Police in the U.K. charged a man with sending hoax e- mails to relatives of people missing since the Asian tsunami, saying their loved ones were among the 40 Britons confirmed dead. The man, 40, from Lincolnshire in northeastern England, claimed to be from the “Foreign Office Bureau” in Thailand and targeted people who had sought information about relatives and friends on the Web site for U.K. TV station Sky News. Police said the man was charged with malicious communication and causing a public nuisance.
Calling 2004 “the year of the spam,” e-mail security firm MX Logic said an average 97% of unsolicited commercial e-mail last year failed to comply with the federal CAN-SPAM law that took effect Jan. 1, 2004. “The overall volume of spam increased in 2004 and we fully anticipate continued growth in 2005,” said MX Logic CTO Scott Chasin, saying the company estimated spam to constitute 77% of all e-mail sent, another increase from last year.
Rep. Matsui (D-Cal.), who died of pneumonia Jan. 1, was a leading proponent of tax credits as a means to increase broadband deployment. Matsui was a major co- sponsor of HR-768, a broadband tax credit bill introduced by Rep. English (R-Pa.). The bill would have given a 10% tax credit to those providing current broadband technology to rural and underserved areas and a 20% tax credit to providers that offer next-generation services. The bill had 150 co- sponsors, but never received a hearing from the House Ways & Means Committee, of which both English and Matsui were members. The measure was endorsed by TIA, EIA and the Information Technology Industry Council. It’s unclear if English or others will push for the same tax credit this term.
Several leading P2P sites are fighting back against MPAA lawsuits. True to the file sharing subculture, the management of LokiTorrent.com and Supernova.com are taking on the establishment, banking on strong user loyalty to buoy them as they take on -- or seek to avoid -- crack legal teams financed by the major Hollywood studios.
Charter is offering dial-up and wireless Internet access for high-speed Internet customers while they travel, the company announced. Charter’s partnership with Remote Pipes, which has an IP wireless fidelity service, will let residential and commercial customers use the new service. The service will be free at first, but customers ultimately will pay for an hourly or daily plan.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold its confirmation hearing for Carlos Gutierrez’s nomination to become Commerce Secy. 4 p.m. Wed. in Rm. 253 Russell Bldg. Gutierrez, former CEO of Kellogg’s, has few ties to telecom or technology. After the hearing, Senate Commerce Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) plans a committee business meeting to move Gutierrez’ nomination to the Senate floor.
Luxembourg, the new European Union (EU) President, will focus on several telecom and Internet-related issues in an effort to breathe new life into Europe’s goal of becoming the world’s most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010 (known as the Lisbon strategy). On its newly launched Web site, www.eu2005.lu, Luxembourg, which assumed the Presidency Jan. 1, said priorities for its 6- month term include: (1) Using the March mid-term review of the Lisbon agenda to put in place a specific communication strategy by target groups. In Nov., a report commissioned by the then Dutch Presidency criticized the EU’s “disappointing delivery” of the strategy, and urged the EU to take urgent action in 5 policy areas, including the knowledge society (WID Nov 4 p3). The new Presidency said it will stress the need to give consumers better online services from the public and private sectors. (2) Launching talks on the future eEurope 2010 action plan. (3) Highlighting high definition TV to spur digital technology development. (4) Preparing for the World Summit on the Information Society in Nov. in Tunis. (5) Trying for adoption of a Council common position on a European Commission proposal to regulate the law applicable to noncontractual obligations (Rome II), which has e-commerce implications. (6) Pressing for adoption of a controversial directive on patentability of computer-implemented inventions. (7) Concluding European Parliament review of a proposal to protect consumers from unfair trade practices.
Trying to boost the state’s e-governance program, Indian state Andhra Pradesh cleared a plan Mon. that will help its officials move data much faster on the Internet. The new plan calls for a 6-company consortium to build a new broadband network in Andhra Pradesh, said Mohammed Ali Shabbir, the state’s information minister. The network -- which Shabbir estimated to cost $90 million -- will transfer data between the state’s capital and its 23 districts at 10 Gbps -- over 5,000 times the speed on the existing network, Shabbir said.
Chip manufacturer AMD introduced a processor designed to handle multimedia content on mobile devices Mon. AMD said the processor, Au1200, will provide portable video, “much like what MP3 players deliver to music fans,” should speed production of small-scale DVD-quality displays and enable video content transfers directly from digital video recorder.
Ninety unique kinds of e-mail fraud and phishing attacks were sent to consumers Nov.-Dec., with a dramatic increase in the number of attacks over the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas, according to a report by the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG). APWG said it estimates that more than 60 million phishing attacks were sent over that period, “driven by scammers’ desires to take advantage of the confusion of the holidays and the increased online transactions that take place during the gift giving season.”