TECH, ENTERTAINMENT GROUPS REACH PIRACY AGREEMENT
Leaders from the technology and entertainment industries in the ongoing and highly contentious battle over online piracy have reached an agreement to be released Tuesday, washingtonpost.com reports. Three industry groups -- the Recording Industry Association of America, the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project -- have joined to oppose legislation requiring hardware and software to be designed to defeat piracy. Although washingtonpost.com said the three organizations would not comment prior to the Tuesday news conference to discuss the agreement, sources close to the agreement told washingtonpost.com it was designed to ease tensions between the technology industry, which opposes any federal intervention on technology design, and the entertainment industry, which looks to the government to fight what it sees as the illegal copying and sharing of digital music and videos. However, the Motion Picture Association of America, which long has fought to prevent online piracy, was not party to the agreement.
FINDING SUPPORTS ENTERTAINMENT VS. FILE-SWAPPER KAZAA
The music and motion picture industries scored a major victory when a U.S. district judge ruled that although Australia-based file-swapping site Kazaa is incorporated offshore, it still is liable for U.S. jurisdiction, according to dc.internet.com. The Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America have brought suit against Kazaa and a number of other file-swapping sites -- including against U.S. companies MusicCity.com and MusicCity Networks, which run the Morpheus service, and the West Indies company Grokster -- charging they are costing the entertainment industries billions in lost revenue. District Judge Stephen Wilson found that although Kazaa, owned by Sharman Networks Ltd., is incorporated offshore, Kazaa does substantial business in the United States and is subject to U.S. law. The finding opens the way for the MPAA and PIAA lawsuit, which a Sharman spokesman told dc.internet.com it believed it would win on the merits of its case, despite the disappointing finding.
REPORT: TOP 10 INTERNET SECURITY FLAWS
"Surprisingly common" flaws are leaving the Internet open to hackers, reports the Open Web Application Security Project's top 10 list of the biggest Internet security vulnerabilities. "The security issues raised here are not new," the report states. "In fact, some have been well understood for decades. Yet for some reason, major software development projects still are making these mistakes and jeopardizing not only their customers' security, but also the security of the entire Internet." Among the major flaws: "unvalidated parameters," when information from Web requests is not validated before being used by a Web application; broken access control, when restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are not properly enforced; and broken account and session management, when account credentials and session tokens are not protected properly. The 10 vulnerabilities pointed out by OWASP are those that require immediate remediation, the report states, but are by no means exhaustive of Internet security risks.
LARGEST EVER TURNOUT OF INTERNATIONAL CES
This year's International Consumer Electronics Show, ended Sunday, boasted its largest ever turnout, with more than 100,000 attendees checking out the 1.25 million square feet of exhibit space, the sponsoring Consumer Electronics Association reported. The show, held in Las Vegas, "was a breakthrough jump start for the new year that will send the industry on a major upswing," said Gary Shapiro, producer of the International CES and CEA president and chief executive officer. Wireless convergence was the major theme of the CES this year, which features "an explosion" of technology such as Bluetooth and 802.11 wireless connections and 3G, the CEA said. Also at the conference, the CEA says, were more than 100 government officials to discuss issues such as copyright, spectrum management and broadband policy. This year's conference was such a hit that the CEA is already marketing next year's conference -- scheduled for Las Vegas on Jan. 8-11, 2004 -- and the CEA said it already has sold more than 1 million square feet of space.
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