DVD Cracking Case, Western Style
The two-pronged, bi-coastal legal war being waged against individuals who have distributed a code that can circumvent encryption on DVDs now focuses on First Amendment issues being raised in San Jose. Thursday's court battle was to be held in front of a three-judge panel that makes up California's Sixth District Court of Appeals. The case focuses on an injunction filed against 21 individuals and 400 unnamed people accused of stealing trade secrets. The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) -- an industry trade organization that licenses DVD technology, and which filed the original lawsuit -- was expected to argue that the defendants stole trade secrets when they distributed a code that circumvents encryption technology attached to DVDs. However, attorneys representing the defendants will argue that the injunction violates the free-speech rights of programmers.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,46270,00.html
Paintball Co. Smeared by Hoax
In the latest in a spate of corporate cyber-invasions, a hacker broke into a paintball company's website and sent out phony financial statements Thursday, forcing the Nasdaq stock market to halt trading in the company's shares for more than two hours. After discovering its computer security had been breached overnight, Brass Eagle Inc. (XTRM) notified law enforcement officials, including the FBI, which has a special unit that investigates computer crimes. An FBI spokesman in Little Rock, Arkansas, said only that the agency was aware of the case.
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,46277,00.html
Borderhack: Barbed and Unwired
Perhaps nowhere in the world is the line of economic disparity so clearly drawn as along the Mexico-U.S. border. To the south, cardboard shantytowns slump miserably in the dust. To the north, skyscraper cities sparkle in the sun, beckoning to the huddled masses on the disadvantaged side. Between them extends a 2,000-mile wall, physical in some parts, virtual in others. This division between the Third and First worlds is the focus of Borderhack 2.0, held in Tijuana this weekend, a conference whose aim is to intellectually dismantle the border and examine its contents. The brainchild of Fran Ilich, editor-at-large of the Mexican technology zine Sputnik, the event is part of the no-border movement, launched in Germany in 1998 to protest European immigration policies.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,46234,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,45921,00.html
Debating Merits of Palms in Class
Ann Arbor Open School in Michigan is an alternative public school that prides itself on accepting new ideas and student individuality, talents and interests. But to the chagrin of some parents and teachers, there is one idea the school isn't open to -- the use of handheld computers in the classroom. "It doesn't feel like that school to do this," said Celeste Novak, an architect whose 13-year-old son Jay attends Ann Arbor Open. "His school is very wired." Ann Arbor Open's policy isn't unique: Several schools around the country are banning handheld devices. Ironically, this comes at a time when many others are embracing the technology as a teaching tool.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45863,00.html
E-Textbooks Offer Light Reading
When students at the University of Phoenix return to school this fall, many of them won't be carrying books in their backpacks. Instead, they will download digital textbooks, multimedia simulations and PowerPoint presentations from portable e-book readers and desktop PCs. These students are part of the university's plan to phase out traditional textbooks and become a "bookless college. Delivery of course materials electronically will free us from the rigid ways that students get their materials, which are lectures and textbooks," said Dr. Adam Honea, Dean of the College of Information Systems and Technology at the University of Phoenix.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45860,00.html
Thumbs Up for Internet Traveler
A penniless student traveling the world courtesy of strangers he meets over the Internet is roaming Europe in high style. Dutch student Ramon Stoppelenberg has stayed in palaces and attended glitzy movie premières. He's flown first class and been put up in posh hotels. He's even been invinted on Jay Leno's Tonight show. Trouble is, he's stuck in rainy northern Europe with few prospects of a ticket across the pond.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,46155,00.html
Big Blue to Start Co-Branding
IBM has one of the corporate world's best-known names, but that isn't stopping it from launching a branding campaign. Big Blue kicks off a new branding campaign on Thursday by marketing the IBM brand name on its customers' products, a blue-and-white striped logo in the shape of a peeled-back flag that reads "IBM Technology." International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) wants to make sure consumers know when its technology is used in other companies' products from video game consoles to television set-top boxes, cell phones and digital cameras.
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46245,00.html
Gene fingerprint could spot cancer
Scientists may be one step closer to gaining the ability to "fingerprint" prostate cancers - spotting which are the most likely to spread. If it works, the technique could help spare thousands of older men the risks involved with surgery. The prostate gland is found near the bladder in men, and its cancer is the second most common male cancer in the UK. Doctors who discover evidence of prostate cancer face a dilemma, as there is a real risk that intervening could cause more harm than it prevents. Many prostate cancers are relatively benign and slow-growing, meaning that, particularly in elderly men, they may have no impact on life expectancy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/hea...00/1504372.stm
RSI revisited: controversy over computer's role
Since computers became a staple of offices nationwide, many workers have been diagnosed with repetitive stress injuries, especially carpal tunnel syndrome. But now some researchers say that, contrary to popular thought, carpal tunnel may not be associated with computer use at all. Some skeptics go so far as to say they don’t believe any workstation-related factors contribute to the various ills collectively known as RSI. The majority of doctors, however, counter that such a broad stance ignores the science.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/610809.asp
Mini nuclear reactor could power apartment blocks
A nuclear reactor designed to generate power in the basement of an apartment block is being developed in Japan. In the past few months government-backed researchers have been testing a fail-safe mechanism for the reactor, which will close down automatically if it overheats. The Rapid-L reactor was conceived as a powerhouse for colonies on the Moon. But at six metres high and only two metres wide this 200-kilowatt reactor could relatively easily fit into the basement of an office building or apartment block, where it would have to be housed in a solid containment building. "In the future it will be quite difficult to construct further large nuclear power plants because of site restrictions," says Mitsuru Kambe, head of the research team at Japan's Central Research Institute of Electrical Power Industry (CRIEPI).
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991186
Fingered by the movie cops
The MPAA looks for people who are distributing movies in any form that they are not authorized to. It uses Ranger Online’s software to monitor multiple areas of the Internet, including IRC, Gnutella, Usenet, Web sites, auction sites and ftp sites. It does this on an international basis. When it finds a location that is distributing copyrighted material, it identifies the owner and the host of the material. Citing the DMCA, it sends a letter and notifies the alleged perpetrators that they are infringing on a copyright.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...te/index1.html
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