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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: thecow who wrote (43303)	10/6/2004 9:47:33 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110652

Bill imposes hefty 'spyware' fines Tuesday, October 5, 2004 Posted: 8:24 PM EDT (0024 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Companies and others that secretly install "spyware" programs on people's computers to quietly monitor their Internet activities would face hefty federal fines under a bill the House passed Tuesday. The most egregious behaviors ascribed to the category of such software -- secretly recording a person's computer keystrokes or mouse clicks -- are already illegal under U.S. wiretap and consumer protection laws. The House proposal, known as the "Spy Act," adds civil penalties over what has emerged as an extraordinary frustration for Internet users, whose infected computers often turn sluggish and perform unexpectedly. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono, R-California, provides guidelines for technology companies that distribute software capable of most types of electronic monitoring. It requires that consumers explicitly choose to install such software and agree to the information being collected. The House voted 399-1 to approve the bill. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who often votes against spending measures, cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday. The House separately was expected to approve another anti-spyware bill as early as Wednesday. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Virginia, provides for additional criminal penalties. The chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said Goodlatte's anti-spyware bill was preferable because of its criminal sanctions, and Barton said he will work to combine both proposals for a final vote by year's end. Barton acknowledged that experts had recently found more than 60 varieties of spyware installed on the panel's own computers. He said all the spyware programs had been installed without the permission of computer users. The committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, called the proposal approved Tuesday "a bill whose time has come." "People are increasingly finding their home pages have been changed or their computers are sluggish," she said. "Their computers are no longer their own, and they can't figure out why." The House bill approved Tuesday explicitly permits snooping software built by the FBI or spy agencies secretly collecting information under a court order or other legal permissions affecting federal departments. The bill's bans against spyware would begin 12 months after it becomes law and would automatically expire after 2009.

To: thecow who wrote (43303)	10/6/2004 11:03:41 AM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110652

Firefox Tips TC Guru, << Ha hah! We "Newbies" have a Guru! ... Afraid not, just a happy user. >> With three good tips like those, you be Da Guru. <g> Thank you. I took advantage of each and particularly like the capability to switch to IE on a given page when needed. I've also been using it to compare page rendering, IE to Firefox. Although the majority of web users display 1024 x 768 (see below June stats from OneStat) I use 800x600 (small icons regular text at 96 DPI) on a 20' Dell Trinitron. At that setting many IE pages extend to the right of my visible screen. In Firefox with Tools\|Options\|Multimedia set to its default "Resize all large images to fit in browser window" the complete page width displays which is a feature I like in Firefox, but I also like the option to have the IE default view. << There's very little learning curve using FireFox for the average user. Just crank it up and go. >> That's the neat part. No real reason for anyone to be aprehensive about trying it in this regard, particularly since it does a nice job of importing bookmarks, and items from the IE "Links" toolbar. << One plus for anyone that hasn't used it...once you've tried tabbed browsing, you'll never go back! >> That's for sure. It's immediately addictive. I place the optional "Open in a New Tab" icon on the top toolbar right next to "Help" and frequently use it. Here is some Display Trivia. The most popular screen resolutions on the web in the world are: 1. 1024 x 768 54.02% 2. 800 x 600 24.66% 3. 1280 x 1024 14.10% 4. 1152 x 864 4.00% 5. 640 x 480 0.60% 6. 1600 x 1200 0.80% 7. 1152 x 870 0.10% OneStat (June 2004) All numbers are an average of the last 2 months. Best, - Eric -