Web tool ‘as important as Google’ BBC
A web tool that “could be as important as Google”, according to some experts, has been shown off to the public. Wolfram Alpha is the brainchild of British-born physicist Stephen Wolfram. The free program aims to answer questions directly, rather than display web pages in response to a query like a search engine. The “computational knowledge engine”, as the technology is known, will be available to the public from the middle of May this year.

NZ’s S92A failure linked to Aussie ISP copyright case ComputerWorld
While New Zealand’s government, internet service provider industry and copyright owners contemplate their next move following the withdrawal of Section 92A of the Copyright Act, a legal action currently awaiting hearing in the Australian Federal courts is set to revolve around a strikingly similar provision in Australian law. Commentators on a mailing list run by civil liberties lobby Electronic Frontiers Australia point to the resemblance between the text of S92A and Section 116AG and AH of the Australian Federal Copyright Act. They suggest the New Zealand government backoff may affect a case to be tried later this year, between the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and ISP iiNet. AFACT alleges breach of copyright by a number of iiNet users who, it says, were detected downloading copyright music and videos.

RealDVD judge again boots public from courtroom CNet news
The film industry once again successfully convinced U.S District Marilyn Patel to boot the public from the courtroom during the RealDVD hearing on Wednesday. Attorneys from the DVD Copy Control Association, the group formed to protect DVDs from piracy, informed Patel that they wanted the courtroom closed during the testimony that would discuss anything the DVD-CCA considered a trade secret. Roger Myers, representing CNET News, told Patel that he objected to the closing of the court. Myers told Patel he wanted to propose an alternative. He asked the court to limit testimony in court that didn’t include any trade secrets. He then suggested that testimony about the secrets be done on video and submitted under seal. Such a procedure would not hold up the court or reveal trade secrets. Anybody who still wanted to object to the sealed testimony could do so and she could rule on those objections.

Time Warner To Spin Off AOL Slashdot
Time Warner is inching closer to untangling one of the worst mergers in American corporate history that began with the merger of Time Warner with America Online, a deal that has resulted in the evaporation of more than $100 billion of shareholder value. “Although the company’s board of directors has not made any decision, the company currently anticipates that it would initiate a process to spin off one or more parts of the businesses of AOL to Time Warner’s stockholders, in one or a series of transactions,” Time Warner said in the filing.

Online gambling bill coming Reuters
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said on Tuesday he would introduce a bill next week to overturn a three-year-old U.S. ban on Internet gambling. The legislation, likely to be opposed by anti-gambling Republicans, would overturn a law imposed during the Bush administration that has hurt U.S. trade ties with the European Union. Frank said the bill was being drafted this week. “We’ll be introducing it next week and I plan to move on it,” said Frank, a Democrat, speaking at the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit in Washington.

Swedish woman falls for internet lottery deception The Local
A 52-year-old Swedish woman has been left out of pocket after she was lured into handing over her cash to secure an imaginary lottery win. The woman, from Sundsvall in northern Sweden, was told by a gang of international fraudsters that she had won $2.5 million in a lottery, local newspaper Dagbladet reports. But first the woman was told she would have to open a bank account in the Netherlands to secure the money. For this there would be a fee and the unsuspecting woman duly paid up. The requests continued and the woman was tricked into handing over a total of 460,000 kronor ($57,000), most of it bank loans, over a nine month period.

High School Band Member Thwarts Muggers NPR
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said a 17-year-old high school band student beat up two assailants, who tried to mug her as she walked to school. Police tell the Antelope Valley Press that the girl punched one man in the nose, kicked the other in the groin, then beat both with her marching band baton before running away.

Saudi 8-year-old granted divorce: reports Agence France-Presse

An eight-year-old Saudi girl who was sold into marriage by her father has been given a divorce after an international outcry over the case, Saudi media reported Thursday. The marriage of the girl to a man reportedly in his 50s was annulled Wednesday in out-of-court settlement overseen by a new judge in the city of Onaiza, after the original judge in the case refused to bend to pressure to grant the divorce, several newspapers reported. Riyadh newspaper said the settlement was reached after the intervention in the case by an unidentified “important personality.” The girl’s father had sold her last year to the man in exchange for a dowry. When her mother found out, she petitioned the court for a divorce for the girl. The judge twice rejected her case — though he stipulated that the marriage could only be consummated after the girl attains puberty.

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April, 2009