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- Volume 8, Issue 50 Atari Online News, Etc. December 15, 2006
-
-
- Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2006
- All Rights Reserved
-
- Atari Online News, Etc.
- A-ONE Online Magazine
- Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
- Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
- Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
-
-
- Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
-
- Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
- Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
- Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
- Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
- Rob Mahlert -- Web site
- Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
-
-
- With Contributions by:
-
- Kevin Savetz
-
-
-
-
- To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
- log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
- and click on "Subscriptions".
- OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
- and your address will be added to the distribution list.
- To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
- Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
- subscribe from.
-
- To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
- following sites:
-
- http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
- Now available:
- http://www.atarinews.org
-
-
- Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
- http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- A-ONE #0850 12/15/06
-
- ~ Data-Privacy Laws Push ~ People Are Talking! ~ Firefox 3 Alpha!
- ~ mXtreme Falcon Speeder ~ Send E-Cards This Year ~ SatanDisk Is Ready!
- ~ Romanian Web Fraud Bust ~ Cybercrime Students! ~ Pat's QB Sues Yahoo
- ~ Instant Messaging Gap! ~ What Is "Rock Phish"? ~ New MyAES Update!
-
- -* Vista's Registration Hacked! *-
- -* Net Neutrality Bill Doesn't Pass! *-
- -* French Group Attacks PC Software Bundling! *-
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- ->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
- """"""""""""""""""""""""""
-
-
-
- Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate. The start of another holiday season
- is upon us. We hope that everyone is having an enjoyable season. Here in
- New England, the temperature has been in the 50's, and no sign of snow in
- sight!! For those who enjoy the cold and snow, head north!! On my way
- back from a few errands today, I drove past my local golf course just to
- see if there were any diehards out. The parking lot was packed!! I was
- tempted to go home and grab my clubs, but I resisted the temptation.
-
- Well, I don't have much to say this week, so I'll close out here. Good
- luck with your holiday shopping - I'm finished!!
-
- Until next time...
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- SatanDisk Preorder & mXtreme Cancellation
-
-
- Miro Kropacek has announced:
-
- At first IÆm happy to announce the long awaited project, SatanDisk, is
- ready for production. Main features:
-
- - direct connection between ACSI and MMC/SD card slot
- - plug'n'play
- - about 120 KB/s transfer speed
- - MMC card support (SD cards aren't supported to this time)
- - HDDRIVER compatible
-
- The prize is very low (about 35 Euro). You need to register at project
- homepage, login and enter your preorder. The number of preorders isn't
- limited in any way but in some extreme low number we have to increase the
- prize (and vice versa).
-
- Don't forget SatanDisk is completely open-source based so all schematics,
- firmware etc is available on project homepage for your custom build.
-
- Secondly, I want to announce the cancellation of mXtreme project since
- there's much better option -- PhantomS (see news on atari.org server). In
- fact, we're happy Petr decided to do such step since we can focus on
- another things (i.e. coding software for Falcons). The prize is very
- cool (1/3 of mXtreme), it's already done and in the end it's nearly the
- same as we planned mXtreme. I can only recommend you this piece of
- hardware!
-
- URL: http://ihrisko.org/~mikro/sd_preorder
- AUTHOR: Miro Kropacek
-
-
-
- mXtreme - New Nemesis/Phantom-like Falcon Speeder
-
-
- Miro Kropacek has announced:
-
- We decided to produce Falcon speeder similar to Nemesis/Phantom in the
- past. This speeder allows you to set resolutions like 800x608/256
- colours or 640x480/hicolour, it speeds up DSP, CPU, FPU, Videl up to
- 36%. Your Falcon will move much better! It's 100% compatible with
- CT60/63 and 99% compatible with original Falcon030.
-
- We need at least 50 pre-orders. The prize is 100 Euro. For more details
- look at homepage bellow.
-
- URL: http://satantronic.atari.sk/mxtreme/
-
-
-
- MyAES 0.84
-
-
- Hello
-
- You can find MyAES 0.84 AES for Mint or able to run above any other AES
- in multitask env (Magic, NAES, XaAES ...)
-
- http://myaes.lutece.net/
-
- Olivier
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- PEOPLE ARE TALKING
- compiled by Joe Mirando
- joe@atarinews.org
-
-
-
- [Rumors abound that Joe's column this week has been delayed to his being
- tied up somewhere at the North Pole, helping out some senior citizen in a
- big red suit and some weird-looking deer.]
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- ->In This Week's Gaming Section - Nintendo Sued for Wiimote Trigger!
- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Advocacy for Game Rating System!
- Religious Game Violence!
- And more!
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- ->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-
-
-
- Nintendo Sued for Wiimote Trigger
-
-
- While Nintendo Wii gamers are having a smashing good time with one of this
- holiday season's hottest-selling game consoles, Nintendo is being hit with
- a lawsuit over the Wii's uniquely designed controllers.
-
- Interlink Electronics is suing the Japan-based game maker over the Wii
- remote's trigger button, which Interlink claims is based on its own
- patented design.
-
- Interlink said it will seek compensation for "loss of reasonable royalties,
- reduced sales, and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing
- activities."
