Cyber G-Men Plot to Bust Bots

The FBI has a new target in the war on cyber crooks: bot herders. The agency estimates perpetrators have infected some 1 million PCs with their malware. The initiative includes an outreach effort to contact victims with compromised computers; however, the campaign may have little effect on the total amount of crimes.

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TechNewsWorld | 06/14/07


The FBI is launching a new initiative in the cyber crime wars, taking on the criminal organizations -- the so-called "botherders" -- that have gathered under their control compromised or zombie PCs. The bot herders' purpose is to send out malware or spam Barracuda Spam Firewall Free Eval Unit - Click Here and phishing campaigns over the Internet that cannot be traced back to their origins.

The initiative, colorfully dubbed Operation Bot Roast, includes an outreach effort by the FBI and industry partners such as the CERT Latest News about CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team) Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University, to notify some 1 million owners of compromised computers under a bot herder's control.

Specifically, the FBI has identified 1 million victim computer IP addresses.

Like most crime-fighting initiatives, the intent behind Operation Bot Roast is good; whether its actual execution will yield practical results, though, remains unknown.

Indeed, some security analysts say the FBI's initiative is akin to pushing water uphill with a spoon.

Barely a Blip

"While I applaud law enforcement's efforts against cyber crime -- especially since it has been bogged down with other threats since 9/11 -- I am not sure how much this will have an impact," Paul Henry, vice president of technology evangelism at Secure Computing, told TechNewsWorld.

For instance, the so-called King of Spam was arrested last week and, denied bail, has been sitting in a jail cell ever since. This person -- aka 27-year-old Robert Alan Soloway -- is alleged to be the world's most prolific spammer, Henry noted. "Since his arrest, there has been barely a blip in the spam volumes generated."

Even if the FBI succeeded in cleaning up all identified 1 million computers, the agency will have tackled less than one percent of the estimated compromised PCs in the world, he said.

Another reason to be pessimistic, he continued, is the ever growing number of vulnerabilities identified in popular desktop software. One has to look no further than Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft Patch Tuesday, its monthly ritual of patching vulnerabilities that have been identified in its products.

"As soon as the FBI cleans up one computer, another is as easily infected through a new vulnerability," Henry said.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CTO of Finjan, a provider of gateway products noted the obvious -- the FBI's jurisdiction is limited to the United States, while cyber crime is inherently global.

"For this to work it would require worldwide cooperation from all the law enforcement agencies," he told TechNewsWorld. "Unfortunately, it will take some time to reach that point."

No one can assume they'll only be contacting U.S. residents or citizens, Allysa Myers, Virus Research Engineer, McAfee Latest News about McAfee Avert Labs, told TechNewsWorld.

"Determining location conclusively can be much more complicated than just looking at an IP address and saying 'Ah, they're in Arizona,'" Myers said, depending on what a person's specific setup is. The information to be gained from an infection report could be equally valuable coming from Ulan Bator or Salt Lake City.

"Where it gets difficult is when the bot master is in a country we don't have extradition agreements with. The FBI may have an air-tight case against a bot master, but if they can't get legal access to the person, it's a dead-end," she added.

Other Questions

As chief technology officer for Fenwick & West, Matt Kesner is qualified to speak for businesses that may be on the receiving end of an FBI notification.

"Most companies want to clean up their systems if they are infected," he told TechNewsWorld. It's possible machines at many businesses could be compromised, despite the safeguards most firms now take.

Fenwick & West runs about eight layers of antivirus protection, and the law firm still occasionally finds viruses and malware on its computers.

"We try to clean them up as quickly as possible, and any additional leads would be very helpful," Kesner said.

It is debatable, though, that an individual or small business would be as sensitive to these issues -- or at the very least, know what to do if they were informed their computers were compromised. Indeed, even the most law abiding citizen is going to feel a fission of fear when contacted by the FBI about his or her computer activities, Kesner noted.

This initiative is also likely to lead to online scams -- something the FBI recognizes and hopes to avoid. For instance, the agency said it will not contact anyone online and request personal information.

Other Solutions

Internet security providers are not suggesting the FBI give up its efforts in this realm. There are other actions some providers would like to see the government take as well.

Ben-Itzhak, for example, suggests the FBI also pursue companies that are hosting malicious codes.

"They are hosted somewhere on an IP server Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server. that has either been compromised or rented for this crime," he said.

Henry, for his part, is placing his hopes on the Domain Key Identified Mail (DKIM) project, a public key cryptographic e-mail Email Marketing Software - Free Demo authentication mechanism.

