15th July 2000 Archive

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Scheme to crash US Echelon net snoop ops hatched

Unfortunately, it looks like the planners are barking up the wrong tree...

The world is invited to overload the US National Security Agency's electronic eavesdropping network, known as Echelon, on 21 October. Place keywords which are believed to trigger a response from the system in your outgoing e-mail messages and faxes, and over it goes -- at least, that's the plan. The jam-in is rumoured to be the …

Music and Media 15 Jul 2000, 09:06
Self-destructing email – what Bill wants for Xmas

But it's not quite as simple as that, fortunately

The self-destructing email is almost upon us, according to a piece in the morning's New York Times. The breakthrough (if breakthrough it is) comes a little late for Microsoft, but Fort Redmond should look on the bright side - all of those awful trial exhibits add up to an amazing sales pitch to companies who don't want the same …

Music and Media 15 Jul 2000, 09:06
Xerox fires 40 in porn site clampdown

Document Company staff get caught shuffling more than just paper

Forty employees at Xerox have been fired for checking out Net porn while at work. The company has been monitoring all of its 92,000 staff worldwide, recording every Web site visited - something that two thirds of US companies admit to - and decided to make an example of the virtual voyeurs. Xerox was typically understated in …

Music and Media 15 Jul 2000, 09:06
Mobile phone radiation to be cut

MPs' committee calls for tougher measures

Radiation emission from mobile phones must be cut by 80 per cent, a group of UK MPs said yesterday. The all-party Science and Technology Committee also called for a massive increase in research into the health effects of mobiles. It added that the amount of reported problems and level of public uncertainty justified far more …

Data Networking 15 Jul 2000, 09:10
Build your own Klingon disruptor

Call to arms for low-budget saboteurs

Fancy building your own Klingon Disruptor? An ex-US Navy engineer has done just that for the bargain price of $500. The gadget fiend has built a 'gun', using readily available hardware that can disable almost any piece of electronic equipment from 20 feet away. It consists of a parabolic reflector, a horn antenna and two …

Business 15 Jul 2000, 09:20
Nineteen degrees of Web separation

You are never more than 19 clicks away

Any Web site is just 19 clicks away from any other Web site. And typing in the URL does not count! Researchers in the US have found that the Net behaves like a 'small world network', the same rules that govern the 'How many steps to Kevin Bacon' game. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, created …

Music and Media 15 Jul 2000, 09:20
You're a bunch of cowards!

Embittered geeks, that's what we are

Apologies to anyone who has already read this - we have promoted (demoted?) this tirade against the cowardly Register to Flame of The Week. From Craig Livingstone I've read your articles for months now... flames, discussions, and all the rest. I'll bet you're bitter now, reading this on your puny iMacs, wishing the rest of …

Flame of the Week 15 Jul 2000, 10:30