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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
 
  Podcast: Technology and the music industry
Technology is changing the face of the music industry. CNNRadio's John Lorinc talks with Michael "Blue" Williams, the CEO/President of Family Tree Entertainment about how things are going.

Podcast: Preventing ID thef
CNN Headline News Anchor Renay San Miguel looks at whether companies have any obligation to protect consumers when their personal information is breached.

'Grand Theft Auto' slapped with lawsuit
The city attorney's office has sued the makers of "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for allegedly hiding pornographic material inside the video game, officials said.

Hard cell by Gates? Computer phone
Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates believes cell phones are a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations, according to a published report

The world according to Google
In the 18 months since its stock market flotation, Google has been transformed from a company that prided itself on being simple and effective, into a multi-headed high tech beast which wants to get involved in everything

Will convenience beat privacy?
Byte by byte, the internet is taking away our privacy - but is that a good or a bad thing?

Countdown for nasty Windows virus
PC users have been urged to scan their computers before 3 February to avoid falling victim to a destructive virus.

Court rules against song-swappers
The UK music industry has won a landmark court case in its fight against illegal online music sharing.

Student Suspended for Website Seeks Court's Assistance
Skinny and unsure of himself, 17-year-old Justin Layshock of Hermitage took the stand to try to convince a federal judge to let him return to his classes at Hickory High School in Mercer County. Justin, a senior in the gifted program at the school, was suspended for 10 days earlier this month and then placed in the school's Alternative Education Program for creating an online profile of his school principal, Eric Trosch, on the popular Web site www.myspace.com on Dec. 10.

Fast-Spreading E-mail Worm Destroys Users' Documents
A fast-spreading e-mail worm is raising alarms because its sole purpose is to obliterate the everyday working documents widely used by consumers, students and businesses. The Kama Sutra worm -- also referred to as Nyxem.E and Grew.A -- is unnerving because, unlike other e-mail worms, it appears to be detached from any profit motive.

Judge Rules for Microsoft in Patent Case on Computer Images
Microsoft Corp. won a lawsuit accusing it of infringing patents for a process to improve images on computer screens. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real said three patents owned by Research Corporation Technologies Inc. could not be enforced because the inventors withheld "material information" from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the application process and three other patents were invalid.

Adware Maker Drops Lawsuit Over Security Labeling
Advertising software maker 180solutions has dropped its lawsuit against Zone Labs, a move that comes two months after it accused the Web security company of unfairly classifying its software as "high risk." Two months ago, 180solutions filed suit to try to force Zone Labs to change the classification and the wording of its warnings.

Monday, January 30, 2006
 
  Cybersquatters challenged: UN
Stars and famous brands are continuing to battle cybersquatters, with the number of complaints filed in 2005 jumping by a fifth, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) said.

Knysna WiFi system kicks off
Knysna municipality and Uninet are optimistic that the WiFi voice and data system being installed will cut telecommunications costs in the Western Cape town despite the initial high price of the handsets.

New Telkom parody site pokes fun at telecoms giant
A new Telkom parody site poking fun at the monopoly has sprung up. The new site, which is based on the official Telkom website, sports the slogan “F@%$ tomorrow”. The new Telkom mascot “Jack the Cable Guy” is another source of humour as he greets users with a rather rude gesture . This new website is hosted by Antitrust, a very vocal critic of Telkom. The address is: http://www.antitrust.co.za/antithesis/

SNO website available
The SNO Telecommunications (Pty) Ltd website is now gracing the local web. When MyADSL scratched the surface a bit a few interesting facts came to light, but the SNO was quick to clear up any uncertainty.

Man Gets Two Years for Selling Windows Source Code
A federal judge sentenced a convicted hacker known as "illwill" to two years in prison for selling the code, or software blueprint, for Microsoft's closely guarded Windows programs. William Genovese, Jr., 29, pleaded guilty last year to one count of unlawful distribution of trade secrets for putting Microsoft's source code for its Windows 4.0 and Windows 2000 programs on his Web site and selling it.

New rules for cellphone ads
New advertising rules for local cellphone service providers will come into effect this week.

Stokvels go online
An Internet portal was launched at the weekend with the aim of bringing the informal saving market into the mainstream economy.

GPLv3 Draft
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Lesser General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.

Google gets its videos in a twist
Google, the socially conscious internet search engine which could seemingly do no wrong, has owned up to a "big mistake" in its latest online venture. The blunder, affecting Google's new online video store, comes at the end of the most difficult week in the company's short history, as it faced worldwide criticism for bowing to government censorship of its new search engine in China.

Death row blogger describes last days
From death row in Baltimore Vernon Lee Evans doles out philosophy and advice to the curious, confused and lonely around the world on a unique blog, but his blogging days are numbered with the approach of his execution early next month.

'Harsh' auditing bill signed into law
The auditing profession faces a whole new regulatory framework to make it more accountable and less concerned with profits now that President Thabo Mbeki has signed the Auditing Professions Bill into law.

1 March 2006 declared a public holiday
As you are probably aware, the Minister of Provincial and Local Government has in terms of the Local Government Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998) declared that the local government elections will be held on 1 March 2006.

CHOKING ON LICENCE FEES
Are SA telecommunications operators paying too much in licence fees? Some of them think so and say the fees, which amount to R1bn/year or more, push up the cost of telephony for consumers.

Thursday, January 26, 2006
 
  'Tide turning on music piracy'
Music fans worldwide downloaded 420 million songs legally over the internet in 2005, a 20-fold increase from two years ago, amid signs in some markets that the tide is turning against digital piracy, research showed on Thursday.

German court shuts down Wikipedia.de
A German court has ordered the shutdown of the German-language version of Wikipedia, the multilingual open-access encyclopedia available on the Internet, after the family of a deceased hacker filed a lawsuit against Wikimedia Deutschland eV for using the young man's full name in an entry.

Search on for missing man in hoax email scam
Muziwendoda Kunene, the businessman at the centre of the alleged African National Congress hoax email saga, is missing - for the second time in less than a month.

Google subpoenaed over porn
GOOGLE has been subpoenaed by the US Justice Department to turn over a database of search terms as part of a government probe of online pornography.

Linux Developers Tackle GPL 3
Some developers in the Linux community have taken the discussion about the new General Public License terms to a contentious point: using it for the next Linux kernel, while a greater challenge over DRM looms.

Digital Rights Management
The legal issues related to digital content distribution over the internet have been discussed exhaustively over the last few years, so it is not necessary to rehash the basic issues. But it is worth pointing out how Digital Rights Management (DRM) fits within the broader intersection of the law, technology and current online business models.

Single Sign-On Is A Myth
The brass ring in identity management is to create one universal user identity per employee, contractor, or business partner that can be managed centrally and recognized by all applications, operating systems, and databases that a user encounters. But it's a fool's gold for companies to think that they can achieve "single sign-on" capabilities for their users, Dennis Brixius, the McGraw-Hill Cos. VP and chief security officer, said Tuesday at an identity-management seminar hosted by Oracle. Given that the average corporate IT user has as many 10 user-ID and password combinations, "take single sign-on out of your vocabulary," he said. "It'll never happen."

Google Defends Censorship of Web sites
Saying that providing some information is better than providing no information, Google Inc. today defended its decision to cooperate with China's demand to censor some Web search results.
The company agreed to block some sites that cover human rights, Tibet and other topics Beijing doesn't want the citizens of this communist nation to research.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006
 
  Cellphone viruses may pose huge threat to SA
While cellphone viruses are in their infancy locally, information technology experts predict a growing problem that could cost the country's 30 million cellphone users billions of rands in anti-virus software.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006
 
  The future of the printed page
"In the next five to 10 years, maybe much sooner, we'll see a decent, ultra-lightweight, portable e-paper device that allows book lovers to download titles straight from the Internet, either legally or illegally," Carr said.

China Drafts Law to Protect Personal Information
Media reports said a Chinese website publicly put nine thousand pieces of detailed personal data on sale, causing widespread social concern. The disclosure of private phone numbers, home and work place addresses and financial records seriously infringes on the privacy and life of the general public.

