federal
Unprecedented 25-Year Sentence Sought for TJX Hacker
Computer hacker Albert Gonzalez deserves a quarter-century behind bars for leading a gang of cyberthieves who stole tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers from a transaction processor and several giant retail chains, federal prosecutors argued in a court filing Thursday night. “[T]he sentences would be the longest ever imposed in an identity theft case and among the longest imposed for a financial crime, which is appropriate because Gonzalez was at the center of the largest and most costly series of identity thefts in the nation’s history,” wrote Boston-based Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann.
Continue reading »NBP: Broadband for everyone by 2020, but who foots the bill?
“Everyone in the United States today should have access to broadband services supporting a basic set of applications that include sending and receiving e-mail, downloading Web pages, photos and video, and using simple video conferencing,” opens the chapter of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan titled “Availability.” What would that mean in terms of performance? “An initial universalization target of 4Mbps of actual download speed and 1Mbps of actual upload speed, with an acceptable quality of service for interactive applications, would ensure universal access,” the NBP says. The document calls this the “National Broadband Availability Target.” Read the comments on this post
Continue reading »etc: A federal judge has approved a $9.5 million settlement that should put an end to the Beacon-Facebook privacy class-action.
A federal judge has approved a $9.5 million settlement that should put an end to the Beacon-Facebook privacy class-action. Read More: Wire Threat Level Read the comments on this post
Continue reading »Judges Approves $9.5 Million Facebook ‘Beacon’ Accord
A federal judge on Wednesday approved a $9.5 million settlement to a class action lawsuit challenging Facebook’s program that monitored and published what users of the social networking site were buying or renting from Blockbuster, Overstock and other locations. The case concerned allegations Facebook’s now defunct “Beacon” program breached federal wiretap and video-rental privacy laws . Terms of the settlement, in which Facebook denied any wrongdoing, require the site to finance what the deal calls a “Digital Trust Fund” that would issue more than $6 million in grants to organizations to study online privacy.
Continue reading »Big cable pushes 7 "consumer principles" for cable, IP video
As the Federal Communications Commission hands its National Broadband Plan over to Congress, the cable industry’s top trade association has issued a manifesto that looks pretty good, at least on paper. It boils down to seven “consumer principles,” says the National Telecommunications and Cable Association, to which cable operators will adhere, “and which we believe could serve as the foundation for Commission and inter-industry efforts.” The principles have a sort of FCC Internet Policy Statement or even FDR Four Freedoms speech feeling to them, but focus on mobility of content, portability of devices, and ease of Internet access. They include the Holy Grail: “1.
Continue reading »
