The Internet has made Stuart Lawley a wealthy man. Now he's poised to make his next fortune selling Internet addresses to pornographers.
- Read the article: Bloomberg Businessweek
Spammers Using World Cup-Related Messages
A report released by Symantec Hosted Services, a unit of security-software maker Symantec, found that as much as one-fourth of all global spam sent since March has been related to the world soccer tournament. No wonder: Hundreds of millions of fans around the world are glued to TVs, watching World Cup matches.
- Read the article: Bloomberg Businessweek
Groups Urge FTC to Update Child Privacy Act
A coalition of child advocates and health, consumer and privacy groups urged the FTC to update a 1998 law aimed at protecting children's privacy online to include the use of new devices such as mobile phones and gaming devices to get on the Internet.
- Read the article: National Journal
Three Lawsuits Target iPhone 4's Antenna Problem
Apple has been sued by iPhone customers in at least three complaints related to antenna problems on its newest model. A putative class action filed in the U.S. District court for the Northern District of California against Apple and AT&T -- the iPhone's exclusive wireless carrier in the United States -- includes allegations of fraud by concealment, negligence, intentional misrepresentation and defective design.
- Read the article: Reuters
Universities Required to Implement Antipiracy Procedures
Frat parties and free music have been among the perks of attending college in the United States during the past decade. But now the days of using fat campus bandwidth to download movies and music via file-sharing networks appear to be coming to an end.
- Read the article: CNET News
Europe Begins Study of Net Neutrality's Impact
The European Commission announced that it has launched an examination into the issue of network neutrality that will look at such issues as whether Internet service providers should be allowed to adopt network management practices that prioritize certain types of content over others.
- Read the article: National Journal
Google's China Future Unclear as It Seeks to Keep License
Google's move to assuage China by severing a direct Internet link to an uncensored companion search site in Hong Kong could buy the company a reprieve from losing its operating license, but in the long run, Chinese officials will not tolerate efforts to expand Internet freedom if that threatens the regime, analysts said.
- Read the article: The Washington Post
Finland Makes Broadband Access a Legal Right
Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband a legal right for every citizen. From 1 July every Finn will have the right to access to a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection.
- Read the article: BBC News
Feds Seize Assets from Alleged Movie-Sharing Websites
A week after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned that the government would start cracking down on illegal file sharing, the feds swooped in and seized assets belonging to operators of accused movie-pirating sites. The government also took control of at least seven of the sites in question: Movies-Links.tv, Now-Movies.com, TVShack.net, Filespump.com, Planetmoviez.com, ZML.com, ThePirateCity.org, Ninjavideo.net, and NinjaThis.net.
- Read the article: CNET News
Drug Company Official Criticizes ICANN on Domain Names
The head of a company aimed at ensuring the legitimacy of online pharmacies said that the group that manages the Internet's address system is not doing enough to crack down on firms that sell Internet address registrations to Web sites that offer fake or stolen drugs without a prescription.
- Read the article: National Journal
Law Firm Considers Class-Action Suit for iPhone Issues
A California law firm may be looking to build a class-action lawsuit against Apple over the iPhone 4's network reception issues, now known online as the iPhone 4 death grip.
- Read the article: PC World
SAP Competitor Files Antitrust Complaint in Europe
Versata Inc., a unit of closely held Trilogy Inc., filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Germany's SAP AG, alleging it has abused its dominant position in the enterprise software market. In the filing, Versata accuses SAP of illegally excluding the U.S. firm's retail pricing software from SAP's widely used enterprise software platform in order to boost sales of its own pricing tool.
- Read the article: The Wall Street Journal
Google Plans to Stop Redirecting Chinese Website
In an effort to appease Beijing as it seeks to renew its license to operate in mainland China, Google plans to stop automatically redirecting Chinese users to its Hong Kong site. For the last three months, Google has found a clever way to overcome its ethical objections to self-censoring search results on its Web site for mainland China, google.cn.
- Read the article: The New York Times
Canadian Registrar May Refuse to Sell .xxx Domains
One of Vancouver's leading domain registrars is still grappling with how to approach news that .xxx has been given an official online domain designation for websites carrying pornographic content. Cybele Negris, co-founder and president of Webnames.ca, told BIV via e-mail that the Vancouver company, which doesn’t allow objectionable material on the sites it hosts, likely would not sell sites with the .xxx suffix. But there may be exceptions.
- Read the article: BIV
Swedish Group Behind Pirate Bay Disbands
The Swedish anti-copyright group Piratbyran, which gave rise to the popular file-sharing website The Pirate Bay has disbanded. Marcin de Kaminski, a founder of Piratbyran, which means "piracy bureau" in English, told BBC News "we don't feel we are needed" any more.
- Read the article: BBC News
Supreme Court Lets Business-Method Patents Continue
The door to the patent office should remain open to those who create methods of doing business, the Supreme Court said in a long-awaited decision. The plaintiffs in the case, Bernard L. Bilski and Rand A. Warsaw, tried to patent a system that institutions like businesses and schools could use to hedge the seasonal risks of buying energy.
- Read the article: The New York Times
File-Sharer Files Answer to "Hurt Locker" Complaint
The file-sharing community has gone on the offensive in its court fight with the makers of the Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker." Jeff Kowalski, 28, filed an "Answer" to the complaint laid against 5,000 as yet unnamed people who the film's producers allege have shared the movie illegally via peer-to-peer services.
- Read the article: CNET News
Obama to Expand Wireless Spectrum for Commercial Use
The Obama administration is seeking to nearly double the wireless communications spectrum available for commercial use over the next 10 years, an effort that could greatly enhance the ability of consumers to send and receive video and data with smartphones and other hand-held devices. President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum that aims to make available for auction some 500 megahertz of spectrum that is now controlled by the federal government and private companies, administration officials said.
- Read the article: The New York Times
Schools Struggle with How to Address Cyberbullying
Schools these days are confronted with complex questions on whether and how to deal with cyberbullying, an imprecise label for online activities ranging from barrages of teasing texts to sexually harassing group sites. Affronted by cyberspace’s escalation of adolescent viciousness, many parents are looking to schools for justice, protection, even revenge, but many educators feel unprepared or unwilling to be prosecutors and judges.
- Read the article: The New York Times
German Official Wants More Privacy Info from Google
Apple must "immediately make clear" what data it collects from users of its products and for what purposes, Germany's justice minister was quoted as saying by Der Spiegel magazine. "Users of iPhones and other GPS devices must be aware of what kind of information about them is being collected," Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told the German weekly.
- Read the article: Reuters
