GigaLaw.com Daily News

Comcast Sets Limits for Home ISP Users

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:20:00 +0000

Starting October 1 customers of Comcast's residential data services will have an invisible barrier on their monthly data usage. Under the new guidelines of Comcast's Acceptable Use Policy, that cap will be set at 250 gigabytes per month, per account.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Judge Rules for Video-Sharing Site in Copyright Case

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:15:00 +0000

A U.S. judge has thrown out a copyright infringement case against Veoh Networks Inc., an Internet video start-up with high-profile Hollywood backers, ruling that video-sharing companies are not solely responsible for policing piracy that may take place on their sites. The California court dismissed a copyright infringement suit by adult entertainment company Io Group Inc. against Veoh and granted summary judgment to the defendants.

Read the article: Reuters

FBI Arrests Blogger for Streaming Guns N' Roses Album

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:10:00 +0000

The FBI on arrested a Los Angeles-area blogger on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws after he allegedly streamed tracks of the unreleased Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy on his Web site. Kevin Cogill, 27, caused quite a stir earlier this summer when he allegedly began streaming nine songs from the album, which has been 15 years in the making, on his blog Antiquiet.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Target Settles Website Suit with Blind Advocacy Group

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:05:00 +0000

Target Corp. has agreed to pay $6 million in damages to plaintiffs in California unable to use its online site as part of a class action settlement with the National Federation of the Blind, a leading advocacy group for blind people. Furthermore, the settlement requires Target to implement internal guidelines to make its site more accessible to the blind by Feb. 28, 2009, with assistance from the NFB.

Read the article: MSNBC

Hackers Target Self-Checkout Systems in U.K.

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Self-checkout systems in UK supermarkets are being targeted by hi-tech criminals with stolen credit card details. A BBC investigation has unearthed a plan hatching online to loot US bank accounts via the checkout systems.

Read the article: BBC News

FAA Blames Computer Problem for Massive Flight Delays

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:30:00 +0000

The Federal Aviation Administration blamed a computer breakdown for delaying hundreds of flights throughout the country, including Baltimore and Washington. The system handles basic flight plan data that must be distributed to air traffic controllers around the country before planes take off.

Read the article: The Washington Post

Laptops Carried to Space Station Contain Virus

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:25:00 +0000

A computer virus is alive and well on the International Space Station. NASA has confirmed that laptops carried to the ISS in July were infected with a virus.

Read the article: BBC News

Computer with Bank Customers' Data Sold on eBay

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:20:00 +0000

An investigation is under way into how a computer containing bank customers' personal data was sold on eBay. The computer, bought by IT manager Andrew Chapman for �77, had the sensitive details on its hard drive.

Read the article: BBC News

U.K. Authority Bans Apple's TV Ad for iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:15:00 +0000

The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority has banned an ad for the iPhone that promised users access to "all parts of the internet" on their Apple device. As the device doesn't offer Flash or Java, and not all Web sites can be seen in their entirety, the complaints said.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Immersion to Pay Microsoft $20.75 Million Settlement

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:10:00 +0000

Immersion Corp., which develops and licenses touch feedback technology, said it will pay $20.75 million to software maker Microsoft Corp. as part of the settlement of a litigation. The companies agreed to resolve Microsoft's claim under a 2003 sublicense agreement, as well as Immersion's counterclaim that Microsoft breached a confidentiality agreement dated May 2007, Immersion said in a statement.

Read the article: Reuters

Court in Turkey Lifts Ban on YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:05:00 +0000

A court in Turkey has lifted a ban on YouTube, the video sharing website, after hundreds of sites voluntarily blocked themselves in protest at growing internet censorship. Access to YouTube had been blocked since May in the latest of a series of bans triggered by the posting of videos deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk, founder of the modern Turkish state.

Read the article: Guardian

Judge Says File-Sharing Defendant Destroyed Evidence

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The recording industry appears to have won a closely watched copyright infringement case over charges of evidence tampering. Judge Neil Wake ruled that Jeffery Howell, a defendant in Atlantic v. Howell, had willfully and intentionally destroyed evidence related to his peer-to-peer activities after being notified of pending legal action by the RIAA, according to a report by Ars Technica.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Data Breaches This Year Exceed Total for 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:25:00 +0000

More data breaches have been reported so far this year than in all of 2007, according to a report released by a nonprofit group that works to prevent fraud. Identity Theft Resource Center of San Diego found that 449 U.S. businesses, government agencies and universities have reported a loss or theft of consumer data this year.