China Internet users hit 111 million in 2005
The number of Web users in China, the world's second largest Internet market, grew by 18 percent in 2005 to 111 million, the Economic Daily reported on Wednesday.
Some 8.5 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people now had access to the Internet, the newspaper reported, citing a survey released by the China Internet Network Information Center.

Google share tumbles, stock sheds 16% in 10 days
Shares in the world's largest Internet search engine, Wall Street darling Google Inc. had fallen by almost 8.5% by the weekend to 399.46 dollars, causing the company's value on the stock market to tumble 11 bln dollars within 24 hours.

Hong Kong students recruited as copyright "spies
Thousands of Hong Kong youngsters are being recruited to report cases of internet copyright piracy to customs officers.

BlackBerry patent appeal rejected
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the maker of the BlackBerry in the long-running battle over patents for the wildly popular, handheld wireless e-mail device.

ISPs 'should deny access'
Last year saw big advances and key legal victories in the record industry's fight against massive illegal internet peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, the head of the world recording industry association, the IFPI, said on Sunday.

Cosmonaut takes on Windows
For technology entrepreneur and cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth the next battle is to take on the might of Microsoft on its core territory - the desktop.

'Judge' Justin joins the greats
From manufacturer of satirical T-shirts to Constitutional Court "judge" - that's exactly what Justin Nurse, of Black Label/Black Labour, White Guilt-fame, did this week.

400 000 computers 'hijacked'
A US computer hacker on Monday pleaded guilty to hijacking around 400 000 computers, including military servers, and infecting them with malicious software

Monday, January 23, 2006
 
  Uproar Grows Over US Demand for Google Search Records
Following Thursday's revelation that the Bush Administration has ordered search-engine providers to turn over usage records, citizen rights advocates and attorneys have voiced alarm over what many say is an unprecedented invasion of privacy. The administration has said it needs to survey this data in order to build a case against exposing children to pornography on the Web.

Secret Service Confiscates Computers After Obscene E-mails
The Secret Service has confiscated computers from the home of a prominent Washington developer after agents traced obscene and fake e-mails sent to three students at a prestigious private school from that address, according to court records. The agents executed a search warrant at the Northwest home of Herbert Miller on Jan. 6 after the principal at Georgetown Day School notified police that a hacker had infiltrated the school's computer network and sent the e-mails under a teacher's name.

Sale of iPods Preloaded with Video Raises Legal Questions
A tiny Massachusetts company named TVMyPod is selling iPods that come with movies and TV programs already loaded on them, a practice that raises questions of legality as it addresses consumer demand for convenience and portability. Customers choose any content currently available on a DVD and which iPod they want.

Law Firm's Defamation Claim Found to Trump Critics' Internet Anonymity
Ruling on one of the most important First Amendment issues of the day, a Philadelphia judge has ruled that a valid defamation claim trumps any right to speak anonymously on the Internet.

Government's Subpoena to Google Roils Porn Industry
The standoff between Google and the Justice Department resonated in the online world not only because of its privacy implications, but because it goes to the heart of what has spurred the Internet to such prodigious growth. Online pornography, a $2.5 billion business and growing rapidly, pioneered such now-commonplace practices as streaming video, trading files and making online purchases.

Government's Subpoena to Google Roils Porn Industry
The standoff between Google and the Justice Department resonated in the online world not only because of its privacy implications, but because it goes to the heart of what has spurred the Internet to such prodigious growth. Online pornography, a $2.5 billion business and growing rapidly, pioneered such now-commonplace practices as streaming video, trading files and making online purchases.

Yahoo!’s Nazi auctions appeal dismissed in US
A US court yesterday dismissed an appeal in alandmark case over Yahoo!’s hosting of internetauctions selling Nazi memorabilia, but dodged thecentral issue in the case – whether free speechrights protect Yahoo! from prosecution from abroad.

Citizens Advice calls for 14-day cancellation right
Inconsistent cancellation rights across the EUmean that UK shoppers are far worse off thanmost of their continental counterparts, accordingto a new report from Euroconsumer, the UKEuropean Consumer Centre hosted by Citizens Advice.

Card fraud is changing direction
Card fraudsters' revenues are down13%, say APACS. Faked signatures still workwith the "can't remember my PIN" claim, butonly until Valentine's Day – and fraudsters knowthat stealing a PIN is harder than faking anautograph.

DRM erodes consumers' rights, says NCC
Consumers of copy-protected CDs and DVDs facesecurity risks to their equipment, unfair limitationson their use of products and unreasonable contractterms, according to the National ConsumerCouncil (NCC), which is calling for new legislation.

European Commission consults on patent policy
The European Commission has launched apublic consultation on how future action inpatent policy to create an EU-wide system ofprotection can best take account of stakeholders'needs. Computer-implemented inventions arenot mentioned.

Yahoo!'s Nazi auctions appeal dismissed in US
A US court yesterday dismissed an appeal in a landmark case over Yahoo!'s hosting of internet auctions selling Nazi memorabilia, but dodged the central issue in the case ? whether free speechrights protect Yahoo! from prosecution from abroad.

Citizens Advice calls for 14-day cancellation right
Inconsistent cancellation rights across the EUmean that UK shoppers are far worse off thanmost of their continental counterparts, accordingto a new report from Euroconsumer, the UKEuropean Consumer Centre hosted by Citizens Advice

Card fraud is changing direction
Card fraudsters' revenues are down13%, say APACS. Faked signatures still workwith the "can't remember my PIN" claim, butonly until Valentine's Day ? and fraudsters knowthat stealing a PIN is harder than faking anautograph.

Never email a job reference
The UK's privacy chief issuedguidance recently that, between the lines,revealed a strange quirk of data protection law:if you don't want an employee to see whatyou've told another boss about him, send thereference by post, not email.

DRM erodes consumers' rights, says NCC
Consumers of copy-protected CDs and DVDs facesecurity risks to their equipment, unfair limitationson their use of products and unreasonable contractterms, according to the National ConsumerCouncil (NCC), which is calling for new legislation.

European Commission consults on patent policy
The European Commission has launched apublic consultation on how future action inpatent policy to create an EU-wide system ofprotection can best take account of stakeholders'needs. Computer-implemented inventions arenot mentioned.

ForgeAhead evaluates Telecoms Act
The majority of objectives to be accomplished through the Telecommunications Act of 1996 were achieved, Adrian Schofield, head of research at ForgeAhead, told delegates at a briefing at Microsoft's Bryanston offices yesterday.

Saturday, January 21, 2006
 
  Labour laws to be changed this year
The labour laws will be amended this year. "That much is a done deal," a senior ANC parliamentarian conceded this week. However, the nature and extent of the amendments are still not decided and battle lines are being drawn.

Hackers attack U.K. student's Web site
A Web site that earned an enterprising British student $1 million suffered a crippling attack by ransom-seeking hackers.

Dark age banking
Electronic banking has meant it’s never been easier or faster to transact with clients and suppliers – yet some lawyers are still living in the dark ages when it comes to paying bills and receiving money

Friday, January 20, 2006
 
  'Tide turning on music piracy'
Music fans worldwide downloaded 420 million songs legally over the internet in 2005, a 20-fold increase from two years ago, amid signs in some markets that the tide is turning against digital piracy, research showed on Thursday.

Hacker steals guests' details at Sol's hotel
A hacker has stolen the identities of 50 000 customers of Sol Kerzner's flagship Bahamas resort Atlantis, dealing a heavy blow to the reputation of the resort.

Thursday, January 19, 2006
 
  Ghana Loses ¢20.2bn Through Music Piracy
Ghana and the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGHA) lost about ¢20.2 billion last year through music piracy, the President of MUSIGHA, Alhaji Sidiku Buari, has said.
This comprised taxes to government and royalties to MUSIGHA.
"If piracy is not checked, we would lose further billions of cedis to it because they do not pay taxes or royalties to the MUSIGA".

