Monday, July 30, 2001		Latest in IT world

PLAN to send a risqué text message by telephone to a colleague or friend working for the Philippine government? Think twice - the ribaldry may now constitute sexual harassment. The government launched new rules to combat sexual harassment in the workplace and has targeted the wildly popular pastime of 'texting' as one practice it wants to stamp out. The Civil Service Commission said in a statement the new code for state workplaces classifies text messaging or e-mailing of "embarrassing, offensive or vulgar jokes" as an act of sexual harassment. The Commission said accomplices or individuals who cooperate with an offender may be liable too. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, applauded the new measures at a news conference, saying her own daughter had been a victim when she worked temporarily for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The police has seized a quantity of the latest accessory to hit mobile phone-mad Malaysia - plastic covers featuring pictures of naked celebrities with 'flashing private parts.' The police discovered the accessories, which sell for 25 to 50 ringgit ($ 7-13), when they raided phone shops in Seremban town south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, the Star newspaper reported. "The phones are modified to light up the private parts of actors or actresses when a user receives or makes a call," said police superintendent Abdul Razak Ghani. It was unclear if the actors were local or Hollywood stars. The police has been cracking down on all types of pornography since a series of brutal rapes and murders earlier this month. More than one in five Malaysians owns a mobile phone.

A new Internet virus nicknamed "Code Red" appears to be programming thousands of computer drones to launch an all-out cyber attack on the White House Web site, security experts said last week. The Code Red worm appears to instruct infected computers to launch a "denial of service" attack on the government Web site (www.whitehouse.gov), of the kind that took down major Internet sites such as Yahoo! Inc. and eBay Inc. in February last year, analysts said. The worm defaces English-language Web sites hosted by the computers it infects, displaying the slogan "Hacked by Chinese!", the security experts said. The origin of the virus was not clear. White House spokeswoman Jeannie Mamo said: "The White House has taken preventive measures aimed at minimizing any impact of ... the Code Red worm." A denial of service attack is intended to render the target site inaccessible to legitimate traffic by swamping it with requests for information.

The Compaq Computer Corporation, suffering from weak demand and cutthroat pricing in the personal computer market, reported a steep drop in second-quarter earnings last week as sales fell 17 per cent. Though the ailing market in the USA is showing signs of stabilising, Compaq said, customers in Europe and Asia have slowed their spending. In addition, Compaq's big rival, Dell Computer, continued to lower its prices, forcing the company to follow and cutting into its profit. For the quarter ended June 30, Compaq reported earnings, excluding special charges, of $ 67 million, or 4 cents a share, matching Wall Street's lowered expectations. Profits declined sharply from the period a year earlier, when Compaq earned $363 million, or 21 cents a share.

— Agencies