Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - July 26th, '03

[JackSpratts]

1000 Down, A Billion To Go

Robowrits are flying fast and furious through the ether and right into the mailboxes of file-sharers young and old throughout this fair and worried land. Some of the largest foreign companies in the world – with the help of a dysfunctional U.S. Congress and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) - are poised to make life extremely uncomfortable during the next few months for a handful of American citizens in an ultimately futile attempt to undo a decade of shameless business blunders. The lawsuits against file sharers long threatened by the recording industry are just around the corner. Right now record company subpoenas are being issued in such record breaking numbers the court has added extra workers to handle the load - and it’s just beginning. RIAA officials, gleeful over “how easy it all is” are promising ever and ever more. Like gluttons at a banquet the morally bankrupt recording industries will gorge on the corruption of the DMCA until it kills them, and in so doing finish off whatever is left of their sorry businesses much faster than file sharing ever would have. If that’s the way they want it then good riddance. But it didn’t have to be like this.

Three years ago the chairman of Sony, the giant Japanese media and industrial conglomerate that owns CBS Records and Columbia Pictures, ordered his then American manager to come up with a way to sell songs online. The head of that global powerhouse knew Sony had to be there, at the intersection of the PC and the Internet, in both electronics and media, if the company was to prosper. His order was ignored. The manager resigned but the damage was done. Sony had badly stumbled in nearly all areas of its businesses, resulting in massive profitability declines. While those in music are down 9%, electronics is an entirely different story. As consumers reacted tepidly to products that offered more features to copyright holders than fun for the people actually buying them, the company that routinely invented electronic devices that became billion dollar product lines saw profits in electronics collapse a startling 73%. This quarter the company will see profitability evaporate, declining an unheard of 98% overall. Sony may be a harbinger of the future as it has a hand in nearly every aspect that directly affects the media, from production to distribution to the ultimate products it’s displayed on, but it is hardly alone in its misery. Other colossals like Warner Bros, Universal and EMI are staggering, unable to maintain their bulk and on the verge of having their very size pull them down.

But make no mistake, it had little to do with filesharing.

Handled properly, the Internet and the new promotion and distribution channels it opened up could have turned the media companies into fountains of profitability. In Webcasting alone the record companies could have freed themselves from decades of dependence on Radio, saving millions in placement fees, while virtually owning the sounds spewing forth from desktop speakers across the globe. Instead they did all they could to destroy the new broadcasters with onerous charges and reporting red tape, shutting down an estimated ten thousand stations and preventing a hundred thousand more from ever opening. Per download micropayments, monthly subscription download plans bundled with ISP broadband services and a host of other intriguing offerings combined with a steady drumbeat telling consumers to “Download all you want, we’ll make more,” could have channeled this amazing Internet revolution right into the media monoliths pockets – before consumers even knew there’d been a revolution. They could have had their customers getting up everyday, grabbing the latest sounds and shows, marveling at the technological brilliance of it all and thanking God for America and the RIAA. Had they been watching out for their interests, had it been important enough for them to do so.

Instead they hand us their 1000th subpoena.

And what a sorry sight that is.

Ultimately this is not a bad thing for the people. In point of fact it’s the opposite. Dependence on a handful of media companies is in no one’s interest outside of the companies themselves and they’ve long since ceased being responsible keepers of our cultural flame. I mention the above only to illustrate what might have been, maybe even what should have been had the Nobuyuki Ideis of the world gotten their way, and to reflect perhaps on how lucky we are that they did not.

Change doesn’t always come easily and it seems each day this change gets harder and harder still. But if it comes to it this groundbreaking cultural shift will be worth every one of those thousands and thousands of desiccated subpoenas to see it through.








Enjoy,

Jack.








Subpoena Defense

Defending The Constitutional Rights of ISPs and Consumers

This site is a resource for individuals seeking information on how to defend themselves if their identity has been subpoenaed by a private third party seeking to enforce their copyrights on the Internet.

On July 4, 2002, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed suit against Verizon Online, a national Internet Service Provider, in an effort to force that ISP to reveal the identity of a subscriber that had allegedly violated copyright laws by downloading music files from the Internet. Verizon refused the request on the grounds that the RIAA had not followed the correct and legal procedures required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The district court ruled against Verizon in a decision that says that copyright interests are more important than critical consumer privacy interests. Verizon has appealed this decision to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In the meantime, consumers and ISPs may be the continuing targets of potential subpoenas, lawsuits and threats to terminate their Internet service.

The piracy of copyrighted material is illegal and should not be condoned. But the desire to protect copyrighted works must be balanced with the need to protect the constitutional rights of consumers, both in terms of protecting their privacy and personal safety and by invoking due process under the law.

If someone is seeking your name without a reasonable claim of copyright infringement, that's an abuse: For example, if someone is using the subpoena to harass or defraud; if they've matched filenames, but not their content; if you weren't using the IP address listed (because of a typo or other error, such as because someone else was using a wireless network). Even if you did have copyrighted material on your computer, you might have a lawful right of fair use.
http://www.subpoenadefense.org/


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Standing Up To The RIAA

Universities tight-lipped over file sharers
Privacy law prevents student identity handover
Matt Hines and John Borland

Some universities are balking at stepped-up demands from the recording industry to unmask alleged student file sharers, citing procedural uncertainties over an avalanche of subpoenas filed with the courts in recent weeks.

Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday said they are barred from immediately handing over the names of students to the recording industry by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which requires institutions to notify students before releasing any personal data.

Both schools said they were opposing the subpoenas on procedural grounds, rather than contesting the RIAA's right to the information. As a result, the refusals could further delay - but are unlikely to derail - the recording industry's efforts to unmask the identities of file swappers and ultimately file suit against them.

"MIT of course has a policy of complying with lawfully issued subpoenas," said professor James Bruce, vice president for information systems at MIT, in a statement. "In this case we have been advised by counsel that the subpoena was not in compliance with the court rules that apply to these subpoenas, and did not allow MIT time to send any notice as the law requires."

The Recording Industry of America (RIAA) has filed close to 1,000 subpoenas in the US District Court in Washington this month requesting information from educational institutions and ISPs on users of Kazaa, the peer-to-peer file-sharing service. The group issued the requests as part of its continuing effort to crack down on individuals using the internet to illegally distribute copyrighted music.

The RIAA has already won a key court decision upholding its right to use the subpoenas, which take advantage of a controversial fast-track provision that allows copyright holders to obtain information about alleged infringers without first filing a lawsuit.

That decision, which forced Verizon Communications to turn over the name of a broadband subscriber accused of swapping copyrighted works on Kazaa, vastly simplified the RIAA's investigations and effectively opened the subpoena floodgates.

ISPs, schools and file-swappers themselves are scrambling to figure out just how much legal space they have to contest the stream of requests, which is testing new areas of law.

MIT reported it filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts asking how it should proceed in light of the subpoenas and requirements of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. The school was careful to indicate in its statement that the refusal does not represent MIT taking any position in the war between the RIAA and users of peer-to-peer file-sharing sites such as Kazaa.

Boston College also said it was acting on procedural grounds. "The subpoenas issued by the RIAA were issued from the wrong court under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and did not provide us with adequate time to notify the students," Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said. "We are opposing the subpoenas, not in an effort to protect students from the consequences of copyright infringement, but rather to establish the proper procedures to be followed in the future."
http://www.silicon.com/news/500022/1/5274.html


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Michael Jackson Slams P2P Prison Bill
Ryan Naraine

Pop legend Michael Jackson on Monday slammed a new bill that seeks prison time for file-swappers, arguing that music fans are the ones who drive the success of the music industry.

"I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans in jail for downloading music. It is wrong to illegally download, but the answer cannot be jail," Jackson said in response to legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday by John Conyers (D.-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D.-Calif.) that would make illegal file swapping a felony.

The Authors, Consumer and Computer Owners Protection and Security Act of 2003 (ACCOPS Act) carries penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for uploading a copyrighted file to a peer-to-peer (P2P) network.

Jackson, the former child phenom who ruled the pop music charts in the 1980s, called on the music industry and consumers to find a solution together. "Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws and we should look to new technologies, like Apple's new Music Store for solutions. This way innovation continues to be the hallmark of America. It is the fans that drive the success of the music business; I wish this would not be forgotten," he said.

The ACCOPS Act also bans the practice of videotaping a movie in a theater and calls for an additional $5 million to augment the current $10 million allocated to the Justice Department to investigate copyright crimes.

The bill requires that file-sharing sites get consumer consent before searching a computer for content or to store files. In addition, the legislation would enable better information sharing between countries about copyright piracy. A further provision of the bill would make it a federal offense to provide false information when registering a domain name.
http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/2238141


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Independent Labels Back File Sharing

A body representing 175 artists worldwide has attacked the Recording Industry Association of America's latest attempt to shut down peer-to-peer music sharing networks.

Dust Traxx manages 27 house and techno labels and claims to have been the largest producer, manufacturer and distributor of house music in the world during 2002. It's promotions director Chuck Paugh says the RIAA 'is deceptive in its claim to represent the recording industry' and in fact only represents a handful of large record companies.

The RIAA recently announced plans to take legal action against individuals who make music files available for download. But Paugh says it does not have the right to take legal action against people trading music when copyright in the songs being swapped is not owned by its members.

'Take a look at the songs they are claiming in their suites are being traded illegally,' says Paugh. 'Some of these songs are not owned or licensed by RIAA members making the RIAA claim to copyright infringement invalid.'

Paugh claims that he has spoken to more than 20 other companies similar to his and all are agreed that the RIAA's campaign will backfire: 'the industry as a whole is against these lawsuits' he says.

Dusk Traxx, adds Paugh, 'are not opposed to peer-to-peer trading of music. We feel that the dinosaurs in the industry need to catch up with technology and consumer demands instead of trying to stomp on consumers....'

Paugh believes that the higher quality of CDs, and vinyl, is significant, as are levels of disposable income.

'Despite the claims to quality of a peer-to- peer shared song, it is not as high quality as a piece of vinyl or commercially manufactured CD, he argues. 'We believe that those sharing songs are mainly young teenagers who once they have consumable money to spend will go out and purchase music as adults.'

His claims appear to be backed by a recent report from Music Research and Programming - Music downloads drive sales, says report - which concluded that the unauthorised downloading of music actually benefits the industry by driving sales.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.p...y.php?id=44999


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Bertelsmann: Dismiss Napster Suits
Ryan Naraine

Former Napster backer Bertelsmann AG has filed a motion in a New York court to dismiss three massive lawsuits filed by record labels alleging its financial support of the defunct P2P network contributed to widespread piracy of copyrighted works.

The $17 billion suit, filed by a group of songwriters and two independent music publishers and later joined by EMI, claimed evidence in Napster's bankruptcy proceedings show Bertelsmann knew the company was breaking the law but decided to keep the service running while it worked on a legitimate version.

Now Bertelsmann has lashed back in a motion, arguing that the lawsuits "reflect groundless and cynical efforts by music publishers" to seek recovery from a third-party lender for damages the plaintiffs failed to recover from the bankrupt Napster.

"No court has ever held that merely providing funding to an accused infringer exposes the funder to copyright infringement liability, and that entertaining such a "groundless and discredited" theory would upset capital markets by potentially expanding the reach of the copyright laws to actors far removed from the actual infringers," the German media giant said in a statement accompanying its motion.

The music publishers have alleged that bankruptcy court documents show that the bulk of Bertelsmann's funding for Napster, which was supposed to go towards creating a legitimate file-swapping service, instead when into paying to keep the illegal Napster in operation. During that time, the suit alleges Bertelsmann knowingly colluded with Napster to infringe on copyrighted works. The group is seeking a penalty of $150,000 covering more than 110,000 infringed works, the maximum statutory penalty.

But in its response, Bertelsmann notes that Chief Judge Marilyn H. Patel of the Northern District of California had already rejected the theory on which plaintiffs rely here -- that Bertelsmann became indirectly liable for infringements by Napster's users by providing a financial "lifeline" that prolonged the file-sharing service's existence.

In dismissing similar infringement claims against venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, an investor and controlling shareholder in Napster, Judge Patel held that such an attenuated, "tertiary" theory of indirect copyright infringement was "objective[ly] unreasonable" and unsupported by existing copyright law. Bertelsmann argues that the plaintiffs cannot escape the same result through forum-shopping," the company said.

Bertelsmann said its motion for dismissal was supported by the fact that the plaintiffs have not provided evidence to prove the necessary elements of "vicarious" or "contributory" infringement. Specifically, Bertelsmann argued that the plaintiffs have not proved it (Bertelsmann) had the ability to control Napster's activities or the allegedly infringing activities of Napster's users.

The company has also asked the court to dismiss the suits on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not provide evidence to show it derived a direct financial benefit from those allegedly infringing activities; or Bertelsmann substantially and knowingly participated in the alleged directly-infringing conduct of Napster's users.
http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/2237311


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Freenet 0.5.2
Beta Version

File Description:

Freenet is a large-scale peer-to-peer network, which pools the power of member computers around the world to create a massive virtual information store, much like a global hard drive. The network is built first and foremost with anonymity in mind. Communications by Freenet nodes are encrypted and are "routed-through" other nodes to make it more difficult to determine who is requesting the information and what its content is. Users contribute to the network by giving bandwidth and a portion of their hard drive (called the "data store") for storing files. Unlike other peer-to-peer file sharing networks, Freenet does not let the user control what is stored in the data store. Instead, files are kept or deleted depending on how popular they are, with the least popular being discarded to make way for newer or more popular content. Files in the data store are encrypted to reduce the likelihood of prosecution by persons wishing to censor Freenet content.

Note: Before you can run Freenet you will first need to make sure that Java is installed and properly configured.


Changes in Current Version:

· New NIO technology that brings improved performance using less CPU and system resources
· Individual nodes are now more efficient
· Speed and routing of the entire network have significantly improved
· Implemented probabilistic caching
· User interface improvements
· Improvements to downloads of large files
· Fix for the Heisenbug


Version Reviewed: 0.5.1
Reviewed by: whatever_-_

You know, there is a difference between having something to hide and something to *protect*. Most people have very little to hide, but do have the integrity of their personal privacy to *protect*. I am assuming you feel anyone using this program must have something to *hide*, and the mere use of Freenode opens a person up to (well deserved, so you appear to think) scrutiny. Hey, if you don't have a problem with government, free enterprise and black hat hackers *spying* on you, for no other reason that they believe you are up to no good, then don't use things like encryption and the technologies underlying and embodied in Freenode. On the other hand, for those of use that are educated and used to thinking and doing for ourselves, we will see the truth for what it is. Increasingly in this world, you must protect yourself from unwarrented privacy invasion. In this day and age, innocent people people are forced to take steps to *protect* their *innocent* personal interests from unwarrented violation. OTOH, it really sucks that they've tied the official release of this program to JAVA, I hope someone developes a win32 native client at some point, that's all that's keeping me from using it.