"That is now getting off the ground with a standard just published in the last few weeks," Henry said. This initiative, coupled with Reputation Defense services -- which identifies an e-mail that does not come from a legitimate source -- will take aim at bot herders' bottom line.

"Combining these two will dramatically increase the cost for bot herders because they will have to register their domains in order to send e-mail -- and then continually re-register them every time they are identified as spam," he concluded.

NATO Rallies to Thwart Global Cyber Bullies

NATO alliance members on Thursday agreed that the group should focus on cyberdefense strategies. The announcement surfaces several weeks after massive cyberattacks against Estonia took place. The attacks on Estonian government and corporate Web sites "had clear national security and economic implications for Estonia," said NATO spokesperson James Appathurai.

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Following the massive cyberattacks against the Baltic country of Estonia in April, NATO on Thursday asserted that cyberdefense must now be a priority among member nations.

Several defense ministers, including Estonia's, raised the issue during a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and all 26 alliance members agreed that a new focus on cyberdefense was critical to protect against similar attacks in the future.

"There was sentiment around the table that urgent work is needed to enhance the ability to protect information systems of critical importance to the Alliance against cyberattacks," NATO spokesperson James Appathurai said. "Therefore, that will be, I am sure, a subject of work here within NATO starting tomorrow or maybe Monday."

Attack on Estonia

Roughly a million computers worldwide were used to conduct the denial-of-service attacks on Estonian government and corporate Web sites, swamping them with so much traffic they were forced to shut down.

The attacks began on April 27, the day Estonia enraged Russia by removing a Soviet-era war memorial from its capital city of Tallinn. The Estonian government traced much of the attacking traffic to Russian computers, it said, but the Russian government has denied involvement.

After the attacks had gone on for about three weeks, NATO sent an official to investigate.

What Is War?

The attacks "were sustained; they were coordinated; they were focused; they were against a public information infrastructure Barracuda Spam Firewall Free Eval Unit - Click Here of Estonia," Appathurai said. "They had clear national security and economic implications for Estonia."

Indeed, the attacks on Estonia have led to new discussions about whether such cyberwarfare should be considered in the same category as traditional warfare, and, if so, what the response should be. Now that the topic has gained NATO's official attention, it will also undoubtedly spur increased conversation about what, exactly, should be done in the way of prevention.

"I'm surprised it took so long to get to this level," Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer at the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Networking and Security) Institute, told TechNewsWorld.

Extreme Vulnerability

Although the U.S. military has been working for years to secure its cyber infrastructure, "China has launched some successful attacks against U.S. military computers," Ullrich said.

Most of those attacks were aimed at gathering intelligence, he said, but "once they can penetrate a network, shutting the system Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server. down is actually easier than getting in."

The military's heavy reliance on its technology infrastructure for communications makes it extremely vulnerable, he said: "If you can shut down the cyberinfrastructure that controls the logistics, you can essentially leave the troops stranded out in the field without supplies."

Learning to Share

Nevertheless, private companies are subject to cyberattacks "all the time," Ullrich pointed out, and Internet service providers and other vendors have long been working on solutions to the problem.

One of the most important things for preventing such attacks will be the exchange of information, Ullrich stressed. "We need cooperation between government and the private sector, and between countries," he said. "If one country gets attacked, it may be able to alert others who may not have even detected an intrusion yet."

Cybersecurity expert and lawyer Parry Aftab agreed. "We really need to do so much more in the way of collaboration," she said.

"What we need to do is pull experts together into a room and determine what we need to do, what it will take, and who needs to be involved," Aftab told TechNewsWorld. "We have unbelievable talent in this area--now it's time to start deploying it."

Computer Crashes Bedevil ISS

International space station crew are struggling to solve problems that caused two computers to crash, interfering with control of the outpost's navigational system, as well as its oxygen and water supplies. Russian flight controllers believe the system issues relate to electrical power.

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After two critical computers crashed aboard the international space station (ISS) Wednesday, U.S. and Russian flight controllers have partially restored functioning, but long-term prospects remain uncertain.

The crash occurred Wednesday while crew members were working to retract a solar array as part of their scheduled mission. One of the computers is located in the Zarya service module of the space station, while the other is in the Zvezda portion; together, they control orientation of the space station, along with supply of oxygen and water to the crew, Bill Jeffs, a NASA Latest News about NASA spokesperson, told TechNewsWorld.

"This is serious," James Oberg, a retired rocket scientist who is now an author and consultant, told TechNewsWorld. "These computers run their life support, so if they can't be restored, the space station could become uninhabitable."

