communications

Tired of being told not to use your smartphone on a commercial flight? There's good news. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to lift the long-running and often criticized ban on in-flight cell / smartphone use. The FCC voted 3-2 ... in favor of ditching the measure late last week. But there's still one major hurdle left: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has final say on whether or not you should be allowed to use a handheld electronic device while a plane is in the air. "The FAA is the expert agency on determining which devices can be used on airplanes," noted ... (view more)

A new report suggests that in-car tech systems intended to simplify the navigation of media and communications platforms may create more problems than they solve. According to the report, which originated in the United Kingdom, more than seven in ... ten people find the systems distract them from driving. The publisher of the report, the UK-based publication 'Which?,' says it asked 1,000 of its members to report on their in-car technology. About one in four said they owned cars with advanced systems such as satellite navigation, touchscreen displays, and steering wheel-based control buttons. ... (view more)

Around 4.5 million computers have been caught in a botnet that some experts are calling as good as indestructible. Others, however, say that's an exaggeration. The botnet in question is named the TDL-4. In many senses, it's like any other botnet: ... once a computer becomes infected with malicious software, it is now controlled by remote and used for nefarious purposes. Many times the zombie PCs in a botnet (also known as a " botnet army ") are used to send bogus page requests to websites in an attempt to knock them offline --; referred to as a " denial of service attack ", or ... (view more)

The UK Government is now considering the mass surveillance of all user communications on social-networking sites. The EU Data Retention Directive , which directs UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to store its customers' names, addresses, IP ... address, user IDs and all email and Internet telephony communications for a year apparently aren't enough for Home Office Security Minister Vernon Coaker. He suggests that communications like those on social-networking sites as well as instant messaging should also be monitored. Harvesting And Storing All Internet Communications Speaking at a meeting of ... (view more)

Several Internet Service Providers (ISPs), along with "NebuAd," the company responsible for a controversial marketing technology that delivers "more relevant ads" while you surf the Internet are facing a class action lawsuit. The suit was filed in ... the U.S. District Court in San Francisco and alleges violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, California's Invasion of Privacy Act and California's Computer Crime Law, as well as aiding and abetting, civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment. Earlier this year, NebuAd made the news when ... (view more)