US Department of Justice objects to Google book plan

A hearing on the settlement is scheduled for 18 February The US Department of Justice has said that it is still not satisfied with a deal that would allow search giant Google to build a vast digital library. It said the plan failed to address antitrust and copyright concerns. It echoes objections by online retailer Amazon, which has said that Google's plan to scan and distribute millions of books online could lead to a monopoly. Google were forced to amend details of the plan in 2009 after objections by the Department of Justice (DoJ). "The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity," the DOJ said. It said that the agreement would allow the Google to be "the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats". 'Unaddressed issues' Google Books - formerly known as Google print - was first launched in 2004. It was put on hold a year later when the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued over "massive copyright infringement". In 2008 Google agreed to pay $125m (£77m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works A decision on whether the deal could go through was originally scheduled for October 2009. But, District Judge Denny Chin, presiding over the trial, sent the deal back to the drawing board after objections from around the world, including criticism by the DoJ. The DoJ has once again waded into the debate. It says the proposed settlement posed potential copyright and antitrust issues. It also criticised the agreement for requiring authors to opt out of having their books included in the deal, rather than opting in. It also said that authors and representatives of the publishing industry who had brokered the deal had inappropriately spoken for foreign authors and for authors of "orphan works". Orphan books - of which there are thought to be five million - are titles where the authors cannot be found. The DoJ said that Google's exclusive access to these orphan works "remains unaddressed, producing a less than optimal result from a competition standpoint." But Google said that the Department of Justice's filing recognised "the progress made with the revised settlement". "It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US," it said. "We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months." A hearing on the settlement has been scheduled on 18 February. receive compensation for scanned books.

Microsoft to patch 17-year-old computer bug

The bug dates from the days of Windows 3.1 A 17-year-old bug in Windows will be patched by Microsoft in its latest security update. The February update for Windows will close the loophole that dates from the time of the DOS operating system. First appearing in Windows NT 3.1, the vulnerability has been carried over into almost every version of Windows that has appeared since. The monthly security update will also tackle a further 25 holes in Windows, five of which are rated as "critical". Home hijack The ancient bug was discovered by Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy in January 2010 and involves a utility that allows newer versions of Windows to run very old programs. Mr Ormandy has found a way to exploit this utility in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 as well as Windows Vista and Windows 7. The patch for this vulnerability will appear in the February security update. Five of the vulnerabilities being patched at the same time allow attackers to effectively hijack a Windows PC and run their own programs on it. As well as fixing holes in many versions of Windows, the update also tackles bugs in Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2004 for Apple Macintosh machines. The bumper update is not the largest that Microsoft has ever released. The security update for October 2009 tackled a total of 34 vulnerabilities. Eight of those updates were rated as critical - the highest level. In January 2010, Microsoft released an "out of band" patch for a serious vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was being exploited online. The vulnerability was also thought to be the one used to attack Google in China. Following the attack on Google, many other cyber criminals started seeking ways to exploit the loophole. Also this week, a security researcher has reported the discovery of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer that allows attackers to view the files held on a victim's machine. Microsoft has issued a security bulletin about the problem and aims to tackle it at a future date. At the moment there is no evidence that this latest find is being actively exploited online.

Digital Economy Bill bill could 'breach rights'

