Source: CNN.com
A Norwegian teenager has been cleared of DVD piracy charges in a landmark trial brought by major Hollywood studios.
The Oslo court said Jon Johansen, known in Norway as "DVD Jon," had not broken the law when he helped unlock a code and distribute a computer program enabling DVD films to be copied.
"Johansen is found not guilty," Judge Irene Sogn told the court. She said prosecutors could appeal against the unanimous verdict.
Source: Europe Media
Discretion is indeed the better part of valour – or, Vallor, in the case of twenty-two-year-old Simon Vallor of Llandudno in Wales, who pled guilty last week to having most indiscreetly uncorked what prosecutors termed “the third most destructive virus worldwide” at its epidemic height in 2001.
Source: CNet News
A U.S. district court judge on Monday ordered Microsoft to include Sun Microsystems' version of Java with the Windows operating system, citing the software giant's history of undermining the platform-neutral programming language. The preliminary injunction issued by Judge J. Frederick Motz in Baltimore is a double-barreled victory for Sun, which won preliminary injunctions on both the order to carry Java and a copyright infringement claim.
Source: CNN.com
The online auction house eBay has sued a man for allegedly operating a similar business on the Internet.
John Wederman, of Schenectady, who operates eBaytoo.com, allegedly violated eBay's copyright in an attempt to "trade on the eBay name and to take advantage of initial consumer unfamiliarity and confusion," according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albany.
eBay is seeking unspecified damages and legal fees.
Source: Security Focus
A 14-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who fled to Mexico to avoid federal computer crime charges was sentenced in a federal court in Los Angeles on Monday to 27 months in prison for selling information on private citizens he plundered from sensitive law enforcement databases.
Source: Security Focus
The trial of a Norwegian teenager whose DVD cracking program gave Hollywood a bigger fright than a scary movie was extended by one day until Monday.
The trial, which was to have ended Friday, was extended because the prosecution made minor, last-minute changes in the wording of the indictment.
Source: Yahoo! News
on Lech Johansen was only 15 when he wrote and distributed on the Internet for free a program that unlocked copy-protected DVDs, giving Hollywood nightmares and making him a folk hero among hackers.
Three years later, he's going on trial in an important test case for Norway's strict laws against computer piracy and hacking.
Source: REUTERS
A federal judge hearing Sun Microsystems Inc.'s antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp., said Tuesday that forcing Microsoft to carry Sun's Java software in the Windows operating system could be an "attractive" remedy.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz had tough questions for both companies during opening arguments, but was sympathetic to letting Sun's Java compete without "the distortions of the market wrought by the violations Microsoft has done."
Source: thisisnorthscotland.co.uk
An axeman who rained blows on an Aberdeen computer expert he suspected had hacked into his PC was behind bars today.
Jobless tradesman John Wilson, was jailed for 30 months yesterday.
Wilson, of the city's King Street, had invited oil analyst John Evans into his home to confront him.
He blamed the expert for planting an electronic virus but was ridiculed by him.
Source: SiliconValley.com
A man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for cheating more than 180 eBay customers out of $153,000 for trading cards he never delivered.
Vernon Derl Bell, 48, also must pay $153,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty July 29 to fraud and was sentenced Thursday.
Bell, an accountant, offered the sports trading cards over the Internet auction site from his home.
