Two quick ones for the road because I am going on vacation for 10 days and really need to get out of the office right now. But these were both worthy of posting.

First: China is launching an online marriage database to combat bigamy. It seems the loosening of marriage registration procedures has led to a rise in bigamy. Technology to the rescue!

China is preparing to make its citizens' marital status details available online to prevent bigamy, sources with the Civil Affairs Ministry said yesterday.

A nationwide network of online databases will be completed by 2010, said a document issued by the ministry.

It's convenience made real! Now a click of the mouse can reveal whether the dashing young man on his knee is really a philandering bastard. And to think people ever doubted the usefulness of the Web. Keep a frying pan handy.

More seriously, Yahoo has lost a court case in China for "deep-linking" to copyrighted songs. Last year, Baidu won a similar lawsuit, but the precedent doesn't seem to have helped. Some analysts think this could mean more trouble for Baidu on this issue:

A Chinese court has ruled against Yahoo Inc.'s China operations in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by member companies of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

John Kennedy, the IFPI's chairman and CEO, called the ruling, which was made on Tuesday, "a good news day for the music industry", in a written statement.

"This judgement will boost the growth of a licensed digital music business in China and provide better protection for intellectual property in this vast, exciting market. The ruling promises to improve the whole environment in which the local and international music industry does business in China," Kennedy said.

Well, we'll see about that.

Also covered by the South China Morning Post here.

See you in May!