Free Republic

<p>The latest scandal over so-called spyware involves a mysterious and particularly insidious program that tracks your surfing, delivers pop-up ads and could even collect your credit card information.</p> <p>You may not have heard of the VX2 Corporation, but if you've downloaded Audio Galaxy lately, VX2 may know a lot about you.</p>

Microsoft cuts 168 UltimateTV jobs, reshuffles execs 2002-01-23 by Cydney Gillis Journal Business Reporter REDMOND -- Poor sales have led Microsoft Corp. to cut 168 jobs and disband the company's Mountain View, Calif.-based UltimateTV unit in a new reorganization. The job cuts are a first for the Redmond software maker, which often says that it's hiring. But a poor economy has made one-year-old UltimateTV -- an interactive television service that runs on satellite through DirecTV -- a hard sell that has gained only 50,000 subscribers. The service, which is sold by Microsoft's WebTV division in Mountain View, is part of ...

<p>The latest scandal over so-called spyware involves a mysterious and particularly insidious program that tracks your surfing, delivers pop-up ads and could even collect your credit card information.</p> <p>You may not have heard of the VX2 Corporation, but if you've downloaded Audio Galaxy lately, VX2 may know a lot about you.</p>

American internet security experts say the internet is becoming ever more vulnerable to attacks and viruses. The former head of the FBI's internet crime unit says security measures are constantly being outstripped by new threats. The rise in the number of people with high-speed home internet connections is of particular concern. Michael Vatis said: "The rate of growth of our vulnerabilities is exceeding the rate of improvements in security measures. "We're not improving fast enough to keep pace with the problem, let alone get ahead of the problem." Researchers at the US government-backed CERT emergency response centre received 52,658 reports ...

January 16, 2002 There's a war looming in cyberspace over copyright. The war will not be about whether to combat the spread of unauthorized copies of computer programs, music or movies. On that point, the combatants agree. This will be a war about tactics and solutions. The content industry -- especially Hollywood and the record labels -- wants the solution built into computers and other digital devices, such as Palm Pilots and MP3 players. The industry also wants it built into software, operating systems, Web browsers, and routers -- the devices that guide Internet traffic. It's a solution designed ...

Are you tired of those annoying pop-up ads that appear out of nowhere while you're browsing? Click Here

Wednesday January 16, 7:26 pm Eastern Time KaZaA Suspends Downloads AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2002--KaZaA BV is voluntarily and temporarily suspending downloads of the KaZaA Media Desktop software from its Web site pending the decision of the Dutch court on January 31, 2002. For more information visit www.kazaa.com. About KaZaA KaZaA (www.kazaa.com) offers a portfolio of software and products enabling the digital media revolution of instant access to files anytime, anywhere, all based on its leading peer-to-peer media platform from FastTrack.

WASHINGTON — Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced to employees Wednesday a major strategy shift across all its products, including its flagship Windows software, to emphasize security and privacy over new capabilities. In e-mail to employees obtained by The Associated Press, Gates referred to the new philosophy as "Trustworthy Computing" and called it the "highest priority" to ensure computer users continue to venture across an increasingly Internet-connected world. Gates said the new emphasis was "more important than any other part of our work. If we don't do this, people simply won't be willing — or able — to take advantage ...

Is your computer inviting voyeurs? Embarrassing, private text files find their way onto the Net By Bob Sullivan MSNBC Jan. 14 — There it was, just sitting out there on the Internet, for all to see. “The keys to the condo are located in a lock box mounted on the wall outside the entry door. The combination is 0-8-3-6.” The recipient of the instructions, Catalina, is only weeks away from a long-awaited vacation at a ski resort, but she had no idea that her computer was telling the world where she was going, when she would be there, and how ...

ALERT FROM CCOPS: CONCERNED CITIZENS OPPOSED TO POLICE STATES (subscribe and unsubscribe instructions are at end of Alert) ALERT: DON'T BE A JIHAD JOE It's a safe bet that most of the people reading this alert aren't high government officials or corporate mega-barons. Unlike Attorney General John Ashcroft, Senate Majority Leader Tom Dashle or Larry Ellison ("Mr. National ID"), CEO of the giant database company Oracle, you won't be responsible for creating the laws, regulations, and technologies that are rapidly being used to turn the U.S. into a police state under the false claim that mass surveillance of citizens ...

