Buys Inc. Attorneys ICT Law Blog     Tuesday, May 30, 2006     Cellphone Act chaos warning issued Millions of prepaid cellphone users could be disconnected if current legislation designed to register them is not amended, warns Alan Knott-Craig, chief executive officer of the Vodacom Group. Monday, May 29, 2006     Software developers risk losing rights to programs SOFTWARE developers are in danger of losing the right to own the programs they have created if a judgment by SA’s Supreme Court of Appeal is allowed to stand, warns technology lawyer Reinhardt Buys, of Buys Attorneys. Cellphone laws SA’s cellphone revolution is nothing short of miraculous. Starting with modest ambitions and a fight on their hands in the face of Telkom’s mighty dominance, the industry has grown at a phenomenal rate. Media bosses mull Internet challenges Global press chiefs gathered in the Scottish capital Edinburgh to thrash out how best to wrestle with the rise of the Internet, stay on top of technology, and beat countless bloggers and citizen journalists to the story. Still beating around the telecoms bush HOPES that dynamic steps to energise the telecoms sector would be introduced last week faded as Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe Casaburri drew her budget speech to a close. The industry had hoped for action, but the minister delivered more talk. Surely RICA can learn from FICA, says Knott-Craig On the eve of a presentation to Parliament on the implementation of the proposed new Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication Related Information Act (RICA), Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig believes a lot can be learned from the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA). Surely RICA can learn from FICA, says Knott-Craig Who owns software developed for your company? It happens all the time. A company hires an independent computer programmer to write software. All too often, it's software the company uses to run an important part of its business. All too often as well, there is no written contract. Friday, May 26, 2006     South Africa losing 30,000 jobs to piracy About 36% of the software used by South African businesses is illegal, depriving more than 30,000 people of jobs in the multibillion rand information technology (IT) industry, say experts. BSA Survey Finds Piracy Losses Total US$34 Billion The Business Software Alliance's (BSA's) annual global PC SoftwarePiracy Study found that more than a third of packaged software on PCs around the world was pirated. Lawmakers Livid Over Delay in Notification of VA Data Theft US lawmakers are questioning the Department of Veterans Affairs' decision to delay disclosing a security breach for two weeks. German Police Charge 3,500 eDonkey Users with Piracy German police have charged 3,500 eDonkey peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network users; each individual could face up to three years in prisonor fines of as much as 15,000 Euros (US$19,219) and may also be ordered to pay compensation. Sony BMG Rootkit DRM Settlement Approved A US district court judge has approved a settlement in the Sony BMG rootkit class action lawsuit. Sony must provide all affected consumers with CDs free of the controversial digital rights management (DRM) software; the settlement also calls for Sony to provide free music downloads to those customers. House Committee Approves Stronger Cybercrime Bill The House Judiciary significantly strengthened federal cybercrime law and provided law enforcement with increased enforcement tools. Among the most important: extortion based on threats to access computers will be a crime if the bill becomes law. Use of botnets will also be a crime. Five tips for employers to beat World Cup fever For HR professionals, the World Cup is no cause for celebration: last-minute holiday requests or staff feigning illness one day and suffering hangovers the next. With less than three weeks until Germany 2006, OUT-LAW presents tips for HR team managers. Dealing with a phishing attack As phishing attacks have grown, the defences and mysterious counter-measures have evolved. Uri Rivner, Head of New Technologies at RSA Cyota Consumer Solutions, tells a detective's story. Google to Shut Down Some Orkut Communities in Brazil Google said that it has agreed to shut down some communities on its popular Orkut social networking site because the Brazilian government says they advocate violence and human rights violations. Movie Studios, TV Networks Sue to Stop "On-Demand" Service Four Hollywood studios and the three major television networks filed a copyright suit seeking to prevent Cablevision Systems Corp. from launching an "on-demand" service that aims to replace the living room digital video recorder. MPAA Sued for Hiring Hacker to Help in Copyright Case A lawsuit accuses the Motion Picture Association of America of hiring a hacker to steal information from a company that the MPAA has accused of helping copyright violators. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court forthe Central District of California by Torrentspy.com parent Valence Media,doesn't identify the man the company says was approached by an MPAA executive. Will Congress Serve up 'Hillary Net?' Net neutrality supporters are proposing problems that don't exist, ignoring the ones that do, and generally confusing the American public for the benefit of a few wealthy Internet companies. That's an unfortunate situation, but legislators can fix it by rejecting pleas to regulate the Net. School Board Requires Students to Sign Internet "Pledge" In a move that has drawn national attention to a Chicago school district, the Community High School District 128 board unanimously passed rules changes that will hold students accountable for what they post on blogs and social-networking Web sites. The changes will mean that all students participating in extracurricular activities, including athletic teams, fine arts groups and school clubs, will have to sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of "illegal or inappropriate" behavior posted onthe Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action. CC, Barclays lawyers in joint pro bono plan Clifford Chance is strengthening further its relationship with Barclays by teaming up with the bank to offer free legal advice, marking the first time the firm has set up a pro bono partnership with a client. South Africa: Get On With It EVEN if there's debate about whether our telecommunications costs are really the highest in the world, there can be no question they are higher than those of many countries with which we try to compete. The high cost of communicating in SA is one of the factors that prevents businesses being as competitive as they should be. De Lille in privacy suit Politician and Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille and journalist and rape activist Charlene Smith faced the Constitutional Court this week in a legal battle that could have important implications for the right of privacy. Tuesday, May 23, 2006     Web inventor warns of 'dark' net The web should remain neutral and resist attempts to fragment it into different services, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said. Alleged Software Pirate Settles Microsoft Civil Suit Microsoft brought a GBP 12 million (US$22.6 million) civil suit against William Ling earlier this year for damages it claims it suffered as a result of Ling selling pirated copies of its software. In May 2005,Ling was prosecuted for selling pirated software but received a fine of just GBP 10,000 (US$18,839) and resumed selling pirated software within two months. Ling has settled the civil suit out of court for an undisclosed sum and has agreed to stop selling pirated software. Three Sentenced for Music Piracy Activity Three men have been sentenced for their roles in groups that post pre-release music to the Internet. George S. Hayes pleaded guilty to one count of copyright infringement and was sentenced to 15 months in jail. Aaron O. Jones and Derek A. Borchardt pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. Jones received a sentence of six months in jail followed by six months of home confinement; Borchardt was sentenced to six months home confinement. Afourth man, Matthew Howard, will be sentenced next week. The men were caught through the efforts of the FBI's ongoing Operation FastLink, which targets piracy groups. Trojan Exploits Unpatched MS Word Hole Mdropper-H, a Trojan horse program that exploits an unpatched hole in Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003, has been detected on the Internet. It has been used in highly targeted spear phishing attacks, via email containing MS Word attachments that contain a backdoor program called Backdoor-Ginwui. Microsoft is developing a fix for the MS Word flaw.The SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) has made several recommendations for protecting networks from attack, including quarantining attachments to allow for the release of relevant virus signatures, limiting user privileges, monitoring or blocking outbound traffic and replacing MSWord with OpenOffice until patches are available from Microsoft. Official: Africans pay $1,800 for 1GB of data African Internet users pay on average 90 times what Americans pay, crippling efforts by the world's poorest continent to become competitive, a senior Kenyan official said. Report: Piracy down in China and Russia Makers of computer software report that piracy rates, while still high, declined slightly in both China and Russia last year, but that global losses from the use of illegal computer software rose to $34 billion. Global Losses From Software Piracy Reach $34 Billion Makers of computer software report that piracy rates, while still high, declined slightly in both China and Russia last year, but that global losses from the use of illegal computer software rose to US$34 billion. The Business Software Alliance said 35 percent of the packaged software installed on personal computers worldwide in 2005 was illegal. University Computer Penetrated for One Year, CIO Says An unprecedented string of electronic intrusions has prompted Ohio University to place at least one technician on paid administrative leave and begin a sweeping reorganization of the university's computer services department. In a disclosure that hasn't been widely reported, one of the compromised servers, which held Social Security numbers belonging to137,000 people, was penetrated by U.S. and overseas-based hackers for at least a year and possibly much longer, said Bill Sams, Ohio University's chief information officer. Lawsuit Won't Delay Vista, Microsoft's Ballmer Says Microsoft Corp. said it did not expect a lawsuit to delay Vista, a new version of its Windows operating system. Asked whether the case would have any impact on the Vista roll-out, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told Reuters: "I wouldn't anticipate any, but that will go to the courts now." Electronic Data on 26.5 Million Veterans Stolen Personal electronic data on up to 26.5 million military veterans, including their Social Security numbers and birth dates, was stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the information without authorization, the agency said. Whether the incident is called a security breach or identity theft, it appeared to be one of the biggest of the computer age, according to records kept by the PrivacyRights Clearinghouse. “SA Software Industry in Crisis” The 29th of March 2006 is the day that thousands of South African businesses and individuals lost their rightful ownership to software they develop and without compensation. This is according to Reinhardt Buys, MD of Buys Inc who states that this is going to plunge the local software development industry into a crisis. Download from: http://www.buys.co.za/gbDownloads.asp?field=file&RID=298 Cellphone firms could face heavy fines Cellphone service providers who fail to obtain and keep information on their clients could be fined R100,000 for each day of non-compliance, according to draft new interception legislation introduced in Parliament. Saturday, May 20, 2006     Spyware Infections Up 50 Percent Over Last Year According to the annual Websense Web@Work survey, the number of organizations reporting their systems have been infected with spyware is up nearly 50 percent. Seventeen percent of companies with more than100 employees reported their networks have been infiltrated by spyware, such as keystroke loggers. One likely reason for the increase in spyware infestations is the increasing availability of spyware toolkits on the Internet. The study also says that 44 percent of IT decision makers do not believe their employees can distinguish phishing sites from legitimate ones. Google Fraud: Botnets Used to Steal Money From Google Advertisers The SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) has released evidence showing botnets are being used to defraud advertisers using Google Adword, apay-per-click advertising system. Advertisers pay Google for each click; Google in turn pays a substantial amount of that revenue to publishers who run banners for the advertisers. Unscrupulous publishers work with the botmasters to generate high volumes of clicks and ultimately revenue. The botmasters get a share of this as well. ISC uncovered evidence of a botnet with 115 bots, each of which was clicking on sitesup to 15 times a day, keeping them under the detection system's radar. Amid Copyright Concerns, Cerf Promotes Google's Book Plan Vinton Cerf, regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Internet, is busy promoting Google's plan to marry his two passions -- books and theInternet -- by digitizing millions of library books. Cerf thinks publishers fail to appreciate that Google probably will help them sell more books by making them searchable. Judge Dismisses Lawyer's Lawsuit Over Website A Manhattan judge has dismissed a New York attorney's lawsuit against his aunt and uncle, in which he alleged the Florida couple defaced his Website by replacing all of his postings with a photograph of the lawyer labeled "Pig of the Year," in which he leans back in a chair and appears to say, "I'm going to eat everything in site." While marking the apogee of a family dispute, the decision also touched upon unsettled issues of personal jurisdiction. Legislation Would Require US ISPs to Store Users' Activities A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans'online activities be stored, CNET News.com has learned. The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Internet service providers should retain records of user activities for a "reasonable amount of time," a move that represented a dramatic shift in the Bush administration's views on privacy. 'Web ready for next big leap' The World Wide Web is on the cusp of making its next big leap to become an open environment for collaboration, and its inventor said he has not been so optimistic in years. Symantec sues MS in contract dispute Symantec sued software rival Microsoft yesterday, accusing it of misappropriating trade secrets to develop its own competing features and products, including the next version of Windows. Report: Microsoft feeling heat from Google Microsoft Corp. has held discussions to buy a stake in Internet media company Yahoo Inc. to compete against Google Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Growing concern over Internet addiction For some, the Internet it has become an addiction, adversely affecting their lives and their family's lives. The future of journalism Dan Gillmor, author of We the Media, responds to e-mails from readers about the emerging threat to in-depth journalism as the advertising newspapers use to keep themselves solvent moves to the net. Open source ‘helps you and helps SA’ SOUTH African companies are being urged to adopt open source software so they can not only cut their running costs but also contribute to job creation and boost the national economy. One billion people have internet access: survey More than one billion people in the world have access to the Internet, with a quarter of them with broadband, or high-speed connections, according to a survey released on Thursday. IOL and News24 battle it out for local web supremacy IOL has maintained its slender lead over News24 as the local website attracting the most unique visitors, but News24 remains the leader in other areas. Wednesday, May 17, 2006     South Africa's corporate laws go paperless An amendment to South Africa’s corporate laws, tabled in Parliament recently, provides for the use of electronic signatures, the online registration of companies and close corporations and the electronic lodgement of corporate notices and forms. According to technology lawyer, Reinhardt Buys of Buys Inc. Attorneys, the Corporate Laws Amendment Bill 6 of 2006 is a giant leap towards effective e-government and a true paperless regulatory environment for local businesses. Tuesday, May 16, 2006     Australia Eases Certain Copyright Restrictions Proposed changes to Australian copyright law will allow people to record television and radio shows to be replayed once, but prohibit them from lending the recordings to others. Current laws prohibit recording anything from television and CDs. The proposed changes will also allow people to move content between formats, for instance, from various media onto iPods and other mp3 players. Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said "everyday consumers shouldn't be treated like copyright pirates." The new laws allow the use of copyrighted material for satire and parody and have exceptions for schools to use copyrighted material for non-commercial purposes. The laws would also make it easier to levy fines and impose other punishments on those who are guilty of copyright piracy. House Committee Proposes Another Data Security Breach Bill US House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) has introduced another data security breach bill, the Cybersecurity Enhancement and Consumer Data Protection Act of 2006 (HR 5318). This bill would require organizations to inform the government within two weeks when they suffer electronic data security breaches affecting 10,000 or more individuals; notification of consumers could be delayed up to 30 days. Failure to comply would result in hefty fines and prison sentences. U.S. Government Gives OK to Microsoft Vista Search Box The U.S. government has given its thumbs-up to Microsoft's search box plans for Vista, shrugging off concerns raised recently by Google. While criticizing Microsoft for its implementation of its existing antitrust accord, regulators appear satisfied with the software maker's plans forWindows Vista, including a new search box that is part of InternetExplorer 7. French Senate Amends, Then Passes, New Copyright Law Resisting pressure from business, French lawmakers have moved the country a step closer to a copyright law that would have wide-rangingeffects on those selling or listening to digital music. The Senate passed the bill after amending it to address concerns from companies like Apple that had called it "state-sponsored piracy." Ex-Security Specialist Gets Five Months for Hacking A former computer security specialist at the Department of Education has been sentenced to five months in prison for hacking into his supervisor's PC. Kenneth Kwak, 34, of Chantilly, Va., admitted to installing remote control software on the computer and using that access to read his supervisor's e-mail and monitor other Internet activity, theU.S Department of Justice said in a statement. Search Engine Advertisers Blamed for Spyware, Spam Sites that pay to have their links pop up on search engine result pages are nearly three times more likely to harbor spyware or adware, or hassle users with spam than URLs generated by the engine's algorithms, research claimed. And search engines are cashing in, reported McAfee's SiteAdvisor service. By its estimate, the search industry made $1.1billion from risky sponsored links last year. Amendments to South Africa's RIC Act - a job "half done" The recent amendment to certain sections of the RIC Act received wide media attention and the impression was created that the amendment introduces a totally new and costly burden to mobile phone providers – the requirement that cell phones and SIM cards must be “registered’. In fact, the “registration” requirement is actually a watered down version of an earlier requirement on the verification and identification of the owner of a phone. Monday, May 15, 2006     South Africa: Cellphone Laws Could Backfire, MTN Warns LEGISLATION to increase cellphone penetration and make it more affordable could backfire and end up slowing down the industry's growth, MTN has warned. NSA phone spying program: a blueprint for mass repression In the wake of the May 11 revelation by USA Today of a massive telephone spying program by the National Security Agency, directed against nearly every American citizen, the media commentary has deliberately downplayed the sinister nature of the program. Avoiding the electronic discovery trap