Suit Says LinkedIn Service Violates Fair Credit Act

Four people are suing LinkedIn, contending that one of the site’s networking features cost them job opportunities. In Sweet v. LinkedIn, a class-action suit filed last month in Northern California, the plaintiffs contended that LinkedIn, in providing the job reference material, enabled potential employers to “anonymously dig into the employment history of any LinkedIn member, and make hiring and firing decisions based upon the information they gather,” without ensuring that the information was accurate. This, they said, is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

China Pushed for Trade Pact on Technology Products

China is part of "intensive" talks on a global trade pact regarding information technology products, the World Trade Organization's chief said, but it is unclear if a deal will be made at a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders underway in Beijing. The United States and other countries have been hopeful that China would sign on to the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which requires signatories to eliminate duties on some IT products, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Protests Target Possible FCC Internet Regulation Changes

Dozens of protests were triggered by a report suggesting that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just might be settling on a plan that would give regulators more power over the way the Internet flows between content providers like Netflix and Internet service providers like Comcast by reclassifying those portions under what's known as Title II of telecommunications law. Instead of treating the Internet as a single ecosystem, a so-called hybrid approach could divide regulation between retail consumers and wholesale customers.

U.S., Europeans Shut 400 Sites for Illegal Sales

U.S. and European law enforcement agencies announced the largest strike ever against the Internet’s thriving black markets, shutting down more than 400 sites and arresting 17 people for allegedly selling drugs, weapons and illegal services to anonymous buyers worldwide. The sweep of the crackdown marked a new level of aggressiveness and coordination by Western governments determined to police shadowy corners of the Internet.

U.S. Authorities Shut Down 'Silk Road 2.0'

U.S. authorities said they have shut down the successor website to Silk Road, an underground online drug marketplace, and charged its alleged operator with conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, computer hacking, money laundering and other crimes. Blake Benthall, 26, was arrested in San Francisco and was expected to make an initial court appearance in federal court there.

Home Depot Says 53 Million E-mail Addresses Stolen

Home Depot Inc., which suffered a data breach between April and September, said 53 million e-mail addresses were taken by hackers during the attack, in addition to the 56 million payment cards that were previously disclosed. Home Depot also said that the criminals used a third-party vendor’s user name and password to reach the perimeter of its network, then gained additional rights to navigate the company’s systems.

Internet Governance Organizations Form New Group

Responding to a dizzying array of issues that threaten to break the Internet, from privacy to tax dodging to cybercrime, a group of the world's leading governance organizations say greater user involvement, not top-down control, is needed. Three organizations -- Brazil's Internet Steering Committee, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) -- said they were setting up a new group to find solutions to Internet governance issues, instead of waiting for governments to agree.

German News Publisher Won't Restrict Google Access

Germany's biggest news publisher Axel Springer has scrapped a move to block Google from running snippets of articles from its newspapers, saying that the experiment had caused traffic to its sites to plunge. Springer said a two-week-old experiment to restrict access by Google to some of its publications had caused web traffic to plunge for these sites, leading it to row back and let Google once again showcase Springer news stories in its search results.

Verizon, AT&T Use 'Supercookies' to Track Internet Use

Verizon and AT&T have been quietly tracking the Internet activity of more than 100 million cellular customers with what critics have dubbed “supercookies” -- markers so powerful that it’s difficult for even savvy users to escape them. The technology has allowed the companies to monitor which sites their customers visit, cataloging their tastes and interests. Read the article: The Washington Post

British Spy Leader Wants Greater Access to Twitter, Facebook

Twitter and Facebook are so important to militant groups that the technology giants should give security services greater access to their networks to allow governments to foil attacks, the head of Britain's eavesdropping agency said. The new director of Britain's GCHQ, Robert Hannigan, said U.S. tech companies Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and WhatsApp were in denial about their unintended role as "the command and control networks of choice for terrorists."

German Internet Security Law Could Hurt U.S. Firms

German politicians are debating a new Internet-security law that could exclude U.S. technology companies from Germany’s digital economy, a sign Berlin is beginning to press its commercial advantage after revelations of spying by the NSA. The draft law, which is still being hammered out, envisions new requirements like revealing source code or other proprietary data for companies that sell information technology to the German government or to private companies that are part of industries Berlin deems critical to the country’s security.

Court to Hear Arguments on LCD Screen Price-Fixing

A federal appeals court this month will take up a case involving mobile-phone screens that could test the reach of U.S. antitrust law in the global economy. Chicago-based phone maker Motorola Mobility has brought a lawsuit alleging Samsung Electronics Co. , Sharp Corp. , LG Display Co. and other Asian companies colluded for nearly a decade to fix prices on liquid-crystal-display panels.

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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.