Tech 101 - Episode 1

CourseCast of the Week

Episode 0056, 07/05/2008

Title/Description: SPAM, Viacom and YouTube, News Briefs

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 56, recorded July 5, 2008. This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.course.com for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.

Story 1 - How much Spam is too much?

Security software company McAfee ran an experiment to see how much spam users could acclimate. Fifty volunteers from 10 different countries were given fresh computers and Internet accounts and instructed to answer every spam message and click every pop-up ad on their PCs; such activity is believed to encourage more spam. After a month, participants were receiving 70 spam messages a day on average, with men receiving 15 percent more than women. Participants also found an exponential increase in junk mail delivered to their house via snail mail. McAfee reported that "Many of the spam messages received were phishing e-mails; e-mails which pose as a trustworthy source to criminally acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and bank account details. Other spam e-mails carried viruses and many allowed malware to be silently installed on the computers by persuading participants to surf unsafe Web sites."

Sources: Diary of a deliberately spammed housewife [Computerworld], McAfee, Inc. Experiment Reveals the Growing Psychological Nature of Spam [McAfee]

Story 2 - Viacom Sues YouTube

Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, is suing YouTube owner Google over the illegal use of copyrighted works. It is not unusual for users of YouTube to post videos that include major motion picture clips. However, YouTube has technologies in place that scan for such illegal posts and automatically take them down. Viacom isn't satisfied with YouTube's efforts and believes that YouTube and its owner Google are making a lot of money from the illegal posting of clips from its motion pictures and music videos. And so Viacom is suing Google for $1 billion and making demands for Google to turn over information as evidence in the case. Some of the information requested is YouTube user information. From an article in Reuters, "Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google on Tuesday to turn over as evidence a database with usernames of YouTube viewers, what videos they watched when, and users' computer addresses." Privacy activists are up in arms over the order and pointing to the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act that prevents video businesses from sharing customer rental habits. Both Google and Viacom are working to comply with the judge’s request without putting private user information at risk. This is a difficult legal conundrum in that Viacom cannot make its case without the evidence of video usage that Google holds.

Sources: Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears [Reuters]

And that brings us to News Briefs.

A robot designed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts is able to figure out how to use an unfamiliar tool by poking and experimenting with it. [Technology Review]
Microsoft will soon begin selling its Office programs on a subscription basis. For $70 a year, subscribers will be provided with access to Microsoft Office and Windows Live OneCare. [NYTimes]
EBay has been sued for $61 million by a prestigious fashion company for allowing knock-offs bags and clothing to be sold through its service. [NewsFactor]
Researchers have discovered that only 60 percent of users are surfing the Web with secure and up-to-date browsers. This means that 40 percent of users have not upgraded to current versions or applied critical software patches, leaving themselves open to the most dangerous malware circulating on the Web. [NewsFactor]
California and Washington have joined New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. in passing laws requiring drivers to use hands-free cell phone technologies, and prohibiting the use of cell phones while driving for young drivers. [eFluxMedia]
Speaking of driving distractions, Chrysler has announced that it will be including Wi-Fi Internet service as an option in its new cars. The technology connects to high-speed cellular data networks, and provides wireless Internet to devices within 100 feet of the vehicle. The service runs $500 initially, and $29 a month.[Ars Technica]
The ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation are asking a federal court to order the U.S. Department of Justice to turn over records about the agencies tracking of mobile phone users. They believe that the DOJ may be engaging in unauthorized and potentially unconstitutional tracking of individuals through mobile phones. [Computerworld]

That's it for this week's CourseCast. Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are provided at the CourseCast Web site at www.course.com/coursecasts. E-mail us with your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com. Until next time, have a great week and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!