Rating: ***

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail...fid=1048056236


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77% of Corporate Networks Carry KaZaA-Type P2P Software

Over three-quarters of all corporations have peer-to-peer (P2P) applications like KaZaA, Morpheus and Grokster on their corporate networks, according to a survey published by IT asset analysts AssetMetrix this week.

This may leave companies exposed to litigation if the network is used to unlawfully share copyrighted material – whether it's software, music or movies.

The study, carried out by Canadian AssetMetrix Research Labs, shows a staggering incidence of P2P activity in enterprises. The study included over 175,000 PCs from over 560 corporations from a broad cross-section of industry sectors.

The results show that around 77% of all corporations surveyed had P2P applications on their networks. Some of these companies had P2P applications on as many as 58% of their PCs. Furthermore, no company with over 500 PCs was “P2P free”. According to the survey, the average P2P finding was between 2.15% and 8.38% per company.

“In the wake of recent announcements by the Recording Industry Association of America [RIAA], the issue of file- sharing applications is becoming a prime concern for corporations,” said Paul Bodnoff, president of AssetMetrix.

In April last year the RIAA announced a settlement with a US company, Integrated Information Systems, which had allegedly permitted its employees to download copyrighted music. The settlement figure was $1 million.

In a recent research note issued by technology analysts Gartner, the firm highlighted the need for companies to take action to prevent the use of their networks for unauthorised P2P purposes.

Gartner recommended that companies amend their policies to include a specific ban on file sharing on the corporate network. They should also improve security measures in order to identify and deal with file sharing, and thoroughly document the steps that are taken.
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?...4861&area=news


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Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure
John Markoff

Is the Wi-Fi boom about to bust? Even though that has lately become the fashionable view, the answer is probably no.

Critics argue that there are too many competitors trying to deliver high-speed wireless connections to the Internet. Prices for most commercial Wi-Fi services are too high, they say, and free or subsidized operations abound, including those like the one McDonald's started rolling out last week at its fast food restaurants in San Francisco. [Page C7.]

All this will make it practically impossible, the skeptics insist, for anyone to build a profitable business in Wi-Fi, a short-range wireless radio technology that frees personal computers from their physical tethers to the Internet.

But a number of true believers in Wi-Fi were present at this mountain resort during an annual conference, organized by the investment banker Herbert Allen, that brings together technology, media and entertainment industry leaders. The Intel Corporation in particular is betting a lot of money on Wi-Fi. And that may be exactly what the new technology needs to succeed.

Intel's two top executives, Craig R. Barrett and Andrew S. Grove, were here this year to preach the virtues of Wi-Fi, in the belief that it will be a powerfully disruptive force in the telecommunications industry.

It has certainly been a disruptive force at Intel. The industry and analysts have focused their attention on the current frenzy to build wireless Internet locations, known as hot spots, at airports, coffeehouses and hotels. But Intel has a much bolder wireless plan: it wants to close the so-called last-mile gap between homes and the Internet backbone with cheap, super-fast connections so that businesses can deliver interactive entertainment and a host of other digital products and services right into America's living rooms and dens.

The Wi-Fi standard was developed and commercialized at Apple Computer and many other companies as early as 1999. Ultimately, though, it gained widespread popularity on its own, Mr. Barrett acknowledged in an interview here, as a grass-roots, from-the-bottom-up movement.

Last week the company quietly announced that it was teaming with a small equipment maker, Alvarion, of Tel Aviv, Israel, to back a free wireless standard, 802.16, that is intended to send data over distances of as much as 30 miles and at speeds of up to 70 megabits a second.

The data rate is high enough to comfortably stream high-definition television video broadcasts, and the range makes it possible to quickly deploy a system in a large urban or suburban area.

By comparison, current Wi-Fi technology is limited to several hundred feet and maximum speeds of 54 megabits a second. The Intel test, however, will explore using the 802.16 standard, known as WiMax, to distribute the data to Wi-Fi antennas in local neighborhoods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/te...gy/14WIFI.html


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From a Store With 300,000 Titles, a Big Music Lesson
Jim Rendon

WHEN Glenn Ward, the chief executive of the Virgin Entertainment Group, North America, has an urge to hunt for obscure, out-of-print recordings, he passes up the Virgin Megastore on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles for another music retailer down the street.

Mr. Ward chooses that competitor, Amoeba Music, because, he says, it is among the best places to find rare music in Los Angeles, where Virgin North America is based.

Mr. Ward is not alone. Amoeba, a three-store chain that opened its first store in 1990 near the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, is a haven for music customers and, as a result, is growing as most of its megasize competitors are shrinking.

Last year, it says, it sold $50 million of merchandise, up 50 percent from 2001. It has had a profit every year since it started, even in recent years when the biggest names in music retailing have been closing stores or stocking their shelves with shirts and action figures — anything that might sell better than the music.

Amoeba's selection outdistances the competition. It carries an average 300,000 titles in each store, twice as many as Virgin does, and more than 10 times the average at Wherehouse Entertainment stores. Moreover, about half those CD's and recordings are used. Amoeba has achieved cult status as the place to sell, as well as buy, CD's and rare records.

The company also tries to hire knowledgeable employees who can lead customers to the latest Scandinavian black-metal offering or help them find an out-of- print Freddie Hubbard jazz recording. Amoeba shoppers, even those who work for the competition, can be fanatic.

"I love shopping there," said Mr. Ward, who most recently bought an out-of-print single by the band Talking Heads at Amoeba. "They have a great buzz going and a great staff with deep product knowledge. They put temptation in my way, and I can't resist. It's a great place to hang out."



While Amoeba continues to grow, fueled by the opening of its 34,000-square-foot store on Sunset Boulevard in 2001, many big names in the industry have been fading. Wherehouse, based in Torrance, Calif., closed 255 stores last year, leaving it with only 149 outlets in the West. It filed for bankruptcy protection in January. Tower Records, based in West Sacramento, Calif., and owned by MTS Inc., lost $57.1 million in 2002 and is reportedly up for sale. Musicland, based in Minnetonka, Minn., and the operator of the Sam Goody stores, lost $74 million last year and was sold by Best Buy to Sun Capital Partners for the assumption of its liabilities.

Since 1999, CD shipments in the United States have fallen 15 percent, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Music retailers are also battling rampant downloading on the Internet and growing sales at stores like Wal-Mart and online sites like Amazon.

The largest retailers are racing to diversify. Virgin is selling clothing from Ben Sherman Ltd. and is considering incense and candles. Wherehouse and Tower are pursuing similar strategies.

"We're in the process of overhauling our merchandise so we can have a higher reliance on things other than music to drive customers into the store,"said Lew Garrett, executive vice president of Wherehouse.

BUT on a recent Saturday afternoon, Amoeba's store in San Francisco, on Haight Street, was a swirl of commerce. A long checkout line snaked around racks of bargain CD's. The rhythmic clacking made by people sifting through bins of CD's mixed with the soothing rhythms of "Essential Asian Flavas," a CD playing on the sound system.

Linnea Vedder, 21, an art student, flipped through a stack of used CD's, hoping to find a bargain on the latest release from the British rockabilly singer Holly Golightly. "Amoeba has lots of music that I wouldn't find in other stores," Ms. Vedder said.

A dozen yards away, Duane Felix, 50, a truck dispatcher, clutched a Temptations album under his arm; he owned a copy of it 30 years ago. Ryan Carlisle, 23, a student visiting from Arcadia, Calif., found a CD by the indie-pop band Pinback. "This is the best record store I've ever been to," he said.

Amoeba does not display any promotional material. No Mick Jagger cutouts hawk the latest Rolling Stones album. Instead, vintage posters are displayed next to records. Paco Underhill, founder of the retail research firm Envirosell and author of "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping," visited the Los Angeles store and was impressed by how Amoeba had tapped into people's passion for music. "It is like a temple," Mr. Underhill said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/20/bu...ey/20MUSI.html


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What Albums Join Together, Everyone Tears Asunder
Jon Pareles

The pop album made its way through the 20th century by staying adaptable, transforming itself from analog grooves to digital bits. But can the notion of an album — a collection of songs sold as a single unit, to be heard in a certain sequence — survive the Internet?

That question has been raised more insistently since Apple Computers started its iTunes store, where songs can be downloaded for 99 cents and complete albums for $9.99. Apple recently announced that 6.5 million songs have been downloaded since the store opened on April 28, fewer than half of them as part of albums. Its competition, Buy.com's buymusic.com, is expected to announce its opening on Tuesday, selling downloads for the much more widely used Windows operating system.

With less hoopla, music retailers like Amazon and Tower Records are already selling individual songs to be downloaded, dismantling the albums they came from. Subscription services like Pressplay, MusicNet and Rhapsody also offer individual songs. And then there are the millions of unauthorized copies of songs bouncing around the Internet on networks like KaZaA, which continue to flourish despite the Recording Industry Association of America's threats to sue users.

With so many unattached songs to choose from, listeners are becoming disc jockeys, or perhaps file jockeys. In the 1980's heyday of the cassette, many dedicated music fans made mix tapes, spending hours choosing just the right succession of songs and taping them one by one. But mix-tape methodology is now everywhere. With a few clicks, multitudes of more casual listeners sift through the songs on their hard drives, burning their own compilations onto homemade CD's or creating playlists for their Ipods or the software players on their computers.

Even within an album, the programming features of CD's have long allowed listeners to skip or shuffle songs at whim. "Younger listeners don't listen through an album," said Val Azzoli, the co-chairman of the Atlantic Group. "Maybe they listen to track 1, track 3 and track 8."

While computer commerce and short attention spans are working against the survival of the album, there is, of course, resistance. Metallica, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, the Beastie Boys and others have refused to sell their music through iTunes because Apple insists on making all songs available separately. They see their albums, not separate songs, as the artistic unit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/20/we...ew/20PARE.html


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Apple Posts Decline in Profit, but Its Sales Rise
Laurie Flynn

Apple Computer posted a sharp decline in profit for the quarter yesterday, but said that sales rose as it expanded its reach into laptops and music players.

Net income fell 41 percent, to $19 million, or 5 cents a share, in its third quarter, down from $32 million, or 9 cents, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 8 percent, to $1.55 billion, the highest in 11 quarters.

"In light of current conditions we were really pleased with the 8 percent revenue growth," said Fred Anderson, Apple's chief financial officer. Looking ahead, Mr. Anderson said the company expected high single-digit revenue growth in the current quarter, and a slight increase in earnings.

Shares of Apple rose 26 cents, to $19.87 in regular trading. The company announced its earnings after the markets closed. Shares rose to $20.25 in after- hours trading.
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Apple sold 304,000 iPod portable music devices in the quarter, up from 80,000 iPods in the second quarter. "iPod had an incredible quarter," Mr. Anderson said. The company introduced upgraded iPods in April when it announced the iTunes music store, Apple's online business that allows customers to download songs.

Mr. Wolf said he was particularly impressed with sales of iPods, given that the devices can interact with both Macintosh computers and PC's with the Windows operating system.

The company plans to release a Windows version of its iTunes music service by the end of the year to bolster sales. Mr. Anderson said the company had sold 6.5 million songs since the service was introduced in April.

Apple opened three retail stores in the quarter, bringing its total to 59.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/te...gy/17APPL.html


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Adidas Did Not Suffer Trade Mark Dilution, Says Advocate General

Adidas cannot prevent rivals from using stripes on their products, according to an opinion by Advocate General Francis Jacobs published last Friday. Jacobs took the view that common decorations, such as stripes, should not be restricted by trade mark rules.

The sportswear giant took UK company Fitnessworld Trading Ltd to court over clothing being sold in the Benelux countries. It fitness clothes included two parallel stripes on either side seam, in contrasting colour to the clothes themselves.

Adidas claimed that Fitnessworld was in breach of its own well-known trade mark of three parallel stripes.

The Netherlands district court, in which the action was originally brought, agreed with adidas and banned Fitnessworld from selling the products in the Benelux countries as well as requiring it to turn over its profits from sales of the clothes.

However, the smaller company won support from the Regional Court of Appeal, which dismissed adidas’ claims in their entirety, stating that there was no confusion as to which product was manufactured by adidas and that:

“the stripe motif of two vertical parallel stripes on the side seams, contrasting with the background colour, has over the years been regularly used in the Netherlands to embellish (sports) clothing. It will therefore not do for adidas, which has chosen a triple-stripe motif as its trade mark, to attempt to monopolise the stripe motif.”

Adidas appealed to the Netherlands Supreme Court of Appeal, which put the action on hold while it referred two technical legal questions to the European Court of Justice on how to interpret the EU's Trade Marks Directive.

The ECJ was asked whether the relevant provision of the Directive covered infringing marks on goods similar to those produced by the trade mark holder, or only on goods that were not similar. Secondly, the court was asked whether the use of decorations could amount to trade mark infringement.

Advocate General Jacobs has now issued his opinion on these questions, and the European Court of Justice will issue its verdict towards the end of this year. The Advocate General’s opinion is highly influential and usually followed by the Court.
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?...8629&area=news


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Outsourcing Companies Warned Of Software Piracy Risk

The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) today cautioned outsourcing companies that they risk criminal and civil proceedings if the organisations for which they provide IT services do not have adequate licenses in place for their software.

FAST has recently seen its first case involving an outsourcing company. It advises an outsourcer to conduct due diligence on any licenses it is set to control under its contract.

Existing issues – of which the customer itself may be unaware, such as unlicensed software inherited from a merger – can be identified before they cause problems.

The warning follows a recent report from analysts Meta Group suggesting that most companies are expected to outsource in the next three years.
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?...4221&area=news


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Action Against UK For Failure To Implement Copyright Directive

The European Commission yesterday announced that it is bringing infringement proceedings against the UK and ten other Member States for failing to implement the Copyright Directive in their national laws.

The upgrade in national copyright law should have completed by 22nd December last year; but only Greece and Denmark met the deadline. Italy and Austria implemented the Directive in April and June 2003 respectively. All other Member States are still in the course of implementation and have stated that they will implement the Directive during 2003.

While Germany has said that it expects to implement the necessary law this month, the UK has been more ambiguous.

For several months, the UK's Copyright Directorate of the Patent Office said that implementation would be "late spring" 2003. But the latest notice from the Directorate acknowledges that "it has now become clear that this latest target cannot be met." It adds that the necessary legislation will be produced for laying before Parliament "as soon as possible".

