“Rocra” malware targets European agencies: Computer security researches have found malware that they believe hackers used to target European diplomatic and government agencies. As The Washington Post reported, the virus is said to rival the complexity of Flame, another computer virus made by the United States and Israel for use against Iran.

According to the report, the virus seems to have been written by Russian speakers using Chinese code that installs malware. It appears to have been active for at least five years.

Debate over IP reignites with Swartz’s death: The suicide of Aaron Swartz, 26, an outspoken open Web advocate credited with co-authoring the technology for RSS, has reignited the debate over intellectual property online. The Anonymous hacking collective claimed credit for posting a message to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Web site saying that Swartz’s death provided a catalyst to reform Internet openness and IP law.

The Justice Department said Monday that it had dropped all charges against Swartz, the Hill reported, which is standard in cases where the defendant has died.

Video game violence: Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said in a CNN interview that she was “astounded” by the level of violence in “Call of Duty,” a series of video games that has broken numerous sales records in the United States and worldwide.

Representatives from Activision Blizzard, which publishes “Call of Duty,” were among a small group of game-makers that met with Vice President Biden last week to discuss how they can contribute to the national conversation on gun violence. Biden, who is heading a task force created after last month’s elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn., is expected to release his recommendations on gun violence this week.

After the Biden meeting, the Entertainment Software Association released a statement saying it would work with the Obama administration moving forward.

Oracle releases Java patch: Oracle said Sunday that it has released a patch for its Java software after a bug in the program opened users to malicious hacking.

Security researchers first drew attention to the vulnerability last week, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told its employees to disable the software temporarily in Web browsers.

Cybersecurity experts encouraged consumers to download the patch immediately, but some also continued to raise questions about Java’s security since the program has had numerous problems in recent months.

CNET writer resigns: CNET writer Greg Sandoval has resigned from the technology site, saying that he is not convinced the site has editorial independence from its parent company. CNET is owned by CBS; the parent company appears to have stepped in to prevent the tech site from naming the DISH Hopper as its best gadget of the show.

In an editorial note on its contest’s main page, the site said that it would “no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product.

Sandoval said via Twitter that he believes CNET “wasn’t honest about what occured regarding Dish,” and that he made the decision because he wants “to be known as an honest reporter.”

Joshua D. Wright, left, joined by his wife, Anhvinh Wright, center, takes the Oath of Office from Chairman Jon Leibowitz, right, at a swearing-in ceremony at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC on Jan. 11, 2013. (Courtesy of the FTC - Courtesy of the FTC)

Joshua Wright was sworn in Friday as the Federal Trade Commission’s newest commissioner. Wright, a Republican, was joined by his wife Anhvinh Wright at the Friday ceremony to start his term, which lasts through September 2019.

He replaces fellow Republican J. Thomas Rosch, who announced last January that he would not seek another term. Rosch’s term expired in September; he had served on the commission since 2006.

Wright joins the commission from George Mason University, where he taught law. He had also served as a visiting scholar at the FTC, in its competition bureau. In past writings, Wright has been critical of the agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, leading to some pointed questions from Democrats during his confirmation hearing in December — particularly from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) who quoted Wright’s criticism of the FTC’s past actions on antitrust cases.

Democrats also raised concerns about Wright’s ties to Google, which indirectly funded some of his research, along with other members of the technology industry.

At his hearing, Wright said that he will recuse himself from Google-related probes at the FTC for two years to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

FTC’s Wright begins term: Joshua Wright started his term at the Federal Trade Commission Friday, replacing outgoing FTC commissioner J. Thomas Rosch. Wright, formerly a professor of law at George Mason University, has previously served as a visiting scholar in the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of competition.

Wright has indirectly received funding from Google in the past and has said he will recuse himself from FTC cases involving the tech giant for the next two years.

Google and FTC recently announced a settlement over its business practices in which the company agreed to curb its use of industry-standard patents in intellectual property cases and revamp some of its advertising policies.

Obama signs VPPA: President Obama signed an update to the Video Privacy Protection Act, which will now allow for Facebook users to share what videos they have watched on Netflix and other sites over the social network.

The law had previously forbidden video rental services from publishing their customers’ rental histories. The law is a major win for Netflix, which lobbied heavily to change the bill’s definition of how users could consent to have their information published. The amendments to the VPPA, which passed the House and Senate easily, now allow users to consent to having titles published as part of the service and do not have to approve each, individual video.

