Several readers sent word that the website for TrueCrypt, the popular disk encryption system, says that development has ended, and Windows users should switch to BitLocker.

A source code diff of the two versions has been posted, and the new release appears to simply remove much of what the software was designed to do. It also warns users away from relying on it for security.

A few days ago police sent out another round of requests to various domain name registrars, asking them to suspend the domains of several allegedly infringing sites. Before the weekend we reported that the cyberlocker search engine FileCrop was targeted, and today the same happened to Torrentz.eu.

Previously, ICANN’s Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy panel ruled that registrars can’t hold domain names hostage simply because a law enforcement agency believes it may be infringing.

“Operation Creative is a ground-breaking initiative is designed to disrupt and prevent websites from providing unauthorised access to copyrighted content, in partnership with the creative and advertising industries.”

Memo to anyone who logs in to a WordPress-hosted blog from a public Wi-Fi connection or other unsecured network: It's trivial for the script kiddie a few tables down to hijack your site even if it's protected by two-factor authentication.

The cookie, which carries the tag "wordpress_logged_in," is set once an end user has entered a valid WordPress user name and password.

The move by WordPress engineers to allow the cookie to be transmitted unencrypted makes them susceptible to interception in many cases.

The move would be “part of a broad effort to curb Chinese cyber espionage,” Reuters reported.

Wysopal noted that Black Hat talks are taped and sold after the conference, and preventing Chinese hackers from being physically there would not appreciably affect China's hacking abilities.

On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder drew a distinction between the NSA's spying and the actions that the US government has charged five Chinese military members with, saying that China's alleged activities were "to gain commercial advantage."

Microsoft is paying Brazilian users US$2 in Skype vouchers to set Bing as their default search engine and MSN as their default home page.

The current value of the voucher is $2.00. [One claimed], the voucher will appear in your Skype account.

People who disclose confidential information about hydraulic fracturing chemicals in North Carolina would be subject to criminal penalties and civil damages, under a bill in the state Legislature.

The state's Mining and Energy Commission, which is writing the regulations, drew criticism earlier this month when it rejected a proposal on chemical disclosure under pressure from the oil and gas industry, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

"If an individual who has not been designated as a recipient of this data gets his or her hands on it, there will be big penalties."

Five years after advocates came up with an easy way to let you browse the Web with just a little privacy, the Do Not Track system is in tatters and that pair of boots you looked at online last month is still stalking you from website to website.

Back in December, Facebook started testing auto-playing video ads, where video advertisements start playing in your feed without you having to click or tap play. Today, they are introducing those ads to users across Facebook.

At this point, it's unclear if there's a way to opt out of auto-playing video ads, though if you're on a desktop browser, you may be able to get rid of them with something like AdBlock.

Xinhua said Beijing had felt compelled to act after Microsoft ended security support for its Windows XP operating system, which is still widely used in China.

"China's decision to ban Windows 8 from public procurement hampers Microsoft's push of the OS to replace XP, which makes up 50% of China's desktop market," said data firm Canalys.

The former operator of USAWarez.com and USATorrents.com, who has served more than two years in prison for copyright infringement, has outed several prisons for showing pirated movies to their inmates.

According to Humphrey the movies were shown while they were still playing in theaters and had clear earmarks of being pirated copies.

According to Humphrey, the Lorain Correctional Institution is not the only prison where pirated movies are shown to inmates. During his youth he was detained at Lorain County Juvenile Detention Center, where the same issues took place.