The Commission has decided not to wait and see. It is sending "reasoned opinions" to the UK, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland and Sweden. The Commission says that in doing so it is "fulfilling its role as guardian of the Treaties".

"Reasoned opinions" are the second stage under the EC Treaty's formal infringement procedures. Should a Member State which has received a reasoned opinion fail to give a satisfactory reply within the deadline (usually two months), the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?...8661&area=news


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Kembrew McLeod
Conceptual, 1998

In 1998, Kembrew McLeod trademarked the phrase "Freedom of Expression" and created a zine with that title. He enlisted a friend, Brendan Love, to pose as the publisher of an imaginary punk rock magazine also called Freedom of Expression, whom he then pretended to sue. McLeod hired a lawyer and didn't let her in on the hoax. The lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter to Love:

We represent Kembrew McLeod of Sunderland, Massachusetts, the owner of the federally registered trademark, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ... Your company has been using the mark Freedom of Expression ... Such use creates a likelihood of confusion in the market and also creates a substantial risk of harm to the reputation and goodwill of our client. This letter, therefore, constitutes formal notice of your infringement of our client’s trademark rights and a demand that you refrain from all further use of Freedom of Expression.

Shortly thereafter, the Daily Hampshire Gazette ran an interview with McLeod. He played it straight, telling the paper, "I didn't go to the trouble, the expense and the time of trademarking Freedom of Expression just to have someone else come along and think they can use it whenever they want." Two years later, when McLeod asked to reprint the Gazette article in his book Owning Culture, the paper denied him permission.
http://www.illegal-art.org/print/popups/freedom.html



Eric Doeringer
"CD - 2002"
Mixed media, 2002

Doeringer has duplicated every CD in his personal collection--302 in all--and repackaged them in hand-printed, numbered editions. Each CD label bears Doeringer's signature, but doesn't provide any information about the style of music on the disc or about the artist or recording company. For more examples of Doeringer's work, see EricDoeringer.com.
http://www.illegal-art.org/print/popups/cd2002.html


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Misguided Music Executives Bite The Fans That Feed Them
Jim DeRogatis

True musical fandom is a measure of devotion unlike any other in the entertainment world.

As a teenager, I remember standing in line at midnight to be among the first to buy Pink Floyd's epic "The Wall." I had already taped the entire double album when New York radio station WNEW-FM played it on a special a few weeks earlier. But I still had to own it--to hold it in my hands, to savor the vinyl, to study the lyrics and to lose myself in Gerald Scarfe's artwork. The same was true for every Floyd fan I knew.

The recording industry's campaign to crack down on file-swapping and downloading is nothing less than a spiteful slap in the face to its most dedicated customers-- the hardcore fans who've always been the backbone of the industry, buying and supporting the music they love regardless of the vagaries of passing trends or fads.

The Recording Industry Association of America, well-funded lobbyists for the five global corporations that control 85 percent of the music business, insist that their new targets--college kids who use their universities' high-speed Internet lines to fill their hard drives with free music--are the moral equivalent of shoplifters.

They argue that this "thievery" deprives musicians of money that's rightfully theirs (never mind the fact that few artists ever see royalties from major-label releases). They say it drives prices up for everyone else (even though the industry itself has long raised prices over the objections of artists, retailers and consumers), and it will ultimately "kill" the music business (or at least minimize the executives' fat annual bonuses).

This argument is as specious as the similar beef in the early '80s about cassettes ("Home Taping is Killing Music!" was the slogan back then), or the long-since discredited notion that videotapes would "destroy" Hollywood (in fact, video added a second lucrative market to the movie industry, which is as healthy as it's ever been). And it's disproved by a considerable amount of anecdotal and scientific evidence.

Downloading isn't killing the music industry. The music industry is killing the music industry. And good riddance to it.

The quicker the current business model dies, the sooner a new one might emerge. Hopefully it will give artists the respect they deserve, instead of treating them as willing dupes. And maybe it will even view fans as people who should be rewarded rather than being branded as criminals.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/...s-music20.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AnyDVD 1.4.4.1

Author: SlySoft, Inc.
Program Type: Shareware

File Description:

AnyDVD allows you to decrypt CSS encrypted DVDs on the fly. Insert your CSS- (Content Scrambling System) and RPC (Region Code Protected) - protected DVD into your DVD drive. It will detect it and automatically remove the protection. It only takes a few seconds. Even if your drive is not region-free, immediately you'll get a chance to watch movies that don't match your drives region code.

Changes in Current Version:

· Fixed "no drives found" message on Windows 2000
· Updated Russian, Dutch and Italian languages

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail...fid=1057642382

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The Bill

Piracy Deterrence And Education Act Of 2003 (H. R. 2517)


To enhance criminal enforcement of the copyright laws, educate the public about the application of copyright law to the Internet, and clarify the authority to seize unauthorized copyrighted works.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 19, 2003

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

------------------------------------------------------------------- -----

A BILL

To enhance criminal enforcement of the copyright laws, educate the public about the application of copyright law to the Internet, and clarify the authority to seize unauthorized copyrighted works.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) The Internet, while changing the way our society communicates, has also changed the nature of many crimes, including the theft of intellectual property.

(2) Trafficking in copyrighted works through increasingly sophisticated electronic means, including peer-to-peer file trading networks, Internet chat rooms, and newsgroups, threatens lost jobs, lost income for creators, lower tax revenue, and higher prices for honest purchasers.

(3) The most popular peer-to-peer file trading software programs have been downloaded by computer users over 200,000,000 times. At any one time there are over 3,000,000 users simultaneously using just one of these services. Each month, on average, over 2,300,000,000 digital-media files are transferred among users of peer-to-peer systems.

(4) Many computer users either do not know that copyright laws apply to Internet activity or simply believe that they will not be caught or prosecuted for their conduct.

(5) In addition, many of the computer users drawn to the convenience of peer-to-peer systems do not realize that these systems pose serious security and privacy threats to their personal computers or company networks. Recent studies reveal that the majority of the users of these systems are unable to tell what files they are sharing and sometimes incorrectly assume they were not sharing any files when in fact they were sharing all files on their hard drive.

(6) The security and privacy threats posed by peer-to-peer networks extend beyond users inadvertently enabling a hacker to access files. Millions of copies of one of the most popular peer-to- peer networks contain software that could allow an independent company to take over portions of users' computers and Internet connections and has the capacity to keep track of users' online habits.

(7) In light of these considerations, it is important that Federal law enforcement agencies actively pursue criminals who steal the copyrighted works of others, and prevent such activity through enforcement and awareness. It is also important that the public be educated about the security and privacy risks associated with being connected to an unauthorized peer-to-peer network.

(8) In addition, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to act against infringements of copyrighted works, including those works protected under the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property of the World Trade Organization. Under United States law, merchandise can be seized by or forfeited to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection if `it is merchandise or packaging in which copyright, trademark, or trade name protection violations are involved' (section 596(c)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1595a(c)(2)(C)).

(9) Though the regulations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (section 133.31 of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations) provide that registered copyrighted works may be recorded with the Bureau for `import protection,' recordation is not explicitly required before infringing merchandise can be seized or forfeited. Notwithstanding present legal authority, there have been concerns raised about the authority of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to seize infringing copyrighted materials that have neither been registered with the United States Copyright Office or recorded with the Bureau.

(10) Neither United States nor foreign works require registration with the Copyright Office for protection of the copyright in those works. United States works require registration only before an action for infringement is brought under title 17, United States Code. A foreign work need not be registered to bring such an action for infringement, and none of the rights contained in title 17, United States Code, including the right to control distribution in section 106 of that title or importation under section 602 of that title, are contingent upon registration. In accordance with the international obligations of the United States barring the use of formalities, United States law gives foreign copyright owners direct access to United States courts and procedures without resort to any registration requirement, and section 603 of title 17, United States Code, directs the Secretary of the Treasury and the United States Postal Service to separately or jointly make regulations for the enforcement of the provisions of title 17, United States Code, prohibiting importation.

(11) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this section, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has been unclear about its legal authority to seize infringing copyrighted materials that have neither been registered with the Copyright Office nor recorded with the Bureau. To provide clarity, it is necessary to specify the authority of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to seize infringing materials protected by the copyright laws, with or without registration or recordation.

SEC. 3. DETERRENCE AND COORDINATION.

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall--

(1) develop a program to deter members of the public from committing acts of copyright infringement by--

(A) offering on the Internet copies of copyrighted works, or
(B) making copies of copyrighted works from the Internet, without the authorization of the copyright owners; and

(2) facilitate the sharing among law enforcement agencies, Internet service providers, and copyright owners of information concerning activities described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1).

The program under paragraph (1) shall include issuing appropriate warnings to individuals engaged in an activity described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) that they may be subject to criminal prosecution.

SEC. 4. DESIGNATION AND TRAINING OF AGENTS IN COMPUTER HACKING AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY UNITS.

(a) DESIGNATION OF AGENTS IN CHIPS UNITS- The Attorney General shall ensure that any unit in the Department of Justice responsible for investigating computer hacking or responsible for investigating intellectual property crimes is assigned at least one agent to support such unit for the purpose of investigating crimes relating to the theft of intellectual property.

(b) TRAINING- The Attorney General shall ensure that each agent assigned under subsection (a) has received training in the investigation and enforcement of intellectual property crimes.

SEC. 5. EDUCATION PROGRAM.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT- There shall be established within the Office of the Associate Attorney General of the United States an Internet Use Education Program.

(b) PURPOSE- The purpose of the Internet Use Education Program shall be to--

(1) educate the general public concerning the value of copyrighted works and the effects of the theft of such works on those who create them;

(2) educate the general public concerning the privacy, security, and other risks of using the Internet to obtain unauthorized copies of copyrighted works;

(3) coordinate and consult with the Department of Education on compliance by educational institutions with applicable copyright laws involving Internet use; and

(4) coordinate and consult with the Department of Commerce on compliance by corporations with applicable copyright laws involving Internet use.

SEC. 6. CUSTOMS RECORDATION.

(a) REGISTRATION AND INFRINGEMENT ACTIONS- Section 411(a) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the first sentence the following: `An action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall not include any action brought by the Government of the United States or by any agency or instrumentality thereof.'.

(b) INFRINGING IMPORTATION- Section 602(a) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the period at the end of the first sentence the following: `, regardless of whether that work has been registered with the Copyright Office or recorded with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security'.

(c) IMPORTATION PROHIBITIONS- Section 603(a) of title 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the period the following: `of copies or phonorecords of a work protected under this title, regardless of whether that work has been registered with the Copyright Office or recorded with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security'.

SEC. 7. INFRINGEMENT WARNING NOTICE.

The Attorney General shall, within 3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, set forth criteria under which copyright owners designated by the Attorney General will be able to use the seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for deterrent purposes in connection with physical and digital copies and phonorecords and digital transmission of their works of authorship.
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=54590


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FBI Stamp of Audio Approval
Jon Iverson

While the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is working overtime to jail file traders, members of the US Congress are introducing bill after bill targeting with criminal prosecution the 60 million Americans engaged in Internet file sharing.

H.R. 2517, otherwise known as the "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003," was introduced last month by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) to enable the Federal Bureau of Investigation to deter all "unauthorized" home recording by consumers when obtained from the Internet.

The bill states that the director of the FBI shall "develop a program to deter members of the public from committing acts of copyright infringement by offering on the Internet copies of copyrighted works, or making copies of copyrighted works from the Internet . . . and facilitate the sharing among law enforcement agencies, Internet service providers, and copyright owners of information concerning [these] activities."

Not surprisingly, the RIAA's Cary Sherman was quick to praise the bill, stating, "The Smith-Berman legislation will strengthen the hand of the FBI and other federal law enforcement officials to address the rampant copyright infringement occurring on peer-to-peer networks." But both the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) are now on record as opposing the bill, which, they claim, "would cause a chilling effect on lawful home use practices."
http://www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?1693


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ISP Caching Tool Muddies Copyright Waters
Stefanie Olsen

Peer-to-peer traffic is one of the biggest headaches for Internet service providers, but now a Swedish company says it has developed technology that can help handle the load.

Last week, Stockholm-based Joltid said three major service providers in Europe licensed its PeerCache technology -- software designed to reduce costs of network traffic by caching frequently traded digital files within file-swapping systems.

PeerCache is built to work for FastTrack, one of the most widely used P2P protocols and the underpinning of popular applications such as Kazaa and iMesh. Joltid said its traffic on FastTrack protocols can account for nearly 70 percent of the network's total bandwidth. PeerCache plugs in to the ISP network and temporarily caches FastTrack P2P traffic, helping to lessen the bandwidth burden.

But the technology could prove controversial, by putting ISPs in the hot seat in the Internet piracy debate. One indicator of this potential is that Joltid's European partners have not publicly disclosed their association with the company.

In the United States, copyright laws protect ISPs from liability for their users' activities. With PeerCache software, ISPs would cache, or temporarily hold, digital copies of pirated files on their servers so they're more easily accessible to traders on Kazaa and other FastTrack systems. But holding copies of copyrighted material could make ISPs accomplices in illegal file trading, at least according to an early survey by one recording-industry trade association.

Zennstrom said that numerous other ISPs are currently testing the software in Europe.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t26...zdnetukhompage


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Napster Creator Pursues Backers For New File-Sharing Concept

Meanwhile, his former service soon will return as legal company
Joseph Menn and Jon Healey

Napster the brand is going legit under new owner Roxio Inc.

Now Napster the person is trying to do the same with an Internet startup that could, once again, have far-reaching impact on the music business.

Napster creator Shawn Fanning is looking for backers of technology he's developing that would let file-sharing networks distribute music without violating copyrights, people familiar with the project said.

Fanning's technology would recognize copyrighted songs on a network and let the copyright owners set a price for downloading them.

Fanning's new program is based on a remarkably simple concept:

It relies on audio fingerprinting that identifies every song being offered by users on a file- sharing network. As the user submits the song, it would be checked against a database at Fanning's company to see whether it is copyrighted. If it is, the song couldn't be distributed without payment.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Roxio plans to offer a new version of Napster by March, but it probably won't have any of the file-sharing flavor of the original. Instead, it will be built around the label-backed Pressplay subscription service that Roxio bought from Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group and Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment.

Fanning has been acting as a consultant for Roxio while also pursuing his new file- sharing venture independently. Record-company executives say Fanning has been making the rounds of the major labels in recent weeks, demonstrating his technology and urging them to invest in and endorse his system. If they do, he has told the labels, he will ask Kazaa and other leading peer-to-peer networks to sign on as well.

