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Peer to Peer The 3rd millenium technology! |
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Join Date: May 2001
Location: New England
Posts: 10,024
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![]() The Rumor Mill Grinds A Pound or Two
In Iraq freedom means never having to hear Hilary Rosen Monday’s rumor was a real eye opener, that’s for sure. It came to me from EuropeMedia.net concerning the post Iraq invasion contracts for infrastructure rebuilding. It seems that with the Bush administration alienated from just about every industrial nation on earth save Australia and the UK, the big construction jobs would be handed out to American firms, no surprise there. What got my attention though was an almost overlooked item near the end of the article and attributed to the BBC saying the U.S. is prepared to hire Hilary Rosen to write Iraq’s intellectual property laws. Yes, the Hilary Rosen of RIAA fame. You know, the one who shut down Napster, the one who had the Naval Academy students nearly expelled for swapping “copyrighted material”. The one who wants to arrest everybody who shares music! That’s kind of like hiring Jeffrey Dahmer to run a restaurant. I mean seriously, what freedom loving Iraqi would request the services of a person who’s devoted a majority of her intellectual capital, such as it is, to destroying individual rights in favor of those of dictatorial corporations? Haven’t they had enough of that already? I may be going out a limb here but I doubt any Baghdadi extended her the invitation. On the other hand a quiet word from a media mogul to a grasping Bush aid could land her the gig - but if I was in the Navy I’d make them walk the plank. Like all great rumors there was enough outrageousness mixed with plausibility to make it hard to dismiss the tale outright. That it fed conservatives’ fears of an administration’s growing closeness to Hollywood special interests as well as liberals’ uneasiness surrounding ultimate U.S. motivations in the Middle East made it even more electrifying. Late Thursday a call from a media consultant set the record straight: It was, according to an RIAA spokeswoman, “Unequivocally false.” Hilary isn’t going to be doing any Iraqi rebuilding after all. I can hear an entire country breathing easier. Enjoy, Jack. New German Copyright Law Pleases Scholars and Angers Publishers But wait, there’s more… Burton Bollag A hotly contested copyright law adopted on Friday by Germany's Parliament gives universities and research institutions considerable leeway to digitally distribute copyrighted materials among students and scholars without paying extra charges. The law has been welcomed by academics. But academic publishers, who fought tooth and nail against the bill, say it will force them out of business. The bill was designed to bring German law in line with a two-year-old European Union directive covering a wide range of digital-copyright issues. But the directive is silent on the issue of copyright exemptions for education and research. Publishers say they will challenge the new legislation with European authorities in Brussels. The law in effect grants exemption from copyright restrictions, for specified nonprofit purposes, to "privileged institutions," meaning schools, higher-education institutions, and public research organizations. Passage of the bill was assured when a parliamentary committee last week inserted several compromises. The main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, then dropped its opposition. Two key changes stipulate that only "small parts" of copyrighted material can be distributed this way, and that access to such material shall be for "a defined, limited, and small" number of people -- for example, the students in a particular course. Access must be controlled by the use of passwords or a similar mechanism. Moreover, to remain valid, this section of the law must be reviewed by Parliament and reapproved at the end of 2006. Up to now Germany has had very restrictive legislation that, for example, made it illegal in most cases for scholars to put copyrighted material on even an internal computer network. Academics say the new law basically gives them the same rights over copyrighted material in digital form as they already have over such material printed on paper. Just as they may photocopy pages from a book and distribute them to students registered for a class, they will now be allowed to post such material on a Web page with access limited to those same students. But the compromises did not satisfy everyone. Georg Siebeck is head of a loose group of 35 academic book publishers, who include the majority of German publishers producing books for academe and have combined annual revenues of $2-billion. He says allowing only "small parts" of copyrighted material to be distributed is no guarantee for publishers' commercial interests. "You can still put the single chapters next to each other and with a click, download the whole book," he said. "No country would be as stupid as this" he said, and pass a law "to kill its own publishers." Publishers and booksellers mounted a vociferous campaign against the bill. One ad stated: "Imagine you have produced a book and the state is allowed to steal it." Publishers sent appeals to scholars, warning the proposed law would mean an end to the royalties they receive from sales of their works, and managed to get almost 2,000 scientists to sign a petition against the bill. Scientific associations, representing tens of thousands of researchers, and library associations responded with declarations rejecting the publishers' stance. Scholars say the publishers are greatly exaggerating the dangers they will face. "Their whole campaign was based on lies," says Rainer Kuhlen, a professor at the University of Konstanz and chairman of the German Association of Information Scientists. "The law will be a challenge to publishers to develop -- along with academics -- new ways to organize and distribute digital material." Tomas Hoeren, a professor of law and director of the Institute for Telecommunications and Media Law at Westfälische Wilhelms University, in Münster, says the new legislation will make Germany, along with the Scandinavian countries and the United States, among the nations with a relatively tolerant approach to the use of copyrighted materials for specified educational purposes. France and Spain are among those with a more restrictive approach. http://chronicle.com/free/2003/04/2003041407n.htm However… Germany trying to copy DMCA Staff SITTING ON THIS SIDE of the pond might have seemed the safe option when you start looking at the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). German readers might want to sit up and take note that their parliament has effectively putting a very similar piece of legislation into law. The rest of Europe is also at risk of trouble from laws like this. It all stems from the draconian Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament. It might as well have been drafted by the RIAA and the MPAA. But the directives guidelines are being pushed into law throughout Europe. All in all, it's a quite dangerous time for Europe. But, of course, they will say it's all being done in the name of harmonisation so we should be good little EU citizens and take what our betters in the European Parliament hand to us without an argument. http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8879 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What record industry slump? Independent labels say business has never been better Lynne Margolis Eight years ago, Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and their Chicago friends were lamenting the dearth of "new and exciting music - music that ignited their passion the way punk and alternative rock had before big record labels and Gap commercials co-opted their sounds. Then they began noticing that several area bands were putting Hank Williams twists on their Nirvana and Elvis Costello influences. So they decided, for kicks, to put out a compilation album of "insurgent country." Warshaw and Miller anted up a few grand apiece. "We had no expectation that this was going to become a business," Ms. Warshaw says. "The first few years, we'd put out a record and when it broke even, we would say, 'Oh, what record should we do next?' " But 3-1/2 years after it first started, Bloodshot Records finally hired its first paid employee. Today, it's a popular and healthy independent label, one of many operating outside the grip of the five mega-majors: Sony Music Entertainment Inc., Universal Music Group, BMG Entertainment, EMI Group, and Warner Music Group. While executives at those labels wail about the industry's imminent collapse, indie labels and artists are singing a much happier tune. Profits are up - in some cases by 50 to 100 percent. That's in contrast to overall album sales, which dropped about 11 percent in 2002. "We don't do too much crying over here," Cameron Strang, founder of New West Records, admits proudly. The home of artists like Delbert McClinton, the Flatlanders, and John Hiatt has doubled its business for the past three years and is projecting a $10 million income in 2003. Paul Foley, general manager of the biggest independent label, Rounder Records of Cambridge, Mass., happily brags, "2002 was actually Rounder's best year in history. We were up 50 percent over 2001." http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0411/p13s02-almp.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Electronic Frontier Foundation Opposes Digital Lockdown Some States Pass, Others Consider Copyright Legislation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today released a detailed analysis of the dangers posed by digital copyright bills in individual states. The product of stealth lobbying efforts by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), these new measures are aimed at criminalizing the possession of what the MPAA calls "unlawful communication and access devices," but which are so broad that they could ban critical security and privacy tools online as well as restrict what machines you can connect to the cable, satellite, and Internet lines in your home. Because the bills are more extreme versions of the nationwide Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), pundits refer to them as "super-DMCA" legislation. Even before these activities crossed activists' radar, seven states (Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wyoming) had already enacted them into law. Similar bills have been introduced and are currently pending in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Texas. "The 'super-DMCA' measures represent special interest legislation that dramatically expands the reach of the federal DMCA, which has already put fair use, innovation, free speech and competition in peril," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Communication service providers -- meaning ISPs, cable companies, and providers of digital entertainment services -- can use this legislation to restrict what you can connect to your Internet connection and cable or satellite television lines and can ban a variety of tools critical to protecting the anonymity and security of Internet users." EFF strongly opposes these state super-DMCA bills as unnecessary and overbroad. The proposed bills represent the worst kind of special interest legislation, sacrificing the public interest in favor of the self-serving interests of one industry. http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/states/20...f_sdmca_pr.php ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whatever Happened to Peer-to-Peer? Peer-to-peer strategies are still being used to gain efficiency. Why not let your customer do all the work? Karl Jacob The traditional business model is about control: How do I control distribution? How do I control the back end? How do I control the customer? How do I own the customer information? But that model is being challenged. Smart businesses are leveraging their businesses by adopting the peer-to-peer methodology by first gathering their customers into a community around a basic framework, then getting out of the way and lets the community do what it wants. It’s not the traditional top-down approach; it’s really more from the bottom up. More than anything, it’s community power in action. The peer-to-peer business model is not about aggregating customer information and using it to manipulate them, like the Amazons do today. It's about identifying and matching people and allowing them to fulfill each other's needs. eBay has already given us a glimpse of the value proposition of a networked consumer base. But eBay is just the beginning. Howard Rheingold deals with the concept of networked communities in his book Smart Mobs. He talks about how people are using technology to come together to solve problems. They don’t necessarily know each other, just that everybody is of like mind and wants to fix a particular problem (like spam) or share information about a common interest. What also makes peer-to-peer so exciting is that it leverages new technology to build things that nobody could have conceived just two years ago. New generation companies like Cloudmark, like Plaxo, can also get up and running quickly, lower the load on their networks, and keep equipment off of their balance sheets. At the same time your systems are more automatic, and your customer is doing the driving. If a peer-to-peer business focuses on getting the framework right, then the community has the opportunity to deliver the value. Business have to design their sites simply, so it is obvious what the user is supposed to do, and make the return on the investment of their time obvious. This is very different from what we did in the first chapter of the web, which was to build everything for people and then force them into the mold of "you’ve got to come to this site, you’ve got to register, and you’ve got to put your credit card in at just this site." The peer-to-peer model is arguably the most distinguishing value proposition on the Web. To build the Internet, we borrowed old ideas and concepts. We took brick-and-mortar business models and just transferred them to cyberspace. Ebay showed that their real payoff for Web entrepreneurs is in creating an arena and letting all your customers do the work, and actually be happy to pay for the control you give them. It is like the self service gas pump. In today's busy world, people are happy to pump their own gas because it means they don't have to wait. The peer-to-peer model on the Web will eventually be pervasive as self-service gas stations. As more and more people move onto the Web, peer-to- peer models will become even more powerful and useful. Another great thing about peer-to-peer is that it’s viral in nature. The more people who use the network, the more value people get out of it. When you have a system like that, and you’re not the one paying to add machines to your network operation center, and you’re not paying people to expand the network, your business can grow. All you have to do is put the right rules in place. You just have to make sure that people are treated fairly—if someone abuses the system they get kicked out, and if they do good things in the system they get rewarded. At Cloudmark, we let consumers forward their spam mail to a huge database, which then blocks the spam from going out to any other member of the community. The community collaboration model offers innovative entrepreneurs a lot of opportunities. People naturally gather around common interests, from fly-fishing to investing to knitting, and they’ll pay a business to support that kind of collaborative environment. (Consumers are resilient; they will pay for value, period. If you’re delivering real value, even if the overall economy is down, people are willing to open up their wallets for what you have to offer.) The new peer-to-peer networks are a boon to users as well. Because of this, now like-minded people are able to join together and achieve things that they couldn’t do before. It’s the new neighborhood. It used to be you lived in a neighborhood and in that neighborhood you could get a group of people together and you could make change happen. You could clean up the streets; you could help somebody build a house. That ability to create communities on the fly is the kicker. It used to be that in neighborhoods, of course, you knew each other. Now you’re going to deal with people you don’t even know. The implication is that groups of people who before had no influence because they were dispersed, because they couldn’t communicate, because they couldn’t join together, now have the ability to act as one large, powerful group. http://www.alwayson-network.com/comm...id=310_0_2_0_C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DRM And The Disabled “Digital rights management” refers to hardware and software that attempts to control access to and reproduction of digital information. DRM masquerades as a method of protecting authors’ copyrights but, in practice and according to published proposals, actually limits the copyright freedoms of the general public, a group that includes people with disabilities and others who rely on accessibility features like captioning, audio description, subtitling, and dubbing. DRM has a number of implications for viewers who require accessibility features. Almost all the implications point to a reduction in usefulness, convenience, and engagement of existing legal rights. Conclusions and recommendations · Digital rights management, as currently designd, will harm people with disabilities and others who rely on accessibility features. · DRM must needs to specifically enable at least the same level of customer use of, reuse of, and tinkering with accessibility features that are enjoyed today. · DRM must be exempted for the process of producing captioning, audio description, subtitling, and dubbing, whether those producers are deemed “professional” or “amateur” by DRM licensors or anyone else. · DRM must not prevent legitimate, legal adaptations of copyrighted works for people with disabilities. http://joeclark.org/access/resources/DRM.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blank Media Tax Copyright - the devil and the detail Simon Minahan A compromise nears but there's still so much to be worked out. Screenrights, the Australian Audio Visual Copyright Society, has opened up a new front in the battle over digital content and rights management here in Australia. Together with APRA, the royalty collecting agency has put a proposal to Canberra for the introduction of a levy on blank recording media as a way of securing compensation for its members for private copying. The proposal is well developed. It comprises draft legislation and an explanatory memorandum and is supported by an opinion from a NSW QC (who was a co-author of the draft bill) on the constitutionality of the scheme. Under the proposed scheme, buyers of recordable media will pay a levy on that media in return for a statutory licence that will enable them to legally use the media for private copying of content. At present there is no right in Australian copyright law for consumers to make back-up or alternative copies for private use of certain content - such as commercially distributed music (although there is a limited right to create a back-up copy of computer programs). Notably the proposed licence would run with the media. A taxed CD-R, for example, will be able to store reproduced copyright material for private use. Untaxed media will not. Consumers will have the right to "opt-out" of the licence and levy at the time of purchase on the basis of a declaration that the media will not be used to copy third-party content. The proposal envisages that retailers will collect the levy at point of sale and be liable to account for it to manufacturers and distributors who, in turn, will account to the collecting societies. Rebates will be calculated and dealt with in arrears. The societies will then make distributions along the lines used to distribute royalties from publicly performed music, for example. Issues abound with such a scheme. In the '80s the Federal Government sought to introduce a comparable scheme. It was challenged by media manufacturers and overturned in the High Court in the early '90s as being an unconstitutional tax - mainly because of the manner in which it was introduced. More than 40 countries around the world, including the United States and much of Europe, have such schemes in place. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...962685581.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hardware roundup Arron Rouse SOUND CAN BE RICHER with a valve (tube) based sound system and AOpen is just the company to prove that. Lost Circuits does a comparison of a valve based sound system onboard on an AOpen motherboard with a Terratec Aureon sound card. Do you really want the warm valve sound and warm valves in your case? SubZeroTech has been getting to grips with a Swiftech MCX462T. It's not for everyone, especially those without headphones but it might be just the thing for cooling your CPU right down. But, for those who want a real serious pair of headphones, Adrian's Rojak pot has some Bose QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headset . Better be prepare to part with some serious cash to get them too. Hexus has been trying out a Vantec Nexus Multi-function Panel. It does port replication amongst other things. Craig take the temperature. The D-Link DVC-1000 i2eye Videophone brings us all one step closer to an episode of The Jetsons. That might be a good thing but we'd have preferred the rocket pack. The Via Epia has a reputation for being tiny. Tech Seekers aren't going to argue. It's small, it's cute and it's good. It almost seems like a blast from the past to mention an ATI 9700 Pro. But this is the All-in-Wonder version. VR-Zone gives you the low-down. X-bit labs has had the chance to play with three small form factor PCs. All of them are P4 based and all of them really, really needed a replacement graphics card. But they're still fun. Article, links http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8810 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EchoStar Faces a Big Challenge Seth Schiesel While Rupert Murdoch and General Motors executives worked out the News Corporation's deal for control of DirecTV, Charles W. Ergen, the chairman of EchoStar, the nation's No. 2 satellite-television company, spent most of this week south of the border. Mr. Ergen was at an undisclosed Mexican location for a previously scheduled conference with senior EchoStar executives and sales agents, said two people close to the company. While the meetings were meant to be all business, Mr. Ergen may have been well advised to take a few minutes to relax in the sun. That is because it may be his last vacation for some time. Now that Mr. Murdoch has finally made the deal he has been anticipating for at least a decade — the deal that brings the News Corporation into the United States satellite television market — EchoStar will be hard put to continue to outperform DirecTV the way it has for the last 18 months. As the cable television industry finally begins to deliver on the promise of its long-lamented digital upgrades and as DirecTV, the nation's No. 1 satellite television carrier, finally appears to be falling into the hands of aggressive and capable media operators, EchoStar and its mercurial chairman appear to face their biggest challenges in years. Marc Lumpkin, an EchoStar spokesman, said yesterday afternoon that he did not know where Mr. Ergen was. Mr. Lumpkin said that the rest of EchoStar's senior executives were traveling and that neither he nor any other executive could discuss the DirecTV deal or EchoStar's future. Yet while EchoStar's future remains murky, its immediate past was fairly bright, even though regulators rejected EchoStar's own deal to acquire Hughes Electronics, the parent of DirecTV, from G.M. Ever since EchoStar announced that deal, in October 2001, EchoStar has maintained and even accelerated the pace of its business while DirecTV has appeared largely stagnant, adrift in a sea of uncertainty about its future. "EchoStar has been significantly more focused over the last 18 months or so," said Mike Goodman, an analyst for the Yankee Group, a communications and technology consulting firm in Boston. "You have seen almost nothing new out of DirecTV in the last 18 months. In fact, you have seen their subscriber additions cut in half of what they had been previously. On the other hand, from EchoStar you continue to see innovation, you see different pricing promotions, you've seen them becoming more aggressive in selling new technology." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/business/11BIRD.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rat a Pirate For Cash A software industry association yesterday tripled its top reward for turning in software pirates. From now until the end of May, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which includes Microsoft Corp and Norton Antivirus developer Symantec Corp, is offering NT$880,000 to anyone who offers information on factories making illegal copies of its members' software. Previously the top reward was NT$300,000. "We have set no limit on the amount of money available for this special reward program," Sung Hong-ti chair of the Taiwan branch of the BSA. One in every two software disks sold nationwide is a fake, according to the BSA. Piracy cost domestic software makers US$160 million in 2001, according to the most recent figures published by the BSA. "The proportion of software disks pirated in Taiwan in 2001 was 53 percent, whereas the world average was 40 percent," the BSA's Stella Lai said. Software makers in Asia Pacific lost US$4.7 billion in revenues in 2001, Lai said. Figures for last year are expected to be released next month. Potential claimants for the top prize are expected to appear as a witness in court against the factory owners they finger. "There are definite dangers," said John Eastwood, a lawyer at Winkler Partners and co-chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei. "Organized crime involved in software piracy are not above making death threats," he said. Eastwood said the big cash reward may help ease potential fears. The BSA is also offering two smaller rewards -- NT$20,000 for a court appearance that results in a warrant being issued and NT$2,000 for filing paperwork that identifies a counterfeiter. The announcement of the reward hike comes as the government tries to get tougher on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in response to complaints from the US. "The IPR issue is a priority for the government," Minister for Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu said at yesterday's launch of the BSA's new reward program. http://cdr-info.com/Sections/News/De...RelatedID=3647 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Out of the Mouths of Dogs Bob Finds a Few Facts That Simply Don't Compute Robert X. Cringely Apparently, the CIA has been tapping fiber optic cables in Baghdad, listening in on telephone conversations in efforts to track down Saddam. Most people think fiber can't be tapped, but here's how to do it (I wrote about this at least 10 years ago). Strip the plastic casing off a couple inches of the fiber bundle, being careful not to damage the glass. Bend the fiber back on itself in a very tight loop. At that place where the bend in the fiber is sharpest, the internal reflective ability of the fiber is compromised enough for a little light to leak out (called "conductive emission" in the spy biz). That's where you put your detector. This is remarkably easy to do, yet we think of fiber as being totally secure. A different form of security is available to purchasers of wireless file servers from Martian.com. These book-sized Linux servers that were featured recently in the New York Times have no fans and use hard drives with liquid bearings, making the units almost totally silent. With a WiFi connection you can have almost instant Network Attached Storage for your PC, Mac, or Linux network with 120 gigabytes of encrypted disk space for under $500. There is literally nothing to configure. Just plug it in. Yeah, but who would want one of these things? I would, for one, but my friend David from the UK points out that such a device hidden away from sight would be ideal for storing data you wouldn't want confiscated by the police. Nestle a Martian box under your attic insulation if you have something to hide. This week, TiVo announced a new version of their Digital Video Recorder software (called the Home Media Option) that finally brings to life that USB connector on the later TiVo boxes. The "upgrade" costs $99, though it is pretty obvious that the capability was in there all the time. Releasing it this way just allows TiVo to make a lot of money directly from users and not have to share any of it with dealers or hardware OEMs. Ninety-nine dollars is certainly more than TiVo made from the box originally, so this will be a big boost for the company. The new capabilities are pretty impressive, too, provided you connect that USB to an Ethernet or WiFi external adapter. You can stream MP3 music from your PC across the network to your TiVo-attached TV or stereo system. You can do the same thing looking at digital photos. And if you have more than one TiVo box, they can talk to each other, and you can finally watch in the bedroom the movie you recorded in the den. But here is the part that makes no sense to me. A TiVo box is just a little Linux computer in disguise, and TiVo boxes have been hacked in a hundred or more ways. There are very few TiVo secrets left. This new software supposedly won't stream video to non-TiVo devices or to devices that are outside the home. Yeah, right. TiVo has to know that through MAC address and IP spoofing people will soon be streaming video across town or across the world to other TiVo devices or to PCs. They have to know this is going to happen, yet still they moved forward with the software release. Can this be a secret part of the marketing plan? Maybe plausible deniability is all TiVo is seeking here, counting on the hackers to promote the upgrade. http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030410.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Librarians Use Shredder to Show Opposition to New F.B.I. Powers Dean Murphy The humming noise from a back room of the central library here today was the sound of Barbara Gail Snider, a librarian, at work. Her hands stuffed with wads of paper, Ms. Snider was feeding a small shredding machine mounted on a plastic wastebasket. First to be sliced by the electronic teeth were several pink sheets with handwritten requests to the reference desk. One asked for the origin of the expression "to cost an arm and a leg." Another sought the address of a collection agency. Next to go were the logs of people who had signed up to use the library's Internet computer stations. Bill L., Mike B., Rolando, Steve and Patrick were all shredded into white paper spaghetti. "It used to be a librarian would be pictured with a book," said Ms. Snider, the branch manager, slightly exasperated as she hunched over the wastebasket. "Now it is a librarian with a shredder." Actually, the shredder here is not new, but the rush to use it is. In the old days, staff members in the nine-branch Santa Cruz Public Library System would destroy discarded paperwork as time allowed, typically once a week. But at a meeting of library officials last week, it was decided the materials should be shredded daily. "The basic strategy now is to keep as little historical information as possible," said Anne M. Turner, director of the library system. The move was part of a campaign by the Santa Cruz libraries to demonstrate their opposition to the Patriot Act, the law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks that broadened the federal authorities' powers in fighting terrorism. Among provisions that have angered librarians nationwide is one that allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation to review certain business records of people under suspicion, which has been interpreted to include the borrowing or purchase of books and the use of the Internet at libraries, bookstores and cafes. Today, the libraries went further and began distributing a handout to visitors that outlines objections to the enhanced F.B.I. powers and explains that the libraries were reviewing all records "to make sure that we really need every piece of data" about borrowers and Internet users. Maurice J. Freedman, president of the American Library Association and director of the library system in Westchester, N.Y., said only a handful of libraries had posted signs or handed out literature about the Patriot Act. Warning signs are posted in the computer room at a library in Killington, Vt., and the library board in Skokie, Ill., recently voted to post signs, Mr. Freedman said. Many other libraries, he said, including those in Westchester, decided that warnings might unnecessarily alarm patrons. "There are people, especially older people who lived through the McCarthy era, who might be intimidated by this," he said. "As of right now, the odds are very great that there will be no search made of a person's records at public libraries, so I don't want to scare people away." At the same time, though, thousands of libraries have joined the rush to destroy records. A spokesman for the Justice Department said libraries were not breaking the law by destroying records, even at a faster pace. The spokesman, Mark Corallo, said it would be illegal only if a library destroyed records that had been subpoenaed by the F.B.I. Ms. Turner, the library director here, said librarians did not want to help terrorists, but she said other values were at stake as well. "I am more terrified of having my First Amendment rights to information and free speech infringed than I am by the kind of terrorist acts that have come down so far," Ms. Turner said. Library officials here said the response to the warning signs had been overwhelmingly positive, and visitors interviewed today had nothing but praise. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/07/national/07LIBR.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unlike Napster, Kazaa can run and it CAN hide Doug Bedell Kazaa Media Desktop, the new king of Napster-like Internet file-sharing programs, is proving as hard to ignore as it is to destroy. With 60 million users worldwide, 22 million of them in the United States, advertisers are dumping millions into Kazaa.com coffers. Meanwhile, the Recording Industry Association of America is shelling out similar amounts to decipher Kazaa's labyrinthine corporate structure and stop unauthorized trading in copyrighted music, games, software, and movies. Stopping Napster was a no-brainer by comparison. Napster used a central server to index files being shared. A judge ordered the server shut down until Napster could screen out unauthorized copyrighted files, and Napster died. But everything about Kazaa -- from its technological setup to its strange worldwide organizational maze -- seems designed to thwart the methods by which Napster was felled in July 2001. And that spells trouble for a music industry that only recently began licensing catalogs for use in a variety of legitimate, fee-based music download and streaming services, such as Rhapsody, eMusic.com and MusicNet on AOL. ''It has become the single biggest challenge to the online music industry,'' said Dave Williams, vice president for product development at Listen.com, owners of the subscription Internet music service Rhapsody. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/10...AN_hide+.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tax Filers Getting Software From P2P Press Release The latest findings from Jupiter Research, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq:JUPM), indicate surging popularity for online income tax preparation. However, Web preparation appears to be far less popular with those who intend to file later in the season, despite the relative immediacy of Web preparation over other modes. Based on a March 2003 consumer survey fielded by Jupiter Research, Jupiter Research's new report "Online Tax Preparation: Broaden Appeal Beyond Early Filers to Minimize Piracy" found that the number of online households intending to prepare their tax returns online will grow from 6.6% to 8.7%, a 31% increase year over year. Web-based tax preparation peaks in January and declines rapidly throughout the tax season, however, decreasing from 19% of online households reporting use in January, to just 4% in April. According to the report, the more established desktop software applications providers, such as Intuit and H&R Block, are at the mercy of software pirates and should focus their efforts on Web alternatives. Thirteen percent of adults who use the Internet also use Napster-style peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks such as KaZaA, and tax preparation software is freely available on such networks. According to Robert Sterling, Senior Analyst at Jupiter Research, "Tax software providers have focused their efforts on converting people to the Web, but in failing to convert filers, they may be forfeiting sales and service revenue to piracy." Another lost opportunity is in converting late filers to online filing -- among online households, April filers are almost three times as likely as January filers to submit a paper return. "Paper returns are more labor-intensive for the IRS to process than electronic (e-file) returns, and so the IRS is bogged down with unnecessary paper during its busiest period, the days leading up to and following April 15, decreasing efficiency and increasing costs at the agency," Sterling asserted. http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/...m&footer_file= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Product Manages Security Risks of Unauthorized Instant Messaging and P2Pcommunications Press Release SurfControl, the world's number one Web and e-mail filtering company, announced today the launch of SurfControl Instant Message Filter, a product for helping enterprises manage the growing use of Instant Messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing. SurfControl Instant Message Filter enables companies to intelligently control the risks of unauthorized use of public IM and P2P to increase network security, optimize network resources and bandwidth consumption, reduce legal liability and increase user productivity. The product, available in mid-May, was launched here at RSA, the industry's leading security show. IM is already a common communications medium in 80 percent of American enterprises, but most IM is used by employees without the knowledge or permission of IT administrators, according to Osterman Research. The amount of IM traffic is expected to increase to 4.3 million instant messages each day, or more than 130 percent per year through 2004, according to the analyst firm of IDC. P2P file-sharing and file transfer Web sites also are skyrocketing, with 30 percent of products listed on CNET's Most Popular software download list being P2P applications. "These extremely popular communications tools present a whole new and growing level of security threats to businesses. Intelligent tools are needed to stop the flow of unwanted content through the network," said Jim Murphy, product marketing manager. Murphy said SurfControl's IM/P2P product stops IM and P2P content and gives companies a more intelligent way to manage these communications. Rather than simply blocking all such communications -- like a blunt instrument -- SurfControl's product identifies specific IM and P2P services to selectively block or enable communications according to each service's unique protocol signatures in the communications. Network administrators can manage communication flow across the enterprise by specific IP address, group or subnetwork. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2003,+09:11+AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NetScreen Intrusion Detection and Prevention Solution Protects Against File Sharing and Instant Messaging Exploits Press Release NetScreen Technologies, Inc. today announced a software upgrade for its intrusion detection and prevention (IDP) product line that makes it the first platform to protect against exploitation of instant messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application vulnerabilities. Additionally, NetScreen has expanded its IDP product line with a new low-end appliance, the NetScreen-IDP 10, to protect remote offices and secure extranet links. IDC estimates that more than 229 million workers around the world will use IM to do their jobs by 2005. While instant messaging and file sharing applications can increase business productivity, IM and P2P file-sharing applications can introduce vulnerabilities in enterprise networks. This is because the applications enable users to download executables that can introduce rogue or untraceable "backdoor" applications on users' machines and jeopardize enterprise network security. The newest version of the NetScreen IDP software, available for the NetScreen-IDP 10, 100 and 500, includes attack detection and prevention functionality for messaging and file exchange protocols, such as MSN, IRC, Yahoo Messenger, Gnutella and AOL. This functionality can preserve the business productivity benefits of these programs while mitigating the risks associated with these applications by accurately detecting and stopping attacks and allowing valid traffic to proceed unhindered. http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/...m&footer_file= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Legacy: A brave new World Wide Web Mike Yamamoto To those who know Jon Mittelhauser, a founding father of the Web browser, it comes as no surprise that he labels one of the 20th century's most significant inventions as simply an "inevitable technology." True to his pragmatic Midwestern background, the former University of Illinois researcher assumed that it was only a matter of time before something would be created to make the Internet's trove of information available to the masses. Serendipity determined that it would be Mosaic, the browser application that he developed with Marc Andreessen and a handful of other 20-somethings in 1993. "We wanted to work on things that we ourselves would use," Mittelhauser said. "What surprised me was the speed with which it was adopted." Ten years after Mosaic's first version was released, he is still trying to fathom the importance of the browser born in the nondescript labs of the university's National Center for Supercomputing Applications. That may be an exercise in futility, given the magnitude of the subject, for the modern concept of the Internet would not exist if the browser had remained in the exclusive realm of academia. The unassuming piece of software revolutionized high technology akin to the way the remote control reinvented television, but in manifold more dimensions with universal consequences. In roughly six months of 1995, Mosaic transformed the Internet from the esoteric province of researchers and technophiles to a household appliance, creating a multibillion-dollar industry and changing the way society works, communicates and even falls in love--in short, affecting nearly every facet of life. "Our friend's daughter just turned 11, and I saw her playing the 'Sims' game. She created a multimedia environment by going into her Sims world, opening up a Web browser and being on the phone with a friend doing exactly the same thing," said Clay Shirky, an industry veteran and adjunct professor of new media at New York University. "Each of them had a private world to decorate but were co-surfing and sharing URLs to find new items. Instead of some totalizing futuristic environment with big video heads floating around in virtual worlds, it was a self- contained social space created out of small pieces." Others believe that the Net generation has been influenced in even more fundamental ways where business is concerned, having been instilled with a sense of entrepreneurship and independence born from the dot-com era that continues today. "I was talking to a young guy running a fantasy baseball league as a business. Not once did he mention the Web, but it was totally clear that it was his mechanism for distribution, payment, recruitment," said Shirky, who counts venture capitalism among the many roles he has played in the Internet business. "For solo actors, the Web has been an astonishing inspiration." http://news.com.com/2009-1032-995680.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GTV Launches New Instant Messaging Solution Press Release GTV, a leading provider of Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) and Collaborative Information Management solutions, today announced the launch of Sonork-EIM, the most reliable, extensible, feature-rich enterprise instant messaging solution on the market. Leading the evolution from IM to EIM, GTV’s Sonork-EIM enables businesses to dramatically reduce costs and improve workflow. Sonork-EIM significantly improves workflow by seamlessly integrating with existing data sources and third-party enterprise application suites. The solution enables rapid internal communications that are archivable for accurate record-keeping, while its secure peer-to-peer data transfer reduces email server costs and is scalable for future enterprise information transfer needs. Sonork-EIM’s robust server boasts an extremely small footprint and is installed behind a customer’s firewall, supporting both intranet and extranet configurations. http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/r...lease_id=52812 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lehigh University policy further limits bandwidth allowance Diana Chirovsky Library and technological services has recently enhanced the network switching equipment so that each student is allowed only 750 megabytes of bandwidth within 12 hours of downloading material. This is reduction of the allowance from last semester, when students were allowed one gigabyte within 12 hours. Students complain that this change is causing slow loading of web pages, dropped connections to AOL Instant Messenger and notably slower access to Kazaa and other file-sharing programs. These opinions were revealed in a recent survey conducted among Lehigh students evaluating the speed of their Internet service. In comparing the speeds of Internet connections and notably the speed of Kazaa downloads, the majority of students wrote that before the new policy they were able to download movies within a few hours, yet now it can take more than a day. “I don’t like the fact that we pay a technology fee just to be limited in what we can use,” an anonymous survey respondent said. Another respondent commented that there are various loopholes around the policy. “I find the policy to be annoying, but I can still find different programs for downloads,” he said. Some complained that they were no longer able to download important supplemental information for classes. http://www.bw.lehigh.edu/story.asp?ID=16368 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adventurous spirit will pay off for Wesleyan senior Matthew Higbee Like many of his peers graduating from college this spring, Joshua Blumenstock will spend a year abroad before heading into the workforce. Only this Wesleyan senior will be paid for his travels. Blumenstock was one of 48 recipients of a prestigious $22,000 Watson Fellowship for his project proposal: "Outreach or Evangelism? Integrating technology into unexposed communities: China, South Africa, Cape Verde, Argentina, Costa Rica." A duel major in computer science and physics, Blumenstock has been called by one professor "a social scientist posing as a natural scientist." When he talks about his quest to better understand the impact of computers and the Internet on technologically underdeveloped countries, it’s easy to see why. "Computer technology is a Western phenomenon and a first-world phenomenon, so it comes with a lot of first-world values," said Blumenstock. "I want to know why people in Rosario, Argentina are severing the phone lines at Internet cafés; how Chinese peer-to-peer networks are enabling the exchange of censored information; and how previously isolated communities in Cape Verde are reacting to tele-medicine and tele-education," he wrote in his personal statement. Who stands to benefit from digital-divide initiatives under way in underdeveloped countries is the question at the heart of Blumenstock’s project. In some cases, the initiatives are funded by government programs. In others, major corporations like Coca-Cola and Hewlett Packard are the sponsors. "I’m concerned that current efforts are too limited in their approach. The ‘cookie cutter’ solution of installing an Internet station and Microsoft Office could potentially ignore the priorities and perception of the people it is intended to benefit," he stated in his project proposal. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=33198&rfi=6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Making sense of broadband McKinsey Quarterly So many broadband providers disappeared after the dot-com boom that casual observers might think broadband itself has met with indifference from Internet users. Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact it has enjoyed striking growth throughout the world in the past three years. This expansion has implications not only for providers of broadband access and content but also for companies beyond the telecommunications and media sectors. The number of broadband users around the globe rose impressively during the past 36 months. By mid-2002, we estimate, operational broadband networks had a reach of well over 300 million households in the world's 20 largest economies. More than 40 million households and businesses actually subscribed to broadband, and more than 100 million people around the world had access to it. In certain markets, it is on track to become one of the fastest-growing technology-based consumer offers ever. In the United States, broadband will likely reach the 25 percent penetration mark more quickly than either PCs or mobile telephones did. Active residential lines are spread fairly evenly across the Americas, Asia and Europe, though only a few countries--Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United States--account for 84 percent of the total. Market penetration is most advanced in South Korea, where more than half of all households subscribe; and Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States have all reached penetration rates ranging from 10 percent to 25 percent. The vast majority of broadband connections are made over upgraded telephone or cable TV networks, though even faster newly laid fiber-optic ones are doing well in a handful of markets that include China, Italy and Sweden. Other technologies are proving valuable for particular customer segments: satellite for people in remote areas, to name just one. Surprisingly, the market has continued to grow well even when conditions elsewhere in the telecom and Internet sectors were dire. During the first six months of 2002, the number of new subscribers increased by a quarter overall, while in 9 of the top 20 economies it increased by at least half. Even the more mature markets of Canada, South Korea, Sweden and the United States expanded by as much as a third. That strong growth seems likely to continue. Our research shows much untapped demand for broadband. Only in the most highly penetrated markets--Canada, South Korea and the United States, for example--do those who have already switched outnumber those who are likely to do so. Moreover, the more price-sensitive users are likely to switch if prices fall, and in countries with lower narrowband penetration, many customers are going directly to broadband without first subscribing to the narrowband Internet. http://news.com.com/2009-1085-995960.html ![]() Graciela Guardado / Aggie graphic The Music Piracy Myth Tim O'Reilly George Ziemann of MacWizards Music, the guy who has done the best analysis of RIAA sales statistics out there, sent me the following mail yesterday, and gave me permission to reprint it here. I've added a few links. “Currently, if you do a google search on RIAA statistics, I'm number one and two; you are three and four, and your article refers to me, so I know you know who I am. The article to which you referred was published in December. Since that time, a lot has happened, as I'm sure you are aware, not the least of which being the RIAA's recent lawsuits against college students. First of all, I am a musician. The only reason I even started researching what the RIAA has to say is because of the problems I had selling my own work at eBay, which were entirely due to RIAA accusations of copyright infringement (it was my own CD). After looking at the 2002 RIAA data, I also realized that over the last 5 years, the recording industry has shipped out more than 2 billion physical units of product, adding up to a retail value of more than $20 billion. You'd think that they would embrace a free marketing and promotion opportunity like mp3s. Let's face it, an mp3 is an inferior copy. I consider mp3s to be an ad for my actual recording. My current consternation comes in the form of a letter from my congressional representative, who states that "In 2001, record sales were down 10 percent because of unauthorized music downloads..." Yes, sales were down. Other than that obvious fact, there is no empirical data to suggest that downloading is the cause of the problem. I've asked the RIAA. In fact, I would go so far as to say I have relentlessly taunted them in hopes of a reasonable explanation. They offer none. So think about this. As the original research I conducted indicates (and has been verified by SoundScan via BusinessWeek.com), the record labels began to reduce the number of releases BEFORE the Napster hearings. When they went in front of Congress to complain about downloading, Hilary Rosen could confidently state that sales were going to suffer. Because it was engineered.” http://www.openp2p.com/pub/wlg/3056 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Certain Demise? Greg Kot When it was introduced, the compact disc helped bail out the music business: Domestic sales of the new technology zoomed from 800,000 copies in 1983 to 288 million by 1990, and continued to surge by the hundreds of millions through the '90s. But with March marking the CD's 20th anniversary, the boom is over. Compact disc shipments in the U.S. plunged nearly 9 percent last year to just more than 800 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The statistics confirm a downward trend that has been gaining steam since 2001, and continues this year, with CD sales down more than 6 percent from their already slack 2002 pace. The ripple effect is only beginning as the music industry braces for a future that will involve the death of CD stores and the rise of wireless, pocket-size MP3 players that will enable consumers to access thousands of hours of music at the touch of a button. The only real question is how long it will take for those scenarios to become reality. "You'll see CD sections in stores decline quickly over the next few years because they will be replaced by technology that provides dirt-cheap storage and the ability to basically access and play any type of music anytime, anywhere," says Mike Dreese, CEO and founder of Newbury Comics, a New England record-store chain. "Wireless technology basically will create a world where we can have anything we want all the time." The death knell is already ringing for CD stores, some retailers and industry observers say. In January, two major chains -- Warehouse Entertainment and Value Music -- filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. And nearly 500 music specialty stores nationwide have been shut down in recent months. "Brick-and-mortar specialist CD stores are done in five years," Dreese says. "Stores like Tower or Sam Goody or Virgin are fast becoming anachronisms." Not so fast, says Dan Hart, CEO of Echo, a joint venture of retailers (Best Buy, Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment, Warehouse Music, Hastings Entertainment and Trans World Entertainment) that is licensing songs from labels and plans to begin offering in-store downloads this year. Internet retailing was one of the few growth areas for music stores last year, with sales up 8.4 percent to 8.1 million units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "There's no question CD sales are declining, but the phase-out of retail will take longer than people predict -- it'll be more like 30 years rather than five," he says. "There is a whole generation of people out there educated to using CDs as their primary music format." http://www.modbee.com/life/mondaylif...-7495915c.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taming the Internet frontier The Internet was supposed to be a place without rules, without borders; Well, guess what? Michael Totty Don't look now, but the freewheeling days of the Internet are ending. Since its infancy, the Net has been seen as a place independent of the rules that governed the offline world. Borders could be transcended, new identities created, and old notions of property didn't apply. This vision was summed up in a 1996 "Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace" by John Perry Barlow, a founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, who warned the old world's political powers: "Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. ... Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement and context do not apply to us." Versions of this idea still have currency among some libertarians and legal scholars, but it's getting harder to see the Internet as a refuge from the rules and regulations that hold sway offline. If the early cyberspace was a separate frontier, outside the reach of governments and laws, it's now beginning to look more like a later version of the Old West -- the one where settlers, marshals and lawyers come in and impose law and order. Just consider: The entertainment industry is tracking down relentlessly those who it says are violating its copyrights, and courts consistently have backed the industry. Law-enforcement agencies are cracking down on Internet gambling and persuading credit-card companies to help. And it isn't only Big Brother or Big Business reining in the Net. Consumers are also demanding tougher action to stop spam and protect privacy. "We've reached the point where the demand for rules is about to replace the demand for chaos," said Debora L. Spar, a professor at the Harvard Business School. She is the author of "Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos, and Wealth," which describes how new technologies create unruly frontiers that are eventually brought under control. http://www.sunspot.net/business/bal-...ness-headlines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MusicNow? Not Yet Rob Pegoraro Buying music on the Internet isn't as easy as you think. You can order a CD with one-click efficiency -- but if you want to download a song instead of waiting for a plastic disc to arrive in the mail, you'll face a maze of fine-print restrictions, enforced by proprietary, sometimes buggy software. This problem can't be blamed on technology. Tools to compress a song into an easily transferred file have existed for years, and millions of people use them every day. But they're not paying for their downloads, nor have they been given any easy way to do so, even though online sales are also old hat. The recording industry's ventures into digital-music sales, with one exception (Vivendi Universal's MP3-only, minor-label outlet EMusic), have consistently failed to heed the lessons of such file-sharing systems as Napster and Kazaa: People want downloads they can use as they see fit. MusicNow, launched March 26 by Chicago-based FullAudio, could have learned from such predecessors as Listen.com, MusicNet and Pressplay. Instead, it compounds their errors. MusicNow (www.musicnow.com) offers a $4.95-a-month plan that consists of souped-up Internet radio and a $9.95-a-month option that adds unlimited music streams, "conditional downloads" and the ability to buy "permanent downloads" at 99 cents each for copying to music players and CDs. That two-tiered structure lends this service, which lives inside Microsoft's Windows Media Player 9 (for Win 98 SE or newer), a split personality. Its radio half, done up as a series of channels, looks slick but doesn't offer a lot over existing Web radio, much of which remains free. Its sole advantages are the lack of ads, the option to skip past a song and its display of what artist is next on the playlist. MusicNow's downloading is much less remarkable. Both conditional and permanent transfers are offered as Windows Media Audio files, encoded at a good- but-not-great bit rate of 128 kilobits per second. You can search for music by artist, album title or song title, then stream it, obtain it in conditional form or buy it outright. (The two kinds of downloads are indistinguishable in Windows without inspecting file-properties windows.) Conditional downloads can only be played on a PC signed in to a MusicNow account, and you must also go online periodically to renew the songs' licenses. Permanent downloads are touted as yours to keep but aren't quite: Each one can only be burned to CD twice and transferred to three portable players. And it remains in Windows Media Audio format, incompatible with a lot of digital-music hardware. Most damning of all, these limits mean purchased tracks will not stay purchased. I burned three songs to a CD Thursday morning, but when I tried to burn them to a second CD that night, MusicNow's software asked me to cough up another 99 cents each. Tech support, accessible only via e-mail, replied Friday that it had "reissued the licenses to these tracks"; a spokesman later said the buy-these-songs-again message shouldn't have appeared until my third copy to CD, but the damage was done. This behavior is unacceptable in any kind of sales transaction. The nation's foremost foe of Internet piracy, Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti, has put it best: "If you cannot protect what you own, you don't own anything." You can easily evade these restrictions by burning a permanent download to CD and then copying it back to your computer in MP3 format -- but why should you have to? Don't the record labels insisting on this know they're only annoying potential customers? MusicNow's malfunctions might be forgivable if it offered better access to music, but it doesn't. Despite having signed up all five major record labels, the service's irritatingly erratic catalogue leaves out many artists big and small. As with other music services, this isn't all MusicNow's fault; some artists refuse to sell their work online, and others are still arranging for that. But whatever the cause, any real-world music store that, say, offered a total of one song by the Rolling Stones would quickly find itself put down by the competition. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Apr11.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Lately I have been downloading tons of music from Kazaa. There are tons of songs that I wanted without having to buy whole records.” - Kevin Russell. Gourds lead singer runs, can't hide Alexander Cote, Scene Ever heard of the Gourds? Maybe not -- but even so, you have probably heard their music. Somewhere in the hard drive of your own computer probably lies the country/bluegrass cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice," and you have probably never had reason to doubt its label as a Phish cover. Well, it's not. It's a Gourds cover. And it happens to pale in comparison to most of the Gourds' wide repertoire of cross-genre songs with a southwestern flavor. In the back room of Ray's Pizzeria on Avenue of the Americas and 3rd Street, five people speak to each other from different tables, occupying the whole room. Kevin Russell, the Gourds' lead singer, eats pizza while talking to old friends who walk in and out of the room. He sings along to the oldies station we can barely hear and raises an eyebrow when someone mentions that his girlfriend listens to his band ever since she found out they were into rap. Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, we are informed by drummer Keith Langford, figure prominently on the group's road mix. Meanwhile, no one seems to notice or care that I am sitting in on their dinner, nor do they wonder why I don't seem to know anyone in the room. Supposedly, I am to interview Russell before his show, yet as dinner winds down and he is still chatting with old friends, the prospect of this seems to be getting slimmer. After dinner I follow Russell to the front of the Village Underground, where more conversations ensue -- interrupted only by a teenaged girl asking Russell if he had tickets to tonight's sold-out show. Interestingly enough, the Gourds themselves do not seem to realize they are a nationally known band. A high school friend teases Russell like a proud older sister, "Look at this: you are sold OUT!" Nodding to me, she adds, "And what is this, you have paparazzi following you now?" Russell smiles wryly and responds, "I know, it's all happening so fast," before laughing healthily. Finally, Russell enters a room and turns around to tell me he will "find me later." End of interview. Later in the week I contacted him again, and we spoke of the Gourds, their music, and their steadily growing success: scene: You guys sold out at the Village Underground. How does it feel to be in the Northeast again? Kevin Russell: It was a pretty good experience. The intensity of the place is not too interesting to me. But we had a lot of old friends show up. That is always a treat, to see old friends. Not a real good place to park a large van either. The show was incredible, though. All in all we love the Northeast. scene: Is the intensity something you can feel at a show? Russell: Well, yes. But that does not seem to have anything to do with a given city. It has more to do with having real Gourd-heads in the crowd. And then the size of the room to crowd has an effect as well. Also, it helps if there are not too many chairs and tables. http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=22542 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Former General Counsel Ende to Defend RIAA Student Zachary A. Goldfarb Dan Peng '05 has hired Howard Ende, a former University general counsel, and Melissa Klipp at the local firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath to defend him in a suit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America, Ende said yesterday. The RIAA announced last week that it had sued Peng and three other college students for what could be millions of dollars in copyright violations. The industry group alleged that Peng illegally shared copyrighted music from his computer and facilitated file-sharing of copyrighted music through his website, wake.princeton.edu, which Peng has taken down. "We're currently in delicate discussions with the RIAA," Ende said yesterday in an interview. "I would like to see a swift and fair resolution." Last week the University counsel office gave Peng a list of local lawyers. Ende said his nationally known firm will be paid. The University is not directly involved in the case, he said. Ende said he has not worked with the lawyers defending the three other students but said he does not preclude working with them in the future. He also said he did not know how the RIAA learned of Peng's site. The lawsuit cites publicity about the site, including an article in the 'Prince.' Ende has previously defended computer science Professor Edward Felten against the RIAA, and Klipp is a specialist in intellectual property law. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/arc...ews/7900.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Extreme Security Keeps New CDs Off Internet For Now Jeff Leeds When rock-rap band Linkin Park locked down Studio A at North Hollywood's NRG Recording Services for three months last year, it was looking for more than shelter from autograph hounds. Keys to the studio were collected from everyone but NRG's manager and an assistant engineer. Guards on rotating shifts logged the name of everyone who entered, including the chairman of the band's record label. And instead of storing recordings on the studio's high-security fiber-optic network, the band installed its own network with its own password. The security surrounding the project is paying off for the band and AOL Time Warner's Warner Bros. Records. Unlike many of the music industry's major releases, the band's second album, "Meteora," didn't leak to the Internet months before going on sale. The album, which has sold more than 800,000 copies since hitting shelves two weeks ago, has been at the top of the national pop chart. In scoring one of the year's biggest debuts, the label is teaching the recording industry a lesson about the power of old-fashioned discipline in the digital era. "You can't be flippant or casual about this anymore," said Warner Bros. Records Chairman Tom Whalley. "When you have the cooperation of the band and management, you can protect it, but it has to start from the time they hit the studio. This is the most extreme we've gotten, and it worked." While railing against piracy, the record conglomerates have largely failed to prevent early leaks of new releases to free Web sites - and still don't place technology on domestic CDs to prevent them from being copied after they are sold. Only last week, British music giant EMI Group found itself racing to respond to the sudden appearance online of material from Radiohead, whose eagerly awaited album isn't due in stores until June. And industry executives say the premature release online of rock band Korn's "Untouchables" album contributed to its disappointing sales last year for Sony Corp.'s music division. Such horror stories are slowly prodding a shift in the once-freewheeling internal culture of record companies, where advance copies of hot upcoming releases have long been traded back and forth among those in the know. "There's been a kind of traditional marketing routine," said "Meteora" producer Don Gilmore. "People play things for other people. But something that might seem as innocent as trying to get someone excited about a new song by a big artist can cause the CD to fall into the wrong hands." Increasingly, artists and labels are strictly limiting access to raw recordings. Tight controls surrounded recent releases by such acts as Eminem and Jay-Z. Across the industry, many executives now share songs internally only via encrypted e-mail and "watermark" individual CDs with identification numbers so online leaks can be traced. Many labels now place some kind of protection software on early promotional copies of CDs given to media critics and radio programmers. But Warner Bros. decided to go one better in making "Meteora" leakproof: It didn't send out any promotional discs. Reviewers had to visit the company's offices, where security guards used metal-detection wands to check for recording devices. Radio stations received only the album's first song via satellite transmission. URL: http://www.myinky.com/ecp/me/article...879239,00.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “I actually downloaded this one a while ago to burn on a nostalgic CD I was making.” The Buggles and other memorable 1-hit wonders Lori Jarvis, Todd Norden Nostalgia is a commodity Gen-X'ers seem to lap up. From "That '70s Show" on Fox to VH1's "Behind the Music," it seems we have an insatiable appetite for the familiar and the past. This week, we divulge our favorite songs by one-hit wonders of all time. You'll find more at www.onehitwondercentral.com. Here are our Top 3 one-hit wonders: Todd 1. "Video Killed The Radio Star" -- The Buggles: It's funny how prophetic this new-wave nugget was in the early 1980s. Except the band got it wrong. Don't put the blame on VCRs. Put it on music channels that now show little else but redundant profiles of the same tired artists and reality shows about fraternities and sororities. And file-sharing services. Lori: I blame this song/video (along with Devo's "Whip it") for cracking open the door for all the other techno-pop disasters in the '80s. C'mon, Todd. The world would have been a better place without bands like A Flock of Seagulls. 2. "Unbelievable" -- EMF: In the early '90s, everyone jumped on the dance floor for this song containing a sample of the once-popular, foul-mouthed comedian Andrew Dice Clay who says the title in his nasal Brooklyn accent. But once it fell out of favor with DJs, this group was never heard from again. Lori: Except for on permanent loop late at night when Rhino Records wants to sell has-been compilations. Truth is, I never knew this song was anything more than a reason to sell cars or lipstick. 3. "Life in a Northern Town" -- Dream Academy: A true one-hit wonder if there ever was one, but they shouldn't have been. This Beatle-esque collage of folk and pop harmonies and its echoing chorus remind me of how alone you can sometimes feel when you're only 15 years old. Lori: What a great song! It's one of those songs that you reach for the car radio's volume knob every time it comes along. http://www.thedailyjournal.com/news/...ews/96569.