Microsoft Says Google Bypassed Its Browser Settings

In the wake of reports that Google had sidestepped privacy settings in Safari, Microsoft announced it had discovered the Web giant had done the same with Internet Explorer. "When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too?" IE executive Dean Hachamovitch wrote in a blog post this morning. "We've discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies."

Apple Threatens Legal Action Over 'iPad' Name in China

Apple has threatened to take legal action against a little-known Chinese firm for inflaming an ongoing dispute over the iPad trademark, alleging that the company's founder and its lawyers have made misleading statements that could damage the U.S. tech giant's business in China. Apple sent a letter to Chinese display vendor Proview, demanding its founder Yang Rongshan cease releasing what it said was false information to the media.

Internet Outage in Iran Affects Secure Connections

Iranians faced a second and more extensive disruption of Internet access, just a week after email and social networking sites were blocked, raising concerns about state censorship ahead of parliamentary elections. The latest Internet blockade affected the most common form of secure connections, including all encrypted international websites outside of Iran that depend on the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, which display addresses beginning with "https."

Judge Overturns Law Banning Sex Offenders on Facebook

A federal judge threw out a Louisiana law banning certain sex offenders from Facebook and other social networking sites, saying it was an unreasonable restriction on constitutionally protected speech that could keep them off the Internet entirely. The law, which took effect in August, made it a crime for anyone convicted of a sex offense against a minor or of video voyeurism to use networking websites, chat rooms and peer-to-peer networks.

Apple Wants EU to Settle Motorola Patent Dispute

Apple has asked EU anti-trust regulators to step in and settle a technology patent dispute between the company and Motorola Mobility, according to Motorola Mobility. The move came after regulators on both sides of the Atlantic said they would intervene to prevent companies from gouging rivals when they license patents essential to ensuring different communications devices work together.

Lawmakers Want FTC to Probe Google for Safari Issue

Three congressmen called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google Inc., after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Internet giant was bypassing privacy settings of people who used Apple Inc.'s Web browser on phones and computers. The lawmakers -- Edward J. Markey (D., Mass.), Joe Barton (R., Texas) and Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.) -- want to know if Google's behavior "constitutes a violation" of a privacy settlement Google and the Federal Trade Commission signed last year.

FTC Says EPIC Can't Challenge Google's Privacy Changes

A consumer watchdog’s pleas to the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize Google’s latest privacy policy changes have met with a curt “No, thanks.” Last year, Google signed a consent decree with the commission, promising not to make changes to the information it made public about its users without their consent. Last week, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, known as EPIC, sued the Federal Trade Commission in Federal District Court in Washington, calling for it to investigate Google’s privacy policy changes.

Hackers Try to Crash Election Web Cameras in Russia

Hackers have tried to crash a vast network of Web cameras which Vladimir Putin has ordered to allay fears of vote-rigging in the March presidential election, a deputy minister said. Putin, facing the biggest protests of his 12-year rule after a disputed December parliamentary election the opposition said was rigged, ordered 182,000 Web cameras to be installed at the 91,000 polling stations.

British Student Gets 8 Months in Jail for Facebook Hacking

A British student, who hacked into Facebook's internal network risking "disastrous" consequences for the website, was jailed for eight months in what prosecutors described as the most serious case of its kind they had seen. Glenn Mangham, 26, a software development student, admitted infiltrating Facebook from his bedroom at his parents' house in York in northern England last year, sparking fears at the U.S. company that it was dealing with major industrial espionage.

Google Tracked iPhone, Mac Users via Safari Browser

Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers -- tracking the Web-browsing habits of people who intended for that kind of monitoring to be blocked. The companies used special computer code that tricks Apple's Safari Web-browsing software into letting them monitor many users. Safari, the most widely used browser on mobile devices, is designed to block such tracking by default.

Republicans Say Cybersecurity Bill Goes Too Far

Republican critics of a Senate cybersecurity bill want to slow down consideration of the measure, saying it could give government too much power over private-sector infrastructure companies. A group of senators introduced a comprehensive bill that requires the secretary of homeland security to designate certain infrastructure like air traffic control as critical and compel steps to defend against hackers.

D.C. Repeals Internet Gambling Program

Last year, the District of Columbia seemed to hold all the aces in the high-stakes race among states to offer Internet gambling. Its program, iGaming, was on track to be the first one in the country, and it promised revenue for the district from Texas hold ’em poker, blackjack and bingo. Instead, the Council of the District of Columbia has repealed iGaming over criticism that it had been approved without sufficient public comment or scrutiny.

Apple Vows Update After Questions About iPhone Contacts

Shortly after two U.S. Congressmen asked Apple to answer questions about iPhone and iPad apps that snatch users' contact lists without permission, the Cupertino, Calif. company promised it will address the issue with a future software update. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking him about iOS apps that have harvested users' address book information without permission.

Chinese Firm Unlikely to Get Export Ban on iPad

A debt-laden Chinese technology firm seeking to ban all shipments of Apple's popular iPad tablet into and out of the country has been told that China's customs authorities are unlikely to intervene in the trademark battle. Proview Technology, the Chinese company embroiled in a legal battle with Apple Inc over the iPad name, said that customs authorities had told it that the sheer size of the market and the popularity of iPads would make it difficult to impose a ban.

Cisco Appeals Europe's Approval of Microsoft-Skype Deal

Cisco Systems Inc. said it is appealing the European Commission's approval of Microsoft Corp.'s $8.5 billion acquisition of Internet-calling service Skype SA, even though the deal closed months ago. The move underscores how Cisco and Microsoft, which dominate long-separate sectors in technology, are increasingly colliding as video communications becomes more important to both companies.

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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.