Government & Regulation

In today's podcast: Microsoft's EC antitrust settlement needs minor changes; Android faces possible fragmentation; and Facebook, MySpace fix serious coding errors.

In today's podcast: New York files federal antitrust suit against Intel; Oracle ready to play hardball with EC over Sun deal; and Microsoft cuts another 800 employees.

The rumors were true: Microsoft confirms more layoffs. A futher 800 employees have been told their jobs are redundant. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder who, why, and where. Not to mention laughable comping...
(MSFT)

The sign off is sometimes pursued and valued as though it were some kind of ancient idol. It's taken for granted that it's a necessary part of the processes we use to produce product. But what does the sign off really mean?

This week on Security Levity... how China views Web filtering. It should be no surprise that the Chinese government is sensitive about certain forms of speech. We in the West may not like it, but...

Now you can jailbreak and unlock your iPhone -- even a 3G or 3GS with OS 3.1.2 or baseband 05.11.07. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers bow down and worship George "Geohot" Hotz. Not to mention really strange black & white photos...
(AAPL)

Has Apple tweaked the new build of Snow Leopard to prevent you running Mac OS X on a netbook? Reports say that it won't run on Intel Atom hackintoshes any longer. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder if it's a deliberate block or just a side-effect of something else. Not to mention movie timelines...
(AAPL) (INTC)

This government agency wants a digital photo of an employee in a remote office, and the local administrative assistant dutifully e-mails it. But that's not the way the folks in D.C. want it.

Facebook and MySpace are accused of encouraging game developers to cheat users out of money. Games like Farmville stand accused of employing "unethical" monetization strategies. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers reveal the scams. Not to mention Clean Me...

If you think the health care debate is nasty and loud, just wait.

Breaking news from Korea, folks: as expected, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has finally approved the Internationalized Domain Names proposal for country-code top-level domain names. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers W00T for the IDN fast track process. Not to mention another halloween costume...

Google, being investigated by the FCC for whether its blocking of phone calls on Google Voice violates the law, has essentially told the agency that it should be let off the hook because it's cut back on the calls it blocks. That's like saying you're only a little bit pregnant.

Open-source software is quickly making its way into the federal government.

Net netutrality is a case of who you fear most: Evil telecom companies or the evil FCC? Companies are unlikely to behave without the threat of FCC action, but if the FCC acts we may wish that it hadn't.

This week on Security Levity... the second in a series of posts about spam in different cultures. This time: Nigeria, home of the 419 scam. We've all received advance-fee fraud come-ons: typically, badly-worded invitations to help a bank teller "liberate" money from a forgotten bank account. The basic idea is to gradually draw you into a web of lies, play on your greedy appetite for easy money, and then hit you for some "expenses"... or worse.

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