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20-03-03, 11:04 PM
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Join Date: May 2001
Location: New England
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Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review March 22nd, '03
Real Crooks Don’t Use Peer-To-Peers
Well here we go again. The U.S. Congress had another very noisy and well publicized episode of “moral outrage” this week over the supposed connection between P2Ps and organized crime - but like last weeks cynical attempt to make a connection between P2Ps and kiddie porn they’ve once again presented no evidence to back up their shaky conclusions. It’s a smokescreen to mask the real problem: the business of selling music is changing so much it’s becoming unrecognizable and it’s getting away from the guys who run the companies and who not coincidently, donate millions to these very same members of congress… P2Ps aren’t a fad, and they’re not going away. So in the meantime we’ll hear a lot of nonsense about how evil and dangerous these networks are – especially for kids - but in the end the Peers will prevail and someday soon congress will turn its cynical attention to some other idiotic issue, just until it does be prepared for some extra heat. It’s a fact: Crooks don’t use peer-to-peers. Why would they? The networks are way too open. They can’t hide behind them and they can’t make a nickel off them. Just don’t go looking for a logical Washington congressman on this issue or you may die of loneliness. Enjoy, Jack. Hollywood Stasists vs. Valley Dynamists Edward B. Driscoll, Jr. In Virginia Postrel's 1998 book, The Future and its Enemies, rather than using traditional political groups such as Republicans and Democrats, or even conservatives and liberals, she classifies people as being either dynamists or stasists. One front in the war of dynamists and stasists is in California, where Northern California's Silicon Valley is on the dynamist side of liberation, freedom and self-enlightenment. But down south, Hollywood is fighting for addiction, ignorance, top-down dominance and stasis. Postrel once told me that she describes the dynamists as a group of individuals who want to allow for more individual exploration and experimentation; a group "looking for improvements in their own lives, in their businesses, in technologies they work with. And doing this in a very decentralized way." On the other side of the equation, Postrel says, "There are a lot of people who are very uncomfortable with that choice or with that process"; uncomfortable with individuals having too much control. "And this group wants stability or control at the level of the whole society. They want some form of stasis. Some form of holding the future still." And says Postrel, they typically want the government to do this on a national level. http://www.techcentralstation.com/10...D=1051-031903E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ File sharing pirates "are like organised criminals, terrorists" There's no evidence, but lock 'em up anyhow Paul Hales A CONGRESSIONAL HEARING yesterday heard that file sharing networks trading in copyrighted material could be run by organised crime syndicates who could then be linked to terrorist organisations. A deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, John G. Malcolm, said he thought there could be some connection between illegal copying and organised crime. But, strangely, he had no evidence, like, er, none, to back up his assertions. Malcolm also called the creators of "warez" file-trading organised criminals. They operate in a very organised fashion, said Malcolm, though he admitted they do seem unusual in the sphere of organised crime in that they do not make money... The U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property hearing yesterday also heard that trading in copyrighted material was more lucrative than selling drugs. And Malcolm claimed: "These groups will not hesitate to threaten or injure those who tend to interfere with their operations." "For too long, people engaged in piracy believed that if they were outside the borders of the United States, they could violate our intellectual property laws with impunity," Malcolm foamed. He said the indictment Wednesday of an Australian, Hew Raymond Griffiths, the alleged "kingpin" in a Russian pirate group named Drink Or Die, "sends a clear and unequivocal message to everybody involved in illegal piracy that regardless of where you are, the Justice Department will find you, investigate you, arrest you, prosecute you, and incarcerate you." Though Griffiths is yet to be apprehended. Texas Republican John Carter acknowledging that users of P2P networks are likely to be young college students said "I think it'd be a good idea to go out and actually bust a couple of these college kids." He added: "You want to see college kids duck and run, you let them read the papers and somebody's got a 33-month sentence in the federal penitentiary for downloading copyrighted materials." http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=8315  Ipsos-Reid Research: File Traders Feel Activities Are Not Wrong Richard Menta The music and movie industries have stepped up their campaigns to label people who trade files as pirates who steal from artists and who are violating the law. It's not working. The public is saying "Talk to the Hand". The truth is until this issue winds its way to the Supreme Court, US law will remain unclear on this issue. In the 80's, the second highest court in the land ruled it was a crime to record your favorite TV shows as it violated copyrights. We taped anyway and the Supreme Court eventually reversed the lower court order. But if the Supreme Court sustained that order, would we have thrown out our VCR's or seen our past actions as criminal. Lower courts can spit out rulings for the next decade that support entertainment industry claims, but as they say you can't legislate morality. Research from Ipsos-Reid validates this saying as it shows that a significant percentage of Americans feel file trading is OK. The latest finding from TEMPO, the company's quarterly study of digital music consumer activities, shows almost one-fifth of the US population over 12 has downloaded music in the last 30 days. Of that number only 21% feel that free downloading hurts artists. Only 9% feel that downloadling a file is wrong. Below are the results of Ipsos-Reid's most recent analysis of the attitudes of the vast amounts of people who actively download. It was taken from a national sample size of 1,112 respondents age 12 and over: · Nearly half (48%) of Americans between 12-17 downloaded song files in the last month, up from 44% in April 2002. 42% of those between 18- 24 have done the same, up from 36% since last year. · US downloaders feel that file trading activities are benign. Only 9% thought that file trading was wrong. Only 21% feel that that P2P file trading hurts artists. · 73% of US downloaders report that their motivation for trading was to sample music for later purchase as a way to reduce the risk of spending good money on a mediocre album. · Only 16% of downloaders feel that the record industry are justified in shutting down file trading services like Napster and AudioGalaxy. · 39% feel that making copies of music to give to friends is OK. http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2003/notwrong.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Legal Issues Don't Hinder American Downloaders An Estimated 40 million Americans Downloaded Music In The Past 30 Days Ipsos-Reid Downloaders believe their actions are not hurting artists, according to Ipsos, the global marketing research firm. Despite recent efforts to educate the public on the need to respect copyrights and intellectual property in the era of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, only one-in-five downloaders age 12 and older agree that free downloading and peer to peer file-trading hurts artists. New findings from TEMPO, the company’s quarterly study of digital music behaviors, show that nearly one-fifth (18%) of the American population aged 12 and over report having downloaded a music or MP3 file in the past 30 days. This translates into nearly 40 million people within the current U.S. population (according to 2000 U.S. Census figures). This measure is slightly greater than earlier findings from TEMPO (April 2002), and suggest that American music enthusiasts are continuing to embrace the Internet as a convenient channel for music acquisition. This is especially true among Americans under the age of 25, with nearly half (48%) of 12-to-17 year olds and 42% of 18-to-24 year olds reporting they have downloaded music or MP3 files in the past month. These measures mark a gradual increase from April 2002, when 44% of 12-17 year olds and 36% of 18-to-24 year olds had taken part in this activity in the past 30 days. “Past month activity is often an indication of repetitive behavior, and thus this particular measure provides an idea of the proportion of the U.S. population that is regularly downloading music or MP3 files off of the Internet,” said Matt Kleinschmit, a Director with Ipsos and the TEMPO research program. “This downloading could include anything from sampling music clips from artist- endorsed websites to peer-to-peer file-sharing, and provides further evidence that many Americans’ are consistently using the Internet as a method for listening to and obtaining music.” The recent TEMPO research also reveals that nearly three-quarters (73%) of U.S. downloaders report their motivation for doing so is to sample music before making a purchase. Further, U.S. downloaders believe their actions to be okay, with few agreeing that downloading free music off of the Internet is wrong (9%), and only one-in-five (21%) agreeing that free downloading and peer-to- peer file-sharing hurts artists. Only 16% believe that record labels are justified in shutting down file-sharing services, such as Napster and Audio Galaxy, and two-fifths (39%) agree that making copies of music to give to friends is okay. http://www.ipsospa.com/pubaff/dsp_di...D_to_view=1763 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clear Channel Plans Music Data Anna Wilde Mathews A unit of Clear Channel Communications Inc. will begin offering radio stations data about the popularity of songs on peer-to-peer Internet networks, a move that will sharply raise the profile of activity on the controversial online services. Premiere Radio Networks, Clear Channel's national-programming arm, will add information provided by Los Angeles peer-to-peer tracking firm BigChampagne LLC to the research services it offers to radio stations. The new offering could reach an extremely influential audience in the music world, since Premiere has more than 1,000 research customers. Clear Channel, of San Antonio, itself is the biggest radio broadcaster. The upshot is that activity on online services such as Kazaa, Morpheus and iMesh could eventually have significant clout in shaping radio playlists, even though much of the music in those networks is deemed pirated material by record labels. Sometimes the online networks even offer songs that music companies haven't yet released publicly. The information is "valuable to the music industry and the radio industry," said Kraig T. Kitchin, president of Premiere. "We don't condone" any illicit music distribution on the networks, he said. The peer-to-peer networks include an enormous sampling population. A December 2002 survey by Ipsos-Reid found that 19% of Americans 12 and older reported that they had downloaded a music or MP3 files from a file-sharing network. More than half of people 12 to 17 years old said they had done so. BigChampagne will be able to parse the information by geographic market. It also will let stations focus on peer-to-peer users whose uploadable collections overlap substantially with their playlists. Then stations will be able to develop in-depth profiles by learning what those people are downloading, requesting and offering to other users on the networks. http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/030314/72/38y48.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tech Wars: P-to-P Friends, Foes Struggle Arms battle escalates between P-to-P piracy and copyright-protection efforts. Malaika Costello-Dougherty The duel between peer-to-peer file-sharing fans and their opponents who want to protect copyrighted materials is turning into a high-tech arms race, as each side boosts the stakes with digital weaponry. The race has escalated recently, with the government pressuring universities and the Recording Industry Association of America sending brochures to Fortune 1000 companies, both urging a stop to illegal file sharing. The RIAA is also taking legal action, suing several P-to-P sites and trying to force ISPs to reveal identities of customers who frequent P-to-P sites. The confrontation is only intensifying. Both fans and foes of P-to-P activity are turning to technological deterrents. Universities and businesses that want to stop their users from engaging in file sharing on the likes of Kazaa or Morpheus have cracked down, monitoring network traffic or strengthening firewalls. But they are also finding that firewalls and filters that block certain content from entering a network are becoming ineffective, says Dr. John Hale, the director of the Center for Information Security at the University of Tulsa. P-to-P service users are responding with technological weapons of their own, hiding messages to blend with other traffic and varying the communication ports they use to evade these devices. "Ultimately, end-to-end encryption of communication channels will make it virtually impossible for system administrators and Internet service providers to monitor network traffic," Hale says. In response, technology to stop illegal sharing of copyrighted material is going through its first evolution. The Center for Information Security is analyzing alternate strategies, including working within the P-to-P network with new strategies like file spoofing and interdiction. One advantage is that the copyright holder can control both of those strategies without the cooperation of an ISP or an administrative presence on the network, Hale says. