The blogging site WordPress was hit by a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The attack is "affecting connectivity" for many of WordPress' more than 25 million bloggers, Sara Rosso of Automattic, which owns WordPress, told Sophos.
A Texas man was charged with illegally streaming live sporting events and other programs on one of the most popular websites for illegal television content, a federal prosecutor in New York said. Brian McCarthy, 32, has been accused of running live feeds of football, hockey, basketball and wrestling on his website www.channelsurfing.net, which he registered in 2005.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have made his state the first in the U.S. to re-introduce online gambling. But he also suggested the state Legislature could revive the effort by asking voters to approve the measure by referendum.
After three years, eight months and 27 days, Robert Soloway -- the internet villain dubbed the "Spam King" by federal prosecutors -- is allowed back online. In his first interview since release from the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon, Soloway swears his spamming days are over.
House Financial Services Committee ranking member Barney Frank, D-Mass., has found a new partner in his quest to legalize Internet gambling and to reverse a 2006 law that outlawed it. Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., plans to introduce with Frank a similar version of legislation the Massachusetts Democrat helped push through the Financial Services Committee in the last Congress.
European Union antitrust authorities raided several publishers in Europe, searching for evidence that they had acted illegally to keep prices high in the nascent electronic-book market. The EU's interest dovetails with ongoing investigations by authorities in the U.K., California and Texas into the arrangements that publishers make to sell digital books.
Barnes & Noble has settled a lawsuit brought against it by Spring Design, which had accused the top U.S. bookseller of illegally copying a screen design for its popular Nook electronic book reader. Under terms of the agreement, Spring is granting Barnes & Noble a non-exclusive license for all of its patents and patent applications.
Amazon.com has threatened to cut off more than 10,000 affiliates in California if state lawmakers pass legislation requiring the Internet retailer to collect sales tax from state residents. Seattle-based Amazon said four bills introduced in the state legislature are unconstitutional because they would require sellers with no physical presence in California to collect sales tax from its residents, Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president for global public policy, wrote in a letter to the California Board of Equalization, the state agency responsible for collecting property and sales taxes.
A New Hampshire man has been sentenced to 82 months in federal prison for his role in an international computer hacking conspiracy and failing to file income tax returns while living in Boston. Asu Pala, 37, was ordered to forfeit $7.9 million and pay $2.2 million in back income taxes.
Efforts to legalize online gambling in the U.S. are moving to the states as lawmakers roll the dice on bills that aim to steer around federal laws effectively prohibiting Internet wagering. The first real test of the state efforts comes in New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie is expected to decide the fate of a bill that would let Atlantic City casino companies run gambling websites for state residents.
Former Senator Christopher Dodd, who chose not to run for reelection last year after controversies including an ethics probe and the taking of preferential mortgages from Countrywide's CEO, will be the new head of the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA said that Dodd, who had served in the Senate since 1981, would become its new chairman and chief executive officer as of March 17.
The U.S. government has labeled China's top search engine, Baidu, and a popular e-commerce platform "notorious markets" linked to sales of pirated and fake goods. The two companies were among 33 websites or public markets in China, Russia, India and other countries that the U.S. Trade Representative's office said facilitate trade in music, clothing and other goods that are fake or unauthorized copies.
The second of two men charged with stealing more than 100,000 e-mail addresses of Apple iPad users has been released on bail in New Jersey. Andrew Auernheimer and San Francisco resident Daniel Spitler face one count each of fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization.
The California nonprofit organization that operates the Internet's levers has always been a target for global heavies like Russia and China that prefer the United Nations in charge of the Web. But these days, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is fending off attacks from a seemingly unlikely opposition: the Obama administration.
As the surreptitious tracking of Internet users becomes more aggressive and widespread, tiny start-ups and technology giants alike are pushing a new product: privacy. Companies including Microsoft Corp., McAfee Inc. -- and even some online-tracking companies themselves -- are rolling out new ways to protect users from having their movements monitored online.
A rogue Android app that's been tweaked by hackers can hijack a smartphone and run up big texting bills before the owner knows it, Symantec said. The newest in a line of compromised Android apps, said Vikram Thakur, a principle security response manager at Symantec, is Steamy Window, a free program that Chinese hackers have modified, then re-released into the wild.
Despite congressional criticism, Facebook is planning to resume the aborted rollout of a feature that allowed the optional sharing of addresses and mobile phone numbers. Facebook said in a letter that it is evaluating different ways to "enhance user control" over information sharing that would go into effect "once the feature is re-enabled."
Sen. Charles Schumer called on major U.S. web site operators such as Amazon and Twitter to switch to a more secure protocol to prevent identify theft and other security breaches in places like coffee shops. The New York Democrat told a news conference held at a Manhattan coffee shop that growing WiFi access at such shops, restaurants and other businesses was helping hackers gain user information like credit card numbers and account passwords.
The Obama administration has failed in its bid to allow it and other governments to veto future top-level domain names, a proposal before ICANN that raised questions about balancing national sovereignty with the venerable Internet tradition of free expression. A group of nations rejected that part of the U.S. proposal, concluding instead that governments can offer nonbinding "advice" about controversial suffixes such as .gay but will not receive actual veto power.
In a hit job, Craigslist rivak Oodle.com circulated a study linking Craigslist activity to 330 crimes, including 12 murders and 105 robberies or assaults during a 12-month period. However, the report in many ways backfired on Oodle, with blogs and online commenters criticizing the company for its tactics.
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