-
- According to the complaint, the Wii remote - called the "Wiimote" by
- Nintendo - has a trigger on its underside that infringes on Interlink
- patent number 6,850,221 for a "Trigger Operated Electronic Device," which
- Interlink claims to have secured on February 1, 2005.
-
- Interlink is seeking a jury trial.
-
- It might come as somewhat of a surprise that the first lawsuit over the
- Wii's innovative motion-sensing controller is from a patent-infringement
- case. That is because some gamers are finding the controller is causing
- damage to televisions, windows, and even other users.
-
- The so-called "flying Wiis" have led Nintendo to launch an investigation
- after receiving reports of problems with the strap that secures the
- machine's wand-like remote controller to the player's wrist, according to
- the company.
-
- Videos of flying controls smashing living room windows and cracking
- television screens are popping up on Web sites like YouTube and MySpace.
- Now, Nintendo is looking to stem the tide of negative publicity before it
- gets out of hand - so to speak.
-
- "Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected," Nintendo
- President Satoru Iwata said in a statement last week. "We need to better
- communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment."
-
- The problems have not seemed to slow sales of the popular game console, as
- Nintendo continues to report they are moving at a brisk pace. The company
- is now considering raising its sales target for the Wii, which has been
- selling out at retailers since it went on sale recently in the U.S. and
- Japan.
-
- Nintendo has shipped some 400,000 Wii machines in Japan and more than
- 600,000 in North America.
-
- If history is any guide to the potential success or failure of Interlink's
- suite, small firms have built up an impressive track record against game
- makers regarding patent infringement.
-
- In 2002, for example, Immersion sued Microsoft and Sony over the vibration
- feature in the Xbox and PlayStation controllers. Immersion settled with
- Microsoft for some $26 million and won a court decision against Sony for
- $80 million.
-
-
-
- Nintendo To Replace Wii Straps, Japan DS Adapters
-
-
- Nintendo Co. Ltd. said on Friday it will voluntarily exchange 3.2 million
- straps for its "Wii" game console controller following reports of damaged
- TVs and minor physical injuries caused by flying "Wiimotes."
-
- The company behind video game characters such as Donkey Kong and Super
- Mario said it is replacing existing Wii remote straps with a wider,
- stronger version.
-
- Individually packaged Wiimotes purchased after December 18 will have the
- new 1 mm cord.
-
- The Wii competes with Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s
- Xbox 360. Its motion-sensitive controller allows users to direct on-screen
- play by swinging the device like a tennis racket or wielding it like a
- sword.
-
- The Wii's new intuitive and interactive game play has captivated consumers
- and the problems with the straps have been chronicled on a popular and
- often amusing blog, WiiHaveAProblem.com.
-
- Nintendo said customers who want to exchange straps can call toll-free at
- (800) 859-4519 between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Pacific time, or visit the
- company's Web site at www.support.nintendo.com.
-
- Nintendo also said it would replace about 200,000 AC adapters for its
- hot-selling DS and DS Lite handheld game machines in Japan, because they
- may overheat and cause burns on rare occasions. No related injuries had
- been reported so far, the Kyoto-based game maker said on Friday.
-
- Nintendo of America said it has not received a single report of product
- failure or consumer injury.
-
- The adapter program is expected to cost between 100 million yen and 200
- million yen ($848,600-$1.7 million) and it is yet to be decided how the cost
- will be divided between Nintendo and the supplier of the AC adapter, Nagano
- Japan Radio Co. Ltd. The strap exchange is expected to cost Nintendo several
- hundred million yen, the company said. The adapter and strap replacements
- will probably have little effect on earnings, the company added.
-
- For the year to March 2007, Nintendo forecast operating profit of 145
- billion yen on sales of 740 billion yen.
-
- Prior to the announcement, Nintendo shares closed up 3.6 percent at 29,420
- yen, outperforming the Nikkei average, which gained 0.51 percent.
-
-
-
- Group Advocates Video Game Rating System
-
-
- With the holiday shopping season underway, an industry group for video games
- is trying to encourage parents to use its voluntary ratings to protect
- children from graphic images of sex and violence.
-
- The Entertainment Software Rating Board said Thursday it would distribute
- four public-service television spots to more than 800 broadcast and cable
- stations nationwide.
-
- "Just like movies and TV shows, video games are created for a diverse
- audience of all ages, and some are simply not intended for children," ESRB
- president Patricia Vance said.
-
- Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., lent
- their support at a Capitol Hill news conference. Both have been active in
- the fight to protect children from sexually explicit and graphically
- violent videos, music and movies.
-
- Lieberman said parents must play a central role in learning about the
- ratings and what games their children should be playing.
-
- "Ultimately, this is about parents exercising some responsibility,"
- Lieberman said.
-
- Vance said about 12 percent of the games the ESRB rates each year are
- M-rated, intended for those aged 17 and over. She said parents should take
- such ratings seriously in deciding if the content of the game is
- appropriate for their child.
-
- Executives from retailers Best Buy Co. and GameStop Corp. appear in the
- ads, stressing their support for ratings and their store policies not to
- sell M-rated games to children under 17 without parental permission.
-
- The ESRB rating system was created in 1994 by the entertainment software
- industry. Use of the ESRB seal and rating is voluntary, though virtually
- all games do so.
-
-
-
- New Video Game "The Shivah" Is First To Star Rabbi
-
-
- While Christian games like the newly released "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"
- gain mainstream attention, Manifesto Games in New York City is billing
- "The Shivah" as the first to star the leader of a Jewish congregation.
-
- In the murder-mystery game named after the Jewish mourning ritual,
- protagonist Rabbi Stone is having a crisis of faith and his congregation on
- New York's Lower East side is losing members and cash.
-
- When he inherits a small windfall from a controversial congregant, Rabbi
- Stone must solve the mystery behind the gift and make sure it is not
- cursed.
-
- Manifesto, which announced the title via e-mail, said "The Shivah" plays
- on personal computers and is the first commercial game from creator Dave
- Gilbert.
-
- Representatives from Manifesto, which sells downloadable games, were not
- immediately available for comment. "The Shivah" sells for $5.
-
-
-
- Video Game Glorifies Violence
-
-
- Targeted largely at conservative Christians, it's a violent video game
- with a difference: Combatants on one side pause for prayer, and their
- favored interjection is "Praise the Lord."
-
- Critics say "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" glorifies religious violence
- against non-Christians. Some liberal groups have been urging a boycott,
- and on Tuesday they urged Wal-Mart to withdraw the game from its shelves.
-
- However, Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games Inc., defended the game
- as "inspirational entertainment" and said its critics were exaggerating.
- He expressed greater concern about poor reviews from some video-game
- aficionados, saying the company would offer a free technical upgrade by
- Dec. 24.
-
- Lyndon's company, based in Murrieta, Calif., has a license to develop
- games based on the popular "Left Behind" novels, a Bible-based
- end-of-the-world-saga that has sold more than 63 million copies.
-
- Lyndon, in a telephone interview, said "Eternal Forces" has been
- distributed to more than 10,000 retail locations over the past four weeks.
- He said sales were going well, but declined to give specifics.
-
- The real-time strategy game has received a T (for teen) rating, as its
- makers had hoped. It offers more violence than an E-rated children's game,
- but less graphically than M (for mature) rated games that have often been
- criticized by conservative Christian groups.
-
- "Our game includes violence, but excludes blood, decapitation, killing of
- police officers," the company says on its Web site, noting that a player
- can lose points for "unnecessary killing" and regain them through prayer.
-
- The game's story line game begins after the rapture, when most Christians
- are transported to heaven. Earth's remaining population is faced with a
- choice of joining or combatting the Antichrist, as embodied by a force
- called the Global Community Peacekeepers that seeks to impose one-world
- government.
-
- The game's critics depict the ensuing struggle, set in New York City, as
- one fostering religious intolerance.
-
- "Part of the object is to kill or convert the opposing forces," said the
- Rev. Tim Simpson of Jacksonville, Fla., who heads the Christian Alliance
- for Progress. "It is antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
-
- Simpson, whose group was formed last year to counter the influence of the
- religious right, joined in a news conference Tuesday at which he and other
- speakers urged Wal-Mart to discontinue sales of "Eternal Forces".
-
- Wal-Mart indicated it would continue selling the game online and in
- selected stores where it felt there was demand.
-
- "The product has been selling in those stores," said spokeswoman Tara
- Raddohl. "The decision on what merchandise we offer in our stores is based
- on what we think our customers want the opportunity to buy."
-
- The game's makers contend that the violence from the good side, the
- Tribulation Force, is exclusively defensive, and should not be seen as
- contrary to church teachings.
-
- "Christians are quite clearly taught to turn the other cheek and to love
- their enemies," the company Web site says. "It is equally true that no one
- should forfeit their lives to an aggressor who is bent on inflicting
- death."
-
- Lyndon said he and his fellow executives hoped to ease critics' concerns.
- "They're good-minded people," he said. "They want to keep us from making
- games that are jihad in the name of God."
-
- Simpson, a Presbyterian Church USA pastor, said he was dismayed by the
- concept in "Eternal Forces" of using prayer to restore a player's "spirit
- points" after killing the enemy.
-
- "The idea that you could pray, and the deleterious effects of one's foul
- deeds would simply be wiped away, is a horrible thing to be teaching
- Christian young people here at Christmas time," Simpson said.
-
- Anther participant in the critics' news conference, author Frederick
- Clarkson, argued that "Eternal Forces", though less violent than many
- other video games, was more troubling in some ways.
-
- "It becomes a tool of religious instruction," he said. "The message
- is. ... there will be religious warfare, and you will target your fellow
- Americans, people from other faiths, people who you consider to be
- sinners."
-
- Clarkson faulted Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based Christian ministry
- often critical of violent video games, for publishing a positive review of
- "Eternal Forces" on one of its Web sites.
-
- "Eternal Forces is the kind of game that Mom and Dad can actually play
- with Junior and use to raise some interesting questions along the way,"
- wrote the reviewer, Bob Hoose.
-
- Other online reviewers, writing for hardcore gamers, have been less
- impressed.