With e-mail dramatically increasing the sheer volume of electronic information stored and disseminated on a daily basis, your organization can ill-afford the consequences of not being prepared to deal with the evolving legal landscape of electronic discovery. . Email is Exhibit A Before you click that "send" button, ask yourself these questions: Are you able to defend the statements made in that email? Are you willing to do so under oath in court? Email is Exhibit A in many of today's most high-profile legal investigations and court cases. Can Open Source Save Sun? As CEO Jonathan Schwartz shifts the company from a hardware to an open source software business model -- moving from the sale of software licenses to subscription fees for "free software" -- Sun increasingly resembles the most successful open source software company in the market Saturday, May 13, 2006     Windows Vista Will Doom Anti-Spyware Makers, Report Says A Yankee Group report predicts imminent doom for anti-spyware makers with the release of Windows Vista. But don't plan a funeral for WebRootand Ad-Aware just yet. First, Microsoft has to sell the darned operating system. Cybersecurity Legislation of Little Help, Law Professor Says Terrorists and organized criminals are using computer vulnerabilities to line their pockets, but many cyber security ideas coming out of the U.S.Congress may not help much, some experts said. Legislation that would require companies with data breaches to notify affected customers will create new expenses for companies, much the way the Sarbanes-Oxley Actdid, said Bruce Kobayashi, a law professor at George Mason University. FBI Investigating Huge Cache of Personal Data Ripe for Identity Fraud The FBI is investigating a cache of data containing personal information belonging to thousands of people from countries around the world. The information was discovered by Webroot software on a password-protected FTP (file transfer protocol) server in the US and appears to be connected to a Trojan horse program designed to activate when computer users visit certain sites, in this case, certain banking and ecommerce sites. Hong Kong Court Says ISPs Must Divulge Names of Suspected Movie Downloaders A Hong Kong court has ordered four Internet service providers (ISPs) to reveal the identities of 49 people who are suspected of illegally downloading several movies. While last year a man was sentenced to three months in jail for making movies available on the Internet with BitTorrent technology, this is the first legal action taken by film companies in Hong Kong against suspected downloaders. Parents Sue Video Game Company After Boy Kills Self The parents of a 13-year-old boy who killed himself after playing a computer game for 36 hours are suing the game's licensed Chinese distributor for 100,000 yuan ($12,500), a Chinese newspaper reported. In 2004, Zhang Xiaoyi, from the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, jumped out of a window of his family's 24th floor apartment after playing Warcraft at an internet cafe. Morgan Stanley Settles E-mail Charges for $15 Million Wall Street powerhouse Morgan Stanley & Co. has agreed to pay a$15-million civil fine to settle federal regulators' allegations that it repeatedly failed to provide tens of thousands of e-mails which they sought in investigations over several years, federal regulators said. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with Morgan Stanley, which neither admitted nor denied the allegations but did consent to a permanent injunction against future violations of the securities laws. Gloves come off in console fight Sony and Microsoft have been trading verbal blows in their fight to dominate the video games business. Beatles' label to appeal iTunes verdict Apple Corps says it will appeal yesterday's High Court defeat. Mr Justice Mann ruled that Apple Computer did not breach a 1991 agreement between the companies when it launched iTunes Music Store. A download, he reasoned, is not the same as a CD. Judge approves extradition of 'Pentagon hacker' An English court has approved the extradition of alleged Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon, according to reports. But his lawyer has vowed to appeal, a lastattempt to prevent him standing trial in the US on charges that carry a sentence of up to 70 years. Software asset management becomes an ISO standard A new international standard has been produced to enable organisations to prove that they are performing Software Asset Management (SAM)to a standard sufficient to satisfy corporate governance and to aid industry and vendors with software compliance. Municipal networks may hold the key to affordable, fast broadband The high cost and inferior speeds of local broadband offerings have been making headlines for years. Most people agree that drastic action is needed to remedy the dismal state of South Africa’s broadband conundrum, but despite two colloquiums and an ICASA investigation not much has changed. 