Court Reverses Conviction of AT&T-iPad Hacker

A federal appeals court reversed the conviction of Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer, a hacker and self-described Internet troll, who was accused of stealing the personal data of 114,000 Apple iPad users in 2010. At the time, Mr. Auernheimer and Daniel Spitler, operating as part of a group called Goatse Security, gained national attention when they discovered a security loophole on AT&T’s website that allowed them to gain access to the addresses of the carrier’s customers and their corresponding iPad identification numbers.

 

Exception Allows NSA to Exploit Cybersecurity Flaws

Stepping into a heated debate within the nation’s intelligence agencies, President Obama has decided that when the National Security Agency discovers major flaws in Internet security, it should — in most circumstances — reveal them to assure that they will be fixed, rather than keep mum so that the flaws can be used in espionage or cyberattacks, senior administration officials said. But Mr. Obama carved a broad exception for “a clear national security or law enforcement need,” the officials said, a loophole that is likely to allow the N.S.A. to continue to exploit security flaws both to crack encryption on the Internet and to design cyberweapons.

Strickling Says U.S. Not 'Giving Away' Internet

A top Commerce Department official defended the Obama administration’s plan to relinquish oversight of the body that manages Internet domain names and addresses, pushing back against growing Republican opposition to the move. The administration said last month that it planned to step back from supervising the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which manages the system of domain names and addresses that serve as signposts on the Internet.

Financial Council Tells Banks to Upgrade Systems

U.S. financial regulators told banks to upgrade their systems as soon as possible if they are vulnerable to the recently uncovered "Heartbleed" bug, which exposes data to hackers. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, an interagency group that includes the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, said banks also should set up temporary patches for any systems using the Web encryption program known as OpenSSL and warn their outside service providers to take action.

Justice Dep't, FTC Allow Firms to Share Cyberthreat Info

U.S. antitrust officials won’t pursue claims against companies for sharing information about cyberthreats, removing a potential obstacle to defending against attacks. Information-sharing about cyberthreats can be done lawfully as long as companies aren’t discussing competitive information such as pricing, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission said in a joint statement.

FTC Says Facebook Must Honor WhatsApp Privacy

The Federal Trade Commission issued a letter to the two companies saying that mobile-messaging application WhatsApp “must continue to honor” privacy promises to consumers. When Facebook said it was acquiring WhatsApp in February, the companies said they planned to continue with WhatsApp’s policies of not collecting any personally identifiable information of users or their contacts. Facebook said the $19 billion deal, which is pending completion, was approved by the FTC.

Bills Would Block or Delay Change in U.S.-ICANN Relationship

Republicans opposed to the Obama administration's plan to relinquish oversight of the body that manages the architecture of the Internet are starting to push legislation to prevent or slow down the move. The bills are coming from several House Republicans who are concerned about the Commerce Department's plan to step back from its relationship with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which manages the domain name and IP address systems that serve as signposts on the Internet.

FTC Settles Privacy Charges Over Flashlight App

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges against Goldenshores, Inc., and its owner, Erik Geidl. According to the FTC’s complaint, the company created a popular flashlight app for Android devices that the FTC charged deceived consumers with a privacy policy that did not reflect the app’s use of personal data and presented consumers with a false choice on whether to share their information.

Teacher Quits Job in Dispute Over Friending Students

A 79-year-old substitute teacher in New Hampshire is leaving her longtime job after a dispute with school administrators over Facebook. According to CNN affiliate WMUR, Carol Thebarge has been working as a substitute teacher in Claremont, New Hampshire, for the past 35 years, but when school administrators at Stevens High School told her she had to choose between her job and being "friends" with her students on Facebook, she chose her students.

  • Read the article: CNN

'Heartbleed' Bug Ends Online Tax Filing in Canada

Right in the heart of tax-filing season, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) shut down access to online tax services because of an Internet bug that has made data on many of the world's major websites vulnerable to theft by hackers. The tax filing deadline in Canada is April 30, 15 days later than in the United States, but the CRA said it would give consideration to taxpayers unable to comply with their filing requirements because of the service interruption.

Facebook Making More Changes to Privacy Settings

Facebook is in the midst of rolling out a few slight tweaks to its privacy settings, an attempt to minimize the accidental sharing incidents that often raise the hackles of Facebook’s 1.2 billion users. The changes aren’t massive. Facebook plans to tweak a drop-down menu that lets you select which groups of people you share posts with — though, curiously, by hiding some of the other group options in an extra sub-menu.

Complex Corporate Systems Create New Hacking Threats

Companies have always needed to be diligent in keeping ahead of hackers — email and leaky employee devices are an old problem — but the situation has grown increasingly complex and urgent as countless third parties are granted remote access to corporate systems. This access comes through software controlling all kinds of services a company needs: heating, ventilation and air-conditioning; billing, expense and human-resources management systems; graphics and data analytics functions; health insurance providers; and even vending machines.

Appeals Court Rules for Amazon in Patent Fight with Rovi

Rovi, which sells television guide programs to cable providers, lost a patent fight with Amazon.com when an appeals court upheld a decision by a Delaware district court. Rovi had accused Amazon of infringing on two patents, one which creates an electronic program guide on a television screen and another which allows a viewer to select and purchase a pay-per-view program.

Holder Warns of Criminal Uses for Bitcoin

The Justice Department will have to be creative in order to make sure criminals do not use virtual currencies such as Bitcoin to secretly move funds, Attorney General Eric Holder said. The scrutiny at the highest levels of the Justice Department comes at a time when investors have flocked to the currencies but recent incidents have called into question their long-term viability.

Movie Studios Sue Megaupload, Kim Dotcom

Hollywood’s major film studios added a new civil lawsuit on copyright infringement to the legal challenges facing the owners of the now-closed entertainment website Megaupload.com. The suit was filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, by 20th Century Fox Film, Disney Enterprises, Paramount Pictures, Universal City Studios Productions, Columbia Pictures Industries and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Jury Says BlackBerry Didn't Infringe NXP Patents

A federal jury in Florida ruled in favor of Blackberry Ltd in a lawsuit accusing the company of infringing three patents belonging to Dutch semiconductor company NXP BV. NXP in April 2012 sued BlackBerry, then known as Research in Motion, alleging that versions of the BlackBerry phone and PlayBook tablet infringed patents related to the design, data transmission and other features of those devices.

Comcast Planning to Defend Time Warner Cable Deal

Since announcing plans to take over Time Warner Cable two months ago, Comcast has steadily beat the drum with one big message: The merger will not limit consumers’ choice in picking a cable television or high-speed Internet service provider. Comcast is expected to repeat this message twice this week — during the first Senate hearings on the $45 billion deal, and again in legal filings it is expected to give to the two government agencies reviewing the merger.

Rivals Fight Over Rights to Russian Social Network

A dispute between shareholders in Russia's biggest social network escalated, as the rivals took legal action to assert their influence over a business that has been used as a platform for opposition groups. Known as Russia's answer to Facebook, VKontakte has been the focus of an ownership battle since last April when the United Capital Partners (UCP) fund bought 48 percent of the shares, becoming its then biggest shareholder.

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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.