Unencrypted computer discs containing the names and addresses of 6,000 Northern Ireland motorists has gone missing in the post.

News of the data loss at the DVLA comes shortly after the far larger Child Benefit data leak at HM Revenue & Customs that's left the government hunting for discs containing data of 25m people. The latest incident provides evidence that using CDs to distribute unencrypted data about citizens was, if not standard government practice, then a common insecure method used across multiple government agencies.

In the latest such incident, Leeds Building Society warned its workforce of 1,000 that it had mislaid copies of their personal details during the process of moving its HR department during a building refurbishment project, the Press Association reports.

It looks like Warner and Sony are going to follow EMI and Universal and start issuing music in MP3 format without DRM.

The change of heart follows a public revolt of the Wal Mart against DRM.

Wal-Mart has said that it will stop supplying MP3s with DRM from its online store and other retailers are expected to follow.

On the positive side, EMI and Universal have been making a killing supplying DRM-free music and Warner and Sony have been missing out.

Billboard sources claim that Sony will carry out MP3 test even though in the past it said it was totally against the idea.

The use of Tasers "causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture," the UN's Committee Against Torture said. "In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events." Three men — all in their early 20s — died from after tasering in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being tasered by Canadian police. There have been 17 deaths in Canada following the use of Tasers since they were approved for use, and 275 deaths in the US. "According to Amnesty International, coroners have listed the Taser jolt as a contributing factor in more than 30 of those deaths."

The Entertainment Retailers Association are begging Hollywood and the record companies to stop installing DRM and making their products impossible to sell.

The organisation says that draconian DRM technologies, not P2P piracy, is responsible for the slow growth in the market.

It is getting so silly now that incompatible DRM formats are making punters wonder if content will even work on their machines.

As a result, the ERA says, customers are seeing file sharing and pirating an easier and safer option than buying legitimate content.

As CD and DVD retailers move towards the Christmas rush, early sales this season are slower, something that music industry will probably put down to an increase in piracy and look for harsher forms of DRM.

A 20-year-old man died yesterday in Frederick City, Maryland, after being tasered by a police deputy, the Frederick News Post reports.

Daniel Lugo, Gray's friend and neighbour, said "he, Gray and some other friends, got home from a party early Sunday morning". Although he did not witness the Taser incident, he claimed "a friend told him a few people were pretending to fight and a neighbour might have called police, concerned that they were actually fighting".

Lugo explained that police "commanded everyone there to get on the ground", and that the friend said the deputy "struck Gray with a Taser and administered multiple shocks for several seconds, even though Gray had said, 'I'm on the ground'."

Gray's mother, Tanya Thomas, explained her son was "deaf in one ear and might not have heard the commands as well as others", although his family said he was in good health at the time of his death.

"More than 80 police agencies in Maryland are equipped with Tasers, according to Taser International, the weapon's manufacturer." It describes the Taser as a "less-than-lethal weapon [which is] part of a deputy's regular equipment".

More than 1 million cases of chlamydia were reported in the United States last year - the most ever reported for a sexually transmitted disease, federal health officials said Tuesday.

Gonorrhea rates are jumping again after hitting a record low, and an increasing number of cases are caused by a "superbug" version resistant to common antibiotics, federal officials said Tuesday.

Syphilis is rising, too. The rate of congenital syphilis - which can deform or kill babies - rose for the first time in 15 years.

Find out when we first meet Kirk in Abram’s Trek plus alternate timelines and time travel explained! If you want to stay as spoiler free as possible this article is NOT FOR YOU!

Romulans from the future, most likely TNG time frame lead by a Romulan named Nero, played by Eric Bana, finds the City on the Edge of Forever and uses the Guardian of Forever to go back in time and kill the person who has been the biggest thorn in the Romulan's side and is crucial to the success of the Federation and Starfleet, James T. Kirk.

Old Spock warns young Spock about Nero's plans and it's up to them to protect the future Captain Kirk and also help try to protect the timeline and the future of the Federation and Starfleet.

The first time the audience is introduced to James T. Kirk is while he is taking a certain test that Starfleet cadets are required to take, the Kobayashi Maru.

After 18 year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed seven students and his principal at a Finnish high school Wednesday in an attack eerily similar to Columbine, media outlets reported that Auvinen had posted a YouTube video describing the shooting before he launched the attack, leading pundits to question why no one had noticed it in time to prevent the massacre.

But months before the fateful video was posted, one prolific YouTube user known as TheAmazingAtheist called for the police to investigate Auvinen and others who had been posting videos glorifying the Columbine shooters and Timothy McVeigh, saying they were showing warning signs of being more than simply infatuated or interested in violence.

A woman whose toddler son ingested a popular toy that contains a chemical that turns into a powerful "date rape" drug when eaten said Thursday she knew he was ill when he began to stumble, seemed drunk and started vomiting.

Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy sold by Australia-based Moose Enterprises, are beads that can be arranged into designs and fused when sprayed with water. The toy was pulled from shelves in North American and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a dangerous drug when eaten.

Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound - made from common and easily available ingredients - can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.

I'll begin by pointing out a basic fact: A lot of teenage kids out there play dozens of hours of multiplayer Halo a week. They thus become insanely good at the game: They can kill me with a single head shot from halfway across a map -- or expertly circle me while jumping around, making it impossible for me to land a shot, while they pulverize me with bullets.

Whenever I find myself under attack by a wildly superior player, I stop trying to duck and avoid their fire. Instead, I turn around and run straight at them.

But at the last second, before I die, I'll whip out a sticky plasma grenade -- and throw it at them. Because I've run up so close, I almost always hit my opponent successfully. I'll die -- but he'll die too, a few seconds later when the grenade goes off.

The structure of Xbox Live creates a world composed of two classes -- haves and have-nots. And, just as in the real world, some of the disgruntled have-nots are all too willing to toss their lives away -- just for the satisfaction of momentarily halting the progress of the haves.