12-Year-Old Girl, Taunted Online, Kills Herself

In jumping to her death near Lakeland, Florida, Rebecca Ann Sedwick became one of the youngest members of a growing list of children and teenagers apparently driven to suicide, at least in part, after being maligned, threatened and taunted online, mostly through a new collection of texting and photo-sharing cellphone applications. Her suicide raises new questions about the proliferation and popularity of these applications and Web sites among children and the ability of parents to keep up with their children’s online relationships.

Popular Chinese Blogger Admits 'Irresponsibility'

One of China's best known online commentators appeared in state media to admit to spreading irresponsible Internet posts after China adopted tough measures to crack down on online rumors. People will be charged with defamation if posts online that contain rumors are visited by 5,000 internet users or reposted more than 500 times, according to a judicial interpretation issued this month by China's top court and prosecutor.

Kim Dotcom Sues New Zealand Over File-Sharing Raid

File-sharing tycoon Kim Dotcom has filed a seven-figure lawsuit against the New Zealand government over the spectacular 2012 assault on his mansion, and the electronic spying that preceded it. Court filings show Dotcom and associates have made good on a threat last year to sue police and the country’s main spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, for the SWAT-style raid in which Dotcom and the others were arrested a year and a half ago.

  • Read the article: Wired

Brazil Increasingly Popular for Internet Banking Hackers

In recent years, Brazil has become a major source of malware that steals online banking passwords, a development that may surprise you given the attention paid to attacks originating in Eastern Europe and Asia. To understand why Brazil is a magnet for hackers, it helps to consider the country's long history in electronic banking, according to a report by Trend Micro, a Tokyo-based security firm.

Man Linked to 'Anonymous' Gets 3 Years for Hacking

A 22-year-old Ohio man linked to the hacker collective Anonymous was sentenced to three years in federal prison for breaking into police and other websites across the country. John Anthony Borell III of Toledo pleaded guilty to computer fraud in April and agreed to pay $227,000 in damages to computer servers that had to be repaired or beefed up for security.

Report Says NSA Impersonated Google to Get Data

Here's one of the latest tidbits on the NSA surveillance scandal (which seems to be generating nearly as many blog items as there are phone numbers in the spy agency's data banks). Techdirt picked up on a passing mention in a Brazilian news story and a Slate article to point out that the US National Security Agency had apparently impersonated Google on at least one occasion to gather data on people.

FTC Opens Probe of Facebook's Privacy Changes

The Federal Trade Commission said that it had begun an inquiry into whether the social network’s proposed new privacy policies, unveiled two weeks ago, violated a 2011 agreement with regulators. Under that agreement, the social network is required to get the explicit consent of its users before exposing their private information to new audiences.

Federal Agency Reviewing Encryption Standards

The federal agency charged with recommending cybersecurity standards said that it would reopen the public vetting process for an encryption standard, after reports that the National Security Agency had written the standard and could break it. “We want to assure the I.T. cybersecurity community that the transparent, public process used to rigorously vet our standards is still in place,” The National Institute of Standards and Technology said in a public statement.

Chinese Police Detain Microbloggers for Rumor-Mongering

Worried about its hold on public opinion, the Chinese government has pursued a propaganda and police offensive against what it calls malicious rumor-mongering online. Police forces across the country have announced the detentions of hundreds of microblog users since last month on charges of concocting and spreading false claims, often politically damaging.

Yahoo, Facebook Sue to Disclose National Security Requests

Yahoo and Facebook each filed suit in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to ask the government for permission to reveal information about the number and types of national security requests for user data that the companies receive. Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft, which filed suit in June to ask for this permission, amended their petitions to compel the government to publish even more detail about the requests.

EU Antitrust Officials Seek More Concessions from Samsung

European Union regulators have told Samsung Electronics to offer more concessions to settle EU charges that its use of patent lawsuits against rival Apple breached antitrust rules after a first offer fell short. If Samsung fails to allay the European Commission's concerns, it could face a fine of as much as $18.3 billion or 10 percent of its 2012 revenues.

Judges May Strike Down FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

A federal court appears ready to side with Verizon and strike down at least part of the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality regulations. At an oral argument, two of the three judges on a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that they believe the FCC lacks the authority to prohibit Internet service providers from discriminating against websites.

Indian Gov't Reportedly Using Internet Surveillance

The Indian government is reportedly carrying out Internet surveillance on its citizens, in contrast with the government's rules and notifications for ensuring communications privacy. According to an investigation by Chennai-based publication The Hindu, Lawful Intercept and Monitoring systems have been deployed by the country's Center for Development of Telematics to monitor Internet traffic, e-mails, Web browsing, Skype and other Internet activities by Indian citizens.

  • Read the article: ZDNet

Google Offers More Concessions in EU Antitrust Probe

Google has offered further concessions aimed at ending a three-year investigation into complaints it was blocking competitors and to avert a possible $5 billion fine, the European Commission said. The new proposal comes two months after the Commission, which is the European Union's antitrust regulator, asked the world's most popular search engine for more measures to sooth concerns that it was blocking competitors, including Microsoft, in web search results.

Bill Would Block NSA from Circumventing Encryption

After disclosures about the National Security Agency’s stealth campaign to counter Internet privacy protections, a congressman has proposed legislation that would prohibit the agency from installing “back doors” into encryption, the electronic scrambling that protects e-mail, online transactions and other communications. Representative Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat who is also a physicist, said that he believed the N.S.A. was overreaching and could hurt American interests, including the reputations of American companies whose products the agency may have altered or influenced.

Judge Issues Injunction Against Apple Over E-Books

A U.S. judge who found Apple Inc liable for conspiring to fix e-book prices entered an injunction to bar the iPad maker from further antitrust violations. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan said Apple could not enter into agreements with five major U.S. publishers that would impede its ability to reduce e-book retail prices or offer price discounts.

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