Buys Inc. Attorneys
ICT Law Blog
 
 
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
 
  A legal perspective on Telecommunications in SA
MyADSL recently posed a few questions to the legal eagles of the IT industry to find out what their thoughts were on the new ECB (Electronic Communication Bill) and a few other pertinent legal issues related to IT. Brendan Hughes from Michalsons Attorneys and Reinhardt Buys from Buys Inc. both had some interesting views on the present and future state of telecoms legislation.

Microsoft settles with Google
Microsoft and Google share some holiday cheer as they settle their litigation over former Microsoft executive Kai-fu Lee jumping ship to join Google

Friday, December 23, 2005
 
  JK Rowling wins privacy complaint against Daily Mirror
Publishing a photograph of JK Rowling's London home wasa breach of her privacy and risked her personalsecurity, according to a ruling from the PressComplaints Commission in favour of the Harry Potter author.

What to expect in 2006 - Rudolph Muller
The recently licensed SNO will most likely become operational towards the middle of 2006, but consumers will have to wait until 2007 before they will see the SNO compete effectively against Telkom in the fixed line arena. Their wholesale strategy will bring down the cost of bandwidth, but it will take some time before these savings filter down to the retail market.

SA cyber law becomes street law
South African cyber law has finally become street law in 2005 – moving from a small fringe speciality to mainstream law in less than five years, e-lawyer Reinhardt Buys says.

Cost of compliance hits IT budgets
Increased corporate spending for compliance and corporate governance is having a significant impact on IT budgets, says international research firm Gartner.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005
 
  Court puts hoax email case on ice
Businessman and information technology consultant Muziwendoda Kunene, implicated in the so-called hoax email saga, did not persist in his urgent Pretoria High Court attempt on Tuesday to have his warrant for arrest set aside.

Wireless Law Enforcement
Everyone agrees that all levels of government should be able to communicate during routines and emergencies, but no one expects it to be easy.

Monday, December 19, 2005
 
  Cheques and Balances
Relations between the council of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and its CEO, Jackie Manche, deteriorated sharply in the months leading up to her suspension last month. Control of the regulator's purse strings played a big part in this conflict, a source says.

MTV, Microsoft to start music download service
Music media giant MTV Networks is teaming up with Microsoft for an music download service that it hopes will challenge market leader Apple's iTunes, the companies said Wednesday.

CYBER LAW - THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Almost on a weekly basis the media reported on a new law, a surprising court decision or some other issue related to the Internet and the law. South Africa now follows countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands where cyber law is the fastest, if not only, growing field of the law.

Saturday, December 17, 2005
 
  Should Europe repeal its database law?
The Database Directive is not meeting its objectivesand causes too much confusion, according to evidencepublished by the European Commission this week.Repealing the legislation is proposed as an option forreform.

Marvel settles superhero game trade mark suit
Marvel Enterprises has settled a trade mark andcopyright infringement suit brought against thedeveloper and publisher of City of Heroes, an on-linemultiplayer game in which subscribers create their ownsuperhero characters.

MEPs approve Data Retention Directive
The European Parliament yesterday approved a draftDirective on data retention that will see ISPs andtelcos retain phone and internet records for up to twoyears for use in investigation of criminal andterrorist offences.

Thursday, December 15, 2005
 
  Business donates R2m to combat piracy
THE Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft is donating R2m to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to help it enforce intellectual property rights.

Internet users become part of phishing harvest
It takes just seconds, a few taps on the keyboard, a few clicks of the mouse, and Jason Thomas has launched a computer bug that harvests e-mail addresses. After a minute, he aborts the program and unveils the list of addresses he's collected. "It's very easy to do," he said. "And I'm no techie by any stretch of the imagination."

Keep Patriot Act - but repair it
The fight over the USA Patriot Act has come down to a precious few provisions that authorize government snooping into personal business records while imposing too few checks on that power. It should be reauthorized, but not in the form agreed to last week by a House-Senate conference committee.

Data law passed in EU seen as restrictive
The European Parliament on Wednesday passed an anti-terror law requiring Internet service providers and telephone companies in the 25-nation European Union to keep phone and Web site records on their customers for as long as two years. By a vote of 378 to 197, with 30 abstentions, European lawmakers meeting in Strasbourg passed what one privacy advocate opposed to the plan called "one of the most restrictive surveillance laws in the world," exceeding the level of communications monitoring allowed.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005
 
  Telkom not playing fair - ISPs
The Internet service Providers' Association (ISPA) lodged a broad-ranging complaint with the Competition Commission on Tuesday regarding its claims that Telkom conducted anti-competitive activities in the sector.

