France could offer loophole for iTunes

Apple Computer could negotiate new deals with record labels and artists to sidestep French government plans to open its exclusive iTunes music download format to rivals, under a draft Senate amendment to be voted on this week.

The amendment, proposed by the Senate Cultural Affairs Committee, softens the terms of a government-backed copyright Bill that Apple criticised as "state-sponsored piracy" after its first reading in March by lawmakers in France`s lower house, reports BusinessWeek.

Apple`s iPod, which accounts for about 70% of US media player sales, is currently designed to play music only from iTunes, which is also incompatible with rival players.

A well-known member of the "botmaster underground" was sentenced yesterday to nearly five years in prison for profiting from his use of "botnets" - armies of compromised computers, reports North Country Gazette.

Jeanson James Ancheta, 20, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for launching destructive attacks, sending huge quantities of spam across the Internet and receiving surreptitious installations of adware.

Ancheta`s crimes were characterised as "extensive, serious and sophisticated". The prison term is the longest-known sentence for a defendant who spread computer viruses.

Internet giant Yahoo introduced an upgrade to its Web search advertising system on Monday, aiming to catch up with market leader Google, reports the BBC.

Yahoo`s new software system aims to let advertisers target potential customers more accurately based upon the words users type into the search box.

The system further aims to enable advertisers to instantly calculate the cost of acquiring new customers. Analysts say Yahoo is catching up with Google`s technology.