Firefox has taken the number one spot in browser market share in Europe for the first time, according to a survey by traffic-statistics company StatCounter. The firm’s numbers show that Firefox had just over 38 percent of the European browser market in December, compared with a little less than 37 percent for Internet Explorer. But the real battle for Firefox is with Chrome, the Google browser that continues to gain market share at a fairly rapid pace — most of the decline in IE’s share has come as a result of Chrome’s advances.
...

In 2011 the war against BitTorrent and other file-sharing sites will reach a new level. Since sites such as The Pirate Bay have proven that no amount of litigation or criminal sanctions against their operators can take them down, the focus will switch to undermining their infrastructure. Companies and organizations providing file-sharing sites with essential services are set to face the glare of the spotlight and attempts to hold them accountable for the actions of their customers’ users.
...

Some users of Microsoft Hotmail are starting off the new year scrambling to get back e-mails of old. A chorus of frantic users has posted complaints on Microsoft's online forum that all of their messages have disappeared.
"Please help me get them back," wrote one user under the moniker 'Zacgore' in a post dated Saturday. "All my kids' info and pictures are in there!"
...

At least when it comes to adoption, 2010 was Google Chrome's year. Google's increasingly popular browser has gone through about five major versions and has pretty doubled or even trippled its market share, depending on who's numbers you trust.

Net Applications, which is more conservative about Chrome's growth, shows that the browser went from slightly above five percent in January to over nine percent in November.
...

Speaking at the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) Congress in Berlin on Tuesday, a pair of researchers demonstrated a start-to-finish means of eavesdropping on encrypted GSM cellphone calls and text messages, using only four sub-$15 telephones as network “sniffers,” a laptop computer, and a variety of open source software.
...

DMCA takedown notices are sent in large numbers to dozens of organizations on the Internet every month. The ChillingEffects clearing house has been receiving copies of these from some of the Internet’s biggest players including Google, Yahoo, Digg and more recently Twitter. It will come as no surprise that the music and movie industries are some of the biggest complainers, but there are also some unexpected entrants.
...