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109816,00.asp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Does File Trading Fund Terrorism? Industry execs claim peer-to-peer networks pose more than just legal problems. Grant Gross A congressional hearing on the links between terrorism, organized crime, and the illegal trading of copyrighted material produced more complaints about college students using peer-to-peer networks and other governments sanctioning copyright violations than it did evidence of nefarious connections. Witnesses and representatives at the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property hearing Thursday did express fears that profits from widespread copying of movies, music, and software outside the United States were being funneled into terrorist organizations, but the hearing produced no concrete examples of that happening. John G. Malcolm, deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice, did say there seems to be some connection between illegal copying and organized crime, in that many of the groups profiting from illegal copies are highly organized and can have international distribution networks. Organized crime often supports terrorism, he suggested. "These groups will not hesitate to threaten or injure those who tend to interfere with their operations," Malcolm said. Searching for Specifics But when subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) asked Malcolm for examples of cases where file trading was connected to terrorism, Malcolm said he couldn't give concrete examples. "It would surprise me greatly if the number were not large," Malcolm added. "This is an easy enterprise to get into; the barriers of entry are very small, and the profits are huge." Smith and several others at the hearing noted that selling illegally copied materials can be more lucrative than selling illegal drugs, and several at the hearing compared the copyrighted materials trade to the drug trade. Illegally copied materials can have markups of 900 percent, Smith noted. Malcolm told the representatives of this week's indictment of Hew Raymond Griffiths, of Bateau Bay, Australia, for his role as an alleged kingpin in DrinkOrDie, a software piracy group founded in Russia in 1993. The Department of Justice is working to get Griffiths extradited to the United States, Malcolm said, and the indictment is part of the DOJ's "Operation Buccaneer," in which 20 U.S. defendants have been convicted of felony copyright offenses since December 2001. "For too long, people engaged in piracy believed that if they were outside the borders of the United States, they could violate our intellectual property laws with impunity," Malcolm added. "They were wrong. This indictment and the extradition sends a clear and unequivocal message to everybody involved in illegal piracy that regardless of where you are, the Justice Department will find you, investigate you, arrest you, prosecute you, and incarcerate you." Representative Robert Wexler, (D-Florida), praised the hearing for highlighting the "disastrous connection" between copyright piracy and organized crime. "I can't help but sit here and wonder...if parents fully understand the ramifications of what it is to steal a movie or pirate a song," he said. "If more American parents understood the connection between the pirating of intellectual property and organized crime, I think then there'd be a much more effective public relations response in our own country to better appreciate the disastrous ramifications." Wexler suggested public service commercials should highlight that alleged connection between piracy and organized crime, much like anti-drug commercials highlight the connection between the sale of illegal drugs and funding terrorism. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109808,00.asp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aimster Appeal Filed in Seventh Circuit Aimee Deep The basic issue here is, will Big Media be allowed to control the Internet because they control a relatively small number of copyrights. Or, alternatively, will innovators and be permitted to create online commerce at a rapid pace. We're arguing that Aimster is not similar to Napster. OK, I admit that Shawn and I have similar nicknames, but that's about as far as it goes. Aimster is a significant innovation in online commerce - and different from Napster - because: 1) Users can post in their user profiles not just music but anything they want - including merely verbal descriptions of themselves, that don't allow any downloads at all. 2) Any file that is posted must be protected by encryption, and can only be decrypted by a private network of buddies. Aimster does not allow public distribution of unencrypted content - this is different from Napster and all the other file- sharing services. 3) Anyone can host the Aimster private messaging service - including you or I. But whoever hosts it has no control over the private messaging. I hope these points came through in our appeal brief. The decision we're appealing granted the copyright holders a truly sweeping injunction. For example, the injunction says that all licensees of Aimster must prevent all access to their computers. But there are millions of users of the software who are all licensees, including me. So all of us must prevent all access to our computers. In other words, I must prevent access to this blog. Of course, Blogs are a kind of messaging service, and new technologies are coming to allow file- sharing through blogs. Could copyright holders control blogs next? http://www.musicpundit.com/archives/000397.html#000397 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drexel University changes strategy to combat P2P sharing Ellen Slattery Peer-to-peer networking, otherwise known as file sharing, is a common practice among college students. The U.S. House of Representatives spoke to various college administrators Feb. 26 in an attempt to limit the number of students who swap music and video files illegally. Even though the representatives recommended that tougher sanctions, such as expulsion or prosecution, be imposed for these violations, Drexel does not plan to implement more stringent consequences, Director of Core Technology Infrastructure Ken Blackney said. To help combat peer-to-peer networking that violates copyright, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was enacted in 1998. DMCA was supported by various record and movie companies, and it allows university officials to contact students who, knowingly or not, are participating in illegal file sharing on their networks. Universities have numerous offenders because large computer bandwidths and fast Internet connections are available to students, according to Blackney. When Drexel is made aware of a violation, the Office of Information Resources and Technology has 24 hours to stop the alleged copyright infringement, he said. When the crackdown on students first began, IRT deactivated an offending student’s computer jack. The case was then forwarded to the Office of Judicial Affairs. For the past nine months, IRT has been handling all of the cases. Most involve first time, accidental offenders who are not aware of the peer-to-peer networking policy. However, IRT has been dealt over 60 warnings, also known as take-down notices, from the DMCA as of late. IRT has many responsibilities, and does not have enough time and manpower to dedicate to these situations, Blackney said. Because of the recent abundance of take-down notices, IRT has decided to revert to their old system. Effective next term, IRT will unplug the offender’s computer jack, and the case will be sent to Judicial Affairs, according to Blackney. This system will be in place until fall term, when the University hopes to release a Web-based system for violators, Blackney said. First time offenders will be able to have their service reactivated within two days, as opposed to waiting a few weeks — the time that a reactivation may take. "This will be a huge benefit to the students," he said. Blackney acknowledged that a common student defense is that they own the albums containing the songs they downloaded, legalizing their ownership of the MP3 files. However, he contends that this is not true in every situation. "If someone really wants make a buck off of [a song], stealing it is wrong," Blackney told The Triangle. "Peer-to-peer networking has a real potential to be beneficial if it is used right, but has problems if it is used wrong." http://news.thetriangle.org/2003/03/14/filesharing.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BT launches portable broadband radio British incumbent telco has launched a range of broadband-related products that it hopes will stimulate demand for the company’s broadband offering beyond the youthful online gaming and music downloading hardcore. Foremost amongst the list of new products is a portable radio that can be used anywhere in the house and allow customers to ‘tune in’ to thousands of internet radio stations. It is likely to be bundled with a BT internet connection and will cost E235 (£159). BT is also offering a series of broadband-using home security and surveillance products. Some products that have yet to come to market include baby monitors and other devices that can take advantage of the ‘always-on’ high-speed connection. The company is also promoting a home network system that allows a single broadband connection for multiple computers and appliances in the home to be shared, but without the need for wiring. BT is also launching its X-Box Live service this week, an online gaming service tie-in with the Microsoft game console, that allows online gamers to talk to each other while they’re playing. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15401 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Music companies fear new 100-hour discs Barry Fox The music industry this week condemned the launch of two recording systems that will let people copy between 30 and 100 hours of music onto a single disc. The launches, from electronics giants Sony and Philips, are being seen as a potential pirates' charter. "It's a no-brainer. Anything which lets people pirate more music like this has to be very bad news for the music industry," says a spokesman for Britain's record industry trade association, the BPI. The launches come as the global music industry suffers its worst downturn since the CD format was introduced. Free online downloading and disc copying have been widely blamed for the slump in sales. Sony's system will use the ultra-efficient data compression system used in MiniDiscs, to squeeze 30 hours of MP3 music onto a single blank CD. The discs will play on a new generation of personal stereos, which cost less than £100. Philips's system uses a computer DVD recorder to save at least 100 hours of MP3 music on a blank DVD, which will play on a new portable DVD player. Why Sony should want to launch a recorder that might make piracy easier may seem surprising, as its Sony Music division makes and sells CDs. While Sony Music did not want to comment on its sister company's launch, Mike Tsurumi, a president of Sony Consumer Electronics in Berlin, insists that the move makes sense. "The music companies need to change their business model," he says. http://www.newscientist.com/news/pri...?id=ns99993490 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tastey Wi-Fris, part 2 A couple of guys in Spain put their homemade Wi-Fi gear in a plastic toolbox, filled the whole thing with vegetable oil for cooling and waterproofing and then submerged everything, including the hard drive! Hooked it all up to a Pringles-type antenna and it worked for two days until the HD flooded, but a new one (attached just under the lid) fixed them right up and they were back on the roof and on the air in no time!       http://www.sorgonet.com/torderawirel...1mejorado.html http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Chip From Intel Aids Wireless Web REUTERS Intel introduced a set of chips yesterday that promises to make wireless Internet access a standard feature on laptops and to untie computer users from power outlets and telephone jacks. At news conferences in cities around the globe, Intel presented its new Centrino chips, designed to allow mobile computer users at home and in more public places to go on the Internet via radio waves. "It's going to give a kick to the industry," Intel's chief executive, Craig Barrett, said in New York. "This is really — after 20 years of talking about it — the most tangible evidence" of the convergence of computing and communications, he said. Shares of Intel rose 35 cents, or 2.2 percent, yesterday, to close at $16.20 on Nasdaq. Centrino laptop users who are within 100 yards of access points called "hot spots" will be able to surf the Internet or use corporate networks. Intel said it was working with partners like telephone network operators, hotels and airports to verify that some 10,000 hot spots are fully up to speed this year in 15 countries around the globe. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/te...gy/13CHIP.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Businesses getting into Wi-Fi act Richard Shim The reach of wireless networks is extending beyond the consumer market as a majority of businesses have already set up networks or plan to do so in the next 12 months, according to a report from research firm Jupiter Research. The New York-based firm said in a release Monday that 57 percent of U.S. companies use Wi-Fi networks and an additional 22 percent are planning to use them in the next 12 months. Wi-Fi refers to wireless networking technology based on the 802.11b, 802.11a and--by midyear--the 802.11g standards, which allow people to access a network wirelessly and share resources on that network. The report is the firm's first on the Wi-Fi business market. Setting up wireless networks removes the hassle of stringing cables and makes it easier to access data on a network. Security concerns and the relative youth of the market have limited the technology's use by businesses, according to Jupiter analyst Julie Ask. However, as prices for Wi-Fi gear fall and as networking companies and industry groups improve security measures, its appeal among the pin-striped-suit set grows. Industry groups are also in the process of finalizing the 802.11i standard, which is expected to improve security on wireless networks. Ask said the number of mobile employees is a significant factor in adoption of the technology. "About 50 percent of employees on average are mobile," she said, and this is increasing. Ask added that some companies were in a holding pattern over Wi-Fi as they awaited the certification of the 802.11g standard. Businesses with less than $10 million in annual revenue are leading the charge with 83 percent either using or planning to use Wi-Fi networks in the next 12 months, according to Jupiter. Companies with $100 million or more in revenue are slightly behind with 71 percent. The market had been predominately made up of the consumer and small office/home office markets, according to Jupiter. Hot spot locations are expected to multiply, which could help drive use among businesses as traveling executives look to access corporate data. http://news.com.com/2100-1039-992901.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tube tops Television programs account for about 10% of all DVD sales. Here is a look at the top television titles sold this year: 1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Three (Fox) 2. Band of Brothers (HBO) 3. Angel: Season One(Fox) 4. Oz: The Complete Second Season (HBO) 5. The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season (Fox) 6. South Park: The Complete First Season (Warner Home Video) 7. The Shield: The Complete First Season (Fox) 8. The Simpsons: The Complete First Season (Fox) 9. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Seventh Season (Paramount) 10. Six Feet Under: The Complete First Season(HBO) 11. Married . . . With Children, Vol. 1: Most Outrageous Episodes (Columbia) 12. MTV Jackass: Vols. 2 & 3 (Paramount) 13. Good Times: The Complete First Season (Columbia) 14. Sanford and Son: The Second Season (Columbia) 15. M*A*S*H*: Season Three (Fox) LATimes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BT accused over music piracy Jane Wakefield The record industry has accused BT of not doing enough to tackle illegal music file-sharing over the internet. The British Phonographic Industry said the telecoms giant had been reluctant to discuss the issue of online piracy, despite repeated attempts by its anti-piracy division to get BT to discuss peer-to-peer file-swapping. BT denies it is supporting illegal services, pointing out that peer-to-peer technology is not illegal. The record industry blames illegal music sharing for contributing to a fall in sales. Peer-to-peer services, which allow surfers to swap files between computers without having to go through a central server, are widely used to share music. The record industry is determined to put an end to the free trading of music online but says that BT is not helping matters. "BT is the biggest service provider in terms of peer-to-peer traffic but getting them to discuss the issues is like pulling teeth," said Jollyon Benn of the BPI's anti-piracy unit. "It will be a red letter day when they talk to us," he added. "BT is trying to create business links with the music industry at the same time as being completely intransigent to the issues of piracy," he said. BT has recently launched Dotmusic, an online service offering users unlimited downloads from a catalogue of 150,000 music tracks for a monthly fee of £9.99. BT is also the largest user of peer-to-peer bandwidth, although all other ISPs also allow users access to such services. Other ISPs such as ntl have attended BPI meetings and have taken action to deal with peer-to-peer services, largely because they are having problems supporting the massive bandwidth being used by such networks. The move by ntl to cap the amount of bandwidth subscribers can use has proved massively unpopular and BT has no plans to go down the same route. "In terms of capping downloads we have no current plans to do that. We are managing our network very well," said Managing Director of BT Openworld, Duncan Ingram. He also denied that BT has been hypocritical in its support of both legitimate and illegal music downloads. "We aren't supporting an illegal market," he said. "Peer-to-peer is a technology and it isn't inherently illegal. Where do you draw the line about what is legal and what isn't? That is a range of responsibility that we are not equipped to deal with," he said He added that technically it was not easy to control peer-to-peer services. "We don't monitor every packet that comes through our network and the services can appear elsewhere," he said. However, he pointed out that without good quality legal alternatives, people were bound to be attracted to the services offered by file- sharing networks. "That is why we have launched Dotmusic, which offers a reasonably priced legitimate alternative for people," he said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2851331.stm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Toons, Tunes Trip Piracy Alarm Elisa Batista The latest must-have feature for cell phones is the ability to wirelessly send text messages accompanied by pictures, audio or video files. But people who want to send a wireless greeting with a cute cartoon character using the multimedia messaging, or MMS, function on their phones may be in for a surprise. If they're sending the e-greeting using one of Nokia's newest handsets, they'll probably receive this message: "Cannot forward copyrightable content." In fact, all of Nokia's new MMS cell phones carry such warnings, and even include software that prohibits people from sending certain material to another handset or to a PC -- even the cell-phone user's own desktop computer. "You don't want people who develop cool content to have to worry about (piracy)," said Victor Brilon, Java application manager at Nokia. Content providers won't produce good material if they think it is going to be distributed for free, Brilon said at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association trade show here this week. While industry representatives say piracy and illegal file sharing aren't rampant -- yet -- the issue has received attention, even from legislators. In an onstage question-and-answer session with CTIA president Tom Wheeler on Monday, Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) offered the industry this piece of advice: Either install software on handsets to stop illegal file trading or face a government mandate to do so. http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,58117,00.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Verizon To Unveil Ultra-Fast Wireless Mobile Network to Debut In D.C. Area This Summer Christopher Stern Verizon Wireless Inc. plans to announce today a new high-speed data service in the Washington area that would allow mobile users to connect to the Internet at speeds as fast as or faster than those provided by cable or telephone wires. The Evolution Data Only (EvDO) network will allow users of compatible wireless devices to download large files such as spreadsheets, inventory lists and even video in a matter of seconds while on the go. Verizon Wireless plans to launch the service in the late summer, with coverage initially limited to an area inside the Capital Beltway. The service will also be launched in San Diego around the same time. A working EvDO network will be a major step toward the establishment of long-awaited "third generation" wireless technology. Wireless companies have promised for years that "3G" networks would transform wireless communication by taking it beyond voice, text messages and still photos. "I view this as Verizon Wireless putting a bold stake in the ground for what will ultimately become wireless multimedia services," said Scott A. Ellison, director for mobile wireless at IDC, a Massachusetts-based technology research firm. Ellison noted that EvDO technology is already popular in South Korea, where consumers use it for tasks from video conference-calling to watching television on their cell phones. "It is blazingly fast," he said. During preliminary tests that Verizon Wireless conducted in an area from Falls Church to Rockville, people could download files while on the go at speeds from 300 to 600 kilobits per second, or about five to 10 times as fast as a dial-up modem. While stationary, users could access the Internet at speeds up to 2.4 megabits per second, about 60 percent faster than a cable modem. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Mar15.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Weblog Peer-To-Peer Movable Type's TrackBack system allows peer-to-peer communication and conversations between weblogs. Imagine that you write about a movie you just saw in an entry on your Movable Type-powered weblog. Another MT weblogger reads your entry, and wants to write an entry referencing your original post. He could just comment on your weblog, but he'd like to keep the post in his own database and host it on his site. Using TrackBack, the other weblogger can automatically send a ping to your weblog, indicating that he has written an entry referencing your original post. This accomplishes two things: 1. On your site, you can automatically list all sites that have referenced a particular post, allowing visitors to your site to read the response on the other user's weblog. 2. It provides a firm, explicit link between his entry and yours, as opposed to an implicit link (like a referrer log) that depends upon outside action (someone clicking on the link to your entry). TrackBack itself is a framework for peer-to-peer communication between weblogs; it can track cross- weblog discussions, it can provide remote content repositories, it can emulate guest authoring, etc. The technical side of TrackBack is very simple: when you want to notify a remote site of your existence, you send a ping to that site. http://www.movabletype.org/docs/mtma...html#trackback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meaningless Study Less Than Half Of P2P Searches Are for Porn Press Release Although the illegal sharing of copyrighted movies and music via peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing applications is well publicized, a study released today by Palisade Systems indicates that accessing adult and child pornography is the single largest use of these applications today. According to the study, 42% of all searches on gnutella file-sharing applications were for adult or child pornographic movies or images. In an analysis of over 22 million searches on file-sharing networks, the study found the following: * 73% of all movie searches were for pornography * 24% of all image searches were for child pornography * 6% of all searches were for child pornography of some kind * Only 3% were for non-pornographic or non-copyrighted materials http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2003,+12:59+PM Analysis: This company makes money selling tools that restrict Peer-To-Peer usage for businesses intent on reducing network bandwidth. It’s in their interest to paint P2Ps in a highly negative light in order to scare the customer and sell as much of their products to as many IT departments as possible. Such an obvious conflict taints this study and makes it highly suspect. In addition, nowhere in the report are any statistics presented for completed downloads, and for good reason – due to technical reasons it’s well beyond the scope of the survey and would dilute the sales pitch anyway, particularly since P2P searches commonly end in failure. Yet without that information there is no way to know how much pornographic material is actually being successfully shared and downloaded using these networks. Consequently the results of this survey while admittedly lurid are effectively meaningless. - JS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peer-to-Peer: RFID's Killer App? A Finnish company has developed peer-to-peer technology that enables companies to share real-time product information, regardless of the RFID tag used. One of the big shortcomings of RFID has been the lack of software available for sharing data. A small Finnish company has taken a novel approach to solving that problem. Stockway has developed a peer-to-peer network that enables companies to share real-time data about products, regardless of the kind of RFID tag used on them. The company's World Wide Article Information (WWAI) protocol allows companies to store information about a product on a number of computers. Stockway has also developed the Trackway asset-tracking application, which provides security and authentication features that let companies decide who gets to see information related to a particular item. "We don’t track information as such, we track where information can be found," says Lion Benjamins, Stockway's marketing director. "We are very excited that we have really achieve what many companies have been searching for and that is real time product traceability." http://216.121.131.129/article/articleprint/340/-1/1/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Armey blasts Bush administration over privacy Grant Gross Former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey blasted his fellow Republicans in the George W. Bush administration last week for a "lust" to violate individual privacy rights in the name of fighting terrorism. "Since 9/11, I believe people in the government, very much so in the Justice Department, have been playing out a lust for our information that is not consistent with who we have been as a nation and what our constitutional freedoms are," said Armey, a longtime privacy advocate, during a conference in Washington sponsored by the Privacy and American Business think tank. "Their rationale has been, 'the threat of terrorism is so great, so immediate and is so ubiquitous that you must sacrifice your personal liberties and personal rights to privacy to us,'" he added. Armey, who retired from the House in January, mentioned the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Carnivore e-mail spying program and the proposed Terrorism Information and Prevention System, known as TIPS, which would have encouraged U.S. citizens to report suspicious activity by others. TIPS was killed by Congress. "I believe these young lawyers in the Department of Justice saw this as their moment to get Carnivore and all these things," Armey said of the several snooping measures proposed in response to terrorism. "There's nothing more creative than a government person wanting more power. "Too many people in America are buying into it," he added. "I personally made a decision that it is possible to secure our safety while we sustain our liberties." Armey even touched on Internet peer-to-peer file trading, saying artists deserve to be compensated for their work. But lawsuits forcing Internet providers to turn over names of file-swappers, such as the Recording Industry Association of America Inc.'s recent lawsuit against Verizon Internet Services Inc., are not the way to accomplish that goal, Armey said. Such lawsuits will drive customers away from Internet providers, he added. http://www.idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/uni...F?OpenDocument ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Major New Microsoft Vulnerability http://www.microsoft.com/security/se...s/ms03-008.asp Shaky Patch Freezes Some Microsoft Systems Robert Lemos A patch for a security flaw that affects Microsoft's Web server software running on Windows 2000 has caused system freezes for some customers, the company said Thursday. The company became aware of the problem after several customers who applied the patch, released Monday, complained that their updated Windows 2000 system wouldn't run, said Iain Mulholland, program manager for the Microsoft Security Response Center. "We would have probably caught it if we had a longer testing period," he said http://news.com.com/2100-1002-993515.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P2P outpacing traffic management techniques, report Defensive strategies to control peer-to-peer file sharing that rely on traditional traffic management techniques will soon be outmoded, and may already be obsolete, according to new research by UK-based Sandvine Incorprated. The paper, ‘Port hopping and challenges to traffic control methodology’ explains how the speed and ingenuity of P2P software development has wrong-footed conventional router and switch technologies. Though service providers are understandably keen to manage the upsurge in peer-to-peer traffic across their networks, the report suggests that the most popular file-sharing clients have evolved features that quickly sidestep traditional techniques to block or throttle their communications. In the past, applications transported via TCP connections have been assigned a specific TCP port, making the traffic easy to identify. But P2P developers have re-designed their applications to use random dynamic ports - any one of the tens of thousands available. Often referred to as ‘port hopping,’ this capability renders traditional port- based P2P blocking and shaping solutions ineffective; and in some cases entirely obsolete. "The range of P2P defenses available to service providers has suddenly become very limited," said Marc Morin, co-founder and chief technology officer, Sandvine Incorporated. "Managing the way this generation of P2P application impacts the network requires techniques that are nimble enough to facilitate easy re-engineering. They must evolve in lockstep with future versions of P2P clients and changes to their underlying protocols." http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15433 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Broadband, Comcast Lets Users Find Their Own Flourishes Saul Hansell High-speed service may be the future of the Internet, but it has been nothing but trouble for most companies involved. Comcast, the newly crowned king of cable, is the accidental exception. So far the three leaders that emerged in the first Internet wave, with service based on slow telephone modems — America Online, Microsoft's MSN, and Earthlink — have attracted few customers for the speedier access known as broadband. And they have lost considerable money trying to resell fast connections bought wholesale from cable or telephone providers. Telephone companies have had some success selling their version of broadband directly to consumers and small businesses. But the phone companies still lose money on every broadband subscription. And Excite@Home, a company in which Comcast was an early investor and which was created to sell cable broadband service, collapsed in bankruptcy in 2001. Then there is Comcast itself. Without really setting out to do so, the company has become the biggest provider of broadband Internet services, with 3.6 million subscribers, and profit margins that would be the envy of any business. The question is whether Comcast can continue to perform at that level in the broadband arena once serendipity gives way to strategic planning. The chief executive, Brian L. Roberts, predicts that by the end of the year Comcast will have five million Internet customers. That would tie it with Earthlink as the third-biggest Internet service of any kind in the country by subscribers, after AOL and MSN. By revenue and operating profit, Comcast would trail only AOL. SBC, which provides broadband through telephone network technology called D.S.L, for digital subscriber line, is paying Yahoo several dollars a month per subscriber to create content and software for SBC's D.S.L. customers. The offerings include a personalized Internet music service and parental control software. Two other big phone companies, Verizon and Qwest, have similar arrangements with MSN. And America Online is about to introduce its revised broadband service, one that it plans to sell as a premium service over cable or D.S.L. But Comcast executives argue that there is no evidence yet that people choose a broadband service based on the goodies that are offered on the home page. When the Internet was new, users flocked to AOL for guidance on what to do and where to go. But anyone willing to pay nearly $50 a month to buy high-speed service presumably already knows where to surf. http://news.com.com/2100-1034-992892.