ComputerDots.com

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Computer hackers claiming to be from the loose-knit group known as Anonymous say they have broken into several Alabama law enforcement and government websites and have stolen the personal information for more than 46,000 people.In an online news release Friday, the group claimed to have taken Social Security numbers, license plate numbers, phone numbers, addresses and criminal records.

Mobile city spokeswoman Barbara Drummond said Utah authorities alerted officials Thursday night that hackers may be targeting the city. She told The Associated Press that the city shut down its computers to avoid the attack and that the hackers did not gain access to Mobile’s servers.

However, hackers did breach the website of the city webmaster, and took data from a recent program offering amnesty to people with outstanding warrants for municipal offenses.

Hackers claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous have launched a spate of attacks on law enforcement websites in recent weeks, hitting such cities as Salt Lake City, Boston, Syracuse, N.Y. and Greece. The collective of activists, pranksters and hackers have also targeted financial institutions such as Visa and MasterCard, as well as the Church of Scientology.

The warrant amnesty information from Mobile had already been made public by the city to encourage people to participate in the amnesty…………… continues on My Fox 8

By CNET senior writer Martin LaMonica

(CNET) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In its typically geeky fashion, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology celebrated the birth of one of the first video games by challenging students to re-create it on a computer the size of a business card.

MIT engineering students and faculty this week showed off a simulation of Spacewar on campus and at the MIT Museum to mark the 50th anniversary of the video game’s release. Written by four students in their spare time, the video game influenced how many later games were designed and was part of a broader shift in how people viewed computers.

Spacewar, created on Digital Equipment’s PDP-1 minicomputer, was instrumental in showcasing the graphical capabilities of computers and new modes of user-computer interaction. It also helped showed people that computers could be used for fun, not only serious work.

MIT gained access to a PDP-1, a refrigerator-size “minicomputer,” in the early 1960s and gave students regular access to it in…………… continues on CBS News