UK watchdog howls at DRM woes

A government watchdog for consumer interests has declared its opposition to the rise of Digital Rights Management - the means by which content providers control access to their products. The National Consumer Council (NCC) is calling for new laws to better protect consumer rights when it comes to enjoying digital content. Citing the geographic restrictions on DVDs and the content protection surrounding certain CDs, the organisation believes that the use of DRM is constraining the legitimate consumer use of digital songs and films. ...more

Intel and VIA settle patent lawsuits

Intel and VIA have agreed to settle their long-running legal dispute without the further aid of lawyers. The dispute, which has lasted more than a year and a half, involves a series of patent-related lawsuits covering chipsets and microprocessors. The battle has spanned five countries, with 11 pending cases involving 27 patents. ...more

Sasser boy behind two-thirds of virus activity

Security company Sophos claims that the man behind the Sasser and NetSky viruses has caused 70 per cent of the virus activity it has seen reported in the first half of this year. Sven Jaschan, a teenager from a small town in Germany, was arrested in May after Microsoft received a tip-off from one his close associates hoping for a slice of the $250,000 bounty offered for information leading to such an event. Although Jaschan's case has yet to be tried, he has already admitted to police and later in an interview for a magazine that he was behind the Sasser and NetSky worms that have plagued computer users this year. ...more

Apple records first-ever billion dollar profit

Apple has announced record revenues and profits for the last financial quarter, after selling more than 20 million iPods and seeing a 28 per cent growth in Mac sales. Revenues of $7.1 billion generated a profit of $1,004 million; previous record figures, reported for the same quarter last year, were $5,749 million and $565 million respectively. ...more

Mobile phone porn blocked by operators

UK network operators have announced a code for minor mobile users. The six UK operators have agreed to put in place controls that restrict access to adult content available via mobile phones for those under 18. MP Stephen Timms, Communications Minister, said: 'This Code of Practice is an excellent example of the responsible self regulation we are keen to encourage among the mobile operators to address issues relating to new types of content now available on mobile handsets. ...more