Cyberattack

Russian hackers behind the damaging cyberintrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation. 

2013 - to what extent is technology a useful tool for governments...

problem



Not a tool but an enemy they have to learn to defend 

themselves against

attempts to bring down government websites, and the

 defacement of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Istana 

webpages. 


solution


WORK is under way to tighten Singapore's defence against 

attacks that aim to disable government websites


how

This will be done by providing Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation services.

DDoS attacks work by having thousands of infected computers accessing and overwhelming a targeted site, causing a huge spike in traffic.

DDoS mitigation is a set of techniques that differentiates genuine incoming traffic from that sent by hijacked, infected browsers, so that services to genuine users will not be denied.

the wired helpers

2014- MH370 - missing Malaysian airlines plane

 

Thousands of aspiring good Samaritans volunteered their time to scour part of the plane's search zone using detailed satellite images posted online by DigitalGlobe, a Colorado firm that owns one of the world's most advanced commercial satellite networks.

In fact, so many people joined the effort that the firm's website -- with its pinpoint pictures of everything floating in the ocean -- crashed.

.

Sopa: Sites go dark as part of anti-piracy law protests

Thousands of internet sites are taking part in a "blackout" protest against anti-piracy laws being discussed by US lawmakers.

The Wikipedia encyclopedia and blogging service WordPress are among the highest profile pages to remove material.

Google is showing solidarity by placing a black box over its logo when US-based users visit its site.

The Motion Picture Association of America has branded the action as "irresponsible" and a "stunt".

Visitors to Wikipedia's English-language site are greeted by a dark page with white text that says: "Imagine a world without free knowledge... The US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia."

It provides a link to more details about the House of Representatives' Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and the Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa).

If users try to access its other pages via search sites, the text briefly flashes up before being replaced by the protest page. However, people have been sharing workarounds to disable the redirect.
Global protest

WordPress's homepage displays a video which claims that Sopa "breaks the internet" and asks users to add their name to a petition asking Congress to stop the bill.

"The authors of the legislation don't seem to really understand how the internet works," the site's co-founder, Matt Mullenweg told the BBC.

Across the globe, several Pirate Party sites have been taken offline. The political parties - which advocate reform of copyright laws - took the action in the UK, Spain, Sweden, Argentina, Canada and elsewhere.

Google posted a blog on the subject claiming that the bills would not stop piracy.

"Pirate sites would just change their addresses in order to continue their criminal activities," it said.

"There are better ways to address piracy than to ask US companies to censor the internet. The foreign rogue sites are in it for the money, and we believe the best way to shut them down is to cut off their sources of funding."

Other net firms that have criticised the legislation decided not to take part in the blackout.

Twitter's founder, Dick Costolo, tweeted that it would be "foolish" to take the service offline.

west vs east...media

COMPARE THIS

A Kansas City teenager is receiving backlash for a comment she made against her state's governor on Twitter. Emma Sullivan was attending a Youth in Government event with her classmates listening as Governor Sam Brownback spoke, when she tweeted, "Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot." The 18-year-old Shawnee Mission East senior is now declining her school principal's request for her to write a formal letter of apology to Governor Brownback saying she "isn't sorry and doesn't think such a letter would be sincere." Governor Brownback's office, which monitors social media for any posting with the governor's name, saw Sullivan's tweet and contacted the Youth in Government program. What followed was a verbal scolding from Sullivan's principal. Before the incident, Sullivan had 65 followers, currently her following has increased to more than 6,500. She said that she feels her tweet has helped to "open up dialogue" about free speech in social media.

UPDATE: On Monday afternoon, Governor Brownback submitted a statement to Yahoo! News apologizing to Emma Sullivan, saying, "My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms," he said.

WITH THIS

On the other side of the world, Ampon Tangnoppakul, a 61-year-old truck driver from Thailand, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending cell phone text messages that were deemed insulting to the country's monarchy. The law imposes seemingly severe penalties for publicly or privately making insults or threats directed at King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 83, and his family.

