April 2006 Articles

    • Ballmer blames bad guys for Microsoft pricing

      28 Apr 2006

      Steve Ballmer is blaming software pirates for the premium pricing Microsoft charges on products like Office and Windows. But he speculated that the advent of web-based services could see a lowering of Microsoft's charges.

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    • Blanket licence launched for music quiz games

      28 Apr 2006

      The UK’s Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society has introduced a new blanket licence to enable easier access to music for use in computer games, board games and DVDs. rates start at £1.50 for games that use up to 150 music clips of up to...

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    • OFT examines internet shopping market

      28 Apr 2006

      A fact-finding study into online shopping was launched by the Office of Fair Trading yesterday to determine whether consumers have confidence in e-commerce – and whether they receive a fair deal with, for example, music downloads and holiday bookings....

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    • Guidance on privacy tools from Britain's privacy chief

      28 Apr 2006

      The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued brief guidance to bring to a wider audience the use of privacy enhancing technologies, or PETs, to help protect people’s personal information.

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    • IT security becomes a priority for UK boardrooms

      27 Apr 2006

      Three times as many companies have a security policy as did six years ago and 98% of businesses have anti-virus software in place – although a quarter are still without spyware protection, according to the latest Government-sponsored survey of information...

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    • Red Letter Days loses domain name claim

      27 Apr 2006

      The UK pioneer of giving an experience as a gift has failed in a bid to confiscate the domain name redletterdays.com from a Swiss seller of "special envelopes for special days" whose site advertises another seller of experience vouchers.

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    • ACAS helps employers grasp age discrimination

      27 Apr 2006

      Acas, the employment relations organisation, launched new guidance today to help employers and individuals understand how imminent age discrimination legislation will affect them. It comes with a warning: employers need to act now to beat the deadline....

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    • ID Card database to be used as population register

      27 Apr 2006

      The Government announced last week that data from the National Identity Register (NIR) will also be used as an adult population register for a range of novel data sharing functions. The Office of National Statistics had promoted a separate adult population...

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    • Ethics can speed IT development, says professor

      26 Apr 2006

      Better ethics can help IT professionals deliver more effective products and services according to a De Montfort University computer expert. Too much is left to chance, warns Professor Simon Rogerson, but "explicit use of ethics" is the answer.

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    • Intellectual property crimes face stiffer penalties in EU

      26 Apr 2006

      Perhaps in celebration of this being World Intellectual Property Day, the European Commission has today adopted an amended proposal for a Directive to combat intellectual property offences. Minimum fines of €100,000 are proposed.

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