Free Republic

CHICAGO -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation -- the New Deal-era government agency designed to restore confidence in the Great Depression-shattered banking system of the United States -- is now providing guidance to banks to protect themselves and their customers from spyware, the latest threat to the integrity of the banks, experts told UPI's The Web. Millions of Americans, banking at institutions such as Wachovia and Bank of America, have had their private financial information stolen by hackers through spy software, downloaded unknowingly from the Internet. By Gene Koprowski

LONDON, July 27 (UPI) -- A London man has admitted hacking into the U.S. military computer system to prove the existence of UFOs and point out security loopholes, his lawyer said. Gary McKinnon, 39, was fighting extradition from Britain to face claims he illegally accessed 97 U.S. government computers and caused $645,000 in damage during a year of hacking. Attorney Karen Todner said McKinnon's main aim was to prove that UFOs exist. "His motivation was firstly in relation to that, and secondly in relation to exposing the lack of security in relation to the American system," Todner told Sky News....

A WEST NYACK, N.Y. MAN was found dead at his computer apparently the victim of trying to keep up with too many professional forums. Childress H. Wanamaker, 54, an account executive at a New York-based new media company, died of starvation according to the West Nyack coroner's office. Wanamaker's emaciated body was found by Loraine, his wife of 26 years, who told MediaPost she had been bringing her husband meals on plastic trays for weeks, but that he never took the time to eat them. "He was glued to his computer 24/7," she said tearfully. "He was so afraid he...

Attackers are also focusing on Web browsers and media players, SANS says JULY 25, 2005 (REUTERS) - Flawed backup software has emerged as the latest target for hackers looking for corporate secrets, according to a survey released today. The survey by the nonprofit SANS Institute found new holes in widely used software products, even as computer users are getting better at patching some favorite hacker targets. Attackers are now focusing on desktop software, like Web browsers and media players, that may not get fixed as frequently as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and other software widely used by business, the...

Excerpt - SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer moved up a notch to become the No.4 seller of personal computers in the United States in the second quarter as Macintosh sales soared by one-third, according to two reports. Lenovo, the Chinese company that owns the IBM personal computer brand, lost share. Apple won 4.5 percent of the market to trail Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, the market research company IDC said Monday in a report. IDC's rival Gartner put Apple's share at 4.3 percent. [snip]

WASHINGTON — Free speech advocates are frustrated with a host of American companies they say have been collaborating with oppressive regimes in countries like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, to help them filter and monitor the Internet activity of their citizens. Big technology names like Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco have been criticized roundly in recent years for providing foreign governments with the tools they need to crack down on Internet use, but critics say they have not been able to do much more than complain. "These companies' lack of ethics is extremely worrisome," said Lucie Morillon, the Washington representative of...

A Karaganda resident will be tried for a computer virus A trial will soon begin in Karaganda district court, the likes of which have never before been seen in our city. Twenty-three year-old Valeriy Vodnev will be tried for selling a diskette containing a computer virus. The transaction's circumstances are unique, since the harmful program was requested by a young man who, after a fight with his wife, decided to pull a prank on her - wrecking her home computer by 'infecting' it with a virus. IMPERATIVE REQUESTS In his free time, Valeriy Vodnev helped his relatives in their tiny...

VERDEN, Germany - The teenager who created last year's Sasser computer worm was convicted Friday of computer sabotage and given a suspended sentence, a court official said. Sven Jaschan, 19, also was found guilty of illegally altering data, said Katharina Krueztfeld, a spokeswoman for the court in the northwestern town of Verden. He was given a suspended sentence of one year and nine months. Prosecutors had been seeking a suspended two-year sentence for the German teen who admitted he created last year's "Sasser" computer worm, court officials said. In closing arguments Thursday, prosecutors asked that Sven Jaschan be found guilty...

A German judge on Friday handed down a suspended sentence of one year and nine months to the teenager who admitted he created last year's Sasser computer worm. In addition, 19-year-old Sven Jaschan has to complete 30 hours of community service while on probation, the court in Verden, Germany, said in a statement. The sentence marks one of few successful prosecutions of a virus writer. Authors of malicious code have typically proven difficult for law enforcement to track and catch. Jaschan was found guilty on four counts of altering data and three counts of computer sabotage. During his trial, Jaschan...

The Internet has become a part of life for a growing number of people around the world. But many people don't realize that hours spent online could be a symptom of Internet addiction. The disorder is affecting a growing number of people, mainly children and teenagers, who are spending increasing amounts of time playing games and chatting on the web. In an effort to tackle this problem, China has now opened its first clinic to help treat Internet addicts. Quitting can be hard (AFP) Prague, 1 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Many working people spend hours every day in front of...

