FDA Monitored Scientists' Personal E-mail Accounts

The Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal e-mail of a group of its own scientists and doctors after they warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that they believed posed unacceptable risks to patients, government documents show. The surveillance -- detailed in e-mails and memos unearthed by six of the scientists and doctors, who filed a lawsuit against the FDA in U.S. District Court in Washington -- took place over two years as the plaintiffs accessed their personal Gmail accounts from government computers.

High-Tech Companies Cooperate to Fight Phishing

Major tech firms including Google, Facebook and Microsoft have teamed together to fight email phishing scams. Members say the partnership will lead to better email security and protect users and tech brands from fraudulent messages. The group, which calls itself DMARC -- for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance -- says it wants to help reduce email abuse by standardizing how email receivers perform authentication.

U.S. Cybersecurity Efforts Prompt Privacy Concerns

The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties. In a report, The Constitution Project warns that as the Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial, communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks, sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.

Prosecutors Shield Identities to Guard Against Hackers

Federal law-enforcement officials say they are concerned about cyber-retaliation against agents and prosecutors, in light of suspicions that people linked to the hacker collective Anonymous targeted the private life of a government official investigating WikiLeaks. The concern prompted the government to take the rare step of keeping officials' names out of news releases and public statements when the government shut down the website Megaupload.com, charging company officials with violations of copyright law.

Ex-Groupon Sales Reps Countersue Google

Former Groupon Inc. sales representatives sued by that company after leaving for Google Inc. have filed a countersuit, claiming their former employer is pursuing "sham" litigation to keep them from joining rivals. Groupon, which runs the world's largest online coupon website, had accused Nikki Dorough, Brian Hanna and Michael Nolan of taking confidential trade secrets when they moved to the world's largest Internet search company.

Lawmaker Wants Probe of Google's Privacy Changes

A leading lawmaker on privacy issues said he would ask for a probe into whether recently announced changes in how Google handles consumer data violated an agreement it made with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Representative Edward Markey was also one of eight U.S. lawmakers who sent a letter to Google expressing concern that a planned consolidation of user information may make it more difficult for consumers to protect their privacy.

British Judge Says Social Sites Not Typical Publishers

The British judge presiding over a wide-ranging inquiry into media ethics and practices has suggested that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter should be seen differently than traditional publishers. Lord Justice Brian Leveson said that there was a distinction between what he described as "pub chatter" between friends on such sites and organizations which publish material for public consumption.

FBI Wants Web App to Monitor Social Networks

The FBI is looking to develop a web application that can monitor social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, in order to gain better real-time intelligence about current or potential future security threats or situations. This plan was inadvertently revealed by the FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (SOIC) in a market research request for a "Social Media Application."

RealNetworks to Sell Patents to Intel for $120 Million

Software company RealNetworks Inc. said it agreed to sell a significant number of its patents and its next generation video software to Intel Corp. for $120 million. RealNetworks Chief Executive Thomas Nielsen said the patent sale helps his company unlock some of the substantial and unrealized value of its assets and gives it an opportunity to generate additional capital to boost investments in new businesses and markets.

Affiliate Marketers Paying Price on Internet Tax Fight

Caught in the crossfire of the nationwide fight over Internet sales taxes are a large but rarely examined part of the Internet economy, affiliate marketers. For example, last March, Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois signed House Bill 3659, a so-called affiliate nexus tax that would require out-of-state retailers that advertise through Illinois-based Internet marketing “affiliates” like FatWallet to collect and remit Illinois sales tax.

Motorola Files Patent Suit Against Apple

Motorola Mobility, which is seeking regulatory approval to be bought by Google Inc., has filed a new lawsuit against Apple Inc. accusing the iPhone maker of infringing its technology patents. The case filed in a Florida federal court is the latest turn in a bigger legal battle between Apple and Motorola Mobility, which runs its phones on Google's Android software -- the biggest rival of Apple's iOS mobile phone system.

Symantec Says Some Customers at Risk of Hacking

Symantec Corp. took the rare step of advising customers to stop using one of its products, saying its pcAnywhere software for accessing remote PCs is at increased risk of getting hacked after blueprints of that software were stolen. The announcement is the company's most direct acknowledgement to date that a 2006 theft of its source code put customers at risk of attack.

New Zealand Judge Denies Bail for Megaupload Founder

Megaupload.com founder Kim Dotcom, accused of the biggest copyright infringement conspiracy in U.S. history, will remain in a New Zealand jail after a judge refused his bail request on concerns he would escape the country. The risk of Dotcom fleeing New Zealand to a jurisdiction such as his home country of Germany, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S., was too great to release him, North Shore District Judge David McNaughton wrote in a 20-page ruling released by e-mail.

Europe Considers Stronger Internet Privacy Law

Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply. The proposed data protection regulation from the European Commission, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, could have significant consequences for all Internet companies that trade in personal data, whether it is pictures that people post on social networks or what they buy on retail sites or look for on a search engine.

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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.