Digital rights management took another blow on Wednesday, as Amazon.com announced that it would launch a DRM-free music store later in 2007, with the EMI catalog as the first major-label offering
Estonia says the country’s web sites have been under heavy attack for the past three weeks, blaming Russia for playing a part in the cyber warfare. Many of the attacks have come from Russia and are being hosted by Russian state computer servers, Tallinn says. Moscow denies any involvement
Mobile phone calls in Sydney’s CBD will be blocked by a sophisticated counter-terrorism measure to prevent bomb attacks during US President George Bush’s September APEC visit. The president’s motorcade will be shadowed by a helicopter equipped with signal-jamming equipment
An attempt to force Google to stop censoring its search results in repressive countries has been rejected by its shareholders. The office of the comptroller of New York City, which oversees New York City pension funds, proposed the motion at the search giant’s annual shareholder yesterday. It won support from Amnesty — one of many human rights groups who criticised the company in early 2006 for bowing to pressure from the Chinese government and censoring its search results in China. The motion also named Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam as countries where governments restrict access to Internet content. But Google’s top management, who cast 66% of its votes, did not support the plan, and thus it was rejected
The US house of representatives today passed a bill outlawing illegal domestic wiretapping by the government. Now government agencies are only allowed to access your private communications under terms of FISA. The Bill ends plans by the Bush Administration that would give the NSA the freedom to pry into the lives of ordinary Americans. The ACLU noted that, despite many recent hearings about modernisation
and technology neutrality
, the administration has not publicly provided Congress with a single example of how current FISA standards have either prevented the intelligence community from using new technologies, or proven unworkable for the agents tasked with following them
German researchers at the Frauenhofer Institute said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerised algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders — via Slashdot
The BBC Trust — the organisation that oversees the BBC’s operations — has driven another nail into the BBC’s relevancy for the 21st century today by giving the broadcaster permission to use DRM on its online offerings. The BBC has turned its back on its promise to deliver a remixable, DRM-free archive of its video materials to the British public. Instead, it has opted for the iPlayer
, a crippling technology that infects PCs and makes them incapable of saving and using some of the files on their hard-drives. At the core of this is a Microsoft technology, the WMV file-format
The last time Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs took on major recording companies, he refused to budge on his 99-cent price for a song on iTunes. As a new round of talks ramp up this month, however, Jobs has opened the door to higher prices — as long as music companies let Apple sell their songs without DRM. Jobs contends that would tear down the walls
by allowing consumers to play music they buy at Apple’s iTunes store on any digital music player, not just the company’s iPods
A crowd of Guyanese villagers lynched an elderly woman they accused of being an evil spirit who drinks the blood of human babies. Authorities in the South American country said the woman raised suspicions with unusual behavior and was set upon by villagers who apparently believed she was an Old Higue
— the equivalent of a vampire in the local Obeah religion that blends folk magic and African rituals
The paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force has declared that it is renouncing violence and will cease to exist as a terrorist organisation from midnight. It also said it will keep its weapons, but has put them beyond reach
. However, the arms decommissioning body has said this did not meet the requirements set out in government legislation
There has been a mixed reaction to the Federal Government’s new Do Not Call Register which started today. Telemarketers face big penalties if they call people who have added their name to the list. For people who may be sick of fending off unwanted calls during dinner, being able to register for the Do Not Call list may now provide relief. But president of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, says the new list does not go far enough
Ty Roberts, CTO of Gracenote, made the claim this week that the music industry was about to cave in the next six months
on the issue of DRM, at least when it comes to downloads
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs indicated on Wednesday he is unlikely to give in to calls from the music industry to add a subscription-based model to Apple’s wildly popular iTunes online music store
The US Department of Veterans Affiars have added the Wiccan pentacle to its list of emblems of belief
allowed on the government-issued headstones of veterans. The new policy apparently settles two lawsuits against the VA, including one filed last year by the American Civil Liberties Union representing Wiccan churches and individuals
Within a few weeks, Australia may introduce new laws to censor films and literature deemed by the government to be supportive of terrorism. This is not the first time material has been censored in Australia, which has previously censored films and banned publications, including one titled Defence of the Muslim Lands (censored in mid 2006 by Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock). The proposed laws are aimed to target material such as a DVD by Feiz Mohammad containing some of his past controversial sermons calling for jihad and comparing Jews with pigs. The Office of Film and Literature Classification previously classified this DVD as PG
, suitable for viewing by anyone under 15 years of age with parental guidance
The Canadian government is reportedly ready to introduce copyright reform legislation this spring, provided that no election is called. The new bill would move Canada far closer to the US on copyright, with DMCA-style anti-circumvention legislation that prohibits circumvention of DRM systems and bans software and mod chips that can be used to circumvent such systems
It was just a bit of text advocating open data formats that was slipped into a Florida State Senate bill at the last minute with no fanfare, but within 24 hours three Microsoft-paid lobbyists, all wearing black suits, were pressuring members of the Senate Committee on Governmental Operations (COGO) to remove the words they didn’t like
The smoking ban in Ireland has cut air pollution in pubs and improved bar-workers’ health, a study has found. Researchers said the ban, which came in at the end of March 2004, had led to an 83% reduction in air pollution and an 80% cut in cancer-causing agents. Smoking bans are already in place in Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland will follow suit on 30 April, with England’s ban coming into force on 1 July
Fast food chain McDonald’s has pleaded guilty to five charges of employing children under the age of 15 at its Rockingham outlet south-west of Perth. The Department for Consumer Protection says McDonald’s was fined $8,000 for employing the children without written permission from their parents and having them working outside restricted hours
Up to 5.9 million children face having their fingerprints taken by schools in another move towards a Big Brother
society. Pupils will have to hand over their biometric details simply to borrow library books or gain access to school dinners. A million children’s fingerprints are believed to have been taken already, some without parental approval and even by con tricks
such as pretend spy games. Freedom of Information data obtained by the Tories reveals a further 4.9 million sets of prints could now be added to school computers after the vast majority of local education authorities sanctioned the practice
RSS – Posts