Run Fast, Run Naked Alternative Approach to Internet Security Sometimes the best way to win the game is not to play it at all. What has all the net security programs, spy ware blockers, pop up blockers, firewalls and the like gotten you? In many cases, slower net browsing, a whole lot of configuration headaches and time to maintain all those programs. Running naked may be the answer for you. Running naked on the internet means running completely open with no spy ware protection programs, no pop-up blockers, no anti-virus software. Just a simple open connection. Before you go into...

I have had three computer-related disasters just this last week. Any help would be appreciated, even such advice as to cut my losses and buy a new computer. First problem: My HP notebook computer does not work anymore. All I get when I turn it on is the screen showing the HP logo with the words "F10=Enter Setup." When I press F10, it changes to "Entering Setup" and then nothing else happens no matter what I do. I've already tried putting in the Windows XP CD that came with the machine, but still nothing. Nothing happens with this computer no...

I have a 1.8 GHZ XP 2500 with two hard drives on the primary IDE channel and a DVD writer and CD writer on the secondary channel. The DVD writer is the master and the CD writer is the slave. I burned data to a CD on a CD-RW media and my CD writer doesn't see anything on the CD, I put the CD in my DVD drive and it sees the files on the disc. Of course, the data doesn't show up on other CD players that I've tried on separate computers either, it just shows up on the...

E-mails suggesting there was a conspiracy around Pope John Paul II's death or that Michael Jackson has passed away could be carrying a worm, experts have warned. Sophos, a U.K. antivirus software maker, warned people on Tuesday about a new worm that poses as a breaking news alert. The worm, called Kedebe-F, spreads via e-mail and uses a variety of subject lines and message bodies. People who take the bait and open the attached file risk having their security software disabled and may pass the worm on to others, Sophos said. The worm can send a variety of messages. In...

By Michael KanellosStaff Writer, CNET News.comJune 27, 2005 4:00 AM PDTBANGALORE, India--The outsourcing boom that has transformed this country's economy can be traced in part to a technology discovery made in 1995.That year, engineers at Tata Consultancy Services found that a set of software tools called CasePac, developed to convert code for IBM, could be used to change the date field in other programs. "We realized this could be used for the Y2K problem," said Nagaraj Ijari, a senior executive at Tata's offices, located in this city at the epicenter of India's thriving technology industry. Companies from around the...

The top shelf of an airport bookstall offers two aids to the male libido. One is sealed inside a plastic bag, the other is free to browse. One is about how to succeed in bed, the other about how to succeed in business. King Greed is as potent as King Sex. And the greed drive is now rampant inside British government. On Tuesday MPs have a golden opportunity to curb it. They can take one look at the government’s identity card bill and throw it out. The bill itself is an authoritarian twitch, the sort of measure police chiefs and...

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - Around 35% of music consumers now download tracks legally via the Internet and the percentage will soon pass the 40% who have pirated music, according to a new survey released Monday by Entertainment Media Research. The online research company used data collected from 4000 music consumers to compile the 2006 Digital Music Survey in association with media law firm Olswang. Fear of prosecution, Internet viruses, and inferior quality were cited as the main deterrents against illegal downloading, the report said. Nearly two-thirds of music consumers said immediate availability was the key reason for buying tracks online....

I am having trouble doing network printing. I have two notebook computers (Dell and Akoya), each of which runds XP Home, with SP2. I also have a USB-attachable printer (HP 930 series) that can be attached to either notebook. Both computers have a wireless connection to a router, which int turn is connected into a cable modem. Both computers are able to gain access to the internet. Both computers can ping the router. The Dell computer can ping the Akoya. The Akoya computer is UNABLE to ping the Dell. When I click on "My Network Places" on the Dell, and...

Last week, I had my PC worked. The techs took all of my programs and put them in a back-up file on my C drive. My printer/scanner is sitting in that back-up file. How do I get it out of C drive and re-install it on my PC? I've tried messing with it and can't seem to make it work. I have a Compaq Presario and the printer/scanner is a Lexmark X1150. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

"You can effortlessly do things on a Mac that PC users only dream about, without giving up any of the compatibility with the PC world that you need." So says the Apple Switch website. I have some questions though. I've been using a Mac 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for the past six weeks. I'm trying to figure out what is better about it than a PC. Perhaps I am still "getting over" it, learning how to us it, but I have to say at this point it may be different, but it is not better. This...