Children's advocates, technology and legal experts, Web site operators and others struggled to determine how best to adapt a 2000 rule implementing a law aimed at protecting children's privacy to the growing list of devices people are using to get online.
Many people think of online auction sites, such as eBay and Craigslist, as virtual garage sales -- a convenient way to clean out cluttered closets and attics stuffed with old clothes, books and knickknacks inherited from Aunt Gladys. But if you're a frequent or big-time seller, the government might consider your proceeds to be income and could come after you for taxes.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Jules Genachowski, speaking at the D conference, said the most important thing we can do to improve broadband in the United States is to "unleash mobile." When asked about studies that ranked the U.S. low on broadband, Genachowski said the study that makes him most concerned is a study that rated the U.S. 6th out of 40 on innovation, but 40th out of 40th in rate of change in innovative capacity.
The Texas attorney general is making inquiries about the electronic book market, according to people familiar with the matter, a business where pricing recently has been shaken up by Apple Inc. and the way e-books are sold for the iPad. Two major publishers said they have been approached by the state agency.
The FTC is set to host its first workshop on whether to update the rule implementing a law aimed at protecting children's privacy online. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which went into effect in 2000, requires Web sites to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13.
Mac users downloading free screensavers and a video converter app from several popular download sites also got spyware that installs a back door, collects data, and sends encrypted information to remote servers, security company Intego said.
The FBI, FTC and several other federal agencies announced an education campaign aimed at making consumers more aware of mass marketing fraud schemes that use low-tech and high-tech communications tools to target their victims. "Thanks to the Internet, criminals and crime groups can also target victims halfway around the world, blasting out spam e-mails by the millions and setting up phony but realistic Web sites to lure people in," the FBI said in news release.
Facebook said that it has blocked users in Pakistan from accessing the 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day !' page on its site out of respect for local standards and customs. The Web site adopted a similar approach in India about a week ago when it was approached by Indian authorities in connection with the page, which has annoyed Muslims in many countries.
A Los Angeles-area woman is suing a Salt Lake County man and Google for an amount in excess of $100,000, alleging that Google Maps led her onto a dangerous Park City roadway where she was struck by a car.
A House of Representatives committee responsible for writing some electronic privacy laws sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking for details on when the company shared user data "without the knowledge of the account holders." The letter, written by Democratic chairman John Conyers of Michigan, suggests that the committee will eventually hold hearings on whether the Internet's second most popular site has -- at least in the minds of a handful of politicians -- acted responsibly in disclosing its data-sharing practices to its users.
Another clickjacking scam has hit Facebook, tricking hundreds of thousands of users to post messages to their pages saying that they like the malicious link, security firm Sophos said. Like most of these scams, this one relies on social engineering and piques the interest of prospective victims with messages.
Web sites like Facebook, Twitter and Yelp have given individuals a global platform on which to air their grievances with companies. But legal experts say the soaring popularity of such sites has also given rise to more cases in which a business sues an individual for posting critical comments online.
A Pakistani court ordered the government to restore access to Facebook, nearly two weeks after it blocked the social networking Web site amid anger over a Facebook page that solicited images of the Prophet Muhammad. Images or drawings of the prophet are considered blasphemous by most Muslims.
As concern increases in Washington about the amount of private data online, and as big sites like Facebook draw criticism that they collect consumers' information in a stealthy manner, many Web start-ups are pursuing a more reciprocal approach -- saying, in essence: give us your data and get something in return. Influenced by consumers' willingness to trade data online, the sites are pushing to see how much information people will turn over.
If cloud computing is going to continue to grow and provide the cost savings and technology benefits its backers tout, Congress must move to update two key laws adopted in the 1980s governing communications law, Microsoft Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith said. Microsoft is part of a coalition that is pushing Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which governs government access to electronic communications.
Bangladesh has blocked the Facebook social networking site because of "objectionable" materials it contained about the Prophet Mohammad and the country's political leaders, a telecoms regulatory official said. The government move followed publication of caricatures of the Prophet deemed hurtful to the religious sentiments of the country's majority Muslim population, the official said.
Lists of Britons who infringe copyright are to be drawn up by the UK's biggest ISPs, under proposals from the regulator Ofcom. The plan is contained in a draft code of practice it hopes will curb copyright infringement.
One-hundred seventy-one House Republicans signed a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski urging him to stop the FCC's plans to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service. The reclassification would subject broadband services to many of the same rules applied to traditional telephone services.
Producers of Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker" have made good on a promise to file copyright lawsuits against people who illegally shared the movie via peer-to-peer networks. Voltage Pictures, an independent production company, filed a copyright complaint against 5,000 John Does in federal court in Washington, D.C.
The Justice Dept.'s probe into Apple is expanding to include how the iPhone and iPad maker does business with media outfits in areas beyond music, The New York Post has learned. According to several sources, the Justice Dept. has contacted a handful of the country's biggest media and technology companies to get their views on Apple, which, after years of casting itself as the tiny outsider, has become an 800-pound gorilla calling the shots in several arenas.
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The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.