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Technology Executives Assemble on a Muted Note James Connell A year ago, technology executives were expecting an imminent recovery. But instead of recovery, the last 12 months have seen most high-technology businesses scraping the rocks. "I became C.E.O. in late April, and frankly I had no idea how tough the environment was going to become," Hector Ruiz, chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices, said in an interview. "Almost immediately after becoming C.E.O., an industry that was positioning itself for a recovery actually went into a funk, completely — I mean, big-time." Some of the executives gathered here for Cebit, the world's largest technology convention, which ends on Wednesday, pointed out that it was not just a matter of economics. There was a long way to climb back after the bubble burst, a lot of good will to be regained among customers and investors, and a lack of cutting-edge products. "There is only a slight difference between boom and boomerang," Volker Jung, president of Bitkom, the German technology industry association, said at Cebit's opening ceremony. Jong Yong Yun, chief executive of Samsung, said the product cycle of the last 50 years — with new products like radio, television, personal computers and mobile phones helping the industry sustain high growth — has been interrupted. "No new `killer products' have been introduced to take their place," he told the ICT World Forum, a meeting for top technology leaders attending Cebit. "Worldwide replacement demand for new PC's and phones has not been enough." Many executives expressed hope that "killer," or advanced, products would emerge from a new wave of cooperative efforts among high-technology companies to make fast Internet access, at home and also for mobile use, possible for the majority of consumers. "Broadband's impacts go far beyond our industry," said Serge Tchuruk, chief executive of Alcatel of France, the leading European maker of telecommunications equipment, referring to high-speed Internet connections. "It is in my view a chance for Europe, as it is for other regions of the world, to develop the economy, to reduce gaps between regions by fostering development of software and content locally." Jaap Favier, the head of research at Forrester Research, noted the industry's goal to expand the number of devices in homes that are connected to the Internet. He said in an interview, "There is indeed lots of cooperation going on between all electronics firms as well as software and PC manufacturers to get to the new nirvana, which is the digital home." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/17/te...gy/17VIEW.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eisner Faces Difficult Year at Disney Laura Holson When Michael D. Eisner takes the stage at the Walt Disney Company's annual meeting in Denver on Wednesday, the most notable thing for many people in the audience may be that he is there at all. Last fall, after years of a steadily underperforming stock price for Disney, Mr. Eisner successfully fended off a boardroom coup and bested his chief critic and fellow board member, Stanley P. Gold, investment adviser to the family of Roy E. Disney, Walt Disney's nephew. And yet, on the eve of Mr. Eisner's 19th annual meeting as Disney's chief executive, analysts and media executives predict that the coming year will be no less challenging for him. Although the ailing ABC network surged to No. 2 last November from its previous fourth-place prime-time ranking among 18-to-49-year-old viewers, that momentum seems to be waning. ABC is now tied for No. 3, putting pressure on Mr. Eisner to prove that last fall's resurgence was no fluke. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/17/bu...ia/17DISN.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gateway to trim work force John G. Spooner Gateway will announce layoffs Monday, as part of a previously announced plan aimed at returning the company to profitability, CNET News.com has learned. The Poway, Calif., PC maker began notifying employees affected by the job cuts Monday morning. Gateway plans to announce the number of job cuts as soon as later in the day, a company spokesman said. Rod Sherwood, Gateway's chief financial officer, said at a conference earlier this month that the company's goal is to boost revenue by growing its PC business and entering new markets for consumer electronics, while lowering general and administrative expenses--generally the bulk of which are salaries and company operations such as human resources--as well as reducing manufacturing costs such as product warranties. Under the plan, Gateway would consider layoffs and closing Gateway stores, Sherwood said at the time, but he declined to offer details. The end result would lower Gateway's break-even point, allowing the company to return to profitability more easily and quickly. Gateway began working on the plan in late 2002. Everything from job cuts to closing store locations was on the table, the company spokesman confirmed Monday. "We have made a series of decisions," he added. http://news.com.com/2100-1042-992898.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Register reports self-serving send off RIAA chief invokes Martin Luther King in pigopoly defense Andrew Orlowski Departing RIAA chief Hilary Rosen yesterday invoked the name of slain black civil rights leader Martin Luther King as she defended the music oligopolies' right to prevent people sharing music. She also vigorously defended poisoning peer to peer sharing networks with junk music - presumably not a situation that the civil rights leader could have envisaged, in a clutch of policy statements that are a must-read for even the most casual music-lover. Rosen was receiving - we kid you not - the 'Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award' from the US T-shirt-sellers and record shops' guild, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, or NARM, in Florida. We obtained a transcript of her speech, a Word document puzzlingly named (as we discovered, down deep in the property tags) "Has its beginnings in our nation's history". Rosen was "humbled" to receive the gong, she said, and cited Martin Luther King's inspirational words: "Social change cannot come overnight, but we must always act as though it were a possibility the very next morning." The speech was Rosen's valedictory as a music industry lobbyist, and it gave her opportunity to reflect on whether she had done good by the industry - this reviled cartel of distributors who have squeezed small artists, punished music sharers and who have now set their sights on snooping on ISPs, extending - quite as an aside - their interpretation of the US constitution into such distant corners of the world as Hong Kong and Australia. But the most breathtaking part of Rosen's valedictory was early in her speech, when she proposed the serving forces of the US military the very best that the RIAA could offer: "Our country is on edge now and probably at the brink of war," she said. "While there are certainly diverse views in the music industry about a war, I know I speak for everyone here that if diplomatic efforts fail and a war begins, we in the music community will be supporting our troops with everything at our disposal." Everything, we suppose, including court martials for midshipmen who are caught sharing music. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/28293.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29797.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Freenet’s Faster For the past 6 months, Matthew Toseland has been working full-time on Freenet, this has resulted in a dramatic acceleration in Freenet's development. Matthew can do this because the project is able to cover his living expenses (at only $1,500/month). Version 0.5.1 is now out and some speeds being reported are high for any P2P, but extraordinary for this application. http://freenetproject.org/tiki-index.php ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More info about the Morpheus founders resignations Jeremy Heidt Franklin-based StreamCast Networks Inc. was besieged by lawsuits from the largest media conglomerates in the world, but it was an internal struggle that put its founders and investors on separate paths. Steve Griffin, a founder of the company that became infamous for its file-sharing software Morpheus, confirmed Monday that the 5-year-old firm’s senior management quit last week. He said the departures were a result of a rift between management and the company’s major investor, Timberline Venture Capital Partners in Seattle. StreamCast gained worldwide attention after its peer-to-peer file sharing software, Morpheus, became a popular replacement for now-defunct file swapping service Napster, which was also targeted by media companies for allowing users share pirated versions of music, movies and digital files. StreamCast most recently employed about 25 worldwide and had its office on Main Street in downtown Franklin. “The investors controlled the board, effectively controlling the company,” Griffin said. The three-member board of directors, which included Griffin as chairman and two members of Timberline, voted last week to relocate the company to Seattle. “As investors, [Timberline] had every right to decide that,” Griffin said adding that the entire senior team, including co- founder Darryl Smith, resigned because of that issue. http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/in...&news_id=21164 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Piracy complaints sent by music industry The RIAA, representing the US music industry, has sent letters to 300 companies alleging copyright infringement for use of file-swapping services such as KaZaA within their corporate networks, according to news agency Reuters which obtained a copy of the letter yesterday. This latest step by the Recording Industry Association of America to clamp-down on internet piracy comes at the same time as a report from software firm Websense, suggesting that 55% of IT managers surveyed discovered unauthorised file-swapping programs on employee computers. If a member of staff has downloaded KaZaA to a computer on a corporate network, all files downloaded are by default available to all other users of KaZaA – so the company's network becomes an access point for millions who might share the musical tastes of the employee. Since corporate networks tend to have fast, always-on connections, they will be a more popular repository than typical home computers. http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?...6329&area=news ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Putting the Free in Freedom Back in the '70s, it was fashionable to say that computers were causing problems for copyright. I would rather say that copyright causes problems for computers. Richard Stallman This talk is not about free software. In 1983, I reached the conclusion that for people to use computers freely, they needed to have access to free software and be able to use it freely. You should have the freedom to use software once you've got a copy. There are three freedoms. Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the program. Freedom 1 is the freedom to help yourself by studying the program and changing it to suit your needs. Freedom 2 is the freedom to help your neighbor by giving them a copy of the software. Freedom 3 is the freedom to help build your community by working together to build that software. Cooks use recipes and have the same freedoms in using recipes. If you tell a cook that they can't change a recipe, they would probably be outraged. Some people say: Can these ideas extend to anything? What about tables and microphones and cars? That's a silly question. There are no copiers for tables and microphones and cars. It's a moot point. The only way to make more physical objects is to build more. But what about the freedom to modify? If you buy this microphone, you are free to modify it. If you buy a chair, you're free to modify it. You can weld on more legs, saw them off. Our freedoms are restricted by copyright law. Should people feel a reason to obey? The history of copyright is connected with the history of copying technology. The basic principles of ethics can't be reached by changes in technology. But when we consider ethical questions, we judge alternatives based on their consequences. Change the context, and the same alternatives may have different consequences. Another issue is Internet music sharing. We should simply legalize it now. The musicians and the public would be better off. Record labels treat musicians like dirt. The contracts that they impose on musicians are extremely cruel. When you buy a commercial CD, you fail to support the musicians. Concerts are how musicians make money. I want music that's made by artisans, not in factories. Getting rid of the Hype Industrial Complex and moving toward Internet music sharing is one way to get there. Instead of having a public relations campaign saying that sharing is piracy -- sharing is like attacking a ship, which goes against human nature -- we could have a public relations campaign saying, "Have you sent $1 to your favorite band today?" http://www.cardhouse.com/heath/2003_....html#90423940 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DRM and the Regulatory Ratchet Edward W. Felten Regular readers know that one of my running themes is the harm caused when policy makers don’t engage with technical realities. One of the most striking examples of this has to do with DRM (or copy-restriction) technologies. Independent technical experts agree almost universally that DRM is utterly unable to prevent the leakage of copyrighted material onto file sharing networks. And yet many policy-makers act as if DRM is the solution to the file-sharing problem. The result is a kind of regulatory ratchet effect. When DRM seems not to be working, perhaps it can be rescued by imposing a few regulations on technology (think: DMCA). When somehow, despite the new regulations, DRM still isn’t working, perhaps what is needed is a few more regulations to backstop it further (think: broadcast flag). When even these expanded regulations prove insufficient, the answer is yet another layer of regulations (think: consensus watermark). The level of regulation ratchets up higher and higher – but DRM still doesn’t work. The advocates of regulation argue at each point that just one more level of regulation will solve the problem. In a rational world, the fact that they were wrong last time would be reason to doubt them this time. But if you simply take on faith that DRM can prevent infringement, the failure of each step becomes, perversely, evidence that the next step is needed. And so the ratchet clicks along, restricting technical progress more and more, while copyright infringement goes on unabated. http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000315.