News

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  The FBI and the DOJ want you to report suspicious people and monitor social networks. Goodbye liberty

  "Terrorism has replaced Communism as the rationale for the militarization of [America], for military adventures abroad, and for the suppression of civil liberties at home. It serves the same purpose, serving to create hysteria." -- Howard Zinn, "Terrorism and War"

• How to get the IRS' attention: Forge nearly $8 million in tax returns, steal identities

  A former Internal Revenue Service employee this week got 105 months in prison for pleading guilty to theft of government property and aggravated identity theft in a case where the guy tried to get away with nearly $8 million in fraudulent tax returns.

• IRS helps bust 105 people in massive identity theft crackdown

  The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice teamed up for a coast-to-coast crackdown on identity thieves this week.

• The real reasons why SOPA and PIPA are real bad

  Following last week's Backspin, reader Alex Gonzales (Sweetwater, Texas) wrote to me: "Just read your SOPA article and I guess I'm just not seeing the big picture. If the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) could put an end to online piracy and stop a lot of those damn viruses, maybe even stop hackers -- what's bad about that? You say bad for business, bad for Internet -- but how? How is stopping/policing the bad stuff on the Internet bad? Give me some real reasons as to why [SOPA/PIPA] is bad. And don't tell me to go read the SOPA/PIPA bills in their entirety."

• NBN Co chief issues statement on US bribery case against Alcatel-Lucent

  NBN Co chief, Mike Quigley, has been forced to issue a statement regarding the bribery case by US authorities against Alcatel-Lucent, following reports of discrepancies between his public statements about his former employer and US court documents.

• Heartland, MasterCard settle over data breach

  Heartland Payment Systems has made a third settlement deal, this time with MasterCard, related to a massive data breach two years ago at the card payments processor.

• DOJ won't challenge Cisco acquisition of Tandberg

  The U.S. Department of Justice won't challenge Cisco Systems' US$3 billion acquisition of video-conferencing service provider Tandberg, the agency announced Monday.

• US DOJ, EC clear Microsoft-Yahoo search deal

  The U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission on Thursday both unconditionally approved Microsoft and Yahoo's plan to work together in the field of Internet search.

• US State Dept. worker sentenced for passport snooping

  An employee of the U.S. Department of State was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 125 electronic passport application files, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

• DOJ charges two programmers with aiding Madoff scheme

  Two computer programmers who worked for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities were arrested Friday and charged in connection with the multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme run by their former boss.

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  IBM faces DOJ antitrust inquiry on mainframes

  IBM is facing an antitrust inquiry from the U.S. Department of Justice for recent actions the company has taken in the mainframe computer market, according to the trade group that filed the complaint.

• DOJ: Court should reject Google book search settlement

  The U.S. Department of Justice has come out against the proposed agreement to settle copyright lawsuits that authors and major publishers filed against Google over the search company's book search program.

• DOJ: Court should reject Google book search settlement

  The US Department of Justice has come out against the proposed agreement to settle copyright lawsuits that authors and major publishers filed against Google over the search company's book search program.

• DOJ expands review of planned Microsoft-Yahoo agreement

  The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Microsoft and Yahoo to hand over more information regarding their proposed search partnership.

• Court overturns Microsoft's $US358 million payment to Alcatel

  Microsoft has won an appeal to overturn a $US358 million award it had been ordered to pay to Alcatel-Lucent in the latest ruling on an ongoing patent-infringement dispute that began in 2003.