The agency governing Internet addresses approved the creation of a new red-light district on the Web, but the decision may not end years of fighting over the contentious plan. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers authorized the creation of an .xxx suffix for pornography Web sites.
More than a day after RSA security posted an “urgent” alert warning that a sophisticated intruder might be able to initiate a “broad attack” on a password device used by millions of customers, the announcement and its meaning remain shrouded in mystery. RSA, a division of the data management company EMC Corporation, will not say how its system was compromised and what specific kinds of threats its customers are facing.
Microsoft Corp. and federal law enforcement agents seized computer equipment from Internet hosting facilities across the U.S. in a sweeping legal attack designed to cripple the leading source of junk email on the Internet. Microsoft launched the raids as part of a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle in early February against unnamed operators of the Rustock "botnet," a vast network of computers around the globe infected with malicious software that allows its masterminds to distribute enormous volumes of spam, peddling everything from counterfeit software to pharmaceuticals.
Information about RSA's SecurID authentication tokens used by millions of people including government employees and banks was stolen during an "extremely sophisticated cyberattack," putting customers relying on them to secure their networks at risk, the company said. "Recently, our security systems identified an extremely sophisticated cyberattack in progress being mounted against RSA," Executive Chairman Art Coviello, wrote in an open letter to customers, which was posted on the company's Web site.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and other large retailers are ratcheting up a political campaign to force Amazon.com Inc. to collect sales taxes, sensing opportunity in the budget crises gripping statehouses nationwide. The big-box stores are backing a coalition called the Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which is leading efforts to change sales-tax laws in more than a dozen states including Texas and California.
The porn industry is about to get .xxx as its own .com -- and after years of protests by the Bush administration, the Obama administration is standing on the sidelines as it happens. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit California corporation that oversees the creation of top-level domain names like .com, .net and .biz, is expected to approve the .xxx domain.
Rustock, one of the largest and most notorious spam botnets, suddenly fell silent and has remained off line. The takedown of Rustock's 26 command-and-control servers appears to be the result of a coordinated effort by longstanding anti-spamming groups, the most prominent of which is Spamhaus.org, according to cybersecurity blogger Brian Krebs.
Social-networking sites such as Facebook, or search engines such as Google, may face court action if they fail to obey planned EU data privacy rules, European Union justice chief Viviane Reding said. Reding will propose an overhaul of the EU's 16-year-old laws on data protection in the coming months to enforce more safeguards on how personal information is used.
App developers are concerned that Google is being too lax in its regulation of the Android Market, where apps are made available for download to the millions of Android phones now in use -- and allowing copyright infringements, as well as the risk of malware-laden apps, to flourish.
A federal magistrate said Sony may subpoena the PayPal account of PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz, as the gamemaker ratchets up its civil lawsuit against the man who released the first full-fledged PS3 jailbreak in the console’s four-year history. The order came two weeks after Magistrate Joseph Spero in San Francisco granted Sony the right to acquire the internet IP addresses of anybody who had visited Hotz’s website from January of 2009 onward.
House Republicans won another battle in their war on net-neutrality regulations in a highly partisan committee vote. A resolution to repeal the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules passed the Energy and Commerce Committee and is now headed to the full House.
The Federal Trade Commission announced that it has barred Chitika, an online advertiser, from misleading consumers about its privacy policy. The company allows Internet users to opt out of being monitored online when they clicked on ads that Chitika places on websites. But the FTC found that from May 2008 to February 2010, the promised opt-outs lasted only ten days, instead of the promised 10 years.
The wild popularity of Facebook and other social media sites has spawned a cottage industry of con artists promising average investors a chance to cash in on the frenzy through shares in the companies ahead of their initial public offerings. While the pre-IPO offerings may be real, investors must be aware that the people touting them may be frauds, the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said.
The Obama administration plans to ask Congress to pass a "privacy bill of rights" to protect Americans, amid growing concern about the tracking of Internet users. Lawrence E. Strickling, an assistant secretary of commerce, plans to call for the legislation at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The National Federation for the Blind requested that the Department of Justice investigate Google for what it considers to be the discriminatory nature of its Google Apps product. The NFB contends that Google Apps "contains significant accessibility barriers for blind people utilizing screen access technology, which converts what is on the computer screen into synthesized speech or Braille."
WIPO is set to consider the protection of trademarks online, including recommendations for a harmonised dispute resolution procedure between mark owners and Internet service providers. The topic sits on the agenda for the upcoming meeting of WIPO’s Standing Committee on the Laws of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (STC) on March 28 to April 1.
Iran is gearing up for a cyberwar campaign after being hit with coordinated, sophisticated cyberattacks last year that reportedly crippled its Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. The Islamic Republic plans “to fight our enemies with abundant power in cyberspace and Internet warfare,” according to Brigadier Gen. Gholamreza Jalali, who leads the country’s Passive Defense Organization.
The White House proposed sweeping revisions to U.S. copyright law, including making "illegal streaming" of audio or video a federal felony and allowing FBI agents to wiretap suspected infringers. In a 20-page white paper, the Obama administration called on the U.S. Congress to fix "deficiencies that could hinder enforcement" of intellectual property laws.
A do-not-track tool that lets consumers keep their online habits from being monitored “probably will be” backed up by regulation, according to the CEO of Mozilla Corp., the company that makes the Firefox Web browser. Moves by Microsoft and Firefox indicate that browser makers are responding to a call by the Federal Trade Commission to develop such a system -- and that they are starting to compete on privacy protections.
A Welsh politician has become the first U.K. citizen to lose a 'twibel' libel case based on something posted on social media site Twitter. Trouble flared during a 2009 County Council by-election campaign when eventual winner, Plaid Cymru candidate Colin Elsbury, tweeted that leading rival Eddie Talbot had been removed from a polling station by police.
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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.