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Video Daily: Facebook says '84 percent' contract was 'forged'

Posted by Harshad

Video Daily: Facebook says '84 percent' contract was 'forged'


Video Daily: Facebook says '84 percent' contract was 'forged'

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 09:34 PM PDT

Video Daily: Facebook says '84 percent' contract was 'forged'Late last month, a man sued Facebook claiming he owns 84 percent of the social networking giant.

Paul Ceglia says he entered into a contract with Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, for a 50 percent share, doing so for $1000 USD. In addition, Ceglia says the deal granted him 1 percent extra of the company for every day until the Web site was completed after January 2004.

The site took 34 days to complete.

Reads the signed contract: In return for the $1000 payment, Ceglia "would own a 50 percent interest in the software, programming language and business interests derived from the expansion of the [Facebook] service to a larger audience."

Facebook has come forward today with a strong denial of businessman Ceglia's claim to 84 percent of the social networking giant, going as far as to call the alleged contract in question a "forgery."

In his interview with "ABC World News" this week, Zuckerberg said: "I think we were quite sure that we did not sign a contract that says that they have any right to ownership over Facebook."

The company backed up its CEO saying: "Mark has made it clear that Ceglia's claims are absurd and we strongly suspect the contract is forged. However, we have not seen the original (no one has, including the court). Thus, we're focusing on the things that are not open to interpretation and are indisputable--Mark could not have given interest in a company that didn't exist or an idea he had not thought of yet and, even if he could, the statute of limitations has expired."


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Apple delays white iPhone 4 for second time

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 09:01 PM PDT

Apple delays white iPhone 4 for second timeApple, in the headlines recently for more negative reasons than not, has seen another setback in its upcoming launch of a white iPhone 4 model, which was initially set for a release day launch but was pushed back to "later in the summer."

Summer is here and there was no word about the white model, until this week.

Says Apple: "White models of Apple's new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected."

According to the Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald, the delay comes from manufacturing problems in a Chinese factory with the company Lens Technology, which transforms raw glass into iPhone 4 glass panels.

Apple has never confirmed what is causing the delays on the white models.

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Chinese users can freely enjoy porn again

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 06:28 PM PDT

Chinese users can freely enjoy porn againThe Chinese government has unblocked access to online pornography over the past two months, reports the AP, with porn sites and forums now accessible after years of being behind "The Great Firewall."

Pornographic websites have been available now for eight weeks, and there is still no word from officials in Beijing as to whether the move is an official change in policy.

Says Beijing-based internet analyst Zhao Jing: "This has never been done with the (Chinese) internet before." When asked why he believed the government was pulling such a move, he responded: "Maybe they are thinking that if internet users have some porn to look at, then they won't pay so much attention to political matters."

Those political matters are, of course, any website relating to human rights, or any challenge to the communist political authority in the nation.

There are 420 million Chinese connected to the Internet, by far the world's largest online population. It also has the world's most extensive censorship system, including technical filters and even human monitors.

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Apple begins free iPhone 4 case program

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 05:13 PM PDT

Apple begins free iPhone 4 case programApple, following the PR disaster that was "antennagate," announced last week that they would be providing free cases to iPhone 4 buyers. The cases are intended to address the growing controversy over the phone's design flaw, which can cause dropped calls when it is held in a particular way.

Today, the have started the iPhone 4 Case Program giving owners a chance to get their free bumpers, while at the same time, getting full refunds for any case or bumper they have purchased since the phone's launch. Apple has set aside $175 million for the program.

If you are an iPhone 4 owner, the process is pretty simple:

1. Download the iPhone 4 Case Program app from the App Store.

2. Launch the app on your iPhone 4 and sign in using your iTunes Store account or Apple ID.

3. Select your Bumper or case.

If you purchased your iPhone 4 before today, you must apply for the program by August 22nd. For future buyers, up until September 30th, you will have 30 days from purchase time to apply.

Additionally, if you purchased a bumper from Apple or AT&T, you will get a full refund. You can view details on that here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/case-program/

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Prominent US legislator applauds seizure of websites by customs

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 02:29 AM PDT

Prominent US legislator applauds seizure of websites by customsRecently Howard Berman, chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, called a new customs enforcement operation to shut down P2P websites "innovative," and said he is exploring ways to expand it.

He was referring to the seizure of nine domain names last month which kicked off "Operation In Our Sites," an initiative spearheaded by US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). A number of questions surround the seizures.

The action was announced at a press conference held jointly by ICE head John Morton and representatives of MPAA member studios.

Although the rhetoric about "lost jobs and real hardships for ordinary working people" from piracy has been plentiful, specifics about what crimes were committed by most of the sites have been non-existent. Instead there has been an effort by government officials like Morton and Berman to confuse the issue by conflating unauthorized file sharing with counterfeiting, which seems to be where ICE comes in.

ICE is the agency responsible for dealing with counterfeit goods entering the US from other countries. However their only connection with copyright enforcement is as head of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), which coordinates anti-piracy efforts between a number of Federal law enforcement agencies.

According to a press release issued in conjunction with last month's press conference, the IPR Center "The IPR Center is one of the U.S. government's key weapons in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. The IPR Center offers assistance for both law enforcement and the private sector to address the growing transnational threat of counterfeit merchandise."

So what exactly does counterfeiting have to do with shutting down these websites? According to the limited details mentioned, nothing whatsoever.

That didn't stop Representative Berman from wondering out loud, "how we can scale Operation "In Our Sites" to enterprises that facilitate the theft of music, books and other products prone to counterfeiting."

The ICE press release gives no real specifics about the alleged crimes committed through the websites. Instead it simply says, "investigators downloaded various newly released movies from the Web sites and their affiliates, to identify those Web sites that were involved in the distribution of stolen content."

While this may make for a nice sound bite, unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content across the internet is not stealing, but rather copyright infringement. It also has nothing to do with counterfeit goods, leaving many wondering why ICE is even involved.

Judging from their careful wording it would appear some of the sites are accused of hosting the infringing content, and therefore distributing it, while others may simply have linked to it.

If that's the case you should expect to see accusations of inducing infringement for links to external content. In fact four highly placed Justice Department officials were quite successful with that very argument while arguing on behalf of the RIAA and MPAA in the Supreme Court in the Grokster case.

In addition to the domain names, assets from bank, PayPal, investment & advertising accounts were also seized. This is no doubt an attempt to cast them as commercial operations; a requirement for criminal infringement.

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