Summary: Interesting stories that don't fit into the daily group of pro-Free software links

● MS insists bodged fix didn't spawn Windows crash risk

Vulnerable systems can be crashed with only a single malformed packet, according to Laurent Gaffié, the security researcher who discovered the so-called Teardrop attack.

● FTC forces Sears, Kmart out of the spyware business

When Sears and Kmart offered visitors the chance to earn $10 by participating in some research, few realized that they would be sending even secure session browsing information to the big retailers. Now, the government has put the kibosh on this "blue light special."

● Skype Kills Extras (and Its Developer Ecosystem)

Today the company announced that it’s killed Skype Extras, an API-based effort that was launched with much fanfare in June 2007