More than $26 million in British ID theft
British Treasury officials say thousands of cases of identity theft have led to more than $26 million in fraud. The Times of London reports the scam could be the most costly in British history, with most workers affected in the rail industry.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006
 
  GPLv3 draft tackles new 'threats' to free software
The draft of GPLv3 tackles new issues including digital rights managment and software patents, relatively new threats to free software, that have grown as challenges to the movement. The new licence also looks to address the global nature of free software and make the licence more relevant and enforceable in different countries around the world.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006
 
  NIST Proposes Biometric Standards for Federal Worker and Contractor ID Cards
On December 15, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published draft standards for the use of biometric data in federal worker and contractor identification cards used for access to federal government facilities and systems. The document, Special Publication 800-76 (SP 800-76), is a companion document to Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 201 -- "Personal Identity Verification for Federal Employees and Contractors." Whereas FIPS 201 sought to "establish standards for [biometric] identity credentials," SP 800-76 contains technical specifications for such biometric data. In particular, it lays out the technical acquisition and formatting requirements for biometric credentials and "enumerates required procedures and formats" for fingerprints and facial images. Additionally, it outlines strategies for testing conformance to the new standards. NIST will accept comments on SP 800-76 through January 13.

What Damages Are "Just" Under the DMCA? "Ask the Copyright Act," Court Says
Most of the legal action surrounding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) these days concerns the statute’s "anti-circumvention provision" (section 1201). The main question has been: What constitutes a "technological measure" the "circumvention" of which violates the Act? But assuming section 1201 is violated, the issue of how to assess statutory damages could be equally uncertain. The DMCA provides that a plaintiff may recover between $200 and $2,500 per act of circumvention, "as the court considers just." But until recently, no court had interpreted the meaning of “just." On December 27, in Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc., v. Steven Filipiak, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that a court determining statutory damages for violations of the DMCA should weigh the same factors that guide statutory damage awards for violations of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C § 504(c), which also contains an “as the court considers just” clause.

You Could Be Liable For Your Employee's Porn Addiction
Employers' monitoring of their employees' online activity is nothing new. And neither is reprimanding an employee for visiting pornography websites at the office. But thanks to a recent court decision, employers may now have a legal obligation to halt such activity by employees, or they could be liable if that activity "result[s] in harm to innocent third parties." On December 27, in Doe v. XYC Corp., the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, ruled that "an employer who is on notice that one of its employees is using a workplace computer to access pornography, possibly child pornography, has a duty to investigate the employee's activities and to take prompt and effective action to stop the unauthorized activity." The court held that no privacy interest of the employee stood in the way of this duty. Although the ruling has serious implications for any company that offers Internet service in the workplace, it may be of special interest to Internet service providers -- who already have their own child pornography notification obligations under 42 U.S.C. § 13032, and who may come across illegal activity not only on the part of their employees but also on the part of their subscribers. And the court's reasoning could extend beyond pornography to any illegal or harmful conduct engaged in by employees from their work computers.

Yahoo loses Nazi memorabilia case
Yahoo on Thursday lost its attempt to persuade a US appeals court to intervene in a landmark ruling in France over the sale of Nazi memorabilia on the company’s websites. The decision by the US court should send a warning to online companies that operate globally that they will have to pay more attention to the local laws of countries in which they operate, said Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.

Judges shocked at bid to push through new law
TOP judges were alarmed this week to discover government attempts to push through “sinister” changes to the Constitution that they say undermine judicial independence.
The draft constitutional amendment was published in the Government Gazette on December 14 last year, with today set as the deadline for public comment.

Singapore jails software fraudster
A Singapore court has jailed a university student for four months after finding him guilty of selling fake copies of Microsoft software. Ang Chiong Teck, a 26 year old computer sciences student, imported counterfeit Microsoft software from Hong Kong at a cost of around S$80 (£28) per disc and resold them as genuine software for S$180 to S$320 — a 30 percent discount on normal retail prices, according to a report in Malaysian newspaper The Star.

MasterCard offers incentives to merchants that beef up security
MasterCard International Inc. today announced that it is lowering transaction charges for merchants that use its SecureCode service to authenticate online customers. The company also said that it will offer free network vulnerability scans for merchants under a new program to get merchants to adopt policies designed to protect consumer data.

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail
Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name.

Yahoo Loses Appeal in Nazi Memorabilia Case
A federal appeals court on Thursday skirted answering whether Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) must pay a fine of about US$15 million to a Paris court for displaying Nazi memorabilia for sale in violation of French law. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a federal lawsuit brought by Yahoo in California challenging the fine levied five years ago for running an auction site in which French users could buy and sell the memorabilia banned in France.

Compliance spending to increase
Compliance-related technology spending is expected to increase in SA this year, says research firm BMI-TechKnowledge.

Million-rand bill for ISPs
Buying the equipment required to meet the conditions of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act of 2002 (RICA) will prove expensive for Internet service providers (ISPs), warns the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA).

New GPL Is Free at Last
Stallman released a draft of GPL Version 3 at a conference at MIT here Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Among other things, the new version contains provisions barring GPL code from being used in digital-rights-management schemes, and restricting the patent rights coders can claim in their GPL-licensed programs.

DRM vs.Open
Digital Rights Management for the masses is a great initiative, but buyer be aware that you can sometimes get those clips legitimately for free.

New Apple software draws privacy concerns
The latest version of Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iTunes software scans a computer's digital music collection and recommends new songs to buy - a feature blasted by privacy advocates as electronic snooping.

Stole From Pensioners: 3 Arrested in TRS Identity Theft Scam
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office is working with the Police Department's Identity Theft Unit to untangle an attempt at identity theft that originated within the New York City Teachers' Retirement System.

US judge approves Sony settlement
Millions of people look set to get free downloads from Sony BMG after a judge provisionally approved a settlement for many lawsuits against the music maker.

Fears raised over digital rights
A UK consumer watchdog has called for new laws to protect users' rights to use digital music and movies.

Law commission acts on privacy
A government agency to regulate the kind of privacy a person can expect will be set up if draft legislation by the SA Law Reform Commission (Salrc) is approved.

Monday, January 16, 2006
 
  Court dismisses Yahoo's free-speech lawsuit
In a case that pits European restrictions on "hate speech" against the values of free expression enshrined by the United States' First Amendment, a slender 6-5 majority of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Yahoo's case involving the online display of Nazi-related books, posts and memorabilia.

Wishing you a better media year
Nah, not a question of too much bubbly over the days creating this story. Also not a case of overconfident optimistic positivism that will turn out to be as sour as some faces on that morning after.

IP theft up worldwide
Intellectual property (IP) theft soared worldwide last year, says Gieschen Consultancy, a Canadian security counterfeit intelligence analysis firm.

Longhorn server code released
Microsoft has privately released the build for both the Windows Vista client and for the Longhorn Server to testers.

Scam trends - Scambuster.com
Hi Everyone,Today we again gaze into our scambusting "crystal ball" and predict the biggest Internet scam trends you need to watch out for so you can use the Internet more safely in 2006.We also have some links and comments about these scam trends we think you'll find interesting.First though, we have another new blog we think you'll find especially useful. It's called "Credit Card Tips, Etc." It's filled with top-notch credit card tips and advice to help you save money.

Schuster ontsteld oor roofkopieë
Dit is vir Leon Schuster 'n soort pluimpie dat Mama Jack die eerste Suid-Afrikaanse fliek is waarvan roofkopieë internasionaal op groot skaal vervaardig word, maar ook 'n belediging dat sy harde werk op so 'n goedkoop manier uitgebuit word

European lottery scams target South Africa
Since the start of 2006, South Africans received an unusually high number of scam emails related to European lottery draws and sweepstakes. Recipients are informed in emails looking surprisingly official and genuine, that they won a huge amount of cash through a foreign lottery, sweepstakes or lucky draw.

UK Government: Fight online fraud with free iPods
Giving everyone in the UK a digital signature-enabled iPod would improve the authentication of private and public sector online services, suggests the DTI

Anti-spyware group finalises detection plans
Six months after its formation, the security coalition has finalised its spyware 'risk model description'

Symantec Gets to Root of Rootkit Controversy
Symantec, a leading provider of antivirus and computer security products, said it has addressed a controversy over whether its own software provided a hiding place for Trojans (define) and other security breaches

Apple files 'Mobile Me' as US trademark
Apple Computer has filed to trademark the phrase "Mobile Me" for use in a wide range of businesses, furthering speculation it could introduce an iPod phone.

