Law and Order

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit in St. Charles County Circuit Court against two individuals alleging they sold worthless shares in a dot-com business, the state office said. Named as defendants in the suit, filed May 11, are AskGT.com, Las Vegas, Nev.; Rose Laboratories, Bend, Ore.; and De Elroy Beeler (also known as John Montgomery), an agent for both companies, from Tujunga, Calif., the attorney general said in a release. Also named is Wester S. Cooley, Delray Beach, Fla., who is president of AskGT.com and is also affiliated with Rose Laboratories.

In an interesting twist in the protracted struggle between elements of the entertainment industry and their customers, the latest issue appears to relate not to technology or law but public relations. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that, despite increased pressure from industry groups and a new law, federal attorneys have been slow to act against individuals using P2P networks like Kazaa. Unsurprisingly, entertainment industry leaders think it would be a great idea to use laws like the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act more aggressively.

Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly filed suit on Wednesday against an Internet spam ring operating near Boston, using information obtained by Microsoft Corp. in its fight against unsolicited e-mail touting everything from miracle drugs to get-rich-quick schemes.

"The most important thing is that we're asking a court today to shut them down to prevent any further victims," Reilly told reporters at a news conference in Boston.

CIOs have a new name to know: Zubulake. And if they don't, they could be heading for trouble. Zubulake is shorthand for the case of Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, which was heard recently in a federal court in New York. The court's decisions in that case established new standards for retaining electronic data. "The courts are increasingly depending on companies and their lawyers to produce electronic evidence and to make sure it's not destroyed," says Adam Rosman, a lawyer at Zuckerman Spader LLP in Washington.

Four members of the software cracking group known as Drink Or Die have been sentenced to between 18 and 30 months in prison.

Two members of the group pleaded not guilty at the trial, arguing that they did not make any money out of their activities and had thus not committed a crime.

ATTEMPTS BY the Murdoch-owned New York Post to get its online readers to hand over personal data in return for "news" have backfired.

Intel and AMD were this week both accused of patent infringement, joining VIA in the list of chip makers claimed to have used without permission technology owned by Acacia Research.

The Hungarian man sentenced to three years in prison for industrial espionage after hacking Ericsson and Sony Ericsson intranets last week appealed that sentence.

The UK subsidiary of security software firm Fortinet has settled an action brought against it because it was allegedly not complying with the terms of the General Public Licence (GPL), which underpins the distribution of most open source software.

Web marketing firm Intermix Media was hit with a lawsuit Thursday by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is accusing the company of installing spyware and adware without user authorization.

The suit comes after a six-month investigation by Spitzer's office, resulting in evidence that the attorney general said proves Intermix has been installing advertising software on computers without receiving an OK from users.