MyDoom
paralyzes SCO site, as promised
Internet worm MyDoom continues to live up to its name.
On Sunday the worm shut down the web site of American software firm SCO
Group by inundating it with data requests. The Utah-based company said in
a statement yesterday morning that it wasn’t just rumors; MyDoom had
paralyzed the site. Jeff Carlon, worldwide director of information
technology infrastructure for the SCO Group, said in the statement that it
expects the attack to persist for the next couple of weeks, but SCO does
have a number of contingency plans that it will set into motion starting
today. The intended SCO attack stemmed from the so-called open-source
programming community who feel SCO should relinquish its claims of
copyright control over certain parts of the Linux operating system. SCO
was targeted by MyDoom.A, and Microsoft Corp. is scheduled to be attacked
by MyDoom.B, a less dangerous version of the worm, on Tuesday.
Microsoft:
Actually, we won't change Explorer
Microsoft Corp. has changed its mind. Late last week the
software maker said it would not be making any changes to its Internet
Explorer web browser after all. Last year, when an Illinois jury delivered
a $521 million verdict against Microsoft for infringing on technology from
Eolas Technologies Inc. and the University of California, Microsoft
claimed it would change Explorer and other programs. However, in November
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it would further investigate
Eolas’ patent in response to internet advocacy groups’ claims that
already-created inventions may render Eolas’ patent arguments useless.
Microsoft said in a statement that under these circumstances, it would not
be releasing an updated version of Internet Explorer. Eolas’ lawyer said
they remain confident that its patent would remain intact.
Google
doesn't find Booble quite so funny
Google’s catchy name has caught on in the porn industry.
Google Inc. has taken action against an adult search engine using the name
Booble for trademark infringement. Booble.com functions as a web site that
searches a database of pornographic content. The site was supposed to
parody dominant web search provider Google and carries a disclaimer on its
main page stating it is not affiliated with any other search engines.
Google does not think this is enough to distinguish the similar domain
name and said so in an email posted on the Booble site. Attorneys for the
Booble.com operators responded that parody is a defense to trademark
infringement in trademark law and claiming the web site is a successful
parody. The attorneys are hoping Google will reconsider its complaints
with the site and accept Booble for what it was meant to be – a parody.
Lecter-like
online killer gets reduced sentence
A German cannibal who placed an ad on the internet seeking
a man who would let him eat him has gotten off on a reduced charge. On
Friday Armin Meiwes, 42, was convicted of manslaughter but not murder for
killing and eating a man. Meiwes was sentenced to only eight and a half
years in jail because the court recognized the killing as an act of sexual
fetishism. Judge Volker Muetze said the act, which was recorded on
videotape, was between two disturbed individuals who both hoped to gain
something from it. This case could go all the way to Germany’s Supreme
Court because it has no legal precedent. The internet played a pivotal
role in the case. Meiwes had been seeking men he could slaughter online,
and in the process found victim Bernd-Juergen B. when he responded to his
ad seeking someone to bite off his penis and kill him. Meiwes could be
released on parole in less than five years.
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