March 29, 2002 Man pleads guilty in child pornography case Police said there was no evidence that he took any of the pictures himself. A Roanoke man who authorities said was connected to the federal Operation Candyman sting pleaded guilty Wednesday in a child pornography case that could bring him a prison sentence of up to 200 years. Roland David Bailey, 39, wound up in state authorities' hands after taking his iMac computer to a Brambleton Avenue computer shop for repairs in November. Technicians at Computer Pros told police they found what they believed were illicit images in Bailey's hard drive, authorities have said. http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story128087.html - - - - - - - - Bail denied for Global Crossing employee charged with threats A federal judge denied bail Thursday for a Manchester man accused of using a Web site to threaten executives at Global Crossing Ltd., where he was twice fired. But the judge threw out charges that Steven Sutcliffe had violated federal privacy laws by posting the Social Security numbers of thousands of Global Crossing employees on the site. The case now moves to federal court in California, where Global Crossing is based. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2955822.htm http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/29/global-threats.htm - - - - - - - - Bootlegger pleads guilty under controversial copyright law. A California video bootlegger pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of violating the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), marking what prosecutors said was the second known criminal conviction in the country under the controversial law. Mohsin Mynaf, a 36-year-old from Vacaville, California, was accused of running a videocassette reproduction lab in his home to pirate movies that he rented or sold at three video stores. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2955833.htm http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/29/video-bootleg.htm - - - - - - - - Government Agencies Exposed Internal Databases Four U.S. government Web sites left the contents of internal databases open to Web surfers, French security experts revealed Thursday. Databases operated by the Commerce Department's STAT-USA/ Internet service, as well as the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Federal Judicial Center, allowed remote Internet users to browse documents ranging from correspondence to online order data, Newsbytes has confirmed. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175551 - - - - - - - - Government: Library porn filters can work The U.S. government sought on Thursday to defend a law intended to protect children from online pornography in public libraries, with testimony about Internet software that allows library patrons to view explicit text but not photos on the World Wide Web. David Biek, main branch manager for the Tacoma Public Library in Washington state, told a judicial panel that such software could filter out objectionable photographs without hindering the free flow of information. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-871392.html Govt. Witnesses Wrap Up First Week Of Filtering Trial http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175560.html Librarian testifies on behalf of Web filtering http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/330502p-2773923c.html - - - - - - - - DoubleClick agrees to settle privacy litigation. Internet advertiser DoubleClick Inc. on Friday said it had agreed to purge consumer information it had collected and adhere to an enhanced privacy policy, as part of a settlement of federal and state class action lawsuits filed against the firm. The agreement, which will result in the dismissal of charges filed since January 2001, requires DoubleClick to take actions to protect consumer privacy including an education effort, purging of consumer information, and adherence to an enhanced privacy policy. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/2961828.htm http://news.com.com/2100-1023-871654.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/731516.asp http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/29/doubleclick-privacy.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/24650.html - - - - - - - - Government Trains Cyberdefenders, but Numbers Still Small Long before Sept. 11 and last year's virus-like attacks over the Internet, the U.S. government announced plans to train an elite corps of computer security experts to guard against cyberterrorism. Officials warned it would be only a matter of time before terrorists learned to exploit vulnerabilities in major systems, from air traffic and banking to spacecraft navigation and defense. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33471-2002Mar28.html - - - - - - - - The paradox of online fraud What's wrong with this picture? Early in March, Gartner Group reported that losses from online credit-card fraud totaled $700 million, some 1.14 percent of total online sales of $61.8 billion. The comparable fraud rate in the physical world is around .09 percent, according to Gartner analyst Avivah Litan. Who got stuck with that bill? The merchants and their banks. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2858148,00.html - - - - - - - - eBay: An invitation to hackers? eBay, recently targeted by hackers, is drawing the attention of security experts. Unlike most leading e-commerce sites, eBay does not automatically encrypt much of the data sent between customers' computers and eBay's servers, which means that when customers type their password into eBay's Web site, that information can be viewed by hackers. Most e-commerce sites use Secure Socket Layer (SSL), a technology that encrypts sensitive information such as customer passwords and account activity while the data is in transit to another computer. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-871061.html - - - - - - - - Angry users: Yahoo's setting spam bait Some Yahoo members on Friday reacted angrily to changes in the Web portal's e-mail marketing practices, comparing the company's revised policy to an open invitation to spam. "I never received any notification about this from Yahoo," one annoyed reader wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "I was merely lucky enough to have a friend warn me about it." http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-871803.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-871730.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/731517.asp - - - - - - - - Flaws dog Microsoft, despite IE patch Microsoft released a patch late Thursday for a pair of "critical" security holes in its Internet Explorer Web browser but was still investigating a widely publicized vulnerability in its Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems. The browser patch corrects two flaws. The first makes it possible for a malicious hacker to place code on a Web surfer's PC by way of a cookie. Cookies are small files that Web sites place in a secure area on surfers' PCs to track return visits. The flaw allows a script embedded in a cookie to be saved outside the secure area, on the PC's hard disk. The code can then be triggered the next time the surfer visits the site. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-871826.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-871771.html http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO69683,00.html - - - - - - - - 'Generic' Domains Collector Bests Trademark Claims Again Web content developer Reflex Publishing - whose best-known property might be Humor.com - has fended off yet another attempt by a company intent on plucking a prized Internet address from its extensive collection of generic-sounding domain names. The Tampa, Fla., company - which is also master of such domains as Extrovert.com, Killer.com and Baseball.com - is now 3 for 3 in battling opponents who claim a Reflex-owned address infringes on their trademarks. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175541.html - - - - - - - - Online Gamble Pays Off for Internet Sports Books Technology has all but trumped federal and state law, and congressional efforts to enact a tougher anti-gambling law have been bogged down in disagreement. As March Madness climaxes in this weekend's Final Four frenzy, gambling action in cyberspace will be even wilder than the men's college basketball championship at the Georgia Dome. The Internet version of the pick and roll is illegal, but that hasn't stopped the annual tournament from becoming a top moneymaker for Internet bookmakers. When the new champion is crowned Monday night, one top operator projects his Web site will have rung up as much as $2 million in bets -- for each day of the tourney. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17013.html - - - - - - - - China bars soldiers from using mobile phones, pagers China has barred its soldiers from using mobile phones and pagers in an attempt to keep its military secrets under wraps. Even soldiers granted exceptions to the new rules will be barred from taking mobile phones into sensitive military facilities, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. The regulations also forbid soldiers from visiting "unhealthy places," Xinhua said, an apparent reference to brothels. The regulations were signed by Jiang Zemin, China's president and head of powerful Communist Party and government commissions that oversee China's 2.5- million member People's Liberation Army, the world's largest military. http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/331275p-2778456c.html - - - - - - - - Smart cards eyed as solution to long airport lines Electronic Data Systems and other technology companies are competing to develop a "smart card" that would let frequent travelers who undergo a retina scan or hand scan speed through airport security lines. The appeal of such a card seems obvious to anyone who has stood in an hour-long security line at some U.S. airports. Those lines have become the bane of harried business travelers, who now must leave for the airport much earlier to ensure catching their flight. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/03/29/smart-cards.htm - - - - - - - - MS vs. open source: They're both insecure I already know that you're going to hate what I have to say. You'll no doubt send me strongly worded e-mails and post critical TalkBacks. Fine. We have a tough bunch here at ZDNet, and we can take it. When you read about the security problems of some open-source applications and operating systems, some of you have nodded approvingly, and muttered words that sound a lot like "I told you so." Let's face it, all the smugness about the superiority of open source code has been pretty hard to take. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-871261.html *********************************************************** Search the NewsBits.net Archive at: http://www.newsbits.net/search.html *********************************************************** The source material may be copyrighted and all rights are retained by the original author/publisher. The information is provided to you for non-profit research and educational purposes. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and NewsBits (www.newsbits.net) should be cited as the source of the information. Copyright 2000-2002, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.