contributed by tan
Next Monday CERT’s new vulnerability disclosure policy will become the organization’s new standard. As part of the policy, CERT has decided to give vendors 45 days before releasing information although it reserves the right to alter that number depending on the individual circumstances of a discovered vulnerability. What this new policy DOESN’T seem to mean is that they will actually put content into their advisories that can help people - i.e., how to test and/or enough information to come up with your own fix. Basically, it looks like information will finally flow OUT of CERT but it will still be watered down and for the most part useless.

CERT Disclosure Policy FAQ

contributed by weld pond
Sega wants to put an end to websites containing sections the company believes are exclusively devoted to divulging information about the games in their Dreamcast series. The conflict pits copyright infringement against censorship, a debate that isn’t going away anytime soon. Most sites, with the exception of Isonews, which is operated on a volunteer basis, have complied with Sega’s request rather then do battle with the industry titan.

CNET

contributed by weld pond
UCITA is a set of new regulations the software vendors are backing for their products. It aims to "create a uniform commercial contract law for products." The following parody describes what would happen if these regulations were applied to cars. UCITA is already a law in a few states and the vendors are gunning for all 50.

Troubleshooters.com
Comp. Prof. for Social Responsibility's UCITA FAQ
National Conf. of Commissioner's UCITA Summary

contributed by pyle
Music appears ready for the next phase or craze as record labels rush to market with the latest product they hope will replace CDs. Warner appears to be leading the pack with plans to release songs in the DVD-audio format that supports encryption technologies the company has licensed from 4C Entity, a feature CDs don’t have. Warner is hoping this measure along with its attempt to increase partnerships with secure online distributors, will address the growing security and piracy concerns.

CNET

contributed by laney
The CyberSmuggling Center, a branch of U.S. Customs, has opened a permanent facility in Fairfax County Virginia. Since its inception three years ago, the group has patrolled the Net, searching for illegal activity. The group focuses mainly on putting a stop to the proliferation of child pornography on the Internet

The Washington Post

contributed by apocalypse dow
Napster experienced some technical problems early yesterday that made downloading impossible. The site was down for only a few hours while the glitch was fixed. Napster has stated that the temporary outage has nothing to do with the lawsuit. (Isn’t it amazing what makes the news these days?)

AP via The Nando Times