-
- "Don't mock 'Left Behind: Eternal Forces' because it's a Christian game.
- Mock it because it's a very bad game," wrote GameSpot reviewer Brett
- Todd.
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
- A-ONE's Headline News
- The Latest in Computer Technology News
- Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
-
-
-
- High-Tech Firms To Push Data-Privacy Law
-
-
- Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and other high-tech companies are
- preparing to push for data-privacy legislation next year to replace what
- they consider an outdated patchwork of state and federal laws that are
- inconsistent and burdensome.
-
- "We think the time has come for a comprehensive privacy bill that would
- protect consumers' personal information while still allowing the flow of
- information needed for commerce online," Ira Rubinstein, a Microsoft
- lawyer, said this week.
-
- Several recent high-profile breaches of consumers' personal information
- have made consideration of privacy proposals more likely, Rubinstein said.
- The Social Security numbers and medical data of approximately 930,000
- people were compromised this June, for example, when computer equipment
- belonging to insurance provider American International Group Inc. was
- stolen.
-
- Microsoft, HP and eBay Inc. earlier this year formed the Consumer Privacy
- Legislative Forum to lobby for privacy legislation. Google Inc., Intel
- Corp., Oracle Corp. and other companies later joined.
-
- The forum supports legislation that would set standards for what notice
- must be given to consumers about personal information collected on them and
- how it will be used, Rubinstein said. The companies are aiming for a law
- that would override any existing state laws and standardize privacy rules
- across industries.
-
- The group's efforts will likely face some opposition, however.
-
- Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information
- Center, a consumer advocacy group, said the proposals, if adopted, would
- amount to an industry drafting its own regulations.
-
- Rotenberg also argued that the notices to consumers preferred by Microsoft
- and other companies are insufficient to protect online privacy. Instead,
- consumers should have access to the data that companies have on them and
- have more control over how they are used, he said, similar to the way
- consumers can currently access their credit reports.
-
- Rotenberg also opposes the pre-emption of state laws, which he said in
- many cases have better protections than federal rules. Many anti-spam
- experts complained when Congress in 2003 approved a measure that did not
- let individuals sue spammers and that pre-empted most state laws that did.
-
- Meanwhile, Stuart Ingis, a partner at the law firm Venable LLP, said that
- a broad privacy measure is unnecessary.
-
- "Comprehensive privacy legislation already exists in this country," he
- said, citing existing laws and regulations governing financial and
- health-care privacy.
-
- Those rules took decades to develop and provide strong protections for
- consumers, said Ingis, whose firm represents several companies and trade
- groups that track privacy issues.
-
- Although high-tech companies have been seeking comprehensive federal
- privacy legislation, Congress has focused on the steps companies should
- take to protect data and when companies should notify consumers of data
- security breaches.
-
- But several data security bills failed to pass during the soon-to-end
- congressional session, largely because of jurisdictional struggles between
- different congressional committees, said Steve Adamske, spokesman for Rep.
- Barney Frank, D-Mass.
-
- Frank, incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said
- Wednesday that he plans to consider the issue of data security next year.
- To avoid a repeat of the jurisdictional struggle, Frank says he plans to
- propose to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she appoint a task
- force of members from committees with oversight on privacy matters to work
- on the issue.
-
-
-
- Congress Fails to Pass Net Neutrality Bill
-
-
- The U.S. Congress has adjourned without passing a much-debated broadband
- bill or strengthening network neutrality rules.
-
- The wide-ranging broadband bill would have streamlined the franchising
- process that telecom companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications
- need to go through to offer Internet Protocol-based television service in
- competition with cable TV.
-
- But advocates of net neutrality rules pressed Congress to hold on to the
- broadband bill unless it included a provision prohibiting broadband
- providers from blocking or slowing competing Internet content.
-
- Congress's failure to pass the broadband bill "shows the power of the issue
- with net neutrality," says Jim McGann, spokesperson for the It's Our Net
- Coalition, a group calling for a net neutrality law. "Some lawmakers
- ignored net neutrality at their peril."
-
- Democrats take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives
- when Congress reconvenes in January, and the prospects for a wide-ranging
- broadband bill may be diminished. Republicans have generally pushed for the
- bill, while many Democrats have raised objections based on concerns about
- the lack of net neutrality rules and about provisions that they have said
- would allow the telecom providers to skip poor areas with their new
- television services.
-
- The House version of the broadband bill would have required VoIP (Voice
- over Internet Protocol) providers to offer customers enhanced 911 emergency
- dialing service, and it would have allowed municipal governments to offer
- broadband data and video services. The Senate version would have
- permanently extended a moratorium on Internet-only taxes such as access
- taxes.
-
- Net neutrality advocates will continue to press Congress to pass a law
- protecting open access on the Internet, McGann says, although he declines
- to speculate on its chances in the new Congress. "We're going to, as much
- as we can, educate members about the issue," he says.
-
- The broadband bill will also lose a major champion in Congress next year.
