Monday, January 12, 2004		Newsscape

All’s fair...

A 71-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman who lied about their ages by decades when they met on the Internet eventually met and plan to marry despite their respective deceptions, a news report said. The man, a grandfather, had believed that he was chatting over the Internet with a 48-year-old woman, to whom he had described himself as a 51-year-old. They decided to meet in person after three months, according to the South China Morning Post. The pair from Guangzhou in southern China sent a son and daughter to the rendezvous because both were so embarrassed about having lied about their ages. When the children came clean, the couple met and now plans to marry during the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, the newspaper said.

Net gambling grows

Gambling on the Internet poker has leapt to £ 38 million a day from last year’s £ 6 million, according to a report by bookmakers Ladbrokes. According to a report in the Mirror, there are around 150 poker sites on the Internet up from 30 in 2002. Ladbrokes’ site, which has 50,000 registered poker players, profits by taking a percentage of the stake gambled on each hand. The bookie says it is a responsible operator, which would not encourage problem gambling. But one source working with addicts said, "Of all the forms of the Internet gambling we have seen, poker could well be the biggest problem, partly because it was previously shrouded in secrecy."

Compensate, orders court

A consumer court has ordered SSI Computer Institute to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation to five students for duping them by misrepresenting that the courses offered were recognised by the Delhi University. "The manner in which ‘DU Centre’ has been mentioned gives only one impression to any prudent person that it is affiliated to the University," said the North Delhi Consumer Forum adding that it was a case of clear malpractice, fraud and deceit on the part of the institute which had also made similar claims verbally while admitting them. Holding the institute guilty of providing deficient services, the forum ordered payment of Rs 2,000 as litigation costs to all five complainants, besides refund of the entire fees with interest.

Suing to hear song

A European consumer watchdog body is suing the world’s largest music companies for selling copy protected compact discs that won’t play in car stereos and on computers, the Belgium-based organisation said. The group, known in Dutch as Test-Aankoop, said it has received more than 200 complaints from consumers who objected to a technology that prevents consumers from making a back-up version on a blank disc and limits playback on certain devices. Industry observers believe Test-Aankoop’s suit is the biggest European legal challenge yet to the music industry’s controversial campaign to release copy-protected discs, to minimise the impact that digital piracy is having on sales. The group said it wants the labels to end the practice of issuing protected discs and to reimburse customers.