All Tech

Data Leak in Britain Affects 25 Million

2007-11-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

LONDON, Nov. 21 — The British government struggled Wednesday to explain its loss of computer disks containing detailed personal information on 25 million Britons, including an unknown number of bank account identifiers, in what analysts described as potentially the most significant privacy breach of the digital era.

It has defended its decision not to disclose the loss until Tuesday, 10 days after it had been informed, saying banks had asked for time to put heightened security measures in place first. The data went astray in October, after two computer disks that contained information on families that receive government financial benefits for children were sent out from a government tax agency unregistered, via a private delivery service. The episode is one of three this year in which the agency improperly handled its vast archive of personal data, according to an account by the chancellor of the Exchequer — including the sending of a second set of disks when the first set did not arrive.

In sheer numbers, the breach was smaller than several in the United States over the last few years. Last year, a computer and detachable hard drive with the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel was stolen from the home of an analyst, but recovered apparently without any harm. In 2003, a former software engineer at America Online pleaded guilty to stealing and selling 92 million user names and e-mail addresses, setting off an avalanche of up to seven billion unsolicited e-mail messages.

But the disks lost in Britain contained detailed personal information on 40 percent of the population: in addition to the bank account numbers, there were names, addresses and national insurance numbers, the British equivalent of Social Security numbers. They also held data on almost every child under 16.

"This particular breach would dwarf anything we've seen in the United States in terms of percentage of the population impacted," said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group based in California.

The head of the tax agency, Paul Gray, resigned Tuesday, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized to the nation on Wednesday and said he had ordered a review of the government's handling of all private data. In an address to the House of Commons, he said, "I profoundly regret and apologize for the inconvenience and worries that have been caused to millions of families that receive child benefits."

The data breach offered the opposition new ammunition. David Cameron, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, said in Parliament that the government had "failed in its first duty — to protect the public."

Bank officials said they had scrutinized their records back to Oct. 18, when the disks were mailed, but had discerned no unusual account activity, and the government pledged that no individuals would be responsible for any losses related to the security breach. British families are eligible for a weekly payment of $36.30 for their first child, and $25 per additional child. Those who choose to have the money deposited directly into bank accounts must provide this information to the government.

The disks were protected by a password, the government said, but were not encrypted. They were sent by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the country's tax collection agency, to the National Audit Office, which monitors government spending, via a parcel delivery company, TNT.

According to the chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who delivered a lengthy explanation to the House of Commons on Tuesday, a "junior" staff member sent the disks. Three weeks later, the tax agency's managers were informed that the disks had not arrived. Mr. Darling said he was told of the problem two days later, but first had law enforcement officials hunt for the disks and then alerted banks.

"In making this statement today," he said, "I have had to balance the imperative of informing the House and the public at the earliest opportunity, whilst at the same time ensuring that when I did so the appropriate safeguards were in place to protect the public, including in relation to bank accounts. Indeed the banks were adamant that they wanted as much time as possible to prepare for this announcement."

But on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the British Bankers Association, Lesley McLeod, said the group had been informed only on Friday, and that its security measures had been completed by Monday.

Mr. Darling noted two other instances in which the tax agency had sent delicate information to the National Audit Office that were not in keeping with security rules: first in March this year, and then a second time in October, when the audit office first told the tax agency that the two disks had not arrived. Those, he said, were sent by registered mail, and did arrive. Experts on security data said there were signs of systemic security problems.
"It sort of beggars belief how anyone could have access to that data," Simon Zimmo, the commercial director for Europe,
the Middle East and Africa at SecuriData, a data security specialist based in Scotland.
Experts said the information could allow crimes beyond identity theft. Some people use the name of a child or part of an address as a password on a bank account, so the combination of these details could allow someone to break their code.

"You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be people out there looking for those disks, and it's not just MI5 trying to get them back," said Mike Davis, an analyst with the Ovum technology consulting firm in London, referring to the British domestic security services.

Matt Richtel contributed reporting from New York.

Comcast Sued Over BitTorrent Traffic Interference

2007-11-25T21:04:00.000-05:00

t was to be expected, yesterday, a Comcast subscriber from California filed a suit against Comcast in which he calls upon the ISP to stop interfering with his BitTorrent traffic.

We first reported that Comcast was actively disconnecting BitTorrent seeds back in August. Comcast of course denied our allegations, even though we had proof, and they continued to do so.

Jon Hart, a Comcast subscriber from California couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take legal action. He filed a class-action lawsuit on Tuesday and demands that Comcast stops the BitTorrent traffic interference. In addition he wants Comcast to pay him, and all other Comcast customers in California, damages for not giving him the “crazy fast speeds” they advertised.

Threat Level asked Comcast for a response to this news, but the spokesman put them off with his default response: “Comcast does not, has not, and will not block any websites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services”.

Semantically speaking they are totally right, they don’t block any applications or websites, they do however, actively disconnect peer-to-peer connections, making it impossible for many users to seed files on BitTorrent.

Hart is not the only one taking action against Comcast, the people behind SaveTheInternet have also formed a coalition and plan to demand $195,000 for all the customers who are affected.

Comcast is using an application from the broadband management company Sandvine to throttle BitTorrent traffic. The application is installed at the cable modem termination system and breaks every (seed) connection with new peers after a few seconds. This means that Comcast is not simply slowing down connections, they actually disconnect peer-to-peer transfers.

Michael Dell's Linux choice? Ubuntu

2007-04-26T13:16:00.000-04:00

Apr. 18, 2007

What operating system do the heads of Fortune 500 companies run on their personal laptops? In the case of Michael S. Dell, president and CEO of Dell, it's Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn.

Yes, the head of Dell Inc., with a market-capitalization of just south of $56-billion, isn't just saying that Dell will be selling Linux-equipped PCs in the near future -- he's already running Linux at home.

To be precise, Mr. Dell, in addition to running the latest version of Ubuntu, which is still scheduled for final release on April 19, is also running the VMware Workstation 6 Beta, OpenOffice.org 2.2, Automatix2, Firefox 2.0.0.3, and Evolution Groupware 2.10.

The only name that most Linux users may not recognize immediately on that list is Automatix2. Automatrix2 is a popular Debian, Ubuntu, Pioneer, and MEPIS Linux add-on program. With that application in place, it becomes mindlessly simple to install useful software that doesn't come with a vanilla Ubuntu installation. It includes access to Skype, Opera, Macromedia Flash, Google Earth, Picasa, Adobe Reader, DVD support, WiFi, and so on.

Mr. Dell is running all this on a loaded Dell Precision M90. The company describes this as a mobile workstation.

Certainly the model that Dell is running at his Austin, Texas area home qualifies as a mobile workstation by anyone's definition. His machine comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 Processor, which runs at 2.33GHz and comes with a 4MB cache. It also comes with 4GB of DDR2 (double-data-rate) 667Mhz DRAM, a 17-inch WXGA+ Widescreen LCD, a 160GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive, a 8X DVD +/- RW optical drive, and a NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 512M graphics card.

While no WiFi card is specifically mentioned, Dell also offers both its own Dell Wireless 5700 (CDMA EVDO) External Express Card for Verizon Wireless data connections and an assortment of 802.11a and g WiFi cards.

By our calculations, the total bill for Mr. Dell's system, as described, comes to $4,703. It could have been more. He didn't splurge on the optional Blu-Ray drive.

Unfortunately, if you tried to order it yourself, your only operating system choices on that system today are Windows XP SP 2 and Vista. Sources close to Dell, however, tell us that pre-installed Linux on Dell systems may be coming before the end of April.

We still do not know which Linux Dell Inc. will be installing on its desktops and laptops. Among the distributions we know to be under consideration are: Novell/SUSE, Red Hat, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu. It would be safe to say now, though, that Ubuntu will be at least one of the Linuxes that Dell will be offering.

