Analysis: Web independence comes under lobby attack

The US and its computing corporations have long held a position of power in all things Internet, but as the Web grows more profitable, the Americans are brandishing the big stick as never before. Recent closures of websites and government-level pressure on entire nations - with threats of World Trade Organisation (WTO) exclusion - pose the question: how much power do US companies assert over lawmakers worldwide? US intervention in the European Union - where many of our policies on issues such as Internet law and software patents are founded - is remarkably low key. They're carried out by faceless lobby groups serving big business at the expense of the general public. ...more

Sony eyes Palm

Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei has revealed to IT Web site Always-On his company's strategy including a desire to buy PalmSource and/or Symbian. Talking of Sony's mobile OS tandem, with its phones using the Symbian platform and its PDAs Palm, Idei said: 'I really want to own either Symbian or Palm .. ...more

The Met sets up anti-piracy unit

The Metropolitan Police force has set up an anti-piracy unit to tackle counterfeiting and the organised crime gangs that often profit from the practice. Provisions within the Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002 that allow the police to seize the cash and assets accrued from film piracy will be used to crack down on pirates leading affluent lifestyles or who have amassed fortunes from counterfeiting. As a knock-on effect, it is hoped that by targeting successful counterfeiters, it will remove them from potential role-models for their local community, making piracy less attractive. ...more

JavaScript flaw discovered in Firefox

A non-critical flaw has been found in the most recent version of the Firefox Web browser, which could be exploited to cause a denial of service. According to Secunia Advisory 19802, the weakness is caused due to an error in the handling of unexpected "focus()" JavaScript calls. This can be exploited to corrupt the memory and cause a crash by calling the "focus()" method on a container with specially crafted content. ...more

Microsoft plays down Sendo Smartphone snub

Microsoft has put a brave face on the very, very late switch by Sendo away from its Smartphone OS. Sendo has instead chosen to license the rival Nokia Series 60 platform, joining the ranks of Matsushita, Samsung and Siemens, as well as Nokia. The Sendo move, however, 'will not have an impact on Microsoft's ability to be successful' in this market, asserts Anne-Marie Duffy, a Mobility Marketing Manager from Microsoft's Mobile Devices Division. ...more