Stories by Grant Gross

IBM faces US Justice Dept inquiry on mainframes

IBM is facing an antitrust inquiry from the US Department of Justice for recent actions the company has taken in the mainframe computer market, according to the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA),a trade group that filed a complaint with the department.

Eolas files patent lawsuit against 22 companies

Technology research company Eolas Technologies, which won a US$520.6 million patent infringement case against Microsoft in 2003, has filed a new patent lawsuit against 22 companies including Adobe Systems, Google, Yahoo, Apple, eBay and Amazon.com.

Study pushes for net neutrality, new journalism models

The U.S. government should advance an "ambitious" plan for universal broadband availability and should ensure that broadband networks are open to all content and applications, according to a new study on public information needs in the digital age.

ICANN freed from US government oversight

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has reached a new agreement with the US Department of Commerce allowing the nonprofit greater independence, while giving more countries oversight of the organisation.

Senators want to end telecom immunity for spying

Four Democratic US senators will introduce a bill to repeal a provision protecting telecommunications carriers from lawsuits targeting their assistance to a controversial US National Security Agency surveillance programme.

Former Enron Broadband exec sentenced to prison term

Joseph Hirko, the former co-CEO of Enron Broadband Services, was sentenced Monday to 16 months in prison on a wire fraud charge related to false claims made by the failed telecommunications company, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Cuban connection costs US software company

A Colorado software vendor has been fined US$14,500 for the charge of trading with the enemy for selling oil- and gas-exploration software to a company drilling in Cuba, the US Department of Justice and US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has announced.

Heartland CEO: Credit card encryption needed

Credit card transactions in the U.S. are often not encrypted, and credit card vendors, payment processors and retailers need to embrace an encryption standard to protect credit card numbers, the CEO of a breached payment processor said Monday.

Book settlement makes 'mockery' of Constitution, says official

Google's proposed book settlement with book authors and publishers, allowing the company to digitise and sell millions of books, makes a "mockery" of copyright protections in the US Constitution, the head of the US Copyright Office says.

Tech vendors line up behind US open government

Ten companies, including several tech vendors, will support the open identity initiative, a pilot programme designed to help US residents more easily engage in open government, the companies announced today.

Group of authors oppose Google book settlement

More than two dozen authors and publishers have filed an objection to a proposed settlement that would allow Google to digitise and sell millions of books, saying that the agreement ignores important privacy rights of readers and writers.

EMC acquires cloud support vendor FastScale

EMC has acquired FastScale Technology, a vendor of software for data centers, in an effort to focus on supporting private cloud infrastructures, the company announced Monday.

Epson pleads guilty to LCD price fixing

Japanese electronics maker Epson Imaging Devices has agreed to plead guilty and pay a US$26 million fine for the company's role in a conspiracy to fix prices of thin film transistor-liquid crystal display panels sold to Motorola, the US Department of Justice said.

Trade group releases new list of 'awful' Internet laws

A Maine law that would require e-commerce vendors to get parental permission before collecting any personal information about teens and children is so broad that it could lead to lawsuits against vendors of many Internet services, according to the NetChoice trade group.

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