Of course, Mr. Dell also uses no fewer than four other high-end systems. Each of these is running Windows.

Still, while many millionaires, such as Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth, Red Hat's Matthew Szulik, and Novell's Ron Hovsepian, are running Linux on their own machines, Michael Dell is almost certainly the first billionaire to embrace the penguin. And, far more importantly, he's the first one who also owns one of the world's biggest PC vendors.

Pre-installed Linux on top brand-name computers is so close to becoming real you can almost run it.

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Microsoft's $3 anti-Linux weapon

2007-04-26T13:10:00.000-04:00

Apr. 19, 2007

In Beijing, Bill Gates announced this week that Microsoft's "Unlimited Potential" initiative will now include offering a software package, the Student Innovation Suite, to governments and students in emerging countries across the world at a price of just $3.

This suite, available in the second half of 2007, will include Windows XP Starter Edition; Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office, and Windows Live Mail desktop. However, Microsoft has no takers for its offering yet.

Officially, the goal is to help bring social and economic opportunity through new products and programs to as many as possible of the potential 5 billion people who do not yet use Microsoft products.

What a lot of bull feces. The goal is to kill open source off at its roots. Microsoft wants to make sure that young people in developing countries get brainwashed into the Microsoft way of computing.

Here's what's really happening. Microsoft is seeing that the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative is taking off. Soon, millions of kids will be using a computer for the first time, and their first computer is going to be running Sugar, an innovative software environment built on top of a Red Hat Fedora-based Linux variant.

Microsoft is also seeing how Linux distributions are moving quickly ahead of Windows in Africa, where Ubuntu is gaining popularity; South America, where Mandriva is making inroads; and China, which has its own powerful ecosystem of Linux companies such as Red Flag and Sun Wah Linux.

As Ubuntu founding father Mark Shuttleworth recently told me: "We're seeing Ubuntu being picked up in Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and South America. So, those places have become a real focus for us." And, in particular, "Desktop Linux is very attractive in emerging counties."

Why? That's simple: Linux is inexpensive and it works. Unlike North America and, to some extent, Western Europe, the rest of the world isn't addicted to Microsoft's offerings. They can see with far clearer eyes than most Americans that Windows is not the be-all and end-all of operating systems.

Another factor is that in many countries, there's a real desire to not get tied up with Microsoft. After all, why help Bill Gates in the U.S. become ever richer, when you can help software developers in your own country create your own local version of Silicon Valley based on Linux and open source? You can see that in France, where the National Assembly recently moved to Linux desktops, and in South Korea, which wants to help its native software businesses.

For the first time since burying OS/2, Microsoft is all too aware that it has competition for the American desktop. Apple has emerged as a serious competitor once more, and I think the Linux desktop is really starting to worry the folks from Redmond.

Consider this: On April 18, Michael Dell, head of Dell Computers, the No. 2 PC vendor in the world with a market share of 15.2 percent, told the world that he's using Ubuntu Linux on his home laptop. Dell Inc. has also announced that it will soon be selling PCs and laptops with preloaded Linux.

Oh, and the number-1 PC company in the world, HP? It hasn't come out and said it, but rumor has it that it's readying consumer pre-loads of Linux on the desktop as well.

There was a time when hardware vendors announcing that they were going to sell and support any operating system except Windows would have been unthinkable. Microsoft would destroy them.

What? You thought Microsoft became number-1 because it had better products? Please!

Read, if you will, part of a 2006 complaint by Tangent, a Burlingame, Calif.-based OEM (original equipment manufacturer), about Microsoft's business practices: "Because Microsoft, through its exclusionary practices, eliminated its competitors from the market and has blocked entry of new competitors and expansion of existing rivals, it has been able to increase, maintain or stabilize prices at anticompetitive levels" since the late 1980s.

"Microsoft's supra-competitive prices are not the result of superior products or competition on the merits. Rather, Microsoft has been able, at the financial expense of purchasers to artificially inflate its profits...," the complaint added.

Amen, brother!

The people who run Microsoft aren't idiots. They see that they're losing any chance they might have of seizing the global PC market. They know that their iron grip on the North American and Western European markets is starting to rust.

So, by throwing almost free products on the world market, they're trying to ruin the chances of Linux and open source. If Linux continues to make gains in the U.S. and Canada, I expect that Microsoft may even -- oh, how it'll hate this -- cut the prices on Vista and Office.

I don't think, however, that Microsoft will get away with it. Dumping product is a no-no in any country's trade plans. Besides, a home-grown version of Linux, OpenOffice, and Thunderbird is still cheaper than Microsoft's $3 suite. People who don't live in places where Microsoft rules have also realized that, while the first taste of Microsoft products may be free, the long-term costs are enormous.

Last, but far from least, people everywhere are finally realizing that they don't need to buy into Microsoft's expensive monopoly to use their PCs. It's really quite simple: You don't need Windows anymore, and Microsoft is continuing to con you, and the rest of the world, into believing that you do.

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Congratulations Ubuntu !!!

2007-04-24T13:23:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the extraordinary work of the entire Ubuntu community, developers, writers, artists, translators and advocates, we have finally set free the Feisty Fawn. Henceforth, this release will be known as Ubuntu 7.04 and it is the recommended best version of Ubuntu for anyone who wants to use the best of free software!

Here's the overall release announcement: or you might want to jump straight to the download zone:. Congratulations Ubuntu!

Microsoft admits Vista failure

2007-04-23T03:45:00.000-04:00

Actions speak louder than PR

By Charlie Demerjian in Beijing: Saturday 21 April 2007, 12:20

WITH TWO OVERLAPPING events, Microsoft admitted what we have been saying all along, Vista, aka Windows Me Two (Me II), is a joke that no one wants.
It did two unprecedented things this week that frankly stunned us.

Dell announced that it would be offering XP again on home PCs. The second that Vista came out, Microsoft makes it very hard for you to sell anything other than Me II. It can't do this on the business side because it would be laughed out the door, but for the walking sheep class, well, you take what you are shovelled.

This is classic abusive monopoly behavior, Microsoft wrote the modern book on it. It pulled all the major OEMs in by twisting their arms with the usual methods, and they again all fell into line. Never before has anyone backpedalled on this, to do so would earn you the wrath of Microsoft.

But Dell just did. This means that Me II sales are at least as bad as we think, the software and driver situation is just as miserable, and Dell had no choice but to buck the trend. If anyone thinks this is an act of atonement for foisting such a steaming pile on us, think again, it doesn't care about the consumer.

What happened is the OEMs revolted in the background and forced Microsoft's hand. This is a big neon sign above Me II saying 'FAILURE'. Blink blink blink. OK, Me II won't fail, Microsoft has OEMs whipped and threatened into a corner, it will sell, but you can almost hear the defectors marching toward Linux. This is a watershed.

The other equally monumental Me II failure? Gates in China launching a $3 version of bundled Me II. Why is this not altruism? Well, it goes back to piracy and how it helped enforce the MS monopoly. If you can easily pirate Windows, Linux has no price advantage, they both cost zero.

With Me II, Microsoft made it very hard to pirate. It is do-able, you can use the BIOS hack and probably a host of others, but the point is, it raised the bar enough so lots of people have to buy it. Want to bet that in a country with $100 average monthly salary, people aren't going to shell out $299 for Me II Broken Edition?

What did MS do? It dropped the price about 100x or so. I can't say this is unprecedented, when it made Office 2003 hard to pirate it had to backpedal with the student edition for about $150. This time though, things are much more desperate.

If you fit Microsoft's somewhat convoluted definition of poor, it still wants to lock you in, you might get rich enough to afford the full-priced stuff someday. It is at a dangerous crossroads, if its software bumps up the price of a computer by 100 per cent, people might look to alternatives.

