Ofcom lets Bulldog off leash

Ofcom has concluded its investigation into Bulldog and ruled that no further action is necessary. The regulator found that Bulldog has implemented a range of steps to improve its customer service operations. Since August 2005, a number of indicators of customer service, such as call waiting times and call abandonment rates, have shown significant improvement. ...more

Online profiles damage careers - survey

Whether it is drunken party pics posted on Flickr or expletive-filled MySpace pages, your previous online postings may come back to haunt you and your career, a YouGov survey has found. A fifth of employers have looked up prospective recruits online, with over half of them saying it affected their decision to hire the person, said respondents to the survey of 2,447 internet users and 600 companies, commissioned by business networking firm Viadeo. 'People need to understand that putting a profile in the public domain may have repercussions for their career later on in life,' said Peter Cunningham, Viadeo's UK country manager. ...more

Europeans fall back in love with the mobile

Shipment figures for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) show that our love affair with the mobile phone has been reignited with pictures and data services. The figures, from industry analysts at Canalys, show mobile device shipments for the second quarter of this year have risen 238 per cent year on year to 1,695,950. 'Shipments for high-end phones are growing in line with our expectations,' said Canalys director Chris Jones. ...more

Password-protected malware surges

Security experts are warning that there has been a surge in viruses sent in the form of apparently trustworthy password-protected zip file attachments. Messaging security specialist Email Systems says more virus writers than ever before are delivering their malicious code as either an encrypted or password-protected email, causing even the security-savvy to fall victim unwittingly. The first viruses hidden in supposedly safe zip attachments were identified six months ago, said Greg Miller, marketing director at Email Systems. ...more

UPDATED: EFF to compile chart of bad patents

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is to set up a bad patent chart - with a view to bringing its patent busting squad to bear on the top 10. In a kind of perverse Patent Idol contest, the EFF is asking the public to vote on the worst software and internet related patents to build up a chart of bad patents. EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz, who heads the project, said he can't wait to see what the contest turns up. ...more