Judges Denying E-mail Requests in Criminal Probes

The Justice Department's practice of making bulk requests for email in criminal investigations has come under fire from a pair of federal judges who say the volume of irrelevant information swept up poses an intrusion into Americans' privacy. In the past year, U.S. magistrate judges John Facciola in Washington, D.C., and David Waxse in Kansas City, Kan., have rejected or modified a number of applications for warrants to search people's emails and other electronic communications at Internet firms such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Facebook Paid $1.5M Bounty for Finding Flaws

Facebook paid out $1.5 million to computer-security researchers worldwide last year as part of its bug bounty program, and the emerging markets in Russia and Brazil were responsible for reporting some of the most critical threats, according to a report Facebook released. The company rewards disclosures about vulnerabilities, and then uses the information to fortify the world's largest social network against hackers.

Turkish Court Rules Against Ban on YouTube

A Turkish court has ruled that a blanket ban of social media website YouTube violated human rights and ordered most of the restrictions be lifted. The government blocked access to YouTube, Google's video-sharing site, after anonymously leaked audio recordings appeared there, purportedly showing senior officials discussing a possible attack on Syria ahead of an election.

Intertrust Settles Patent Suit Against Apple

Apple Inc. has agreed to settle a year-old patent infringement lawsuit with Intertrust Technologies Corp, a software firm owned by a group that includes Sony Corp and Philips, according to court filings. Silicon Valley-based Intertrust develops and licenses digital rights management (DRM) software, which is used to protect and manage content rights for companies that distribute music, movies and other digital content.

Israel Blocking Foreign Traffic on Government Sites

Israel will temporarily suspend some of its government websites' international traffic to fend off a potential mass-cyber attack by pro-Palestinian hackers, an Israeli security source said, without elaborating on the threat. The precautionary measure would be in place from Friday through Monday, the source said, and include refusal of electronic payment from abroad for government services.

Small Web Start-Ups Hit by Cyberattacks

Several small web start-ups have been hit recently by a wave of so-called denial-of-service, or DDoS attacks, in which attackers knock a victim offline using a flood of traffic and refuse to stop until their victims pay their ransom in Bitcoins. The amounts demanded are typically low — which seems like a lot of work for little payoff — but those who have been targeted say they think the nominal amounts are bait and could lead to future extortion and demands.

FBI Wants Help from Facebook in Militia Case

FBI investigators are asking Facebook to turn over information about possibly violent Georgia militia men. According to a search warrant filed April 1 in federal court in Rome, Ga., by an FBI agent who investigates domestic terrorism, the FBI has asked Facebook to give the feds access to private Facebook chats where plans were being made for possible attacks on federal agencies including the Transportation Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security.

Apple, Microsoft Join Group Urging Slow Patent Reform

Major U.S. companies including Ford, Apple and Pfizer have formed a lobbying group aimed at pushing back at some changes to the patent system members of Congress have proposed, saying these measures would hinder protection of valuable inventions. The group is concerned about pending legislation aimed at fighting so-called patent assertion entities (PAEs), companies which produce nothing but instead buy up patents and then attempt to extract licensing fees or sue for infringement.

Turkey Lifts Ban on Twitter Ban After Court's Decision

Turkey's telecoms authority lifted a two-week-old ban on Twitter after the constitutional court ruled the block breached freedom of expression, an official in Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said. Access to Twitter was blocked on March 21 in the run-up to local elections last Sunday to stem a stream of leaked wiretapped recordings of senior officials that had appeared on the site, prompting Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to say he would "root out" the network.

EU Lawmakers Approve Net Neutrality Legislation

European lawmakers approved new rules aimed at guaranteeing equal access to the Internet and cutting cellphone charges across the 28-member European Union. The proposals, which had been subject to intense lobbying by industry groups and consumer advocates, mirror similar efforts in the United States to allow access by all companies and individuals to the Internet’s pipelines for services like streaming music, on-demand television and cloud computing.

Financial Group Warns Bank About Cyber-Attacks

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council warned banks about rising cyber-attacks on their websites and their cash machines, urging them to put the proper measures in place to guard against fraud. The group, which comprises top officials from the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators, said it had seen a rise of so-called denial-of-service attacks on banks' public websites in the latter half of 2012.

ICANN CEO Promises 'No Rush' on Ending U.S. Role

Officials from the U.S. government and the private non-profit group that manages the Internet's "address book" promised to not rush a Commerce Department plan to relinquish oversight over Internet infrastructure management. The United States said in March it would give up a direct oversight role, which it says has long been symbolic, over the work of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.

FCC Chair Says No Plans for Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission has no plans to expand its net-neutrality rules to ensure that services like Netflix can connect to Internet providers' networks for free. At a press conference, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler argued that the government has a critical role to play in overseeing how networks connect to each other. But it is "not a net-neutrality issue," he said.

Bankruptcy Judge Orders Mt. Gox CEO to Testify

The chief executive of Japan's Mt. Gox, once the world's leading bitcoin exchange, was ordered to the United States to answer questions related to its U.S. bankruptcy case, filed after the company lost $400 million of customers' digital currency. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stacey Jernigan ordered Karpeles to appear on April 17 in Dallas at the offices of Baker & McKenzie, the law firm that represents Mt. Gox.

Ex-Microsoft Worker Pleads Guilty in Leak Case

A former Microsoft employee pleaded guilty to leaking software code for future company products, in a case that prompted the company to change how it accesses people’s private email accounts. Federal prosecutors two weeks ago charged the former Microsoft employee, Alex Kibkalo, with providing confidential company software code in 2012 to an unidentified technology blogger, who then published the code online.

Airbnb Agrees to Pay S.F. Hotel Taxes

Airbnb, the fast-growing website in San Francisco that lets people rent out their homes or rooms to travelers, took a giant step toward legitimizing itself by agreeing to pay the city's 14 percent hotel tax by the summer. The move could potentially add millions to city coffers and help Airbnb avoid conflict with regulators, especially if the company, reportedly valued at $10 billion, seeks to go public.

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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.