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peer-to-peer networks can't be unplugged Stanley Miller II In the ongoing struggle over digital downloading, technology will let those trading files triumph over the efforts trying to shut down online media piracy, experts say. The technology allowing the unfettered sharing of files is called "peer-to-peer" networking. It allows each connected computer to act as a server and facilitate communication between other machines. The decentralized nature of the network means the system is resilient, and it stays up as long as any of its members are active. Usually in peer-to-peer networking, there is no one plug that can be pulled in order to shut the entire system down. Ultimately, efforts to stop the sharing of popular music, movie or other media through peer-to-peer networks will fail, according to some Microsoft employees who published a technical analysis - called a white paper - titled "The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution." The four researchers - writing on their own behalf, not for Microsoft - believe that the steady spread of file-sharing systems and improvements in their development will eventually make them impossible to shut down. Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado and Bryan Willman prepared the darknet paper for a workshop at the U.S. Association for Computing Machinery's annual conference late last year on computer and communications security. The darknet is a collection of networks and technologies that let people share digital information. They say that although the darknet can be hindered by digital rights management technology and new laws, "ultimately the darknet-genie will not be put back into the bottle." Users will copy information as long as it is possible and interesting, they say. And high-speed Internet connections and only a fraction of users initially sharing content make the darknet ubiquitous. "There seem to be no technical impediments to darknet-based peer-to-peer file sharing technologies growing in convenience, aggregate bandwidth and efficiency," they write. "The legal future of darknet-technologies is less certain, but we believe that, at least for some classes of user, and possibly for the population at large, efficient darknets will exist." And some of the companies developing ways to manage peer-to-peer traffic agree. "There are limitations to the degree of control you can exercise" over peer- to-peer networks, said Tom Donnelly, co-founder of Sandvine, a network equipment company in Waterloo, Ontario, that has created tools for Internet service providers to influence of peer-to-peer activity on their systems. Donnelly said many high-speed Internet providers are struggling with the amount of network activity that programs like Kazaa, WinMX and eMule create by allowing users to share files. Often Internet providers allocate more bandwidth on their residential networks for subscribers to download data rather than for uploading it to other people on the Net. But peer-to-peer networks require users to upload files to other members, so the upstream channel for sending out information is quickly consumed. Late last year, Sandvine published a whitepaper saying peer-to-peer networks account for as much as 60% of the traffic on the Internet. Donnelly said peer-to-peer programs are avoiding the traditional technological techniques typically used to stop them. Traditionally, applications transported over peer-to-peer connections have been assigned a specific port, making the traffic easy to identify. "But like so many things attached to the evolution of file-sharing networks, that practice is now part of history," according to a whitepaper released last week by Sandvine. "Strategies to combat or manage P2P traffic that continue to assume this anachronism are doomed to fail." "These applications are very dynamic," Donelly said. "They are constant evolving. It is simply a form of communication - a way to have a conversation. I think it would be very difficult technically to stop it altogether." http://www.jsonline.com/bym/tech/news/mar03/128038.asp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ University of Washington students warned about copyright violations Andrew Sengul With tension building over intellectual-property rights on the Internet and many students unaware of the laws pertaining to the distribution of copyrighted material, UW staff members gave presentations this week in the residence halls to discuss the laws that govern file-sharing over University networks. “Right now, we get an average of 40 complaints of copyright violation by students every month, and that number is steadily increasing,” said Catherine Innes, the director of the University’s Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer. Innes added that it’s not difficult to violate copyright law. “Many of the existing copyright laws are contradictory to how we use computers,” said Innes. “I print out things from the Internet all the time, for instance, which can technically be a violation of copyright law.” Clark Shores, an assistant attorney general who advises the UW on intellectual-property issues, was present at the presentations to describe the laws governing copyrighted material online. “The recording and film industries aren’t happy about what’s being done on the peer-to-peer networks, and while I’m not trying to defend them, students need to be aware that they’re serious,” said Shores. “They’ve shut down Napster and are in the process of suing KaZaA, and now they’ve started filing suits against individual users.” Shores pointed out that most users who are targeted for copyright violation on file-sharing networks are people who share large volumes of copyrighted works. Casual file-sharers are less likely to attract the industry’s attention. http://thedaily.washington.edu/news....-Token.Count=7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “My generation’s Paul McCartney and John Lennon are working 40 hours a week for some company, and I’m a music-stealing criminal. What is wrong with this picture?” Music industry's off key Charles Wesley I am sick and tired of reading about how MP3s and peer-to-peer file sharing are breeding a generation of criminals and killing the music industry. Big music companies would like everyone to believe that their recent troubles are all the fault of teenage deviants selfishly stealing music–they want you to think that everything that is wrong with these multinational behemoths is someone else’s fault. It couldn’t possibly be because they have made bad business decisions for decades, right? Bull. These big companies made bad business decisions for a long time, and instead of admitting to their shortsightedness and instituting changes to rescue the music industry, they have chosen instead, in full arrogance and ignorance, to vilify their customers and conjure up a bogey-man to take their place as the reason big music sucks. Because lets face it, music today sucks. It’s been so long since we’ve heard any good music that we’ve almost forgotten what it sounds like. Either that or we’re longing for music that moves us so badly that we get excited about crap in the hope that maybe it will fill our collective void. Regardless, the music industry has been screwed up for a long time. Musicians get no rights, little pay, and no say over how their music is developed, marketed, and sold. Before the age of the MP3, musicians couldn’t do anything about it. As a result, music industry fat cats got filthy rich, fat cats merged companies with fatter cats producing the fattest cats, and with their influence they bought up market share in production, distribution, and licensing. As a result, companies had less and less incentive to invest in their musicians. To the industry fat-cat, what incentive was there to build strong musicians when so much more money could be made up front by manufacturing fads? Many musicians spoke out about the peril the music industry would face by failing to allow music groups to mature and grow as artists, but nobody listened. So the music industry had complete control over distribution (CDs whose prices mysteriously never came down), licensing (artists lost their rights the second they wrote a song), and artist pay (which usually amounted to next to nothing). As a result, the quality of music has fallen, and as a result, the long-term viability of many projects currently in progress is looking worse and worse. Basic business tells you that you should always invest in the long-term, not the short-term. The recent stock-market bubble burst is a perfect example. Enter MP3s and what you have is the stone that crashed through the glass house. http://www.spectator-online.com/vnew.../3e961e7327dc9 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He’s Totally Pissed and He’s Not Going to Take It Not your standard newsbite column. I hate someone. I’m sick, I’m tired, I’m at work, and me and the girl had a stuff swap last weekend. If ever it was a bad time to write a column, now’s the time. However, this “news column” is just going about 10% news and 90% me tearing into the RIAA once again. If you don’t like that, tough… you’ve already clicked… I have your page view, and you can feel free to click back. I suggest reading Cody’s column or Ryan’s news from yesterday. Cocozza will get you the shit tomorrow. I have no interest in doing Music News today, however I do have a few pages of content to get off my chest. Maybe some newsbites at the end, I’ll decide when I get there. Also, Note to Marshall: See, now I feel the need to start fucking with you, Drunken Legoman. Daniels Hates the RIAA Now, as most of you know from my previous columns here on the site, I am extremely anti-RIAA. I think they’re a bunch of disgusting fat cats who wield the legal system as a tool to try to regain control of an industry that is slipping from their grasp, rather than trying to adapt to the new technology and going with it. They are convinced they can stop the filesharing stuff from happening, rather than just realizing it’s not going away and it’s been around for almost a decade now. See, back in the days before Napster, what most of you may not know is there was this thing called Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. Back in the days of IRC, those in the know, swapped music and movie files back and forth, and still do to this day. Also, college networks were already starting to share music files. When MP3’s were invented, taking away the disgusting hugeness of .WAV files (which could be up to 100 MegaBytes per SONG), we rejoiced. Then the networks like Scour.net started up, which was basically a huge IRC search engine. Then Napster came along, and the file sharing network idea became available to the public. Now, everyone knew about this… and music was a giant free for all. Full CDs were available for network downloading, and the Recording Industry panicked. Now, someone who was smart would have looked at this Napster module, bought them out, and then figured out “how can we make money off this.” Some people would have come up with the fact that this could be a huge boon that, used properly, could actually increase record sales overall. Someone could have realized that millions of eyes would be on this network every day, and millions of ears, too. Some sort of crazy advertising revenue might be possible. But instead, somewhere along the line, the RIAA decided to go the way of the MPAA in the 80s when they sued Blockbuster video for the idea of “renting” movies. The MPAA argued that the availability of VCR tapes for rental would cut into the revenue they made from VCR tape sales. This case was, obviously, eventually ruled in Blockbuster’s favor. But the MPAA wasn’t quite happy from there. They combated it by making video releases “priced to rent,” which meant that, to get movies to rent to people, video stores would have to pay $30 to sometimes up to $100 per rental copy, a pricing structure which continues to this day. So, next time you rent a videocassette and break it, keep in mind that the replacement costs on VHS tapes can be $75 or more. (PSA from your friendly neighborhood Daniels). http://www.411mania.com/music/column...olumns_id=689& ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Campaigners call for unlimited broadband A lobby group has been launched in the UK to campaign for unlimited broadband access. AntiCap UK has grown out of cable firm ntl's decision to limit the amount of downloads customers can make to one gigabyte per day. Many of the founders of the campaign are subscribers to ntl's fast net service and have been angered by the capping, which ntl introduced without warning. "We consider it a very sharp business practice to attract users and later adversely change the contract and service conditions, especially in a hushed up, and in our view unfair, manner," reads a statement on the AntiCap UK website. WHAT RESTRICTION MEANS v One gigabyte = 200 music tracks v or 100 software files v or 10,000 pictures Ntl has admitted that it did not handle communication of the changes well, but it is convinced that download limits are essential to maintain a good quality of service for all its customers. “Bear in mind that it is only a tiny number of people that are affected by this," said a spokesman for ntl. "Having looked at what is happening in other countries and the comments of other ISPs in recent weeks it would seem others are considering it," he added. However ntl has delayed a decision to remove users exceeding the daily limit from the service, preferring instead to talk to its heavy users on a customer forum. It has, as yet, reached no decision about what to do with those that abuse the download limit. Fast net services are attracting more and more people in the UK, and one of the biggest selling points is the ease and speed with which users can download music, video and other files over the net. The idea of capping, and the possibility of introducing tiered pricing with heavy users paying more are likely to become increasingly controversial issues over the coming months. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2932039.stm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today I declare that file trading is solely responsible for the dramatic rise in DVD sales! Richard Menta That is a heck of a declaration. OK stretch, how am I going to justify that statement? Well damn it, I have proof. Entertainment lobby endorsed proof. Proof from the figures on DVD sales that Borland mentioned in the same CNET article. In 2002, retail DVD sales rose by 61 percent to $8.7 billion, or about $3.3 billion more than in 2001, according to the DVD Entertainment Group. So how is that my proof? That proof is the direct correlation between the rise in file trading and the rise of DVD sales. It's undeniable. What is really undeniable is the underlying problem with statistics. You can manipulate them quite easily to support disparaging positions. The entertainment industry has been manipulating them for years, the record companies by loudly pointing to losses and the movie Industry by remaining quiet about gains. Don't try to tell me otherwise or I'll throw my hands over my ears and yell "La La La La La". Every major DVD release has found its way to the file trading services, but people continue to buy DVDs in ever increasing numbers. Yes, the DVD arena is a new one with wide growth potential, but its nearly 9 billion in sales last year is already very close to the over 12 billion the record industry earned in 2002. Motion Picture Association of America CEO Jack Valenti will immediately dismiss my arguments if he ever hears them. But Jack, how can you support this logic when it is conveniently applied to the record industry and then deny the same logic when it is inconveniently applied to yours? Here is another question for Mr. Valenti. Why did DVD sales go up at all if file trading is so rampant (40 million US users and rising)? Shouldn't they also have dropped? http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2003/dvd_sales.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DMCA Prior Restraint Censorship, Again Interz0ne's Freedom of Speech Questioned Read the cease and desist order. UPDATE: We've posted the full complaint filed by Blackboard as well as the restraining order served to Acidus and Virgil at the convention over the weekend. Stay tuned for more details as they develop. We believe, as Aristotle wrote, that all human beings desire to aquire knowledge, and, through universal, easily accessible education, We make it possible for everyone who so desires it to gain that knowledge. While the past demands respect, the Future commands attention! Any persons knowledgeable with technology and computers, and those desiring such knowledge. Come gain a new knowledge or share what you know. This year, We will be bringing you even more cutting edge info concerning the freedom of the Internet, Civil Liberties, Privacy Issues, and other information to enlighten you! http://www.interz0ne.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tiny bubbles are key to liquid-cooled system for future computers Researchers have made a discovery that may lead to the development of an innovative liquid-cooling system for future computer chips, which are expected to generate four times more heat than today's chips. Researchers had thought that bubbles might block the circulation of liquid forced to flow through "microchannels" only three times the width of a human hair. Engineers also thought that small electric pumps might be needed to push liquid through the narrow channels, increasing the cost and complexity while decreasing the reliability of new cooling systems for computers. Purdue researchers, however, have solved both of these potential engineering hurdles, developing a "pumpless" liquid-cooling system that removes nearly six times more heat than existing miniature pumpless liquid-cooling systems, said Issam Mudawar, a professor of mechanical engineering. http://www.scienceblog.com/community...rder=0&thold=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Panel discusses file sharing, copyright laws Justine Maki There are about 900 million files available to download from peer-to-peer networks online for free, according to one Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) representative. Jonathan Whitehead, legal counselor to the RIAA, said online piracy affects everyone from musicians to record store clerks and the record companies, to a crowd of 100 last night during a public forum. He and four other panelists discussed illegal file sharing, Internet piracy and the technology that enables it to occur. "How would you like to see the work of your life stolen?" asked Mike Negra, asking students to identify with the artists whose music is pirated on the Internet. Negra, owner of the recently closed Mike's Music, 226 W. College Ave., said file sharing was the downfall of his business, costing him $2 million in sales and forcing him to lay off 12 employees. He said he spoke so students could put a face and a story behind what file sharing has done to one person and one store. All on the panel agreed that artists need to be compensated for their work, but disagreed how to go about it. Fred von Lohmann, legal representative of Morpheus, a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program, said the current way record companies try to enforce copyright violations is ineffective. Artists have gotten no money after lawsuits against Napster and Aimster, said von Lohmann, and litigation has had no effect on file sharing. "Fifty million people voted for [George W.] Bush in the presidential election," he said. "Sixty-one million Americans use Kazaa." Von Lohmann discussed alternatives to suits filed against college students "for sums more than they would earn in their entire lives." http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive...03dnews-10.asp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No Keelhauling This Time: Naval Academy Slaps Wrists In P2P Case They beat Saddam but not the RIAA AP Eighty-five Naval Academy midshipmen were disciplined for using a military Internet connection to illegally trade copyrighted music and movies. Officials stopped short of their threat to expel or court-martial the students, instead punishing the midshipmen with sanctions ranging from demerits and extra work to loss of privileges and leave, an academy document obtained by The (Baltimore) Sun showed. Academy spokesman Cmdr. Bill Spann declined to comment Monday on why the school chose not to impose its harshest penalties, the newspaper reported. The academy seized 92 student computers in a widely publicized raid in November on suspicions the students had used the academy's super-fast T3 Internet line to set up round-the clock Internet hubs to trade music and movies — a violation of Defense Department policy and federal copyright laws. The academy was alerted to the problem when the Defense Research & Engineering Network, which supplies the Academy's Internet connection, found file trading was consuming an enormous share of the school's bandwidth — a measure of the volume of information a network can carry at one time. A Pentagon spokesman, Glenn Flood, confirmed the broad outlines of that account. "They did their job," Flood said. "They found some unusually high traffic and notified the academy." Over the last five months the academy has narrowed the bandwidth feeding Bancroft Hall dormitory and installed software to restrict peer-to-peer file sharing, a move already taken by several colleges and universities, including the U.S. Military Academy and the Air Force Academy. Although the incident marked the first time an academic institution seized students' computers for Internet use, public and private higher education institutions have begun to crack down on the problem. Last week, Harvard University said it would suspend Internet privileges for any student caught illegally exchanging copyrighted material. The academy said it gave students several warnings before raiding Bancroft dormitory while students were in class. It purged all illegal files from the computers before returning them to students a few weeks later. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Apr15.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Donuts? This cop works for peanuts PC Cop Finds MP3s On Corporate Networks - Even if Renamed First we’re gonna find ’em and then we’re gonna kill ’em Paul Rotello Software company Apreo announced the release of their program SoundJudgment for identifying and removing MP3 files and Peer-To-Peer programs from corporate computer systems. Even if the files are renamed and the extension changed the company says the software will still find them, based on a unique "content signature." According to their site the software uses signature evaluation to ferret out P2Ps as well, “All MP3 files have the same signature, whereas every online file-sharing program has a different one. Consequently, SoundJudgment includes a database of signatures from P2P music-sharing applications to identify these programs, which is updated almost daily.” After the discovery is made, administrators have the option of deleting the files automatically. In addition the program can also find and remove over 21,000 games. The cost is less than $3.00 per networked PC. http://try.apreo.com/quickStart.asp?...quickStartC=qa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Movielink, Hollywood.com Team on VOD Mark Berniker Online movie site movielink has signed a deal with entertainment site Hollywood.com to offer a co-branded broadband film download service. The new service will reside on Hollywood.com's Web site, and is part of Movielink's strategy to diversify its movie content delivery options. Movielink currently offers customers the opportunity to download full-length digital copies of movies directly onto their hard drives. The films then can be watched either directly on PC screens, or on television with some cabling connections. Movielink is only available to online users with broadband access and offers new movie releases for $4.99, with older releases available for $2.95 per download. In operation since last November, Movielink is a joint venture of five of the major Hollywood film studios, including, Warner Bros. (Quote, Company Info), Paramount Pictures (Quote, Company Info), Universal Pictures (Quote, Company Info), Sony Pictures Entertainment (Quote, Company Info) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Quote, Company Info). One of the reasons the studios created Movielink was to combat piracy of their film content on the Internet from non-sanctioned, peer-to-peer swapping services. It is part of the studios' efforts to offer film fans an inexpensive yet reliable download service in contrast to the free but unreliable and illegally copied films from peer-to-peer swap sites. The new co-branded Movielink-Hollywood.com video-on-demand offering provides yet another means for the studios to generate revenue beyond theatrical film releases, video- on-demand services over cable and satellite systems, DVD and VHS releases to video stores, and direct marketing sales. While Movielink has been around for only a few months, it is still unclear how strong demand will be for a video-on-demand over broadband Internet service. http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/2191871 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Broadcasters top ranked for Web listening Frank Barnako Half of the 10 most popular Webcast radio stations belong to traditional broadcasters, according to the February ratings compiled by Arbitron MeasureCast. The U.K.'s Virgin Radio and JazzFM were ranked 3rd and 6th, New York's WQXR was 4th, Tacoma, Wash.