Free Republic

The fate of a sweeping telecommunications-tax-reform proposal might hinge on the impact that it were to be seen as having on 700,000 satellite-television subscribers in the Commonwealth. House Bill 2880, introduced last week by Chesterfield Republican Del. Sam Nixon, would change the way telecom taxes are collected and distributed in the Old Dominion and would spread the tax burden from traditional communications-system users to a wide spectrum of communications consumers. It is there that the satellite-TV sector comes into the picture. DirecTV subscribers in Virginia have known about the changes coming on the horizon since before the start of the...

A number of high-risk vulnerabilities in Oracle's database products were announced today by Next Generation Security Software [NGSS] in what is likely the first news in Oracle Corp.'s new quarterly patching schedule. Surrey, U.K.-based NGSS said all versions of the Oracle Database 10g and Oracle 9i Database Server are vulnerable to the flaws, which include a buffer overflow vulnerability and PL/SQL injection vulnerabilities that allow low-privileged users to gain DBA privileges. The latter flaws can be exploited via the Web through the Oracle Application Server, NGSS said. Oracle has released a patch set [18/01/2005] to address these vulnerabilities. NGSS said...

A flaw in Sun Microsystems' Java software has highlighted the difficulty the company faces as flocks of tech novices start to turn to it for support. Sun disclosed a serious security flaw in its Java virtual machine (JVM) software last month. The rare problem, which affects Sun's plug-in for running Java on a variety of Web browsers and operating systems, could allow a virus to spread through PCs running both Microsoft Windows and Linux. A flaw-free version of the JVM software is available on Sun's Web site, and the company is encouraging people to swap it out. But some users...

August 12, 2003 New York — Former Vice President Al Gore escaped from his underground Washington, DC compound into a surrounding forest last week while a handler was absent from his post. Gore gave a speech at New York University immediately after his escape, and authorities fear Gore could give more speeches to the public unless he is recaptured soon.