Alleged LulzSec hacker of Sony Pictures faces trial date in December

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The background from LulzSec's Twitter page. Leaked IRC logs show the group's inner workings. Photograph: AP

An alleged member of the clandestine hacking group LulzSec pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of taking part in an extensive computer breach of the Sony Pictures Entertainment film studio's European systems.

Cody Kretsinger, 23, entered not guilty pleas to one count each of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

US Magistrate Judge Victor Kenton set a trial date of 13 December for Kretsinger, who spoke only in response to questions from the judge.

Kenton also ordered that Kretsinger be represented by a court-appointed public defender.

Kretsinger faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted. He declined to comment to the Reuters after the hearing.

A nine-page federal grand jury indictment unsealed in September charges Kretsinger with obtaining confidential information from Sony Pictures' computer systems using an SQL injection attack against its website, a technique commonly used by hackers to steal information.

The indictment asserts that Kretsinger, who it is claimed went by the online handle "recursion", helped post information he and his co-conspirators stole from Sony on LulzSec's website and announced the intrusion via the hacking group's Twitter account.

LulzSec, an underground group also known as Lulz Security, at the time published the names, birth dates, addresses, e-mails, phone numbers and passwords of thousands of people who had entered contests promoted by Sony.

"From a single injection we accessed EVERYTHING," the hacking group said in a statement at the time. "Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks."

A number of Britons have been charged with offences relating to LulzSec's activities; they are not due to come to trial until early in 2012.

The de facto leader of LulzSec, who goes by the handle Sabu, recently responded to a string of questions on the Reddit website and suggested that he was "effectively on the run" - although he is not believed to have moved from his location, believed to be in New York.

Hackers previously had accessed personal information on 77 million Sony PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts, the vast majority of which were users in North America and Europe, in what was then the biggest such security breach in history. Nobody and no group has ever directly claimed responsibility, and Sony has never released any details about how the attack was carried out. At one point it did suggest that members of the loose hacking collective Anonymous may have been responsible, but that has never been confirmed by either side.

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Google faces tax investigation of China

Chinese authorities have found three companies linked to Google Inc broke tax rules and examine possible evasion, a State-run newspaper said Thursday that increase the risk of recurrence of internet pressure on the search giant.

Google said two of the companies of the named its units and a third was a separate company, working closely with Google. But Google denied tax violations alleged in the Chinese-language economic daily.

"We believe we are and have always been in full compliance with Chinese tax legislation," said Google.

Although the report is unfounded or embellished, it could bring fresh headaches in China to Google, which has gone through difficult times since the beginning of last year when it clashed with the Government over internet censorship and hacking attacks.

China generates a small percentage of Google's revenue, but is the world's largest internet market with more than 450 million users. The country's Search market, dominated by homemade Baidu Inc, was worth 11bn Yuan (£ 1.05bn) in 2010 and will probably grow by about 50% every year for the next four years, according to iResearch.

The economic daily said the three companies were investigated and punished "Google enterprises in China".

"The tax authorities have already investigated and punished the three companies under the law," said the report on the front.

The companies were charged with submitting false and unreasonable demands for the total value of 40 m Yuan, the report said. It did not say when the alleged violations alleged to have happened.

"It is understood by this reporter that the tax authorities further examines Google enterprises in China on suspicion of tax evasion," said the short story, which also later was reported by China's official Xinhua news agency.

Google said two of the accused companies – Google information technology (China) Co Ltd and Google information technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd – was its sub-units.

It said the third company named, Google advertising (Shanghai) Co Ltd, was a separate undertaking that work "closely with Google as Google's only first-tier reseller in China" of advertising on the search engine's Web pages.

"Most foreign companies in China, particularly high-profile companies with a global reputation at stake, is very cautious in order to ensure they are in full compliance with the relevant tax laws," said Mark Natkin, Executive Director of the Marbridge consulting, a Beijing-based companythat advises investors on China's Internet and telecommunications sectors.

China's Foreign Ministry would not comment directly on the report. "In General, all companies operating abroad should obey the laws and regulations in the host country," said Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

The report appeared after Google again clashed with the Chinese Government over internet censorship.

Earlier this month Google said difficulties that users in China may have faced open his e-mail service could be expected to be the result of the Government blocks.

China's ruling Communist Party has intensified censorship in recent months, fearing that calls for protests inspired by anti-authoritarian uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa could voyages.

Google's serious problems with the Chinese Government began in January 2010, when the company said it was no longer willing to censor search results in the country. Earlier, the accounts with a disclaimer on its China service that searches cannot be completed due to local laws.

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Google faces tackle claim

Google says fresh claims it has abused its market dominance, after a internet French search company accused the block development of competitors.

1plusV offers users thematic clustered Search Results but claims it has been forced to adopt Google technologies to access vital commercial advertising services. Versailles-based company is a competitor to Google's thematic — or "vertical" — search facilities. the European Commission initiated an investigation of market dominance by Google in november of last year after months of mounting complaints.

Accusations include claims that firms offering competitor services to Google has been ranked artificially low down popular searches. As well as 1plusV, companies have filed objections with the Commission includes Ciao. de, a German subsidiary of Microsoft, British price comparison site Foundem.co.uk and France Ejustice. fr.

Google has said it is cooperating with the Commission's investigation.

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