A Senior Microsoft Attorney Looks at Open-Source Licensing
The Open Source movement has yet another fan: Robert W. Gomulkiewicz, a senior corporate attorney for Microsoft Corporation and, not coincidentally, the Business Software Alliance's top gun for the proposed UCITA reforms to commercial software licensing law.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005
 
  eBay halts auction of Excel flaw
An online auction of a "brand new vulnerability" in Microsoft Excel had reached about $60 when eBay pulled the item late Thursday. A seller using the name "fearwall" started the auction Wednesday evening at 1 cent. It was up to $56 on Thursday afternoon with 21 bids placed, and eBay quashed the auction soon after that.

Former software chief admits stealing trade secrets
John O'Neil, former CEO of Business Engine Software, pleaded guilty in a San Francisco federal court on Wednesday to conspiracy to download and steal the trade secrets of software competitor Niku over a 10-month period. O'Neil, 43, is the third former executive of the San Francisco company to admit guilt in a case that the FBI's computer intrusion squad helped to investigate in 2002.

Committee passes new telecoms bill unedited
The controversial Electronic Communications Bill was passed by a parliamentary committee yesterday without any of the amendments urged by cellphone giants Vodacom and MTN. Smaller empowerment and state-owned operators welcomed the move by the select committee on labour and public enterprises of the national council of provinces, saying it would open up the market to a wider range of operators, including new foreign investors.

Court won't hear National Geographic CD-ROM case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling that copyright law authorized a publisher to reproduce a collective work in CD-ROM format, even if some new materials have been added.

HarperCollins to create digital warehouse of books
U.S. publisher HarperCollins said on Monday it plans to convert some 20,000 books in its catalog into digital form in a bid to rein in potential copyright violations on the Internet.

Music downloader loses appeal
The US Court of Appeals has rejected a Chicago woman's claim that she only downloaded music tracks to see whether she wanted to buy them.

Exploiting stolen data is a slow business
Victims of large-scale data breaches are less likely to be victims of identity theft than those affected by small data breaches, partly because of the time it takes to misuse an identity, according to research by identity risk management firm ID Analytics Inc.

Music industry to sue song lyric websites
The music industry is planning a legal campaign next year to stop websites publishing copyrighted lyrics and musical scores without permission, according to the BBC. The announcement follows the forced withdrawal of a lyric-search tool.

Monday, December 12, 2005
 
  Over two million domains contain nonsense contact info
Approximately 2.3 million domain names have been registered with obviously false information, such as (999) 999-999 for a telephone number or "XXXXX" for a postal zip code.
Another 1.6 million were registered with incomplete information, according to a report released yesterday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Law Firms Not Liable in Alleged Web Hacking Case
Two law firms that allegedly surreptitiously accessed the password-protected Web site of an expert witness in order to show a judge that the witness violated a gag order cannot be held liable under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Software piracy is rampant and hampering economic growth, and it is increasingly in the hands of organized groups which are regarded as legitimate bus
Al-Qaida and other terror groups are more sophisticated in their use of computers but still are unable to mount crippling Internet-based attacks against U.S. power grids, airports and other targets, the FBI's top cyber crime official said yesterday. Investigators keep a close watch on terror groups' use of computers but have not detected any plans to launch cyber attacks against major public institutions in the United States, FBI assistant director Louis M. Reigel said.

Rampant software piracy stifles growth: survey
Software piracy is rampant and hampering economic growth, and it is increasingly in the hands of organized groups which are regarded as legitimate businesses in some countries, a survey said on Thursday. The global piracy rate is currently around 35 percent, coming down only 1 percent a year, research group IDC found in a study commissioned by the Business Software Allliance (BSA) which represents around 50 software firms.

Gartner's advice: Halt BlackBerry deployments
Analyst firm Gartner has advised its clients to halt deployments of Research In Motion's BlackBerry e-mail devices because of a legal battle that could see a judge effectively shut down the company's U.S. operations.

ICANN told to clamp down on dodgy domain names
More than 8 percent of all Internet domain names are registered with false or incomplete information, according to a U.S. government study into the prevalence of phony Web sites.

