“Anti-piracy firm DigiProtect, which has teamed up with UK law firm ACS:Law to send thousands of letters to alleged net pirates, has defended its actions.
It follows widespread condemnation of their methods, which involves mass-mailing alleged file-sharers asking them to pay a fine or face court.”
Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8619407.stm
"Russian hackers are gaining a worrying reputation as skilled proponents of cybercrime and cyberwarfare.
Sarah Rainsford travels to Moscow to meet a 20 year old who claims to have penetrated Russian, Georgian and US government computers. S
he investigates why Russian hackers are becoming so proficient, meets students learning the arts of cyber defence and attack and asks the Russian cyberpolice what they are doing to rein in the criminals."
Behind the scenes:
Researchers have produced a mobile phone that could be a boon for prying bosses wanting to keep tabs on the movements of their staff.
Japanese phone giant KDDI Corporation has developed technology that tracks even the tiniest movement of the user and beams the information back to HQ. It works by analysing the movement of accelerometers, found in many handsets.
Activities such as walking, climbing stairs or even cleaning can be identified, the researchers say. The company plans to sell the service to clients such as managers, foremen and employment agencies.
"Technically, I think this is an incredibly important innovation," says Philip Sugai, director of the mobile consumer lab at the International University of Japan. "For example, when applied to the issue of telemedicine, or other situations in which remotely monitoring or accessing an individual's personal movements is vital to that service. "But there will surely be negative consequences when applied to employee tracking or salesforce optimisation."
Complex behaviour
Until now, mobile phone motion sensors were capable of detecting only repetitive movements such as walking or running. The KDDI system, is able to detect more complex behaviour by using analytical software - held on a server back at base - to match patterns of common movements.
For example, the KDDI mobile phone strapped to a cleaning worker's waist can tell the difference between actions performed such as scrubbing, sweeping, walking an even emptying a rubbish bin. The aim of the new system, according to KDDI, is to enable employees to work more efficiently and managers to easily evaluate their employees' performance while away from the office.
Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8559683.stm
The net's governing body Icann will reconsider the .xxx scheme on 12 March. Icann had previously given the domain the go ahead in 2005, but reversed the decision two years later amidst protests from US conservative groups. An independent review recently concluded that decision was unfair and that the plan should be reconsidered. Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has now confirmed to BBC News that its board will discuss the plan at its meeting in Nairobi, Kenya and could decide to back the proposals. "If the contract is signed, we could be selling names by the end of the year," said Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM Registry, which put forward the plans for .xxx and would sell the domain names.
'Landmark decision'
The idea for a .xxx domain was first proposed in 2001 and was approved by Icann four years later. The scheme is intended to create a silo for pornography on the internet. "Those that do want to see it can; those that don't can filter it out," explained Mr Lawley. However, the scheme is voluntary and adult sites will still be able to use other domains such as .com. In 2007, Icann overturned its original decision to allow .xxx domains to be sold amidst a firestorm of protest from conservative groups, predominately in the US, which opposed the plan on moral grounds. Recently an arbitration panel of retired judges at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution ruled that the plan should be revisited after analysing evidence about the alleged interference. "Our claim was that Icann came up with a lot of different excuses," said Mr Lawley.
The board concluded that Icann's decision to reject the .xxx plan was "not consistent with the application of neutral, objective and fair documented policy" and should be revisited. Mr Lawley described it as a "landmark" ruling. The non-binding decision will now be discussed by Icann on 12 March and a decision will be made whether to reconsider its approach to .xxx. A spokesperson for Icann said there was "no indication what action the ICANN board will take". However, it is unlikely to overturn the decision immediately without consulting other members of Icann and the internet community.
The news comes as the sex.com domain, often described as one of the most valuable internet domain names, comes up for auction. The web address is due to be sold in New York on 18 March with a starting price of $1m (£670,000).”