-based KPLU's jazz format was 7th, and Chicago news/talker WLS was 5th. The two most popular Web stations are subscription music formatted services that allow users to customize playlists, RadioioEclectic and MusicMatch's ArtistMatch. Madonna tries to foil pirates Madonna is set to release a new album next Tuesday and she is taking steps to prevent its piracy -- which are not working. Despite Warner Bros. Records (AOL: news, chart, profile) reportedly trying to discourage downloaders by uploading "spoofed" or phony files to peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa, tracks off the album are nonetheless readily available. One bogus file reportedly has Madonna saying, "What the (expletive) do you think you're doing?" Meanwhile, Warner told some file sharing firms this week they could offer Madonna's previous releases to subscribers, the Los Angeles Times reported, but only as full albums, not as separate tracks. "That doesn't make sense," said one online executive. "It takes away one of the major conveniences for using a service like this." http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/stor...le&dist=google ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Downloadin’ an’ Deletin’ - QnA Reader has concerns. Deleting and formatting doesn't erase all traces Mark Stacchiew Q: I read an article some time ago that said deleting data on a hard drive doesn't really delete data. I want to clean out my hard drive and not leave any trace of existing files or programs in it. How can I do that? A: You may be referring to a study in January that received a lot of coverage in the technology press. Graduate students at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science bought 158 used hard drives on eBay and analyzed the data that they contained. They found more than 5,000 credit-card numbers, tons of personal e-mail, financial information, medical records and scads of pornography. They found that only 12 of the 158 drives were properly erased. Microsoft's delete and format commands don't actually erase all traces of data from a hard drive.There are utilities that will enable anyone with a little bit of experience to recover virtually everything that the drive contained. To properly erase a drive, the existing data must be overwritten with random information. There are utilities available that will do just that. For Windows users, one free program to consider is Wizard Industries' Sure Delete 5.1. You can download it from www.wizard-industries.com/sdel.html. Another free option is Eraser, which can be downloaded from www.tolvanen.com/eraser. If you prefer a commercial solution, try OnTrack's DataEraser. You can read about it at www.ontrack.com/dataeraser. Macintosh users can try Jiiva's SuperScrubber, which is described at www.jiiva.com/superscrubber. Q: I would like to download classical music from Usenet newsgroups. I haven't a clue what to do. The music is uploaded in discrete packages that need to be woven together and saved as a file. I can't find info on how to do that. A: In the olden days before Napster and other peer-to-peer networks made it easy to share files, Internet users would swap them on Usenet newsgroups. They would trade computer programs, movies, images and more. Since Usenet is nothing more than an elaborate bulletin board system that features plain-text messages, it was necessary to transmit all of that binary information as text. Newsreader software was modified in such a way that the binary code of the files that were to be traded could be converted into text and then posted on the newsgroups. Since files of this type are typically very large and there are size limits for newsgroup messages, it is necessary to post the information over many messages. Anyone who wants to download a file must grab the text in those messages with their newsreader, then decode it to recreate the original binary file. If you want to get started, you will need to find a suitable newsreader to decode multipart binaries. Just about all of them are up to the task, although many are designed expressly for that purpose. You can find links to many of these programs for a variety of operating systems at www.newsreaders.com. Many of them are freeware. There are also links to excellent resources that will describe how to connect to your ISP's Usenet news servers and get started in this less-travelled part of the Internet. Do you have a technology question? Send it to webquestions@canada.com http://www.canada.com/montreal/montr...D-8CD6D72A5A9C Jay Lee Q. Is there a better or safer music download program than Kazaa? I'm concerned about the piggyback programs that come with it and suspect they caused many of the system operating problems we've had in the past. We just got the computer back from the shop with all our basic software reloaded, and I don't want to mess it up again. A. Kazaa is a pretty nasty program in terms of all the additional spyware attached to it. There is an alternative to Kazaa called Kazaa Lite. You can download this program from www.kazaalite.com. Kazaa Lite is free from the parasiteware and add-ons that come with Kazaa. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...siness/1869530 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Entertainment Police Sarah Scalet When music industry associations won the court battle to shut down Napster—that giddy but short-lived music-swapping service that made peer-to-peer (P2P) a household phrase— they were just getting started. The entertainment industry is at war with Internet pirates, which it believes are threatening its very livelihood. The MPAA, which estimates that the U.S. film industry loses $3 billion a year from physical piracy alone, is growing increasingly frustrated by how often video files are available on the Internet before the movies are released in theaters or on DVD and video. The RIAA, meanwhile, blames piracy for the 7 percent decrease in the number of compact disc shipments during the first half of 2002. That kind of research causes much eye-rolling among Internet libertarians who believe file-swappers aren't necessarily downloading files they would otherwise purchase, and others who say that a free sample might entice listeners into buying a whole album. But the threat to the industry is real, if overstated. Part of the problem is organized hacking groups, plain and simple. So-called Warez (pronounced "wares") groups host websites that proffer pirated software, music, movies and pornography. Hackers get bragging rights for being the first to post new files or to crack copyright protection schemes. It's likely that our anonymous CIO's computer systems were being used by one of these groups. To hear the entertainment industry tell it, though, covert Warez activity on the networks of unassuming companies—the risk of which can be minimized by heeding long-established security best practices—is only background music. Security 101 precautions such as properly configured firewalls, the dogged installation of patches to fix newly discovered software vulnerabilities and even carefully monitored intrusion detection systems will go only so far in preventing illegal activities. That's because, while Napster is no more, dozens of services, such as eDonkey, Gnutella, Grokster and Kazaa, have sprouted in its place—and have earned the reputation of being venues for exchanging pirated files. These P2P systems, which allow people who download their software to exchange .exes, MP3s, .mpegs and other files directly with one another, have legitimate reasons for being. Some artists like to give away songs or videos to win fans, and the business possibilities of file-swapping are promising enough that Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie started a company, Groove Networks, that is working on P2P for the enterprise, with funding from Microsoft. Kazaa, the most popular P2P service in the United States, boasts that its software has been downloaded more than 200 million times. Citing estimates from third-party analysts who put the number of illegal file downloads at 2.6 billion a month, RIAA President Cary Sherman says, "You're just not going to get those kinds of numbers from people going to Warez sites." In response, the entertainment industry has launched a campaign the likes of which CIOs haven't seen since the Business Software Alliance and Software Publishers Association started cracking down on pirated software in the mid-1990s. Collectively, the two groups earned a reputation as "the software police," says Ted Claypoole, an attorney for Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice. "I've been to seminars where representatives have spoken and handed out whistles with their phone numbers on them for people to call and be a whistle- blower. That's what they rely on." But the entertainment police don't need whistle-blowers. All they have to do is surf the Internet. Tom Temple spends his workdays trolling the Internet for free copies of the latest blockbusters. After all, that is what the MPAA pays him to do. "If somebody is using a P2P server or is set up as a P2P server, then we will find it using our search engines," says Temple, director of worldwide Internet enforcement for the MPAA. When he and his team find copyrighted movies online, they mail an infringement notification to the owners of the IP address, warning them of potential liability and ask that the material be removed. When they unearth an operation larger than a single P2P user, they get law enforcement involved. http://www.idg.net/ic_1307750_9676_1-5122.html |
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Join Date: May 2001
Location: New England
Posts: 10,024
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![]() Music thieves: Here's a way out
Derek Lomas I was shocked by the recent actions of the Recording Industry Association of America, which call for damages exceeding $150 billion in a lawsuit against four college students for operating search engines on their university networks. The crime of the students: building an indexing tool that allowed members of the university to search through the contents of shared folders that were already available on the network. The RIAA is claiming damages of $150,000 for each of the copyrighted songs (around a million) found by the search engine, perhaps in the hope of setting an example to scare off similar infractions. But however disgraceful the actions of this widely despised and irresponsible organization, this lawsuit makes one point abundantly clear -- this University community needs a legal alternative to file-sharing. College students represent the majority of copyright violators for a simple reason -- they are in a learning environment, and they legitimately want to know about musical culture. However, in order to have any academic understanding of modern music (beyond the homogenized pulp available on the ClearChannel radio monopoly), one must be very wealthy -- or willing to break the law. Students of lesser means are severely disadvantaged by this system. The fact is that most students at Yale are very familiar with breaking copyright law, because they are not willing to give up learning about music just because they can't afford the $15 cost of each CD. These students are not looking for porn or video games -- they are looking for music, which we consider to be a vital part of a liberal education. Why is the University not providing a legal alternative? I believe that the alternative, a competitive digital library system, hasn't been technically feasible or easily affordable -- until now. For starters, we need to acknowledge the legitimacy of the intellectual desire held by Yale students to become knowledgeable about music, in particular modern music. Then we need to acknowledge the fact that at a place like Yale we should not limit this kind of knowledge to those capable of paying for it. Like books, we need to offer this information through our library system. Unfortunately, the central music library is barely capable of keeping up with classical music. The solution, surprisingly, is in the modernization of the currently defunct system of residential college libraries. The residential college masters should revitalize the residential college libraries by enabling these institutions to become repositories and legal distributors of digital media. Music and other forms of intellectual media can be made accessible through the establishment of residential college streaming media libraries, which would virtually eliminate the need for students to engage in copyright violations. Cost: Less than $10,000 per college, taking into account the $8,000 price tag of a server. Streaming media libraries would allow students in a college to access an entire library of digital music over their computers, offering a reasonable, feasible and legal alternative to the convenience of illegal file-sharing. Streaming technology, developed by Yale alum Rob Glaser (founder of RealNetworks), does not involve illegal copying in order to listen to music, very much unlike the downloading of music that occurs with illegal file-sharing. Streaming libraries would allow educational institutions to bring their students almost any kind of copyrighted academic information legally -- because that is exactly what libraries do. http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=22610 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Plan Would Use Software, Not Devices, to Fight Piracy John Markoff Prominent computer security researcher has proposed a technical solution aimed at forging a middle ground in the increasingly bitter battle by Hollywood and Silicon Valley over the best way to protect digital content from consumer piracy. Cryptography Research has begun circulating its proposal, which it calls Self-Protecting Digital Content, among entertainment companies. It plans to make it available publicly this week, in an effort to break the impasse over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which Congress passed in 1998 with strong lobbying support from Hollywood and other creators of intellectual property. Cryptography Research's proposal would shift the location of copy-protection code from the consumer products that play music and movies and run software to the content files produced by entertainment companies and software developers. The plan aims to help avoid the immense costs of building piracy protection into personal computers, video game players, satellite receivers and other devices produced by technology manufacturers. While it would not eliminate the possibility of digital theft, its advocates said it would drastically curb piracy while easing the burden on the technology industry. They say the plan would also avoid invading the privacy of consumers who do not engage in piracy and make it easier and less costly for content owners to recover if a copy-protection system is broken. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/15/te...gy/15CRYP.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Activists assail antipiracy proposal Say civil rights would be violated under Massachusettes Law Hiawatha Bray A plan to enact tough digital antipiracy legislation in Massachusetts has run into fierce opposition from technologists and civil libertarians who say the new law would violate civil rights and ban some common computer security techniques. The Massachusetts bill, sponsored by state Representative A. Stephen Tobin, Democrat of Quincy, is based on a proposal drawn up by the Motion Picture Association of America, the trade group representing the major Hollywood studios. The association has lobbied legislators in all 50 states to pass similar laws, to give the movie companies a powerful tool to use against people who steal video signals from cable and satellite television providers. Already several US states have enacted such laws, but technology activists nationwide have begun to organize against the proposal. Dozens of opponents attended a recent State House hearing on the bill, and Tobin has been bombarded with angry phone calls and e-mails. ''There's been a lot of shouting, a lot of accusations,'' Tobin said. As a result, the Motion Picture Association says it will modify the language of the bill to address the concerns of the critics. The legislation is intended to outlaw the production, use, or sale of devices that enable the theft of telecommunication services, particularly cable and satellite TV signals. Violators would be subject to fines of up to $3,000 and prison sentences of up to 2 1/2 years. But critics contend the legislation goes too far. Sarah Deutsch, associate general counsel for Verizon Communications, says the law covers much of the same ground as the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But that law has an explicit provision exempting Internet providers from liability if customers use them to exchange illegally obtained digital files. The Massachusetts law doesn't have this exemption, said Deutsch. As a result, she said, ''we could be liable if one of our customers did something that violated the act.'' Edward Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton University, said the law contains language that forbids Internet users from employing technologies that conceal their identity and location. This would outlaw services such as ''anonymous remailers'' that are designed to let people send e-mail anonymously to protect their privacy. Felten said it would also ban a variety of common security measures, such as firewalls that conceal the locations of particular computers in a corporate data network. In addition, Felten said, the law would expose computer users to liability for using any device that could be used to crack a cable TV system, even if the device was not obtained for this purpose. ''If the device is even capable of an illegal use, it would be banned,'' said Felten. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/10...roposal+.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cryptographers sound warnings on Microsoft security plan Rick Merritt Just three weeks before Microsoft Corp. publicly details plans to create a secure operating mode for Windows PCs, two top cryptographers have raised concerns about Microsoft's approach. Whitfield Diffie, a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, said an integrated security scheme for computers is inevitable, but the Microsoft approach is flawed because it fails to give users control over their security keys. Ronald Rivest, an MIT professor and founder of RSA Security, called for a broad public debate about the Microsoft move. Microsoft first tipped its plans, formerly code-named Palladium, about a year ago. Since then some details have emerged about the concepts for what Microsoft now calls the next-generation secure computing base (NGSCB, pronounced "enscub"). Microsoft has detailed its plans to as many as 30 partners under non-disclosure agreements. The company plans to unveil the full technical details and partnerships behind its plans at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in early May. The Microsoft approach “lends itself to market domination, lock out, and not really owning your own computer. That's going to create a fight that dwarfs the debates of the 1990's,” said Diffie as part of a broad panel discussion on cryptography at the RSA Conference here Monday (April 14). “To risk sloganeering, I say you need to hold the keys to your own computer,” added Diffie to strong applause for the audience of several hundred security specialists. “We should be watching this to make sure there are the proper levels of support we really do want,” said Rivest. “The right way to look at this is you are putting a virtual set-top box inside your PC. You are essentially renting out part of your PC to people you may not trust,” said Rivest in an interview after the panel. “We need to understand the full implications of this architecture. This stuff may slip quietly on to people's desktops, but I suspect it will be more a case of a lot of debate,” he added. http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030415S0013 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sonicblue sells ReplayTV, Rio to Denon parent Franklin Paul Reuters Bankrupt consumer electronics maker Sonicblue Inc. (Other OTC:SBLUQ.PK - News) on Wednesday sold its ReplayTV service and Rio portable music systems to Japan's D&M Holding, effectively ending its run as a digital audio pioneer and its threat to major media companies. Japan's D&M Holdings Inc. (Tokyo:6735.T - News), parent of high-end audio equipment makers Denon Ltd. and Marantz Japan Inc., won a bankruptcy court auction to acquire Sonicblue's ReplayTV television recording service and Rio portable audio unit for about $36.2 million. Under the agreement, which is expected to become final in about 10 days, D&M bought inventory, intellectual property and capital equipment, and will assume some contractual relationships and liabilities. On the surface, the price was cheaper than an original deal set in March under which D&M said it would pay $40 million, as well as the assumption of some $5 million in liabilities. The deal was part of Sonicblue's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the northern district of California in San Jose. That pact with D&M fell through, which left the assets of Santa Clara, California-based Sonicblue up for auction. A D&M spokeswoman said the company does not plan to interrupt subscribers' connection to ReplayTV, the personal digital recorder service that allows users to save television programming to a hard drive and play it back when they choose. However, she said the company has not yet determined if it will continue to offer all of ReplayTV's features, which include the ability to skip commercials as programs are recorded, and to send some saved programs over the Internet. http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030416/tech_sonicblue_3.