US court overturns ban on publishing DeCCS DVD descrambling code

A California appeals court has overturned a ruling that blocked Andrew Bunner from publishing the DeCCS DVD descrambling code, deeming it unconstitutional. The four-year old injunction was won by the DVD Copy Control Association which alleged that Bunner was distributing its trade secrets by posting the code on the Internet. The appeals court has now found that the order violates Bunner's constitutional right to freedom of speech because the code was already widely available and could no longer be considered a trade secret. ...more

Texas joins Microsoft for the Wireless Processor push

Texas Instruments is to collaborate with Microsoft in creating support for Windows Media Video and Audio using its DSP-based OMAP processors. Texas Instruments' OMAP (Open Multimedia Application Platform) architecture is already being used as a platform for the latest 3G products - from the likes of Nokia, Ericsson, Sony and Handspring - and Microsoft is hoping to use this as a jump point to getting its Windows Media format accepted as the standard for the delivery of multimedia content to wireless devices. NTTDoCoMo is currently using Windows Media to deliver streaming audio and video to mobile handsets in Japan. ...more

Dell posts a heavy loss

Dell posts more gloomy figures for the PC market, reporting a net loss for its second quarter of $101m. In the manner of a vicious cycle, the company attributed some of the losses to charges related to recent job cuts. In terms of revenue, the company's sales were $7. ...more

Big brother arrives today

Today marks the point at which the Government's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill comes into effect. As we have previously reported, the Bill is the Government's attempt to combat the rights conferred by the Human Rights Act and give itself a legal basis for the surveillance of telephone and Internet communication of employees. The Bill means that employers can legally monitor staff phone calls, email and Internet activity without having to gain the consent of their employees and for reasons ranging from virus protection to customer care. ...more

FBI worms its way into criminal communications

When is a virus, not a virus? When it's written by the FBI. Reuters reports that an FBI spokesman has confirmed that the US government is working on a project, codenamed Magic Lantern, that will log the key-strokes made on infected machines and enable the FBI to track communications made using it. Remember the recent W32. ...more