Appeal floodgates to open on Oftel?

Competition decision marks Oftel as fair game for appeals on its rulings A decision to uphold a complaint from Freeserve on BT's marketing practices after Oftel had decided to take no action makes the regulator subject to future appeals against its rulings The case stems from a complaint made by Freeserve in May of this year, that BT Openworld had unfairly benefited from its relationship with BT Retail, which Oftel decided not to take up. However, Freeserve appealed to the Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal (CCAT). The CCAT has now decided that Oftel not taking up the case constitutes a decision that there was no competition infringement, and therefore that this is a decision against which Freeserve can appeal. ...more

Google market share slips

Web market research company comScore is reporting that the year long inexorable rise of Google as the search engine of choice among Americans might finally be coming to an end. After a 12 month uninterrupted break of increasing market share, Google's share of the search market fell back to 43.7 per cent compared to 44. ...more

Yahoo now under German fire

German prosecutors are investigating Yahoo over an alleged auction of copies of Hitler's book "Mein Kampf". The news that the company is being investigated comes shortly after France's move to prevent racist material being distributed by auction Web sites. In fact, the sale of Nazi memorabilia is illegal in both France and Germany. ...more

Missing M&S laptop poses ID theft risk to staff

Following the theft of a laptop containing salary details, addresses, dates of birth, and National Insurance and phone numbers of staff, Marks and Spencers has written to 26,000 employees telling them they may be at risk of identity fraud. The news comes just days after we reported a laptop stolen from a hospital in Cornwall. The retailer warned workers they were at risk if criminals accessed and used the data on the laptop, which was stolen from a printing firm on 18 April. ...more

Storm worm thunders into February malware chart

The deluge from the Storm worm places it at the top of the malware charts in February, according to findings from security appliance vendor Fortinet. The worm, also known as Tibs, accounted for 3.91 per cent of all malware detected in the month. ...more