iPhone owners demand to see Apple source code
iPhone owners charging Apple and AT&T with breaking antitrust laws asked a federal judge this week to force Apple to hand over the iPhone source code, court documents show. Read more...

Three indicted for Comcast hack last year

Intel shareholder wants execs to pay $2.7B in fines

UK police reveal arrests over Zeus banking malware

T-Mobile UK employees sold customer data

Microsoft settles employee spying case

Lawsuit claims HP PCs suffer constant lockups, crashes

U.S. companies in China ask Obama for help on piracy

Pioneer sues Garmin over navigation technology

Judge's ruling puts legal nail in Psystar's coffin

More Standards and Legal Issues Stories

Three indicted for Comcast hack last year
Three hackers have been indicted for redirecting the Comcast.net Web site to a page of their own making in 2008.

AMD and Intel patch things up, HP buys 3Com
We had a blockbuster deal this week, with Hewlett-Packard saying it plans to buy 3Com, and a blockbuster settlement, with Advanced Micro Devices and Intel ending a long-running legal dispute. By midnight tonight, Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers are supposed to file a revised book-search settlement proposal, which could add to our top stories list for the week. For now, though, what follows are our top IT headlines of the moment.

iPhone security problems bring new risks
In just four days, not one but two worms targeting the iPhone have emerged. Both of the worms target the same vulnerability, a default password in the SSH server that is installed on jail-broken iPhones. While one worm is a mostly a nuisance, the second siphons personal information from the iPhone, which makes it a serious identity theft threat.

PeerBlock Helps You Surf the Web in Secret
They're lurking out there--sleazy spyware companies, unscrupulous advertisers, and just people you don't want looking at what your computer is doing. PeerBlock (free), an open source program, offers part of a solution--low level blocking of packets coming from, or going to, a long list of hosts.

TSMC court win a major blow to China's biggest chip maker
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) has won a major victory over China's biggest chip maker in a court case that could have wide ranging implications for the loser.

Practical identity protection you can use
Is it Christmas already? I'm beginning to receive informative e-mails about evil hackers who want to steal my identity during the dangerous (and ever lengthening) holiday season. As usual the advice ranges from lame to impossible.

Microsoft and EU settle, phishing scams, busts
Capping our list of top IT news stories this week, Microsoft and the European Commission reached accord on the ongoing antitrust case against the company. While this will free up some room in future top-news lists, we expect that we'll continue to have no end of bad news related to phishing scams, of which there was plenty this week as well. Thankfully, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison added some levity to the mix, though his brand of joking undoubtedly fell flat at Salesforce.com.

NotAwesome Firefox Add-On Hides History
Enough people loved Firefox's history and bookmark searching location bar that the name "AwesomeBar" caught on. While this tool is great for productivity, its omniscience is a serious privacy concern. Don't let your boss see that you've been looking for a new career on job search Web sites. You can clear your history, and completely exclude bookmarks from displaying in the bar, but why waste such a useful feature just to hide a few URLs? NotAwesome is a simple, free add-on that allows you to selectively hide bookmarks from the incriminating gaze of the AwesomeBar.

Trouble With Default Settings at Online Stores
As an Amazon Prime member, I pay a yearly lump sum that entitles me to free two-day shipping for my many Amazon purchases. But six months ago, I noticed that small shipping charges were appearing on my bill at checkout; free two-day shipping was no longer the default choice on my purchases. Instead, a check mark ap­­peared next to the option for paid overnight delivery.

Protect your privacy on Facebook and Twitter
Here's how to safeguard your identity and your personal data in the age of the social Web.

Editors' Picks

Getting to know Windows 7? Don't stop now: From speeding up taskbar thumbnails to reining in UAC, here are 20 ways to make Windows 7 act the way you want. Is Motorola's new Droid good enough to vanquish iPhone envy? To find out, we took it on a 3-day trip. Sure, you could always use Linux as a desktop OS, but Corel Linux 1.0 was the first distro designed for ordinary users. It's been a long, strange trip since then. New touch-screen laptops from Fujitsu, HP and Lenovo take advantage of Microsoft Windows 7's touch-friendly infrastructure.

hot topics

Get the latest news, reviews and more about Microsoft's newest desktop operating system.

• Apple
• Microsoft
• Google
• iPhone
• Mac A to Z

special report topics

General Mills, Genentech, San Diego Gas & Electric, University of Pennsylvania and Monsanto top the list.

"A man and a woman have been arrested in England, for allegedly spreading banking malware. They were charged with using..." Read more "In a previous..." Read more More Security Blogs See all Computerworld Blogs