'SA needs minister of ICT' The SA government faces a variety of issues in delivering on its mandate to provide services to citizens efficiently. Access to the Internet a constitutional right? Speakers at a recent TCI Broadband South Africa conference in Fourways highlighted the issue of access to information being one of the rights enshrined in our constitution. Die verskil tussen ’n prokureur en 'n trampolien Dalk het ek te veel LA Law, Ally McBeal en The Practice gekyk . . . maar toe ek jonger was, het ek gedink prokureurs is mense wat hulle vir geregtigheid beywer, mense wat die Grondwet tot elke prys verdedig en mense wat sorg dat groot maatskappye nie op die klein outjie trap nie. Om dié redes het ek – en duisende ander jong Suid-Afrikaners - regte geswot, prokureurseksamen oorleef en uiteindelik lid van die regsprofessie geword . . . rough and ready to fight for justice. ICASA Bill to be finalised next week Political party differences over the appointment and performance management of Independent Communication Authority of SA (ICASA) councillors are small and should be resolved by Wednesday next week, says Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications acting chairman Godfrey Olifant (ANC). New laws pose challenges for mobile operators The new telecoms laws have noble objectives, but implementing them poses a number of challenges for mobile operators, says Maanda Manyatshe, MD of MTN SA. Manyatshe was speaking at a media luncheon hosted by MTN earlier this week. Thursday, May 11, 2006     EC Act creates opportunity Cull was speaking at the ICT Law Empowerment Sessions hosted by ICT law group Buys, in Johannesburg yesterday. “Convergence is a buzzword with many layers of meaning,” he said. ”It refers to convergence over delivery channels, convergence of devices, and even the convergence of regulation.” Click-fraud concerns hound Google John Thys still has not figured out how much his company has paid Google for bogus sales referrals caused by "click-fraud" -- a sham aimed at a perceived weakness in the internet search leader's advertising network. An end to the software police? After months of delay, the ISO has finally published a standard for software asset management that may protect companies from legal and financial threats over licensing issues Google accused of profiting from child porn Google has been sued by Nassau County Legislator Jeffrey Toback who claims that it is promoting and profiting from child pornography, going so far as to suggest that child porn is part of its business model, according to reports. Beatles' label to appeal iTunes verdict Apple Corps says it will appeal yesterday's High Court defeat. Mr Justice Mann ruled that Apple Computer did not breach a 1991 agreement between the companies when it launched iTunes Music Store. A download, he reasoned, is not the same as a CD. French plans to regulate iTunes may soften The French Senate appears to be softening plans that would have forced Apple and others offering copy-protected music downloads to open up their services so that music can be made interoperable with other music players, reports Associated Press. Judge approves extradition of 'Pentagon hacker' An English court has approved the extradition of alleged Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon, according to reports. But his lawyer has vowed to appeal, a last attempt to prevent him standing trial in the US on charges that carry a sentence of up to 70 years. xxx domain name rejected again Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, the Internet's key oversight agency voted on Wednesday to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the internet. Wednesday, May 10, 2006     Streamlining SA's tax returns This year, for the first time, Sars will make an electronic submission facility available to 2.7-million individuals who earn a basic salary and allowances. Friday, May 05, 2006     Piracy costs Hollywood $6.1bn Hollywood's major movie studios lost $6.1bn in revenues to illegal videos, DVDs and internet downloads in 2005. Cyber attack takes blogs offine Millions of personal Web sites vanished after TypePad and LiveJournal were attacked Users still fall for hoaxes, old viruses Bandwidth-clogging hoaxes and old viruses are still fooling computer users around the world, say anti-virus software firms. Bill prompts Apple threat to France The French Senate on Thursday began debating a fiercely contested Internet music copyright law that has sparked threats by Apple, which runs the iTunes download site, to withdraw from France. Apple's deep linking threat is not so stupid The Register is reporting that Apple's lawyers have threatened a community website because it is linking to one of Apple's own internal service manuals. The site operator seems unfazed; but Apple might have a better case than he thinks. Thursday, May 04, 2006     Online shopping on the up, make sure that you are safe Remember when you had to venture into a travel agency to book your flight? Or when we had queue for ages at the bank to get a statement or transfer money? Leaked IBM memo reveals plan to poach rival’s staff IBM has landed in hot water after an internal memo encouraging its staff to poach employees from the Business Connexion group was leaked. Government approves 'phone-tapping' Bill The Cabinet approved draft legislation on Wednesday regulating the tapping of telephones and intercepting of e-mails. Outstanding matters had been settled with cellphone companies, and the Bill would be submitted to Parliament for processing, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe told reporters in Pretoria. Wednesday, May 03, 2006     Even misspelled address will send you somewhere Google Inc., which runs the largest ad network on the Internet, is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads. In many instances, these ad-filled pages appear when users mistype an Internet address, such as "BistBuy.com." New Law Requires Businesses to Safeguard Networks “People don’t realize how easily their personal information can be stolen,” Spano said in a statement. “All it takes is one unsecured wireless network. Your credit card number, social security number, bank account information — it’s all vulnerable if a business that collects that information hasn’t taken the proper steps to protect it.” How do I spot, avoid 'phishing' scams? "Phishing" is a widely used scam to trick people into divulging sensitive information such as their credit card numbers, bank account information or passwords to criminals who can then rack up unauthorized purchases or sell the information to others. This can result in consumers facing unauthorized bills, new credit accounts opened fraudulently in their name and a damaged credit rating. It can also lead to identity theft - a very serious problem. FBI Releases Internet Crime Report The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its 2005 Internet Crime Report which offers a snapshot of Internet fraud trends detailing crime types, locations, and victim/perpetrator demographic data gleaned from 97,076 complaints of fraud referred to federal, state and local law enforcement authorities last year. The total dollar loss from all referred fraud cases was $183 million, up from $68 million in 2004. Smarter spam could mimic friends' mail The next generation of spam and phishing emails could fool both software filters and the most cautious people, Canadian researchers said Sunday, by mimicking the way friends and real companies write messages. Trojan snags World of Warcraft passwords to cash out accounts If the attacker managed to hijack a password, he could transfer in-game goods -- personal items, including weapons - that the player had accumulated to his own account, then later sell them for real-world cash on "gray market" websites. Class Action Law Suit Against Yahoo! for Click Fraud & Spyware A class-action lawsuit filed Monday against Yahoo! Inc. and group of unnamed third-parties accuses the company of engaging in "syndication fraud" against advertisers who pay Yahoo to display their ads on search results and on the Web pages of partner Web sites. The suit claims that Yahoo displayed these advertisers' online ads via spyware and adware products and on so-called "typosquatter" Web sites that capitalize on misspellings of popular trademarks or company names. Internet-surfing not cause for firing Internet-surfing, time-wasting, potentially productivity-lowering workers all over America can breathe a sigh of relief, after an administrative law judge in New York last week declared Web-surfing acceptable behavior in the workplace.According to Judge John Spooner, a New York City Education Department worker was unfairly penalized by being fired for browsing news and travel Web sites on company time. Internet networking sites should be used with caution The first thing most children should learn while growing up in a technological age like the one we are in now is never to post personal information online. I can barely recall all the times I heard this from my own parents, both who rarely used cyberspace at the time. Maybe the task of sitting children down and reminding them of what is acceptable Internet usage has become too hard for parents. Instead, they seem to rely on news stories claiming a certain networking Web site is causing their children to be stalked, molested or killed, and sadly, they have started to believe it is a common occurrence. Internet phone service doesn't come with the same protections as land lines, so ... A 62-year-old's battle to keep her Internet-based phone service amid a billing dispute is revealing a legal morass of consumer protections for those who have phone service via the Internet, experts said.Charges for more than $1,100 in porn and other pay-per-view programs appeared on the Cablevision bill of Yonkers resident Claudia Lee, 62, even though she said she doesn't know how to order such services, she said. South Africa: Telkom Faces Rival in Bid for Business Connexion TELKOM's R2,4bn bid for Business Connexion is under threat after an unknown rival launched a potential counteroffer -- with all the indications pointing at a foreign company looking to buy into the South African market. Terrorists turn to the Internet UN chief Kofi Annan has unveiled a global counter-terrorism strategy that puts new emphasis on how terrorists' are increasingly using the Internet, among other issues.         BUYS LINKS TERMS AND CONDITIONS BUYS INCORPORATED WEBSITE CONTACT US SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER SYNDICATE VIA RSS FEED VIEW OUR LATEST EVENTS RECENTLY SUSPENDED DOMAINS WHO GOT HACKED IN SA TODAY GUIDES INTERCEPTION ACT GUIDE TOP 5 ICT RISKS CONVERGENCE BILL GUIDE JUDGMENTS 1998 - 2005 ONLINE SERVICES ORDER PAIA MANUAL REQUEST WEBSITE AUDIT BLOG ARCHIVES April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009