Networking Forum

Keeping the Internet safe for satire, the World Intellectual Property Organization [URL="http://didglennbeckrapeandmurderayounggirlin1990.com/legal.php"]ruled[/URL] that the domain name glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com was not a violation of the conservative political commentator's intellectual property. The WIPO [URL="http://reporter.blogs.com/files/decision-d2009-1182.pdf"]ruling[/URL] "dismissed Beck's argument that Internet users could be confused by the domain name and its accompanying Web site," noted …

Jumping the queue for BT Broadband is possible, it would seem. Possible, but not easy - unless you happen to be the Chairman of BT that is. Imagine you've been living without broadband for years because BT cannot supply it to your rural residence. Now imagine if the chairman of …

[URL="http://www.checkpoint.com"]Check Point Software Technologies[/URL], developers of the ZoneAlarm security range, has announced the results of research which suggest that half of all staff will happily walk away from employment with competitive information about your business in their pockets. That they are walking straight into another job with it should be …

Has your server's memory reached its 192GB limit? Last week a company called [url=http://netlist.com/]Netlist[/url] was demonstrating a new RDIMM technology that it claims can double per-CPU memory capacity without doubling the cost and without replacing any other hardware. At [url=http://sc09.supercomputing.org/]Supercomputing 09[/url], the high performance computing industry's annual conference, Netlist showed …

The Internet has shown that reputations are important but don't have to be tied to specific real individuals. The entire banking system is built on top of the idea of reputation, but tries hard to tie them to real identities. The problem of identity theft is likely to break this …

Here in the UK it is pantomime season. A peculiar form of traditional slapstick stage play that is performed during the Christmas season. In essence favourite tales such as Peter Pan, Aladdin, Jack and the Beanstalk and Aladdin are retold with the lead boy played by a girl and an …

[I]"If we went into an “evil room” and had an “evil light” shined on us, and we then behaved in an “evil” way we would be destroyed… there is a fundamental trust between Google and its users.” ~Eric Schmidt, Google CEO [/I] Google released an exciting new product today called …

[ATTACH=right]12439[/ATTACH] Leslie Stahl had a piece Sunday night on 60 minutes on the supposed impact of piracy on the movie industry. (You can watch it [URL="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/30/60minutes/main5464994_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody"]here[/URL].) Her piece was so slanted toward the Motion Picture Association of America, it was almost laughable (if it weren't so maddening). At one point, …

[URL="http://www.symantec.com"]Symantec[/URL] has published one of those rare things - a report that contains an actual surprise. It seems some 4 million people have fallen for Scareware in the last 12 months. I'm stunned. Not because people are installing fake antivirus systems. That's a shame but in some ways it's inevitable; …

In addition to funding [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story231771.html"]broadband projects[/URL] in the states, particularly in rural areas, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package, includes funds for [URL="http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press/2009/BTOP_mapping_090701.pdf"]collection of state-level broadband data[/URL], as well as state-wide broadband mapping and planning. The project, which will also help create …

In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package, Congress appropriated $7.2 billion for broadband grants, loans, and loan guarantees to be administered by the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The deadline for …

The other day I was on Facebook and a chat window popped up from a college friend of mine. [I]Bob: Hey there. How are u doing? Sharon: ok. you? Bob: Am not too good. Im in some kind of deep mess right now Sharon: uh oh. what happened?[/I] What "Bob" …

Just when it looked like every avenue to prevent the extradition of self-confessed NASA Hacker Gary McKinnon had been exhausted, especially when just last week a couple of High Court judges denied him leave to appeal his case to the highest court in the UK, it looks like the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3877.html"]hacking …

A judge has said a lawsuit can be delivered via [URL="http://twitter.com"]Twitter[/URL]. It's an interesting case, an odd idea and a pity there are going to be so many logistical obstacles. The scenario is simple. Someone is posing as a (real) right-wing blogger - they've effectively 'borrowed' his name for a …

Idaho, where I live, likes to brag when it makes lists such as "best places to live," "best places to start a business," etc. Now we've made another list: we're the most spammed. [URL="http://downloads.messagelabs.com/dotcom/MLI_2009Sep_Spam_US_FINAL.pdf"]According to MessageLabs[/URL], which was [URL="http://www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20081117_01"]acquired[/URL] by Symantec in November, the ten states with the highest percentage …

Remember [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story219413.html"]Terry Childs[/URL]? He was the network administrator for the city of San Francisco who -- claiming he was protecting the city government's computer system from incompetent coworkers -- changed the system's passwords and then for more than a week refused to give them to anyone, even after being arrested. …

