From SecurityFocus.com: “Midnight Commander is a popular file management tool for unix systems. Among many other features, Midnight Commander allows users to traverse their filesystem using a menu-style console interface. There exists a vulnerability in the way Midnight Commander handles directories that may allow for arbitrary commands to be executed when maliciously created directories are opened.”

“The in.identd service is used to provide remote systems with usernames associated with tcp connection port pairs. The version of in.identd that ships with S.u.S.E. Linux contains a remotely exploitable denial of service vulnerability that may result in the service crashing.” Full details at SecurityFocus.com.

ZDNet UK reports: “Computer security firm Network Associates was left embarrassed after two of its corporate Web site were defaced Wednesday although it claims it is not its fault.” The company says it shouldn’t be held responsible for the break-ins because the servers were co-located.

Digital media companies pleaded with federal officials to clear up “cloudy areas” of U.S. copyright law, during a hearing Wednesday, according to a Reuters story. Wired.com has a different take on the hearing, saying publishers, movie studios, and software companies urged the government not to tinker with the current law.

CNet reports that some critics are saying Netscape 6 was released at the wrong time, and problems with the release indicate Netscape should have waited until its
open-source group, Mozilla.org, released its own version 1.0 browser, which isn’t due for another five
months.

From The Register: “Hacker legend Kevin Mitnick’s prison ID card has finally found a home on auction
site Dutchbid.com after being yanked by socially-conscious competitors eBay,
Yahoo! and Amazon, who judiciously draw the line at Nazi memorabilia. The item has attracted two bids thus far and stands at $1400. An autographed ‘Free
Kevin’ bumper sticker will sweeten the pot for the eventual proud owner. “

A ZDNet column asks: “Would anyone miss Corel if if left the Linux market? … Corel has never seemed to grasp where the Linux market was, is, or is going.”

Slashdot readers discuss the annoucement from the European Patent Office saying software patents will not be granted for another year.

Reuters reports: Transmeta officials say flawed Crusoe chips may have been used on other laptops besides Japan’s NEC, which is recalling 284 computers with faulty chips, but it was unlikely that the chips are in other computers.

From Internet Wire: Multicast Technologies, Inc., announced today that the company is releasing the Internet’s first
multicast audio player, The MCT Player. The MCT Player is available to the public starting today, November 29, 2000, as a FREE downloadable file on the
company’s audio station, www.On-The-I.com . The MCT Player is the first to deliver CD quality sound and the first to track multicast traffic. The MCT Player
also features Staggered Erasure Protection, a patent pending technology developed by Multicast Technologies that corrects for missing data, which
otherwise causes drop-outs in sound.

The MCT Player is being released under an open-source license, which will enable other programmers to contribute
improvements to subsequent player updates.