Internet users (In India)
The number of Internet users in India has soared 54% over the past year to 38.5 million, and will jump to 100 million in two years, an industry study said.

Friday, December 09, 2005
 
  End of year: Top predictions for 2006
Boldly going where we should know better than to go, we humbly offer our top predictions for IT in 2006:

Authorities break alleged Web scam
A three-month investigation by the New Jersey State Police and the FBI resulted in the arrest of 23 people across the state over the past four days for selling items over the Internet and not following through with the sales.

Net 'phishing scams' increasing
About one in four American internet users are hit with e-mail scams every month that try to lure sensitive personal information from unsuspecting consumers, a study says.

Mobile TV launched in SA
Vodacom has launched South Africa's first mobile TV service which is accessible by subscribers with Vodafone live! 3G cellphones, the mobile operator announced on Thursday, adding that these users would be able to watch live TV on mobile phones.

Senate Must Reject Cybercrime Treaty
...Originally conceived as a tool to facilitate international cooperation in the pursuit of computer hackers and the like, the Cybercrime Treaty evolved during 15 years of negotiations to encompass any criminal offense that involves electronic evidence -- which in the 21st century is essentially limitless. As written, it could require more surveillance on Americans who have been accused of violating the laws of foreign countries -- even if they haven’t violated U.S. law.

Watchdog called on to take stick to SA’s law societies
CAPE Town information technology lawyer Reinhardt Buys said yesterday he hoped the Competition Commission would force law societies to change some of their anticompetitive rules.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005
 
  Explorer plus Google equals phishing
An Internet Explorer bug has put Google users at risk of a phishing attack, according to a security researcher in Israel. Matan Gillon published an article detailing a method for exploiting an unpatched Internet Explorer flaw. The flaw could allow hackers entrance into computers running Google's desktop search tool, reports Technewsworld.

Legal expert on loss during PC repair
A complaint by a notebook PC owner, alleging that his repair shop lost his laptop, which contained valuable data, raises the question about service provider liability and the calculation of damages suffered through loss of information.

Careless users may put firms at risk
Your employees may be demanding the latest mobile technologies so they can work away from the office, but they will probably behave irresponsibly once they get the gadgets.

Slow pace of SA’s legal system aids software piracy
ANTIPIRACY body the Business Software Alliance (BSA) plans another crackdown in SA to force companies to use legal software. The alliance has met the trade and industry department to propose legal changes so companies being investigated for any breach of corporate governance are also assessed for software licence evasion.

Lawyers, tax and matters of privilege
Do law firms expanding their tax practices enjoy a competitive advantage over other tax advisers because of legal advice privilege? The question is both topical and relevant.

Podcast Hijacked, Held for Ransom
In an assault reminiscent of the early days of the Internet, Podcaster Erik Marcus recently found that his RSS feed had been inexplicably redirected.

HMRC slams tax credit portal shut
HM Revenue & Customs shut down its tax credit portal website last week after uncovering an attempt to defraud the system using the identities of Department of Work and Pensions staff.

IE Design Flaw Lets Hacker Crack Google Desktop
An unpatched design flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser could give malicious hackers an easy way to use the Google Desktop application to covertly hijack user information.

Sober worm stalls MSN, Hotmail
The pesky Sober worm is to blame for disrupting e-mail traffic between Comcast account holders and users of Microsoft-based e-mail, Redmond said on Friday. A variant of Sober known as Win32/Sober.Z@mm is pummeling servers at Hotmail and MSN with "unusually high mail load," causing delays in e-mail delivery to Hotmail and MSN customers, said Brooke Richardson, MSN's lead product manager. Richardson also indicated that Internet service providers besides Comcast may be having problems directing e-mail to Hotmail and MSN servers.

Spitzer gets on Sony BMG's Case
Sony BMG Music Entertainment is getting a lot of unwanted attention for its use of copyright-protection software that left CD users open to computer viruses.

Warez servers in Germany confiscated
German police have confiscated (http://www.pressetext.de/pte.mc?pte=051202020) five warez servers with 6 terabytes of illegal copies of movies and games in the German town of Coburg on the fringes of northern Bavaria. The servers, with names as Temptation and Paradise Island, were accessible to over 1,200 people for € 30 to 120 per month. Police arrested at least one 26 year old.

