Congress Debates Internet Piracy Bill
A bill being pushed through Congress covers everything from recording movies at a theater using a video camera to swapping music over the Internet. The bill, supported by the music and movie industry, is being questioned by consumer groups. They are concerned with the part of the bill that allows the Justice Department to seek damages against those who share files. The Justice Department would not have to show that someone willfully put their files up for sharing, just that someone else was able to share the files. Right now the Justice Department can only sue file swappers for copyright violations.

Man Puts Computer in Freezer
Though most data loss can be attributed to computer malfunctions, often human behavior is to blame. Cases of "computer rage" abound, including people throwing their computers into the toilet and flushing, or leaving their laptop on a car roof, forgetting it, and then driving over it. While most data can still be recovered, it's important to back up your files.

U.S. Government Requires Passenger Information
If you flew on a U.S. airline in June 2004, your name, credit card number, and other personal information may be used by the government to test a new passenger screening system. The airlines have been ordered by the Transportation Security Administration to give up the records of all June domestic flights by November 23rd. Right now the airlines run security checks, but the government wants to do it themselves. American airlines are worried about giving the information, because strict rules in Europe state that they must keep European passenger information private. Privacy groups are also concerned that passengers were not notified that their data would be used this way.

Computer Viruses to Infect Humans?
A British professor who has had chips implanted in his body and been wired to a computer looks forward to the days when more humans are implanted and networked, and we can harness each other's knowledge, he said at a recent conference. The professor discussed the implications of computer viruses if people's bodies were networked, and that the actions of hackers would then "be pushing the realms of tolerance." Though the U.S. approved the implantation of RFIDs in humans for medical purposes, other countries are using the chips for things like paying for drinks at bars or tracking people who are kidnapped.

Florida E-Voting Inaccurate?
Optical scanners that are used to read paper ballots are proving more controversial than computer touch-screen voting, at least in Florida. Polls and voter registrations were able to predict the outcome in counties where the touch-screen machines were used; the counties that used optical scanners show results that are far off the mark. Though there is no evidence of tampering, the results are being investigated.

Trial Shows How Spammers Operate
A 30-year-old man from Raleigh, N.C. was earning up to $750,000 a month by sending junk mail. He sent at least 10 million mails a day and made money on about one of every 30,000 sent. He got addresses from illegally obtained AOL and eBay lists and was able to con people into buying his phony products and services. Though he has been convicted, he is appealing on the grounds that the spam email legislation is not clear.

Robot Helps Rid Your Kitchen of Cockroaches
Scientists have created a robot that acts so similar to a cockroach that it has been accepted into a cockroach community and influenced the other cockroaches' behavior. Cockroaches have been found to enjoy other cockroaches' company more than they enjoy staying safely in the dark, and so the robot cockroach leads the others to a place where humans can catch and dispose of them. Scientists are now thinking of making a robot that looks like a chicken, that will encourage exercise and prevent many chicken deaths that occur because the birds don't exercise.

Launch Internet Explorer More Quickly
If you have a slow Internet connection or just don't like waiting for your default page to load, there are a few things you can change in Internet Explorer that will make your experience a little bit better. First, set your default page to blank. This means that each time you launch IE, it won't go looking for a web page, it will simply open the browser. To do this, in IE choose Tools, Internet Options, and on the General tab, in the Home Page section, click "Use Blank." A second tip to visit web pages more quickly is to open a new browser window, rather than launching the Explorer application all over again. To do this, in IE choose File, New, Window. A new window opens, showing the same content from the window you were on. In general this is faster than launching IE from your toolbar.

Launch Program Sub-Menus Faster
You can make your sub-menus appear more quickly by making a simple change to your registry. To do so, choose start, and then Run. In the box that appears, type regedit and click OK. Find the following location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop and the key called MenuShowDelay. Double-click this item and change the value to 100 (or even zero if you want the sub-menus to launch instantly). The number you enter determines how many milliseconds before the menu launches. Click OK and then File, Exit. Once you restart your computer, you should notice an improvement in the speed of your menus.

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