That means no Me II DRM infection lock in, no mass migration to the newer Office obfuscated and patented file formats, and worse yet, people might utter the W word. Yes, you guessed it, 'why'. People might ask why it is sticking with the MS lock in, and at that point, it is in deep trouble.

So, it did the unthinkable, and dropped the price. I won't bother to hunt down all the exec quotes saying how people can't afford clean water would be overjoyed to sell kidneys to upgrade to the new version of Office, but they are out there. This was a sacred cow, and it is now hamburger backed up against the wall.

These two actions by Microsoft are proof of what I suggested three years ago. Microsoft has lost its ability to twist arms, and now it is going to die. It can't compete on level ground, so is left with backpedalling and discounts of almost 100 times.

What we are seeing is an unprecedented shift of power. It is also an unprecedented admission of failure. And the funniest part about the moves made? They are the wrong things to do. Microsoft is in deep trouble. µ

MS Vista, degenerative technology analysis

2007-04-23T03:41:00.000-04:00

by oday — posted at 2007-04-04 17:43 last modified 2007-04-04 17:49 Copyright 2007 Oliver Day: You can redistribute this article and/or modify it according to terms of the Free Art License (http://artlibre.org/licence/lalgb.html).
One commenter on digg.com asked what the sense of my article is. Is it just that Microsoft Vista will introduce new levels of encryption to the playback of HD content? I wish it were as simple as that. And this goes way beyond the idea that consumers will have to pay for the extra components on the video cards which will not be used if they don’t play HD content. It goes way beyond the fact that pirated HD content is already available which invalidates all their efforts to date. The real issue that warrants your attention is that Microsoft has teamed up with the entertainment industries (RIAA + MPAA) to create an operating system that can control what you do, where you do it, and how you do it. The real issue is that they are collectively pushing degenerative technology which is causing a cultural backslide.

The new features which create “pipelines” to secure audio and video ensure that consumers can not play movies or music on devices that are not approved. More then ever, the industries who produce the entertainment consumed by the masses treat those very same people as potential criminals. Microsoft isn’t kowtowing to demands; they are gladly aiding the entertainment industry to fight a battle they themselves are waging. Piracy affects anyone who distributes products under a restrictive copyright regime. Unlike what many a blog commenter has tried to argue DRM is not free. There are significant costs involved which I have tried to outline in my previous articles in the form of additional hardware, resource usage, engineering time, technical support, and PR spin to counter people like me who are against such things. One commenter on the windowsvistablog was nice enough to extract all six mentions of who is paying for these restrictions. The consumer.

Yet if one were to conduct a survey among users I would find it difficult to believe that anyone would list DRM high on their wish list. It’s difficult to imagine someone asking for “computers which run software you can’t see, can’t understand, can’t control, and which reports to other people what is going on in your network without your ability to interrupt or do anything?”. Even if the payoff is the ability to play back HD content from major studios. This is the leverage that Microsoft has touted from the beginning and their hope is that consumers value this “ability” so highly as to turn a blind eye to the degenerative methodologies embedded in the very core of their new operating system.

Part of the adherence to the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) specifications is the deliberate obfuscation of drivers and the withdrawal of open hardware specifications. When an approved device is given a piece of HD content the operating system begins negotiating with the device to verify that it is real and authentic. To accomplish this, undocumented calls are made to the device verifying that it is not a fake device intent on viewing unencrypted frames of the premium content. How does this affect you? Dave Marsh responded that “HFS uses additional chip characteristics other than those needed to write a driver. HFS requirements should not prevent the disclosure of all the information needed to write drivers.” What he doesn’t mention is that the authors of the drivers for future video hardware are under contract to obfuscate their code and keep their specifications closed. Closed specifications affect hardware design for ALL operating systems. Free software driver developers will find less and less publicly available documentation. One of the commenters on my original post had a great response which I’m including here.

“I don’t care about ‘premium content’, neither copied nor purchased, and yet I, as a software developer, have to live with the fact that it’s hard to use 3D graphics cards using free drivers. Thanks to the deal between the likes of MPAA-Microsoft-ATI, the situation won’t improve, it will only get worse. “

Support governments moving away from Windows Vista and toward free software

2007-04-23T03:39:00.000-04:00

by John Sullivan — posted at 2007-04-20 13:02 last modified 2007-04-20 14:11
Since the launch of Vista several governments and government agencies around the world have said publicly that they will not use it, including the US Department of Transportation and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. But we need to make sure that the space this creates is filled by free software operating systems like GNU/Linux.

In some cases, governments are instead moving to other kinds of proprietary software. This is why we need to emphasize the freedom of free software operating systems like GNU/Linux and not just their technical advantages (as represented by the term “open source”). What we want is not the rejection of Microsoft in particular—we want governments to acknowledge the ethical ramifications of their software choices and leave proprietary software behind entirely.

Though the rejections so far are good news, we shouldn't get complacent. In some cases these Vista bans are being presented as only temporary measures, with Vista still under long-term consideration. We still need to let our government officials know that we support free software.

If you are a Massachusetts resident, you can let Governor Patrick know that you want the Commonwealth to free itself from proprietary software interests for good by going to http://devalpatrick.com/issue/freesoftware and endorsing the issue.

What can be done in other states, and other countries?

Avoid the Vista badge, it means DRM inside

2007-04-23T03:28:00.000-04:00

Comment Don't just blame Dammit, damn it

By Charlie Demerjian: Sunday 15 April 2007, 11:10

THE RECENT BILE directed at DAMMIT over the framebuffer lockout is entirely misdirected. Or, at least, the reason to blame the firm is wrong. The hardware providers may be guilty as hell here, but not for this - the real evil here is Microsoft with its DRM fetish. The loser? You, once again.
As we have been saying for years now, DRM infections have no positives for the user, there is literally no good that you get from them. Everything they do is negative under each and every scenario. While the content mafiaa gets positively orgasmic over the money they will rake in while you twist, the whole industry tanks.

Back to the issue at hand, there is no hardware provider that I talked to, be it DAAMIT, Intel, Nvidia, or device manufacturer like the drive makers that want, like, or even say good things about the DRM infections. They hate this more than you do.

Why? It cost them a lot of money to license the IP involved in this. Then they have to make the things, which add engineering debugging and testing time. DRM infections lower compatibility, drive up support costs, and in general are no fun.

Once you get the design done, it adds silicon area, lowering yields and adding cost. The finished devices consume more power, you don't think that encryption comes for free do you, lowers performance, and in general, sucks.

On top of this, you have to not only make driver that understand this on top of the normal functionality, but you have to obfuscate, secure, and enforce the DRM infections. Again, this lowers compatibility, breaks functionality, and costs a hell of a lot to do.

It will then be broken in a few hours, and you will have to make a new set of drivers with a different encryption scheme. Who pays for this massive engineering effort in the end? The user, that would be you. What do you get for your added money? Less compatibility, devices that don't work, much less work together, and forced updates that will break your machine if you don't apply them. You are roadkill that is forced to pay for your pain, a wallet with legs.

So, if the hardware people hate this inflicted pain, why do we have it? Two reasons, MS and the hardware vendors themselves abdicating their responsibilities to you the consumer. MS is evil, the rest of them sold you out for their profits. Ironically, they all lost, as did we the users.

The root of this crappy DRM infection is Microsoft. It is the driving force here. This has nothing to do with protecting content, as we keep pointing out, there has never been a single thing that has had a DRM infection applied that didn't end up cracked on the net in hours. DRM is about walled gardens and control.

He who controls the DRM infection controls the market. DRM is about preventing you from doing anything with the devices without paying the gatekeeper a fee. This is what MS wants, nothing less than a slice of everything watched, listened to or discussed from now on. DRM prevents others from playing there, thanks to the DMCA and other anti-consumer laws.

