EU ruling against MS

European regulators have levied a record EUR497 million fine against Microsoft, ordered the unbundling of Windows Media Player within 90 days and required that "complete and accurate" information be given to rival makers of computer servers within 120 days.

Reuters reports that the 20-member European Commission made the announcement in Brussels today. The Commission characterised Windows, which runs on more than 95 percent of all personal computers, as a "near monopoly."

Microsoft said earlier it would take the decision to EU courts in Luxembourg to try get the remedies delayed until final appeals are over - a process that could take up to seven years.

The recording industry this week sued another 532 people for illegal sharing of digital music files over the Internet. AP reports that the latest wave of copyright lawsuits brought by the Recording Industry Association of America on behalf of recording companies marks the first time that the trade group has targeted users at universities.

Those sued this week include individuals using peer-to-peer networks at 21 universities. The latest cases bring to 1 977 the number of people sued over online music piracy in the past six months.

Computer "spyware" is noxious and harmful and must be stopped as soon as people can figure out exactly what it is, members of a US Senate communications subcommittee said yesterday.

Reuters quotes the senators as saying programs that secretly track computer users` activities are becoming an online scourge rivalling spam e-mail and should be outlawed before they prompt consumers to abandon the Internet.

But a Bill sponsored by committee members will need to define the problem precisely to avoid outlawing pop-up ads and other annoying but essentially harmless technologies, said consumer and business advocates.

AP reports that practically every major cellphone maker at the annual wireless industry trade show in Atlanta has unveiled a new handset with built-in megapixel camera. Most of the new cameras are capable of snapping digital photos with over three times the picture quality of existing digital camera phones. The new generation of camera phones, due on the market later this year, all capture images with a printable resolution of about 1.28 megapixels.

Among the flashiest models was the LG8000 from LG Mobile Phones, which is equipped with a next-generation wireless technology designed to provide Internet connections almost on par with wired broadband services such as DSL and cable modem.