The Newspaper Shop -- wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Microsoft accuses Brit companies of piracy
Two British companies are facing the wrath of Microsoft's ongoing anti-piracy campaign for allegedly selling counterfeit Microsoft products. Microsoft has commenced legal proceedings against the directors of two Basingstoke-based companies -- Pacific Computers and Taran Microsystems -- for allegedly infringing its copyright and the Microsoft trademark. The claims forms were filed on Aug. 2. Two directors of Pacific Computers, Marc Roach and Richard Donaldson, as well as two former directors and shareholders, Andrew Miles and Simon Miles, stand charged with allegedly selling counterfeit products, including Microsoft Windows 98 OEM packs. Microsoft is investigating the full details of the company's dealings, but claims that the sales took place between July 2000 and February 2001.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

HP to sell secure version of Linux
Hewlett-Packard will sell a secure version of Linux, a product that marks a departure for computer makers that traditionally have favored partnerships with companies such as Red Hat that sell Linux. HP Secure OS Software for Linux, which will be announced Wednesday, will cost about $3,000, said Roberto Medrano, general manager of HP's Internet Security division. It includes a version 2.4 of Linux with open-source HP enhancements, higher-level software such as Apache Web server, and utilities that tightly control communications between programs and detect attacks. The move is a departure for companies such as HP that sell servers, the powerful networked computers on which the Linux operating system is most popular.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

New Napster online by end of 2001
In his first public appearance as the chief executive of Napster, Konrad Hilbers promised Tuesday that the embattled file-swapping service would start offering subscriptions later this year. Hilbers told a summit of high-tech leaders that Napster would be back online as soon as it fully complies with a court ruling to remove all copyrighted material from its site and can effectively police itself to make sure no such material is being traded. He said Napster could still be a place where people swap music free of charge, so long as it isn't copyrighted.
"I'm very much a believer in what Napster stands for, which is the sharing of music among friends and private consumers when it comes to making available things like my children's Christmas carol singing or a garage band," Hilbers said.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Russian programmer thanks supporters
A 26-year-old Russian software programmer at the center of an international controversy over a new U.S. digital copyright law declared Tuesday he's "no superman" and thanked supporters around the world for protesting his arrest. Dmitry Sklyarov is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal district court in San Jose, Calif., on charges of selling software designed to circumvent the new U.S. copyright protections that went into effect last year. Sklyarov, who has emerged as a somewhat reluctant hero in the battle being waged over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), issued a statement Tuesday expressing thanks for the worldwide expressions of support that took place following his arrest at a Las Vegas hacker convention July 16.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Malaysia to pursue illegal CD makers
The Malaysian government wants to get to the source of the illegal video CDs cropping up in the country and plans to go after the VCD copying machines that have made their way across the border unlawfully. Muhyiddin Yassin, the minister of domestic trade and consumer affairs, told reporters Tuesday that the authorities stopped issuing import permits for these machines in March. "We know where the legal machines are located...What we don't know is where the illegal machines are and what they are being used for," he said after attending a consumer forum here. "If we can identify these illegal machines, then we can stop pirated and porn VCDs hitting the market."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Game industry shoots down brain claims
The video game industry has hit back at claims that computer games can damage children's brains and insists that the activity can be beneficial. The European Leisure Software Publishers Association said Wednesday that research carried out at Japan's Tohoku University was only of "very limited focus." The software association asserts it is not true that playing video games can make children anti-social and is instead flagging recent British research that suggests that playing computer games can be as beneficial as taking part in physical sporting activity. "For too long now, our industry has been the target of ill-informed criticism and scare-mongering," Roger Bennett, director general of the association, said in a statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

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