Microsoft said it has fixed another security flaw in its popular Internet Passport service, which could have allowed hackers to hijack some older accounts.
A Microsoft (MSFT) senior manager said he believes no Passport accounts were stolen. He declined to say how many people were at risk but said the flaw affected only a small number of users who had created their accounts more than four years ago. As part of its repair efforts, Microsoft briefly prevented some Passport users from manually changing their passwords.
Passport, which offers consumers a way to identify themselves across different websites, also controls access for Windows users to the Hotmail e-mail service and instant-messaging accounts.
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Listen, Real patent infringement: Technology-licensing company Friskit said it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against digital media software provider RealNetworks and its online music unit, Listen.com.
Privately held Friskit is seeking a permanent injunction that would prevent RealNetworks from using what it claims is its streaming online media technology, which includes Webcast sounds. RealNetworks (RNWK) and Listen.com, which operate the Rhapsody music subscription service, dismissed the claims.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges RealNetworks' RealOne Player Plus and Listen.com's Rhapsody music subscription service infringe on three of Friskit's streaming digital media patents that had been granted between May 2002 and February 2003.
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Flying wireless in Scandinavia: Scandinavian Airlines said it would offer high-speed Internet access aboard some long-haul flights, letting passengers surf the Internet or send e-mail.
SAS signed a contract with Boeing to install its wireless broadband service, Connexion, aboard two planes. The rest of its long-haul fleet will be equipped in 2005. The cost wasn't disclosed. Passengers will be charged between $30 and $35 a flight for unlimited use, a company spokesperson said.
In May, Boeing signed a similar contract with German airline Lufthansa to equip all 80 of its long-haul jets with the service. In June, United Airlines said it would offer two-way e-mail capability aboard all its domestic flights by the end of the year.
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Another one bites the dust: A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit that claimed a conflict of interest at Merrill Lynch was to blame for the sharp drop in a technology-stock mutual fund after the dot-com bubble burst three years ago.
Investors had claimed Merrill's Global Technology Fund invested in stocks whose prices had been pumped up by misleading positive research reports issued by Merrill analysts in hopes of luring investment-banking business. But U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack ruled that the management of the Merrill fund is a separate entity from the Merrill brokerage and investment banking arms.
Even if there was an apparent conflict of interest, the judge ruled, the conflict was public knowledge long before the market for tech stocks peaked in 2000 and began its steep decline.
The decision came a day after the same judge released an opinion tossing out two suits that claimed tainted Merrill analysts were to blame for their losses in two Internet companies after the bubble burst. Pollack is overseeing at least two dozen other similar suits against Merrill Lynch.
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No discrimination: Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's largest private employer, will now include gays and lesbians in its anti-discrimination policy, company officials said.
The policy change had been considered for months and is now in effect after company officials listened to employees and groups advocating the inclusion of gays and lesbians in anti-discrimination policies, a Wal-Mart (WMT) spokesperson said. The policy change "unfolded by itself," and last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws was not a factor in the decision, the spokesperson said.
The change means nine of the 10 largest Fortune 500 companies now have rules prohibiting discrimination against gay employees, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The one exception is the Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Compiled by Kari L. Dean. Reuters and AP contributed to this report.
