Dell accused of hiding evidence

Dell stands accused of deliberately hiding e-mails that showed its top executives in the mid-2000s knew the company was shipping millions of defective computers, reports The Register.

Web hosting provider Advanced Internet Technologies, which alleges Dell knowingly sold computers that contained faulty components, said it knows that senior executives were aware of the problems.

It cites a list of talking points that showed then-chief executive Kevin Rollins, founder Michael Dell, and others discussing ways to publicly address the malfunctions, which involved capacitor failures in Dell OptiPlex computers. AIT claims Dell is deliberating withholding the release of additional documents.

Around 100 people have rallied outside Google's California offices to protest against controversial proposals to alter how data is treated over the Web, says The BBC.

Google and Verizon suggest treating fixed-line services differently to wireless and some specialised content.

This would allow net providers to give priority to certain online traffic.

In a not unexpected move, Oracle has killed off the OpenSolaris development project, writes The Register.

A lengthy e-mail sent out to the Solaris development team by Mike Shapiro (distinguished engineer, Solaris kernel development), Bill Nesheim (VP of Solaris platform engineering), and Chris Armes (director of Solaris revenue product engineering software) of Oracle was outed in an abridged form by OpenSolaris kernel programmer Steve Stallion.

Subsequently, Alasdair Lumsden, one of the key members of the OpenSolaris community, posted the full internal message on the OpenSolaris forums.

A lawsuit filed in federal court last week alleges a group of well-known Web sites, including those owned by Disney, Warner Bros Records, and Demand Media, broke the law by secretly tracking the Web movements of their users, including children, reveals CNet.

Attorneys representing a group of minors and their parents filed the suit Tuesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, records show. The suit alleges that Clearspring Technologies, a software company that creates widgets and also offers a way to serve ads via widgets, is at the centre of the wrongdoing.

Web site operators such as Disney, Playlist.com, and SodaHead are "Clearspring Flash Cookie Affiliates", the plaintiffs allege in their suit. Clearspring set "Flash cookies on (affiliate site) users' computers... online tracking device(s), which would allow access to and disclosure of Internet users' online activities".