Make no mistake, MS is pushing the DRM malware as hard as it can so it can rake in money hand over fist with no competition. It is really good at lock-in, in fact, the firm based its entire business model on harming the user so they have to comply and spend more.

Want more proof? If you look at the Windows MeII (aka Vista) logo requirements, specifically the graphics portion or the list (Spreadsheet section I, lines 452 and on), you will see that they list something very curious. The first thing they list is that the graphics is DRM infected, this is mandatory. The next requirement is that it meets the functionality standards, like 453. So, MS is saying in no uncertain terms that DRM infections are more important than the device actually working.

What a wonderful world we live in, in the real rational world, roadkill does not have to pay for the privilege or agree to a crushing Windows EULA before they get their brains splattered on the grill of a coked out record company exec's Porsche logo.

So, if Microsoft is the root of all this evil, why blame the hardware folks? Because they are all spineless cowards. Intel sold you out. ATI sold you out. Nvidia sold you out. AMD sold you out. Every other hardware vendor that has a Windows Vista malware sticker on their machines sold you out. This is a badge of compliance, just that you are being forced to, not that the stuff will work with Vista.

These corporate worms all stood in line and assured their own pain, and then heaped that pain and cost on you. None of them had the balls to stand up and do anything about it, they are dumb sheep, and MS knows this. They use logo compliance as a weapon, and everyone falls into line.

What is the result? Media centers suck, all of them. They are unwieldy, unworkable, unfriendly, anti-consumer piles of garbage that sit on store shelves rotting. People don't buy media center PCs because they want a DRM infection that turns their $5K flat panel into a black screen, or if they are really lucky, a downrezzed blur, they buy them in spite of it. This is usually done out of ignorance, something that seems to be prevalent in abundance among the masses. All the companies prey on this.

So, you have an evil mastermind herding spineless sheep. You suffer and pay more. Media center PCs are a dead category because of DRM infections, a promising new tech squashed in the name of greed and control. Lets chrome one and put it beside a mini-disc player with a DAT as a backdrop. Garnish with Audio DVDs, Blu-Rays and HD-DVDs as needed.

What good did DRM do here? All the things that DRM infections have tried to protect are still cracked, AACS patches are cracked before the new discs have started to be pressed, and the game goes on. The content mafiaa and MS have lost every single skirmish in the war.

Another promising tech squashed. Another set of world domination dreams fizzled. Another generation of consumers blindsided because they don't pay attention. Another set of miserable and broken hardware foisted on us.

When you aim the guns at DAAMIT, make sure you aim the guns at the right target for the right reasons. So far, very few have, there is more than enough DRM related greed and evil to go around. Have at thee, but have at thee correctly.

And they wonder why we don't care about the crap they make any more and sales are in the toilet. That is the real puzzler.

Accelerate your P2P experience with FrostWire!

2007-04-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

Features:
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*Built-in community chat
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*Connects to more sources
*Creative commons license support
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*Junk result filters
*Turbo-Charged download speeds
*iTunes integration
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What is FrostWire?
FrostWire, a Java Gnutella Peer-to-Peer client, is a collaborative effort from many Open Source and freelance developers located from all around the world. In late 2005, a few concerned developers of LimeWire's open source community announced the start of a new project fork "FrostWire" that would protect the developmental source code of the LimeWire client and any improvements to the Gnutella protocol design. The developers of FrostWire give high regard and respect to the GNU General Public License and consider it to be the ideal foundation of a creative and free enterprise market.

Our Mission
We believe that an aspirational enterprise must meet the needs of it's audience and develop services around the involved communities. We further believe the community will provide us with the ability to design new and creative innovations in technological development. We would have never been able to realize any of our goals without the support, ideas and hard work that the community has poured into this project. We sincerely want to thank all of those who have provided us with this real opportunity to seek creative freedom for everyone. It is our wish to build a competitive service with the community at the heart and forefront of design and innovation

Copyright © 2005-2007 FrostWire Development Group.

BadVista.org: Stopping Microsoft Windows Vista adoption by promoting free software

2007-04-18T22:38:00.000-04:00

The BadVista campaign is an advocate for the freedom of computer users, opposing adoption of Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free (as in freedom) software alternatives.

The Free Software Foundation

2007-04-18T22:36:00.000-04:00

Free software is a matter of liberty not price.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF), established in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free software, particularly the GNU operating system, used widely in its GNU/Linux variant.

http://www.fsf.org/

Another reason for not using VISTA

2007-04-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

Microsoft promises to wow people who are upgrading from Windows XP to its new operating system, but with the joys of Windows Vista comes plenty of pain.

1. Vista Activation Cracked by Brute Force
-"The Inquirer has a story about a brute force Vista key activation crack. It's nothing fancy; it's described as a 'glorified guesser.' The danger of this approach is that sooner or later the key cracker will begin activating legitimate keys purchased by other consumers. From the article: 'The code is floating, the method is known, and there is nothing MS can do at this point other than suck it down and prepare for the problems this causes. To make matters worse, Microsoft will have to decide if it is worth it to allow people to take back legit keys that have been hijacked, or tell customers to go away, we have your money already, read your license agreement and get bent, we owe you nothing.'"

2. Vista Firewall Easily Tricked, Says Symantec
-"[The firewall] poses a great limitation for malicious code looking to backdoor a host," said Padilla in the entry. "Unfortunately, the Unblock button may be accessed with the same privilege level as a standard user. This configuration of privileges creates a point of vulnerability that undermines the effectiveness of the firewall's policy in Windows Vista."

3. Vista's user account control is not trustworthy

4. Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system is a giant step backward for your freedoms.
-Usually software is supposed to enable you to do more with your computer. Vista, though, is designed to restrict what you can do. Vista enforces new forms of "Digital Rights Management (DRM)". DRM is more accurately called Digital Restrictions Management, because it is a technology that Big Media and computer companies try to impose on us all, in order to have control over how our computers are used.

DRM enables Microsoft and media companies to:
*Decide which programs you can and can't use on your computer
*Decide which features of your computer or software you can use at any given moment
*Force you to install new programs even when you don't want to (and, of course, pay for the privilege)
*Restrict your access to certain programs and even to your own data files

DRM is enforced by technological barriers. You try to do something, and your computer tells you that you can't. To make this effective, your computer has to be constantly monitoring what you are doing. This constant monitoring uses computing power and memory, and is a large part of the reason why Microsoft is telling you that you have to buy new and more powerful hardware in order to run Vista. They want you to buy new hardware not because you need it, but because your computer needs it in order to be more effective at restricting what you do.

Microsoft and other computer companies sometimes refer to these restrictions as "Trusted Computing." Given that they are designed to make it so that your computer stops trusting you and starts trusting Microsoft, these restrictions are more appropriately called "Treacherous Computing".

Even when you legally buy Vista, you don't own it.

Windows Vista, like previous versions of Windows, is proprietary software: leased to you under a license that severely restricts how you can use it, and without source code, so nobody but Microsoft can change it or even verify what it really does.

Microsoft says it best:

The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways.

To make it even more confusing, different versions of Vista have different licensing restrictions. You can read all of the licenses at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx.

It's painful to read the licenses, and this is often why people don't object to them. But if we don't start objecting, we will lose valuable freedoms. Here are some of the ridiculous restrictions you will find in your reading:
If your copy of Vista came with the purchase of a new computer, that copy of Vista may only be legally used on that machine, forever.
If you bought Vista in a retail store and installed it on a machine you already owned, you have to completely delete it on that machine before you can install it on another machine.
You give Microsoft the right, through programs like Windows Defender, to delete programs from your system that it decides are spyware.
You consent to being spied upon by Microsoft, through the "Windows Genuine Advantage" system. This system tries to identify instances of copying that Microsoft thinks are illegitimate. Unfortunately, a recent study indicated that this system has already screwed up in over 500,000 cases.

