Matthew Broersma

Open-source advocates and representatives of small and medium-sized businesses are planning to stage protests in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, amid two key votes that could lead the European Commission to scrap its current IT patenting proposal. Also on Thursday, the EU Council had planned to adopt a disputed version of the draft IT patenting directive—known […]

A recent decision against Google Inc. in a French court is a reminder that conflicts over jurisdiction and how trademarks are protected online are likely to get worse before they get better, according to legal analysts. On Feb. 4 the Paris lower court (Tribunal de Grande Instance) imposed a 200,000-euro fine and sanctioned Google.com and […]

Malicious programmers are already sharpening their claws on Microsoft Corp.s anti-spyware software, even before the applications official release. On Wednesday anti-virus firms said they uncovered the first malware that switches off Microsoft AntiSpyware, along with its other functions. Troj/BankAsh-A, also known as Trojan-Spy.Win32.Banker.jv and PWS-Banker.j, includes a keylogger and attempts to steal credit card details, […]

An influential European Union government advisory body has called for better protection of users privacy, which it says is being eroded in the midst of efforts to crack down on piracy. While copyright holders have a right to protect themselves from infringement, the EU Working Party on Data Protection in a new draft document expressed […]

Online auction giant eBay Inc. has reduced some of its prices and stepped up support options in response to criticism over a fee hike announced last month. North American users will get expanded access to phone support and will see some fees drop slightly, although key price increases, such as those affecting Store subscriptions and […]

The European Parliaments legal affairs committee, called JURI, has voted nearly unanimously to ask for a restart to the process around the European Unions proposed IT patents legislation. The decision will continue the turmoil over differing software patent law in two of the worlds major technology markets. As U.S. software companies spend millions defending or […]

Microsoft on Wednesday announced a major program to invest in research centers in Europe, touching on traditional scientific research as well as aspects of computer science. The EuroScience Initiative, officially launched with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates keynote to more than 500 government leaders and public officials in Prague, Czech Republic, builds on Microsofts existing European […]

Microsoft Corp. said it will come up with a new name for the unbundled version of Windows XP in time for the softwares retail delivery by the end of February, following criticism from the European Commission. The name “Windows XP Reduced Media Edition,” which the EC said would prejudice consumers against the software, was only […]

One of Microsoft Corp.s most vocal opponents on Tuesday accused the company of blocking Linux, Samba and other major open-source projects from taking part in a protocol licensing scheme mandated by the European Commissions antitrust ruling. The criticism from the Free Software Foundation Europe came a day after Microsoft announced it wouldnt challenge a court […]

A fresh round of behind-the-scenes maneuvering around the European Unions efforts to pass IT patent legislation has left the European Parliament with a narrow window of opportunity to scrap the current, highly controversial text and start over from scratch, according to sources. The EU Council quietly planned to adopt the proposal (termed a Common Position) […]

An IT security expert, an academic and the U.K. governments cybercrime unit will give Londoners an introduction to the security dangers of wireless networking on Thursday—with the star of the show being an attack method dubbed the “Evil Twin.” The Evil Twin is essentially a wireless version of a phishing scam—users think theyre connecting to […]

Along with introducing a slew of new hardware and software on Tuesday, Apple Computer Inc. also quietly released an update for iTunes that fixes a serious security vulnerability found in both Windows and Mac OS X versions of the media player. The update, iTunes 4.7.1, patches a bug in the way iTunes handles the common […]