Police Blotter: Best Buy 'hacker' loses in court
Thomas Eli Ray was convicted of attempting to extort $2.5 million from Best Buy by threatening to exploit a breach in its computer security. He appealed the conviction, saying someone else sent the e-mails.

Study: Security flaw allows wiretap evasion
The technology used for decades by law enforcement agents to wiretap telephones has a security flaw that allows the person being wiretapped to stop the recorder remotely, according to research by computer security experts who studied the system. It is also possible to falsify the numbers dialed, they said.

Gartner: 2005 hurricanes prompt more companies to store data off-site
DECEMBER 01, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - The number of companies making copies of data to protect it has dramatically risen in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma this year, but most of those companies are keeping that duplicate data locally where it's still vulnerable to disasters, according to a survey released yesterday by Gartner Inc.

Gmail gets security upgrade
High-capacity Gmail will automatically scan for viruses and spyware each time a user sends and receives a message, according to an information page on Google's site. Many of Google's competitors in the e-mail sector, such as Yahoo and Hotmail, introduced similar security software some time ago. A test version of Gmail was launched in April 2004, and the company made its official debut last spring.

Free speech under Net attack, study says
Web site owners and remix artists alike are finding free-expression rights squelched because of ambiguities in copyright law, a recent study says. The report (click for PDF), released Monday by a pair of free-expression advocates at New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice, argues that so-called "fair use" rights are under attack.

ICANN gives tentative OK on '.asia' domain
The quasi-governmental organization that oversees the Internet has tentatively approved a ".asia" Web domain to unify the Asia-Pacific community, but the group has delayed a decision on whether to move forward with a ".xxx" zone for pornography sites.

Court blocks Illinois video game sales regulation
A federal judge in Illinois has blocked a pair of laws that would have made it illegal to sell or rent violent or sexually explicit video games to minors, finding that the laws violate free speech rights.

Sharman cuts off Kazaa downloads in Australia
Sharman Networks has cut off Australians' access to the Web site from which the file-swapping software Kazaa can be downloaded. The shutdown, undertaken to comply with orders from Australia's Federal Court, took effect late Monday in Australia. While people with an Australian IP address who have already downloaded Kazaa can continue to use it, Sharman is warning them not to do so.

People logging on, on the loo
Flushing out the secrets of America's websurfers, a new survey of internet use has found that more and more people are logging on - in the bathroom.

Internet redefining US politics
Online campaigning is transforming United States politics and empowering individual voters dwarfed by the might of the print and broadcast media, the author of a major new internet usage survey said on Friday.

Internet redefining US politics
Online campaigning is transforming United States politics and empowering individual voters dwarfed by the might of the print and broadcast media, the author of a major new internet usage survey said on Friday.

ICASA shuts down illegal WISPs
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has investigated and shut down six illegal wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) in November alone, says ICASA technical officer (licensing enforcement), Brennan Marais. According to Marais, these investigations took place as a result of business owners either operating without a licence or providing services that exceed the rights granted by the licence they have.

Telkom vs Dotco case postponed
The Telkom versus DotCo court case which was scheduled for Monday, December 5th has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. It is uncertain what the exact reason for the postponement was but according to Brendan Hughes, the lawyer representing DotCo from Michalsons Attorneys, the case should be heard sometime this week.

Mapping comes down to earth
A9.com is bringing city views down to street level, one block at a time, and a change from Google Earth's top-down satellite imagery, reports PC Magazine.

Licensing the SNO
The process of implementing an SNO in South Africa was far from quick and easy.
According to the Telecommunications Act provision was made for a second operator to provide Public Switched Telecommunication Services (PSTS) to the South African public but Telkom would be the exclusive provider until May 7, 2002.

Data disasters dog computer users
Dozy dads and art accidents feature in an annual list of top 10 data disasters compiled by computer experts. One incident involved a dog that used a USB flash drive as a chew toy and almost ate all its owner's data.

US net body challenged over .com
The US body which oversees the workings of the internet is being challenged over its handling of the .com domain. The row concerns the decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) to allow the private firm Verisign to maintain control of .com forever.

Court blow for Blackberry maker
The maker of the Blackberry mobile device has been hit by a court ruling which could affect its US operations. A federal judge has ruled that a $450m settlement between patent holding US firm NTP Software and Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) was not valid.

