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US 'should quit tobacco talks' Tuesday, 25 February, 2003, 17:35 GMT

Health campaigners are demanding the US withdraw from negotiations about an international anti-tobacco treaty.

A coalition of US medical groups claim that the Bush administration is trying to sabotage the talks because it wants to protect the interests of the tobacco industry.

The call follows complaints from developing countries that the US is using bully boy tactics and financial threats to try to water down the agreement.

John Seffin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, said: "The US government is working methodically to weaken virtually every aspect of this treaty.

"The time has come for the US to stand aside and allow the rest of the world to complete a treaty strong enough to change the course of the tobacco epidemic."

And Alfred Munzer, of the American Lung Association, said: "I am ashamed of the role my government has played in the negotiations.

"It has clearly sacrificed long-term improvement in global public health to serve the interests of an industry whose product is responsible for four million deaths annually from cancer, heart disease and emphysema."

Good faith

However, Terry Pechacek, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a member of the US delegation, was adamant that his team was negotiating in "good faith".

He said: "We are making a very sincere effort to bring home a treaty which can be signed and ratified."

Government representatives have until Friday to agree on the so-called Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The vast majority of countries want the treaty to introduce sweeping restrictions against tobacco, including a total advertising ban and tough labelling controls.

Developing nations also want the agreement to state that health should be given priority over trade in international law - thus protecting them from potential US action in the World Trade Organization if they try to impose restrictions on cigarette imports.

However, the US has flatly rejected an advertising ban, saying it would violate constitutional principles of free speech.

It is also insisting on the right to be exempted from provisions it does not like.

Thailand's Hatai Chitanondh said the US delegation had told the meeting that it would stop funding anti-tobacco programmes if it didn't get its way.

He said: "It's very arrogant. The US has the technology and sophisticated tobacco control programs and yet they are behaving like this toward the rest of the world."

The World Health Organization, which is sponsoring the talks, predicts 10 million people a year will die from smoking-related diseases by 2030.

US blocks cheap drugs agreement Saturday, 21 December, 2002, 13:21 GMT

The deal was agreed by 143 countries The United States has blocked an international agreement to allow poor countries to buy cheap drugs.

This means millions of poor people will still not have access to medicines for diseases such as HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.

US negotiators say the deal would allow too many drugs patents to be ignored.

Talks have now been rescheduled for February, but the international medical organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, told the BBC that there was little chance of them succeeding.

Hopes dashed

The talks, held at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, broke up early on Saturday.

"I have to say, there is no way to sugar-coat this bitter pill. We are disappointed," the Canadian representative, Sergio Marchi said.

"One-hundred and forty-three countries stood on the same ground, we were hoping to make that unanimous."

The principle of allowing developing countries access to cheap versions of drugs still protected by copyright had been agreed at WTO talks a year ago.

But it is not clear if that principle can be turned into a detailed agreement that all sides are happy with.

Under current rules, countries are required to respect drugs patents for 20 years.

Critics say this delays the production of much cheaper generic medicines, which are needed in developing countries because patients and health services cannot afford the more expensive versions.

The WTO talks are aimed at relaxing the rules on intellectual property rights to enable countries in need to import cheaper versions of essential drugs.

While the talks have dragged on through the year, the problem of HIV/Aids has grown worse.

Figures released by the United Nations last month showed that more than 40 million people are now living with the disease.

Consensus not possible

The United States said the proposed deal would mean that illnesses that are not infectious, such as diabetes and asthma, could also be treated with cheap, generic drugs.

The US negotiator, Linnet Deily, said her country "could not meet the consensus on the issue".

In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 30 million people are estimated to be infected with the HIV/Aids virus.

African negotiators say the fears expressed by the United States are unfounded.

"Any attempt to redefine this declaration will unravel the careful balance achieved on many issues," Kenyan negotiator Amina Chawahir Mohamed told the Geneva meeting, the AFP news agency reports.

The medical organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told BBC News Online that it was now "time to find solutions outside the WTO".

"If there had been any flexibility to reach an agreement, the United States would have shown that flexibility.

"This is not just a failure of the Geneva talks, but of two years of negotiations," Ellen 'pHoen said.

She said individual countries should now go ahead and allow their own pharmaceutical industries to export to other countries that need cheaper drugs.

MSF argues that that is already allowed for under the 1994 agreement brokered by the World Trade Organisation.

Such moves would almost certainly trigger disputes with the US and major western drugs companies which the WTO would have to settle.