"It's fantastic, but it only works if Kazaa goes along with it," said one label executive who asked not to be named.

He said his label was impressed with Fanning's demonstration and is reviewing the proposal.
http://www.statesman.com/business/co...ff0051052.html


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Amazon Plan Would Allow Searching Texts of Many Books
David D. Kirkpatrick

Executives at Amazon.com are negotiating with several of the largest book publishers about an ambitious and expensive plan to assemble a searchable online archive with the texts of tens of thousands of books of nonfiction, according to several publishing executives involved.

Amazon plans to limit how much of any given book a user can read, and it is telling publishers that the plan will help sell more books while better serving its own online customers.

Together with little-publicized additions to Amazon's Web site, like listings of restaurants and movie showings, the plan appears to be part of a strategy to compete with online search services like Google and Yahoo for consumers' time and attention. Providing a searchable online database of the contents of books could make Amazon a more authoritative source of information, drawing additional traffic to its online retail store.

A spokeswoman for Amazon declined to comment and would not confirm any of details of the plan. The publishing executives said Amazon had asked them to keep the plan confidential until the start of the service, which was scheduled for the fall.

Amazon is calling its program Look Inside the Book II, the publishers said. It would expand on a current program that lets shoppers read a table of contents, a first chapter or a few selected pages provided by the publishers of certain books. But Look Inside the Book II would let online browsers search by terms like "Caravaggio," "sans-culottes," or "Osama bin Laden," and then see a list of books mentioning the term along with the sentence that contains it. Browsers could then choose to see several pages around that citation.

But to see those pages Amazon would require users to register, and it plans to limit the amount of any single book a browser can view.

The publishers said they have been guardedly cooperative. Some said they were willing to let Amazon experiment with works of narrative nonfiction, but not reference books, cookbooks or poetry where shoppers might be satisfied with the few pages produced by a search. Others are holding out for further assurances on preventing piracy and guarantees that they will be able to pull their books from the service.

But some publishing executives also noted that Amazon, by far the largest online bookseller, stands to benefit far more than they do. Now, in addition to books, they said, Amazon can sell music, electronics, clothing and other goods to users drawn to the site by the chance to search its digital archive, and the publishers would not receive a cut of that revenue.

How authors will react is another question. Most book contracts allow publishers to give away excerpts for promotional purposes, but authors may contend that Amazon's search service more closely resembles some kind of research system. "This sounds like an anthology right, and that has to be specifically approved by the author, and if a publisher is going to license the electronic rights to the whole work there has be to reasonable compensation for that," said Paul Aiken, the executive director of the Authors Guild.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/te...gy/21AMAZ.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have met Big Brother, and He is Steve Wozniak.

Apple Co-Founder Creates Electronic ID Tags
John Markoff

The co-founder of Apple Computer, Stephen Wozniak, recalls that it began with a series of lost dogs — a runaway husky, a roving Shar-Pei, a wayward bichon frisé.

The problem led inexorably to a Wozniak solution: wireless location-monitoring technology that would use electronic tags to help people keep track of their animals, children or property.

Now Mr. Wozniak, whose new company, Wheels of Zeus, has been operating in Silicon Valley stealth mode for 18 months, is ready to talk about the technology. This week the company — whose name is derived from the Woz in Wozniak — plans to announce its formal management structure. Its investors are: Mobius Venture Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Palo Alto Investors.

While the company is not ready to identify the manufacturers, Wheels of Zeus says it has initial agreements with two large American makers of consumer electronics to produce the first commercial systems based on its technology, which is called WozNet. The chief operating officer, Rich Rifredi, said the first products were planned for introduction next year .

In an interview last week in Wheels of Zeus's offices in Los Gatos, Calif., which are nondescript except for his Hummer parked out front, Mr. Wozniak described WozNet as a simple and inexpensive wireless network that uses radio signals and global positioning satellite data to keep track of a cluster of inexpensive tags within a one- or two-mile radius of each base station. WozNet, he said, will include a home-base station that has the ability to track the location of dozens or even hundreds of small wireless devices that can be attached to people, pets or property. The tags — expected to cost less than $25 each to produce — will be able to generate alerts, notifying the owner by phone or e-mail message when a child arrives at school, a dog leaves the yard or a car leaves the parking lot.

"We started out with the idea of a product to keep track of stuff," said Mr. Wozniak, the 52-year-old engineer who was the technical brains behind the first Apple computer in 1976. "We ended up inventing a new class of wireless network."

There may be other potential applications for the low-speed data system, like text messaging, Mr. Wozniak said, as well as other uses that he declined to describe.

All of the components of WozNet will be capable of receiving location information from global positioning system satellites.

Because the tags can report their location whether they are close to their home-base station or a neighbor's, the company is hoping to seed Silicon Valley and other large suburban communities with enough base stations to make it possible to easily track objects, even when they move outside the range of the owner's station.

"The idea has a lot of merit, particularly from the standpoint of parents and keeping track of children," said Tim Bajarin, a consumer electronics industry analyst who is president of Creative Strategies in Campbell, Calif. "Where this is more tricky is with respect to the privacy issue and personal tracking."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/te...gy/21ZEUS.html


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ReplayTV's New Owners Drop Features That Riled Hollywood
Eric A. Taub

The development of consumer-friendly electronics products may be a hallmark of the digital age, but that engineered friendliness is not always appreciated in Hollywood.

Last month the maker of ReplayTV, a line of digital video recorders that allows consumers to record and store hours of their favorite television programs on hard drives instead of tape, agreed to remove two features from its devices that simplified life for consumers but complicated business for entertainment providers.

ReplayTV's new 5500 model, which will go on sale next month, will no longer be able to skip entire commercials automatically without recording them or to send recorded programming over the Internet to other ReplayTV users outside a home network. The recorders will, however, still be able to store large libraries of programming indefinitely and allow users to skip manually through recorded commercials in 30-second increments.

Sonicblue Inc., the former owner of ReplayTV, was considered the company in the digital video recording industry that most seriously pushed against the copyright interests of the entertainment industry. Two years ago, a consortium of movie and television studios sued Sonicblue for abetting copyright infringement with ReplayTV's commercial-skipping feature, among other claims.

Hollywood is becoming more vigilant about digital recording technology because it fears that skipping commercials and unauthorized sharing of programs will become widespread as soon as the devices become commonplace.

Program creators have argued that those delivering their copyrighted work, like makers of recording devices, have no right to distort it or make it easy for others to do so. "Companies that manufacture hardware must have a conversation with program providers who want to be assured that their programming will be handled in a certain way," said Robert M. Schwartz, a lawyer representing some plaintiffs, including AOL Time Warner, in the Sonicblue suit.

That is a conversation that some think is not needed. The decision by ReplayTV's new owner to deactivate certain features shows that the electronics industry has given up its power, said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "ReplayTV's current actions are a clear indication that the entertainment companies are gaining de facto control over what is in our homes," Ms. Cohn said. "Why do we, as consumers, have to prove what features we need on our recording devices? We should be the ones who decide."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/te...gy/21REPL.html


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“Probably won't work.” – Michael Eisner

DVD's Meant for Buying but Not for Keeping
Eric A. Taub

Video rental stores want customers to return their movies, they just do not want them to do so too quickly.

When tapes and DVD's are returned after the due date, late fees often double the cost of a rental — highly annoying to consumers while providing no additional revenue to the studios that make the movies.

To help consumers avoid those fees, while trying to develop new revenue, the Walt Disney Company's home video division plans to test market a new type of DVD that will be priced about the same as a rental but never needs to be returned — because it stops working after a fixed period of time.

It is an experiment that will be closely watched in Hollywood, where the home video market last year represented nearly 59 percent of the film industry's $17.38 billion in North American revenue, according to Adams Media Research. Late fees are a lucrative source of additional income for Blockbuster Inc., which is a unit of Viacom Inc., and its competitors. Typically, the late fees account for more than 10 percent of the gross rental revenue at most outlets, according to the Video Software Dealers Association.

But, those extra fees do little or nothing to bolster the bottom lines of the film studios, which usually make most of their rental revenue from the initial sale of VHS and DVD copies to retail outlets. The test, by Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment could be a way to change that.

Set to roll out in September with eight titles in four markets, Disney's new EZ-D DVD self-destructs 48 hours after the purchaser opens the special airtight package. The disc is composed of a Lexan resin co-polymer developed by GE Plastics. The General Electric Company owns a minority stake in Flexplay Technologies, the company that owns the underlying process and has licensed it to Disney.

Once the product is exposed to the elements, a chemical clock starts ticking, turning the disc black and making it unreadable by a DVD player's laser after the designated time has elapsed. Until that happens, the disc can be played as often as desired. Employing a chemical rather than software process to disable the disc is meant to ensure that the process will work with any DVD player. And like any standard DVD, the discs can have software copyright protection that would deter a user from copying them onto the hard drive of a computer or onto a blank DVD that would not self-destruct.

There is nothing magical about the 48-hour life span of the disc. The manufacturing process can be adjusted so that the disc will expire anywhere from 8 to 60 hours after opening the wrapper. And enterprising consumers may find that they can extend the life even further. Staff members of New Scientist, a British publication, were able to slow down the chemical process and keep an opened EZ-D disc in a playable state for at least 96 hours by placing it in a sealed container and storing it in the refrigerator.

While experts say that the technology is intriguing, it remains an open question whether a self-destructing DVD will interest consumers who normally expect that any purchase of a physical object is theirs to use forever.

It is also unknown if consumers will find a 48-hour viewing period sufficient. Those who typically watch a film over several days, catching a few scenes here and there, will be out of luck with EZ-D. Even if people intellectually understand the concept, said Thomas Wolzien, senior media analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, "when your ability to play it disappears after 48 hours, you are going to feel as if someone robbed you."

If the EZ-D disc is a success, its detractors say, expect to see an environmental mess, as millions of now useless discs clog the landfills with nonbiodegradable polymers.
Based on recent comments made by Michael D. Eisner, Disney's chairman and chief executive, those other markets may prove to be important revenue sources for Flexplay.

Speaking at a Sanford C. Bernstein conference last month in New York, Mr. Eisner indicated that he expected the EZ-D test to be short-lived.

"I think it probably won't work," he said. "I think it's going to boomerang on us, but it's a test."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/te...gy/21FLEX.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some Bet the Broadband Belongs to Regional Bells, Not Cable
Bernard Simon

To Jim Hjartarson, the future of Internet access lies in telephone lines, not television cables. That is not a popular view these days.

From the moment Mr. Hjartarson joined four fellow Canadians in 1998 to develop high-speed Internet equipment, their venture, Catena Networks, hitched its wagon to the regional Bell companies.

Their strategy was not the obvious one at the time. Cable operators were emerging as the dominant force in what came to be known as broadband, while the telephone industry was focused on a number of then-expanding start-ups, like Rhythms NetConnections and NorthPoint Communications, that were seeking to take broadband business away from the incumbents.

By picking the American Baby Bells, "we chose a set of customers that most other start-ups did not choose," said Mr. Hjartarson, Catena's president and chief executive. But from the outset, he said, their view has been that the regional phone companies "will in the long run dominate the broadband delivery market."

It is too early to tell whether that will be so. Cable operators remain in the driver's seat, with almost two-thirds of subscribers, and some analysts wonder whether phone companies are agile or determined enough to expand their share of the market much beyond their current level.

Spurred by an onslaught from cable operators and buoyed by a recent regulatory ruling, the regional phone companies, as well as many smaller operators, are aggressively expanding their digital subscriber line networks, or D.S.L., which is the approach the phone industry has chosen to deliver broadband services. Besides offering a relatively fast Internet connection, D.S.L. is always on and does not interfere with regular phone calls.

"The bottom line is that there's a market there and we want to serve that market," said Michael Daigle, vice president for network planning at Verizon Communications. Mr. Daigle heads a team of 200 overseeing the installation of 10 million Internet lines this year, which will enable Verizon to offer high-speed services to about 80 percent of its subscribers.

Phone companies like Verizon have a lot of catching up to do. Joel O. Williams, president of Mid-South Consulting Engineers of Charlotte, N.C., which advises more than a dozen small phone companies in the Southeast, said the incumbent phone companies "are sometimes slow to move, but once they start moving, they're like a steamroller."

But Charles Ferguson, a telecommunications analyst and entrepreneur, said while the phone companies had become more energetic and aggressive in broadband services, there were severe limitations on how far they logically wanted to go.

"There's a competence problem," Mr. Ferguson said. "They're large, slow-moving and habituated to being monopolies." More important, he said, if they were to provide high-speed, high-quality broadband services, "they would undercut to the point of obliteration their traditional phone services and business broadband services."

The phone companies are relative latecomers to broadband. High-speed Internet service in the United States, in contrast to that in many other countries, is dominated by cable operators, which invested heavily in the 1990's in expanding and modernizing their networks.

Comcast, the biggest provider, had 4.1 million subscribers at the end of March, far ahead of the leading Bells — SBC Communications, with 2.5 million; Verizon, with 1.8 million; and BellSouth, with 1.1 million. The Federal Communications Commission reported a few weeks ago that at the end of 2002, there were 19.9 million high-speed connections in the United States, up 55 percent from a year earlier.

The Bell companies have also been goaded into action by the cable industry's increasingly aggressive move into phone services.

Cable operators have so far signed up about three million phone customers. "Losing the data business to a cable modem service operator is one thing," said Jay Fausch, Alcatel's senior director for marketing. "But having the telephony business go over is a very unpleasant thought."

At Catena, Mr. Hjartarson's faith in the phone companies' ultimate dominance of broadband remains undimmed. "The phone companies have the financial wherewithal," he said. "They've told us they're going to do it, and I absolutely believe they're going to do it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/te...gy/21BROA.html


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Rearranging an Ad Jingle So That It Now Jangles
Matthew Mirapaul

The commercial's banjo melody is instantly familiar, but the words are different. "Armour hot kids," a children's chorus chirps, "the kids dogs love to bite." The mangled jingle is one of 33 tracks on "Free Speech for Sale," an album of audio art that chews up actual television and radio commercials and spits out its creators' distaste for commercial advertising.

The album is not sold in stores. Its tracks and printable cover art can be downloaded from www.freespeechforsale.com, a Web site that opens today.

For the project, more than 30 audio artists captured speech and music samples from commercials, public service announcements, campaign ads and other promotional spots, then rearranged them into short sonic collages that often subvert the source material's original message. On one track, snippets excised from ads for over-the-counter drugs were reassembled into a horrifying litany of side effects, concluding "one daily dose provides 24 hours of headache, diarrhea and abdominal pain."

