Tidbit from Africa -- A hacker who goes by the name "LowVoltage," has been wreaking havoc on South Africa's National Lottery Web site. The new site, itweb.co.za, is reporting today that LowVoltage, who maintains a "National Robbery" site in parody of the National Lottery site, has paid the renewal fee for the his domain name. National Lottery operator Uthingo said the site constitutes patent infringement and last month sent LowVoltage a "cease and desist" letter.
Tidbit from the UK -- From the This Could Get Ugly file: A spokesman from the U.K. Department of Media, Culture and Sport told New Media Age recently that it is not getting involved in the dispute between William Hill and Betfair.com. William Hill chief David Harding has made no secret of his opinion that Betfair's person-to-person bookmaking operation is against the 1963 Betting and Gaming Act because it allows people to set bets without having a bookmaker's license. DCMS, however, said law enforcement isn't part of its job. Harding, however, isn't taking no for an answer. "It's clear this is an issue which needs to be addressed," he said. "As a guardian of the law, it's the responsibility of the government
to pass on the message to the legal authorities and we expect DCMS to do this." Betfair communications director Mark Davies said he's confident the company is not doing anything illegal.