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Advertisers came out swinging today against Microsoft’s new browser, Windows 8, which automatically defaults to Do Not Track. The move by Microsoft to include this feature setting stunned the Internet and ad communities which had agreed and received government support to implement an opt-in Do Not Track feature across all browsers by the end of the year. Despite repeated pleas to Microsoft from advertisers and even Federal Trade Commissioner chairman Jon Leibowitz to change course, Microsoft hasn’t budged and recently defended its decision in a recent AdWeek column. Hoping to put more pressure on Microsoft and requesting an “immediate dialogue” to talk about the decision, the board of directors for the Association of National Advertisers, representing more than 450 companies and 10,000 brands, wrote to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other Microsoft execs.

A federal court judge’s decision to side with Comcast and not enforce a tentative settlement in a class-action lawsuit will set the stage for arguments before the Supreme Court.

In a September 25 order, U.S. District Court Judge John R. Padova in Philadelphia sided with Comcast on the issue, ruling that the tentative agreement “was incomplete in significant respects and cannot be summarily enforced.” The terms of the tentative settlement were not made public. As a result of Padova’s ruling, the Supreme Court -- which had agreed during the summer to rule on whether the class-action lawsuit is legal -- will hear the case on November 5. A federal court judge’s decision to side with Comcast and not enforce a tentative settlement in a class-action lawsuit will set the stage for arguments before the Supreme Court. The long-pending Behrend v. Comcast case, originally filed in 2003, alleges that Comcast’s “clustering” of systems through swaps with other cable operators had given the media giant too much power to increase cable rates and exclude competitors in the Philadelphia area.

Apple is facing a possible investigation by European regulators into how it handles warranty repairs for faulty goods. Under EU regulations, all consumer goods should come with a 2-year warranty, but there have been concerns that some Apple retailers across Europe have been limiting their advertising to a one-year warranty. The EU's Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has written to her counterparts at each of the EU nations asking them to investigate if Apple is complying with its obligations to offer two-year warranties.

The Canadian government said it is looking into a cyber-attack on the Canadian arm of a company that designs software for the energy industry and helps other firms protect themselves against cyber-attack. A spokesman for the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre said they are aware that Telvent, which is owned by French firm Schneider Electric SA, had been hacked into. CCIRC is "working with stakeholders in government and the private sector" on the incident, the spokesman said in a statement. Telvent said it is aware of a security breach of its corporate network that has affected some customer files. The company said customers had been informed and it is working with law enforcement and security specialists to make sure the breach has been contained.