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T-Mobile data breach caused by insider theft
Workers at T-Mobile UK have been selling customer data to brokers who work for the competition, T-Mobile and the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office said on Tuesday. In an announcement from the ICO, the agency does not name the operator involved, but T-Mobile acknowledged that it alerted ICO about the data breach. Employees sold details about customers’ contracts, including the date that their contracts end, to brokers, according to the ICO. T-Mobile competitors bought the information and then called customers prior to the expiration of their contracts to offer them deals with the new operator. “Many thousands” of customer account details were sold to several brokers for substantial amounts of money, the ICO said.
China orders Microsoft to stop selling Windows
A Beijing court has ruled that Microsoft violated a Chinese company’s intellectual property rights in a case over fonts used in past Windows operating systems. The Beijing Number One Intermediate People’s Court this week ordered Microsoft to stop selling versions of Windows that use the Chinese fonts, state broadcaster CCTV said. Microsoft plans to appeal the case, a company representative said in a statement. The ruling comes as Barack Obama visits China for his first time as U.S. president. The visit has brought renewed focus on tensions over piracy and the trade of high-tech products between the countries. A U.S. business association this week appealed to Obama for further efforts to protect intellectual property rights in China, where pirated copies of DVDs and computer software including Windows are widely sold on streets and in bazaars.
Google to unveil Chrome OS soon
Google is getting ready to shed a little more light on its Chrome OS this week. The search giant has arranged an event for journalists Thursday at its headquarters in Mountain View, California, just days after rumors circulated that the code might soon be released. When Google announced it was building its own Linux-based operating system, it said it would release the open-source code at the end of this year. It has said Chrome will be designed initially for netbooks, with the first devices hitting the market in the second half of 2010.
Microsoft settles dispute with former employee
Microsoft has settled a lawsuit with a former employee that it once charged with fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract. Neither party has admitted to any wrongdoing and they will not reveal the details of the settlement, according to the former employee, Miki Mullor. The deal closes an unusual case in which Microsoft said that Mullor continued on as CEO of a company called Ancora while working at Microsoft. While Mullor was employed at Microsoft, Ancora accused several computer makers including Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba of infringing on a patent. The PC makers asked Microsoft to defend them since the technology was provided by Microsoft.
