Technology News

FCC to Reassert Network Neutrality Rules

Source: PC Magazine
May 7, 2010

Regulators, whose authority over broadband was put in doubt by a recent court ruling, will announce on Thursday that it will reassert its powers but will refrain from imposing strict burdens on broadband providers like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, is seeking to walk a line between moving forward with a bold broadband policy and averting a heavy regulatory hand that could spark legal action by companies like Verizon and AT&T. A ...

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Judge Forces More Delays in Unsealing of iPhone Raid Documents

Source: Michael Ricci
May 7, 2010

A San Mateo County judge refused to hear arguments from a coalition of media lawyers seeking access to details of a search warrant served by a task force that raided a blogger's home on April 23rd>

The case involving a missing iPhone prototype from Apple Inc -- a move that could delay a hearing on the matter for at least another week.

San Mateo Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe did, however, say that the relevant parts of the search warrant were ...

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The Facebook Privacy War: What is Personal Data?

Source: All About Jazz
May 7, 2010

There is a current campaign on the internet for users to not log into Facebook for a whole day on June 6th, 2010. This comes in response to the recent changes made by Facebook to their privacy settings, especially to the one leaving the default on instead of off.

Basically it became quite apparent that Facebook is in fact, a business, and that your so-called personal data was for sale. To economists and investors, this was no surprise at all. ...

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FCC Offers 'Regulation Lite' for Broadband Providers, Pleasing Few

Source: All About Jazz
May 7, 2010

The FCC's plan to lightly regulate the pipes of U.S. broadband providers in order to preserve users rights ran into fierce criticism from Republicans and free-market groups Thursday.

This came despite agency promises not to impose most of the heavy regulations that currently control phone service in the United States. The move to reclassify broadband services under the part of the law that regulates phone companies was quickly met with skepticism from Wall Street and strong words from Republicans who ...

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Facebook Applications Being Added to Profiles Without Users' Knowledge

Source: All About Jazz
May 6, 2010

Facebook's new features are secretly adding applications to your profile. They discovered that even if you adjust your privacy settings, certain sites you visit while logged into Facebook are -- without any notification -- showing up on your applications list. There does not appear to be any way to opt out. I checked out my Facebook profile and discovered a trail that included CNet, Mashable, Typepad and USA Today. As Macworld.com points out, its not clear if these applications are ...

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Google to Record Label: Linking is Not a Crime!

Source: Michael Ricci
May 6, 2010

In what seems like a role reversal, Google has filed a lawsuit against Blue Destiny Records in an attempt to assert that it has not infringed the record label's copyrights.

Blue Destiny Records had previously sued Google but then withdrew the suit, saying that it would refile at a later date. Blue Destiny Records first sued Google for copyright infringement in December 2009 over links to copyrighted content hosted on Rapidshare. According to the new lawsuit by Google, Blue Destiny ...

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Media Coalition Asking Court to Unseal Records in iPhone Probe

Source: Michael Ricci
May 6, 2010

News organizations, including the Los Angeles Times, as well as the First Amendment Coalition, are asking a San Mateo County Superior Court to unseal records in the criminal investigation into a missing iPhone prototype. San Mateo County prosecutors persuaded a judge to seal all the records in the case. In a legal brief filed with the court, The Times and other news organizations including the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, CNet and Wired.com, asked the court to make public a detectives ...

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FCC to Exercise 'Nuclear Option' on Broadband Providers

Source: All About Jazz
May 6, 2010

Reversing a controversial deregulation decision made by the Bush administration, the FCC will seek to force broadband internet providers to adhere to some of the rules that have long applied to the nations landline phone providers. The decision will be announced officially tomorrow by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, according to a senior FCC officials statement Wednesday, and will likely set off a firestorm of protests from the nations well-connected telecommunications industry. The FCC says the move is a response to ...

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