Facebook Inc. lost a ruling in Germany over using the e-mail addresses of people who aren’t members of its social network. A Berlin court found Facebook doesn’t adequately inform members that all e-mail addresses imported by its “Friend Finder” function will be used to contact others, even if they aren’t members of its network, German consumer group Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, which won the ruling, said on its website.
Apple has put forth proposals to Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. to settle some pending litigation in exchange for royalty payments to license its patents, among other terms, these people said. Some people familiar with the situation see more reason for Apple to consider legal settlements, following a mix of legal victories and setbacks against smartphone makers that use Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system.
One of the world's most-wanted cyber hackers secretly became an FBI informant last year and helped bring in five other suspected leaders of the loose-knit international Anonymous group who were charged with computer crimes. In a major blow to Anonymous, which has hacked the websites of government agencies and companies around the world, U.S. authorities said the hacker, Hector Xavier Monsegur, was arrested at his small apartment in a Manhattan housing complex last June.
A cybersecurity bill introduced by Republican Senator John McCain could dramatically expand the domestic reach of U.S. intelligence agencies and potentially give them massive troves of emails, civil liberties advocates said. "This is a privacy nightmare that will eventually result in the military substantially monitoring the domestic, civilian Internet," said Michelle Richardson of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Two men have been charged in Britain with hacking into Sony Music's computers and stealing music, the company and British police said. A person familiar with the situation said the hackers had obtained unreleased Michael Jackson tracks.
Anonymous supporters who willingly enlisted their personal computers to launch denial-of-service attacks against the groups' enemies may have unwillingly donated their personal banking information in the process. After the Jan. 20 raid on Megaupload, a law enforcement sting that drew the immediate anger of Anonymous hackers, an unnamed attacker took a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack tool called Slowloris, popular with Anonymous supporters, and rigged it to include the Zeus Trojan, a devious piece of malware used to siphon victims' online banking credentials.
U.S. prosecutors have filed papers in New Zealand seeking the extradition of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three of his colleagues, whom they accuse of making a fortune by helping Internet users share files illegally. U.S. prosecutors accuse the four men of breaching copyright by facilitating millions of illegal downloads through their website, enriching themselves at the expense of movie makers and songwriters.
Within three months of the launch of the Internet "pornography" domain ".xxx," 10 cases have been launched against Web pirates registering sites on it using the names of reputable companies and people, insiders said. Sources at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported that among complainants to its dispute resolution system over .xxx -- usually called dot-triple x -- were banks, a jewelry business and an online shopping operation.
The Tajikistan government ordered Internet providers to block Facebook, along with several independent media sites, a spokeswoman for the country's web-provider association told AFP. "Internet providers received a spoken order from government agents to block the sites," said Parvina Ibodova, president of the association.
A German court has dismissed patent lawsuits by technology giants Apple and Samsung against each other in the two companies' battle over the market for smartphones and tablet devices. Mannheim state court spokesman Joachim Bock said judges dismissed both cases involving alleged patent infringements of the companies' respective slide-to-lock technology on mobile devices.
Just over a month after taking criticism for changing its censorship policies, Twitter is handing over the information of a user associated with the occupy movement. A Massachusetts court ordered the San Francisco-based social-networking site to name the Twitter user behind the account @p0isan0n to the Boston Police Department.
Hacker attacks have repeatedly penetrated NASA computers in the past, stealing user information from dozens of employees and gaining control over key networks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, according to a federal report. In written comments submitted to Congress, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin noted that between 2010 and 2011 the agency reported 5,408 computer security breaches, resulting in the spread of destructive software or unauthorized access to computer systems.
A U.S. trade panel, which hears patent infringement cases, said that it would undertake a wide-ranging review of its preliminary decision over whether Motorola Mobility violated Microsoft patents. The International Trade Commission said it would review portions of its judge's decision from December that Motorola Mobility infringed a Microsoft patent in making Android cellphones.
A Frenchman took Google to court over a photo published online by its Street View application showing him urinating in his front yard which he believes has made him the laughing stock of his village in rural northwest France. The man, who is aged around 50 and lives in a village of some 3,000 people in the Maine-et-Loire region, is demanding the removal of the photo, in which locals have recognized him despite his face being blurred out.
Judge Dr. Peter Guntz of the Munich I Regional Court ruled that Motorola violates a photo gallery patent Apple holds, according to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, who was in attendance at the proceeding. The ruling gives Apple the opportunity to ban all infringing Motorola products, including two of the company's Android-based smartphones and the Xoom tablet.
The director of the FBI told an annual gathering of cyber-security professionals that the agency needs the private sector to help combat what he believes is becoming the nation’s No. 1 threat. FBI Director Robert Mueller reiterated his testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in January that cyber-threats would surpass terrorism as the country’s top concern.
Eight top Republicans introduced a cybersecurity bill aimed at stopping an overarching, bipartisan measure proposed earlier this month in order to better protect critical infrastructure. The measure, introduced by the top Republicans on eight committees, would require federal contractors to inform the government about cyber threats and make it easier for government regulators and corporations to communicate about threats.
Major media companies and some New York area television stations sued broadcast-TV startu-p Aereo Inc. in federal court, alleging copyright infringement. Aereo, unveiled in February, plans to offer New York City residents the ability to stream broadcast-TV signals over Web-enabled devices for $12 a month, beginning March 14.
A laptop stolen from NASA last year contained command codes used to control the International Space Station, an internal investigation has found. The laptop, which was not encrypted, was among dozens of mobile devices lost or stolen in recent years that contained sensitive information, the space agency's inspector general told Congress today in testimony highlighting NASA's security challenges.
Apple Inc. urged a court in southern China to deliver a “fair and just” ruling in its dispute with the local unit of Proview International Holdings Ltd. over ownership of the iPad trademark in the country. Lawyers for both companies presented arguments for almost six hours at the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong in Guangzhou before being asked by the three-judge panel if they wished to settle.
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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.