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Swedish prosecutors have finally begun prosecuting the owners of the popular Pirate Bay website. The peer-to-peer page is one of the leading websites for users of the BitTorrent system of downloading ; in theory the system can carry any type of ... file, though it's most commonly used for copyrighted material such as videos, music and games. The key legal point with such file-sharing systems is that websites such as Pirate Bay don't actually host the files themselves. Instead, they merely provide computers with the information needed to get the files from other users. Four men have been charged ... (view more)

Yahoo has signed a deal to add all existing Yahoo usernames and passwords to the OpenID database. When a Yahoo user visits one of the 10,000 sites in the scheme, they will be able to simply type 'yahoo.com' in the registration box and will then be ... taken to the Yahoo site to confirm their details before being returned to their chosen website, automatically logged in. (Source: pcworld.com ) People with a Yahoo account could find online life a bit simpler now that the firm has joined the OpenID scheme. However, critics question whether the scheme serves any real purpose. The idea lets Internet ... (view more)

Mozilla has apologised for an ad campaign which claimed users of their Firefox browser were less likely to have cancer than those using Internet Explorer. The campaign involved setting up a dedicated 'Firefox Users Against Boredom' site (which is ... now inaccessible to the public). It was designed as a viral campaign; rather than the company paying for advertising, the idea was that Internet users would find the site entertaining and tell friends about it. The site included a list of statistics comparing users of both browsers, including claims that Firefox users were more likely to watch ... (view more)

A serious flaw in the way people use Adobe's Flash software could leave tens of thousands of websites vulnerable to hackers. The problem lies in Shockwave Flash files (SWFs), which appear on websites and allow the site author to include short movies ... or animated graphics. (Source: half-serious.com ) The way the software currently works means it's possible for hackers to insert their own code into these files. For example, they could program the file to send them copies of personal information that the user types while visiting a site. At the moment, there are no patches available. The problem ... (view more)

The 'Think Secret' website, which published insider scoops about Apple products, is to close down as part of a legal settlement. The deal means the site's owners will not have to expose their confidential sources. It marks the end of a lawsuit ... launched by Apple in January 2005 after the site leaked details of the Mac Mini computer two weeks before its official announcement. The case surrounded laws designed to protect journalistic sources. Apple sued the site's boss, Nick Ciarelli, claiming he had unlawfully revealed trade secrets. The Cupertino-based tech company also demanded Ciarelli's ... (view more)

A company specializing in niche social networking sites has launched an online Christian community. That's not so strange; what is raising some eyebrows is the nature of that new meeting place. New York based Community Connect has launched ... Faithbase.com, described as "your place to meet and connect with Christians around the country". The company, which is now 10 years old, already runs social networking sites for the black (Blackplanet.com), Asian (Asianavenue.com) and Hispanic (MiGente.com) communities. However, it's their remaining site that is causing eyebrows to raise. GLEE.com serves ... (view more)

Talk about 'An Inconvenient Spoof'; the website for Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth has been breached by hackers. The blog page of climatecrisis.net has been altered to include links to more than eighty pages, each named after a ... different product from an online pharmacy. The products include Viagra, Vicadin and Prozac. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) The links only appear in the page's source code (which tells the computer what to display). They aren't ordinarily visible on-screen to site visitors, so it seems likely the hackers are not intending to lure people directly to their site ... (view more)

Facebook users and privacy groups have criticised a new advertising scheme from the social networking site. Designed to net Facebook more ad dollars, the program plays Big Brother with the site's loyal (and growing) membership. The 'Beacon' system ... is a partnership between Facebook and 44 other sites. Whenever a user visits one of these sites while logged in to Facebook, their activities are monitored. Certain events are then automatically posted on their Facebook news feed which can be seen by all of their online friends. The events which are reported include online purchases, movie rentals, ... (view more)

Site Inspector Site Inspector is a Web browser that combines the two most frequently used browser engines (Internet Explorer and Mozilla) into one program. Its advanced web page analysis features make it the perfect companion for webmasters and web ... developers. http://www.paessler.com/download/freeware Raise My Rights Raise My Rights enables limited user accounts to run certain programs as Administrator or any other user. The program creates shortcuts to programs handled by Raise My Rights. Those programs execute with the privileges of the specified account. http://pmcchp.com/rmr/index.html (view more)

The kids are are raging about two websites these days, with both boasting enough addictive content to distract them from homework, chores, and life in general. As popular as the two may be, Facebook and YouTube may be headed in very different ... directions. In past weeks, it's been announced that Facebook will be infused with Microsoft money and all-new mobile features from BlackBerry developer Research in Motion. That's good news for the social networking site that is creeping up fast on MySpace. The news hasn't been so hot for YouTube, which was recently sued for its rather natural display of ... (view more)