An Oklahoma mother, Debbie Foster, was accused by the RIAA of copyright infringement back in November 2004, and her daughter Amanda was added to the complaint in July 2005. According to the RIAA, the Internet account paid for by Debbie Foster was used for file sharing, with an unspecified number of songs downloaded.

The music group offered to settle the case for US$5,000, but Foster decided to take her chances in court. She requested that the RIAA provide specifics such as the dates of the alleged downloading and the files involved. The RIAA failed to provide the requested information and Foster filed a motion for summary judgment. In turn, the RIAA decided to cut its losses and asked the court to withdraw its case. The court approved the RIAA’s request, but named Foster the winner and awarded her attorneys fees over the RIAA’s objections.

Source: arstechnica

The 4-year-old company produces a browser plug-in that recommends popular Web sites to its users based on their stated preferences–such as photography, science or cool gadgets–and the endorsement of others in the Stumbleupon community within those categories. It’s like channel surfing with a Web remote that knows what you might like.

The application now has 1 million registered users from Mozilla Firefox, the primary browser it supports, following improvements Stumbleupon made to it in May, according to the company. And next week, Stumbleupon will unveil a public version for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which commands the majority of the browser market, in the hopes of expanding its membership by the millions.

Source: News.com

Intel Corp. plans to cut 1,000 management jobs worldwide in an effort to reduce costs and make its operations more efficient, the world’s largest computer chip maker said Thursday.

Intel declined to say how much money would be saved or the cuts would result in a charge against earnings. The company planned to provide more detail Wednesday, when it releases its results for the second quarter, said spokesman Chuck Mulloy.

Source: AP

An unpatched bug in Microsoft’s PowerPoint presentation maker is being exploited by an in-the-wild attack, Symantec researchers said Thursday, marking the latest bad news for Office users.

According to the Cupertino, Calif. security vendor’s threat analysis team, attacks are currently under way using an unpatched vulnerability in PowerPoint. If the “zero-day” attack is successful, the hacker gains complete control of the compromised computer.

The attack is carried out by a Trojan horse with the moniker “PPDDropper.b,” which hides inside a malicious PowerPoint file attached to an e-mail with a Google Gmail return address. PPDDropper.b, in turn, drops a backdoor component, dubbed “Bifrose.e” by Symantec. Bifrose.e then injects a malicious routine into Windows’ EXLORER.EXE process, and overwrites the malformed PowerPoint file with a new, clean presentation document.

Source: InformationWeek

The never-ending game of hide-and-seek between the antivirus industry and rootkits has begun a new chapter. Recently Symantec lab discovered a new rootkit sample in the wild that is very unique given the techniques it uses. It was named Backdoor.Rustock.A, and because of its special characteristics it can be considered the first born of the next generation of rootkits. Rustock.A consists of a mix of old techniques and new ideas that when combined make a malware that is stealthy enough to remain undetected by many rootkit detectors commonly used (such as RootkitRevealer, BlackLight and IceSword). Symantec consider it to be an advanced example of “stealth by design” malicious code.

F-Secure released a new version of BlackLight that detects this rootkit

Source: Symantec

Researchers at Microsoft are working on an ambitious new project to hunt down and neutralize large-scale search engine spammers.

The Redmond, Wash., software giant’s Cybersecurity and Systems Management Research Group has taken the wraps off Strider Search Defender, an experimental project that automates the discovery of search spammers through non-content analysis.

The project integrates technology from two previous Microsoft Research prototypes—Strider HoneyMonkey and Strider URL Tracer—and promises a new approach to removing junk results from search engine queries.

Source: eWeek

Palm on Thursday said it will market a version of its Treo smart phone in Europe through Britain’s Vodafone Group. in hopes of resolving technical problems with a previous model.

Palm said the latest Treo version will operate on Vodafone’s high-speed third generation (3G) network and be powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. The Treo is aimed at meeting growing demand for devices that receive email wirelessly.

The handset will be available first to Vodafone customers in multiple European countries, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and Netherlands, before the end of the calendar year.

Source: Reuters

Dell Inc. outlined plans Thursday to simplify pricing and reduce the number of mail-in rebates for consumers and small business as part of the computer maker’s recent $100 million initiative to improve customer service.

Beginning next month, Dell said it hopes to reduce the number of promotions per product line by 70 percent and the number of promotions for any single product by 80 percent within the next 18 months.

Ro Parra, senior vice president of Dell’s Home and Small Business Group, said the new system should make it easier for customers.

Source: News.com

The State Department is recovering from large-scale computer break-ins worldwide over the past several weeks that appeared to target its headquarters and offices dealing with China and North Korea, The Associated Press has learned.

Investigators believe hackers stole sensitive U.S. information and passwords and implanted backdoors in unclassified government computers to allow them to return at will, said U.S. officials familiar with the hacking.

Source: CNN

A European fine on Microsoft Corp. will have no effect on the launch of Vista, its next-generation Windows operating system, the U.S. software giant’s Japan unit said on Thursday.

“I don’t think this has any impact on the teams and the efforts that are going forward to that launch,” Microsoft Co. Ltd. President Darren Huston told a news conference.

“We are still committed to the existing plan of record.”

Source: Reuters

Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will postpone the sale of the first recorder for HD DVD high-definition video discs because of a production delay.

The new recorder, the RD-A1, had been slated to go on sale Friday, but the release will be pushed back to July 27, the Tokyo-based electronics maker said in a release.

The new machine combines an HD DVD burner with a one-terabyte hard disk and can record and store up to 130 hours of high-definition broadcasts.

Source: AP

Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. cellphone service, said on Wednesday that cable channel HBO has produced a special mobile mini-series based on the popular show “Entourage” that extends the story beyond what is shown on television

Source: Reuters