Web getting seamier
Organised crime tightens grip
David Ljunggren
ORGANISED crime gangs are becoming ever more technically advanced and are behind a dramatic rise in the amount of child pornography spread over the Internet. In its annual report on organised crime, the Criminal Intelligence Service, Canada, has said some gangs are taking advantage of "seemingly limitless resources" to become proficient in high-tech operations. "It would appear that cost is no object when it comes to attaining or developing leading-edge technology to facilitate crimes or engage in counter-surveillance against rivals or law enforcement," the report says.

Trouble over control
Wong Choon Mei
A fight over the role of governments in managing the Internet is brewing as policymakers prepare for a UN-backed summit on the network’s future.

Explain laptop use, Bihar MLAs asked
Imran Khan
LEGISLATORS in Bihar will have to wait a while before they can start tapping away at the personal laptops the government has offered them. They will have to first explain how they propose to put them to productive use.

Linux, the bone of contention
Yuri Balgir
THE decisive and technically intricate battle going on for sometime between one of the biggest and oldest company in computer industry and a small $ 300 million company known for possessing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to the most famous and successfully running, commercial network operating system (Unix) has attracted the attention of all now.

Indo-Pak hackers battle in cyberspace
Kunal Jindal
AS Indian soldiers fight the proxy war launched by Pakistani terrorists, hackers are spearheading a war on another turf — the Web. The first cyber war between India and Pakistan started after India carried out Pokhran II tests in May 1998. A group of hackers called milwOrm, immediately broke into Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’s (BARC) Website and posted anti-India messages.

E-books down but not out
Franklin Paul
DON'T slam the cover on digital books just yet. Readers hungry for a good page-turner will still turn to bookstores and libraries, but cheaper computers and changing consumer habits suggest that electronic books, or e-books, still have a future.

Your mobile could be making you senile
Prasun Sonwalkar
USING the mobile may make you senile prematurely, new research suggests. A whole generation of teenagers face premature senility in the prime of their lives due to the use of mobile phones and new wireless technology. The study warns specifically against "the intense use of mobile phones by youngsters". In recent years, there has been very little research on the health effects of using mobiles due to industry pressures.

Relax and keep ‘Eyes’ open for best deals
Intelligent agents to make online shopping easier
Sonal Chawla
E-COMMERCE is creating a vast market place with enormous number of products and pricing options. Today, information about products and vendors is easily available on the Web with orders and payments being automated. But there are several stages in the buying process, like buying decisions, product search, purchase, payment, price discovery etc., that are time consuming.

Geeks fight PC fatigue
Imran Quereshi
AFTER providing banking solutions and services, IT professionals at I-Flex, Bangalore, are now busy making different types of salads, a manifestation of the health consciousness that appears to be sweeping India’s IT sector.