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News

• US agencies: Sharing cyberthreat info isn't an antitrust violation

  U.S. businesses can share most cyberthreat information with competitors without facing antitrust enforcement action, two U.S. enforcement agencies said Thursday.

• Senators: Comcast deal could mean higher broadband prices

  The proposed US$45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Comcast would give the company huge market power to determine broadband prices and Internet content, a group of U.S. senators said Wednesday.

• Comcast defends proposed Time Warner Cable deal

  Cable giant Comcast has fired up its messaging machine to promote its proposed US$45.2 billion purchase of fellow cable television and broadband provider Time Warner Cable, arguing the deal will benefit Time Warner's broadband customers.

• Lawmakers push US attorney general for NSA surveillance changes

  Several U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday urged the nation's attorney general to curtail the National Security Agency's collection of overseas electronic communications, saying President Barack Obama's promise to revamp a surveillance program focused on U.S. telephone records didn't go far enough.

• Supreme Cout justices question some software patents

  The U.S. Supreme Court could wipe out a whole swath of software and business-method patents if justices invalidate four electronic-trading patents, an attorney for patent-owner Alice said.

• Petitions call on US government to leave Snowden alone

  U.S. President Barack Obama's administration should reverse its decision to suspend the passport of U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and end its efforts to prosecute him as policymakers push to change the programs he exposed, a group of activists said.

• US officials: NSA overseas surveillance is targeted, not bulk collection

  A U.S. National Security Agency surveillance program focused on overseas telephone and email communications is targeted and narrow, and not the bulk collection portrayed in numerous news reports from recent months, U.S. officials told a privacy watchdog board Wednesday.

• USPTO to examine DMCA take-down process

  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is looking for ideas on how to improve the controversial notice-and-take-down provisions of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, amid complaints that the current process is cumbersome for small musicians and filmmakers.

• Senator's claims of CIA violating computer fraud act shaky, legal expert says

  Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) claim that the CIA violated provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act when it accessed computers used by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, could be hard to substantiate, according to a leading legal expert.

• UK man charged with hacking US Federal Reserve

  A British man faces new charges in the U.S. for allegedly hacking into the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's servers and stealing names, email addresses and other personal information of the bank's computer users.

• US government seeks to hold phone data beyond five-year limit

  The U.S. government has asked a secret surveillance court to allow it to hold telephone metadata for a period beyond the current five-year limit, for use as potential evidence in civil lawsuits regarding the collection of the data.

• In appeal, Apple says e-book ruling will harm consumers

  Apple had no knowledge that publishers were engaged in a conspiracy in December 2009 or at any other point, the company said in its appeal against a district court ruling which found Apple and five major U.S. publishers had conspired to fix e-book prices.

• US attorney general calls for data-breach notification law

  The U.S. Congress should pass a law requiring businesses that have lost customer information in cyberattacks to notify those affected, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.

• Consumer groups want government to reject Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal

  Antitrust enforcement agencies should reject a proposed US$45.2 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable by Comcast, because it would give the combined company huge market power in the broadband and cable TV industries, a handful of consumer and digital rights groups said.

• Apple monitor to stay in e-books case, with boundaries

  Apple will continue to be watched by an antitrust monitor during its appeal of a court order creating the position, a court ruled.