National security strategy fails on cyber crime

UK prime minister Gordon Brown has announced a national security strategy to tackle the changing face of threats to the UK, reports Computing.co.uk.

Although the Cabinet Office paper makes references to recognising the threat of cyber crime, it makes only one suggestion on what government might do to tackle the problem.

Launching the report, Brown said a new approach to national security was needed. "As the national security strategy makes clear, new threats demand new approaches. A radically updated and much more co-ordinated response is now required."

Apple's iTunes Store sells individual songs for download for 99c apiece, but a new unlimited-music service is rumoured to be in the works, says Business Week.

Reports that Apple is discussing an "all-you-can-eat" subscription music service with major record labels are overblown, say people in a position to know. But giving customers access to the entire iTunes catalogue in exchange for a premium on iPod music players isn't a bad idea, and it's one Apple may need to consider.

According to a story in the Financial Times, Apple would charge enough for iPod and iPhone devices to cover the cost of licensing entire music collections. It would use that premium to create a pool of revenue, a portion of which would be divided among the major music labels, the newspaper said.

The High Court has passed a ruling that for the first time allows computer programs to be patented in the UK, reports Computing.co.uk.

The decision came about as the court upheld an appeal from Symbian following the rejection of an application the software firm made to the Intellectual Patent Office (IPO).

Symbian filed for a patent relating to the way computers use a library of functions that can be accessed by programs. The claim was discarded by the IPO last July, on the grounds that it related to software-based innovation - the IPO says patents are not available in the UK for solely computer-based programs, only for inventions that use software programs.

Adobe Systems is committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone, according to CEO Shantanu Narayen, even though Steve Jobs said last week that Flash isn't suitable for the iPhone, says IT World.

But Narayen isn't wavering. "Flash is synonymous with the Internet and, frankly, anybody who wants to browse the Web and experience the Web's glory really needs Flash support," he said during a conference call with investors, according to a transcript at seekingalpha.com.

He is sure adding Flash support to the iPhone isn't a problem. "We've evaluated the SDK, we can now start to develop the Flash player ourselves and we think it benefits our joint customers."