It took a decade, but the federal government issued new policies governing how agencies can interact with the public online and collect information from visitors to their Websites with so-called "cookie" files and other technologies.
The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, says it will now start the process of registering ".xxx" by making checks on ICM Registry LLC, the company that wants to run it. ICM's founder Stuart Lawley says he thinks the new address could easily attract at least 500,000 sites, making it after ".mobi" the second biggest sponsored top-level domain name -- or TLD, the name for Web address suffixes such as .com or .org.
In a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, Salesforce accuses Microsoft of willfully violating five of its patents and using them in everything from Windows 7 to the Windows Live authentication system.
More than a year and a half after he was arrested in Tehran, Hossein Derakhshan, an influential Iranian-Canadian blogger also known as Hoder, was put on trial, according to Iranian news reports and statements by his family posted online.
The company that oversees Web addresses is expected to give the go-ahead for the creation of a .xxx suffix for websites with pornographic content, company officials indicated. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the Internet on behalf of the U.S. government, has in the past resisted creating a .xxx generic domain name system akin to those for .com and .net.
Lawmakers questioned Federal Communications Commission officials about their plans to regulate Internet access, and overhaul an $8 billion federal phone subsidy fund so it can be used to fund new broadband lines. Members of the Senate Commerce Committee questioned three FCC commissioners about FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal for the agency to assert more control over the way broadband providers manage Internet traffic.
Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced that they have sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs expressing their concerns and asking for answers regarding reports that Apple is gathering location information on its customers. "Given the limited ability of Apple users to opt out of the revised policy and still be able to take advantage of the features of their Apple products, we are concerned about the impact the collection of such data could have on the privacy of Apple's customers," the letter reads.
A lawsuit that was filed on June 9 against Apple and AT&T over the discontinued unlimited data plan for the iPad 3G has been amended and re-filed to include additional iPad 3G customers. The suit, which is being presented as a proposed class action lawsuit, currently names three individuals who claim that Apple and AT&T "baited" them into purchasing an iPad 3G with the promises of a flexible unlimited data plan, "only to have that promise reneged upon within weeks of their purchases."
Twitter has settled charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that it "deceived consumers" by allowing hackers to obtain administrative control over Twitter because of loose security. The FTC said that the popular social networking site allowed hackers in 2009 to obtain "tweets," the 140-character micro-blogs users sent out, that were designated private and send out phony tweets pretending to be from then-President elect Barack Obama and Fox News, among others.
A new system to police privacy abuses by companies that track consumers' Web-surfing habits for ad targeting will be launched in coming months by groups whose members include heavy users of this type of information -- Internet companies such as Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and advertising companies like WPP PLC.
The company that oversees Web addresses ending in .org said on it was introducing extra security measures to guard against identity theft. .Org, which is monitored by the Washington-based Public Interest Registry, is the first generic domain name system to adopt the extra measures, but others, such as .com and .net, are expected to follow.
A group of public interest groups, foreign lawmakers, academics and others released a statement outlining what they describe as numerous flaws with a draft agreement aimed at curbing counterfeiting and piracy being negotiated by the United States and several countries.
A request by the North Carolina Department of Revenue for personally identifiable Amazon.com customer data that could be linked to purchases is unconstitutional because it violates Internet users' rights to privacy and free speech, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement has been dismissed. In a decision, United States District Court Judge Louis L. Stanton granted YouTube owner Google's motion for summary judgment that it qualifies for "safe harbor" protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
After accusing HTC of infringing on 20 of its iPhone patents in March, Apple has expanded its suit. Apple has tacked on two more patents that it claims the Taiwanese handset manufacturer is in violation of using, according to a legal filing in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
Google Inc. asked a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court's order blocking online financial news service Theflyonthewall.com Inc. from issuing immediate reports of banks' stock upgrades and downgrades. The March ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York could impair the distribution of factual information over the Internet and have a negative impact on a wide variety of online services, Google, joined by Twitter Inc., said in a so-called friend-of-the-court brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York.
An Australian government report into cybercrime has recommended that internet service providers force customers to use antivirus and firewall software or risk being disconnected.
Apple Inc. is now collecting the "precise," "real-time geographic location" of its users' iPhones, iPads and computers. In an updated version of its privacy policy, the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree, Apple and unspecified "partners and licensees" may collect and store user location data.
U.S. regulators are holding talks with phone and cable companies about a compromise that would give the government authority over Internet lines without adopting controversial new rules the industry opposes. Edward Lazarus, the chief of staff at the Federal Communications Commission, and other senior FCC staffers are holding closed-door meetings with a small group of lobbyists representing Internet providers, including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and Internet services companies such as Google Inc. and Skype Ltd.
The United States will go after foreign websites that pirate American music and movies as part of a new national strategy to stop sales of counterfeit and pirated goods, Vice President Joe Biden said. "This is theft, clear and simple," Biden said at a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other Cabinet officials to discuss the new strategy, which also includes steps to reduce piracy and counterfeiting within the United States.
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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.