The committee has also governments approach to copyright An influential group of MPs and peers has said the government's approach to illegal file-sharing could breach the rights of internet users. The Joint Select Committee on Human Rights said the government's Digital Economy Bill needed clarification. It said that technical measures - which include cutting off persistent pirates - were not "sufficiently specified". In addition, it said that it was concerned that the Bill could create "over-broad powers". "The internet is constantly creating new challenges for policy-makers but that cannot justify ill-defined or sweeping legislative responses, especially when there is the possibility of restricting freedom of expression or the privacy of individual users," said Andrew Dismore MP and chair of the Committee. A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which oversees the Digital Economy Bill, said that government had "always been clear that [its] proposals to deal with unlawful file-sharing should not contravene human rights". 'Sweeping powers' The Select Committee only examined the parts of the Bill that focus on plans to tackle illegal file-sharing as well as a controversial amendment to copyright law. "The concern we have with this Bill is that it lacks detail," said Mr Dismore. "It has been difficult, even in the narrow area we have focussed on, to get a clear picture of the scope and impact of the provisions." The Digital Economy Bill was outlined in the Queen's speech in November 2009. One of the most hotly-debated elements is the so-called "three strikes rule" that would give regulator Ofcom new powers to disconnect or slow down the connections of persistent net pirates. The For example, the government has not specified whether a whole household could be cut off if only one member of a family was identified as a persistent file-sharer. The committee said that measures such as this have "the potential to breach internet users' rights" and had not been "sufficiently specified to allow for an assessment of proportionality". Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group, which has campaigned against the measures, said that disconnecting alleged file-sharers was "draconian and unpredictably damaging". A spokesperson for BIS said: "slowing down or suspending peoples broadband would only be invoked following several clear warnings". Any technical measures would require "secondary legislation", he added. "There will be no technical measures imposed at all if the initial measures taken are as successful as we expect." The Committee also examined Clause 17 of the bill, which would give the government the power to amend the copyright law without passing further primary legislation. The clause has proved controversial. In late 2009, a consortium of web companies including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and eBay wrote to the business secretary Peter Mandelson objecting to the clause. The web firms urged MPs to remove the clause, which they said could give government "unprecedented and sweeping powers" to amend copyright laws. The Select Committee said that it had been told that changes would be made to the clause to ensure that any amendments to copyright law would be "better scrutinised by Parliament". "Despite this the Committee remains concerned that Clause 17 remains overly broad and that parliamentary scrutiny may remain inadequate," it said. The BIS spokesperson said that government had already tabled "a series of amendments which aim to clarify the breadth and scope of clause 17". The Digital Economy bill is currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords. It was dealt a blow recently when Sion Simon, one of the MPs charged with pushing it through parliament, announced he was standing down. said it had concerns about "technical measures" like these and how they would be applied.

Microsoft patches Internet Explorer hole

Microsoft recommends that people upgrade to IE8

Microsoft has released a fix for a hole in Internet Explorer that was the weak link in a "sophisticated and targeted" cyber attack on Google.

Microsoft recommends that customers install the update as soon as possible or update to the latest version of the web browser for "improved security".

Microsoft normally issues patches monthly but the high-profile nature of the attacks led it to act more quickly.

The patch - MS10-002 - was released worldwide at 1000 PST (1800 GMT).

"It addresses the vulnerability related to recent attacks against Google and small subset of corporations, as well as several other vulnerabilities," the firm said.

"Once applied, customers are protected against the known attacks that have been widely publicised."

Microsoft has admitted that it has known about the vulnerability since "since early September" 2009 and had planned to patch it in February.

Trojan Horse

Google threatened to withdraw from the Chinese market following attacks on its infrastructure.

The hacks - thought to have originated in China - targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

Following Microsoft's revelation that Explorer had been used in the attacks, the French and German governments advised their citizens to switch to a different browser until the hole had been closed.

The UK government downplayed the threat and said there was "no evidence that moving from the latest fully patched versions of Internet Explorer to other browsers will make users more secure".

However, Microsoft has taken the unusual step of patching the hole nearly three weeks ahead of its regular security update.

The new patch is available via the Microsoft Update site and will also be fed out to those who have their machines set to update automatically. All versions of Internet Explorer will receive the update.

Malicious code exploiting the weakness is known to be circulating on the web, said security experts.

If a web user were to visit a compromised site using a vulnerable browser, they could become infected with a "trojan horse", allowing a hacker to take control of the computer and potentially steal sensitive information.

Microsoft said on 18 January that the firm had only seen malicious code that targeted the older version of its browser, IE6 and that there were "very few" infected sites on the web.

But security firms had said they had seen "copycat" sites trying to exploit the vulnerability.

The bad publicity has allowed rivals such as Firefox to gain market share.

According to web analytics company StatCounter Firefox is now a close second to Internet Explorer (IE) in Europe, with 40% of the market compared to Microsoft's 45% share.

In some markets, including Germany and Austria, Firefox has overtaken IE, the firm said.

Mozilla, the foundation behind Firefox has just released the latest version (3.6) of the open-source browser.

France joins Germany warning against Internet Explorer

Cliff Evans of Microsoft says IE8 is more secure than other browsers

France has echoed calls by the German government for web users to find an alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) to protect security.

