IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 18 November
18-11-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Staff sold UK mobile customer records | Microsoft loses Chinese infringement case
The Irish Times says that a series of lectures by leading international technology figures starts this Friday with a talk by Tim Draper, one of the best-known venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. The lectures are being presented at Trinity College Dublin by Lectures Ireland, an initiative of social networking enthusiast Paddy Cosgrave. Draper is credited with creating the concept of viral marketing on the internet.
The paper also notes that 'unfriend' has been chosen as Word of the Year for 2009 by the New Oxford American Dictionary, as noted by ENN on Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal says that rogue employees at a major UK mobile operator illegally sold millions of customer records to rival firms, according to Britain's information watchdog. Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said the case was a serious breach of data privacy. The mobile company -- which cannot be identified because an investigation is ongoing -- alerted Graham's office after it found out about the suspected trade. Personal data, including customers' contract expiry dates, were sold to several rivals, who then used the material to cold-call customers to offer them an alternative deal.
The paper also says the FBI in the US is monitoring people with suspected links to al Qaeda who have shown an interest in mounting cyberattacks on systems that control critical US infrastructure, a senior official told Congress on Tuesday. While there is no evidence that terrorist groups have developed sophisticated cyberattack capabilities, a lack of security protections in US computer software increases the likelihood that terrorists could execute attacks in the future, said Steven Chabinsky, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division. "The FBI is aware of and investigating individuals who are affiliated with or sympathetic to al Qaeda who have recognised and discussed the vulnerabilities of the US infrastructure to cyberattack," said Chabinsky.
According to the Financial Times, a Chinese court has ruled that Microsoft infringed a Chinese software maker's intellectual property rights. Microsoft's use of two Chinese fonts developed by Zhongyi Electronic, a Beijing-based software firm, was not covered by a licence agreement between the two, the Beijing No 1 Intermediary People's Court said in a verdict, and therefore infringed Zhongyi's intellectual property rights. Once the ruling takes effect, Microsoft must stop selling all PC operating systems that use the fonts including the Chinese language versions of the second edition of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft said it believed its licence agreements covered the use of the fonts in question and it would appeal against the verdict. The ruling was a surprise decision that has renewed worries among foreign patent experts about China's management of IPR disputes.
The same paper says that rural areas of the UK could get access to broadband by using spare television spectrum. The UK communications regulator Ofcom has published a discussion paper on the use of so-called 'white space' spectrum -- the buffer radio spectrum between television channels -- inviting the industry to push forward with developing the technology. In addition to rural broadband, the white space spectrum could be used to launch new connected devices, such as digital cameras that transmit images back to a computer as soon as the shutter is clicked, or controllers that allow people to set their central heating remotely.
The paper also reports that telecoms infrastructure firm Ericsson has announced its first deal with a television broadcaster. The ten-year contract to provide television transmission services to TV4, one of the biggest broadcasters in the Nordic region, opens up a new potential market for Ericsson as the Swedish company faces growing competition in its core wireless network business. "Telecoms and media are coming much closer together so this was a natural step," said Hans Vestberg, Ericsson's chief financial officer and incoming chief executive. "We see broadcast providers being our next customers."
The paper also notes that the UK's Times newspaper will start to charge consumers for its online content early next year. James Harding, editor of the Times, told the Society of Editors conference in London that the UK paper was looking to introduce a subscription service for online access and also charge less frequent readers for 24-hour access. The Times and the Sunday Times will be the first titles owned by News International, a subsidiary of News Corp, to start charging for digital content. A day's access to the Times could cost about the same as buying the print edition, which is STG0.90 Monday to Friday.
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