Here are some assorted news bits from Slashdot and CBC.
Give me some good hash
MD5 has been cracked even more. (/.) And researchers have found colliding X.509 certificates. I guess this is the end of the line for MD5 as part of digital signatures.
New crypto standards
In other news, the NSA wants government agencies to use a new suite of crypto algorithms, based on elliptic curves. (/.) Meanwhile, I’m wondering what the next OpenPGP standard will hold.
Online libel
Could I be sued in Elbonia for something that I write in Canada, hosted on a server in South Africa? A man is suing the Washington Post for libel, under Canadian law. His rationale is that since the content is online, it is accessible in Ontario, and hence should be subject to Ontario laws. I, for one, am hoping that the Elbonians don’t find my posts making fun of their president’s resemblance to an overweight walrus.
DMC-eh?
The Liberal government is thinking of bringing DMCA-like legislation to Canada. (/.)
Software patents in Europe
The EU is one step closer to legalizing software patents. (ZDNet UK,, /.) Fortunately, it still has to go through second reading in the European Parliament. So to all Europeans, write to your MEP. And to all MEPs, remember that the European Council ignored the Parliament’s requests on this very issue twice.
Sustainable seafood
And now for something completely different. The Vancouver Aquarium has a new program to promote sustainable seafood. What can I say? I like seafood, and I like sustainability.
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