Certa, a government agency that oversees cyber threats, warned against using all versions of the web browser.

Germany warned users on Friday after malicious code - implicated in attacks on Google - was published online.

But Microsoft told BBC News that IE8 was the "most secure browser on the market" and people should upgrade.

Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy, said that so far the firm had only seen malicious code that targeted the older version of its browser, IE6.

"The risk is minimal," he said.

For a web user to be affected, he said, they would have to be using IE6 and visit a compromised website.

"There are very few of them out there," he told BBC News.

However, if this did occur, a PC could become infected with a "trojan horse", allowing a hacker to take control of the computer and potentially steal sensitive information.

'Sophisticated attack'

Although the vulnerability has so far been exploited only in IE6, security researchers warned that could soon change.

"Microsoft themselves admit there is a vulnerability, even in IE8," said Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos.

Mr Cluley said that because details of the exploit were now available online, hackers could soon change the code to target other versions of the browser.

He warned web users to be careful about clicking on links in unsolicited e-mails and advised all web users to upgrade their browser to the latest version, no matter which software they used.

The advice follows revelations that a "targeted and sophisticated" attack on Google exploited the vulnerability.

Google said last week that an attack on its corporate network had targeted the e-mail accounts of human rights activists.

The attack led Google to announce that it might withdraw from China, after it revealed that the attacks had probably originated in the country.

Following the news, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security issued a warning against all versions of Internet Explorer and recommended that users switch to an alternative such as Firefox or Google's Chrome.

The French agency Certa issued a similar warning.

"Pending a patch from the publisher, Certa recommends using an alternative browser," it said.

The UK government had said that it would not issue a similar warning. However, it said the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI)was "monitoring the situation" and would "publish further advice if the risks change".

Patch path

But Mr Evans said that calls to change browsers were "not very helpful".

"If you look at other browsers, it's likely they will have other vulnerabilities," he said.

The vulnerability was found to be used in an attack on Google

He pointed to a report by security firm NSS Labs reportedly showing that IE8 provided better security against phishing and malware than other browsers.

"We feel strongly that IE8 is most secure browser on the market," Mr Evans said.

His advice was echoed by Mr Cluley.

"Switching away will get away from this particular problem," he told BBC News. "But all browsers have security flaws."

Mr Cluley said that switching away from IE could create other problems, particularly for companies.

"Some web-based applications may not work at all if you're not using Internet Explorer."

Microsoft is currently working on a patch for the problem, but a spokesperson said it could not commit to a timeframe.

The firm traditionally releases a security update once a month - the next scheduled patch will be ready on 9 February.

German government warns against using MS Explorer

The warning applies to versions 6, 7 and 8 of Internet Explorer

The German government has warned web users to find an alternative browser to Internet Explorer to protect security.

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems.

Microsoft rejected the warning, saying that the risk to users was low and that the browsers' increased security setting would prevent any serious risk.

However, German authorities say that even this would not make IE fully safe.

Thomas Baumgaertner, a spokesman for Microsoft in Germany, said that while they were aware of the warning, they did not agree with it, saying that the attacks on Google were by "highly motivated people with a very specific agenda".

"These were not attacks against general users or consumers," said Mr Baumgaertner.

"There is no threat to the general user, consequently we do not support this warning," he added.

Microsoft says the security hole can be shut by setting the browser's security zone to "high", although this limits functionality and blocks many websites.

However, Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos, told BBC News that not only did the warning apply to 6, 7 and 8 of the browser, but the instructions on how to exploit the flaw had been posted on the internet.

"This is a vulnerability that was announced in the last couple of days. Microsoft have no patch yet and the implication is that this is the same one that exploited on the attacks on Google earlier this week," he said.

Computer expert Alan Stevens: "It's like having a window left open in your house"

"The way to exploit this flaw has now appeared on the internet, so it is quite possible that everyone is now going to have a go."

Microsoft traditionally release a security update once a month - the next scheduled patch is the 9th of February. However, a spokesman for Microsoft told BBC News that developers for the firm were trying to fix the problem.

"We are working on an update on this issue and this may well involve an out of cycle security update," he said.

Fix development

However, this is no easy task. Not only have the firm got to fix the loophole, but they have to ensure it does not create another one and - equally importantly - works on all computers. This is a challenge compounded by the fact they have to fix three different versions of its browser.

