Ignoring Apple's public assertion that its developers are protected by its patent licensing agreements, Lodsys filed a patent infringement claim against seven developers who have created apps for iOS, Mac OS X, and Android. In so doing, Lodsys has increased pressure on Apple and Google to indemnify their developers or propose a settlement, lest developers conclude that the risks of developing mobile applications outweigh the potential rewards.
Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner has hired an attorney to investigate the hacking of his Twitter account after a lewd photo was sent to one of his followers, his office said. His office confirmed to Reuters that the New York congressman, who has a high profile as an advocate of liberal causes, has hired an attorney to advise him on whether or not he could press criminal charges as a result of the alleged hack of his Twitter account.
Top Pentagon contractors have been bleeding secrets for years as a result of penetrations of their computer networks, current and former national security officials say. The Defense Department, which runs its own worldwide eavesdropping, spying and code-cracking systems, says more than 100 foreign intelligence organizations have been trying to break into U.S. networks.
Yahoo and Alibaba Group have informally agreed to end a three-week old dispute over the ownership of the Chinese payment service, Alipay. But the deal is far from final because Softbank Corporation, the other party in the talks, has yet to agree, according to a person who was briefed on the matter and demanded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the U.S. to respond using traditional military force. The Pentagon's first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile country's military.
Samsung Electronics has asked a U.S. court to force Apple to hand over its next-generation models of the iPhone and iPad in the latest volley in a series of patent infringement suits between the two technology companies. Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered Samsung to give Apple copies of several models of its Galaxy mobile phones and tablets, as well as other products.
EU regulators opened in-depth probes into two takeover bids in the computer hardware sector involving two Asian companies and two U.S. peers, saying it was concerned the deals would reduce the number of rivals. U.S.-based Seagate Technology has said it wants to buy Samsung Electronics Co's loss-making hard disk drive unit for $1.4 billion -- a deal that will give Seagate access to Samsung's NAND-type flash chips for its solid-state drive products. Western Digital plans to purchase Hitachi Ltd's hard disk drive business for $4.3 billion to give it an edge in developing next-generation storage technology.
Indian authorities are considering revisions to new Internet regulations after criticism from free-speech advocates and companies like Google Inc. that fear they could be exposed to liability under the regime. The rules, which took effect in April, require Internet companies to remove objectionable content from their sites, including anything "grossly harmful" or "harassing," within 36 hours of being notified by authorities.
The security researchers at F-Secure have discovered several phishing sites hosted on Google Docs, Google's online office suite. This is not an uncommon occurrence, it seems. According to a new blog post on the security firm's site, the team says "we regularly see phishing sites via Google Docs spreadsheets and hosted on spreadsheets.google.com."
A hacker group posted a bogus report on the PBS website that claim slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were actually alive and residing in New Zealand. Apparently retaliating for a recent Frontline program about WikiLeaks, the group, which calls itself @LulzSec or The Lulz Boat, also disclosed passwords and e-mail addresses held by PBS on the public bulletin board Pastebin.com.
Hackers launched a "significant and tenacious" cyber attack on Lockheed Martin, a major defense contractor holding highly sensitive information, but its secrets remained safe, the company said. Lockheed Martin, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon confirmed that the contractor's information systems had come under attack.
Calling the case a "brazen and outrageous fraud," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg urged a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by a New York man claiming he owns a huge stake in the social networking website. In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York, Facebook and Zuckerberg said the lawsuit by Paul Ceglia is based on a "doctored contract and fabricated evidence."
As expected, the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to approve a bill that targets Internet pirates based overseas. The Protect IP Act looks to hand the U.S. Department of Justice the ability to seek a court order against allegedly infringing Web sites.
EBay and its online payment unit PayPal filed suit against Google and two executives for trade secret misappropriation related to mobile payment systems. The two executives, Osama Bedier and Stephanie Tilenius, were formerly with PayPal, and led the launch of Google's own mobile payment system.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce rejects as "regulatory overreach" the core of a new White House proposal for protecting America's computer systems from cyber attacks, according to an internal draft document. The criticism comes as a blow to the White House, where officials thought they had secured the influential business group's support.
Twitter Inc. said it will notify users if the micro-blogging service receives requests to disclose personal data and it protects their right to a legal defense. “To the extent we can, we give users notice of requests so they have opportunity to defend themselves,” Twitter U.K. General Manager Tony Wang said in a post on his Twitter account.
A judge refused to throw out a lawsuit by two Democratic political consultants who allege that The Huffington Post's founders stole the idea for the online news website from them. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Ramos denied a motion by lawyers for the media company to dismiss the lawsuit, meaning that the case will now likely move to the discovery phase of fact-finding by both sides.
Wireless providers won't have to comply with extensive requirements in a new bill that would force Internet companies to log data about their customers. The exemption has already drawn the ire of the U.S. Justice Department, and is likely to attract strong opposition from cable and DSL providers who would be the ones singled out for regulation.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to the chief executives of Apple and Google asking that their companies require app makers to have clear, understandable privacy policies. Franken wrote that this move would be “a simple first step” to give users and others basic information about what an app can access and share.
The Internet could be regulated, but not too much, not too soon and preferably not by a government. That is the broad take-away from two days of debate about the role of the Internet in society and the economy at the e-G8 summit in Paris. A delegation of six businessmen, including Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will face the difficult task of trying to convey a message about what they want for the future of the Internet to heads of state at the Group of Eight leading nations meeting in Deauville, France.
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