Wednesday, 16. July 2003
§ 86 TKG
Shortly after we published Factual and Legal Risks regarding wireless Computer NetworksI got aware of § 86 TKG ("Telekommunication Code"). § 86 TKG states:
A radio installation may not be used to receive messages not indendet for it. The content of such messages and the fact thet they have been received may not be communicated to others, even if the recieiving was unintential [...].
I never got arround reviewing legal literature on § 86 TKG, but it is ovious that this paragraph is so broard, it has to be interpreted restrictivly to be compatible with the constitution.
Now I steped on two court cases which indicate that the courts are very reluctant to apply § 86 TKG. [disLEXia 3000 blog]
Effective Scientific Electronic Publishing
Bei Markus G. Kuhn gibt es das Dokument Effective Scientific Electronic Publishing, dass viele Themen behandelt, die auch hier eines Tages mal näher ausgearbeitet werden sollen. [juristische SchreibTeXnik]
Rendezvous Beacon
Nice:
Rendezvous Beacon is a Mac OS X application that enables you to publish Rendezvous services on a computer or to serve as a proxy for Rendezvous services on other computers or devices.
Rendezvous Beacon is distributed as freeware. [teenage mutant ninja hero coders]
Watch a movie clip - spam everyone you know
By John Leyden Posted: 14/07/2003 at 17:41 GMT
A new viral marketing stunt for a music clip site poses almost as great a risk as a real virus, according to security experts.
An email which invites users to visit a website to view comedy video clips, such as one of Bill Gates being hit with a custard pie by Belgian anarchists, is doing the rounds. AV vendor Sophos has received a number of reports from customers concerned about the security risk posed by the email.
If users follow the link in the email, they are invited to install an application called "Internet Optimizer" (IO) onto their computer from a Web site run by Avenue Media NV, based in the Caribbean island of Curacao.
An end-user license agreement (EULA) for IO is displayed, stating that by viewing the movie the user is giving permission to send an invitation to view video clips to all addresses found in the user's Outlook address book and via instant messaging systems. The agreement also grants Avenue Media rights to update software on machines - or install other packages - without further permission.
Sophos is concerned that many computer users will not read the EULA with enough attention and simply grant permission for the application to be installed, without realising that emails and instant messages will be sent to all their contacts. Although this not a virus or a worm, these viral marketing campaigns have the potential to clog up a large amount of a company's email bandwidth like a mass-mailing worm.
Sophos Anti-Virus customers have requested that the application be detected, even though it is not technically a virus. Sophos detects the application as App/ViewMov-A.
"The makers of this email nuisance appear to have been inspired by the Friends Greeting incident of October last year which affected thousands of internet users," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos Anti-Virus. "Just like then the people behind this are taking advantage of the public's reluctance to read legalese and small print."
Avenue Media is not doing anything illegal - and a movie clip is offered for those gullible enough to hand over control of their computer to the West Indian outfit.
"The agreement to allow Avenue Media access to your computer to update and install code as they see fit is particularly disturbing," continued Cluley. "The decision about whether to grant such permission should only be made by an IT department fully aware of the consequences, not a user frantically clicking 'next' on a license agreement in their hurry to see a movie of Bill Gates being splattered with custard."
[The Register - Security]
Howl, a Rendezvous toolkit.
Howl is a free, cross platform rendezvous/zeorconf implementation which looks reasonably well.
I'll try to glue python on it to see how it fits. [teenage mutant ninja hero coders]
EU businesses count spam costs
Unsolicited e-mail messages cost European businesses over £1.5bn in lost productivity last year, according to the European Commission.
The figure was cited by the European Commissioner with responsibility for information technology, Erkki Liikanen, as he appealed for international co-operation to fight the unwanted, mostly sales-related messages.
European Union (EU) legislation banning unwanted e-mail is due to come into force in November, but given the global nature of the Internet, it is feared it will have little effect.
The scourge of unwanted e-mail is now so serious that it is threatening to stifle the Internet as an effective means of communication.
Legal constraints
Mr Liikanen said between a third and one-half of all e-mails sent and received was now spam or junk mail.
If spam is not checked, it is feared it could severely undermine the appeal of mobile-phone-based Internet services, which are about to come onstream in Europe.
Under a new EU directive, it will shortly be an offence to send any unsolicited mail without the recipient's prior consent, but most spam comes from the United States and China and will be outside the law's reach.
In contrast to Europe, the United States is considering a variety of laws which would regulate spam, but essentially allow it unless an individual specifically opts out.
The European Commission readily admits international co-operation is vital.
Today, Mr Likanen offered to host a special summit on the problem at the OECD next year.
[BBC News Online]
Vulnerabilities Conference
There is SNAFU, the CyberSecurity, Research, and Disclosure planned in Standford, but I wasn't able to find out WHENB the conference will happen or if there is a Call for Papers.[CIS Blog]
disLEXia, a research project by Maximillian Dornseif
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