Law

The FBI is investigating how a hacker tricked a New Jersey company into issuing fraudulent digital certificates for Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and other major Web sites, the firm's chief executive said today.

Comodo CEO Melih Abdulhayoglu told CNET this afternoon that "it is an ongoing investigation" that has drawn in both the FBI and Italian law enforcement.

Abdulhayoglu confirmed that a reseller in Italy called GlobalTrust had its network compromised by a hacker traced to Iran. That person, or multiple people, obtained fake digital certificates for nine Web sites that also included Skype and Mozilla. Those certificates, … Read more

Attorneys representing WikiLeaks volunteers today asked a Virginia judge to overturn an earlier ruling and bar the U.S. Department of Justice from gaining access to their clients' Twitter accounts.

The appeal, which was expected, seeks to throw out a magistrate judge's ruling on March 11 that granted prosecutors access to the accounts, including information about what Internet and e-mail addresses are associated with them. The government sought the court order as part of a grand jury probe that appears to be investigating whether WikiLeaks principals, including editor Julian Assange, violated U.S. criminal laws.

In a 41-page brief (… Read more

Draft legislation would provide new privacy protections for Americans by requiring police to obtain search warrants to track the locations of cars and cell phones.

The forthcoming bill being prepared by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and reviewed by CNET would provide legal protections for "geolocation information," meaning data that can locate a person through a wireless device or through a GPS tracker placed on a vehicle.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones and implanting GPS bugs thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a … Read more

Porn Web sites may soon have their own virtual red light district in the form of a .xxx domain.

After more than seven years of political wrangling, delays, and policy reversals, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, gave what appears to be final approval to the controversial .xxx domain. The domains could start appearing within a few months.

On the other hand, it may make sense to wait until then to believe it, as ICANN has taken similar steps before.

Today's vote by the ICANN board during a meeting in San Francisco came after national … Read more

The White House today proposed sweeping revisions to U.S. copyright law, including making "illegal streaming" of audio or video a federal felony and allowing FBI agents to wiretap suspected infringers.

In a 20-page white paper (PDF), the Obama administration called on the U.S. Congress to fix "deficiencies that could hinder enforcement" of intellectual property laws.

The report was prepared by Victoria Espinel, the first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator who received Senate confirmation in December 2009, and represents a broad tightening of many forms of intellectual property law including ones that deal with counterfeit pharmaceuticals … Read more

The Obama administration today called for improvements in the mechanisms used to oversee Internet domain names, saying changes are needed to make the process more "accountable" and "transparent."

Larry Strickling, a Commerce Department assistant secretary, said that the California nonprofit group created in 1998 to oversee these functions--the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN--"needs" to do more to explain the reasoning for its decisions and to heed the advice of national governments.

"We still have work to do to make the reality of ICANN meet the vision," said … Read more

A federal judge in Virginia today granted federal prosecutors access to WikiLeaks-related Twitter accounts, including information about what Internet and e-mail addresses are associated with them.

The 20-page ruling represents a clear victory for the U.S. Department of Justice, which sought the court order as part of a grand jury probe that appears to be investigating whether WikiLeaks principals, including editor Julian Assange, violated American criminal laws.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan rejected arguments raised by the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a host of private attorneys representing the Twitter account holders, who had asserted that their … Read more

The latest list of the 10 worst Internet laws is out, and topping it are proposals to restrict targeted online advertising.

NetChoice, a Washington, D.C. coalition that includes AOL, eBay, VeriSign, and Yahoo as members, today released its updated "iAWFUL" list of misguided, nutty, or simply counterproductive laws.

Topping them is a bill introduced last month by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), which would require the Federal Trade Commission to regulate targeted Internet ads. Last year's iAWFUL list was led by proposals to regulate the data collection and use practices of many Web sites.

"Their favorite … Read more

Americans will be able to use their driver's licenses after May 11 to travel by air after all.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today postponed the effective date of the Real ID Act until January 15, 2013, a move that avoided causing tremendous disruptions to air travel.

The reason Homeland Security granted the delay is that, apart from some Republican stalwarts in Congress, this law creating a digital nationalized ID is hardly popular, with critics calling it a national ID card. A chart (PDF) updated last month by the National Conference of State Legislatures lists 16 states, … Read more