Microsoft is being sued over its new Xbox 360 by a Chicago man who alleges the next generation console has a design flaw.
Microsoft is being sued over its new Xbox 360 by a Chicago man who alleges the next generation console has a design flaw. The man behind the class action suit, Robert Byers, argues the power supply and processors in the Xbox 360 overheat, causing it to freeze.

Empire Online sues Partygaming
Empire Online, which promotes internet poker and casino sites, has started legal proceedings against former ally Partygaming in Gibraltar High Court.

Microsoft joins classified ad race
Microsoft is developing an online classified service to compete with the likes of Craigslist and becoming the latest company to capitalize on growing consumer interest in buying and selling everything from cars to baby-sitting services on the Web.

Online encyclopedia tightens rules
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute, is tightening submission rules after a prominent journalist complained that an article falsely implicated him in the Kennedy assassinations.

Internet porn domain name decision postponed
The group that oversees Internet domain sites has again postponed a decision on a controversial ".xxx" domain for sex sites, the head of the organisation said on Monday.

Advertising agencies face Google fears
Google's search for revenue beyond its wildly popular pay-per-click advertising system has everyone from publishers to phone companies unnerved by the seemingly endless scope of the Internet leader's ambitions.

Think very carefully before you send that nasty e-mail
TYPING and sending an e-mail is such a quick and easy process that it’s not surprising that employees do so from time to time without thinking carefully about what they are saying and to whom.

CEO faces action in hoax email saga
A top businessman appears to be the latest suspect in the so-called hoax email saga which has already implicated intelligence agent Funi Madlala and suspended spy boss Billy Masetlha.

Pop Idol format lawsuit settles
A dispute between pop impresarios SimonCowell and Simon Fuller over the X FactorTV series has settled, according to reports.Fuller had sued Cowell last year, alleging thatthe X Factor was a rip-off of his Pop Idol series.

E-tailer unwittingly sold counterfeit software
A British website has been caught sellingcounterfeit Microsoft software which itobtained from what it thought to be alegitimate Chinese source. Microsoft wasalerted when a customer of Monitorship.co.ukused Microsoft's Product Identification Service.

Is the pen mightier than the electronic signature?
The future of transacting in business and in personal realms is increasingly moving in the direction of a paperless environment, where the use of electronic signatures will replace and in many instances substitute the use of pen and paper. The validity and recognition that is attached to communication that is signed on paper needs to be given a functional equivalence in electronic transactions.

Data protection in South Africa
The issue of data protection on the Internet raises new international legal challenges. With the development of e-commerce, an increased need developed to exchange personal information. Personal data is used by corporations to make decisions, expand services and market new products. Personal data is collected when one subscribes to a website, registers for Internet banking or purchases a product.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005
 
  Complete disclosure
From casual e-mails to information on your iPod, electronic data can now be required as court evidence.

Cell Phone Evidence Becomes Key Law Enforcement Tool
Police are foiling criminals' efforts to cover their tracks with evidence the culprits often overlook -- their cell phone use.

Free speech under Net attack, study says
Web site owners and remix artists alike are finding free-expression rights squelched because of ambiguities in copyright law, a recent study says.

Europeans get ".eu" internet address
The European Commission is set to launch a joint E.U. Internet space open to businesses and citizens registered in the 25-nation bloc.
The new ".eu" domain, comparable to ".com" or ".org", will complement but not replace national country codes such as France's ".fr" or the UK's ".uk", the Commission said on Thursday.

Microsoft to tweak IE after Eolas patent ruling
Microsoft is planning to launch a slightly amended version of Internet Explorer that works around a disputed patent for technology allowing web browsers to access interactive application programs, according to reports.

Former CEO of Giant Golf indicted on fraud charges related to bogus investment
The Law News Network - An Orange County man has been arrested on federal mail fraud charges related to the sale of $28.4 million in securities in a non-existent internet company.

SNO licence to be issued on Friday
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has announced that it will be issuing a public switched telecommunications service licence to the second national operator (SNO) this Friday, 9 December.

Monday, December 05, 2005
 
  Bahnmaier v Sony BMG Music Entertainment
This class action was filed on November 28, 2005 in the District Court for Tulsa County, Oklahoma by attorney Cornelius P. Dukelow on behalf of Donald J. Bahnmaier.
Mr. Bahnmaier lives in Oklahoma. He was infected with the First 4 Internet XCP Rootkit and Sony’s SunComm’s MediaMaxx.