DVD pirates spoil Mama Jack’s big party
DVD piracy appears to have dented the chances of Anant Singh and Leon Schuster’s latest comedy, Mama Jack, becoming SA’s highest-grossing movie.

Thursday, January 12, 2006
 
  Flaws Hit QuickTime, iTunes
Attention Apple users: Step away from reading about MacWorld, put down your iPods and update your QuickTime software now to prevent a hacker from taking over your system.

Can Data Ever Be Deleted?
Inspired by Enron and other data cover-up fiascos, legislative bodies around the country appear to be taking the words of Joni Mitchell to heart:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone

FBI: Money-for-miner request bogus
An e-mail seeking financial aid for Randy McCloy Jr., the sole survivor of a West Virginia mine explosion that killed 12, is a fraud, the FBI said Wednesday.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006
 
  Electronic Marketing, Advantages and Disadvantages
There is no doubt that electronic marketing has contributed positively in the life of modern societies, mainly the consuming societies. It allowed purchasing of materials cheaply without any limit, and without any restrictions. It also gave the chance to make a free selection and comparison between the prices of goods at the electronic department stores throughout the Internet. All such facilities are given to the consumers in a very short time without causing them to leave their office or home. In addition, the Electronic Marketing has exterminated the monopoly of goods and materials, all such acts of course are for the consumer's benefit.

What Is Electronic Marketing?
Any transfer of goods or services from seller to buyer (the broadest definition of marketing) that involves one or more electronic methods or media can be considered electronic marketing (EM). Electronic buying and selling started by telegraph in the nineteenth century. With the advent and mass acceptance of the telephone, radio, TV, and then cable, electronic media have become the dominant marketing force.

eMarketer's Seven Predictions for 2006
January is here again and with it comes the usual slew of projections and forecasts for the coming year. Not to be left out, eMarketer joins the fray.
Here's what to look for in 2006:

Legislating Cyberspace: Three Key Issues for 2006
In 2005, the eWEEK editorial board attempted to carve out positions on important issues related to the growing cyber-civilization, touching on censorship, privacy, copyright, digital rights management and other matters.

Suits Against Anti-Cult Blogger Provide Test for Online Speech
Self-styled 'deprogrammer' says litigation is the price he pays for using the Internet to expose cult practices. Lawsuits are occupational hazards for anti-cult blogger Rick Ross. Sued a half-dozen times during the past decade for his public pronouncements, especially on the Internet, he's managed to win all but one case, with the help of pro bono counsel.

Martin Concerned Over Broadband Plan
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin is worried about mounting rumors of a proposed "two-tiered" broadband delivery system by the Baby Bells. Under the plan being quietly pushed in Congress by the Bells, broadband providers would be able to charge Internet companies, such as Yahoo, Google and Amazon, an extra fee to deliver high-bandwidth content and services to consumers.

ISPs asked to help clean up Sober worm
Internet service providers were urged on Monday to check their user traffic patterns to locate and shut down machines infected with the mass-mailing Sober worm. Although Sober is no longer trying to replicate, antivirus company F-Secure believes ISPs must warn infected customers so they can disinfect themselves.

Supreme Court won't hear spam appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from an online dating service that claimed it had the right to send unsolicited e-mails to thousands of University of Texas e-mail accounts.

N.H. tips led to identity theft suspect
A Dover man who pleaded guilty to identity theft has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison. Prosecutors said Troy Gay, 39, formerly of Plymouth and Laconia, had used credit cards stolen from fitness centers across New England.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006
 
  Supreme Court Says Institutions Can Block E-Mail
The University of Texas was within its rights to block unsolicited e- mail coming into its system, even if the e-mail didn't break the law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. The high court let stand a federal appeals court's ruling that the University of Texas did not violate the constitutional rights of White Buffalo Ventures.

Nationwide gets go-ahead to sue SAA over anti-competitive practices
Nationwide Airlines can commence its R200 million civil action against SAA following yesterday's receipt of the necessary certification from the competition tribunal. The certificate relates to a charge brought by Nationwide Airlines of anti-competitive behaviour by the national air carrier. The charge followed more than five years of investigation by the competition authorities.

File-Sharing Barons Face Day of Reckoning
Weeks before the original Napster shut down for good in 2001, Internet users were flocking to alternative song-swapping programs. Nearly 20 million people used Morpheus in its first four months, for example, to trade music and other files for free online. Tut the man behind Morpheus was worried, though. Michael Weiss figured popularity could bring its own perils.
As he feared, the notoriety led Hollywood studios and recording companies to sue Weiss' StreamCast for copyright infringement. It was part of the entertainment industry's wider effort to contain Morpheus and other Napster clones, such as Kazaa and Grokster, from taking up where Napster left off.

CES: Showcasing the Battle for Content
As the first of my three-part report on this year's Consumer Electronics Show, I'll focus on the big companies and a number of the cool products that were announced early in the show. Next week, Part Two will loop in the late announcements and contrast what happened at MacWorld the following week. In Part Three, I'll point out what vendors are missing in their pursuit of Consumer Electronics opportunities.Microsoft: It's All About Vista

Iraqis making connection to the outside world online
Mohammed Rahi has an addiction that's been growing in Iraq since soon after the U.S. invasion: the Internet. I spend six hours on the Net every two days," says Rahi, 25, at one of 20 personal computers in the Center MBC Internet Café.

Probe may delay change in digital-music prices
A New York state antitrust probe of record labels' digital-music pricing is coming at a critical time for the online music business and could delay a move away from the industry's familiar price tag of 99 cents per song, legal experts say.

Federal judge gives tentative approval to Sony BMG settlement
A judge Friday tentatively approved a proposed settlement of lawsuits against Sony BMG Music Entertainment that would give millions of consumers free music downloads to compensate them for flawed software on CDs.

Apple enters legal battle with Burst.com
Apple's declaratory relief complaint, filed earlier this week with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, came after negotiations to license Burst.com's video and audio delivery software broke down, a Burst representative said. The issue centers on technology used in Apple's popular iPod player and iTunes software and service.

Online Child Pornographer Sentenced
A 23-year-old resident of Waterville, Maine, was sentenced to more than five years in prison Friday for distributing child pornography over the Internet. According to the Department of Justice, the child pornography involved was produced through the use of actual minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The material was allegedly a visual depiction of such conduct.

Rath case: respondents demand security
Vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath may be forced to hand over more than R500 000 before his R1,2-million defamation case against the South African head of Médecins Sans Frontiéres and a community newspaper can be heard.

Woede oor hofverbod
Die regering beplan om alle howe in Suid-Afrika - selfs die konstitusionele hof - te stroop van hul mag om die inwerkingtreding van enige wet van die sentrale of 'n provinsiale regering - hoe ongrondwetlik ook al - te verbied. Die plan is om alle howe selfs te verbied om net gedinge oor die inwerkingtreding van wette aan te hoor.

Nominet wins damages in data mining dispute
Nominet UK, the national registry for all .uk domain names, has been awarded AUD $1.3 million(£550,000) in damages following a data mining scam that led to thousands of Nominet registrants receiving misleading domain name notices.

Sony BMG to settle 'rootkit' lawsuits
Sony BMG looks set to settle a class action lawsuit filed over its release of music CDs that, when played on PCs, installed damaging copy-control software. A deal awaiting court approval offers compensation of $7.50 and free music to each claimant.

BlackBerry security warnings
BlackBerry users should be aware of a software vulnerability in the handheld device that could prevent users from opening email attachments, according to the manufacturer, Research in Motion.

Google Talk accused of patent infringement
Google Talk, the internettelephony service currently beingtested by Google, has become thesubject of a new lawsuit allegingthat the technology infringes twopatents owned by holdingcompany Rates Technology.

Watchdog approves first overseas employee data transfer
The UK's Information Commissioner has made use of new procedures governing the transfer of personal data outside the European Economic Area to authorise General Electric to pass employee information to parts of the group situated overseas.

How to sue a British spammer
Chartered engineer Nigel Robertsbecame the first person to win acourt judgment over a company'sbreach of the UK's anti-spam lawlate last year. His success received widespread media coverage and now he's encouraging others to do the same.

