in New York federal court, come two months after the U.S. Justice Department balked at Google's original agreement with authors and publishers, warning the arrangement could do more harm than good in the emerging market for electronic books.
Swiss Officials Sue Google Over Street View Service
Swiss officials said that they had sued Google to try to require it to tighten privacy safeguards on its Street View online service. The Swiss data protection authority said it had filed a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court after Google balked at its demand for additional measures to make obscure the images of people who appear in Street View, particularly in areas around hospitals, schools and prisons.
Few Top Advertisers Have Brand Names at Twitter
A quick survey of Twitter accounts for the top 100 national advertisers, as ranked by Advertising Age's DataCenter, shows that surprisingly few have ownership of the Twitter handles that correspond to the names of their companies or their brands. Among the multinational corporations whose Twitter accounts are being squatted upon: General Motors, General Electric, Diageo, Coty, Comcast, Eli Lilly, Kellogg Co., MasterCard, Nestle and Walt Disney.
CAC Proposes Expedited UDRP Decision Process
A proposal from the Czech Arbitration Court for an expedited decision process for UDRP cases has been published by Icann for public comment. The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) wants to launch an expedited decision process for uniform domain name resolution policy (UDRP) in cases where the defendant does not file a response.
Biggest UDRP Decision Orders 1,017 Domains Transferred
The National Arbitration Forum (NAF) published a historic domain dispute decision awarding 1,017 cybersquatting domain names to FreeCreditReport.com. The complaint was filed by ConsumerInfo.com, owner of FreeCreditReport.com, through a process called the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), and is believed to be the largest case in the ten years since the UDRP was first enacted.
Playboy Sues Ex-Columnist for Using "Lawyer of Love"
Playboy.com, which fired a columnist who posed nude in its magazine last year, now wants to strip her of one of her most valuable assets: the "Lawyer of Love" label. The Chicago-based magazine filed a federal lawsuit saying Corri Fetman, a lawyer, illegally tried to register a U.S. trademark on "Lawyer of Love," a moniker for a Playboy column that the mag contends it owns.
Intel to Settle Dispute with AMD for $1.25 Billion
The giant chip maker Intel, facing antitrust challenges around the world, announced that it would pay $1.25 billion to settle its long-running disputes with its smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices. The settlement, covering both antitrust and patent claims, ends the computer industry's most bitter legal war.
FDA Hearing Focuses on Drug Promotions Online
Drug makers, Internet companies and nonprofits called for clarity on what is a gray area for U.S. health regulators: how drug promotion on Twitter, Wikipedia, blogs and other social media can be regulated. The two-day Food and Drug Administration hearing aims to find out if the agency needs to specifically regulate how drugs and medical devices it oversees are promoted on the Internet.
Verizon to Start Sending Copyright Notices for RIAA
Verizon, the second-largest phone company in the United States, is expected to begin issuing "copyright notices" on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America to those accused of illegally downloading songs from the Web, according to sources with knowledge of the agreement. The move is significant for the music industry because among Internet service providers, Verizon has typically been among the most reluctant to intervene in copyright cases on behalf of entertainment companies.
China Boosting Cyberspace Intelligence Capabilities
China is significantly boosting its capabilities in cyberspace as a way to gather intelligence and, in the event of war, hit the U.S. government in a weak spot, U.S. officials and experts say. Outgunned and outspent in terms of traditional military hardware, China apparently hopes that by concentrating on holes in the U.S. security architecture -- its communications and spy satellites and its vast computer networks -- it will collect intelligence that could help it counter the imbalance.
German Murderer Sues Wikipedia to Remove His Name
Wikipedia is under a censorship attack by a convicted murderer who is invoking Germany’s privacy laws in a bid to remove references to his killing of a Bavarian actor in 1990. Lawyers for Wolfgang Werle, of Erding, Germany, sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding removal of Werle's name from the Wikipedia entry on actor Walter Sedlmayr.
Robbery Suspect's Facebook Alibi Gets Charges Dropped
A defense lawyer for a man accused of robbery told a Brooklyn assistant district attorney about his client's Facebook entry, which was made at the time of the robbery -- which led to the charges being dropped. "This is the first case that I'm aware of in which a Facebook update has been used as alibi evidence," said John Browning, a lawyer and member of the Dallas Bar Association who studies social networking and the law.
Court in Azerbaijan Sentences Opposition Bloggers
A court in Azerbaijan sentenced two opposition bloggers to jail terms in a case that has stirred international concern over freedom of expression in the oil-producing Caspian Sea state. Adnan Hajizade, 26, was sentenced to two years in prison and Emin Milli, 30, to two years and six months over an incident in a cafe in Baku, a member of their defense team told Reuters.
Russian Policeman Fired After Blogs on Corruption
A former Russian policeman, who accused officers in his home town of corruption in blogs that had more than one million Internet hits, said he wanted to discuss the affair with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Major Alexei Dymovsky was fired after he posted two video clips on YouTube in which he appealed to Putin to rein in senior officers who he accused of pressuring subordinates to charge innocent people to meet statistical targets.
