15 Biggest technology scandals of 2009

[seema]

The US Justice Department began probe against possible collusion in hiring by Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Yahoo Inc and several other companies.

The investigation were said to include a dozen technology companies, according to the people said to be in know of the things. The Justice Department faces the difficult task of proving that there is an explicit agreement between the companies that they wouldn’t hire employees from their rivals, said David Balto, a former antitrust attorney with the Federal Trade Commission.

The investigation added to the scrutiny of technology companies under President Barack Obama’s administration. Technology companies are often said to be trading workers as they seek to lure the best talent, and sometimes end up in conflict. In 2005, Microsoft sued Google, after the company lured away one of its officials to run a development center in China.

In January, Apple and International Business Machines Corp resolved a three-month legal battle over the hiring of IBM executive Mark Papermaster as Apple’s engineering chief.

[seema]

Germany's main competition agency, the Federal Cartel Office, slapped a $12 million fine on Microsoft for imposing a retail price for its Office Home and Student 2007 software.

Microsoft said it would pay the fine to avoid a lengthy legal dispute and was reviewing its internal processes in Germany to ensure they complied with German law in future.

The Bonn-based agency said Microsoft had harmed free competition by exerting improper influence on the selling price of the software through a major chain, which was not identified in the announcement.

[seema]

Members of an elite Australian college linked to Sydney University provoked outrage after it was revealed they had set up a "pro-****" group on social networking site Facebook.

The page, set up by mostly past and present students at the all-male residential college St Paul's, called itself "Define Statutory" and described itself as "pro-**** and anti-consent."

Former *** discrimination commissioner, now New South Wales state parliamentarian, Pru Goward said she understood the site was designed to "draw an analogy between **** and competing with another football team".

"If that is a case, that they have very foolishly used the metaphor of **** to encourage people to be aggressive and competitive on the sporting field, then it shows an extreme insensitivity," she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

[seema]

China slammed Google China for allowing ****ographic content to seep into the nation and threatened to punish the search engine.

The China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC) said in a statement that Google China's website has not installed filters to block ****ography in accordance with the laws and regulations of our nation,"

The move came after China vowed to crack down on Internet content that it deemed unhealthy, including ****ography and anti-government information. Computer makers were also told by the government that all personal computers sold from July 1 must be shipped with anti-****ography software, a move that has led to widespread concern both in and outside China.

[seema]

Internet search giant's image results recently created a stir when it was pointed out that the image results for US first lady Michelle Obama showed a racist image as the number one result. The result which showed Michelle as an ape women was later removed by Google.

Google later apologised for the image and also ran advertisements to explain the appearance of racist and anti-Semitic material in search results. Google Team explained, "Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries."