Wail To The Thief
Being Very Careful Not to Blame Fans, Radiohead Decries “Stolen” Songs
The leaked version of the new RADIOHEAD album 'HAIL TO THE THIEF' is a collection of "stolen recordings of early work", bandmember Jonny Greenwood has said.
Songs from the album have appeared on the Internet over the last week, sparking a frenzy of downloading from fans across the globe, eager to hear the band's new material.
However, Greenwood said the group are "pissed off" about the leak, not because they're against file sharing, but because the songs fans are downloading are not the songs on the finished album.
According toateaseweb.com, he said: "So it turns out the leaked music is a stolen copy of early, unmixed edits and roughs - so we're kind of pissed off about it, to be honest.
"I see it like this: there's Napster-style file sharing of released music, then there's early Internet distribution of what we at least consider to be a finished body of work. Then there's this - work we've not finished, being released in this sloppy way, ten weeks before the real version is even available. It doesn't even exist as a record yet.
"So yes, we're annoyed - the songs are good on the recordings, which you can hear. But we worked on them after this point until we were happy with them. This is why we're pissed off - we didn't give up on them in February (which is what you're hearing) and it's just a shame that, to your ears, we did.
"So of course people will still download them and hear them, I can understand the temptation. It's not you lot I'm pissed off about, it's just the situation I guess. It's stolen work, fer fuck's sake. What do you all think? I know it'll come out for real eventually, and it'll all be fine, but I though you all might as well know what's in my head."
http://www.nme.com/news/104672.htm
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Denmark Boasts Biggest Fiber Network
Press Release
COPENHAGEN -- Europe’s largest fibre-optic connection now runs through the ground under Denmark’s capital city, Copenhagen. The cable comprises 624 fibre-optic wires, with a total capacity to transfer volumes of 50 million gigabits – equivalent to 500 million phone lines – a second. The cable was laid on the 1st and 2nd of February 2003 and is a good 10 km long. Danish company, Cablux, undertook the technical work for the installation.
Europe’s largest fibre-optic cable comprises a so-called redundant connection (every 5 km, two lines are drawn between the same two points for optimum data security). The 10-km long cable was bought by a Danish company in the Copenhagen area, which before now used a connection with 480 fibre-optic wires, but this capacity was no longer enough. Therefore, the fibre-optic connection was expanded using a cable containing an additional 624 fibre-optic wires – a number not exceeded by any other cable laid in Europe to date.
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=30615
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BT Cuts DSL Wholesale Prices, Extends Range To 20,000 Feet, Other Breakthroughs
LONDON -- BT today announced great news for Broadband Britain with radical plans to bring mass market broadband within reach of 90 per cent of UK homes. These plans are based on technological breakthroughs and cost saving initiatives. The company also revealed that wholesale prices will be cut from May 1.
In addition, BT said that public sector demand could be aligned to help accelerate the roll out of broadband. This will help local campaign groups in their efforts to bring broadband to their communities.
Providing a major update on the company's broadband strategy, BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said that BT was well on track to hit its target of one million ADSL connections by the summer, having recently passed the 800,000 mark. He said the speed of this progress is generating economies of scale that will help BT continue to reduce costs and progress beyond the one million figure.
He also announced that BT had made a series of technological breakthroughs that would, for the first time, bring ADSL within potential reach of 90 per cent of UK homes and small businesses. This represents a major advance from the current enabled footprint of 67 per cent.
The new initiatives mean that about 600 additional exchanges can now have trigger levels set taking potential coverage to 90 per cent. These represent the level of demand needed to make it commercially sensible for BT to take the risk of upgrading an exchange with ADSL. Within a week BT will announce trigger levels for the next 200 or so exchanges that, if enabled together with those exchanges that have existing trigger levels, would take coverage up to 85 per cent. The remainder will be announced by early summer.
Central to the setting of the new triggers is a technological development that enables exchanges to be linked together so that the costs of connecting them to the core BT network are reduced. This is one of several developments that will lead to cost savings and help BT set the new trigger levels.
This is in addition to BT extending the reach of ADSL broadband up to 6kms from the exchange. This separate development means that up to 98 per cent of people connected to an ADSL enabled exchange will be able to access the technology. This means close to 600,000 additional people will be able to access broadband from June.
BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen said: "Today's announcements mark a major milestone in the creation of Broadband Britain. BT has managed to overcome the challenge of bringing affordable broadband within reach of 90 per cent of UK homes and I am sure the news will be welcomed across the UK."
He also revealed that BT would boost the market even further by cutting the wholesale price of broadband from May 1. This is possible due to factors including reduced cost of equipment and network efficiencies. The monthly fee for the wholesale consumer product will be reduced by up to £2 and there will be even larger savings on BT's wholesale products that are aimed at service providers who serve small businesses. Prices for the 500kbs, 1Mbs and 2Mbs products will be slashed by over 50 per cent.
Mr Verwaayen said: "These price cuts will benefit everyone from service providers to consumers and businesses and will ensure that the UK continues to have some of the lowest prices in Europe."
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=30736
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Security Holes in RealPlayer, QuickTime
Ryan Naraine
Researchers are warning of serious security holes in two popular digital media players -- RealNetworks' RealOne and Apple's QuickTime -- that have put millions of systems at risk. The vulnerabilities, which are not related, affect the way the media players read certain file types and could leave susceptible systems open to intrusion.
RealNetworks confirmed the security hole in its flagship media player, which has enjoyed widespread adoption among digital media enthusiasts. Affected versions of the player include the RealOne Player and RealOne Player v2 for Windows, RealPlayer 8 for Windows, RealPlayer 8 for Mac OS 9, RealOne Player for Mac OS X, RealOne Enterprise Desktop Manager and RealOne Enterprise Desktop.
The company said the Helix DNA Client was not affected by this vulnerability. In an advisory, RealNetworks warned that a hacker could create a specifically corrupted Portable Network Graphics (PNG) file to cause heap corruption.
A successful exploit of the flaw would an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a user's machine, the company cautioned, noting the vulnerability was due to the usage of an older, vulnerable version of a data-compression library within the RealPix component of the Player.
"In addition to fixing the reported vulnerability, RealNetworks performed a review of all of the RealOne Player source code to identify other areas where this data-compression library is used. As a result of this review, several additional Player components have also been fixed, and are included in the provided updates," the company said, urging users to immediately install the updates to all the flawed media players.
Separately, security research firm iDefense warned of an exploitable buffer overflow in QuickTime, the media player owned by Apple Computer.
An alert warned that a URL containing 400 characters will overrun the allocated space on the stack overwriting the saved instruction pointer (EIP) and open the door for an attacker to redirect the flow of control and execute arbitrary code.
"Any remote attacker can compromise a target system if he or she can convince a user to load a specially crafted exploit URL. Upon successful exploitation, arbitrary code can be executed under the privileges of the user who launched QuickTime," the company said.
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news...le.php/2173361
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California Aggie P2P Q&A
What’s the campus’ stance on downloading music and other
media?
Almost everyone does it, and there are some legal, legitimate uses of file sharing sites. There are also federal regulations the campus has to follow. Read on.
Q: What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and how does it affect UC students?
A: The U.S. Constitution — which of course was drafted long before our founding fathers could conceptualize the technology that was to come — intended to encourage creation of original ideas by giving the creator/owner exclusive rights to use them for a limited time. The digital age makes violating these exclusive rights much easier than before, especially with the high-speed Internet connection that our university offers. When you transmit material to others (MP3s, movies, et cetera) that you did not create — whether via e-mail, web posting, or file sharing — you and every computer networked between you and the recipient are making a copy which, under the federal copyright law, requires a license from the author or owner.
At the start of the digital age, copyright owners asked Internet Service Providers to provide them the names of their users who were copying copyright-protected materials without a license so they could make these users stop. However, the ISPs declined, so to keep copyright values in place in the information age, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Part of the DMCA says that ISPs (commercial or institutional) may avoid liability for their users’ copyright infringement provided that they block access to any allegedly- infringing material that they have been made aware of. ISP users get to keep their privacy, ISPs can continue to operate, and copyright-owners can protect their creative efforts. Whether you agree with this law or not (see
www.anti- dmca.com for an opposing argument), the UC chooses to uphold the DMCA rather than be liable for the sharing of illegal copies through its network.
I use a peer-to-peer service (like Kazaa) legally to download files that aren’t protected by copyright. Does this free me of liability?
