Apple Sues Three for Posting Mac OS X on Net
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Apple Computer Inc. has sued  three men for illegally distributing test copies of the next  version of its Mac OS X operating system on a file-sharing Web  site, court records showed on Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - More than a year after claiming to have found a way to take over a Macintosh computer using a flaw in the system's wireless card, David Maynor has published details of his exploit. The details were included in a paper published in the September issue of Uninformed.org, an online hacking magazine. The lengthy paper describes how to run unauthorized software on a Macintosh by taking advantage of a flaw in Apple's AirPort wireless drivers. Apple patched the bug in September 21 without crediting Maynor for discovering the problem. Instead,Â Apple's engineers found the bug during an internal audit, the company said. Maynor and researcher Jon Ellch first described this type of problem during an August 2006 presentation at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. He was widely criticized by the Apple community for failing to back up his claims with technical details and for presenting a video demonstration that used a third-party wireless card instead of the one that ships with the Mac. On Tuesday, Maynor said that at the time of the Black Hat demonstration, he had found similar wireless bugs in a number of wireless cards, including Apple's AirPort and that he had been told to use the third-party card in the video because it was deemed "the least offensive to people." So why publish the Mac hack now? Maynor said that he had been under a nondisclosure agreement, which had previously prevented him from publishing details of the hack. The security researcher wouldn't say who his NDA was with, but that agreement is no longer in force, allowing him to talk about the exploit. "I published it now because I can publish it now," he said. By going public with the information, Maynor hopes to help other Apple researchers with new documentation on things like Wi-Fi debugging and the Mac OS X kernel core dumping facility. "There's a lot of interesting information in the paper that, if you're doing vulnerability research on Apple, you'd find useful." Maynor will soon publish a second paper on Uniformed.org explaining how to write software that will run on a compromised system, he said. As for his detractors, who will say that this disclosure comes too late, Maynor says he just doesn't care what they think. "Let them tear me apart all they want but at the end of the day the technical merit of the paper will stand on its own."
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Blog: Recently patched browser from Apple springs another leak.
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One of the first pieces of malicious code targeting Apple's Mac OS X operating system has been discovered.
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First, the big news is that lines are forming at Apple stores. Send links to pictures. Oh the humanity. Second, the reason those of us who ordered in advance are not getting our Leopards is that Fedex couldn't handle the load.  Even so, when I called Fedex this morning they said I would have my package today, even though the website says otherwise. Their gears are stipped on a good day. Is Fedex the AT&T of package delivery? Will Apple end up leasing their own fleet of trucks to deliver the next version of Mac OS? I guess we still have to make it through this release.  Will we be able to have a Flash Conference on Monday to discuss Leopard? Only time will tell.
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Jon Lech Johansen's Web site, "So Sue Me," reflects the famed hacker's philosophy. Now he's up against Apple.
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Redmond-based Microsoft Corp. filed three lawsuits against alleged spammers in US District Court in Seattle Oct. 27, claiming the defendants &quot;spoofed&quot; its Web site, as well as the Web domains of America Online, EarthLink Inc.
