A Canadian woman on sick leave for depression said she would fight an insurance company's decision to cut her benefits after her agent found photos on Facebook of her vacationing, at a bar and at a party. Nathalie Blanchard said she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits until payments dried up this fall.
Human Rights Groups Target War Video Games
Video games depicting war have come under fire for flouting laws governing armed conflicts. Human rights groups played various games to see if any broke humanitarian laws that govern what is a war crime.
McAfee Highlights "12 Scams of Christmas"
To highlight the increased crime during the holidays, security company McAfee has come up with the "12 Scams of Christmas" ranging from bogus electronic greeting cards that deliver malware instead of cheer to fake charities that steal your money and your identity.
Congress Considers Limits on Online Marketing Companies
Members of Congress are considering legislation that would crack down on what they call the unethical, aggressive sales tactics of some Internet marketing companies. The Senate Commerce Committee unveiled the details of a six-month investigation into Internet advertising companies that Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said mislead and manipulate consumers into providing their credit card numbers, resulting in millions of dollars in profits for the companies and countless "mystery charges" for consumers.
News Corp. May Pay Microsoft to De-Index Sites from Google
Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp. over a plan that would involve the media company's being paid to "de-index" its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry. The impetus for the discussions came from News Corp, owner of newspapers ranging from the Wall Street Journal of the U.S. to The Sun of the U.K., said a person familiar with the situation, who warned that talks were at an early stage.
Class-Action Lawsuit Could Disrupt Sale of Term Papers Online
A class-action lawsuit working its way through a U.S. District Court in Illinois could provide a road map for those who find their work online without their authorization. The judge has found a provider liable on six counts, including copyright infringement, unfair competition and other fraud-related claims.
Three Hackers Indicted for Redirecting Comcast Site
Three hackers have been indicted for redirecting the Comcast.net Web site to a page of their own making in 2008. When Comcast customers visited the Comcast.net site during the attack on May 28, 2008, they were redirected to a Web site that displayed a message attributing the attack to members of the Kryogeniks hacker gang.
Panel Says China Piercing U.S. Government Networks
China's government appears increasingly to be piercing U.S. government and defense industry computer networks to gather useful data for its military, a congressional advisory panel said. "A large body of both circumstantial and forensic evidence strongly indicates Chinese state involvement in such activities," the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its 2009 report to Congress.
Chinese Military Defense Website Faces Hackers
The Chinese military defense website was subjected to 2.3 million hacking attempts in its first month online according to officials. "When there were major events taking place related to the military and national defense, the number of (cyber) attacks rose," said editor Ji Guilin.
Judge Gives Preliminary OK to Google Books Settlement
The judge overseeing the Google Books case has laid out the schedule for the second round of the final approval process, at the same time granting preliminary approval of the revised deal. Like before, opponents of Google's settlement with groups representing authors and publishers will have a comment period in which to file objections, and books rights holders who want to preserve their abilty to sue Google for scanning their books will have an opt-out deadline.
FCC Discusses National Broadband Policy
The Federal Communications Commission met to discuss obstacles to enacting a national broadband policy that will provide high-speed Internet access to every American. A task force, headed by Blair Levin, who had been chief of staff for former FCC chairman Reed Hundt, is developing the plan that will be presented to Congress on February 17, 2010.
British Police Arrest Two in Connection with Trojan
Detectives have made the first arrests in Europe to tackle a "trojan" computer virus which is believed to have infected tens of thousands of computers across the world, London police said. The ZeuS or Zbot trojan, a type of sophisticated malicious computer programme, has been used to collect millions of lines of data from machines allowing those responsible to obtain a mass of personal information.
EU Ombudsman Rebukes Regulators in Intel Case
The European Ombudsman rebuked European Union regulators for procedural errors in their antitrust probe of Intel but the censure will not affect a 1.06 billion euro ($1.58 billion) fine against the U.S. chipmaker. The ombudsman's decision is non-binding but it could help the world's No. 1 chipmaker in its appeal against the ruling to Europe's second-highest court.
BlackBerry Security Chief Warns of Smartphone Threats
Hackers could one day turn ordinary smartphones into "rogue" devices to attack major wireless networks, Research In Motion's security chief warned. Scott Totzke, RIM's vice-president of BlackBerry security, said hackers could use smartphones to target wireless carriers using a technique similar to one used in assaults that slowed Internet traffic in the United States and South Korea in July.
Senate Hearing Focuses on Online Loyalty Programs
Words like "scam," "fraud," and "arrest" filled the air during a Senate hearing that focused on the controversial marketing companies that allegedly dupe consumers into paying monthly fees to join online loyalty programs. Vertrue, Webloyalty, and Affinion generated more than $1.4 billion by "misleading" Web shoppers, said members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which called the hearing.
Facebook Adopts New, Simpler Privacy Policy
Facebook announced that it has decided to adopt a revised privacy policy designed to be more accessible and easier to understand. The social network had just completed a weeklong comment period for the new revision and, though "a lot of people participated," less than 7,000 members commented.
Hackers Attack Website, E-mail of Hitler Supporter
Self-proclaimed anti-fascist hackers have struck a major blow at controversial World War II historian David Irving by taking down two of his websites and publishing scores of his e-mails and private information. The 16,000-word missive posted to Wikileaks contains the names and contact details of supporters of Irving, who -- among other things -- claims that Adolph Hitler was unaware of the Holocaust.
Canadian Financial Group Opposes .bank Domain
A group of financial organizations has suggested that a .bank top-level domain name might help reduce phishing and instill confidence. But the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI) has sent a letter to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom saying that it might undertake an effort to work against .bank's credibility as a safe web address for banking.
Google Offers Access to Historic Legal Opinions
It may not satisfy the needs of Google's lawyers as they research antitrust law, but Google Scholar now offers the full text of numerous legal opinions from throughout U.S. history. The company announced that Google Scholar users now have the option of searching for specific opinions related to broad topics, like copyright or desegregation, as well as famous cases like Brown vs. Board of Education and Roe vs. Wade.
Obama Cites "Open Internet Use" in Chinese Meeting
In China, a country that routinely blocks access to cyberspace, President Obama said at a Shanghai town hall meeting, "I've always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I'm a big supporter of non-censorship.