1 RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS CLAIMED, NO APOLOGY; INSTEAD GOVERNOR APOLOGIZES
VS
2 20 YEAR JAIL TERM...

now get off facebook and get back to your studies darling

Hitwise just published a new study examining how much time people living in different countries spend on Facebook. Singaporeans actually spend the longest on the social network, with an average of 38 minutes and 46 seconds per session, while people living in Brazil spend less than half that with an average of 18 minutes and 19 seconds per Facebook session for August 2011.

AND THE IRONY IS

I GOT THIS INFO FROM A FACEBOOK POSTING :(
GET BACK TO YOUR MARKING, MAGDALENE!!!

FR WIKI - GET OUT OF MY ELITE UNCARING FACE ( PART 1)

The Wee Shu Min elitism scandal was a Singaporean scandal in October 2006 in which Wee Shu Min, daughter of parliament member Wee Siew Kim and a then-eighteen year-old student on Raffles Junior College's scholarship programme, found herself in controversy after posting on her blog what were viewed by some Singaporeans to be elitist,[1] naïve, and insensitive statements against heartlanders.

Dismissing the views of Derek Wee who voiced concerns on job security and age discrimination on his blog, she shot back with a take-no-prisoners diatribe,calling Derek a "stupid crackpot", belonging to "the sadder class" and overreliant on the government. Her post also called for Derek to "get out of my elite uncaring face."[4][5] Her response triggered an avalanche of criticism, as it came on the heels of the sensational suicide of an individual (said to be facing financial difficulties) at Chinese Garden MRT Station.[6][7] As a result, her name topped Technorati's search terms for a week She has since appeared to have apologised on another blog and shut down her own.
[edit] Response

In response to the scandal, Wee Siew Kim stated that he supported Shu Min's point in principle and that "people cannot take the brutal truth," but he and Shu Min's college principal also expressed disappointment and counselled her to be more sensitive towards others. Wee also claimed that his daughter's privacy had been violated.[2] Critics pointed out however, that he appeared to have endorsed her elitist remarks and failed to address values such as empathy and humility, and that he was apologising for the tone, but not the content of his daughter's response.[11] Furthermore, the government had previously made it clear that there was no such thing as Internet privacy with the imprisonment of bloggers under the Sedition Act just over than a year earlier,[11] and that Wee Shu Min should be old enough to take responsibility for the consequences of her statements.
[edit] Public backlash

Two days after Wee Siew Kim first spoke out in The Straits Times, he made a public apology to those who were offended by statements made in his interview, in particular Derek Wee. Commentators used the controversy as evidence that Singapore was suffering from increasing signs that political elitism, "smarter-than-thou" snobbery and class consciousness anxiety were creeping into its meritocracy model,a widening social stratification that will cause long-term implications for Singaporean society, and problems in the education system that need to be addressed. The controversy was subsequently raised and hotly debated again in the opening session of the Parliament by fellow MP Sin Boon Ann, who pointed out that elitism was now an open secret in several aspects of Singapore society, including education, the military and the civil service, commenting that it is necessary "(to) break down the institution of snobbery within our society."

wikileaks

Julian Assange has told the BBC that he is fighting a Swedish extradition warrant because he believes "no natural justice" would occur in Sweden.

Mr Assange - The Wikileaks founder denies the allegations of rape and says the case is politically motivated.

FOR A MORE BALANCED VIEW OF THE "ALLAH ISSUE"

Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman, 45, decided to help the Metro Tabernacle Church after learning about the attack early last Friday. The ground floor of the church was gutted by the fire.

He said the response had been good, with donations coming from as far away as Britain and Europe, The Star reported yesterday. Most of the donors were his blog readers and their friends.

'People from all walks of life responded to this call to help the church, and 33 per cent were Muslim Malays,' he said.

Among them was a Malay farmer who wanted to sell his goat to donate money to the fund, Dr Mohamed said, after handing a cheque for RM8,467 to the church on Tuesday.

Dr Mohamed said he wanted to send a strong message that there were many level-headed Muslims who could differentiate between right and wrong.

