Fergie's Tech Blog

An anonymous BoingBoing reader in the United Arab Emirates says"

"And its finally happened... I knew the day was not far.... :(

The sole ISP in this country, which happens to be owned by the government has blocked boingboing.net Apparently boingboing is disseminating information that is " inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates. "

eBay Urged to Tackle Fraud Better

eBay has been urged to tell users more about the risk of fraud.
Image source: BBC

Via The BBC.

Internet auction site eBay should do more to tackle fraudsters targeting the site, a consumer magazine has said.

Computing Which? called on the site to be more active in identifying its fraudulent users.

It also wants the site to warn users about the danger of fraud and to crack down on the selling of medical accessories such as contact lenses.

But the site's UK community manager said eBay already had a "safety centre" to help protect its users.

More here.

Ricin Discovered in University of Texas Dormitory

Ricin is made from Castor Beans.

Whitney L. Becker writes in The Austin American-Stateman:

Ricin, a potentially deadly poison, was found in a University of Texas dormitory Thursday by a student who reported the substance to school police officers.

The dorm was sanitized, and the substance was sent to a laboratory for testing and came back positive for ricin Friday night. University officials said they had not yet determined where it came from.

A "small amount" of UT students living in Moore-Hill dormitory were exposed to the substance, UT police spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon said.

The students are now at an undisclosed location and are in contact with the FBI. They are not showing any symptoms, officials said. Other students living in Moore-Hill were being moved to Jester dormitory Friday night, Weldon said.

More here.

Precious Art Stolen During Brazil Carnival

An AP newswire via article by A Michael Astor, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Taking advantage of the chaos of a Carnival parade, thieves slipped into an art museum and stole paintings valued at tens of millions of dollars, even stripping visitors of cell phones, digital cameras and wallets before fleeing.

The heist of the high-value art was a brash crime at a celebration known more for its wallet-thieving pickpockets.

As a samba band performed outside Friday, the thieves overpowered security guards at the Chacara do Ceu museum and stole Pablo Picasso's "The Dance," Salvador Dali's "The Two Balconies," Henri Matisse's "Luxembourg Garden" and Claude Monet's "Marine."

More here.

Spying at a Higher Level: Agencies Look for More Ways to Mine Data

John Markoff writes in The New York Times:

A small group of National Security Agency officials slipped into Silicon Valley on one of the agency's periodic technology shopping expeditions this month.

On the wish list, according to several venture capitalists who met with the officials, were an array of technologies that underlie the fierce debate over the Bush administration's anti-terrorist eavesdropping program: computerized systems that reveal connections between seemingly innocuous and unrelated pieces of information.

The tools they were looking for are new, but their application would fall under the well-established practice of data mining: using mathematical and statistical techniques to scan for hidden relationships in streams of digital data or large databases.

More here.

25 February 1928: First Television License Granted

Philo Taylor Farnsworth
(August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971)
Generally credited as "Father of the cathode ray tube television"
Image source: www.digicamhistory.com

Via several sources, including The History Channel Online and Wikipedia.

The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television license on this day in 1928. The license went to the Charles Francis Jenkins Laboratories for a television broadcast station on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. The station later moved to Maryland and operated until 1932.

Charles Francis Jenkins (August 22, 1867 - June 5, 1934) was a pioneer of early cinema and one of the inventors of television, though he used mechanical rather than electronic technologies. His businesses included Charles Jenkins Laboratories and Jenkins Television Corporation (the corporation being founded in 1928, the year the Laboratories were granted the first commercial television license in the United States).

Government regulation of broadcasting has been in existence almost as long as the broadcast industry itself. The Wireless Act of 1910 required American ships to carry a broadcasting transmitter and qualified radio operator on all sea voyages. In the early 1920s, laws were passed governing transmission power, use of frequencies, station identification, and advertising. The Radio Act of 1927 shifted regulatory powers from the Department of Commerce to the new Federal Radio Commission, which became the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1934.

Explore other events that happened on 25 February here.

Ernst & Young Fails to Disclose High-Profile Security Breach

In an exclusive, Ashlee Vance writes on The Register:

Ernst and Young should go ahead and pony up for its own suite of transparency services. The accounting firm failed to disclose a high profile loss of customer data until being confronted by The Register.

Ernst and Young has lost a laptop containing data such as the social security numbers of its customers. One of the people affected by the data loss appears to be Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, who was notified that his social security number and personal information have been compromised. While pushing all out transparency for its customers, Ernst and Young failed to cop to the security breach until contacted by us.

More here.

Austin Attorney: 'We Were Secretly Recorded at Police HQ'

Tony Plohetski writes in The Austin American-Statesman:

Defense attorney Kevin Boyd said he was taped while talking at the Police Department to a juvenile suspect in the Sept. 18 stabbing death of a man in North Austin. Boyd said his client went to police headquarters shortly after the slaying to surrender.

Boyd said he asked homicide detectives for permission to speak privately with the 14-year-old and was led to an interview room. Boyd said detectives told him that he would not be recorded.

During the conversation, Boyd said, the 14-year-old told him details about the incident.

"It was pretty sensitive stuff," Boyd said. "We wouldn't have even had the conversation had there not been an expectation of privacy."

More here.

Toon: Workplace Zen

Click for larger image.

7 U.S. Soldiers Charged in Web Porn Case

Of course, Fergie's Tech Blog picked up this story last month...

An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

The Army has charged seven paratroopers from the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division with engaging in sex acts in videos shown on a Web site, authorities said Friday.

Three of the soldiers face courts-martial on charges of sodomy, pandering and engaging in sex acts for money, according to a statement released by the military.

Four other soldiers received what the military calls nonjudicial punishments.

The Army has recommended that all be discharged.

More here.

H5N1 News: Bird Flu Hits 'The Land of Foie Gras'

An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

The European Union’s first outbreak of lethal H5N1 bird flu in commercial poultry was confirmed Saturday in France, the EU’s largest poultry producer.

France’s farming ministry said lab tests confirmed H5N1 in turkeys at a farm in the southeast Ain region, where thousands of the birds were found dead Thursday. The farm, which had more than 11,000 turkeys, has been sealed off and surviving birds slaughtered.

The spread of bird flu to commercial stocks in France, which has been working for months to prevent and prepare for an outbreak, served as a sobering sign for other developed countries that consider themselves well protected against the virus.

More here.

Hurdles Remain As Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Nears Red Planet

Artist rendering showing the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter over the Martian landscape.
Image source: ABC News / AP / NASA

An AP newswire article, via ABC News, reports that:

A NASA spacecraft bound for Mars is nearing the end of its seven-month journey, but still faces a white-knuckle arrival at a planet known for swallowing man-made probes, mission managers said Friday.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, is on course to enter orbit around the Red Planet on March 10. If successful, it will spend the next two years photographing the planet and scouting for future landing sites.

The spacecraft is performing so well that engineers have canceled two final maneuvers to adjust its flight course in the last leg of the trip, said James Graf, project manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

More here.

Michigan Teen Downloads One Billionth iTunes Song

An AP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Alex Ostrovsky got more than he bargained for when downloading Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" from the iTunes Music Store.

The 16-year-old's purchase was the one billionth song bought from the online music service that Apple Computer Inc. kicked off three years ago, charging 99 cents for most tracks. Ostrovsky's selection was from Coldplay's "X&Y" album.

The youth, who lives in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, was showered with prizes: a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth-generation iPods and a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

More here.

EPIC: Lawyers Drive Phone Data Black Market

Roy Mark writes on internetnews.com:

Forget stalkers and ex-spouses as the primary consumers of online black market phone data.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) says lawyers are the primary buyers driving the market, raising significant ethical issues for the legal profession.

EPIC prompted a series of hearings and investigations involving Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last summer when it complained about online data brokers selling confidential phone records.

More here.

DHS Looking to Develop 'Super-RFID' Tags?

Image source: www.spychips.com

Evan Blass writes on Engadget:

An rather alarmist new book on RFID tagging has recently hit store shelves (you can pretty much guess the authors' position on tagging from the title of the book- "Spychips") which claims to have uncovered a "plot" by the Department of Homeland security to invent a more precise flavor of chip for remote tracking of individuals.

Privacy advocates and Spychips authors Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre say they have discovered a Request for Information issued by the DHS calling for "significant improvements in performance" over the current tech with respect to "superior remote data capture."

Specifically, the document supposedly calls for a solution that can identify individual people sitting among others in a car or bus, without any special action on the part of the surveyed, at distances up to 25-feet.

More here.

Cool Wall Gear Tech: Space Invaders Wall Decals

Image source: www.whatisblik.com

Via The SANS ISC Daily Handlers Diary.

Cool wall graphics company Blik sells a line of big space invader decals in assorted colors. The starter pack includes eight 13" diameter aliens and the missile base for $45.

Big Surprise: Patent Trolls Feed On Technology

Via CBS News.

A federal judge put off ruling Friday in a patent-infringement lawsuit that could have shut down service to BlackBerry wireless e-mail devices nationwide. The suit was filed by a specialized firm that owns patented ideas and charges others to use them. Those who don't pay up get sued, reports Mika Brzezinski, and it can be a very lucrative business.

It starts with a piece of paper. Explains Alexander Poltorak, CEO of the General Patent Corporation, "If you have invented a new gadget or if you have invented a new process or method, go ahead and file a patent application."

Poltorak calls his clients technology inventors. Critics call them something else: Patent trolls.

More here.

Uganda: Net Censorship Reaches Sub-Saharan Africa

Image source: Boing Boing

Via Reporters sans Frontières.

Reporters Without Borders condemned filtering of a radio website imposed by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) on 16 February 2006 - the first such case of Internet censorship in Uganda.

The move came just days before voting in presidential and parliamentary elections on 23 February.

The Radio Katwe news website accepts contributions from Internet-users and posts content that is extremely critical of the government. Just before it was censored, it had attacked the accumulation of wealth by the family of President Yoweri Museveni.

“Blocking access to an online publication is an important decision, which should be taken only by a judge and then as a result of an independent judicial procedure“, the press freedom organisation said.

More here.

Mac OS X is Clearly On The Radar of Malware Developers

Love it or hate it, OS X users need to exercise increased vigilance.

Soon, even your beloved little Mac laptop will be spending its spare CPU cycles sending out advertisements for Viagra and Cialis.

The recent news of these vulnerabilities in the OS is getting plenty of attention. Some would argue that things are being blown out of proportion. I think there is some lazy journalism, and sensationalism afoot. Yet, like any FUD-storm there is usually some kernel of truth. In this case, this kernel is not so small and insignificant.

More important points here.

Origami: Microsoft's Alternative to the iPod?

Mary Jo Foley writes on Microsoft Watch:

Microsoft has registered a Web site for something called "The Origami Project". From the rather cryptic video clip there, you can't tell much about what Origami is or what it will do. Guesses about Origami's origins have been all over the map.

But what we're hearing now is that Origami might be little more than a new code name for an ultra-portable device that Microsoft demonstrated last year at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. (Since Microsoft is continually changing code names to keep company watchers guessing, such a move would not be unprecedented.)

More here.

Ericsson Sues Samsung Over Alleged Patent Infringement

Via Red Herring.

Telecommunications supplier Ericsson said Friday it’s suing Samsung Electronics for allegedly infringing on cell-phone-related patents, a sign that cooperation in the industry could be fading as competition heats up.

Äse Lindskog, director of media relations at Ericsson, said No. 3 cell phone maker Samsung violated about 10 patents relating to mobile network standards used around the world including GSM, GPRS, and EDGE. Samsung licensed the technologies in 2002, but the licenses expired at the end of December, Ms. Lindskog said.

Ms. Lindskog said the firms have been negotiating to renew the licenses for almost a year but were unable to reach an agreement.

“This is quite uncommon within the industry,” she said.

H5N1 News: Baxter Int'l, Chiron Get UK Bird Flu Vaccine Contract

Via Red Herring.

The British government said Friday it signed contracts worth about $57.55 million with drugmakers Baxter International and Chiron to supply a stockpile of about 3.5 million doses of a vaccine based on the bird flu strain.

British Health Minister Rosie Winterton said the country is building a stockpile in preparation for a possible flu pandemic.

Verizon To Release Motorola Q Next Week?

The Motoroloa Q
Image source: Gizmodo

Coolness!

Via Gizmodo.

We’re not sure how reliable the source is, but in an interview this week, a Motorola design manager told one of your faithful Gizmodo newshounds that the Q could be released as soon as next week. What makes us think it might be legit? He was holding a working model in his hands, and it was up and running on Verizon’s network.

Our first impressions from holding it in our hot little hands for a few minutes: this sucker’s extremely thin, although a bit wider than our Treo 650. The screen is a bit squat for our liking, though, even if it’s crisp; with the soft-key icons running along the bottom and an info bar across the top, we weren’t able to display a ton of information on it all at once. On the flip side, though, the buttons have a nice tactile feel; and the side jog-dial is pretty handy indeed. Maybe the GSM version will be even more sexy? Only time will tell.