No! If you use a peer-to-peer, or P2P, file-sharing service like Kazaa, WinMX or Morpheus, you risk getting in trouble for someone else’s wrongdoings. Peer- to-peer services don’t look at individual requests for media to determine if they are for licensed materials or not — their systems are automated. Say you purchase a CD and copy it onto your computer. If you are simultaneously signed on to a peer-to-peer service, someone else may request a song from your disk that you have agreed to share with other users (acknowledgment that you will be making your music files accessible to others is in the fine print when you download the P2P software — but you probably didn’t read it!). However, YOU are the one who made the song available without a license to do so, and you are the one the copyright owner will go after, through your ISP (UC Davis)! Violation of federal copyright law is a violation of the campus Acceptable Use Policy (
http://www.mrak.ucdavis.edu/web-mans...10/310-16a.htm), which you acknowledged you understood and agreed to abide by when you signed up for a campus computing account.
So how can I use P2P software in compliance with federal and campus rules?
Using peer-to-peer software itself is not against the rules; it’s what you’re copying and sharing through the service that could get you in trouble. If you have material on your computer that isn’t copyright protected — for example, a song or a picture that you created — you’re free to swap it with your friends using a P2P service. P2Ps can also be a useful tool when collaborating with others on a research project or paper assignment. In addition, you can subscribe to a “pay- to-play” music service (such as MusicNet or Pressplay), but this does not permit you to share the music you’ve paid to listen to. Also, you should use caution, since the legitimacy and/or quality of each website varies.
How will copyright owners really know if I’m illegally using their material?
If you believe that signing on to a file-sharing program is anonymous, think again: Industries can easily identify your computer’s Internet Protocol address at the time of the download, and that’s enough to know it’s a UCD connection. Music, movie and computer game industries specifically hire people to watch for copyright infringements and notify ISPs of violations. As a result, mass warnings to institutions have made local and national headlines. For example, an article in the Chronicle for Higher Education explained how some schools, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Maryland, College Park, have had to re-evaluate their enforcement of the DMCA after receiving an unprecedented number of complaints from Universal Studios. Recently the Recording Industry Association of America won a court case that forces Verizon (an ISP) to reveal the names of individual users who were caught uploading songs. More and more, major corporations are seeking out individual users, instead of networks or companies (like Napster). The Motion Picture Association of America is seeking protection measures for copyrighted movies via Congress. It seems that sharing copyrighted material online is becoming more and more difficult and less and less anonymous.
What actions will be taken if I am caught violating copyright law?
The copyright owners (media industries) will issue a DMCA “notification” to UCD, as the ISP, with the identifying information. At a minimum, this information includes the IP address, date and time the material was transferred, and the name of the material. UCD will then take the action required by the DMCA to “expeditiously” block access to the material, usually by blocking the offending computer from the UCD servers. If you live in the residence halls, an area conduct coordinator will meet with you to determine your level of violation and what programs you are running on your computer, and then have an education discussion with you about DMCA policy, according to Branden Petitt, Student Judicial Affairs officer for Student Housing. If found responsible, you will receive a formal warning from Student Housing and your name will be placed on record with SJA. In the meantime, your connection to the campus network will remain disabled until the matter is resolved.
How many UCD students have actually gotten in trouble for this?
This past year, UCD received 97 notifications, 50 of which were the result of students’ violations, according to a campus IT security coordinator. Students caught violating the computer-use policy more than twice may permanently lose access to the campus servers, although a violation of this severity has yet to be documented.
I don’t run P2P software on my computer, but the university still issued me a warning! How can that be?
Some notices relate to computers that have been hacked into in order to take advantage of the university’s nice bandwidth to move around large files. Your computer could be compromised for a long time without detection, until a DMCA violation comes in. These can be messy and time-consuming to fix — it is much better to prevent them by running good protective software and changing your password often. If you think your computer might be hacked, you should call IT Express at 754-HELP. They can help you determine if you have in fact been hacked.
Are there any other dangers of using file-sharing programs?
File-sharing sites often covertly package Spyware. Spyware is software that gathers personal information without your knowledge. Therefore, you can unknowingly be giving hackers access to your personal files and programs when you visit file-sharing sites. To prevent Spyware and other means of unintentional file sharing, students should maintain current antivirus programs and update their computers with the latest security patches. (Bovine Online, the campus’ Internet Software Toolkit CD, contains the latest version of Norton Anti-Virus for you to use.) And here’s another reason for caution: Use of file-sharing programs or inattention to computer security measures may lead to the unintentional sharing of personal information and identity theft.
http://www.californiaaggie.com/_articles/6079.taf
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P-Cube and Mitsubishi Corporation Provide Peer to Peer Control Solutions
Press Release
P-Cube Inc., the originator of programmable IP service control platforms, today announced a business alliance with Mitsubishi Corporation to deliver P-Cube Service Control solutions to Japanese broadband providers facing increased challenges from peer-to-peer users. In addition to the marketing and distribution partnership, Mitsubishi Corporation plans to develop a Customer Show Case Center in Tokyo, Japan, demonstrating P-Cube's solutions for usage analysis, content- based billing and peer-to-peer control.
"Mitsubishi is an ideal partner for P-Cube as we ramp up sales and support of our solutions in the Asian-Pacific market," said Yuval Shahar, P-Cube president and CEO. "Mitsubishi has existing relationships with tier one carriers and service providers in Japan, providing an opportunity for us to engage in multiple opportunities with leading customers. We look forward to our growing relationship with Mitsubishi as we continue rolling out our Service Control solutions to service providers in Japan."
P-Cube's service control platform is a purpose-built system designed to analyze and control network level application transactions across a service provider's IP infrastructure. In Japan, as in many other parts of the world, P-Cube's solution has been a critical part of the service provider's ability to control, restrict, and manage Peer-To-Peer (P2P) network abuse. Using the highly granular user aware and P2P application specific control ability found in P-Cube's service control solution, service providers quickly turn over-consumed cable and DSL networks into profitable broadband service delivery networks. P-Cube solutions also provide application-level usage analysis, which can break the barriers of time- or volume-based billing that have hampered service provider revenues, and enable postpaid, prepaid, or content-based billing plans for data, mobile and WiFi services.
"P-Cube provides a compelling portfolio of solutions for Japanese broadband service providers facing increased networking challenges, as the rapid increase in peer-to-peer applications and users continues," said Shuichi Seguchi, General Manager of Telecommunication Infrastructure Business Unit, Telecommunication & Broadcasting Division in the New Business Initiative Group of Mitsubishi Corporation. "We have already seen an increased interest in P-Cube's portfolio of solutions to identify and control bandwidth abuse, optimize their networks, and roll out new usage-based billing plans. We already have several trials with leading providers."
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/...230915152&dire
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Tectonic Rumblings
ololiuhqui
Every so often a new tool comes along that causes a shift from Bronze to Iron, that divides history into "before" and "after." The peer-to-peer world has certainly seen its share. Those who used 486s to encode and play MP3s remember it wasn't just abysmal modem speeds that kept people from casual trading, but the tiresome process of finding users and content; Napster freed us from that bondage, letting the computer do the heavy lifting and freeing people to do what they do best.
When the weaknesses began to show in Napster's overly centralized model, Gnutella stepped in with a distributed, decentralized network. Audiogalaxy gave us astounding variety (even the most obscure music could always be found sooner or later) and a rich sense of community that is still sorely missed. WinMX offered the ability to connect to multiple Napster-compatible networks; with the advent of multi-source downloading, Morpheus and similar programs allowed us to rise above the limitations of slow upstream (until it's hard now to find any P2P applications that don't use it); and EDonkey added the nice touch of being able to share files before they were done downloading.
So what's the next stage of P2P evolution?
Enter BitTorrent -- a "swarming, scatter and gather" file transfer protocol developed by Bram Cohen that's taking the net by storm. Even without a friendly, unified interface, BT's ability to scale in the face of overwhelming demand while minimizing the free rider problem ("leeching") has attracted a flood of new users. But as with any tool, understanding how and why it works will always make using it easier and more fun.
BitTorrent is not a 'website' or a 'network', and strictly speaking is not even a program -- it's a protocol with a number of functional implementations.
Instead of jumping right into downloading, first we'll discuss how files are served. Most new BT users are familiar with going to a website and clicking on links to .torrent files, but this just provides a friendlier interface and isn't actually necessary. All you really need to serve is a public Internet machine. The "tracker" will "keep track" of who is connected and who has which pieces of the file(s) in question. Like any public Internet service, a static IP address and/or valid hostname will make it easier for people to connect to your tracker.
To start serving, you choose a file or directory to serve and run a program which generates a .torrent file. This contains a 'hash,' which serves as a checksum to ensure the file is the same on all systems, as well as the address of a tracker. A typical .torrent file is quite small, typically 5-50k in size.
The second step is to load the .torrent file into a BT client. The client asks you where to save the file, you point it at the existing and complete copy, it verifies that the file hash matches, says the download is done and sits there uploading when necessary until you cancel it.
