AOL Time Warner's [NTSE:AOL] Netscape unit is snooping on searches performed by users of its latest Navigator browser at "Google" and other search sites.

According to a network traffic analysis performed by Newsbytes, Netscape is capturing Navigator 6 users' search terms, along with their Internet protocol (IP) address, the date Navigator was installed and a unique identification number.

Anytime a Navigator user performs a search by typing terms into the browser's URL bar and pressing the adjacent Search button, or by using the Search tab on the browser's My Sidebar feature, the user data is sent to a server at info.netscape.com using a uniform resource locator (URL) forwarding system.

[ ... ]

Derick Mains, a spokesman for Netscape, said the company developed the URL forwarding system in order to bill participating search sites for sending them traffic.

"We just keep track of aggregate numbers and don't monitor any terms or anything. We just need to know how many people are searching via our browser to our search partners, and that's all the information we receive," he said.

Slashdot | Netscape 6 is Spyware?

The Register (UK) - How we can save PGP - Zimmermann.

PGP inventor Phil Zimmermann says PGP can be saved, and has outlined how in an interview with The Register yesterday.

"PGP is an institution that's bigger than any single company, or codebase, or product," says Zimmermann. "It's in limbo right now, and limbo is a bad place to be."

Slashdot | How to Save PGP.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Designing a More User-Friendly DRM.

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Hacking with a Pringles. tube.

He said that i-sec had boosted the chance of spotting networks by converting an empty can of Pringles into a directional, or Yagi, antenna. Plans to make such an antenna first appeared on the net last year.

Properly made, such an antenna can boost signal strengths by up to 15%, vastly aiding the discovery of wireless networks.

Political News from Wired News - Do OS Vendors Sell Lemons?.

A government panel responsible for computer security is told that computer vendors knowingly sell vulnerable systems.

Humor at Karn - "No Mental Theft Act" Needed, Congress Told. Law would mandate mind-erasing drugs for every movie-goer

[ ... ]

"Our undercover investigators have finally discovered why ticket sales to most newly released movies drop so dramatically in the first week or so", said Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

"Hundreds of millions of movie-goers pay a mere $7.50 each, but they leave with mental copies of images and sounds of movies that cost us billions of dollars to make. This is blatant theft of our valuable intellectual property!"

Because of this rampant mental piracy, Valenti said, "few ever return to a theater to see a movie even for a second time. This deprives our industry of billions of dollars in lost revenue, and it forces us to spend billions every year just to make new movies in a never-ending battle to stay ahead of the pirates."

Valenti was especially critical of a few brazen individuals who regularly use television and newspapers to disseminate mentally pirated movies, often before they're even open to the public. As a result of this piracy -- a gaping loophole in present copyright law -- many millions of people do not see most movies even once.

"These reprehensible individuals -- some of whom are rich and nationally famous by their misdeeds -- cost us billions of dollars in lost sales every year."

Found above link at McGee's Musings.

Computerworld New Zealand - Mental health report fingers IT security, privacy.

A government report into the killing of Malcolm Beggs by his schizophrenic flatmate has fingered computer systems and a lack of consistency in privacy and security procedures relating to the storage of mental health information.

The report, prepared by the Mental Health Commission for the Minister of Health on the causes of the killing of Beggs by his flatmate Lachlan Jones in 1994, suggests there is considerable debate amongst mental health services staff about the appropriateness of computerising mental health service information and concerns about ensuring the appropriate level of security.

With the mental health sector's move towards computerisation of records, and the concept of one record per person carrying all details of their condition and treatment, "issues of access and security are under active consideration in [mental health] services", the report says.

FOXNews.com - Republicans Should Back Recording Artists, Consumers.

Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., is at it again. Although he represents South Carolina, Hollings is sometimes known as the "Senator from Disney" because of his eagerness to support the interests of the motion picture and record industries and their lobbying arms, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Hollings' loyalty to Big Entertainment -- which favored him with contributions of nearly $300,000 in the past election cycle -- was manifested last fall by his championing of the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act(SSSCA), which would mandate the inclusion of copy-protection in every digital device and every computer operating system.

And Hollings has proved that he is true to his salt, by holding hearings in support of the same idea last week, hearings at which he made no secret of his siding with the entertainment industries and against the interests of consumers.

[ ... ]

But what's bad judgment and betrayal of principle for Democrats is a political opportunity for Republicans, who can capitalize on that "backlash." Imagine this scenario: the Department of Justice investigates the record and motion picture industries for fraud, where artists are concerned, and price-fixing, where charges to consumers are concerned. (There wouldn't be anything bogus about doing so: I mentioned the vulnerability of the record industry to racketeering charges a few months ago at an entertainment-law panel discussion that I was moderating, in the hopes of stirring up a hot dispute between lawyers who represent artists and those who represent record companies. But, strikingly, everyone there agreed that the record companies were vulnerable on this ground.)

Slashdot | Fox Explains Why SSSCA Is Bad.

Fox News is running an article that slams Sen. Fritz Hollings ("The Senator from Disney") and the Democrats (with the notable exception of Rick Boucher) as having betrayed their principles. More importantly, the article explains why the SSSCA is so bad, in language any American can understand. It's nice to see someone in the mainstream media taking this beast on before it becomes law

Slashdot | Lessig's Creative Commons @ The FAA.

O'Reilly Network: ONLamp.com - Securing Small Networks with OpenBSD.

Fortunately, many good security products are available for free and can be implemented using commodity hardware components and free or open source software. This article describes the design and implementation of a small network with a split private/DMZ design that allows a high level of protection for its users while making some services available to the outside world. The design is easy to implement and administer, even for beginners, and can serve as a foundation for custom security installations.

Slashdot | Securing Small Networks with OpenBSD.