cnet-declan - Slashdot User

Submission + - Bush admin: RIAA verdict shows law is "effecti (news.com) 1

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Saturday October 06, 2007 @02:40AM

cnet-declan writes: "The Bush administration's copyright czar says the RIAA's $222,000 recent jury verdict against a Minnesota woman shows copyright law is "effective" and working as planned. Check out our story with comments from Chris Israel, the U.S. Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement. Israel is formerly a senior Commerce Department official appointed by President Bush in July 2005 who previously worked for Time Warner's public policy arm (Warner Bros. Records is one of the plaintiffs in the RIAA case). We also have an interview with Rep. Rick Boucher, no fan of the RIAA, on whether Congress will change the law, an analysis of why U.S. copyright law is broken, and four reasons why the RIAA won."

Submission + - FBI remotely installs spyware to trace bomb threat (com.com)

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Wednesday July 18, 2007 @05:08AM

cnet-declan writes: "There have been rumors for years about the FBI remotely installing spyware via e-mail or by exploiting an operating system vulnerability from afar — and now there's confirmation. Last month, the FBI obtained a federal court order to remotely install spyware called CIPAV (Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier) to find out who was behind a MySpace account linked to bomb threats sent to a high school near Olympia, Wash. News.com has posted a PDF of the FBI affidavit, which makes for interesting reading, and a summary of the CIPAV results that the FBI submitted to a magistrate judge. It seems as though CIPAV was installed via e-mail, as an article back in 2004 hinted was the case. In addition to reporting the computer's IP address, MAC address, and registry information, it also gave the FBI updates on which IP addresses the user(s) visited. But how did the FBI get the spyware activated and past anti-virus defenses? Two obvious ways are for the Feds to find and exploit their own operating system backdoors, or to compromise security vendors..."

Submission + - Will security firms detect police spyware? (com.com)

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Tuesday July 17, 2007 @02:30PM

cnet-declan writes: "A recent appeals court case dealt with Drug Enforcement Administration agents using a key logger to investigate a suspect using PGP and Hushmail. That invites the obvious question: Will security companies ever intentionally overlook police spyware? There were somewhat-muddled reports in 2001 that Symantec and McAfee would do just that, so over at News.com we figured we'd do a survey of the top 13 security firms. We asked them three questions, including if it is their policy to detect policeware, and our article reporting the results is here. Notably, Check Point said it would "afford law enforcement" the courtesy of whitelisting if requested. We've also posted the full results, with their complete answers. Another question we asked is if they received a court order requiring them to overlook police key loggers or spyware. Symantec, IBM, Kaspersky, and others said no. Only Microsoft and McAfee refused to answer."

Submission + - Senator warns of e-mail tax this fall

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Thursday May 24, 2007 @05:31AM

cnet-declan writes: "State and local governments this week began an all-out lobbying push in Wahsington for the power to tax the Internet, according to our article at News.com. A new Senate bill would usher in Internet sales taxes, and the Federation of Tax Administrators (representing state tax collectors) advised senators at a hearing on Wednesday not to renew a temporary moratorium limiting broadband taxes that expires in November. One irked Republican senator warned that unless it's renewed, we could start seeing email taxes by the end of the year. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey blames it on the Democrats taking over, as do Yahoo and eBay lobbyists. Is this the return of the proposed-then-abandoned United Nations email tax and a non-hoax version of bill 602P?"

Submission + - Congress may outlaw "attempted" piracy

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @05:39AM

cnet-declan writes: "The Bush administration is asking Congress to make "attempted" copyright infringement a federal crime. It's no joke. Here's our News.com article on the topic, along with the text of the legislation and a press-release -type summary. Rep. Lamar Smith, a key House Republican, said he "applauds" the idea, and his Democratic counterpart is probably on board too. In addition, the so-called Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007 would create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software in some circumstances, expand the DMCA with civil asset forfeiture, and authorize wiretaps in investigations of Americans who are "attempting" to infringe copyrights. Does this go too far?"

Submission + - Last chance to tell DHS "no" to national I

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Tuesday May 08, 2007 @01:32PM

cnet-declan writes: "If you don't like the idea of a federalized ID card, you have only have a few hours left to let Homeland Security know your thoughts. That's because the deadline to file comments on the Real ID Act is 5pm ET on Tuesday. Probably the best place to do that is a Web site created by an ad hoc alliance called the Privacy Coalition (they oppose the idea, but if you're a big Real ID fan you can use their site to send adoring comments too). Alternatively, Homeland Security has finally seen fit to give us an email address that you can use to submit comments on the Real ID Act. Send email to oscomments@dhs.gov with "Docket No. DHS-2006-0030" in the Subject: line. Here's some background on what the Feds are planning."

Submission + - VeriSign implants 222 people with RFID chips

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Monday February 12, 2007 @07:40PM

cnet-declan writes: "Anyone remember VeriChip, a company that came up with the idea of implanting chips in humans for tracking them? They've been behind ideas like RFID tagging immigrant and guest workers at the border, and they've persuaded a former Bush Health Secretary to get himself chipped. In this CNET News.com article, we offer an update on how successful the idea has been. It turns out that, according to IPO documents, 222 people have been implanted, with sales revenue of $100,000."

Submission + - Republicans propose ISP tracking legislation

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Wednesday February 07, 2007 @03:05PM

cnet-declan writes: "Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives announced yesterday legislation to force ISPs to keep track of what their users are doing, our CNET News.com story reports. It's part of the Republicans "law and order agenda," with other components devoted to the death penalty, gangs, and terrorists. Attorney General Gonzales would be permitted to force Internet providers to keep logs of Web browsing, instant message exchanges, and e-mail conversations indefinitely. The draft bill is here, and it also includes mandatory Web labeling for sexually explicit pages. The idea enjoys bipartisan support: a Colorado Democrat has been the most ardent supporter in the entire Congress."

Submission + - FBI taps cell phone microphones in Mafia case?

Submitted by

cnet-declan

on Friday December 01, 2006 @09:41PM

cnet-declan writes: "We already knew the FBI can secretly listen in to car conversations by activating microphones of systems like OnStar. A new Mafia court case suggests that the FBI can do the same thing to cell phones, as we explain in this CNET News.com article. Here's the opinion and some background. The most disturbing thing? According to the judge, the bug worked even if the phone appeared to be "powered off." Anyone up for an open-source handset already?"

Submission + - Microsoft leaks Zune details in FCC filing

Submitted by on Friday August 25, 2006 @03:42PM

cnet-declan writes: One of my colleagues at CNET News.com has picked up on a filing that Microsoft made yesterday with the FCC. Our article reports that Microsoft's Zune media player (the iPod rival discussed before on Slashdot) is going to have features such as creating mobile social networks and streaming music to nearby friends or strangers. It's going to support the 802.11b and 802.11g wireless standards, have a 30GB hard drive, support music, movies, and photos, and have a 3-inch screen. Is this finally enough to unseat Apple?

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