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saving the music industry a common tune at SXSW Joan Anderman For all the talk about the technology revolution, ''back to basics'' was the theme at South by Southwest, the annual music industry conference that convened here last week. In panels and seminars, in casual conversation and passionate addresses, many insiders at SXSW seemed to be looking to the past for the values and integrity -- in both making music and doing business -- that will lead to a brighter future for an industry in decline. ''I invite everyone to ignite, to reignite, to turn up the flame of what you believe in,'' said keynote speaker Daniel Lanois, the eminent record producer known for his work with U2 and Bob Dylan. Lanois embodied the ideal, reciting a stream-of-consciousness monologue he'd handwritten on an artist's sketch pad for a standing-room-only crowd in the Austin Convention Center's main ballroom. He punctuated his address with gorgeous songs on slide guitar. ''You hear a lot about the trouble in the music industry. But any given moment is a window of opportunity. It's up to the innovators to kick the doors open again and come up with something fresh and new.'' The indie world certainly agrees. At the ''Label Heads Sound Off'' panel, moderator David Adelson, the editor of Hits magazine, explained the preponderance of independent label bosses on the panel by noting that not one of the many major label executives invited to participate ''had the courage to come in and face the music.'' Familiar issues such as Internet downloading, artist contracts, and business models inspired lively debate from a divided audience, but Andy Gershon -- president of V2 Records (home to Moby, the White Stripes, and much-lauded newcomers the Datsuns) -- achieved a consensus describing the fallout of corporate consolidation and rampant commercialism. ''We've devalued music, and music needs to mean something again,'' Gershon said to a roomful of nodding heads, going on to point out that if record labels are to have a viable future, ''it comes down to one thing: signing great artists and making great albums.'' http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/07...at_SXSW+.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Studios Take TV on DVD and Rerun With It Old and current shows, beefed up with extras, bring in as much as $1 billion a year. Success has erased retailers' skepticism about the format. Meg James What do Fred Sanford, Tony Soprano and Homer Simpson have in common? D'oh! -- as in big money. Sales of television shows on DVD have become the fastest-growing segment of the home entertainment business, generating an estimated $800 million to $1 billion a year. When the digital disc format debuted five years ago, most studio executives figured that there would be little interest in shows from the small screen. Videocassette versions never sold well, so retailers had little incentive to stock them. Not so with the digital format. "TV DVDs are white-hot," said Peter Staddon, senior vice president for marketing at Fox Home Video. "Everyone is rushing out DVD releases of their TV shows." Three years ago, fewer than a hundred shows were available on disc. Now, more than 800 are on the market, with dozens more coming out each week. Today, industry experts say, TV shows make up an estimated 10% of the overall DVD market, which last year tallied more than $8.4 billion in sales. Two groundbreaking programs from the 1970s, "Good Times" and "Sanford and Son," both released on DVD by Sony's Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, are in the top 20 in sales as measured by Nielsen VideoScan. The programs are "a little bit of our American culture, our history, and a lot of it takes us back to our youth," said Benjamin Feingold, president of Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. "Suddenly there is this gold rush, and everyone is going through their vaults," said Ralph Tribbey, who tracks sales for the DVD Entertainment Group, which represents studios. "The Simpsons" helped Fox reap more than $100 million last year from DVD sales of TV shows. Such success has erased retailers' skepticism that TV shows would sell, something their videocassette predecessors never did. Size was a problem with the VHS format, said Ken Ross, general manager of CBS' consumer products, which put "I Love Lucy" and "The Honeymooners" out on video. "You could only fit four episodes on a single tape," Ross said. Now, an entire season can be squeezed onto a handful of discs. Studios have rejoiced over the success of the DVDs, particularly because revenue from foreign distribution has been drying up as more overseas companies produce their own shows. Initially, some studio executives had worried that DVD releases might diminish a show's chance to be sold into syndication, when shows really turn a profit. Now, some at Fox believe last year's DVD release of "24" brought in new viewers and enhanced its syndication chances. "DVDs have clearly extended the popularity of a program," said Bob Cook, president of Fox's Twentieth Television. Sony's Feingold, a DVD pioneer, said, "None of us ever contemplated that DVD would be a format for television. We thought it would revolutionize the feature film business, but in many ways it is helping to revolutionize the television business." http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...2Dtechn ology ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ cd-wow fights BPI over imported CDs John Leyden The music industry last week won an important legal battle in its bid to prevent discount etailer cd-wow from selling imported CDs in the UK. Music labels, lead by trade group the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), are seeking an injunction and claiming damages from Music Trading On-Line (HK) Ltd, the firm behind cd-wow, for the sale within the Europe of CDs imported from Hong Kong. These CDs are genuine but their sale in Britain contravenes the UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the claimants argue. In responding to the August 2002 action, Music Trading On-Line sought to limit the scope of the case by arguing that the British Phonographic Industry was not entitled to act as representatives of the whole industry against it. However in a High Court ruling, published last week, this application was dismissed. The British Phonographic Industry is entitled to act for the whole industry in an action seeking to limit the sale of parallel imported CDs, the Vice Chancellor Right Hon. Sir Andrew Morritt ruled. The senior judge has turned the case back to lawyers representing Music Trading On-Line and the British Phonographic Industry, whose hand has been strengthened by the Vice-Chancellor's ruling, to reach an agreement. He will consider the case again if the parties fail to agree terms. cd-wow is yet to return our requests for comment on the case. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29787.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More students banned for filesharing Lotem Almog Last week alone, 67 Brown students temporarily lost their Internet privileges on the Brown network for illegally sharing files. "Filtering" students off the Internet has increased substantially in 2003 due to the increase in complaints of illegal file?sharing filed by such organizations as Universal Studios and the Recording Industry Association of America, said Connie Sadler, director of information technology security. Illegally sharing movies, music or software over the Brown network has become a liability issue for the University, Sadler said. "Potentially, Brown could be fined a lot of money. This is not one of those issues Brown wants to be a test case for," she said. Currently, the organizations making the complaints have identified Internet Protocol addresses, which are unique to each computer. They send the complaints to Brown citing the specific computers containing the illegal files, Sadler said. "It has come to our attention that the Internet site(s) located below, for which Brown University is a service provider, is offering unauthorized copies of the Universal Motion Pictures," said one such complaint. "It's not that Brown caught me, some lawyers from Sony caught me, and they sent an e?mail to Brown demanding that I delete the movie," said Tal Itzkovich '06, who was filtered after Brown received a complaint from Sony regarding his possession of the movie "Minority Report." Computing and Information Services has no way of knowing to whom the IP address belongs, Sadler said. Accordingly, the only measure the University can take to protect itself against a potential copyright infringement suit is to disconnect that specific computer from the network, she said. Brown students who lose their Internet connection cannot be warned because the University does not know who CIS is disconnecting. "I just woke up one morning and the Internet didn't work," Itzkovich said. Sadler admits the process of removing students from the network without warning is flawed. "It's not the best way to do it and we recognize that," she said. Sadler said she hopes the University will develop a registration system in the future so that specific IP addresses can be matched to students. http://www.browndailyherald.com/stories.asp?storyID=660 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cyber terrorism 'overhyped' Mark Ward The threat posed by cyber-terrorism has been overhyped and the net is unlikely to become a launch pad for terror attacks. That was the conclusion of a panel of security and technology experts brought together at the CeBIT technology fair to consider the threat posed by net attacks on businesses and consumers. Panel members said companies faced far more serious threats from ordinary criminals, fraudsters and pranksters than they did from technology- literate terrorists. Combating these real threats would take work by almost everyone involved in the running and use of the net. Respected security expert Bruce Schneier said the threat posed by so-called cyber-terrorism had been over-estimated. "The hype is coming from the US Government and I don't know why," he said. Fellow panel member Art Coviello, head of security firm RSA, said some of the warnings about cyber-terrorism had come about in reaction to the attacks on 11 September. But, he added, sections of the media were also responsible for hyping the threat. "Some of these stories are very entertaining and sell a lot of newspapers," he said. "Some media organisations are fanning the flames of this." Mr Schneier said any terror group that wanted to sow panic and attack its ideological enemies was unlikely to turn to net technology to make their point. "If they want to attack they will do it with bombs like they always have," he said. By contrast, he said, disrupting the running of the net and other communications networks would cause more annoyance than fear. "Breaking pager networks and stopping e-mail is not an act of terror," he said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2850541.stm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Patently Good Idea Steve Forbes The Supreme Court recently ruled that congress' extending copyright protection for yet another 20 years does not violate the Constitution. The extension was pushed primarily by Disney, which didn't want any of its old Mickey Mouse cartoons entering the public domain. Now artistic works are protected for the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years; for companies, 95 years. Maybe Congress should just be done with it and declare that a copyright is forever. Disney, of course, hasn't hesitated to help itself to characters or works in the public domain, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The Disney situation is unusual. Only about 2% of copyrighted work between 1923 and 1942 continues to be exploited commercially. Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig has proposed a sensible compromise. Borrowing a page from patent law, wherein holders have to pay a fee every few years to keep their patents current, Lessig would apply that principle to copyrights: After a certain number of years, copyright holders would have to pay a nominal amount of money to maintain protection. If the holder didn't pay the charge for, say, three years, the work would go into the public domain. Lessig, who has represented clients who tried to overturn the extension, points out that his compromise would still "make available an extraordinary amount of material. If Congress is listening to the frustration that the court's decision has created, this would be a simple and effective way for the First Branch to respond." He's absolutely right. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0331/027.html  Bolling Morons in the News: If You Trade Files, You're Helping Terrorism! Posted by disgusted spatula In the latest insult to our intelligence, some members of a Congressional panel are suggesting that Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing is funding terrorism... It was insulting enough when they started running ads on TV suggesting that smoking pot was akin to blowing up buildings. Now yet another political target is being associated with terrorism: peer-to-peer file sharing. One of the morons behind this idea is deputy assistant attorney general John G. Malcolm, who told a Congressional panel that there "seems" to be some connection between illegal copying and organized crime, and of course organized crime is connected to terrorism, right? He told the committee, "[t]hese groups will not hesitate to threaten or injure those who tend to interfere with their operations." Then Lamar Smith (R-TX) asked Malcolm for any real examples. Malcolm had nothing. Nonetheless, Robert Wexler (D-FL) thought this was great stuff and went on about the "disastrous connection" between copyright violation and organized crime, despite no connection being established. And, lo and behold, Wexler suggested that ads be run on TV alleging the connection between piracy and organized crime just as ads have been run alleging a connection between drugs and terrorism. So during this hearing they managed to assert that willfufl copyright violation supports organized crime without anything to back up the claim, and to assert that organized crime funds terrorism without anything to back up the claim, and they want to run TV ads to tell us all about this connection that they've miserably failed to establish. What's next? Littering funds terrorism? Jaywalking funds terrorism? Speeding funds terrorism? Tearing the tag off your mattress funds terrorism? ---Nick http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?sectionid=1&id=2964 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TiVo Less of a Threat? 