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| Microsoft leads disruption of largest infected global PC network Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 05:37 PM PST  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it had disrupted the largest network of compromised personal computers, involving some 2 million machines around the world, since it stepped up its battle against organized online criminals three years ago. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant filed a lawsuit in Texas and won a judge's order directing Internet service providers to block all traffic to 18 Internet addresses that were used to direct fraudulent activity to the infected machines. Law enforcement in many European countries served warrants at the same time, seizing servers expected to contain more evidence about the leaders of the ZeroAccess crime ring, which was devoted to "click fraud." Such rings use networks of captive machines, known as botnets, in complicated schemes that force them to click on ads without the computer owners' knowledge. The schemes cheat advertisers on search engines including Microsoft's Bing by making them pay for interactions that have no chance of leading to a sale. Full Story | Top |
| UK tech entrepreneur Lynch backs augmented reality start-up Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:03 PM PST By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, who sold software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion (6.73 billion pounds), is backing a start-up focused on augmented reality - the ability to overlay information on a real-world background which some see as the next big digital craze. The technology aims to help a device such as a mobile phone to recognise objects in the real world, such as a building, and overlay relevant information onto the image on its screen. The undisclosed investment is the second by Invoke Capital, a $1 billion fund set up by the British entrepreneur after he left Autonomy last year just seven months following the HP takeover that netted him about $760 million. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft assures international business customers on spying Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 02:49 PM PST  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp pledged late Wednesday to fight in court any attempt by U.S. intelligence agencies to seize its foreign business customers' data under American surveillance laws, one of a series of steps aimed at reassuring nervous users abroad. "We are committing contractually to not turning it over without litigating that issue," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said in an interview. However, Microsoft has turned over data on non-U.S.-based individuals using its email and other services, as required under FISA laws. Microsoft and other companies are suing the government for the right to disclose how frequently that happens. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico watchdog weighs if America Movil, Televisa dominate sector Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 02:08 PM PST  Giant Mexican telco America Movil and broadcaster Televisa, the two companies likely to be most affected by the country's telecoms reform, said on Thursday the regulator has told them it was determining whether they are dominant players in the sector. The notifications are the first step in a process mandated by a telecoms reform passed by Mexico's Congress earlier this year that gives the new Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) powers to clamp down on dominant players and spur competition. America Movil, the telecoms behemoth controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, later said that it and its subsidiaries, including fixed-line operator Telmex, have also been placed under review by the watchdog and asked to hand over information about the size of the market. America Movil said it had received a notice "related to the beginning of a process toward the probable determination of being a dominant economic agent in Mexico's telecommunications market. Full Story | Top |
| Once piracy havens, China's Internet video websites turn police Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 01:51 PM PST  By Paul Carsten and Jane Lanhee Lee BEIJING (Reuters) - The website of China's biggest Internet video company Youku Tudou Inc was once a haven for illicit Hollywood blockbusters and hit South Korean soap operas, until it realised piracy really doesn't pay. Now the company that controls almost a third of China's booming online video market forks out more than a billion yuan ($164 million) a year on licenses so it can legally distribute movies and shows like "The Walking Dead", a strategy expected to result in its first ever quarterly net profit. And to protect this market share, Youku Tudou employs a dozen sleuths who scour the web for pirated content, highlighting how China's online video industry is courting higher advertising revenues and better relations with foreign media firms by cracking down on illegal content. "The biggest challenge is that there are more new ways to pirate video as the technology develops," Lu Changjun, the head of Youku Tudou's Internet police squad, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Securities trade group urges hardware revamp after Nasdaq August halt Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 01:40 PM PST  By Herbert Lash NEW YORK (Reuters) - A trade association for the securities industry called on Thursday for revamping the system governing the hardware behind the trading halt in Nasdaq stocks in August, a move that would likely reduce the control the two leading U.S. stock exchange operators have over that hardware. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) recommended a number of sweeping changes to the "securities information processors," or SIPs, which spit out the best quotations and last sale price of stocks traded in the U.S. stock market. SIFMA said neither the association nor its members had reviewed any detailed proposal or analysis to make the SIPs more resilient after one of them got clogged with quotes on August 22, halting Nasdaq trading for three hours. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, SIFMA said broker-dealers and asset managers should be included in the SEC's September order for the U.S. stock and options exchanges to draw up plans to buttress the SIPs. Full Story | Top |
| Twitter to be available on mobile phones without Internet Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 12:12 PM PST  Twitter Inc is tying up with a Singapore-based startup to make its 140-character messaging service available to users in emerging markets who have entry-level mobile phones which cannot access the Internet. U2opia Mobile, which has a similar tie-up with Facebook Inc, will launch its Twitter service in the first quarter of next year, Chief Executive and Co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters. Users will need to dial a simple code to get a feed of the popular trending topics on Twitter, he said. More than 11 million people use U2opia's Fonetwish service, which helps access Facebook and Google Talk on mobile without a data connection. Full Story | Top |
