Internet

An old Canadian electoral law has now surfaced putting those who post voting results via social networking in trouble with police. Section 329 of the Elections Act in Canada states that anyone who transmits election results will be fined $25,000 ... dollars and could be sentenced to five years in jail. The problem is that social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, are technically considered transmitting mediums. Section 329 Not Completely Senseless As it stands, section 329 is still on the books, but the law might not be as senseless as it appears. A Canadian voter in Montreal, for example, ... (view more)

Two of the men who claim they (and not Mark Zuckerberg) created Facebook have failed in a bid to increase a previous settlement. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are stuck with the original court ruling awarding the men $20 million plus 1.25 million ... shares in the social networking firm. Twins Sue Zuckerberg for Facebook Rights As memorably depicted in the Oscar-nominated movie The Social Network, the twins sued after alleging that fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, who they had hired to create a similar networking website, had unfairly stolen the idea to set up his own enterprise. Although ... (view more)

Following a recent report that found the people with the most Facebook friends tend to be those with the most anxiety, pediatricians are now warning parents to keep tabs on their teens' use of social networking sites, and to be vigilant in searching ... out "Facebook depression". About a month ago Edinburgh Napier University released a study which suggests that many Facebook users associated a great deal of anxiety with using the site, from rejecting 'friend requests' to navigating stressful social circles. Researchers went as far as associating Facebook use to gambling in some situations. In the ... (view more)

The popularity of online poker sites has skyrocketed in recent years. But for some the experience may be tarnished upon hearing that a number of these sites are using "Poker Bots" -- automated software programs designed to play poker games by ... stacking the deck and lining the pockets of those that control them. Internet gambling is illegal in the United States, but online casinos operate offshore and continue to attract a number of new users on a daily basis. Likewise, Poker bots are not new to most gaming circles. The programs continue to be openly sold online the black market for hundreds of ... (view more)

The organization that oversees the distribution of Internet domain names has given final approval to ".xxx", a domain dedicated to adult subject matter. The new domain is known as a generic top-level domain, meaning it is the final part of a website ... address and isn't country-specific (like .ca for Canada and). This is the first new top-level domain since 2004's .pro for professionals. It could be the last to get specific approval, as there are plans to open up the system so that individuals and organizations can register and control their own top level domains using any word or ... (view more)

Great news for Windows XP users and especially Mozilla Firefox fans -- Firefox 4 (final version) has just been released to the public and is available for download. According to initial reports, the fourth version of Mozilla's Firefox was downloaded ... 1 million times in just its first three hours, putting it on pace to easily eclipse the popularity of Microsoft's IE9. For the record, users downloaded Internet Explorer 9 2.4 million times in its first 24 hours of availability. Surprisingly, this isn't the best Firefox launch to date. Instead, as Mozilla executive Mike Beltzner says that Firefox ... (view more)

A recent report suggest as many as 1 in every 5 divorces can be directly related to Facebook. Why? Because it's the perfect place to re-ignite old relationships, but also because many users are unaware of what data will be shared to the public when ... it comes to maximizing their privacy settings on Facebook. That was the downfall of one Grand Rapids, Michigan man, whose recent marriage collapsed when his new wife found out that he was already married. In July, 34-year-old Richard Barton Jr. got married. It was a special moment in his life, and to celebrate he posted pictures of the wedding on ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) supports two separate technologies for restricting access to information related to a user's online activity. One of the privacy features was recently prompted by the Federal Trade Commission ... (FTC). Both technologies involve the way websites share data with third-parties. The most prominent example is with advertisements that appear on a page; for example, rather than simply linking ads to the page content (such as a newspaper site running golf equipment ads alongside a golf match report), a site might pass on details of all the pages a ... (view more)

AT&T is imposing a maximum monthly download limit for its broadband customers. It's a move more reminiscent of smartphone data plans, where bandwidth is more restricted. Under the new policy, which begins in May, DSL users will be allowed to ... download up to 150GB of data per month, a cap that's raised to 250GB for those on the U-Verse service which delivers fiber optic cable right to the customer's home. The company estimates that around 2 per cent of customers will be affected by the limit. (Source: dslreports.com ) $10 for 50GB Overage Fee to Apply Those who exceed the limits won't face ... (view more)

According to a new report, about four in every five college admissions offices now check out the social networking accounts of prospective students. In fact, in some cases they're actually using these unlikely resources to recruit students. Kaplan ... Test Prep recently surveyed college and university admissions officers and found most reported using Facebook and Twitter to pursue ideal students. According to Kaplan's Russell Schaffer, Senior Communication Manager, "we found that 82 percent of admissions officers reported that their school is using Facebook to recruit students." (Source: ... (view more)