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Microsoft's rationale for changing the default recommendation of four Claria applications -- Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime, and Weatherscope -- saying that published criteria for defining spyware and adware required it to review how AntiSpyware treated the quartet.

"We decided that adjustments should be made to the classification of Claria software in order to be fair and consistent with how Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) handles similar software from other vendors," the letter continued.

Also late Friday, a Microsoft spokesperson acknowledged that after Microsoft acquired Giant Company Software, the developer of what became AntiSpyware, but before publishing its adware/spyware criteria, the Redmond, Wash.-based company "received lots of vendor disputes."

"A few of these came from Claria," the spokesperson said.

Some anti-spyware vendors have similar policies in place for settling disputes with adware vendors. Computer Associates, for instance, which markets Pest Patrol, used such a policy in late March to re-evaluate Claria's adware, and found it met its requirements for detection.

"After review, Microsoft found that Claria['s adware products] still needed to be detected, but decided to make changes in the recommendations made to the users. It did this to be fair, to treat Claria the same way it treated other software vendors," the spokesperson said.

Before March 1, Microsoft AntiSpyware recommended "Quarantine" for the four Claria adware programs, which essentially removed them from the PC. After March 1, Microsoft's software recommended "Ignore," which if followed by the user leaves the adware in place.

What is it? A small, self-replicating application— most often created by a vandal rather than a corporate spy—that infects a host computer and then copies itself to every other computer attached to the host. Most network worms can saturate a network in hours or days because they grow logarithmically—every infected computer represents not one but an array of other possible victims, so that 10 infections become 100, which become 1,000, which become 10,000, and so on.

Isn't this just a regular worm? Yes, but there is more than one meaning for "regular."E-mail worms and viruses are designed to spread by using the e-mail system itself as a carrier. A network worm is more insidious. It might arrive via e-mail, but could also slip in attached to files in a portable hard drive, a flash-memory stick, a PDA or, increasingly, a cell phone.

Why the distinction? Because it's possible to screen out most, if not all, e-mail worms and viruses using virus scanners at the firewall or on the e-mail servers. But network worms can come in via pathways that become more numerous with every advance in mobile computing, wireless networks and smart phones. Many companies aren't sufficiently aggressive about virus screening inside the firewall. So network worms not only have more ways to get into a corporate network, but once they're in, they're more likely to be free to operate uninterrupted.

How does a network worm attack? Most simply copy themselves to every computer with which the host computer can share data. Most Windows networks allow machines within defined subgroups to exchange data freely, making it easier for a worm to propagate itself. Some worms can also lodge in the startup folder of a networked computer, launch when that computer is restarted and reinfect a network that may have already been cleaned out. A worm that lodges in a server can infect every user who logs on to that server.

Full Article here:

We are often overwhelmed by the number of people who say they do not know how to zip and have windows XP. This is so simple and requires no software out of the box to do this. In the screen shot example I have selected the files and they will be compressed to their own folder in the root folder space. You could also compress the entire folder in this example the root folder on the left would be Merak. So compressing folders or files is quite simple.

If you are on windows 98, ME, or 2000 these have no zip functions build into the OS. Here is a download for a free utility that will offer the same features.  Get it here. Though if you have to be told this one would question a need for more powerful tools Like Win Rar or Win Zip which will allow you to backup and zip protect files on your system running a bat file. We have offered the links to our personal favorites anyway.

A highly critical vulnerability has been found in XML-Remote Procedure Call (define), which impacts many open source applications that use the vital software component. The flaw could allow an attacker to take control of a vulnerable Web server.

Open source projects and Linux vendors alike have issued advisories and updates and the SANS Internet Storm Center has warned that the flaw could trigger an epidemic.

XML-RPC is set of implementations based on a specification originally drafted by Dave Winer, who's credited with creating RSS (define). XML-RPC is a cross-platform spec that allows for software to make procedure calls using XML for encoding and HTTP for transport.

The vulnerability has been found in PHP (define) implementations of XML-RPC from both the PHPXMLRPC and PEAR (The PHP Extension and Application Repository download sites, which are included in "dozens" of applications written in PHP, according to the advisory.

The XML-RPC implementations are at a "very high risk" from the PHP code execution vulnerability according to security firm GulfTech Research, which reported the flaw late last week.

GulfTech Research said "the vulnerability is the result of unsanatized data being passed directly into an eval() call in the parseRequest() function of the XMLRPC server."