Adobe Fixes Critical Shockwave Code Execution Flaw

Ryan Naraine writes on eWeek:

A security flaw in Adobe Systems' Macromedia Shockwave Installer could put millions of PC users at risk of code execution attacks, the company warned in an advisory.

The flaw, which carries a "critical" rating, affects Shockwave Player 10.1.0.11 and earlier versions. According to Adobe's advisory, the vulnerability occurs only during the installation process, and current users do not need to take action.

More here.

ICANN to Decide on VeriSign DNS Registry Settlement

Caron Carlson writes on eWeek:

A key decision determining who will run the Internet's domain name registry in the future could be made as early as Feb. 28, when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers board convenes its next meeting.

At the top of the ICANN agenda is a proposed settlement to end litigation with VeriSign, which operates .com, the largest Internet domain registry.

More here.

Real-Life Humor: Stealing From Work

Scott Adams writes on The Dilbert Blog:

While I don't condone stealing from work, I often admire the ingenuity that goes into doing it. I got this letter from a Dilbert reader:

"I found this office behavior extreme enough to share with you. A co-worker of mine is so cheap that he bought one of the portable electric batteries that you can charge up for emergencies, like jumpstarting your car or running appliances off of during camping trips, and brings it to work everyday and lets it charge in his cubicle. He then takes it home and runs his lights or microwave off of it. He says he is forcing the company to pay him a little extra by taking electricity home. He also tries to time all of his bodily eliminations to occur at work so that he uses company water for flushing etc… to further save himself money and cost the company."

If energy prices continue to go higher, someone is going to invent a portable battery that looks like a laptop computer. It will appear that you are just charging your laptop at work, but then you bring it home and use it to power your house. I like it.

iPod 'Hi-Fi' Boombox Arriving Next Week

Ryan Katz writes over on Think Secret:

Among the products Apple will debut at next Tuesday's media event will be the iPod "Hi-Fi" boombox, reliable sources have informed Think Secret.

Details are scarce but sources have indicated the product will deliver unique capabilities beyond what today's third-party docking speaker systems offer.

More here.

U.S. National Archives Video Available Via Internet

The U.S. National Archives Building
Washington, D.C.

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Online search giant Google has teamed with the US National Archives to make historic films viewable worldwide via the Internet, they announced.

The archives' holdings can be seen for free online at its website, www.archives.gov, and at a Google website, video.google.com/nara.html, according to chief US archivist Allen Weinstein.

Family Watchdog: Displaying Location & Photos of Sex Offenders In Your Area

Image source: Boing Boing

Via The Austin Business Journal.

Family Watchdog is a site that promises to display the names, home addresses, mugshots and other data for convicted sex offenders near any given geographical location in the US. The site also offers a notification service -- get alerts when a convicted sex offender moves near your home.

Each sqare represents the home address of a convicted sex offender, and each color indicates conviction type (rape, sex acts against minors under 14, sexual battery, kidnapping with intent to rape).

More here.

Broadwing Moves HQ to Austin

Broadwing Corp. is moving its headquarters from Maryland to Austin.

The move is a homecoming of sorts.

In 2003, Corvis Corp. bought Austin-based Broadwing for $91 million. After the acquisition, Corvis took on the Broadwing name.

About 35 employees will be cut from the Columbia, Maryland office because of consolidation in its equipment division and its headquarters operations. The company has 1,632 people total.

Dirty Tricks in Verizon FIOS-TV Land?

Thanks to Carlo over on techdirt.com for pointing out this snippet.

Via Broadband Reports.

...an interesting police report from Woburn, Massachusetts that details just how heated the competition between Verizon and some cable operators may be:

"3 p.m., a Pierce Promotions employee working on behalf of Verizon reported someone stole literature he was leaving on doorsteps in the Fulton Street neighborhood. While leaving the pamphlets, the Verizon employee reported a man in a black car approached him and asked for one of the pamphlets. The Verizon employee noticed a stack of the pamphlets already in the man's back seat. He returned to Fulton Street and discovered all the pamphlets he had left were taken. When he approached a house, he was told that the man in the black car was an RCN [cable] employee."

Battlefield Tech: Mandylion Password Manager

Image source: OhGizmo!

Andrew Liszewski writes over on OhGizmo!:

The Mandylion Password Manager is a simple keychain-size secure device that has been tested and perfected in actual warfare by the US Military. It can store up to 50 different logins and the passwords themselves can include up to 14 alpha-numeric or special characters. The data is stored in permanent memory, so even if the battery dies everything will still be safe.

It includes numerous tamper-proof features (you need to use a user-defined combination of the 5 buttons just to access it) and it even has a self-destruct feature for ‘high-risk scenarios.’ Cool!

More here.

UK: Man Fined For Obtaining Data Unlawfully

Via OUT-LAW.com.

A man who unlawfully obtained information relating to an individual’s bank account was fined £500 and ordered to pay £500 costs yesterday by Croydon Magistrates, after pleading guilty to a breach of the 1988 Data Protection Act.

The case is related to and follows the successful prosecution of private detective David Sibley last month.

Sibley and David William Schumacker were prosecuted by the data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after obtaining information for a solicitor’s firm in respect of an insurance claim.

More here.

Japanese Police Struggling Against Cybercrime

A UPI article, via PhysOrg.com, reports that:

Japan may still be one of the safest countries in the world when it comes to violent crime, but the number committed in cyberspace is on the rise, according to the National Police Agency.

The police reported Friday that the number of arrests made for cybercrime in 2005 rose by 51.9 percent from a year ago to a record 3,161 cases.

The police pointed out that the anonymity and convenience of the Internet have backfired as they have made it easier for con men to operate, and the number of fraudulent online sales and auctions nearly tripled from 2004 to 1,408 arrests. In addition, the police reported that computer hacking was on the rise, with 277 cases being cracked down in 2005.

More here.

Tuesdays with Mantu: My Adventures With a Nigerian 419 Scammer

Image source: OUT-LAW.com

Via OUT-LAW.com.

BOOK REVIEW

We've all had an email from the nephew of a recently-murdered diamond mine owner. Or the daughter of an imprisoned army general. Or anyone else in west Africa with access to a vast fortune – if only we can help them to release the cash.

Most of us recognise the Nigerian email scam and delete the messages. A few poor souls get sucked in and lose their savings. But Rich Siegel spotted the fraud, entered into an exchange for his own entertainment, and published the emails for ours.

His book, Tuesdays with Mantu: My Adventures with a Nigerian Con Artist, lets you follow his adventures as he takes the scammers on at their own game.

More here.

Judge Declines to Issue Injunction Against RIM

Via MSNBC.

A judge Friday stopped short of ordering an immediate shutdown of millions of BlackBerry portable e-mail devices made by Research In Motion Ltd.

But U.S. District Judge James Spencer said there was no escaping that RIM had been found to be infringing on NTP Inc.’s patents and he would issue a decision on an injunction “as soon as reasonably possible.”

More here.

Vyatta: The Open Source Router Company

I used to work with Allan Leinwand when I first went to work at Cisco in 1995.

A Business 2.0 article by Om Malik, via CNN/Money, reports that:

At the San Francisco offices of Panorama Capital, two dozen engineers, venture capitalists, and academics gathered around a nondescript piece of hardware they all helped build. Then Allan Leinwand, CEO of a stealthy Panorama-funded startup called Vyatta, powered up the device, the world's first open-source router. As one of the programmers downloaded Red Hat Linux to his laptop by way of the black box, the room erupted in handshakes and high fives.

A few months after the unveiling on that October day, Vyatta's router is about to go into beta release, and it will likely hit the market this summer. The machine runs on two Intel chips, but far more noteworthy is its software, known as XORP, or extensible open router platform. The versatile open-source application can direct data traffic for a giant corporation as easily as it can manage a home Wi-Fi network.

More here.

How DIgital Watermarks Fail

Ed Felten writes over on Freedom To Tinker:

I wrote Wednesday about Randy Picker’s suggestion of using digital watermarks to embed users’ personal financial information into media files, to discourage users from sharing the files.

Today, I want to talk more generally about watermarks and how they tend to fail.

Much, much more here.

Political Rivals Unite Against Giants' e-Mail Plan

Robert McMillan writes on InfoWorld:

Both sides of the U.S. political spectrum have found an issue to unite them: Free e-mail.

Next Tuesday, a group of nonprofit organizations and small businesses will announce the formation of a coalition aimed at putting a stop to America Online (AOL) and Yahoo's plans to charge fees to mass e-mailers. The coalition, expected to be launched at a press event in New York, will be sponsored by digital rights advocacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and it will include two political adversaries: the liberal MoveOn.org and the conservative RightMarch.com political action committees.

More here.

F-Secure: Rootkit Pharming

Image source: F-Secure

Mika writes over on the F-Secure "News from the Lab" Blog:

Haxdoor is one of the most advanced rootkit malware out there. It is a kernel-mode rootkit, but most of its hooks are in user-mode. It actually injects its hooks to the user-mode from the kernel -- which is really unique and kind of bizarre.

So, why doesn't Haxdoor just hook system calls in the kernel? A recent Secure Science paper [.pdf] has a good explanation for this. Haxdoor is used for phishing and pharming attacks against online banks. Pharming, according to Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), is an attack that misdirects users to fraudulent sites or proxy servers, typically through DNS hijacking or poisoning.

We took a careful look at Backdoor.Win32.Haxdoor.gh (detection added 31 Jan, 2006). It hooks HTTP functionality, redirects traffic, steals private information, and transmits the stolen data to a web-server controlled by the attacker. Most (all?) online banks use SSL encrypted connections to protect transmissions. If Haxdoor would hook networking functionality in the kernel, it would have hard time phishing since the data would be encrypted. By hooking on a high-enough API level it is able to grab the data before it gets encrypted. Apparently Haxdoor is designed to steal data especially from IE users, and not all tricks it plays work against, for example, Firefox.

Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

Dot.com Magnate Loses Fraud Appeal

Declan McCullagh writes on C|Net News:

What: IRS agent turned dot-com exec appeals jury verdict finding conspiracy to defraud and violations of federal securities laws.

When: Decided Feb. 17 by the United States Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit in Missouri.

Outcome: Jury verdict in civil lawsuit for $987,000 in damages upheld.

Details here.

China: Shaanxi Province Working On Internet Cafe Management Software Platform

Chang Shuhua from the Cultural Department of China's northwestern Shaanxi Province says an Internet cafe operation and management platform is being built to supervise all the Internet cafes across the province.

According to Chang, through a special software installed on the server of the cafes and the corresponding equipment fixed on each computer that are connected to the new platform, the cafes will be able to conduct real-time monitoring.

After the platform is completed, online users need to buy a "real name" card for about RMB10 that contains their personal information before they can be access the Internet.

It is expected that the system will be put into use in Xi'an, the capital of the province, by the end of this year.

Microsoft to Fight South Korean Antitrust Decision

Ed Oswald writes on BetaNews:

The South Korean Fair Trade Commission said Friday it would finalize its ruling that Microsoft engaged in unfair business practices, a charge the company vehemently denies. Microsoft has since vowed to appeal the ruling within 30 days, and may request a stay.

A preliminary ruling fined Microsoft $32 million in December, as well as ordering the company to unbundled its Windows Media Player and Messenger software from the operating system. Microsoft was also mandated to link to competing software.

UK: Orange Enters Fixed-Line Market

Via The BBC.

Orange plans to enter the fixed-line telephone market, the first move of its kind from a UK mobile phone group.

From April, the company will roll out the service to its business customers, but it has no plans yet to offer the service to domestic consumers.

Orange and internet group Wanadoo, both owned by France Telecom, will merge to offer bundled products.

User Friendly: Dwell Computers, Inc.

Click for larger image.

Winamp Update Fixes Big Security Hole

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

America Online has released a new update for Winamp that closes a critical security hole in the popular music and video player.

The patch mends a flaw for which instructions were released last week showing would-be attackers how to use it to break into computers running Winamp. If you are using Winamp and want to keep doing so, it's time to download and install the update. All versions prior to the latest release -- version 5.2 -- are vulnerable. Yeah, yeah, I know you just updated a couple of weeks ago, when AOL released a new version to fix other critical security flaws, right? Well, too bad.

The advisory released by the researcher says he discovered the exploit back in July, but AOL only learned of the exploit code's existence this week when a hacker posted his exploit code online.

More here.

Girls Learn That They Can Be Engineers, Too

Ilana DeBare writes on SFGate.com:

Back in the 1990s, the Ms. Foundation for Women came up with the idea of Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Later, that morphed into Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Now, a national coalition of engineering groups has picked up the ball and proclaimed an annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.

Organizers said their goal is to reach a million girls nationally. In the Bay Area, companies including Google, Ideo, Bechtel and Carollo brought groups of girls into their offices to meet female engineers and learn about the profession. Google hosted several hundred girls at its various sites this week. The S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation in San Francisco provided funding for the national project.

More here.

