Europe Ends Effort to Ratify Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement

The European Commission, facing opposition in city streets, on the Internet and in the halls of parliament, has suspended efforts to ratify a new international anti-counterfeiting agreement, and instead will refer it to Europe’s highest court to see whether it violates any fundamental EU rights. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht asserted Wednesday that an opinion from the European Court of Justice would clear away the fog of misinformation surrounding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, known as ACTA.

Rise in ID Theft Blamed on Smartphones, Social Media

Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over 2010, according to a report by the research firm Javelin Strategy & Research. The rise in the use of smartphones and social media by incautious consumers fueled the increase in identity fraud, and 2011 was a year of several big data breaches too, Javelin said.

Microsoft Files EU Complaint Against Google, Motorola

Microsoft filed a complaint with European Union antitrust authorities accusing Google and Motorola Mobility, a smartphone company the Internet search giant plans to buy, of charging too much for use of its patents, marking a new stage in a long-running feud between Microsoft and Google. “We have taken this step because Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products,” David A. Heiner, a senior Microsoft lawyer, wrote in a blog post.

FCC Chair Wants ISPs to Fight Hacking, Fraud

Internet service providers need to work harder to prevent hacks, data theft and other fraud, including contacting customers whose infected computers have been hijacked by organized crime and helping them clean out viruses, the head of the Federal Communications Commission said. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said he sought "smart, practical, voluntary solutions" to the massive problem of Internet fraud and data theft.

Group Files FTC Complaint Over Google's Privacy Policies

The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission claiming that Google's move to consolidate its dozens of privacy policies violates an agreement the company reached with the FTC to settle privacy complaints about the now defunct Google Buzz. The complaint -- similar to complaints brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the World Privacy Forum and Consumer Watchdog -- alleges that Google is misleading users about the "real reasons" for the privacy policy change, which are due to take effect March 1.

RIM Says It Can't Allow India to Access BlackBerry E-mails

Research In Motion Ltd. reiterated that it can't access, or provide access to, emails sent through its BlackBerry corporate computer networks, following local media reports that the Canadian company has set up servers in India so that local security agencies can directly monitor the service. India fears that terrorists may use encrypted communication services such as those offered by Research In Motion and has long been demanding that providers of such services allow monitoring by security agencies.

California, Tech Companies Agree on Smartphone Privacy

California’s attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, said that the state had reached an agreement with Amazon.com, Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Research in Motion to strengthen privacy protections for smartphone owners who download mobile applications. The agreement will force developers to post conspicuous privacy policies detailing what personal information they plan to obtain and how they will  use it.

Supreme Court Won't Hear Hynix-Rambus Chip Patent Case

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc to take up the question of whether chip designer Rambus Inc illegally sued for patent infringement. Hynix and others have accused Rambus of failing to tell the standard-setting organization JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) about its patented technologies, while advocating those technologies as the new standard for computer chips.

NSA Director Warns of Cyberattack on Power Supplies

The director of the National Security Agency has warned that the hacking group Anonymous could have the ability within the next year or two to bring about a limited power outage through a cyberattack. Gen. Keith Alexander, the director, provided his assessment in meetings at the White House and in other private sessions, according to people familiar with the gatherings.

Pinterest Lets Copyright Owners Stop Image-Sharing

Social photo blogging network Pinterest has come under heat recently for copyright issues, as users are able to easily share images with no attribution — and in response the network has implemented a small fix that will allow creators to keep their work from being pinned. Site owners now have the option to insert a short snippet of code into their site, which will prevent Pinterest users from sharing any images.

In Australia, Twitter Might Face Defamation Charges

Lawyers in Australia seem to believe that a case could be made that Twitter is a publisher, like a newspaper, and therefore it can be sued for defamation as a result of a single tweet. That may be a stretch — especially in the United States, which has legislation that protects online commentary from such lawsuits — but it highlights the difficulties that Twitter could have as it tries to expand around the globe and into different legal environments.

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."

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.