] Uncooperative prisoners are being exposed for prolonged
] periods to tracks by rock group Metallica and music from
] children's TV programmes Sesame Street and Barney in the
] hope of making them talk.
]
] The US's Psychological Operations Company (Psy Ops) said
] the aim was to break a prisoner's resistance through
] sleep deprivation and playing music that was culturally
] offensive to them.
]
] However, human rights organisation, Amnesty
] International, said such tactics may constitute torture -
] and coalition forces could be in breach of the Geneva
] Convention.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Sesame Street breaks Iraqi POWs

] Microsoft Corp., which on Monday announced it was
] licensing the Unix source code and patent from the SCO
] Group, is remaining tight-lipped about its reasons for
] the move.

This keeps getting weirder and weirder...

Microsoft Mum on Unix Licensing Move

]
] he number of American households that connect to the
] Internet via high-speed, or broadband, connections grew
] by 50 percent in the last year, raising to nearly
] one-third the portion of home Internet users who now use
] broadband connections, according to a study to be
] released today.

Connections to Broadband Increase 50%

] The Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment
] are close to a deal to sell Pressplay, their joint online
] music service, to the company that bought Napster's name
] and assets last November at a bankruptcy auction, people
] close to the negotiations said.

Deal May Raise Napster From Online Ashes

Saw it last night. I don't really feel the need to say much
about the content. I thought it was all right.

I thought the visual effects alone were worth the ticket price. I can't wait for the next issue of Cinefex!

FCC has voted 4-1 to allow companies to lease/trade frequencies.
There was a 40-year old requirement that license holders physically
control all of their infrastructure that prevented this in the past.

I'm not sure whether or not I think this is a good thing; the licensing system in this country is pretty broken IMO.

U.S. Moves to Allow Trading of Radio Spectrum Licenses

] In February, the Feds seized the domain from David
] "krazy8" Rocci, a 22-year-old in Blacksburg, VA, who used
] the site to sell 450 Enigmah mod chips. After facing
] $500,000 in fines and five years in prison for allegedly
] violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Rocci was
] sentenced in April to spend five months in the slammer
] and pay $28,500 in fines. That's an unprecedented ruling
] in the brief history of the DMCA. And it shows how this
] quirky gray market hardware is leaving so many companies
] and federal agents running scared.

Not really news at this point but anyway ...

Game Over for Mod Chips?

] NEW YORK -- The man known as the "Buffalo Spammer," who
] allegedly has sent 825 million unwanted e-mails, has been
] arrested and arraigned, New York State Attorney General
] Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday.

I'm somewhat wary of spam legislation but there's no question that it has become a colossal problem. At least 50% of the mail volume to my work mailbox is spam.

I think the fraud-oriented legislation is probably preferable to having the government define what spam is; spoofing mail headers, abusing other peoples' mail servers, etc, would be what the spammers might be prosecuted for. "Legitimate" spammers would have to have their own servers, not spoof and provide a real opt-out system. They'd probably also have a hard time getting connectivity.

Wired News: Fraud Bust for 'Buffalo Spammer'

] But not everyone likes the switch to electronic
] balloting. Some of the loudest opposition, in fact, is
] coming from computer experts who say the new technology
] could prove more troublesome than its predecessors. They
] warn of equipment malfunction, unchecked tampering and
] the lack of secure proof for each vote.

To Register Doubts, Press Here

] Last summer, Orlando Ayala, then in charge of worldwide
] sales at Microsoft, sent an e-mail message titled
] Microsoft Confidential to senior managers laying out a
] company strategy to dissuade governments across the globe
] from choosing cheaper alternatives to the ubiquitous
] Windows computer software systems.
]
] Mr. Ayala's message told executives that if a deal
] involving governments or large institutions looked
] doomed, they were authorized to draw from a special fund
] to offer the software at a steep discount or even free if
] necessary. Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft's chief
] executive, was sent a copy of the e-mail message.

Dumping by any other name...

How Microsoft Warded Off Rival