Livedoor May Ditch Scandal-Ridden Company Name

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Livedoor, the scandal-hit Japanese Internet firm, may change its name in an effort to reincarnate itself, its new president said, calling its former bosses "idiots".

Livedoor's new management has asked a research company to study the company's public image following the arrest of senior executives of the Internet firm for alleged financial fraud, said Kozo Hiramatsu.

Dilbert: Work-Life Balance

Click for larger image.

Fate of U.S. BlackBerry Service Goes Back to Court

Peter Kaplan writes for Reuters:

A federal judge may decide on Friday whether to pull the plug on BlackBerry email devices used by millions of Americans as part of a fight over patents for the pocket-sized technology.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer will hear arguments beginning at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) from NTP, which wants the judge to halt U.S. sales and shut down U.S. BlackBerry service. The judge granted such an injunction in 2003 but stayed it pending RIM's appeal.

More here.

24 February 1988: U.S. Supreme Court Defends The Right to Satirize Public Figures

Parody ad from Hustler (Nov, 1983). © 1983 Hustler Magazine, Inc.
Image source: Wikipedia / Hustler

Via Wikipedia.

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988) was a case argued before the United States Supreme Court. The decision strengthened free speech rights in relation to parodies of public figures by extending the "actual malice" test of New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).

The case was argued on December 2, 1987 and the Court handed down its decision on February 24, 1988 by a vote of 8 to 0.

More here.

U.S., Britain Conduct Nuclear Experiment in Nevada

An AP newswire article, via ABC News, reports that:

U.S. and British government scientists performed an underground nuclear experiment, short of a nuclear blast, at the Nevada Test Site this week, the National Nuclear Security Administration said.

The experiment on Tuesday involved detonating high explosives around radioactive material in a vault about 1,000 feet below ground at a remote part of the desert testing range 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

No radioactivity was released in the subcritical experiment, said Nancy Tufano, spokeswoman for Bechtel Nevada, a contractor at the nuclear security administration in North Las Vegas.

Scientists for the first time posted a nearly eight-minute video Web log of preparations for the experiment.

National Nuclear Security Administration Public Affairs:
http://www.nv.doe.gov

More here.

Righting Wrongs: U.S. Approves Visa for Indian Scientist

Shankar Vedantam writes in The Washington Post:

State Department officials said yesterday that the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi has granted a visa to a prominent Indian scientist who said he was accused of deception and potential links to chemical weapons production when he applied to a U.S. consulate.

Goverdhan Mehta said he was told two weeks ago that his visa had been "refused" and that his expertise in chemistry could be a threat to U.S. national security. The case caused a furor in India just days before a visit by President Bush next week that is aimed at building warmer ties between the world's two largest democracies.

More here.

Yahoo! Exec: Labels Should Sell Music Without DRM

John Borland writes on the C|Net Music Blog:

Yahoo Music chief Dave Goldberg raised eyebrows Thursday at the Music 2.0 conference in Los Angeles with a proposal rarely heard from executives at large digital music services: Record labels should try selling music online without copy protection.

According to attendees, Goldberg pointed to the experience of eMusic, which offers its subscribers access to MP3 files without any digital rights management attached. Rights management restrictions have created a barrier for consumers, he said, making it a hurdle to transfer music to portable devices, and creating incompatibility between music services and MP3 players.

Ya think?

PopSci: Spy Satellites That Spy On Satellites

Image source:
Popular Science / Harold "Vernon" Baker / Air Force Research Laboratory

Yes, I know its from October 2005, but I just saw this.

Dawn Stover writes in Popular Science.

This is the first photograph taken by a microsatellite of another object in space that has ever been released to the general public. The object near the center is the upper stage of a Minotaur I rocket that was used to launch the Experimental Satellite System-11, commonly known as XSS-11. The photograph was taken by the digital "witness camera" aboard XSS-11, a dishwasher-size microsatellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

XSS-11 was launched in April and has since conducted numerous "proximity operations"—approaching and maneuvering around the spent Minotaur rocket stage at distances as close as 500 meters (the distance at which this photo was taken, about a third of a mile). Over the next year, the spacecraft will rendezvous with several other U.S.-owned dead or inactive objects in space.

More here.

More: Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

UK Rapped Over EU Data Retention Law

Alfred Hermida writes for The BBC:

Britain's net industry has named the UK presidency of the EU as its villain of the year.

The Internet Service Providers' Association (Ispa) singled out the UK for its role in pushing for Europe-wide data retention laws.

The laws, requiring telecom operators to store phone and internet data to help fight terrorism, received its final go-ahead earlier this week.

Net companies are concerned about the cost of holding and managing the data.

More here.

MPAA Sues BitTorrent, Newsgroup Search Tools

John Borland writes on C|Net News:

The Motion Picture Association of America said Thursday that it sued a new round of popular Web sites associated with movie piracy, including several that serve as search engines but do not distribute files themselves.

The lawsuits mark an expansion of the copyright holders' legal strategy in the file-swapping world, targeting sites that help make downloading easier, but aren't actually delivering the files or the swapping technology themselves.

It's also the first time the group has sued organizations that direct their members to the Usenet newsgroup system, an MPAA spokeswoman said. The movie group makes little distinction between a peer-to-peer network and the search engines that point to pirated works, saying that all facilitate the distribution of copyright works.

More here.

Outsourcing Tech: Dubai Wants IT Business as Well as U.S. Ports

Patrick Thibodeau writes on ComputerWorld:

The United Arab Emirates, which is currently at the center of a controversy over whether outsourcing the management of six U.S. ports to a company based in the Persian Gulf should be allowed, wants to do more than manage ports: It wants Dubai, its capital, to become a major IT outsourcing destination.

Dubai has been building a modern infrastructure and clearing away all taxes and visa hurdles to encourage companies that set up operations there, said Mehtab Ali Sayed, director of marketing at the Madar Research Group LLC in Dubai. “They are positioning themselves against India,” he said.

Many U.S. IT vendors already have offices in Dubai, mostly to support regional customers. Among them is Sierra Atlantic Inc., a Fremont, Calif.-based provider of offshore IT services, which opened an office in Dubai in August.

More here.

California Bill Would Bar Toxins in Cell Phones, iPods

Via Reporters sans Frontières.

California would require manufacturers to phase out the use of hazardous materials in making cell phones, iPods and other electronic devices under a bill introduced by a state lawmaker.

The bill unveiled on Thursday by Assembly Member Lori Saldana, a Democrat from San Diego, would apply to any electronic or battery-operated device. The bill, which was introduced on Wednesday, would require manufacturers to stop using the substances in devices sold in California by 2008.

More here.

H&R Block Mis-Reports Their Own Taxes

A Reuters newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

H&R Block, which provides tax advice to millions of Americans, made an embarrassing confession on Thursday. It goofed on its own taxes.

The company, which is in the middle of its make-or-break season preparing other people’s tax returns, said it had underestimated its own “state effective income tax rate” in previous quarters -- meaning it owes another $32 million in back taxes.

More here.

Prehistoric Tech: 'Jurassic Beaver' Stuns Scientists

Raquel Welch
Promotional Poster from the 1966 film, "One Million Years B.C."
Image source: Wikipedia

Somehow, I don't these scientists were talking about Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.

Sorry -- with a headline like this what did you expect? I just couldn't resist.

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, Jeff Hecht writes on New Scientist:

The discovery of a new, remarkably preserved fossil of a beaver-like mammal that lived 164 million years ago is shaking palaeontologists’ understanding of early mammals.

Looking as if it was put together from pieces of platypus, river otter, and beaver, the creature was nearly half a metre long and weighed about half a kilogram. This makes it the largest of its kind ever found in the Jurassic Period, from 200 million to 145 million years ago.

More here.

Gaming Tech: Blood on The Carpet -- Viral Ad for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Image source: kult-mag.com

This is really good, and quite funny!

Thanks to John Paczkowski (and whomever sent him the heads-up) over on Good Morning, Silicon Valley (GMSV).

Here's the link. Enjoy!

Mac OS X 10.4.5 for Intel Cracked

Via BetaNews.

Although Apple has attempted to prevent the Intel variant of its OS from installing on generic hardware, a patch surfaced on the Internet Thursday that enables Mac OS X 10.4.5 to work on non-Apple systems. The update fixed several Intel-related bugs, but also added code to stop those trying to install it on regular PCs.

A hacker named Maxxuss released the upgrade patch and plans to create a full 10.4.5 installation routine. Those who install Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware are unable to download updates directly from the company, so these patches are the only way to take advantage of the fixes made in each release. Maxxuss says some issues still remain, such as problems with DVD playback and iTunes on systems with AMD CPUs.

More: Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

CardSystems Solutions Inc. Settles With FTC

An AP newswire article by Jennier C. Kerr, via The Washington Post, reports that:

A data breach that left some 40 million customer accounts vulnerable to hackers will lead to tighter security measures to protect millions of credit and debit card users, officials at the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday.

CardSystems Solutions Inc. has settled charges that the company broke the law by failing to ensure adequate safeguards for sensitive customer information. The settlement calls for better safeguards to protect consumer data.

The FTC could not seek civil penalties under the law it accused CardSystems of violating.

More here.

GSA Files Networx Revision

Michael Hardy writes on FCW.com:

The General Services Administration has filed hundreds of pages of revisions to the Networx Universal solicitation in a move that some of the agency's critics view skeptically. Others, however, say the changes are mostly tweaks that do not significantly alter the proposal.

"Making more than 300 changes to the solicitation after proposal receipt brings out the dreaded question: Can Networx be awarded without a do-over?" said Neal Fox, a former GSA official now working as an independent consultant.

More here.

Report: Sprint-Nextel to Axe 2,500 Jobs

Kelly Hill writes on RCR Wireless News:

Sprint Nextel Corp. will reduce its work force by a net 4 percent in 2006, or about 2,500 people, company officials told the Kansas City Business Journal.

Sprint Nextel Corp. officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to the Business Journal, the move to cut 4,500 jobs across all departments while adding 2,000 new jobs in areas such as Voice over IP services was due to the company’s need to rein in costs following Sprint’s merger with Nextel Communications Inc. An unspecified percentage of the job cuts will come from attrition, and company officials indicated that further job cuts are possible as the company rationalizes its post-merger operating costs.

Auditor Loses McAfee Employee Data

Oops.

Joris Evers writes on C|Net News:

An external auditor lost a CD with information on thousands of current and former McAfee employees, putting them at risk of identity fraud.

The disc was lost on Dec. 15 by Deloitte & Touche USA, McAfee spokeswoman Siobhan MacDermott said Thursday. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based security software company was first notified on Jan. 11, and on Jan. 30, it received particulars of the data that may have been on the CD, MacDermott said.

The disc contained personal details on all current U.S. and Canadian McAfee workers hired prior to April 2005 and on about 6,000 former employees in the same region, MacDermott said. (The security company currently has approximately 3,290 employees worldwide.) The information wasn't encrypted and potentially includes names, social security numbers and stock holdings in McAfee.

More here.

Maldives: Cyberdissident Ahmad Didi Released, Photographer Arrested

Reporters Without Borders welcomed the release of Ahmad Didi, under house arrest since February 2005, who received a presidential pardon on 22 February along with another political dissident, Naushad Waheed.

The following day, Ali Fahud, photographer on the weekly Adduvas, was arrested while covering an opposition demonstration.

The press freedom organisation urged the Maldives government to extend the same leniency shown to Ahmad Didi to Ali Fahud and to Jennifer Latheef, who has been under house arrest since 21 December 2005, and is in a poor state of health.

HD DirecTV Coming to 24 New Markets

A UPI newsbrief, via PhysOrg.com, reports that:

DIRECTV has announced the next two dozen television markets in the United States that will receive local high-definition programming.

Beginning in April, DIRECTV will offer HD programming from the four major networks in 24 markets, including Miami, Baltimore, San Diego, Phoenix and Minneapolis.

More: Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

Defense Tech: Stealth Jet to Go From Deep Blue to Wild Blue

Image source: Gizmodo / Popular Science

Lockheed Martin is now testing Cormorant, a stealthy autonomous spy jet that starts and ends its mission 150 feet under water.

Launched from Ohio-class submarines, the four-ton aircraft is designed with folding wings that allow it to fit inside a Trident missile tube, which is about 48 feet long but just 7 feet wide. The stealthy drone quietly floats to the surface and goes about its business of putting the hurt on those who hate America, and then when all the killing is done, slips back under the waves to be retrieved by a sneaky robotic underwater vehicle.

Testing should be done by September, when the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will decide if it will commission a flying prototype. So it’s not real yet, but even so, this has to be one of the coolest-looking airplane drawings ever.

Beer Tech: Pouring The Perfect Pint

Image source: Engadget

Ryan Block writes over on Engadget:

Pulling the perfect pint -- manually or otherwise -- seems to be something of a long standing obsession across the pond, and more than one beer-pouring robot and device has been whipped up in occasion of this grand pursuit.

The latest, Hermann, is the fruit of the efforts of one Professor Thomas Weber and his 23 scients students at the Dutch Technical University of Darmstadt, whom set out to design a robot that would cost under £53 ($92 US) that could pull the perfect pint.