One-Third There

The European Space Agency provided the German-made computers, which were built and delivered in the 1990s. Each has three redundant lanes, of which only one has been restored so far on each computer, Jeffs explained.

"So far, they've only scratched the surface," Oberg said.

Russian flight controllers believe the problem relates to power and not software, but they are still testing and troubleshooting. A false fire alarm resulted early Thursday when the computers were restarted.

The Right Alignment

The ISS is operated primarily by the Russian and U.S. space agencies, with contributions from those in Canada, Europe and Japan. Unfortunately, because of limits in communications with Russian ground controllers, much of the next diagnostic work on the failed computers will have to take place Thursday night.

U.S. crews communicate with ground control via satellite, but the Russian space agency lost its satellite communications years ago, and are able to communicate with ground staff only when the space station is in a favorable spot in its orbit around the earth, Oberg said.

U.S. staffers relay some basic information for the Russian crew via satellite, but there are a full 10 hours in each day when direct communication is impossible for Russian staff, Oberg said. So, for work like restoring the compromised computers -- which will require high data-rate communications and uplinks -- the crew will have to wait until direct communications are favorable during the night, he explained.

Meanwhile, "the Russians on board have been told to take naps today," he said.

Work as Usual

The Space Shuttle Atlantis crew will continue to work on retracting the Port 6, or P6, solar array on Thursday, Jeffs said, while the station's control moment gyroscopes handle attitude control, with backup from the shuttle's propulsion system. The crew must also prepare for their next space walk, planned for Friday, on which they'll work to repair a thermal blanket that pulled away from the orbital maneuvering system pod on the rear of the shuttle.

Throughout the week, crew members have been activating the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segment that was attached to the station on Monday. The segment includes a pair of solar arrays that will be placed on the starboard side of the space station. They will complement the port-side pair of arrays that were installed last fall, and will add additional power-generation capabilities.

The crew is moving the older P6 array in order to make room for the new starboard arrays and allow them to rotate a full 360 degrees as they track the sun, Jeffs explained. Eventually, the P6 will be relocated to another part of the space station by a future shuttle crew.

A Long Haul

Meanwhile, the Atlantis is scheduled to leave the space station next Wednesday. Flight controllers will continue work on the compromised computers, but "even if everything goes smoothly, confidence will not be restored for at least a month," Oberg said.

"Statistically, this is not random," he noted. "There is some new environmental factor that must identified and isolated, and neither step is trivial.

"It will take a long time," Oberg added. "In the meantime, we'll watch closely and see what happens."

New Kodak Sensor Pulls Colors Out of the Shadows

Kodak says it's come up with technology that allows digital cameras to capture better color in low-light situations. The new sensors will be ready for sampling early next year. However, will the new technology find a voice in a market where consumers seem most drawn to megapixels?

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TechNewsWorld | 06/14/07


A new sensor design introduced Thursday by Kodak will double, and possibly quadruple, the light sensitivity of digital cameras, according to the company.

Describing the technology as "groundbreaking," Kodak said the advance in image sensor design will drastically improve the quality of digital pictures taken in low-light situations. Image sensors are used to convert light into electrical charges that are subsequently digitized.

The new design advances an existing Kodak technology -- the so-called Bayer filter array color image sensors first created three decades ago by Kodak scientist Bryce Bayer -- that has become the standard in digital imaging, the company said.

Rise of the Panchromatic Pixel

In Bayer Pattern-based image sensors, about half of a sensor's pixels are used to gather green light. The remaining pixels gather red and blue light. Digital cameras use software to convert the combined data into full-color signals for each pixel.

The new sensors -- designed by a team of Kodak inventors including John Compton and John Hamilton -- add panchromatic, or "clear," pixels to the red, green and blue ones in sensor arrays.

"Since these pixels are sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, they collect a significantly higher proportion of the light striking the sensor," explained Kodak. "By matching these pixel arrangements with advanced software algorithms from Kodak that are optimized for these new patterns, users can realize an increase in photographic speed, directly improving performance when taking pictures under low light."

Turn Down the Color Noise

The new design allows faster shutter speeds and higher resolution for sharper photos, the company said.

"In a low-light situation, these new patterns will produce a lot less color noise than a Bayer pattern sensor," noted Hamilton. "You can run the shutter faster, which gets rid of a lot of motion artifacts. It will cut down on camera shake -- or if you're taking a picture of a moving object, there will be less blur."

The first sensor to use the new design should be available "for sampling" early next year, said Kodak.

Lost in Megapixel Hysteria?

Kodak's new technology is impressive but now faces a crucial test, said digital photography expert David Etchells, founder of Imaging Resource. The question is, can the company create enough stir to push manufacturers into adopting the new sensors?