GulfTech's advisory goes on to note that can attacker could easily execute exploit PHP code on the target server by creating an XML file that includes single quotes in order to escape into the eval() call.

PEAR and PHPXMLRPC have issued updates to fix the issue. Various blog, Wikis and Content Management Systems (CMS) that utilize the XML-RPC libraries have issued advisories to their users to update as well. Among the many affected programs are Serendipity, phpAdsNew, phpWiki, PostNuke, WordPress, Drupal, phpMyFAQ, b2evolution, TikiWiki. phpGroupWare and BLOG:CMS.

Among Linux vendors, Gentoo and Mandriva issued advisories on the issue.

Over the weekend, the SANS Internet Storm Center warned that the XML-RPC flaw combined with the unpatched Microsoft IE flaw could lead to an Internet "storm".

More that 90 percent of Internet users in the United States have altered their online behavior significantly to counter the threat of spyware programs, according to a study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The Pew report (PDF file), written by associate director Susannah Fox, highlights the increased awareness of privacy and other threats presented by adware and spyware programs.

Overall, the project's survey found that nine out of 10 of Internet users have made at least one change in their online behavior to avoid unwanted software programs.

These behavior changes include not opening e-mail attachments unless they are sure these documents are safe or not visiting specific Web sites that they fear might deposit unwanted programs on their computers.

Full Article Here

Microsoft has provided advance notice that three "critical" security bulletins will be released in this month's patch batch.

The bulletins will include patches for flaws in Microsoft Corp.'s flagship Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office desktop productivity suite.

As is customary, the software giant isn't providing any details until July 12, when the bulletins are posted.

The three updates represent a relatively small batch of patches, coming on the heels of last month's barrage when Microsoft shipped 10 bulletins, including a "critical" update for the Internet Explorer browser.

This time around, security researchers are expecting another cumulative IE patch to address a known code execution flaw in the widely deployed browser.

Over the last week, Microsoft has been providing pre-patch workarounds and mitigation guidance alongside warnings that potentially destructive exploit code has been posted on the Internet.

Microsoft typically includes IE patches under the Windows umbrella in its Security Bulletin Advance Notice mechanism. However, because IE patches require extensive testing, there have been long delays in the past to get a cumulative browser update out the door.

"When they're motivated to fix things quickly, they can," he added.

eEye maintains a list of unpatched security vulnerabilities and the time that has elapsed since the bug was first reported to the company. According to Maiffret, there are four Microsoft flaws that have not been addressed, including one that is 40 days overdue.

Microsoft is also expected to release an updated version of its malicious software removal tool to add detection for new worms, Trojans and virus variants.

The company will also push out a non-security, high-priority update for Microsoft Office.

A study released yesterday found that hackers and virus writers are recognizing and exploiting the opportunities presented by IM-based attacks, the numbers of which have risen sharply over the last two quarters.

The number of IM attacks such as viruses, worms, and phishing scams has increased from twenty for all of 2004 to 571 in the second quarter of 2005 alone, representing an increased threat to both enterprise users and the average consumer, the study from instant messaging security vendor IMlogic Inc. said.

The study, performed by the IMlogic Threat Center with the support of IT security companies Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc., and Sybari as well as IM leaders America Online Inc., Yahoo Inc., and Microsoft Corp., reported that 70% of IM-based attacks target public IM networks and 30% target enterprises.

"IM usage has reached critical mass and virus writers have now recognized it as a mostly undefended medium," said IMlogic CEO and co-founder Francis deSouza. "These [viruses and worms] are mutating, high velocity, and invisible to most companies until they hit. All these factors combine to create a serious risk."

IM attacks act much like e-mail worms and viruses, stealing information from the user's computer or turning that computer into a so-called zombie by tricking users into clicking on phony links or into opening malicious attachments. IM-based attacks can be even more threatening because people receive false instant messages from a name on their buddy list rather than a strange e-mail address, DeSouza said.

"Having an army of zombies is the economic equivalent of having an oil well," said analyst Alan Paller of the SANS Institute. "The two most important things [for a user] to do are block all attachments on IM and to filter IM traffic so you only get it from trusted sites."

In corporate environments the Kelvir, Opanki and Gabby worms were the most common, the study said.