Opting out of privacy notices
Q: I just received a privacy notice in the mail from my insurance company. What do I need to know or do about such a notice?

Financial institutions set dubious record for ID theft
A final flurry of computer security breaches marked the end of 2005 -- an unfortunate but not surprising end to a record year for potential identity-theft activity.

The Booming Biz of Identity Theft
..."The whole identity theft insurance industry has developed significantly in the last two years," says Beth Givens...

Friday, January 06, 2006
 
  E-Mail Gets An Upgrade
E-mails have been flying back and forth for 35 years, but never have changes to the most popular e-mail applications been more wide-reaching than those now moving to the front burner.

Teenager may face appeal over email attacks
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is considering appealing a judge's decision that a teenager who was accused of bombarding a former employer with millions of emails had no case to answer.

More IT Security Pros Filling Executive Roles
Information security professionals, already experiencing a surge in demand for their badly needed technical skills, may also get a chance this year to flex their business acumen.

Lawyers' Internet Listings Must Say They Were Paid For, Panel Says
As advertising gravitates more and more to the Internet, for lawyers as much as other service providers, the state Supreme Court's Committee on Attorney Advertising is doing its best to adapt its regulatory scheme to the new medium. This year alone, there have been four directives issued on what lawyers may and may not do on the Web, and the most recent puts new restrictions on lawyers' online listings to ensure that potential clients don't interpret them as official endorsements.

Under Legal Pressure, Lords of File-Sharing Going Legit or Out
Weeks before the original Napster shut down for good in 2001, Internet users were flocking to alternative song-swapping programs. Nearly 20 million people used Morpheus in its first four months, for example, to trade music and other files for free online.But the man behind Morpheus was worried.

Bogus bank sites shut down
Australian police have shut down eight websites in Europe and Asia involved in an e-mail banking scam. The sites in Germany, Turkey, China and Korea have been decommissioned in an operation ending on Thursday, news agency AAP reported.

Google sued over Google talk
A small New York technology firm said it was suing search titan Google for up to five billion dollars for patent violation in the internet telephony software used in Google Talk. Jerry Weinberger, chief executive of Rates Technology Inc, said he was the inventor of software programming that allows telephone calls to be placed over the internet.

Mother-of-five fights piracy lawsuit
It was Easter Sunday, and Patricia Santangelo was in church with her kids when she says the music industry peeked into her computer and decided to take her to court.
Santangelo says she has never downloaded a single song on her computer, but the industry didn't see it that way.

Attempts to exploit a flaw in Windows WMF files have "become increasingly serious over the past two days" with "significant developments ... in the pa
A British man has won a landmark case in the UK against a company that was allegedly sending him unsolicited e-mail repeatedly. Nigel Roberts sued Media Logistics UK, a marketing company, after receiving a number of e-mail advertisements about starting a fax broadcasting business and a contract car firm. The advertisers used Media Logistics to spread their messages to Internet users.

Risk of Windows WMF attacks jumps 'significantly,' security firm warns
Attempts to exploit a flaw in Windows WMF files have "become increasingly serious over the past two days" with "significant developments ... in the past few hours," according to a New Year's Day alert issued by iDefense Inc.

NAB customers baited in email 'phishing' scam
ONLINE fraudsters have targeted National Australia Bank customers over Christmas with a flood of hoax emails designed to trick account holders into revealing their internet banking details.

China shuts down 600 porn sites
China's police shut down 598 domestic porn websites and wiped out 35 porn domain names from September to November in an ongoing crackdown against pornography on the internet, state media said on Thursday.

New cell phone laws will benefit industry
New laws are about to be introduced which place the onus on telecommunication service providers to obtain and keep information on their clients. While contract users already have to provide personal information to the network operators, the new amendments to the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act tightens control on the pre-paid market.

Thursday, January 05, 2006
 
  From Russia with love - and a scam
Are you planning to buy a plane ticket for your online Russian blonde who is dying to visit you in South Africa? Hold that thought.

Google sued for VoIP violation
A small New York technology firm is suing Google for up to five billion dollars for patent violation in the Internet telephony software used in Google Talk.

Towards a two-tier internet
The egalitarian nature of the internet is under threat, argues internet law professor Michael Geist.

Legal fallout from Sony's CD woes
Sony's settlement over the rootkit fiasco represents a blueprint for legislative action, argues law professor Michael Geist.

Microsoft downplays Google threat
Bill Gates has played down the threat posed to Microsoft by competition from internet search giant Google.

Why Google will falter in 2006
I knew that would get your attention. Anything and everything Google is at the height of fashion right now. With a market capitalization of $127 billion, every move that the company makes--like the advertising deal an obsessed press says it will announce with Time Warner AOL unit tomorrow--gets a lot of attention in the press.

Masters of their Domains
Forget condos and strip malls. Domain names, the real estate of the Web, have been delivering far greater returns. How some of the savviest speculators on the Net are making millions from their URL portfolios.

Poll: Google the best of the Web
The search engine Google is the most significant development in the 15-year history of the World Wide Web, according to a poll of CNN.com users.

What men, women want on the Web
Internet users share many common interests, but men are heavier consumers of news, stocks, sports and pornography, while more women look for health and religious guidance, a broad survey of U.S. Web usage has found.

NSA inadvertently uses banned 'cookies'
The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them.

Living in the Microsoft digital world
Rival Google Inc. may be nipping at its heels, but Microsoft Corp. wasn't flashing any defeatist signs as it showcased its latest plans to help make living in the digital world safer, easier and more fun.

Tis Not the Season to be Jolly - Loss of Taxpayer Confidentiality May Cause Chilling Effect
Will there be a lump of coal in corporate stockings? A recent federal report held that states have inadequate safeguards in place to protect confidential taxpayer information from unauthorized use and disclosure. Alarming! But what is perhaps more alarming is the recent move by state legislatures to expand the types of disclosures that are "authorized," thus undercutting federal and state taxpayer privacy laws. The legislatures’ battle cry of "shame-the-cheaters" may make for interesting sound bites, but could have a chilling effect. Rather than boosting state revenues, fear of public disclosure could force the "cheaters" underground and cause law-abiding taxpayers to avoid certain states altogether. After all, the erosion of taxpayer privacy laws in pursuit of McCarthy-esque witch-hunts is bad for business.

Gates unveils Windows Vista
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates took the wraps off its next-generation operating system, known as Windows Vista, yesterday, displaying features aimed at positioning the software giant as the entertainment hub for a future of digitally connected homes.

IP rights rules win approval
Cambridge academics have voted to approve controversial rules that will give the university full rights to all patentable innovations developed through it, regardless of where funding has originated (Computing, 1 December).

Nominet wins data mining case
Nominet UK, the national registry for all .uk domain names, has been awarded more than AUS$1.3m in damages following a data mining scam that led to thousands of Nominet registrants receiving misleading domain name notices.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006
 
  Answering Back to the News Media, Using the Internet
...Even when subjects of news stories felt they had been misunderstood or badly treated, they were unlikely to take on reporters or publishers, believing that the power of the press gave the press the final word. The Internet, and especially the amplifying power of blogs, is changing that...

Tuesday, January 03, 2006
 
  Google's Instant Messaging Feature Hit by Patent Suit
Google Inc.'s instant message and Internet phone feature, Google Talk, has been hit by patent infringement allegations. Rates Technology Inc. based in Hauppauge, N.Y., filed suit against Google in a New York federal court in October, alleging that Google Talk illegally uses its technology for billing people for phone calls made over Internet connections.

Jews for Jesus Sues Google for Blog's Use of Trademark
Christian evangelical group Jews for Jesus is suing Google Inc., saying a Web log hosted through the Internet search leader's Blogspot service infringes its trademark. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, seeks to force Google to give Jews for Jesus control of the site as well as unspecified monetary damages.

France Moves Toward Allowing More Internet Downloads
France could become the first country to pass a law broadly permitting free downloads of copyright content from the Internet for private use. In a move that could thwart the entertainment industry's attempts to seek legal sanctions for copyright violations, French Parliament members voted 30 to 28 to accept an amendment proposing such a move.

