Self-destructing data unveiled

Just in time for the evolution to cloud computing, boffins at the University of Washington have developed a tool that makes electronic data self-destruct automatically after a set period of time, reports The Register.

The technique is designed to protect people against sensitive information that may linger on computer networks and later come back to bite them in job interviews, lawsuits, or in other unintended ways.

It encrypts messages with a secret key, which is then divided into dozens of pieces and distributed over random computers that belong to peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

The code that Microsoft released for the Linux kernel under the General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) was in violation of that licence before Microsoft made it available, says ITWorld.

Stephen Hemminger, principal engineer with open source network vendor Vyatta, claims that a network driver in Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualisation software used open source components licensed under the GPL.

Since the licence does not allow for mixing of closed source or proprietary code with open source code, the software was in violation of the GPL, he said.

A system that can deliver power to devices without the need for wires has been shown off at a hi-tech conference, reports BBC News.

The technique exploits simple physics and can be used to charge a range of electronic devices.

Eric Giler, chief executive of US firm Witricity, showed mobile phones and televisions charging wirelessly at the TED Global Conference, in Oxford. He said the system could replace the miles of expensive power cables and billions of disposable batteries.

Defence minister Bob Ainsworth said the UK will not become a sponsor of the Nato Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, reports Computing.co.uk.

The centre is located in Estonia and was set up last year to conduct research and training on cyber warfare.

It has a staff of 30 people, half of them specialists from the sponsoring countries - Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain.