John Lister

Five universities are being sued for their part in scanning millions of copyrighted books. It's an unexpected development in the ongoing legal wrangling over Google's Book Search service. Google began scanning books and first made them available to ... the public in 2004, with the idea of making it possible to search for phrases in printed books in the same way as on web pages. However, this led to legal action from groups representing both authors and publishers who complained that Google had scanned books without permission. Deal Brought Into Question The two sides eventually reached a ... (view more)

The theft of online security certificates by hackers thought to be from Iran may be even more serious than first thought. The stolen certificates include those for security agencies from the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. The security ... breach originates with DigiNotar, a Netherlands organization that produces Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates which are used by webites. An SSL, for example, is used when home users connect to their banking web sites. Using the SSL certificate, information to and from the home PC to a bank website is encrypted and cannot be intercepted by a third ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that Windows 8 will allow users to create multiple virtual machines on a single computer. It's a feature that's previously only been available on Microsoft's server version of Windows. The tool, which is referred to as ... Microsoft's "Hyper-V," allows users to make virtual copies of PCs -- all within 1 PC (hence, it's "virtualized"). Virtualization, more importantly, addresses major security issues in that it separates the host hardware (your computer) from the operating system (Windows) and the applications which run within Windows. Run 5, 10, 5,000 ... (view more)

A hardware manufacturer has revealed that applications designed for smartphones running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system (OS) will work on PCs running the next edition of Windows. It's believed that this could encourage developers to ... turn their attention to the phone OS. At the moment, there are an estimated 30,000 applications available on smartphones running Windows Phone 7. That may sound a lot, but it's only around one-eighth of the number available on Android phones, and less than one-tenth of those available for Apple's portable devices. Chicken and Egg Situation This ... (view more)

Microsoft is being sued over claims that it collects data about users of Windows Phone 7 handsets. The law suit says such collection happens even when the user has switched off the tracking tool. Rebecca Cousineau has filed the suit in Seattle, ... Microsoft's home city, and is seeking class action status. If granted, which is by no means guaranteed, any other Windows Phone 7 users in the same position could join the case and automatically receive damages if the case is won. Four Tracking Numbers to Identify Phone, User According to the lawsuit, analysis of the data sent by a Samsung Omnia 7, ... (view more)

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a legal bid to block a planned merger of cellphone giants AT&T and T-Mobile. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has hinted it may also raise objections. The proposed merger between ... the second- and fourth-largest cellphone networks respectively would create a new market leader, with a combined subscriber base of 130 million overtaking the current number one, Verizon. From the moment the deal was announced, speculation began that regulators would be wary of the "big four" becoming the "big three". Concerns Result in ... (view more)

A significant increase in the number of Internet-related defamation cases in England and Wales has been blamed on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Law firm Sweet and Maxwell noted that the number of libel cases specifically referring to ... online postings rose from 7 to 16 between June 2010 and May 2011. Though that may seem low, this only includes cases that actually make it to trial, which is relatively rare given the high legal costs involved. Overall, there were only 86 such trials, meaning nearly one in five now involve the Internet rather than newspapers or other mainstream ... (view more)

Last week Google was fined $500 million for carrying illegal advertising for Canadian pharmaceutical exporters. Now, the lawyer who led the probe has made the shocking claim that Google chief Larry Page explicitly knew about and ignored the ... advertisements. Google's $500 million fine not only covered the profits it made from running the ads, but also the money the advertisers are estimated to have made from selling the drugs to US customers. Those sales are illegal because of Food ... (view more)

There are reports that Microsoft is about to hand out an ultra-portable computer running Windows 8 and containing a quad-core processor. If true, it could serve as a very effective way of promoting the new system on portable devices. The rumors ... center on BUILD, a Microsoft event that takes place in California in September designed to help both hardware and software developers work better with Windows. The event also serves as a source of feedback for Microsoft about how it could improve the operating system (OS), including those still in development. This year's event is going to be built ... (view more)

Google has agreed to pay a penalty of $500 million for carrying advertising from Canadian pharmacies that illegally offer drugs to US customers. The fine will allow the company to avoid criminal charges over the issue. It is illegal to ship drugs ... into the US from outside the country as such medicines -- even when they are prescription drugs -- are not verified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the case of Canadian distributors, drugs shipped overseas also evade local regulation. In some cases such drugs may have been made outside of North America and have had no quality controls. ... (view more)