"It's definitely going to be a marketing Email Marketing Software - Free Demo challenge," Etchells told TechNewsWorld, because consumers are obsessed with megapixel numbers.

Although some other factors -- such as the light sensitivity issue addressed by Kodak -- are more difficult to reduce to a marketing buzzword, they might be more important, he pointed out.

"I think that high ISO -- light sensitivity -- is a key feature for digital cameras, and it's something particularly hard to do in consumer cameras because the sensors are so small," said Etchells. "Everybody is trying to improve the light sensitivity. It's a pretty key feature for consumers to be able to shoot in relatively dim lighting."

Some camera makers are already touting supersensitivity by using high ISO numbers but failing to mention that the image quality is terrible, he said.

"Everybody is saying their cameras already have high ISO settings, and some manufacturers are making really ludicrous claims," Etchells remarked, "but the pictures are almost totally worthless."

Kodak seems to have found a way to allow higher ISOs "without the image noise that comes with it," he said.

Though Etchells stopped short of characterizing the new technology as a breakthrough, he predicted that it "could have a significant impact -- since it looks like they ought to be able to increase the sensitivity of the sensor by at least a factor of two."

Microsoft Leads Linspire to Its Linux Stable

Linspire has joined the likes of Novell, JBoss and Xandros in signing cross-licensing and litigation protection deals with Microsoft. Microsoft has gone on a virtual spree lately, partnering with Linux vendors across the board. Only a few years ago, the software giant was fuming about Linspire, which back then was known as Lindows.

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Linspire Latest News about Linspire has become the latest Linux vendor to sign a deal with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Latest News about Microsoft, the two companies announced Wednesday. The pact promises a closer working relationship between the two software makers. For consumers, it brings greater interoperability and a technical collaboration that also includes intellectual property assurances, Microsoft said.

"Delivering interoperable solutions for our customers is an important priority," said Bill Hilf, general manager of platform strategy at Microsoft. "Through our ongoing collaborative relationships with commercial open source companies, we are demonstrating our commitment to delivering the value and increased interoperability customers want.

"Covering features from document formats to instant messaging and digital media, our announcement today with Linsipire is an important step for our mutual customers," he added.

Share and Share Alike

Microsoft and Linspire will collaborate on a variety of technical projects, the companies said, designed to enhance interoperability and expand the functionality of Linspire.

In conjunction with Microsoft, Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) Latest News about Novell and a host of other companies, Linspire will work to develop and distribute open source licensed translators so that OpenOffice and Microsoft Office users can better share documents. Linspire will also license Microsoft's RT Audio Codec, a move intended to allow voice-enabled interoperability between the Linux vendor's Pidgin instant messaging client and both Microsoft Office Communicator and Windows Live Messenger.

Linspire will now support Microsoft's latest iteration of its Windows Media 10 audio and video codec so that Linspire and Windows users can better share digital media files. Finally, Linspire users will now have their choice of Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman or Verdana fonts for their documents. The deal also includes licensing for Microsoft's TrueType fonts.

In addition to the technological additions, Microsoft's Live Search service will be the default Web search engine in Linspire 5.0. Most importantly, an intellectual property assurance agreement between the two companies will protect Linspire from any legal actions on Microsoft's part relating to possible patent infringements.

One caveat is that only users who purchase Linspire will have access to these technologies. Users of Freespire, the no-charge version, will not support the technologies or receive patent protection.

"This is another set of options to add to the Linux desktop," Laura Didio, a Yankee Group Fellow, told LinuxInsider. "Linux has made incredible inroads in the server Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server. area and the embedded device area. But they have not really had the same level of success to date in the desktop arena and its all about the applications."

Sleeping With the Enemy?

The tie-up between the two companies is one of the more surprising developments in Microsoft's recent spate of agreements with distributors in the open source community. The two companies have faced off in court in a trademark infringement case filed by Microsoft in 2001 over Linspire's original name, Lindows, and its first Linux operating system, the user interface (UI) of which was said to be a take-off of the Windows' UI.

In 2004, a US$20 million payment from Microsoft brought the dispute to a satisfactory end for both companies. Lindows, a little richer, changed its name to Linspire, and Microsoft had successfully protected the "Windows" name.

Kevin Carmony, the Linspire's president, said the partnership with Microsoft would "bring even more choices to desktop Linux users, and together, offer a 'better' Linux experience.

"Just as Steve Jobs announced in 1997 that 'the era of setting this up as a competition between Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple and Microsoft is over,' I too believe it's time for Linux to do the same. Rather than isolating Linux, I believe we need to understand, as Apple did in 1997, that Linux exists in an ecosystem and must work with and interoperate within that ecosystem.