The album was organized by Every Man, the online alias of Jay Kennedy, a 30-year-old computer systems administrator in Lakewood, Ohio, and a host of a weekly experimental show on a community radio station. Rather than overtly parodying advertisements he found most irksome, Mr. Kennedy said he decided to use them as the raw ingredients for creations that would be "far more palatable than something that's shoving an ad message down your throat."

Mr. Kennedy used the Internet to issue a call for contributions in early 2000. Most tracks were completed soon after, but it took nearly three years to raise the $2,000 it cost to manufacture 2,000 CD's, as well as to find a duplication factory that would press the discs without having the proper legal releases for the audio samples.

Half the discs, he says, will be surreptitiously dropped, unpriced, into CD retailers' bins; the rest will be given away. Mr. Kennedy says he expects most people to download the tracks from the Web site.

Mr. Kennedy picked the title — "Free Speech for Sale" — partly to suggest how words used for selling were being liberated.

An Armour spokeswoman declined to comment on the "hot kids" track because she had not yet heard it. But while many of the album's sources are as recognizable as the hot-dog jingle, in almost every case, the brand and product name have been omitted or altered to avoid promoting the companies whose ads are being used. David Dixon, a physics professor who records as Stark Effect, removed the sponsor's name and words from a soft-drink ad to transform a sales pitch into his critique of culture: "I'd like to buy the world and keep it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/21/technology/21WEB.html


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Mickey Aims To Sink The Pirates
Paul Carr

Partnerships come in all shapes and sizes. Some are good: cheese and pickle, Posh and Becks, Tony Hart and Morph. Some are less good: John and Yoko, Bush and Blair, Sara Cox and my radio. Some are just ridiculous: David Gest and Liza Minnelli. This month a partnership was announced that would seem to fit into all three categories. A group of American scientists who are developing a system that could make the internet up to 6,000 times faster have been talking to Microsoft and Disney about developing possible applications for it.

Normally my heart would soar at the idea of giant entertainment and technology companies taking an interest in the evolution of the internet but when I heard the news I couldn't help wondering what on earth Disney and Microsoft were playing at. Just think how many more movies, music tracks and copies of Microsoft Office you will be able to download if your web connection suddenly gets 6,000 times faster. About 5,999. And yet Bill and Mickey are keen to get on board?

But after a bit of digging things started to make more sense. It turns out that the intellectual property giants want the internet to get faster so they can launch a whole range of fantastic video-on-demand services to put the web pirates out of business. After all, if you can watch your favourite films and TV programmes on the web whenever you like, why would you want to download illegal copies to your hard drive? Put your hand down, that was a rhetorical question.

I'm not convinced that Fast TCP (as the system has been brilliantly named) will beat piracy but I am certain that super- high-speed internet access will revolutionise small screen entertainment. Since broadband landed in my house at the end of last year, I have barely switched on my proper television. I usually get home too late to watch news programmes when they are first broadcast so instead I watch the archived versions of Channel 4 News, Newsnight, Question Time et al on the web. My TV entertainment needs are largely catered for online too, thanks to Kazaa-d episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, The West Wing, 24, Spooks and video clips of penguins falling down holes. The only problem is that, even with my 1mb connection, the picture quality of streaming media is terrible and a broadcast quality episode of Spooks takes over three hours to download. And that's assuming the episode I'm looking for is even available online.

But if the internet suddenly got 6,000 times faster, everything would be different. Before long there would be millions of people with lightning-fast connections hungry for content. The success of Apple's music download service suggests that these people might even be willing to pay a few pounds for the convenience of watching what they want, when they want. Programme makers and broadcasters would have a huge commercial incentive to invest in the technology and negotiate the rights required to develop large-scale video-on-demand services. New programmes could be piloted online before being moved to "proper" TV if they attracted enough viewers. Some programmes might even find themselves going "viral" as fans link to them from discussion boards and encouraged others to tune in.

And there's more... by removing the need for people to use illegal download sites to find programmes, broadcasters would be able to seize back control of viewers, allowing them to insert perfectly targeted advertisements before, during and after programmes, based on each viewer's individual preferences. The broadcasters would get increased advertising revenue, pay-per-view sales and a much wider audience while viewers would get their own customised TV channel, with no repeats of Fawlty Towers (unless they want them). Everyone will be a winner. Except possibly TiVo, but it's had a good innings.

One other group that would benefit from an internet TV revolution are independent programme makers. Comedian Jeremy Hardy complained recently that Jeremy Hardy vs The Israeli Army, the (brilliant) Leila Sansour documentary that he fronted, had not been picked up by any of the major broadcasters. Presumably the TV channels' hunger for reality TV doesn't stretch as far as real people getting shot at by real tanks. But with Fast TCP, Jeremy would not have to worry - he could just tell the big boys to get stuffed and webcast it himself to an appreciative audience of millions. I suspect it would not be too long before the BBC and Channel 4 were queuing up to add it to their own video-on-demand services.

Success based on talent rather than scheduling; a sackload of revenue for broadcasters; massively increased choice for viewers? Oh brave new world of television! And if Microsoft and Disney put their financial muscle behind it, it might not be that far away. For once I wish them every possible success.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...002126,00.html


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ISP Subpoenas from RIAA Met with Protest
Jay Lyman

Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann told TechNewsWorld that almost 1,000 subpoenas have already been issued, and more are hitting ISPs daily.

Responding to recent judicial and legislative efforts to sue and prosecute users of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, opponents of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are calling for protests.

The RIAA recently moved forward on its threat to sue individual users of popular P2P networks by issuing subpoenas to Internet service providers (ISPs), aiming to identify users who are sharing copyrighted music through applications such as Kazaa and Grokster.

RIAA opponent groups, such as Boycott-RIAA.com, have responded by calling for action against the recording industry group. Suggested actions include contacting legislators, distributing flyers and even holding public rallies. The anti-RIAA rallies are targeted for August 1st and 2nd, according to Boycott-RIAA.com.

Boycott-RIAA.com site founder Bill Evans told TechNewsWorld that the site has evolved from a mere Internet address to an actual movement in its three years of existence.

Evans said the privately funded site has seen a steady flow of visitors and that the call to action is being answered by anti-RIAA activists across the country, with activities ranging from leaflet distribution to "CD burning parties" in Florida and Massachusetts.

"We're making a huge impact out there, I think," he said.

Evans noted that the call to action against the RIAA has attracted many people, including those who have never used P2P networks but are still fed up with the RIAA's tactics.

While some anti-RIAA activists are P2P users with thousands of music files stored on their computers, the debate has grown beyond sharing files to include privacy and other social issues, according to Evans.

"The recording industry would rather pick up the battle ax than figure out a way to make money from [file sharing]," he said. "Calling users thieves is like the pot calling the kettle black."

After a week that included proposed legislation to make uploading a file to a P2P network a felony, the RIAA issued subpoenas to ISPs, forcing them to disclose the identities of users who illegally share copyrighted music over file-sharing networks.

Under a law known as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the ISPs are required to divulge the names of P2P users.

Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann told TechNewsWorld that almost 1,000 subpoenas already have been issued, and more are hitting ISPs daily. In addition, von Lohmann said, there are likely ISPs that are cooperating with the RIAA and supplying user names without being forced to do so by a subpoena.

When it announced last month that it would begin gathering evidence and preparing lawsuits against individual computer users who are illegally sharing copyrighted music over P2P networks, the RIAA indicated its subpoena strategy could result in costly lawsuits and criminal prosecution for users.

"The law is clear, and the message to those who are distributing substantial quantities of music online should be equally clear -- this activity is illegal, you are not anonymous when you do it, and engaging in it can have real consequences," RIAA president Cary Sherman said in a statement at the time.

The EFF's von Lohmann said his legal organization sees the price of privacy as too high if subpoenas and lawsuits are the solution to the file-sharing fight. Instead, the EFF is lobbying legislators to revamp and update copyright law to keep up with technology such as file-sharing networks.

The EFF believes compulsory licensing, in which money from P2P users is pooled and distributed to copyright owners based on usage, is a more appropriate way to deal with online file sharing, which is unlikely to subside, von Lohmann said.

"If we come back in a year and file sharing is as big as it is today, [the RIAA] will have waged a war and damaged privacy and we'll be the same place we are now," he noted.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/31158.html


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The First DVD Player with Digital Outputs

Bravo D1 Player

The first to offer Digital DVI Output & MPEG-4 Playback! MODEL: BRAVO D1

Take your home entertainment to the next level with the BRAVO D1 DVI/MPEG-4/DVD Player. Based on the Sigma Designs EM8500 state-of-the-art single chip Media Processor, it has the ability to playback DVD Video, Video CD, and CD-R/ RWs. In addition, this technologically advanced DVD Player also supports playback of MP3-CDs, MPEG-4 AVI movies or videos and JPEG picture CDs.

Media Support:

• DVD-Video, Superbit
• DVD, SVCD, VCD 1.0 and 2.0
• DVD-R/DVD+R/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/Audio CD
• MP3 files using ISO 9660 format
• MPEG-4 AVI files using ISO 9660 format
• Kodak Picture CD (JPEG files using ISO 9660)

Video Decoding:

• MPEG-2 MP@ML
• MPEG-4 Simple
• MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile**

Audio Decoding:

• Dolby Digital, MPEG-1,2, and 3 (MP3), and PCM

Video Outputs:

• NTSC/PAL composite and S-Video
• Analog YPbPr video and digital DVI (Progressive or Interlaced) scalable up to 1920x1080i or 1280 x 720p resolutions**
• Macrovision copy protection on 480i, 576i, and 480p outputs
http://vinc.com/level2.asp?id=31&PID=21


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Deep Links Are Legal In Germany. Official
Drew Cullen

Deep-linking has won the legal thumbs-up in Germany.

The Germany Federal Court of Justice ruled Friday, July 18, that Paperboy, an online search engine, neither violated copyright nor competition law.

According to Links & Law, a web site which campaigns against legal attempts to stop deep linking, the plaintiffs' argument against the headline scraper was that such deep links are illegal, because they "take users directly to news articles, bypassing introductory pages and advertising, thus depriving the plaintiffs of revenue from their advertisements".

Couldn't the plaintiff, publishing firm Verlagsruppe Holtzbrinck, sell more advertising on the traffic generated by deep-links to interesting storys?

Most Internet publishers welcome a deep link to a story, courtesy of a Slashdot or a Drudge Report, or a prominent position on Google News. They know this traffic ain't going to come along every day, and they know it ain't "their" traffic.

People who use news headline scrapers are news junkies rather than website brand loyalists and they aren't going to come in through the front page just to find the one story that they want to read, which they only know they want to read because they saw the headline on the news scraper.

The German court also thought the plaintiff's demand that users must start with the home page was unreasonable, says Links and Law.

"The court stressed the importance of deep links for the internet and held that it is up to the plaintiffs to prevent deep links with technical measures, if they don't like them. The court did not answer the question if the circumvention of these measures would be illegal."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/31838.html


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File-Swap Software Will Foil Enforcers, claim makers
James Pearce

Peer-to-peer file-sharing software developers say user privacy-protection concerns are behind the introduction of features designed to foil scanning by organisations representing owners of copyright-protected material.

The claims come as the music industry in the US ploughs ahead with moves to file a raft of civil lawsuits against people allegedly involved in online file-sharing. Some reports indicate more than 800 federal subpoenas have already been issued.

The developers of one variant of Sharman Networks' popular Kazaa file-sharing software, Kazaa K++, say their latest version -- 2.4.0 -- blocks the Recording Industry Association of America from "connecting, downloading and uploading to you," as well as changing its default options "to protect your privacy". The developers of another variant -- Kazaa Lite -- also tout the benefits in their latest release of a "built-in IP blocker" in keeping out "organisations such as the RIAA," as well as "improved privacy protection".

The Kazaa Lite developers claim version 2.10 build 3 and newer of their variant are ideal for users who are "afraid of the entertainment industry," whose countries have "stupid" copyright laws and who don't share because they "are afraid of doing so".

The developers' move intensifies the battle between the P2P community and the RIAA, who last month said it would start to gather evidence against individuals who trade songs on peer-to-peer networks.

Both Kazaa Lite version 2.4.0 and Kazaa K++ -- neither of which are affiliated with Sharman Networks -- utilise the PeerGuardian database of IP addresses that are believed to be associated with "P2P-enemies" such as RIAA. These IP addresses are blocked to prevent the organisations from connecting, downloading and uploading to the individual to gather information about the activities of the P2P user.

The programs also allow users to disable the function that allows remote users to see what files are on the computer. Hence, when someone searches for a song and finds it on the users' computer, they cannot then create a list of all files available to be shared. Although this may give other users the impression the individual is not sharing files, "for some people privacy is what counts," reads the Kazaa Lite Web site.

However, the music industry has already demonstrated they're willing to take users to court for one example of copyright infringement, with three Australian universities being ordered to hand over files that may contain evidence of copyright infringement to the music industry. One of the Web sites targeted in the action contained only one song for download. It would also be a relatively simple matter for the music industry to change the IP address from which it was scanning the P2P networks.

Last week, the Australian Record Industry Association released figures from a survey it claimed show that illegal file-sharing is hurting the Australian music industry. Critics of the survey claim it included legal CD-burning in its statistics, and that the numbers returned were inconsistent.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2137938,00.html


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What are they thinking?

Conservative Hysteria Over P2P

Teens sharing porn.

Kathryn Hooks

It's happening right under parents' noses, yet few know that their teens and young children are being targeted in a new battle-tactic of the pornography industry. Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs represent a widely popular new trend among today's youth.

In the 1990s, Napster was forced to shut down to protect copyrighted music, and recently the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced plans to sue users trading music files. However, the new "peer-to-peer," or P2P, networks — such as Kazaa, Morpheus, and Grokster — pose a new and far greater problem than the illegal trade of music. These P2P networks allow children to easily download videos and images of free pornography and illegal child pornography, and also create a new arena for pedophiles.

The programs may seem innocent enough to kids downloading music, but it is the new channels' apparent innocence that has drawn the attention of porn distributors. According to the RIAA, 41 percent of people downloading files through P2P networks are between the ages of 12 and 18, and Kazaa, the most popular P2P file- sharing program, typically has four million simultaneous users.

A study conducted in March of 2003 by the House Committee on Government Reform and the General Accounting Office found that: Pornography is widely available and accessible on P2P networks; children using P2P networks can easily be exposed to pornography inadvertently; and the filters available to parents to protect their children have severe limitations.

