3rd January 2002 Archive

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The crime of distributed computing

Hapless network admin facing decades in slammer

A college computer technician who offered his school's unused computer processing power for an encryption research project will be tried next month in Georgia for computer theft and trespassing charges that carry a potential total of 120 years in jail. The closely-watched case if one of the first in which state prosecutors …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 00:13
Feds grill MS on Windows security

A step in the right direction

US Defense Department and FBI officials contacted Microsoft on Friday to express their concern over the recently-disclosed security bugs affecting all versions of Windows, the Associated Press reports. The Feds were particularly concerned that the bug gives up root on Win-XP, ironically touted as the most secure Windows OS ever …

Security 3 Jan 2002, 00:13
US to yank Kevin Mitnick's radio license

Legendary phreaker harrassed by Feds

In a five-page order released Friday, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) claims that 38-year old convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick is not morally fit to be a ham radio operator. "Mr. Mitnick's criminal background raises a substantial and material question of fact as to whether he possesses the requisite character …

Security 3 Jan 2002, 00:13
Who needs hackers when we've got MS?

Half the work's already done

By now, people know that I'm not the world's greatest Microsoft fan. Truth be told, I'm not completely biased against the company, and will even acknowledge that it has, at various points, produced some decent products. I also don't 'bash' Microsoft because it's the 'in' thing to do these days, but because there are serious …

Security 3 Jan 2002, 00:13
CCBill knew of credit database breach in March

Left its clients in the dark

Now we know why CCBill was so terrified of taking verbal questions from a live reporter, and insisted instead on receiving faxed questions to which it could reply with canned responses. As far back as March the company had warning that they were running an insecure CGI with their entire merchant database, including FTP/SSH …

Telecoms 3 Jan 2002, 00:14
ADSL from Freeserve below £30 a month

Get it while you can

The UK's biggest ISP is offering ADSL for less than £30 a month to help prove that low cost broadband will stoke-up demand. Trialling the wires-only DIY installation service, Freeserve is offering the service at just £29.99 a month. Punters also have to buy a modem from Freeserve for £99.99. The trial lasts for 12 months and …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 00:14
MS trains legal guns at Lindows

Trademark infringement claims

Microsoft has unleashed its lawyers against Lindows -because the name of the titchy software firm is too similar to Windows. Customers could "mistakenly conclude that the Lindows product was exclusively or jointly developed by, licensed or certified by, or otherwise sponsored or approved by Microsoft," the company says in a …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 00:15
Xerox wins Palm handwriting case

That will be several million dollars, please

Xerox has established in court that it is the inventor of handwriting technology used in Palm devices. The next step is to establish damages which, considering the numbers of Palms sold, will run into several million dollars. And that's if the court works out the fees on a royalty basis. Palm and majority shareholder 3Com could …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 00:15
Tempo customer warranties are worthless (most of them)

Creditors call for investigation

Up to half a million customers of Tempo, the bust electrical and computer goods retailer, may be the owners of worthless product warranties. The warranties have had no insurance backing since 1997 and Tempo put no money aside to cover its obligations, the Sunday Times reports. Warranty holders will join the queue of unsecured …

Channel 3 Jan 2002, 00:16
AIM gives up control of Windows machines

Another fine mess

A buffer overflow vulnerability in AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) could be exploited to gain complete control of a Windows machine, security research group w00w00 has revealed. The flaw involves the way AIM processes the "Play Game with a Buddy" option. A string of text can cause a buffer overflow in the victim's client, which can …

Software 3 Jan 2002, 00:23
CD-R prices to rise in Europe after dumping levy?

Penalties up to 40 per cent

CD-R prices in Europe are set to rise following the European Union's imposition of anti-dumping penalties on Taiwanese manufacturers. Price rises, however, are unlikely to be as high as the penalties themselves, which range from 18.8-39.5 per cent, owing to a combination of localisation of manufacturing and some intriguing …

Personal 3 Jan 2002, 00:24
2600.com wins dismissal in f**k- generalmotors.com lawsuit

A landmark triumph for Sophomoric humor

A suit brought by Ford Motor Company against 2600.com founder Eric Corley aka Emmanuel Goldstein for setting up the Web site fuckgeneralmotors.com to re-direct surfers to the Ford home page has been dismissed. The decision came in two parts: denying Ford's request for an injunction, and a ruling that without grounds sufficient …

Music and Media 3 Jan 2002, 00:24
Sony turns courts on PS mod-chip makers

Wins injunction

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCCE) this week won a High Court injunction against Channel Technology, a UK manufacturer of Playstation mod-chips. This prevents the company from "advertising, selling or promoting of mod-chips and requires the handing over of information about the source of the chips to SCEE". Mod- chips, …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 00:25
Terrorism has no effect on PC buying – IDC

Mature, Replacement

September 11 and the war in Afghanistan have had little or no impact on the PC or handheld buying intentions of Western Europeans. That's the good news from the Consumer Hardware Survey. The bad news is that the consumer PC market is rapidly approaching maturity, with renewals overtaking first-time purchases. Why is this bad …

Channel 3 Jan 2002, 00:26
KDE and GNOME bleed Xmas code

You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your dependency conflicts

Like two possessed Santas, cracking their whips over insane trains of hacker reindeer, the KDE and GNOME camps have been racing to bring you bleeding edge alpha code just in time for Christmas. KDE put the first cut of its version 3.0 desktop out yesterday, less than a week after GNOME issued Platform Beta of its 2.0 desktop. …

