Two Philippines e-mail addresses may have launched the Love Bug computer virus, according to the Internet service provider which hosts them. Access Net said the virus' author, still unknown, used two of its Supernet e-mail addresses to send the Love Bug out into the world. "So far what we've done is we have disabled the two email addresses and we've disabled the ability to create new email addresses until this situation is resolved," Access Net CEO Jose Carlotta told Reuters. The problem: Supernet is a pre-paid service and that means no way to trace the actual owners of the e-mail accounts, not to mention a hacker based anywhere on the planet could have used the addresses. The Philippine origin of the e-mail addresses which launched the Love Bug led to suspicion that the virus itself might have had Filipino origin, but that suspicion is a long way from being confirmed, if it can be. Access Net is cooperating with the Philippines' government and any other agency worldwide asking for help. The Love Bug is now considered the fastest and most widespread computer virus yet.
NEW YORK - The judge who ruled MP3.com was a copyright violator has handed down an opinion on that late April ruling which also says the controversial company doesn't just store copyrighted material - it plays it over the Internet without copyright owner permission. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff handed down the explanatory opinion May 4. The rulings mean a big win for the recording industry, some of whose biggest labels sued MP3.com in January charging copyright infringement involving over 80,000 albums in MP3.com's database. The Rakoff ruling sent MP3.com stock plunging down to its lowest levels yet. MP3 had claimed they were the "functional equivalent" of storing CDs which were already purchased, but the judge sided with the recording industry in ruling that MP3.com actually replayed converted versions of recordings it copied without authorization.