The GAO used 12 keywords associated with porn to search Kazaa; 76 percent of the returned titles and file names were pornographic, with 42 percent representing child pornography. The term "porn" was entered, yielding 25,000 pornographic-titled files and proving the accessibility of pornography via P2P. Children can stumble across pornographic images much more easily than imagined. The GAO used the popular child search terms — "Britney," a pop singer; "Olsen twins," teenage actresses; and "Pokemon," a popular cartoon character. Over half the results contained pornographic images.

According to a study conducted by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in 2001, 70 percent of online youth between the ages of 15-17 say they have stumbled across porn online, and of those exposed to such content, 49 percent were upset by the experience. The study also found that young people agree: "[Stumbling upon pornography] is upsetting to many young people — especially young girls — and most think it is a serious problem."

Parental-control software does not work on the P2P file-sharing programs. None of the parental-control programs tested by the GAO (including the common NetNanny) managed to block all pornographic images. Parental-control settings within the P2P networks can easily be disabled by children. Penny Nance, president of the Kids First Coalition, says she sees the lack of filter ability for parents as a major concern and believes that the Federal Trade Commission should force P2P networks to install effective parental controls.

Since tracking child-pornography reports on P2P networks in 2001, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found that a fourfold increase of reports occurred within a year. The NCMEC also noted that pedophiles often show children images of other children performing sexual acts, to convince them such behavior is acceptable.

These P2P networks provide an open field for pedophiles to exchange child-porn images and lure in young children. According to Nance, pedophiles enter words such as "Britney" and "Pokeman" to find children downloading these terms. Then, through P2P instant messenger and by acting like another child, they entice kids to provide them with information such as their name, age, and where they go after school.

"Pedophiles are able to stalk children through P2P networks. [P2P networks] are the new virtual playground for pedophilia," Nance says.
http://www.nationalreview.com/commen...ooks072203.asp


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Uncommon Media Buys Additional 50 Percent of Ownership in Ground Troop Marketing, Inc.
Press Release

Uncommon Media Group, Inc. (pinksheet: UMDA) announced today that it acquired an additional 50% ownership stake in GTM, Inc; thereby increasing its ownership interest to 75%. Uncommon Media Group already held a 25% stake in GTM. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

GTM is a highly specialized service provider of peer-to-peer file trading, marketing and tracking solutions for the music and radio industries.

"This technology will soon be the premier statistical data system for companies interested in peer-to-peer activity," said Lawrence Gallo, Uncommon Media president and CEO. "By adding GTM into the

Uncommon family, we move toward our goal of creating more complete entertainment solutions for our future customers--in this case, the record and radio companies, music publishers and others."

GTM's product, Webspins, is a peer-to-peer file tracking system, which gathers statistical data of files traded among peer-to-peer file trading networks. This information helps in creating marketing strategies by giving radio and record companies the ability to gain geo-data as to the popularity of files trading within these networks globally.

"Over the past year we have developed and delivered our new WebSpins technology," said Michael Guy, CEO of GTM. "We are now in a position to enhance our systems with future capability, while also improving the sales, integration and installation process for all of our customers needs."

Uncommon Media Group will serve as the marketing and promotion support team for GTM, as well as help to develop new applications for the WebSpins system.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/...m&footer_file=


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Lawmakers Defend Uploader Bill
Bill Holland, Barry A. Jeckell

Two Democratic lawmakers yesterday said opponents are misinterpreting a provision in their Author, Consumer, and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act, Billboard Bulletin reports. The bill would levy steep fines and jail time to those who upload unauthorized music files to peer-to-peer networks.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation called the measure "overbroad" and "misguided," as it could lead to a five-year jail term and $250,000 fine for a fan who uploads just one file.

Michael Jackson added his voice to the argument, suggesting the music industry and consumers work together to find a solution. "I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans in jail for downloading music," Jackson said in a statement released yesterday. "It is wrong to download, but the answer cannot be jail.

"Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws," he said. "It is the fans that drive the success of the music business; I wish this would not be forgotten."

Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., said yesterday in an explanatory memo that the provision in the bill simply clarifies current law. Under the existing statute, infringement is triggered by distribution of 10 or more copies worth $2,500. The lawmakers say any upload would surely be downloaded by more than 10 people.

"In fact," they wrote, "it constitutes the distribution of unlimited copies worth an unlimited amount." They called the provision "reasonable" because prosecutors will have to prove that willful infringement occurred.
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/ar...ent_id=1938649


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Web Music Leaks Spur Studio Clampdown
Christopher Walsh

Long an artist's sanctuary, the commercial recording studio is becoming a virtual fortress, guarding against the potentially devastating consequences of theft.

The thieves' targets are the rough mixes, outtakes, alternative takes and finished masters that traditionally have been loosely handled, even by the artists themselves.

Leaks of this material are nothing new, but the advent of unauthorized file sharing on the Internet has greatly increased the consequences of this phenomenon.

Recent albums by Eminem, 50 Cent, Korn and Radiohead were all available online prior to release, because unauthorized copies were leaked to unknown parties. In such cases, marketing strategies are disrupted, official release dates often must be changed and, presumably, sales are lost.

For recording studios -- already affected by tighter recording budgets -- this unfortunate reality has demanded new, unprecedented layers of security.

"There's a safe now in every studio, and eventually we're going to build those safes into the walls," says Kelly Garver, studio manager at NRG Recording Services in North Hollywood. "We are designing a new studio with safes built right into the floor."

Serious music fans and collectors have for decades hoarded bootleg records and tapes purchased at second-hand stores and collectors' shows. Typically made from third- or fourth-generation analog tapes, these rarities were frequently of poor or unlistenable quality.

While the circulation of bootlegs annoyed many artists and label executives, the recordings did not significantly depress legitimate sales.

The digitization of music changed all that. At the same time, recording technology has increased the potential for studio theft.

Many master recordings are now largely created within a computer-based digital audio workstation (DAW). These masters spend at least part of their existence on removable hard drives that can be easily stolen.

For NRG Recording Services, the recent sessions for Linkin Park's "Meteora" inspired new and permanent procedures, many of which are being applied at studios worldwide.

"It really became an issue with the Linkin Park album, because they were so concerned about security," Garver says. "It brought it to our attention. This is clearly very important now, and we need to take steps for all of the artists that are coming in."

Linkin Park, like some other acts that have recorded at NRG, hired a private security company for the duration of the "Meteora" project. "They went to extreme, extreme, steps," Garver observes.

In a busy recording facility, clients, employees, deliveries and rental equipment come and go through the day and night; studio personnel admit it is impossible to keep a constant watch on everything and everybody.

"When we did the last Aerosmith record, I recorded all the strings for the album," says recording engineer Allen Sides, owner of the Ocean Way and Record One studios in Hollywood and Sherman Oaks, Calif., respectively. "We rented a Pro Tools, we took the discs and put it into the Pro Tools system and did the string date. When they left and the rental company picked up the Pro Tools, the entire album was sitting in the Pro Tools drive bays!

"This happened all the time. We changed the way we did it, and now we have dedicated drives, specifically for the projects, that don't go anywhere; they stay with the projects.

"We have vaults where we keep tapes and drives and such," Sides adds. " I can't tell my clients exactly what to do with their product. To some degree, they control their own project."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Jul21.html


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RIAA - Holding America Hostage
Thomas Mennecke

There are more than 60 million Americans who engage in file-sharing every day. Many more worldwide hop onto their favorite P2P application and share ideas and information. In addition, CD sales are down by 25% and falling rapidly. A quick survey of online Internet users show that some people are more afraid of the RIAA than Al Queda.

Few other indications dictate a more obvious vote of no confidence in an industry. The consumer base is frustrated at paying anywhere from 15$ or more for a CD, as only one or two songs are acceptable. Furthermore, the quality of music has suffered considerably, where consumers have acts such as Christina Aguilera and Insync thrown at them.

While the RIAA and its agents readily compare the P2P population as pirates, thieves and degenerates, they are not willing to accept that their antiquated and out of touch business practice is to blame.

So determined to destroy P2P networking, the RIAA blew a perfect chance to grab the reigns in this debacle. When Napster and the RIAA were battling it out in court, the music industry had a chance to settle, and perhaps even take over Napster. Although its regeneration under the RIAA would have been a far cry from its past, its name alone would have brought about success.

Instead of dealing with this serious problem head on, they have offered substandard "legitimate" online music that has only strengthened P2P networking. Sites such as MusicNet and PressPlay have failed miserably, due to lack of interest and music file portability. Apple's iTunes, while achieving initial success, may have any hope of a fruitful existence cut short due to major record labels refusing to cooperate in the venture.

Further demonstrating their warped sense of reality, the decision to sue their own customer base symbolizes the great rift that exists between the RIAA and the people. This division, spurred by the RIAA turning their backs on its consumers, has only grown wider. Their latest effort to sue the American people back into the music stores is a desperate; last ditch effort to win the Internet copyright war.

The RIAA is using the simple tactic of fear and terror to bully the American people into submission. Considering this is a tactic used by organizations such as Al Queda or Hamas, its disturbing to think an American organization is willing to instill fear in its own people. In the end, this war that the RIAA has declared will ultimately work against them. If they're had tough time convincing consumers to buy music in the past, this latest scheme will only make their life more difficult in the future.
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=199


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New Music Download Service Launches
Alex Veiga

A new Internet music download site for PCs debuting Tuesday boasts the cheapest per-song rates yet but many of the same restrictions on copying that have stymied wider use of other music services.

Although online retailer BuyMusic.com will offer a catalog of more than 300,000 songs from the five major record labels, users of the service will not necessarily have the freedom afforded customers of Apple Inc.'s iTunes service to transfer the music purchased to multiple computers and portable devices, or to burn it to compact discs.

BuyMusic hopes to score the sort of attention that helped drive sales for Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store since its launch April 28.

BuyMusic founder Scott Blum called Apple CEO Steve Jobs "a visionary, but he's on the wrong platform." While Apple users constitute about 3 percent of the personal computer market, BuyMusic is targeting the 97 percent of people with PCs.

BuyMusic, which is based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., will vie for a share of that market with a handful of online music subscription services, including pressplay, Rhapsody, MusicNow and MusicNet, which have not managed to cull substantial customer traffic from the free file-sharing networks.

The service has about 100,000 more songs than iTunes but comparable to pressplay, which was acquired by Roxio and is expected to undergo a relaunch later this year under the Napster brand.

BuyMusic is charging 70 cents for individual song downloads — 9 cents lower than MusicNow, which previously had the lowest per song price. It's also undercutting competitors' price for a full album download at $7.95. The iTunes' service charges $9.99 for most full albums.

BuyMusic downloads are in Microsoft's Windows Media format.

Still, BuyMusic suffers from some of the same licensing drawbacks that the other PC-based digital music retailers have.

Jobs secured uniform licensing deals from all the record companies that allow all iTunes songs to be burned onto CD an unlimited amount of times, save for a restriction for making multiple CDs with the exact song lists. All songs on iTunes can also be transferred to up to three different computers and to the iPod, a portable digital music player.

Blum was not able to obtain uniform licensing rights from the record labels and artists. As a result, different songs on BuyMusic have different restrictions for how often, if at all, they may be burned onto CDs or copied to other PCs or portable music devices.

By year's end, BuyMusic and the other PC-based digital music retailers are expected to face a competing PC version of iTunes, which has had more than 6.5 million songs downloaded to date.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1200900,00.asp


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House Votes to Block Media Rule by the F.C.C.
AP

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission defended regulators' recent decision to ease federal limits on how many television stations companies may own, even as the House prepared to vote to block them.

``We are confident in our decision'' FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in a written statement. ``We created enforceable rules that reflect the realities of today's media marketplace. The rules will benefit Americans by protecting localism, competition and diversity.''

The defiant remarks were issued before expected House passage of a bill derailing an FCC decision to let companies own TV stations serving up to 45 percent of the nation's viewers. The current ceiling is 35 percent.

Approval was expected despite opposition by House Republican leaders and a White House veto threat.

Powell and the two other Republicans on the five-member FCC approved the new rules on a 3-2 party-line vote on June 2.

With programming power and many billions of dollars at stake, the battle has spilled over into Congress, with the big broadcast networks pitted against smaller station owners and an array of groups from the Christian Coalition to the Consumer Federation of America.

Supporters of the FCC rule say the older, tighter limits ignore a high-tech era in which cable and satellite TV, plus the Internet, have intensified the competition they face. And they say that with even the largest networks owning less than 3 percent of the nation's 1,300 broadcast stations, the clout of the networks was being exaggerated.

Opponents of the FCC decision said it would give giant broadcast corporations too much clout, at the expense of communities and a diversity of voices.

The new FCC rules ``would make Citizen Kane look like an underachiever,'' Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said Tuesday, referring to the 1941 film about a plutocratic media magnate. ``It's too much.''

The biggest beneficiaries of the FCC's ruling would be Viacom Inc., which owns the CBS and UPN networks, and News Corp., owner of Fox. Due to mergers and acquisitions, both already exceed the 35 percent limit.

Short of support and eager to prevent FCC opponents from using a House roll call to show their strength, GOP leaders didn't even try removing the language from the bill. Instead, they said they would seek to kill it when House-Senate bargainers craft a compromise bill later this year.

Hoping to increase their power, some Republicans were seeking House members' signatures for a letter pledging to vote to sustain a veto, GOP aides said. It would take 145 lawmakers, or one-third of the House, to uphold a veto, which would be President Bush's first.

Some senators may try including similar language in the Senate version of the bill, which may not be written until the fall.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...ership.html?hp


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Could File-Sharing Cost Fresno Man $45 Million?
Mike Osegueda

Sitting in his recliner, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sandals with his feet up at his northeast Fresno home Thursday, Bob Barnes didn't seem like a man who could be facing up to $45 million in penalties for downloading music.

Barnes, 50, learned this week that he had been named in a subpoena and could face copyright infringement charges as part of the ongoing tug of war between music downloaders and the recording industry.

The Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major record labels, has begun a campaign to deter music swappers, this time aimed at individuals rather than the peer-to-peer networks that permit file sharing.

"They want to put an end to it," he said. "So they're using scare tactics. Shock and awe."

Barnes said he had about 300 files on his computer. The maximum fine for copyright infringement is $150,000 per item. The minimum is $750 per item.

He said he used the peer-to-peer network Kazaa to download a few songs about a month ago. Before that, he said, he had not downloaded music in about a year. Most recently, he said his 14-year-old grandson used his computer to download music and videos during a visit in late June.

The majority of what is on his computer, Barnes said, is from when he used to use the now-defunct Napster to download music.

Much of what he downloaded was older music -- songs that he already owned on different formats.

"Most the stuff I got on there is stuff I bought before, from the days of 45s and 33s," Barnes said. "How many times do I gotta buy the same music?"