Microsoft said that while all versions of Internet Explorer were affected, the risk was lower with more recent releases of its browser.

The other problem facing developers is that the possible risk might not be prevented by anti-virus software, even when recently updated.

"We've been working to analyse the malware that the Chinese are using. But new versions can always be created," said Mr Cluley.

"We've been working with Microsoft to see if the damage can be mitigated and we are hoping that they will release an emergency patch.

"One thing that should be stressed is that every browser has its security issues, so switching may remove this current risk but could expose you to another."

Pi calculated to 'record number' of digits

Pi is an irrational number, meaning its digits go on forever

A computer scientist claims to have computed the mathematical constant pi to nearly 2.7 trillion digits, some 123 billion more than the previous record.

Fabrice Bellard used a desktop computer to perform the calculation, taking a total of 131 days to complete and check the result.

This version of pi takes over a terabyte of hard disk space to store.

Previous records were established using supercomputers, but Mr Bellard claims his method is 20 times more efficient.

The prior record of about 2.6 trillion digits, set in August 2009 by Daisuke Takahashi at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, took just 29 hours.

However, that work employed a supercomputer 2,000 times faster and thousands of times more expensive than the desktop Mr Bellard employed.

Precision targeted

These herculean computations form part of a branch of mathematics known as arbitrary-precision arithmetic - simply put, knowing a given number to any amount of decimal places.

It is hard to overstate just how long the currently determined pi is; reciting one number a second would take more than 49,000 years.

But it is not simply the number that interests Mr Bellard.

"I am not especially interested in the digits of pi," he said.

"Arbitrary-precision arithmetic with huge numbers has little practical use, but some of the involved algorithms are interesting to do other things."

Mr Bellard plans to release a version of the program he used to do the calculation, but says that carrying on with any further billions of digits "will depend on my motivation".

Ivars Peterson, director of publications at the Mathematical Association of America, said that the result is just the latest in a long quest for a longer pi.

"Newton himself worked on the digits of pi and spent a lot of time using one of the formulas he developed to get a few extra digits," Mr Peterson told BBC News.

In modern times, pi has served as more than just a simple but lengthy constant, however.

"People have used it as a vehicle for testing algorithms and for testing computers; pi has a precise sequence of digits, it's exactly that, and if your computer isn't operating flawlessly some of those digits will be wrong," he explained.

"It's more than just for the fun of it - pi is a way of testing a method and then the method can be used for other purposes."

Bloodhound diary: Numbers crunching

RAF fighter pilot Andy Green intends to get behind the wheel of a car that is capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the Bloodhound car will mount an assault on the land speed record.

Wing Cmdr Green is writing a diary for the BBC News Website about his experiences working on the Bloodhound project and the team's efforts to inspire national interest in science and engineering.

AVOIDING THE BIG ROLL

I've just seen the latest figures for participation in the Bloodhound education programme - over 3,300 schools, over 200 Further Education colleges and 35 universities.

Air pressure at Mach 1.3 on different shapes of rear suspension fairing

That's over 10% of all the schools in the UK, which is just incredible.

Perhaps the rest of the project team ought to feel under pressure from the education team - they seem to be outstripping our fund-raising and engineering efforts by a huge margin.

Still, our main aim is to create interest in science and engineering, so this is the way that it should be - the education team is out in front and the rest of us are under pressure to keep up!

The design office is certainly doing its best to keep up, with the "aerodynamic optimisation" (or "getting the back end exactly right") programme tearing along.

The team ran 56 parametric models in four weeks, using the huge computing power available through our IT partner Intel.

Rumour has it that the Met Office is now feeling under pressure, as we're using more computing power than they are... and, in terms of aerodynamics, we're forecasting sunshine!

A great effort from Mark Chapman, Bjorn Rodde and Ben Evans, who gave the rest of us the perfect Christmas present with these results.

While the aerodynamics will keep the car on the ground, it also needs to be dynamically safe as a car. This includes putting the rear wheels wide enough apart to make sure that the car cannot roll over. But how wide is that?

Anyone want to put their name on the tail fin of Bloodhound SSC?

