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2004 November

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Government’s Tangled Web Unraveled by World Wide Web

If there’s one thing at which our government excels, it’s obfuscating, obstructing, and even obliterating information, particularly when it doesn’t want John Q. Public to have access to that information. Even with the advent of the Freedom of Information Act, there’s a whole lot going on which we don’t know about. Some of which we […]

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Audio Interview: File Sharing? The Justice Department Says That It Wants To Know Who You Are

Phil Leigh’s “Inside Digital Media” is a place where, according to its site, “you can see and hear interviews with thought leaders in the Digital Media industries.”
And, indeed, that is just what they offer.
Of particular interest to Aunty was the November 18th interview with David Israelite, Chairman of the Task Force on Intellectual Property, for […]

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Domain Keys “Adopted” by Phishers

Domain Keys is another flavour of e-mail sender authentication, along with SPF and Microsoft Sender I.D., designed to help ensure that e-mail that claims to be from Sender X is, in fact, from Sender X. Developed last year by Yahoo!, and deployed last month, its primary purpose in life is to help prevent the forging […]

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IBM, Google, Oracle Among Those Worrying About Auction of Commerce One’s Web Services Patents

Commerce One, a software company, has filed bankrupcty and is in the process of liquidating its assets. Among those assets are 39 patents for web services, many, if not all, of which are widely used today.
This is causing several industry leaders concern, as they have incorporated into their own software web protocols which, arguably, could […]

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Kazaa Has “High Clot Factor,” and is Spyware According to Computer Associates International

Computer Associates International has named Kazaa one of the top “spyware” programs, and in fact said that it posed a greater risk than any of the other top five programs on CAI’s spyware list, due to how popular it is.
Kazaa claims that it has been downloaded 214 million times.
In additional, CAI claims that Kazaa has […]

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Motion Picture Association Gets $23.8 Million Win Against Internet Movie Pirate

As Aunty reported to you all earlier this month here, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) is going on a lawsuit blitz, suing anyone they can get their hands on who has impermissibly downloaded even just one movie.
This week it appears that their wide-dragging net caught a big fish, as they were awarded 23.8 million dollars […]

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Great Place to Get Up-to-the-Minute Virus Information

For those of you who like your virus information fresh and al dente, you can’t beat the online virus information offered by Panda Software.
Panda not only provides you with the name of the virus, and date that it was discovered, but it gives you an instant reading as to the threat level of the virus […]

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Stick Your Thumb on the USB Drive, or Step Away from the Computer

Now here’s a cool little gadget for the privacy freak who has everything.
Lexar has announced that beginning next week they will be selling a USB drive which reads your fingerprint, and converts the reading off the ridges into a password.
For subsequent use, if the fingerprint doesn’t fit, it will not admit.
The device does this by […]

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RFID Manufacturer Poo-poos Privacy Advocates, Ridicules Those with Concerns

From our “How not to win friends and influence people” department:
Derren Bibby, chief technologist at RFID manufacturer Noblestar, has described an American privacy advocacy group which has expressed concern over the proliferation of RFIDs into everyday life as “some kind of fringe group in America” and “the kind of people you need to watch out […]

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Israel to Pass Anti-Spam Law

The government of Israel is poised to consider competing proposals in its effort to outlaw spam.
The government itself is preparing a bill for consideration that would follow what is considered the European model of anti-spam legislation: commercial e-mail may be sent to people only if they have previously and explicitly requested it - i.e. they […]

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Hackers Co-Opt Comedy Central and Other Web Sites to Steal User Passwords

The unpermitted and surreptitious use of legitimate Web sites by hackers to steal the passwords and other sensitive information of users visiting those sites is on the rise.
This is illustrated in blazing highlights by the brazen use of the Comedy Central Web site over the weekend, along with several other sites. In each instance, the […]

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Removing Cookies from Your System for All Browser Types

Cookies. Everyone has them. And everyone wants to know how to get rid of them. While for some browsers it’s fairly obvious and straight-forward, for others it’s not so much.
So, without further ado, here is a list of how to remove cookies from the top five non-IE browsers (for how to remove cookies under IE, […]

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Surf Softly and Carry a Spoofstick

Written by Mickey C. of Whizardries:
Phishing is a big problem. This month’s Reader’s Digest includes an article with the clever title “Phishing: Don’t Take the Bait”. And their discussion forum has a small thread where a small number of people have opened up enough to admit falling for the connivings of phishers.

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How Many Worms Do You Think Are Out There?

Here’s something truly frightening. Or amazing. Or maybe both.
Having just reported on the latest version of the Sober worm, Aunty got to wondering just how many worms there are out there. I’m talking about the kind which make their way into your computer, and do nasty things once there, not the people you used to […]

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New Sober Worm More Titillating for Germans, But Serious Threat to All

The newest version of the Sober worm, unleashed on the English- and German-speaking world on Friday, has an interesting twist.
The version aimed at Germans claims to contain an attachment featuring photos of an exotic dancer seeking employment. Specifically, the Sober-sent e-mail claims to include photos of an unclothed 21-year-old blond go-go dancer, looking for work.

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Blog Business Summit 2005

Blog Business Summit 2005 looks to be a great event:

This event will show you how your business can leverage current real-world blogging techniques, tools and platforms to promote and enhance your ventures.