"As unpopular as it may appear to some, Linspire is willing to take a lead in this effort. Some people booed Steve Jobs back in 1997, but if you trace the history of his announcement, I think it was an incredibly smart move for both Microsoft and Apple, issuing a new era for both," he continued.

A Growing Cohort

The Linspire hookup is just the latest Linux vendor to join Microsoft's fold. The software giant kicked off its wave of Linux deals with Novell in November. Despite an outcry from some members of the Linux community, Microsoft went on to form collaborative partnerships with JBoss, Xandros and XenSource.

Each tie-up included cross-licensing deals with the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker, as well as patent licensing. Microsoft has also recently signed agreements with LG, Samsung, Zend Technologies and Fuji Xerox.

"All these deals are cross-licensing deals; Microsoft has to pay them for the use of their technology too," Didio said. "The trend is toward signing these agreements no matter who you are. [Patent] disputes are time consuming, they drain the cash coffers and they take the focus away from the business.

"The users benefit and the vendors benefit too because they are not fighting over patents in court," Didio concluded.

eBay Yanks Ad Millions After Google's Party Foul

eBay is no longer Google's top AdWords customer. A brouhaha over party planning that calls up images of kids blowing raspberries at each other led the auction giant to tear up its $25 million a quarter AdWords contract with the search titan. Apparently, eBay was offended when Google scheduled a Checkout event that overlapped eBay's PayPal party -- and then invited all of eBay's friends to come.

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Auction giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) Latest News about eBay has stopped buying Google AdWords in apparent retaliation for a now-canceled event meant to build support among eBay sellers for Google Checkout -- a sign of the increasing tensions between the Internet competitors.

The spat reportedly began when Google last week announced it would hold an event that coincided with the beginning of eBay Live, the annual gathering of eBay sellers and devotees taking place in Boston this year.

The Google gathering was aimed at encouraging eBay sellers to demand the auction site allow the use of Checkout, Google's online payment service. eBay strongly urges its sellers to use its PayPal service as the preferred option for closing auction and fixed-price sales Email Marketing Software - Free Demo and has not opened the site to Checkout.

Shifting Ad Spending

eBay confirmed that it had shifted ad spending away from Google AdWords, the search giant's paid keyword program, but billed the move as part of an "ongoing experiment" to test various advertising options and occasionally change its mix of media buys.

The timing suggests eBay was upset about Google's event, called the "Google Checkout Freedom Party."

eBay reportedly pulled its ad purchases by Wednesday morning. Later that day, Google canceled the planned event in Boston through a blog post from Google Checkout Team member Tom Oliveri.

"eBay Live attendees have plenty of activities to keep them busy this week in Boston, and we did not want to detract from that activity," Oliveri wrote. "After speaking with officials at eBay, we at Google agreed that it was better for us not to feature this event during the eBay Live conference. Google is constantly reaching out to new users and sellers, and we are available to privately discuss any matters of concern with individuals as they relate to Google products."

The eBay-Google partnership -- Google also delivers ads to overseas eBay sites -- has long been rife with tension, with each company eying many of the same online opportunities.

For instance, Google Base competes with Craigslist, the funky classified site that eBay has invested in, and Google Checkout was initially viewed as a PayPal-killer.

eBay has partnered extensively with Google rival Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) Latest News about Yahoo, striking a multiyear deal last spring that called for the two to work more closely together in other areas as well, with the Yahoo Wallet service using PayPal and with cooperation around new technology to take advantage of eBay's Skype Latest News about Skype Internet calling service.

Freedom Rings Hollow

Google had hoped to use the concentrated gathering of eBay devotees to build support for Checkout, apparently seeking to create grassroots support for opening up the auction site to the payment alternative, which lets shoppers store credit card information and use a simple log-in and password to make payments to merchants across the Web. Google invited eBay sellers to board a trolley and travel to an important site in pre-Revolutionary history, the Old South Meeting House, for the shindig.

"We'll use the same spot where revolutionaries launched the Boston Tea Party to celebrate freedom with free food, free drinks, free live music -- even free massages," Google wrote in an invitation posted to the Google Checkout blog.

eBay Live attracts scores of vendors who sell services and products to eBay users -- such as automated auction programs and items to support their businesses. However, the event is mainly a chance for eBay to foster a stronger sense of community among its users. The company treats attendees to entertainment, motivational speeches and a keynote from CEO Meg Whitman.

