China toughens cybercrime rules

In today's podcast: China toughens cybercrime rules; Twitter seeks revenue; and Microsoft opens MyPhone beta.

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China has issued new regulations to deal with cybercime, a growing problem in the country. Last year, over a million computers there were infected by software that let an attacker control them as part of a botnet, officials say. One of China's new regulations calls on state-run telecommunications operators and other government agencies to better monitor and eliminate botnets, which can be used to send spam or overwhelm Web servers. Another set of regulations requires officials to improve the accuracy of information filed by domain name owners. A hassle-free registration process has previously encouraged attackers to use Chinese domains to spread malware.

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have expanded their partnership to develop and sell a common platform for delivering voice, video and messaging services to office workers. The companies plan to spend 180 million dollars over the next four years on developing products and services for unified communications, and on selling and marketing those products. The work will include development of HP's ProCurve networking products and Microsoft's Office Communications Server, Office SharePoint Server and Exchange products. HP will also certify its TouchSmart Business PCs and some smartphones for Microsoft's communications software, as well as some new IP desk phones that it plans to develop.

Twitter is steering clear of advertising as it prepares to launch new tools and services for businesses by the end of this year. The two year-old site has exploded in popularity this year but it's still unclear how exactly Twitter plans to make money from allowing people to publish short messages about what they are doing. Twitter has hired a full-time product manager to analyze how it should develop paid services, and is considering selling lightweight analytics data to corporate users or perhaps a paid directory where it lists legitimate corporate Twitter accounts.

Microsoft has opened the beta for its My Phone Windows Mobile backup service to anyone who wants to try it out. My Phone lets Windows Mobile users back up information such as text messages, contacts, photos and calendar items to an online storage service. The company has also disclosed some forthcoming features for the service, including ways to wipe data remotely or find lost phones using GPS. Now anyone using a phone with Windows Mobile version 6 or higher can back up 200MB of data using the service

And finally, Sprint will sell the Palm Pre from June 6. The smartphone will cost U.S. customers signing up for a two-year service agreement 200 dollars after a 100 dollar mail-in rebate

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