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright’s Digital Reformulation Brodi Kemp Digital technologies permit the wide distribution of perfect copies at virtually no marginal cost. Evidently this poses a problem for content providers: how could they make money if their product is freely available after its first sale? As we all know, reframing the copyright laws has become the answer. Notably, these revisions were an integrated international policy campaign, not distinct national fights. The newly extended control, based on legally reinforced digital “containers” and trade law, arguably permits those who sell content effectively to “enclose” the public domain, to insulate their business models, and to define technological development. In this article, I will argue that content providers are “recreating the bottle” around their intellectual property, using digital technologies to reinforce their business models and supplant copyright. The content industries have successfully driven political fights, dramatically strengthening their control of content in the digital era. Secondly, I will show that the new policies adopted have undermined the traditional balance in intellectual property law between creator compensation and limits on the creator’s exclusive rights. Finally, I will argue that the particular resolution of the copyright debate arguably has powerful implications beyond the content industries or the balance of intellectual property. It could influence the trajectory of technological innovation, indeed shaping the network’s architecture itself and the business models that harness its capacities. Consider as only one example that many contend that network expansion is driven not by content distribution, but by the expansion of point-to-point communications. Yet, the intellectual property rules concocted for content will powerfully shape the architecture of the network. Will the network itself, as a result, evolve differently and even more slowly than would otherwise be the case? Furthermore, it appears that the major firms in the content industries have the power to insulate themselves against competitive pressures that would force change in their strategies and business models. Rather than being forced to adapt and innovate, they have entrenched their position and set the stage for its reinforcement, the continuous expansion of intellectual property rights. At the moment it appears that the walls around the content industry incumbents are very powerful -- are there holes through which newcomers can enter? Would such entrants break the mold; for example, could peer-to-peer unravel the existing deals? Will affirmative policy action be required to assure ongoing innovation in business models and technology? http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/yjo...l%20Edit_2.doc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prior Restraint At Blackboard's Request, Judge Prevents Students From Discussing Security of Debit-Card System Andrea Foster Two college students who were set to discuss security weaknesses in a popular college debit- and identification-card system last weekend were prevented from revealing their findings after a Georgia judge issued a temporary restraining order. The students -- Billy Hoffman, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Virgil Griffith, of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa -- received the order on Saturday as they were preparing to talk about the system at an Interz0ne computer conference, in Atlanta. A hearing on whether they should be permanently prevented from discussing the system is scheduled for today in Georgia Superior Court. Blackboard has sold the electronic-card system, called the Blackboard Transaction System, to about 223 colleges. In seeking the restraining order, the company argued that it faced "imminent risk of irreparable harm" from the students' presentation. The company's complaint said the students' findings, if disseminated, "could facilitate massive fraud, security breaches, and other harms, threatening both the physical and financial security of college students, and harming the universities, their vendors, and Blackboard itself." Blackboard cited federal and Georgia anti-hacking laws, as well as federal and Georgia trade-secret laws, to justify its request for the restraining order. The complaint made no mention of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but a lawyer for Blackboard sent the conference organizers a cease-and-desist letter that said the students' presentation could violate that law as well. The conference, which had a free-speech theme, was open to "all technology addicts, digerati, security professionals, hackers, phreakers, geeks, and the general public," according to its Web site. Many of the presenters are listed by online aliases, such as "V1rus" ("Lockpicking and Forensics: A Real World Case") and "timball" ("Coding Don'ts"). Mr. Hoffman is listed as "Acidus." http://chronicle.com/free/2003/04/2003041601t.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WSJ: Microsoft Courted by Vivendi to Buy Music Unit Reuters Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O is among companies approached by Vivendi Universal Music Group V.N EAUG.PA executives in their bid to find buyers for the unit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The report comes a day after a Paris-based source told Reuters that talks between Vivendi Universal and Apple Computer Inc. AAPL.O had entered a crucial phase which could make or brake a deal for the world's largest record company. The Reuters source played down speculation the sale of Universal Music to the firm run by California computer guru Steve Jobs -- for up to $6 billion as first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Friday -- was a done deal. On Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said Universal Music bosses, including Chairman Doug Morris and Interscope Geffen A&M label chief Jimmy Iovine, had put out feelers for possible buyers or investors, but they now appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach. Approaches to Microsoft were in the hope of finding a friendly investor to take over Universal Music, perhaps as part of a management-led buyout, the Journal reported. Apple and Microsoft officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment early on Monday, and a Vivendi official in Paris declined comment. The Journal said people close to Jobs insisted he was only interested in accessing music for Apple's new service, not in buying a record company. Universal's roster includes Eminem, U2, and Shania Twain. Apple was aided by investment bank Morgan Stanley MWD.N in early talks, and Jobs is believed to have spoken at least once by phone with Vivendi Chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou about the idea, the Journal added. Separately, the Journal reported that Apple would be launching its own music service in coming weeks, with songs from all five major record labels. Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the newspaper said the service was more consumer-friendly than most other legitimate online- music services, with a simplicity that makes it easy for consumers to purchase a song and move it to the popular Apple iPod devices. Even so, it will only be available to Mac users, who comprise only about five percent of the global market. Currently, most other online music services -- including the record-label backed services pressplay and MusicNet, as well as closely held Listen.com Inc.'s Rhapsody service - - do not support Apple's Macintosh software. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2562475 Steve Jobs Thinks 'Different' and Many Marvel Buying Universal Music could put Apple in a position to determine digital music's future. Joseph Menn If Apple Computer Inc. winds up with a blockbuster deal to purchase Universal Music Group, it will be because Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs believes he has discovered the secret to selling music online -- something that has eluded the sharpest minds in the music and technology industries for years and ruined many entrepreneurs before him. Illicit song-swapping services such as Napster and Gnutella have lured tens of millions of users into downloading songs free; meanwhile, licensed distributors of music have managed only tens of thousands of customers, and several firms have gone under. With piracy eroding compact disc sales for three straight years, it looks to some skeptical observers like a bad time for Apple to think about spending up to $6 billion to get into the music business. But plenty of technology firms, including software powerhouse Microsoft Corp., have been negotiating deals on a number of fronts with record labels and movie studios, peaceably enhancing copyright protections while convincing more record executives that legitimate online distribution is their only way out of a downward spiral. "There are going to be some new relationships," said computer industry analyst Roger Kay of market research firm IDC. "Microsoft and even Dell [Computer Corp.] have been sniffing around Southern California trying to find the right combination to that lock." Other technology companies have considered buying a label in the last few years, according to executives in both camps. Those explorations foundered in part on concerns about merging very different corporate cultures and mastering the arcane financial structures of the record business. "Unlike two years ago, when content looked like a black hole, we're on the cusp of being able to build digital music businesses," said Sean Ryan, CEO of Listen.com Inc., which offers a subscription service for digital songs. "Over a period of time," he said, digital music "could be larger than traditional music businesses." Last month, Jupiter Research predicted that consumer spending on digital content -- including music -- would grow from $1.6 billion in 2002 to $2 billion in 2003. With its share of the worldwide desktop computer market stuck below 3%, Jobs has been trying to transform Apple into something more than just a computer maker. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...2Dtec hnology Profits at Apple Computer Are Down 65% in Quarter Laurie Flynn Citing the sluggish economy and declining sales in some of its core markets, Apple Computer Inc. reported lower profits yesterday, but the results still exceeded analysts' expectations by 2 cents a share. The company reported a net profit of $14 million for the fiscal second quarter ended March 29, or 4 cents a share, down 65 percent from $40 million, or 11 cents a share, in the quarter a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was $1.48 billion, down 1 percent from last year, when revenue was $1.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had predicted revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, and a profit of 2 cents a share in the quarter. The company, based in Cupertino, Calif., announced its earnings after the close of the market's regular trading hours. Apple's stock closed down 1.1 percent at $13.24 in the regular session but rose as high as $13.28 in after-hours trading. "Our performance was solid in a very difficult environment," said Apple's chief financial officer, Fred Anderson. Apple's earnings news yesterday came in the midst of persistent rumors that the company was in talks to acquire the Universal Music Group, the world's largest recording company, from Vivendi Universal of France. According to published reports, Apple is considering offering $6 billion for the music company. It has had success in the market for MP3 portable music devices and is expected to roll out an online music service soon. Earlier in the day, Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, issued a statement denying that Apple had made an offer for the Universal music group. That followed a statement by Claude Bebear, a Vivendi Universal board member, denying that he said he expected Apple to offer about $6 billion for the company. During a conference call with analysts, Mr. Anderson declined to discuss the matter. Wall Street is clearly skeptical that the two companies would be a good fit. Apple's stock fell last week on rumors of a possible deal, reflecting the market's doubts that a merger would be a good idea. "What's holding up Apple's stock has been its cash," Mr. Wolf said. "This would burn right through it." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/business/17APPL.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taiwan's copyright pirates less brazen But Business Still Booming Alice Hung Reuters TAIPEI, Taiwan - At a crowded night market in Taipei, vendors blare techno music or yell at the top of their lungs to draw attention to goods ranging from oyster omelet to clothes to furry puppies. But at one stand, a rich collection of pirated Hollywood blockbusters, Hong Kong pop music and Japanese soap operas lies unattended on a wooden table. No vendor is in sight. A handwritten note asks buyers to drop their money in a white plastic box. A counterfeit disc costs as little as US$1.50, compared with $9 for a copyrighted one. Taiwan's CD pirates are slipping into the shadows, no longer daring to man their stalls, fearful of getting caught as pressure from the United States forces authorities to step up their anti-piracy campaign. ``The government has finally recognized that this is a serious problem, but drastic and speedy measures must be taken to solve it,'' said Hank Kwuo of the Taiwan Anti-Piracy Coalition. The United States will decide in coming months if the island should stay on its ``priority watch list'' of the world's worst copyright offenders for a third year in a row. A decision against Taiwan could lead to trade retaliation from its second biggest export market. That danger does not worry the pirates, although the threat of prosecution has made them much less brazen than they used to be about selling their wares. And the more careful strategy is working. Exasperated prosecutors say to make a case, pirates must be caught red-handed and even then crafty vendors, many of whom have links with crime gangs, often escape the law. ``A man caught selling fake CDs in a night market managed to persuade all the other vendors on his street to testify in court that he was only a fruit seller,'' said one prosecutor who declined to be identified. ``He was freed. It's very frustrating.'' http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercuryne...ss/5629437.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sydney firm to protect 3G content DRM for the phone Nathan Cochrane A small Sydney maker of copyright enforcement technology has beaten Microsoft for the coveted crown of protecting content consumed by the next generation of multimedia mobile phones. IPR Systems' Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) version 1.1 has been adopted by mobile makers such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony-Ericsson, operators including Vodafone and open- standards-setting body the Open Mobile Alliance to safeguard copyrighted content distributed over third-generation (3G) networks. ODRL gives content creators the power to determine exactly how their material is to be used, including how many times it can be consumed, for how long it can be consumed before it expires and how many times it can be forwarded, if at all. IPR's four engineers built the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) language in about two years before version 1 was commercially adopted by Nokia and others in preference to Microsoft's XrML standard, in part due to political reasons, says chief scientist Renato Iannella. "ODRL is more concise and this is a critical factor for network bandwidth for the telcos,'' Iannella says. "There were probably political reasons as well: the Everybody-Else-But-Microsoft syndrome." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...172523035.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Xbox Modder Testing Microsoft and the DMCA David Becker Taking a break from working on his doctoral thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate student Andrew "Bunnie" Huang decided that it might be fun to poke around the security systems protecting Microsoft's Xbox game console. With a little creative tinkering and a measure of precision soldering, Huang quickly isolated the main public security keys. Although legally prevented from sharing the keys with the world, he described his methods in detail in a widely distributed research paper, helping spur a wave of Xbox-hacking that has led to the development of Xbox versions of Linux and other homemade software. Q: What have you learned to do with the Xbox since your research paper was published? A: I did a lot of work but if I talked about it I'd get in a lot of trouble. I did some work with a few people who were trying to figure out alternate methods to get to the Xbox hardware without necessarily involving the copyrighted code Microsoft has--basically finding backdoors in the initialization and boot sequence. I helped out one guy in particular who was critical in figuring out the method that's used by everyone today. It is basically a flaw in the system initializer that lets you put code anywhere in the system that you want it. From there, I backed off and got kind of quiet. Things were starting to heat up, and a lot of people were starting to move into piracy and other very controversial issues. I sort of became a fly on the wall and gave people advice in some key areas. And then Wiley approached you about writing a book? Yeah--Wiley has the "Dummies" series, and wanted to create a similar line of introductory hacking guides: hacking TiVo, hacking the Xbox, hacking your DVD player. The book overall is an education book. I try to teach people as much as possible how to do hacks on their own and try to avoid as much as possible the really cookie-cutter, boring stuff. Has the ISOnews.com case had a chilling effect beyond your work? I think that it's had a major chilling effect. Maybe the reason that companies started (backing out of such publishing deals) this is that the DMCA has become such a hot topic. A lot of companies aren't willing to really push their content directly through a public trial. The whole idea of taking a person and making an example of him seems to have backfired. They tried that with a few guys and it didn't work. I think a lot of companies are starting to take more indirect attacks. To use a really bad analogy, instead of going for the mafia boss, you take out the guys in the street, the little mod chip vendors. They're trying other techniques within the word of the law to put a damper on this activity without I want to put a stake in the ground and say, "Hey, I strongly believe what I'm doing is legal. getting bad press. If they were to go ahead and take any Xbox-Linux guys and crucify them for running Linux on the Xbox, they'd have the whole open- source crowd really up in arms. There'd be a really big negative mark on the Xbox. So even though Microsoft has said, "You guys can't run Linux on the Xbox," they're not going to really do anything about it in the short term. It's not hurting their revenue enough to have them fight a battle on principle. Are you afraid personally of the possible consequences of publishing the book? Oh yeah. Lately it's been really day-to-day. I get a lot of e-mail from a lot of people, and sometimes you see the subject line and freeze for a moment, thinking, "This is it, they're coming to get me." And then it just turns out to be an innocent question. But the fact that Americart felt it had to reject my book shows how jittery people are. So how are you going to sell the book now? There's always PayPal, I guess...Although someone pointed out to me that PayPal has an explicit clause that says you can't use the service to sell mod chips. Even though this isn't a mod chip per se, it might be construed as a technology or a tool under the wording of the DMCA. The big question that I had when I published my paper at MIT was whether this would be considered a copyright circumvention tool under the DMCA. I think it's wildly unrealistic to think that a court would agree with such an expansive interpretation of a tool. But to a limited degree, they might go along with it. Beyond the question of what's a tool, there are still a lot of questions about whether mod chips are copyright circumvention devices at all, since they do other, legitimate things. Would it be useful to have a court opinion on that? It would be. I think that part of the reason I decided to go ahead with the book is that I'm really tired of hearing, "Well, there's three cases that never went to court, but here's the direction in which they kind of leaned." There's no real stakes in the ground about this. There's a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt. And the longer the people who want to enforce these laws can cast the shadow of fear without ever having to bring something to court, the more effective they are. This type of publishing is kept underground and under control. I want to put a stake in the ground and say, "Hey, I strongly believe what I'm doing is legal and it's beneficial for people to know about this stuff." If we don't know about it, then the bad guys are going to figure it out and they're going to take our lunch. Maybe I'm being a fool by saying this, but if someone wants to challenge me on this, I think it's something we need to talk about in a court of law. I don't know where I'd find the resources to defend myself. If I am taken to court, then I'll figure it out. http://news.com.com/2008-1082-996787.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New music rules are needed Fred von Lohmann Suing college students. Forcing ISPs to rat out customers. Petitioning Congress for unprecedented vigilante powers. Deploying armies of lawyers to sue technology companies. Threatening universities and corporations. Demanding that ISPs disconnect tens of thousands of Internet users. Hiring electronic enforcers to monitor computer users. None of these efforts by the recording industry has put a single nickel into the pockets of a musician. And none of these efforts has slowed the spread of peer-to-peer ("P2P") file sharing. More Americans have used file-sharing software than voted for the President. But we are paying a price. Responding to pressure from the entertainment industry, the University of Wyoming is now monitoring and recording all university Internet traffic. One hundred Naval Academy cadets have been disciplined for file-sharing. Investment in innovative P2P companies has dried up. Some members of Congress, addled by a steady diet of propaganda and campaign contributions from the entertainment industries, have suggested that the answer might be to expel, or even jail, college students. Music fans are frustrated and alienated from the musicians they love. The hysteria over P2P has gotten out of hand. While protecting copyright is a worthwhile endeavor, suing college students will not get artists a penny more in royalties. Conscripting cash-strapped universities to act as muscle for the entertainment industries is absurd. Putting entire universities under constant surveillance is simply unacceptable. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/arc...ion/7930.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Copyright End Game Brendan Scott, Esq Ultimately the argument for or against copyright will not be won in the legislature or in courts of law but, rather, in the court of public opinion. No matter how many malcontents there are in the world, their actions will be nothing if they are lacking the tacit support of the general populous. Conversely, no matter how much the forces of right and good are on the side of the holders and creators of copyright they are unlikely to prevail against broad based consumer complicity in copyright infringement. Legislatures around the world have sought to increase the certainty and security for the holders of copyright by expanding upon the rights that those holders enjoy. The TRIPS Agreement marks perhaps the most significant of these attempts. Far from enhancing or securing the position of copyright holders, these moves by the legislatures may have only further soured an already cynical consumer population. What the MP3.com and Napster phenomena have proven is that the average consumer regards the legislative monopoly that is copyright largely with contempt - at least in the absolute form in which it has been expressed in copyright legislation. However, what these phenomena have also shown - for example through the subscription and payment initiatives proposed in the Napster-BMG merger - is that the average consumer is willing to pay (what they consider to be) a fair price for having access to music. However, they want to be provided with a fair rate for an "all you can eat" service rather than to be presented with differential pricing for separate options with premium rates being tacked on on top. The moves by legislatures around the world have not made the acts of infringers any more illegal, although they have created a situation where the same facts may give rise to multiple infringements greatly extending the protection provided to the information industry. Rather, they have mainly served to compound the cynicism that consumers already hold for the copyright law. The holders of copyright monopolies have not helped their case by the manner of publicising their "losses". In the 1980s copyright monopoly holders advanced their claims for increased protection by reference to ridiculously exaggerated claims in relation to their piracy losses and did so with great success. Seeking to exploit an obviously successful technique, in the 1990s they continued this trend, but have failed to note the shift in consumer tolerance for such claims with the coming of the new millennium. Admittedly, it is a very difficult to properly assess the loss suffered and such figures are manufactured to serve different purposes, but methodologies which simply take the number of illegal copies and multiply them by the recommended retail price have begun to be regarded by consumers as deception, if not outright lying and seriously undermine the credibility of copyright monopoly holders which promote them. Not only do these methodologies largely ignore the price elasticity of demand, it does not take too much thought to argue that such figures do not take into account the costs of production, marketing, distribution and administration that would be involved in the sale of those copies (and which are not incurred in the infringer's case) and which cannot therefore be considered a loss. Further, where those copies are in the hands of a person who simply would not have had the means to pay for them it is hard to see how to sustain an argument that those copies actually represent a lost sale (1). Unfortunately the holders of copyright monopolies appear to have been beguiled by their own marketing, for they seem unable to comprehend how their aggressive advocacy is poisoning the opinions of consumers against legitimate initiatives. http://www.mediainstitute.org/colloq...9/article.