Netflix has confirmed it has beat out HBO and AMC for the drama "House of Cards," starring Kevin Spacey.

The show is directed by David Fincher, the man behind 'Fight Club' and 'The Social Network,' among other hits.

House of Cards will be Netflix' first original program, and puts the company in direct competition with HBO and Showtime, which have had years of original hits that have helped raise their subscriber bases.

Airing in late 2012, the show will be available exclusively through Netflix's "Watch Instantly" streaming service, which costs $7.99 by itself, or minimum $8.99 when mixed with a physical media package.

To get the show, Netflix had to commit to two seasons (26 episodes) before the pilot/test episode was even shot. A full-season commitment is an anomaly in the TV world, and a two-season commitment is just unheard of.

Netflix COO Ted Sarandos says the "company will pay a portion of the production costs of the series, with Media Rights Capital financing the rest and retaining DVD, television syndication and international distribution rights." It is unclear how much the company had to pay for the agreement, although he admitted that Netflix made sure its fees per show was capped.

Says Sarandos (via WSJ):

What they brought to me was a perfect storm of material and talent that made it a very safe bet.If it turns out to be a mediocre show, this wouldn't be a great deal, but it won't be a disaster.

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Microsoft and federal law enforcement have jointly taken down the spam giant Rustock botnet, seizing computers, servers, and other equipment from hosting providers in Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, Scranton, Pa., and Columbus.

The devices were allegedly "command-and-control" machines, from where operators of the botnet controlled over one million infected PCs, globally.

Microsoft called the seizures a "decapitation" of the botnet, which was sending out as much as 30 billion spam emails every day.

The raids were part of a civil lawsuit filed by Microsoft last month against John Does 1-11, the unidentified operators of the botnet.

Hotmail, Microsoft's email service, is "taxed" by the huge amount of spam, says the software company, and Windows and Office users are hurt because the spammers usually exploit security vulnerabilities in Office or Windows to infect and take control of computers.

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ICANN, the governing body behind the Internet has finally approved .XXX domains, almost 10 years after the idea was brought to the group.

With a vote of 9-3, and despite objections from the adult industry, the measure passed.

Adult sites can choose to use the new domain, but are not required to do so.

The Free Speech Coalition, the main opponent to the vote because it represents many businesses in the adult industry, says the move will raise costs for porn providers, thanks to the need to register .xxx domains on top of their current addresses.

Additionally, the Coalition says the new domain will make it much easier for filters to block adult sites in bulk.

The group plans to appeal the decision.

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