Facebook and Twitter users should get ready for spikes of spam -- like the surge that disrupted Twitter -- to become a recurring experience. The more new features Facebook and Twitter add, the more spammers can be expected to search out fresh security holes -- and exploit them until technicians respond, cybersecurity experts say.
The use of so-called Flash cookies are leading to an increasing number of federal lawsuits against media and technology companies and growing criticism from some privacy advocates who say the software may also allow the companies to create detailed profiles of consumers without their knowledge. Unlike other so-called HTML cookies, which store Web site preferences and can be managed by changing privacy settings in a Web browser, Flash cookies are stored in a separate directory that many users are unaware of and may not know how to control.
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Oracle Corp. said they resolved litigation over the appointment of Mark Hurd as a president of Oracle and reaffirmed the long-term partnership between the two companies. As part of the resolution of the legal dispute, Hurd and HP agreed to modify terms of his separation agreement from HP, including waiving his rights to 330,177 performance-based restricted stock units granted in January 2008, HP said in a regulatory filing.
Stephen Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County, said that police are close to wrapping up their investigation into the sale last spring of a prototype iPhone 4 and could forward their final report to his office within the next few weeks. Wagstaffe will then review the information and determine whether to file criminal charges.
Key Senate lawmakers planned to introduce legislation aiming to curb the growth of online piracy and counterfeiting. The bill gives teeth to the Justice Department for enforcement by expediting the process for cracking down on websites that are dedicated to making infringing goods and services available.
German officials met Internet firms to try to reconcile Germany's strict data protection rules with programs like Google's "Street View" mapping system, as calls for regulation intensify. Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner, who has clashed with social networking site Facebook over its handling of user data, told a newspaper she expected tougher legislation to rein in some ambitions of Google, the world's No. 1 search engine.
Piracy proponents created distributed denial of service attacks against music and film websites in the United States over the weekend, and threatened to launch a similar attack in the United Kingdom. The Motion Picture Association of America -- the major lobbying arm of the film industry and one of the most vocal foes of illicit file sharing of entertainment materials -- was down for most of a day, according to piracy blog Torrentfreak.
In a victory for the fight against criminal networks distributing counterfeit and adulterated drugs over the Internet, the world's second-biggest seller of website addresses is to begin screening customers for unapproved drug sales. Under pressure from security professionals, the internet governance group ICANN and the White House, the domain-name seller eNom quietly retained LegitScript, a company that vets Internet pharmaceutical concerns to make sure they are licensed to do business in the U.S.
Cloud-based breakthroughs face a formidable obstacle in Europe because strict privacy laws place rigid limits on the movement of information beyond the borders of the 27-country European Union. European governments fear that personal information could fall prey to aggressive marketers and cybercriminals once it leaves the jurisdictions of individual members, a concern that may protect consumers but one that hinders the free flow of data essential to cloud computing.
While its executives were not at the hearing, Internet giant Google found itself on the hot seat at a session convened by a House Judiciary panel that was examining competition in the evolving digital marketplace.
The House Commerce committee is getting close to crafting net neutrality legislation that would give the Federal Communications Commission authority for two years to enforce existing guidelines but leave out some key provisions pushed by public interest groups and some Internet companies. Democratic and Republican staff members have been in talks for weeks on a bill that outlines how Internet service providers can treat Web content and applications.
A Wall Street Journal investigation into online privacy has found that popular children's websites install more tracking technologies on personal computers than do the top websites aimed at adults. The Journal examined 50 sites popular with U.S. teens and children to see what tracking tools they installed on a test computer.
A House Judiciary panel grappled with how antitrust law should be applied to new and evolving digital industries in a way that promotes competition without stifling innovation. Most lawmakers on the Courts and Competition Policy Subcommittee argued that antitrust officials have a place in ensuring competition among technology companies but questioned witnesses about how to find the right balance.
The European Commission has launched an inquiry into the legality of Chinese state subsidies for mobile wireless modems, it said, raising the pressure on Chinese exporters targeting the EU's market in high-tech goods. The investigation follows a complaint by the European Union's sole producer of wireless modems, Option, the EU's executive said in its official journal.
More than a year after President Obama made a White House speech proclaiming that the protection of computer networks was a national priority, the federal government is still grappling with key questions about how to secure its computer systems as well as private networks deemed critical to U.S. security.
Hollywood studios and the maker and licensing authority of the High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection standard were scrambling to determine whether a so-called “master key” to the anti-piracy encryption technology has leaked onto the Internet. HDCP is a copy-protection technology that encrypts high-definition video traveling between set-top boxes and televisions.
Skyhook Wireless Inc. sued Google Inc., alleging the search giant muscled it out of business deals and infringed on its technology for determining the location of cellphones. In a complaint filed in Massachusetts Superior Court, Boston-based Skyhook alleges Google cost it tens of million of dollars by interfering with a contract, announced in April, to put its location technology on Motorola Inc. phones.
Craigslist said that it had permanently closed the section of its sites in the United States that carried sex-related advertising, but it defended its right to carry such advertisements as well as its efforts to fight sex trafficking. "Craigslist discontinued its adult services section on Sept. 3, 2010, and there are no plans to reinstate the category," said William Clinton Powell, director of customer and law enforcement relations at Craigslist.
Not quite half of United States senators and 40 percent of representatives own what a report called their FullName.com domain names. The report is aimed at focusing lawmakers' attention on a practice known as cybersquatting, in which individuals buy up domain names and then use them to extract money or engage in mischief.
Rights-holders will bear the brunt of the costs for tackling copyright infringers, the UK government has said. The music and film industry will pay three-quarters of the costs of pursuing Net pirates, with Internet service providers paying the remaining quarter.
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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.