'As a Muslim, I was taught to respect the rights of others and their religion. We are supposed to protect the weak, the poor and even the interests of non-Muslims,' he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times (NST).

privacy and security

Google Threatens Pullout From China After E-Mail Accounts Are Hacked

Google threatened to end its operations in China after it
discovered that the e-mail accounts of human rights activists
had been breached.

The company said it had detected a "highly sophisticated and
targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating
from China." Google says further investigation revealed that
"a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail
accounts of Chinese human rights activists." Google did not
specifically accuse the Chinese government. But the company
added that it is "no longer willing to continue censoring our
results" on its Chinese search engine, as the government
requires. Google says the decision could force it to shut
down its Chinese site and its offices in the country.

NEDA

neda - The woman whose death has come to symbolize Iranian resistance to the government's official election



THERE HAS BEEN two weeks of protests against the official results of the presidential elections, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for an end to street demonstrations

Ahmadinejad won the disputed election by a margin of two-to-one over Moussavi, his nearest rival, according to official results. Moussavi and Karroubi said the results were rigged and have called for the vote to be annulled.

Footage of Ms Soltan bleeding to death captured in amateur videos posted on the Internet and broadcast across the world triggered an outcry over Iranian authorities' clampdown on protests against the disputed presidential vote.

newspapers go "high tech"

Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become the first newspaper in the world to be published exclusively via Twitter, the sensationally popular social networking service that has transformed online communication.

The move, described as "epochal" by media commentators, will see all Guardian content tailored to fit the format of Twitter's brief text messages, known as "tweets", which are limited to 140 characters each. Boosted by the involvement of celebrity "twitterers", such as Madonna, Britney Spears and Stephen Fry, Twitter's profile has surged in recent months, attracting more than 5m users who send, read and reply to tweets via the web or their mobile phones

world wide web is 20!!!

THE World Wide Web turns 20 this year and, at last count, there are more than 186.7 million websites in existence.
But even with the most detailed digital maps, it is impossible to visit all available sites to see what the Internet has to offer.

From online research, illegal downloading to social networking, the Internet has changed the way information and content are being consumed.

To celebrate this landmark, Digital Life has picked 50 of the most interesting sites netizens should visit.

Presented in no particular order, the sites cover health care, beauty, travel, entertainment and parenting. To make this a useful guide, we have left out the common ones like Google, Flickr and Facebook.

What we have included are sites like Howcast, where instructional videos teach visitors useful skills from tying a tie to diagnosing car problems.

For parents who want to understand their children, there is Urban Dictionary to learn the lingo used by the younger generation.

And if you have an adorable puppy, why not post a picture on Daily Puppy for the whole world to enjoy?

busy, tech savvy, affluent and unhappy...

S'pore youth among busiest in Asia: Survey


IN 24 hours, Singapore youth cram in 42 hours' worth of activities by multi-tasking.
This is four hours above the regional average of 38 hours, and three hours more than the previous year's figure, revealed a survey by market research company Synovate. The places with even busier youth were South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

On average, Singapore youth spend 13 hours of each day engaged by the media - watching television, going online and reading newspapers, among other things.

Among the top Internet activities here are listening to music, e-mailing and playing online games alone. Leisure activities include sports, listening to music and shopping.

But despite their busy schedules, not all Singapore youth rate themselves highly on the happiness meter. Only 73 per cent said they were 'quite happy' or 'very happy', while Hong Kong managed only 65 per cent and Japan, 55 per cent.

It was youth from developing countries such as Indonesia (84 per cent) and the Philippines (89 per cent) who came out happiest in the survey. Indian youth, who fit only 29 hours of activity into a day, seemed happiest, with 97 per cent recording a high level of happiness.

ONLINE scammers are hoping to make a buck from people affected by the economic credit crunch.
In a report released last Friday, information security firm Symantec said that online scammers are milking job-seekers' worst fears - such as the dreaded rejection letter - to infect their computer system with a virus.

Those who decide to read the e-mail may be urged to click on an attached file to find out how to improve their chances at the next interview. Opening this file plants a virus. Some viruses will send out more messages via e-mail applications, while others try to get information like credit card details.

