The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that a traditional Internet download of sound recording does not constitute a public performance of the recorded musical work under federal copyright law. The justices refused to review a ruling by a U.S. appeals court in New York that the download itself of a musical work does not fall within the law's definition of a public performance of that work.
The top official at the Channel Islands regulator that licensed Full Tilt Poker to run an online-poker business said he became aware the site had major financial problems only after the U.S. government in April indicted company executives and filed charges against Full Tilt. "What wasn't known to us is that the Department of Justice had frozen funds associated with the operation of Full Tilt," Andre Wilsenach, chief executive of the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, told attorneys and regulators at a conference in Las Vegas.
A federal judge refused to grant a temporary restraining order to Timelines.com, a Chicago company that says Facebook’s timeline service may “eliminate” it. In return, Facebook has promised to limit access for now and to hold back on a full launch.
Lawyers for Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. offered Apple Inc. a deal on a patent dispute over the two companies' tablet computers that could allow the Korean company to launch its Galaxy Tab 10.1 device in Australia. The agreement, if accepted by Apple, could see the tablet's launch soon, Samsung's attorney David Catterns told Dow Jones Newswires after a hearing at the country's Federal Court in Sydney.
China is vowing anew to punish people who post rumors and falsehoods on the Internet as the government tries to rein in forums that have increasingly become sources of debate and criticism. A spokesperson for the State Internet Information Office, a regulatory body under China's Cabinet, said in a statement released that Internet rumors and hoaxes were "malignant tumors" that harm social stability.
Verizon Communications, the largest U.S. cell phone carrier, is suing to overturn new government regulations governing the flow of Internet traffic. The lawsuit filed in Washington’s U.S. Court of Appeals contends the Federal Communications Commission overstepped its authority in setting its so-called "net neutrality" rules last year.
U.S. utilities and other crucial industries face an increasing number of cyberbreak-ins by attackers using more sophisticated methods, a senior Homeland Security Department official told reporters during the first tour of the government's secretive defense labs intended to protect the nation's power grid, water and communications systems. Acting DHS Deputy Undersecretary Greg Schaffer told reporters at one of several nondescript buildings that house Control System Security Program facilities that the world's utilities and industries increasingly are becoming vulnerable as they wire their industrial machinery to the Internet.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has sided with Apple in the company's bitter lawsuit against Psystar. Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder ruled that Psystar's Mac clones violated copyrights Apple holds, and the ban on sales will be upheld.
Amazon's new Silk browser has raised some eyebrows among privacy and security experts. "Every site, everything you do online [through Silk] will go through Amazon," said Aaron Brauer-Rieke of the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), Washington D.C.-based advocacy group.
Ten public-interest groups asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook Inc.’s tracking of Internet users after they log off the world’s most popular social-networking service. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and nine other groups, in a letter filed with the FTC, also asked it to examine whether Facebook’s new Ticker and Timeline features boost privacy risks for users by combining biographical information in an easily accessible format.
The Justice Department has asked Google for more information about its proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility, Google said. In a blog post, Google Senior Vice President Dennis Woodside said the request for additional information is "routine" and the firm remains confident that the deal will be approved.
Chinese police in Shanghai have arrested five people for making and selling fake versions of Apple's iPhone, a local newspaper reported. Police said those arrested were part of an organized gang that bought components for the phones from Guangdong in southern China and assembled them in rented apartments in Shanghai, the Shanghai Daily said.
Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said that the online retailer would collect taxes on its sales to California residents by 2013. California legislators and Amazon officials agreed to a deal in Sacramento earlier this month over the issue of sales-tax collection from online retailers.
Public interest group Free Press filed a petition for review in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, challenging U.S. Internet rules set to go into effect Nov. 20. The rules, adopted last December by the Federal Communications Commission and published in the Federal Register last week, forbid broadband providers from blocking legal content but leave flexibility for providers to manage their networks.
The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for South Florida has been arrested on child pornography charges, the Department of Justice said. Anthony Mangione, 50, of Parkland, Florida, was charged in a three-count indictment with transportation of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, authorities said in a statement.
A bid by an Al Gore-backed consortium to control a major new "green" web domain has been dropped, paving the way for a rival pitch by an organization supported by Mikhail Gorbachev. The global power struggle, with echoes of the cold war, is over control of the new .eco internet domain which could be up and running by 2013.
Experts in mobile security agree that mobile hackers are not yet much of a threat. But that is poised to change quickly, they say, especially as people increasingly use their phones to exchange money, by mobile shopping or using digital wallets like Google Wallet.
Microsoft has opened a front in its ongoing battle against Internet scammers, using the power of a U.S. court to deal a knockout blow to an emerging botnet and taking offline a provider of free Internet domains. Microsoft used the same technique that worked in its earlier takedowns of the Rustock and Waledac botnets, asking a U.S. court to order Verisign to shut down 21 Internet domains associated with the command-and-control servers that form the brains of the Kelihos botnet.
The Council of Europe plans to establish an Internet user charter to guarantee the rights of consumers in an era of increasing government attempts to seize control of the Web, its deputy secretary general said. Internet activists say governments ranging from Egypt to Pakistan have been trying to control the Internet through tactics like filtering and blocking of content and surveillance, making the lives of users and rights campaigners difficult.
Two leading lawmakers on privacy -- a Republican and Democrat -- have asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into MSN.com and Hulu.com's installation of cookies onto users' computers that cannot be deleted. In a letter, Representatives Joe Barton and Ed Markey asked FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz what plans the agency had to probe the use of the so-called supercookies.
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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.