July 31, 2002 Man Accused of Raping Nine Women He Met Through Internet A man accused of preying on girls and women he met through the Internet raped at least nine of them over the last four years, authorities say. James Comfort, who was indicted in June on charges of raping five girls ages 11 to 17, was charged by a second grand jury in July with raping four other girls 14 to 19, prosecutor Douglas Randall revealed. Comfort, 27, arranged to meet the girls through an online chat room and attacked them at his apartment in a Rochester suburb, investigators said. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAI4XGLB4D.html - - - - - - - - Internet-scam sweep targets 19 online fraudsters Federal and state law enforcement authorities said Tuesday they had taken action against 19 Internet-based scams that they say bilked consumers out of millions of dollars. Work-at home schemes, auction fraud, unwanted junk e-mail, securities fraud and other schemes were targeted by a nationwide effort that involved state attorneys general, local law enforcement authorities, and a number of federal agencies. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002-07-31-net-scam_x.htm http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18820.html http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54234,00.html - - - - - - - - RIAA Site Hit With Denial-of-Service Attack Attack began just one day after controversial legislation was proposed to crack down on peer-to-peer piracy. The Recording Association of America's Web site was knocked offline over the weekend in what appeared to be a denial- of-service attack, an RIAA representative says Tuesday. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103451,00.asp http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3764979.htm - - - - - - - - Cybersecurity czar encourages hacking A presidential adviser encouraged the nation's top computer security professionals and hackers Wednesday to try to break computer programs, but said they might need protection from the legal wrath of software makers. Richard Clarke, President Bush's computer security adviser, told hackers at the Black Hat conference that most security holes in software are not found by the software maker. "Some of us, here in this room, have an obligation to find the vulnerabilities," Clarke said. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2002-07-31-security-hacking_x.htm http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-947409.html http://news.com.com/2100-1001-947409.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/788216.asp http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/19486-1.html - - - - - - - - EU solicits anti-cybersquatter advice The European Union is looking for suggestions about how to deal with cybersquatting as it prepares to launch the .eu domain, Matthew Clark writes. The European Commission's Internal Market Directorate-General is looking for help from businesses or individuals that have faced cybersquatting in the past. In this vein, the Commission has launched an on-line questionnaire for interested contributors wishing to provide information. The deadline for submission is 31 October 2002. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/23/26459.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2120092,00.html - - - - - - - - HP invokes DMCA to quash Tru64 bug report Hewlett Packard has threatened to use computer crime laws and the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act to muzzle a group of security researchers who unearthed a flaw in its Tru64 operating system. The threat comes in a letter to SnoSoft from HP Veep Kent Ferson warning that the security researchers "could be fined up to $500,000 and imprisoned for up to five years" for its role in publishing code that demonstrated the vulnerability, CNET's Declan McCullagh reports. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/26468.html http://www.vnunet.com/News/1134030 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-947325.html - - - - - - - - U.K. surveillance laws may be illegal The United Kingdom's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which gives U.K. law enforcement agencies access to consumers' mobile phone and Internet data, may be illegal, according to U.K. information commissioner Elizabeth France. The act, passed two years ago, may violate human rights laws because of a loophole under which law enforcement agencies may access data that has been retained specifically for use in cases involving national security. The information commissioner warned the U.K. government's Home Office of this conflict in a legal opinion issued this week. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1103-947414.html http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2120139,00.html - - - - - - - - Pentagon to impose limits on wireless devices The wireless soldier may be getting some new strings attached. The Defense Department, concerned that hackers or spies might eavesdrop on classified meetings or secretly track the locations of top U.S. officials, is imposing new limits on its workers use of the latest generation of wireless devices inside military buildings. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2002-07-31-pentagon-wireless_x.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3769089.htm http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0702/073002tdpm.htm Feds look to secure wireless nets http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0729/web-wire-07-31-02.asp - - - - - - - - Wi-Fi users warned of pirates AT&T Broadband is warning customers to secure their Wi-Fi networks after an unusual case in which a subscriber played an unwitting role in dispatching a pirated movie over the Internet, the company's spokeswoman said. The movie pirate lived next door to the subscriber, but was able to access his neighbor's Wi-Fi wireless network and use it to send the movie out over his neighbor's AT&T Broadband's high-speed Internet service, according to AT&T Broadband spokeswoman Sara Eder. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-947496.html - - - - - - - - Copyright, Security, and the Hollywood Hacking Bill Proposed copyright enforcement legislation may circumvent fundamental constitutional protections and create chaos on the Internet. Copyright enforcement, the attempt by the entertainment industry to prop up their obsolete business models, is increasingly a danger to the legitimate use of information technology and, by extension, the future of the Internet community. http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/99 - - - - - - - - Geeks. Law. Everything in between Sites We Like Oftentimes, lawyers ask us for references to cases/ opinions when we cover legal stories. This not our bag, but it fits snugly into Greplaw, a new Berkman Internet and Society production. Greplaw's tagline is "Geeks. Law. Everything in between." The site is discussion-based, runs on Slashcode and links to law stories affecting the Net. There is a strong 'geektivist' bias, which means we like it (not the word, which is horrid). http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/26474.html *********************************************************** Search the NewsBits.net Archive at: http://www.newsbits.net/search.html *********************************************************** The source material may be copyrighted and all rights are retained by the original author/publisher. The information is provided to you for non-profit research and educational purposes. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and NewsBits (www.newsbits.net) should be cited as the source of the information. Copyright 2000-2002, NewsBits.net, Campbell, CA.