EU unveils green code of conduct

The European Union (EU) has introduced a voluntary code of conduct for data centre operators, designed to help cut energy costs and curb the IT sector's burgeoning carbon footprint, says Computing.co.uk.

Firms signing up to the code will be expected to adhere to a range of best practices intended to enhance data centre energy-efficiency, include environmental and energy considerations in their purchasing criteria and report annually on their energy consumption.

Lord Hunt, minister for sustainable development and energy innovation, said that with government figures showing 3% of UK electricity is used in data centres, there was a strong case for firms to follow the code.

Hi-tech thieves who specialise in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5 billion, research suggests, reports The BBC.

Symantec calculated the figure to quantify the scale of fraud it found during a year-long look at the Internet's underground economy.

Credit card numbers were the most popular item on sale and made up 31% of all the goods on offer.

The curiosity in president-elect Barack Obama's phone records came with a high price tag for Verizon Wireless employees. According to CNN, the workers who snooped on Obama's phone records have been fired, says TG Daily.

"This was some employees' idle curiosity," a company source told CNN and added "we now consider this matter closed".

Verizon Wireless previously had said the security breach did not involve a BlackBerry smartphone, but a “simple” phone. The company conceded the employees had access to the full records of calling data, including the phone numbers of calls made and received. However, they had no access to the content of the calls, Verizon said.

Virgin America plans to become the latest airline to offer in-flight WiFi Internet, a service with a problematic past that still promises far-ranging flexibility in entertainment, reports USA Today.

The San Francisco-based carrier has scheduled the service for one Airbus A320 aircraft, joining American Airlines as the only carriers in the world to offer full Internet access.

Dubbed Gogo, the service lets passengers browse the Web, use e-mail and instant messaging, download video and connect to secure networks through three wireless access points on the plane. Voice calls over the Internet are not allowed. The cost is $9.95 to $12.95 a flight, depending on route length.