August 21, 2002 DrinkOrDie member gets 33 months in prison A 24-year-old member of DrinkOrDie, one of the oldest international piracy groups on the Internet, has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate criminal copyright laws. Christopher Tresco of Allston, Mass., pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia of using his employer's computers to distribute copyrighted material, including movies, software, games and music, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement. Tresco faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He is scheduled to surrender Nov. 1 to begin serving his sentence. http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,73667,00.html - - - - - - - - U.S. Probes Firm In Security Breach Federal law enforcement authorities searched the computers of a San Diego security firm that used the Internet to access government and military computers without authorization this summer, officials said yesterday. Investigators from the FBI, the Army and NASA visited the offices of ForensicTec Solutions Inc. over the weekend and on Monday, seeking details about how the company gained access to computers at Fort Hood in Texas and at the Energy Department, NASA and other government facilities, officials said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42019-2002Aug20.html - - - - - - - - RIAA asks court to expose pirate In what may become a new legal front in its war against online copying, the Recording Industry Association of America has asked a federal court for help in tracing an alleged peer-to-peer pirate. On Tuesday, the RIAA asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., for an order compelling Verizon Communications to reveal the name of a customer accused of illegally trading hundreds of songs. Citing privacy concerns and potential legal liability, Verizon has refused to comply with a subpoena the RIAA sent last month. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-954658.html http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,54678,00.html - - - - - - - - ISPs off the hook in swapping suit The Recording Industry Association of America has dropped a contentious lawsuit against major Internet service and network companies that sought their help in shutting down communications to a China-based music copying site. The RIAA had filed a federal suit Friday against network and ISP (Internet service provider) divisions of companies including AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Advanced Network Services and WorldCom, accusing the companies of allowing people to access the Listen4ever Web site and illegally copy music. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-954782.html - - - - - - - - PayPal settles with N.Y. over gambling PayPal will no longer allow residents of New York State to use its online payment service for gambling, under an agreement the company reached with the state attorney general's office. Under the agreement, announced Wednesday, PayPal will stop processing payments from New York customers to Internet casino Web sites as of Sept. 1. PayPal will also pay $200,000 in disgorged profits, costs of investigation and penalties, the attorney general's office said. New Yorkers make up about 1.1 million of PayPal's 17.8 million member accounts, according to the agreement. http://news.com.com/2100-1017-954672.html - - - - - - - - DOJ to prosecute file swappers The U.S. Department of Justice is prepared to begin prosecuting peer-to-peer pirates, a top government official said on Tuesday. John Malcolm, a deputy assistant attorney general, said Americans should realize that swapping illicit copies of music and movies is a criminal offense that can result in lengthy prison terms. "A lot of people think these activities are legal, and they think they ought to be legal," Malcolm told an audience at the Progress and Freedom Foundations annual technology and politics summit. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-954591.html - - - - - - - - Rumsfeld outlines risks, rewards The Defense Department's focus on network-centric operations carries the responsibility that those systems are secure and available if the United States is going to fight effectively, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in his annual report to Congress and President Bush. "U.S. forces must leverage information technology and innovative network-centric concepts of operation to develop increasingly capable joint forces," Rumsfeld said in the document, issued Aug. 16. He said that the war in Afghanistan has demonstrated the military's ability to use a variety of network combat elements from all of the services. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0819/web-mil-08-21-02.asp - - - - - - - - Civil Liberties Groups Want Patriot Act Info. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked that the Justice Department reveal how its agents are using the expanded surveillance powers granted to law enforcers under the USA Patriot Act. Joined by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the American Booksellers Foundation, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on how federal law enforcers are using Patriot Act to track suspected criminals and terrorists. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61618-2002Jul12.html - - - - - - - - A New Tactic in the Download War Online 'Spoofing' Turns the Tables on Music Pirates The first time Travis Daub got "spoofed," he figured faulty software was to blame. Hoping to sample the new album by Moby, he downloaded one of its songs, "We Are All Made of Stars," from the Web site LimeWire.com. But what wound up on his hard drive wasn't what he expected. "It was just 20 seconds of the song, repeated over and over," says Daub, a 26-year-old design director who lives in Arlington. "At first I thought it was a glitch. Then I realized someone had posted this on purpose." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42239-2002Aug20.html - - - - - - - - MP wants law to force ISPs to get tough on porn spam The UK's Internet industry has reacted to comments made in a newspaper by respected Net-savvy MP, Derek Wyatt. In today's Guardian Mr Wyatt, chair of the parliamentary Internet Committee, called for the Government to force ISPs to get tough on spam. In particular, he called on ISPs to be responsible for pornographic spam received by their subscribers. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26771.html - - - - - - - - Media chief decries Net's moral fiber The president of media giant News Corp. warns that the Internet has become a "moral-free zone," with the medium's future threatened by pornography, spam and rampant piracy. Speaking Tuesday at an annual conference organized by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, Peter Chernin decried the "enormous amount" of worthless content online. He also predicted that without new laws to stave off illicit copying, News Corp.'s vast library of movies may never be made available in digital form. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-954651.html - - - - - - - - E-tailers risk breaking new law As a new law comes into force regulating e-tailers in the UK, evidence suggests that many businesses may fall foul of it because they are unprepared. UK businesses who have failed to act on new e-commerce regulations that come into force on Wednesday could find themselves open to prosecution unless they take urgent steps to change their online operations. The regulations set strict rules for UK businesses who advertise or sell goods via a Web site, mobile phone or through email. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2121137,00.html - - - - - - - - 'Stupid' linking policies come under fire Web sites with policies outlawing other sites from linking to pages other than the home page are the targets of the 'Don't Link to Us' campaign. Want David Sorkin to link to your Web site? Just ask him not to. Sorkin, associate professor of law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Ill., is the man behind Don't Link to Us, a Web site that exists merely to flout what it terms "stupid linking policies." Sorkin's site was launched in reaction to recent legal decisions in which courts upheld Web site terms and conditions that prohibited or restricted links. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2121149,00.html - - - - - - - - Data security hinges on money, not technology, feds say Government customers can foster information assurance by demanding it from vendors, said officials charged with overseeing the safety of the nations critical infrastructure. Money talks, said Richard H.L. Marshall, principle deputy director of the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office. Put your money where your mouth is, and youre going to have good behavior. Make vendors be responsible for creating good products. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/19743-1.html - - - - - - - - Anti-spammers shouldn't tread on the innocent Sometimes adjectives go naturally with subjects. One such case is ``unscrupulous spammers'' -- a near-redundancy if I've ever seen one. Wanting to see spammers put out of business, however, doesn't mean I want to see innocent folks harmed in the process. But the vigilantes seem to be taking over the town -- and the results are often unfair, sometimes grotesque. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/3907328.htm - - - - - - - - How Much Info Is Too Much Info? States have made significant progress in putting their court records online, allowing the public to examine criminal cases, lawsuits and divorces. However, all are struggling to develop privacy standards that keep pace with the technology, says a report released Wednesday. The Washington- based Center for Democracy and Technology said states are trying to figure out how to balance the right to access public records with the risks of putting a battered wife's address on the Internet or posting uncorroborated child abuse allegations for all to see. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,54683,00.html - - - - - - - - Securing good security workers Consumer and business security firm Symantec on Thursday will host a Webcast to assist employers in recruiting, training and retaining network security employees, highlighting one of the few bright spots in the information technology job market. Titled "Growing (and Keeping) a Good Security Staff," the Webcast airs at 7 a.m. PDT, then again at 1 p.m. Registration is required to view the free session. "Many IT managers who are responsible for setting strategic security decisions and policies need to stretch their security technology investment by growing and keeping good people," said Symantec's Bob Shaffer, who will lead the discussion. Before the dot-com bubble burst, tech firms in a wide variety of business grappled with hiring top employees, often offering high salaries, large stock- option packages and generous signing bonuses. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954792.html - - - - - - - - DOD gives biometrics a workout The Defense Department Biometrics Management Office (BMO) is in the middle of a three-phase "quick look" project using iris scan technology to gain access to the Pentagon Athletic Club. The first phase involved educating the athletic club's staff about iris scan technology via a demonstration. The second phase, which began July 23, involves one month of enrolling members into Iridian Technologies Inc.'s IrisAccess 2200, said Maj. Steve Ferrell, executive officer for the Biometrics Fusion Center, the testing and evaluation facility for he BMO. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0819/web-dod-08-21-02.asp - - - - - - - - CacheFlow tries on security coat CacheFlow, which once concentrated on specialty servers for speeding Net access, has changed its name to Blue Coat Systems and will focus on the security market. The transition, which has been in the works for some time, coincides with the release of the company's first server for the market, the Blue Coat SG800, which protects against Web vulnerabilities. The SG800 inspects all Web traffic and then analyzes it for potential security problems. Once analyzed, incoming traffic can be stopped, allowed to proceed, or tagged with a cookie to see what it does. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-954770.html - - - - - - - - New software lets your eyes do the typing Optical movement guides hands-free writing program When it comes to entering computer data without a keyboard, the eyes have it. Replacing a keyboard or mouse, eye-scanning cameras mounted on computers have become necessary tools for people without limbs or those affected with paralysis. The camera tracks the movement of the eye, allowing users to "type" on a virtual keyboard as they look at the screen. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/08/21/eye.writing/index.html - - - - - - - - Agencies should use existing systems to share information As federal, state and local agencies work to fuse their information systems to defend the nation against terrorist threats, they should look for existing solutions before attempting to "reinvent the wheel," several government technology experts said Monday. "We don't want to invest dollars if we already have something that we can build upon," Steven Cooper, the White House Office of Homeland Security's chief information officer, told a crowd of more than 900 during a homeland security conference sponsored by the Government Emerging Technologies Alliance. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0802/082002td1.htm - - - - - - - - Defense agency makes progress on homeland technologies Seven months after its launch in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's counterterrorism division has made significant progress on a wide range of unconventional homeland security technologies, a top DARPA official said Wednesday during a conference sponsored here by the Government Emerging Technologies Alliance. Those tools include bio-surveillance programs that could help spot unusual outbreaks by tracking over- the-counter medication sales, and multi-modal biometric tools that could identify terrorist suspects from a distance by focusing on "face and gait." http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0802/082102td1.htm *********************************************************** 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.