Woman Fighting Music Industry's File-Sharing Lawsuit
The music recording industry is demanding thousands of dollars to settle a case with a woman accused of illegally downloading music, but Patricia Santangelo, unlike the 3,700 defendants who have already settled, says she will stand on principle and fight the lawsuit. Santangelo says she has never downloaded a single song on her computer.

Judge Blocks California Ban on Sale of Violent Video Games
A federal ruling that blocks California's ban on the sale of violent video games to children is the latest setback to lawmakers trying to clean up a medium that is increasingly graphic -- and just as popular. The preliminary injunction granted by U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte delays implementation of a measure that would make it a crime to rent or sell games that "depict serious injury to human beings in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" to people younger than 18.

Microsoft Settles Suit with Google Over Former Employee
Microsoft Corp. said that it had reached a settlement with rival Google Inc. and former employee Kai-Fu Lee, ending a legal battle that had exposed behind-the-scenes rancor between the companies. In a written statement, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said the three parties had entered into a "private agreement that resolves all issues to their mutual satisfaction."

Sony Settles Class-Action Suit Over CD Copy-Protection
Sony BMG has struck a deal with the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit over copy-restriction software it used in music CDs, according to a settlement document filed at a New York court. The record label has agreed to compensate buyers of CDs that contained the XCP and MediaMax DRM programs and to provide software utilities to allow consumers to uninstall both types of software from their computer.

Record Number of Computer Breaches Reported in 2005
Data breaches disclosed at Marriott International, Ford Motor, ABN Amro Mortgage Group and Sam's Club capped what computer experts call the worst year ever for known computer-security breaches. At least 130 reported breaches have exposed more than 55 million Americans to potential ID theft this year.

Law now puts a spanner in the spammers’ works
Proof that antispam legislation can be effective in punishing companies that bombard e-mail users with unwanted junk has come through a victory in the UK courts, which may encourage greater use of anti-spamming laws around the world.

Lycos Ordered to Tell Web Client Identity
The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday ordered Internet company Lycos to reveal the identity of a client in a benchmark decision on privacy that was praised by copyright groups as a way to go after illegal swapping of music and movies online.

North Carolina Sued for Illegally Certifying Voting Equipment
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Thursday filed a complaint against the North Carolina Board of Elections and the North Carolina Office of Information Technology Services on behalf of voting integrity advocate Joyce McCloy, asking that the Superior Court void the recent illegal certification of three electronic voting systems. North Carolina law requires the Board of Elections to rigorously review all voting system code "prior to certification." Ignoring this requirement, the Board of Elections on December 1st certified voting systems offered by Diebold Election Systems, Sequoia Voting Systems, and Election Systems and Software without having first obtained – let alone reviewed – the system code.

Israel blocks VoIP
According to Globes Online, Israel's regulatory agency (Ministry of Communications) is planning on ordering ISPs to block international calls carried over VoIP which terminates on the PSTN. P2P VoIP such as Skype-to-Skype calls are exempt from this ruling. According to Globes Online, the article states, "VoIP is taking revenue away from international calls carriers and is pushing down prices."

Massachusetts Governor Vetos Restrictive Wine Shipping Law
Governor Mitt Romney today vetoed a bill limiting the ability of out-of-state wineries to ship directly to Massachusetts consumers, calling the legislation “anti-consumer.” The bill prohibits direct sales by wineries that produce more than 30,000 gallons of wine a year if they have been represented by a Massachusetts wholesaler for the past six months. The provision would therefore prevent a significant number of wineries from shipping wine directly to consumers. Romney said the proposed new law “would benefit a cartel of liquor wholesalers that do not want to give up their monopoly on the distribution of wine.”

Hollywood, BitTorrent creator strike deal
Hollywood studios announced an agreement with Bram Cohen, the creator of the popular BitTorrent file-swapping technology, that will keep him from helping users find pirated copies of movies online. Cohen had launched a service on his Web site last May that searched the Internet for file downloads that use his BitTorrent technology. While many of these are legal files, such as open-source software packages, inevitably the search engine also found feature films.

Hollywood, BitTorrent creator strike deal
Hollywood studios announced an agreement with Bram Cohen, the creator of the popular BitTorrent file-swapping technology, that will keep him from helping users find pirated copies of movies online. Cohen had launched a service on his Web site last May that searched the Internet for file downloads that use his BitTorrent technology. While many of these are legal files, such as open-source software packages, inevitably the search engine also found feature films.

Research In Motion Judge Rules Against Settlement (Update8)
Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry e-mail pager service came closer to being blocked in the U.S. after a federal judge ruled that a $450 million patent settlement isn't enforceable and rejected a request for a delay in the case.

Kazaa execs agree to asset freeze
Executives associated with peer to peer software Web site Kazaa have agreed not to move, dispose of or disperse their private assets following a request made by record companies to the Federal Court on Friday.

Appeals Court Denies VoIP Providers' Request For Stay Of FCC E911 Rules, But FCC Delays Deadline
In this Public Notice, the Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) sets forth the specific information that
interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers1 must include in the Compliance Letters required by the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) in its June 3, 2005 order establishing enhanced 911 requirements for IP-enabled service providers.

SEC FILES EMERGENCY ACTION AGAINST ESTONIAN TRADERS TO STOP ONGOING FRAUDULENT HACKING SCHEME
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that, in an emergency federal court action filed today, it charged Lohmus Haavel & Viisemann ("Lohmus"), an Estonian financial services firm, and two of its employees, Oliver Peek and Kristjan Lepik, with conducting a fraudulent scheme involving the electronic theft and trading in advance of more than 360 confidential press releases issued by more than 200 U.S. public companies.

Verizon Wireless Takes Aggressive Legal Action To Stop Attempted Theft Of Customer Information By Florida Firm
Verizon Wireless has filed suit and obtained an immediate injunction against a Florida-based private investigative agency and its affiliates to stop their attempts to fraudulently obtain confidential information about Verizon Wireless customers.

HHS Enters Into Agreements to Support Digital Health Recovery for the Gulf Coast
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced that the department has entered into two agreements today with organizations that will plan and promote the widespread use of electronic health records in the Gulf Coast regions affected by recent hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina destroyed a large number of paper medical records maintained by physicians, hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities in the Gulf Coast region. Providers and payers using electronic medical records, however, were largely able to preserve their systems and patient information, despite the devastation.

Disturbing Number of Legal Flaws in so-called "DMCA Notices"
Jennifer M. Urban of the USC Gould School of Law and Laura Quilter of the University of California-Berkeley (Boalt Hall) have found a disturbing number of legal flaws in so-called "DMCA notices"--which result in online materials being pulled from the Internet, generally without notice to the target.

Complaints filed over Icann/VeriSign deal
A group calling itself the Coalition for Icann Transparency (CFIT) has filed complaints to the Competition Directorate of the European Commission over Icann's deal with VeriSign concerning the future of the .com domain.

US endorses Internet Governance Forum
The US has inked a broad agreement at WSIS but that does not mean it relinquishes its influence over Internet operations. The Bush administration and its critics at a United Nations summit at Tunis in Tunisia have inked a broad agreement on global Internet management that will preclude any dramatic showdown this week.

Zippo Sliding Scale Analysis Inapplicable To Personal Jurisdiction Over eBay Seller
An eBay transaction conducted between the plaintiff's investigator located in the forum state as an eBay buyer, and the defendant as an eBay seller, is insufficient to establish personal jurisdiction over the eBay seller in the forum state. Action Tapes, Inc. v. Weaver, Civil No. 3:05-CV-1693-H , 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29312 (N.D. Tex. Nov. 23, 2005). In an action alleging that embroidery designs sold in an eBay auction infringed the plaintiff's copyrights, the District Court concluded that the "sliding scale" of online interactivity adopted in Zippo Mfg. Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc., 952 F. Supp. 1119 (W.D. Pa. 1997), was inapplicable to a defendant who was a customer of eBay and did not own or exercise control over the eBay Web site. The court ruled that the defendant was not subject to jurisdiction in the forum state because participation in "the usual online auction process does not rise to the level of purposeful conduct required to assert specific jurisdiction."

