Judge Won't Allow Mozilla to Intervene in Child Porn Case

A federal judge has rejected Mozilla Corp's request to force the U.S. government to disclose a vulnerability related to the Firefox web browser that the company says was exploited by the FBI to investigate users of a large and secretive child pornography website. U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan in Tacoma, Washington, declined to allow Mozilla to intervene in a case against a school administrator charged in the investigation, Jay Michaud.

Ukranian Hacker Pleads Guilty to Accessing Press Releases

A Ukranian hacker pleaded guilty to stealing unpublished news releases that helped a criminal network make $30 million by trading on nonpublic information about corporate earnings. Vadym Iermolovych, 28, admitted in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, that he worked with two other Ukranian hackers to steal 150,000 releases from computer networks at PR Newswire, Business Wire and Marketwired.

Europe Considers 3 Billion Euro Fine Against Google

Google faces a record-breaking fine for monopoly abuse within weeks, as officials in Brussels put the finishing touches to a seven-year investigation of company’s dominant search engine. It is understood that the European Commission is aiming to hit Google with a fine in the region of €3bn, a figure that would easily surpass its toughest anti-trust punishment to date, a €1.1bn fine levied on the microchip giant Intel.

Key Plaintiff Says He Doesn't Support Uber Settlement

A key plaintiff in a driver class action against Uber said he does not support a proposed settlement in which thousands of drivers would receive up to $100 million, but remain independent contractors instead of employees. Uber and smaller rival, Lyft, are attempting to settle lawsuits by drivers who contend they should be classified as employees and therefore entitled to reimbursement for expenses, including gasoline and vehicle maintenance.

Judge Rejects U.S. Request for Gag Orders Against Tech Firms

A Brooklyn magistrate judge has rejected the Justice Department’s practice of getting gag orders against technology companies, saying federal agents should have to give a specific reason why customers of Facebook and other firms shouldn’t be told when the government searches their data. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein denied 15 separate government applications for gag orders against service providers, writing in a ruling that they lacked enough information for him to judge whether the secrecy was warranted.

International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition Suspends Alibaba

An anti-counterfeiting group said it was suspending Alibaba Group Holding Inc's membership following concerns raised by some of its member companies. The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) statement follows an AP report that the group's president, Robert Barchiesi, had stock in Alibaba and that he used family members to help run the coalition.

Hackers Try to Attack German Chancellor's Computers

A group of hackers that cyber-security experts say targets critics of the Russian government has been trying since April to attack the computer systems of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, a security research firm said. Researchers at Trend Micro said the hackers, called Pawn Storm, appear to be trying to steal personal and corporate data from the CDU and high-profile individuals using two free email services.

VoIP-Pal Seeks $2.8B From Apple in Patent Lawsuit

VoIP-Pal announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Apple in a U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada, seeking over $2.8 billion in damages for alleged infringement of its patented Internet communication technologies. VoIP-Pal has over a dozen issued or pending patents, primarily related to VoIP technologies, a few of which it accuses Apple of infringing upon with services like FaceTime and iMessage on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

U.S., Chinese Officials Meet to Discuss Anti-Hacking Agreement

A group of senior U.S. and China cyber officials held its first meeting since the two countries struck an anti-hacking agreement in September to try to ease years of acrimony over the issue. The so-called Senior Experts Group on International Norms and Related Issues is expected to gather twice a year, the U.S. State Department said in a statement announcing the meeting.

FTC Questions Indicate Possible New Google Investigation

Federal Trade Commission officials are asking questions again about whether Google has abused its dominance in the Internet search market, a sign that the agency may be taking steps to reopen an investigation it closed more than three years ago, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Senior antitrust officials at the FTC have discussed the matter in recent months with representatives of a major U.S. company that objects to Google's practices, according to sources with the company.

U.S. Security Alert Warns About 6-Year-Old SAP Vulnerability

Europe’s biggest software company, SAP, is the subject of a U.S. security alert over a vulnerability the firm disabled six years ago that can still give outside attackers remote control over older SAP systems if the software is not properly patched. SAP fixed the issue, but left the decision over whether to switch off an easy access setting up to its customers, who may sometimes place a higher priority on keeping their business-critical SAP systems running than on applying security updates.

Oracle, Google Return to Court for New Java Trial

Oracle Corp. and Google faced off in a $9 billion copyright retrial, with Oracle accusing Google of stealing programming to become the world's leading smartphone player and Google saying it acted legally as a true innovator. Oracle claims Google's Android smartphone operating system violated its copyright on parts of the Java programming language, while Alphabet Inc.'s Google says it should be able to use Java without paying a fee under the fair-use provision of copyright law.

Senator Questions Zuckerberg About Anti-Conservative News Bias

A top Republican senator demanded answers from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over allegations that the social media giant’s trending news feature omits topics popular with conservatives. “Facebook must answer these serious allegations and hold those responsible to account if there has been political bias in the dissemination of trending news,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) in a statement.