Minnesota Public Radio Sues Gore-Founded Internet TV Network

An AP newswier article, via SFGate.com, reports that:

Minnesota Public Radio is suing an Internet television network co-founded by Al Gore, claiming the network's alternative and amateur news reports interfere with MPR's trademark.

The San Francisco-based network, Current TV, and the MPR music station the Current are both transmitted via the Internet. MPR says the similar names creates confusion for potential consumers.

More here.

Toilet Tech: 'No More Stinky Poo in the Loo'

Image source: OhGizmo!

Bruce Eaton writes over on OhGizmo!:

Ate too much Weinershnitzel and now you gotta take a stinky shnit? Well over across the pond in Germany, the folks at Pro-Idee have the Aspidor Toilet to combat whatever hellish death you dare to unleash in your watercloset.

It screws on to your toilet (so you renters can use this), a fan quietly sucks your “emissions” into a charcoal filter which releases clean smelling air. The picture shows how the black demons turn into nice clouds surrounded in blue love… well maybe not. But no more do you have to worry if you just left a WC of doom for your loved one to step into. At € 289 ($344) which is a lot of money, I think I might just tell my S/O to hold her nose.

Livedoor e-Mail Scandal Rattles Lawmakers

A UPI newswire article, via PhysOrg.com, reports that:

Is the e-mail real or is it a forgery? That is the question that has been the hottest topic for debate among Japanese legislators over the past week, ever since a member of the opposition party presented what he claimed was proof that a top ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker was accepting bribes.

The four-paragraph memo is allegedly from Takafumi Horie, chief executive of Internet portal group Livedoor, who was arrested last month on charges of cooking the company's books and deliberately misguiding investors on the true value of his company.

In the e-mail dated from last summer, the 33-year-old Horie states that his office should provide $253,380 (30 million yen) to the bank account of the son of LDP Secretary-General Tsutomu Takebe. In addition, the e-mail suggests that a similar payment previously had been made to the son.

More here.

Look-Alike Cellphone Gun

Image source: cellular.co.za

David Ponce writes over on OhGizmo!

Well, here’s an extra worry for law enforcement officials everywhere. The Cell Gunphone looks like, well, a pretty old crappy cell phone, but it is in fact a fully functional gun that fires up to four .22 caliber bullets. Once loaded, you simply have to press the keys 5 to 8 in quick succession, and your unknowing target will be filled with lead.

So, from now on, when you’ve lost a police chase, don’t even try to call mom to tell her about it, cause the Police might just have to shoot you down anyhow.

Telesales Pirate Jailed in Scotland

Via OUT-LAW.com.

A Scotsman who made a fortune selling counterfeit music, movies and software by telephone order was jailed for nine months at Airdrie Sheriff Court yesterday. George Malone, 46, supplemented his income with a sun-tanning business and benefit fraud.

"These were very serious offences, and as such they carry up to a 10 year penalty, said Sheriff Brown, delivering the sentence. He ordered forfeiture of the pirated products and the computers and other duplication equipment used by Malone.

According to UK record industry association the BPI, Malone supplied industrial units across the west of Scotland with fakes on demand. On his arrest, counterfeit product with a market value of £18,000 was seized.

NTT DoCoMo Hits 2.5Gbps in 4G Trial

Martyn Williams writes on NetworkWorld:

NTT DoCoMo says it managed to transmit data at 2.5Gbps to a moving vehicle in recent tests of a new wireless data technology.

The tests involved using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and are part of the Japanese carrier's research into so-called fourth generation (4G) wireless technology. MIMO involves sending data using multiple antennas - six transmission antennas in the case of the DoCoMo trial - to increase the total throughput.

The tests involved a vehicle traveling at 20 kilometers per hour and took place at the company's research and development center in Yokosuka, Japan, on Dec. 14 last year but were not reported until Thursday.

Google Launches Free Hosting Service

Via Netcraft.

Google has launched a beta version of a free hosting service, Google Page Creator. The service, which is currently limited to existing users of Google's Gmail, allows users to build a web page using a web-based interface. Each site has its own subdomain, with a web address using the structure of http://gmailname.googlepages.com, and users can choose among up to 40 page designs.

The introduction of Google Page Creator follows the recent launch of free hosting products by Microsoft and Go Daddy. Google is already a major player in the free hosting sector with Blogger, while Yahoo has several free hosting products, including its GeoCities brand. While several of these services are designed to generate revenue from advertising, Google's Page Creator beta doesn't include advertising on either its public pages or administrative interface.

More here.

Toon: Port Paranoia

Click for larger image.

Zone-H: Islamic Hacker Arrested in Paris

Via Zone-H.

On Tuesday , 2/21/2006, the Moroccan hacker known as Yanis was arrested in Metz by the Paris PJ. Anyway he got out of prison after 20 hours and he is waiting for judgement.

Yanis is accused of having defaced several French important websites (university of Strasbourg and Toulouse, website of the city of Lyon etc..), but his activity as defacer is far more complex: Zone-h, the independent observatory of cyber-crime, have monitored nearly 3000 notifications of intrusions in the last month related to the Prophet Mohammed digital Ummah protest (about 710 are by Yanis) while in his whole illegal “carreer” he compromised 1161 websites.

Besides, Zone-h highlighted that the attacks pursued by Islamic hackers have noticeably increased after the spreading out of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons issue, and many defacements, like those by Yanis, clearly show, sometimes violently and offensively, their blame for Danish and more generally Western attitude.

Relating to this point, the French magistrate charged a heavy count of indictment on Yanis, who is accused of “Apology of war crime and incitation to racial hate”, because of his hacking activity on Danish websites. The accusation focuses on his commitment in the boycott campaign against Danish products.

More here.

Security in Online Commerce Rests on 'Illusion of Hope'?

William Eazel writes on SC Magazine Online:

Web security is just an “illusion of hope” and consumers who shop online risk their privacy with every purchase, a U.S. academic claimed today.

According to new research conducted by University of Massachusetts - Amherst computer scientist Kevin Fu, a confluence of factors, including the widespread use of cookies and demand for quick and easy transactions, results in websites that are often insecure.

KFC Leverages DVR Time-Shifting To Its Advantage

Image source: Engadget

Evan Blass writes on Engadget:

Now this concept in-and-of itself seems quite effective--even the most die-hard commercial skipper still has to watch the screen to avoid missing the beginning of the next segment--but KFC is stepping it up a notch and actually providing an incentive for people to seek out the ad, offering a free sandwich to those who can regurgitate the hidden phrase.

Imagine that: there may soon be a day when we record shows not because we enjoy them, but because advertisers have told us that they'll give us free swag if we comply.

More here.

User Friendly: 'Cold-Swappable'

Click for larger image.

Study Says U.S. Tech Hiring Is Incresing Despite Outsourcing Overseas

Via CNN/Money.

Demand for technology workers in the United States continues to grow in spite of American companies shifting more technology work overseas, according to a new study.

The Association for Computing Machinery, a professional development organization that includes academic, government and industry officials from the information technology field, released a study Thursday that said that shifting IT jobs to countries like India or China is not nearly the threat to workers here that is commonly believed.

iTunes Tops 1 Billion Song Downloads

Nate Mooks writes on BetaNews:

Apple sold its 1 billionth song from the iTunes Music Store early Thursday morning, reaching what it calls a "massive milestone in digital music history." iTunes hit the 500 million download mark last July, and needed only seven additional months to double those sales.

On the road to 1 billion songs, Apple gave the customers who downloaded every 100,000th song a 4GB iPod nano and $100 iTunes gift card. The user who purchased the 1 billionth song will receive a 20-inch iMac, ten 60GB iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes gift card. The milestone will likely be highlighted at a special Apple event scheduled for next week.

New NASA Antenna Design by The Borg Collective

Image source: Boing Boing

Like a friendly, non-biological form of the Borg Collective of science fiction fame, 80 personal computers, using artificial intelligence (AI), have combined their silicon brains to quickly design a tiny, advanced space antenna.

If all goes well, three of these computer-designed space antennas will begin their trip into space in March 2006, when an L-1011 aircraft will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The airplane will drop a Pegasus XL rocket into the sky high above the Pacific Ocean. The rocket will ignite and carry three small Space Technology (ST5) satellites into orbit.

Each satellite will be equipped with a strange-looking, computer-designed space antenna. Although they resemble bent paperclips, the antennas are highly efficient, according to scientists.

Amish Teen Fined For Tapping Into Neighbors Line

Patricia Wolff writes in The Northwestern (Oshgosh, Wisconsin) :

An Amish teenager will pay a fine and restitution to a neighbor for illegally tapping into his telephone line.

James Bontrager, 17, W3950 Grand River Road, Markesan, pleaded guilty in Green Lake County Circuit Court Jan. 23, to a charge of telecommunications fraud.

He was fined $367 and ordered to pay $36.09 in long distance charges to CenturyTel for calls the teen made on his neighbor's phone line to a relative in Indiana. The Amish traditionally shun telephones and other modern conveniences in their homes.

When confronted by Green Lake County Sheriff's Deputy Matthew Vande Kolk, James Bontrager led the deputy to a shed on his property where he had brought his neighbor's phone line inside. He also surrendered the phone he had been using to call relatives, the documents said.

Bontrager claimed he did not know the neighbor would be charged for the calls, according to court documents.

More here.

U.S. Demands Extradition of Nigerian '419' Scammers from Holland

Jan Libbenga writes on The Register:

US investigators have requested the extradition of four Nigerians accused of running 419 scams in the Netherlands after the arrest of a gang in Amsterdam and the nearby town of Zaandam earlier this week.

It is the first time the US has asked for the extradition of individuals accused of running 419 scams, a clear sign that authorities want to put an end to these schemes. Convicted scammers can expect hefty jail terms.

Telefonica Faces Broadband Pricing Probe By EC

Tim Richardson writes on The Register:

Spanish incumbent Telefonica is facing an investigation by the European Commission (EC) amid allegations that it abused its dominant position regarding the provision of broadband.

The EC has sent a "statement of objections" to Telefonica explaining why it believes the Spanish telco has been "abusing its dominant market position in contravention of EC Treaty rules in the form of a so-called 'margin squeeze' in the Spanish broadband internet access markets since 2001".

Intel Wins Llicense for Chip Plant in Vietnam

Vietnam has approved the issue of a license to Intel Corp, the world's largest microchip maker, to build a $605 million plant to produce chips and computer parts in a deal that officials hope could help draw more investors.

Intel said in an invitation to Reuters on Thursday that the license would be handed over formally at a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on February 28.

Intel chairman Craig Barrett would introduce the project and receive the investment license, Intel said without elaborating.

U.S. Ports Issue Raise Interesting Proxy Problem

Bruce Schneier thoughtfully writes on Wired News:

Most security works through proxies. We just don't have the expertise to make decisions about airline security, police coverage and military readiness, so we rely on others. We all hope our proxies make the same decisions we would have, but our only choice is to trust -- to rely on, really -- our proxies.

Here's the paradox: Even though we are forced to rely on them, we may or may not trust them. When we trust our proxies, we come to that trust in a variety of ways -- sometimes through experience, sometimes through recommendations from a source we trust. Sometimes it's third-party audit, affiliations in professional societies or a gut feeling. But when it comes to government, trust is based on transparency. The more our government is based on secrecy, the more we are forced to "just trust" it and the less we actually trust it.

More here.

Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

Damon Wayans Tries to Trademark The 'N' Word

Image source: aufeminin.com

Rogers Cadenhead writes on Wired News:

The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term "Nigga" for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online database reveals.

Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on "clothing, books, music and general merchandise," as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.

But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are "immoral or scandalous." A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier.

EU Clears Cisco's Acquisition of Scientific Atlanta

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

EU regulators cleared a 6.9-billion-dollar takeover by US networking giant Cisco Systems of US cable set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta

The EU competition watchdog found that there was only limited overlap between the two countries activities in Europe and that the deal would not limit opportunities for competitors.

Teen Arrested After Posing With Handguns On MySpace

An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

A 16-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday after postings on the popular Web site MySpace.com allegedly showed him holding handguns, authorities said.

The teen was being held at a juvenile detention center facing three misdemeanor charges of juvenile possession of a handgun, said district attorney spokeswoman Pam Russell. He is due in court Feb. 27.

Police searched the boy’s home after receiving a tip from Evergreen High School on Feb. 10, the same day he was suspended, officials said.

23 February 1945: U.S. Flag Raised on Iwo Jima

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
23 February 1945
Image source: Wikipedia / Joe Rosenthal / AP

Via Wikipedia.

The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought between the United States and Imperial Japan during February and March of 1945, during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. As a result of the battle, the United States gained control of the island of Iwo Jima, and the airfields located there.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a famous photograph taken on 23 February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal, which depicts five US Marines and one US Navy corpsman raising the Flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

Indian Scientist's Visa Denial Sparks Outrage

Shankar Vedantam writes in The Washington Post:

A decision two weeks ago by a U.S. consulate in India to refuse a visa to a prominent Indian scientist has triggered heated protests in that country and set off a major diplomatic flap on the eve of President Bush's first visit to India.

