AT&T sends complaint letter to FCC over Google Voice

In today's podcast: AT&T sends complaint letter to FCC over Google Voice; criminals use tax spam to distribute malware; and Moblin 2.1 now available for download.

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AT&T on Friday accused Google of violating the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules by blocking Google Voice calls to some rural areas. In a letter to the FCC, the carrier said Google is claiming an advantage over other telecommunications providers by blocking calls, a cost-saving measure that traditional carriers are prohibited from using. The letter came at a heated moment both for net neutrality and for the Google Voice service. Last Monday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski kicked off an effort to formalize the four [net neutrality principles in the agency's Internet Policy Statement and add two more, covering non-discrimination and transparency.

Criminals are waging a nasty online campaign right now, hoping that their victims' fears of the tax collecter will lead them to inadvertently install malicious software. The campaign, entering its third week now, is showing no signs of slowing down, according to Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This one campaign accounts for about 10 percent of the spam e-mail that his group is presently tracking, he said. Since first spotting the spam on Sept. 9, antispam vendor Cloudmark has counted 11 million messages sent to the company's nearly 2 million desktop customers

Intel has made available for download its latest Linux-based operating system, Moblin 2.1, just a few days after announcing the new software. Moblin 2.1 is meant to be a preview version for developers and carries numerous user-interface and software improvements, according to the Linux Foundation, which manages development of the OS. The OS is available for download on Moblin's Web site. Intel announced Moblin 2.1 at the Intel Developer Forum last Tuesday as an upgrade to Moblin 2.0. Moblin was originally developed and pushed by Intel as an operating system for netbooks, but with Moblin 2.1, Intel is extending the OS to desktops and handheld devices that are powered by its Atom processor.

SAP said last week that midsize companies that purchase the Business All-in-One suite or SAP ERP will also receive its CRM application. The offer comes with a catch, however. Customers will get the CRM licenses at no charge, but must pay annual maintenance costs on them, a spokesman said. In addition, companies must buy at least 15 "application professional" and 15 "application limited professional" licenses for the ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications. The offer is available until Dec. 18. Business All-in-One is one of three lower-end ERP product lines sold by SAP beyond its flagship ERP application. It also markets Business One, which is for small companies, and is mounting an incremental rollout of Business ByDesign, an on-demand suite with a wide range of functional modules.

...And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.