A sad end ...PLEASSE NOTE- THIS IS NOT AN AQ

HI THERE - THIS INCIDENT REMINDED ME OF AN EX STUDENT....SINCE THERE IS A LEARNING POINT HERE....THOUGHT I COULD PRESENT A FEW LOGANISTIC VIEWS




NTU guy stabs lecturer and commits suicide


FRIENDS of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja, who slashed his professor and then fell to his death on Monday, say he began behaving strangely earlier this year.
He played a computer game for hours on end, was seldom seen outside of his hostel room, and then stopped replying to their MSN messages altogether.

A fan of the computer game World of Warcraft, Mr Widjaja suddenly threw himself into it with a vengeance, spending as much as six hours a day huddled in front of his PC.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS AN ISOLATED EXAMPLE. BUT IT DOES POINT TO THE DANGERS OF
1 A STRESSSFUL ENVIRONMENT
2 LONELINESS IN A FOREIGN LAND
3 ADDICTION TO COMPUTER GAMES

THERE WERE MANY POSTS ON THIS TOPIC IN THE STRAITS TIMES...AND JUST LIKE WHAT HAPPENED AFTER COLUMBINE - THERE WAS MUCH FINGER-POINTING.WHO IS TO BLAME?they ask...

why don't we ask...WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO HELP HIM?

WHEN I FIRST CAME TO MJC...I TAUGHT AN INDONESIAN CHINESE GUY...INTELLIGENT AND VERY VERY WITTY...I ENJOYED MY CONVERSATIONS WITH HIM

HE PRACTICALLY STALKED ME EVERYDAY...REALLY...IT WAS ALWAYS ON THE PRETEXT OF ASKING ME A GP QUESTION.....IF I WERE YOUNGER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL, I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT HE HAD A CRUSH ON ME....HE HE...(THAT'S MY TOTALLY EGOISTIC, LARGER-THAN-LIFE PERSONA SPEAKING)

COMING BACK TO THE POINT...

NOT ONLY DID WE TALK DURING HIS BREAKS, HE FREQUENTLY SMSED ME AND CAUGHT ME ON MSN..

I LEARNED MUCH FROM HIM....HE OPENED MY EYES UP TO THE TRAVAILS(AGONY, TORMENT) AND
EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG PERSON, WHO IS SEPARATED FROM HIS PARENTS AT QUITE A TENDER AGE AND HAVING TO STUDY IN A FOREIGN LAND WHERE HE WAS TREATED LIKE ....YOU GUESSED IT...A FOREIGNER.

IT SOON DAWNED ON ME - THAT WHAT HE WAS LOOKING FOR WAS A MOTHER FIGURE...

HE WENT ON TO DO VERY WELL AND WENT OFF TO AN IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITY...

I, BEING MISS PROACTIVE, STARTED A FOREIGN STUDENTS PROGRAMME...WHERE WE FOUND MENTORS FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS AND MET ONCE A WEEK....
UNFORTUNATELY, IT WAS SHORT-LIVED...WHEN I LEFT COUNSELLING THE PROGRAMME FELL APART...

WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS....SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT VERY NICE TO FOREIGN STUDENTS...I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME OF THESE STUDENTS ABUSE THE PRIVILEGES THEY ARE GIVEN...BUT LET US NOT JUDGE THEM ALL THE SAME WAY...

BE KIND...ONE DAY THE TABLES MAY TURN ON YOU...AND YOU MIGHT BE AT THE RECEIVING END OF THE PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION,RESENTMENT...

UNLIKE YOU, THEY DO NOT HAVE THE BENEFIT OF RETURNING HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES EVERYDAY

SO, FOLKS, CUT THEM SOME SLACK....FOREIGNERS ARE LIKELY TO BE A PERMANENT FEATURE OF OUR SOCIETY

beguiled....

Although children can still be beguiled by Lewis Carroll and by the equally old-fashioned magic of Harry Potter, they are Microsoft converts too.

beguiled - deceived/hoodwinked

question - they are more tech savvy but are they old enough/matue enough to deal witht the content...

