Google Offers Support to Companies in Android Disputes

Google will continue to offer support to firms using its Android system that are involved in legal disputes, its executive chairman Eric Schmidt said, as the Internet giant looks to cement alliances in the face of toughening competition. Schmidt, wrapping up a three-city Asian tour in Taipei, also threw an olive branch to China, with whom Google fell out over hacking and censorship disputes, saying the company "wanted to serve China's citizens within the limits the government allowed."

FCC, Cable Companies Expand Low-Cost Broadband Access

To sign up some of the estimated 100 million Americans who are not online, the Federal Communications Commission and private providers are trying to make broadband Internet access both less expensive and more valuable. The FCC planned to announce commitments from most of the big cable companies in the United States to supply access for $9.99 a month to a subset of low-income households.

Website Settles Child Privacy Charges with FTC

The Federal Trade Commission announced that Skid-e-Kids had agreed to settle its charges that it had allowed children under the age of 13 to register on the site without their parents’ consent, which is against the law. According to the FTC, the site collected the first and last names of its 5,600 underage users, their dates of birth — even the cities in which they lived.

B&N Asks DOJ to Probe Microsoft's Patent Tactics

Barnes & Noble is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Microsoft's patent-licensing tactics, accusing the software giant of trying to thwart competition with flimsy infringement claims. "Microsoft is attempting to raise its rivals' costs in order to drive out competition and deter innovation in mobile devices," Barnes & Noble lawyer Peter T. Barbur wrote in an October 17 letter to Gene I. Kimmelman, the chief counsel for competition policy in the Justice Department's antitrust division.

Senators Plan Bill to Collect Sales Taxes Online

Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., are expected to introduce legislation that would close a loophole that now allows some Internet retailers to avoid collecting sales taxes from out-of-state customers. The bipartisan Senate bill is similar, though not identical, to a measure introduced last month in the House by Reps. Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif., that would let states make online retailers collect sales taxes from out-of-state customers.

Advertiser Settles with FTC Over 'Flash Cookie'

In a case that raises questions about the use of “supercookies” to track users online, the Federal Trade Commission said that it reached a settlement with an online advertiser the commission had charged with deceiving customers by using a type of tracker called a Flash cookie. According to the FTC complaint, ScanScout, an advertising network that places video ads on websites, instructed its consumers via its privacy policy page that they could opt out of receiving targeted ads by “changing your browser settings to prevent the receipt of cookies.”

Adidas Websites Offline Following Cyber Attack

Some Adidas Web sites remain offline as a result of a "sophisticated" cyber attack, the German sportswear company said. "On November 3, 2011, the adidas Group found out that it was the target of a sophisticated, criminal cyber-attack. Our preliminary investigation has found no evidence that any consumer data is impacted," the company said in a statement on its news stream site.

India Probing Server for Links to Duqu Virus

Indian authorities are investigating a computer server in Mumbai for links to the Duqu malicious software that some security experts warned could be the next big cyber threat. Web Werks, a Mumbai-based Web-hosting company, said it had given an image of the suspicious virtual private server to officials from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), after security firm Symantec Corp found the server was communicating with computers infected with the Duqu virus.

DARPA to Increase Spending on Cyber Research

The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, birthplace of the Internet, plans to increase its spending on cyber research 50% over the next five years, and will increasingly focus on offensive cyber capabilities as well as defensive capabilities, agency director Regina Dugan said. "Modern warfare will demand the effective use of cyber, kinetic, and combined cyber and kinetic means," Dugan said, speaking before the DARPA Cyber Colloquium, a gathering of cyber professionals.

Ex-General Says U.S. Should Discuss Cyber Weapons

The United States should be more open about its development of offensive cyber weapons and spell out when it will use them as it grapples with an increasing barrage of attacks by foreign hackers, the former No. 2 uniformed officer in the U.S. military said. "We've got to step up the game; we've got to talk about our offensive capabilities and train to them; to make them credible so that people know there's a penalty to this," said James Cartwright, the four-star Marine Corps general who retired in August as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Law Enforcement Use Online Data to Track Criminals

Law-enforcement and intelligence agencies are increasingly relying on information from the Web and electronic records to help solve crimes and evaluate threats, producing a stream of new business for companies that can help them crunch the data. From big defense contractors to smaller, specialized start-ups, companies are cashing in on healthy demand for software and other technology that can sort through and analyze mountains of government and private-sector data to help track down criminals or look for signs of terrorist activity.

U.S. Accuses China of Economic Spying

The U.S. government accused the Chinese of being the world's "most active and persistent" perpetrators of economic spying, an unusual move designed to spur stronger U.S. and international action to combat rampant industrial espionage threatening U.S. economic growth. Russian intelligence agents also are conducting extensive spying to collect U.S. economic data and technology, according to a U.S. intelligence report released Thursday that concluded China and Russia are "the most aggressive collectors" of U.S. economic information and technology.

CIA Analysts Study Tweets, Facebook Posts

In an anonymous industrial park, CIA analysts who jokingly call themselves the "ninja librarians" are mining the mass of information people publish about themselves overseas, tracking everything from common public opinion to revolutions. The group's effort gives the White House a daily snapshot of the world built from tweets, newspaper articles and Facebook updates.

Google Doesn't Dominate Search, Schmidt Tells Senators

Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular search engine, isn’t “dominant” in Internet search and competes against companies such as Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., Chairman Eric Schmidt said in a written response to lawmakers’ questions. Schmidt submitted his comments to address follow-up questions from lawmakers after a Sept. 21 hearing where he conceded that Google fits one of the legal criteria used to determine whether a company has enough market share, or monopoly power, to quash competition.

Motorola Gets Injunction Against Apple in Germany

Motorola Mobility has secured an injunction against the sale of Apple mobile products in Germany, according to FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller. Citing “a copy of what purports to be a default judgment by the Mannheim Regional Court,” this would mean that Apple is prohibited from selling any mobile devices that infringe upon on two Motorola patents in Germany.

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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.