Free software like GNU/Linux does not require you to consent to these absurd licensing terms. It is called free software because you are free to make as many copies as you want, and to share it with as many friends as you want. Nobody will be monitoring your actions or falsely calling you a thief.
What you can do to help protect your freedom

There is a battle underway between those who value freedom, and corporations such as Microsoft who wish to profit by taking that freedom away. DRM and absurd licenses are at the heart of that battle. Please join us on the side of freedom by saying NO not just to Windows Vista and other DRM-enabled products, but to proprietary software in general. Instead, use non-DRM, "free" software such as the GNU/Linux operating system. You can get your work done while ensuring that your rights and freedoms will not be restricted now and into the future.

As more and more of our lives become digital, it is vital that we protect our digital freedoms just like we have always worked to protect our freedom of expression in print and speech.

SpyLocked, the latest rogue!

2007-03-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

March 20th, 2007 by AndyAtHull

Which looks alot like VirusBurst(ers) and recent rogue, SpyDawn. Only they styled it the same blue as this rocking site! Ok enough of me boasting. Serious stuff here.

I never really tell you how these get installed or where they come from whilst surfing the internet. Mainly because we have all seen it before and generally know. But for the new readers applications like this get installed on a system by the Trojan.Zlob from fake codecs to view video files.

Then once you view these files with the codecs you will be asked to install these rogues then once installed it’s found x, y and z on your system. Only to lure you in to pay for the program which in affect is a scam.

This rogue, like many others generally look the same. The licence agreement or known as EULA contain the most mistakes as they sometimes show previous rogues mentioned rather than the rogue it is installing. And the web-sites for these also generate many mistakes.

This rogue is associated with the infamous Inhoster as the whois shows:

Registration Service Provided By: ERDOMAIN.COM
Contact: +49.1797458539
Website: http://www.erdomain.com

Domain Name: SPYLOCKED.COM

Registrant:
Privacyprotect.org
Domain Admin (contact@privacyprotect.org)
PO Box 83-000
Johnsonville
Wellington
null,6440
NZ
Tel. +45.36946676

Creation Date: 19-Feb-2007
Expiration Date: 19-Feb-2008

Domain servers in listed order:
ns3.wildgadgets.biz
ns2.wildgadgets.biz
ns1.wildgadgets.biz

If you come across this rogue, avoid installing it. If you have became affected by fake codecs and installed this one then visit our SpyLocked Removal Guide or get step by step assistance from a qualified helper here. Discuss it in more here.

Posted in Security Related, Rogue Programs | 1 Comment »
VistaRewired Bookmarked
March 20th, 2007 by Corrine

I was catching up the postings at Windows Vista Magazine which led me to a nice tutorial on how to Disable unnecessary services the quick and easy way at VistaRewired.

There is a lot more at VistaRewired, which is why the site has been bookmarked in Reviews and Collections. The individual tutorials are linked below. Perhaps when time allows (!), I will break those links down further into suitable bookmark pages. In the meantime, there is a lot of information at VistaRewired:
Improve productivity with a 3D virtual desktop
Ten must-read tips and tutorials for Vista
Prepare a System Health Report
How to log in to your PC when you have forgotten your password
Get windows to automatically log you in each time you reboot
Know when to defragment your drive
Perform a Clean Install with a Vista Upgrade Disc
Run XP in Vista and vice-versa
Run your non-Vista software o1n Vista
Disable unnecessary services the quick and easy way
How to resize a partition in Windows Vista
Disabling User Account Control

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you come across this rogue, avoid installing it. If you have became affected by fake codecs and installed this one then visit or get step by step assistance from a qualified helper here: . Discuss it in more here: .

Ubuntu 6.10 Released

2006-11-04T01:11:00.000-05:00

Canonical Launches New Ubuntu Release for Desktops and Servers

London - 26th October 2006 - Canonical Ltd, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, the world’s fastest growing Linux distribution, today announced its latest desktop and server version. Following months of development and user feedback, Ubuntu 6.10 offers a cleaner, sharper design, together with new and enhanced desktop applications and advances in security. Significantly faster boot up times and the best in leading edge free software technologies make the latest Ubuntu the first choice for many new and existing Linux users.

The fundamental freedoms of Ubuntu allow everyone, from home to enterprise users, to deploy Ubuntu without restriction. Ubuntu 6.10 is freely available and will be maintained for 18 months, with free security updates for all users. For deployments which require additional service guarantees, full telephone and online support on commercial terms is available globally from the professional support team at Canonical Ltd and service partners.

The desktop version introduces a host of new features, an improved interface and a wide variety of new applications and desktop tools making Ubuntu 6.10 flexible and user-friendly. Enhancements include:

Tomboy, an easy-to-use and efficient note-taking tool

F-Spot, a photo management tool that enables tagging, photo editing and automatic uploading to on-line web management sites such as Flickr

GNOME 2.16, which in addition to new features such as enhanced power management, makes the GNOME desktop more secure, faster and more stable

Upstart, a replacement start-up manager offering a cleaner design, eye-catching effects and a substantially faster boot time

The latest Firefox web browser, which offers inline spell check support in web forms, easy recovery of crashed sessions, built-in phishing detectors, enhanced search engine management with built in OpenSearch support, and better support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds

Proactive security features, preventing many common security vulnerabilities even before they are discovered

Evolution 2.8.0, which brings new features such as vertical message panes

"With Ubuntu 6.10, we've made improvements across the board, both on the desktop where they're a visible part of the user experience, and in the underlying infrastructure where they improve performance and reliability for servers and desktops. The result is a system which is easier to use, faster, and more robust than ever. A great release in its own right, it will also be a solid base on which to build the next generation of Ubuntu features," said Matt Zimmerman, Ubuntu CTO.

The Ubuntu server edition builds on the functionality from the previous release simplifying common Linux server deployment processes. It also includes a pre-release of the upcoming LTSP-5 (Linux Terminal Server Project). LTSP-5 offers clients a lower TCO (total cost of ownership), simpler installation and easier maintenance than typical IT deployments. With all data stored on the server, administrators have substantially eliminated the cost of updating individual workstations to ensure their security. Enhancements to LTSP-5 include:

Automatic network configuration with DHCP service for servers with two or more network cards attached – available with the alternate CD installer

Language and session selection from the LTSP log in manager – allowing a user to choose from any of the languages and desktop sessions installed on the server

Support for locally attached devices on thin clients – allowing users to access cameras, ipods or USB sticks on the thin client

Printing support - enabling printing on a local printer from the thin client

Full support for Etherboot

"LTSP-5 is the culmination of over one and a half years of collaboration between the LTSP project, the Ubuntu project, and the open source community to define the next generation of Linux thin client technology. This partnership between the thin client expertise of LTSP and the desktop technology of Ubuntu has enabled a richer thin client experience for users than ever before, while allowing both projects to benefit from each other's achievements," said Oliver Grawert, LTSP Project Manager at Ubuntu.

New versions of Kubuntu and Edubuntu are also being released. Kubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu which includes the KDE desktop environment. Kubuntu 6.10 includes KDE 3.5.5 which brings speed improvements, updates to the instant messenger and improved translations. Edubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu focused on the education market. Edubuntu 6.10 includes the LTSP enhancements described above, as well as an enhanced student control panel.

About Canonical and Ubuntu

Canonical, a global organisation headquartered in Europe, is committed to the development, distribution, and promotion of open source software products, and to providing tools and support to the open source community. Canonical is the sponsor company for Ubuntu, which since its launch in October 2004 has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions, with millions distributed and in use around the world. Ubuntu will always be free, and will not have restrictive licenses associated with it. With these goals in mind at all times, Ubuntu aims at being the most widely used of all Linux systems, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem.

