NYC

KPN set off some alarms in Holland last month when it announced a plan to start charging customers separate fees for using VoIP, streaming video, and sending instant messages. But, the question remained: how exactly would it keep mobile data users honest? The answer turns out to be deep packet inspection, which examines network traffic to identify what you're sending and where it's going. It's been suspected that the secret ingredient in KNP's service-throttling sauce was DPI, but it was finally confirmed in a presentation to investors recently. In fact, Mark Fisher, the director of KPN Mobile, bragged that it was the "very first" provider to be "able to identify by deep packet inspection what is actually the destination as data packages go along." Predictably, privacy and net neutrality advocates are up in arms, with some claiming it is a violation of the Dutch Data Protection Act. We just hope someone nips this in the bud soon -- we don't need...

Self-encrypting drives are hardly new, but that doesn't mean researchers aren't still looking for ways to give those IT folks behind the curtain more ways to lock down sensitive intel. Toshiba just launched a line of self-encrypting HDDs that will "invalidate" the data -- essentially, rendering it useless -- when the laptop connects to an unknown host. IT departments can also use Toshiba's so-called Wipe Technology to scrub a machine before tossing it, or encrypt the drives every time someone powers down. The company won't be peddling these directly to consumers, of course, and in fact, Tosh is planning on shopping them around not just for laptops, but multifunction printers and point-of-sale systems, too. They'll come in five sizes, ranging from 160GB to 640GB, and will all run at 7,200RPM. And Tosh says it'll work with OEMs to help them customize the conditions that will trigger a data lockup. It's too soon to say what laptops will pack this tec...