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/03/3....shtml?tid=110
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CSC gets tough on file-sharing employees
Tim Richardson
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) has warned employees that they face "counselling" or even the sack if they are found to be using the firm's network to download and store illegally-held copyright material.
The stark warning was contained in an internal memo sent last Friday in which CSC explained that it has been notified by the Business Software Alliance and the Recording Industry Association of America, among others, that "illegal audio, video and software copyrighted materials has been detected on its computers".
According to a copy of the memo, seen by The Register this illegal hoarding of copyright material has been verified following an internal investigation by the IT services company.
"This is in clear violation of CSC's Human Resources Management Policy," said the memo.
"Anyone using either CSC computers and / or the CSC network that has such programs and / or copyrighted media (.avi, .mp3, etc., files) is subject to appropriate disciplinary actions. First offenses will result in counselling by both your manager and Human Resources, and your personnel file being annotated as to the situation. Second offenses will result in immediate termination. CSC will not tolerate such abuse of the law," it said.
In a bid to clampdown on illegal downloads, CSC - which employs around 90,000 people - is to begin scanning its network and PCs to "detect the presence of such peer-to-peer programs" from the end of April.
Anyone caught with illegal software on their machines faces the threat of "counselling" [hang on, do they mean a rollicking? Ed] or even the sack.
"We regret having to take these steps, but the abusive and inappropriate behavior of certain members of our staff leave us no alternative," the memo said.
CSC declined to comment on the content of the leaked memo.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30043.html
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Record Industry, Webcasters Reach Deal
David Ho
WASHINGTON - Internet music broadcasters and the record industry agreed Thursday to settle their long-running dispute over how much big webcasters must pay to broadcast songs over the Internet.
The deal calls for webcasters including Yahoo!, America Online, Microsoft and RealNetworks to pay slightly lower per-song royalty fees than those imposed last year by the U.S. Copyright Office, which still must sign off on the agreement.
Internet radio — either simulcasts of traditional over-the-air radio or Internet-only stations streamed over the Internet to computers — is becoming more popular as people get high-speed connections.
The record industry has been pressing to collect royalties to pay artists and music labels for use of their songs.
"Musicians in all styles of music and at every level of popular success deserve fair compensation for their hard work and talent," said Thomas Lee, president of the American Federation of Musicians. "We are delighted to have reached an agreement."
A 1998 law required that organizations broadcasting music and other radio content over the Internet pay fees to record companies that hold song copyrights.
After the two sides were unable agree on rates on their own, the Copyright Office ruled in June that webcasters must pay about 70 cents for every song heard by 1,000 listeners as counted by the webcasters.
The larger webcasters complained the rates, which they paid retroactively back to 1998, cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars for each year, more than some of them get from advertising or listener contributions.
The Copyright Office was to begin another arbitration between the parties next month to work out royalty payments for 2003 and 2004. The new deal, if approved, will make that process unnecessary.
Jonathan Potter, executive director of the Digital Media Association, which represents webcasters, said the agreement will save his industry millions of dollars in legal fees that would be needed if the Copyright Office arbitrated the agreement. He said webcasters can now put resources toward "high-quality programming that is enjoyed by millions of listeners."
The agreement proposes a per-song rate similar to that set by the government last year, but allows 4 percent of a webcasters' songs to be free from royalties. The proposal also gives webcasters the option of paying royalties as a percentage of their revenue or at an hourly rate.
Potter said those choices will allow webcasters to save money by picking the method that works best for them.
The new proposal does not apply to Internet simulcasts of traditional over-the-air radio or to noncommercial webcasters such as college radio stations.
Small webcasters — typically operations that are listener-supported and reach, at most, just a few thousand people — had complained the Copyright Office rates would force them out of business. Legislation passed last year allowed them to pay less.
Those small webcasters can choose to keep paying those rates or follow the new ones.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...internet_radio
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QnA
J.D. Biersdorfer
Q. What is the difference in quality between video files recorded to a VCD and those recorded to a SVCD?
A. A VCD, or Video Compact Disc, uses the MPEG-1 video compression format to store full-motion video on a regular CD that you can play on most DVD drives. About 80 minutes of video can be stored on a 700-megabyte disc. The picture quality of the video is similar to that of a VHS tape.
A SVCD, or Super Video Compact Disc, uses the MPEG-2 video format and can include two stereo audio tracks, which makes it similar to a DVD movies although a SVCD uses standard compact discs. The picture quality is higher on SVCD, but the files take up more space. You can fit 40 minutes to an hour of video on a 700-megabyte disc.
Older DVD players may not be able to play VCD or SVCD discs, so you may want to make a test disc in each format if you plan to use them with home entertainment equipment. Software is available that will let you play either type of disc on your computer's DVD or CD-ROM drive. Information about the software and a list of DVD players that will work with VCD and SCVD's is at
www.dvdrhelp.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/03/te...ts/03askk.html
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Workers are gamers in office hours
Steve Ranger
One in four employees admits to installing games on their work computers, according to a research. And more than half of IT managers report that employees are accessing online game sites at work, according to data from internet access management company Websense.
The research found that employees are bored with Solitaire and are turning instead to games such as Quake, EverQuest and Snood during working hours.
"The online gaming explosion first hit the workplace because of prevalent broadband internet access," explained Geoff Haggart, European vice president of Websense, in a statement.
Haggart said employees are now bringing in unauthorised games on CDs, or downloading free games via peer-to-peer networks, which risks exposing corporate networks to malicious code.
"It leads to increased demands on bandwidth and could lead to legal issues as a result of software being copied or stored illegally on the server," he said.
"As PC games become more entertaining and interactive, they require increasing quantities of broadband web access and employee mind share."
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1139813
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Web swarm gathers in the Netherlands
Andrew McLindon
Ever wished for someone to share Web surfing experiences with or wanted to see what sites people with similar interests are visiting? Now you can.
Eyebees, (
http://www.eyebees.com/index2.php) a Dutch-based start-up, has launched a beta version of a software application bearing the company's name that allows users to become either part of or lead an on-line "swarm" as they navigate the Internet.
According to George Witteveen, one of the founders of Eyebees, the idea behind the Eyebees application is to make Internet surfing a more communal experience.
"At the moment, Internet surfing is a boring experience. There are millions of people around the world on-line all at the same time, but most Internet users would have no contact with any of these people, accept maybe with a few through instant messaging. Eyebees though creates clusters of people and transforms Internet surfing into a social activity," Witteveen told ElectricNews.Net.
With Eyebees, if you join a "swarm" your Web browser will track the movement of the swarm as it goes from Web page to Web page. The swarm, however, will not be able to enter secure sites such as Web-based e-mail sites like Hotmail.
Users of the application can either join a "swarm" or create their own under one of six categories such as politics, government and social activism, and music and entertainment.
According to Witteveen, the service is anonymous with users only identified by their nicknames. Eyebees also does not log what sites people swarm to.
The free beta version was released at the start of March and currently over 60 swarms have formed, although activity on them was low on Friday afternoon.
Witteveen said the company aims to release a commercial version of the software, which will be licensed to companies. "Businesses could use Eyebees to bring the members of their communities (workers, suppliers, clients etc) closer together or to observe how consumers behave on-line," said Witteveen. Another potential commercial usage of Eyebees outlined by Witteveen is to help share on-line information among dispersed attendees of Web-based seminars.
Witteveen, who is an architect, has been working on the Eyebees idea with Marco Bunge, a book publisher, and writer Jack Bury for the last few years.
The launch of Eyebees follows the release by Microsoft in February of a beta version of software that is designed to make Internet usage a more group experience. Called Threedegrees, it allows users to create on-line peer-to-peer social groups where they can chat, share photos, and create and listen to music playlists.
http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9353876
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Industry's fears silence music for critics
Ben Wener
As you may know, the White Stripes' new album, "Elephant," arrives in stores Tuesday. Flop, milestone or some middling nothing in between, it is surely one
of the most anticipated albums of the year.
And I can't hear it - at least not until everyone else can.
"I haven't gotten my advance copies yet," I was told earlier this week, which is a publicist's way of saying "You're not getting one." Really, calling them "advances" at this stage is ludicrous. By the time I do get a copy from the band's label, I already will have purchased one at Tower Records - exactly the same case as Linkin Park's "Meteora," which I wasn't allowed to hear even in advance of a concert last week designed to preview it.
I bet you've heard this complaint before, and it's not the sort that elicits much sympathy. "Oh, boo hoo, the poor critic can't get all the best albums weeks before everyone else. And for free at that!"
You're right, of course. But it's a curious thing: No one seems to mind that movie critics get to see every major and minor flick weeks in advance of its theatrical run, but a great many people take angry exception when a music critic gets the same treatment.