The incident has also caused embarrassment at the highest reaches of the American scientific establishment, which has worked to get the State Department to issue a visa to Goverdhan Mehta, who said the U.S. consulate in the south Indian city of Chennai told him that his expertise in chemistry was deemed a threat.

More here.

Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

FCC: Near Action on Decency Case Backlog

U.S. communications regulators plan to issue decisions soon in about 40 cases involving complaints against broadcasters for violating federal decency limits, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is considering a proposal to rule that the word "s***" is profane and violates decency limits in certain contexts, the source said, declining further identification. The agency has already declared the word "f***" off-limits in most cases.

Fuck that shit. More here.

UK: BT Deploys Ericsson VOIP Gear

Ray Le Maistre writes on Light Reading:

Ericsson AB might still be waiting for its finalized 21CN contract from BT Group plc, but that's not preventing it from delivering VOIP infrastructure for the carrier's next generation network program.

The Swedish vendor is providing its AXD multiservice switch, which includes VOIP processing capabilities, to the carrier's international division, BT Global Services , which is investing £12 million ($20.9 million) to update its voice capabilities.

The Internet: A 'Rage Enabler'?

Interesting perspective.

David Ignatius, in an OpEd column in today's Washington Post, writes about a gentleman named Charles M. McLean, who runs a trend-analysis company called Denver Research Group Inc:

McLean argues that the Internet is a "rage enabler." By providing instant, persistent, real-time stimuli, the new technology takes anger to a higher level. "Rage needs to be fed or stimulated continually to build or maintain it," he explains. The Internet provides that instantaneous, persistent poke in the eye. What's more, it provides an environment in which enraged people can gather at cause-centered Web sites and make themselves even angrier. The technology, McLean notes, "eliminates the opportunity for filtering or rage-dissipating communications to intrude." I think McLean is right. And you don't have to travel to Cairo to see how the Internet fuels rage and poisons reasoned debate. Just take a tour of the American blogosphere.

The connected world is inescapable, like the global economy itself. But if we can begin to understand how it undermines political stability -- how it can separate elites from masses, and how it can enhance rage rather than reason -- then perhaps we will have a better chance of restabilizing a very disorderly world.

More here.

U.S. Authorities Issue Bench Warrant For Alleged Australian 'Internet Piracy Kingpin'

An AAP article by Peter Mitchell, via Australian IT, reports that:

US authorities are hunting accused Australian internet piracy kingpin Sean Patrick O'Toole after he failed to appear in an American court.

US District Court Judge Amy St Eve issued a warrant for the Perth 26-year-old's arrest.

American authorities are unsure whether Mr O'Toole is in Australia, the US or another part of the world and are examining border records to check if he has entered the US.

Mr O'Toole's American lawyer, Mary Cay Marubio, said she did not know where he was and was as surprised as prosecutors when he did not appear in court.

"He did not show up," assistant US district attorney Pravin Rao, who is prosecuting the case, told AAP.

More here.

Jenna Jameson's Voice on Comedy Central Mobile Video

Jenna Jameson

Now this should get people watching those tiny screens. Or not.

Article snippet via Reuters.

Porn star Jenna Jameson will lend her voice to an animated series produced by Viacom's Comedy Central that will be delivered to mobile phone users, the network said on Wednesday.

The show, called "Samurai Love God," is the first original animated mobile video series from Comedy Central, a unit owned by Viacom Inc., and will also star 'The Daily Show' correspondent Ed Helms.

The series has eight 2-1/2 minute episodes and will premiere this quarter across three cellular carriers, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Amp'd. It will be available to all subscribers of the carriers' standard video service.

More here.

Convicted Acxiom Data Thief Gets Eight Years

Declan McCullagh writes on C|Net News:

A bulk e-mailer who looted more than a billion records with personal information from a data warehouse has been sentenced to eight years in prison, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Scott Levine, 46, was sentenced by a federal judge in Little Rock, Ark., after being found guilty of breaking into Acxiom's servers and downloading gigabytes of data in what the U.S. Justice Department calls one of the largest data heists to date. Acxiom, based in Little Rock, says it operates the world's largest repository of consumer data, and counts major banks, credit card companies and the U.S. government among its customers.

More here.

House Widens Black Market Phone Data Probe

Roy Mark writes on internetnews.com:

The congressional hearings probing data brokers that sell personal phone records have concluded, but the lawmakers' investigation continues.

As part of its latest update on the probe, House Energy and Commerce Committee investigators identified 22 more Web sites selling unauthorized personal phone data, including cell phone roaming records, the date and time of the calls, and their origin and destination.

The panel sent letters to the legal representatives of the sites demanding that the companies provide information about how the sites are obtaining the data.

More here.

Battlefield Tech: The New First Aid Kit

Image source: Black Five / SPC Spencer Case, 207th MPAD
Click for larger image.

Via Black Five.

Apparently, this is the first major redesign of the first aid kit since the Korean War. I believe that it's been issued to troops since early 2005.

Some of the items have been sorely needed for decades and some are timely. For instance, the Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT) has a windlass to apply torque to stop the bleeding thereby removing the insane need to find a stick to tighten the dressing - i.e. try finding a stick in the desert.

The Nasal Airway device helps soldiers with facial wounds breathe. When a soldier is unconscious, his tongue tends to block the airway. This device will work on conscious or unconscious soldiers.

Also, the new Trauma Dressing has elastic edges in order to get a better seal over wounds and creates more pressure - a good seal is especially important for chest wounds.

'Tiered-Internet' Idiocy Spreads to European Telcoms

A Reuters newsbrief, via The International Herald Tribune, reports that:

Providers of Internet content like video on demand should pay for the use of new super-fast Internet access, the chief executive of Deutsche Telekom said in an interview to be published on Thursday.

In an interview with the German weekly WirtschaftsWoche, Kai-Uwe Ricke said service providers were debating charges to companies like Amazon.com, Google and eBay for offering their services over the Internet.

"These companies need infrastructure," Ricke was quote as saying. "It cannot be that infrastructure providers like Telekom continues to invest, while others profit from it."

A similar discussion is under way in the United States, where broadband providers have largely pledged that consumers will be able to access any Internet site.

Windows Vista’s Worst Performer? Windows Vista

Image source: Gizmodo

Now don’t base any purchasing decisions on this screen cap—Windows Vista is still in beta, after all—but as much as we welcome the new feature in Vista that points out which programs are slowing down one’s computer, we kinda sorta wish the programs in question weren’t the ones that make it run.

Here’s to the next few months of polishing, Microsoft!

Does The U.S. Need An 'Official Secrets Act'?

Mark Hosenball writes in Newsweek:

Controversies over press disclosures about NSA domestic spying and CIA antiterror operations have led to renewed talk about the need for an American version of Britain's Official Secrets Act.

House intelligence committee chairman Pete Hoekstra has spoken publicly about the need for a "comprehensive law" to make it easier to prosecute leakers, and last week his Senate counterpart, Pat Roberts, said he, too, thinks new measures may be considered.

More here.

FBI Widens Probe of Debit-Card Theft

Greg Sandoval writes on C|Net News:

The FBI has expanded its investigation into a debit card fraud that has mostly affected 200,000 consumers in the Western United States, saying that the case might be linked to other debit card thefts around the country.

The FBI's Sacramento bureau initially took control of the investigation. Last week, it was moved to the FBI office in Charlotte, N.C., after officials there learned that the case might be related to one of their investigations, said Special Agent Karen Ernst, the spokeswoman for the Sacramento office. She and FBI officials in Charlotte declined to provide details about the Charlotte investigation.

More here.

China: Datang Telecom Will Acquire 51% Of Beijing FibreHome

Datang Telecom has announced that it will acquire 51% of FibreHome, a Beijing software company, as part of Datang's efforts to integrate its own software business.

Datang says that two of its subsidiaries, Datang Software and Beijing Kaitong Technology, will spend a total of RMB9.1 million cash acquiring 51% of the stake of Beijing FibreHome Stronger Software Technologies Company.

Datang holds 90% and 87.48%, respectively, of Datang Software and Beijing Kaitong Technology.

EU Data Retention Law Approved

Via BetaNews.

A new law that will mandate European ISPs and telecommunications companies to keep details of the communications of their customers for up to two years was given the go-ahead by the EU Wednesday. Although the content is not recorded, details of the time, destination of the call and length would be stored.

Member countries of the European Union would have until August 2007 to comply. The new legislation has its critics, among them human rights and privacy groups that say the law is a threat to civil liberties. Supporters of the law dismiss such a notion, arguing the data is essential in the fight against terrorism and citing the Madrid train bombings as an example of how such surveillance could have prevented the attack.

Rhode Island Bank Unveils Touch-and-Go Bank Cards

An AP newswire article, via ABC News, reports that:

A regional bank is offering touch-and-go banking in which customers can hold debit cards next to an electric reader instead of swiping the cards.

Providence-based Citizens Bank will be the first major bank in New England to issue the touch cards to all of its customers. Three other regional financial institutions Bank of America Corp., Sovereign Bancorp Inc., and TD Banknorth Inc. are considering the technology.

Some national banks, including HSBC, KeyBank, JP Morgan Chase, and Citigroup, offer the technology to some customers.

More here.

U.S. Internet Users Oppose Storage of Queries

An AP newswire article by Brian Bergstein, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Most Americans are uncomfortable with the fact that Internet search engines record their users' queries, according to a survey released Wednesday that examined perceptions about federal authorities' demands for such records.

In the new survey of 800 Americans by the University of Connecticut, 60 percent said they opposed the storage of users' search queries. Just 32 percent supported the practice, which the companies say is necessary to improve the performance of their services.

More here.

Anti-Phishing Working Group: Alarming Phishing Trends

Image source: Anti-Phishing Working Group

Brian Krebs writes on Security Fix:

The number of phishing Web sites skyrocketed in December, as did the number of sites designed to spread password-stealing badware, according to the most recent report [.pdf] from the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

The number of unique phishing sites jumped from 4,630 in November to 7,197 in December, a 55 percent increase. Online scam artists also targeted a wider range of companies in their phishing sites. One scam found at the end of 2005 targeted customers who shop at Wal-Mart's Web site, telling their their accounts had been compromised.

More of Brian's article here.

L.A. Lawyer Nailed in Wiretapping of MGM Boss's Ex-Wife

Wow -- not sure how I missed this one.

Via The Smoking Gun.

A powerful Los Angeles lawyer was indicted today [15 February 2006] on federal charges that he conspired with disgraced Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano to wiretap the telephone of the ex-wife of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian.

Attorney Terry Christensen, 65, was named today in a superceding indictment charging him with conspiracy and interception of wire communications, both felonies.

More here.

'Foxy Felon' Threatens The Smoking Gun Over Online Mug Shot

Via The Smoking Gun.

Claiming that Internet surfers have been using her mug shot for "private sexual gratification," a convicted drug dealer is threatening to sue The Smoking Gun unless her booking photo is removed from our site.

So meet Casey Hicks. Again. It's been a few years since we've thought about the comely 25-year-old Floridian, whose photo first appeared on TSG in 2002 as part of a collection of mug shots that we dubbed "Foxy Felons."

In June 2000, Hicks was arrested after selling 49 Ecstasy tablets to an undercover cop in Rockland County, New York. In January 2001, she copped a reduced felony plea for the $400 drug deal. By the time of her sentencing, Hicks had relocated to Florida, where she subsequently began serving a probationary term of nearly five years (we discovered her mug shot, which you can find below, on the web site of Florida's Department of Corrections, where it still remains).

More here.

Finding New Ways to Quickly and Quietly Kill People

Image source: Gizmodo

The United States Department of Defense is working on Stiletto, a ship using what it calls “M Hull” technology, composed of M-shaped arches that let ships travel at a blistering 50 knots without making waves.

There’s an element of stealth at work here, too, where now ships can sneak up on each other, terminating each other’s command with extreme prejudice.

Argonne National Laboratory is blocking Boing Boing?

Via The Center for Democracy & Technology.

An employee at Argonne National Laboratory says: "I'm at a big US federal site, 3500 employees, never blocked you before. There is an option where I can request that a domain be reconsidered if there's cause. I'll keep my eyes open."

If you are stuck behind a Boing Boing-proof firewall, you might be able to access Boing Boing using this link: http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=www.boingboing.net

This clever little trick from Google Hacks allows you to access restricted web sites using Google language tools service as a proxy.

Malware Research: Mwcollect and Nepenthes Merging

Via mwcollect.org (Hat tip to the SANS ISC).

mwcollectd v3.0.4 has been released under http://download.mwcollect.org/. This version is the last officially supported version of mwcollectd, as nepenthes is its official successor. This release fixes only some small bugs and memory leaks, new features like the signature file based shellcode parsing will now be implemented for nepenthes.

