This Week in Tech 68

WIPO considers changing broadcast rules, the HP boardroom self-destructs, and Amazon and Apple go head-to-head.

• WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization) is going to meet Monday (9/11/2006) in order to negotiate the "webcasting right" that would give the host of online content a 50-year monopoly over content they distribute.
• Google is opening up access to 200 years of news.
• Investigators sought private phone records of board members of Hewlett-Packard while trying to figure out which director leaked confidential information to the media.
• Amazon has begun its Unbox video download service.
• Star Trek is 40 years old.
• Will Apple launch a video store of its own at its "Showtime" event this Tuesday (9/12/06)?
• Is the iPod losing its steam?
• Korean Air, Qantas, and according to Alex Lindsay, Virgin Air, are all not allowing Dell and Apple laptops on board.
• Microsoft released their fastest patch ever...for DRM. No important security updates will be released this patch Tuesday (9/12/06).
• A hacker got into the Second Life database and has gotten hundreds of thousands of users' personal information. The admins have changed everyone's passwords.
• Please email gwen@eff.org if you are a podcaster to prevent WIPO from passing the "webcasting right."