Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking member of the committee, and Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, sent a letter this week to government officials and to the head of Limewire, expressing their concerns about the potential risk to privacy and security caused by use of P2P networks.
Mark Gorton, chairman of The Lime Group, appeared before the committee almost two years ago. At the time he admitted he was shocked to learn about the sheer amount of confidential and private information that was accidentally (or intentionally) shared using the Limewire software, and vowed to make changes to the software to help prevent accidental sharing of information.
We’re not just talking about curriculum vitae word documents or other personal files common to most users, but some notable accidental P2P leaks are blueprints of Marine One, Social Security numbers, tax returns, and private medical records. “It appears that nearly two years after your commitment to make significant changes in the software, LimeWire and other P2P providers have not taken adequate steps to address this critical problem,” they wrote to Gorton.
Result for: alki
Although neither company has confirmed or denied the report, Manager-Magazin.de is writing that Sony is planning to buyout Ericsson’s 50 percent stake of the Sony Ericsson mobile manufacturing joint venture.
Sony is currently talking to banks that will help finance the buyout and the rumor has been flying for months that Ericsson is willing to sell its stake in the venture.
The company was created as a way to “bring Ericsson’s mobile experience and Sony’s consumer electronics experience together for a successful line of cell phones.” The company had been decently successful with its line of Walkman phones but recently announced Q4 2008 loss of $187 million EUR with more losses expected if the global recession continues.
Danske Bank of Denmark believes any deal made would cost Sony very little cash and could actually lose Ericsson money.
Result for: alki
Last month we reported that the RIAA was set to stop lawsuits, and would instead pressure ISPs to send warnings to alleged pirates eventually shutting down service to those that received three warnings.
According to sources talking to CNet, AT&T and Comcast appear to be the first ISPs to willingly join the RIAA’s monitoring program and begin sending warnings to alleged pirates as the RIAA demands. After a few warnings, the ISPs will wither throttle the user’s bandwidth or permanently disconnect them.
The agreements have not been signed yet, and the ISPs do still have time to withdraw, notes the sources. It appears the last speed bump before the contracts get signed is over compensation for the ISPs for customers who get their Internet taken away.
Four unnamed providers specifically noted that they were worried about being known collaborators with the RIAA, which would cause obvious customer defections and “negative press.”
Comcast, AT&T and the RIAA declined comment.