FCC releases report on derecho, 911: Federal Communications Commission commissioner Julius Genachowski announced he will propose new rules to strengthen the resiliency of 911 services during disasters. The plans follow a report released by the FCC on Thursday investigating the effects that the summer’s derecho storm had on emergency 911 communications across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

The report places blame for the communications breakdowns that occurred in the D.C. metro area and elsewhere on wire-line providers, saying they did not comply with their own emergency procedures.

In a statement, Genachowski said, “We can’t prevent disasters from happening, but we can work relentlessly to make sure Americans can connect with emergency responders when they need to most.”

California AG releases privacy report: On Thursday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris released a report suggesting several privacy policy recommendations for app developers. These include suggestions about how best to design apps, collect data and store data in ways that focus on user privacy.

Online trade association NetChoice applauded the report, but made it clear that they believe the guidelines best serve app developers by remaining suggestions.

“Legislators should not transform today’s helpful recommendations into tomorrow’s harmful laws,” said the group’s executive director, Steve DelBianco.

In a blog post, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation analyst Daniel Castro generally commended the report but outlined several points he feels are worth deeper exploration, including the report’s assertion that advertising is not a part of an app’s “basic functionality.”

Amazon offers free MP3s for purchased CDs: Amazon announced Thursday that it will give free digital versions of CD tracks to those who’ve purchased physical discs from the online retailer.

Called “AutoRip,” the service automatically adds MP3 versions of songs onto the company’s Cloud Player. According to a release from Amazon, the service will work not only with new CD purchases but any CD purchase made on Amazon since 1998. The feature doesn’t apply to every album, only those designated as “AutoRip” tracks. Amazon is rolling out an initial batch of 50,000 albums from several major record labels that will work with AutoRip, but it’s not a comprehensive feature.

Google’s Schmidt returns from North Korea: Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called for North Korea to end a ban on Internet access in the country to open it to the rest of the world.

As Bloomberg reported, Schmidt said that North Korea must start opening up the Internet “or they will remain behind.” On his trip, Schmidt saw some of the country’s select Internet users — students using the Internet at Kim Il Sung University.

As the Associated Press noted, the trip could be seen running at odds with U.S. foreign policy efforts, particularly as the North Korean government may be able to use footage of Schmidt and other delegation members’ visit in propaganda footage.

California’s attorney general released a set of privacy recommendations for app developers in the state Thursday, with guidelines for development and for disclosure policies.

The state’s recommendations come as developers and regulators at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration deliberate over best practices for app developers to ensure user privacy on a national scale.

In an introductory message, Attorney General Kamala Harris said her office wished to address the unexpected issues that emerge as developers expand app capabilities to “allow us to do everything from streaming movies to hailing a cab to viewing our own X-ray and ultrasound images.

“Along with the many wonderful capabilities these apps offer, we remain mindful that the mobile environment also poses uncharted privacy challenges,” Harris said “These are challenges that we must confront and that we must resolve in a way that appropriately protects privacy while not unduly stifling innovation.”

The document makes recommendations along two basic tracks: privacy issues to consider during development and recommendations for disclosing privacy practices.

During the design process, the document suggests, developers should create a checklist of information to collect and then flag any possible privacy issues. It also recommends that developers no collect any unnecessary personal data.

Disclosure policies should be written clearly, the document said, and highlight highlight data practices with tools such as pop-up alerts or other notifications to draw users’ attention. The document did favor specific formats — such as icons — for policies or notifications.

The report also recommended ways that app platform providers, ad networks, mobile operating system developers and mobile carriers can improve privacy notification and collection. For example, the report urges platform providers such as Apple, Google and Amazon, to make sure users can access app privacy policies before they download an app.

The recommendations are the result of numerous conversations with developers, privacy advocates, security professionals, advertisers and app platform providers.

Harris has made app privacy a priority in recent months. In November, she sent several letters to companies who did not comply with a state law requiring all apps to disclose what personal information they collect within the app.

Harris ultimately filed a lawsuit against Delta for failing to post a policy within a specified period in violation of the state’s online privacy law; Delta has since added a policy to its mobile application.