Oracle today announced the availability of Oracle(R) Application Server Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.0 Preview, which enables Java application developers to obtain hands-on experience with this latest specification, designed to significantly ease application development.

With the EJB 3.0 Preview, Oracle now delivers the most comprehensive implementation of EJB 3.0 specification accessible today. It is the only implementation that offers testability outside of the container and demonstrates how to address backward compatibility, interoperability and migration issues — making it easier for developers to benefit from EJB 3.0 without having to rewrite existing applications. Oracle JDeveloper, a comprehensive Java and Web services integrated development environment and Oracle TopLink, a Java object-to-relational persistence architecture, will also leverage the EJB 3.0 specification. The EJB 3.0 Preview is available free for download at http://www.oracle.com/technology.

A University of California researcher says he has found a way to identify computer hardware remotely, offering a new way to bypass some common security techniques and unmask anonymous Web surfers.

Tadayoshi Kohno, a doctoral student, wrote in a paper on his research: “There are now a number of powerful techniques for remote operating system fingerprinting, that is, remotely determining the operating systems of devices on the Internet. We push this idea further and introduce the notion of remote physical device fingerprinting…without the fingerprinted device’s known cooperation.”

The potential applications for Kohno’s technique are far-reaching. For example, it could be possible to track “a physical device as it connects to the Internet from different access points, counting the number of devices behind a NAT even when the devices use constant or random IP identifications, remotely probing a block of addresses to determine if the addresses correspond to virtual hosts.”

NAT, or network address translation, is a protocol commonly used to make it appear as if machines behind a firewall all retain the same IP address on the public Internet.

Kohno’s research is likely not the last word in Net anonymity, but simply the latest escalation in the arms race between snoopware and anonymity developers. Possible countermeasures include masking time skews with better random number generation techniques, for example.

Source: News.com

Microsoft has extended its antipiracy olive branch to China, offering users of bootleg copies of Windows a 50 percent discount on a legitimate version if they come clean on how they got their pirated copy.

As part of a two-month promotion that started in February, the company is offering a Chinese version of Windows XP Home Edition and Professional Edition at 786 yuan ($95), and 1,270 yuan ($153), respectively. According to Microsoft’s Web site, the two products normally retail for about $199 and $299.

To qualify for this offer, users with unlicensed copies of Windows installed on their machines need to complete an online form in which they disclose how they obtained the bogus software.

For example, they will have to specify whether their existing Windows packages were installed by an independent reseller, bundled with their PCs at the point of sale or purchased from street peddlers. A discount voucher will then be e-mailed to these users following their submissions.

Source: News.com

The U.S. Commerce Department has ordered companies that administer internet addresses to stop allowing customers to register .us domain names anonymously using proxy services.

The move does not affect owners of .com and .net domains. But it means website owners with .us domains will no longer be able to shield their name and contact information from public eyes.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center said the move violates First Amendment rights to anonymous free speech. And the representative of one of the largest domain-registration companies is concerned that customers who have been victims of stalkers won’t be able to protect their privacy without changing their web address to a domain that offers anonymity.

Wired News has learned that the edict came a month ago from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department agency that advises the president on telecommunications and information policy. The agency ruled with no warning and without any discussion with the companies accredited to sell and register .us domains. The domain companies were told they would lose their right to sell .us domains — the official, top-level domain for the United States — if they didn’t comply.

Source: Wired News