You can get out of the army if you're addicted to the Internet – in Finland. Young Finns are said to be using cyberaddiction to duck required military service, and it's being said that youthful Finnish Netizens are showing such painful withdrawal from their computers when they do report for their required six months' service that the Finnish Defense Forces – "showing their kind hearts," as one report put it – decided to excuse the cyberaddicts from the military. A reported 9 percent of 26,500 men called up last year were dismissed for medical reasons – but if those Net addicts show they kicked the cyberhabit, they can get back in three years later. We don't expect the Pentagon to try this program, however.
Finnish cyberaddiction could get worse before it gets better, especially with worldwide personal computer shipments staying strong in the second quarter of 2004 at a 15.5 percent year-over-year increase, according to Massachusetts-based market researcher IDC. The outfit said the data came in better than expected when held against their own projection, but Business Week said it came in just below its 16 percent year-over-year forecast. And, second-quarter PC global shipments dropped 3.6 percent from the first quarter.
Cyberaddiction stalls prospective Finnish military careers, but child porn will end what was called the promising career of a U.S. Navy petty officer, Petty Officer First Class Michael Schlink. The electronics technician on the USS O'Brien was sentenced to three months in jail and a bad conduct discharge Aug. 2, despite the prosecution at his court martial pushing for a six month sentence. He pleaded guilty to receiving and possessing about 300 images of girls under 18 but not prepubescent, as his defense attorney, Lt. Mary Thompson, told the presiding judge. "This is not someone who's obsessed with children," Thompson was quoted as telling the judge. "Simply looking at photographs is all [he's] done." Schlink was identified during an Operation Predator probe.
Remember Microsoft's bug bounty – the one which helped, among other things, bag the bugger who unleashed Netsky and Sasser on the cyberworld recently? Mozilla is getting in on the bounty county. The makers of Mozilla and Firefox Internet browsers will offer $500 for every serious bug found by security researchers, an announcement which came a week after the Mozilla Foundation confirmed the two browsers had serious issues dealing with digital certificates – the Internet's identity cards – just as Microsoft fixed serious Internet Explorer vulnerabilities. "Recent events illustrate the need for this type of commitment," said Mozilla Foundation president Mitchell Baker in a statement. "The [program] will help us unearth security issues earlier, allowing our supporters to provide us with a head start on correcting vulnerabilities before they are exploited by malicious hackers."
Information on Massachusetts sex offenders can now be posted on the Internet. The state's highest court ruled Aug. 2 that citizens' rights to know whether so-called Level Three sex offenders (those thought most likely to repeat their crimes) outweigh the offenders' right to privacy. "We do not live in a utopian society,'' said the Massachusetts Supreme Justice Court in its ruling. "By reason of the necessities of the situation, the registration information of level three sex offenders, lawfully determined to pose a high risk of danger to others, may be posted on the Internet to protect society.'' A lower court blocked the state from posting the information when five such sex offenders sued. There is no word yet on whether the SJC ruling will be appealed.
Minnesota wants to keep porn away from sex offenders in treatment. A new law prohibits sex offenders committed civilly from possessing porn in state-run treatment facilities. The state already bans porn from state prisons.
