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Companies could use 'intermediate' web security certificates to spy
A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted entity that issues electronic certificates (duh) to verify identity on the Internet. They're a key part of secure communications online -- and thus super important. Then there's intermediate CAs, signed by a root CA, making certificates for any website. However, they're just as powerful as those root ones. Worse still, there's no full list for the ones your system trusts because root CAs can make new ones whenever it wants, and our computers will trust 'em immediately. This is a problem when companies get their hands on them, although they could have legitimate reasons for using an intermediate CA within their own networks.
Movie producers call for an end to the 'Six Strikes' rule
It may sound like the fictional government department that Patricia Arquette works for in CSI: Cyber, but that's not what the Internet Security Task Force is for. In fact, the ITSF is a group of independent film companies that have banded together to call for immediate reform on how internet piracy is handled. In a statement, entitled "Six Strikes and You're (Not Even Close To) Out," this gang of "small business owners" express dismay at America's Copyright Alert System.
Copyright Alert System gets started, ISPs ready to lay the smack down on P2P piracy (update)
The fight against online piracy just gained a new weapon in the form of the Copyright Alert System (CAS) aka the "six strikes" policy. Starting today, participating ISPs like Verizon, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Comcast will begin issuing warnings to customers suspected of using illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing services that violate copyright laws. Initial notifications will be used to educate and direct customers to legal alternative content sources. If the first set of notifications go avoided, the ISP may take further action, which includes: throttling internet connection speeds and redirecting users to websites requiring acknowledgment of CAS alerts. If a person wishes to contest their ISP's findings, they will have 14 calendar days to request an independent review by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) for a fee of $35. If the investigation finds that no copyright violations have taken place, the alerts will be removed from the customer's account and they will receive a refund for the filing fee. However, should the organization's research rule otherwise, the internet service provider may proceed with taking action against its account holder. To get a closer look at the CAS and its inner workings, "redirect" your browser to the source links below. Update: AT&T has reached out with an official statement on this matter. Read on past the break.
Casual games get bad reviews, no one cares
It's a tale nearly as old as gaming ... critical darlings like Psychonauts and Shadow of the Colossus sell, like, three copies each while critically drubbed dreck like Carnival Games and Cars flies to the top of the charts. Why do people buy this stuff? Maybe because they don't care about the reviews."I get less concerned about game reviews because the casual gamers don't read any of those things," EA Casual president Kathy Vrabeck told Next-Gen. Don't casual gamers want to know what's good? Sure they do, but according to Vrabeck, specialist reviews don't cover the things casual gamers care about. "It's a little bit amusing, in that it's people reviewing games against measures that are important to core gamers yet are not important to casual gamers," she said.So do reviewers need to change their outlook or do casual gamers need to get better taste? Maybe neither, with sites like Gamezebo and Casual Review looking at the casual space on its own merits. Or maybe we should just ask casual gamers to put down the phone. "The measurement [of a game's appeal] for women aged 25 to 34 would more likely be whether or not they'd hang up on their girlfriend to play this game," EA Casual Marketing VP Russell Arons told Next-Gen. "'Would you hang up a phone conversation for this game?' That'd probably be a truer measure for that target audience."
