Software Lawsuit May Ground CIA's Drones

One Massachusetts company is accusing another of pirating its software, which might not be be a big deal if that software didn't happen to be used in the CIA's Predator drones in Afghanistan. When a ruling comes down in December, it could ground the drone fleet indefinitely and put a serious crimp in US operations, reports Fast Company.

One other remarkable facet of the case: The company that says it rightfully owns the software, Intelligent Integration Systems, says former partner Netezza is using what it describes as a "hack" version of it—which could explain the drones' imprecision and the resulting heavy civilian casualties.
(Read more Netezza stories.)