Download Ubuntu from .
To learn about commercial support for Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu, please see www.canonical.com/support. For more information visit www.canonical.com or www.ubuntu.com.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and their associated logos are all registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

Microsoft to Support Open-Source Linux with Novell

2006-11-04T00:54:00.000-05:00

11.02.06
By Natali T. Del Conte

Microsoft announced in a press conference on Thursday that the company has struck a deal with Novell Inc. to allow open-source Linux software to work compatibly with Windows.

The move is one of Microsoft's most significant endorsement of open-source programs.

"We're here to announce a set of agreements that will help bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary software," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer for Microsoft. "The impetus for this event really comes from our customers. We have customers that use a mix of technologies to manage their businesses and they demand interoperability."

Under the agreement, Novell will be the preferred Linux environment that will interoperate with Windows and Microsoft will distribute coupons for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server maintenance and support so that customers can benefit from the use of an interoperable version of Linux.

Jeffrey Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Novell, said that the three key areas of the agreement are virtualization, Web-services management, and document-format compatibility.

"Customers will now be able to run virtualized Linux on Windows or virtualized Windows on Linux," Jaffe said. "Customers continually ask us how they can consolidate servers with multiple operating systems through virtualization. By working together, Novell and Microsoft enable customers to choose the operating system that best fits their application and business needs."

One of the more surprising elements of the agreement is that Microsoft will not unleash its patent lawyers quite so harshly on developers who want to write code for Novell's open-source apps.

Novell Announces PCs Preloaded with SUSE Linux
What's the Most Popular Linux Desktop?
"We've made two promises under this agreement," said Brad Smith, senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary, legal and corporate affairs for Microsoft. "One is a promise that we won't assert our patents against individual open-source developers. These are individuals that are contributing code, not creating it as part of their job, but acting in an individual non-commercial way. The second is for developers who are getting paid to create code that Novell then takes and inputs into its distribution that is then covered within the open-source agreement between us."

Ballmer said that Novell and Microsoft will collaborate on sales and marketing. Microsoft will purchase 70,000 coupons from Novell enabling a one-year subscription to SuSE. There was no discussion of how much consumers will pay for these coupons.

Despite the collaboration, Ballmer made it clear that Microsoft and Novell will remain competitors.

"As we cooperate, both companies will continue to do what we do best, which is to compete in the market," Ballmer said. "If you have a new application, I'm going to tell you the answer is Windows, Windows, Windows. Ron is going to tell you something different and that's fine. But we do want to collaborate in the right way as well."

Security Watch: Problematic Patches Plague Windows Users

2006-10-17T10:26:00.000-04:00

Patch Problems

A number of reports—and our own experience—show that some users are having problems with some of the software updates issued by Microsoft last week.

A Microsoft blog entry from Security Program Manager Jamshed describes three sets of symptoms all amounting to the failure to install the MS06-056 update, which addressed an information disclosure bug in the .NET framework. Briefly:

The update fails because Windows Installer 3.1, which is required for all .NET updates, is not present. The answer is simply to install Windows Installer 3.1.
The update fails and returns an error code of 643 hex/1603 decimal. See the workaround in this knowledge base article.
The update fails and returns an error code of 1324 and a message that "The folder 'Program Files' contains an invalid character." See the workaround in this knowledge base article.
Jamshed stresses that only a very small number of users have experienced these problems, although he doesn't give the number. We have experienced problems with this update ourselves on a Windows 2003 Small Business Server R2, and we're not sure if our problems correspond to these symptoms.

A second set of update problems with MS06-061 (Vulnerabilities in Microsoft XML Core Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution) were reported by SANS's Internet Storm Center.

For a while after the patches were released, some of the standard update facilities, including Microsoft Update and the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.0, did not indicate the need to install certain necessary parts of the update if you are running Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 SP2. An earlier version of MBSA, 1.2.1, did not have this problem.

Jargon Watch:

MBSA (Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer) is a free vulnerability scanning and assessment tool meant for businesses to scan their networks and systems. It searches not just for patches that should be installed, but for misconfigurations and other risky behaviors. It forms the basis of many more complex and capable third-party tools. For more information, see the MBSA 2.0 page.

The problems have since been fixed by Microsoft and the tools properly indicate the files that need to be added. For more details, see knowledge base articles 924191 and 925672

TIP: Email Viruses

2006-09-08T06:36:00.000-04:00

Experience Level: Beginner/Intermediate

There have been proliferations of email viruses in circulation recently, many of which have proved quite a nuisance to the home user and some of which have even made it into the national news. Many of these viruses are targeted at Microsoft’s Outlook email programs, although most email software packages can be affected.

Here are some general tips and "rules-of-thumb" though, that should help to prevent your computer becoming infected:

"Never download email attachments from people you don't know" - Most email viruses are spread by delivering an email "attachment" and it is the running of this that launches the email, infecting your computer. One thing to bear in mind with this rule is that often a user won’t know that they have become infected, and many email viruses now use the Microsoft Outlook program to identify all the people in your "Contacts" list and automatically forward the email (with the virus) onto those people. As a consequence, you may receive an unexpected email from someone you do know, but be very sure of any attachments before you decide to launch or save them. Microsoft Outlook’s "Preview Pane" feature can be used to automatically launch attachments, so we would normally not recommend using this feature unless comprehensive anti-virus protection is in place.

"Never download files with the extensions .pif, .vbs or .scr" - Often files with these extensions can hide viruses within them, and these tend to be the most common sources of viruses.

"Ensure adequate anti-virus software is installed on your PC" - Two of the most highly regarded anti-virus software packages are BitDefender AntiVirus 10 ~ & Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0.0.303 ~ . Whatever anti-virus software you install, it is important to ensure that they offer an "on-line update" service so that the software is kept regularly up-to-date, and that the software is fully compatible with your computer’s Operating System. Virus creators are constantly producing different viruses, and it is vital that your anti-virus software can keep up!

Also, A free AntiVirus Program for those who do not already own a commercial one such as Trend Micro's PC-Cillin, McAfee or Norton AntiVirus. Avast Home Edition includes full virus protection in an easy to use interface with free automatic updating. If you are currently using a commercial AntiVirus program do not install this but confirm that yours is updated. (e-mail registration is required)

Safely upgrading computer disk space

2006-09-08T06:32:00.000-04:00

There is a time in any computers operational life span when the hard disk (the data storage device in side the computer base unit) starts to get full. Some people think about buying an upgraded computer, others bolt on more storage capacity with an external drive or back up their data to removable media before erasing it from the disk to create more space, others just remove the drive from the base unit and fit a bigger disk.

Powerful disk recovery software available with commercial disk software can often retrieve deleted data, most government organisations actually use special software that writes random data to every section of a hard disk a minimum of three times to ensure previous data has been fully overwritten.

Before disposing of an unwanted hard disk or PC consider what data was present on that disk. Did it contain bank account details, passwords, private letters or personal photographs that could be used to identify you. If it did, either keep the hard disk or use a commercial eraser program (that works to government approved levels) before selling it or donating it elsewhere.

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www.pcpro.co.uk/awards. The survey will be closing on the 9-10-06 and the results will be announced in time for Christmas.

Dell Says Recall Won't Impact Its Brand in Japan

2006-08-31T08:31:00.000-04:00

08.29.06
By Mayumi Negishi, Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters)—Dell Inc.'s recall of computers fitted with Sony Corp. batteries will not impact its brand in Japan, where two Dell computers are reported to have caught fire, the head of its local unit said on Tuesday.

