Morning Broadband Bytes - 1) Get Coffee 2) Read Morning Broadband Bytes 3) Start Day

•Around the Industry:
Commentary: Internet: Freedom or Privilege?
Perspective: Can video iPod lead to DMCA reform?
24meg upstart ISP Be secures investment for high speed roll-out
iMesh signs MusicNet for legal P2P downloads
Center for Democracy & Technology asks FTC to pull plug on 180Solutions
Taz like BPL!
Mobile digital TV alliance formed
•SecurityBits:
Kama Sutra Worm flummoxes experts
KDE flaw opens Linux systems to attack
Kaspersky boss explodes security myths
•TidBytes:
Harder-to-Detect Oracle Rootkit on the Way
IPods pre-loaded with video tread legal gray zone
Adobe Springs New Acrobat in 3-D
•More news from around the industry, SecurityBits, and interesting Tidbytes inside!

Around The Industry:
•Commentary: Internet: Freedom or Privilege?:
"Is Internet access a freedom or a privilege? Just as Freedom of Speech means that, with very few limitations, nobody has the right to tell somebody else what to say, so should Internet freedom mean that gatekeepers should not control Internet apps or content. This is essential not just as a matter of freedom, but also as a matter of commerce, because the Internet’s success is directly due to its content-blindness. If the US fails to understand this, U.S. Internet leadership will follow U.S. leadership in agriculture, in steel, in autos, and in consumer electronics to other countries that do."
•Perspective: Can video iPod lead to DMCA reform?:
"Apple CEO Steve Jobs would be guilty of a federal felony if iTunes transferred DVDs to an iPod as easily as it can music from a CD. While these Draconian penalties have angered digital-rights types for years, the prohibition really hasn't affected a broader audience. But the recently released video iPod changes this and--if we're lucky--will prove to be a flashpoint that sparks actual reforms."
•24meg upstart ISP Be secures investment for high speed roll-out:
Be - the upstart broadband ISP that claims to offer punters speeds of up to 24 meg - has received financial backing to help fund the roll-out of its high speed internet service. The cash, from an outfit called Novator Partners LLP, takes the total known investment in the company to £24.5m although this includes the cash stumped up by Be founders Boris Ivanovic and Dana Pressman. Novator said it decided to invest in the business because it believes "there is strong demand in the UK broadband market for a 24 meg service".
•iMesh signs MusicNet for legal P2P downloads:
P2P company iMesh has signed MusicNet to supply it with songs as it attempts to transform its service into something the content industries will be happy with. iMesh said it will offer MusicNet's catalogue as one-off downloads and through a monthly subscription service. Essentially, consumers will be allowed to 'share' their music libraries with other iMesh users, but downloading a protected song will pop up an opportunity to purchase the track. Anyone on an all-you-can-eat subscription will be able to download en masse, as before, though this time round the artists and labels get a cut. iMesh said it will also connect users to the Gnutella network, allowing them to download what it calls "unclaimed" works and promotional content.
•Center for Democracy & Technology asks FTC to pull plug on 180Solutions:
A complaint from the nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology accused 180Solutions of using a complicated web of affiliate partnerships to deliberately trick consumers into downloading and installing intrusive adware programs. The group wants the FTC to slap 180Solutions with hefty fines and block the company and its affiliates from future use of the deceptive and unfair installation of software. Officials at 180Solutions did not respond.
•Taz like BPL!:
Tasmanian electricity utility Aurora Energy is "very pleased" with the progress of its four-month-old Hobart trial of BPL technology and is fielding strong international interest from countries as far afield as Iran. "The only thing is, we're probably going a bit slower than we would have liked, but that's to be expected, because it's a new technology. It's hard to develop a project plan about how you would roll it out," said the utiity.
•Mobile digital TV alliance formed:
A group of wireless and electronics companies have banded together to form an alliance to promote the growth and evolution of handheld digital video broadcasting (DVB-H) in North America. Called the Mobile DTV Alliance, the group, initially comprised of Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., Nokia Inc., and Texas Instruments Inc., expects to define open standards and promote best practices for delivering premium TV broadcasts to mobile devices.
•Study: Digital TV and services to dominate Europe:
Digital television services, including TV, Web access and telephone calls, will dominate Europe's digital economy by the decade's end with 60% of households hooked up, according to a study released by strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. "The long-term winners will be the players, who are first to offer the consumer the so-called 'triple-play,' access to all three services from single source, on favorable terms and conditions," Booz Allen Hamilton said in a statement.
•Verizon to start TV service in N.Y., Mass.:
Verizon is expanding the area where it provides television service over fiber-optic cables, adding homes in Massachusetts and New York for the first time. The telephone company announced it would immediately start taking orders for its FiOS TV service in Woburn, Mass., and Massapequa Park on New York's Long Island. FiOS TV is already available in 14 towns in Texas, one in Florida and one in Virginia.
•UK DSL ISP struggles with upgrade downtime:
UK ISP Claranet has been busy trying to restore its broadband service after part of its broadband platform was floored following an overnight upgrade. According to the latest update, service has "now been restored to the DSL platform and customers should now be able to connect". Details are still sketchy but it's thought that around a thousand customers - give or take - were hit by the snafu. The ISP has apologised for the interruption to the service.
•China approves 'home-grown' 3G standard:
The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) announced it has approved TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) as a national technology standard for 3G mobile communicatons. The move means that the technology, which has been under development in China for a number of years, is set to get official support and be used in a stand-alone network. The basic technology was originally developed by Siemens AG and offered as a potential standard for the European 3G standard. When it lost out to wideband-CDMA, Siemens found China receptive to adopting the standard.
•Verizon Unit Offers Broadband Wireless Backup:
Verizon launched a new Verizon Business unit that provides advanced communications and IT solutions to customers in 75 countries. Among other things, the new product unit features include the use of Verizon Wireless as backup for data networks. "Verizon Business customers simply use a Verizon Wireless Broadband/Access/National Access PC card that slides directly into most laptops," the Verizon announcement said. "Through the Verizon Business Enterprise Mobility platform (customers) are assured they will receive end-to-end security protection for corporate data."
•Say Tello!:
Tello emerged with a software and service bundle designed to connect businesspeople, regardless of their location or connection, by aggregating wired, wireless and even VoIP phones, with handhelds and IM services. Run by several tech industry veterans, the company says it will make its mark by consolidating the myriad methods people use to communicate into one using an app located on a PC or BlackBerry, or accessed via Web browser with a back-end service that allows users to maintain a contact list that can quickly determine the availability of their colleagues and then help reach them.