Yet we don't all get the same treatment in this game. I guarantee that the country's four or five biggest publications will run something about the White Stripes by Tuesday.
Is this not the equivalent of, say, only Ebert & Roeper, Entertainment Weekly and USA Today being allowed to see the next "Lord of the Rings" installment, while all other movie writers have to wait until it opens nationwide?
Such selective coverage - "spin," you might call it, even if the publicity machine can't control what gets written - has gone on for years in pop circles, at least when it comes to blockbuster releases. It's a publicist's way of ensuring a high-paying client gets a long run - TV and radio first, then the big publications, then down a notch, and again, until you've reached the lowliest weekly in Smalltown USA. Full media saturation.
But this practice has gotten worse, thanks to unfounded fears over file-sharing. So ignorantly terrified is the music biz of losing profits to illegal downloading that now the most oft-heard excuse for not sending out advances is, essentially, "We don't trust you not to leak it."
Never mind that I wouldn't, and haven't, in my eight years of writing. Let's imagine what might happen if I did: nothing. Look at the most recent releases from Eminem and 50 Cent - widely leaked, available on the Internet before street dates, yet both are huge sellers.
The industry just doesn't get it. After decades of all manner of private tune-trading, they still think they're getting ripped off, when in fact the proliferation of good music only benefits everyone who helped create it. Losing even 100,000 buyers to downloading pirates doesn't keep the masses from purchasing.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...ic/5523914.htm
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Free content: Why not?
Greg Blonder
COMMENTARY--"Ripping" a copy of a friend's music CD, or grabbing a track from a Napster-like service on the Internet, is stealing, plain and simple.
Music fans, seeking to justify this casual act of larceny, claim they're really supporting an economic boycott of a usurious and uncreative music industry. "Cybershoplifting," reply the record companies, seizing the opportunity to impose their opaque and onerous copyright schemes on the listening public.
While the battle rages on, piling up legal fees and taking the joy out of music, a simpler solution is on the horizon. The best way to stem this tidal wave of thievery is to give the music away.
Free content, by itself, is not at all that unusual. Broadcast television is "free"--at least to the viewer-- courtesy of ad-supported subsidies, as are radio, many concerts and sporting events. But even those services commanding a fee today should become free tomorrow as the economics of music distribution take radical new shape.
To understand how, we would do well to look at a very different industry, but one with surprising parallels to music: 19th-century fuel delivery. In the late 1800s, when a tenant sought to warm a cold apartment, she had to buy her own coal from passing coal wagons and then haul it in coal buckets up to her fourth-floor kitchen. This apparently straightforward transaction brought with it considerable challenges for wagon drivers.
Theft was endemic. Stories abound of coal wagons stripped of half their load by street urchins before a first delivery could be made. Various solutions to improve security were proposed, including various patented coal locks. The ultimate solution, however, proved to be something quite different: a new distribution model that made coal theft irrelevant. It was called central heating.
Coal distributors sold their product efficiently in one large delivery to apartment landlords, at the same time removing the incentive for individual tenants to steal. Landlords could pass a significant part of the savings on to tenants in their bill for monthly rent. Everyone benefited, even the families of the coal- stealing urchins.
Similarly, it is the power of low-cost distribution, combined with subsidized free services, that will save and transform the music business. Stealing will become equally irrelevant.
It is the power of low-cost distribution, combined with subsidized free services, that will save and transform the music business.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-995332.html
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Microsoft fortifies Wi-Fi security
Joe Wilcox
Microsoft on Monday released a Windows XP update designed to enhance security for computers that connect to wireless networks, but the software is only a part of the Wi-Fi picture.
The software update would change how the operating system connects to 802.11, or Wi-Fi, networks or base stations. Under the older method, one encrypted key is used by everyone connecting to the wireless network. The update would provide a means of associating a separate key for each computer connecting to the network, a change that in theory should increase security.
Businesses are increasingly concerned about wireless security, particularly since a breach through a single base station could expose an otherwise fortified network to infiltration by hacking or snooping.
The update adds support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), which is intended to replace the current standard, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). WPA has been approved by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is the group responsible for establishing standards governing wireless networking.
WEP already provides one layer of encryption, and WPA adds another. "There would be a different (encryption) key generated during the operation of the wireless link, which would give you stronger protection," said Jawad Khaki, corporate vice president of Microsoft Windows networking and communications technologies.
While seen as an improvement on the older standard, WPA could also complicate matters for some businesses since Wi-Fi firmware would also need to be updated to support the security technology.
"The weakness of WEP as part of the 802.11 standards has been clearly demonstrated," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. "Since security remains one of the biggest inhibitors of Wi-Fi deployments, Microsoft felt the need to step in and offer an integrated OS alternative."
Still, Gartenberg remained cautious about the WPA update. "Given Microsoft's track record on security, this initiative is going to require very careful scrutiny before most users will feel comfortable with deployment," he said.
Since January 2002, Microsoft has been working to make security a priority across its product line, but the company acknowledges that much more work needs to be done. In the last month, vulnerabilities have been noted in the Windows 2000 operating system and the Internet Explorer browser.
Microsoft was a latecomer to Wi-Fi, adding support for that technology to the operating system with the release of Windows XP in October 2001. Apple Computer, for example, had added support almost two years earlier to Mac OS.
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-994719.html
Microsoft's Wi-Fi ups and downs
Joe Wilcox and Richard Shim
Microsoft's decision to wait on delivering faster, "g"-class Wi-Fi gear may have reversed huge market share gains the company made in the hot consumer category.
In January, Microsoft captured the No. 2 position in U.S. retail sales of Wi-Fi wireless networking gear, only to see its share drop back down to fourth place in February, according to NPDTechworld. The market researcher tracks sales at retail, which is where the bulk of wireless networking gear is sold.
Considering that Microsoft entered the Wi-Fi market in September, its early rise up the market share charts was very impressive, said NPDTechworld analyst Stephen Baker.
But in January, other Wi-Fi manufacturers started selling faster gear that caught on quickly with consumers. Microsoft delayed delivering products in this category ahead of the ratification for "g"-class routers. Wi-Fi gear in that category, however, has grabbed consumer attention and market share, apparently at Microsoft's expense.
Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology based on the 802.11b, 802.11a and--by midyear--the 802.11g standards. Wi-Fi lets people wirelessly access and share resources on a network. The "b" standard, with maximum throughput of 11 megabits per second (mbps), is the mostly commonly sold at retail and in PC notebooks. By contrast, 802.11a and 802.11g pump data at up to 54mbps. Only "g" is backward-compatible with "b," so some manufacturers also sell combination "a/b" networking gear.
Microsoft on Friday plans to announce that it will ship products based on 802.11g in the second half of the year, once the "g" standard has been ratified by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers and approved for interoperability by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
"The fact Microsoft didn't come out with 'g' product seemed to be a prudent move, since there is no final standard yet," Baker said. "Now it looks like that if you didn't do a 'g' product, that was a mistake."
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-994518.html
Most IT Experts Do Not Trust Microsoft
Reuters
Three-fourths of computer software security experts at major companies surveyed by Forrester Research Inc. FORR.O do not think Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O products are secure, the technology research company said on Monday.
While 77 percent of respondents in the information technology (IT) field said security was a top concern when using Windows, 89 percent still use the software for sensitive applications, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester said in a report titled "Can Microsoft Be Secure?"
The survey polled 35 software security experts at $1 billion companies.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2481991
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New deal for Opera in IP television market
Opera, the Oslo-based internet browser developer, has announced that Japanese set-top box manufacturer Plat
Communication Components will include the company's Opera for iTV browser in its broadband terminal box, which delivers television over IP networks.
The deal marks Opera's first entry into the Japanese digital TV (DTV) market, an important milestone for the company considering research firm Strategy Analytics has suggested Asia is a boom market for IPTV developments. Strategy Analytics also estimates that, by 2008, 20m homes worldwide will subscribe to IPTV services.
Opera’s spatial navigation system sidelines the keyboard by allowing users to simply click up and down arrows on their keypads to scroll through links on web pages or menu items.
"By utilising Opera's HTML presentation engine, middleware costs can be cut down to half compared to traditional broadcast boxes," claims Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15666
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Ricochet fishes for broadband bites
Ben Charny
Wireless Internet provider Ricochet on Tuesday began targeting subscribers of dial-up Web providers AOL, MSN and Yahoo that want to upgrade to a broadband home or office connection.
Ricochet Access, introduced Tuesday, lets subscribers of other companies' dial-up service do their surfing on Ricochet's wireless network. The network provides a connection that is about three times faster than dial-up service, the company said.