"We're very bullish on how we've handled the recalls," Dell Japan President Jim Merritt told reporters. "I'm encouraged by the feedback from customers."

He declined to say how many recalls have taken place in Japan , saying only that "we've been very, very busy answering a lot of calls."

Earlier this month, the world's largest PC maker launched a recall of 4.1 million batteries for notebook computers, its biggest-ever recall, over concerns that the lithium-ion batteries made by Sony could overheat and catch fire.

It has not given a country-by-country breakdown of the recall figures.

Pictures of a Dell laptop bursting flames at a conference in Osaka appeared on a technology industry Internet site in June.

Japan 's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said this month it had received a report of a separate incident of a Dell computer battery catching fire last October.

In the April-June quarter, aggressive pricing and advertising helped Dell elbow out Fujitsu Ltd. to become the second-largest PC supplier in Japan after NEC Corp. with 16.1 percent market share, according to research firm IDC.

Despite the negative publicity, Texas-based Dell will be able to beat out NEC for the number one slot in Japan in one to two years if it continues to gain market share at its current pace, Merritt said.

"As dynamics in Japan continue to change, it is my belief that they will change in favor of Dell" and its direct-sales business model, he said.

Revenues in Japan from software and peripherals rose 30 percent in April-June from the same period last year, helped by strong sales of laser printers, which Dell began selling in Japan last year in competition with Japanese rivals Canon Inc. and Ricoh Co. Ltd.

Dell entered Japan 's office-use color printer market last month with prices at about half that of competitors' models.

After Dell's recall, Apple Computer Inc. announced it would recall 1.8 million lithium-ion notebook batteries, also made by Sony.

(Additional reporting by Sachi Izumi)

Copyright Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Hackers Hit AT&T System, Get Credit Card Info

2006-08-31T08:27:00.000-04:00

08.30.06
By Chris Preimesberger

AT&T revealed late Aug. 29 that an undisclosed number of unauthorized persons had illegally hacked into one of its computer systems and accessed the personal data—including credit card information—of about 19,000 customers who had purchased DSL equipment through the company's online store.

The unauthorized electronic access took place over the weekend of Aug. 26-27 and was discovered within hours, a company spokesperson said. The store was shut down immediately and remains offline.

AT&T, based in San Antonio, also notified the major credit card companies whose customer accounts were involved.

Cyber-thieves steal $700,000 via ATM hacking. Click here to read more.

The company is also working with law enforcement to investigate the incident and pursue the perpetrators, the spokesperson said.

About 19,000 customers are being notified by e-mail, phone calls and letters, the spokesperson said.

For advice on how to secure your network and applications, as well as the latest security news, visit Ziff Davis Internet's Security IT Hub.

"We recognize that there is an active market for illegally obtained personal information. We are committed to both protecting our customers' privacy and to weeding out and punishing the violators," said Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, chief privacy officer for AT&T.

"We deeply regret this incident and we intend to pay for credit monitoring services for customers whose accounts have been impacted. We will work closely with law enforcement to bring these data thieves to account."

Customers who have been affected have been provided with a toll-free number to call for more information, the spokesperson said.

Dell exploding laptops alert

2006-08-20T08:36:00.000-04:00

Amar Singh, Evening Standard
15 August 2006

MORE than four million laptops are at the centre of a global alert over batteries that can overheat and catch fire.

LAPTOP SHOCK: Dell has recalled millions of batteries after a laptop caught fire at a conference in Japan

Dell issued the biggest product recall in computer history after video footage showed a laptop bursting into flames during a conference in Osaka, Japan.

Similar incidents have been reported across the world. Dell said it had been told of six instances of batteries overheating, causing damage to furniture and belongings but no personal injuries.

Consumers are being urged to stop using the batteries immediately and to get in touch to obtain replacements. The company said today it was recalling 4.1m batteries for use in Latitude, Inspiron and Precision laptops. The batteries are also used by other companies including Apple, which said it was looking into the risk posed.

Dell blames the problem on the lithium-ion batteries made by Sony Energy Devices. This type of battery has been in use since the mid-Nineties and is often found in devices such as mobile phones and digital music players.

It is estimated the recall could cost Dell more than £ 157m without taking into account damage to the company's reputation.

Spokesman Ira Williams said: 'In rare cases, a short-circuit could cause the battery to overheat, causing a risk of smoke and fire. It happens in rare cases, but we opted to take this broad action immediately.'

Fears surrounding laptops emerged this month as pictures of some of the charred machines circulated on the internet. One man from Singapore told an Australian newspaper how his laptop caught fire as he was working late in his office.

'White smoke began to pour out of the machine, completely filling up the room, and there were flames coming up the sides of the laptop.'

The man said he grabbed the machine by its screen and carried it to a sink of water to douse the flames. But when he pulled it back out it began to smoulder again.

The recall involves 18% of Dell's 22m notebook computers sold between April 2004 and last month. This is the third recall of Dell notebook batteries in the past five years.

Last December it recalled 22,000 notebook computer batteries over similar fears. The company also recalled 284,000 batteries in 2001.

It comes as a major blow to Dell which has recently lost ground to its leading rival Hewlett-Packard.

Dell Announces SEC Investigation and Major Profit Drop

2006-08-20T08:17:00.000-04:00

08.17.06

By Natali T. Del Conte
It really hasn't been Dell's week. First the company announced on Monday the biggest laptop battery recall in history and on Thursday announced that profits fell to half its value from this time last year. And to add insult to injury, Dell has admitted to being under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a conference call with investors and media on Thursday, Dell executives admitted to their disappointment.

"We are not pleased with our performance," said Jim Schneider, chief financial officer for Dell. "We priced aggressively to grow the business with a resulting negative impact as a result."

Dell's net income last August was $1.02 billion. Thursday's announcement reported income of $502 million. In Q2, Dell generated $14.1 billion and had an operating income of $605 million. Shares of Dell dropped more than 5 percent on Thursday.

Schneider said the company learned in August of 2005 that they were under an informal investigation by the SEC for issues relating to past fiscal periods. As a result of the investigation, Dell found issues that raised more red flags and launched its own internal investigation of fiscal periods prior to 2006. Schneider said he does not believe that the investigation will impact financial standings in upcoming quarters.

Despite the bad news, Dell executives remain optimistic.

We Should Praise Dell Not Bury It
"We are clearly disappointed with our financial results," Kevin Rollins, chief executive officer for Dell. "For the next quarter, we'll continue to balance our revenue growth and profit without giving up share. In consumer, we're simplifying our pricing and promotion structure. We can do better, we know that."

Rollins said that the industry as a whole has suffered a slow-down and Dell's aggressive pricing backfired.

"This is happening at a time when the industry is growing modestly," Rollins said. "Historically, Dell has faired far better than our competitors during such periods. We just didn't have the elasticity because the markets were weak."

Dell also expressed hope about customer service investments and price promotion programs. In July, the company announced that it would significantly reduce all promotional and rebate programs within the next 12 to 18 months.

"We've been improving service and support and we're seeing clear signs of a successful turn around," Rollins said. "Call transfers have been reduced by 33 percent and satisfaction rates are up 20 percent for this year."

Additionally, Dell announced on Thursday that it would strengthen its relationship with AMD by offering AMD processors in more PCs and servers. "The addition of AMD will give us additional product breadth and visibility as we move into the third quarter," Rollins said.

"Our visibility on component and cost hasn't been very good," Rollins concluded. "We've got to do a better job of understanding cost in order to predict price and elasticity."

"While we gained share in the key markets worldwide and achieved record market share, we're not satisfied with our performance and we will do better," said chairman Michael Dell in his concluding remarks. "We're focused on improving our cost position and product leadership. We will exit this year with the most technically advanced product line in our history."

