] California (Reuters) -- A company calling itself Lover
] Spy has begun offering a way for jealous lovers -- and
] anyone else -- to spy on the computer activity of their
] mates by sending an electronic greeting, the equivalent
] of a thinking-of-you card, that doubles as a bugging
] device.
]
] Computer security experts said the Lover Spy service and
] software appeared to violate U.S. law, but also said the
] surveillance program pointed to an increasingly common
] way for hackers to seize control of computers.
]
] Marketed as a way to "catch a cheating lover," the Lover
] Spy company offers to send an e-mail greeting card to
] lure the victim to a Web site that will download onto the
] victim's computer a trojan program to be used for spying.

Illegal e-cards to spy on your lover

] Despite the Internet community's near unanimous outcry
] against the Site Finder service, it quickly learned just
] how powerless it has become. ICANN, the supposed steward
] of the domain name system, took until Friday evening
] to issue a weak statement calling on VeriSign to
] voluntarily suspend the Site Finder service while it
] reviewed the matter....
] Regardless of the eventual outcome, Internet users will
] look back on the day that Internet governance mattered
] and remember that they didn't.

[Politech] Michael Geist's column on VeriSign's domain name redirection

] Internet restrictions, government secrecy and
] communications surveillance have reached an unprecedented
] level across the world.
]
]
] A year-long study of Internet censorship in more than 50
] countries found that a sharp escalation in control of the
] Internet since September 2001 may have outstripped the
] traditional ability of the medium to repel restrictions.
]
]
] The report fires a broadside at the United States and the
] United Kingdom for creating initiatives hostile to
] Internet freedom.
]
]
] Those countries have "led a global attack on free speech
] on the Internet" and "set a technological and regulatory
] standard for mass surveillance and control" of the Net,
] the report by London-based Privacy International and the
] GreenNet Educational Trust argues.
]
]
] The 70,000 word report, Silenced, is launched today
] (Friday, September 19) at the preparatory meeting of the
] World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva.
]
]
] The study, undertaken through a collaboration of more
] than 50 experts and advocates throughout the world and
] funded by a grant from the Open Society Institute, found
] that censorship of the Internet is commonplace in most
] regions of the world.

The Register

] A Senate panel will hold hearings on the recording
] industry's crackdown against online music swappers, the
] chairman said Thursday.
]
] Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) made the announcement in a
] letter to the Recording Industry Association of America.
] He had received information he had requested from the
] group about the campaign, which Coleman has called
] excessive.
]
] The Senate Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee
] on Investigations is reviewing the group's responses and
] declined to make them available Thursday, as did the
] industry group.
]
] The association announced plans in June to file several
] hundred lawsuits against people suspected of illegally
] sharing songs on the Internet. Copyright laws allow for
] damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song.
]
] In his letter, Coleman said he would look at not just the
] scope of that campaign but also the dangers that
] downloaders face by making their personal information
] available to others. Coleman said he would review
] legislation that would expand criminal penalties for
] downloading music.

Finally - a glimmer of hope the RIAA is going to be told to call off the dogs.

Senator to hold hearings on recording industry's piracy crackdown

"Scientists running a pioneering experiment with "living robots" which think for themselves said they were amazed to find one escaping from the centre where it "lives"."

I am Not a Number!!! Well, maybe Number 5...

Robot on the run

] An electronic glove that can turn American Sign Language
] gestures into spoken words or text, designed to help the
] deaf communicate more easily with the hearing world, is
] under development.
]
] Researcher Jose Hernandez-Rebollar of George Washington
] University has demonstrated that his "AcceleGlove" can
] translate the rapid hand movements used to make the
] alphabet and some of the words and phrases of sign
] language.

Pretty dang cool!

LB

Inventor designs sign language glove

] Telemarketers expanded their legal challenge to the
] government's do-not-call list, suing a second federal
] agency over the call-blocking service for consumers that
] the industry says will devastate business and cost as
] many as two million jobs.

Bullshit. If anything, the do not call list will HELP this industry by letting them target only those people that want to be called. Though I cant imagine that would be a large slice of the pie - "Please call me to pitch your wares - I LIKE being interrupted in the middle of dinner by random, faceless sales people!" Maybe they DO have reson to be concerned after all! :)

Telemarketers sue over do-not-call list

] The Ritz Camera chain today will introduce a one-time-use
] digital camera for about the same price as a typical
] "disposable" film camera in about 100 of its stores.
] Walgreens, which was testing the camera in Madison, is
] expanding the test to all 140 Wisconsin pharmacy outlets.
] And Walt Disney World will begin selling the camera at
] its hotels and theme parks in the fall.
]
] The 2-megapixel Dakota Digital, which offers the image
] quality of a $200-$250 digital camera, doesn't have an
] LCD screen to view images, and doesn't connect to a
] computer.
]
] But users can delete their last shot if they think they
] missed it, and they can get prints back within 15 minutes
] after taking the camera in for processing, because no
] film has to be developed. A CD of digital images is
] included, so users can manipulate the files on their
] computer and share them via e-mail and Web sites.

Hmmm... $11 digital camera that "cant be interfaced to a computer"? This is screaming "HACK ME!!!"

Laughing Boy

For $11, skittish photographers can dip into digital

] Josh Pfluger and his scouting pals went into his Rockford
] garage and hammered out a shoe-scanning device now in
] daily use at O'Hare International Airport. His goal at
] the time was simply to polish off his Eagle Scout
] requirements.
]
] Looks like the project passed muster.
]
] Pfluger's homemade invention %u2014 a box with a metal
] detector that travelers step onto before they reach the
] security gate %u2014 are an optional, preliminary step to
] let passengers know whether their shoes will trigger
] alarms at the gate.
]
] That can speed up lines by tipping passengers off they
] may need to remove their shoes and send them through
] X-ray machines %u2014 and maybe even encourage people to
] leave footwear with metal eyelets behind on future trips.
]
] "It's obviously not a certified machine, but it does
] initially help in the screening process," said Monique
] Bond, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Aviation at
] O'Hare. "It's a unique idea ... giving the Boy Scouts an
] opportunity to demonstrate their merit."

Teenager's Eagle Scout project used to ease waits at O'Hare airport security

Cafe Press now sells books. Fairly cheap too when you consider how much kinkos charges for this. You no longer need a book publisher as long as you can market yourself.

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