Excited about Google Music, the recently announced free streaming service? A lot of folks are -- and others are looking to take advantage of that enthusiasm by trying to get you to hand over your personal data on the basis that they'll give you what's needed to get started with Google Music.
The makers of several iOS applications have received cease and desist letters over the use of in-app purchasing, from parties who claim the feature infringes on an existing patent. Computer LogicX, which makes Mix and Mash and Mix and Mash LITE, as well as developer James Thomson, who makes PCalc and DragThing, have received letters threatening legal action if the feature is not removed.
Osama bin Laden used a simple but clever way to send lots of emails without being detected by the U.S., the Associated Press reported. Citing interviews with counter-terrorism sources in the U.S. government, the AP said that bin Laden used thumb drives, the flash memory sticks that can hold a considerable number of email messages, to send his emails.
The online eyeglasses seller who terrified customers in the hopes of creating buzz about his Web site, and raising its profile in Google searches, pleaded guilty to two counts of sending threatening communications, one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Vitaly Borker, who owned and operated DecorMyEyes.com out of his home in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, admitted in court that he had lied to and frightened his customers, suggesting that business pressures explained his behavior.
Having facilitated the mass piracy of billions of songs over a 10-year period, Lime Wire founder Mark Gorton and his file-sharing company have agreed to compensate the four largest record labels by paying them $105 million. Gorton's lawyers closed in on a settlement agreement after meeting to hammer out a deal.
The PR firm behind a negative campaign against Google's Social Circle feature has confirmed it was working on behalf of social-networking giant Facebook. In a statement, Burson-Marsteller backed away from the campaign, saying it went against the firm's policies and "should have been declined."
Apple is facing another lawsuit over location data, this time from a filing with the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. According to The Loop, the action filed by one Lymaris M. Rivera Diaz accuses Apple of transmitting users' location information to third-party advertisers. Charges include fraud, unfair trade practices and abuse.
The European Union's top advisory body on online privacy will issue an opinion this month saying that information collected by phone and Internet companies on customer locations must be treated like names, birthdays and other personal data, EU officials say. That means smartphone giants like Apple Inc. and Google Inc. will likely have to obtain user consent before gathering the data, delete the information after a certain period of time and keep it anonymous.
Google Inc. is close to settling a U.S. criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break U.S. laws, according to people familiar with the matter.
The White House issued a proposal to secure critical U.S. infrastructure and federal computer networks that aims to fend off attackers while assuring the privacy of Internet users. A legislative proposal from the Obama administration calls for the Department of Homeland Security to formally take over the job of ensuring the federal government's computers are protected, including oversight of intrusion detection and prevention systems.
Mark S. Zuckerberg, the Indianapolis guy who shares the name of Facebook's founder, realized his own Facebook account had been shut down. Facebook sent him error messages that said he had a fraudulent identity.
A group of U.S. lawmakers wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to push companies to disclose when they have fallen victim to cyberattacks. Three weeks after Sony Corp. was forced to shut down its PlayStation network by hackers who stole users' information, the group, which includes Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, on Wednesday sent a letter to the SEC asking it to issue guidance stating that companies must report when they have suffered a major network attack and disclose details on intellectual property or trade secrets that hackers may have stolen.
Amazon.com could cut its partnership with affiliates in more U.S. states that require the online retailer to collect sales tax, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said. The comments from the world's largest online retailer come less than a month after brick-and-mortar rival Best Buy expressed optimism about potential online taxation reforms that would expand the collection of sales taxes on items bought over the Internet.
Congressmen Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) have asked Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg to explain a security vulnerability that gave advertisers and other third parties access to users' accounts and personal information. Security company Symantec Corp. discovered the vulnerability and alerted Facebook, which said it was fixed.
The U.S. Justice Department said its nine-year-old antitrust agreement with Microsoft Corp., set to expire May 12, permanently changed the software marketplace, making it more open, fair and innovative. The final judgment in the Microsoft case, in effect since 2002, prevented the company from using its monopoly Windows operating system for personal computing to quash competition, the department said today in a statement.
A top-five public relations firm stepped up a whisper campaign to get top-tier media outlets to run news stories and editorials about how an obscure Google Gmail feature -- Social Circle -- ostensibly tramples the privacy of millions of Americans and violates federal fair trade rules. Google said that Social Circle in fact allows Gmail users to make social connections based on public information and private connections across its products in ways that don't skirt privacy.
At least 23,000 file sharers soon will likely get notified they are being sued for downloading the Expendables in what has become the single largest illegal-BitTorrent-downloading case in U.S. history. A federal judge in the case has agreed to allow the U.S. Copyright Group to subpoena internet service providers to find out the identity of everybody who had illegally downloaded the 2010 Sylvester Stallone flick -- meaning the number of defendants is likely to dramatically increase as new purloiners are discovered.
A security vulnerability on Facebook Inc. for years gave advertisers and other third parties a way to access users' accounts and personal information, according to security firm Symantec Corp. But Facebook said it had fixed the problem and found no evidence of the issue resulting in private information being leaked.
Saying there has been a fundamental shift for cellphone users in determining "who has their information and what they're doing with it," Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, called a Congressional hearing to question executives from both Google and Apple on data location and mobile devices. The hearing was the first for the newly formed Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law, led by Senator Franken.
The Justice Department is investigating Google advertising, and Google may have to pay $500 million, according to a Google filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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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.