Alan Cox has issued a wake up call to the Linux community amid concerns that the pending European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD) could stymie open source development.

The directive, which was approved last year, extends European copyright legislation so that it is even more restrictive than America's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), critics argue. National governments have until December 22 to incorporate the directive in national legislation.

Slashdot | Alan Cox Attacks the European DMCA.

Political News from Wired News - White House Cool to Hollings' Act.

The Bush administration is lukewarm on a plan to embed copy-protection technology in software and consumer electronics.

James Rogan, the Commerce Department's undersecretary for intellectual property, has expressed mild skepticism about a bill championed by Senate Commerce chairman Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina).

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Rogan, who advises President Bush on copyright matters and runs the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is a big fan of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) -- a controversial law that's currently the subject of at least three lawsuits.

At a conference on Thursday, Rogan said: "The DMCA carefully balances the interests of all stakeholders to ensure that content owners would enjoy the protection they need to put their works on the Internet and to ensure that appropriate fair use is maintained for consumers, scientists and educators."

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Commerce Department Cool to CBDTPA.

L. J. Beauregard writes: "Wired reports that the Commerce Department is not too thrilled about S.2048. Commerce Secretary James Rogan claims that 'the DMCA carefully balances the interests of all stakeholders,' a claim that marks him for a corporate whore, but it seems that there are some things even whores won't do."

Discover Vol. 23 No. 5 (May 2002) Future Tech: Hack-Proof Chatting. The race is on to make unbreakable codes by tapping into the oddities of quantum physics

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The Los Alamos team is one of at least a dozen groups worldwide that are harnessing quantum physics to develop perfect encryption: coded messages impervious to the efforts of hackers. IBM researchers built the first working prototype quantum cryptographic system in 1989. But now researchers are about to make unbreakable security available to businesses swapping sensitive economic data, military commanders discussing top-secret plans, or ordinary people who want to know they can speak freely without fear of eavesdroppers.

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Because an eavesdropper can measure the polarizations only half the time, he would have to guess half the time when he sends out replacement photons to cover his tracks. On average, a quarter of the substitute bits would be wrong. The sender and intended receiver could easily detect that error rate, so there would be no way to tap into a quantum message without announcing your presence. "That's really the crucial thing the quantum physics buys for you," Hughes says.

Slashdot | Quantum Cryptography In Action.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer - The latest way to pay is at our fingertips.

Consumers enroll in the system by putting their index finger on an image reader, which runs digital information for 13 points on the finger through a formula, and stores the encrypted information on Indivos servers. Consumers register whichever cards or accounts they want associated with their finger scan.

"It takes about one minute to enroll," Kapioski said. Enrollment begins Wednesday and is strictly voluntary, he emphasized. Wary customers still will be able to pay the old-fashioned way if they want.

Once enrolled, consumers won't need to hassle with their wallets or purses. Instead, they'll just pass their fingers over the image reader.

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Employees underwent 15 or 20 minutes of training in the system this week.

Slashdot | Your Fingerprint Buys Groceries in Seattle.

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Employees seen as computer saboteurs.

The dangers disgruntled employees posed was highlighted by a survey showing that almost half of the most serious security incidents businesses suffered last year were caused by company workers.

Slashdot | Employees Are The Biggest Security Threat.