Flaw exposes Microsoft ID service Friday, 9 May, 2003, 11:35 GMT 12:35 UK

Microsoft has admitted that for the last seven months up to 200 million Passport accounts have been vulnerable to plundering by thieves and malicious hackers.

The loophole in the online identity service only seems to have been exploited in the last month and Microsoft said it had locked all compromised accounts and fixed the bug.

The vulnerability lets a criminal get access to a Passport account using a specific web address and a trigger phrase.

It was discovered by a Pakistani researcher who had some of his own accounts hijacked by hackers exploiting the flaw.

Simple attack

Passport is closely tied to Microsoft's Windows XP, Hotmail and instant messaging products.

" It was so simple to do it. It shouldn't have been so simple. Anyone could have done this " Muhammad Faisal Rauf Danka, Pakistani researcher

Some online businesses use Passport as an ID guarantee to let people access personalised accounts and buy goods or services online.

Criminals exploiting the flaw could have gained access to personal information, credit card details and online mail accounts.

The Passport bug was found by Muhammad Faisal Rauf Danka, chief technology officer at Pakistani net service firm Gem Net.

Some of the Passport accounts owned by Mr Danka and his friends had been hijacked.

In discovering how this was done, he found the website that gives privileged access to personal accounts and lets passwords be reset.

"It was so simple to do it. It shouldn't have been so simple," said Mr Danka, "Anyone could have done this."

Reportedly Mr Danka sent 10 messages to Microsoft detailing the vulnerability but got no response.

Microsoft only reacted when information about the flaw was posted online

The flaw has left 200 million Passport accounts vulnerable for the last seven months. The website giving access to the accounts has now been shut down.

The security lapse is embarrassing for Microsoft which is trying to shed its image of a software maker with a lax attitude to security.

The bug could leave the software giant open to fines from the US Federal Trade Commission.

Under an agreement reached with the FTC in mid-2002 Microsoft said it would take reasonable steps to protect Passport accounts, pledged to stop overselling the security of the sign-in system and agreed to pay fines if it failed in its duty.

Microsoft potentially faces an enormous fine if the full fee of $11,000 per security lapse is applied.

Thursday, 29 May, 2003, 20:41 GMT 21:41 UK Microsoft settles lawsuit for $750m

Computer giant Microsoft has agreed to pay $750m (£454m) to settle a lawsuit claiming it used its dominance to crush competition. The case involved Netscape Communications which now belongs to the AOL group. As part of the agreement, Microsoft will give a new royalty-free, seven-year licence of its browsing technology to AOL. And it will provide technical information to AOL to ensure that its products run effectively on Microsoft's Windows operating system. " I'm excited about the opportunity to work together collaboratively to make the digital decade a reality " Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman The two companies will also work together to develop high-quality digital media over the internet. More lawsuits AOL alleged in the lawsuit that Microsoft used anti-competitive business practices to ensure the dominance of its Internet Explorer browsing software over Netscape's software. AOL also argued that Microsoft made deals with computer manufacturers and other companies to shut out Netscape and stifle competition. "While our companies will continue to compete, I'm pleased that we've been able to resolve our prior dispute and I'm excited about the opportunity to work together collaboratively to make the digital decade a reality," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said. AOL Time Warner's chairman and chief executive, Dick Parsons, said he welcomed the opportunity to build a more productive relationship with Microsoft. "Our agreement to work together on digital media initiatives marks an important step forward." There are still several other private lawsuits pending against Microsoft over anti-competitive behaviour.

Microsoft faces new legal challenge Friday, 29 November, 2002, 19:30 GMT

Bill Gates: Back in court again? The state of Massachusetts has said it will appeal against a federal court ruling upholding Microsoft's controversial anti-trust deal with the US government.

The appeal, if successful, could revive attempts by Microsoft's opponents to break the firm's dominance of the software market through legal sanctions.

Massachusetts is one of nine US states that refused to go along with a settlement last year which ended a federal government inquiry into alleged market abuse by the software giant.

The nine 'rebel' states argued that the original settlement let Microsoft off too lightly, and went back to court to press for tougher penalties.

Last stand

But US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected their arguments earlier this month in a ruling which endorsed the original anti-trust deal.

Seven of the other eight rebel states said on Friday they would not challenge the decision, with the remaining state - West Virginia - due to decide by Monday.

Monday is the deadline for state authorities to decide whether to contest Ms Kollar Kotelly's ruling.

Massachusetts state officials said they would if necessary act alone in an effort to prevent possible future competitive abuses by Mircosoft.

"We are prepared to go our own way," said Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly.

"Left to its own devices ... Microsoft will contine to engage in predatory practices and eliminate any real chance for consumer choice or business innovation."

Market dominance

The original anti-trust probe came in response to complaints that Microsoft had designed its Windows operating system - used on 80% of the world's personal computers - in such a way that it was difficult to run non-Microsoft products alongside it.

Microsoft was found guilty of anti-competitive behaviour, and, under the terms of the final settlement, was ordered to make technical information available to competitors so that they could design software that would run smoothly with Windows.

But the settlement stopped short of breaking Microsoft up into two separate companies, a measure that many of its opponents had called for.

Microsoft agrees $1.1bn legal deal Saturday, 11 January, 2003, 15:05 GMT

Microsoft still faces other legal fights The American software giant, Microsoft, has agreed to give away vouchers worth more than a billion dollars to settle private lawsuits filed by customers in California.

Some 13 million Californian businesses and individuals will be offered the vouchers to purchase computer equipment and software including, if they want, non-Microsoft products.

The offer must still be approved by the judge hearing the case.

It involved accusations that Microsoft overcharged customers in California and abused its dominant market position.

Lawyers say the agreement could also benefit three million children in thousands of California schools.

'We feel good'

Microsoft has been dogged by lawsuits accusing it of abusing its dominant position in the world's computer business. Many cases are still pending.

But Microsoft lawyer Brad Smith said the California deal was highly significant.

"California represented by far the largest number of remaining lawsuits and by far the largest number of consumers affected.

"We feel very good that we've put these cases behind us in California and we feel confident about resolving other cases as well," Mr Smith said.

Education benefits

The case was due to open in court in February.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in 1999. It covers California consumers who bought any of the following Microsoft products over a six-year period:

Windows operating system Spreadsheet system Word processing software Productivity suite

Microsoft said the vouchers affected consumers receive will be valid for "any manufacturer's desktop, laptop and tablet computers, any software used with those computer products and specified peripheral devices for use with computers".

Local schools will benefit because they will get two-thirds of any of the settlement that is unclaimed.

"It is a tremendous result for California's businesses and consumers and will also benefit our schools at a time when that help is desperately needed," lawyer Richard Grossman said.

'Buying justice

But not everyone is happy.

John Perry Barlow of the lobby group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which campaigns to protect people's computer rights, believes Microsoft has got off lightly.

"This seems to be a country where you can buy justice pretty easily these days," he said, the Associated Press news agency reports.

In a separate development, a judge in the state of Maryland has refused a request by Microsoft to dismiss private antitrust claims filed against it by three rival software companies. He said there was sufficient evidence for the cases to go forward.

Last November a judge in Washington approved a settlement Microsoft struck with the US Government. That settlement was brought in response for demands that the software giant be broken up.

A number of US states have appealed against that decision.

Microsoft ordered to carry Java Monday, 23 December, 2002, 22:16 GMT Sun Microsystems is crossing swords with Microsoft A US judge has ordered software giant Microsoft to include Sun Microsystem's Java programming language in its widely-used Windows operating system.

The order is to remain in force pending the final outcome of a lawsuit brought by Sun Microsystems against Microsoft.

Sun claims that the software giant tried to marginalise Java by making a recent version of Windows, used on 90% of the world's personal computers, incompatible with the programming language.

US district judge J Frederick Motz agreed to impose the preliminary 'must-carry' order against Microsoft at Sun Microsystems' request.

Judge Motz said Microsoft had "leveraged its PC monopoly to create market conditions in which it is unfairly advantaged."

Edged out

The Sun case is one of four brought by competitors in the wake of Microsoft's long anti-trust suit with the US government.

The company was found to have abused its monopoly position, although the remedies were watered down extensively in a court ruling this year.

At stake for Sun is the future of Java, Sun's cross-platform programming language.

Java was created so programmers could "write once, run anywhere" - in other words, create programs which were not dependent on the user's computer using a specific operating system.

Microsoft has opposed Java for years, fearing it could eat into its Windows monopoly over the desktop, and made sure the Java included with Windows would not work properly with other operating systems.

Initially it refused to put Java in its Windows XP system released last year, but has since said it will include its own version - although only until 2004.

Teenager wins DVD court battle Tuesday, 7 January, 2003, 14:22 GMT A Norwegian court has acquitted a teenager accused by US entertainment groups of creating tools for hackers

The court acquitted Jon Johansen on all charges and said he did not break the law when he created a system that could remove copy protection on DVDs.

