Study: Brits take lead
in illegal TV downloads
When it comes to TV, the
British want to watch the best shows, and they want them now. Eager fans
aren’t willing to wait to see popular programs on television months
after they’ve aired in the U.S., earning Britain the title of the
world's biggest market for downloading pirated TV. According to a study by
Envisional, a British technology firm, about one-fifth of TV downloads
through file-sharing networks such as BitTorrent and eDonkey are made in
Britain, followed by Australia and the U.S. UK broadcaster BSkyB is hoping
shows such as “Desperate Housewives" that are big hits stateside
will cause Brits to subscribe to its new satellite TV service rather than
send viewers to the web. But that doesn't look likely. Episodes of Fox's
"24" show up on the BitTorrent network within minutes after they
air in the U.S., and a typical episode is downloaded by about 100,000
users.
Cookie crumble? House considers spyware
Whether cookies should be
considered spyware will be decided when the House of Representatives
Committee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection votes on the Spy Act.
A recent amendment to the bill excludes third-party software cookies as
spyware, and it also exempts embedded ads on web pages from the bill's
requirements that pop-up ads include identifying information so users can
find and remove the software causing them. The bill’s purpose is to
prevent people from tracking users' keystrokes without authorization. It
requires that spyware programs be easily identifiable and removable.
Similar anti-spyware legislation passed in the House last year, but the
Senate never got around to voting on it. The new bill authorizes the
Federal Trade Commission to fine violators up to $3 million per breach.
The bill passed a lesser committee vote on Wednesday.
New MyDoom variant moves merrily around web
Doom’s day has arrived once more. After more than
half a year of tormenting PC users, the worm MyDoom is still rearing its
infectious little head. Wednesday the latest variant of the worm began
attacking Windows PCs, collecting email addresses from Google, Yahoo,
AltaVista and Lycos, and installing backdoors that let attackers take over
a user’s system. MyDoom.o hit the scene July 2004; variants MyDoom.as,
MyDoom.au, and MyDoom.bb followed. U.K.-based security vendor Sophos says
MyDoom ranks ninth in the most common viruses and makes up only 2 percent
of all viruses and worms, far below old versions of Netsky or Zafi. But
eTrust security group is raising the threat level of MyDoom.au to high
because it's spreading so fast.
iPods
reign supreme over other music players
MP3 players are surging in popularity, but the iPod
remains the Apple of young adults’ eyes. Nineteen percent of adults
under 30 have iPods, according to a new study from the Pew Internet and
American Life Project. The study also found that 11 percent of adults in
the United States, or more than 22 million, have MP3 players. Men are more
likely to have MP3 players than women. Some 14 percent of men have the
players, compared with 9 percent of women. Internet users are four times
as likely as non-users to own an MP3 player, with people with higher
household incomes being more likely to have one. Almost a fourth, 24
percent, of those who live in households earning more than $75,000 have
them. Ten percent of those living in households earning $30,000 to $75,000
have them, and 6 percent of those living in households earning less than
$30,000 have them. The study was based on a random telephone-based survey
of 2,201 adults. The devices are anecdotally extremely popular among
teenagers, but Pew does not poll those under 18.
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