House Kicks Internet Tax To The Curb, Forever

  

Jonah Bennett

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A bill passed by the House on Tuesday forbids state and local governments forever from taxing Internet access,reports the Hill.

For Republicans, the point of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, originally enacted in 1996, is to reinforce market stability and consumer certainty. The recent measure would renew the almost expired extension passed in 2007.

“This legislation prevents a surprise tax hike on Americans’ critical services this fall,” saidHouse Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte. “It also maintains unfettered access to one of the most unique gateways to knowledge and engine of self-improvement in all of human history.”

Although some Democrats like Rep. Judy Chu of California were concerned about the permanent status of removing taxation power, they nevertheless allowed the bill to pass. In particular, Chu was worried that prohibiting governments from taxing Internet access doesn’t take into account changing and unique circumstances which governments sometimes are forced to face.

http://goo.gl/aNKXLs

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Cloud Computing Is a Hot Topic… in Business and the Courtroom

Microsoft Wins Challenge to FBI National Security Letter

Documents unsealed by a federal court show Microsoft successfully litigated an information request from the FBI on one of its cloud customers.

• by Natalie Gagliordi
 





Documents unsealed Thursday
by a federal court in Seattle reveal that late last year, Microsoft successfully challenged an FBI National Security Letter.
NSLs allow FBI officials to send requests to Web and telecommunications companies requesting account information, with the assumption that the information is relevant to a national security investigation.
The NSL Microsoft received was in regard to one of its enterprise customers and it sought basic subscriber information, Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith said in a blog post.
Like all NSLs, the one Microsoft received contained a gag order that prevented the it from notifying its customer about the request, which spurred Microsoft to take legal action.
http://goo.gl/zR0uQe
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U.S. Judge Rules Search Warrants Extend to Email Stored Overseas

Microsoft contends the U.S. government shouldn't have the power to search the content of email stored overseas, but a federal judge disagrees.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis in New York on Friday ruled that Internet service providers must turn over customer emails and other digital content sought by government search warrants even when the information is stored outside the country.

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Microsoft Web Browser Security Bug Could Impact Millions of Users

IMAGE: MASHABLE COMPOSITE. ISTOCK, WILLIAMVERRILL

BY ADARIO STRANGE

Microsoft issued a security advisory on Saturday warning users of a vulnerability in its Internet Explorer web browser that could allow malicious "remote code execution."

The vulnerability affects all versions of the browser and, as of this writing, there is no patch available to fix the issue.

SEE ALSO: Windows XP Isn't Safe to Use Anymore. Here's What to Do Next.

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Microsoft defends its right to read your email

By Jose Pagliery  @Jose_Pagliery March 21, 2014: 12:47 PM ET

Microsoft will break into your Outlook, Hotmail and instant messenger accounts -- if it deems necessary.

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Microsoft is defending its right to break into customers' accounts and read their emails.

The company's ability -- and willingness -- to take such an approach became apparent this week. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) admitted in federal court documents that it forced its way into a blogger's Hotmail account to track down and stop a potentially catastrophic leak of sensitive software. The company says its decision is justified.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/21/technology/security/microsoft-email/index.html

Microsoft, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google And Yahoo Join Apple In Revealing More On NSA Requests

Darrell Etherington (@drizzled

All the big tech companies are opening up a bit more about requests made by the U.S. National Security Agency, with Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and LinkedIndetailing new info included in their respective transparency reports today. The new reports now include how many requests for the data of its members it has received from the government, how many total users were affected, and what percentage of those receive a response from the company.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/03/microsoft-facebook-linkedin-google-and-yahoo-join-apple-in-revealing-more-on-nsa-requests/?utm_campaign=sfgplus&%3Fncid=sfgplus

Microsoft ponders new names for SkyDrive

A UK court ruled in July that "SkyDrive" infringed on British Sky Broadcasting Group's "Sky" trademark, and Microsoft is reportedly near picking a new moniker.

by Rich Trenholm

 November 25, 2013 7:42 AM PST

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Microsoft is reportedly trying out potential new names for SkyDrive after losing a legal battle with Sky this past summer, with possible candidates rumored to include NewDrive, BingDrive, and FetchDrive.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57613641-75/microsoft-ponders-new-names-for-skydrive/

Google and Microsoft join forces to find on line Child Abusers - GOOGLE+

Leading search engine companies Google and Microsoft have agreed measures to make it harder to find child abuse images online. http://bbc.in/1aMzcVx

In a rare display of unity, the companies have co-operated on changes meaning up to 100,000 search terms will now return no results leading to illegal material. The move has been welcomed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.