Although Cisco and Internet Security Systems had sought to halt a talk at the Black Hat Conference to reveal how unpatched Cisco routers can be remotely compromised, the talk was delivered anyway by the ISS researcher who originally uncovered the problem. As Senior Editor Ellen Messmer reports, the researcher was dismissed by ISS and his talk ignited a spate of lawsuits against himself and the Black Hat Conference.  Read more here.

And when Cisco's not suing people, it's buying them. The Borg last week said it agreed to acquire Sheer Networks, which makes software designed to create a real-time, virtual representation of an actual service provider network. Sheer's Dynamic Network Abstraction software is supposed to make it easier to manage complex networks that include multiple domains and equipment from multiple vendors. Cisco will pay $97 million for the privately held company, which is based in San Jose.

Meanwhile, a U.S. senator this week introduced legislation that some say is a first step in reworking the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) submitted the Broadband Consumer Choice Act of 2005, a bill that seeks to ease regulation on service providers as they invest in IP-enabled broadband services, such as IP TV. Supporters say the Ensign bill is the first significant update to U.S. telecommunications law since the 1996 Telecom Act, which sought to open up incumbent networks to competitors. Among other things, the Ensign bill proposes the elimination of the requirement that video service providers obtain a cable franchise agreement in order to provide video service.