Downloading was his alternative to going into a record store and plopping down money for the one song he wanted.

"Copyrighted artists are entitled to be paid for their music, but [the record industry] needs to get into the 21st century. Twenty dollars for one song -- that's insane," he said.

Barnes has yet to receive a subpoena or be contacted by the recording industry. He found out about his case when an Associated Press reporter based in Washington, D.C., found Barnes' name on a list of music downloaders who were issued federal subpoenas and called him.

Barnes talked to the reporter Monday night. By Thursday, local media as well as television crews from Sacramento were trying to talk to Barnes.

"This is all out of the blue," he said. "I haven't heard nothing from Comcast [his Internet provider]. Nothing from the RIAA. Just the media. I feel safer in the ocean with the sharks."
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story...-8115681c.html

[JackSpratts]

Prison Sued For Allegedly Selling Pirated CDs

Rolling Stones, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem on hit parade
INQUIRER staff

A US PRISON is being sued by a record company for allegedly selling illegal copies of Rolling Stones, Eminem and other chart toppers for $3 a pop.

The story gives a whole new meaning to Michael Jackson's plea, yesterday, that file swappers shouldn't be gaoled. If the allegations are upheld, and they're already in gaol, perhaps the punishment would be to let them out.

According to The Advertiser, Utopia Entertainment, based in Baton Rouge, Louisana, took out the legal action against the Claiborne Parish prison, alleging that the gaol had a list of 330 titles which it would copy for visitors or for inmates.

Utopia had three titles on the prison list, it alleged, and wants $150,000 in damages, while other record companies might follow suit, in a manner of speaking.

According to the law case, the money from sales of the CD was put into a welfare fund for inmates.

Other titles on the extensive playlist included Elvis Presley and Snoop Dogg, according to The Advertiser.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=10643


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AOL Results Marred by Subscriber Loss and Accounting Questions
David D. Kirkpatrick

AOL Time Warner reported better than expected results for the second quarter today, but they were marred by an unexpectedly steep decline in subscribers at its AOL division and persistent criticism of its accounting from securities regulators.

The strong results reflected the the success of the company's hit films such as "The Matrix: Reloaded," a brisk rebound in advertising at its Turner television networks, including TNT and TBS, and increased subscriptions to digital and high-speed Internet service from its Time Warner cable division.

But shares of AOL Time Warner fell 96 cents, or 5.7 percent, to 15.89 in afternoon trading on The New York Stock Exchange, in part because of the continued uncertainty about the future of its AOL division and federal investigations into the company's accounting.

In a statement today, AOL Time Warner said that the chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission had concluded that AOL Time Warner improperly accounted for part of $400 million in sales of online advertising to Bertelsmann as part of a larger deal to buy out Bertelsmann's stake in AOL Europe. AOL Time Warner had acknowledged three months ago that SEC was questioning those payments, but the company said it still believed its accounting was appropriate.

Today, the company reiterated its views but said that restating its profits from those transactions "may be necessary." It also repeated that the SEC is continuing to investigate other transactions as well, principally relating to the AOL division. AOL Time Warner has already lowered its previously reported revenue by $190 million over a period of 21 months beginning in late 2000, and further restatements increase its vulnerability to potentially costly lawsuits from shareholders alleging accounting fraud.


AOL Time Warner said its second quarter net income doubled to $1.1 billion, or 23 cents a diluted share, from $396 million, or 9 cents a share, in the second quarter of last year. The increase largely reflected one-time gains from the sales of its half-interest in the cable network Comedy Central for about $1.2 billion and a settlement of a lawsuit against Microsoft for a payment of about $750 million. AOL Time Warner had earmarked both gains to pay down its debts.

Excluding accounting charges, those gains and other one-time adjustments, the company's operating income rose 6 percent to $2.4 billion from last year's second quarter, the company said. That amounted to about 12 cents a share, about two cents above an average of analysts' expectations.

The company said its revenue also rose 6 percent to $10.8 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/23/te...ND-AOL.html?hp


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Spanish Firms Target File Traders

Fearing public boycotts, companies remain secret.
Julia Scheeres

In what is being touted as the largest legal action of its kind, a Spanish law firm has announced plans to file a copyright-violation complaint against 4,000 individuals who allegedly have swapped illegal files over peer-to-peer networks in that country.

Thirty-two Spanish companies that manufacture software or other material protected by the country's intellectual property laws have united to report the file traders to the Technological Investigation Brigade of the National Police, according to the plaintiffs' attorney, Javier Ribas.

Ribas, who refused to identify his clients out of fear that angry P2P traders would organize boycotts of their products, said his law firm had pinpointed the IP addresses of 95,000 Spaniards using such programs to exchange copyright material, but narrowed the complaint to 4,000 individuals who had downloaded the most illegal files.

He anticipated the case would be heard by a Spanish criminal court in September, adding that his law firm would demand jail sentences of up to four years for each convicted software pirate -- the maximum under the Spanish legal code -- in addition to compensation equivalent to the market value of each illegal file downloaded.

According to the plaintiffs, P2P piracy in Spain has cost them more than 85 million euros ($96 million) over the past six months.

But the massive computer sweep prompted a Spanish senator to call for an investigation into the tactics used by the law firm to access private machines.

"Article 18.3 of the Spanish Constitution stipulates that private communication can only be intercepted when there is a court order," said Félix Lavilla Martínez, a socialist senator from Soria and a member of the Senate's Commission on the Information and Knowledge Society. "Even if it's only basic data, they'd be breaking the law if they don't have previous judicial authorization (to locate the files)."

In response to the senator's criticism, Ribas said the firm was able to pinpoint the most active file traders by using older versions of P2P software that show the type and number of files downloaded by each user, as well as the users' IP addresses.

"The P2P protocols offer a ton of information," Ribas said. "And the great thing is that they do it publicly if you have an old version of each program. The new versions encrypt, but they still have to negotiate with the old versions. That's the secret. There's nothing criminal about it."

Carlos Sánchez Almeida, a Spanish attorney specializing in Internet law, said the announcement was "propaganda designed to strike fears into users so they stop using P2P programs." He said he doubted the action's viability in a court of law.

"Spanish penal code requires an intent to profit for there to be a crime against intellectual property," he said, mentioning several Spanish lawsuits that ultimately were thrown out after it was determined the defendants were not selling or otherwise profiting from a collection of illegally copied material.

But Ribas stated that any monetary gain, including the mere act of saving money by not paying for the copyright material, could be construed as "intent to profit."

The Spanish Internet Users Association, a group that defends file trading, called the pending complaint an "act of pure and simple cowardice" by a group of businesses "that don't dare show their faces."
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59720,00.html


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Professor Develops Network Using Peer To Peer Systems
Doug Elish

With music file sharing receiving loads of attention in the media because of proposed lawsuits by music companies, the fact that the peer to peer networks that make the sharing possible can be used for other purposes is being lost.

Y. Charlie Hu, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, hopes to change that.

Hu recently received a multi-hundred thousand dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, which he is putting toward research on improving computer networking.

As it stands today, computer networks are restricted in reliability and stability by the fact that a network must have a single manager computer, or node, to oversee the network, however, if that manager fails the whole system goes down.

Hu hopes to use the technology that is used in peer to peer networking to create a more stable server where all computers can share with each other freely as opposed to many systems client-server models. Hu said that the technology that is used to download music is much more powerful than what it is being utilized for because until recently it wasn't believed it could be applied to the same functions that the single node network is utilized for.

"This was the first proposal to applying peer to peer to grid computing," Hu said. "Up until this the two have been totally independent."

While peer to peer was used for file sharing the grid computing was used to link supercomputers for scientific purposes. The problem with the grid system is that it is too centralized in case of problems or heavy traffic, Hu believes that using peer to peer technology will allow computers to decentralize.

Basically, Hu's proposed system would allow networks to have a group of nodes working as one to solve problems and run the networks.

Hu said the future of networking lies in the technology he is researching, which is why he believes the National Science Foundation gave him the research grant.
http://www.purdueexponent.org/interf...us&storyid=NSF


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Woman Wrongly Identified
Reed Holmes

Covers.com has learned that a woman depicted in photos circulating across the Internet is being incorrectly identified as the 19-year-old college student who has accused Kobe Bryant of sexual assault.

Covers.com obtained photos of a woman identified as the victim through the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing software Kazaa. According to information associated with the photos, the woman’s name is Katelyn Faber.

Covers.com has learned that the woman in the photos is not the alleged victim. The woman who is being wrongly identified is also 19 years old, has the same first name and attended the same high school as the accuser in Colorado.

There are at least three pictures beginning circulated on the web that misidentify Bryant’s accuser.



One picture shows the woman with her Eagle County High School dance team, a second with her standing next to a young man at a formal event (above), and a third from the same formal event.

The Rocky Mountain News has reported that the woman who has been incorrectly identified has hired a lawyer to try to stop the spread of the photos.

Earlier this week, "shock jock" Tom Leykis identified Faber as the accuser on his syndicated radio show from Los Angeles. Message boards across North America are repeating her name, including boards on ESPN.com.

“We’re told that rape is violence, not sex, and if that’s true there’s no reason she should feel shame or embarrassment,” Leykis said.

Dr. Patricia Saunders, director of Graham Windham Manhattan Medical Center in New York City, was upset with Leykis's disclosure. “It’s an intrusion. It’s an utter violation of her right to privacy. It’s a sadistic thing to do,” Dr. Saunders told NBC.
http://www.covers.com/includes/article.aspx?theArt=8385


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Groove Bundles Project Apps With Its Peer-to-Peer Workspace
Gregg Keizer

Aiming to extend its reach in the desktop collaboration arena, Groove Networks Inc. on Tuesday unveiled Workspace Project Edition, a new version of its flagship software that fuses project management and collaboration tools.

Groove Workspace Project Edition, essentially a collection of three applications, one from Groove and a pair it's reselling, targets work teams that not only need to manage projects, but which also want integrated tools that let members communicate with one another, recognize when they're available, and schedule on-the-fly E-meetings to solve problems, said Groove.

The bundle is composed of Groove Workspace Professional Edition 2.5, which originally released in February; and two products from startup project management maker TeamDirection: Project and Dashboard.

The tools "allow us to share information more easily with our clients, keeping everyone involved and aware of timelines and deliverables regardless of their physical location," said Hamish Davidson, the IT director for the Zyman Marketing Group, which uses the Groove Workspace and the TeamDirection's applications.

TeamDirection, a Groove partner, provides the project-management features of the bundle. Its Project application allows distributed teams to create and plan projects, assign resources, monitor project progress, and share documents in a Groove workspace. Other features of Project include the ability to import and export Microsoft Project files, and synchronize multiple projects--each in a separate Groove collaborative space--to fuel megaprojects from the project components that make them up.

TeamDirection's Dashboard is a console that lets team members view the status of all projects that they belong to, note outstanding issues or tasks, and move directly to discussions held within the Groove workspace.

Groove Workspace Professional provides the peer-to-peer infrastructure, including security, that powers the collaborative aspects of the bundle, including team discussions, integration with Outlook--project team members can share calendars and invite others to ad-hoc meetings from within the Microsoft E-mail client, and instant messaging.

"On the functionality level, these products were already integrated," said Dave Fowler, VP of marketing at Groove Networks. "but now it's easier to administer," he said, adding that IT's workload in supporting a collaborative team deployment will decrease. "From an administration point of view, it's a lot better. There's only one activation mechanism for the products, and users can go to just one place for support."

As part of the rollout of the bundle, Groove now will support the two products from TeamDirections.

Groove's Workspace Project Edition has some stiff competition, primarily from Microsoft, which in early June, unveiled details of its upcoming Project 2003.
http://www.internetweek.com/story/sh...cleID=12802804


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P2P Hide-And-Seek
John Borland

A new technology, anointed by many tech-savvy computer users as an answer to file swapping's network traffic jams, is running into legal and practical problems as it breaks into the mainstream.

Visitors to several of the most popular sites serving as hubs for BitTorrent file downloads last week found them gone, with explanatory messages variously citing legal threats from copyright holders, denial-of-service attacks and simple overloaded bandwidth.

The phenomenon may prove a stumbling block to a technology that many in the online world have quickly adopted as the super-efficient answer to the kinds of slowdowns and download queues that are common with more popular services such as Kazaa or Morpheus. But the issues come as no surprise to the technology's creator, independent San Francisco programmer Bram Cohen, who says his work is badly designed for anyone who wants to trade copyrighted works without being identified.

"Distributing stuff that is clearly illegal with BitTorrent is a really dumb idea," said Cohen, who advocates using the software to distribute large uncopyrighted files such as open-source programs. "BitTorrent doesn't have any anonymity features. There are things about it that make it very incompatible with anonymity."

The recent flurry of sites popping up and down in the BitTorrent-based file-trading scene spotlights a moment of technological and cultural transition in the online world. Pressure from copyright holders is pushing traditional file-swappers to look for networks with more privacy to avoid lawsuits. At the same time developers are creating ways around the inefficiencies of the older networks.

The two goals can work at odds, as increases in privacy often come at some cost in ease of use or efficiency.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5051627.html


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File sharing = bad; Fraud & identity theft = not so bad?
Fred "zAmboni" Locklear

The debate over P2P apps is being played out on websites and courtrooms all over the world. Lawmakers are lining up to bring felony penalties to file sharers, while dissenting opinions are coming from surprising places. Unfortunately, the lawmakers are looking to protect profits for the entertainment cartel when internet fraud runs rampant. A recent Gartner report estimates that 7 million U.S. consumers have been victims of identity theft, and arrests have been exceedingly rare.

Many recent scams have ranged from installation of keystroke logging programs used in capturing user names and passwords to scam e-mail and websites looking to accomplish the same. The scammers can then obtain personal data, credit numbers and other information to create a financial and credit nightmare for victims.

"There is a serious disconnect between the magnitude of identity theft that innocent consumers experience and the industry's proper recognition of the crime," Litan stated in the report. "Without external pressure from legislators and industry associations, financial services providers may not have sufficient incentive to stem the flow of identity theft crimes."

This disconnect is quite apparent when, on the same day as the Gartner report is released, the FTC announced a 17 year old has been charged with using a fake AOL web page to harvest personal and financial information. His penalty for this scam? $3500 and a ban on any future spamming. Yes, the FTC may have been a bit limited in punishment since the person was a minor, but is this sending the right message to other scam artists and identity thieves? Many victims of identity theft have had extended hassles proving their innocence and trying to get their credit rating restored...while an admitted identity thief gets a slap on the wrist. Subpoenas are flying across the country to ISPs for names of file sharers, some have previously agreed to settlements in the 5 figure range while some lawmakers want them to spend up to 5 years in jail. They may have gotten off easier swiping credit card numbers and charging to their heart's content.
http://arstechnica.com/archive/news/1058936152.html


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BuyMusic.com Offers Tunes for Windows

Nonsubscription service markets copy-protected digital music.
Robert McMillan

Windows users now have a place to go for legal music downloads on the fly.

