OK, I need to vent on this one. I'm all for software security - even though it can be cracked, I understand it.

Now, I own Half LIfe 2, and was really ticked that I had to register the game online, and continue doing so for over a week to play the game - I had to be online for this. Now, I have a little boy that I would like to let goof around with the game on another machine - NOPE!

I think if you purchase something, you should be entitled to use it as you see fit - at least in your house.

Not to mention having to register a game online, that you plan to play offline. This is a real pain.

Seems someone at InfoWorld had the same issues, and even wrote an editorial about this

By now most of the world has heard via the various news sources how a father and daughter team single handedly ALMOST took out a jet that was over 3,000 feet off the ground. Rest assured the Patriots act will protect us by possible putting that father behind bars for up to twenty five years (sarcasm).

This in my opinion is a crystal clear indication that the patriot act legislation that was originally introduced just after 9/11 is in severe need of repair. What the Act, the media, and the police, enforcing the act fail to take into consideration is intent. While, some may argue that by letting this family get away with this horrible crime we as Americans are weakening are controls over this nation. I argue the opposite; I believe that by letting an ignorant father go to jail for doing something stupid like point out jet liners and helicopters to his daughter we’re invalidating our democracy. We have to ask ourselves how much is too much. Why is it that I can accidentally stab some one with a knife and serve a much less or no prison term at all?

Click here to buy a nice shiny green laser pointer. "Can be used for skypointing, projection on low clouds, signalling, detecting explosives"

With powerful new version of Trojans and Viruses becoming major concerns for companies and home users Norton Antivirus has a problem. The problem some may say has only to do with there product which Symantec admits has "tiny security issues". What's more troubling (and an underlying issue) is the fact that Symantec spreads misinformation to try and cover up the truth.

"Symantec would like to reiterate that the situation described is one of access rather than threat. The VBS scripts described can only be successfully run on the target system with administrator rights"

Is this a joke? Does Symantec really not care about there customers? In reality 99% of all people running windows HAVE to run there there application logged into there systems as an administrator, most applications don’t work any other way. So while Symantec spreads misinformation customers get infected. I wonder how many people will wonder: "Hmm, How’d this get past my Antivirus, did I get duped?"

For more information see Zdnet article

A recent internetnew.com article Sean Michael Kerner, points out the rise in “hacks” against financial institutions. Kermer states that out the 100 top financial institutions surveyed, 31 were attacked. But is this a real rise? And are these really hackers? Kermer goes on to confuse issues of viruses, malicious code, sabotage, and identity theft with this apparent rise in “hack attacks”.

Today various sources reported that a “Massive” sweep of the internet led to the capture and arrest of over 125 people computer criminals. Their crimes included everything from identity theft to software piracy.

This is rather off topic but worth mentioning because of the moral and ethical implications.

October 30th, 2003 Reuters reported that they obtained documents from the American food and drug Administration(FDA). These documents supposedly report the findings of several studies done on cloned live stock. The findings of the report speak clearly that cloned live stock is safe for human consumption.

According to a recent articles pulled from the AP wire and routers, Microsoft’s operating system software is more vulnerable then ever. This of course is no surprise to a geek such as myself but to the consumer this is concerning.

The recording industry of America is doing what it said it would do. Thus far the RIAA has sued just under 300 people. But the number continues to rise, and the purely innocent are sure to get caught in the cross-fire.

To understand how the RIAA is able to issue so many supenas so quickly one has to examine the Digital Millenium Copy Write Act (DMCA for short), this is best summed up by Roy Mark in his story "Senator: Beware RIAA's Amnesty Offer" for Internetnews.com

... [T]he RIAA has issued a blizzard of the DMCA subpoenas. Unlike a usual subpoena, which requires some underlying claim of a crime and must be signed by a judge or magistrate, under the DMCA a subpoena can be issued by a court clerk without presenting evidence of a crime being committed."

It's plain to see that we all saw this one comming. Back in July when I wrote about DirectTV and Kevin Poulsen and the 9,000 lawsuits against Hu stream pirates they filed, I mentioned that the RIAA would take a similar stance. The only thing left to see is how the peer to peer network developers respond in how they develop thier software, after all you can't catch what you can't see.

The nice people at phpwebhosting have reenabled certain php options that effect the way this site pulls news off other sites. We contacted the techs four days ago thanks guys!

Wired.com news writer Leander Kahney, recently wrote an article about Purring Kitty software from Vibelet.com. The software (which costs a mere two dollars) installs on java based Nokia cell phones via a WAP link. Once installed you have the option of transforming your Nokia phone into a working vibrator.

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