Some attacks are tailored to a specific user and appear to be, for instance, a highly personalized message. The study said that these attacks made up less than 1% of the recorded IM attacks. For the most part, IM attackers aren't sophisticated enough to single out any one user, Paller said. However rare "targeted" attacks may be, Paller emphasized that they are the most dangerous.

The vast majority -- 86% -- of reported attacks involved viruses or worms that capitalize on real-time protocols. The study showed that all of the most successful IM services -- AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger -- were vulnerable to IM attacks.

We certainly also recommend that you have either.  Nod32 Anti-virus and the free anti-virus from  AVG and AVast some of these offer protection for IM and Outlook as real-time plug-in.

We are listing this threat as high to assure that people do not just ignore the level. Don't let themself fall pray to it.

Microsoft Corp. has released software that can be used to mitigate a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was first reported last week.

The bug, which concerns the way Internet Explorer handles ActiveX components, can cause the browser to crash and could be used by an attacker to run unauthorized software on the user's machine, Microsoft said.

Yesterday, Microsoft released software that in the registry disables a file called Javaprxy.dll, which is used to run these components in Internet Explorer. This file is used by the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, the company said.

Microsoft has not yet decided whether it will release a software patch that would fix the underlying problem, a spokeswoman said. "The work-around that they've offered here doesn't fix the underlying vulnerability, but it removes the functionality," she said.

Danish security company Secunia gave the vulnerability its most serious rating, calling it "extremely critical."

The Austrian security researchers who discovered the flaw expect Microsoft eventually to issue a full-blown patch.

"Right now, it's not that dangerous," said Martin Eisner, chief technical officer at security consulting company SEC Consult Unternehmensberatung GmbH. "But of course within a couple of weeks there will be somebody who has a little bit more time than we have and there will be an exploit then," he said in an interview last week.

Microsoft is unaware of any software that has exploited the bug, the spokeswoman said.

Microsoft has issued a security advisory that provides more details on the bug and lists other possible work-arounds to the problem.

Intel Corp. will mark July 2005 as its entry into the dual-core processor server age.

Later this month, the chip maker will begin rolling out the first of four new dual-core server platforms for machines ranging from inexpensive, single-processor boxes for small businesses to multiprocessor Xeon servers and high-end Itanium machines for large businesses.

Based on its new chips' capabilities, Intel expects to see a relatively quick transition from single-core processors to dual-core processors in servers using its chips.

The dual-core chips, which contain two-processor cores versus the one present in a single-core chip, offer businesses a significant performance boost for what are likely to be relatively small increases in price.

More Info and Flash* Demo

Deep Impact Kicks Off Fourth of July With Deep Space Fireworks
After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT.

"What a way to kick off America's Independence Day," said Deep Impact Project Manager Rick Grammier of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The challenges of this mission and teamwork that went into making it a success, should make all of us very proud." "This mission is truly a smashing success," said Andy Dantzler, director of NASA's Solar System Division. "Tomorrow and in the days ahead we will know a lot more about the origins of our solar system."

Great Movies and Pictures

When the user selects a single page deep within the site, We would like to show them their current position and, at the same time, make it easy to move back up the hierarchy to any point. They will have a TreeView, of course, but we don't think that a tree is as clear and easy as a horizontal list of past locations. So, We decided that We would create a breadcrumb control in Windows Forms.

When you are looking at the code sample, you'll notice that my control is called an "Eyebrow" instead of a breadcrumb. Eyebrow is the name used in MSDN code, and it just stuck in my mind. You're probably wondering how this control relates to an eyebrow. So are we. We know my eyebrows don't have any information about my current position, and they certainly don't help us get around, but that's what they're called in the code, so that's how it'll be.

Back to the control. The control works by being associated with a TreeView. You can configure that association programmatically or through the property grid in Visual Studio^® at design time. The control's rendering is then based on information in the associated TreeView, namely the currently selected node.

By hooking the tree's selection changed event (AfterSelect), the control is notified whenever it needs to be redrawn. The associated TreeView is accessed directly to find the currently selected node, to navigate up through all of the parent nodes, and to change the selected node when the user clicks on one of the hyperlinked items. By obtaining all of its navigational information from the TreeView, the breadcrumb control doesn't have to know anything about your particular application. As long as you set up and populate your TreeView and handle the tree's events, this control should work within your application.

