American health officials recently have grown alarmed at an unusual spike in incidences of Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), a lethal affliction of the central nervous system caused by a rare warm water amoeba, AP reports.

The parasite typically thrives in warm fresh water and enters through the nostrils, where it leads to rapid olfactory necrosis. It then follows the nerves into the cranial cavity itself, where it devours the brain tissue. Coma, and, almost unfailingly, death, follow within a couple of weeks.

Jesper Johansson--a former senior program manager for security policy at Microsoft who moved to Amazon in September last year--wrote in his blog on Monday that he may drop Windows Media Center for LinuxMCE, a free open-source add-on to the Kubuntu desktop operating system, because problems caused by Microsoft's digital-rights management (DRM) software have proven so difficult to fix.

Johansson said that DRM software is not only ineffective, but a waste of money that is damaging businesses attempting to use it to control the way consumers use copyright material.

quot;How many billions has the industry spent on DRM schemes that the bad guys break in weeks? How many perfectly legitimate users has the industry annoyed and driven away? How many lost DVD sales has it caused? How many lost sales of Microsoft's Media Center software and Windows Vista has it caused because the DRM subsystem randomly decides that you must be a criminal?quot; Johansson wrote.

As previously reported, the pro-democracy rallies in Myanmar have been closely covered by regular reports coming out of the embattled nation via cellphone, email and even YouTube. The government's attempts to try and pollute the web with their own propaganda must not have worked, since on Friday morning, the government shut off Internet access, cut phone lines and confiscated mobile phones in an attempt to control the outflow of information about the rallies.

Even if the junta is able to completely shut things down, events can still be monitored from satellites, which are providing evidence of potential human rights abuses conducted by the government.

The company that controls the .name registry is charging for access to domain registration information, a step that security researchers say frustrates their ability to police the internet and creates a haven for hackers who run internet scams.

ICANN, which sets the rules for the internet's top-level domain names such as .com and .net, has traditionally required registrars to make Whois data publicly searchable as a condition of the companies' right to sell domain names.

But Global Name Registry, or GNR, which administers domain names ending in .name (that are intended for use by individuals e.g., johndoe.name), won the right to create tiered levels of Whois access, where public searches show very little information beyond what registrar sold the name and what name servers the site uses.

"What they have done is made sure the .name TLD is free haven for bad guys to lurk on," Evron said. "If I need to report 1,000 domains, I'm not going pay $2,000."

We've covered the long and detailed saga of Antigua fighting the US via the WTO, but the short summary is this: Antigua claims that the US is violating a free trade agreement in banning online gambling (many online gambling firms are in Antigua). The WTO agreed with Antigua and the US proceeded to ignore the ruling. The WTO again sided with Antigua... and the US pretended the WTO had sided with the US... and again ignored the ruling.

That's why Antigua is now pushing for the right to ignore US copyrights and patents as a remedy. However, there may be an even more persuasive remedy. Back over the summer, the EU indicated that it might start siding with Antigua in the dispute -- and it's a lot more difficult for the US to simply ignore the EU. To make the situation even more fun, the latest news is that gambling firms in the EU are pushing for $100 billion in damages from the US.

BitTorrent search engine, IsoHunt, is cutting off access in the U.S. to software that enables users to download BitTorrent files, the technology that has become a powerful tool for illegal file sharing.

IsoHunt and TorrentSpy, which elected to shut off access to its site last month to U.S. residents, are trying to avoid a court order to turn over user information to the MPAA as part of the legal discovery process.

As for data belonging to past visitors, the sites say they have never stored data for users. In an unprecedented decision, the judge wanted TorrentSpy to begin tracking information found in computer RAM.

Apple's vow to void the warranties of Iphones that their owners have unlocked could land it in hot water, writes Phone News.

The US Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act provides protection for consumers that prohibits Apple from voiding an Iphone warranty due to third party modifications or enhancements.

Further, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prohibits Apple from disabling or damaging an Iphone merely because it can detect that it has been unlocked.

There are technical points of law involved here, so don't take our word for it. However, it seems almost certain that someone with a good telecommunications lawyer will seek to establish whether or not Apple can legally void the warranties of unlocked Iphones.

The music industry has launched a new crackdown on the servers that run the P2P network eDonkey. Seven major eDonkey servers were taken offline this last week after German courts gave the go-ahead by issuing injunctions against the server operators.

Jeremy Banks, who heads the IFPI's global Internet Anti-Piracy Unit, said in a statement, "These actions show the reach of the recording industry's internet anti-piracy operation. IFPI has an expert team which traces the origin of illegal content on the internet and works with law enforcement agencies to get copyright-infringing content off the internet."

Shutting down important servers can certainly degrade P2P networks, but only time can tell if the eDonkey shutdowns are part of the endgame or whether the IFPI and its affiliates are simply playing Whack-A-Mole.

Colorado State University's method for manufacturing low-cost, high-efficiency solar panels is nearing mass production. AVA Solar Inc. will start production by the end of next year on the technology developed by mechanical engineering Professor W.S. Sampath at Colorado State.

Produced at less than $1 per watt, the panels will dramatically reduce the cost of generating solar electricity and could power homes and businesses around the globe with clean energy for roughly the same cost as traditionally generated electricity.

The cost to the consumer could be as low as $2 per watt, about half the current cost of solar panels. In addition, this solar technology need not be tied to a grid, so it can be affordably installed and operated in nearly any location.

Having found the necessary proof via the leaked MediaDefenders documents, the Pirate Bay is filing suit against the big record and movie labels operating in Sweden who have allegedly been paying professional hackers, saboteurs and DDoSers to destroy their trackers. They also claim to have filed a police report.