According to the Register, “Pakistan has enacted hard-line cybercrime laws that establish the death penalty for cyber-terrorism offences that lead to the death of victims.  The law stipulates that ‘Whoever commits the offence of cyber terrorism and causes death of any person shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and with fine.’  Cyberattacks can cause damage to property or reputation, financial loss and inconvenience. But physical harm is never really on the agenda though it is possible to imagine scenarios where cyberattacks might disrupt the operations of a hospital electricity supply or emergency service call out system. 

[…]  Examples of cyber-terrorism cited in the statute include breaking into or attempting to break into government system to steal information on making nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, Reuters reports.”

Silicon Valley Watcher has an interesting, if scary, article on the other bubbles that, following the demise of the subprime bubble, will likely burst in the near future.  The article’s author, Tom Foremski, writes that “[t]here is a perception among some of my contacts that the financial crisis has stabilized and that the fallout from the sub-prime bubble has been contained. What is missing in that analysis is the fact that this financial crisis has still a long way to go because there are other bubbles bursting.”  He adds that “[i]nterestingly, this time there is no tech bubble but there might be little that tech can do to mitigate the effects of this financial crisis and its effects on the global economy. There is no place to hide from this.”

Internetnews.com writes that, according to analysts, “Online retailers could be headed for a long, cold winter if they don't offer aggressive pricing and other perks, like free shipping and coupons.  Online metrics firm comScore is looking for tighter household budgets and eroding consumer confidence to sap online spending this holiday season. The firm is projecting holiday e-commerce revenue to increase six to 10 percent over last year, well off from the previous year-to-year growth of 17 percent.” 

ZDNet.com has a great article discussing whether whoever will take the job of Chief Technology Officer in the Obama administration will be able to “avoid being steamrolled by bureaucracy.”

And in a different article, ZDNet presents a list of “10 candidates who could become Obama’s CTO.”