'Surprising' P&G Findings Recall of Tivo Ad Zappers Similar to That of Tivo Ad Watchers Jack Neff Recent internal research by Procter & Gamble Co. indicates that consumers who fast-forward through ads with digital personal video recorders such as TiVo still recall those ads at roughly the same rates as people who see them at normal speed in real time. The surprising research has led at least some P&G marketing executives to conclude that TiVo may not pose the threat to TV advertising that many predict, according to executives close to the company. A P&G spokeswoman declined to comment on the research, saying, "We have nothing we can share publicly on TiVo." Executives with such major copy-testing companies as Ipsos-ASI and RSC's ARS Group said they're not aware of any such research findings regarding TiVo involving their firms. Even if recall scores aren't affected by fast-forwarding through the ads, however, other copy-testing measures, such as persuasion, "liking" and branding power, likely are affected, said Mark Schar, who formerly oversaw P&G's market research department. Mr. Schar said he was not aware of the research regarding TiVo's impact on ad recall before he left the company last year to help found Donology, a firm that facilitates donations of corporate intellectual property to nonprofit organizations. But he said recall scores generally tend to be low, http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=37390 Mass Rollout of DVR Technology Stuck on 'Pause' Michael Hiltzik Three or four years ago, in the heyday of gotta-have-it technology, scarcely a week would pass without a clutch of Silicon Valley executives trooping through our offices to demonstrate one or another hot new gizmo. In all that time, only once did I ever see something I thought would take the world by storm. That device was a DVR, or digital video recorder. It worked by diverting a TV signal onto a hard disk, like the one inside the average personal computer, before passing the image to the TV screen. This process enabled viewers to exploit the disk's storage capacity to view live TV with VCR-style pause, rewind and replay functions -- and, given sufficient delay, to skip obliviously through commercials, all without videotape. The electronic services designed to work with the boxes also allowed viewers to schedule off-hour recording of shows with unprecedented ease. It was the greatest thing I'd ever seen demonstrated in an office cubicle, a device you had to check out only once to understand its potential to revolutionize the television experience. At the time, the technology was being developed by two competing companies, TiVo Inc. and ReplayTV Inc., that harbored great hopes for it. (The latter had given us the demonstration.) As a ReplayTV executive told me then: "Five years from now, all TV will be watched from a hard disk." This forecast sounded plausible at the time not only because we were in an era when the spread of great technology seemed to operate under its own organic logic, but also because the device was so compelling. Television network executives, contemplating a world where viewers could zip through commercials with the flick of a remote, talked about DVRs the way music executives would soon be talking about Napster: with utter fear. Yet here we are in 2003, the executive's prediction has only a year or so to run, and it must be said that the revolution is way behind schedule. Far from being an indispensable household appliance, the DVR remains a device of cliquish partiality http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...2Dt echnology ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 10 Gigabit Ethernet: it's all about the Gigabitz Rick C. Hodgin How fast is 10 Gigabit Ethernet? 10,000Mbps (Megabits per second), enough to transmit over 1.2 GigaBytes per second. An entire DVD movie transferred in about three seconds. The equivalent of two nearly full CDRs transmitted every second. In terms of the size of average Geek.com Web pages, you could receive 120,500 Web pages per second! Compare that to your average 10/100Mbps home or business LAN and you begin to realize how fast the new offering truly is. Yesterday, Intel announced a host of products supporting 1Gb Ethernet and 10Gb Ethernet. The products include server and client adapters. The server adapter is the world's first four-port Gb Ethernet card capable of transmitting or receiving up to around 300 megabytes per second per card. The client adapter is a single-port card which can greatly increase LAN performance. Intel's new products include a PCI-bypass feature called CSA (Communications Streaming Architecture), which bypasses the PCI bus and connects *DIRECTLY* to the memory controller hub. This can greatly increase throughput and reduce traffic on the PCI bus. The new CSA architecture allows for up to 2Gbps bi-directional connections on its own dedicated bus. The next big thing is 10Gb Ethernet. The new system designed for servers can communicate over a single-mode fiber optic cable at distances up to 10 km (over 6 miles) without a type repeater to boost and realign the signal. Pricing is very reasonable. Availability is the end of March for all parts except the Intel Pro/10GbE server adapter (US$7,995), which will be available in April. http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0318019169.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Computer Virus Writers Mostly Obsessed Males Says Expert Jennifer Tan Male. Obsessed with computers. Lacking a girlfriend. Aged 14 to 34. Capable of sowing chaos worldwide. That is the profile of the average computer-virus writer, an anti-virus expert said on Tuesday. About 1,000 viruses are created every month by virus writers increasingly intent on targeting new operating systems, said Jan Hruska, the chief executive of British-based Sophos Plc, the world's fourth-largest anti-virus solutions provider. "So far, we've seen no indication of decreased interest in virus writing," Hruska told Reuters in an interview. "Virus writers are constantly looking for new vectors of infection, targeting the vulnerabilities of operating systems to exploit them for their creations," he said. Hruska said the number of viruses created would continue to climb in the coming years. In almost all cases, virus writers were computer-obsessed males between the ages of 14 to 34 years, he said. "They have a chronic lack of girlfriends, are usually socially inadequate and are drawn compulsively to write self-replicating codes. It's a form of digital graffiti to them," Hruska said. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2397074 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Verizon Files New Brief In Support of Its Motion to Quash RIAA Subpoena PDF, 46 pages - excerpt “Verizon’s position in this second subpoena action is clear and unequivocal. First, Articlen III does not authorize federal courts to issue binding judicial process outside a pending case or controversy. The federal courts are neutral arbiters of claims brought to them by adversary2 parties—they cannot be assigned the role of private investigator for one side in a dispute that likely will never see the inside of a federal courtroom. From the early days of the Republic, the Supreme Court has consistently rejected attempts to foist non-judicial investigative or accusatory duties on Article III courts. Because the subpoena at issue in this proceeding was issued outside of any pending case or controversy, it must be quashed. “Second, Section 512(h) violates the First Amendment, because it does not provide adequate procedures for the protection of the expressive and associational interests of Internet users and because it is substantially overbroad in its potential applications. The Supreme Court has never countenanced a procedure whereby expressive and associational rights may be compromised based only upon an ex parte filing that does not even allege the existence of a civil cause of action. The First Amendment rights of every Internet user in the country are made to dangle by the thread of the “good faith” of anyone claiming to be the authorized representative of a copyright owner. Because both mistakes and abuse are inevitable, and because there are clearly alternative means to achieve the statute’s purpose without invading First Amendment rights, the statute as interpreted by RIAA violates the First Amendment. In the alternative, the Court should adopt a narrowing construction of Section 512(h) that limits its application to material that is stored on the systems or network of the service provider as described in Section 512(c). In either case, the subpoena at issue in this proceeding is invalid. “Third, should this Court disagree with Verizon on these issues, it should enter a stay pending appeal in both these subpoena actions pending final disposition of these matters by the Court of Appeals. There can be no doubt that the Article III and First Amendment questions presented by RIAA’s interpretation and use of this novel statutory provision are substantial. In addition, the balance of harms now tips decidedly in Verizon’s favor—indeed RIAA cannot point to any cognizable harm from a stay in these two subpoena proceedings. Verizon has3 notified both subscribers at issue of RIAA’s allegations and concerns and has reminded them of Verizon’s own use policies prohibiting copyright infringement. This is exactly the remedy RIAA claimed it sought in the first place in order to deter ongoing infringement. See infra p.15 and note 7, and pp. 34-35. In fact, as discussed below, RIAA itself can contact Internet users it suspects of engaging in infringing activities through an electronic mail function that is part of the KaZaA software, without involving Verizon at all. See Declaration of Keith Kidd 5-10 (“Kidd Decl.”), attached hereto as Exhibit 1. If RIAA actually wishes to institute suit against these subscribers, there is no reason it cannot avail itself of a John Doe lawsuit and invoke the applicable provisions of Section 512(h) in that context.” http://newscenter.verizon.com/kit/ri...oena_brief.pdf ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diverse groups oppose Bush security plan Declan McCullagh A broad coalition of nearly 70 groups is attempting to block a Bush administration proposal that would grant police more surveillance authority and sweeping powers to target computer crime and terrorist activities. In a letter sent to Congress on Monday, the coalition urges politicians to oppose draft legislation prepared by the U.S. Justice Department and called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA). Critics have dubbed it the USA Patriot Act II, a reference to the 2001 law expanding eavesdropping powers that Congress speedily enacted soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The coalition includes groups as varied as the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Conservative Union, the Gun Owners of America, the American Baptist Churches, the U.S. Presbyterian Church and the Mennonite Central Committee. Immigrant-rights groups, librarians and civil rights groups also signed the letter. "The draft bill contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence-gathering powers, many of which are not related to terrorism, that would severely dilute, if not undermine, many basic constitutional rights, as well as disturb our unique system of checks and balances," the letter says. "If adopted, the bill would diminish personal privacy by removing important checks on government surveillance authority." DSEA would, if enacted, create a new federal felony of willfully using encryption during the commission of a felony, punishable by "no more than five years" in prison plus a hefty fine. It also would let the FBI and state police monitor--without a court order for up to 48 hours--what Web sites a suspect visits, what that person searches for with Google or on other sites and the people with whom he or she communicates via e-mail. Those relaxed eavesdropping standards would apply to Americans suspected of what would become a new offense of "activities threatening the national security interest." http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-993007.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kazaa Users Paying For Legit Content, Altnet Says Mark Hachman Altnet, the controversial background application that runs as part of the Kazaa file-sharing service, said its "approved" content has generated 75 million downloads. Altnet, which is owned by Brilliant Digital Networks, began asking users to share processing power and storage in addition to files in April of last year. But many of the company's most overt efforts within Kazaa are licensed "gold" files that appear when users search for files within the peer-to-peer network. Altnet now says users have downloaded the "gold" files a total of 75 million times, including 18 million files that required users to pay for the content. The remaining files were promotional, the company said. If true, the figures would give peer-to-peer file-sharing companies some additional claims to legitimacy. Since the software is frequently used to pirate copyrighted works, peer-to-peer file sharing companies have increasingly come under legal and legislative fire as purveyors of everything from pirated music to child pornography. While the download figures have not been audited by a third party company, an Altnet spokeswoman said they're accurate. "I can say they're legitimate--I've seen the download pages myself," she said. "This is incredibly exciting data because it shows that consumers are downloading secure content and where available for sale, paying for it," said Kevin Bermeister, chief executive of Altnet, in a statement. "These numbers are a testament to the fact that we're seeing a real shift in consumer's behavior by offering them an easy-to-use method with a one stop shop payment gateway for downloading secure content." http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...,937289,00.asp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EFF warns aviation database will prevent free travel Merging of public and private databases will create secret files Mike Magee GINGER GROUP the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warned today that plans for the US Department of Transportation to exempt Aviation Security Screening Records (ASSR) from privacy laws will result in the creation of secret files on citizens and foreign travellers. THE ASSR system, said the EFF, is a part of CAPPS II, a prokect under test by Delta Airlines. When complete, the system aggregates personal data from public records and private databases that will be used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). That, claims the EFF, will cause the creation of "extensive, secret files about all US citizens and the travelling public". And, said the EFF, the secret files may be used to stop people from travelling and for unnamed other purposes. The problem as the EFF sees it is that because travellers cannot review or correct the information, they might find themselves barred from travel, with no method of redressing the situation. This, said the EFF, means that the