The BBC bought and used a botnet which hijacked a number of vulnerable PCs to send email to several test accounts, with the blessing of security firm PrevX, in order to make an edition of BBC Click (the fact that the Beeb calls this their flagship technology programme yet it’s only available on BBC News or at stupidly early times, in highlight form, on BBC1 is another issue).
A technology lawyer believes the BBC broke the law even thought the Corporation (which we law-abiding Brits fund to the tune of £140 each per year and rising) didn’t do it with any malicious intent.
Straun Robertson claims, “It does not matter that the emails were sent to the BBC’s own accounts and criminal intent is not necessary to establish an offence of unauthorised access to a computer,” he adds.
“The Act requires that a computer has been made to perform a function with intent to secure access to any program or data on the computer.
“Using the botnet to send an email is likely to satisfy that requirement. It also requires that the access is unauthorised – which the BBC appears to acknowledge.”
It’s interesting that security firm PrevX gave their blessing to the experiments, even though (reportedly) most security software companies won’t mess around with computers even if they are infected.
I doubt anything will happen, but remember if you live in Britain you’ve helped to fund this little experiment. 
Posted in Internet, Legal, Media, Technology | No Comments »
I’m opening up a real can of worms as I surf around the little network I discovered after my disagreement with Hannah.
As well as uncovering several dubious Internet marketing schemes (which is ironic given how much at least two people in this “network” accuse Darren of doing exactly the same thing) I found one web site that has ripped off Tim Ferriss’s “Four Hour Work Week” book and is giving away the audio recording and PDF to anyone that links to the web site.
The guy doing this (and he’s not getting a link from me) says that he’s doing it “because I don’t like watching people get ripped off by scammers like Ferriss”.
The problem is, in law, you don’t have the right to rip people off regardless of what you think of them. Copyright is copyright.
The guy ripping content says it’s OK because “Ferriss is a liar” and “he won’t risk a confrontation for fear of being exposed for a fraud”.
Still against the law. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogging, Legal, Scams | 4 Comments »
The news that Learco Chindamo  the man who murdered head teacher Philip Lawrence in 1995  has won his appeal to stay in this country because to deport him would breach his human rights, is absolutely pathetic.
As far as I’m concerned, this is not a “human rights” issue. Nice as it may be to stay with your family and friends when you’ve served your minimum 12-year sentence for murder, it’s not a breach of basic rights to be deported back to Italy.
Returning to Italy won’t put your life in danger. Unfortunately, you showed precious little regard for another human life when you knifed Mr Lawrence. Quite why we should feel sympathy for you now is another matter.
Reformed character? Of course that’s possible, but that’s still no reason to allow him to stay in the UK.
The Home Office will be appealing against the ruling made by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “We believe that foreign prisoners who have committed serious crimes should face automatic deportation from the UK at the end of their sentence.”
Hear hear.
Posted in Legal | No Comments »
iGizmodo.com, the “gadget web site” which shamelessly rips off other people’s content and was shut down earlier this year by their hosting provider, has sprung up again.
Like a weed-infested garden, the owners are the roots. You get rid of the crap on the surface that’s choking out the decent content, but beneath the surface the weeds are ready to spring up again when your back’s turned.
That’s exactly what iGizmodo has done. It’s still stealing content from most of the same sources.
Time for another letter of complaint to their new hosts, I think.
Posted in Blogging, Internet, Legal, Spam, Web Sites | No Comments »
Here’s the best way to really hack off a blogger whose article about your company, product, or service, was actually improving your image online:
- Scour their web site for the one infringing image / logo that was used in good faith to illustrate your brand and that encouraged people to read about you.
- Instead of sending a polite and friendly note asking if the image could be removed or replaced with something more appropriate, send an official, verbose, legal document outlining every global right your company or brand has.
- Ensure that the blogger in question is made to feel like a Class A criminal for daring to even look at a picture that represents your company or brand.
- Totally ignore the thousands of spam blogs and web sites which are stealing your identity knowingly, on multiple occasions, with no regard for your brand or the message they are portraying, and with the express intention of making money.
- Ensure that the blogger is required to send a formal declaration of the removal of infringing material, at their own expense.
- Never make any reference or imply that anything of any worth was found on the blog in question. A copyright or trademark infringement automatically means that everything the blogger has touched must be tainted.
- At no time treat the blogger as a human being who made a minor mistake, but only as another check mark on your to-do list.
I made a mistake, and it’s been rectified, but it wasn’t intentional and it would have been so much more pleasant (and less time consuming) for a representative of the company in question to send a short, informal note (companies are allowed to be informal) asking for the single image to be removed.
I won’t be writing about their product again.
Posted in Blogging, Business, Journalism, Legal, Media | 2 Comments »
