CIA agents find themselves Googled

The Chicago Tribune [reg required] says that Internet searches have revealed private and personal details of thousands of CIA operatives. The paper conceded to the CIA's request not to publish either its findings or the methods it used. But it says the searches it conducted through free and paid-for online databases turned up a 'virtual directory' of 2,653 CIA staff, 50 internal agency phone numbers and the sites of two dozen secret facilities across the US. ...more

New p2p system tags data similarities to increase download speed

US researchers have developed a new method for transferring data across the Internet at high-speeds, based on a discovery that many ostensibly different files actually share common or similar chunks of data. The researchers - Dvid Andersen of Carnegie Mellon University, Michael Kaminsky of Intel Research and Himabindu Pucha of Purdue University - found that files that appeared to be different are in fact very similar. MP3 music files for instance, may contain differing header information but the song data that they wrap is almost always the same. ...more

RFID chips capable of transmitting viruses

A group of Dutch researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to insert malicious code into an RFID chip. Until now the prospect of viruses appearing on RFID units has been considered remote because of the tiny memory capacity in the devices and the possibility of transmitting remote code simply by scanning. RFID or Radio Frequency Identification chips are becoming increasingly common as a method of tracking or securing goods in transit. ...more

Oftel answers broadband questions

Telecoms watchdog Oftel has published a consumer guide to broadband. The guide was written for anyone thinking about getting Internet access at home for the first time, anyone looking to upgrade from a dial-up connection and existing broadband users looking to switch service provider. A large part of the guide is taken up with answering basic questions such as 'What is broadband?' and 'What do I need to get access at home?'. ...more

MTV to launch DIY music video site

MTV, the groundbreaking cable TV channel which is credited/blamed with popularising the pop video, is to take on the challenge of MySpace and the like. The brand is about to make its first foray into the social networking phenomenon that has become this year's biggest talking point on the Internet. Combining what it sees as the best of MTV, YouTube and MySpace, Flux will be both a website and a TV channel. ...more