BT sues Prodigy over U.S. hyperlink patent Patents 12/15/2000; 2:15:48 PM 'BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS (BT), which earlier in the year said it had discovered that it owns the U.S. patent for the invention of the hyperlink technology used on the Internet, has sued Prodigy Communications for copyright infringement.... 'Early in the year, after discovering in a routine check that it owned the patent for the hyperlink, BT wrote to 17 U.

Final Carnivore Report Offers No New Answers Surveillance and Privacy from Government 12/15/2000; 2:08:17 PM 'House Majority Leader Dick Armey made the following comments about the newly released, final report on the Carnivore cybersnooping system: 'This superficial review doesn't get to the heart of the matter. It does nothing to restore the confidence that Americans should have in the confidentiality of their online transactions. 'Why should average Internet users have to wonder whether a rogue agent could snoop through their emails and other online transactions?

Port scanning other networks legal Hacking & Cracking 12/15/2000; 1:25:35 PM A United States District Court in Georgia has ruled that port scanning is legal, because it causes no damage to the target computers. Here's the full court report. I tried to find a decent explanation of port scanning on the net, but I couldn't find a level-headed definition, so I wrote my own definition.

Port Scanning Glossary 12/15/2000; 1:24:26 PM I tried to find a decent definition of port scanning on the web, but I can't find one to my satisfaction. They either resort to ill-advised metaphors or panicky ohmigoshHACKERS!-style definitions. So here's my take on it: The "port" in "port scanning" refers to TCP/IP ports. The internet protocol that we all use defines about 60,000 "ports" on each computer, which a program can "

it has begun - from Hack the Planet Free Speech 12/14/2000; 5:15:56 PM 'Richard Stallman, The Right to Read (1997): "Frank was in prison, not for pirate reading, but for possessing a debugger." 'Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader: "If you are a software programmer, you should note that the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader's security implementation does not allow program debuggers to be executed on the machine while the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader is running.

Slashdot - MAPS RBL Is Now Censorware Censorship 12/14/2000; 3:00:33 PM 'I don't like spam any more than the next person. But I also don't like censorship, and I take a content-neutral view of these things. If someone delivers a product to be used by Alice to block Bob from seeing website because she doesn't like its content, that product is censorware.' Hey, somebody at Slashdot took off the rose-colored glasses.

Anti-WalMart domain win falsely claimed as sea-change Free Speech 12/14/2000; 2:52:44 PM 'WIPO has ruled against a huge conglomerate! We know, unbelievable as it may seem, it's true. Kenneth J. Harvey is officially entitled not to have his www.wallmartcanadasucks.com taken off him and given to a faceless organisation.... This decision was immediately claimed as an enormous victory... Unfortunately, it is nothing of the sort. 'You'll note that Ken kept the URL www.

Banned Artists Move Online Free Speech 12/13/2000; 1:27:52 PM 'Literature and artworks snipped and banned by Singapore's censors may soon be archived online in their full glory by a group of local artists.... 'Singapore typically censors publications, films and art work deemed to have excessive amounts of sex and violence, references to drug use and subjects which could cause religious or racial intolerance between the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities.

Records of toysrus.com subpoenaed in privacy probe Privacy from Companies 12/13/2000; 11:40:49 AM 'Records from Toys ''R'' Us Inc.'s Internet division have been subpoenaed in an investigation of its privacy practices, a spokeswoman for the toy retailer said yesterday. 'The inquiry by New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs, which is overseen by the state attorney general's office, partially stems from lawsuits that accuse toysrus.com of illegally sharing personal information about its Internet customers with market researchers, spokeswoman Jeanne Meyer said.

Google tracker raises privacy issues - sorta Privacy from Companies 12/13/2000; 11:03:05 AM '"By using the Advanced Features version of the Google Toolbar, you may be sending information about the sites you visit to Google," the company warns during the Toolbar installation process. "In order to show you more information about a site, the Google Toolbar has to tell us what site you're visiting which it does by sending us the URL.