e-commerce
WOW Visa
Because nothing says “I’m a geek” like a piece of plastic with the picture of an elf on it. So many jokes, so little time… (via Colin Miller)
Feeling silly
M@rking…
It’s that time of year again. Following this method could help alleviate the pain.
Hacking
Top 10 passwords
Everyone is going to be blogging this in the next few days, so I might as well share it. This is the list of Top 10 passwords according to PC Magazine: 1. password2. 1234563. qwerty4. abc1235. letmein6. monkey7. myspace18. password19. link18210. (your first name) password? myspace1? link182? Some people do Read more…
e-commerce
Electronic Money Strikes Back
I have been a long-time critic of electronic money. We’ve been hearing about how we’ll all be ditching our banknotes and coins within “the next two years” since 1998. Similarly, we’ve had a regulatory response to the subject which has been particularly inadequate, as it was drafted with specific technologies Read more…
Cases
Another Spanish bar loses on copyleft licences
(via Erick Iriarte) Javier de la Cueva has posted a report on yet another defeat for copyleft against the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE) in Spain, this time in Alicante. The ruling from 21 March 2007 decides on an appeal to a previous decision with regards to a Read more…
Copyright
AACS vows to fight bloggers over number
(via David Berry) The BBC reports that AACS has vowed to fight against bloggers, aggregators, and all sort of users who have posted the now infamous key online. I must admit that my original scepticism has dissipated, and I cannot possibly believe that AACS would ever dream to take on Read more…
P2P
University students’ identities revealed to RIAA
(via George Sakellariadis) The University of Wisconsin-Madison will be revealing the identity of 53 of its students to the RIAA after the educational institution lost a case against the music industry. The students are file-sharers, and it means that they will almost certainly be receiving some of the infamous “settlement Read more…
Regulation
A digital bully den?
I’ve read an interesting article in The Independent by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, and while I don’t agree with it, I’ve been noticing an increase in cyber-scepticism and technophobic criticism against all things online. While some of the protestations can be classed as the typical grumbling against change from the Luddites, some Read more…
DRM
HD-DVD brought down by Web 2.0
Back in January I had reported on the hacking of HD-DVD protection by improper key management. AACS, makers of the DRM protecting the new format, vowed to try to shut down BackupHDDDVD, which is instrumental to some part of the cracking process. At the time I thought it was likely Read more…
Cases
Microsoft wins patent case in US Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court has ruled on Microsoft v AT&T, a dispute over patent infringement abroad. Patent law is pre-eminently national, so it does not apply over items manufactured and sold in other countries. American patent law has only one exception to that rule, and it is if components Read more…