IBM targets open source project

IBM is threatening to take legal action against TurboHercules, a company that sells services relating to the open source Hercules project, due to “substantial concerns" that the project infringes on its patent, says Ars Technica.

Florian Mueller, a free software advocate and patent reform activist, says two of the patents IBM listed in its letter to Hercules are included in the list of 500 patents IBM promised not go assert against open source software in 2005.

"After years of pretending to be a friend of free and open source software (FOSS), IBM now shows its true colours. IBM breaks the number one taboo of the FOSS community and shamelessly uses its patents against a well-respected FOSS project," says Mueller.

Google is rolling out changes to the Buzz social network, allowing users to further change privacy settings, writes Network World.

Google Buzz was criticised when it launched after it was revealed the service automatically started following people in a user's Gmail contacts list, and made that list public.

"You can view and edit the people you're following and the people following you, elect whether you want those lists appearing on your public Google profile, and modify any sites you have connected to Google Buzz, like Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter," says Todd Jackson, in a blog.

Cryptography Research (CRI) has formed an agreement with Toshiba regarding the use of patents to enhance the security of Toshiba's tamper-resistant products, states Market Watch.

The patents relate to Differential Power Analysis (DPA) and related cryptographic attacks. Toshiba is using the technology in its strategy to develop and enhance its secure products, including software executing on licensed Toshiba products.

"Differential Power Analysis counter-measures is one of the key technologies in security applications. This agreement strengthens our leadership in the security market," says Toshiya Watanabe, technology executive for system LSI of Toshiba.