Internet needs fundamental changes

Experts have warned the basic TCP/IP protocols are unsuited to the modern Internet, and a new system is needed that sacrifices openness for accountability, says Computing.co.uk.

"There are fundamental problems in the Internet, and maybe we need to look at fundamental fixes," says Marcus Sachs, executive director for national security and cyber policy at Verizon. "It's like the old Roman roads: our enemies will use it against us."

The basic structure of the TCP/IP is insecure, he added, explaining that it was built 40 years ago for a very different computing model that took little account of security.

According to reports, a Chinese teenager sent to an Internet addiction rehabilitation camp has allegedly been beaten to death by its counsellors, says the BBC.

A number of employees of the Qihang Salvation Training Camp, in Nanning, have been arrested over the death, his father Deng Fei told the Global Times.

The camp had promised to put Deng Senshan, 15, under 24-hour supervision.

A US college graduate is suing her alma mater because she has been unable to find a job, reports The Register.

Trina Thompson, 27, graduated in April from Monroe College, in the Bronx, New York, with a bachelor's degree in IT. That educational achievement hasn't yet helped her land a job, and so she's suing the college for reimbursement of her tuition - $70 000 - plus an additional $2 000 "for the stress I have been going through looking for a full-time job on my own".

Apparently, Thompson has been too busy job-hunting to notice that times are tough all over. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, unemployment in the US information industry rose from 157 000 in June of 2008 to 347 000 in June of 2009 - that's a jump from 4.7% IT unemployment in 2008, to 11.1% in 2009.

Ancient fossilised, spider-like species have been imaged in 3D using thousands of X-ray scans and imaging software, reports the BBC.

The two species, Cryptomartus hindi and Eophrynus prestvicii, lived 300 million years ago, but are closely related to modern spiders.

The 3D images show that Cryptomartus hindi grasped at prey with its front legs and Eophrynus prestivicii had defensive spikes on its back.

Microsoft is looking into reports of a potential bug in the final version of Windows 7, although its top Windows executive said in a blog posting that the issue appears to be neither widespread, nor the "showstopper" that some are claiming it to be, says CNet.

The issue, noted on several enthusiast sites this week, involves a fairly arcane process used to check for problems in a particular disk. Under certain scenarios, the site suggested Windows 7 would siphon off all the available memory to perform the scan, potentially crashing the system.

One report went so far as to characterise the issue as a potential "showstopper" that might derail the product's launch, while others, such as ZDNet's Ed Bott, have downplayed the threat.