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Is Canada about to outlaw search engines and Internet archive sites? Bill C-60, which calls to amend the Copyright Act, hints that it just may be illegal for sites such as Google or the Internet Archive to provide someone with copyrighted information through “information-location tools”. Right now, it’s not all that clear, but thats due to the bill being written so vaguely.
The way it is drafted strongly suggests that the reproduction and caching activity done by Google or the Wayback Machine at archive.org and similar essential research tools would be illegal in Canada. It could be read by a court as a ‘deeming’ provision, which was hopefully not the intention. “We shouldn’t cripple the Googles of the world by imposing copyright chill on the very basis of their architecture. In fact, they perform a very useful service to copyright owners by enabling easy detection of infringement. The owners should go after the actual infringer, rather than effectively shooting the messenger.
Read More 
| Globe Technology
Check it out - this guy removed the casing a standard Nintendo Entertainment System, and put the innards into a custom-built LEGO shell. The result was a fully playable LEGO-ized retro NES. Double retro!
Read More | Spoocher
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...Glenn Alvin Reed, 31 of Waco, Texas who apparently managed to piss off every juror while on trial for stealing a cell phone by making an obscene gesture to a Texas Ranger that testified against him and going off into profanity-laced tirades. Reed told they jury, “There’s things I choose to do, like, if I go in a store and choose to take a Snickers bar. If you catch me, you catch me. If not, I’m going to go home and eat it up and go on about my business, dog.” Trying hard to sound tough, he told the jury that he didn’t care if they gave him life in prison. I guess in this case, the defendants’ wish was the jurys’ command, as they gave him 99 years in prison. Have fun, Glenn!
Read More | Wired
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We’ve all heard that the entertainment industry expects ISP’s to hand over IP information when suspected pirating has occured. On a positive front, Tuesday in the Netherlands a court ruled that Dutch ISP’s do not have to hand over IP info, and even went as far as to say that doing so is a violation of privacy laws. As with everything in life, there are a few exceptions, and this ruling is pretty specific to the case, but it’s nice to see a court protecting privacy instead of giving out information over little evidence.
Read More | Constitutional Code
In the United Kingdom, Labour MP Tom Harris is asking Parliment to consider his 10-Minute Rule Bill, which asks that, among other things, the maximum sentence for hacking is raised from 6 months to 2 years, and that jail terms for unauthorized modification of computer material be between 5 - 10 years. The bill also asks that a specific law be created against “denial of service attacks”, where a flood of emails is used to overload and crash a computer system. Harris believes that harsher penalties are needed against computer crimes in order for courts and prosecutors to take them seriously, and uses the example of an Exeter University student that hacked into a US Government laboratory’s computer network, but was only ordered to do 200 hours of community service.
The media like to imagine that hacking, virus-proliferation and denial-of-service attacks using email are the product of bright but lonely, socially challenged teenagers sitting in their bedrooms. This is an outdated, inaccurate and, I think, dangerous notion. Those who regularly and increasingly hold website operators to ransom are more likely to be members of an organised crime syndicate than the school computer club.
Read More | BBC News
The forums over at nwizard are abuzz with the possibility of a Nintendo wireless router for the Revolution, which would allow it - and the Nintendo DS - to connect to the Internet. The specs are rumored to have the router connect via USB 2.0 to a users computer and rebroadcast their internet connection. I’m not sure how this differs from standard routers - I’ll be interested to see how it’s priced compared to non-Nintendo branded gear.
Read More | NWizards
In quite possibly the strangest corporate cross-promotion ever Papa John’s is now offering a free (after rebate) Blackberry 7100g phone to customers who place an online order for Pizza, drinks, and a side. A two-year service agreement is required so it sounds like a fairly standard cellular deal to me. What I don’t get is what the link between hot, fresh, cheesy pizza, and cutting edge wireless devices.
Read More | Wireless IQ
In releasing OS 10.4 (Tiger) Apple certainly managed to present Windows XP with some serious competition. Deeply integrated features like Spotlight and Dashboard brought it head and shoulders above many other operating systems. Like all operating systems it had a few flaws (of which this editor noticed the WiFi issues the most) but luckily Apple announced the 10.4.2 update today which should fix the majority of the problems encountered so far. Updates include:
- File sharing using AFP and SMB/CIFS network file services
- Single sign-on authentication and reliable access to Active Directory servers
- Autologin for managed user accounts
- AirPort and wireless access
- Core Graphics, Core Audio, Core Image, including updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
- Finder updates including finding on Kind and using Slideshow
- Synchronizing your iDisk with .Mac
- Installation reliability
- Managing Dashboard widgets
- Address Book, Automator, iCal, iChat, Mail, Safari, and Stickies applications
- Compatibility with third party applications and devices
Check your Software Update panel for the goods! I did and so far I’m quite happy (other than the install failed the first time, but I think there was a download glitch). This update is one of the rare OSX updates that requires a restart.
Read More | Mac OS 10.4.2 information
Less than a week after tragedy struck the city of London, a Windows virus is being distributed through an e-mail that claims to have amateur footage filmed minutes after one of the bombs exploded in the London Underground subway system. The letter reportedly looks like a newsletter from CNN, with the subject line reading, “TERROR HITS LONDON”. The body of the letter tells the reader to click on the attached file, “London terror moovie.avi”, to view the amateur footage.
Anyone clicking on the file will not be shown a video. Instead their PC will be infected by the as yet un-named Trojan. Next time the compromised machine is started, it will report in to the virus creator and become part of a spam-sending zombie network. Because it relies on people clicking on the attachment, the malicious program can affect Windows 2000, 95, 98, Me, NT, XP and Windows Server 2003.
Read More | BBC News
Microsoft New Remote Keyboard and Wireless Desktop
Posted by Rob Stevens Categories: Home Entertainment, Peripherals,
Microsoft’s Hardware division unveiled some fun new products today. First up is the Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center Edition, designed for those of you that want a wireless keyboard with Media Center-specific functions to help replace that remote control. It’s got a 30-foot wireless range, and a key lock to prevent accidental activation. The media keys are backlit, to aid controlling the media center in a darkened room. It’s even got a pointer nub and mouse buttons (on opposite sides of the keyboard) so that you can mouse-around without putting down the keyboard. No word on whether or not it is popcorn or soda proof, but I doubt it. MSRP is $104.95, but expect it to hit stores around $99.95.
The other new keyboard is an update to Microsoft’s Wireless Desktop package. The Wireless Desktop 5000 has keys dedicated to photo editing, and the mouse features Microsoft’s new “High Definition” optical technology (which we assume is simply a higher scan rate for the mouse, aiding in precision). The keyboard has the same “comfort curve” as the Wireless Desktop Comfort Edition that was released last year. Finally, Microsoft’s Digital Image Standard 2006 software is bundled in, so you can get started putting mustaches on your grandmother right away. It should retail for the same price as the Remote Keyboard.
Read More | Microsoft Entertainment Hardware