
Italians threaten suit over Windows pre-install
An Italian consumer rights
group plans to slap Microsoft with a
class-action lawsuit this week seeking
compensation on behalf of people forced to
buy Windows pre-installed on new computers.
The ADUC, which specializes in public
interests related to TV, internet, and
telephone, said it would file the lawsuit at
a court in Florence after the Epiphany
holiday on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The case will be brought under a new law
permitting consumer groups to file
class-action lawsuits on behalf of the
people they represent.
"As there is a large number of users
involved, and with the importance of the
free market issue, we have decided to take a
collective legal action against Microsoft,"
ADUC chairman Vincenzo Donvito told Reuters.
30 million German bank cards hit by 2010 bug
AROUND 30 million
high-tech German bank cards could leave
owners high and dry, bank associations
warned on Tuesday as the feared Y2K computer
bug cropped up 10 years later than expected.
The problem that hit cardholders trying to
use cash machines or make payments
throughout Germany and abroad stems from
computer chips unable to recognize the year
2010, and could take up to a week to
resolve, the DSGV savings and regional
banking association said in a statement.
A global alert had gone out 10 years ago
amid widespread fears of a similar problem,
dubbed Y2K for the year 2000. More recent
cards that contain a computer chip designed
to provide extra security have been affected
while older ones with just a magnetic strip
on the back appear to work normally.
$675,000 RIAA File Sharing Verdict Is ‘Unreasonable’
The nation’s second
file
sharing defendant to challenge
the Recording Industry Association of
America at trial is asking the court for a
retrial, or to reduce the $675,000 verdict
the jury levied for infringing 30 songs.
Among other claims, lawyers for defendant
Joel Tenenbaum asserted Monday this summer’s
verdict was unconstitutionally excessive.
The essence of the argument is that a
penalty of $22,500 a song is simply too big,
it shocks the conscience and it’s “obviously
unreasonable.”
But that argument is a long shot at best. A
similar one is pending in the Jammie
Thomas-Rasset litigation, the nation’s first
file sharing case. In that case, a Minnesota
jury decided last summer that she should pay
$1.92 million for 24 songs.





