• The recording and movie industries scored a major victory today. In agreements with major telecoms, they've made plans to disrupt the internet service of people who are suspected of sharing or downloading copyrighted material. Wired reports:

 

On the first offense, internet subscribers will receive an e-mail “alert” from their ISP saying the account “may have been” misused for online content theft. On the second offense, the alert might contain an “educational message” about the legalities of online file sharing.

 

On the third and fourth infractions, the subscriber will likely receive a pop-up notice “asking the subscriber to acknowledge receipt of the alert.”

 

After four alerts, according to the program, “mitigation measures” may commence. They include “temporary reductions of internet speeds, redirection to a landing page until the subscriber contacts the ISP to discuss the matter or reviews and responds to some educational information about copyright, or other measures (as specified in published policies) that the ISP may deem necessary to help resolve the matter.”

• Yahoo announces changes in its terms of service policy to better enable email-based marketing. The new policy allows Yahoo "to spy on incoming emails from individuals and businesses without prior permission or warning."
• A sophisticated cyber attack temporarily shut down the email and web servers of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, an Energy Department research facility. 
• Public Intelligence reports on yet another database to manage tracking people and looking for suspicious activity. The DHS' ICE Pattern Analysis and Information Collection (ICEPIC) system was set up in 2008. Click here to learn more about the system.