Trojan may have contributed to fatal Spanair crash

The Spanair plane crash that killed 154 people two years ago on Friday may have been partly caused by malware, according to reports.

The newspaper El Pais reported on Friday that Spanair's mainframe was contaminated with Trojans at the time that Flight JK 5022 to Gran Canaria crashed just after take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport.

The mainframe was supposed to raise the alarm when three similar technical problems were noted, but did not do so due to the infestation, El Pais said.

According to the report, investigating judge Juan David Perez has ordered Spanair to turn over the relevant data. There are currently two defendants in the case, both Spanair technicians.

FTC settles suit against cyberspying vendor

The FTC has settled its two-year-old lawsuit against keylogger vendor CyberSpy, allowing the company to continue to sell its RemoteSpy product but placing a few conditions on its use.

Announcing the settlement Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission said it "put the brakes" on the business practices of CyberSpy Software, which was sued by the FTC in 2008 over the sale and advertising of its RemoteSpy keylogger software.

Promoted as a computer monitoring product, RemoteSpy can capture keystrokes, passwords, and other information from unsuspecting users. The FTC had alleged that CyberSpy violated the FTC Act by allowing customers to surreptitiously install and even disguise RemoteSpy on PCs without the owner's knowledge.

Calif. mom who found missing kids on Facebook
faces legal, personal challenges after discovery

Prince Sagala has pined for her son and daughter since her estranged husband took them and fled to Mexico 15 years ago — but she never gave up hope that she would see them again.

The Indonesian-born nursing assistant was rewarded for her faith earlier this year, when she stumbled on her daughter's Facebook page in a story that made national headlines.

But in the four months since that discovery, Sagala's unbridled joy has slowly turned to anguish. The case has led to the public airing of years-old domestic allegations against Sagala — information that will likely be used in court — and her now-teenaged children want nothing to do with her.

Attached to Technology and Paying a Price

This is your brain on computers.

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.

These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.

The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cellphone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for millions of people like Mr. Campbell, these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life.

While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress.

Report urges more education about online safety

An online safety committee created by Congress will recommend on Friday that educators and government leaders focus on teaching children and parents about safe Internet practices while recognizing the limits of filtering technology in protecting young people.

The biggest takeaway from the report by the Online Safety and Technology Working Group, created by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, is that the real and online lives of young people are blending, and parents, educators and lawmakers need to treat both worlds equally.

“The reality is that they are completely intersected and one moving, living being,” said Hemanshu Nigam, co-chair of the group and an Internet security expert who formerly headed online security for MySpace.

Just as parents wouldn’t let a teenager leave home wearing something inappropriate, Nigam said, parents should also police how children present themselves online in social networks and other sites.