Partners in Time

eBay is the largest single AdWords customer in the U.S., according to both comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings; comScore estimates that eBay spent nearly twice as much as the No. 2 AdWords customer, Target.

eBay spends around US$25 million a quarter on AdWords, RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan writes in a research note -- a fraction of the $3.7 billion in revenue Google raked in last quarter -- the vast majority of it from paid search listings.

Still, the tiff is heavy with symbolism, especially since Google has claimed that its Checkout service was not meant to compete directly with PayPal, which specializes in small payments and those between individuals, rather than those between consumers and merchants, said search expert John Battelle.

Meanwhile, eBay may get as many as 12 percent of its visitors through Google searches each month, Battelle told the E-Commerce Times, suggesting a codependence that eBay may have been trying to break with the Yahoo deal.

In some ways, all of the major Internet companies have been converging on the same, increasingly crowded turf, Forrester Research analyst Carrie Johnson told the E-Commerce Times.

Where once there were "bright lines" dividing major Web companies, she noted, eBay moved into Amazon's (Nasdaq: AMZN) Latest News about Amazon.com fixed-price retail world, while Google built itself up into more of a portal to compete with Yahoo and AOL and added the payment function, which put it on a collision course with eBay.

The potential for clashes has grown as each company has moved into new areas through acquisitions, as well. "A lot of the partnerships now in place date from a time when there was much less overlap and direct competition," Johnson said.

The Shrouded Sharing Shenanigans of P2P Programs

P2P file-sharing is enormously detrimental to the entertainment industry. "Music piracy is illegal and extremely detrimental to all of those who make a living creating original musical works," artist and songwriter Eddie Money told TechNewsWorld. "If you truly like music, don't steal it. Support the industry by downloading your music legally."

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People who use popular file-sharing software at home, in school and in the workplace to download music and videos are likely to expose their own personal and corporate data stored on their computers' hard drives.

The ability of P2P (peer-to-peer) software to hunt for and grab personal and corporate information is now raising concerns by government and military agencies worried that these file-sharing programs could pose threats to national security Barracuda Spam Firewall Free Eval Unit - Click Here.

People who store any type of sensitive data on their home computers, particularly computers to which children, teenagers or college students might have access, confront circumstances similar to those faced by governmental or corporate IT managers, warns a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) report.

"P2P depends on the availability of files on the network. P2P intentionally dupes users into providing these files," Safwat Fahmy, CEO and president of SafeMedia, told TechNewsWorld.

Fahmy presented testimony to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology on Dec. 5. That hearing focused on using technology to reduce digital copyright violations. His testimony, in part, addressed the issues raised in the USPTO report.

SafeMedia has developed Clouseau software and the P2P Disaggregator technology it uses to prevent computers from uploading personal and sensitive documents while blocking illegal downloads of copyrighted music and videos.

At a Glance

The USPTO report was prepared by Thomas D. Sydnor II, John Knight and Lee A. Hollaar in November. It contains introductory comments by Jon W. Dudas, undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO, about the need to further review the report's findings. The report reviews public data about the behavior of five popular file-sharing programs -- BearShare, eDonkey, KaZaA, LimeWire and Morpheus.

It poses two questions about privacy and file-sharing issues. First, the report asks whether distributors of these file-sharing programs used features that had a known or obvious propensity to trick users into uploading infringing files inadvertently. Second, it asks if further investigations are needed into the intentions of any particular distributor over the use of such duping schemes to induce users to illegally share copyrighted material.

The report concludes that the distributors of these five file-sharing programs have repeatedly deployed features that had a known propensity to trick users into uploading infringing files inadvertently.

Targeted Features

All five programs studied in the USPTO report use either the same share folder or search wizard features. The report described these features as being uniquely dangerous. The targeted features can cause users to inadvertently share infringing files and sensitive personal files like tax returns, financial records and documents that contain private or classified data. By late spring of 2005, the Department of Homeland Security Latest News about Department of Homeland Security reported that government employees using file-sharing programs had repeatedly compromised national and military security by sharing files containing sensitive or classified data, according to the report.

All five P2P programs studied employ a feature that lets users store downloaded files in a folder other than the specified default folder the programs create. However, the programs fail to warn users that all files stored in the selected folder will be shared. In most cases, the sharing caused by this feature includes not only the files stored in the designated folder but also all files stored in any of its subfolders, said the report.

At least three of the programs use a feature that searches users' hard drives and recommends that users share folders that contain certain file types. These file types trigger uploads of document files, audio files, audiovisual files and image files, noted the report. Further, some search-wizard features activate automatically, while others require the user to trigger them.