Bush Was Unaware of Port Deal Until After It Was Approved

Click for large image.

Article via MSNBC.

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.

Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and House that the $6.8 billion sale could raise risks of terrorism at American ports. In a forceful defense of his administration’s earlier approval of the deal, he pledged to veto any bill from Congress that would block the sale of a British company to the Arab firm.

Bush faces a rebellion from leaders of his own party, as well as from Democrats, over the deal, which would put Dubai Ports in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

Crashed $1M Ferrari Enzo Belonged to Former Gizmondo Exec

Image source: Jalopnik

Ryan Block writes over on Engadget:

We're already on the phone with our friends at Merriam Webster to get the definition of poetic justice revised: Stefan Eriksson -- the former Gizmondo executive who stepped down amidst allegations of his involvement in the Uppsala Mafia Swedish organized crime ring, and who perhaps most embodied the internal corruption of Tiger Telematics -- no longer has his 2003 Ferrari Enzo, of which 399 were made, and each cost a million dollars.

You see, apparently while racing a Mercedes SLR the car careened off an embankment and hit a poll at about 125MPH, which literally split the thing in two right down the center (don't worry, he lived to see this post).

CDT Report: Stronger Laws Needed to Protect Privacy

A new report by CDT details a widening gap between the technology that collects sensitive personal data and the laws designed to protect that data against government misuse. The National Security Agency's domestic spying program, the Justice Department's efforts to obtain millions of Internet search records, the government's use of cell phones to track suspects, and other developments highlight the law's failure to keep pace with technological advances, according to "Digital Search & Seizure: Updating Privacy Protections to Keep Pace with Technology."[.pdf] Stronger laws are needed to ensure that Americans retain their constitutional privacy protections, the report finds.

P2P Spam Scam

Brian McWilliams writes over on the Spam Kings blog:

Spam Kings describes how spammers like Robert Todino have made money (and gotten into trouble for) sending fraudulent ads for free government grants.

Looks like a version of that email scam has appeared on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Someone has been spamming Gnutella with junk files promoting a bogus buyers' club site called efreeclub.com.

Since peer-to-peer networks are regarded by many authorities as a land of outlaws, I doubt anyone in law enforcement will care. And that's what makes this p2p promotion of efreeclub.com such a great scam.

More here.

Commerce Dept. Says China Must Stop Buying Pirated Software

An AP newswire article, via USA Today, reports that:

The administration is not satisfied with China's progress in cracking down on rampant piracy of American copyrighted material, and one of the biggest offenders is the Chinese government, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said Wednesday.

Gutierrez said it was "absolutely unacceptable" that a vast amount of the computer software in use in Chinese government agencies is counterfeit. He indicated that unless improvements are made, the administration would consider bringing a case against China before the World Trade Organization. He also indicated that the United States would be looking for support on the issue from other nations.

Nigerians Arrested in Holland for Internet 419 Scam

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Dutch police said they had arrested 12 Nigerians in connection with an Internet scam in which emails were sent to Americans tricking them into investing in non-existent schemes.

The Nigerians were detained on suspicion of commiting fraud or involvement in fraud in the scheme, which earnt them a total two million dollars (1.7 million euros).

They were arrested Tuesday after raids on premises in Amsterdam and the central city of Zaandam, during which police seized 25,000 euros in cash, computers and fake travel documents.

Most of the victims of the scam were US citizens. Four of the men detained were arrested on the request of US authorities, who cooperated in the investigation.

The gang has posted some 100,000 emails to potential victims, police said.

Windows Defender Beta 2: Updated Version Available

Via The Microsoft Anti-Malware Engineering Team Blog.

An updated version of Windows Defender Beta 2 is now available from the Microsoft Download Center. This update resolves the two issues described in the below blog post relating to non-English versions of Windows and referenced in KB915087. If you are running on a non-English version of Windows, then we advise that you uninstall the previous installation and install the updated version. If you are running on an English version of Windows, then no action is required.

Also, a new definition update package is now available from Microsoft Update which should resolve the problem described in KB915105. Users with Automatic Updates enabled will be notified of the availability of the release in a manner consistent with their Automatic Updates settings.

UK: The Wi-Fi Rip-Off and Your Part in its Downfall

Kieren McCarthy has written a very thoughtful article over on his blog:

I've just spotted an article in The Times which covers a frequent rant of mine - the ridiculous high prices of wireless Internet access in this country and abroad.

As the author notes (discovers), the majority of Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK are run by either BT Openzone or T-Mobile and both of them charge a ludicrous £6 an hour for access. I have long complained that coffee shops, pubs, shops etc etc are stupid to accept their systems at this price and that they would benefit enormously from simply installing equipment, sticking on a wireless router and for a minimal outlay welcome a whole new series of customers.

I am certain the economics are there already, but no one else seems quite so certain.

More here.

Dilbert: The Internet Is Full

Click for large image.

FBI Computer Budget Balloons

An AP newswire article, via CNN, reports that:

The FBI's latest attempt to modernize its computers is running behind schedule and its budget already has exceeded the cost of the last failed effort.

FBI Director Robert Mueller and other officials have refused to disclose the anticipated cost of the Sentinel program, which won't be fully in place until 2009. But the FBI has set aside $97 million for it this year and is asking for an additional $100 million in the government spending year that begins October 1.

Last year, Mueller scrapped the Virtual Case File, Sentinel's $170 million predecessor, after consultants pronounced it obsolete and riddled with problems. It had been billed as the final piece of the FBI's computer upgrade, an instantaneous and paperless way for agents and analysts to manage all types of investigations.

The Effect of Lawsuits: Taser's 4Q Profit Plummets 98 Percent

An AP newswire article, via SFGate.com, reports that:

Stun-gun maker Taser International Inc. reported Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 98 percent on lower sales and higher expenses, as the company fought lawsuits during the period.

Taser said its quarterly income declined to $92,697, or break even per share, from $4.7 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago. Sales fell 34 percent to $12.6 million from $19.2 million last year.

City of Austin Sued Over AMD Campus Plans

Via The Austin Business Journal.

The Save Our Springs Alliance filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s proposed office campus in Southwest Austin.

In a suit filed Tuesday in Travis County District Court against the city of Austin, the Austin-based environmental group claims the city is violating the 1992 voter-approved Save Our Springs ordinance by allowing the AMD project to move forward. The ordinance governs development in environmentally sensitive parts of the city.

User Friendly: Needing Some Marketing

Click for large image.

Yahoo! Unbans Allah!

John Oates writes on The Register:

Yahoo! has reversed its decision to stop people registering Yahoo! IDs which include the letters "allah".

The Reg was contacted yesterday by a reader - Ed Callahan - who was having trouble registering his mum - Linda Callahan - for a Verizon email address - provided through a Yahoo! portal.

But Yahoo! got in touch with us this morning to say it is now accepting Yahoo! identities which contain the letters "allah". The Callahans will be overjoyed.

Hollywood Hails Shutdown of Music-Sharing Server

A Reuters newswire article by Adam Pasick, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Swiss and Belgian police have shut down a major component of the eDonkey file-sharing network, used mainly to trade copies of copyrighted movies and music, the Motion Picture Association said [.pdf] on Wednesday.

Razorback 2 was the biggest server on the eDonkey peer-to-peer (P2P) network, which transfers data from user to user. Music companies have blamed P2P piracy for causing a drastic downturn in sales, and Hollywood is trying to prevent a similar impact on the movie business.

Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

U.S. Technology Has Been Used To Block, Censor Net For Years

Kevin Maney writes in USA Today:

Internet users in Yemen can't get to beer.com because of technology from a couple of U.S. companies.

Surely this is a human rights violation, keeping innocent civilians from a website devoted to beer and women. Why, the Yemeni Netizens — all 150,000 of them — are also blocked from getting to gayegypt.com. They're denied spikybras.com! Which, by the way, ya gotta check out — it's hilarious, and no more racy than an I Dream of Jeannie episode.

Anyway, all of those websites are on Yemen's blocked list, according to a study to be released Tuesday by OpenNet Initiative (ONI), a research organization formed by Harvard, the U.K.'s Cambridge and the University of Toronto. The report will say that Yemen filters its Internet by using technology from Websense, based in San Diego, and Blue Coat Systems, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Shocked? Upset? Time for more table-pounding congressional hearings such as the ones last week, where Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., berated reps from Google, Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft about their roles in censorship in China, repeating, " Are you ashamed?"

Jeez — get a grip.

More here.

EU Gets New Complaint Against Microsoft

A group of Microsoft rivals and customers filed a new complaint with the European Commission on Wednesday, accusing the U.S. software giant of competing unfairly.

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) said in a statement that Microsoft "threatens to deny enterprises and individual consumers real choice."

ECIS, which dates back to 1989, includes IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Nokia, RealNetworks and others.

Ex-Livedoor Chief Arrested Again

A Reuters newswire article, via CNN/Money, reports that:

Takafumi Horie, the former Internet CEO who shook up corporate Japan and ran for parliament with ruling party backing, was arrested again Wednesday on suspicion of violating a securities law, Tokyo prosecutors said.

Horie, formerly chief executive of Livedoor Co., was arrested on suspicion of falsifying parent company accounts and submitting false financial statements, they said.

Also arrested Wednesday was Livedoor representative director Fumito Kumagai and three other former Livedoor executives, prosecutors said.

22 February 1732: Happy Birthday, George Washington

Portrait of General George Washington in the Scottish Parliament
Portrait Archives.
Image source: www.scottish.parliament.uk

Props to The Father of Our Great Country.

Via Wikipedia.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the successful Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and later became the first President of the United States, an office to which he was elected, unanimously, twice (1789-1797). Washington first gained prominence as an officer during the French and Indian War and as a leader of colonial militia supporting the British Empire. After leading the American victory in the Revolutionary War, he refused to lead a military regime, returning to civilian life at Mount Vernon.

In 1787, he presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the current U.S. Constitution, and, in 1789, was the unanimous choice to become the first President of the United States. His two-term administration set many policies and traditions that survive today. After his second term expired, Washington again voluntarily relinquished power, thereby establishing an important precedent that was to serve as an example for the United States and also for other future republics.

Because of his central role in the founding of the United States, Washington is often called the "Father of his Country". Scholars rank him with Abraham Lincoln among the greatest of U.S. presidents.

Chinese Media Assails Google

Philip P. Pan writes in The Washington Post:

A state-run newspaper reported Tuesday that Google Inc. is under investigation for operating without a proper license in China and quoted an unnamed government official as saying the Internet giant needs to cooperate further with the authorities in blocking "harmful information" from its search results.

The report, in the Beijing News, was published the same day that another state newspaper ran a harshly worded editorial about Google. The paper accused the firm of sneaking into China like an "uninvited guest" and then making a fuss about being required to follow Chinese law and cooperate in censoring search results such as pornography.

More here.

Arianespace Delays Spanish Military, European Telecom Satellite Launch

An AFX newswire article, via Forbes.com, reports that:

The launch of two satellites, including Spain's first dedicated military satellite, on a European rocket has been postponed indefinitely for technical reasons, launch operator Arianespace said.

The Ariane 5 ECA, a heavy-duty version of the European Space Agency (ESA) Ariane 5 series, was to have blasted off from Europe's space base at Kourou, French Guiana.

Its payload comprised the 3.7-ton Spainsat, the first Spanish satellite dedicated to secure government communications, and the 4.1-ton Hot Bird 7A, a TV and radio relay satellite for the European consortium Eutelsat.

The postponement was decided after a problem was found with the launching pad, Arianespace said in a communique, adding that a new date for the launch would be set 'within hours.'

Dell Troubles? Dell Postpones Analyst Meeting

Dan Zehr writes in The Austin American-Statesman:

Dell Inc. today postponed its annual meeting with stock analysts, less than a week after saying it would use the meeting to provide Wall Street with more details on its strategy.

The company told analysts in an e-mail that it would delay its usual April meeting until September and return it to New York from Austin.

"There was some reflection, and it was determined that (if we would) meet again in five weeks, we would not have much to tell analysts that was different from what we spoke about last week," when executives discussed Dell's fourth-quarter results with analysts, said spokesman Jess Blackburn.

More here.

Judge Orders Spy Disclosure in Terror Case

An AP newswire article, via The New York Times, reports that:

The government must disclose whether it used any information from the Bush administration's eavesdropping program in its case against a man convicted of joining Al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate the president, a federal judge said in a ruling made public Tuesday.

The judge, Gerald Bruce Lee, postponed the sentencing of the man, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, at the request of defense lawyers who said they suspected that he was illegally singled out by the eavesdropping program.

More here.

Australia: Optus Makes Bush Payphone Offer

An AAP newswire article, via Australian IT, reports that:

Optus has thrown the bush a life line with an offer to take over the running of payphones.

Telstra this week said it planned to dump up to 5,000 of its 32,000 payphones in a bid to trim costs in the lead-up to its full sale.

In a letter to Communications Minister Helen Coonan, Optus chief executive Paul O'Sullivan offered to take over the payphones under its legally binding public commitment, the universal service obligation (USO).