Software 3 Jan 2002, 00:27
Popular file-share utilities contain Trojans

The rising cost of free music

Popular file-sharing software from Grokster and the Limewire Gnutella Client contain the W32.DlDer Trojan, Symantec revealed last week. According to several Reg readers, the KaZaA utility also contains the same infection. The Trojan here is a spyware application masquerading as a lottery game called ClickTilUWin. When …

Software 3 Jan 2002, 08:26
How I learned to stop worrying, and abandoned Mac OSX

New Coke, meet Classic

Abandoned Christmas trees are piling up on the sidewalks in the Silicon Valley suburbs, but I'm hoping that some of the season's goodwill hasn't been discarded with them. In fact, I'm counting on it - for I'm breaking both a personal and a Register house rule with the following story. It contains stuff you already know, or stuff …

Mac Channel 3 Jan 2002, 12:53
Big Biz loosens tech spend purse strings

A little

There's some cheery news for the beleaguered IT sector today after Merrill Lynch predicted that tech spending will see a slight recovery this year. The security and disaster recovery sectors will benefit most from the loosening of corporate purse strings, Merrill Lynch forecasts. Other areas believed to be on the up include …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 12:57
Can I have your oNumber?

Contact directory makes it easier to keep in touch

A Web-based directory designed to make it easier to keep in touch is launched today. The oNumber Universal Directory allows subscribers, who choose a unique one-to-10 digit number on sign-up, to input a thumbnail photograph along with personal and contact information into the directory. To access an online profile, contacts …

Music and Media 3 Jan 2002, 13:03
Debenham techies hit on jugs?

Underware...

Techies, as we all know already, do have a sense of humour, particularly when it comes to slipping the odd one past their technically challenged management. Take, for example, this interesting little feature of the search function at UK store chainDebenham's site. Go to Debenhams, leave it set to "all departments" and search …

Bootnotes 3 Jan 2002, 13:45
US man sued for Extreme share ramp scam

Bogus press release

A US man is being sued for allegedly posting a misleading financial information on Yahoo's! Finance bulletin board last October. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that 24-year-old Kentucky man Ned Sneiderman posted a false press release which claimed that broadband outfit Extreme Networks was buying IT firm …

Music and Media 3 Jan 2002, 14:14
Bush relaxes computer export controls

Workstations for Vietnam

The Bush administration has relaxed controls on the export on advanced computers to Russia, China, India and certain countries in the Middle East. Servers and workstations capable of performing up to 85,000 millions of theoretical operations per second, more than twice the previous limit, can now be exported to so-called "Tier …

Hardware 3 Jan 2002, 14:14
IT managers stick with Windows, new terms and all – IDC

Revolution cancelled?

Business customers are in no hurry to upgrade to Windows XP and Windows.Net, but if the results of an IDC survey released this week are to be believed, there's little or no chance of them rising in revolt against Redmond either. They are, according to IDC, "walking - not running - toward implementing [Microsoft's] new …

Software 3 Jan 2002, 15:07
Computer firms yield big crop of disqualified directors

Bad for business

More than 900 UK company directors were disqualified between March and September last year. The computing industry was the second worst sector, with 75 directors barred, according to the Department of Trade and Industry. The large number was in part due to a new fast track disqualification system which the Government has …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 15:18
1901 Census site closed for urgent repairs

Don't meet your ancestors

The UK's 1901 Census Web site that's been jammed with users since its launch yesterday has been taken off-line for some urgent maintenance. At one point yesterday more than 1.2 million people were trying to access the site simultaneously far exceeding the site's day-to-day capacity. Although the Public Records Office (PRO) …

Music and Media 3 Jan 2002, 15:20
Europe accuses Wanadoo of predatory ADSL pricing

Savage undercutting - just what we all want for Christmas...

The European Commission is investigating France Telecom's Wanadoo Interactive, accusing it of using price breaks from its parent to price high speed connections below cost, thus driving competitors out of business. The Commission notes that competitor Mangoosta closed in August, allegedly because of predatory pricing by Wanadoo …

Telecoms 3 Jan 2002, 15:24
Sainsbury's, Virgin say sorry over spam

But have they learned something useful?

Several Register readers have now received apologies from Sainsbury's supermarket and Virgin Wines for spamming them. And both companies seem to be serious; in one case, Sainsbury's has offered a £20 voucher along with the grovel. This certainly indicates sincerity, but suggests that Sainsbury's still hasn't entirely grasped the …

e-Business 3 Jan 2002, 15:25
Ericsson T68: helluva phone

Review Little stunner

Hold onto your hats; make sure you're sitting down; and wait for it. Yep, it's true: the full-colour, triple band Ericsson T68 knocks the much-alked about Nokia 8310 into a cocked hat. The Ericsson is expected to cost considerably more, it's true. Where the Nokia is coming in at about £150 with contract, the expensive colour …

Business 3 Jan 2002, 15:25
AOL bungs buddy-list security hole

Now that's what we call service

Barely more than a day after an exploit concerning the Windows versions of AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) was circulated, AOL says it's managed to fix its network. Users are now safe, and need not lift a finger with downloads or patches, the company says. The hole made it possible to exploit the way AIM processes games requests …

Security 3 Jan 2002, 22:29