Canadians are joining Americans in their outcry over ISPs allegedly blocking BitTorrent and other P2P applications. Now, two Canadian groups have now asked the privacy commissioner to investigate the activities of Bell Canada.

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Internet Clinic (CIPPIC) is accusing Bell Canada of failing to obtain consent from its Internet customers around the use of deep-packet inspection (DPI), a technology capable of reporting on how subscribers are using their Internet connections.

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Offering a device for individuals to keep handy just in case a "must record" moment happens ("Don't Taze Me, Bro" moments), Creative has unveiled its VF0570-P Vado Pocket Video Camcorder.

With 2 GB of memory, and 640 x 480 VGA MPEG4 videos recording at 30 fps, Creative's Vado has specs conspicuously similar to PureVideo's 2 GB Flip Video. The main difference between the two is the price. The 2 GB flip carries with it an MSRP of $149.99, while the Vado shaves the price down to $99.99.

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The Mac business users' community was in an uproar two years ago over the removal of a key feature of Office that was created, ironically, for Windows. Now, the company that "listens to its customers" is finding a way to restore it.

Easily Office 2008's most lamented missing feature for Mac users, the lack of support for Visual Basic for Applications -- Microsoft's first, best genuine effort at making its principal application engines cross-platform -- will return in the next edition of the product, according to an announcement this morning by the Mac Business Unit of Microsoft.

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Sun Microsystems today announced the launch of several server products based on AMD's quad-core Opteron CPUs, the product of what Sun is calling today an extensive collaboration between the two manufacturers.

The three main products in today's server launch are very similar to the current Sun offerings based on Intel CPUs. "Same chassis and form factor," except with AMD and NVidia technology instead of Intel hardware, a Sun spokesperson told BetaNews.

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Not everybody stands in favor of the WiMAX deal rolled out by Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, and five industry partners last week. Now an affiliate in Illinois is taking Sprint to court in connection with the $3.5 billion wireless pact.

The affiliate, iPCS, charges that Sprint's WiMAX agreement with Clearwire and five other companies -- Google, Intel Capital, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks -- violates exclusivity agreements within its own affiliation contract with Sprint.

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Seagate's Momentus 5400 FDE.2 HDD has been approved for one of the most demanding security standards in the US government, the National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Policy (NSTISSP) #11.

This marks the second time a federal agency has honored Seagate's product with security accreditation. Last Year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) gave certification to Seagate's Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm. This transparent hardware-based encryption powers the Momentus hard drive.

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On one side of the issue is the poor artist who never sees more than a dime for her work. On the other is the poor broadcaster struggling to earn a profit in a changing radio landscape. And in the middle of it all, as always, is Congress.

Last November, opponents of US House legislation to lift the exemption for terrestrial radio stations from paying performance royalties for recorded music, advanced a draft resolution pledging that the House would never pass such a measure, directly calling such royalties a "fee" and indirectly calling them a "tax." With little change on that front in the House, the stagnation now finds itself being duplicated in the Senate, with a proposal yesterday for an identically worded, possibly non-binding, resolution.

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Apple detailed Tuesday the content of Jobs' keynote at WWDC, in a sort of confirmation that announcements there will involve the iPhone..

As expected, the keynote will take place on the first day of the conference, June 9, at 10am. According to a statement from the company, Jobs will be joined by "a team of Apple executives" to show off the company's current operating system.

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With an increasing number of Chinese and South Korean companies operating in the Japanese consumer market, electronics companies Kenwood and Victor of Japan, known as JVC, plan to merge into a new company.

The new entity will be called JVC Kenwood Holdings, though there's two schools of thought regarding which brand will prevail once the deal is sealed. The move confirms rumors leaked by the Nikkei news agency as early as July 2007.

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A hacker broke into a Chilean government server on Friday, and then posted personal information from over six million of the country's citizens.

The government appointed a special prosecutor on Monday, and said the data included names, identity card numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mails, and academic records. It was taken from Education Ministry, military, and Electoral Service servers.

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A slight modification in South Korean telecom rules has finally allowed RIM to offer its BlackBerry phones to users there. Now, after an agreement with SK Telecom, BlackBerrys can be sold on the South Korean market.

Up to now, Research in Motion has not been allowed to sell BlackBerry phones in South Korea because of laws that give a competitive edge to domestic companies, such as Samsung and LG Electronics. Those two companies have a combined 80% control of the South Korean market.

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Microsoft today has announced the pricing and upcoming availability of its LifeCam VX-5000 Windows Live-optimized webcam.

Expected to reach the market in June, the VX-5000 features a dedicated Windows Live Call button, which allows Windows Live Messenger users one-touch access to their "Contact Picker" (i.e. buddy list.) The included LifeCam Dashboard acts within Windows Live Messenger, allowing pan, tilt, 3x digital zoom, face tracking, and video effects to be used in-call.

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Download Fedora Linux 9 Final from BetaNews FileForum now.

A new and easier-to-use edition of Fedora -- the Red Hat-sponsored open source Linux desktop OS -- is available for free download starting today from the Fedora Project's Web site.

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On its path back into the black, AMD is going green. The company is putting a lot of weight on the new Opteron line in hopes of it revitalizing AMD's server business, and these new quad-cores promise 43% lower energy consumption.

Called the Opteron HE (for High Efficiency), these x86 Quad Core server processors have an integrated memory controller and a 55-watt ACP thermal envelope instead of the standard 95-watt profile.

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While two bills introduced in Congress last week have support from several groups representing the recording and Internet broadcasting industries, artists themselves are among its most vocal critics.

Two bills now making their way through the Senate and House, proposed by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D - Vt.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D - Calif.) aim to change copyright law to address the issue of whether individuals or companies have the right to use unclaimed art -- including musical backgrounds and visual or graphic art -- after a reasonable search for their originators turns up nothing.

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