- Verizon, one of the large broadband providers pushing for streamlined
- video franchising rules, will refocus its efforts on state legislation next
- year, a company spokesperson says. In addition, Verizon is watching the
- U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which may also act on
- broadband regulations, says David Fish, a Verizon spokesperson.
-
- "The federal campaign raised the issue to a higher visibility," Fish says.
- "We've made big strides toward video choice this year, and expect
- continued progress in 2007."
-
- Beyond the broadband bill, some tech groups say Congress's post-election
- lame-duck session produced mixed results. In its final days Congress
- approved an extension of a research and development tax credit, which allows
- U.S. companies to get a tax break of up to 10 percent of R&D spending. The
- credit expired in 2005, and many tech groups called on Congress to
- reinstate it so that the U.S. could stay competitive with other countries
- offering R&D tax breaks. Congress approved an extension through the end of
- 2007, even though some tech groups want the tax credit to be made
- permanent.
-
- Congress also approved an expansion that could add $1 billion to $2 billion
- to the program, which has cost about $7 billion a year.
-
-
-
- Mozilla Ships Alpha Release of Firefox 3.0
-
-
- Mozilla today hit an early milestone on the road to the next version of its
- open-source browser, but the final product is still a year away, developers
- say.
-
- The Mozilla team released its first alpha release of Firefox 3.0 today,
- giving Firefox and Web application developers an early look at the
- next-generation browser. This release is not intended for regular users, not
- even those who like to play around with early versions of a product,
- Mozilla said.
-
- The software, code-named Gran Paradiso, comes just six weeks after Mozilla
- shipped version 2.0 of the browser, but it has already been more than a
- year in development, according to Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president
- of engineering.
-
- The final version of Firefox 3.0 is expected to be released by the end of
- 2007.
-
- Developers hope that it will be a major step toward making Web applications
- indistinguishable from programs that are installed on the desktop,
- Schroepfer said.
-
- Gran Paradiso features better support for a number of graphics standards,
- such as the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) language and the Canvas
- specification, Schroepfer said. "These are fairly major architectural
- changes to enable us to improve performance."
-
- Firefox 3.0 also supports the Cairo graphics library, which aims to make
- Web pages look the same whether they are being printed or viewed on a
- Windows PC, a Macintosh, or a small-screen device.
-
- The Firefox 3.0 plan calls for browsing, bookmarking, and privacy
- enhancements to be built into the browser, but Schroepfer said there is
- still a lot of time to work out new features. "It's a bit early to be
- talking about the user-facing features," he said.
-
-
-
- French Consumer Group Attacks PC Software Bundling
-
-
- France's leading consumer watchdog said on Thursday it would take computer
- maker Hewlett-Packard Co. and two retailers to court to unbundle software
- from personal computers sold in their stores.
-
- "It is impossible for consumers to buy 'clean' computers and then later
- themselves choose freely the software they want to install on their
- equipment," UFC-Que Choisir said in a statement.
-
- "Above and beyond the question of principle, the economic factor is
- non-negligible because today software can represent 10 to 20 percent of
- the price of a computer," it added.
-
- It named the retailers in the case as Darty, part of Britain's Kesa
- Electricals Plc, and privately-held Auchan, France's third largest
- retailer.
-
- Neither of the retailers nor Hewlett-Packard in France were immediately
- available for comment.
-
- UFC-Que Choisir legal officer Sandra Wouhling said current practice
- effectively forced ordinary consumers to buy computers using Microsoft
- operating systems whereas companies and administrations were offered a
- real choice.
-
- She said the cases could take one to one and half years to come to a
- conclusion and involved several commercial courts, in Paris for Darty,
- in Bobigny for Auchan and in Nanterre for Hewlett-Packard.
-
-
-
- Pirates Hack Vista's Registration Features
-
-
- Hackers are distributing a file that they say lets users of the corporate
- version of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system get around the
- software's anti-piracy mechanisms.
-
- Windows Vista must be "activated," or authorized by Microsoft, before it
- will work on a particular machine. To simplify the task of activating many
- copies of Vista, Microsoft offers corporate users special tools, among
- them Key Management Service (KMS), which allows a company to run a
- Microsoft-supplied authorization server on its own network and activate
- Vista without contacting Microsoft for each copy.
-
- The software Microsoft.Windows.Vista.Local.Activation.Server-MelindaGates
- lets users spoof that KMS process, allowing them to activate copies of the
- enterprise editions of Vista, its creators say. The hacked download is
- available online on sites including The Pirate Bay and other file sharing
- sites.
-
- Microsoft's official KMS offering is available to customers with 25 or
- more computers running Vista. The machines activate the software by
- connecting to the KMS server, and must reactivate every six months.
-
- KMS is not the only option that enterprises have for volume activation of
- Vista: they can also call Microsoft by phone or connect over the Internet
- to activate the software.
-
- The MelindaGates hack allows users to download a VMware image of a KMS
- server which activates Windows Vista Business/Enterprise edition, its
- creators claim. Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment on the
- hack.
-
- Vista is the first Windows operating system that requires volume users to
- activate each product. The new activation processes are aimed at reducing
- piracy.
-
- While one security expert said he isn't surprised that KMS has been
- cracked, he said the MelindaGates hack offers some insight into piracy.
