U.S. Department of Justice - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Judge approves Apple e-books price-fixing settlement

  A U.S. district court judge has given preliminary approval for Apple to pay a US$450 million settlement for its role in an e-books price-fixing conspiracy.

• HP agrees to settle allegations it overbilled US Postal Service

  Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay US$32.5 million to settle allegations that it overbilled the U.S. Postal Service on a IT hardware contract.

• Stealthy ransomware 'Critroni' uses Tor, could replace Cryptolocker

  Cybercriminals are spreading a new file-encrypting ransomware program that's more powerful and resilient than Cryptolocker, a threat recently shut down by the U.S. Department of Justice.

• Apple agrees to pay up to $400 million in e-books price-fixing case

  Apple has reached a settlement in a long-standing case that accused the company of fixing the price on e-books, with the company paying up to US$400 million, depending on the outcome of its appeal in the case, a law firm has announced.

• Groups call for details on NSA surveillance of Muslim Americans

  More than 40 privacy, civil rights and religious groups have called on President Barack Obama's administration to provide a "full public accounting" of long-time email surveillance of prominent Muslims living in the U.S., following a news report detailing the spying by the U.S. National Security Agency and FBI.

• Europe and US edge closer to data protection deal

  European Union citizens whose personal data is transmitted to U.S. law enforcement authorities could soon have the same legal protections as U.S. citizens, the European Commission said Wednesday.

• US NSA granted extension to collect bulk phone data

  The U.S. National Security Agency has been allowed to continue to collect phone records in bulk of people in the country, while lawmakers consider new legislation that would block the agency from collecting the data.

• Republicans call on FCC to leave net neutrality to antitrust agencies

  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should leave net neutrality enforcement to antitrust agencies that can bring lawsuits against broadband providers after they see evidence of anti-competitive behavior, some U.S. lawmakers have advocated.

• Judge orders DOJ to turn over FISA surveillance documents

  A federal judge's order on Friday could force the U.S. government to reveal more information about its widespread collection of citizens' phone records.

• US indicts Romanian man alleged to be celebrity hacker 'Guccifer'

  A Romanian man sentenced just last week in his own country for raiding online accounts linked to prominent politicians and celebrities was indicted Thursday in a U.S. federal court.

• EFF asks Supreme Court to rule on secret surveillance memo

  ]

• Senators question need to rein in NSA surveillance

  The U.S. Congress would endanger the nation's security by passing even watered-down legislation to limit the National Security Agency's bulk collection of domestic phone records, several U.S. senators said Thursday.

• Massive botnet takedown stops spread of Cryptolocker ransomware

  The takedown earlier this week of a major malware-spewing botnet has crippled the distribution of Cryptolocker, one of the world's most sophisticated examples of ransomware.

• Law enforcement agencies disrupt Gameover Zeus botnet

  The U.S. Department of Justice, working with law enforcement agencies in other countries, revealed Monday a multinational effort to disrupt Gameover Zeus, a 2-year-old botnet employing an estimated 500,000 to 1 million compromised computers.

• DOJ files gov't contracting lawsuit against CA

  Tech vendor CA has overcharged U.S. government agencies for software licenses and maintenance since 2006, according to a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice Thursday.