US Senate outlaws spam

The US Senate has passed legislation to outlaw spam and set up a 'do-not-spam' registry for those that want to avoid the scourge of unsolicited email altogether. The legislation was approved by vote 100 per cent in favour and would see those breaching the terms facing time in jail or fines of millions of dollars. The 'deceptive' spam to be outlawed includes mails disguised as a response or that proffer fraudulent products, such as claiming to enhance parts of the body. ...more

Nominet responds to privacy concerns

Nominet UK, the domain name registrar, has announced measures to protect the privacy of individuals, following concerns raised about its plans to publish the names and addresses of those who register .uk domains. The issue was first brought to public attention by a letter published in MacUser magazine. ...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

Help predict global warming on your PC

PC users around the world have the chance to help predict the effects of global warming. The initiative run by climateprediction.net aims to use hundreds of computers, each running their own climate prediction model, to study the likely consequences of climate change over the coming century. ...more

Christmas virus woe

The worse case scenario for anyone this Christmas is to have his or her computer disabled by an errant virus, only to discover that there's no help available because everyone is on holiday. Be warned, a virus called W32.Kriz is doing the rounds and this little monster can get into your system by hitching a ride on the back of other worm viruses such as Happy99. ...more