Hong Kong movie pirate sentenced

A Hong Kong man convicted of movie piracy using the BitTorrent service has been sentenced to three months. Unemployed 38-year-old Chan Nai-ming was convicted last month of distributing three movies: Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality; making him the first BitTorrent user to be successfully prosecuted for the offence. Chan pleaded not guilty. ...more

And also today (27-September-2001)...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. StrataFlash Intel has unveiled a new flash memory chip for the improved performance of wireless devices, such as mobile phones and PDAs. Intel claims that the three volt synchronous StrataFlash Memory is up to four times faster than traditional flash memory. ...more

ST FRIACO gets its first customer

WorldCom has announced it will be offering ISPs a wholesale unmetered product based on the ST FRIACO package announced by Oftel yesterday. The company is the only telco so far to act on the ST FRIACO news, despite Oftel's hopes that it would level the playing field for ISPs. WorldCom hasn't said how much it would charge for its service, but Phil Reynolds, UK director of regulatory affairs at WorldCom, said that ST FRIACO would bring "sustainable competition" to the UK. ...more

iSmell, you smell, we all smell

We experience the world through our senses, but using a computer you don't really get the chance to use your sense of smell. That's until Digiscent designed the wonderfully named iSmell. The company showed off its revolutionary product at the recent CES and, in case you are wondering what it does, the iSmell is a shark's fin-shaped device that connects to your computer and makes the appropriate odour when you visit a suitably smelly Web site. ...more

Major download sites get tough on spyware

Some of the largest names on the Internet have come together to crack down on the spread of adware and spyware through piggybacking hidden software along with legitimate downloads. The companies, which include Yahoo!, AOL, Verizon and CNet Networks - which operates the large downloads.com software library - have agreed to establish industry standards for monitoring and enforcing good behaviour on sites which offer downloadable software. ...more