AP Technology NewsBrief at 12:11 p.m. EST

(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Cyberwar manual lays down rules for online attacksLONDON (AP) _ Even cyberwar has rules, and one group of experts is publishing a manual to prove it. A handbook due to be published later this week applies the venerable practice of international law to the world of electronic warfare in an effort to show how hospitals, civilians, and neutral nations can be protected in an information age fight.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello leavingNEW YORK (AP) _ Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said Monday that its CEO, John Riccitiello, will step down on March 30. The company has named Larry Probst as executive chairman while it searches for Riccitiello's replacement. Probst has been chairman since 1994 and served as CEO from 1991 to 2007, when Riccitiello took over.

Liberty to buy stake in Charter CommunicationsENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) _ Liberty Media said Tuesday that it will buy a 27.3 percent stake in the cable TV provider Charter Communications for about $2.62 billion. The Englewood, Colo.-based holding company controlled by billionaire John Malone said it agreed on a deal with investment funds tied to Apollo Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners to buy about 26.9 million shares and about 1.1 million warrants in Charter.

Court backs student in textbook copyright caseWASHINGTON (AP) _ The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that textbooks and other goods made and sold abroad can be re-sold online and in discount stores without violating U.S. copyright law. In a 6-3 opinion, the court threw out a copyright infringement award to publisher John Wiley & Sons against Thai graduate student Supap Kirtsaeng, who used eBay to resell copies of the publisher's copyrighted books that his relatives first bought abroad at cut-rate prices.

Demand Media buys arts and crafts video providerSANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) _ Demand Media is buying Creativebug, a provider of how-to crafty videos, as interest grows online in arts and crafts. Financial terms were not disclosed Tuesday.

MIT plans to release Swartz-related documentsCAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) _ The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has announced that the school will voluntarily make public documents related to the prosecution of late Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz. President L. Rafael Reif (ryfe) wrote in an email to the MIT community Tuesday that the documents will be released "in the spirit of fairness, balanced with responsibility." He says the university will block out names and identifying information of employees and information about network vulnerabilities.

'Premium' is subjective for YouTube's big networksNEW YORK (AP) _ Machinima, the sprawling digital gaming network, could hang a McDonald's-like sign outside its Los Angeles headquarters: More than 37.4 billion videos served. That's how many views the Machinima network has generated. And it all started with one video.

Monitoring your kids on Facebook That's so 2009.WASHINGTON (AP) _ After Friendster came MySpace. By the time Facebook dominated social media, parents had joined the party, too. But the online scene has changed - dramatically, as it turns out - and these days even if you're friends with your own kids on Facebook, it doesn't mean you know what they're doing. Thousands of software programs now offer cool new ways to chat and swap pictures. The most popular apps turn a hum-drum snapshot into artistic photography or broadcast your location to friends in case they want to meet you. Kids who use them don't need a credit card or even a cellphone, just an Internet connection and device such as an iPod Touch or Kindle Fire.

Man gets over 3 years in iPad data breach caseNEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ An admitted online "troll" was sentenced Monday to the maximum prison term under federal guidelines _ more than three years _ for illegally gaining access to AT&T's servers and stealing more than 100,000 email addresses of iPad users. Dozens of Andrew Auernheimer's supporters packed the hearing, and clapped when he made a statement castigating the government for what he characterized as an unfair prosecution. The proceeding turned tense at one point when Auernheimer apparently pulled out a cellphone and several U.S. marshals grabbed it from him and held him spread-eagle on the defense table. After a short recess, he was led back into the courtroom in shackles.

Suntech announces default, search for financingBEIJING (AP) _ Suntech, one of the world's biggest solar panel manufacturers, said Monday it has defaulted on a $541 million bond payment in the latest sign of the financial squeeze on the struggling global solar industry. Suntech Power Holdings Ltd.'s announcement was a severe setback for a company lauded by China's Communist government as a leader of efforts to make the country a center of the renewable energy industry. Its founder, Shi Zhengrong, became one of the industry's most prominent entrepreneurs and a billionaire, only to see most of his fortune evaporate as the company's share price plummeted.

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