South Korea Exercising Limits on Internet Freedoms

In South Korea, a nation so threatened by Lady Gaga that it barred fans under age 18 from attending a concert, the thought of unlimited opportunities for Internet users to swear in “public,” view illegal pornography and challenge authority has proved profoundly unsettling. The whittling away of hard-won freedoms is especially troubling, activists say, because the social media have become the newest outlets for rebellion, replacing the street battles of the 1980s that forced the end of decades of dictatorship.

Etsy Updates Prohibited Items List

Etsy is a haven for homemade goods, but the online shopping site clarified that its stores are not the place to be selling drug paraphernalia and other questionable material. The company said it has spent several months researching "some offbeat and fascinating topics" -- like the sale of human bones to the corrosive and toxic properties of mercury -- which prompted Etsy to update the site's Prohibited Items list.

Hacker Attack Highlights Risks with Health Records

As more patient records go digital, a recent hacker attack on a small medical practice shows the big risks involved with electronic files. The Surgeons of Lake County, located in the affluent northern Illinois suburb of Libertyville, revealed last month that hackers had burrowed deeply into its computer network, infiltrating a server where e-mails and electronic medical records were stored.

Fox Sues Website for Streaming L.A. TV Station

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Fox network claims that a startup called BarryDriller (Barrydriller.com) violates its copyrights and trademarks by streaming its LA station KTTV's signal without permission. The site is run by eccentric provocateur Alki David and its name is most likely a reference to Aereo, the TV streaming service whose backers include media mogul Barry Diller.

FTC Approves Privacy Settlement with Facebook

The Federal Trade Commission gave the final approval to a settlement of federal charges reached last year over Facebook Inc deceiving consumers and forcing them to share more personal information than they had intended. The settlement requires Facebook to get user consent for some changes to privacy settings and subjects the social networking site to 20 years of independent audits.

New Virus Can Spy on Financial Transactions

A new cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on financial transactions, email and social networking activity, according to a leading computer security firm, Kaspersky Lab. Dubbed Gauss, the virus may also be capable of attacking critical infrastructure and was built in the same laboratories as Stuxnet, the computer worm widely believed to have been used by the United States and Israel to attack Iran's nuclear program, Kaspersky Lab said.

FTC Fines Google Record $22.5 Million

The Federal Trade Commission fined Google $22.5 million to settle charges that it bypassed privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser to show advertisements, and violated an earlier privacy settlement with the agency. The fine is the largest civil penalty ever levied by the commission, which has been cracking down on tech companies for privacy violations and is also investigating Google for antitrust violations.

Lawmakers Want Answers from ICANN on New Domains

Nearly six months after the program was launched, key members of Congress are still raising concerns about a plan to introduce hundreds of new Internet addresses into the domain name systems, saying they want fresh assurances that the new strings will not harm trademark holders and that the public has adequate opportunity to comment. The latest salvo came from the top leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, who wrote the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers about its program to allow for the introduction of new generic top-level domain names to compete with the 22 existing addresses including .com and .net.

Judge Wants Google, Oracle to Disclose Paid Journalists

A judge in the patent battle between Google Inc and Oracle Corp ordered the companies to disclose the names of journalists on their payrolls, stunning the legal and media communities. The highly unusual order was issued by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who said he was concerned that Google and Oracle or their counsel had retained or paid people who may have published comment on the case.

U.S. Won't Challenge Computer Hacking Decision

The government has decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a divided appeals court ruling in a criminal case that drew attention to a 28-year-old computer hacking law that critics argue is being used too broadly. The decision means that a 9-to-2 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissing criminal charges against a defendant accused of illegally downloading confidential data from his employer will stand.

Microsoft System to Help NYPD with High-Tech Systems

New York police will be able to search for criminal suspects with cameras and license-plate readers through a new system developed in partnership with Microsoft Corp., the city said. The New York Police Department worked with Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, to develop the Domain Awareness System, which aggregates and analyzes information from cameras, license-plate readers, sensors and law enforcement databases, according to a statement today from Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office.

NYPD Uses Subpoena Against Twitter in Broadway Threat

The New York Police Department has used a subpoena to force Twitter to disclose information about the source of a tweet saying "people are gonna die" at the Broadway theater staging a one-man show by former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, the department said. The NYPD sought the subpoena after Twitter refused to cooperate in a probe of ominous posts that referenced the shooting deaths last month of 12 people last month at a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

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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.