NewsBits for July 1, 2005 ************************************************************ 'Timeshare Spammer' to plead guilty to federal charge A man known as "The Timeshare Spammer" said Thursday he will plead guilty to one count of violating anti-spam laws, marking one of the first prosecutions using the federal statute on e-mail. Peter Moshou, 37, of Auburndale, Fla., could face up to three years in prison for violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act. Prosecutors say Moshou sent millions of unsolicited commercial e-mails using Atlanta-based EarthLink's network. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2005-06-30-spammer_x.htm - - - - - - - - - - Suspected file-swappers arrested in raid Investigators across the globe conducted 90 searches in an effort to disrupt the sophisticated "warez" groups that are responsible for the vast majority of copyrighted material that is available illegally online. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/06/30/file.swapping.crackdown.reut/index.html Gonzales to announce arrests in Operation Site Down http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2005-06-30-copyright-crackdown_x.htm Digital Piracy Raids Net Arrests http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-piracy1jul01,1,4223112.story - - - - - - - - - - US Marine charged with possessing child porn A Marine assigned to US Central Command headquarters is charged with possessing child pornography. Tampa police say Sergeant Cody Liberty took two personal computers containing the images to a retailer for repairs. A Central Command spokesman says Liberty, a 24-year-old geographical intelligence specialist, joined the Marines in 1999 and has been assigned to Central Command since June 2004. http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=374 - - - - - - - - - - Texas Couple Admits Molesting Their Baby A couple molested their 1-year-old son, aired the sex acts on the Internet and allowed a stranger to sexually abuse the child, authorities said. Billy Don Latham and Ethel Latham were charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and remained jailed Wednesday on $200,000 bond each. The first-degree felony is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison. http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/632/06-30-2005/b2330009aae41841.html - - - - - - - - - - RIAA Sues 784 For File-Sharing, Gives Props To Supreme Court Ruling Citing Monday's Supreme Court ruling as a "shot in the arm" in the fight against illegal file-sharing, the Recording Industry Association of America announced another round of lawsuits on Wednesday, this one naming 784 users of peer-to-peer. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1504993/20050630/index.jhtml - - - - - - - - - - Michigan E-Mail Law Aims to Protect Children Parents can register addresses in an effort to block inappropriate spam messages. Starting today, parents can sign up for what Michigan officials say is the nation's first registry aimed at keeping spammers from sending children inappropriate e-mail. (LA Times article, free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-na-email1jul01,1,4768033.story - - - - - - - - - - Adult site sues Amazon over sexy images Adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 is suing Amazon.com, alleging that the e-tailer's search engine is violating copyright law by displaying thousands of images from its Web site without permission. "It is Perfect 10's contention that 'search engines' such as A9.com and Google are displaying hundreds of thousands of adult images, from the most tame to the most exceedingly explicit, to draw massive traffic to their Web sites, which they convert into ad revenue or sales revenue," the publisher said in a statement. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5772128.html - - - - - - - - - - Downloading unlikely to be deterred by new piracy law Unless Swedes have suddenly changed their habits, about one in 10 became a criminal overnight Friday when a ban on downloading copyrighted material from the Internet took effect. High-tech savvy Swedes are among the world's most prolific file-sharers of movies, music and games. http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/07-01-2005/f48f002572825f97.html - - - - - - - - - - Trojan attacks double in June Security firms are reporting a worrying surge in the amount of new Trojan software circulating on the internet. For the past few years mass mailing worms have been fashionable among virus writers, particularly those looking to create widespread outbreaks. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2139197/attack-trojans - - - - - - - - - - Bank workers biggest ID theft threat When two of the nation's largest banks were forced to notify thousands of customers that their financial records may have been stolen, there wasn't a hacker, a missing laptop or a lost box of backup computer tapes to blame. This time, police believe, customers of Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp. were the victims of bank employees, workers whose jobs at the Charlotte-based banks granted them access to information valuable enough to sell for $10 an account. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600145529,00.html ID cards could boost identity theft http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2139210/id-cards-identity-theft - - - - - - - - - - Reverse engineering patches making disclosure a moot choice? When Microsoft released limited information on a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer last month, reverse engineer Halvar Flake decided to dig deeper. We have reached the point where the patch is as revealing as an advisory. David Aitel, principal researcher and CEO, Immunity Using his company's tool for analyzing the differences in the patched and unpatched versions of a program, Flake pinpointed the portable networked graphics (PNG) vulnerability that Microsoft fixed with its latest update, locating the specific changes in less than 20 minutes. http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11235 Microsoft warns of unpatched IE flaw http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5771759.html IE bug can crash browser http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,102924,00.html - - - - - - - - - - Corporate IT council to look at governance to help safeguard data Looking beyond traditional IT network security, a new Data Governance Council has been created by IBM and several dozen companies and IT organizations to help corporate technology users look into better protecting their data against hacker attacks and other breaches. In an announcement yesterday, IBM said the council will work to create a blueprint for the governance and protection of personal and organizational data within companies. http://computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,102918,00.html - - - - - - - - - - UK ID Card Battle Heats Up Britain's House of Commons this week moved forward with plans to create a new national ID card, but a sharp reversal in support for the controversial measure signals a rocky road ahead. British lawmakers voted in favor of the bill on Tuesday by an unexpectedly thin margin of 314-283. At the last minute, some members of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party revolted against the cards, which would carry fingerprints and iris scans of cardholders and be backed by a national database containing extensive personal information. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,68070,00.html - - - - - - - - - - More alarms over cell phone E911 A sizable percentage of U.S. cell phone subscribers aren't upgrading to new phones as quickly as they used to, throwing into doubt a major initiative designed to improve wireless 911 calling, cell phone industry groups say. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-5772018.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. 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