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Comment So...illegal things are criminal? (Score 3, Insightful) 205

"Illegal offshore Internet gambling sites are a criminal enterprise"

AKA: Illegal (things) are a criminal (thing).

No kidding! If it becomes legal, then it's no longer a criminal enterprise now is it? He needs to give a better reason why it should remain illegal than just because it's illegal now.
Security

Submission + - New Zealand banks demand a peek at PCs (computerworld.com)

Montgomery Burns III writes: "Banks in New Zealand are seeking access to customer PCs used for online banking transactions to verify whether they have enough security protection. Under the terms of a new banking Code of Practice, banks may request access in the event of a disputed transaction to see if security protection in is place and up to date. Liability for any loss resulting from unauthorized Internet banking transactions rests with the customer if they have "used a computer or device that does not have appropriate protective software and operating system installed and uptodate, [or] failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that the protective systems, such as virus scanning, firewall, antispyware, operating system and antispam software on [the] computer, are uptodate.""
Music

Submission + - Music Industry Attacks Free Prince CD (guardian.co.uk) 1

Mike writes: "You might not like Prince but he's planning on giving away a free CD in a national Sunday newspaper, but music industry executives are practically going insane over the idea and threatening to retaliate. "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday," said Entertainment Retailers Association spokesman Paul Quirk, who also said it would be "an insult" to record stores. But wait a minute- can't Prince give away his own music if he wants to without fear of industry retaliation?"
It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - How Long Could You Live For Without Your Gagdets?

DruCipher writes: CNet.co.uk is running a very funny article about Andrew Lim, the resident mobile phone reviewer, trying to live without all his favourite gadgets. The article sees Andrew try to survive without a mobile phone, a computer, an MP3 player and a TV. At the end of his technology detox he feels more relaxed without all his gadgets but cracks after a few days, "Like all proper detoxes, though, my zen-like calm didn't last for long. Once I'd finished my gadget starvation, I was straight back to the tech bingeing. A remote control gun you say? Yes please!". Could you survive without all your favourite gadgets?
Privacy

FBI Finds It Overstepped Bounds in Collecting Data 107

truthsearch writes with a link to a Washington Post article about an eyebrow raising internal FBI audit recently released to the public. The document finds that, contrary to a document release back in March, the FBI frequently overstepped its bounds in collecting data on US citizens. The article states that the organization may have violated laws or agency rules 'more than 1,000 times'. "The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002. The vast majority of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request and were not authorized to collect. But two dozen of the newly-discovered violations involved agents' requests for information that U.S. law did not allow them to have."

Defeating China's National Firewall 370

Bruce Schneier is reporting on his blog that a recent paper is discussing how to defeat China's national firewall. From the article: "However, because the original packets are passed through the firewall unscathed, if both of the endpoints were to completely ignore the firewall's reset packets, then the connection will proceed unhindered! We've done some real experiments on this -- and it works just fine!! Think of it as the Harry Potter approach to the Great Firewall -- just shut your eyes and walk onto Platform 9¾."

Comment Re:Happens all the time (Score 1) 153

I've been on the other end of this, I did web design for a while and a company called "Specialty Technical Publications" found my address on my site, sent me a CD, then a month later sent me an invoice for a monthly $500+ charge for as many months as I wanted to keep the CD, including a month that had passed... this reminds me, I have to go file a BBB complaint.

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