Ricochet Access users keep their dial-up account, e-mail addresses and home pages. Ricochet Access costs $30 a month. Subscribers must also purchase a $100 wireless router, which sends and receives the broadband access.
"What you are getting here is broadband to your house, even if a cable or DSL connection hasn't been built," said a Ricochet spokesman.
Ricochet in the late 1990s, when it was known as Metricom, spent hundreds of millions of dollars building a nationwide 176kbps wireless Web network. Original investors included Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures.
But the original incarnation attracted just 50,000 subscribers, too few to keep going. It was purchased by its current owners, then called Aerie Networks, who purchased the network for pennies on the dollar two years ago. It has since relaunched the network in Denver and San Diego. The company's plans to rebuild the entire network have been scaled back dramatically. It now targets only a city at a time.
http://news.com.com/2100-1034-994947.html
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Sonicblue to auction off units
Dawn Kawamoto
Sonicblue will put on the auction block its ReplayTV digital recorder and Rio MP3 business units, which represent the bulk of the company's assets, Sonicblue announced Tuesday.
Sonicblue, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, had hoped to sell the business units to Japanese electronics company D&M Holdings for $40 million. But the deadline expired before the deal could be completed.
ReplayTV and Rio will be auctioned off April 15, in two separate bankruptcy court transactions.
"While we worked very hard with the D&M team over the last few weeks, we were just not able to finalize all of the needed terms before the court-set deadline," Sonicblue CEO Greg Ballard said in a statement. "Our relationship with D&M is still strong, and we anticipate that they will participate in the court-run action process in April."
D&M previously had a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire the two business units.
Sonicblue said it will also put a third business unit, GoVideo, up for auction on Friday. Previously, Opta Systems had entered into a definitive agreement to buy the networked DVD player business for $12.5 million.
The pending auctions come roughly four months after Sonicblue announced it would seek a buyer as part of its strategic plans.
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-994972.html
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SBC Talks to Buy DirecTV Break Down
Reuters
SBC Communications Inc.'s negotiations SBC.N to buy satellite TV provider DirecTV from General Motors Corp. GM.N broke down this week, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
Talks fell apart over deal structure, sources said. GM has been running an auction to sell DirecTV, but has required bidders to negotiate a structure for the transaction before submitting bids, sources said. It remained unclear whether SBC would return to the bidding process.
"GM seems to have found a better alternative somewhere else," one source said.
SBC, the No. 2 U.S. local telephone company, has been in talks since last month about buying all or part of DirecTV from Hughes Electronics Corp. GMH.N . Hughes is a wholly owned subsidiary of GM but trades as a tracking stock that is only 20 percent controlled by the automaker.
San Antonio-based SBC had wanted to acquire DirecTV to help accelerate its high-speed Internet plans. It did not want to buy all of Hughes, a source said.
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsAr...toryID=2489494
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BT going mobile
BT Broadcast Services is set to announce the list of broadcasters that are to use its solution for distributing programming via mobile video, according to a report in New Media Zero.
The company reportedly has a variety of prominent brands set to go with its hosting, encoding and delivery package to distribute video services via GPRS.
While BT Broadcast Services usually delivers distribution networks for broadcasters, the company decided in 2002 to supply this for 3G networks.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15695
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Siemens delivers Telecom Italia broadband upgrade
Telecom Italia has awarded Siemens a E10m contract to upgrade its broadband telecommunications
infrastructure for the provision of advanced multimedia services.
The Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) technology being supplied and installed by Siemens will allow Telecom Italia to offer ADSL, SHDSL and VDSL-based services. The Siemens technology is optimised to support Triple Play services – voice, data and video – in addition to high-speed broadband internet access.
Siemens will start supplying and installing the xDSL technology at Telecom Italia exchanges immediately. Siemens Carrier Networks Division will deliver and deploy more than 500 new DSLAM technology ADSL exchanges over the next three months.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15690
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Estonia leads Baltics with broadband DSL penetration
International analysts regard Estonia as a clear leader in Eastern Europe in terms of broadband DSL services,
and in terms of the percentage of the main telephone lines distributing broadband DSL services it is among the top ten countries in the world.
“In terms of broadband DSL penetration Estonia is clearly the most developed East European country, with 2.24 lines per 100 residents, ahead of countries such as Holland, Italy and Great Britain,” the Point-Topic analysis firm writes in its report for Q4 2002, according to Eesti Telefon (Estonian Telephone Co).
According to DSL Forum, a consortium of nearly 200 firms, Estonia was in second place in Eastern Europe after Hungary for the total number of broadband DSL subscribers at the end of 2002. “Estonia with over 6 percent penetration of DSL services over its main telephone lines is almost in the top ten countries list this year,” said Tom Starr, president of the international DSL Forum.
Toivo Praakel, director of the main network service responsible for the construction of DSL lines in Eesti Telefon, said last year was crucial for broadband DSL technology in the world and there was reason to be satisfied with the Estonian growth figures.
“The growth throughout the world was 90 per cent and Estonia’s growth of 88 per cent was in every respect in accordance with the world average,” Praakel said. “In terms of the penetration of DSL lines per 100 residents, Estonia was in 15th place in the world at the end of last year.” Eesti Telefon now has more than 34,000 broadband DSL subscribers.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15673
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Website offers new view of music
BBC
A website that acts as your personal music adviser has been set up by a student at the University of Southampton.
Richard Jones began working on Audioscrobbler as part of his third-year computer science project and has been surprised at how popular it has become. Now, around 3,000 users regularly tune in to the website to go to the forums and get in touch with people with similar music tastes.
At the heart of the website is a software program that monitors what you listen to, recommends new artists and puts you in touch with other people who listen to similar tunes.
Using a technique known as collaborative filtering, the software matches everything that is played on the computer, whether from MP3 files, streaming media or CDs converted to some other format. It can then match your profile up with other Audioscrobbler members, as a means of introducing people to new music.
E-commerce site Amazon offers a similar service, recommending registered users new books, music and movies based on what they have bought online But often people are buying presents for others, rather than themselves.
Audioscrobbler was a little more geared to your individual taste, said Mr Jones.
"On Amazon you might buy something as a present which doesn't represent your taste but this system bases information on what you have actually played on your computer," he said.
Mr Jones is hoping to develop the site futher.
"What I have achieved so far is just the tip of the iceberg. There is much more to work on and I want this site to become the way to discover and promote new music," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2888431.stm
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’Salada Space
Sony unveils high-capacity tape drive
Sony of Canada's Communication Information Solutions Group will ship production units of its new Advanced Intelligent Tape technology family - S-AIT drives, S- PetaSite and media - in the spring. With the ability to store up to 1.3 terabytes of compressed data (500 gigabytes native) on a half-inch tape cartridge, S-AIT-1 is being touted as the industry's highest-capacity tape drive and the first available single drive to break the 1TB capacity barrier.
The drive also features a sustained data transfer rate of up to 78 megabytes per second (30 MB/sec native). Later this year, Sony is also expected to introduce an S-AIT version of its PetaSite tape library system. S-AIT-1 libraries will be available in a number of configurations, with a 1,000-cartridge library capable of storing up to 1.3 petabytes of data. With the number of companies managing a petabyte or more of data.
http://www.globetechnology.com/servl...gtsony/GTStory
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HP bundles ADSL modems with PCs
Dinah Greek
Vendor tests the market with range of broadband-ready computers
Banking on the burgeoning interest in broadband, Hewlett Packard (HP) will begin bundling broadband modems with a number of its higher specification PCs.
According to HP, the built in ADSL modems will not be added to the cost of the PC, saving the end user £50 to £80 on the price of signing up for a broadband connection.
Although the modems offer broadband access through any ADSL provider, BT Openworld discs offering free broadband activation have been included in the offer.
The PCs, priced at £1,119 to £1,299, will go on sale in the next few weeks exclusively, for now, at PC World.
HP explained that it would be monitoring demand for the packages, and expected them to prove popular.
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1139884
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Disc-Based Recorder Almost Gives VCR a Run for the Money
Brett Larson
TiVo and ReplayTV users have it all. Almost. They can digitally record their favorite TV shows for later viewing, but unless they want to use up precious disk space, they still have to use that near-retro- status videotape to save those shows.
Sure, you could finagle a setup with your computer that gets the digital content onto DVD. But let's be real: You're not going to do that because you'd have to deal with tricky software. Fortunately there's the set-top DVD recorder. And although it hasn't entered into mainstream use yet, the stand alone device is almost ready to take the place of your dust-covered VCR.
If you want the ease of a cassette tape, you have to get reusable media. That's partly why Panasonic has chosen the DVD-RAM format for its new DMR-E30S DVD recorder.
