The Copyright Alert System (CAS) aims to identify pirates, notify their ISPs and then use a six-step process to "educate" users about copyright law and legal alternatives to piracy. That doesn't sound so bad on paper; a closer look reveals an intrusive, if polite, new partner in the relationship between consumer and ISP.

Protecting the accounts of users is a huge point of concern across the Internet, but the gaming industry may have just caught a break. The PUFFIN Project (physically unclonable functions found in standard PC components) has brought forward research suggesting that GPU manufacturing processes leave each product with a unique "fingerprint."

Japanese device companies have been criticized for their failure to offer competitive alternatives to the latest from Apple and Korean neighbor Samsung, but they're still trying. A new innovation unveiled by KDDI at this week's CEATEC conference in Chiba, Japan could change the way you access your smartphone.

Reminding us once again that there is no such thing as security, a group of (anti?) security researchers are making the case that even the brain can be hacked to reveal personal data such as PIN numbers, credit card numbers and places of residence using a $300 brainwave headset.