| UK: UK questioned on online ad system BBC News August 6th, 2008 EU commissioner Viviane Reding has asked the UK government to clarify whether the Phorm system is in breach of European data laws. |
| US: Sprint early termination fees are illegal, judge rules
by Steve Johnson, Mercury News July 30th, 2008 Californians fed up with being charged for ending their cell phone service prematurely won a major victory in a Bay Area court decision that concluded such fees violate state law. |
| US: FCC to Rule Comcast
Can't Block Web Videos
by AMY SCHATZ, Wall Street Journal July 28th, 2008 The Federal Communications Commission will rule that the cable giant violated federal policy by deliberately preventing some customers from sharing videos online via file-sharing services like BitTorrent, agency officials said. The company has acknowledged it slowed some traffic, but said it was necessary to prevent a few heavy users from overburdening its network. |
| EU: EU hits Intel with fresh charges BBC News July 17th, 2008 European regulators have filed fresh charges against the world's biggest computer chip maker Intel over alleged abuse of its dominant market position. |
| US: FCC Chief to Seek Comcast Penalty Associated Press July 11th, 2008 The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. |
| US: Former Customers Off Limits To Verizon by Cecilia Kang, The Washington Post June 24th, 2008 The federal government, speaking on behalf of former Verizon phone service customers, yesterday sent the communications company a stern message: Stop trying to woo back those consumers who have opted for a new provider. They've moved on. |
| US: Justices Take Case on Navy Use of Sonar
by LINDA GREENHOUSE, The New York Times June 24th, 2008 The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a long-running environmental dispute over the impact on whales and other marine mammals of Navy training exercises off Southern California. |
| US: House Passes Bill on Wiretap Powers
by ERIC LICHTBLAU and DAVID STOUT, The New York Times June 21st, 2008 The House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a bill overhauling the rules on the government’s wiretapping powers and conferring what amounts to legal immunity to the telephone companies that took part in President Bush’s program of eavesdropping without warrants after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. |
| EU: E.U. Snubs Microsoft on Office Systems
by JAMES KANTER, The New York Times June 11th, 2008 Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes of the European Union delivered an unusually blunt snub to Microsoft on Tuesday by recommending that businesses and governments use software based on open standards. |
| UK: Call to prosecute BT for ad trial BBC News Online June 5th, 2008 BT should face prosecution for its "illegal" trials of a controversial ad-serving technology, a leading computer security researcher has said. |
| US: Judge Finds Dell Engaged
In Deceptive Practices
by CHAD BRAY, The Wall Street Journal May 27th, 2008 A state judge in Albany has found that Dell Inc. and its financing unit engaged in deceptive business practices related to financing promotions for its computers and technical support, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. |
| GERMANY: Ex-Manager Tells of Bribery at Siemens by CARTER DOUGHERTY, The New York Times May 27th, 2008 A former manager of Siemens, the European engineering company, testified Monday about an intricate system of slush funds and bribery at the company as the first trial on allegations of corporate corruption in Germany began. |
| GERMANY: Phone Giant in Germany Stirs a Furor by MARK LANDLER, The New York Times May 27th, 2008 Germany was engulfed in a national furor over threats to privacy on Monday, after an admission by Deutsche Telekom that it had surreptitiously tracked thousands of phone calls to identify the source of leaks to the news media about its internal affairs. |
| US: A Push to Limit the Tracking of Web Surfers' Clicks
by LOUISE STORY, The New York Times March 20th, 2008 AFTER reading about how Internet companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo collect information about people online and use it for targeted advertising, one New York assemblyman said there ought to be a law. |
| US: F.C.C. Weighing Limits on Slowing Web Traffic by STEPHEN LABATON, The New York Times February 26th, 2008 The head of the Federal Communications Commission and other senior officials said on Monday that they were considering taking steps to discourage cable and telephone companies from delaying the downloads and uploads of heavy Internet users. |
| GERMANY: Authorities Investigating Deutsche Post CEO for Tax Evasion
by Barbara Schmid, Der Spiegel February 14th, 2008 Klaus Zumwinkel, the CEO of former German postal monopoly Deutsche Post, is under investigation for tax evasion. |
| US: Lawmakers Move to Grant Banks Immunity Against Patent Lawsuit by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, The Washington Post February 14th, 2008 Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has sponsored an unusual provision at the urging of the nation's banks granting them immunity against an active patent lawsuit, potentially saving them billions of dollars. |
| US: Comcast Defends Role As Internet Traffic Cop by Cecilia Kang, The Washington Post February 13th, 2008 Comcast said yesterday that it purposely slows down some traffic on its network, including some music and movie downloads, an admission that sparked more controversy in the debate over how much control network operators should have over the Internet. |
| GLOBAL: False 'Green' Ads Draw Global Scrutiny
by Tom Wright, Wall Street Journal January 30th, 2008 With companies eager to tout their "green" credentials to consumers, advertising watchdogs are stepping up efforts to rein in marketers that make false or exaggerated claims. |
| UK: FBI wants instant access to British identity data
by Owen Bowcott, The Guardian (UK) January 15th, 2008 Americans seek international database to carry iris, palm and finger prints |