Windows UPnP Vulnerability The big news of late December was a security flaw in Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play system, a feature in a variety of Windows flavors. On the one hand, this is a big deal: the vulnerability can allow anyone to take over a target computer. On the other hand, this is just one of many similar vulnerabilities in all sorts of software -- Microsoft and non-Microsoft -- and one for which there is no rapidly spreading exploit. There are several lessons from all of this. One, the amount of press coverage is not indicative of the level ...

Glitch halts Windows XP updates By Reuters January 14, 2002, 7:20 p.m. PT http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-8484261.html?tag=prntfr Engineers are working to fix a glitch in a Microsoft Web server that has prevented Windows XP users from downloading software updates, including a patch for a security hole, a company spokeswoman said Monday. The problem, discovered last Thursday, was created when engineers attempted to update software on a server, she said, adding that it is expected to be corrected before Tuesday. The spokeswoman said she could not confirm the number of people affected by the problem, but said about 8 million people download Windows ...

Your secret's safe 05 Jan 02 The ephemeral signals that flood the airwaves are the key to creating an uncrackable code, says Michael Brooks MICHAEL RABIN might be in for trouble. A Harvard professor of computer science, he is building a secret code machine, an Enigma for the 21st century. But this is better than Enigma. This time, there's no hope for anyone who might want to break the code's ciphers, even if they get hold of the key. Rabin's trick is to use an electronic version of vanishing ink. The people at the National Security Agency, the US ...

The latest from Big Brother Attorney General Janet Reno, who brought you Waco, has a new plan to protect the federal government from the people. She wants the FBI to have the authority to break into the homes of those suspected of encrypting information on their computers, steal their hard drives and leave permanent bugging equipment behind. I'm not kidding. That's the latest Big Brother snooping plan from the Department of Injustice. What's most interesting about this proposal is not that it represents any significant breakthrough in the government's ability to snoop on you or me. The fact of ...

<p>LAS VEGAS -- They know a thing or two about bad guys here in America's garish fantasyland. Cheats and thieves are part of the scene. So can Vegas teach corporate America how to reduce fraud -- and combat terrorism, too?</p>

A FReeper's Guide to PGP Can't stand ESCHELON? Infuriated by Carnivore? You can keep your private communications just that, private. How? By using free (for personal use, business users need to buy a license), easy, and readily available consumer encryption. Specifically, PGP, the world's most popular personal public-key encryption program. Is it easy to use? Yes, which may be a surprise for those who have seen earlier versions. I can only speak for the Windows 95/98/NT/2000 version, as that is what I'm familiar with, but the latest versions make it much easier to use on an everyday basis. If you ...

ANTI-TERRORISM ACT OF 2001 SECTION -BY-SECTION ANALYSIS Title I: Intelligence Gathering Subtitle A: Electronic Surveillance Section 101 Modification of Authorities Relating to Use of Pen Registers And Trap And Trace Devices This section authorizes courts to grant pen register/trap and trace orders that are valid anywhere in the nation, and subjects Internet communications to the same rules as telephone communications. At present, the government must apply for new pen/trap orders in every jurisdiction where an investigation is being pursued. Hence, law enforcement officers tracking a suspected terrorist in multiple jurisdictions must waste valuable time and resources by obtaining a duplicative ...

H.R.3162 Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001

&nbsp; Privacy Pages &nbsp; Give up your personal and business privacy to&nbsp; politicians and bureaucrats?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Threats to your privacy on the internet &nbsp; Big Brother USA - coming near you Burma - 15 years' jail for owning a modem&nbsp; Euro politicians seek ban on encryption&nbsp; European surveillance&nbsp; - Echelon Bureaucrats seek internet tax Germany&nbsp; launches new internet tax plan&nbsp; Police demand end of internet freedom in Thailand&nbsp; Netscape Security Technology - secure for who?&nbsp; UK surveillance - North York Moor Xemu's Censorship Web Page (UK)&nbsp; &nbsp; Protect yourself from snoopers &amp; bureaucrats &nbsp; Anonymizer.com - Tools to ensure ...

NZ software developer bows to US threat of legal action An Auckland software developer has been forced to dumb down his webcam software after a Silicon Valley dot.com threatened him with prosecution under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Bob Prangnell said the reaction by Webcam site operator SpotLife to his Webcam Watcher product was bullying with no legal justification - but given the willingness of US courts to issue injunctions, he was taking the threat seriously. A Russian programmer, Dmitry Sklyarov, was arrested at the Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas in July by the FBI for ...