] More info about the fastest-spreading worm of all time, which
] enters a new phase today, trying to download unknown code to 20
] specific home computers:

] The worm infected close to one million computers via
] e-mail attachments in e-mails with spoofed addresses
  . . .
] Now, those infected
] computers are programmed to start to connect to machines
] found on an encrypted list hidden in the virus body.
] F-Secure said the list contains the address of 20
] computers located in United States, Canada and South
] Korea and is expected to start at 3:00 EST Friday.

I can't beleive they are unable to locate and turn off the servers! There are only 20. Also, if the "web address" in question is under the control of the attackers, then it was paid for by the attackers, and this is a very easy place to start a criminal investigation (possibly the web address was bought using a fake or stolen identity). However, claiming that this "must be the work of organized crime" is silly. Technical sophistication and criminal sophistication are not always directly proportional.

New Phase of Sobig.F Set for 3 p.m. EST Friday 8/22/2003

] In Microsoft's research and development labs, Smith has
] spent the past several years slicing and dicing data
] about messages and message authors in an ambitious effort
] to help people make sense of the newsgroup manifold--the
] hordes of know-it-alls, flame warriors, spammers and
] neophytes who, by Smith's estimate, last year numbered
] more than 100 million in the Usenet network of e-mail
] threads, or newsgroups.

Microsoft on Reputation Systems

] In 2000, the Business Software Alliance conducted a
] raid and subsequent audit at the San Luis Obispo,
] Calif.-based company that turned up a few dozen
] unlicensed copies of programs. Ball settled for $65,000,
] plus $35,000 in legal fees. But by then, the BSA, a trade
] group that helps enforce copyrights and licensing
] provisions for major business software makers, had put
] the company on the evening news and featured it in
] regional ads warning other businesses to monitor their
] software licenses.
]
] Humiliated by the experience, Ball told his IT
] department he wanted Microsoft products out of his
] business within six months. "I said, 'I don't care if we
] have to buy 10,000 abacuses,'" recalled Ball, who
] recently addressed the LinuxWorld trade show. "We won't
] do business with someone who treats us poorly.

An entertaining interview with a medium sized business owner who runs linux exclusively.

Ernie Ball Rockin' on without Microsoft

] CSX Transportation's (CSXT) information technology
] systems experienced significant slowdowns early today
] after a computer virus infected the network. The cause
] was believed to be a worm virus similar to those that
] have infected the systems of other major companies and
] agencies in recent days.
]
]
] The infection resulted in a slowdown of major
] applications, including dispatching and signal systems.
] As a result, passenger and freight train traffic was
] halted immediately, including the morning commuter train
] service in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area.

Train in Washington shutdown by worm

] "While we can't say categorically that the RIAA's legal
] efforts are the sole cause for the reduction in file
] acquisition, it appears to be more than just a natural
] seasonal decline," Russ Crupnick, a vice president at
] NPD, said in a statement. "This decrease is sharper than
] the declines we're seeing in the offline retail world."

Drop in file sharing not seasonal...

] The Slammer worm penetrated a private computer network at
] Ohio's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in January and
] disabled a safety monitoring system for nearly five
] hours, despite a belief by plant personnel that the
] network was protected by a firewall, SecurityFocus has
] learned.

The Register | Slammer worm crashed Ohio nuke plant net

] Congress may consider a bill that not only expands the
] government's wiretapping and investigative powers but
] also would link low-level drug dealing to terrorism and
] ban a traditional form of Middle Eastern banking.

Wired News: Patriot Act II Resurrected?

] Japanese researchers in robot technology are advocating a
] grand project, under which the government would spend 50
] billion yen a year over three decades to develop a
] humanoid robot with the mental, physical and emotional
] capacity of a 5-year-old human.

Japan's big robot project

] The "translator of a baby's cry" for an elementary mama
] appeared. This equipment that analyzed and made the kind
] of a baby's cry shows a baby's feeling by five, a hungry
] feeling, sleepiness, stress, and inconvenient, and the
] degree of correctness exceeds 90%.

You knew this was coming soon... (Wasn't this a Simpson's episode??)

Japaneese Baby Translator

] JENIN, West Bank, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to
] the email received today from the Motion Picture
] Association of America (MPAA) to Earthstation 5 for
] copyright violations for streaming FIRST RUN movies over
] the internet for FREE, this is our official response!
] Earthstation 5 is at war with the Motion Picture
] Association of America (MPAA) and the Record Association
] of America (RIAA), and to make our point very clear that
] their governing laws and policys have absolutely no
] meaning to us here in Palestine, we will continue to add
] even more movies for FREE.

Dare I make a suicide bomber joke?

PRWire | Earthstation 5 Declares War on MPAA