According to PCWorld.com, “

[s]ome Macintosh users have encountered a security program whose function and Web site have the tell-tale signs of a scam.  Visitors to the Web site selling the program, called MacSweeper, are offered a free security scan of their computers. The scan, which only works on Macs, highlights supposed security problems with the computers. It offers to remove the problems with the purchase of a US$39.99 lifetime subscription.  But the awkward English on the program’s Web site, and the way the program operates, have raised doubts over its legitimacy, users and security researchers say.  […]  Security company F-Securewrote on Tuesday that the program, called MacSweeper, may be the first rogue application for Macs.” 

Reuters reports that “Europe’s online gaming industry filed a complaint with the European Commission on Tuesday, saying Germany’s ban on online gambling breaks EU law on the free movement of services.  ‘The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) calls on the European Commission to take swift action against the German Interstate Treaty on gaming,’ the lobby group said in a statement.  The treaty came into force on January 1 and bans online gaming and betting, except for horse races, in Germany.  […]  EU Internal Market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, has sought to crack down on cross-border hurdles to competition in the gambling sector but has faced opposition from countries such as France.  McCreevy already launched legal action against Germany over the treaty last year before it came into force.  ‘The Commission does not believe this piece of legislation is in line with Community law,’ his spokesman Oliver Drewes said.”

The New York Times writes that “[c]ommunications regulators have cleared Google Inc to bid in an upcoming auction of coveted wireless airwaves, according to auction documents released by the Federal Communications Commission on Monday.  Google was among a list of potential bidders released by the FCC that have made a required up-front payment and have been cleared to take part in the high-stakes 700 megahertz wireless auction.  The auction is scheduled to begin on January 24 and expected to raise at least $10 billion for the U.S. government from airwaves being returned by television broadcasters as they move to digital from analog signals in early 2009.”

In a different article, the New York Times reveals that “MySpace, the country’s largest social-networking Web site, has agreed with attorneys general of 49 states to take new steps to protect children from sexual predators on its site. It also agreed to lead a nationwide effort to develop technology to verify the ages and identities of Internet users, officials announced Monday.  […]  ‘It’s stronger, broader, a very significant step or even a milestone in making the industry aim higher to keep kids safer,’ [Richard] Blumenthal, [the Connecticut attorney general], said in an interview.”

CNetNews.com points out that “[a]s it stands, there’s almost twice as much bandwidth across the Atlantic as there is across the Pacific. But with new U.S. FCC approval for the first ever China-U.S. fiber link, this is all about to change.  The Trans-Pacific Express ‘will initially provide capacity of up to 1.28 terabits per second, and the system will have a design capacity of up to 5.12Tbps to support future Internet growth and advanced applications such as video and e-commerce,’ writes ChinaTechNews.  Construction has been under way since September, and should be complete before the Olympics.”