Looking back at the Thrust SSC data, we saw a peak sideways 'G' force of almost 1G - yikes! That is huge (about the same as the maximum cornering force that the average road car will produce). If we put Bloodhound SSC's rear wheels far enough apart to resist that, then the drag will prevent the car from reaching 1,000mph.

Fortunately, Ron Ayers, our performance expert (and one of the cleverest people I know) has pointed out that Thrust SSC's wheels would not have generated 1G side loads by themselves - there just isn't that much grip on the desert.

Instead, it appears that the car developed a couple of degrees of yaw and this created a large aerodynamic side force, which pushed the car sideways but did not risk rolling it over.

We can leave the rear wheels where they are, without any danger of Bloodhound SSC rolling over. Suddenly, I feel much happier. Thanks, Ron.

We've just had some really exciting news of a plan to include recycled materials in the car, which will reduce the carbon footprint for the car's build. This will also give us a great way to include recycling technology in our education programme. We're just working out the details now - more to follow shortly.

Finally, the chance to put your name on the fin of Bloodhound SSC is proving hugely popular.

The Union Flag on the fin will be made up of thousands of tiny coloured names, which is a great way for us to get children (of all ages!) more involved in this astonishing piece of engineering.

Let's hope that the "aerodynamic optimisation" doesn't make the fin too much smaller...

2009 was an amazing year and I can't wait to see what's going to happen during 2010.

HP camera 'can't see' black faces

"Black Desi" in the YouTube video

A YouTube video suggesting that face recognition cameras installed in HP laptops cannot detect black faces has had over one million views.

The short movie, uploaded earlier this month, features "Black Desi" and his colleague "White Wanda".

When Wanda, a white woman, is in front of the screen, the camera zooms to her face and moves as she moves.

But when Desi, a black man, does the same, the camera does not respond by tracking him.

The clip is light-hearted in tone but is titled "HP computers are racist".

"HP has been informed of a potential issue with the facial-tracking software included on some of its systems, which appears to occur when insufficient foreground lighting is available,"

Google's Admob plans scrutinised by US regulator

Google faces scrutiny from the US anti-trust regulator.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked for more information about Google's plans to buy Admob, a company specialising in ads for small screens.

The search engine giant said last month that it hoped to buy the Silicon Valley start-up for $750m (£449m) in stocks.

Google's group product manager Paul Feng wrote in a blog post that the company "doesn't see any regulatory issues" with the proposed deal.

He admitted that the scrutiny meant the deal would not be closed immediately.

It took months for the FTC to approve Google's earlier purchase of another internet advert company, DoubleClick.

"Closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google's success," added Mr Feng.

Admob was founded four years ago and sells adverts designed to run on mobile phones.

OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC

In Pictures: Designing the OLPC

The group behind the $100 laptop has revealed the design for its latest computer aimed at connecting children in the developing world.

The XO-3, as it is known, is a slim-line touchscreen tablet PC.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said it would be "available in 2012" and would cost "well below $100".

The new design replaces the proposed XO-2, a foldable e-book that was first shown off in 2008 but has since been scrapped by the organisation.

The XO-3 will eventually replace the original XO laptop that first went into production in 2007.

The innovative machines, which have been designed for use in remote and harsh environments, were designed for use by school children and featured a sunlight readable display and open source software.

'Bigger appeal'

OLPC originally aimed to sell the low-cost laptops in lots of one million to governments in developing countries for $100 each.

However, the non-profit organisation had difficulty getting governments to commit to bulk orders. The machines - which are able to run both Linux and Microsoft Windows - are now offered in single units and cost around $200.

The XO-2 has been scrapped in favour of the XO-3

So far the XO has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries.

The high-price has not however put off all governments. Uruguay has bought a computer for every one of their school children.

Walter de Brouwer, CEO of OLPC Europe said that these "saturation projects" were the future of the organisation both in the developed and the developing world.

"I'm talking to three four countries in the EU at the moment," he told BBC News. "Once one says yes, the others can't say no."

The organisation believes the new design will cost significantly less.

Mr Brouwer said that because of the pace of technological change and the ever decreasing prices of electronics he could imagine the design selling for "50, 60 or 70 euros".

He said governments could pay this back over a number of years, allowing pupils to have a laptop for less than one euro per month.

"This is very realistic," he said.

The concept shows a touchscreen, a camera, induction charger, and a carrying ring on one of its corners.

