Digital rights body calls for Sony to recall XCP CDs

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published an open letter, urging Sony to consider a product recall of CDs shipped with the controversial XCP copyright protection software which secretly installs a cloaking utility on computers. Since the revelation that any file using a filename including '$sys$' would be hidden from view both from within Windows and from programs using Windows - including security software - a string of Trojan viruses have been launched across the Net with the goal of infecting computers with the Sony software installed. Sony has since stalled production of CDS using the softwarwe, but stands by its right to use Digital Rights Management (DRM) software to protect its property. ...more

Privacy organisation in hypocrisy scandal

TRUSTe, an organisation established to promote awareness of online privacy issues, has been caught violating its own code of conduct. The group operates a seal-of-approval scheme for Web sites that meet its criteria for safeguarding online privacy, and gives companies advice in writing effective privacy policies. However Interhack, an Ohio security consulting firm, recently discovered that the TRUSTe Website contained cookies (small text files used for tracking online behaviour) to profile visitors without their knowledge - a practice expressly forbidden by TRUSTe's own rules. ...more

Microsoft Exchange 12 goes beta

Microsoft has released the first beta of Exchange 12, the next-generation of its messaging and collaboration server. Beta 1 is a closed release in that a pre-selected group of testers - picked from Microsoft partners - will have access to the code. Features of the system include a rewritten graphical management console, built-in anti-spam protection, improved Outlook Web Access, a unified messaging system and a scriptable, command-line shell based on the powerful Monad technology (which supports Unix-like piping of commands only incorporating data objects). ...more

UK falls victim to Web rage

Telewest Broadband has revealed that 18.7 million UK Internet users have been affected by the latest craze to come across the Atlantic - Internet rage. The company carried out a nationwide survey and discovered that we are becoming increasingly impatient and frustrated with 'slow and unreliable' Internet connections. ...more

Google Earth in the saddle for Le Tour

Tour de France fans can now follow the route via the satellite imagery of Google Earth. A simple download provides a detailed map of each of the 20 stages (and prologue), complete with all the key parts of each stage, the intermediate sprints and the climbs. The Tour website also promises regular results updates, though these don't yet appear to have materialised. ...more