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eminem, Dre in Copyright Spat Josh Grossberg Eminem and Dr. Dre are about to lose themselves...in litigation. A London-based music publisher has filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against the rap megastar and his mentor for allegedly sampling a song sans permission. Minder Music Ltd. claims a 1980 tune called "Backstrokin'" is the backbone for Dre's 1999 hit "Let's Get High," according to a report in Billboard. The suit, originally filed in July of 2000 in Los Angeles District Court, was amended last week. The company is seeking more than $3.5 million in damages against the hip-hopsters, accusing them of unfairly profiting from its song by ripping it for Dre's biggest single off his 1999 multiplatinum release, 2001. Minder claims the Dre track's throbbing bass riff is lifted from "Backstrokin'." "Let's Get High," cowritten by Dre and Slim Shady, features such guest rappers as Kurupt, Hittman and Ms. Roq and helped to propel the album past the six million mark in sales. With all that money floating around, according to Dre's lawyer, Howard King, it's no surprise Minder's moving to get a piece of the action. King told Billboard that "Let's Get High" uses a bass line common to many songs, and Minder was essentially fishing for a case. Also named in the suit is Dre's label and its corporate parent, Interscope Records and Universal Music and Video Distribution. Neither Em nor Dre's attorney nor reps for the record labels could be reached for comment. Speaking of copyright infringement, this isn't the first time Eminem has gotten into trouble for purportedly swiping other people's tunes for his own work. The trash-talking Detroit rapper and newly minted Oscar winner was sued two years ago by a French jazz composer accusing him of stealing parts of the song "Pulsion" for his song "Kill You," Em's violent rant where he jokes about raping his mother, off his Grammy-winning 2000 album, The Marshall Mathers LP. Coincidentally, Dr. Dre was behind the production of that album, too. http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,11611,00.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dell picking Washington allies, issues strategically Tech companies learning how to exert their influence in the Capitol Amy Schatz In the fight over digital piracy, the battleground is shifting to Hollywood, and tech companies such as Dell Computer Corp. aren't taking any chances. In late January, they formed a lobbying group called the Alliance for Digital Progress to fight government mandated anti-piracy technologies. It was a response to legislation filed last year that would have required anti-copying devices to be added to computers, DVD players and other consumer electronics. Similar legislation hasn't been introduced so far this year. It might never be filed, if Hollywood and high-tech companies can reach an agreement to work on anti-piracy efforts and head off government intervention. For the most part, the tech industry hasn't been a big lobbying force in Washington. But the industry is recognizing an increasing need to play offense, as the looming battle over anti-copying controls shows. Dell is part of that trend. Historically, the world's second-largest personal computer maker hasn't spent much money or energy on lobbying. But that's slowly changing. Last year, the company spent a record $780,000 on lobbying. Founder Michael Dell has become one of the tech industry's largest campaign contributors to the Republican Party. And the company has launched DellPac, a political action committee. "As we're growing, we're starting to see more of an importance to be here and active in the public policy arena," said Becca Gould, Dell's director of government relations in Washington. http://www.statesman.com/default/con...usiness_2.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madonna To Pirates: 'What the F--- Do You Think You're Doing?' Gil Kaufman File traders, Madonna has a question for you: "What the f--- do you think you're doing?" That's the message you're likely to get if you try to download songs from the singer's upcoming American Life, due April 22, on peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire or KaZaA. The spoofed file — a planted fake meant to thwart illegal downloading — recently began flooding P2P networks. Madonna's spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Other spoofed files containing Madonna's salty tirade appeared on KaZaA in versions of the new songs "Nobody Knows Me" and "X-Static Process." If you don't get the foul-mouthed message from Madonna, you will more than likely find a phony file that's been circulating for several weeks, a four-minute loop of the chorus from the album's title track and first single. As with many new releases, the Madonna album has been kept under tight wraps to avoid piracy, with promotional copies being held back from journalists until just before the official release. Similar security measures preceded the release of Linkin Park's Meteora, with numerous spoofed tracks from that album blanketing P2P networks, many consisting of looped interview quotes from the band's members or repeated sections of songs. Both Linkin Park and Madonna are on Warner Bros. Records. (An AOL company - Jack) Though they are reluctant to divulge their client list, a number of companies have been working with labels to create spoofed files in an effort to make illegal downloading frustrating and to steer consumers toward such legal download sites as Pressplay, MusicNet and Rhapsody. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/147...headlines=true ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AOL fights IM fade-out Jim Hu and Paul Festa America Online is warming up to instant messaging video features that it once dismissed as irrelevant, in the latest sign that the company is playing catch-up to rivals in a key communications technology that it pioneered. AOL on Monday confirmed that it has begun testing a feature that lets subscribers swap video clips over its instant messaging software. The feature, dubbed "record and forward," lets people record video through a Webcam and send the file to another AOL IM user via a peer-to-peer connection. Recipients play back the video as a downloaded file, not as a live stream. "What we are seeking to do with this record and forward video feature is to test its adoption and popularity with our audience and determine its potential as a possible feature within a future AOL client," AOL spokesman Derrick Mains said in an e-mail. "Although video over IM has yet to take off with a mass-market audience, we have seen it begin to catch on among early adopters as other services offer it as a feature." The decision to explore new features for IM comes amid broad disarray at AOL Time Warner's AOL division, which is seeking to revamp its service to stem defections to high-speed Net providers and lower-priced dial-up services while fending off investigations of its accounting practices. The effects are being felt even in its IM business, where the company's ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) services have dominated for years. AOL's test marks a significant reversal for the company on the IM development front. Until recently, AOL executives discredited video IM's consumer appeal and prided themselves on keeping IM free from the bells and whistles adopted by competitors such as Yahoo. AOL far outstrips competitors in sheer number of IM users, but its market share appears to be slipping, according to data provided by Internet traffic measurement company ComScore Media Metrix. Combined users accessing AOL's network from the Web and its proprietary online service hit 59.7 million in March, with an additional 6.2 million users on its ICQ network, ComScore reported. Those numbers are down from January, when 62 million unique users accessed AOL's Web- based and proprietary AIM services, and 8 million logged on to ICQ. Over the same period, Microsoft's MSN Messenger climbed from 22 million to 23 million combined unique users and Web site visitations, ComScore said. Yahoo slipped from 20 million to 19.5 million. http://news.com.com/2100-1032-996837.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pocket tracker monitors children BBC Worried parents will soon be able to keep an eye on their children at all times via a wearable tracking device and a website that maps where they go. The wearable device will have a panic button that, when pressed, instantly alerts parents via phone that something is wrong. Through the website parents will be able to pinpoint the location of their children in real time as well as replay where they have been over the last few hours. SOS Response, creators of the service, says testing of the tracking system is due to begin soon. To track people the system uses a radio network operated by QuikTrak that has towers dotted around the greater London area. The QuikTrak technology is similar to that used by some mobile phone systems but needs one-tenth the number of radio towers to cover the same area. Signals from the tracking device are picked up by several towers and help QuikTrak triangulate and pinpoint the position of any device. Information about the movements of devices is logged and can be viewed via a website that plots their whereabouts. Australian firm QuikTrak operates a similar network in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane that is heavily used by delivery companies and taxi firms to monitor movements of their staff and vehicles. However, Michelle Riddy, head of SOS Response, said she believed that many UK parents would welcome the chance to keep an eye on where their children have been. Many parents of young children and teenagers would like to ease their fears for their offspring by regularly checking where they were and that everything was fine. "You can now let your children out again because you can find out where they are," she said. Ms Riddy said SOS Response was working on putting the gadget into watches, calculators and toys and even belts to give children more than one reason to carry it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2946183.stm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Webcasters Take Note: Digital radio 'shuns' the blind Ian Macrae. Digits matter a lot to visually impaired people. The ones attached to our hands, as well as those which carry crystal clear radio to our ears. Some of us use them for reading. Many of us use them for exploring what's around us. Even more of us, perhaps even enough of us to make the stereotype valid, use our digits for twiddling radio dials. But when it comes to the other sort, or rather to the people who design and manufacture the equipment for receiving DAB, (Digital Audio Broadcasting), they seem to have forgotten that the stereotype of the visually impaired radio fanatic even exists. They have come very close to designing something which is unusable, or at least very difficult for us, perhaps the most avid, hungry and, let's face it, needy group of radio listeners. Take, for a start, what used to be called in my day cruising the dial. For some this might be the riches and adventure of short-wave offering the chance to pick up something you could barely hear, broadcasting in a language you didn't speak. It is impossible to read which stations you are passing through as you twist the tuning knob For others, it was the easier pickings on FM and the relative clarity of your favourite local or national station. Whatever, the process was quite simple. You gripped the dial gently but firmly between thumb and forefinger and slowly twisted it until youhit something which sooner or later you would identify or else know from memory what it was. But now on many sets, including the Videologic hi-fi tuners, the Pure Evoke model and the Ministry Of Sound new personal DAB receiver, finding and tuning stations has been turned into a complete lottery if you cannot see the visual display on the unit. Even if you have some sight, as many visually impaired people do, the print is so small on the displays and the contrast so poor that it is impossible to read which stations you are passing through as you twist the tuning knob. Even on some of those stations which continue to offer gainful employment to presenters, it is noticeable that record titles are much less frequently announced or back announced, because the assumption is that anyone wanting to know can get that info from the screen. That is an assumption which is not just wrong, it is nonsensical. We are talking about a medium here where people are meant to talk to each other, where information is meant to be imparted and exchanged. After all, the logical conclusion to all of this is an edition of the Five Live phone-in 606 passing off in total silence with people simply texting and e-mailing the gifted Jonathan Pierce whose vocal talents go completely to waste as he texts and e-mails back. I am just a humble blind listener. It is not up to me to come up with solutions. This revolution is presumably being driven by some of the most brilliant technical minds in the radio business. What I am saying to them is that maybe they should start thinking about solutions, or at least start remembering that, if radio belongs to everyone, it belongs at least as much to those of us who need and prefer to listen to rather than look at it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2938239.stm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Potter DVD breaks record The DVD of the second moviein the Harry Potter series has become the fastest-selling in the UK to date, following its release on Friday. Fans bought 1,012,000 copies of The Chamber of Secrets DVD in two days, according to a spokesman for distributors Warner Home Video. The previous record for the fastest-selling DVD was held by the first Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The Chamber of Secrets was an instant box-office hit when released in cinemas last November, making £18.8m in its first weekend in the UK and Ireland. Neil McEwan, managing director of Warner Home Video, said the DVD's success was "phenomenal". "Expectations were high but we are amazed to see that these have been exceeded," Mr McEwan added.More than half a million advance copies of the DVD were sold. Some retailers opened overnight on Thursday to satisfy predicted demand. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...lm/2945667.stm Top 10 D/Ls - Singles ![]() BigChampagne Everest Internet Café Opens Nancy Gohring TSERING GYALTSEN was devastated when a partner advised him over a month ago to give up on his dream of building a cybercafe this year at Mount Everest's base camp in Nepal because the bureaucracy was even more daunting than the technology. But while Mr. Gyaltsen was taken aback, he was not deterred. On Monday, with the climbing season under way, he and his team finished building a cybercafe at 17,500 feet. "I feel great," he wrote in one of the first e-mail messages sent from the cafe. The cafe consists of a 10-by-20-foot tent that sits in subzero temperatures on a moving glacier. To connect to the Internet, laptops there communicate wirelessly with a satellite link. Members of an Everest climbing expedition must pay $2,500 to use the four laptops and the Internet connection during their stay at base camp, which can stretch to six weeks. Other climbers and trekkers can use the Internet service for $1 a minute or pay $4 a minute for voice calls. So far, Mr. Gyaltsen said, no expedition team has signed up for the bulk rate, but the cafe has had a steady stream of walk-in customers. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/te...ts/17ever.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Technology Before Lightning Can Strike, a Sky Watcher Pulls the Plug Anne Eisenberg SUMMER thunderstorms will be here soon, and with them the inevitable lightning that can fry a modem, PC or home entertainment system. The classic household guardians against damage from power spikes are surge protectors, typically inexpensive power strips, usually with five or six outlets, equipped to absorb some of the surplus electricity. But these devices offer limited protection, particularly against the substantial power surges that occur, for instance, when lightning strikes a nearby power line. Now a small start-up company in Savannah, Ga., Storm Shelter Electronics, hopes to help customers prevent that kind of damage by offering surge protection with a wireless twist. The company's new device has a pager that receives alerts from a lightning detection network. When the network pages the device that lightning is nearby, the device disconnects computers, televisions and other electronic devices and switches them to a battery backup. When the pager receives an all-clear from the lightning network, the device can restore the original connection. "Essentially you protect your equipment by removing AC power and letting it run off the battery until the thunderstorm passes," said Dr. Ken Cummins, head of research at the Tucson, Ariz., office of Vaisala Inc., which operates the National Lightning Detection Network, a private network of lightning sensors. The network will provide data for the Storm Shelter device. A wireless hookup like this that unites a household surge protector and a service that monitors lightning is unusual, said Tim Minnehan, sales manager at Vaisala. Services that provide national lightning monitoring are traditionally used by large businesses like airports, golf courses and utilities that need constant bulletins, he said. "Now, people have more invested in electronics in their homes and small businesses," he said, "and they want to protect their assets." Storm Shelter expects to introduce its device this summer, at a cost of about $495, plus a monthly subscription fee of $9.95, said Dennis Page, founder and president of the company. The device, about the size of a breadbox, is equipped with six outlets, a phone jack and a 12-volt DC battery that can provide 45 minutes of backup to be shared by up to three appliances. When the lightning service sends an alert, a solenoid-driven switch pulls apart a connection in the wiring, creating a gap of three-quarters of an inch that an electrical surge of up to 35,000 volts cannot cross, Mr. Page said. Standard surge protectors typically handle spikes of no more than several hundred volts. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/te...ts/17next.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QnA with the Copyright Doc Princeton CS Prof Edward W. Felten (Almost) Live Posted by Roblimo Some legal issues, some technical issues, a little personal insight... This is what Professor Felten gives us here. Some excellent questions rose to the top in this interview, and the answers are similarly thoughtful. Major thanks go out to Professor Felten, also to the many Slashdot people who submitted great questions! 1) From your discussions with them... by burgburgburg ...do you perceive that legislators are aware of the extraordinarily broad negative implications of these new telecommunications laws that are being proposed/enacted? Also, if you are aware of it, have the hardware/software manufacturers who will be affected joined together to fight these laws, or has it flown under their radar? Prof. Felten: Let me take the second part of the question first. Yes, various manufacturers have opposed the bills. The Consumer Electronics Association, for example, has opposed them. The MPAA has now changed the bills in an attempt to make some of the big manufacturers happier. As to the first part of the question: No, I don't think the legislators who support these bills really understand the harm they would do. In my experience, if you can explain to them what the problem is, they will want to do the right thing. (They may not kill a bad bill entirely, but they will at least try to amend it to fix problems.) The hard part is to get their attention, and then to explain the problem in a manner that non-geeks can understand. The underlying problem, I think, is that geeks think about technology in a different way than non-geeks do. The differences have sunk deeply into the basic worldviews of the two communities, so that their consequences seem to be a matter of common sense to each group. This is why it often looks to each group as if members of the other group are idiots. Here's an example. Geeks think of networks as being like the Internet: composed of semi-independent interoperating parts, and built in layers. Non-geeks tend to think of networks as being like the old-time telephone monopoly: centrally organized and managed, non-layered, and provided by a single company. It's not that they don't know that the world has changed -- if you ask them what the Internet is like, they'll say that it's decentralized and layered. But the *implications* of those changes haven't sunk deeply into their brains, so they tend not to see problems that are obvious to geeks. Geeks will look at proposed network regulation and immediately ask "How will this affect interoperability?" or "Is this consistent with the end-to-end principle?" but non-geeks will look at the same proposal and think of different questions. They know what interoperability is, but it's just not at the front of their minds. 2) What sort of positive legislation? by Viperion Dr. Felten, do you have a suggestion as to what sort of legislation could be introduced that would soothe the minds of reactionary lawmakers while preserving the rights that we currently enjoy? Prof. Felten: Intellectual property policy is in a crisis right now, caused by widespread infringement and the excesses of the legal backlash against it. The biggest problem is hasty legislation that makes the crisis worse by overregulating legitimate behavior without preventing infringement. Obviously, it would be a positive step to repeal some of the bad laws that are already on the books. Part of the problem is a mindset that no matter what the problem is, the solution must be legislative. But you asked about positive legislative steps, which is a harder question. The holy grail here is a non- harmful proposal that reassures legislators about the continued viability of the music and movie industries http://interviews.slashdot.org/inter...id=153&tid=123 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Interception: How the Cops Will Surf Your PC * Lawful Intercept (LI) MUST be undetectable by the intercept subject. * Mechanisms MUST be in place to limit unauthorized personnel from performing or knowing about lawfully authorized intercepts. * If multiple Law Enforcement Agencies are intercepting the same subject, they MUST NOT be aware of each other. * There is often a requirement (especially for telecommunications services) to provide intercept related information (IRI) separately from the actual Internet Protocol (IP) traffic (or content) of interest (Note: some authorizations may be restricted to IRI). * If IRI is delivered separately from content, there MUST be some means to correlate the IRI and the content with each other. * If the information being intercepted is encrypted by the service provider and the service provider has access to the keys, then the information MUST be decrypted before delivery to the LEA or the encryption keys MUST be passed to the Law Enforcement Agency to allow them to decrypt the information. * If the information being intercepted is encrypted by the intercept subject and its associate and the service provider has access to the keys, then the service provider MAY deliver the keys to the LEA. http://cryptome.org/cisco-vile.txt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ iMesh 4.0 Released From the site iMesh is proud to announce the release of version 4.0 with a completely new design and powerful built-in features! · Advanced Search for all types of media files (Audio, Video, Games, Software, Photos and more). · Multi-lingual support. · Very fast downloads from multiple users simultaneously. · Automatic resume feature that assures the completion of all your requested downloads. · Ability to access and view your friends’ shared files. · A Media Player with play lists and full-screen preview mode. · Enhanced Media Manager ideally designed for organizing all your PC’s media files. · Links to your favorite Songs, Lyrics, Movies, Radio Stations, CD Covers and weekly Featured Artists. · Advanced media filter that prevents access to offensive files and viruses. · Ability to chat with your friends while downloading. · The most friendly and intuitive user interface. · Bandwidth control. http://www.imesh.