GOOD ARTICLE!!! THANKS JIAMIN!!!!!INTERNET

the internet brings more harm than benefits. Do you agree?
Cybercrime threat rising sharply

The threat of cybercrime is rising sharply, experts have warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
They called for a new system to tackle well-organised gangs of cybercriminals.
Online theft costs $1 trillion a year, the number of attacks is rising sharply and too many people do not know how to protect themselves, they said.
The internet was vulnerable, they said, but as it was now part of society's central nervous system, attacks could threaten whole economies.
The past year had seen "more vulnerabilities, more cybercrime, more malicious software than ever before", more than had been seen in the past five years combined, one of the experts reported.

They were also joined by Microsoft's chief research officer, Craig Mundie.
To encourage frank debate, Davos rules do not allow the attribution of comments to individual panellists

Threat #1: Crime
The experts on the panel outlined a wide range of threats facing the internet.
There was traditional cybercrime: committing fraud or theft by stealing somebody's identity, their credit card details and other data, or tricking them into paying for services or goods that do not exist.
The majority of these crimes, one participant said, were not being committed by a youngster sitting in a basement at their computer.
Rather, they were executed by very large and very well-organised criminal gangs.
One panellist described the case of a lawyer who had realised that he could make more money though cybercrime.
He went on to assemble a gang of about 300 people with specialised roles - computer experts, lawyers, people harvesting the data etc.
Such criminals use viruses to take control of computers, combine thousands of them into so-called "botnets" that are used for concerted cyber attacks.
In the United States, a "virtual" group had managed to hijack and redirect the details of 25 million credit card transactions to Ukraine. The group used the data to buy a large number of goods, which were then sold on eBay.
This suggested organisation on a huge scale.
"This is not vandalism anymore, but organised criminality," a panellist said, while another added that "this is it is not about technology, but our economy".

Threat #2: the system
A much larger problem, though, are flaws in the set-up of the web itself.
It is organised around the principle of trust, which can have unexpected knock-on effects.

This was repeated last year, when Georgia's web infrastructure was brought down on its knees during its conflict with Russia.
"2008 was the year when cyber warfare began.. it showed that you can bring down a country within minutes," one panellist said.
"It was like cyber riot, Russia started it and then many hackers jumped on the bandwagon," said another.
This threat was now getting even greater because of the "multiplication of web-enabled devices" - from cars to fridges, from environmental sensors to digital television networks.
The panel discussed methods that terrorists could use to attack or undermine the whole internet, and posed the question whether the web would be able to survive such an assault.
The real problem, concluded one of the experts, was not the individual loss.
It was the systemic risk, where fraud and attacks undermine either trust in or the functionality of the system, to the point where it becomes unusable.
What solution?
"The problems are daunting, and it's getting worse," said one of the experts. "Do we need a true disaster to bring people together?," asked another.
One panellist noted that unlike the real world - where we know whether a certain neighbourhood is safe or not - cyberspace was still too new for most of us to make such judgements. This uncertainty created fear.
And as "the internet is a global network, it doesn't obey traditional boundaries, and traditional ways of policing don't work," one expert said.
Comparing virus-infected computers to people carrying highly infectious diseases like Sars, he proposed the creation of a World Health Organisation for the internet.
"If you have a highly communicable disease, you don't have any civil liberties at that point. We quarantine people."
"We can identify the machines that have been co-opted, that provide the energy to botnets, but right now we have no way to sequester them."
But several panellists worried about the heavy hand of government. The internet's strength was its open nature. Centralising it would be a huge threat to innovation, evolution and growth of the web.
"The amount of control required [to exclude all risk] is quite totalitarian," one of them warned.
Instead they suggested to foster the civic spirit of the web, similar to the open source software movement and the team that had sorted the YouTube problem.

"Would a formalised internet police following protocols have been able to find the [internet service provider] in Pakistan as quickly and deployed a fix that quickly?" one of them asked.

do you twitter or plurk? yuk what an ugly word

BLOGGING is so last year.
Now, the latest rage among netizens is the Internet form of SMS, using tools such as Twitter or Plurk to give friends an instant update on their lives, on subjects ranging from good makan places to news events.

According to research firm Hitwise, blogging traffic slowed last year, while the usage of Twitter and Plurk has exploded.