Federal Election Commission Approves Advisory Opinion On Exclusion of Certain Political Web Sites From Campaign Finance Laws
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) approved an advisory opinion expressing the conclusion that certain expenses incurred by a political activist organization in connection with a network of political Web sites and blogs do not constitute "expenditures" or "contributions" covered by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. FEC Advisory Opinion 2005-16 (Nov. 10, 2005). The advisory opinion took the position that the organization's expenditures for news stories, commentary, and editorials on its Web sites were encompassed in the "press exception" to the Act. The opinion found that the organization qualifies as a "press entity" because its Web sites are "available to the general public" and "are the online equivalent of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication" as defined in the Act and the applicable FEC regulations. The opinion also found that the organization is not controlled or owned by any political party, political committee, or candidate.

Class Action Complaint Alleges Fraudulent Conduct By Internet Dating Site
A subscriber to the Match.com Internet dating service has filed a class action complaint alleging that the site engaged in fraudulent practices in order to encourage subscribers to renew their subscriptions. Evans v. IAC/Interactive Corp., No. 05-1104 (C.D. Cal. complaint filed Nov. 10, 2005). The complaint includes claims under California unfair business practices and false advertising statutes, as well as a claim under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The complaint alleges that the service used "date bait" teams whose members pretended to be interested in dating subscribers whose subscriptions were nearing expiration, in order to entice them to renew.

Evidence Supports Guilty Verdict In Best Buy E-Mail Extortion Case
A jury verdict convicting a defendant of attempting to extort $2.5 million from Best Buy by sending the company e-mails threatening to exploit a breach of its computer security was supported by evidence tracking the e-mails to the defendant's computer and by the presence of the e-mails and other incriminating documents on the defendant's computer hard drive. United States v. Ray, No. 05-1655, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 25119 (Nov. 15, 2005). The appellate court rejected the argument that there was insufficient evidence to show that the defendant sent the e-mails, nothing that the defendant admitted that he used the computer and logged onto the Internet several times a day. The court also noted expert testimony before the jury that the e-mails and documents were sent by someone logged onto the defendant's computer, and that there was no evidence of any type of remote access or hacking on the computer.

Unauthorized Access Alone Insufficient To Sustain Claim Under Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
A showing that the plaintiffs' computer system was accessed without authorization is insufficient to sustain a claim under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), where the plaintiff could not show that any information was acquired as a result of the unauthorized access. P.C. Yonkers, Inc. v. Celebrations the Party & Seasonal Superstore, LLC, No. 04-4254, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 23990 (3d Cir. Nov. 7, 2005). The appeals court noted that while the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants used information acquired during the unauthorized access to prepare for the opening of retail stores that were competitive with those of the plaintiffs, they had proffered "absolutely no evidence as to what, if any, information was actually viewed, let alone taken." The appeals court also ruled that language in the CFAA limiting recovery for certain kinds of claims to economic damages only, did not preclude the issuance of injunctive relief if a cognizable CFAA claim is pleaded and proved.

Federal Computer Fraud And Abuse Act Covers Loss From Employee Misappropriation Of Trade Secrets In Software
A loss in the value of trade secrets resulting from former employees' access to and use of proprietary computer software is a compensable "loss" under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. sec. 1030. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. v. Command Transportation, LLC, No. 05 C 3401, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28063 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 16, 2005). The court refused to dismiss the plaintiff's CFAA claim, which was based on allegations that its former employees intentionally exceeded their authorized access to the employer's computer network in order to acquire the proprietary software for use in a competitive enterprise. The court ruled that a "loss" under the CFAA includes a loss in the value of trade secrets and loss of competitive edge resulting from the misappropriations. The court also ruled that the plaintiff's allegation that its computer network was used across state lines in interstate commerce met the interstate commerce requirement of the CFAA.

Adult Entertainment Trade Group Files Action Challenging Utah Child Registry Law
The Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment industry trade group, filed an action challenging the Utah Child Protection Registry Act on constitutional and other grounds. Free Speech Coalition v. Utah, No. 2:05-cv-00949 (D. Utah complaint filed Nov. 17, 2005). The Act criminalizes the sending to minors of advertisements for products and services that are "harmful to minors" or that cannot legally be sold to minors. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the Act is preempted by the federal CAN-SPAM Act, that it violates the plaintiffs' right of free expression and that it is an impermissible burden on interstate commerce.

FTC Obtains TRO Against Spyware Distributed With Unwitting Help Of Blog Sites
The Federal Trade Commission obtained a temporary restraining order against spyware distributors and related entities that used offers of free background music to bloggers to distribute its products. FTC v. Enternet Media, Inc., No. CV05-7777 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 1, 2005). According to the FTC complaint, the code downloaded by the bloggers was bundled with a program that flashed warnings to blog visitors about the security of their computer systems; visitors who clicked on the warning downloaded spyware programs onto their computers that tracked computer users' browsing, changed Internet settings, and displayed pop-up ads, among other things.

UN Assembly Adopts Convention On Electronic Contracting
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a new Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracting on November 23, 2005. The Convention was prepared by the United Nations Commission on International Trade (UNCITRAL) during proceedings that commenced in 2002. The Convention is intended to enhance legal certainty and commercial predictability in international electronic transactions. Among other things, the Convention establishes the general principle that a communication or contract shall not be denied validity or enforceability solely on the ground that it is in electronic form. The Convention opens for signature in January 2006.

Federal Arbitration Act Does Not Preclude Unconscionability Challenge To Arbitration Provision By California Subscriber To Online Service
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not preclude a California consumer's class action challenge to an arbitration clause in an online service subscriber agreement based upon alleged unconscionability of the clause under state law. Aral v. Earthlink, Inc., No. B177146, 2005 Cal. App. LEXIS 1847 (Cal. Ct. App. 2d Dist. Nov. 29, 2005). The court ruled that an unconscionability challenge to an arbitration clause is permitted under the FAA because unconscionability is a defense to any contract provision, not merely to an arbitration clause. The court concluded that the clause precluding class actions was both substantively and procedurally unconscionable, because it was presented on a "take it or leave it" basis, and because it would preclude a class action in a case involving small value consumer claims which arose from what was alleged to be deliberate overcharging by the defendant. The court also ruled that the forum selection clause was unconscionable because it required California consumers to arbitrate small value consumer claims in Georgia, a result which "discourages legitimate claims by imposing unreasonable geographical barriers."

Illinois Consumer Fraud Act Inapplicable To Online Transaction Between Illinois Corporation And Nonresident Consumer
The Illinois consumer fraud statute does not apply to an online transaction between a corporation that maintains headquarters in Illinois and a consumer who is not a resident of Illinois. Shaw v. Hyatt International Corp., No.05-5022, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28250 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 15, 2005). The court dismissed a class action complaint filed by a U.S. citizen residing in London, alleging that the room rates quoted by the defendant hotel chain on its Web site were deceptive because they mislead consumers concerning the exchange rate to be applied in charging for rooms at international locations. The court noted that Illinois courts interpreting the statute have ruled that it does not apply to an action brought by a nonresident of Illinois if the only contact with Illinois is the location of the defendant's corporate headquarters is in Illinois or the origination of the alleged deceptive scheme in Illinois. The court concluded that the statute is limited its application to deceptive practices occurring 'primarily and substantially within Illinois.'"

"Willful Misconduct" In License Dispute Involving Google AdSense Program Requires Intentional Or Reckless Conduct
A provision in a technology license limiting damages for breach of the license to harm caused by "willful misconduct" requires a showing that the licensee acted "with specific intent to harm," or "with a positive, active and absolute disregard of the consequences of its actions." Digital Envoy, Inc. v. Google, Inc., No. 5:04-cv-1497, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27939 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 8, 2005). The licensor claimed that the use of its geo-targeting technology in Google's popular AdSense advertising program violated the terms of the license. In dismissing the licensor's claim for damages for breach of the license, the magistrate judge noted prior rulings that questioned whether a trier of fact could conclude that the terms of the license were violated, and ruled that the licensor failed to show that the licensee believed that its use of the licensed technology would violate the terms of the license. The court refused, however, to dismiss the licensor's claim for damages based upon the theory of misappropriation of its trade secrets, and ruled that the licensor could recover such damages if it could show "some causal nexus" between the licensee's profits and the use of the licensor's trade secrets.

