Secret draft of ACTA treaty published online

In today's podcast: Hurd joins Oracle as co-president; secret draft of ACTA treaty published online; and EC opens another investigation of Chinese modem makers.

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Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd has been appointed co-president of Oracle, the software company announced Monday. Hurd, who also joined Oracle's board of directors, will serve as co-president alongside Safra Catz. Co-President Charles Phillips has resigned his position and will step down from the company's board, it said.

Another round of negotiations, another leak: Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) published what it says is the latest draft of the secret Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (or ACTA) over the weekend. In its latest draft, ACTA appears to have gained a preamble in which the parties to the treaty set out broad principles including their desire "to address the problem of copyright or related rights infringement which takes place by means of digital networks in a manner that balances the rights of the relevant right holders, online service providers and users of those networks." However, a footnote then warns that negotiators will modify this worthy paragraph to ensure it conforms to the text agreed for Article 2.18, Enforcement in the Digital Environment, rather than the other way around.

The European Commission is considering opening a second enquiry to investigate if China is illegally subsidizing tech companies that produce wireless modems. The move follows a complaint by Belgium modem-maker Option. Option is the E.U.'s only producer of 3G modems and filed a separate complaint about modem dumping by China earlier this year. Option's new complaint alleges that China's main modem manufacturers, ZTE and Huawei, which hold 90 percent of the market for 3G data cards and USB modems, are being unfairly subsidized by the Chinese government and government-owned banks.

Swedish police have searched houses belonging to people suspected of illegal file-sharing in Stockholm, Haparanda and Ă–stersund in the last two weeks. The latest search was made on Friday in Ă–stersund. Police impounded a computer and questioned a suspect, according to senior public prosecutor Henrik Rasmusson.

...And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.