-
- "This also shows how piracy is not just about kids swapping games," said
- Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of F-Secure. "The only parties that
- would need a KMS crack would be corporations with volume licensing."
-
-
-
- Internet Gangs Hire Students For Cybercrime
-
-
- Organized gangs have adopted "KGB-style" tactics to hire high-flying
- computer students to commit Internet crime, a report said on Friday.
-
- Criminals are targeting universities, computer clubs and online forums to
- find undergraduates, according to Internet security firm McAfee.
-
- Some gangs have sponsored promising students from other disciplines to
- attend computer courses before planting them in businesses as "sleepers."
-
- McAfee said the students write computer viruses, commit identity theft and
- launder money in a multi-billion dollar industry that is more lucrative
- than the drugs trade.
-
- The gangs' tactics echo the way Russian agents sought out experts at
- trade conferences or universities during the Cold War, the company said in
- an annual report.
-
- "Although organized criminals may have less of the expertise and access
- needed to commit cybercrimes, they have the funds to buy the necessary
- people to do it for them," the report says.
-
- McAfee said its study was based partly on FBI and European intelligence.
- In Eastern Europe, some people are lured into "cybercrime" because of high
- unemployment and low wages.
-
- "Many of these cybercriminals see the Internet as a job opportunity,"
- McAfee quoted FBI Internet security expert Dave Thomas as saying. "With low
- employment, they can use their technical skills to feed their family."
-
- Hackers are paid to write computer viruses that can infect millions of
- machines to discover confidential information or send unwanted "spam"
- emails.
-
- This "spyware" can detect credit card numbers or other personal
- information which is then used by fraudsters.
-
- Criminals trawl through social networking Web sites which allow people to
- leave their pictures and personal details.
-
- Their research helps them to target "phishing" attacks, where people are
- sent fraudulent emails to trick them into revealing credit card numbers.
-
- Hackers are increasingly hired to spy on businesses, McAfee said.
- "Corporate espionage is big business," it added.
-
-
-
- U.S. Indicts 21 Over Romanian-based Internet Fraud
-
-
- U.S. officials on Tuesday announced the indictment of 21 people accused of
- bilking eBay bidders out of $5 million through an Internet fraud scheme
- that originated in Romania.
-
- The operation contacted people who had unsuccessfully bid on items for sale
- on the online auction site, telling them they had a second chance to obtain
- the items if they wired money to addresses in the Chicago area where the
- seller's agent would complete the transaction.
-
- The money was divided between operatives in the United States and Romania
- and the buyers got nothing in return.
-
- "This case is an example of using new technology to commit an
- old-fashioned fraud scheme," said Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in
- Chicago. "There is no refuge in cyberspace for those who use the Internet
- to cloak and facilitate criminal activity as law enforcement is becoming
- ever more adept at investigating cyber-crime."
-
- About 2,000 people were victimized across the United States between
- November 2003 and August 2006, the announcement said.
-
- Each of the 21 people was charged with one count of wire fraud. Most were
- from the Chicago area and all but six have been taken into custody, it
- added. Investigators said half or more of the fraudulently obtained money
- was sent to conspirators outside the United States, most of them believed
- to be living in Romania.
-
-
-
- Who or What Is 'Rock Phish' and Why Should You Care?
-
-
- The first thing you need to know about Rock Phish is that nobody knows
- exactly who, or what, they are.
-
- Wikipedia defines the Rock Phish Kit as "a popular tool designed to help
- nontechnical people create and carry out phishing attacks," but according
- to security experts, that definition is not correct.
-
- They say that Rock Phish is actually a person, or perhaps a group of
- people, responsible for as much as one-half of the phishing attacks being
- carried out these days.
-
- Why should you care? Phishers try to trick Internet users into divulging
- sensitive information on phony Web pages made up to look like a bank site
- or an online shopping site. It's a type of attack that is becoming very
- lucrative.
-
- Research firm Gartner estimates that phishers will cost U.S. businesses
- and consumers a whopping $2.8 billion this year. The average take: $1244
- per victim.
-
- No one can say for sure where Rock Phish is based, or whether the group
- operates out of a single country.
-
- "They are sort of the Keyser Soze of phishing," says Zulfikar Ramzan,
- senior principal researcher with Symantec's Security Response group,
- referring to the secretive criminal kingpin in the 1995 film The Usual
- Suspects. "They're doing some pretty scary things out there," he adds.
-
- This criminal organization first appeared in late 2004 and was given the
- name "Rock Phish" because the URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) on the
- group's fake sites included a distinctive subdirectory named "rock," a
- technique the group abandoned once phishing filters began looking for the
- word.
-
- Since then it has grown to be one of the most prominent phishing groups
- in operation. It has developed a variety of new attack techniques that
- have earned the group a kind of grudging respect among security
- professionals, several of whom declined to be interviewed on the record
- for this story for fear of being physically harmed. They estimate that
- the criminal organization's phishing schemes have cost banks more than
- $100 million to date.
-
- Rock Phish is not known for focusing on the two most popular phishing
- targets, eBay and PayPal. Instead it specializes in European and U.S.
