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You may not be aware of it but right now wars are raging on several fronts as different factions try to gain the upper hand over their opponents.

The first example is the RIAA and its attempts to prosecute people it believes have been trading copyrighted works.

It was disclosed today that one of the key pieces of evidence the RIAA will be using in trying to secure prosecutions against alleged file traders is the hash-key found in an MP3 file.

Every time a music track is ripped to MP3 format, this key is created and, since it is generated from several disparate pieces of information, will likely be a unique number that identifies that rip.

The RIAA are saying that where an MP3 file is found on a user's PC and its hash is the same as in identical MP3 files found elsewhere on the Net then clearly that file has been traded.

Now, I can guarantee you that within a few short days we'll see a return salvo from the file-traders. Look for a piece of freeware to appear that will automatically reset the hash keys of all your illicitly obtained MP3 files to some random value.

How will the RIAA counter that one?

And, a report just in from the conflict between spammers and anti-spammers says that the spammers are getting vicious and bringing out their heavy weapons.

Many of the servers which maintain "black lists" run by anti-spammers are coming under heavy denial of service (DOS) attacks. These black lists contain the address of mailservers and networks that are known sources of spam. By adding these black-list entries to their deny-lists, ISPs and others running their own mail servers can dodge a lot of the junk-mail that plagues our lives.

Now, by launching DOS attacks against these black-list servers, spammers are hoping that they'll collapse and at least slow the rate at which new spam-sources are added to those lists.

But wait -- there's more!

A very effective method of detecting and filtering spam known as Bayesian Filtering appears to also be coming under attack from spammers.

They've finally worked out that by running their spam messages through these filters before transmission, and refining them until they're no longer flagged as spam, these emails will get through to a lot more mailboxes.

So, if you've noticed a slight increase in spam since the Sobig.F worm finished being a pain in the backside then this, and the DOS attacks, might explain why.

Lighten Up
Time for more Friday frivolity and fluff from the wickedly wild world of the web.

Have you ever seen Pastor Brian Tamaki and is Destiny Church broadcasts on early morning TV?

Pastor Brian seems to have become the closest thing NZ has to a really wierd cult leader and now his church is getting into the business of politics.

Thank "heavens" for parody!.

And with spring just around the corner it will soon be BBQ time again. But this year, instead of just throwing those snags on the grill and serving them up as a burnt offering, why not try some Sausagami!.

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