Techmeme: Old-time hacktivists to Anonymous: You've crossed the line (Elinor Mills/CNET)

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March 31, 2012, 12:20 AM

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Wall Street Journal:

Breach Hits Card Processor Global Payments — Global Payments Inc., which processes credit cards and debit cards for banks and merchants, has been hit by a security breach that has put some 50,000 cardholders at risk, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

More: Examiner, Bloomberg, Pulse2 Technology …, Zero Day Blog and Between the Lines Blog. Tweets: @dannysullivan

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach — VISA and MasterCard are alerting banks across the country about a recent major breach at a U.S.-based credit card processor. Sources in the financial sector are calling the breach “massive,” and say it may involve more than 10 million compromised card numbers.

Wall Street Journal:

Data Breach Sparks Worry — Hack Attack at Card Processor Compromises Potentially Thousands of Accounts — Concerns about credit-card security heightened Friday after a little-known Atlanta company disclosed it had been hit by hackers, potentially exposing hundreds of thousands of account holders to fraud.

More: Global Payments Inc., MarketBeat, Network World, Lifehacker, Z Trek, SlashGear, CNET, Gartner, Gizmodo, Reuters, SC Magazine, SeekingAlpha.com, Wired, SecurityWeek and Between the Lines Blog

John Brownlee / Cult of Mac:

This Creepy App Isn't Just Stalking Women Without Their Knowledge, It's A Wake-Up Call About Facebook Privacy [Update] — This app is meant to all be in good fun, but it's potentially a weapon in the hands of stalkers. — “Boy, you sure have a lot of apps on your phone.” — “Well, it's my job.”

More: The Verge, Digital Trends, Bits, Pulp Tech Blog, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, The Tech Report and Gawker

Harrison Weber / The Next Web:

Foursquare shuts down location API access to creepy Girls Around Me app — As first covered by Cult of Mac, Girls Around Me is an incredibly creepy app that allows anyone to locate nearby girls based on public Foursquare checkins and Facebook data. Now the app has been officially banned …

More: msnbc.com

Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:

Twitter Takes Tweetdeck Offline After Apparent Bug Opens Access To Accounts — Twitter has taken Tweetdeck offline after an apparent bug has possibly given some Tweetdeck users access to others' accounts. — A Tweetdeck user in Australia, Geoff Evanson, says he discovered today …

More: Digital Trends, The Next Web, Digits, PC Magazine, VentureBeat, CNNMoney.com, Ubergizmo, Geek.com, Mashable!, The Verge, msnbc.com, CNET, Geoff Evason, LaptopMemo and Lifehacker

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

TweetDeck back online, unauthorized access was ‘random’ and likely never ‘used maliciously’ — TweetDeck, taken down earlier today, is now back online for everybody. The original issue appeared when a user in Australia discovered he was able to access hundreds of Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Tweets: @tweetdeck

Bits:

With Tablet Plan, Google Goes After Apple and Amazon — Google's long-awaited tablet might finally be on the way to becoming a reality. For at least two years, there have been reports that the search giant was working on something that could compete with Apple's iPad.

More: InfoWorld, Digits, Wired, InvestorPlace, Tecca, App Advice, internetretailer.com, Computerworld, Mobile Marketing Watch, parislemon, OStatic blogs, MacNN, Tech Trader Daily, FierceWireless, Appolicious Advisor and TechSpot

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Yahoo Layoffs Set to Begin Next Week, Followed by Restructuring the Week After — Yahoo is preparing to begin layoffs of what could be thousands of employees starting next week, according to multiple sources, and is then expected to announce a new restructuring of the company the week after.

More: SlashGear, The Verge, Search Engine Land, Tech and China, TechFlash, Deadline.com, Digits, Tech Trader Daily, SeekingAlpha.com, bizjournals, Business Insider and WebProNews

Adi Avidor / Inside Search:

Graphing on Google.com - Now in 3D — A few months ago we launched a graphing functionality right in search to help students and math lovers plot functions in an easy, simple way. In addition to calculating something simple like dividing up a restaurant bill or graphing more difficult math functions using …

More: ReadWriteWeb, Mashable!, WebProNews, Search Engine Roundtable, BuzzFeed and Search Engine Land

Elinor Mills / CNET:

Old-time hacktivists to Anonymous: You've crossed the line — Despite shared concerns, pioneers in the movement say the methods of a newer generation abridge free speech and hurt the cause — Oxblood Ruffin of Cult of the Dead Cow and Hacktivismo — In December 1998 …

Tweets: @anonopssweden

Andrew Allemann / Domain Name Wire:

Confirmed: Netflix buys DVD.com — Netflix buys DVD.com domain name. — [Update: Netflix has confirmed its purchase of DVD.com. A spokesperson tells Domain Name Wire “Netflix cares about keeping DVD healthy, and this is just one small investment in keeping DVD healthy."]

