Friday's Phishing Expedition

It's news time...

1. An AIM message is spreading pointing people to a web site that displays JPEG images with embedded viruses. When viewed with an unpatched version of Windows, the JPEG embeds a program on the user's system that spreads the virus and puts a backdoor on the system. Anti-viruses will not detect the infection.
2. Wednesday's SpaceshipOne flight was a success. The Scaled Composites team will attempt a second flight on Monday - the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik launch - to clinch the X Prize.
3. The Senate has delayed the Induce Act due to strong opposition. The bill would make it a Federal offense to "induce" others to reproduce copyrighted material. It ain't over yet, though. Senator Orrin Hatchet-job has promised to take up the bill again next week.
4. Undeterred by reports that CD sales are up this year, the RIAA is suing another 762 John Doe file swappers. They're also suing 68 defendants whose identities had been discovered and who had declined offers to settle.
5. Hey, maybe the US Patent and Trademark Office isn't completely off base. The USPTO has overturned Microsoft's 1996 patent for the file allocation table, FAT, on the grounds that the technology was obvious and there was prior art. Microsoft was making money on the patent because FAT is still used on flash memory cards. The company will appeal.
6. A study from the Anti-Phising Working Group says 70% of consumers have been duped by phony emails to the tune of $500 million.
7. The University of Maryland is setting up an archive of busted dot-com business plans. The archive of over 2,000 Internet based business plans from 1996 to 2002 is available online at businessplanarchive.org .

Listen in Friday morning at 8:35a Pacific for my weekly news commentary on KFI 640 AM in Los Angeles. And tune in Saturday at 7:40a Eastern for my weekly visit with John Donabie on 1010 CFRB Toronto. And, of course, listen to my show every Saturday and Sunday, noon to 3p Pacific on KFI, Los Angeles.