Eric Eisner launches Romp.com officially on May 15. The plan includes ten animated and two live shows updated each day, "one seemingly raunchier than the last," according to the Hollywood Reporter. And the smart money so far says there's no way to mistake Romp with any Disney property. The younger Eisner himself said his father is much amused by the venture. "He and Bruce (Forman, his partner) confer about the site all the time - and mostly end up laughing," he told the Reporter. "My father thinks it's a successful business venture." It may well become that in due course, but for now Eisner and company are just worrying about getting traffic. They're also mulling whether to syndicate their content to other sites and even run a pay site, which isn't always known for non-porn content, although Romp features will likely include sex between animals as well as images of scantily-clad women. "People pay for entertainment all the time," Eisner told the Reporter. "When the Internet becomes compelling enough, people will pay for it.
REDMOND, Wash. - Hotmail went offline for about half of May 10's business day while Microsoft closed a security hole leaving users' e-mail vulnerable to hacking. Hotmail was taken offline at 8 a.m. and restored at noontime while the hole was plugged. Ordinarily slow to respond to security problems, Hotmail may have gone to work faster this time in the wake of the Love Bug virus which hit another Microsoft program - Outlook, also an e-mail program. The Hotmail hole would have allowed attackers to send malicious e-mails which could be used to read, send, and delete messages from user accounts, according to Wired - which also said one of its readers tipped off its Website to the problem and prompted Microsoft to take action.
SYDNEY - There's one place in cyberspace which is full of crooks - and a waiting list, apparently. CrimeNet, based in Melbourne, went live earlier in May and it's been all but flooded by Net surfers. The pay site publicizes Australian criminal records, and its creators say the fat traffic shows a public hunger for that kind of information - but civil libertarians and privacy advocates say not so fast. They say CrimeNet raises disturbing questions about punishment and rehabilitation, as well as potential trouble from inaccuracies, outdated information, mistaken identities, and "rattling skeletons that could haunt one-time offenders for the rest of their lives," according to Wired. "The really big issues are the extent to which someone who has served time in jail is entitled to privacy once released," said Council of Civil Liberties president Kevin O'Rourke. "What this database will do is allow your neighborhood to find out about you, and then annoy, harass, or intimidate you."
