Internet

A Kansas City, Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for cyberstalking.

Shawn D. Memarian, 28, of Kansas City, was charged in an indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury on Thursday, May 8, 2008. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon Memarian’s arrest and initial court appearance.

The federal indictment alleges that between July 15, 2006, and Sept. 1, 2007, Memarian engaged in a course of conduct consisting of malicious postings to MySpace, Facebook, Craig’s List and other Internet social sites in which he caused the personal identity information of Melissa Sandfort – including her home address – to be publicly displayed. At the time, the indictment says, Memarian had been served with a restraining order forbidding contact with Sandfort.

The FBI has withdrawn an unconstitutional national security letter (NSL) issued to the Internet Archive after a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). As the result of a settlement agreement, the FBI withdrew the NSL and agreed to the unsealing of the case, finally allowing the Archive's founder to speak out for the first time about his battle against the record demand.

A federal judge in Los Angeles has issued a $110 million judgement for the infringement of thousands of popular copyrighted motion pictures and television shows. The court also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting defendant from further infringing any of the studios’ copyrighted works. This is the second defeat for TorrentSpy in the case. Late last year the same federal court entered a default order and found the TorrentSpy operators liable for copyright infringement. The TorrentSpy website was permanently shut down on March 24, 2008.

Finjan Inc. has discovered a server controlled by hackers (Crimeserver) containing more than 1.4 Gigabyte of business and personal data stolen from infected PCs. The data consisted of 5,388 unique log files. Both email communications and web-related data were among them.

The compromised data came from all around the world and contained information from individuals, businesses, as well as renowned organizations, including healthcare providers.

David M. Fish, 26, of Woodbury, Conn., was sentenced in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., to 30 months in prison on charges of criminal copyright infringement and circumvention.

Fish was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte to a three year term of supervised release following his release from prison, a mandatory special assessment of $500, and the forfeiture of computer and other equipment used in committing the copyright offenses.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging Microsoft Corporation to fix the problems it will cause when it shuts down the MSN Music validation servers, making it impossible for customers to transfer their music files to new computers or even upgrade their operating system.

In an open letter sent to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer today, EFF outlines five steps Microsoft must take to make things right for MSN Music customers -- including a issuing a public apology, providing refunds or replacement music files, and launching a substantial publicity campaign to make sure all customers know their options.

Co-owners of a New Jersey-based computer service provider have agreed to plead guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-Rate program, the Department of Justice announced today.

Conspiracy charges were filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., against Benjamin Rowner and Jay H. Soled, former owners of DeltaNet Inc., for their role in defrauding the E-Rate program. Rowner and Soled conspired to defraud the E-Rate program by submitting false statements and concealing material facts from the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers the E-Rate Program for the FCC. In some instances, these false statements were submitted by wire transmission, email and U.S. mail. The conspiracy began in 1999 and ran at least until 2003, affecting schools from New York to California. Under the terms of their plea agreements, which are subject to court approval, the two men have agreed to cooperate with the Department’s ongoing investigation.

SCOTT CARRERA, 33, of Darien, Illinois, has been sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to three years of probation, the first six months of which CARRERA must spend in home confinement. Judge Chatigny also ordered CARRERA to pay a fine in the amount of $7500 and to perform 120 hours of community service. On May 7, 2007, CARRERA pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. This matter stems from a multinational software piracy investigation known as “Operation Higher Education.”

COREY L. STANFORD, JR., 31, of Austin, Texas, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to one count of distributing anabolic steroids.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, STANFORD used the Internet, including the website sell.com, to communicate with individuals interested in buying steroids. STANFORD then sent the steroids to those individuals through the mail.

Sixteen student teams from throughout the United States are first place regional winners in the 2007-2008 eCYBERMISSION competition. With this award, each team member will receive a $3,000 U.S. EE savings bond and will be invited to Washington, D.C., in June to compete in this year's National Judging and Educational Event.