Two students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have learned that it is possible to predict which men in social networks are gay, even if they aren't out, based on who their friends are. It's the theory behind [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_analysis"]traffic analysis[/URL], or the process of intercepting and examining messages to deduce …

One third of businesses totally fail to encrypt their sensitive data transfers. That's the conclusion of a new [URL="http://www.computerlinks.co.uk/products/ipswitch/download_library.cfm"]survey[/URL] into file transfer security which noted the huge disparities in attitudes towards data security in general and data security during transfer. According to the 2009 File Transfer Security Survey undertaken by …

It's good news for those in the security business, according to Gartner at least. It is predicting that security software and services spending will outpace other IT spending areas in 2010. The Gartner [URL="http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=1141513&subref=simplesearch"]report[/URL] suggests that security software budgets will grow by approximately 4% in 2010, while security services budgets …

Just when you thought it was safe to return to those keyboards knowing that all is well with the world and the ownership of Unix is happy with its rightful owner, Novell; he's baaaack. I'm sure that I'm not the first to look at this latest news and say "WHAA? …

Symantec has detected a new Trojan which targets Skype users in order to monitor and record conversations made using the Internet telephony service. Apparently the source code for this particular Trojan, called Pesky Spy, is already being touted around the usual places where the bad guys can pick up such …

OK, I can't resist this whole SCO thing, since it has again raised its ugly head. My [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4658.html"]previous post[/URL] on the subject the other day drew a lot of attention from a diverse gaggle of readers and commenters so I thought I'd go back to the well at least once …

What, you hadn't heard? "A Senate bill would offer President Obama emergency control of the Internet and may give him a "kill switch" to shut down online traffic by seizing private networks -- a move cybersecurity experts worry will choke off industry and civil liberties," [URL="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/28/senate-president-emergency-control-internet/"]FOX News[/URL] said breathlessly. (Nice …

I'm not a great fan of the phrase 'total coincidence' and nor am I a fan of The Rt Hon Lord Mandelson, First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills and Lord President of the Council to be formal. While I'm on the small matter of …

As someone who works within the IT Security space, I have to say that rogueware (also known as [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20938/53/"]scareware[/URL]) is starting to seriously hack me off. Not that I have ever been conned into purchasing it, I hasten to add, but rather because so many others have and so many …

[B]For Sale By Owner:[/B] One Commercial Linux Company with excellent history and reputation in the enterprise Linux arena. Profitable concern specializing in open source and Linux-based solutions. Offers top-notch distribution with broad hardware support, superb technical solutions, built-in virtualization, education and certification programs. Known to the technical world as [URL="http://www.redhat.com"]Red …

[URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4412.html"]As feared[/URL], the Administration has caved to telecom industry restrictions on mapping the availability of broadband Internet, making it less likely that $7 billion in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus package, will actually help improve broadband access to people who …

Want to do a public records search on email messages from your state legislator? Chances are, you won't be able to, even with the recent move toward [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4592.html"]transparency in government[/URL]. Even states that do have an email retention policy in state government -- and many of them don't -- often …

Linux distributions could use a boost in a few different areas, specifically these five: Virtualization, Graphics, Games, Point-of-Sale and Education. Some significant progress has been made in the past year or so in virtualization and graphics but there's still more to do. Everyone has their own set of ideals for …

Gary McKinnon is either a UFO-obsessed nerd who happens to suffer from a form of autism, or a fugitive from justice who was responsible for the biggest military hack of all time. The description varies depending upon whether you are a balanced individual with no axe to grind or the …

There has been a lot of comment in the past on Gary McKinnon and his hacking into US military computers. Readers might understand that some of the comment in the UK has been about how he should have been tried over here, there's no need to extradite him and if …

A group of University of Washington students and professors has developed an application called Vanish that automatically makes data used with it disappear after eight to nine hours. The open-source software is [URL="http://vanish.cs.washington.edu/download.html"]downloadable[/URL] now, as well as information about how to use it and a research paper about its development, …

The High Court in the UK will this Friday decide if an appeal against the Home Office backed decision to extradite Gary McKinnon on hacking charges to the US is to be upheld or, as seems likely, not. McKinnon has been accused of what US prosecutors refer to the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2863.html"]biggest …

