Top Stories for Today

News stories we're considering for tonight's The Screen Savers...

• Read their lips. House bans Internet taxes forever. Next step: US Senate.
• Like MSN, Yahoo! Messenger plans a mandatory upgrade that blocks third party access (Yahoo says it's designed to control spam). Trillian will offer patch to thwart MSN and Yahoo's attempts to close their networks.
• Jeffrey Lee Parson, the high school kid accused of creating MSBlaster variant pleads not guilty.
• More security alerts: CERT has issued a warning on the SSH flaw I mentioned on Tuesday. And IBM's DB2 has been compromised, but in this case hacker must have physical access to the machine.
• The US Commerce Department extends ICANN's charter for three more years.
• California Senator Barbara Boxer blasts Verizon and SBC for resisting RIAA subpoenas. Accuses the ISPs of "promoting illegal downloading" and engaging in "hypocritical behavior." Sen. Ron Wyden asked RIAA Prez Cary Sherman how long the suits will continue. "I really can't answer that," Sherman replied. "How many has DirecTV had to file to stop satellite piracy? They have filed more than 10,000 (lawsuits), but you don't hear much about that."
• Cell phones are a major source of infection in hospitals.
• New Demo Presidential candidate Wesley Clark says the net made him do it.
• Paramount and Fox sue DVD copy software companies.