Revenge was the reason Paul Clarke posted a video on the Internet of himself and his former girlfriend, Cara Whitehouse, having sex – not to mention passing around business cards with the Website's address at her 21st birthday party, to her neighbors and colleagues. That's what prosecutors told a London court, adding that the site, which featured explicit images of Whitehouse and abusive comments got 300 hits before it was shut down. Clarke has pleaded guilty and the case is in pre-sentencing hearings.
Saying they want to promote responsible gaming, British charity GamCare has called for tighter restrictions on Internet gambling advertising, suggesting there should be constraints similar to those imposed on the British adult Web. GamCare hopes to address the Home Office on the matter, with its remote gambling specialist Michael Smeaton saying there should be a code of conduct. "I think popups… are inappropriate," he said, concurring with the Interactive Gaming Council, whose new advertising code includes warning casinos that popups and spam fuel anti-Internet gambling arguments and activities.
The American Library Association thinks software companies providing schools antipiracy materials are giving only one side of the story – and the ALA wants to do something about that, presenting its own materials on the issue for the first time, saying they want to give students as balanced a view of copyright law as possible. The ALA will send its materials to high school librarians this winter, saying trade associations like the Business Software Alliance and the Motion Picture Association of America do not address adequately issues like fair use practices and doctrines.
Internet auction kings eBay aren't just for buying and selling collectibles, bric-a-brac, and other assorted items and materials. eBay said August 13 they bought 25 percent of craigslist, an online network of classified advertising and forums. The terms weren't revealed but the deal was done through a former craigslist worker who sold eBay the stake after contacting the online auctioneer with the proposal. Susan MacTavish Best, a craigslist spokeswoman, told reporters the 25 percent sale to eBay didn't mean craigslist was going to look for any more corporate buyers.
Open source advocates got themselves a high-profile supporter this week, when electronics and entertainment retail chain Circuit City elected to use for its six hundred stores the IBM SurePOS 300 cash registers that run the Linux platform. Linux has been fighting an uphill battle to get some legs as a desktop operator in the business world, but a deal like Circuit City's could be seen as a big shot of rocket fuel for a system known to be in less than five percent of the installed base of North American cash registers. But Circuit City isn't alone in retail Linux newcomers: automotive retail and service chain Pep Boys recently moved to the Linux-based IBM registers, too, for all 595 Pep Boys stores.
