Netherlands Adopts Net Neutrality Measure

The Netherlands became the first country in Europe, and only the second in the world, to enshrine the concept of network neutrality into national law by banning its mobile telephone operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for using Internet-based communications services like Skype or WhatsApp, a free text service. The measure, which was adopted with a broad majority in the lower house of the Dutch Parliament, the Tweede Kamer, will prevent KPN, the Dutch telecommunications market leader, and the Dutch units of Vodafone and T-Mobile, from blocking or charging for Internet services.

Judge Denies Samsung's Request to See Apple Products

A U.S. judge rejected Samsung's request for a peek at Apple's unreleased iPhone and iPad, which was brought in the course of high-stakes patent litigation between the two companies. Apple sued Samsung in April, claiming Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets infringe several patents and trademarks. Samsung counter-sued, asserting its own patents against Apple.

Brands Face Challenges with Expansion of Domain System

When it comes to branding on the Internet, 2012 may be the dawn of a chaotic new era with companies and other groups expected to battle over suffixes like .cancer, .chocolate and just about .anything. The decision by the body that governs Internet domain names to stop restricting them to suffixes like .com and .gov will change the way companies interact with consumers and how much they'll be paying to do so.

Court Says Website Didn't Engage in 'Hot News'

On its face, a ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Barclays v. Theflyonthewall.com seems like a win for the folks who republish the news. The Second Circuit, in an 88-page ruling, found that a financial news website called Theflyonthewall.com had not engaged in "hot news" misappropriation when it ran headlines about stock recommendations by Barclays, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit, and Morgan Stanley.

European Study Finds Faults with Minors' Privacy Online

The European Commission, which is still finding its way in regulating the Internet, published a study on how social networking sites treat minors. The most compelling result it found: Only Bebo and Myspace (which is owned by News Corp., publisher of this blog) “have default settings to make minors’ profiles accessible only to their approved list of contacts.”

British Police Arrest Suspected LulzSec Hacker

British police arrested a 19-year-old man who may be linked to the online hacker group LulzSec, the latest development in a global law-enforcement scramble to contain an outbreak of cyber attacks aimed at companies, governments and other entities. The arrest came as the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics Tuesday said it is investigating whether computer hackers have stolen data from the 2011 Census.

ICANN's Board Approves Plan for New Domain Names

The body that controls the way Internet domain names work, known as ICANN, has voted to open up the naming system so that any established organization with enough cash can apply to create its own version of .com, .org or .gov. In the for-profit world, that means that instead of going to coke.com or nike.com, you might be able to go to drink.coke or justdoit.nike.

White House Seeks Stiffer Sentences for Hackers

Even before a loosely organized group of hackers broke into the CIA's and Senate's public websites, the White House asked for stiffer sentences for breaking into government and private computer networks. Last month the Obama administration pressed Congress to pass stronger cybersecurity measures, including a doubling of the maximum sentence for potentially endangering national security to 20 years in prison.

ICANN's Board Set to Approve Domain Name Plan

The Internet is poised for potentially one of its biggest shakeups in years as an industry body prepares to vote on a proposal to open up new domain suffixes for private companies. Under the changes to be decided at a meeting in Singapore, businesses would no longer be restricted to the list of generic top level domains (gTLDs) that include .com, .net and .org when they apply to register a website address.

  • Read the article: AFP

NSA Working with ISPs to Thwart Cyberattacks

The National Security Agency is working with Internet service providers to deploy a new generation of tools to scan e-mail and other digital traffic with the goal of thwarting cyberattacks against defense firms by foreign adversaries, senior defense and industry officials say. The novel program, which began last month on a voluntary, trial basis, relies on sophisticated NSA data sets to identify malicious programs slipped into the vast stream of Internet data flowing to the nation’s largest defense firms.

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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.