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Editor's note: This story was reprinted from Computerworld. For more of Computerworld's coverage of the Mac, visit its Mac Knowledge Center.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers who unlock Apple's iPhone from the AT&T network and share the method with 10 million of their closest Internet friends are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies, several intellectual property (IP)Â lawyers said Monday. Apple and AT&T may have a legal case against unlockers under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), especially if they try to sell software code or devices that unlock the iPhone, the lawyers said. But the legal landscape gets a bit complicated -- there's a legal exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions that allows individual mobile phone users to unlock their devices for use on other networks. So figuring out how to unlock the iPhone yourself is not likely to be a DMCA violation, most of the IP lawyers said. But posting instructions or code online, even for free, may earn you a cease-and-desist letter from an unfriendly lawyer, and selling software or a device that unlocks the phone is inviting trouble, most of the lawyers said. But there's plenty of disagreement among IP lawyers about the interpretation of the DMCA. "It's an extremely grey [area], because I don't think the exemption was altogether clear," said Bart Showalter, an intellectual property lawyer in Dallas with the Baker Botts LLP law firm. "The idea of trying to use copyright to, in a sense, establish exclusivity in a service contract ... is going to be an interesting thing to watch." John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, had planned to release software Saturday that wouldÂ allow users to unlock their iPhone. But early Saturday morning, McLaughlin said he received a phone call from a man saying he was from a law firm representing AT&T. The caller saidÂ McLaughlin could be sued for copyright infringement. Two other groups have claimed to have unlocked the iPhone. Representatives of both AT&T and Apple declined to comment Monday on possible legal actions against unlockers. Showalter suggested that unlocking the iPhone and posting code or instructions for free would likely fall under the exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions, thus protecting the unlocker from legal action. The exception allows circumvention of device controls "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network," according to language from the U.S. registrar of copyrights. So if a hacker unlocks the iPhone, then posts the unlocking code for free, he's engaging in a legal activity and enabling others to engage in the same legal activity, said Michael Lewis, an IP lawyer with Fox Rothschild LLP. If that hacker is sued, he could probably argue that posting of the unlocking code is protected by free speech provisions in U.S. law, according to Lewis. Other IP lawyers disagreed. Movie studios have successfully sued Web site operators for distributing the DeCSS DVD-copying code, noted Carole Handler, an IP lawyer with Foley and Lardner LLP. The unlocker of the iPhone who posts code online could be held liable for secondary copyright infringement, she said. "I don't see that [Apple and AT&T] have a choice," Handler said. "They have to do something. If you don't protect your intellectual property, it's gone." Lewis' colleague, Gerry Norton, agreed, saying the unlocking exception was narrowly written. "The exception was just for the end-user," he said. Most of the lawyers agreed that selling software to unlock the iPhone, as McLaughlin was planning to do, would invite a lawsuit under the DMCA. "The courts seem to have less sympathy for people who are doing things to make a buck," Lewis said. But there wasn't even unanimous agreement on the legal liability of selling unlocking software. If the software being distributed targeted only the network lock on the iPhone, the developer could have a defense, Showalter said. "It does seem a little unusual to me that they say somebody can unlock their phone, but if someone tells them how to do it, that's a violation of the DMCA," he said. "If the software that's being sold is only doing the minimum amount that's necessary to allow it to interoperate with other services, you may have some support in the DMCA exception." Beyond the legal questions about unlocking the iPhone, Apple and AT&T could face their own legal challenges, Handler said. The exclusive contract between the two companies could lead to an antitrust lawsuit if a competitor or customer could successfully argue there's no other device like the iPhone available on the market, she said. "Consumers want new technology," she said. "This is the era of the consumer controlling the media. When the consumer is told he or she can't do something, they get pretty upset, and they start claiming conspiracy, antitrust, and the whole bit."
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An internet entrepreneur today claimed he was fighting a David versus Goliath battle with computer giant Apple over the ownership of a website address.
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p2pnet.net News:- Apple Computer has issued a patch for 15 Mac OS X security flaws. But, &quot;It ain&#39;t us - it&#39;s them!&quot; - it&#39;s saying of some of the problems, &#39;them&#39; being certain open source components.
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The patent Apple is seeking covers the &quot;methods and systems for submitting media to a media distribution site. [... The submission of media to the media distribution site is able to be performed
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Apple Computer Inc.  is suing anonymous people who leaked details about new products by posting information on the Internet, court documents showed on Friday.
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Earthlink filed a federal lawsuit in Atlanta, Georgia, accusing 50 &quot;John Does&quot; of violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act and various other state and federal statutes, including the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Georgia Computer Systems Protection
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Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has sued three men for illegally distributing test copies of the next version of its Mac OS X operating system
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Apple has been accused of bullying tactics in its battle to force a small UK firm to hand over ownership of the iTunes.co.uk web address.
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Four of the nation&#39;s largest online providers yesterday announced a new round of lawsuits aimed at e-mail spammers, including the first major case involving spam sent via an instant messaging service.