Telstra receives about $70 a million to cover its USO dealing with about 7500 payphones.

Privacy Groups Urge San Francisco to Deploy 'Privacy-Friendly' Network

Via EPIC.org.

ACLU of Northern California, EFF, and EPIC submitted comments to San Francisco TechConnect urging it to establish a privacy-friendly municipal broadband service in the city.

TechConnect is charged with researching municipal broadband issues for the city, and the body has asked potential providers to submit privacy policies for their services, but has not set minimum standards for privacy protection.

The coalition comments seek minimum standards that will allow people to use the network anonymously, limit retention of personal information when it is collected, and protect users' interests when legal demands are made for network data.

Post Mortem Bling: Turn Your Loved Ones' Remains into a Gemstone!

Image source: LifeGem

Confused about what to do with your remains when you're finished with your earthly packaging? Well, have your bitter old corpse cremated and compressed into a gemstone!

Yes, indeed -- it's for real.

In all actuality, I saw this small snippet in the last issue of Popular Science (Feb. 2006, p. 86), and decided to check it out.

From the LifeGem website:

After extensive research and development, we have discovered how to extract the carbon from existing cremated remains. This process begins with a portion of remains from any standard cremation.

Once captured, this carbon is heated to extremely high temperatures under special conditions. While removing the existing ash, this process converts your loved one’s carbon to graphite with unique characteristics and elements that will create your one-of-a-kind LifeGem diamond like no other in this world.

The gift that keeps on shining!

AT&T Earmarks $8.5B For International Expansion

Don't forget, boys and girls -- Ma Bell is looking to stomp out network neutrality world-wide.

Tom Sanders writes on vnunet.com:

The US telecommunications provider AT&T has unveiled an investment plan that will see the company invest $8 to $8.5 [billion] in mostly Europe.

The provider is planning to introduce a new Metro Ethernet service in 12 European countries including the UK, France and Germany. The service promises connection speeds of up to 100 Mbps and is targeted at densely populated areas.

More here.

Lucent Lands DoD DWDM Deal

Phil Harvey writes on Light Reading:

Lucent Technologies Inc.is close to pulling off what looks to be a huge optical networking win against 12 other vendors for a European DWDM network managed by the U.S. Defense Department, Light Reading has learned.

The Defense Department acknowledged in a statement late Friday that it will award Lucent a two-year contract, with the possibility of three one-year extensions. Sources close to the deal say the paperwork hasn't been finalized yet, but the total contract has an "estimated life cycle value $94,000,000" the Defense Department statement says.

Nortel Poaches Juniper Strategist

Ray Le Maistre writes on Light Reading:

Nortel Networks Ltd. announced another addition to its new-look management team this morning with the appointment of George Riedel as Chief Strategy Officer.

Riedel, who "will be responsible for leading the Company's corporate strategy including business development and mergers and acquisitions," according to Nortel, joins from Juniper Networks Inc., where he was vice president, strategy and corporate development.

H5N1 News: British Protect Legendary Black Ravens From Bird Flu

Mary Jordan writes in The Washington Post:

For 350 years, six coal-black ravens have wandered freely around the Tower of London's inner courtyard as cawing barometers of the monarchy's vitality. If the ravens ever die or leave the tower, the legend goes, the tower and the kingdom will fall.

Now the fear of bird flu has done what Nazi Luftwaffe bombings, winter blizzards, assassinations and abdications could not, forcing the ravens to be moved inside in isolation for their own safety and to hedge Britain's bets on the future of the crown.

More here.

Yes, That's Right -- The Cat Piano

Image source: Gizmodo

There was just no way on earth I was going to let this one slide by without mentioning it... Enjoy!

Via Gizmodo.

Chill out, PETA. The cat piano was the work of a German scholar over 350 years ago. Athanasius Kircher designed the cat piano and documented it in the Musurgia Universalis in 1650. The piano was designed to raise the spirits of an Italian prince who was too stressed out.

The musician would select cats whose voices were at different pitches then arrange them in the pens accordingly. The piano delivered sharp pokes into the tails of the cats.

Cruel? Definitely. Funny? Yeah, a little bit.

Fight Brewing in Congress Over Net Neutrality

Grant Gross writes on InfoWorld:

Someday soon, your broadband provider may allow you to get faster results on one search engine, while your favorite search site is slower.

A handful of large broadband providers control the pipes into most U.S. residents’ homes, and they now want to control the content flowing over those pipes, consumer advocates complain. And how much control large broadband providers such as AT&T, BellSouth and Comcast have over the Web sites and applications customers use on their broadband networks is at the heart of a debate heating up in the U.S. Congress this year.

A concept called net neutrality -- that Internet users should have the right to go to any legal Web site, run any legal Web application and attach any legal device to the network -- has been around for years. Former U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell called for four Internet freedoms enveloping net neutrality in February 2004.

More here.

Satire: U.S. Outsources Homeland Security to North Korea

Andy Borowitz writes in Newsweek:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff raised eyebrows today by announcing that the United States would outsource all of it homeland security operations to a little-known North Korean firm called Jim Kong-Il Inc.

Coming just days after the controversial decision to allow several major U.S. ports to be run by a company based in the United Arab Emirates, the outsourcing of the nation’s homeland security functions to an obscure company based in an Axis of Evil country struck some in Washington as ill-timed at best.

But Chertoff vigorously defended the decision in a Washington press conference this afternoon, calling Jim Kong-Il Inc. the "right firm for the job," adding, “I looked into the company and it seems okay.”

When asked exactly how thoroughly he had vetted the North Korean firm, Chertoff said, “Well, I mean, I haven’t Googled it or anything but you just have to trust me on this one.”

Bravo. More here.

Nude Photo Site Wins Injunction Against Google

Declan McCullagh writes on C|Net News:

A federal judge has ruled that portions of Google's popular image search feature, which displays small thumbnail versions of images found on other Web sites, likely violate U.S. copyright law.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz ruled Friday that Perfect 10 [NSFW], an adult-oriented Web site featuring "beautiful natural women" in the nude, has shown that Google image search probably infringes copyright law "by creating and displaying thumbnail copies of its photographs."

The Los Angeles judge said he would award Perfect 10 a preliminary injunction against Google, and gave lawyers for both sides until March 8 to propose the injunction's wording.

Judge Denies Bid For Another BlackBerry Hearing

A Reuters newswire article, via CNN/Money, reports that:

The federal judge overseeing the patent infringement case against the maker of the BlackBerry portable e-mail device Tuesday rejected a request by the U.S. Justice Department to hold additional proceedings on how to exempt government users from a potential shutdown of BlackBerry service.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer turned down a request by the Justice Department to hold a separate hearing to delve into the department's concerns about the potential shutdown, something that could have further delayed the case against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.

AOL to Charge Same for Dial-Up, Broadband

An AP newswier article by Anick Jesdanun, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

America Online Inc., seeking to encourage its subscribers to sign up for high-speed connections, is raising the price of its main dial-up plan to equal that of its new broadband offerings.

That means most subscribers will pay $25.90 a month for either dial-up or broadband beginning March 9, although AOL is offering discounts to dial-up subscribers who commit to a year. AOL currently charges $23.90 a month for unlimited dial-up access.

UK: Web Site Axes MP Over 'Fake' e-Mails

Via The BBC.

An MP sent e-mails - and replies - to himself to improve his "responsiveness rating" on a website which helps people contact their elected representatives.

Conservative Iain Liddell-Grainger was disqualified from the writetothem.com league table after sending five messages from a hotmail account.

Site director Tom Steinberg said this had made his data "unreliable".

Airship Tech: Frankenstein of the Skies

Image source: Worldwide Aeros Corp.

Jonathan Silverstein writes on ABC News:

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's … an Aeroscraft?

A Tarzana, Calif., company has been working on a new kind of aircraft that looks more like a flying cruise liner than anything inhabiting the skies today.

"It's not a blimp, it's not an airship, it's a totally new vehicle," said Edward Pevzner, business development manager for Worldwide Aeros Corp.

More here.

Microsoft, Cisco Not in Sync on Security

Ellen Messmer writes on NetworkWorld:

While Microsoft and Cisco continue the hard sell on their respective visions for quarantine-based endpoint security, customers and industry experts are asking hard questions about cost, complexity and the willingness of these industry giants to work together.

The dual dynamics were on display at last week's RSA Conference 2006, where Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and Cisco CEO John Chambers each used the term "ecosphere" in describing the need to have a broad swath of security vendors in the anti-virus, patch management and endpoint security arenas cooperating to support a common framework that recognizes violations of security policy and restricts access until remediation takes place.

That Gates and Chambers were talking about separate frameworks was not lost on the audience.

More here.

Gadget of the Day: Shower Clock Radio With… Spy Camera?

Image source: Gizmodo

Via Gizmodo.

OK. This is kind of creepy. It’s a $189 water resistant clock radio with CD player and there’s a color spy camera built into it for… spying on people taking showers?

While our prurient streak says “Hell yes!” or practical side says “Dude, your mom could be in the shower. Freakout.” The site also features other hidden cameras including some waterproof cameras and these cool little pinhole screw-head cameras.

Security Fight Ensues Over Handover of U.S. Ports to Arab Firm

An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist called Tuesday for the Bush administration to stop a deal permitting a United Arab Emirates company to take over six major U.S. seaports, upping the ante on a fight that several congressmen, governors and mayors are waging with the White House.

“The decision to finalize this deal should be put on hold until the administration conducts a more extensive review of this matter,” said Frist. “If the administration cannot delay this process, I plan on introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this decision gets a more thorough review.”

But at the Pentagon, the UAE was praised as an important strategic military partner by both Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rumsfeld told that a process was in place and “the process worked.”

Sorting Out Microsoft's Anti-Malware Services

Via eMail Battles.

Microsoft's current offerings for anti-spyware, anti-virus and anti-hacker services is such an overlapping jumble, it has some of its own developers confused. What distinguishes Windows Defender, Windows Live Safety Center, Malicious Software Removal Tool, Windows OneCare Live, and Microsoft Client Protection from each other? Which tools work together? Which don't?

Email Battles sorts it all out... hopefully.

More here.

FCC Tallies Fewer Wireless Complaints in Q4 2005

Jeffrey Silva writes on RCR Wireless News:

Complaints filed by mobile-phone subscribers at the Federal Communications Commission dropped in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared with the previous quarter, the agency said.

The FCC said wireless complaints decreased from 6,873 in the third quarter to 4,956 in the fourth quarter, with fewer complaints received in all categories monitored by the commission.

21 February 1916: The Battle of Verdun

German dead at the battle of Verdun.
Image source: Wikipedia.

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Verdun (World War I), one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare.

Via Wikipedia.

The Battle of Verdun was a major battle of the Western Front in World War I. The battle was fought between the German and French armies between February 21 and 19 December 1916 around Verdun-sur-Meuse in northeast France. It resulted in more than a quarter of a million deaths and about half a million wounded. It was the longest battle of World War I, and the second bloodiest after the battle of the Somme (1916).

Immigrant Tech: Shoes Designed to Help Border Crossers

Image source: Gizmodo

Via The World Health Organization (WHO).

Now here’s something that’s sure to create a little bit of controversy. They’re called Brincos, and they’re shoes designed to help illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexican border.

Designed by Argentinean artist Judi Werthein, these shoes feature an array of items designed to make the dangerous trip across the border a little less so. There’s a built-in compass, a pouch inside the tongue used to store aspirin and a map of popular routes going from Tijuana to San Diego on the insole. An Aztec eagle adorns the heel, while the shoes’ red, white, and green colors remind you that, yes, the shoes were designed with Mexican nationals in mind.

The Brincos (the name derives from the Spanish verb brincar, “to jump,” as in, to jump the border) were handed out for free to migrants, while so-called hip stores in San Diego were spotted selling them for $215. Please don’t tell Pat Buchanan.

Iridium-Based Satellite Pay Phone Takes Credit Cards

A UPI newsbrief, via PhysOrg.com, reports that:

The first Iridium-based satellite pay phone that accepts credit cards was unveiled Monday by an Arizona company.

World Communication Center said its phone will make it easier for customers to make their calls, and easier for the phone's owners to handle billing.

Satellite coverage is by Iridium, which provides satellite voice and data worldwide.

Apple Special Event Set for February 28

Ryan Katz writes on Think Secret:

Apple has announced it will hold a special event Tuesday, February 28 to show off some "fun new products".

The invite, sent to specially invited guests by e-mail and obtained by Think Secret includes a large graphic of an iCal-style icon with the date of February 28, 2006 and simply states that the event will take place at Apple's Town Hall conference center on the company's main campus in Cupertino, Calif., beginning at 10:00 am Pacific Time.

H5N1 News: WHO -- Rapid Geographical Spread of the Virus

The occurrence of the disease in India, reported on 18 February, is part of a recent pattern of rapid geographical spread of the virus in wild and domestic birds. India is one of 13 countries that have reported their first cases of H5N1 infection in birds since the beginning of February. (The 13 countries, listed in order of reporting, are Iraq, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India and France.)

