Apple recently settled a patent dispute with Burst.com for $10 million. Burst alleged that Apple infringed four patents for transmission of compressed audio and video files in iTunes, iLife, QuickTime and the iPod. A similar suit was settled with Microsoft for $60 million previously. The real story of this settlement is the relatively moderate amount of payment from Apple. Particularly given a previous Read More
All Four Letter .COM Domains Registered
A prime example of the growth of domain name speculating was seen today, when virtually all four letter .com domains were registered. The growth of domain name speculating has increased in recent years as cyber-property speculators, businesses and individuals all scramble for valuable names. Whether the newer top level domains do anything to reduce the speculating remains to be seen. While it is Read More
Do Not Track List Proposed for Advertisers
Seeking to follow the successful example of the FTC’s “Do Not Call” list, a variety of privacy groups have now proposed a “Do Not Track” list that seeks to create a list for consumers that would prefer to “opt-out” of being tracked for behavioral marketing campaigns. The proposal surmises that consumers would want to avoid having their online activities monitored for marketing purposes and Read More
Vonage Digging Out of Patent Hole
Vonage, whose very existence was threatened due to numerous patent infringement complaints by several major telecommunications companies, finally appears to be reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, agreeing to settle another lawsuit with AT&T. Vonage has become the poster child for a tenuous business model: total reliance on others’ networks to deliver its services. It was a business Read More
Internet Advertiser Self-Regulation Lacking
Internet advertisers’ attempts at self regulation as to privacy matters are not meeting the necessary standard says FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz. Advertisers predictably feel differently, stating that regulation of the industry would stifle the red-hot industry. While these comments were only those of one commissioner, they demonstrate that privacy matters related to online advertising are Read More
Cable Competition for Apartments
Federal regulators plan to throw out exclusive cable television service contracts with apartment buildings and open up competition to phone companies, according to a published report. Under FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal, cable companies, such as Comcast and Time Warner would no longer have exclusive deals with apartment buildings and other multiunit dwellings to provide cable TV to building Read More
Bill Proposes Permanent Do Not Call List
A new bill has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives that would amend the "Do-Not-Call" Implementation Act to eliminate the automatic removal of telephone numbers registered on the registry. The bill remains in the early stages of the legislation process. Approximately 132 million home and mobile telephone numbers have been added to the database since its Read More
Hackers Target US Networks
About 140 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to hack into the computer networks of the U.S. government and U.S. companies, a top counterintelligence official has reported. The official, Joel Brenner, warned that hackers could create chaos by manipulating information in electronic systems the government, military and private industry rely on. The number of hackers worldwide has been Read More
Internet Tax Ban Extended
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to extend an Internet tax moratorium for four years, despite calls from the tech industry to permanently bar state and local governments from taxing Internet access. The House voted to extend the moratorium on taxes on Internet access fees and “other taxes unique to the Internet” until November of 2011. Senate and Presidential action on the bill is still Read More
France Declares War on Spam
The nation of France is leading the way in providing new methods for combating spam e-mail. The French government is sponsoring the development of an open-source toolbar for Microsfot Outlook and Mozilla Firefox that makes it easier for users to report to ISPs that spam is coming from their networks. The project, called Signal Spam, also takes into account legitimate mailing practices. If a message comes Read More
