In the latest collision of cyberspace and justice, Florida's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee has ruled that it is unseemly for judges to be Internet "friends" with lawyers who could have cases in their court. "The committee believes that listing lawyers who may appear before the judge as 'friends' on a judge's social networking page reasonably conveys to others the impression that these lawyer 'friends' are in a special position to influence the judge," it wrote in an opinion.
Authors, Publishers Debate Rights to E-Books
The question of exactly who owns the electronic rights to older book titles is in dispute, making it a rising source of conflict in one of the publishing industry's last remaining areas of growth. Authors and agents are particularly concerned that traditional publishers are not offering sufficient royalties on e-book editions, which they point out are cheaper for publishers to produce.
Oracle Fighting for EU Approval of Sun Deal
In a closed-door hearing, and in legal papers that haven't been made public, Oracle is mounting a broad attack on the EU's proposition that Sun's MySQL is an important competitive force in the database industry that market-leader Oracle shouldn't be allowed to own. Oracle contends that the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, misrepresented the opinions of database users and gave a "distorted view" of the market by "selectively" quoting from surveys as it put together its case.
More Websites Disabling Accounts of Sex Offenders
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that Google's Orkut.com, AOL's Bebo.com, and Yahoo's Flickr.com are among 13 additional social-networking sites to use sex offender data available through New York's Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (E-Stop) to find and disable accounts associated with registered sex offenders.
FTC Finds Children Can Access Sex in Online Worlds
Even a minimally savvy youngster can figure out how to access violent or explicitly sexual content in some virtual or Internet worlds, the Federal Trade Commission said. In its survey of online worlds, where users create digital alter egos called avatars and interact with other users' avatars, the commission found that seven of the worlds with the most explicit sex and violence set a minimum age of 13 and an eighth set a minimum age of 18.
Craigslist Founder Testifies in Case Against eBay
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark testified that he was assured by executives from eBay that they were happy with a "courtship" period in which eBay would hold a minority stake for several years, and that if both sides weren't happy, they would agree to an amicable parting of the ways. But Newmark testified that soon after the deal was struck, eBay's tone changed and "all of a sudden we were getting pressure to sell more equity."
ISOC, W3C Start Working More Closely Together
Two of the organizations that help set technical policy for the Internet are strengthening their ties. The Internet Society, known as ISOC, plans to donate $2.5 million over three years to the World Wide Web Consortium, known as W3C, to aid its development efforts, the groups said.
Facebook to Ask Users to Configure Privacy Settings
Facebook users are about to see an unfamiliar screen when they sign on to the service -- a request to configure their privacy preferences. "As far as we know, it's the first time in the history of the Internet," said Facebook spokesman Simon Axten, "that so many people have been required to make affirmative decisions about their privacy."
TSA's Airport Security Manual Posted Online
Five Transportation Security Administration employees have been placed on administrative leave after a sensitive airport security manual was posted on the Internet, the agency announced. The TSA said the version of the manual that ended up online was several editions old and did not expose the agency's current airport screening protocols.
AT&T Likely to Introduce Tiered Data Plans for Phones
AT&T will probably introduce a pricing system that penalizes heavy data users, AT&T's head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega said, to encourage them "to either reduce or modify their usage so they don't crowd out the other customers in those same cell sites." "We've got to get to those customers and have them recognize that they need to change their patterns or have to face other things," De la Vega told a group of investors at UBS.
Internet Safety Lessons Mandatory for British Children
Britain is to make online safety lessons for children over 5 compulsory under a new scheme which aims to echo road safety campaigns of the past. The lessons are part of a "Click Clever Click Safe" strategy which will produce guidelines for government, industry and charities on how to protect children using the web.
Google Sues to Stop Work-at-Home Kits
Google is taking legal action to stop companies from allegedly using the search giant's name to trick people into paying for supposed work-at-home kits advertised online and in e-mails. The company filed a lawsuit in federal court in Salt Lake City against Pacific WebWorks and other, unnamed defendants alleging trademark infringement and dilution, unfair competition, federal cyberpiracy, and violation of consumer sales practices.
French President Challenges Google on Books Plan
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would not let his country's literary heritage be taken away by a "friendly" large American company, in a thinly veiled challenge to Google. France is anxious to avoid French-language literature being swallowed by major international digitisation projects and is looking to create its own national digital champion.
Facebook Users Found to Give Out Personal Info Easily
Facebook users are too willing to give out their personal information, security firm Sophos has found. According to Sophos' Australian team, which conducted a study to see how likely Facebook users were to offer up personal information, 41 to 46 percent of the 100 people Sophos contacted "blindly accepted" friend requests from two fake Facebook users created by the security firm.
EU, Microsoft Expected to End Antitrust Dispute
The European Union and Microsoft are likely to end a decade-long dispute when EU antitrust regulators will accept the U.S. software company's amended offer on allowing consumer choice on Internet browsers, sources said. Three people familiar with the situation said the European Commission was expected to approve Microsoft's plan to make it easier for consumers to choose rival browsers on the firm's Windows operating system, which is used on a majority of personal computers.
Judge Finalizes $675,000 Verdict in File-Sharing Case
A federal judge finalized a $675,000 jury verdict against a defendant who went to trial after the Recording Industry Association of America sued him for file sharing. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner presided over the Joel Tenenbaum case in summer 2009.
Whitman Testifies in eBay Trial Against Craigslist
EBay's former chief executive, Meg Whitman, took the witness stand to make the case online classifieds site Craigslist unfairly cut eBay's stake in the company. EBay sued Craigslist in 2008 for lowering its ownership stake to 24.85 percent from 28.4 percent, causing the e-commerce giant to lose its seat on Craigslist's board.
FTC Conference Focuses on Privacy and Technology
It was standing-room-only at the Federal Trade Commission's conference on privacy and technology, which brought in researchers, executives from Google, Microsoft and Wal-Mart, and consumer advocates to hash out what needs to change in the privacy world.
Yahoo Testing Advertising Privacy Management Tool
Yahoo is rolling out an online tool that allows consumers to see -- and edit -- the personal profiles that Yahoo has compiled about them based on their Web browsing behavior. Yahoo's new Ad Interest Manager tool, released in test form, is part of a broader industry push toward self-regulation amid mounting concerns about online privacy in Washington.
FTC Reviewing Google's Acquisition of Mobile Ad Firm
The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing Google's proposed acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The development at this stage appears procedural, indicating that the responsibility for a review has been assigned to the FTC rather than the Justice Department.