Another problem revealed by the report is that some of the features are activated during a program's installation and setup process. However, others are an option that a user can activate after the program is installed and running.

Other Problem Areas

The report cited concerns about the partial-uninstall features found in at least four of the P2P programs analyzed. If users uninstall one of these programs from their computers, the process will leave behind a file that will cause any subsequent installation of any version of the same program to share all folders shared by the "uninstalled" copy of the program.

Privacy violations are not limited to the user profile, warned the report. Whenever a computer is used by more than one person, this partial-uninstall feature ensures that users cannot know which files and folders these programs will share by default.

The coerced-sharing features of P2P programs further worried the report writers. Four of the P2P programs have features that make it far more difficult for users to disable the sharing feature of the folder used to store downloaded files. This folder may be the default download folder created by the file-sharing program or an existing folder selected to store downloaded files through a share-folder feature, according to the report.

In each case, the feature can provide misleading feedback that incorrectly indicates that the user has disabled sharing of the download folder. However, in each case, an obscure mechanism appears to allow sophisticated users to avoid the coerced-sharing feature and stop sharing the download folder. The report was critical of the level of technical skill users need to fully turn off the shared download folder feature.

Report Conclusions

All five of these programs can cause users to share infringing files inadvertently, warned the report. Redistribution and coerced-sharing features can cause users to share downloaded files inadvertently.

"Even when parents know that their children are using popular sites like LimeWire, eMule, uTorrent and dozens of others, most of them are not techies enough to understand these illegal P2P networks' features," explained Fahmy. "The problem is, on the surface they appear to be so easy to use. Parents believe that they are safe.

"The damage being caused by P2P networks goes unnoticed because it's free, and most often it is an illegal transfer of copyright-protected files," explained Fahmy. In addition, research by the security company TruSecure found that 45 percent of popular downloaded files concealed malicious code, he said.

Devastating Industry

P2P file-sharing is enormously detrimental to the entertainment industry. Last year more than US$2 billion worth of illegal music downloads and movies were pirated at more than $20 billion loss to the industry, according to Bob Werden, publicist for Independent Films in Hollywood.

"In Los Angeles, one can go not more than five miles from any of the major studios and find DVDs of films not even in release being sold for as little as $10. Major efforts are underway to stop that part of the piracy. But someone who has purchased 'SpiderMan 3' or 'Ocean's 13' or 'Pirates of the Caribbean' can now send it to their friends for downloading. The music industry is in equal jeopardy," Werden told TechNewsWorld.

That kind of piracy has devastated both the music and film industries, offered David Bortman, a Beverly Hills entertainment attorney. Billions of dollars have been lost, he said, and many people have lost their jobs because of such piracy. It is an extremely difficult problem because many people believe they are doing nothing wrong by downloading a record or a movie. They feel nothing has been taken from anyone, he said.

"People who do these things feel no guilt whatsoever, even though they are destroying careers. It would seem clear, based on experience over the last few years, that this is not going to change. For this reason, the only thing that is going to protect the artists and their partners and coworkers is the development of technology that prevents the unlawful downloading," Bortman said.

No Innocent Bystanders

P2P downloaders are not innocent bystanders, asserted Werden. Security efforts in the entertainment industry are getting tighter and stronger, but films are still being stolen and moved onto the Internet, he said.

"I do believe that those people who download DVD and CD films and music that are not legal know that. There are very few tech-unaware Internet users out there. Perhaps some 80-year-old guy and his wife might not realize that the film they send to their grandchild at college is illegal, but the majority have read and heard about Internet piracy of films and music," Werden told TechNewsWorld.

Artist and songwriter Eddie Money could not agree more.

"Music piracy is illegal and extremely detrimental to all of those who make a living creating original musical works," Money told TechNewsWorld. "If you truly like music, don't steal it. Support the industry by downloading your music legally."

Blair Aims to Prick Sony's Conscience in Cathedral Game Dispute

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is sympathizing with the Church of England's demands that Sony withdraw a PlayStation 3 game depicting a gory battle scene allegedly in Manchester Cathedral. The church has appealed to the people of Japan to pressure Sony headquarters on the matter.

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AP | 06/14/07


The Church of England on Wednesday urged the people of Japan to join its campaign against a violent Sony (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony computer game Latest News about computer games that allegedly uses a British cathedral as a backdrop.

"For a global manufacturer to recreate the interior of any religious building such as a mosque, synagogue, or in this case, a cathedral, with photo realistic quality and then encourage people to have gun battles in the building is beyond belief and in our view highly irresponsible," the dean of Manchester Cathedral, the Very Rev. Rogers Govender, said at a news conference.