Pop Idol format lawsuit settles
A dispute between pop impresarios Simon Cowell and Simon Fuller over the X Factor TV series has settled, according to reports. Fuller had sued Cowell last year, alleging that the X Factor was a rip-off of his Pop Idol series.

E-tailer unwittingly sold counterfeit software
A British website has been caught selling counterfeit Microsoft software which it obtained from what it thought to be a legitimate Chinese source. Microsoft was alerted when a customer of Monitorship.co.uk used Microsoft's Product Identification Service.

No decision yet on .xxx sites
British Columbia (Reuters) -- The fate of the proposed .xxx Internet domain for sex sites, which has drawn fire from U.S. conservative groups, remains in limbo, according to the head of the group that oversees the Web domain system.

BlackBerry maker moves forward in patent dispute
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. moved a step forward in challenging one of the patents at issue in a major infringement case against the company. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a "non-final action" rejecting all the claims supporting one of five key patents in the BlackBerry dispute, according to a document posted on the patent office's Web site.

The lingua franca of the Internet
The rapid integration of the Internet and World Wide Web into daily life has added an array of new words, acronyms and even alternative forms of language to the human lexicon. Click on the words for definitions of some basic Internet jargon.

Virtual property yields $100,000
A Miami resident has bought a virtual space station for $100,000 and wants to turn it into a cross between Jurassic Park and a disco.

Phishers trying to reel in taxpayers
A British Internet-security firm is warning people to not get hooked by an e-mail scam promising tax refunds from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The e-mails, known as a "phishing" scam in technology speak, exploit a loophole allegedly built into the real IRS Web site, according to the firm, but instead of getting money back from the government, those biting on the scam could be giving away the contents of their bank accounts.

City to go wireless
AFTER years of dealing with broadcasting regulations, the City of Johannesburg finally is rolling out its wireless broadband network for internal usage, which should see communication costs drastically reduced.

Study: Customers suffer where regulators are weak
Customers pay more and are offered fewer telecommunications services in European countries where regulators have done a poor job of weakening former monopolies, according to a report commissioned by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association and released on Friday.

ICASA releases ADSL Draft Regulations
The draft regulations regarding Telkom’s ADSL service and pricing have been released by the Regulator and the news looks good for consumers. One of the biggest changes is ICASA’s (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) decision to replace the ADSL access charge with a once-off installment.

Inside the Icasa chaos
The National Council of Provinces is at the centre of a parliamentary battle over the independence of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) The battle, revolving around amendments to the Icasa Act, comes against the background of turmoil inside the regulator. Its CEO, Jackie Manche, has been suspended, and new allegations of conflict of interest have been levelled at a council member (see accompanying article). Longstanding internal disputes between the council and Icasa management are adding heat to the political debate.

Interception directives raise concern
The Department of Communications has conceded that the interception directives issued by the minister have raised concerns among industry players. Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri issued the directives this week as required in terms of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act of 2002. The Act was put into operation by a proclamation by President Thabo Mbeki on 30 September.

Rooting Out Spyware: Sony's Lesson
Sony (NYSE: SNE) used to be associated with the popular Walkman music player, but these days it's more likely to conjure up images of nasty spyware. The company's anti-piracy measures have created a security problem for unwary Sony customers -- and highlighted the inadequacies of a key piece of federal legislation, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

DSW to beef up computer security in US settlement
Shoe retailer DSW Inc. (DSW.N: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed to beef up its computer security to settle U.S. charges that it did not adequately protect customers' credit cards and checking accounts, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday. DSW said this spring that identity thieves had gained access to debit card, credit card and checking account information of more than 1.4 million customers, one of a string of such security breaches announced by U.S. companies this year.

Adware maker sues over 'high risk' designation
Advertising software maker 180solutions has filed suit against security company Zone Labs for allegedly telling some of 180solutions' customers that its software products are "high risk." Such a characterization has damaged the reputation of the products, 180solutions contends, prompting one potential business partner to postpone a deal and many of 180solutions' users to uninstall the software, according to a copy of the suit obtained by CNET News.com.

R15m cyber scam uncovered
Four prominent Johannesburg businessmen have allegedly syphoned R15-million from Absa in an Internet scam.

 

 

 

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