Hacker read Secret Service e-mails: "A hacker broke into a wireless carrier's network over at least seven months and read e-mails and personal computer files of hundreds of customers, including the Secret Service agent investigating the hacker."
Texas sues major spam operation: "Texas sued one of the world's largest spam e-mail operations Thursday, seeking millions of dollars from two men it says are responsible for sending illegal messages on the Internet, the state's attorney general said... The [civil] suit charges the operation with using misleading subject lines in e-mail messages and making misrepresentations in the body of the e-mail. [No criminal charges have been filed.]"
eBay fee changes spark revolt: "San Jose, Calif.-based eBay (Research) said Wednesday it would raise several fees for eBay Stores sellers Feb. 18. Among other things, the cost of a monthly subscription for a basic eBay Store will go up 60 percent to $15.95. The cost of 10-day listings will double to 40 cents, and final value fees that are assessed when a sale closes also will rise."
GPS hide-and-seek: "It's called geocaching, and all you need to play is a portable Global Positioning System, access to the Internet and a sense of adventure."
Rupert Murdoch's new game: Media mogul is looking hard at the video game industry. Is that a good thing? "[C]ould the future of the gaming industry be traditional media companies? ... Would this be a good thing for video game makers?"
IBM to give away 500 software patents: "U.S. patent leader IBM said late Monday it plans to donate 500 patents for free use by software developers, marking a major shift of intellectual property strategy for the world's top computer maker and a challenge to the high-tech industry... The 500 patents cover areas such as storage management, simultaneous multiprocessing, image processing, database management, networking and e-commerce."