Read the article: The Washington Post

Security Breaches Highlight Need for Repairs, Experts Say

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Three very big and very different computer security breaches that have dominated recent headlines did more than show how badly the Internet needs major repairs. They also exposed the huge rift between corporate America and the federal government over who should fix it, cyber-security experts say.

Read the article: Los Angeles Times

Mac Clone Maker Plans to File Charges Against Apple

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Mac clone maker Psystar plans to file its answer to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit as well as a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices. Miami-based Psystar, owned by Rudy Pedraza, will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple's tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is "an anticompetitive restrain of trade," according to attorney Colby Springer of antitrust specialists Carr & Ferrell.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Inventor Sues Google, Verizon Over Voicemail Patent

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Emboldened by settlements with Apple and AT&T, inventor Judah Klausner filed a new voicemail patent lawsuit against Google, Verizon Communications and others. The inventor's company, Klausner Technologies Inc, also named as defendants LG Electronics, Comverse Technology, Citrix Systems, Embarq in a patent infringement complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, according to a court filing.

Read the article: Reuters

Facebook Drops Scrabulous in New Copyright Dispute

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Already blocked from Facebook users in the United States and Canada, Scrabulous -- the online imitation of the popular Scrabble board game -- has been yanked by Facebook in all other countries except India in response to a copyright tussle over the game. Facebook said it decided to block access to Scrabulous throughout most of the world in response to a formal request to do so from Mattel, which owns the rights to Scrabble outside North American.

Read the article: SiliconValley.com

Software Developer Pulls Tetris-Like Game from iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:00:00 +0000

A young software developer has decided to pull his iPhone game from Apple's App Store because it was too similar to the classic arcade game Tetris. Noah Witherspoon, a college student in Atlanta, created a free game called Tris for Apple's handset platform.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Newegg Stops Collecting New York Sales Taxes

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Online electronics retailer Newegg has stopped charging sales tax to its New York customers, according to a posting on the Consumerist.com. The move by Newegg reverses action the online retailer took in June, in which it began to charge applicable sales tax for all shipments to New York, following passage of a new state law that required certain companies to charge sales tax on shipments to New York state.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Apple Limits Developers Talk on iPhone Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:10:00 +0000

The software development kit that Apple Inc. distributed to programmers bound them to not discuss the process of creating programs for the iPhone. Companies typically waive such legal restrictions once the product in question launches, but Apple didn't. And it won't say why.

Read the article: Los Angeles Times

Private-Street Residents Complain About Google Service

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Google's Street View service apparently thinks your "no trespassing" and "private road" signs are just for decoration. Residents in California's Humboldt County are complaining that the drivers who are hired to collect the images are disregarding private property signs and driving up private roads.

Read the article: CNET News.com

Woman Sues City for Ordering Her to Delete Hyperlink

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:00:00 +0000

A Wisconsin woman says the Sheboygan city attorney ordered her to remove from her Web site a link to the city's police department, in what she believes was retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez, according to the suit. The city's actions torpedoed Jennifer Reisinger's Web site marketing business and led to death threats against her, according to the lawsuit.

Read the article: Journal Sentinel

Biden Has Mixed Record on Technology Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:20:00 +0000

By choosing Joe Biden as their vice presidential candidate, the Democrats have selected a politician with a mixed record on technology who has spent most of his Senate career allied with the FBI and copyright holders, who ranks toward the bottom of CNET's Technology Voters' Guide, and whose anti-privacy legislation was actually responsible for the creation of PGP.

Read the article: CNET News.com

White House Missing 225 Days of E-mail Messages

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:15:00 +0000

The White House is missing as many as 225 days of e-mail dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves office, according to an internal White House draft document obtained by the Associated Press. The nine-page outline of the White House's e-mail problems invites companies to bid on a project to recover the missing electronic messages.

Read the article: SiliconValley.com

More ISPs Setting Limits on Customers' Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Doug Isenberg) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:10:00 +0000

Phone company Frontier Communications Corp. is one of several Internet service providers that are moving to curb the growth of traffic on their networks, or at least make the subscribers who download the most pay more. This could have consequences not just for consumers -- who would have to learn to watch how much data their Internet use entails -- but also for companies that hope to make the Internet a conduit for movies and other content that comes in huge files.

Read the article: USA Today