In a survey to test whether top e-tailers are allowing consumers to opt out of receiving promotional or marketing messages, the FTC has determined that 89 percent of the online merchants it tested are honoring requests to halt future mailings. The CAN-SPAM Act, which became effective January 1, 2004, requires…

Perfect 10, an online and offline publisher of adult content, has filed a lawsuit against Google and Amazon, claiming that by turning up images of Perfect 10’s… um… “models”… in searches for, oh, who knows, maybe “nekkid women”, Google and Amazon’s A9 are violating Perfect 10’s copyright. Said Norm Zada,…

In an at least temporary victory for Redmond giant Microsoft, in a lawsuit which defending Mountain View giant Google is calling “a charade”, a Washington state trial court has ordered ex Microsoft employee Kai-Fu Lee to refrain from starting his new job at Google to the extent that it would…

A New York woman has filed a lawsuit over Hot Coffee. No, she didn’t scald her lap, and no, the defendant is not McDonalds. Rather, 85-year-old Florence Cohen is suing the publishers of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas over the so-called “Hot Coffee” mod which opens up previously-hidden scenes from the game. Very explicit scenes.

Hacking and politics have contrived to make strange bedfellows. According to a report by the British news organization, The Sun, hackers have come forward and started to take down web sites which are fomenting terrorism, and inciting terrorist acts – something which the government cannot do with any sort of…

It is not something which could be done in the United States, what with the First Amendment and all; and whether that is for the better or not is a debate to be had elsewhere. But the British government has announced plans to shut down websites which incite terrorism. The…

Governments around the world are using various methods to crack down on Internet porn in general, and that involving children in particular, and the United States is considering the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005 (more about that in a minute). The Danish government has just announced a…

In what is being hailed as one of the largest spam&scam busts of the decade, and the biggest 419 bust in history, the FBI and Spanish police have collaborated to arrest three hundred and ten (that’s right, 310) people in Spain, all of whom were connected with an enormous email…

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened their online National Sex Offender Public Registry for business. The controversial registry collates information from all of the online state registries, allowing for people to search all of the online databases at once to determine who and where are the registered sex offenders. At least those who actually comply with the registration requirements.

In a victory for the little guy, Joe Jared of Osirusoft, a DNSBL (DNS Block List, although many call them blacklists – not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you), has been exhonerated by a California court when the judge ruled that he was in his rights when he…

We’ve all seen variations on the theme. “I am Mariam Abacha, widow of the late Nigerian head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha. After the death of my husband who died mysteriously…” They always end with a plea for you to help them get millions of dollars out of Nigeria, in…

The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) is warning that all commercial email senders are now required to either comply with the child protection email address registries and registry laws of both Michigan and Utah, or risk penalties which can include prison and fines running to the thousands…

Ever since the FCC approved wireless Internet access on U.S. flights, the promise of fly-fi on domestic flights has titillated U.S. passengers. Up until then, fly-fi had eluded domestic U.S. flights, although fly-fi has been available on European and Asian flights for some time now. However, a proposal by the…

Wow, this is a heads-up for all of you real estate agents out there. Apparently REAL believes that they have a lock on any use of online maps in connection with a real estate business: Federal Lawsuit Alleges Agent Violates 1991 U.S. Patent on Use of Online Maps to Quickly…

It turns out that crime does pay, after all. Informants, that is. Microsoft has announced that they will pay out a promised $250,000 USD reward to two informants who helped lead authorities to Sasser creator Sven Jaschan. The teenaged Jaschan was tried last week, and received a suspended sentence for…