Roy Mark

WASHINGTON – The U.S. strategy for its war on global software piracy is shifting from focusing on the financial damage of intellectual property theft to the economic benefits of copyright protection. A new study released today by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) concludes that countries with the highest software piracy rates stand to reap the […]

Less than 20 percent of American home computers are adequately protected against viruses, spyware, hackers and other security threats. Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of users believe they are safe from an attack. The troubling findings underscore the second annual AOL/National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) Online Safety Study released Wednesday afternoon. The study shows more than […]

WASHINGTON — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer adamantly maintained a “no comment” stance Wednesday morning as swirling and contradictory media rumors of a possible Microsoft-AOL online advertising alliance followed Ballmer to Capitol Hill. In a question-and-answer session with several hundred Washington-area technology executives, an effusive Ballmer laughed, danced and ducked any question involving AOL. “I have […]

Research in Motion (RIM), makers of the popular BlackBerry handheld device, finally got a bit of good news this week following a potentially devastating federal court defeat Wednesday. Less than a day after U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer ruled RIM’s $450 million infringement settlement agreement with Virginia patent holding firm NTP is unenforceable, the […]

The other shoe fell today for DSW, the national footwear discounter that admitted in March that hackers accessed more than three months’ worth of customer data. In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), DSW agreed to implement a comprehensive security plan and to obtain independent audits by a third-party security firm every other […]

Samsung officially entered its guilty plea to global price-fixing charges yesterday and agreed to pay a $300 million fine, the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in United States history. Wednesday’s court appearance in San Francisco follows an October plea deal by the Korean electronics giant that it and other dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chipmakers conspired […]

UPDATED The $450 million patent dispute settlement between the Canadian-based maker of the popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail device and NTP, Inc., a Virginia patent firm, is invalid, according to a court ruling issued Wednesday morning. U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said the term sheet entered between Research in Motion and NTP in March to […]

Two Internet-based companies offering Web brokerage services are the latest to be nabbed in a federal crackdown on illegal business opportunities and work-at-home schemes. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday said Wealth Systems, Inc., Ecommerce Network.com, LLC, and their principals, Martin Wilson and Shane Roach, will pay approximately $80,000 in consumer redress. A judgment […]

Signaling its intent to focus on Internet and telecom issues next year, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee plans to hold 14 hearings on a wide variety of technology topics between January and March. The hearings begin with decency and Internet pornography on Jan. 19 and end with Voice over IP on March 14. Other topics […]

Vonage plans to continue offering service to new customers despite failing to meet the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) mandate to provide full E911 by Nov. 28 or cease marketing Voice over IP . In a compliance report submitted to the FCC Monday, Vonage said it is capable of providing a callback number and a fixed […]

Internet service providers are making progress in slowing spam, according to a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study. The report found that spammers continue to harvest e-mail addresses from public areas of the Internet, but addresses posted in chatrooms, message boards, USENET groups and blogs were unlikely to be taken. “Indeed, some chatroom operators took […]

UPDATED: The United States Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear eBay’s appeal of the long-running and bitter patent dispute between the online auction giant and MercExchange, a vendor of custom software for online auctions, messaging and streamcasting. EBay is seeking to reverse a U.S. Appeals Court decision earlier this year granting a permanent injunction against […]