- financial institutions. At last count the group had spoofed 44 brands
- from businesses in nine countries, sending out e-mail messages that try
- to trick victims into visiting phony Web sites and entering information
- such as credit card numbers and passwords. Rock Phish sites have spoofed
- Barclays, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, and E-Trade, among others.
-
- Security experts estimate that Rock Phish is responsible for between
- one-third and one-half of all phishing messages being sent out on any
- given day. "They are probably the most active group of phishers in the
- world," says Dan Hubbard, senior director of security and technology
- research with Websense.
-
- What causes particular concern among security experts such as Hubbard is
- Rock Phish's ability to stay one step ahead of both security products and
- law enforcement.
-
- For example, according to security experts Rock Phish pioneered image
- spam, the technique of sending e-mail messages in graphic files in order
- to bypass spam filters.
-
- And just as browser makers have been building phishing filters into their
- products, the group has begun creating unique URLs for its phishing
- messages to get around blacklists of known phishing addresses.
-
- These single-use URLs make it extremely difficult for antiphishing
- researchers to identify and block phishing pages, Symantec's Ramzan says.
-
- This is bad news for products such as the Firefox browser, which uses a
- blacklist. "Ultimately, technologies that rely heavily on blacklists are
- going to be useless," Ramzan says.
-
- Rock Phish has contributed to a surge in the number of phishing Web sites
- over the past few months, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. In
- August the group counted 19,000 phishing URLs. By October, the most recent
- month for which data is available, that number had nearly doubled to
- 35,000.
-
- Security experts guess that Rock Phish is run by an extremely small group
- of technically savvy criminals - probably about a dozen hackers - who set
- up the phishing Web sites, manage the domain name registration, and ensure
- that the stolen financial information is funneled into a central server,
- which researchers call the "Mother Ship."
-
- This group then sells the credit card and banking information in
- Internet-based chat rooms to a much wider range of money launderers who
- actually extract money from these accounts, according to researchers who
- asked not to be identified.
-
- Rock Phish uses a network of hacked computers to redirect Web visitors to
- the Mother Ship, and the group has been particularly adept at exploiting
- the decentralized nature of the Internet for its illegal activity. One
- successful trick has been to register new phishing addresses in little-used
- country domains - Sao Tome and Principe (.st) and Moldovia (.md) have been
- recent targets - where law enforcement and phishing take-down groups may
- not have established contacts, according to researchers.
-
- During the time it takes to establish contacts with the domain name
- registrars and have them take down the fraudulent Web domains, Rock Phish
- can continue to collect information.
-
- "They're the innovators in the phishing space," says Symantec's Ramzan.
- "Whenever there's a new technique that comes out, it can be traced back to
- the Rock Phish group."
-
-
-
- IM-ing' Divides Teens, Adults
-
-
- Teenager Michelle Rome can't imagine life without instant messaging. Baby
- boomer Steve Wilson doesn't care that it even exists. They're part of an
- "instant messaging gap" between teens and adults. And the division is wide,
- says an AP-AOL survey on how Americans use or snub those Internet bursts
- of gossip, happy date-making and teen tragedies that young people exchange
- by the hour while supposedly doing homework.
-
- Rome, 17, a high school senior in Morristown, N.J., spends more than two
- hours each day sending and receiving more than 100 instant messages, or
- "IM-ing." "I use it to ask questions about homework, make plans with
- people, keep up with my best friend in Texas and my sister in
- Connecticut," she said. "It has all the advantages."
-
- The 51-year-old Wilson, a mechanic in Kutztown, Pa., prefers using e-mail
- and the telephone.
-
- Instant messaging "is the worst of both worlds," he said. "It manages to
- combine all the things I don't like about each. I'm more or less a
- dinosaur. I use the Internet for things like buying car parts, reading
- celebrity gossip."
-
- Almost half of teens, 48 percent of those ages 13-18, use instant
- messaging, according to the poll. That's more than twice the percentage
- of adults who use it.
-
- According to the AP-AOL poll:
-
- * Almost three-fourths of adults who do use instant messages still
- communicate with e-mail more often. Almost three-fourths of teens send
- instant messages more than e-mail.
- * More than half of the teens who use instant messages send more than 25 a
- day, and one in five send more than 100. Three-fourths of adult users send
- fewer than 25 instant messages a day.
- * Teen users (30 percent) are almost twice as likely as adults (17
- percent) to say they can't imagine life without instant messaging.
- * When keeping up with a friend who is far away, teens are most likely to
- use instant messaging, while adults turn first to e-mail.
- * About a fifth of teen IM users have used IM to ask for or accept a date.
- Almost that many, 16 percent, have used it to break up with someone. The
- bug can be contagious at any age.
-
- Faith Laichter, a 50-year old elementary school teacher from Las Vegas,
- says she started using instant messaging after watching her children.
-
- "I do it more now," she said, boasting: "Sometimes I do two conversations
- at once."
-
- That's nothing for young people who check their e-mail, download music and
- perform other tasks at the same time.
-
- "It's kind of remarkable to watch," said Steve Jones, a professor of
- communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "They can keep
- half a dozen conversations or more going at the same time."