SecurityBits:
•Kama Sutra Worm flummoxes experts:
The year's worst worm is either growing stronger or getting weaker, said security vendors as they couldn't reach agreement on how Kama Sutra is affecting users. F-Secure, which first spotted a trigger in the worm that will corrupt a wide range of document file formats on infected PCs starting Feb. 3, said the worm was still gaining ground. Symantec disagrees and thinks its peaked, but the two vendors both agree the worm is dangerous, 2006's biggest attack so far, and could wreak havoc come Feb. 3, when it's scheduled to overwrite data in several Microsoft and Adobe document formats with a useless text string.
•KDE flaw opens Linux systems to attack:
A serious vulnerability has been found in the KDE open source software bundle. The flaw, deemed "critical" by the research outfit FrSIRT, could allow a remote attacker to gain control over vulnerable systems. The vulnerability lies in the JavaScript interpreter engine used by Konqueror and other parts of KDE. An attacker could craft a special UTF-8 encoded URI sequence to exploit the flaw, according to the advisory.
•Kaspersky boss explodes security myths:
Russian antivirus guru Eugene Kaspersky has hit out at some of the myths which cloud what he sees as the real issues facing the IT security industry. Speaking to silicon.com in Moscow, the head of Kaspersky Labs said companies' own agendas and some well-worn stereotypes about cyber crime stand in the way of reasoned discussion. He also criticised those who put too much faith in stats which, taken out of context, are often dangerously misleading.
•Trojan blitz poses as credit card warning:
UK businesses faced a barrage of 115,000 emails containing a new Trojan before AV vendors scrambled out an update, according to email filtering firm BlackSpider Technologies. It was three-and-a-half hours before the first anti-virus vendor used by BlackSpider issued a patch, once again illustrating the shortcomings of conventional ant-virus scanners in fighting fast-moving virus outbreaks.

Hardware, Software, and other TidBytes:
•Harder-to-Detect Oracle Rootkit on the Way
•IPods pre-loaded with video tread legal gray zone
•Adobe Springs New Acrobat in 3-D
•Livedoor CEO, other top execs arrested
•It's Tax Time: Boxed Software Review
•Calif. Man Pleads Guilty to Felony Hacking
•Google News Is Out Of Beta
•Iris Scanning For New Jersey Grade School

"FTC to pull plug on 180Solutions" Not!

Hacker in Calif gets what he deserves

Re: Hacker in Calif gets what he deserves

[Poll]Taxcut or Turbo tax; like Pepsi vs Coke

Re: [Poll]Taxcut or Turbo tax; like Pepsi vs Coke

WOW! Google actually has a product not in beta

What is not Free Speech.