"Important Notice" At Foot Of Auction Web Site May Give Adequate Notice Of Auction Terms
An "Important Notice" link at the foot of the Web site of an auction house that lead to information concerning conditions of sale may have given sufficient notice of the conditions to be binding on a bidder. Hessel v. Christie's Inc., No. 05 Civ. 9277, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27814 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 10, 2005). In evaluating the probability of success on the merits of a bidder's claim that the conditions were inapplicable because of insufficient notice, the court noted that the link was not immediately visible and could only be reached by scrolling down the browser window. Nevertheless, the court concluded that the bidder had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on his claim that the conditions were not binding.

Clayton Antitrust Act Does Not Cover Claim Alleging Tying Of Patent License
The tying provisions of the federal Clayton Antitrust Act do not cover claims that the purchase of a patent license was tied to the license of digital map data. Tele Atlas N.V. v. NAVTEQ Corp., No. C-05-01673, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29957 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 2, 2005). The court dismissed claims that licensor of digital map data to makers of navigation devices used its dominant position in the market and threats of patent infringement litigation to require licensees of its data to purchase a patent license. The court noted that the Clayton Act applies to contracts for the sale of "goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies or other commodities," and that courts have strictly construed the term "commodity," applying it only to tying arrangement involving tangible goods. The court also dismissed tying claims brought under California antitrust statutes which contain similar language prohibiting tying arrangements with respect to commodities.

U.S. Supreme Court Grants eBay Petition For Certiorari In Patent Injunction Case
The United States Supreme Court granted eBay's petition for review of the federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision in MercExchange, L.L.C. v. eBay, Inc., 401 F.3d 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2005). The Court agreed to consider the circumstances under which a federal court may grant or refuse to grant an injunction against patent infringement. The trial court in MercExchange v. eBay refused to grant a permanent injunction against eBay following a jury verdict of patent infringement, reasoning, among other things, that the issuance of an injunction was against the public interest due to a "growing concern over the issuance of business method patents." The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the trial court had given insufficient reason for refusing to grant an injunction.

Online Resale Of Copyrighted Book Does Not Infringe Author's Right Of Distribution
The online resale of a copyrighted book does not infringe the author's exclusive right of distribution under 17 U.S.C. sec. 109. Okocha v. Amazon.com, No. 04-4125, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 23788 (3d Cir. Nov. 3, 2005) (unpublished). The appeals court upheld the district court ruling granting summary judgment to Amazon.com, dismissing the author's claim that the online resale of his book constituted copyright infringement. The appeals court noted that the evidence showed that the books listed for sale on the Amazon.com Web site were used copies of the 1993 edition published by the author in Nigeria, offered for sale by independent third-party booksellers.

Access To Expert Witness's Password Protected Web Site Did Not Violate DMCA
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions were not violated by use of a valid username and password to access a Web site maintained by an expert witness. Egilman v. Keller & Heckman, LLP, No. 04-00876, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28245 (D. D.C. Nov. 10, 2005). The court noted that the documents obtained from the plaintiff's Web site were used to show that the plaintiff had violated an order prohibiting extrajudicial statements in a state court litigation in which the plaintiff was designated a testifying expert witness. The court ruled that unauthorized access to a Web site by a valid username/password combination did not constitute a "circumvention," because the DMCA limits the meaning of that term "to actions that 'descramble,' decrypt,' 'avoid, bypass, remove, deactive or impair a technological measure."'

District Court Denies Motion For Summary Judgment On Interactivity Of Online Music Service
Summary judgment on the issue of interactivity of an online music service is inappropriate due to factual and semantic issues concerning the meaning of the statutory definition of an "interactive service." Arista Records, Inc. v. Launch Media, Inc., No. 01 Civ. 4450, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26479 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 2, 2005). The plaintiffs sought a ruling that the defendant's online "Internet radio" service, which allowed customers to create artist-specific music streams, was "interactive" and therefore was not entitled to a compulsory license. The court noted that the term has yet to be definitively construed by the courts, and concluded that determination "of where the as yet unwritten line should be drawn" in determining whether a particular level of interactivity met the statutory definition, raised genuine issues of material fact that precluded the grant of summary judgment.

CDA Section 230 Immunity Extends To Service Provider Promise To Remove Third-Party Content
A service provider is entitled to immunity under Section 230(e) of the Communications Decency Act for breach of a promise to remove defamatory online profiles posted by a third party impersonating the plaintiff. Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., No. 05-926-AA, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28061 (D. Ore. Nov. 8, 2005). The court rejected the plaintiff's argument that her claim was not barred by Section 230 because she was not seeking to hold the service liable as a publisher, but rather was asserting a claim under the Restatement of Torts for failure to exercise reasonable care in performing an undertaking, i.e., the removal of the defamatory profiles. The court noted that judicial interpretations of Section 230 have generally barred suits "that seek to hold the provider of an interactive computer service liable for [tortious] or unlawful information that someone else disseminates using that service."

Employee Personal Storage Devices Create Workplace Challenges
Employees have a variety of inexpensive digital storage devices available to them that, when used at work, pose significant data security issues. An employer’s data has never been less secure and harder to control.

Corporate Governance: Panic in the Boardroom
Since the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act in 2002, there has been a great deal of confusion and fear in corporate boardrooms. Many of my peers are now reluctant to serve on boards, and some have actually resigned.

New flaw exposes PCs to hackers
A new security flaw exposing hundreds of millions of Windows personal computers to easy infiltration by hackers worsened over the New Year weekend, with Microsoft failing to issue an official patch on Monday.

An Unexpected Open-Source Trap
The problem is that despite its name and reputation, open-source software is distributed with strings attached. While it is true that the software's source code -- its binary DNA, so to speak -- is open for any programmer to read, adapt and change, there are restrictions and conditions on its use.

CDA Section 230 Immunity Extends To Service Provider Promise To Remove Third-Party Content
A service provider is entitled to immunity under Section 230(e) of the Communications Decency Act for breach of a promise to remove defamatory online profiles posted by a third party impersonating the plaintiff. Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., No. 05-926-AA, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28061 (D. Ore. Nov. 8, 2005). The court rejected the plaintiff's argument that her claim was not barred by Section 230 because she was not seeking to hold the service liable as a publisher, but rather was asserting a claim under the Restatement of Torts for failure to exercise reasonable care in performing an undertaking, i.e., the removal of the defamatory profiles.

CDA Section 230 Immunity Extends To Service Provider Promise To Remove Third-Party Content
A service provider is entitled to immunity under Section 230(e) of the Communications Decency Act for breach of a promise to remove defamatory online profiles posted by a third party impersonating the plaintiff. Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., No. 05-926-AA, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28061 (D. Ore. Nov. 8, 2005). The court rejected the plaintiff's argument that her claim was not barred by Section 230 because she was not seeking to hold the service liable as a publisher, but rather was asserting a claim under the Restatement of Torts for failure to exercise reasonable care in performing an undertaking, i.e., the removal of the defamatory profiles. The court noted that judicial interpretations of Section 230 have generally barred suits "that seek to hold the provider of an interactive computer service liable for [tortious] or unlawful information that someone else disseminates using that service."

Starbucks wins name dispute case against rival
A Chinese court has sided with the Starbucks coffee house chain in its battle with a Shanghai rival about their use of the same Chinese name, news reports said.

Starbucks wins name dispute case against rival
A Chinese court has sided with the Starbucks coffee house chain in its battle with a Shanghai rival about their use of the same Chinese name, news reports said.

Starbucks wins name dispute case against rival
A Chinese court has sided with the Starbucks coffee house chain in its battle with a Shanghai rival about their use of the same Chinese name, news reports said.

Sunday, January 01, 2006
 
  2006 full of broadband promise
In the Chinese calendar the symbol changes every year. 2006 will be the year of the dog but in the world of technology, broadband has remained top dog for the last five years.

 

 

 

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