Technology

Michaels Stores’ Debit Card Terminals in 20 States May Have Provided Info Used to Loot Bank Accounts

In the latest example of the seeming ease with which thieves can steal with the help of advanced technology, officials at Michaels Stores say they are replacing all 7,200 of its debit card processing terminals after discovering that those at about 80 stores in 20 states have been tampered with.…

May 12, 2011 11:38 PM CDT

Google Lobbies Nevada for Laws to Allow Self-Driving Cars

Google is taking another step in its effort to develop and market driverless cars by lobbying the state of Nevada to allow the vehicles. Two Google-backed bills are being introduced in the state legislature, the New York Times reports. One would authorize for licensing and testing of the autonomous cars.…

May 11, 2011 2:11 PM CDT

Emerging Technologies at Odds with Long-Held Privacy Tenets

A California appellate court’s reversal of a drunk-driving manslaughter conviction is one of several cases pitting new technologies against long-held privacy principles. In May 2006, driver George Xinos struck and killed a teenager crossing a San Jose street. While Xinos’ car was in storage, police on orders from the district…

May 1, 2011 9:09 AM CDT

‘Sext’ Education: States Look for Ways to Chastise Teens for Bawdy Cellphone Shots

When school authorities in Wyoming County in northeastern Pennsylvania learned three years ago that high school students were sending nude or scantily clad images of each other via cellphones, they were confronted with one of the country’s first major “sexting” scandals. Among the photos was one of two girls in…

May 1, 2011 7:50 AM CDT

Appeals Court Lifts Injunction, Allows Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research

A federal appeals court has lifted a preliminary injunction that had banned federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a victory for the Obama administration and supporters of the research, report CNN and the Associated…

Apr 29, 2011 4:22 PM CDT

First Lawsuit Filed Over Sony PlayStation Data Breach Affecting Up to 75 Million Customers

After news yesterday that hackers may have obtained personal information, including credit card numbers, of up to 75 million Sony PlayStation Network customers comes news today of the first litigation over the incident. The Rothken Law Firm has filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of California on behalf…

Apr 27, 2011 8:09 PM CDT

Apple Customers Sue over Location Data; Illinois AG Seeks More Information

Two Apple customers have sued the technology giant over its recording of location data on iPhones and iPads. The suit filed in federal court in Tampa on Friday claims the data violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, according to the Wired blog Gadget Lab. The suit claims the mobile…

Apr 26, 2011 12:04 PM CDT

Law Firm Loses $78K in Massive Malware Scheme That Was Disabled by Feds

Updated: Federal authorities say they have disabled, with the help of Microsoft Corp., a massive “botnet” that is believed to have been operating for a decade and infecting nearly 2 million computers in the United States alone. A botnet is defined by PC Magazine as “a large number of compromised…

Apr 14, 2011 2:07 PM CDT

Puerto Rico Federal Case Alleges that Apple, Apps, Invade Privacy

Last week, two women filed a federal complaint against Apple and various apps developers, accusing them of intentionally seeking users’ private smartphone information and sharing it with third-party advertisers. The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed April 7 in the District of Puerto Rico. According to Wired’s Gadget Lab…

Apr 12, 2011 9:28 PM CDT

Shocking Research Says Most People Are Pretty Cruel—For a Price

In recent years researchers have been using MRI machines to study the brains of psychopaths to see if they are hard-wired from birth with brain abnormalities that lead them to cruelty and crime. But what about the rest of us? Not so good as we’d like to think, according to…

Apr 7, 2011 10:12 PM CDT

Ex-Gucci IT Worker Is Criminally Charged re Alleged Post-Firing $200K Computer Rampage

Fired by Gucci America Inc., a former network employee allegedly retaliated by using his knowledge of the luxury retailer’s computer system to wreak havoc. Sam Chihlung Yin, 34, is now being prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, accused of creating a virtual private network token in a fictitious employee’s…

Apr 6, 2011 5:46 PM CDT

Federal Judge Axes $625.5M Patent Award Against Apple, Says Mirror Worlds Didn’t Prove Case

A federal judge in Tyler, Texas, has axed a $625.5 million jury award against Apple Inc., saying that plaintiff Mirror Worlds didn’t prove its case. One of the largest patent infringement awards ever made, the verdict concerned software for Apple mobile devices that allegedly made illegal use of patented technologies,…

Apr 5, 2011 9:20 PM CDT

Calling Goldman Sachs Code Thief’s Crime ‘Economic Espionage,’ Judge Gives Him 8 Years

Discussing in a presentence investigation report an appropriate sentence for a 41-year-old former programmer for the Goldman Sachs investment bank who took proprietary source code before leaving for another job, the probation department recommended a two-year term. But a federal judge gave Sergey Aleynikov eight years, calling his crime a…

Mar 19, 2011 12:10 AM CDT

Smartphone, Dumb Idea: Using Blue-and-Red Light App to Pull Over Fellow Motorist

An Idaho man has been arrested for allegedly using a blue-and-red light application on his smart phone to pull over a fellow motorist. Alexander Welch, 20, was charged in Boise with unlawful exercise of a police function and is being held in the Ada County Jail, the Idaho Statesman reports.…

Mar 15, 2011 8:26 PM CDT

As Surrogacy Becomes More Popular, Legal Problems Proliferate

Illustration by James Steinberg Like many couples, R.W.S. and B.C.F. wanted a child of their own. But the couple—in this case two gay men from Minneapolis—had ruled out adoption, which left surrogacy their only viable option. So the two men did what so many others in their position have done:…

Mar 1, 2011 11:40 AM CST