p2pnet headline roundups – Jan 16, 2008
p2pnet headline roundups | Last of the day
Microsoft System May Monitor Workers’ Brains, Bodies – Fox News
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical well-being and competence. The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolisms. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rates, body temperatures, movements, facial expressions and blood pressure.
>>>
In Child Porn Case, a Digital Dilemma – Washington Post
The federal government is asking a U.S. District Court in Vermont to order a man to type a password that would unlock files on his computer, despite his claim that doing so would constitute self-incrimination. The case, believed to be the first of its kind to reach this level, raises a uniquely digital-age question about how to balance privacy and civil liberties against the government’s responsibility to protect the public.
>>>
Usenet provider wins against EMI – P2P Blog
German Usenet provider United Newsserver has prevailed in a lawsuit initiated by EMI. The record company wanted to force United Nesserver to block access to its music with a preliminary injunction, but a Dusseldorf court now found that the company cannot be held responsible for the misdeeds of its or other Usenet users. This decision reverses a lower court ruling from last May that sided with the music industry and was hailed by the German IFPI as a sign that people "who make illegal content available on the Internet cannot bail out of their resposibilities", as local IFPI boss Peter Zombik put it back then.
>>>
2008 shaping up to be "Year of Filters" at colleges, ISPs – Ars Technica
DRM on music may be dying, but network filtering of copyrighted material is alive and well. In fact, over the next few months, two different filtering initiatives from Big Content could both come to fruition, bringing the magic of Big Brother to colleges and ISPs near you. It’s still a contested issue, but the situation has developed to the point where it is at least plausible to imagine ubiquitous network filtering in the US.
>>>
UK Considers Role in US Terror Database – Associated Press
The United States wants recruit Britain and other countries to share biometric data on terrorists and criminals, a British newspaper reported Tuesday. The Guardian reported that the FBI said a proposed security database called the "Server in the Sky" was still being designed.
>>>
‘Darkest ever’ material created – BBC
The "darkest ever" substance known to science has been made in a US laboratory. The material was created from carbon nanotubes – sheets of carbon just one atom thick rolled up into cylinders. Researchers say it is the closest thing yet to the ideal black material, which absorbs light perfectly at all angles and over all wavelengths. The discovery is expected to have applications in the fields of electronics and solar energy.
>>>
AT&T, Verizon, Google can bid for airwaves, FCC says – Bloomberg News
Google, AT&T and Verizon Wireless won clearance to bid for airwaves in a U.S. government auction next week, a sale that aims to spur advances in mobile phones and may raise as much as $15 billion. Vulcan Spectrum Management, the company backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and MetroPCS Communications are also among the 214 qualified bidders, the Federal Communications Commission said Monday in a notice on its Web site.
>>>
Surprise! Oracle buys BEA Systems – ZDNet
The clumsy courtship between Oracle and BEA Systems is over. Oracle said Wednesday that it will acquire BEA for $19.375 a share in cash. The offer puts the value of BEA at roughly $8.5 billion.
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