FCC pushes for broadband over power lines

2006-08-05T22:53:00.000-04:00

Posted: Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:26:00 GMT
Author: sdy284

c|net - "WASHINGTON--Federal regulators renewed on Thursday their push for a wider rollout of what has been hailed as a viable "third pipe" for the many areas where broadband choices have been limited to DSL or cable modems. If broadband over power lines, or BPL, takes off, then more Americans, particularly in rural and underserved areas, will be able to plug into high-speed Internet access, and markets dominated by cable and DSL (digital subscriber line) should be forced to lower consumers bills, members of the Federal Communications Commission said at their monthly meeting here."

AMD Agrees to Buy ATI in $5.4 Billion Deal

2006-07-28T13:48:00.000-04:00

By Mark Hachman

On Monday, AMD agreed to acquire graphics powerhouse ATI Technologies in a surprise $5.4 billion deal that will radically alter the landscape of the PC component industry.

ATI will become "the ATI business division," within AMD, and its chief executive and president, Dave Orton, will become an executive vice president reporting to both AMD president and chief operating officer Dirk Meyer and AMD's chief executive, Hector Ruiz. The deal, if agreed to by shareholders, will total $4.2 billion in cash and 57 million shares of AMD common stock, which the company is valuing at $18.26 per share.

The combination would create a company with an estimated $7.3 billion in sales. ATI said it has received an opinion from its financial advisers that the transaction from a financial point of view is fair to its shareholders. Meanwhile, AMD said it expects that the transaction will be slightly accretive to earnings in 2007, and "meaningfully accretive" in 2008. Shareholders from both companies must still approve the transaction, which would then most likely be finalized during the fourth quarter of 2006, AMD said.

In a statement released ahead of a conference call with reporters scheduled for 8 AM EDT, AMD said that in 2007 the two companies would deliver "customer-centric platforms," specifically in the commercial and mobile computing segments and the growing consumer-electronic's market.

"ATI shares our passion and complements our strengths: technology leadership and customer-centric innovation," AMD's Ruiz said in a statement. "Bringing these two great companies together will allow us to transcend what we have accomplished as individual businesses and reinvent our industry as the technology leader and partner of choice. We believe AMD and ATI will drive growth and innovation for the entire industry, enabling our partners to create differentiated solutions and empowering our customers to choose what is best for them."

The deal will combine ATI's established core logic and graphics expertise with AMD's microprocessors. Both ATI and AMD trail Intel in their respective segments, although the graphics market can be assessed in different ways; while Intel still holds a significant lead over ATI and rival Nvidia in total graphics chips shipped, Intel's edge disappears if integrated graphics/core logic chips are factored out of the equation. What the future will hold, however, is still somewhat vague.

"In 2008 and beyond, AMD aims to move beyond current technological configurations to transform processing technologies, with silicon-specific platforms that integrate microprocessors and graphics processors to address the growing need for general-purpose, media-centric, data-centric and graphic-centric performance," AMD said in a statement.

AMD: Intel's Playing Right Into Our Hands
AMD Drops Q2 Sales Forecast
ATI, Nvidia Support AMD With New Chipsets
The deal was not expected, primarily because AMD had always positioned itself as a vendor that allowed its customers a choice of components. Intel's Centrino platform combines a processor, chipset, and communications chip.

That would seem to indicate that either ATI or AMD will see to develop communications processors, or else put a number of communications chip companies in play. AMD has traditionally encouraged its OEM vendors to buy components from both Atheros and Broadcom.

AMD has also historically struggled with debt as it struggled to build new fabs to compete with Intel, which has traditionally held more than five times the market share of AMD in the PC microprocessor space, and has sold core logic and communications chips to boot.

However, AMD said it will fund the acquisition through a combination of cash and new debt. AMD obtained a $2.5 billion term loan commitment from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., which, together with combined existing cash, cash equivalents, and short term investments balances of approximately $3.0 billion, provides full funding for the transaction, AMD said.

AOL To Unveil Yet Another Plan To Save Itself

2006-07-28T13:42:00.000-04:00

By Kenneth Li, Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Investors in Time Warner Inc., whose shares touched a two-year low in mid-July, are seeking signs of a turnaround on August 2, when the world's largest media company is set to introduce its fourth plan in five years to save its online unit AOL.

AOL is widely expected to announce that it will give its e-mail and Web services away for free, hoping to win back customers who had switched to other free services from rivals like Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

The new strategy, which will be discussed at a Time Warner board meeting in New York on Thursday, aims to boost online advertising sales, but analysts say it is a risky move as its subscription business currently accounts for 80 percent of AOL's revenue.

AOL is still expected to continue to charge for dial-up Internet access, but it will no longer advertise the service.

"I think a lot is riding on August 2," said Larry Haverty, a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors, which owned 14.1 million shares of Time Warner as of March 31. "People like us have been patient with strategy. From what I've heard, I'm comfortable.

"But seeing is believing," Haverty added.

Once the reigning king of online services, AOL has lost about 30 percent of its subscribers since 2003. The 2001 merger of AOL and Time Warner has been blamed for destroying some $200 billion in market value.

Free services are now viewed by some investors as the only hope of survival for AOL in a world dominated by faster-moving companies, including News Corp.'s MySpace.com.

"They should have done what they contemplated two years ago to aggressively develop AOL as a web service," said Morris Mark at Mark Asset Management, which owns 1.22 million Time Warner shares as of March 31. "Its position is so much more powerful than the advertising revenue that they're generating.

Time Warner's enterprise value trades at 7.6 times its expected 2007 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, compared to News Corp.'s 11.9 multiple and Walt Disney Co.'s 9.81 multiple.

TOO LATE?

Gamco's Haverty hopes Time Warner's online advertising sales will rise at least 30 percent, when the company posts its second quarter results on Aug 2.

That would put AOL roughly on par with Yahoo, but still lag Google's 77 percent advertising growth in the second quarter.

AOL strategists may be emboldened to act aggressively after a 26 percent growth in online ad sales in the first quarter.

But a Wall Street Journal report earlier this month cited unnamed sources as saying Time Warner could lose up to $1 billion through 2009 from its plan to offer free services.

Time Warner on July 11 dismissed the report and called the newspaper's assessment "incomplete" and laden with "largely erroneous financial information."

Six days later, its stock had slipped to a two-year low.

"Time Warner's stock chart is like the flatline EKG of a dead person for the last three years," Joan Lappin, chairman of Gramercy Capital Management, wrote in Forbes.com, calling for Chief Executive Richard Parson's resignation.

Lappin, whose firm no longer holds media stocks, was a longtime media analyst who has watched the company since the late 1960s, when it was just a magazine publisher.

The sentiment on Time Warner's stock, however, appears to be improving judging by activity in the stock options market.

There are already more than 200,000 outstanding calls that give holders the right to buy Time Warner shares at $17.50 and $20 by mid-January 2007. The stock closed at $16.27 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The high open interest is a sign that players have been positioning in these options, and placing relatively cheap bets that Time Warner will rise between now and the end of the year," said Frederic Ruffy, an analyst at Optionetics, a California-based options education firm.

Haverty said he hopes the stock gets a 10 to 15 percent boost when the dust settles.

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Anti-Spam Tip: Don't unsubscribe to spam emails

2006-03-16T02:28:00.000-05:00

Often spam emails will contain an "unsubscribe" link or button. Unfortunately, if the email is really spam and not something you explicitly signed up for, using this "unsubscribe" link is in fact likely to increase the amount of spam you receive.

Anybody who tries to unsubscribe in this way is just letting the spammer know that his or her email address is valid. The spammer can then confidently send you even more spam, with the happy knowledge that your account is active and that you actually read your email. If someone is unscrupulous enough to send you unsolicited advertising material in the first place, it is quite unlikely that he/she/it will honour a request to stop sending it.