According to a story on CNet, the Library of Congress has issued the new exemptions to the DMCA and they are minimal. The exemptions allow for the removal of copy protection systems in four specific cases: obsolete software that requires security dongles, e-books that don't provide for handicapped access (specifically …

Karl Auerbach (all-around good guy, former ICANN at-large member, California lawyer) points out in his latest weblog entry that Network Solutions (purveyors of SiteFinder, that place everyone now goes when they type in the wrong domain name) has started a new web site aimed at domain information privacy called InternetPrivacyAdvocate …

An article on Wired describes one man's bout with spam and his subsequent tenacious fight to take down the spammer that nearly cost him his business. No doubt, some of you have received the strange messages that look like they are "bounces" from mail systems for messages that appear to …

An article from The Register describes letters reportedly sent to a number of journalists requesting source information about accused (and admitted) hacker Adrian Lamo. The article (originally appearing on the web site Security Focus, a clearinghouse for computer security information) goes on to describe the way in which the FBI …

Although we have yet to see an OS X worm appear in the wild, and the operating system itself is pretty well guarded by virtue of it not having many network services turned on by default, the risk to Macintosh users has just gone up. Making the rounds recently is …

As was widely reported last week, Japan, China and Korea are trying to put together a program to jointly develop an Open Source operating system to stand as a competitor to Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system. In an interview with Wired, Microsoft spokesperson (and former US trade official) Tom Robertson …

PCWorld is reporting that Symantec (manufacturers of the popular Norton Anti-Virus software) will be increasing their individual subscription rates from about US$15 to US$20 this year. For companies like Apple that bundle competitors software into their products (in this case, their .Mac product), this is probably good news …

An article from Internetnews.com is reporting on moves by email-based newsletters to switch from email to a mechanism called RSS (Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary), which has users computers pull specially-formatted information from the newsletter's site instead of waiting for an email copy of the newsletter. From …

The New York Times has an article about Julian Green, 45, of the UK who was recently acquitted on a charge of child pornography by using a virus as a defense. Apparently, the man's computer started "acting up" due to a virus and became unstable. However, not only was it …

I found a pointer to the Stupid Security web site earlier this week, but hadn't had sufficient time to check it out. Now that I have, I'll recommend it as an interesting (and sometimes frightening) read. StupidSecurity is a site about all things silly related to security, but seems to …

According to an article from CNet, the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to fund $1B per year in Homeland Security research. So, grab your friends and ready your proposals, because the funding gates are open. Patterned after the Department of Defense's DARPA, HSARPA is intended to provide funding for …

With all of the recent discussions on profiling and the CAPPS system for airport profiling, it appears that one issue was lost: is profiling actually more effective than random searches. According to an article on ACFNewssource, a set of MIT graduate students have put together a paper detailing why random …

When I read the article from the Washington Post relaying that a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson had indicated that Al Qaeda was preparing for more commercial hijackings, I was puzzled... why was this being announced? It may well have been a move to cut off panic if it was …

Apple has released Security Update 07-14-2003 (available through Software Update) which fixes a problem associated with security and the screensaver on OS X. The patch is available as a free download. So much for the complaints about Apple not responding quickly to security issues.

A new hack has been discovered that takes over the user's computer in the background and uses it to serve pornographic advertising and web pages, according to an article in the International Herald Tribune. The sites are apparently chosen due to vulnerability and access to high-speed links. It is also …

It appears that a web-site defacement contest that was organized for this past Sunday passed without the big disruption predicted by some, according to an article from MacCentral. There were a multitude of reports about the upcoming contest last week and some security experts were encouraging extra vigilance going in …

An email from the Full Disclosure security mailing list indicates that the MacOS X screen saver will quit itself thus exposing the Macintosh desktop. There is no patch to fix this at of right now, and the individual who published it says that he gave Apple 3 days before posting …

Declaring "Xbox independence day", a group has released information about an Xbox security exploit that allows the machine to run code that is not signed by Microsoft. People familiar with the game console will know that the Microsoft has locked it up by using hardware and software security methods in …

An article from CNET, written by security expert Kevin Hanrahan, suggests that instead of throwing out private information to enhance privacy, yet more information should be retained. In particular, he suggests retaining information about access to you information. The idea isn't new, it is required by the recently-effective Health Insurance …

In what may be a first, the Orlando Sentinel reports that a Sacramento, CA man has been found guilty of attempting to defraud DirecTV and Dish through scheming to sell satellite decoding equipment. The amazing thing is that he will be paying back a $180M settlement at $500/month for …