With the -RAM format, you get the benefits of reusable media and the ability for some TiVo-like "time-shifting" playback. For example, should you be halfway through recording a show, you can go back to the beginning and watch it from there. You can even fast-forward through commercials or, in my case, the boring parts of the show.
And when it comes to capturing video on a blank disc, you've got options for recording length — just like with a VCR. Just like a videocassette tape, a DVD-RAM disc can record two, four, or six hours. And as with a videocassette tape, the longer you go the lower the quality of your recording.
However, jamming six hours on a disc doesn't leave you with grainy, somewhat lackluster video. Instead you get less than 30 frames per second (fps) video playback with a little kick of compression. The end result: Video that looks a bit funny and may have a slight "flicker." It's not bad, but if you're archiving a show, use the least amount of compression.
Since the DMR-E30S is progressive scan, you're not just getting a nice DVD recorder, you're also getting a high-end DVD player that delivers crisp video from pre-recorded DVD movies.
And it has plenty of input/output options, even for the high-end user. It features the RF cable in/out and even RCA audio/video input jacks. There's also S-Video, a BNC video connection, and a digital out for audio using fiber optic cables.
The Panasonic was easy to set up and easy to use. The iconic menus were clear and playing back our DVD-RAM disc was a cinch. However, when it came to recording programs at a later time we ran into problems.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scite...Rev030401.html
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Cable Still Beats DSL
Mary Jander
Cable modems continue to outsell DSL access lines, giving cable operators a sizeable lead in the market for bundled services of voice, data, and video, according to a recent report from New Paradigm Resources Group Inc. (NPRG)
Over the past four years, the number of cable modem subscribers has outnumbered DSL access lines by a significant margin. While that doesn't mean DSL isn't growing fast (even faster than cable, by NPRG's reckoning), it raises the chance that cable providers will have a larger installed base from which to grow so-called "triple play" services.
What's more, it seems technology that supports video-on-demand (VOD) over the cable infrastructure (such as that announced by Internet Photonics Inc. yesterday -- see Internet Photonics Touts VOD ) could boost this advantage.
Technology for adding VOD to DSL networks seems to be moving more slowly, an observation of other industry reports as well (see We Want Our Packet TV! ).
NPRG sees the addition of VOD capabilities as potentially giving cable MSOs (multiple system operators) the means to offer triple-play services within three or four years -- about two years ahead of satellite and telecom providers, by the firm's lights.
There's just one catch -- telephony. NPRG indicates there's evidence that today's leading cable MSOs, including Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX - message board), Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR - message board), and Cox Communications Inc. (NYSE: COX - message board) -- which collectively owned over 65 percent of the cable market in 2002 -- aren't showing a high percentage of telephony or data customers.
In 2002, just 16 percent of 70.1 million cable subscribers had cable modems for Internet service; just 3 percent had IP telephony from their MSO, according to NPRG's report.
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=30636
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Web Dial-Up Gains Speed, but at a Price
Saul Hansell
FOR those who are still in the Internet's slow lane, there are some new ways to step on the gas - for a price. Much of the talk on the Internet is about high-speed, or broadband, service. But a majority of Internet users - about three-quarters of households with Internet access - have found broadband service too expensive or unavailable, and connect instead over phone lines at speeds that are only 5 percent to 10 percent as fast as a broadband connection.
Now Earthlink and NetZero, two major providers of dial-up Internet service, are offering plans that they claim make dial-up connections as much as five times faster.
Both use technologies that compress text and images of Web pages into smaller files so that more information can be sent in less time. Earthlink's version stores copies of Web pages on the user's hard drive with software that allows it to download only changes since the last visit.
There are two catches: money and quality. Earthlink (
www.earthlink.net) charges $28.95 for its speeded-up service, called Earthlink Plus, which is $7 a month more than its regular dial-up service. NetZero (
www.netzero.net), a discount Internet provider, has introduced NetZero HiSpeed, for $14.95 a month, $5 more than its regular dial-up service. (Propel Software , the company providing the technology to Earthlink, also sells a stand-alone version of its accelerator service that works with any Internet provider. It costs $7.95 a month and is available at
www.propel.com.)
Neither company mentions in its promotional material that the technology used to speed up surfing reduces the quality of images on Web pages. Pictures can be noticeably fuzzy. Both products give users controls to adjust the tradeoff between speed and image quality.
In addition, the technology does not speed file downloads, streaming audio or video programs, or e-mail in programs like Outlook. Moreover, even a turbocharged dial-up service will tie up a phone line, whereas broadband services do not. Indeed, many broadband users find their constant connection to the Internet as appealing as the faster speed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/03/te...ts/03dial.html
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AT&T Offers Prepaid Web Content
Press Release
AT&T today introduced the AT&T PrePaid Web Cents(SM) Service, a new, secure, payment alternative for consumer purchases of online digital content. AT&T's service enables digital content providers to offer consumers a way to prepay for online digital content by purchasing specialty cards in traditional retail outlets.
A variety of leading content providers -- Cellus USA, Disney Online, Shockwave.com GameBlast and Vindigo -- are joining a growing list of participating retailers as early adopters of the AT&T PrePaid Web Cents Service. Consumers will start seeing select specialty cards today in some participating outlets of the PRE Solutions, Inc. Retail Partner Network, Speedway SuperAmerica LLC and Uni-Marts, Inc. By the end of April, cards will be available in some 4,000 retail stores across the country, and many additional retail stores will be added in the coming months.
"Millions of consumers want to purchase compelling online content, but don't because they don't have a credit card or are hesitant to use one for security or privacy reasons," said John Polumbo, president of AT&T Consumer. "We're solving that dilemma today by expanding the capability of the most robust prepaid platform in communications to manage retail purchases of these leading companies' online digital content."
AT&T offers online content providers a full-service program. AT&T manages the retail supply chain: production, warehousing, inventory, fulfillment and point-of- sale activation of the content providers' specialty cards, as well as day-to-day management of vendor relationships and retail operations. AT&T also can handle all transaction processing functions: PIN database management, payment authentication, customer e-care and settlements with retailers.
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=30619
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Peer-to-peer file sharing prompts media companies to complain to Minnesota University
Branden Peterson
Years after the rise and fall of Napster, record and movie companies are fighting copyright infringement by sending complaints to colleges, asking them to stop students from using peer-to-peer file-sharing services.
University network controllers receive more than 100 complaints each month, said Ken Hanna, the Office of Information Technology assurance and security director.
“It just seems like it’s going up and up,” he said.
Thanks to file-sharing programs like Morpheus and KaZaA, millions of students are using their colleges’ high-speed Internet networks to download billions of games, songs, pictures and movies through peer-to-peer networks.
Because universities host the network systems students are using to download the copyrighted material, companies are directing their complaints toward the universities.
Typically, they ask schools to resolve the situation internally.
At the University, administrators ask suspected downloaders to stop their illegal activity or face consequences, including being temporarily or permanently banned from the network.
Most illegal downloading occurs in University residence halls, where students have continual access to the high-speed ResNet network.
“We’ve got to either say that we’ve got permission or we have to remove it from the network,” Hanna said. “It’s not the case where we try to make life difficult for students, but we have to live to the law and the University contract.”
Hanna said the use of file-sharing services raises concern beyond copyright infringement.
http://www.mndaily.com/new_site/article.php?id=5439
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University warns students against file sharing
Dan Lewerenz
Sharing homework might get you in trouble, but sharing copyrighted material over the Internet could get you thrown in prison.
That was the message in an e-mail sent to more than 110,000 students, faculty and staff at Penn State University's main campus, along with more than 20 other campuses and centers around the state this week.
"You may have downloaded copyrighted materials and not been caught, so you think you're safe from prosecution. I urge you to think again," Rodney Erickson, Penn State's executive vice president and provost, wrote in a message delivered Monday that warned of heavy fines and prison time for those caught violating federal copyright laws. "Messing up your future is a steep price to pay for music or a video."
This is the second time Erickson has sent such an e-mail. He also sent one in 2000, when the now- defunct file-swapping service Napster was near the height of its popularity.
At a Congressional hearing on file sharing in February, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said that 16 percent of "peer-to-peer" file downloads - in which software allows users to share files directly instead of using a central server - were made by university students.
"Campuses are being more assertive about informing students of their rights and responsibilities - what you can do, what you can't do, who owns copyrights, and those things," said Kenneth C. Green, director of The Campus Computing Project, which studies computer use and information technology at U.S. colleges and universities.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...ss/5542907.htm
Downloads - Singles
BigChampange
Still Trying
RIAA Sues College File Swappers Running Internal Campus Networks
Reuters
A music industry group on Thursday said it has filed lawsuits against the operators of private computer networks on three college campuses where it claims the networks are being used to illegally trade copies of digital music files.
