Microsoft is contributing new image-matching software, PhotoDNA, that promises to automate and streamline online child-pornography monitoring. "It's a terrific tool for us, law enforcement and ISPs," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Malicious Adobe Acrobat File Identified
Symantec confirmed a vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader and said it was being exploited by a Trojan hidden in e-mail attachments. The malicious Adobe Acrobat PDF file is distributed via an e-mail attachment that "drops and executes when opened on a fully patched system with either Adobe Acrobat or Reader installed," Symantec said in a statement.
Rumored Google Phone Name May Create Conflict
Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of the late Philip K. Dick, said in an interview that she was "shocked and dismayed" by reports indicating that the Google phone would be named after her father's famous characters. "We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn't grant any sort of permissions."
"Operation Holiday Hoax" Nabs $26 Million of Fake Goods
More than $26 million worth of counterfeit clothing, electronics, DVDs, holiday ornaments and other consumer goods are now in the hands of authorities after a nationwide series of raids. The coordinated raids were aimed at cracking down on major rings selling "knockoff" products, federal authorities announced.
Supreme Court Agrees to Hearing Text-Messaging Case
The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether a police department violated the constitutional privacy rights of an employee when it inspected personal text messages sent and received on a government pager. The case opens "a new frontier in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," according to a three-judge panel of an appeals court that ruled in favor of the employee, a police sergeant on the Ontario, Calif., SWAT team.
Settlement May Lead to Release of Missing White House E-mails
Two nonprofit groups announced that they reached a legal settlement with the White House that may result in the release of a portion of the 22 million e-mails that went missing during the Bush administration because of poor labeling and other technical problems. The National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) first sued the White House in 2007 alleging that millions of executive office e-mails had gone missing from March 2003 to October 2005 in violation of laws requiring their preservation.
Complaint Accuses Electronics Companies of Violating GPL
Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and JVC are among 14 consumer electronics companies named in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in New York by the Software Freedom Law Center. According to the complaint, the defendants sold products containing software application BusyBox in violation of the terms of its license, the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2).
Microsoft Probing Charges It Stole Code in China
Microsoft said on that it's investigating allegations that a recently launched microblogging site in China lifts the code and interface of a start-up's rival service. anada's Plurk went public with charges that Microsoft's Juku service "rips off" the look and feel of its microblogging service and also appears to use more than 80 percent of the same code, all without permission.
Students, Parents Fight Back Against Cyber-Bullying Charges
Amid rising concerns over cyber-bullying, and even calls for criminalization, some courts, parents and free-speech advocates are pushing back. Students, they say, have a First Amendment right to be nasty in cyberspace.
Covey Grants Amazon Exclusive Rights to His E-Books
Stephen R. Covey, one of the most successful business authors of the last two decades, has moved e-book rights to two of his best-selling books from his print publisher, Simon & Schuster, a division of the CBS Corporation, to Amazon.com for one year. Amazon, maker of the popular Kindle e-reader and one of the biggest book retailers in the country, will have the exclusive rights to sell electronic editions of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and a later work, "Principle-Centered Leadership."
U.S., Russia Discussing Cyberwarfare Issues
The United States has begun talks with Russia and a United Nations arms control committee about strengthening Internet security and limiting military use of cyberspace. American and Russian officials have different interpretations of the talks so far, but the mere fact that the United States is participating represents a significant policy shift after years of rejecting Russia's overtures.
Apple Files Patent Infringement Claims Against Nokia
In response to Nokia's own claims of copyright violation, Apple accused the largest handset maker in the world of copying some of the technology inside the iPhone. In a suit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Apple says Nokia is infringing 13 of its patents.
Florida Judges Told Not to "Friend" Attorneys
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."