Full Article here

We have talked many times about Intel and their lack of competition in the chipset side of the business. Now it seems they are seeing the light and learning.  This nForce4 Intel chipset is different to the AMD nForce4 version in that the memory controller is not included as Intel have included in their architecture which has caused Nvidia to move to two chips and have been able to add some more enhancements to this nForce4.

Also with two independent SATA controllers for four SATA ports complying to SATA II specifications and with full support for native command queuing (NCQ) and 3 GBit's operation and various RAID setups.

With processors both AMD & Intel having L1 cache memory all-be-it smaller than in earlier years it is very fast while the L2 is bigger but slower. These are for data that is repeatedly used over a short time interval or data that is close to data recently used. Processors with their in-chip prefetch units predict the memory page needed. Nvidia with their Dynamic Adaptive Speculative Processor (DASP) works on top of the processor prefetch to track each core and thread to prefetch data using their sophisticated algorithms for quicker processing so the story goes.

This is a great review for the nVidia nForce4 in a intel or IE Intel Edition environment. Click here

    The Justice Department seized hundreds of computers and arrested four people in an international crackdown on Internet pirates illegally distributing copyrighted video games, software and movies, such as the latest episode of ``Star Wars.''

Agents executed 90 search warrants in the United States and 10 other countries as part of Operation Site Down. The raids, which began Wednesday, shut down at least eight major online distributors and seized pirated works worth more than $50 million, authorities said.

At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales credited the busts with ``striking at the top of the copyright piracy supply chain.'' Gonzales said the piracy rings are responsible for providing ``the vast majority of the illegal digital content now available online.''

Online piracy rings are known as ``warez,'' pronounced ``wares.'' They function as underground cyberspace co-ops, in which members swap the latest copyrighted material. Warez groups are notoriously difficult to penetrate. Many are based overseas and users are tech-savvy, communicating in encrypted messages and requiring codes and passwords.

The federal operation targeted ``first-providers,'' or those who provide the copyrighted work to the groups.

Arrested were: William Venya, 34, of Chatsworth; Chirayu Patel, 23, of Fremont; Nate Lovell, 22, of Boulder, Colo.; and David Fish, 24, of Watertown, Conn. Criminal complaints charged each with copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

The four have been ordered to appear July 14 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in San Jose.

 

W32.Toxbot.C is a worm that opens an IRC back door on the compromised computer and spreads by exploiting vulnerabilities. Note: LiveUpdate Virus definitions released June 29, 2005 detect this threat as W32.Toxbot.

Type:	Worm
Infection Length:	47,616 bytes
Systems Affected:	Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP

Another new wave of spam that disguises itself as a Microsoft Corp. security bulletin contains a link to malicious software that gives attackers complete access to the infected machine, security researchers are reporting.

The e-mail, which began circulating late Tuesday, identifies itself as Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-039, and offers a link to what it claims is a patch against the Sober Zafi and Mytob worms.

In fact, there is no such thing as Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-039, and real Microsoft security bulletins offer links to a Microsoft download site, rather than to the patches themselves, said Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure Corp.

The phony patch is a variant of the SDBot Trojan software, which is at present not detected by antivirus software products, according to a report from security research firm WebSense Inc.

The risk of someone downloading this Trojan appears to be very low right now, because the server hosting the Trojan downloads no longer appears to be active.

Microsoft late Thursday confirmed a security flaw in its dominant Internet Explorer browser could be potentially exploited by malicious hackers to take "take complete control of the affected system."

The software giant released a security advisory acknowledging the vulnerability and recommended that IE users set Internet and local intranet security zone settings to "High" before running ActiveX controls in these zones.

All supported versions of Internet Explorer, including IE 6.0 in Windows XP SP 2 (Service Pack 2) are affected.

Microsoft Corp.'s confirmation comes less than 24 hours after private security research firm SEC Consult published a working exploit to show that the bug could crash the browser or exploited to execute arbitrary code in the context of IE.

Microsoft said it was not aware of any attacks attempting to use the reported vulnerability or customer impact and promised a patch would be made available once an investigation is completed.

"A COM object, javaprxy.dll, when instantiated in Internet Explorer can cause Internet Explorer to unexpectedly exit. We are investigating a potentially exploitable condition," Microsoft said in the advisory.

The company said a successful attacker could exploit the flaw by creating a malicious Web page and persuading the user to visit the page.

"An attacker could also attempt to compromise a Web site to have it display a Web page with malicious content to try to exploit this vulnerability."

Microsoft accused SEC Consult of publishing details and proof-of-concept that put customers at risk. However, the research outfit said it only posted the details after Microsoft said it could not confirm the existence of the flaw.

"Microsoft [did] not confirm the vulnerability, as their product team can not reproduce condition," SEC Consult said in an advisory. After the publication of SEC Consult's advisory, Microsoft later reproduced the issue and posted its advisory.

More information on suggestion actions is available in Microsoft's security advisory.

Computer Associates International Inc. is considering changing its name.

A company spokeswoman confirmed a Reuters report that said the company is thinking about adopting "CA," commonly used as a company nickname, as its formal name.

Chief Marketing Officer Don Friedman characterized the possible name change as an attempt to alter the company's image, according to the story. A $2 billion accounting scandal enmeshed Computer Associates for several years and prompted a realignment of senior executives.

The company has hired advertising agency Draft New York to lead a "credibility marketing campaign," which begins today. The $7 million international campaign is aimed at C-level executives.

CA (NYSE: CA) also announced the all-cash acquisition of Tiny Software Inc. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company makes a personal firewall and other security technology for Windows personal computers and servers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tiny Software's products will be merged into CA's eTrust threat management portfolio.

Microsoft Corp. has filed a suit against a company in Germany that it alleges is at the center of a network of companies in the U.S. and Ukraine distributing unsolicited e-mail.

The company, which is registered in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, is the source of millions of unsolicited e-mail messages, or spam, Microsoft said Monday in a statement issued on its German-language Web site.

Microsoft declined to disclose the name of the company.

The English-language spam messages promote companies offering Web site design and development services, in addition to online casinos and pornographic Internet sites, according to Microsoft. Some users of Microsoft's Hotmail service have received thousands of unwanted advertising messages from Internet companies located in North Rhine Westphalia, the U.S. software company said.

The owner of the company at the center of the spam ring operates numerous Web sites, which he uses to send unsolicited e-mail for a fee or to sell addresses, according to Microsoft.

The owner, who now resides in Germany after having lived for a long time in the U.S., denies the allegations, claiming his partners are out of control, Microsoft said.

Whether Microsoft can halt the flow of spam spewing from companies in Germany remains to be seen, however. Currently, the country has no law against spam distribution.

To sidestep this legislative hole, Microsoft is seeking an injunction to shut down the alleged spammer in North Rhine Westphalia under German fair-trade laws.

LONDON -- Two men have been sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison for their roles in a wide range of online fraud activities, U.K. authorities said this week.

Douglas Harvard, a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested by the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) in Leeds earlier this month during an investigation into a conspiracy by Eastern European crime syndicates.

Upon his arrest, police found documents, correspondence and equipment for creating false identities, as well as evidence that he was being assisted by a second man, British citizen Lee Elwood.

Elwood, who is 25 and based in Glasgow, was arrested a few days later and charged with conspiracy to defraud after police found a large quantity of forged bank documents, credit card holograms, computers and other equipment, according to the NHTCU.

Both men were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder money. Harvard was given six years in prison, while Elwood was given four.

The pair's extensive online fraud activities led authorities to warn about the growing rate of cybrcrime. Both men were heavily involved in Web sites that promoted and facilitated a range of criminal activities, according to the NHTCU.

The men stole at least $1.37 million over a 10-month period and they may have banked as much as $11.8 million over two years, the NHTCU estimated.

Harvard and Elwood were moderators on the Cardplanet and Shadowcrew Web sites, which gave them the ability to monitor, approve and post articles to newsgroups. Once the suspects contacted each other over the Internet, they exchanged stolen information and counterfeit documents, authorities said.

Harvard admitted to receiving a large amount of credit card and password information from individuals in Russia, according to the NHTCU. He and Elwood used the information to buy goods and then had other people sell them at online auction sites and deliver the bulk of the proceeds back to them. After taking their cut, the men would send the remainder of the money back to their contacts in Russia, the NHTCU said.

Advanced Micro Devices, which filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel on Tuesday, envisions a day when Intel no longer dominates the PC market.

AMD's suit, filed in Delaware, alleges that its larger rival wielded its financial and market clout illegally in order to artificially limit AMD's market share and maintain its own PC processor monopoly. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. also seeks restitution, but declined to offer specifics. Intel Corp., in a statement, denied any wrongdoing.

The changes, AMD believes, would result in far more AMD-based PCs and open opportunities, such as a possible AMD-Dell Inc. deal. AMD also would be able to use its newfound agility to compete on price and technical terms to earn more wins in business-oriented notebooks, desktops and servers from large, brand-name companies, AMD executives said. Right now, of the largest PC makers in the United States, only Hewlett-Packard Co. offers AMD-based systems to businesses. Dell, Lenovo Group Ltd. and even Gateway Inc. use only Intel in their business systems.

"We deserve to have a significantly larger share of the market than new already have. The only thing that's keeping us from achieving those numbers are the illegal, monopolistic actions of our competitor," Hector Ruiz, AMD's CEO, said in a teleconference with analysts and reporters Tuesday afternoon.

AMD bears the burden of proof, however. A company must use its dominant position to maintain a monopoly before it violates the law. Thus AMD must first prove that Intel has a monopoly, a slam dunk in the opinion of AMD executives, as well as show that it abused that position.

"AMD needs to show that Intel has effectively impaired competition in the PC market. It's not enough to show that Intel is just a behemoth and a monopolist. AMD has to prove that Intel's practices have resulted in less competition or higher prices," said Hillard Sterling, an antitrust lawyer at Freeborn & Peters LLP, in Chicago.

News Story by Jeremy Pelofsky

JUNE 27, 2005 (REUTERS) - The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that cable companies don't have to provide rivals with access to their high-speed Internet lines, a victory for the cable and telephone industries, which are seeking deregulation.

The justices by a 6-3 vote overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that cable high-speed Internet service has a telecommunications component and is subject to traditional telephone network-access requirements.

The Supreme Court backed a 2002 Federal Communications Commission decision that said cable broadband Internet service is an information service -- and is thus free from most telephone rules, including requirements to lease network access to competitors.

FCC officials had argued the move was necessary to spur more investment in high-speed Internet services. But consumer groups and independent Internet service providers such as EarthLink Inc. expressed concern that consumers would have few choices for Web access without some FCC safeguards.

The high court decided that the FCC's decision was reasonable under the Communications Act and that the appeals court didn't extend sufficient deference to the FCC as the expert agency to make its decision. Justices Antonin Scalia, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.

The Bush administration has been pushing broadband deployment as an economic booster, and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin opened the door to using the court decision broadly. "This decision provides much-needed regulatory clarity and a framework for broadband that can be applied to all providers," Martin said.

The decision could also benefit telephone companies that offer digital subscriber lines (DSL), an analyst said.

"It says some of the uncertainty is lifted about continued investment in broadband services like cable modems and DSL," said Craig Moffett at New York-based Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "In that sense, it's a win for the telcos [telecommunications companies] as well, whose DSL services are still regulated as telecommunications services."

Cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. are locked in a fierce battle with Internet service providers and telephone companies that offer their own high-speed Internet service and plan to provide with video service. The cable industry has about 21 million high-speed Internet access subscribers. Despite somewhat slower downloading speeds, DSL services have been gaining on cable and now have about 15 million lines.

"It will simply mean that price-gouging cable companies can keep ratcheting up prices and limiting Internet service options for consumers," said Gene Kimmelman, director of Consumers Union of the United States Inc.'s Washington office.

"This lack of choice limits the future deployment of innovative voice, video and data services beyond just those offered by the local cable company," said Dave Baker, vice president of law and public policy at Atlanta-based EarthLink.

On Monday morning, the Supreme Court ruled that peer-to-peer companies could be held liable for the widespread copyright infringement of their users. It's bad news for file-swapping services and, maybe, for the broader technology industry. More Details of the case.

Internet file-sharing services will be held responsible if they intend for their customers to use software primarily to swap songs and movies illegally, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting warnings that the lawsuits will stunt growth of cool tech gadgets such as the next iPod.

At issue was whether the file-sharing services should be held liable even if they have no direct control over what millions of online users are doing with the software they provide for free. As much as 90 percent of songs and movies copied on the file-sharing networks are downloaded illegally, according to music industry filings.

The entertainment industry said it needed protection against the billions of dollars in revenue they lose to illegal swapping. Consumer groups worried that expanded liability will stifle the technology revolution of the last two decades that brought video cassette recorders, MP3 players and Apple's iPod.

Companies will have to pay music and movie artists for up to billions in losses if they are found to have promoted illegal downloading.

Two lower courts previously sided with Grokster without holding a trial. They each based their decisions on the 1984 Supreme Court ruling that Sony Corp could not be sued over consumers who used its VCRs to make illegal copies of movies.

The lower courts reasoned that, like VCRs, the file-sharing software can be used for "substantial" legal purposes, such as giving away free songs, free software or government documents. They also said the file-sharing services were not legally responsible because they don't have central servers pointing users to copyright material.

But in Monday's ruling, lower courts could find the file-sharing services responsible by examining factors such as how companies marketed the product or whether they took easily available steps to reduce infringing uses.

Typically we would not cover anything political in our blog, but please.. Our government now has the right to take your land due to some developers plan for 'economic development'. For some time, it has appeared that Americans were asleep. Now we should question, if they have been drugged. Our supreme court basically has taken this part of 5th amendment and thrown it in the trash. Case Law Rules!!

In the midst of argument in Kelo v. New London—a critically important case about the government's right to condemn private land and give it to private developers—the lawyer for the city of New London, Conn., pulls out an actual prop. In response to a query from Sandra Day O'Connor as to whether there's a concrete development plan for what would replace the handful of homes being condemned, Wesley W. Horton hauls out a big poster board with the whole proposed community laid out. Condos here, marina here, yank out this crappy little Victorian house and the health club will go there, he enthuses.

At the losing end of these forced transactions are homeowners who don't want to sell. Justice Clarence Thomas, another dissenter, said these are disproportionately likely to be African Americans, who are more likely to own properties the government wants cleared away. But their rights to their homes are supposed to be the same as anyone else's.

This sort of "economic development" is generally banned in Washington. Our 1889 constitution says, with a short list of exceptions: "Private property shall not be taken for private use."

Your house cannot be condemned for a Costco, a Nordstrom or a Sheraton Hotel. Under the rules of Connecticut, it could.

The town of New London claimed that its seizure of property was necessary for economic development. The ruling now puts every church, small business, or home at risk of condemnation. This land is your land! Doubt it....

Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is extended till December:

You need to reinstall the beta and it will appear with the new date and will not go south on you next month.

Beta overview Help protect your PC from spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

The term SATA II has grown in popularity as the moniker for the SATA 3Gb/s data transfer rate, causing great confusion with customers because, quite simply, it’s a misnomer.

The first step toward a better understanding of SATA is to know that SATA II is not the brand name for SATA’s 3Gb/s data transfer rate, but the name of the organization formed to author the SATA specifications. The group has since changed names, to the Serial ATA International Organization, or SATA-IO.

The 3Gb/s capability is just one of many defined by the former SATA II committee, but because it is among the most prominent features, 3Gb/s has become synonymous with SATA II. Hence, the source of the confusion.

In reality, 3Gbps is only one facet of second-generation SATA. While we'll call the standard "SATA-II" for simplicity, bear in mind that the standard includes a few other features:

• External SATA, or eSATA defines a new, more robust connector and cable lengths of up to 2 meters. Note that eSATA devices will typically run at 1.5Gbps.
• Port Multipliers. Port multipliers are chips that allow one physical port to access up to 15 drives. Multipliers would be used in multidrive configurations to simplify cabling. Here's where the 3Gbps speed defined in the second generation standard can really have an impact. Note that generation-one SATA drives can connect to port multipliers.
• 3Gbps. Not all SATA-II devices are required to run at 3Gbps, but the increased speed is there for applications and drives that want to take advantage of it. 3Gbps drives are completely backward compatible—you can plug them into a first-generation SATA system, but they'll just move data at a maximum 1.5Gbps. Cables are compatible, and first-generation SATA drives will work fine in systems that support 3Gbps although the drives themselves will still be 1.5Gbps.
• Native Command Queuing. NCQ can intelligently reorder commands as needed to improve performance.
• A new, more robust cable connector that gives tactile feedback ("clicks") when you snap it in. But it's compatible with old connectors, and old cables can plug into a device with the new device connector.
• Hot plug capability. This is pretty important for users of external drives, but also applies to server systems. The hardware now manages power and data integrity when drives are hot-swapped.

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Consumers are totally confused as to when to take an action against something their anti-spyware has defined as a threat. Even the companies who write the code cannot agree on anything.

It is hard to get all these things to work together and behave. The burden is on the software provider who took on the task to enter this business. What is required here is some agreement on some basic standards for the business which will allow these applications to come up with a relevant guess. They're beset by legal headaches, constantly challenged for what their products define and target as malware.