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kazaa Lite K++ 2.1.0 build 2 Now Out What's New in Kazaa Lite K++ 2.1.0 build 2: · Added chat link to the start page · Added advanced navigation bar to the start page, which can open webpages and use search engines · Added supernode localisation feature · Added F1 as shortcut to the help file · Added K-Sig 1.1.0 as a replacement for Sig2Dat and DkSigTool · Added K-Dat 1.0 as a replacement for Dat View · Added KaZuperNodes 1.4.0 · Added option in the installer for directly sending QuickLinks to Kazaa Lite · Updated KL Extensions to 0.43 · Included AVI Preview 0.21a · Modified Speed Up 2.0.1 a bit to make it smaller · Installing for multiple users should be more foolproof now thanks to a User Configuration Wizard · Fixed a problem that some people had with K++ · UPXed some of the tools to reduce their size · Made components selection a bit clearer · Removed Kazap and pTrack from the installer http://www.geeknewz.com/comments.php?id=4324&catid=33 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Digital audio turns up the volume Market set for explosive growth, predict industry experts Robert Jaques According to analyst firm In-Stat/MDR, prospects for the sector are improving as online subscription services gain momentum, portable devices become more appealing and consumers become more interested in home jukeboxes and receivers. The high-tech market research, Turning Up the Volume for Online Services, MP3 Players, and Digital Audio for the Home, predicted that worldwide portable digital music player unit shipments (including solid state, HDD, CD/ MP3 and NetMD products) will rocket by about 500 per cent, from 6.8 million in 2002 to over 36 million in 2007. Hard disk drive-based players are expected to experience the highest growth rate, but CD/MP3 players will have the highest volume of sales. The research predicts that they will account for around 22 per cent of all portable CD players incorporating MP3 technology in 2003. But Cindy Wolf, analyst with In-Stat/MDR, said that there were still barriers to be overcome before this market reaches its potential. "Although subscription services are offering some of what consumers are asking for [streaming, downloading, burning], issues related to service bundling, pricing and regulations remain," she said. "These services will need to attract more subscribers in the coming year in order to continue to be a viable option for consumers." http://www.vnunet.com/News/1140294 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Plextor Unviels New Drive technology Press Release Controls Boost Disc Capacity 40% Plextor Corp, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance CD-related equipment and software, today announced the availability of the PlexWriter™ Premium CD-R/RW drive. The high-speed 3-in-1 drive features 52X CD-Write, 32X CD-Rewrite, and 52X-max CD-Read. Available as an internal 5.25-inch half-height drive with an ATA/ATAPI-5 interface, the new PlexWriter Premium is designed for users who require the highest levels of performance, reliability, and functionality. PlexWriter Premium includes PlexTools® Professional software to enable a unique combination of user- controllable recording features, including: · SecuRec™ offers password protection for discs · GigaRec™ allows high capacity storage up to 1 GB on a 700 MB disc · Q-Check™ checks and graphs the results of written disc quality - C1/C2 errors, track and focus errors, and beta/jitter errors · Silent Mode™ enables users to vary tray load/unload speed, spin up/down speed and write/read speeds. · PoweRec™ allows for superior quality and stable recording at maximum speed. · VariRec™ allows adjustment of the laser power to produce the highest quality audio recording possible "The new PlexWriter Premium gives our customers an unparalleled level of granular control over the CD-recording process," said Howard Wing, vice president of sales and marketing for Plextor. "SecuRec, for instance, was specifically designed to respond to the needs of financial, legal, security, and government institutions who can't afford to have their data compromised. This user-controllable feature was developed by Plextor when customers expressed interest in creating CDs that can be read only with some form of security intervention." http://www.plextor.com/english/news/...r04142003.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Intersil Adds "Burst Mode" To 802.11g Mark Hachman Intersil has adapted part of the 802.11g draft standard to allow up to three times more throughput in 802.11g networks, the company said Tuesday. The company's Prism "Nitro" technology works with the company's line of Duette and GT components, which have been adopted by companies like Netgear and D-Link. The software is shipping now, although end users will need to contact the OEM for the updated software. Intersil's software works best in crowded networks, where multiple 802.11b and 802.11g access points and cards are competing for bandwidth. Using a technique called "protection" which was built into the 7.1 draft standard of 802.11g, the Nitro technology asks other 802.11b devices to stop transmitting for a brief time, then shoots its own information out into the network in a burst. "One of the foundations of Intersil's design strategy is complete industry standards compliance," said Nick Sargologos, product marketing manager of the wireless networking product group at Intersil. "For a given 802.11x—802.1a, 802,11b, or 802.11g—we are compliant with the proper implementation." As other vendors have, Intersil is assuming that its compliance with the draft standard of 802.11g will translate into a product which will end up in compliance with the final specification, due to be ratified in June or July. However, the company claims that interoperability won't be an issue. "Nitro will work with everybody that's 'g' compliant," Sargologos said. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1026287,00.asp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 41m broadband homes in Western Europe by 2005, report 86m homes will be connected to broadband worldwide by the end of 2003, according to eMarketer in its new report ‘Broadband Worldwide’. The report predicts that home broadband penetration will grow from 57m in 2002 to 154m in 2005. Newmedizero quotes Ben Macklin, eMarketer’s senior analyst, as saying 'The countries and companies that realise the full potential of widespread broadband will surge ahead in the next decade.' With 22 per cent of US homes expected to have broadband by the end of the year, Western Europe lags a little behind. 19.5m Western European households are expected to benefit from broadband connections by the end of year, though eMarketer predicts this figure to rise to 41m by 2005. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15883 Europe most expensive market in the world for DSL Europe is still the most expensive region of the world for DSL, the broadband internet access service over the telephone network, according to new research published by analyst company Point Topic. The research indicates that service providers in North America and Asia Pacific continue to be cheaper than those in Europe, as they have been for the past three years. Point Topic focused their study on average residential tariffs for the first year (including any one-off equipment, installation and activation charges) levied by the larger operators, choosing services closest to the 500kbps standard. Illustrating the trend, Point Topic give the example of first year cost for Bell Canada's 1mbps service which has consistently been around E28 (US30) per month since March 2001. Compare this with costs in France of between E40 (US43) and E64 (US69) for the same period, or between E56 (US60) and E74 (US80) in the UK. Costs in some other countries have changed quite sharply. Japan, now one of the fastest growing DSL markets in the world, also now has DSL services at around the E28 (US30) per month level. In 2000, before regulatory intervention to kick-start the market, the Japanese had the highest costs of any DSL market, at around E84 (US90) per month. South Korea has the highest levels of broadband penetration in the world whilst Taiwan has the cheapest prices. "DSL costs less in Seoul or San Francisco than in Sheffield or Seville. We would expect to see prices gradually converge, as they have over the last three years, but for European consumers it will not be happening fast enough," concluded John Bosnell, Editor at Point Topic. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15906 First Czechs take up ADSL services Over 900 Czechs have signed up for broadband internet access via asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology since the service was first launched some six weeks ago, according to a Cesky Telecom spokesperson. Interest in the service is growing and Cesky Telecom has received a further 3670 orders for the service, which will take 21 days to implement. ADSL access is provided over Cesky Telecom's lines, with the operator signing a number of wholesale agreements to offer ADSL services with alternative operators and internet service providers (ISPs). A number of the new providers have also begun to offer high-speed internet services, including most recently Tiscali, which is to offer high-speed access via ADSL, satellite and Wi-fi technology. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15956 Steep rise in Dutch ADSL internet connections Internet users in the Netherlands went for broadband in a big way in 2002, and ADSL was their preferred connection-technology, according to the results of a survey by market analysts, Heliview. The Heliview survey, which covers the Dutch internet situation in 2002, investigates the deployment (where market share is expressed as a percentage of the total number of households connected to the internet in the Netherlands) of various communication technologies. According to the report, service providers of asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) - a digital technology designed to increase the bandwidth available over standard copper telephone wires - were the biggest beneficiaries of the broadband trend, with a market-share rise from three to nine per cent. Cable connections grew from 21 to 24 per cent, bringing the total broadband market share to 33 per cent and confirming previous findings of the fast-growing popularity of high-speed internet connections. Completing the internet communications market picture in the country, the number of ISDN connections stood at 12 per cent at the end of 2002, but analogue connections (deploying normal dial-up telephone lines) still led the pack at 55 per cent. Finally, internet usage in the Netherlands is forecast to grow to 57 per cent of all Dutch households in the next 12 months (quite surprising when you consider that internet penetration has levelled off in some countries, such as neighbouring Belgium) - to the obvious delight of telephone operators, cable companies and ISPs all. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15915 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US resents premium streaming but pays up anyway Recent surveys in the US have found that even though Americans still resent having to pay for online streaming content, many are beginning to cough up. A survey for RampRate found that 68 per cent of the 1,383 internet users polled disliked paying for content, with only 2.5 per cent of respondents saying that they would pay willingly. Only 4 per cent said they would be more willing to pay if content were better. However, a report by the Online Publishers Association found that the American spend on online content rose 95 per cent in 2002 over 2001, totalling E1.2bn (USD1.3bn). Jupiter Research predict the paid online content market will grow 20 per cent year-on-year up to 2007. AccuStream iMedia Research, meanwhile, confirm that the number of video streams served in 2002, whether paid for or not, was up 52 per cent from the 2001 figure, reaching a total of 3.9bn. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15880 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ US broadcasters accused of currying favour over deregulation The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is coming under intense pressure from broadcasters to relax media regulation at a time when pro-democracy groups and media watchdogs have expressed concern over possible conflicts of interests reflected in the complicity of the US media with the Bush Administration’s waging of the Iraq war. The Centre for Digital Democracy (CDD), a non-profit agency aimed at promoting media diversity, believes that news organisations have a “serious conflict of interests” reporting on the Bush Adminisatrion, because of their desire to encourage media deregulation. Relaxing strict laws preventing a single broadcaster from reaching more than 35 per cent of the national audience or owning more than one network in the same market would be likely to see the major players make major financial gains. With the FCC’s review of media regulation currently on-going, lobbying from the broadcasters has been intense. In a recent article, Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the CDD, said “It is likely that decisions about how to cover the war on Iraq - especially on television - may be tempered by a concern not alienate the White House." The vehement support of the Iraq conflict from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network has come under particular suspicion of attempting to curry favour, with Murdoch waiting to see whether his bid for DirecTV will win regulatory approval. Concern over the situation is further exacerbated by the George Bush’s appointment of Michael Powell, son of Secretary of State Colin Powell, as chairman of the FCC. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15891 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Post-war carve-up to benefit CDMA standard, record industry Hilary Rosen to rewrite Iraq’s Intellectual Property laws! Perhaps it’s not quite so juicy a tale of blatant war-profiteering as the more widely reported contract awarded to US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s company, Halliburton, to clean up and secure dynamited Iraqi oil wells - but there is still something a little Berlusconian about the move by the victors in the recent war to establish CDMA as the new mobile telephony standard in post-Saddam Iraq. As the bombs began to fall on Baghdad, Californian Republican congressman Darrel Issa sent a letter to US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld demanding that in any US-occupied Iraq, there be a CDMA standard cellular phone network built, the standard used in the United States. The letter, francophobically-headed "Parlez-vous francais?", claimed that the mobile standard most commonly used in the Middle East (and the rest of Asia and Europe), GSM, would only benefit perfidious "French and European sources, not US patent holders," because GSM stands for Groupe Systeme Mobile. (It doesn’t. GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communications. D’uh). What is more disturbing than his remarkable acronymal ignorance, is that Congressman Issa neglects to point out is that the patent holder of the CDMA standard, Qualcomm, is one of Issa’s most generous donors. A few days later, Issa introduced a bill along the same lines, and already a number of his fellow congressmembers have expressed support for an American mobile phone network in Iraq, despite the fact that GSM has a roughly 70 per cent global market share, compared to CDMA’s 12 per cent. Meanwhile and furthermore, naturally it follows that in a world where Dick Cheney’s company is contracted to perform oil-related janitorial services in southern Iraq, among the people chosen to rewrite the country’s intellectual property laws would be the delightful Hilary Rosen, the retiring chairwoman of the Recording Industry Association of America and arch-nemesis of mp3-downloading college students everywhere, according to a UK- based investigative reporter. "Who’s really going to win this war? It looks like Madonna," said BBC Newsnight’s Greg Palast in an interview on the subject with US radio show Democracy Now, "because there’s a whole team of people re-writing Iraq’s laws for them, in particular Hilary Rosen – who is the lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America. They are re-writing Iraq’s intellectual property laws for them. So that where before, they feared Saddam Hussein, now they have to fear Sony Records will chop off their hands if they bootleg a Madonna album." So it looks like the anti-war protesters were wrong, the war wasn’t about oil - the post-war carve-up of Iraq shows that it was about mobile phones and mp3s too. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15965 The RIAA has denied any involvement of Hilary Rosen in the rebuilding of Iraq. See first peice - Jack. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Holy Hi-Fi Batman! Little rig grabs BIG sound Back in November of 2002, we announced that we're working on a replacement for portable DAT recorders. Over the last few months we've gradually released information about this exciting product. We're pleased to offer more information today. PDAudio -- A Recording System For PDA, Laptop and Desktop Rather than being a single piece of hardware, PDAudio is a system of inexpensive hardware and software components you can select among to assemble a very compact recorder that meets your needs. The centerpiece of the system is PDAudio-CF, a Type I (extended) Compact Flash S/PDIF interface with optical and coaxial inputs. PDAudio-CF can be mounted in PDA hosts that run Windows CE/Pocket PC 2002 or Linux (such as HP/Compaq's iPAQ), or used with laptop and desktop computers running Linux, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The PDA-based PDAudio will operate on rechargeable batteries for more than enough time to record a concert, and be able to quickly transfer audio data to a laptop/desktop computer (PC or Mac) via removable solid-state memory cards (currently available in sizes up to 4 GB from Lexar), removable PC Card (currently up to 5 GB from Toshiba) and CF Card (currently 1 GB and up to 4 GB from Hitachi/IBM come Fall '03) hard disk drives, high capacity 2.5" hard drives (40 GB or more) using the PC Card interface, and via wired and wireless local area networks. The PDA, PDAudio-CF interface, CF storage cards all fit together in one compact package, using a dual CF (or PC Card) expansion pack. Here's a picture of an HP iPAQ, a dual CF card expansion pack, a PDAudio-CF interface and a CF memory card, running an early version of our PDAudio Recorder (Linux) software: ![]() It fits comfortably in one hand and slips easily into a shirt pocket. A full-featured recorder will retail for well under $1k, and, depending on what you already own, under $400. It will be available in a few different hardware and software configurations. More pictures will be posted in the next few days. http://www.core-sound.com/HighResRecorderNews.html#NEWS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Intel, Nokia, Proxim, Others Launch WiMax Intel, Nokia, Proxim, and a host of other companies yesterday launched WiMax, a non-profit group formed to certify and promote the developing wireless broadband standard 802.16. Other WiMax members include Airspan Networks, Alvarion, Aperto Networks, Ensemble Communications, and Wi-LAN. The standard -- which the IEEE modified in January -- is a wireless MAN technology that will connect 802.11 hot-spots to the Internet and provide a wireless extension to cable and DSL for last mile broadband access. 802.16 provides up to 31 miles of linear service area range and allows users connectivity without a direct line of sight to a base station. The technology also provides shared data rates up to 70Mbps, which, according to WiMax, is enough bandwidth to simultaneously support more than 60 businesses with T1-type connectivity and hundreds of homes. Many insiders argue that WiMax could pose a real threat to 3G and other wide area cellular data technologies. They claim that WiMax-powered hot spots could cheaply offer wireless broadband access to citywide areas, bringing Wi-Fi closer to cellular network levels of ubiquity. http://www.tmcnet.com/enews/041103i.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cornice Unveils 1-In. HDD Priced Less Than US$100 ![]() Cornice Inc of the United States revealed a 1-inch hard disk drive (HDD) designed for consumer electronics for an OEM price of less than US$100. Cornice will launch mass production of the Cornice Personal Storage, the 1-inch HDD with a recording capacity of 1.5GB some time before the second quarter of 2003. According to the company's estimate, the retail price of music player accommodating this HDD will be US$199 at volume production. Taking this estimate under consideration, Nikkei Electronics assumes that the OEM price of "Cornice Personal Storage" is expected to be below US$100. This price is much lower than the 1GB Microdrive, provided by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc of the US, whose OEM price ranges US$170 to US$210. Cornice reduced the number of parts largely to cut price. To reduce the number of parts, it substantially changed HDD's architecture. Cornice Personal Storage is not a removable type, or not designed to be used for a slot with CompactFlash memory cards, but is designed to be embedded inside the device. The company has already done an operation check. Many HDD makers see that Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd of Korea employed the HDD for its video camera that was exhibited at "CES 2003" in January 2003. "It is not a downsized HDD of the existing HDD, but is designed from scratch based on the specific purpose that its usage is specified to portable devices and it is used as an embedded device," said an official at Cornice. It does not employ common interfaces such as CompactFlash and ATA to connect a HDD and a host device, but uses a simple and original interface. Furthermore, a part of electronic circuitry is separately designed from the body of the HDD for shared use with a memory and microcomputer of a host device. As a result, the company could reduce electronic parts and ICs to 40 and three, while the existing Microdrive required 110 and six, respectively, according to Cornice. http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf?...bt/news/237219 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pass the oxygen Homeland Security Dept. Fills Privacy Post With Double Click Exec! Brian Krebs The former privacy officer of Internet advertising giant DoubleClick will be the Department of Homeland Security's first privacy czar, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced today. Nuala O'Connor Kelly, 34, will be responsible for vetting proposals or programs that involve collecting and using U.S. citizens' personal information. She currently serves as a Commerce Department attorney. The privacy rights community generally views O'Connor Kelly as a consensus builder, but it is too soon to say how much influence she will have in protecting Americans' privacy rights, said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "One of the things we liked (about her job) at DoubleClick was that she worked hard to build relationships with the privacy community and to vet their new policies with these groups," Schwartz said. "There is still some question as to what level of access will she have, and whether she will be able to speak her mind internally and publicly on privacy issues or will she simply be giving the agency line on everything." O'Connor Kelly is well acquainted with the often bitter debate over balancing privacy rights with other interests. She joined DoubleClick in February 2000 after the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into complaints that the company was improperly storing and sharing private user data. DoubleClick also was embroiled in similar investigations by 12 state attorneys general and several class-action lawsuits. DoubleClick settled most of those lawsuits, and created a division specializing in privacy compliance, which O'Connor Kelly ran. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Apr16.html Until next week, - js. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Recent WIRs - http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15843 April 5th http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15729 March 29thth http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15623 March 22ndth http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15526 March 15th 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. |
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WAH!
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 725
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i'm sure he'll do a great job. (giggle) |
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