Stories by Grant Gross

The Internet as an aid to anticonsumerism

During this holiday shopping season, a heck of a lot of people are using the Internet to indulge their consumer tendencies. Some others, including my wife and I, are trying to use technology in a different way -- to turn against consumerism.

CIA no role model for CIOs

The recent news that the US Central Intelligence Agency destroyed videotapes of interrogations of two terrorist suspects may offer a timely reminder for CIOs at private companies in the US, tasked with electronic evidence preservation rules since last December.

Free software group files copyright suit against Verizon

A group of lawyers focused on protecting open-source and free software has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Verizon Communications, alleging that routers the company uses with its Fios broadband service violate the GNU GPL (General Public License).

700MHz filing deadline: What's next?

Companies wishing to bid in the upcoming 700MHz auctions at the US Federal Communications Commission were largely silent about their plans Monday, the deadline for submitting bid applications.

Google to bid for 700MHz spectrum

Google intends to bid on wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band when the US Federal Communications Commission begins auctioning that resource in late January, the company announced Friday.

EFF: US ISP continues to block P-to-P

Comcast continues to slow down customers' connections to some P-to-P (peer-to-peer) applications, using hacker-like techniques against its own subscribers, according to a report released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

OLPC sued for patent infringement

A Massachusetts company has sued the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Association for patent infringement, charging the project with stealing its designs for a multilingual keyboard.

FTC: 8.3 million US victims of ID theft in 2005

About 8.3 million US residents -- nearly 4 percent of the nation's population -- were victims of identity theft in 2005, but few victims identified computer-related crime as the culprit, according to a US Federal Trade Commission report released this week.

Free software group files copyright lawsuits

The Software Freedom Law Center, an organization focused on protecting open-source and free software, has filed copyright lawsuits against two US companies, alleging that they are redistributing software in violation of the GNU GPL (General Public License).

Study: Internet could run out of capacity in two years

Consumer and corporate use of the Internet could overload the current capacity and lead to brown-outs in two years unless backbone providers invest billions of dollars in new infrastructure, according to a study released Monday.

Amazon launches Kindle e-book reader

Amazon.com has unveiled its portable e-book reader, which allows people to wirelessly download books, blogs, newspapers and magazines, the company announced Monday.

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