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A hacker broke into a congresswomans e-mail account Wednesday and used it to send a message condemning President Bush and the war in Iraq, her office said. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite drew attention last month when she proposed legislation to let families of Americans buried in France during the world wars bring home the remains if they are offended by Frances stance against the war in Iraq. The freshman Republicans press secretary, Caryn McLeod, said in the message called Bush a terrorist and said he, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld deserved the death penalty.
Network Associates on Tuesday announced an agreement to acquire IntruVert Networks, a maker of hardware-based firewalls and intrusion detection systems. IntruVert offers two network-based intrusion detection devices that are capable of blocking network attacks, the IntruShield 4000 and IntruShield 2600. The devices combine signature detection, DoS (denial-of-service) analysis, and anomaly searching capabilities into a hardware-based appliance platform. Network Associates will acquire IntruVert for US$100 million in cash, the companies said in a statement.
A Norwegian court will retry a teen whose DVD-copying exploits made him a hero to hackers worldwide. In January, an Oslo court acquitted 19-year-old Jon Johansen of charges that he developed a computer program — called DeCSS — that enabled mass copying of movies on DVDs. Prosecutors in January lodged an appeal, objecting to the application of the law and the presentation of evidence. There is no specific legislation in Norway that bars the digital duplication of copyrighted material, but Johansens program has been made a criminal offense in the United States under the Digital Copyright Millennium Act.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) on Wednesday said a 10 percent reduction in software piracy by 2006 would correspond to the creation of 1.5 million new hi-tech jobs, add $400 billion to the global economy and generate $64 billion in tax revenues across the globe. The BSA, which represents some of the top names in the industry, acknowledges these benefits are only possible if it can reduce global piracy, estimated at $11 billion in lost sales in 2001.
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) has warned employees that they face “counselling” (sic) or even the sack if they are found to be using the firms network to download and store illegally-held copyright material. The stark warning was contained in an internal memo sent last Friday in which CSC explained that it has been notified by the Business Software Alliance and the Recording Industry Association of America, among others, that “illegal audio, video and software copyrighted materials has been detected on its computers.” In a bid to clampdown on illegal downloads, CSC – which employs around 90,000 people – is to begin scanning its network and PCs to “detect the presence of such peer-to-peer programs” from the end of April.
Copy-resistant CDs may stem the trading of music, and the technology may finally break into the American market this year. Silicon Valley company Macrovision said Wednesday that its anticopying technology had now been applied to more than 100 million CDs worldwide, the bulk of them released in Europe and Japan. Over the last six months, the company has seen shipments of 10 million discs a month distributed across those markets, it said. “People are getting used to the idea (in those areas,)” Macrovision CEO Bill Krepick said. “I think the sense is that consumers in those countries tend to be a little less vocal than American consumers.”