Lifelock Dinged $12 Million for Deceptive Business Practices

By Kim Zetter:
The CEO of Lifelock, Todd Davis, became famous for advertising his Social Security number on television ads and billboards promising his $10 monthly service would protect consumers from identity theft.

The company also offered a $1 million guarantee to compensate customers for losses incurred if they became a victim of identity theft after signing up for the service.

But the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that the claims were bogus (.pdf) and accused Lifelock, based in Arizona, of operating a scam and con operation. The commission announced, along with 35 state attorneys general, that it had levied a fine of $12 million against the company for deceptive business practices and for failing to secure sensitive customer data. Of that amount, $11 million will go to refund customers who subscribed to the service. Consumers will receive a letter from the FTC and their attorney general explaining how to take part in the settlement.

Cisco Router Delivers 322 Terabits per Second

by Samara Lynn:
Cisco Systems, has announced the launch of a super-fast and efficiency-focused router technology which will be at the heart of "the next generation of the Internet". A key impetus for its development is keeping pace with the growing demand for video, which Cisco calls today's "killer app."

To put the power of this router (which will be used by service providers as part of the internet backbone) in perspective, it delivers 322 terabits per second. This speed translates into the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress being downloaded in a second. Put another way, it would enable every single person in China to make a simultaneous video call, or deliver every movie ever made in 4 minutes. (Storing them would be another matter, however.)

Developers excited by social game explosion

by Daniel Terdiman:
For game developers whose industry experience predates not just Facebook but even Mark Zuckerberg, you might expect that abandoning making big, complex games for simple titles like Farmville and similar social projects would be anathema.

But to hear a panel of respected industry veterans who spoke before a packed house in a huge room at the Game Developers Conference here Tuesday, the truth is exactly the opposite. In fact, to these four speakers at least, transitioning from working on $25 million console-level games that take years to build to small projects that take just weeks or months to complete and which have orders of magnitude smaller budgets may be the opportunity of a lifetime.

US Considers Some Free Wireless Broadband Service

by Doug Hanchard:
Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn during a speech at the Digital Inclusion Summit suggested that the FCC may look at some wireless spectrum being set aside for at little or no cost for anyone's use.

The staff has come up with a number of recommendations with these goals in mind. To help with cost, the Plan recommends expanding low income Universal Service support to broadband, and exploring using spectrum for a free or very low cost wireless service. Partnerships between the public, private, non-profit and philanthropic sectors can help address the relevance barrier by encouraging comprehensive solutions that combine hardware, service, training and content, and by conducting outreach and awareness campaigns that target under-served communities. Continuing federal support for state and local broadband initiatives is also essential.

Former NSA tech chief: I don't trust the cloud

By Tim Greene:
he former National Security Agency technical director told the RSA Conference he doesn't trust cloud services and bluntly admonished vendors for leaving software vulnerabilities unpatched sometimes for years.

Speaking for himself and not the agency, Brian Snow says that cloud infrastructure can deliver services that customers can access securely, but the shared nature of the cloud leaves doubts about attack channels through other users in the cloud. "You don't know what else is cuddling up next to it," he says.