The mother of a Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was jailed for ten years by the Chinese government after Yahoo cooperated with Chinese authorities and revealed Shi Tao’s identity and personal details to them, is suing Yahoo in U.S. Federal court.

Even if you know what are the Seven Wonders of the World, did you know that they are about to become the old 7 Wonders of the World (not to be confused with the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World)? Or that there is a vote going on for the new 7 Wonder of the World, and that there is now an 8th World Wonder? Like it or not it’s true, but thanks to the Internet you can cast your vote for the new seven wonders of the world, and your vote for the 7 world wonders actually counts! (The Pyramids of Giza now have honourary status, hence there now being eight wonders of world acclaim.)

While the U.S. attempts to keep GIs from blogging and posting video, not everyone has that restriction. Witness this hot-off-the-presses video, made with footage captured by a webcam mounted on one British Royal Marine’s helmet! This video takes you with this Royal Marine as he patrols in Afghanistan, become involved in a skirmish, and gets shot (fortunately, in the backside, and he’s relatively fine). There is no real gore in this video, but there is gunfire, and a lot of swearing.

I read an article this week about “virtual rape”. Yes, really. That would be virtual sexual assault on your virtual online character or persona. This is all coming out now because, I kid you not, someone from Second Life reported a virtual rape to the police in Brussels. And they are investigating it. Oh for pete’s sake, give me a break! How tenous a grasp on reality do these people have? And how the heck can there be “forced online sexual activity”? Isn’t that nearly an oxymoron?

Authorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan say that people are in a frenzy because of a rumour of deadly virus being transmitted by cell phone. The deadly cellphone virus rumor is being blamed on the Taliban.

The YouTube video website has been blocked from all of Thailand after a video appeared on the YouTube site which insults the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, explains Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, Thailand’s Minister of Information and Technology.

Domain tasting may sound like a funny term, but it’s no laughing matter. But exactly what is domain tasting? Sometimes called “Domain Kiting”, domain tasting is when someone registers a domain name for the express purpose of testing it out during the five-day grace period to see whether it will receive enough traffic to pay for itself, usually with just the clickthrough advertising on the site itself.

“Greetings from Iraq,” the subject line says. Who wouldn’t at least give that a glance the first time they see that in their inbox? And that’s exactly what scammer “Merrill Melvin Hansley”, a supposed security manager of STE,CCPLUS STORAGE SARL storage company in Iraq, is counting on.

The British government is considering making registered sex offenders register their email addresses and chat names – including names that they use in chatrooms along with their other details. Good idea. Let’s have them register what sort of clothing they wear, while we’re at it.

Some complained, some praised, when Yahoo closed their chat rooms to those under 18 in an effort to help protect children. Yahoo and other chat sites also routinely close down chat rooms which have ‘themes’ which are related to illegal activities, such as child molestation. Now three men – David Beavan, Alan Hedgcock, and Robert Mayers – have been sentenced in the UK for plotting in a chat room to molest 13- and 14-year-old sisters.

The Superbowl Trojan, as some are calling it, has been implanted on dozens of Super Bowl related websites, and is installing itself on any Windows computer that happens to visit any of the Super Bowl sites without adequate protection. The Super Bowl Trojan allows the hacker to take full control over any of these infected Windows PCs by connecting the machine to dv521.com, downloading the W1C.exe file, and installing the Wow-PK Trojan.

Spam laden with trojan viruses are running high this month – primarily the Small.DAM Trojan – so be extra careful. Common subject lines include those about “Storm Batters Europe”, updates on Condoleeza Rice, and claims that Putin is dead and Hussein is alive. The subject lines vary, but the Trojan payload remains the same: executable files surreptitiously installed on your computer, with file names such as “Full Story.exe”, “Full Text.exe”, “Full Video.exe”, “Video.exe”, “Full Clip.exe” or “Read More.exe”, or such.

We keep telling you that Nigerian 419 and British Lottery scams work because people actually send these scammers money. In case you didn’t believe us, police in Holland have arrested a Nigerian man over the holidays who is being charged with being involved with a 419 scam, and he had cash amounting to $4,599,577 in his pocket!

A company called Accenture has developed a system for a “virtual family dinner”. The concept is simple enough. With people scattered across the United States, and around the globe, it’s increasingly rare that a family sits down to dinner together around a table. So, goes Accenture’s corpthink, let’s have their loved ones sit down with them – wherever they may be. The virtual family meal system is aimed primarily at the elderly, whom are often shut in, or may have special dietary needs which could be monitored by family members on the grid of the system.

This year, the Queen of England will not only be broadcasting her message by radio and television, but will also be making it available as a podcast. And, in fact, you can sign up right now, in advance, and have the Queen’s Christmas podcast delivered right to you as soon as it is available.