The number of Singaporean users visiting and using Twitter's site jumped 602 per cent between January last year and last month, said Hitwise, which does not reveal absolute figures.

Plurk - a newer platform than Twitter - was even more popular: It attracted 184 per cent more users than Twitter last month.

Checks done here show that netizens who used to blog incessantly are switching to the new platforms, known collectively as micro-blogs.

'Blogging is getting to be a hassle. I think about and write a lengthy post, and then get only three comments,' he said.

The main attraction of micro-blogging, say enthusiasts, is that they function as instant messaging as well as social networking tools.

Other advantages, they say, are that these 'Internet SMSes' can reach a worldwide audience, and generate responses almost instantaneously. Users can also send messages without being tethered to a computer, unlike blogging.

All you need to start a micro-blog is to create an account at the Twitter (twitter.com) or Plurk (plurk.com) website. You can then log in from your computer or mobile phone, or send an SMS, to file a post of not more than 140 characters in length.

Third-party sites like twitter.sg and widgeo.us provide a local number to send text messages to, so you pay local phone rates.

Just as with social networks, users can 'invite' friends, both here and overseas, to join their circles. Some micro-bloggers have thousands of people on their networks, and all can be reached in an instant.

'It's addictive, fast and very useful. And it means my friends know about, and can respond to, what happens in my life immediately.'

He added that it is a great way to stay in touch with loved ones: His mother reads his Plurk updates while he is in camp. 'We can't bring in smart phones with cameras. The only way to update is through SMSes to Plurk or Twitter,' he said.

The exploding popularity of 'twittering' or 'plurking', as they are known in Net parlance, in Singapore echoes a similar trend elsewhere.

In the United States, Twitter visits jumped 343 per cent between September 2007 and the same month last year, according to Nielsen Online.

Last December, Israel became the first government to hold a press conference via Twitter, taking questions from the public about the country's war with Hamas.

Perhaps the most famous 'twitterer' is US President Barack Obama. As of yesterday, the ardent fan of micro-blogging has 231,646 'followers' - users who have added him to their list of 'friends' to see his postings. Mr Obama added another 234,840 as 'friends'.

He used Twitter heavily during his successful election campaign last year.

Professor Zhang Wei Yu of the Communications and New Media programme at the National University of Singapore said micro-blogging is getting popular mostly because it is simple, highly interactive and can mass-communicate messages quickly.

For all the popularity of Twitter and such, many netizens say that blogging, though less popular now, still has a place.

They say blogs allow for deeper discussions on more serious issues, something that is impossible on Twitter and other similar sites.

Said Prof Zhang: 'Blogs serve many more functions than keeping friends posted. Many bloggers post lengthy opinions...something they cannot do on Twitter.'

tanwz@sph.com.sg

article available on ivle and in reading folder

online infidelity a reaon for divorce?

Home > Breaking News > World > Story

Nov 15, 2008
Virtual affair leads to divorce
LONDON - A BRITISH woman is divorcing her husband after discovering his online alter-ego was having an affair with a virtual woman in the fantasy world of Second Life, media reported on Friday.

Ms Amy Taylor, 28, said her three-year marriage to Mr David Pollard, 40, came to an end when she twice walked in on him watching his online character, Dave Barmy, having sex with other virtual women.

Second Life enables players to create online lives in which their virtual alter ego, or avatar, can socialise, develop relationships, buy property and set up businesses in an imagined world using the game's virtual currency.

The couple met in an internet chatroom in 2003 and married in real life and in a fantasy tropical setting in Second Life.

However, Ms Taylor always had suspicions about Mr Pollard's online loyalty. At one point she hired a virtual detective to test whether his avatar was cheating on her, after finding him at the computer watching his character having sex with a prostitute.

Mr Pollard passed that honeytrap test but earlier this year Ms Taylor found his character in a compromising position with another virtual woman.

'He confessed he'd been talking to this woman player in America for one or two weeks and said our marriage was over and he didn't loved me any more,' said Ms Taylor, who filed for divorce the next day.

'The solicitor wasn't at all surprised - she said it was her second divorce case involving Second Life that week.' -- REUTERS