Its inner workings - including a chip from UK firm ARM - will come from an interim design - the XO 1.75 - set for launch in 2011.

The 1.75 will merge elements of the current machines with technologies - such as a touchscreen - intended to be included in the XO-3.

OLPC recently said that the organisation would just focus on promoting its concepts and educational aims, rather than manufacturing laptops.

"We are not a laptop company," said Mr Brouwer. "Manufacturing a laptop is not such a big deal. The bigger appeal for us is deploying them and integrating them with education systems to transform a society."

Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the group, said that he hoped that industry would now copy the design for the XO-3.

Ban on sales of Microsoft Word upheld

Word 2003 and 2007 are the most common versions on the market

Microsoft has failed in its attempt to dismiss a court case that would stop it selling Word.

The software giant appealed against a ruling which found it infringed a patent owned by Canadian company i4i.

With the failure of the appeal Microsoft must now pay i4i damages of $290m (£182m) and comply with an injunction ending the sales of some versions of Word.

The injunction is scheduled to go into effect on 11 January.

Microsoft said the ban would prohibit the sale of all available versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office software from the date that the injunction comes into force.

Versions of the software sold before that date, including Word 2003 and Word 2007, will not be hit by the ruling.

"We have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products," Microsoft said.

"Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for US sale and distribution by the injunction date," it said.

"Beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction," Microsoft added.

Microsoft was accused by i4i of infringing on a 1998 XML patent in its Word 2003 and Word 2007 programs.

Word uses XML, or the Extensible Markup Language, to open .XML, .DOCX, and .DOCM files.

The initial ruling in the court dispute between i4i and Microsoft was made in August. At that time Microsoft was found to have infringed the i4i patent and the Canadian firm was awarded damages.

The injunction on sales was imposed at the same time but a Microsoft appeal initially overturned that ban on US sales. The stay on the injunction has now run out and, as a result, Microsoft must stop selling infringing versions of Word.

Microsoft said it might file further appeals, but that it was keen to comply with the injunction.

"While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options," it said.

Amazon's Kindle has copyright protection hacked

Amazon hopes to sell a million Kindles by the end of the year

An Israeli hacker claims to have broken the copyright protection on Amazon's Kindle e-reader, reports say.

The hack will allow the ebooks stored on the reader to be transferred as pdf files to any other device.

The hacker, known as Labba, responded to a challenge posted on Israeli hacking forum, hacking.org.

It is the latest in a series of Digital Rights Management hacks, the most famous being the reverse engineering of iTunes.

The Kindle e-book reader has been very successful since it was launched in the US in 2007.

Amazon hopes to have sold a million devices by the end of the year.

It leaves it to individual publishers whether they want to apply DRM but books in its main proprietary format .azw, cannot be transferred to other devices.

It did not immediately respond to the news but it is likely it will attempt to patch its DRM software.

DRM has long divided opinion. While rights holders regard it as a crucial tool to protect copyright, consumers tend to hate it because it limits what can be done with content.

"DRM is not an effective way of preventing copying nor is it a good way of making sales. There isn't a customer out there saying 'what I need is an electronic book that does less," novelist and co-editor of the Boing Boing blog Cory Doctorow told the BBC when the Kindle was launched.

As soon as a new DRM system is active, hackers begin to try and break it.

Most famously Jon Lech Johansen, known as DVD Jon, cracked the copy protection on DVDs in 1999.

He went on to break the copyright protection on iTunes, leading Apple to offer DRM-free music.

DVD Jon now runs a company with an application to take the pain out of moving different types of content between devices.

US appoints Howard Schmidt as cybersecurity chief

President Obama emphasised cybersecurity while campaigning

The White House has appointed its cyber tsar, following a seven month search.

Howard Schmidt, a former eBay and Microsoft executive who advised President Bush, was appointed after others turned down the job.

Mr Schmidt has been set the task of uniting various disparate agencies and organisations to shore up the country's defence against cyber attack.

In May this year, President Obama pledged to personally appoint someone to the post.

In a letter posted on the White House website, John Brennan, assistant to the President for homeland security and counterterrorism said that protecting the internet was "critical to our national security, public safety and our personal privacy and civil liberties".

