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MPs want UK jail time for hacker

Supporters of Mr McKinnon have held protests in his name

UK MPs are calling for hacker Gary McKinnon to serve any sentence he receives in a British jail.

Mr McKinnon faces extradition to the US for breaking into American military networks between February 2001 and March 2002.

He trespassed on networks owned by Nasa, the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense.

If tried and convicted in a US court, Mr McKinnon could face decades of jail time, and millions of dollars in fines.

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Electronic Arts to axe 500 jobs

EA posted a profits warning, despite a 40% rise in sales

Video game publishing giant Electronic Arts (EA) is to shed more than 500 jobs, after the firm announced lower than expected profits for the year.

Nearly 20% of its share value was wiped out after the profit warning, with its shares closing at $22.78.

EA said that higher development and marketing costs, as well as delays to the latest Harry Potter video game, were to blame.

However, this was offset by the success of titles such as Spore and NFL 09.

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Tech giants in human rights deal

By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Google was accused of censoring 2% of search results in China

Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have signed a global code of conduct promising to offer better protection for online free speech and against official intrusion.

The Global Network Initiative follows criticism that companies were assisting governments in countries like China to censor the Internet.

The guidelines seek to limit what data should be shared with authorities, in cases where free speech is an issue.

"This is an important first step," said Mike Posner of Human Rights First.

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China's press freedoms extended

China introduced the new rules ahead of the Olympics

China has extended some of the rules that gave foreign reporters greater freedom during the Beijing Olympics.

State news agency Xinhua said the temporary arrangement for the games, due to expire on Friday, would become standard practice.

It means journalists can continue to conduct interviews without applying to the authorities for permission.

The move has been welcomed by the main organisation representing overseas media in China.

"If properly implemented, we believe this will mark a step forward in the opening of China's media environment," said Jonathan Watts, president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China .

The club called on the authorities to make sure police and local officials respected the freedoms.

Correspondents say the move to extend the more liberal rules has been eagerly awaited and is a sign of China's commitment to allow foreign journalists more freedom to report on a permanent basis.

But it is not clear whether other measures will remain in place, such as those which allowed journalists to travel freely around the country without the supervision of a foreign ministry official.

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Fast forward for UK mobile broadband

Laptops have become the most popular form of personal computer

Phone firms, chip makers and PC manufacturers are uniting to push mobile broadband on laptop computers.

The alliance will build wireless modules into laptops to make it much easier to use the gadgets on future high-speed services.

Laptops with the wireless chips built-in will bear a service mark which shows they will work with the third and fourth generation wireless technology.

The branded laptops should be on shop shelves in 91 nations by Christmas.

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Arrests in China over tainted milk

China's dairy industry is on the verge of collapse

Chinese police have arrested 22 people suspected of illegally producing melamine - the chemical found in milk products which have made thousands of babies ill.

The arrests took place on 17 September, but were only reported widely on Monday evening.

Police are said to have raided dairy farms and milk purchasing stations in northern Hebei province, and seized more than 220kg (485lb) of melamine.

Chinese milk products have been recalled from all around the world.

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BT to kick off fresh Phorm trial

A random sample of BT customers will be asked if they want to join the trial

Telecoms giant BT is about to start further trials of a controversial internet advertising technology.

Developed by Phorm, the Webwise system watches what people do online and shows adverts tuned to their interests.

From 30 September, a sample of BT's customers will be invited to "opt in" to a trial of the technology.

Early trials ran without the consent of customers which led to complaints from rights groups who said this broke laws governing the interception of data.

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Was the Melamine contamination in Chinese Milk Products, intentional?

****R-Force Exclusive ***
Written by 13thHouR

Given the obvious risks to health and the inability to escape from the consequences in China, which for those involve could very well lead to the death sentence, this whole issue has bugged me.

From previous knowledge I was aware that melamine is both used as binder for animal feed and as a fertilizer. So this lead me to Research another possible scenario where the trade surplus of Melamine in China was being being used in excessive amounts for these and other purposes.

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YouTube bans some weapons footage

YouTube says it is responding to particular concerns in the UK

YouTube is to ban footage showing weapons being used to intimidate people on its website in the UK.

The new policy was being introduced because of "particular concern" in Britain over the subject, the site's owners, Google, said.

MPs criticised video-sharing websites, including YouTube, in July, saying they should be doing more to vet content.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith welcomed the YouTube ban and called on other internet sites to follow suit.

YouTube said the introduction of the new rule on weapons and intimidation would be the first time the site had made a policy change targeted specifically at the UK.

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Byte the Big One, DRM Vendors says: 13thHouR

Exclusive: R-Force's 13thHouR calls out ByteShield on their claims about their DRM.

Over the years we have reported the why’s and wherefores of DRM’s. So you could say that we have seen it all.

Then along comes likes of BYTE|SHIELD, a DRM vendor who does something that even surprises us , they take the comments from Anti DRM guys and the BSA and try to create marketing spiel to end all Marketing Spiel.

Lets be sure what we are saying here, Byteshield is nothing new, it is just SecuROM and other DRM’s remote system wrapped up in different Marketing Package....

A little break down of the Byteshield Marketing Spiel..........................

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