Burned CDs might become history if the RIAA has their way.

Music copied onto blank recordable CDs is becoming a bigger threat to the bottom line of record stores and music labels than online file-sharing, the head of the recording industry's trade group said Friday.
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"Burned" CDs accounted for 29 percent of all recorded music obtained by fans in 2004, compared to 16 percent attributed to downloads from online file-sharing networks, said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive for the Recording Industry Association of America.

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Software that will allow people to anonymously swap music or any kind of file, will be a reality soon.

Actually its maker says by the end of this year anyone can be sharing anonymously sooner then we think.

Read MORE HERE



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SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Internet rebels began preliminary testing of a new weapon that threatens to scuddle efforts to stop illicit online music swapping.

Internet privacy activists at Freenet Project posted word on their website that they were looking for kindred technology renegades to test a refined version "darknet" software designed to keep file swappers anonymous.

MORE HERE



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Think that ID theft can never happen to you and if it does it's no big deal! Well read on..

ID theft takes time to wipe clean

Victims of identity theft are finding there is no quick fix to clearing their names.

Nearly a third say they have been unable to repair their tainted identities — in some cases, a year after their personal information was stolen, according to a nationwide survey of 1,097 ID-theft victims released this week. Most victims on average spend 81 hours trying to resolve their cases.

"For many, it takes time just to prove you didn't do it," .............

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE @ USA



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Today

Developers are now shooting for September for the oft-delayed release, with versions 2 and 3 due next year.

By Antone Gonsalves, @TechWeb News

The Mozilla Foundation has delayed the release of the next major version of Firefox until September, a move that followed recent troubles in the release of bug fixes for the popular open-source browser.

Firefox 1.1, code-named Deer Park, had been scheduled for release this month, but changes in the product's roadmap was announced in a posting by developer Ben Goodger on the Mozilla website.

The updated timetable has Firefox 1.5 shipping in September, with versions 2.0, code-named The Ocho, and 3.0 tentatively scheduled to ship in the first quarter and third quarter of next year, respectively. Version 1.1 has been scrapped in favor of 1.5, Goodger said.

A version 1.4 general preview release of 1.5 is scheduled to ship in August.

"This is, as always, subject to change," Goodger said in his Wednesday posting.

This is at least the third delay in the next major release of the browser. Version 1.1 was scheduled to ship in March, before it was postponed to June and then July.

The delays have been caused by an increasing number of features Mozilla has decided to add into the next release, Asa Dotzler, community coordinator for the organization, said. Among the biggest changes is in the update system that will be part of version 1.5.

The new system would make it possible to patch the browser with small-sized upgrade files, rather than force users to reinstall a full version of the browser. In addition, the next version is expected to have support for scalable vector graphics and a default feature called Fastback that caches previously visited pages in memory for faster display when clicking the back and forward navigation buttons. Other new features include the ability to group tabs that let the user move between multiple pages in the same browser, and one click removal of cookies, history and temporary Internet files.

The long feature list has added to the development time, making the delay unavoidable, said Dotzler, who also pointed out that the original launch dates were never final.

"We always qualify that we're not going to ship (the browser) until it's ready," Dotzler said.

Of course, when something is actually "ready" is sometimes relative. Mozilla this week updated the current versions of Firefox and the Thunderbird email client for the second time in eight days to fix flaws. Version 1.0.6 of Firefox patched bugs in version 1.0.5, which had fixed security vulnerabilities.

Last week, Mozilla posted the second alpha edition of Firefox 1.1, which included many of the features described above.



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Can you believe this:

Podcasting and RSS feeds may be the latest craze in high-tech circles but the general public is largely unfamiliar with the Internet terms.

A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project also finds that Internet users aren't all that familiar with "phishing," either.

Seventy percent of Internet users never heard of phishing or aren't sure that it refers to e-mail scams that try to trick users into revealing sensitive information by masquerading as a legitimate bank or credit card issuer.

Original Article here



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More than 400 new computer security threats emerged in the second quarter of 2005, including attempts by hackers to exploit weaknesses in popular programs like Apple iTunes and RealPlayer, a report said.

The quarterly report by the SANS Institute and a team of computer security experts from industry and government found 422 new serious threats, up 10.8 percent from the first quarter and 20 percent more than a year ago.

"These critical vulnerabilities are widespread and many of them are being exploited, right now, in our homes and in our offices," said Alan Paller, research director at the SANS Institute.

"We're publishing this list as a red flag for individuals as well as IT departments. Too many people are unaware of these vulnerabilities, or mistakenly believe their computers are protected."

The report said the types of threats are growing to include not only the Windows operating system but other popular applications like those used for music.

"Home users face heightened risk from new vulnerabilities in iTunes and RealPlayer, along with a seemingly endless stream of new vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser," the report noted.

It noted an increasing number of efforts by hackers to control other browsers including the fast-growing open-source Firefox created by the Mozilla Foundation.

"An increase of 11 percent in the number of new vulnerabilities discovered since the last quarter is significant this is why we need these quarterly updates," said Gerhard Eschelbeck of Qualys, one of the private-sector specialists working on the report.

"With up-to-date information, security professionals can immediately address new vulnerabilities, such as the ones recently discovered in popular desktop applications."



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Microsoft has released a beta of a new version of its Hotmail online e-mail service.

The project is codenamed "Kahuna" and has been made available to select group of current MSN Latest News about MSN Hotmail users.

The service is currently in an incubation stage, said a spokesperson from Microsoft's MSN team told. The company declined to give a projected release date and wouldn't even confirm if the software will be released at all.

MORE HERE @ www.newsfactor.com



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REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft Corp. dropped the code name Longhorn on Friday, announcing the next version of its flagship Windows operating system will be called Windows Vista.

The world's largest software maker also said it will release the first of two test versions to developers and information technology professionals by Aug. 3.

The company did not say when it expects to release a second test version to a broader audience, but said it remains on target to ship the oft-delayed update to Windows XP sometime in the second half of next year.

MORE HERE



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By Glenn Fleishman

My cousin Steven Cristol should enter the lottery: He's already beaten seemingly impossible odds by enduring "seven mechanical hard drive failures in five computers," as he describes it.

One drive failure is unsurprising, but usually after several years of use. Two failures are improbable. Seven puts us into an episode of "The Twilight Zone."

Each brand-name drive failure set him back hours or weeks in his consulting work. His file backups were partial and infrequent.

MORE HERE



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