"It's also vital to President Obama's efforts to strengthen our country, from the modernisation of our health care system to the high-tech job creation central to our economic recovery."

Mr Schmidt would have "regular access to the President and serve as a key member of his National Security Staff", he said.

The White House's acting cyber-security head, Melissa Hathaway, stood down in August after complaining that the post did not allow her to implement necessary changes.

BT to complete super-fast broadband network by 2012

The service will initially be rolled out in urban areas

BT's superfast broadband network will be completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, the firm has announced.

The £1.5bn fibre-optic network will offer speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) for some customers, supporting high-definition video.

However, it will only reach around 40% of homes, mainly in towns and cities.

The firm had originally said the programme would be completed by March 2013 but said the rollout was now "ahead of schedule" .

"Given the progress we're making, four million homes will have access to fibre by the end of next year," said Ian Livingston, CEO of BT.

He said the firm aims to offer 10m homes access to the fibre network "by the time the games begin" on the 27 July.

The firm currently has 5m customers.

But extending the coverage would "inevitably involve support from the public sector", he added.

Customers will be able to access the highest speeds where BT runs fibre-optic cables all the way to their home.

However, the network will still offer speeds of up to 40 Mbps in areas where the fibre cable is run to BT-owned cabinets. In these fibre-to-the-cabinet areas, homes will still be connected to the cabinets by slower copper cables.

Currently, BT's rival Virgin Media offers some homes broadband speeds of up to 50 Mbps over fibre, regarded as super-fast broadband.

The UK government has said it wants super-fast broadband available to 90% of the country by the end of 2017 and everyone in the country to have access to broadband speeds of 2Mbps by 2012.

However, Mr Livingston called for further clarity from the UK government.

"If you look around the world, several governments are pro-actively supporting the roll out of fibre broadband," he said.

"There's still a debate in the UK - which is fine - but we need our politicians to decide how much of a priority fibre broadband is."

The government plans to introduce an annual tax of £6 to fund the rollout of broadband, particularly for rural areas.

Chinese proposal to meter internet traffic

China wants to meter all internet traffic that passes through its borders, it has emerged.

The move would require international agreement - but it is being discussed by the United Nations body in charge of internet standards.

It would allow countries which currently receive no payment for use of their lines to generate income.

But an EU cyber security expert has warned the plan could threaten the stability of the entire internet.

Andrea Servida, of the European Commission, told a House of Lords committee that China could have a "hidden agenda" in wanting to monitor data flows.

And, in later comments to BBC News, he suggested technical changes needed to charge everyone for internet traffic flowing through China could undermine the web's founding principle of openness as well as raising security and stability concerns for all net users.

Developing countries

But the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the UN internet standards body, firmly rejected his claims saying it was "not clear" how introducing tariffs could threaten internet security or stability.

The ITU also stressed that the Chinese proposal did not involve modifying the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) - one of the core specifications that controls how data flows around the internet - as Mr Servida has alleged.

An ITU spokesman said: "The ITU has no plans to modify the BGP protocol, which is not an ITU-T standard.

"A proposal has been made, and is being studied, to use BGP routers to collect traffic flow data, which could be used, by bilateral agreement, by operators for billing purposes."

The spokesman said discussions about international internet tariffs had been taking place for the past 10 years and the Chinese proposal was one of many ideas of being studied by ITU working parties.

"We would have welcomed EU participation in the discussion and it's regrettable that the UK Parliamentary committee has been misled in this way," added the ITU spokesman.

But Mr Servida said that as far as the European Commission was concerned the Chinese proposal was "ambiguous" about whether it would involve installing BGP routers or modifying the BGP protocol itself.

And he told BBC News the European Commission's concerns were shared by other delegations at the ITU.

He said that because the BGP protocol is an Internet Engineering Task Force standard and not controlled by the ITU "the involvement of ITU in this specific matter is highly questionable and alarming".

"It indicates a clear intention to introduce higher government control of a critical internet function through what may appear to be a purely technological discussion," he added.

'Security roadmap'

The ITU firmly rejected this claim and insisted that it had involved the wider internet industry in its discussions - with several experts being invited to contribute to the most recent talks on introducing tariffs, which took place in Kampala, Uganda, in September this year.

"There have not been any proposals to introduce 'higher government control of a critical internet function'," an ITU spokesman told the BBC.