Department of Transportation's proposed exemptions contravenes the constitution of the USA, which gives individuals a guaranteed right of freedom to travel. "Under the proposed exemption, individuals would have no way of learning that the Transportation Security Administration is holding personal records about them, and would have no access to review or correct that information if it's wrong or outdated," said EFF Staff Attorney Gwen Hinze. http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=8366 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q n A Q. Is it true that you can use a Pringles potato chip can to increase the signal range of a wireless network base station? A. Several creative home networking enthusiasts have adapted the tube- shaped Pringles cans for use as antennas and have published details and instructions on this on the Web. Other sites describe how to make antennas from materials like soup and coffee cans and a handful of parts from an electronics store. Some hobbyists claim to get a signal range of 10 miles, which is quite a bit farther than the 150 feet promised by most base station manufacturers. Although the Federal Communications Commission does not regulate the transmissions of home wireless networks, the radio signals from the homemade antennas may be strong enough to cause interference on other radio frequencies and to violate F.C.C. regulations, as well as voiding the official F.C.C. authorization on the original base station. Q. What kind of equipment do I need to copy old analog camcorder tapes onto my computer so I can burn the footage to DVD with my computer's DVD recorder? A. In most cases, you will need a video-capture card to install in your computer, cables to connect the camcorder to it, and software to import and edit the film from the camera. Video-capture cards cost $50 and up. Be sure to buy a card that works with analog cameras and not one of the IEEE 1394, or FireWire, cards, which are designed for input from digital camcorders. Kits are available that include an analog video capture card, cables, editing software and even a program to design DVD menus and record the discs. Two such all-in-one packages are the AverDVD EZMaker from AverMedia ($50; www.avermedia.com) and the Pinnacle Studio 8 AV kit from Pinnacle Systems ($130 at www.pinnaclesys.com). Digitized video files tend to be quite large, so if you have a large number of tapes to convert, you may also want an external hard drive to store the imported video. - J. D. Biersdorfer http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/te...ts/20askk.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DirectConnect Finally Hits 160,000 Thomas Mennecke DirectConnect has been part of the P2P community since the days of Napster, providing an execellent resource of CD images and other information. However, rapid growth has eluded this network, as others have quickly out paced this community. Despite the slow progress, growth over the last two years has been positive. During May of 2001, DirectConnect (DC) had only 5, 000 users. By February 2002, this number had grown to 94,000. At 4:30 PM EST, DirectConnect finally broke 160,000. There is an effort underway to improve these numbers. For last few weeks, John Hess, creator of DirectConnect, has been collecting information regarding the GUI (Graphical User Interface) of his client. http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=120 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Piolet 1.05 Bows Press Release · Improved & more customizable GUI. · Brand new player, always visible. · SHA-1 Hashing, (gnutella compatible). · Much better weblink support. · New playlist manager. · Select multiple results for download. · CPU and Memory usage controls. · Protocol improvements on visibility. · Global hotlist. · Search for user. · Bug fixes.Be advised (latest ver): Ok, so be advised that – · At install it wants to set up a 3rd party toolbar. Choose "deny" and run spybot/ad-aware when finished. · Even if you 'tell it not to' it may add itself to your startup group anyway. · It uses a lot of resources (a common enough p2p problem). · After shutdown - even at the toolbar, it may still be running. Check Ctrl Alt Delete to make sure it’s really off. Buggy yes, but if it's truly decentralized it's a pretty good program and one that’s bound to get better. http://www.piolet.com/ads/468x60 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hollywood's new Cyberenemy Lisa M. Bowman In the ongoing drama surrounding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Hollywood's copyrights, a St. Louis start-up has been unexpectedly thrust into a cameo role. Technology company 321 Studios, with a staff of 60 people, develops products to let people make high-quality replicas of DVDs. But last spring the movie studios, fearing that 321's technology would lead to rampant unauthorized copying, threatened to contact federal prosecutors. The company responded by asking a judge to declare its copying products legal. A few months later, the studios countersued, claiming the products violate the DMCA by offering software that circumvents protections on its DVDs to allow people to copy them. The studios asked for an injunction prohibiting 321 from selling its DVD Copy Plus and DVD X Copy programs. As both sides prepare for a major court hearing on the matter next month, 321 Studios CEO Robert Moore talked with CNET News.com about incurring the wrath of Hollywood and how a hobby turned into a personal crusade. Q: Why do you think Hollywood picked you as a target? A: Probably because we introduced a product that actually has the capability of making one-to-one DVD copies. Prior to that, their reaction to our declaratory relief action last year was nothing more than a motion to dismiss. They wanted to throw it out of court. Why did you file the original claim seeking to declare your product legal? We filed it because there was a newspaper article carried in Gannett newspapers across the country. It was a four-paragraph article, and the first two paragraphs were about how Ken Jacobson of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) had asked the Justice Department to investigate criminal violations of the DMCA due to these DVD copying programs that were making their way around on the Internet. And the next two paragraphs were about my company. So the obvious inference was that we were in their bull's-eye, and that scared us a lot. Prior to that I didn't know about the DMCA. What was your immediate reaction? When I saw that, I kind of freaked out and wanted to close the business down. Hollywood has countersued and is seeking to stop you from shipping your product. What's the status of the case now? We want to go trial. DVD X Copy does not circumvent an access control mechanism, and that we can prove in court. Our goal is to have the summary judgment motion denied and move forward with discovery and go forward with a trial before jury. When you jumped into a company that was making software that makes copies of DVDs, didn't you think that might raise some concerns among the movie industry? Actually, quite the opposite. I have a VCR sitting on top of my television that's a dual VCR, where you put the master in the left and put the blank in the right and there's a copy button in the middle. I bought that at a retail store. I don't know which one because it's eight or nine years old now, and I've used that to make copies of my VHS tapes without giving it a second thought. When I started getting into the DVD area, and determined that these DVDs could be easily damaged, I wanted to find a way to back them up and essentially taught myself to do it with tools that were available on the Internet. I still didn't know anything about the DMCA. I didn't know anything about Jon Johansen at the time, and it was just a few months later that that article came. That's when I definitely became aware of the DMCA. What about the threats of a criminal case? Did anything ever come of that? No. The people that we spoke with felt that it was an obscene gesture and completely reprehensible that the studios would declare some type of criminal activity when clearly our product was designed for people to make archival backup copies of their DVDs. They were just outraged by it. I was scared to death by it. I think that what happened is the potential of criminal investigation continued until ElcomSoft was acquitted in 2002. I think that probably had a lot to do with what action they decided to pursue from that point on because it was right after that they filed the countersuit. Why would the acquittal of ElcomSoft cause Hollywood to file a civil suit against you? My suspicion about this is that of course the ElcomSoft case was basically a DMCA case, a criminal case, and the government does not like to lose, and they lost in this case. I fully expected ElcomSoft to be found guilty, but when the acquittal came down it may have tempered the desire of anyone in the prosecutors office to come after us from a criminal standpoint. http://news.com.com/2008-1082-992985.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ College Media Group Cautions That 2 Copyright Laws Could Collide Andrea Foster A group representing college media centers is warning the U.S. Copyright Office about a possible conflict between two federal laws, one meant to limit electronic access to copyrighted material and the other designed to broaden access to the same material for online education. At issue are the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The first measure is known as the Teach Act and was signed into law in November. It amended copyright law to allow college instructors to use nondramatic works, such as news articles and novels, and portions of dramatic works, such as movies, in online courses without paying fees and without seeking the copyright holder's permission. The second law, which took effect in 1998, has a section that makes it illegal to bypass technologies that block access to copyrighted material. In a letter sent last month to the Copyright Office, the Consortium of College and University Media Centers says it wants clarification of that section of the digital-copyright law, known as the anti-circumvention provision. What worries the media centers is that colleges might not be allowed to bypass copying protections even when they need to do so to use materials from CDs and DVDs for distance education, as permitted by the Teach Act in certain circumstances. The problem arises when digital materials are not also released in non-digital formats that the colleges can fall back on, such as print. The group represents 312 college media centers, many of which are responsible for helping faculty members create online courses. The group's letter was among dozens sent to the copyright office. It is considering exceptions to the anti-circumvention provision, as it is legally required to do every three years. Noting that colleges have barely begun to apply the provisions of the Teach Act, the group says that given the law's "great promise and its expected wholesale adoption by nonprofit higher education ... we cannot wait another three years to deal with the impact of this conflict after the fact." Jeff Clark, the chairman of the college media group's government regulations and public-policy committee, wrote the letter. He says he knows of no specific cases in which colleges have felt constrained from taking advantage of the Teach Act because of the anti-circumvention provision. "It was more a proactive measure," he says. Allan R. Adler, vice president for legal and governmental affairs for the Association of American Publishers, which helped draft the Teach Act, says the kind of conflict that Mr. Clark's letter describes would be "very rare." Publishers of books and journals almost always have analog versions of digital material. Those that do not often market digital material specifically for educational purposes, he says. Later this year, the Copyright Office is expected to reveal its opinions on the comments it has received during hearings on the issue. http://chronicle.com/free/2003/03/2003031801t.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "While the technology is apparently not quite ready, there is promise for some protective technologies,” - outgoing RIAA chief lobbyist Hilary Rosen. Tech hides data, ID inside songs John Borland SunnComm Technologies, one of several companies developing anti-CD copying products, has licensed a new technique that can hide data, video, software or an identifying watermark inside music files. The company said Thursday that it is working with Stealth MediaLabs to create a kind of super-watermark that can be embedded inside music files, which--the companies contend--can survive if the song is digitally compressed, rerecorded through an analog connection, or even if the song is recorded off the radio. SunnComm realized that the watermark-like technology, originally licensed with the intent of helping to bolster copy protection, can also carry other data such as liner notes or pictures, executives said. The company is focusing on the copy-protection uses but also will work with record labels that may be interested in embedding other information. "The intention was for protecting the security of intellectual property," said SunnComm Chief Operating Officer Bill Whitmore. "Adding pictures and liner notes inside the song is kind of a byproduct." The new technology, developed originally at the University of Miami, could help SunnComm gain traction in a business that has for years been hampered by concerns about its market viability. Record labels consistently say that they want a way to protect CDs against unauthorized copying, but have so far maintained that the technology available from SunnComm, Macromedia, Sony and a handful of other vendors is not quite ready for prime time. Typically, labels have been concerned that copy-protected CDs have not worked in all CD players, have been incompatible with some computers, and have sparked considerable backlash from consumers. Nevertheless, labels remain eager to find technology that would avoid these problems. Stealth MediaLabs technology allows about 20 kilobits of data per second to be streamed along with the song without increasing its file size. That's not a lot by modern standards, but it's enough to include photographs, Web links, ring tones or other add-ons inside a song that could be decoded by a computer. http://news.com.com/2100-1027-993588.html D/Ls - Singles  BigChampange Rosen: Music Biz Should Focus On Consumer Satisfaction Carolyn Horwitz In order to regain the support of consumers and return to growth, all facets of the music industry must work together to create flexible, multi-format products, leaders of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said yesterday (March 17) in the opening business session of the NARM convention in Orlando, Fla. RIAA chairman/CEO Hilary Rosen's keynote address reflected the need to focus on buyers. "It's time to come together. Now is our opportunity to put [consumers'] interests first," she said. In what was likely her last speech at a NARM convention -- as she will retire at the end of the year -- Rosen spoke of addressing customers' demands for music in more formats, a deeper catalog, and even "a way to make compilations without feeling guilty or like criminals." In short, she said, "They want us to find a way to solve our piracy problems without encroaching on -- or even talking about -- their personal-use flexibility." Fighting piracy, she said, is "a waste of time if the customer is not served in the legitimate