John Lister

It appears the European Union feels Google's suggestions for settling complaints it engaged in anti-competitive behavior don't go far enough. The search giant had promised to change the way it orders search results, but this wasn't enough for the ... groups that brought up the complaints. The EU recently carried out a lengthy investigation into complaints that Google exploited its dominance of the search market to increase advertising revenue. It's a claim Google denies. Google was accused of deliberately favoring sites it owned when determining search rankings. In the United States, Google was ... (view more)

Google is yet again under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This time the probe, which is still at a very early stage, involves the firm's advertising practices. The investigation hasn't been officially announced, but sources have ... told both Reuters and Bloomberg that it is under way. (Source: reuters.com ) This investigation centers on Google's advertising network. Specifically, the focus is on the way it accepts advertisements and then places ads on websites that sell space. Google offers its index of web content to find the site where the ad is most likely to generate ... (view more)

Twitter plans to introduce an "account verification" feature that the social networking site hopes will help beef up security. The move follows a spate of attacks in which high-profile media accounts have been taken over and used to publish bogus ... news claims. The new system is a form of 'two-factor verification', meaning that merely providing a standard password isn't enough. When a person uses two-factor verification security, a hacker who gains access to a password still won't be able to break into an account. If users enable the new system in their account settings, they'll be able to add ... (view more)

Hackers have reportedly threatened to attack the computer system belonging to Cuba-based Guantanamo Bay prison. That has forced the U.S. military to take the facility's wireless network offline. Reports indicate the hack was designed to show support ... for Guantanamo Bay prisoners. More than half of the prison population is currently taking part in a hunger strike focused on raising awareness about the facility's conditions. Guantanamo Officials Fear Hacking Threat Anonymous, a so-called 'hacktivism' group that uses hacking as a form of political protest, began an online campaign to mark the ... (view more)

After lying low for several months, the Chinese military's hacking division has reportedly resumed attacks on U.S. businesses and government agencies. Earlier this year a US security firm published a report that linked cyber attacks to a ... Shanghai-based residence. Given that the building is known to belong to the Chinese army, it was widely concluded that China's military was directly involved in the operation. Chinese officials denied the claims. However, security experts continued to insist that the Shanghai-based unit was responsible for attacking U.S. government agencies, businesses that ... (view more)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken control of two bank accounts belonging to a company that exchanged US dollars for the 'Bitcoin' virtual currency. The department claims the accounts had not been properly registered with financial ... regulators. Bitcoin is not issued by any real-world financial institution. Instead, each unit of currency is represented by a unique piece of code generated by an algorithm. Whenever somebody makes a payment using Bitcoins, the details of the transaction are shared using a peer-to-peer network, similar to they way some users share music and video ... (view more)

Eight members of the United States Congress have written to Google demanding the company address privacy issues involving its Google Glass project. The device, which essentially blends a smartphone with a pair of spectacles, has raised questions ... about data handling. The letter comes from the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, which doesn't have any formal powers but offers elected officials a way to discuss topics they consider important. (Source: house.gov ) It's clear from the letter that members of Congress are suspicious of Google. The letter points to the controversy surrounding ... (view more)

Facebook has banned an application that allowed users take a one in six chance of destroying their account. However, critics say the social networking site hasn't established any clear rules about such apps. The application has the eye-catching name ... "Social Roulette." Inspired by the deadly pistol game Russian Roulette, it involves the player spinning a virtual revolver cylinder with one of the six chambers loaded -- in this case, with a Facebook logo rather than a bullet. App Deletes Facebook Account Info The resulting death isn't physical but virtual: if the odds are not in your favor, the ... (view more)

Microsoft has officially announced the first upgrade to Windows 8 operating system (OS) will be available on June 26, 2013. There will be no charge, so long as you already own the OS. According to a Microsoft blog post, the new software "will be a ... free update to Windows 8 for consumers through the Windows Store." That suggests users may need to manually install the update and that it won't be downloaded and installed automatically. (Source: windows.com ) The June 26 release will be a "public preview," meaning it won't be installed on new computers until later on. Update Known As Windows 8.1 ... (view more)

Samsung says it has made a key breakthrough in the journey to making ultra-fast 5G wireless technology available to consumers. But critics say such a wireless standard is a long way off and have questioned the firm's use of the term "5G". The new ... development from Samsung is called an adaptive array transceiver. It's designed to use very high frequencies, currently reserved for sending signals to and from satellites, for cellphone data. So far, it's proven difficult to use those frequencies for cellphone towers because poor weather conditions can compromise the signal. According to Samsung, ... (view more)