So Google reckons that it can provide [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/26281/53/"]the perfect operating system[/URL] in Chrome, even to the point where according to Google's Engineering Director, Linus Upson, it will herald the end of malware. That's what he went [URL="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html"]on the record[/URL] to say, promising that Google was "completely redesigning the underlying security …

Adobe has issued a security advisory following the discovery of what it describes as a "critical vulnerability" which exists within the current versions of Flash Player (v9.0.159.0 and v10.0.22.87) across all platforms, Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems, The same vulnerability can be found within the authplay.dll component that ships …

Can anyone top this: the Ministry of Defence here in the UK has admitted that last year it managed to lose a server. A whole one, and get this, it was meant to be located in a secure government building for good measure. Over the years I have become more …

Usually quarterly spam trend reports from security vendors are, how can I put this nicely, actually I can't so I will just have to say it as it is: bloody boring and mostly pointless. However, the latest such report to fins its way into my mailbox from [URL="http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/"]Sophos[/URL] caught my …

Some users discovered last week that Amazon has the capability to remove books from their Kindle electronic reading devices, even though they were bought, paid for, downloaded, and in the users' possession. Ironically, among the books with which this was discovered was George Orwell's [I]1984[/I], which postulated a society where …

Anyone else getting pretty fed up with the number of headlines both online and in the print media which have been exclaiming 'Twitter hacked' this week? I have even just got a press release, from a storage systems company of all things, that has the strap line of "Twitter hack …

If I hadn't already known--or at least had some idea of the religious zeal I was about to face, I would have been more shocked at the response to my [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4525.html"]2009's 10 Worst Linux Distributions[/URL] post from the other day. I now have definitive evidence that Linux is a religion--a …

Another of those security trending reports has dropped onto my desk, this one coming from PandaLabs which is now apparently part of 'Panda Security, The Cloud Security Company.' Jeez, someone needs to give the marketing director a kick up the pants for that one. Anyway, back to the report: it …

Lawrence 'Larry' Roberts is something of an Internet legend, and for good reason: he helped build it. Way back in 1967 Roberts not only drew up the plans for the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) which would eventually lead to the Internet, but he also headed up the team …

Last weekend Twitter was apologising for accidentally suspending a number of user accounts due to human error. Now it is suspending accounts again, but this time there is no error: Twitter is getting serious about malware. In a status posting on Thursday July 9th, Twitter [URL="http://status.twitter.com/post/138789881/koobface-malware-attack"]admitted[/URL] that it had come …

[URL="www.facebook.com"]Facebook[/URL]'s page on which the location of the head of MI6's flat was available has been taken down. You also can no longer find information about his family and their whereabouts, which you could on the site previously. There has been a debate about this, of course. For Americans who …

Yahoo! [URL="http://ycorpblog.com/2009/06/30/serving-up-greener-data-centers/"]announced[/URL] this week that it would build what it said what would be the greenest, most energy-efficient data center in the world, powered by Niagara Falls. Data centers are some of the heaviest users of electrical power there are, both to run the servers themselves and to cool them. …

Security stories abound on the Internet, and as we enter a new month an old one has resurfaced. There are legal questions over the Sarah Palin hacking event last year. Graham Cluley has [URL="http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/07/01/legal-arguments-sarah-palin-email-hack/"]blogged[/URL] about it. For me he's buried the main point right at the end of the story. …

Am I surprised that many 'IT Security Professionals' appear to have had a common-sense bypass when it comes to the security of their own mobile devices? Nah, not really. Look, we already know that [URL="http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/06/11/88-percent-of-web-users-are-morons/"]88 percent of web users are morons[/URL] and [URL="http://happygeeknewmedia.blogspot.com/2009/06/are-you-stupid-it-administrator.html"]93 percent of IT Admins are idiots[/URL] so …

You might have seen the announcement [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8116387.stm"]yesterday[/URL] that Microsoft is going to start offering free antivirus protection to its customers. The initial reaction is no doubt going to be reasonably positive, and speaking as someone with a family member who's been hit by a computer virus fairly recently, the easier …

Prejudices and opinions aside, at some point in your career you'll be asked to select a viable Linux distribution for your corporate network. How will you choose? Will you use the same distribution that you use at home or will you do some research and find something that's corporate-ready? Are …

I've been in discussions with a group of other writers, Linux distribution watchers, Linux community leaders and developers in the past few days concerning Linux commercial vs. Linux community versions and some of us came to the conclusion that [URL="http://www.fedoraproject.org"]Fedora[/URL]'s relevance has waned. In fact, it might be time to …