marketplace." Referring to the multiple revenue streams of the film business -- theatrical releases, pay per view, TV rights, and DVD sales -- she said sound recordings should also carry a "panoply of rights" that extends beyond the sale of CDs. She applauded record companies for experimenting with pricing and value-added incentives, and heralded the return of the singles format. http://www.billboard.com/billboard/d...ent_id=1840608 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Intel Envisions 'Smart Dust' I guess they haven’t read Michael Crichton’s latest… Every sci-fi geek has heard of smart dust – tiny nanomachines that float around, collecting data and transmitting information. They played a role in Neal Stephenson's novel The Diamond Age, where he talked about clouds of smart dust floating invisibly in the atmosphere, occasionally getting into fights and leaving smart-dust carcasses that could eventually cause lung damage. Smart dust isn't quite reality yet, but bigger versions – where the dust motes are small computer boards – are already in use. Motes are among dozens of ideas being pursued by Intel Research, a relatively new R&D arm of Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC - message board) devoted to technologies that have feasible applications but aren't yet serious businesses. Intel executives gave the press a first introduction to Intel Research on Wednesday, at a reception near the company's Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters. Other technologies on display ranged from audio-visual speech recognition – where the computer reads your lips as well as interpreting your voice – to chips for analyzing DNA and proteins. The motes fit into a larger Intel dream of "proactive computing" (never mind that there's no such word). This would be the next step after ubiquitous computing: With so many computing devices surrounding us, we're going to want them to talk with each other rather than having to interact with a human all the time, says David Tennenhouse, vice president of Intel's corporate technology group. http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=30018 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Incubus Sings the Blues About Its Relationship With Sony Label Jeff Leeds So you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star? Better buy a good calculator. That's the lesson of Incubus, a rising star on Sony Music Entertainment Inc.'s rock roster and the latest act to learn that music business math is getting tougher as the ailing record industry fights to protect its bottom line. By last October, the Calabasas band had sold 2 million copies of its hit album "Morning View." So the quintet did what successful musicians have done for years: They asked their label for better contract terms and a multimillion-dollar advance before recording again. Sony Music, its profit plunging, said no. The refusal touched off a brawl that went public in January when Incubus sued Sony Music in California, demanding to be released from what the band says is an onerous contract. The Sony Corp. unit, in turn, sued Incubus in New York to try to force the band to deliver four albums owed under the agreement. The band and its manager, former Sony Music executive Steve Rennie, are coming to terms with the harsh realities of music industry compensation. Sony Music has paid Incubus $4.25 million for three hit albums and a series of other products since 1996. For each band member, that has amounted to about $121,000 a year -- a salary a junior recording executive, not a chart-topping rock star, would expect to make. And if Incubus' albums don't continue to sell briskly, it won't get a penny more from the label. For Sony Music, the profit on Incubus' roughly $76 million in sales in the last seven years has been $35 million, or 46% of the total, industry sources estimate. The company declined to comment for this article. Incubus, whose albums have sold 7 million copies worldwide, is supposed to earn royalties equal to 33% of a CD whose wholesale price is $12.04 -- which is what Sony Music charges retailers for "Morning View," which has had a suggested retail price of $18.98. But actually, for royalty-accounting purposes, Sony defines the base price as $10.84. And then come a series of deductions standard in the industry. * Giveaways. From the $10.84, Sony music knocks off 15%, or $1.63, to account for albums known as "free goods" -- free CDs provided to retailers as an incentive to showcase it in stores. Artists have long complained that far less than 15% of their volume is actually distributed for free. * "New" technology. Of the $9.21 left, the label subtracts 20%, or $1.84, under a 20-year-old practice intended to make artists share the burden of investment in once-new CD technology. This is another sore point with artists, who say the major investment in CD manufacturing plants was long ago recovered. * Packaging. In another bitterly disputed practice, the remaining $7.37 is reduced by 25%, or another $1.84, for the cost of packaging. This deduction was born in the 1960s, when companies began replacing brown paper sleeves on 45-rpm singles with more elaborate color covers. Artists insist that the charge far exceeds the actual cost of most packaging. Those deductions create a base for calculating royalties, which, in the case of "Morning View," would be $5.53. So, at a 33% royalty rate, the band would earn $1.82 per disc for that product -- and a total of $11 million for all of its releases, after the discounts and adjustments that all acts must pay for their Sony Music recordings. Under its contract, however, Incubus, like every other band, doesn't get paid until the label recovers a substantial share of the money it spent on studio and recording costs, music videos, and tour support among other things. Incubus' manager, Rennie, called the compensation system for artists "a false promise." "They don't get paid," he said. For their part, recording executives say the probable $35 million in profit Sony Music has so far made off Incubus is fair, considering the company's many expenses. But a lot of artists don't buy the arguments their labels make about those expenses. For example, many charges involve potentially lucrative intra-company transfers, sources say, as when Epic Records essentially pays its corporate parent a distribution fee of about 17% of sales. About half of that winds up on Sony Music's bottom line as profit, sources say, on top of what the label earns from sales of the CDs. "The record contract, as it exists today, guarantees artists and record companies will be fighting forever," Rennie said. "The future will decide whether they want to fight to sell records or fight with their artists." http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,2452375.story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Public to chime in on copyright law Declan McCullagh Fans and foes of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act soon will have another chance to tell the U.S. government what they think. The Library of Congress' Copyright Office said on Thursday that it will hold a series of public hearings over the next two months in Washington, D.C. and California to decide what changes, if any, should be made to the section of the DMCA that restricts bypassing copy-protection schemes. Anyone with strong feelings about the DMCA, one way or another, may submit a request by Apr. 1 to testify during the public forums, the Copyright Office said in its announcement. The hearing dates in the U.S. capital will be Apr. 11, Apr. 15 and May 2. The dates and locations in California have not been set yet. The Copyright Office's announcement comes as criticism of the DMCA's "anticircumvention" restrictions has grown. With a few exemptions, section 1201 generally bars people from circumventing a "technological measure that effectively control access to a work," as well as creating or distributing tools to do the same. Copyright holders, led by groups such as the Business Software Alliance and the music and motion picture trade associations, have lobbied to keep that part of the DMCA intact. Critics, however, say it stifles legitimate research. http://news.com.com/2100-1028-993495.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lessig - Supreme Court Final: ” So as the cruel master of fate would have it, on the day that the Eldred case officially ended, I was at Disney World. I was tricked into going to Disney World. I thought the conference was “in Orlando.” But Orlando has apparently morphed into Disney World, and so when yesterday the Court refused a request to rehear the case (totally expected), I learned the news while drinking coffee from a Mickey mug. With that decision, a self-imposed silence about these things ends too. I accepted this silence after a respectful but strong rebuke by a friend. He objected that it was wrong for me to suggest that “the silent five” were acting without principle. I disagree. I do believe their decision lacked principle, but I also see that it was right to complain about the context within which I was making that charge. So we filed a petition to rehear the case that made the claim of principle in as careful and balanced a way as possible. Again, such petitions are never granted any more. But if there is a place to express such criticism, respectful of the institution and tradition that these justices serve, it was in this form, without the pressure of publicity. This stage is now over. I apologize for the silence. More hopeful stuff soon.” http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is That a Computer in Your Pants? Cyberculture chronicler Howard Rheingold on smart mobs, smart environments, and smart choices in an age of connectivity Reason interview by Jesse Walker Since 1968, the Whole Earth Catalog has been a valuable sourcebook for freethinkers, do-it-yourselfers, and back-to-the-landers. Its most recent full-fledged catalog, published in 1994, opened by noting that the price of computing "has dropped so far since the first Whole Earth Catalog that we have entered the era of desktop everything: desktop publishing, desktop audio, desktop video. Book publishing, radio and television production, and music distribution used to require buildings full of heavy machinery. Communications capabilities once reserved for government or corporate elites now reside in tens of millions of citizens’ desktops." It is a sign of how quickly technology can evolve that those desktops, once the sign of individual liberation, now seem somewhat clunky themselves. Less than a decade after the catalog’s then-editor wrote those words, the equivalent computing power can be found not just on desks but in people’s pockets. The social implications of that revolution are discussed in Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (Perseus, 2002), the most recent book by the man who described the desktop revolution in 1994: Howard Rheingold. Rheingold is no Pollyanna. In his book and his weblog, smartmobs.com, he strikes a careful balance between skepticism and enthusiasm. He’s not a determinist either: He recognizes that there are many different ways these technologies could evolve and many different battlegrounds where their social context is being shaped. The book’s most interesting investigations center on those political battles and on the question that lurks behind almost all of them: As the line between real space and cyberspace begins to fade, how much power will ordinary people have over the online world? Q - reason: A lot of that depends on politics. A - Rheingold: I think the overall conflict over emerging technologies is going to be whether we’ll be active users who shape the medium, as we were with the personal computer and the Internet, or passive consumers who don’t have influence over the medium, as we were in the days of three television networks and one telephone company. That’s what a lot of these political conflicts over the regulation of new technologies are about. Another aspect is that vested interests resist technologies that challenge their existing business model. reason: One of the most interesting political battles you describe is the debate over wireless local area networks, or WiFi. Rheingold: Telephone companies have paid governments around the world large amounts of money, upwards of $150 billion, for "3G" licenses, to create the "third generation" high-speed data networks to our devices. This is a big, top-down, very expensive infrastructure in which portions of the spectrum are auctioned off to the highest bidders, who have exclusive control of that part of the spectrum for their business purposes. With WiFi technology, if you install a small card in your PC and another small base station from your Internet connection, you can project wireless Internet access to a small area. If a number of these, coming from the grassroots, link together, then you can have grassroots networks. So we’ve got broadband Inter-net access that doesn’t rely on this 3G system. And it operates in the unlicensed band, so citizens don’t need to have a license, like the 3G companies do, to operate. So here we’ve got a conflict between a citizen-operated grassroots broadband system and a telco- operated top-down infrastructure, and the battle is being fought not on the level of technology but on the level of regulation. reason: A lot of people still associate the Whole Earth Catalog with the 1960s, even though the operation continues to this day. I was trying to think of ways that what you’re writing about now is connected to what you were doing with Whole Earth, and the first thing that came to mind was the Catalog’s credo, "Access to Tools." Rheingold: Yes. In fact, it goes back a lot further than the ’60s. It goes back to Emerson and "Self- Reliance." It’s a pretty radically American idea: You don’t have to rely on some distant institution, whether it’s a government or a religion, to give you power and give meaning to your life if you have the tools and the knowledge and the freedom to do it for yourself. In the ’60s, it was about not relying on the particular culture and government of that time. But the general idea is not relying on any particular culture and government, when you have the power to do it yourself. http://www.reason.com/0304/fe.jw.is.shtml Until next week, - js. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Current Week In Review Recent WIRs - http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15526 March 15th http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15437 March 8th http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15348 March 1st http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=15292 Feb. 22nd Submit articles, press releases and letters in English - plain text only, no HTML - to jackspratts at lycos dot com. Please include contact info. Submission deadlines are Wednesdays @ 1700 UTC. |
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21-03-03, 05:07 AM
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#2 |
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Thanks for being with arse
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The other side of the world
Posts: 10,343
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 CHOKKA BLOCK full of reading goodness!exellent P2P info mixture again ,Dr.Jack ! |
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22-03-03, 09:45 PM
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my name is Ranking Fullstop
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Promontorium Tremendum
Posts: 4,391
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