protection

SOPA firefight comes to CES

LAS VEGAS--The technology community has made substantial in-roads in efforts to stop SOPA and Protect IP, two bills pending in Congress that would expand the ability of federal law enforcement and rightsholders to police the Internet for violations of intellectual-property laws.

But the fight is far from won. That was the message yesterday at a contentious panel discussion at CES's Innovation Policy Summit, featuring Congressional staffers along with industry representatives from both Hollywood and the technology community.

"Opponents have organized," said Ryan Clough, legislative counsel for Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). "But we haven't stopped SOPA … Read more

How to prevent closing multiple tabs in Chrome

Tabbed browsing is a huge convenience for looking at lots of different web sites at the same time.

Whether you're researching or adding distractions in other tabs, it can be frustrating when you accidentally close them all at once. For Chrome users, Window Close Protector is an extension that won't win points for creativity for its name, but definitely delivers the ability to prevent you from closing all of your active tabs. This extension mimics the behavior seen when closing a Gmail tab (or similar) during the sending process.

Step 1: Install the … Read more

Al Gore slams SOPA in now-deleted YouTube video

Former presidential candidate Al Gore has joined conservatives at the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform in expressing reservations about controversial Hollywood-backed copyright legislation.

Gore actually went a bit further than the Republican-affiliated groups: in a now-deleted YouTube video of a speech at a CareerBuilder event, the ex-veep warned that proposals to levy an Internet death penalty against allegedly piratical Web sites "would very probably have the effect of really shutting down the vibrancy of the Internet." (See CNET's FAQ on SOPA.)

It wasn't clear whether Gore was talking about the House of Representatives bill … Read more

That stolen Symantec source code? It's for older enterprise products

Symantec source code that was recently lifted by hackers is from two old enterprise products unrelated to the company's current consumer software, according to the antivirus vendor.

On Thursday, several reports surfaced that hackers had managed to access source code from certain Symantec products. But the exact products and their version numbers were initially unknown.

In an e-mail to CNET today, Symantec spokesman Cris Paden said that the two products in question are Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) 11.0 and Symantec Antivirus 10.2. Currently at version 12, SEP 11 is 4 years old but is still supported, while … Read more

Apple patent application details password-protecting power adapters

In a recent patent application uncovered by The Apple Blog, Apple has detailed a system for allowing your power adapter to become a security key for your password recovery process.

In basic terms, should you forget your password, an onscreen recovery application would prompt you to plug in your specific power adapter to confirm your identity. That adapter would store the necessary passwords and give you access to them when needed.

Current security measures, such as sending a verification e-mail or answering security questions are easily attacked by hackers who have managed to create any number of very sophisticated applications … Read more

Is Grover Norquist breaking up with SOPA?

Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary committee, proudly announced last month that Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform had endorsed his controversial Stop Online Piracy Act.

Smith, a close ally of Hollywood on copyright law, cited ATR by name when saying that his bill enjoys "broad support across the aisle here in the House, across the street in the Senate and across the country." SOPA and a similar bill in the Senate called Protect IP would levy an Internet death penalty against allegedly piratical Web sites.

In the last few weeks, though, the famously combative … Read more

Spain passes SOPA-like law that U.S. allegedly pushed for

An anti-piracy law passed in Spain on January 3 has striking similarities to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that is stirring controversy in the U.S.

The Sinde Law, which is named after former Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, lets copyright holders report Web sites that host content which infringes on their rights. The government must then choose to take action against the site or ISP. If moved along, a judge will decide whether to shut down the Web site.

What's interesting about the law is that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) alleges the U.S. had a … Read more

The new politics of Silicon Valley: Revenge of the nerds

commentary It was a dangerous year for innovation. Governments around the world became increasingly aware that digital technology could disrupt the political and economic status quo.

Lawmakers and lobbyists were calling for new laws to curb innovations that challenged traditional law enforcement and old ways of doing business. But the laws would have stifled innovation far beyond their intended goals. Technology industry leaders sounded the alarm, but their voices went largely unheard in the corridors of power.

But one proposal gave birth to an organized resistance. Top government officials tried to force industry to re-engineer key technologies to dramatically expand … Read more

Hide and protect files and folders with Easy File Locker

Easy File Locker is a free tool for password-protecting files and folders. With it, others can't open, read, modify, copy, or delete your data without your password. Of course, neither can you, so be sure to take the usual (secure) password precautions. This tool is available in separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, but the installation wizard won't let you install the wrong version. We tried it in 32-bit Vista and Windows 7 as well as 64-bit Windows 7, with success all around.

Easy File Locker has a very simple interface, just a menu bar and toolbar … Read more

How SOPA's 'circumvention' ban could put a target on Tor

A little-noticed section of the Stop Online Piracy Act could make it illegal to distribute Tor and other software that can "circumvent" attempts by the U.S. government to block pirate Web sites.

The controversial Hollywood-backed copyright bill allows injunctions to be filed against "any" person, nonprofit organization, or company that distributes a "product or service" that can be used to circumvent or bypass blockades erected against alleged pirate Web sites such as ThePirateBay.org.

"It looks like SOPA would outlaw Tor," says Markham Erickson, an attorney with Holch & Erickson LLP … Read more