Many anti-spyware programs scour computer hard drives for those data-tracking files called cookies that we often get from Web visits. Microsoft Corp.'s tool does not. And there are disputes aplenty about whether certain widely used advertising programs circulating on the Internet are clean of spyware.

Surprise! There's little agreement on what should be considered spyware, or even what adware is, exactly. Or on whether adware, which delivers ads, is a form of spyware or a breed apart. Honestly one should question any right they have to collect this demographic information as a matter of law. One would think that the right to privacy should win out. Again this has proven that money wins as a course of law. At least until the consumer numbers force the issue.

Claria Corp., formerly known as Gator Corp., has sued several anti-spyware companies and Web sites for calling its advertising software "spyware." PC Pitstop rewrote some of its materials as part of a settlement.

Joseph Telafici, director of operations for McAfee Inc.'s security research unit, says the company now gets one or two complaints a week, compared with two or three per quarter last year from companies whose programs it has dubbed spyware or adware.

Symantec Corp. sought to pre-empt a lawsuit by filing one itself, asking a federal court to declare that it had the right to call Hotbot.com Inc.'s toolbar adware. Hotbot did not respond to requests for comment.

Symantec still faces a lawsuit by Trekeight LLC, whose product Symantec brands adware.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that many legitimate programs — including Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and Web browser — send out data without making the user fully aware, one of the common attributes of spyware.

And many programs that spy, do have legitimate functions — people may run a keystroke recorder to monitor spouses whom they suspect of cheating. Or they may willingly accept adware in exchange for a free game or screensaver.

Anti-spyware software companies say they leave removal decisions to customers, though many users simply follow their recommendations, failing to distinguish the mild from the malicious.

Anti-spyware companies have an incentive to overlist programs.

The fact that getting this issue resolved by some ruling, law, or guideline will only push the adware and spyware companies to refine what they do by some new term. Then they will stand up in court and dare you to call them a spyware company; then claiming they are "reportware"; "searchware" or "sponsorware."

Anti-virus vendor Symantec is ending its relationship with online market research company ComScore, which makes the "Marketscore" spyware program.

Symantec Corp., of Cupertino, Calif., is in the process of severing its e-mail scanning services from ComScore Networks Inc.'s online behavior-tracking programs, according to Genevieve Haldeman, a Symantec spokesperson.

The relationship had raised the eyebrows of anti-spyware activists critical of ComScore's programs, which capture and store information from online sessions, including encrypted traffic from sensitive online transactions.

Marketscore, also known as OpinionSquare, NetSetter and JDCouncil, is a Web proxy agent that directs all Web traffic from computers it is installed on through servers operated by ComScore, before forwarding the traffic along to its final destination.

ComScore collects data from insecure browsing sessions and encrypted sessions, possibly including online shopping baskets, banking sessions or interactions containing health information, according to disclosures in the Marketscore privacy statement.

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Yahoo has closed all of its user-created Internet chat rooms amid fears that adults are using the sites to lure minors into sexual acts.

"We began implementing the changes to Yahoo Chat user rooms in the past week," spokeswoman Mary Osako, said. "We are working on improvements to enhance the user experience in compliance with our terms of service."

She said Yahoo planned to resume the service some time in the future.

The user-created chat rooms were shut down not long after a series of reports last month by a Houston television station revealed that adults were using the sites to lure young children for sex.

Yahoo requires users to agree not to "harm minors in any way" or make available any content that is "unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous or otherwise objectionable, " according to its Web site.

However, chat rooms set up and maintained by Yahoo remain open, Osako said.

Osako refused to say whether the report led to the Sunnyvale company's decision, but several big named advertisers did pull the plug on their ads that appeared in the chat rooms.

According to the Houston television station, KPRC, those chat rooms were named with blatant sexual overtones, including "Girls 13 and under for older guys" and "Girls 13 and up for much older men" and were all listed under "education chat rooms."

When blue-chip advertisers PepsiCo, Georgia-Pacific and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance discovered their ads were running on some of the same sites featured on the television news report, they yanked the spots.

"We were completely unaware that our ads were associated with these chat rooms in any way," Dave DeCecco, a spokesman for PepsiCo, said in a statement. "As soon as we were aware we worked with Yahoo to immediately remove them."