Digital downloads stock up on Universal

Digital download day - all day, every day, but not for free OD2, the company behind the recent Digital Download Day which offered punters ?5-worth of music downloads for free, has signed a deal with Vivendi's Universal label to offer its catalogue of 50,000 songs. The deal will bring OD2's music library to 150,000 when completed later this month. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. ...more

Microsoft to support RSS in Longhorn and IE 7

Microsoft has revealed that its next version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, will support the RSS format. The new version of Internet Explorer is also expected to support RSS when it appears later this year. The moves are expected to give a sizable push to the technology particularly when Longhorn appears next year. ...more

Privacy organisation in hypocrisy scandal

TRUSTe, an organisation established to promote awareness of online privacy issues, has been caught violating its own code of conduct. The group operates a seal-of-approval scheme for Web sites that meet its criteria for safeguarding online privacy, and gives companies advice in writing effective privacy policies. However Interhack, an Ohio security consulting firm, recently discovered that the TRUSTe Website contained cookies (small text files used for tracking online behaviour) to profile visitors without their knowledge - a practice expressly forbidden by TRUSTe's own rules. ...more

Bristol to expand city centre Wi-Fi network

Bristol City Council has announced a major extension to the city centre wireless network that was first installed in 2004. The area covered by the free WiMax network will be expanded fourfold to include key business areas, transport routes and several 'disadvantaged' communities. The council said that the extension will once again make Bristol's network the largest of its kind in the UK, providing wider coverage with free access. ...more

Microsoft escalates fight against Hotmail spam

Microsoft has fired another broadside against the spammers with nine new lawsuits against companies that send illegal unsolicited email to Hotmail accounts. Amongst those named are Web hosting company National Online Sales, which is said to offer 'bulletproof' email marketing services. The company and its owner Levon Gillespie claimed that as their operations were hosted in China, they were outside the scope of the US Can-Spam legislation. ...more