The fallout from a patent dispute between Kodak and web photo site Shutterfly could embroil many online image sites, says patent experts. Kodak claimed it owns patents regarding the display of online images that is being infringed by Shutterfly.
Cyprus has put off legislation to ban online gambling because of a three-month delay in feedback on its plans from its European Union partners, the finance ministry said. The east Mediterranean island's Communist-led government wants to ban online poker, slot machines and other casino games, which legislators say have an estimated turnover of 2.5 billion euros a year. It does not intend to ban online sports betting.
Facing growing public concern about privacy breaches, a lobby representing mobile-phone advertisers and publishers called for guidelines to better protect smartphone users from intrusive tracking technologies. The Mobile Marketing Association said it would begin work on a "comprehensive set of mobile privacy guidelines" to help marketers and phone users navigate the rapidly changing landscape.
The Federal Communications Commission voted to approve its first ever Internet access regulation, which ensures unimpeded access to any legal Web content for home Internet users. The rules have sparked intense debate and lobbying over whether such legislation is needed, and are likely to face a legal challenge.
British government plans to block pornography "at source" are unlikely to prove effective, say ISPs. The proposal to cut off access to pornographic material was floated by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in an interview with the Sunday Times.
Craigslist has closed the door on all its adult services sections, in every country in which it operates. For the 50 million Craigslist users in the U.S., that door has been shut since September, when the online classified service yielded to pressure from a group of attorney generals from 17 states, who complained the site was passively facilitating prostitution and child trafficking.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission appears to have the votes he needs to pass a framework for net neutrality rules. Net neutrality -- which broadly speaking is an effort to ensure open access to Web sites and online services -- is on the agenda of an FCC meeting Tuesday in Washington.
When federal authorities shut down five Web sites last month on suspicion of copyright infringement, they gave no warning and offered no details of their investigation, and they have not filed any criminal charges since. But after the seizure warrant used in the operation was released, the operators of several of the sites said in interviews that they were innocent of infringement, and criticized the investigation for misrepresenting how their sites worked.
Gawker Media has implemented a number of changes to tighten security, according to a staff memo posted online on a Poynter Institute blog. The changes follow a recent hack that compromised user passwords and corporate communications.
Britain's minister for culture, communications and creative industries is taking aim at all three areas by asking the nation's Internet service providers to block porn from going to home Internet users. The 3-C minister, Ed Vaizey, told the Sunday Times that according to the proposal, home Internet users would have to ask their ISPs for access to porn, which seems hugely embarrassing, demeaning and a violation of free speech.
Microsoft has killed an anti-piracy service that checked whether customers were running legal copies of Office, saying that the program had "served its purpose."
Personal data collected by Google's UK Street View cars has been deleted. The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which has been criticised for not taking a more hardline stance against Google, confirmed the deletion.
Journalists can now post live updates on Twitter Inc. social-networking service from within U.K. courtrooms, allowing news organizations to provide immediate information about ongoing court proceedings such as last week's bail request by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Igor Judge, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, said in a guidance document that "live text-based communications" such as mobile e-mail and social media can be used by reporters during hearings.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by contact lens retailer 1-800-Contacts alleging that its trademark was infringed by competitor Lens.com's search ads. Lens.com and its affiliates allegedly arranged for its ads to appear in search engines' sponsored results in response to searches for 1-800-Contacts and variations of that term.
Online stores that sell fake drugs or pills without prescriptions are being targeted by the U.S. government. It has set up an initiative that will try to shut down the web stores and educate people about the dangers of buying drugs from such places.
Few devices know more personal details about people than the smartphones in their pockets: phone numbers, current location, often the owner's real name -- even a unique ID number that can never be changed or turned off. These phones don't keep secrets. They are sharing this personal data widely and regularly, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
Intel Corp.'s $7.68 billion deal to buy security-software specialist McAfee Inc. is running into close scrutiny by European officials that could at least delay completing the high-profile transaction. The European Union's antitrust regulator has privately expressed concerns during its preliminary review of the deal, which could prompt the regulator to submit the deal to a lengthy examination, people familiar with the matter said.
A Japanese woman is suing Google for displaying images of underwear hanging on her washing line on its Street View function. The woman, who has not been named, is suing the Internet giant for 600,000 Yen, claiming the images caused her psychological distress, according to Japan's Mainichi newspaper.
Connecticut's attorney general said his office may take legal action against Google Inc. after the Internet company rejected his request to turn over personal data it inadvertently collected from wireless networks. The attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, and the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection last week issued a civil investigative demand -- the equivalent to a subpoena -- for data collected by Google's Street View vehicles.
Google said it will begin alerting users of the world's most popular search engine websites that may have been hacked. Cyber criminals break into websites and change their content to target users with spam messages or trick them into sharing personal and credit-card information, according to Google.
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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.