More: AllThingsD, Engadget, SlashGear, The Verge, The Next Web, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and Domain Name News. See also Mediagazer

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Sega shutting down games, laying off people — Sega said today it will restructure its Western operations as it deals with the transformation from a maker of retail games to digital distribution. The restructuring will result in an unspecified number of job losses and game cancellations.

More: IntoMobile and PC Magazine

Joe Pollicino / Engadget:

AT&T now accepting Lumia 900 pre-orders, only those seeking cyan or black need apply (update) — Friendly reminder here, folks. As expected, AT&T has opened the pre-order floodgates for the Nokia Lumia 900 today ahead of its April 8th release in the US. Interested parties can secure …

More: Techie Buzz, The Verge, BGR, WMPoweruser and Gear Live

Reuters:

Apple supplier Foxconn cuts working hours, workers ask why — (Reuters) - When Chinese worker Wu Jun heard that her employer, the giant electronics assembly company Foxconn, had given employees landmark concessions her reaction was worry, not elation. — Wu, 23, is one of tens of thousands …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon's Appstore Generates More Revenue Per Daily User Than Google Play — According to new data released today by mobile analytics firm Flurry, Amazon's Appstore for Android is generating more revenue per daily user than the Google Android Market, which was recently rebranded as the Google Play store.

More: Flurry Blog, IntoMobile, MacNN, GigaOM, PadGadget, MacDailyNews, VatorNews, The Digital Reader, WebProNews, BGR, MediaPost and Fortune

Tweets: @yoda_2little and @christoff

John Paczkowski / AllThingsD:

Apple Workers Put Tim Cook Atop List of Most Beloved CEOs — Tim Cook, the man Apple co-founder Steve Jobs hand-picked to be his successor, may never surpass Jobs in panache or vision, but as a leader, he's picking up right where Jobs left off. — Indeed, after just 10 months …

More: BGR, Glassdoor Blog, Computerworld, GigaOM, NBC Bay Area, PC World, iPhone, DailyFinance.com, TUAW, IntoMobile, 9to5Mac, CNET, Computer Business Review, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneArena and MacNN

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong's Employment Contract Extended Through March 2016 — UPDATED: “We are continuing to work on the comeback of AOL and have a plan that is beneficial for employees, customers and shareholders,” the company said. — NEW YORK - AOL said Friday it has extended …

More: PandoDaily, The Wrap, Business Insider and Deadline.com

Ari Levy / Bloomberg:

Groupon Discloses ‘Material Weakness,’ Lower Quarterly Revenue — Groupon Inc. (GRPN), the largest provider of daily deals online, reported a “material weakness” in its financial controls and said fourth-quarter results were worse than previously stated because of higher refunds to merchants.

More: VentureBeat, Bloomberg Tech Blog, The Tech Trade, AllThingsD, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, GigaOM and Tech Trader Daily. Tweets: @evelynrusli

Evelyn M. Rusli / DealBook:

Ahead of I.P.O., Mark Zuckerberg's Lawyers Expedite Disclosures — Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is rushing to clear all his paperwork, ahead of the social network's highly anticipated initial public offering. — The Federal and Trade Commission disclosed in a notice on Friday …

More: The Next Web, VentureBeat, Friending Facebook Blog and Los Angeles Times

Agence France Presse:

China's mobile phone subscriptions top a billion — BEIJING — China said Friday it had broken the barrier of one billion mobile phone accounts at the end of February, as more people in the world's most populous country ditch fixed phones. — The number of cell phone subscriptions grew 20.7 million …

More: The Verge, Engadget, MobileWhack.com and textually.org

Matt Brian / The Next Web:

Apple named Japan's top consumer brand for the first time — With more than half of all US households reportedly owning at least one of its products, Apple is a company that is continually topping satisfaction surveys in America and the world over. Today, the company has been named …

More: Nikkei.com, The Loop, MacNN, Techie Buzz, Tech Trader Daily, CNET, Macgasm, TechPinions, iDownloadBlog.com, VentureBeat, App Advice and AllThingsD

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