| JPMorgan warns 465,000 card users on data loss after cyber attack Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 11:18 AM PST  By David Henry and Jim Finkle NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co is warning some 465,000 holders of prepaid cash cards issued by the bank that their personal information may have been accessed by hackers who attacked its network in July. The cards were issued for corporations to pay employees and for government agencies to issue tax refunds, unemployment compensation and other benefits. JPMorgan said on Wednesday it had detected that the web servers used by its site www.ucard.chase.com had been breached in the middle of September. Bank spokesman Michael Fusco said that since the breach was discovered, the bank has been trying to find out exactly which accounts were involved and what information may have been compromised. Full Story | Top |
| Recovering Alcatel-Lucent rejoins France's CAC 40 Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 10:43 AM PST  Telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent will rejoin France's blue-chip CAC 40 index, replacing STMicroelectronics, market operator NYSE Euronext said on Thursday. Alcatel, a founding member of the CAC 40 when the benchmark was created a quarter century ago, was kicked out of the index in December 2012 after its market valuation shriveled because of years of losses and tough Chinese competition. Since then, Alcatel-Lucent has gotten a new chief executive who has undertaken major cost cuts to try to get the company back to profitability. As a result, Alcatel's stock has more than tripled since April as investors place hopes in a recovery for the long-struggling company. Full Story | Top |
| Fourth bidder drops out of Canada's wireless spectrum auction Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 10:09 AM PST  In another setback for the Canadian government's plan to introduce more competition in the wireless sector, private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group has withdrawn from a government auction of prized wireless airwaves. The government's rules for the upcoming auction, as well as for one held in 2008, are aimed at lowering consumer prices by breaking the stronghold that Canada's three dominant players -Rogers Communications Inc, BCE Inc and Telus Corp - have on the country's mobile phone business. Ottawa says the upcoming auction is designed to ensure there is a fourth competitor in every wireless market in Canada. But new entrants have found it hard to survive in the Canadian market, and some analysts and company executives have complained that government policies have confused and spooked investors eyeing a move into the country's telecoms industry. Full Story | Top |
| Twitter rolls out cookie-based ad targeting Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 09:51 AM PST  By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc will begin showing ads to users based on their browsing history, it said on Thursday, becoming the latest Internet company to employ the controversial but increasingly widespread tracking technology. Twitter's new advertising feature allows marketers to use cookies - small files planted in Web surfers' computers that contain bits of information about which sites they have visited or where they are logging in from - to display highly targeted Twitter ads. Twitter, which went public last month, first announced in July that it would begin testing cookie-based ad targeting, joining the likes of Google Inc, Facebook Inc and Amazon Inc and countless other Internet companies that rely on the technology to serve ads. Twitter's new feature, which is expected to raise advertising rates and revenues for the company, arrives in the midst of heightened public debate over the erosion of online privacy. Full Story | Top |
| Twitter names media veteran as first female board member Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 08:42 AM PST  Microblogging site Twitter Inc named Marjorie Scardino, former chief executive of publishing company Pearson, to its board on Thursday following criticism that it lacked diversity in the top ranks of the company. The addition of Scardino, who is also a former CEO of The Economist Group and a former board member of phone maker Nokia, expands Twitter board to eight members. Twitter, which went public last month, was heavily criticized for its all-male board on the eve of its hugely successful public offering. Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo had previously publicly brushed off criticism on the lack of diversity and even got into a public debate on Twitter with Stanford University fellow Vivek Wadhwa on the issue. Full Story | Top |
| Britain updates rules banning 3D-printer guns Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 07:21 AM PST Unlicensed 3D printing of guns is illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison, the government said on Thursday, as it moved to address growing public concern about plastic guns. Weapons made by printing their components are already banned under the 1968 Firearms Act, but the Home Office has updated its rules to prohibit the manufacture, sale, purchase and possession of them unless properly licensed. "The Liberator" handgun was invented by 25-year-old Cody Wilson, a Texan law student. Full Story | Top |
| China Mobile still talking to Apple on iPhones Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 06:27 AM PST  China Mobile Ltd, the country's largest mobile operator, said it is still negotiating with Apple Inc to offer iPhones on its network, commenting on a media report saying that a long-awaited agreement had been reached. Earlier in the day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the two giants had signed a deal, citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter. "We are still negotiating with Apple, but for now we have nothing new to announce," China Mobile spokeswoman Rainie Lei said, declining to elaborate. Apple also declined comment. Full Story | Top |
| French central bank warns over bitcoin risks Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:47 AM PST The Bank of France warned on Thursday about risks related to the digital currency bitcoin, adding its voice to growing concerns about the unregulated, online money. Bitcoin is not backed by any central bank or government, or by physical assets. The Bank of France said the price of bitcoin in legal currencies was inherently volatile and users may find it difficult to convert to real money. The anonymity that bitcoin offer users also raises the risk that they could also be used for money-laundering and financing of terrorism, the central bank said in a publication. Full Story | Top |
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