MPAA Settles with BitTorrent Indexer IsoHunt

The Motion Picture Association of America has announced that it has reached a settlement with the operators of IsoHunt, one of the larger BitTorrent indexers, which in its heyday was handling several million torrents for some 7.5 million unique visitors. After being sued by Hollywood studios for massive copyright infringement, IsoHunt will now shutter, according to the terms of the deal, and the parties have jointly asked a California federal court to enter a judgment of $110 million against the defendants.

Canadian P.M. Raises BlackBerry Takeover Security Concerns

BlackBerry Ltd., which has drawn the interest of foreign companies such as Lenovo Group Ltd., should be wary of a potential takeover that raises national-security concerns, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. BlackBerry Ltd., which has drawn the interest of foreign companies such as Lenovo Group Ltd., should be wary of a potential takeover that raises national-security concerns, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

Apple Sued for 'Unwanted' Downloads of iOS7

A California man is taking Apple to court over what he says were "unwanted" downloads of iOS 7 onto his family's gadgets. Mark Menacher, a resident of Poway, Calif., filed a small-claims complaint against Apple's CEO Tim Cook in the Superior Court of California in San Diego, asking for the removal of the iOS 7 install file -- something that's downloaded to devices automatically when they're connected to power and a Wi-Fi connection.

N.Y. Bill Aims to End Sales of Stolen Smartphones

A New York lawmaker, State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, planned to introduce a bill  that would make it illegal for any business in the state to buy or sell a used smartphone without proof of legitimate ownership. Mr. Klein said in a statement that the bill was aimed at retailers like the flea markets, laundromats and neighborhood stores where stolen phones often end up.

EU Measure Puts Limits on Disclosing Private Data

Lawmakers have introduced a measure in the European Parliament that could require American companies like Google and Yahoo to seek clearance from European officials before complying with United States warrants seeking private data. The measure, an amendment to a broader electronic privacy law pending in Parliament, is a response to Prism, the secret spying program led by the National Security Agency that came to light in June.

Samsung Offers Patent Truce to End EU Antitrust Probe

Samsung Electronics has offered to stop taking rivals such as Apple to court in Europe over patent disputes in order to end an antitrust investigation, European Union regulators said. The move, which may help defuse a long-running patent war between the world's biggest mobile operators, comes after the European Commission said that Samsung's patent lawsuits broke European Union antitrust rules.

South African Banks Losing Millions to Card Fraud

South African banks have been swindled out of millions of dollars this year by an international fraud syndicate that stole card details from restaurant chains, the Payments Association of South Africa said. Card fraud has been on the rise in Africa's biggest economy over the last two years despite efforts to replace magnetic stripe cards with the more secure chip variation, PASA said.

35,000 Websites Popular Forum Software Hacked

Some 35,000 sites that use vBulletin, a popular website forum package, were hacked recently by taking advantage of the presence of files left over from the program's installation process, according to security researcher Brian Krebs. The hack by itself is fairly standard, but the way in which it was carried out shows how search engines like Google can unwittingly become a party to such hacking.

Snapchat Says It Won't Disclose Photos Without Order

Snapchat's friendly ghost logo reflects its best quality: Any picture taken and sent through the app disappears a few seconds after the recipient opens it up. But what happens if it never gets opened? Micah Schaffer, Snapchat's officer of Trust and Safety, wrote a blog post to re-assure its users that the company won't hand over a user's photo without a court order.

Ireland to End Tax Arrangement That Saved Apple $40B

Ireland said it planned to shut down a much-criticized tax arrangement used by Apple Inc to shelter over $40 billion from taxation -- but will leave open an even bigger loophole that means the computer giant is unlikely to pay any more tax. A U.S. Senate committee investigation revealed in May that Apple had cut billions from its tax bill by declaring companies registered in the Irish city of Cork as not tax resident in any country. Senator Carl Levin said the company had achieved the "holy grail of tax avoidance" with the structures.

NSA Collecting E-mail Contact Lists, Documents Show

The National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, according to senior intelligence officials and top-secret documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The collection program, which has not been disclosed before, intercepts e-mail address books and “buddy lists” from instant messaging services as they move across global data links.

Group Seeks Safeguards for Students' Data Collection

A leading children’s advocacy group is challenging the $8 billion educational technology software industry to develop national safeguards for the personal data collected about students from kindergarten through high school. In a letter sent to 16 educational technology vendors — including Google Apps for Education, Samsung School, Scholastic and Pearson Schoolnet — Common Sense Media, an advocacy group in San Francisco that rates children’s videos and apps for age appropriateness, urged the industry to use student data only for educational purposes, and not for marketing products to children or their families.

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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.