Torrents of Microsoft COFEE have been springing up everywhere and the hype is ridiculous.  Obviously, it’s illegal to pirate software.  Furthermore, the EULA for this particular software is limits it’s use to law enforcement officials only.  Other than that, most everything else you’ve heard about this stuff is false.

COFEE, or Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a set of tools and a GUI that Microsoft has created to assist undereducated law enforcement officials with basic computer forensics.

An officer with even minimal computer experience can be tutored—in less than 10 minutes—to use a pre-configured COFEE device.

This is not some wild, as-seen-on-tv, NSA creation.  It’s just a compilation of tools (about 150 or so) for information and evidence gathering.  A rootkit and some automation. Most everything included with COFEE is available, in some form, all over the internet.

The government that had already decided to make a 100mbit connection a legal right by 2015 took an intermediary step and passed a law that gives every Finnish citizen the the right to 1mbit broadband access by next July.  This is really great news for me since I’ve been looking for a new country.

Swedish authorities order bandwidth suppliers to turn the lights out on The Pirate Bay or face a $70,000 fine.  Switch flipped.  DNS changed and, like a cockroach after a nuclear strike, The Pirate Bay continues doing what it does.

According to TorrentFreek.com, Rick Falkvinge, leader of The Pirate Party said: “This is absolutely ridiculous. The Court seems to consider themselves above the Constitution,” while criticizing the effect that these civil actions are having on freedom of speech. “This clarifies how copyright law has become untenable, and how information is lacking political skills in the judiciary,”

And so the game continues…