Presidential Order Aims to Limit WikiLeaks-Type Breaches

The U.S. government announced steps to clamp down on who can access classified information, seeking to avert another WikiLeaks-scale breach of military documents and diplomatic cables. The presidential order requires U.S. agencies to appoint senior people to prevent and detect breaches and creates a task force to monitor potential wrongdoing by government officials, bureaucrats, diplomats or soldiers handling classified data.

Ohio Attorney General's Office Reports Phishing Scam

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says he was tipped off to one of the latest scams when he received a suspect email that claimed to be from "The Google Team 2011" asking him to update his payment information. "We have been getting this message here at the Attorney General's Office," said DeWine. "I've even received it myself. This shows how important it is to be on the lookout for potential scams."

European Commission Approves Microsoft's Skype Buy

The European Commission approved Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of Skype, saying it had no objections to a deal that would link the world’s largest software maker with the leading Internet communications service. While the assent from the European competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, is not the final antitrust hurdle for the transaction — regulators in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Taiwan are still deliberating — the positive review from Brussels was considered the last significant threat to what would be Microsoft’s largest takeover to date.

FCC Chair Wants USF to Expand Broadband Access

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission outlined a plan to transform the Universal Service Fund, an $8 billion fund that is paid for by the nation’s telephone customers and used to subsidize basic telephone service in rural areas, into one that will help expand broadband Internet service to 18 million Americans who lack high-speed access. The chairman, Julius Genachowski, said the overhaul of the fund would eliminate waste and inefficiencies in a program that is outdated, unfair and not accountable to the consumers who support it through monthly assessments on their phone bills.

Young People Fall Victim to Online Spying, Hacking

Young people are having a harder time keeping their profile pages and email accounts secure, especially from prankster friends. And although many treat hacking or spying as a joke, nearly half who have been victims were upset by it. An Associated Press-MTV poll finds 3 in 10 teens and young adults have had people get into their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other Internet accounts and either impersonate or spy on them.

Lawmaker Accuses China of Cyber Espionage

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee accused China of waging an unprecedented campaign of cyber espionage aimed at stealing some of the most important U.S. industrial secrets. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said Chinese efforts to pilfer the United States' technological know-how via the Internet have reached an "intolerable level," and called on the U.S. and its allies to pressure Beijing to stop.

FTC Proposes Changes to Children's Privacy Online

A proposed update of the U.S. online privacy rule for children would revise definitions of personal information and beef up parental consent mechanisms to reflect technological changes. The Federal Trade Commission plan would modify its Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule that gives parents a say over what information websites and other online providers can collect about children under the age of 13.

Samsung to Seek Ban on iPhone 4S in France, Italy

Samsung Electronics Co. said it will try to stop the sale of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S in France and Italy, aiming to use publicity over the device's introduction as leverage against Apple in a broader fight over the design of smartphones and tablet computers. Samsung, which is competing with Apple for the lead in smartphone sales, is trying to gain an upper hand in a legal battle that started in April when Apple accused the South Korean company of copying key design elements.

Samsung Considers Dropping Galaxy Tab in Australia

Samsung Electronics Co., locked in patent disputes with Apple Inc., may scrap the release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia unless it wins approval to sell its newest tablet computer in the next two weeks, a lawyer said. Samsung is willing to abandon plans to launch the product because missing the Christmas season would result in the new tablet being “dead,” Neil Young, a lawyer representing the Suwon, South Korea-based company, told Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett in Sydney.

Supreme Court Won't Review Music Downloading Case

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.

Gambling Site Regulator Says It Didn't Know of Problems

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.

Samsung Seeks Settlement with Apple in Australia

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.

Subscribe

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.