The Recording Industry Association of America said its member companies filed suit against two students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and against one student each at Princeton University and Michigan Technological University.
The RIAA has actively used the courts to pursue digital music pirates after a 9 percent dip in CD sales in 2002 that it blames for the most part on online file sharing.
In a statement, the association compared the file-sharing systems, which are open only to students on the universities' internal networks, as miniature versions of Napster -- the software and network that led to the explosion of music file swapping.
The four networks were offering nearly 2.5 million files, it said, including more than 1 million files on the largest network alone.
The complaints ask for the legal limit on damages in such cases, $150,000 per each copyright infringed.
The defendants named in the complaints are Daniel Peng at Princeton, Joseph Nievelt at Michigan Technical, and Jesse Jordan and Aaron Sherman of Rensselaer.
None of the four could be immediately reached by phone or e-mail. A personal Web site listed for Sherman on the Rensselaer site was not loading as of Thursday afternoon.
Last month the RIAA sent letters to 300 U.S. companies, across a variety of industries, warning them of specific evidence of illegal music swapping on their networks and the potential legal consequences of allowing it to continue.
The RIAA represents the world's major music companies, including Vivendi Universal, Sony Corp., AOL Time Warner, EMI Group Plc and Bertelsmann AG
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml...toryID=2505231
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World's media conned by April Fool
Joris Evers
Dutch P2P platform provider is a prank
Internet users hoping for a rush of new file-swapping services have been tricked. A February announcement from a Dutch company promising a platform for such services turns out to have been an April Fool's Day joke.
The project, called The Honest Thief, is a publicity stunt for a book with the same title, not an initiative to capitalise on a year- old Dutch court ruling that legitimised P2P (peer-to-peer) file- swapping services in the Netherlands, according to a statement on The Honest Thief's website posted yesterday, 1 April.
When launched late February, the company behind The Honest Thief said it would offer software, legal advice and a home base to file-sharing service providers. The announcement got worldwide media coverage, with The Wall Street Journal reporting it first.
"Well, guess what April Fools! The Honest Thief file-sharing venture was no more than a publicity stunt," the statement on
www.thehonestthief.com reads.
In hindsight, there were a few clues in February that The Honest Thief was a prank. The software was due in the second quarter, which starts 1 April, and
www.thehonestthief.com was previously used to promote a book with the same name.
"We did mislead and use people, but you can't have a joke of this size if you don't," said Pieter Plass, the man who concocted the story. "I don't believe we caused any harm or financial damage."
Plass said his "lying and deceiving" may have hurt the reputation of The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. "This does cast a shadow over the reputation of the press," he said. Still, Plass does not expect any legal action against him as a result of his trickery. "We really never did any business and came out on 1 April."
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm...view&news=3200
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Cade Metz on Spyware
The first sign of trouble came when Marc Heatherington installed his personal firewall. Every few minutes, it warned him an application was sending Internet traffic. Initially, he ignored the warnings. Then his daughter noticed his browser launching new home pages, including xupiter.com. Worried that this was related to the outgoing traffic, Heatherington tracked down the offending DLLs, in a subdirectory labeled Xupiter. Web research told him he'd uncovered spyware—local software that surreptitiously tracks your behavior.
Xupiter is an advertising and marketing program that launches pop-up ads. It adds bookmarks to your browser's menu. And, as Heatherington discovered, it hijacks your browser's home page. More disturbing, to serve ads and sites tailored for you, Xupiter transmits information about your PC and your surfing habits to xupiter.com; hence Heatherington's suspicious traffic.
None of the Heatheringtons remembered downloading Xupiter—unsurprising, because Xupiter is a "drive-by download." If your Internet security controls aren't properly set, just visiting a Web site or clicking on a Web ad can install an app.
Your PC may well be similarly infested. According to a recent report from research firm GartnerG2, more than 20 million people have installed adware applications (adware being a type of spyware that reports back on a subject's activities to serve up targeted advertising), and this covers only a portion of the spyware on the loose. Companies like DoubleClick use small files called cookies to track you online. Others, like WinWhatWhere, sell key loggers, which let others see your every keystroke. Trojan horses like Back Orifice and NetBus let hackers not only track your behavior but even take control of your PC.
As Marc Heatherington found, spyware can reach your PC without your knowledge or explicit approval. This is always the case with ad cookies, yet another spyware subclass. More worrying are applications like Xupiter that install themselves on the sly. Trojans and certain key loggers weasel onto your system in much the same way. Some may be mailed to you disguised as something useful. And of course, anyone with access to your machine can install a system monitor.
Josh Liberman—the president of Net Sciences, a New Mexico business networking company—constantly encounters spyware. "I have never sat down at a client PC and not been able to pull spyware off of it," he says. Though he typically finds 20 to 30 spyware-related files, folders, and Registry values, one system at an Albuquerque law firm yielded over 300.
In all likelihood, however, you willingly installed much of your spyware yourself when downloading another application. Most file-sharing services—Napster-like tools for trading MP3s and other files across the Internet —are bundled with spyware. That's how file-sharing vendors make money while not charging for their products. In a sense, you are paying, but the coin is privacy, not money.
The Grokster service, for example, includes Gator eWallet. This program seems innocuous. It can learn user names, passwords, credit card numbers, addresses, and so on, to help fill in online forms. But it sends information about you, your computer, and your online behavior to Gator's Web site.
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0...a=39276,00.asp
A Test - Is it easy to get infected? Let’s find out
Just how rampant is spyware? To find out, we did some spying of our own, with the help of several dozen PC Magazine readers. These volunteers neatly split into two groups: those who were enthusiastic users of free file-sharing software, such as Grokster, Kazaa, and Morpheus, and those who did little or no swapping.
We fitted each person's system with a spyware removal tool, along with a surveillance program we created called "Who's Spying on Me?" Once each day, our program launched the removal tool to delete any spyware on the system, analyzed the tool's log, and e-mailed the log and its analysis to us. Who's Spying on Me? also checked the Uninstall data in the Registry and the shortcuts in the Start menu and Desktop, reporting new installations it found. The testers were given an opportunity to add comments to the e-mail. Since in theory all spyware was removed each day, any spyware found after the initial cleanup would represent a new infestation.
To automate the spyware removal and logging process, we needed a removal tool that could be controlled through the command line. We began our tests using Lavasoft's Ad-aware 5.83. Since not all of Ad-aware's settings could be configured from the command line, Who's Spying on Me? tweaked the configuration settings directly in the Registry. After a week or so, it became clear that Ad-aware was not completely successful in removing spyware it detected. (Ad-aware has since updated to Version 6, reviewed in this story.) We arranged to get copies of PestPatrol 4.1.0.14 for our volunteers, and we rewrote the reporting program to analyze the log files from PestPatrol's command line utility—a module separate from the utility reviewed here.
Not surprisingly, the first logs we received from our testers were the biggest, because the software tools had just cleared out months or sometimes years of accumulated items. The majority of the removals were "tracking cookies" rather than true spyware. Advertisers claim they use these cookies to gather non individualized information about Web behavior. They can tell that someone saw one of their banner ads on a specific set of sites, but they can't tell who. Yet by sending an e-mail including a "Web bug," advertisers can associate a tracking cookie with a specific individual. Most advertisers say they don't use this technique, but the removal tools wipe out the tracking cookies anyway, just in case.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,977907,00.asp
Spyware Removers – Tested
Cade Metz
For this, our first head-to-head roundup of spyware detection and removal applications, we found that the space isn't as mature as we had expected: Many of the applications were unstable and seemed to cause more trouble (or at least more remarkable trouble) than they solved. Only one, PepiMK Software's SpyBot Search & Destroy (our Editors' Choice), actually managed to destroy the spyware and adware it detected without leaving much detritus behind.
We'd like to see this space evolve into a more organized, standardized field, as the antivirus field has done, where definitions of the offenders are known, agreed on, and perhaps shared by a central body. This would aid identification of offending applications—and perhaps free up the vendors to develop better methods of removing all the many files, folders, DLLs, and Registry keys that their unpleasant targets currently leave behind on people's systems.
In the meantime, SpyBot Search & Destroy is the best of the bunch. And as a free application (with a voluntary donation requested), it's far more worthy than competitors that cost upward of 30 dollars.
For test details, click link. http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0...a=39276,00.asp
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Copyrights and Japan
Nude Volleyball Angers Game Maker Who "Gets Tough" In Response
The makers of a video game which features cyber babes playing volleyball have been angered by attempts to remove the women's digital bikinis.
Japanese games developer Tecmo has warned of legal action against anyone who published information rendering the women in Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball completely nude during gameplay.
"We're watching you very closely! Please do not post things that infringe copyrights and other legal issues," said the firm on its official website.
This is not the first time that a video game featuring a cyber babe has been altered by game enthusiasts. Patches to remove the clothes of the most famous virtual heroine of all, Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider games, are widely available on the internet.
Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball for Microsoft's Xbox console features characters from the cast of the Dead or Alive fighting game series.
The title features voluptuous heroines who preen, sun themselves and play volleyball in bathing suits on a tropical island.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2904877.stm
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Group prepares MPEG-4 encryption
Paul Festa
Aiming to close a long-standing gap in digital rights management for MPEG-4, a streaming media consortium is seeking comments on an encryption specification slated for release in June.
The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), whose members include Apple Computer, AOL Time Warner, Cisco Systems, IBM and Sun Microsystems, said it would spend the next two months evaluating public review of the new digital rights management (DRM) specification.
The proposed specification is a way of encrypting streaming media files that would be compatible with existing methods for key encryption and DRM. That would give content providers more flexibility in pursuing their commercial goals, the ISMA said.
"In developing this specification, we spent a significant amount of time gathering feedback from major content owners," ISMA President Tom Jacobs said in a statement. "As a result, our specification does not bind them to utilize specific rights and key management systems or preselected solution vendors. This allows content owners to retain control over critical business processes and related decisions."
MPEG-4, a standard for compressing audio and video files for delivery over the Internet and other networks, is the work of the Moving Picture Experts Group, which also designed MPEG-2 for digital television and MP3 for music files.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-994851.html
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Find Your State
State Super-DMCA Bills and Laws. The site summarizes the status of so-called "Super-DMCA" legislation in various U.S. states.
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/superdmca.html
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U.S. Eyes Personal Commercial Data in Terror Search
Andy Sullivan
The U.S. government has discovered a powerful resource in its war against terrorism -- credit-card records, hotel bills, grocery lists and other records detailing the private lives of its citizens.
Government investigators are turning to commercial databases to track down and isolate possible hijackers and suicide bombers before they strike, raising fear among privacy advocates that long- standing protections against government snooping may be eroded.
The Transportation Security Administration is developing an airline passenger-screening program that would check private records such as credit reports to assess risk, prompting a fierce debate about the merits of such "pattern recognition" systems.
Officials and many security experts say such "data mining" techniques are necessary to flush out a foe that does not wear a uniform but blends in with ordinary civilians to infiltrate and undermine American society.
Civil-liberties advocates on the left and the right say the tactic could lead back to the bad old days when law-enforcement agencies like the FBI conducted routine, unfettered surveillance on law- abiding citizens like civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
"People in the government, very much so in the Justice Department, have been playing out a lust for information that is not consistent with who we have been as a nation," former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey said recently.
The connection between private and government surveillance is likely to be a hot topic as computer scientists, policy experts and government officials meet this week in New York at the 13th annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference.
Congress has imposed limits on one particularly controversial Defense Department program, but few doubt that investigators will increasingly rely on pattern-recognition techniques and private business records in their efforts to root out extremists.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2473472
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Music Industry Meets Its Future
Ben Silverman
Ever since the MP3 format was widely adopted, the major recording labels have been scrambling to get a piece of the action online.
While the major labels have done battle with the digital music terrorists, musicians from around the world have appropriated new technology and created avenues of distribution and marketing.
Be it the ability to sell records through Amazon.com or a simple Web site to promote upcoming shows, artists have been empowered like never before. Their reliance on the traditional industry players and managers, lawyers and booking agents is no longer a given.
What is a given, however, is that there hasn't been a breakout artist who has risen from the routers, switches and fiber optics of the online world. But this may soon change.
Jonah Smith has been called "One of the most important voices in modern soul," something the Syracuse, N.Y.,-native and Brooklyn-based musician doesn't take for granted.
For the past few years, Smith has been hooked up withCornerBand.com, an online music firm whose goal it is to help artists remove the barriers to success set up by the traditional music industry.
The arrangement has paid off, as Smith's band has been able to tour steadily and push out close to one million downloads of its songs.
"Artists can be empowered to control their own destiny," said Scott Beck, chairman and chief executive officer of CornerBand.com.
CornerBand.com is, in one sense, the evolution of the online music industry. By combining secure digital distribution, traditional record sales, file-sharing, media partnerships and artist services, the company has created a package for do-it-yourself artists, who are becoming embraced and noticed.
"A lot of people in the business are number crunchers and don't have ears and vision, "Smith said. "It's very hard to break through, so you find friends where you can."
What CornerBand.com does is rather simple: Through an alliance with file-sharing service Kazaa, the company allows artists to distribute their music digitally and for free. Songs are encoded with copyright management software so an artist can control the music.
http://www.nypost.com/business/71542.htm
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DirecTV Wins Dismissal Of Suit On Piracy Letters
Bloomberg
DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite television service, has won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by people who contended that the company accused them of piracy in letters and tried to extort money. Judge Charles W. McCoy Jr. of California Superior Court in Los Angeles ruled that DirecTV's letters were sent in connection with litigation, which is constitutionally protected speech. The letters were sent to people whose names turned up on invoices of raided companies as purchasers of piracy equipment. DirecTV, owned by the Hughes Electronics Corporation, has filed 2,000 federal lawsuits against people who failed to respond to the letters. The court action preserves DirecTV's ability to pursue a tactic it says it needs to protect its proprietary interests. Signal pirates cost DirecTV millions in revenue last year, the company says, and it cut off service to at least 50,000 viewers who were improperly receiving its programming. The court found sufficient evidence "to show DirecTV sent its demand letters in serious contemplation of litigation," Judge McCoy wrote in a four-page ruling dated Tuesday. "I guarantee this will be appealed," said Jeff Wilens, a lawyer for the letter recipients who sued the company.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/03/te...y/03TBRF3.html
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The Descendency of Columbia
Chuck Philips
Most global entertainment giants are looking for an exit from the battered music business.
But not Sony Corp., which today expects to tell employees of an ambitious plan to stick with music -- at a price.
The long-anticipated divisional blueprint from new music chief Andrew Lack relies heavily on job cuts and a restructuring to boost performance at an operation corporate brass has long criticized as bloated and out of touch.
Under the plan, two of the world's oldest and most successful music labels -- Columbia and Epic -- will undergo significant downsizing as Sony slashes $100 million in annual costs and about 1,000 of 10,000 jobs worldwide.
In a far-reaching management shake-up, expected in coming weeks, Columbia veteran Don Ienner will take charge of a consolidated Sony Music America division. Michele Anthony, executive vice president of the music group, will remain at her post and serve as one of Lack's top lieutenants.
"The company is in transition and the industry is in transition. The question is whether the company has been keeping up with the larger transition," Lack said Thursday. "Critics would say, no, we've been slow to react."
As rivals scramble to unload recording assets, Lack made it clear that the Japanese electronics behemoth is banking on music to play a continued role in a corporation that also sells CD burners, computers and portable MP3 players. Consumer electronics contribute more than 60% of Sony's $60-billion- plus annual sales, while music has slipped to less than 8%.
"Sony, the parent company in Japan, sees music as core to their basic business.... That's what this restructuring is all about," Lack said.
But Sony's renewed commitment to its record division comes joined with potentially disruptive cuts that follow similar reductions at Vivendi Universal, Bertelsmann, EMI Group and AOL Time Warner Inc. -- all of which have explored selling music assets.
About 350 corporate, label and support staff will be trimmed from Sony's operations in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville. About 100 employees in Southern California will get pink slips, executives said.
Outside the U.S., Sony will cut about 400 jobs in an international operation that remains under chief Bill Bowlin and lieutenant Rick Dobbis. An additional 300 jobs will be cut at manufacturing plants in the U.S. and abroad.
The two will have to calm employee jitters, for instance, over remarks in which Sony's Japanese brass appeared to see music as something that could be all but given away to promote other services or devices. In a recent interview in AlwaysOn magazine, Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei blasted his own music management team's resistance to Internet file-sharing.
"The music industry must reinvent itself," Idei said. "They have to change their mindset away from selling albums and think about selling singles over the Internet as cheap as possible -- even 20 cents or 10 cents -- and encourage file-sharing so they can also get micro-payments for these files. We can no longer control distribution the way we used to."
http://www.sunspot.net/business/bal-...ness-headlines
Until next week,
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js.
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Current Week In Review.
Recent WIRs -
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15729 March 29th
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15623 March 22nd
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15526 March 15th
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15437 March 8th
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15348 March 1st
The Week In Review is published every Friday. Please submit letters, articles, and press releases in plain text English to jackspratts@lycos.com. Include contact info. Submission deadlines are Wednesdays @ 1700 UTC.