The ruling by the court said there was no evidence that Mr Johansen was helping people break the law as the US film industry claimed.

The decision is a serious blow to US entertainment industry ambitions to extend control over what people can with the movies, music and software they have bought.

Fair use

In 1999, Norwegian police raided the home of teenager Jon Lech Johansen following a complaint by US entertainment giants that the software he had created was being used to help people pirate DVDs.

Mr Johansen produced software, called DeCSS, that could strip the Content Scrambling System (CSS) from DVD disks.

Mr Johansen said he created the DeCSS software to let him watch DVDs he purchased on a Linux computer rather than an expensive DVD player.

Mr Johansen maintained that he should have the right to watch films he had legally bought on a device of his choosing.

Now the Norwegian court has backed Mr Johansen and said there was "no evidence" that what he did was aiding DVD piracy.

With no evidence that Mr Johansen was engaged in piracy or that he was aiding others to illegally copy disks the Norwegian court had no choice but to acquit the teenager.

The court also ruled that it was not illegal to use DeCSS to watch legally obtained DVD films.

Media mogul

The court case pitted the mighty Motion Picture Association of America against Mr Johansen and was widely seen as a test case for US ambitions to extend its control over what people can do with copyrighted materials.

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten broke the news about the court case.

US laws, such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, have encouraged movie and music industry associations to pursue people who they see as aiding piracy.

These ambitions have been dented recently by two court decisions.

The first concerned Russian software firm Elcomsoft which was accused of creating tools that could unlock encryption controls of electronic books.

But in late 2002 a US court acquitted Elcomsoft and said the firm had done nothing wrong.

Now Norwegian judges have issued another rebuff to the US entertainment giants.

US net porn law overturned Friday, 31 May, 2002, 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK Law designed to protect children against net porn A US law designed to shield children from internet porn has been overturned.

Three federal judges said the law forcing libraries to use internet filters designed to block pornography went too far.

This is because the filters could also block access to sites that contain protected speech and could violate the First Amendment.

The case highlights the conflict between the right to free speech and the desire to protect children against obscenity on the web.

Speech concerns

The Children's Internet Protection Act, passed by Congress just over a year ago, sought to prevent children from accessing pornographic material on the internet.

Public libraries would have had to install the filters by July or risk losing federal funding.

But in their 195-page ruling, the judges said it would "restrict access to a substantial amount of protected speech."

They also said they were concerned that library visitors who wanted to view sites blocked by filtering software might be embarrassed or lose their right to remain anonymous because they would have to ask permission to have the sites unblocked.

Online content

The decision is a victory for the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Filters are not the only, or the best, way to protect children," said ALA President John Berry.

"Filters provide a false sense of security that children are protected when they are not."

Groups fighting the law argue the software designed to filter out pornographic material can still let it through, while inadvertently blocking internet sites such as on breast cancer or homosexuality.

US Government lawyers maintain that the law is not intended to censor libraries.

They say the law calls for libraries to use the same care in selecting online content that they use for books and magazines.

Any appeal against the latest ruling will go directly to the US Supreme Court.

China cracks down on cybercafes Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 12:24 GMT

Parents are complaining that their children are hooked By Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai

The Chinese authorities say they have closed more than 17,000 internet cafes as part of a sustained campaign to tighten controls on the internet.

Another 28,000 have been ordered to install special monitoring software.

Shanghai's Wen Hui newspaper said the campaign had scored a preliminary success in cleaning up problems which it said included an excessive number of internet cafes, and sloppy management.

The latest figures from what may be the world's largest-ever internet clean-up show that Chinese police and commercial officials have checked more than 94,000 cafes since April.

According to Wen Hui, just over half had their licences renewed, but almost 17,500 were closed down.

The clean-up was ordered by China's cabinet, partly in response to complaints from parents that their children were becoming hooked on internet chat rooms, or on the computer games and pornographic websites which many internet cafes offered to attract customers.

The authorities also want to prevent access to political and dissident websites, and those belonging to some foreign media organisations.

And Wen Hui said all licensed internet cafes are now installing special security software which blocks access to such sites, and keeps a record of which web pages a user has visited.

Internet licence

Internet cafes, many consisting of just a few computers in a room, are used by over four million of China's estimated 27 million internet users.

But there have been frequent reports of teenagers staying out all night, or being robbed by people they have met in internet chat rooms.

Many cities have now banned internet cafes from areas near schools, and are limiting young people's access to them.

And in Shanghai, several thousand middle school students have received what is called an internet driving licence, after taking special training courses designed to protect them from the perils of the World Wide Web.