Childrens' charity blames Internet for rise in child abuse

The charity NCH has published a report on the relationship between child pornography on the Net and the prevalence of child abuse. Pointing to the way the Internet facilitates the exchange of illicit pictures and provides new ways for paedophiles to reach children, the charity also warns that organised crime has become involved in the production and sale of such pornography. For the latest figures available, it seems that 549 offenders were charged over child pornography in 2001 compared with 35 in 1988 (which is when the current legal framework over child porn was setup). ...more

PlusNet cuts price of 1Mbit broadband

Award-winning ISP PlusNet has cut the price of its 1Mbit ADSL service to ?32.99 per month (inc. VAT), a reduction of ?2. ...more

Government pleads with NEC not to cut jobs

The government has pleaded with electronics firm NEC not to cut jobs in Scotland. Scotland's First Minister Henry McLeish has sent a letter to NEC's deputy president Keiichi Shimakura asking the firm not to go ahead with redundancies at its Livingstone plant, according to the Electronic Times. The paper says that Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook has sent a letter as well pledging support for the plant. ...more

SUSE frees Linux 9.0 for download

SUSE is to make SUSE Linux 9.0 available for free via its FTP server. Following hard on the heels of Red Hat announcing that it was dropping support for its basic version of its Linux operating system distribution, SUSE has decided it will now pick up the reigns. ...more

533 faster than 733 in Power Mac tests

In what must be, for Apple, a worrying set of speed tests for the 733 and 533MHz Power Macs, it has emerged that the supposedly slower 533 model actually outperforms its big brother in a number of comparisons. Bearfeats.com ran five comparisons of the 733, 533 and 533 dual processor models in which the dual processor Power Mac performed fastest on every occasion. ...more