In Tokyo, Sony's video game unit said Wednesday it had begun talks with the Church of England over its complaint that Manchester cathedral in northwest England had been used in the shooting game for Sony's new PlayStation 3 Latest News about PlayStation 3 console.

Govender denied that. The Church of England had sent a letter to Sony on Monday outlining its concerns and making several demands, but had yet to receive a formal response, he said.

"We believe a silent response on the issue is not acceptable behavior," Govender said.

"Today I want to appeal directly to the people of Japan to help us put pressure on Sony to respond. So I speak directly to those citizens who share our concerns."

Blair Picks Sides

The church's anti-Sony campaign appeared to win the sympathy of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

During Blair's weekly question-and-answer session in the House of Commons, he urged companies such as Sony to focus on their social obligations and not just profits.

"It is important that any of the companies who are engaged in promoting this type of goods have some sense of responsibility and also some sensitivity to the feelings of others," Blair said in response to a question from a Manchester-area legislator.

"It's important that people understand there is a wider social responsibility as well as simply responsibility for profit."

The debate began Saturday when the church said Sony had not asked for permission to use Manchester cathedral in the game and demanded an apology.

Church Considers Legal Action

The Church of England said it heard last week that a review of the computer game mentioned a church in Manchester and that when it examined the game it recognized images from the cathedral's flooring, stonework and nave.

The new PlayStation 3 game, "Resistance: Fall of Man," involves a virtual shootout between rival gunmen with hundreds of people killed inside the cathedral. Church officials have described Sony's alleged use of the building as "sick" and sacrilegious.

The church has said it will consider legal action if the game is not withdrawn.

In Tokyo on Wednesday, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesperson Nanako Kato said the company had heard about the church's complaint through the media earlier, but began direct talks with the church "yesterday or today."

"We take the church's views seriously," she said. She declined to give details of the talks. More time may be needed for an agreement because the problem was complex, she said.

Historic buildings are often used in entertainment, she said, citing iconic movie scenes involving Godzilla and the Tokyo Tower and King Kong in Manhattan.

Kato acknowledged the church in the game bore a resemblance in some parts to Manchester cathedral. She said the point was to depict the backdrop of an old church, not to illustrate a specific church.

In parts of the game, the central character walks through a cathedral armed with a gun and shoots at alien enemies, which often splatter blood when hit.

Although the cathedral appears only in some scenes, it would be difficult to delete them from the game, which went on sale with the launch of the PlayStation 3 next-generation console.

Two Million Copies Sold

The machine went on sale in Japan and the U.S. late last year, and in Europe in March.

Kato said Sony understood the Church of England was offended especially because of its efforts to reduce gun violence in Manchester. "Resistance: Fall of Man" -- a Sony original -- has sold more than 2 million units around the world, Kato said.

The church was demanding the immediate withdrawal of the game, a Sony apology for using the interior of the cathedral without permission and a substantial donation to the church's education department, Govender said.

Kato declined to say whether Sony would make such donations.

Genome 'Junk' Sends Scientists Back to the Drawing Board

Scientists studying the genome say causes of diseases and other human blueprints may be contained in DNA strands previously dismissed as "junk." Prior to this find, researchers focused on studying a fraction of cell molecules. The discovery may now alter the way science views gene regulation, or in other words, pages in the "book of life."

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The Herald | 06/14/07


The human genetic code is far more complex and dynamic than scientists had previously imagined, a study by experts from around the world has found.

It was previously assumed only certain stretches of DNA, the genes, had any important function. However, the study shows most of the genome, including parts dismissed as "junk," appears to be actively involved in relaying instructions to cells within the body.

Tapestry of Connections

Instead of a desert containing occasional oases, scientists now see the genome as an intricate tapestry of interwoven connections.

Tim Hubbard, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England, who took part in the research, said: "The majority of the genome is copied, or transcribed, into RNA, the active molecule in our cells. This is a remarkable finding, since most prior research suggested only a fraction of the genome was transcribed."

Scientists had already learned areas of DNA outside the genes were involved in gene regulation, but the new work identifies previously unknown control regions.

"The integrated approach has helped us to identify new regions of gene regulation and altered our view of how it occurs," said Hubbard.

Five-year study

The ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project involved scientists from 80 centers and took five years.

Manolis Dermitzakis, another member of the Sanger team, said: "A major surprise was that many of the novel control regions are not shared with other species. We appear to have a reservoir of active elements that seem to provide no specific or direct benefit.

"Our suggestion is these elements can provide a source for new variation between species and within the human genome. This is our genomic seedcorn for the future."