On 20 February, Malaysia reported a fresh outbreak in poultry after having been considered free of the disease for more than a year.

The situation in these recently affected countries varies greatly. Most European countries with good veterinary surveillance have detected the virus in a small number of wild birds only, with no evidence to date of spread to domestic birds.

More here.

Indian Software Firms to Lobby Bush to Increase H1-B Visa Quota

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Indian software firms said they would lobby US President George W. Bush during his March visit to double the visa quota for Indian information technology professionals.

India employs 700,000 software professionals, up from 7,000 a decade ago, and many of them work abroad using special visas on contracts won by local technology companies.

The National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM), India's top software lobby, said the annual limit of 65,000 H1-B visas was too low and wants it doubled.

Fake Drugs, Including Tamiflu, Thrive on Internet

No big surprise here.

A Reuters newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Criminals are using the Internet to sell increasing quantities of counterfeit medicines, including fake versions of bird flu drug Tamiflu, a senior U.N. health expert said on Tuesday.

Vitamin and health supplements, so-called "lifestyle medications" like erectile dysfunction drugs, and steroids bought over the Internet were especially likely to be false.

Court Upholds Church Use of Hallucinogenic Tea

Tech Angle: Who cares. I can only connect to my God under the influence of hallucinogenics, too. :-)

An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.

Justices, in their first religious freedom decision under Chief Justice John Roberts, moved decisively to keep the government out of a church’s religious practice. Federal drug agents should have been barred from confiscating the hoasca tea of the Brazil-based church, Roberts wrote in the decision.

The tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred to members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has a blend of Christian beliefs and South American traditions. Members believe they can understand God only by drinking the tea, which is consumed twice a month at four-hour ceremonies.

Kansas City Builds GigE Network

Om Malik writes on his Next Generation blog:

North Kansas City, Missouri which already has some fiber infrastructure is now planning to build a Gigabit-to-the-Premise (GTTP) broadband network. The LiNKCity network is expected to go live sometime this spring. City officials believe that the new network, will help attract more businesses to the city. World Wide Packets is the equipment provider for this phase of the buildout. The construction of the much-anticipated liNKCity fiber optic network began on December 5, 2005

GTTP doesn’t necessarily mean that every home will have access to a gigabit ethernet service.

More here.

Los Alamos Successfully Employs Quantum Key Distribution

William Eazel writes on SC Magazine Online:

A team of Los Alamos scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., and Albion College, in Albion, Mich., have achieved quantum key distribution (QKD) at telecommunications industry wavelengths in a 50-kilometer (31 mile) optical fiber.

According to the researchers, the work could accelerate the development of QKD for secure communications in optical fibers at distances far beyond current technological limits.

More here.

UK: BT to Sell ID Theft Insurance

Via The Register.

BT has hooked up with Card Protection Plan Limited (CPP) to flog insurance to protect punters against ID theft.

For £50 a year, users are covered for up to £50,000 to help meet the cost of restoring their identity if it's nicked via online fraud, "bin raiders" looking for statements and receipts, or by skimming credit cards.

If needed, the £50,000 can be used for expenses such as legal fees, lost wages and costs for rejected loan fees.

China Issues Internet e-Mail Regulations

Sure, that's what it is. To "crackdown on unwanted 'spam' advertising." Right. That's the ticket...

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

China issued new regulations on Internet e-mail, in an effort to standardize registration procedures and crackdown on unwanted "spam" advertising.

The new rules, issued by the Ministry of Information Industry, require all Internet e-mail service providers to set up uniform technical standards and registration systems, Xinhua news agency said.

E-mail service providers must also set up mandated security measures, it added, without elaborating.

More here.

NetZero Voice: Another Skype Rival

Olga Kharif writes on the Businessweek Online Tech Beat Blog:

I just trialed NetZero Voice, a Skype-like VoIP service that's pretty good. It allows you to make calls from your PC no matter whether you have satellite, dial-up or broadband connection to the Internet. Just as is the case with Skype, PC-to-PC calls between NetZero customers are free, and you pay extra for PC-to-phone calls.

And NetZero has several features that Skype doesn't. NetZero comes with a free e-mail account, for example. Naturally, you also get free voicemail, free caller ID, free call waiting and call blocking. Plus, you can see a log of the calls you made online, and listen to your voicemails online. All of these features are very easy to use. You also get a free phone number when you sign up.

More here.

Boing Boing: DRM 'Arms-Dealer' Threatens Mac Software Site

VersionTracker, an excellent repository for Mac software, has been threatened with legal action by Macrovision (a company that sells malicious anti-copying software that blocks owners of movies and software from making backup copies of them). At issue is a link to MacTheRipper, a program that helps you make backups of your DVDs:

"We have been contacted by Macrovision, who claims this violates their property and are threatening to sue us if we don't remove the links to it. We are checking with our legal advisors to find out what our options are. -VersionTracker Editors"

More Mac OS X Malware Identified

Image source: F-Secure

Jarno writes over on the F-Secure "News from the Lab" Blog:

Today we received two more samples of Mac OS X malware.

OSX/Inqtana.B and OSX/Inqtana.C are close variants to original OSX/Inqtana.A. About the only difference between variants is the technique by which the worm will start on the infected machine after user has accepted OBEX file transfers.

The startup routines on Inqtana.B and Inqtana.C will most likely work also on OS X 10.3.

Like Inqtana.A the .B and .C are locked to certain bluetooth addresses and are time limited to 24. February 2006, so they will not be able to replicate on any real environment and will work only in specially crafted lab. However it is possible that some virus author will create similar worms that are not intentionally limited, so please make sure that your OS X is up to date.

UK: Nominet Faces Rebellion Over Rule Changes

Kieren McCarthy writes on The Register:

Nominet, the company in charge of the .uk registry, is facing a grassroots rebellion over proposed changes to company rules that will see it enter a more commercial phase.

Last week, Nominet announced an extraordinary general meeting on March 16, where members would be invited to vote in favour of changes to its Articles of Association.

More here.

Critical Vulnerability: Mac OS X '__MACOSX' ZIP Archive Shell Script Execution

Via Secunia.

Description:
Michael Lehn has discovered a vulnerability in Mac OS X, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the processing of file association meta data (stored in the "__MACOSX" folder) in ZIP archives. This can be exploited to trick users into executing a malicious shell script renamed to a safe file extension stored in a ZIP archive.

This can also be exploited automatically via the Safari browser when visiting a malicious web site.

Secunia has constructed a test, which can be used to check if your system is affected by this issue:
http://secunia.com/mac_os_x_command_execution_vulnerability_test/

The vulnerability has been confirmed on a fully patched system with Safari 2.0.3 (417.8) and Mac OS X 10.4.5.

Solution:
The vulnerability can be mitigated by disabling the "Open safe files after downloading" option in Safari.

Do not open files in ZIP archives originating from untrusted sources.

User Friendly: No Demonic Aspirations

Click for larger image.

UK: London Goes Wi-Fi

Roibert Jaques writes on vnunet.com:

The City of London Corporation today announced plans to install a "dense and comprehensive" Wi-Fi internet network throughout London's Square Mile.

The project is being undertaken by the City in partnership with Wi-Fi firm The Cloud which will install and manage the network.

Expected to go live in the next few months, with virtually all the City covered within six months, the Wi-Fi network will be installed in existing street furniture including lamp posts and street signs.

The network will allow City workers and visitors with Wi-Fi enabled devices to access the internet on streets and in open spaces.

Identity Theft Feeds $1B Gaming Black Market

Simon Burns writes on vnunet.com:

A plague of identity theft is afflicting South Korea's online gamers, as reported cases soar to almost a quarter of a million.

Many of the stolen identities are being used in gaming 'farms' in China as part of a $1bn a year black market in cash and items from online games, according to local media reports.

Comcast Boosts Cable Modem Speed For Subscribers in Northern Virginia

Arshad Mohammed writes in The Washington Post:

Comcast Corp. said yesterday that it has boosted speeds on its cable modem service in Reston without raising prices, in the face of fresh TV and Internet competition from Verizon Communications Inc.

The announcement is the latest escalation of the battle between cable companies such as Comcast and phone companies such as Verizon to offer packages of TV, Internet and phone service as they move into each other's traditional businesses.

More here.

China: Bloggers Who Pursue Change Confront Fear And Mistrust

Philip P. Pan writes in The Washington Post:

When Zhao Jing moved his blog to Microsoft's popular MSN Spaces site last summer, some users worried the Chinese government would block the entire service. The censors had blacklisted the last site where the young journalist had posted his spirited political essays, and he seemed unwilling to tone down his writing at the new address.

But Zhao, better known by the pen name Anti, told fellow bloggers not to worry. If the government objected to his blog, he predicted, Microsoft would "sell me out" and delete it rather than risk being blocked from computer screens across China.

He was right. Four and a half months after he began posting essays challenging the Communist Party's taboo against discussing politics, Zhao published an item protesting the purge of a popular newspaper's top editors. Officials called Microsoft to complain, and Microsoft quickly erased his blog.

More here.

Gapingvoid.com Fix

Via gapingvoid.com. Enjoy!

Capacity Warning: Earth's Population Hurtles Toward 6.5 Billion

Joanna Glasner writes on Wired News:

The planet's population is projected to reach 6.5 billion at 7:16 p.m. EST Saturday, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and its World Population Clock.

Thomas Malthus, the 18th-century thinker who famously predicted the human population would outrun its food supply, would be astounded.

AOL, WebEx Team Up on Instant-Messaging

An AP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

America Online Inc. and WebEx Communications Inc. are teaming up to provide a business version of AOL's popular AIM instant-messaging software.

Called AIM Pro, the business version will offer more security — communications, for instance, will be encrypted — and more features to help workers collaborate, using conferencing tools offered by WebEx, based in Santa Clara, Calif. AIM Pro users can communicate with those on the basic AIM, although not all features, including encryption, would be fully available.

Google Denies China License Reports

A Reuters newswire article, via CNN/Money, reports that:

Internet giant Google, which has agreed to block politically sensitive items on its new China site, rejected Chinese newspaper reports Tuesday that the new platform doesn't have the correct license.

The Beijing News reported Tuesday that Google.cn, the recently launched service that accommodates China's censorship demands, has not obtained the Internet content provider (ICP) license needed to operate Internet content services in China.

U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review

What the hell is going on here?

Scott Shane writes in The New York Times:

In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians.

The restoration of classified status to more than 55,000 previously declassified pages began in 1999, when the Central Intelligence Agency and five other agencies objected to what they saw as a hasty release of sensitive information after a 1995 declassification order signed by President Bill Clinton. It accelerated after the Bush administration took office and especially after the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to archives records.

But because the reclassification program is itself shrouded in secrecy — governed by a still-classified memorandum that prohibits the National Archives even from saying which agencies are involved — it continued virtually without outside notice until December. That was when an intelligence historian, Matthew M. Aid, noticed that dozens of documents he had copied years ago had been withdrawn from the archives' open shelves.

Much more here.

Canada: CRTC Outlines Plans for Do-Not-Call List Policy Process

Michale Geist writes on his blog:

The CRTC today unveiled a series of developments on the creation of a do-not-call list. The Commission will hold a four-day public hearing on the issue from May 2 to 5, 2006. Those interested in participating must register by March 6, 2006 (those interested in submitting comments without participating can submit something until May 10, 2006).

In addition, there are potential opportunities to participate in a consortium that will appoint the do-not-call list administrator as well as on a technical body that will address operational issues.

Beijing News: Google Has No License for China Service

A Reuters newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Internet search giant Google Inc.'s controversial expansion into China now faces possible trouble with regulators after a Beijing newspaper said its new Chinese-language platform does not have a license.

The Beijing News reported on Tuesday that Google.cn, the company's recently launched service that accommodates the China's censorship demands, "has not obtained the ICP (Internet content provider) license needed to operate Internet content services in China."

The Ministry of Information Industry, which regulates China's Internet, was "concerned" and investigating the problem, the paper said.

Pittsburgh Student to Publish Anthrax Project

An AP newswire article, via ABC News, reports that:

A high school student who showed in a science fair project that using a clothes iron on mail can kill anthrax-like spores inside without damaging the contents of the envelope will have that research published later this year.

Marc Roberge, 17, a senior at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, decided to experiment on the issue after discussing his father's work as a medical toxicologist for the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention office in the Pittsburgh suburb of South Park. His research will appear in the Journal of Medical Toxicology in June.

China's Amoi Wins France Telecom's 3G Mobile Phone Deal

China's Amoi has signed a purchase contract with Orange, a subsidiary of France Telecom.

The latter will purchase nine types of Amoi 3G mobile phones.

Wang Zhiquan, a spokeperson from Amoi, says that Amoi was one of the few manufacturers that has made substantial headway on 3G technology. According to Wang, Amoi had exported more than 100,000 3G mobile phones by December 2005.

China: Shenzhen To Regulate Mobile Text Message Spam