-
- But that can be more of a distraction than an accomplishment, says Naomi
- Baron, a linguistics professor at American University.
-
- "If you have 15 conversations going simultaneously," she said, "sometimes
- you're just throwing things out there and then dashing off to the next
- customer." A bow to the traditional: When sharing serious or confidential
- news, both teens and adults prefer to use the telephone, the poll said.
-
- The survey of 1,013 adults and 500 teens was conducted online by Knowledge
- Networks from Nov. 30-Dec. 4. The margin of sampling error for the adults
- was plus or minus 4 percentage points, 5.5 points for teens.
-
- Technology for instant messaging has been available to the general public
- for about a decade. Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft
- Corp.'s MSN are the major IM operators.
-
-
-
- Patriots Quarterback Brady Sues Yahoo Over Ads
-
-
- Star quarterback Tom Brady has sued Yahoo Inc., claiming that the Internet
- business used his image without his consent to advertise its fantasy
- football service.
-
- Brady, who led the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl championships,
- is demanding Yahoo stop running the ads and is seeking unspecified
- damages, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
-
- A spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo declined comment, saying
- it was company policy not to discuss pending litigation. Brady's complaint
- says that he was prominently featured in ads in Sports Illustrated magazine
- as well as on the Yahoo Web site without the athlete's permission.
-
- Fantasy football is a game where sports fans assemble teams of real
- players from different NFL teams, competing against colleagues and friends
- in imaginary leagues. Their games are scored each week based on the
- individual performance of each of those players, with cash prizes often
- going to the winners.
-
- In the lawsuit, Brady said the violation of his rights of publicity "was
- intentional, deliberate, willful and malicious."
-
- Yahoo, which runs one of many fantasy football sites, offers a basic
- service at no cost, but charges up to $125 per season for access to
- advanced analysis tools and data.
-
- The suit, which was filed November 20, says that Yahoo's fantasy football
- Web site generates more than 800 million page views a day during the
- football season and is part of a $4 billion a year industry that attracts
- some 8 million consumers.
-
-
-
- "Little Fatty" Unlikely Internet Hero In China
-
-
- An overweight Chinese gas station attendant has become an unexpected
- celebrity after a picture of his portly face was posted on the Internet -
- and then started appearing on movie posters and in other unlikely places.
-
- Nicknamed "Little Fatty," 19-year-old Qian Zhijun's picture was loaded on
- to the Internet four years ago by a teacher.
-
- His face - round, ruddy cheeked, with a drooping mouth and topped by a mop
- of black hair - has since replaced Jean Reno's on a poster for the movie
- "The Da Vinci Code" and Johnny Depp's for "Pirates of the Caribbean," to
- name just two.
-
- Though famous now and having appeared extensively in Chinese media, Qian
- says he was rather upset when he first saw his photo being made fun of on
- the Web.
-
- "Now my feeling has changed. If you always feel depressed, then you feel
- uncomfortable. Now I can view this event with a calm mind, and I feel
- released," said Qian.
-
- He has an official Web site (www.xiaopang.cn) run by friend Gao Feng,
- which operates as a forum for overweight people and offers tips on healthy
- eating and dieting.
-
- Qian, who loves cooking, hopes to use his fame to launch a career in the
- media, saying he wants to work as a host for a television cooking program
- or report on gourmet restaurants.
-
- He even has impersonators. Recently he was joined by six of them - along
- with a dozen belly dancers - who imitated his unique facial expression.
-
-
-
- This Holiday, Send Them An E-card
-
-
- Paper Christmas cards with family photos may be traditional, but they're
- "old media." The new media alternative: electronic Christmas cards with
- video.
-
- At photo-sharing site Webshots.com, users who have already created an
- online photo album can send a free e-Christmas card featuring a slide
- show that combines digital photos and digital video clips. At
- OneTrueMedia.com, users can do the same thing, and even add holiday music,
- graphics and stock art to fill out their video montage.
-
- "This is the holiday season where people will be (video sharing) for the
- first time," says Martin Green, Webshots general manager. "We have 15
- million members, and when we asked what they wanted, this is what they
- told us: the ability to string photos and videos together."
-
- These services are so new that there's not much tracking data yet, but
- the expectation, based on the growth of online photo sharing, is that
- millions of people will be choosing video holiday greetings by next
- Christmas. Brett Gardner, marketing vice president at OneTrueMedia, says
- thousands of holiday montages were uploaded to that site in the past
- week.
-
- Creators of the e-cards can send them by e-mail or use the free player
- feature on OneTrueMedia and embed the card on their blog or MySpace page.
- Another option: For a fee, users can burn their montage on a DVD ($24.99
- for the first disc, less for additional discs) and send it to family and
- friends.
-
- Webshots even offers tips on how to make a holiday video montage, covering
- such things as lighting (avoid fluorescent), costumes (the campier, the
- better) and performance (a rousing round of Grandma Got Run Over by a
- Reindeer will kill). The top piece of advice: Keep it short - under three
- minutes is best.
-
-
-
-
- =~=~=~=
-
-
-
-
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- material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
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