After joining Twitter and Facebook, former Microsoft chairman launches Web site

As if joining Twitter and rejoining Facebook in the same week weren't enough, Bill Gates has now launched a Web site on which he can share his thoughts.

For the past few years, Microsoft has been conducting experiments in various countries as to how and whether “renting” software could become a viable business model. The answer seemingly must have been yes, since Microsoft quietly added rental SKUs, as of January 1, to the list of license types available to customers worldwide.

Though some industry watchers consider Microsoft’s various annuity licensing options — like Software Assurance, via which users pay for the right to use Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products, in chunks over a period of three years — to be “rental” programs, they technically aren’t. Under the newly introduced rental program, a customer would pay a flat fee to use Windows or Office 2007 (Standard or Professional versions) for a year.

The new rental rights specifics are explained further on Microsoft’s Partner site:

“Windows desktop operating system and Microsoft Office system licenses do not permit renting, leasing, or outsourcing the software to a third party. As a result, many organizations that rent, lease, or outsource desktop PCs to third parties (such as Internet cafés, hotel and airport kiosks, business service centers, and office equipment leasing companies) are not compliant with Microsoft license requirements.

“Rental Rights are a simple way for organizations to get a waiver of these licensing restrictions through a one-time license transaction valid for the term of the underlying software license or life of the PC.”

Sorry to say it, folks, but cell phone eavesdropping technology isn't just the stuff of the movies: It's real, and the equipment to do said eavesdropping is available to just about anyone.

Last month security experts presented research at a Berlin computer conference to show just how vulnerable GSM technology was, with one Karsten Nohl saying he'd amassed several terabytes worth of tables that let any GSM voice conversation or text message be decrypted once it had been intercepted over the air.

Nohl says the knowledge he was presenting was relatively commonplace today, and law enforcement officials already have free rein over intercepting and decoding these transmissions. Nohl figures that criminals have probably had them for some time as well.

Why is GSM vulnerable? Mainly because it is so very old. While the encryption used to secure these calls and text messages was state-of-the-art when it was invented, the standard hasn't changed in the last 20 years. Computing power has since advanced to the point where cracking such a code -- a 64-bit encryption standard called A5/1 -- is no longer a daunting task. It's still expensive -- reportedly costing $30,000 to crack GSM conversations in real time -- but easily within the reach of any high-stakes criminal worth his salt.

Those willing to crack these calls using after-the-fact recordings -- instead of in real time -- need only invest a few thousand bucks.

Of course, it should be noted, building such a piece of equipment would be a violation of the law in many countries.

There is good news: The 3G standard which is now widely used for data transmissions like your iPhone's web browsing uses a more sophisticated encryption technology called A5/3 that should be secure against feds and crooks alike. But give technology another 20 years to evolve and we might be seeing a creepy repeat of this same news.

Meanwhile, keep in mind that, as with surfing the web on a public computer in the library or over an unencrypted Wi-Fi connection, anything sent or said over a GSM connection may be subject to eavesdropping -- however unlikely it may really be.