Mr Servida, who stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the European Commission, said it was "certainly worth engaging in a discussion on tariffs for international internet" - but he suggested China could have ulterior motives for wanting to monitor "packets" of data flowing around the internet and that it could "establish a 'de facto' legitimacy for someone to have a closer look at internet data flows".

China's proposal is understood to have the backing of a number of developing countries, who currently have to bear the cost of international internet connections.

At the moment, when countries install internet circuits, they have to choose between a "peer-to-peer" system for connections with other countries, in which no money changes hands but the traffic flow between the two countries balances out, or an asymmetrical system, where they have to pay the full cost of the connection.

It is understood that the Chinese proposal would see countries reaching a commercial agreement when internet connections are established, including possible compensation for traffic flow and number of routes.

Mr Servida, deputy head of unit at the European Commission's Information Society and Media Directorate General, is one of the authors of an EU plan to protect all 27 member states from large scale cyber attacks and disruption, which is expected to come into force some time after 2011.

The Commission is also working on proposals for international standards for internet security and resilience.

Mr Servida said: "Our target is to develop a roadmap for international cooperation on principles and guidelines for security and resilience by the beginning of 2010."

The proposals would be presented to the EU's international partners at the UN-run Internet Governance Forum and elsewhere at the end of next year, he added.

Mr Servida raised his concerns about China earlier this month when he gave evidence to the House of Lords EU home affairs subcommittee, which is investigating cyber-security.

He cast doubt on the idea that is was possible to "take down" the entire global internet, but added: "Regionally you may have strong disruption and that goes for any region."

He also spoke of the need to reach out to nations who "feel they have legitimate grounds to think of the internet as a kind of private garden" and involve them in international cyber security efforts.

China's laws restricting internet access had been brought in to "protect Chinese citizens" and so were hard to argue against, he told the committee, but the country was now working on technical and trade barriers which would be "bad" for all net users.

"Fencing the internet is not going to help anybody," he told the committee.

'Iranian cyber army' hits Twitter

Grabs of the hacked page were circulated online

Twitter has been hit by an embarrassing security breach.

A group claiming to be the Iranian Cyber Army managed to redirect Twitter users to its own site displaying a political message.

Twitter said the attack had been carried out by getting at the servers that tell web browsers where to find particular sites.

The site said it would start an investigation into what allowed the "unplanned downtime" to take place.

Address books

Twitter was hit by the security breach at 2200 PCT (0600 GMT) which led to users being redirected to a page showing a message declaring it had been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army.

It showed an image of Arabic text overlaid on a green flag carrying the name of the third Shi'i Imam, Imam Husayn.

It also included a poem in Persian which said: "We shall strike if the leader orders, we shall lose our heads if the leader wishes."

Also included were the words: "Those that wage fight on the path of God win."

Some have suggested the attack is retaliation over the use made of Twitter during protests surrounding the Iranian election.

Soon after the images appeared Twitter went offline. About an hour later the site came back to life and appeared to be working normally.

A post on the Twitter status blog said: "We are working to recovery (sic) from an unplanned downtime and will update more as we learn the cause of this outage."

Later, Twitter admitted that its DNS records had been "temporarily compromised". It said it was looking into what happened.

DNS, the Domain Name System, acts as the address books for the internet. It tells browsing software where to find the computers hosting a particular webpage.

By attacking the DNS servers the hackers were able to re-direct Twitter users.

"These changes mean that when you or I type a website address into our browsers, we are directed not to the real website but to a second site, set up by the hackers, in this case the 'Iranian Cyber Army'," said Rik Ferguson from security firm Trend Micro. "This has the net effect of making it look like, in this example, servers belonging to Twitter were compromised when in reality that was not the case."

Mr Ferguson said such attacks were typically a result of politically motivated hacking or "hacktivism".

However, he added, some cyber criminals also try the ruse using a replica of a website in an attempt to trick people into handing over login details.

The attack is the latest in a series of security embarrassments that Twitter has suffered.

In August, Twitter was offline for two hours as it struggled to cope with an attack aimed at a Russian blogger.

In July many of Twitter's confidential business documents were stolen in a hack attack and published online.

Many spammers and scammers are also targeting the service in a bid to hijack accounts and piggyback on the popularity of some Twitter users.