Scott Blum, the owner of online retailer Buy.com, has launched a new online music service called BuyMusic.com. His company is billing it as "the world's largest legal music download store."

The service will offer about 300,000 tracks from five major record labels and thousands of independent labels. The songs will cost between 79 cents and $1.29 per track. Albums will start at $7.95 and go to approximately $12, a company spokesperson says.

Music will be available for use on Windows Media Player version 9.0 and will come in the digital rights management-friendly Windows Media Audio format. This alternative to the more popular MP3 file format cannot be used for peer-to-peer file sharing on services such as Kazaa or Morpheus.

BuyMusic.com comes nearly three months after Apple's launch of its popular ITunes Music Store, which is averaging 100,000 downloads per day, according to Apple.

However, until Tuesday, no similar service had been available for Windows users. The several services sponsored by music labels require membership subscriptions to participate.

"The race has been on, since ITunes was launched, to produce a similar service for the Windows market," says Josh Bernoff, a principal analyst with Forrester Research.

He expects a dozen more such services will pop up over the next year, including offerings from America Online, Roxio, Amazon.com, and Microsoft's MSN Internet service.

Because it has a variety of different download options--for example, some files offer free streaming of a portion of the song and some do not- -BuyMusic.com is more complex than Apple's ITunes, Bernoff says. "But it's still significant in that it's the first Windows-based service that does not require a subscription," he adds.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111696,00.asp


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RIAA, MPAA - Access Denied

Techfocus ran an interview with EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) spokesman Fred Von Lohmann, and it was good stuff - so good, in fact, that the RIAA decided to use parts of it to 'support' a few of their own contentions in a June 25 Washington Post story.

The interview material was taken out of context. But if you're the RIAA, that's OK.

"The RIAA today also released documents showing that its critics have expressed support for tracking down individual pirates," the story in question reads.

"One document quoted Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) attorney Fred von Lohmann as saying: the Copyright Act, like most of our laws, has been built on the premise that you go after the guy who actually breaks the law.'

"Von Lohmann said he stands by the quote, which came from an interview earlier this year with Techfocus.org, though he added that the RIAA's decision is misguided."

Techfocus' Bill Royle told us, "Considering that we're a low-budget site, the traffic which resulted from their usage of our work required us to take additional steps to manage the burst. As well, because of their manner of reprinting, some viewers were mistakenly led to believe that we supported their efforts, which we categorically do not."

Thus, "Effective immediately, the RIAA and MPAA will need to find another way to get to Techfocus," it says in a notice here. "In response to their legal targeting of individual file- swappers, access from their known networks to this site has now been blocked. While it may still be possible for them to access Techfocus via address ranges which we're not aware of, they'll otherwise have to use non-RIAA and non-MPAA networks to view the site."

It also says, "In a perfect world this wouldn't be an act we'd want to take - but we've had it with the RIAA and MPAA. Their contribution to the internet is stifling programming creativity (see the DMCA, etc), and they are acting in bad faith. As such, they can find their opposition information elsewhere."
http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/7203


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RIAA Hit List

The subpoenas are flying, and we're naming names. Are you on the list?
Tech Live staff

The recording industry has launched a sweeping effort to identify and shut down individual song swappers, making good on recent threats to expand its legal battle against copyright theft.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has now issued more than 911 subpoenas to Internet service providers across the United States, trying to get the names of people still offering music on file-sharing networks such as KaZaA and Grokster.

Today, "Tech Live" brings you the RIAA Hit List, the user names of file traders targeted in the recording industry subpoenas.

Last month, we brought you the story of Jesse Jordan, a 19-year-old college student who became one of the first to be hit with a lawsuit by the RIAA. Jordan settled his case by paying $12,000 to the RIAA.

The following user names were culled from subpoenas filed with the US District Court in Washington, DC. All subpoenas, incidentally, are being served by the Los Angeles law firm of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. A total of 253 RIAA subpoenas were listed as of July 22 through the federal court system's paid online database, PACER. The actual subpoenas are available to view online in about half the cases.

The court documents don't show individual users' real names. They do show file-sharing network user names, the user's ISP, the user's IP address, and a sampling of copyright songs the user allegedly made available for download. To date, many ISPs have been contacted, including Pac Bell Internet, SBC, Charter Communications, Comcast, Adelphia, RCN, and Time Warner.

Following is a list of the first user names from our review of the subpoenas.

Aab@Kazaa
Aboggs2@Kazaa
allstatetide@Kazaa
Amissann2@Kazaa
AngelaMikesell@Kazaa
anon39023@Kazaa
anthonybotz@Kazaa
aoster1@Kazaa
Ariel167@fileshare
asheejojo@Kazaa
Ashley@Grokster
azn_bahamut@Kazaa
B.B.C@Kazaa
badandy@Kazaa
Benchy987@Kazaa
Bigeasssy24@Kazaa
Bigpimpinitopey187@Kazaa
bigjohnhc@Kazaa
blazel@Kazaa
bluemonkey13@Kazaa
Boilermaker1214@Kazaa
brentandjonna@Kazaa
brich410@Kazaa
budman5000@Kazaa
Bush323@Kazaa
cado@Kazaa
Carolyn@fileshare
Casal@Kazaa
cbegalle@Kazaa
cherriie@Kazaa
CLOVER77@Kazaa
Corky101@Kazaa
Cortez1023@Kazaa
CowgirlMDR@Kazaa
crazyface@Kazaa
d-dubb@Grokster
dallass@Kazaa
daredevil@Kazaa
DEFAINCE357@Kazaa
definitely_ditzy@Kazaa
dimples0530@Kazaa
dmadigan@Kazaa
dotzbadger@Kazaa
dubcha@Kazaa
dulfingurl2@Kazaa
Dyellagurl22@Kazaa
Dziion@Kazaa
eddieh@Kazaa
emmi4@Kazaa
enbbarnes@Kazaa
ERIKA@Kazaa
felicia_alvarado@Kazaa
flowerpower0818@fileshare
fox3j@Kazaa
freckles72587@Kazaa
fritzbuilding@Kazaa
Generalby@Kazaa
Ghettobootybabe8@Kazaa
h2ochamp@kazaa
harris@Kazaa
heather_thee_amazing@Kazaa
hoami316@Kazaa
hooterzzz@Kazaa
hottdude0587@Kazaa
HyDang@Kazaa
ilovemydez@Kazaa
indepunk74@Kazaa
inthisroom@Kazaa
jamonie@Kazaa
JE_WV@Kazaa
Jeff@Kazaa
Jessica@Kazaa
jim@Kazaa
joanjett@Kazaa
joe@Kazaa
jomada@Kazaa
JustineRiot@Kazaa
kelney12@Kazaa
kenne007@Kazaa
KrAyZiE@Kazaa
ktgurl13@Grokster
kunstrukter@Kazaa
ladypimp8669@Kazaa
laurelbean@Kazaa
leahpate@Kazaa
LiLHuNnIe1480@Kazaa
Lisweet@Kazaa
Lyssy348@Kazaa
madkirk@fileshare
Marge4131@Kazaa
Marla262@Kazaa
mgokey@Kazaa
mike@Kazaa
Motivator@Kazaa
munkeyspanker21@Kazaa
nikki@Kazaa
Niltiak@Kazaa
Nodopefor2@Kazaa
paulina@Kazaa
pdia@Kazaa
PDJ1846@Kazaa
Playgirlmama@Kazaa
Prtythug23@Kazaa
qjade512@Kazaa
rebecca_m_122@Kazaa
rips42@Kazaa
rochelle@Kazaa
RockOn182@Kazaa
samlionofzino@Kazaa
shakobe@Kazaa
shonga84@Kazaa
sk8boyben@Kazaa
sneil@Kazaa
soccerdog@Kazaa
StolenSi@Kazaa
sus@Kazaa
Sweet3114@Kazaa
sweetthang1421@Kazaa
TheLastReal7@Kazaa
TMONEYNDHIZOUSE@kazaa
Tyler@Kazaa
Unit984@Kazaa
Westly_NoGood@Kazaa
www.k_lite.tk_Kazaa_Lite@Kazaa
http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/s...484600,00.html


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Fasttrack Use At All Time High

On several occasions this week Grokster stats showed the largest amount of users - and files - ever seen on the Fasttrack network since I've been regularly watching.

This beats the previous record set last May.

- Jack.


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Net Access Comes As Standard
BBC

For the first time, UK internet access is being included in the telephone services that all customers should get as standard. The new guidelines also demand that BT and Kingston Communications give all customers this net access at a minimum speed. Users who are not able to access the net via a dial-up account at this speed will be able to demand that their telephone provider do something about it. The new minimum standards come into force on 25 July.

Only two of the UK's fixed line phones firms, BT and Hull's Kingston Communications, have an obligation to meet the universal minimum standards defined by Oftel. These standards require the firms to meet all reasonable requests for the installation of a phone line regardless of where in the UK a customer lives. Phone services offered via that line must also be offered at the same price as any other line. The two firms must also offer reduced rates to people on low incomes and provide a network of pay phones for people to use. Now Oftel has updated these regulations to include a line capable of supporting dial-up net access at a speed of at least 28.8kilobit per second (kbps). The fastest modems run twice as fast as this, but Oftel decided that this was the minimum that people should expect.

"This is significantly faster than the previous requirement of only 2.4 kbps and will lead to real improvements in connection speeds for many consumers," said David Edmunds, director general of Oftel. Any customers who cannot connect at this speed have grounds for a complaint and BT and Kingston must make reasonable efforts to improve the service.

Oftel has also published new regulations that affect other telephone firms that cover the types of service that they must all offer, the publishing of easy to understand information for consumers, minimum contract terms and when they can disconnect a customer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3089319.stm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From BNA

Bill Would Require Parental Consent For Children File Sharing
US lawmakers are considering a bill that would require online file-swapping services to obtain parental consent before allowing children to use their software. The Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act is intended to prevent children from downloading pornographic material, which is widely available for free through file-sharing services like Morpheus and Kazaa.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Jul24.html

P2P Services Secure Software To Shield File Swappers
An AP article reports that makers of file-sharing software are fortifying their programs to try to mask users' identities. Some of the upgrades reroute Internet connections through so-called proxy servers that scrub away cybertracks. Others incorporate firewalls or encryption to frustrate the sleuth firms that the recording industry employs.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...al/6374384.htm

RIAA Targeting Mom And Grandpa
The music industry has started to target parents and grandparents in a new campaign to track computer users who share songs over the Internet. RIAA president Cary Sherman warned that lawyers will pursue downloaders regardless of personal circumstances because it would deter other Internet users.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59756,00.html

Evidence Destroyed In Australian Music Case
Lawyers for several Australian universities engaged in a music copyright infringement case involving their students have allegedly advised the music industry that evidence it was seeking regarding online music piracy has been destroyed. The music industry is now seeking a court hearing on the matter.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030725/152/e4xbw.html

ISPS Sue SBC Over DSL Rates
Four ISPs have filed an antitrust suit against SBC Communications, alleging that the Baby Bell unfairly inflated wholesale prices for high-speed Internet access. The suit claims that the rate SBC charged the companies for DSL service was too expensive for them to resell profitably.
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5053604.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/25/technology/25DSL.html

Libraries Must Have Filters In Place By July Of 2004
The FCC has set July 1, 2004, as the deadline for US libraries to comply with CIPA. The controversial law requires libraries to install Internet filtering software if they want to receive federal funding. On June 23, the US Supreme Court reversed the ruling of a three-judge panel in Philadelphia and decided that CIPA did not violate the First Amendment. The requirement comes as concerns grows over overblocking of the filtering software.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-5053614.html
http://www.houstonvoice.com/2003/7-2...l/internet.cfm


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US Colleges Fight 'Pirate' Subpoenas
BBC

Two colleges in the United States are challenging legal requests to hand over the names of students who have been accused of illegally downloading music. But Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they are not trying to protect students. They are trying to quash the subpoenas - which mean they must hand over information by law - because they say the requests were not properly filed. The subpoenas are part of the US music industry's new strategy to chase individual "pirates".

Boston College said they were given less notice than is legally required and the subpoenas broke federal law by being filed in Washington DC, more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) from where they were served, in Boston. Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said: "Once the subpoenas are properly filed, we will comply with the subpoenas."

Professor James Bruce, vice president for Information Systems at MIT, said: "We are required by federal law to disclose student information only if we have a valid subpoena and have given the necessary advance notice."

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the US music industry trade body, issued the subpoenas. It is trying to identify one MIT student and three Boston College students who are suspected of illegally accessing music. The RIAA has already filed a total of 871 subpoenas, with more than 75 subpoenas granted every day, US courts said on Friday. The association has said it would go after the most active downloaders, but some subpoenas related to users who had accessed as few as five songs.

Users charged with piracy could face lawsuits for damages from $750 (£480) to $150,000 (£96,100) under US copyright law. A RIAA spokesman said the association has followed federal law and was "disappointed" that the colleges had chosen to challenge the subpoenas.

Music fans are reacting with a new generation of file-sharing software to prevent monitoring.

A version of "Kazaa-lite" says it can stop outside parties scanning email addresses and listing songs on individuals' hard drives.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ic/3089303.stm


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Anti-Porn Bill Targets File Sharing
David McGuire

Online file-swapping services would be required to get parental consent before allowing children to use their software under a new bill to be introduced today in Congress.

The Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act is intended to prevent children from downloading pornographic material, which is widely available for free through file-sharing services like Morpheus and Kazaa.

Besides requiring parental consent, the bill would allow parents to install "beacons" on their computers that signal their desire to not have file-sharing software. If a child tries to download the software, networks would have to refuse when they see the beacon. The beacons would be developed by the Federal Trade Commission with assistance from the Commerce Department.

It also would require file-sharing networks to warn users about the dangers of file sharing. Several studies have shown that the networks are rife with pornography.

There are 57 million Americans who swap files, according to the Boston-based Yankee Group research firm. Forty percent of them are children, according to the bill's sponsors, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and Chris John (D-La.).

Morpheus, Kazaa and other services have attained notoriety in the past several years for allowing widespread music swapping, but they can be used to trade documents, images, videos and any other kind of digital file. A recent study by Ames, Iowa-based Internet security firm Palisade Systems found that users of the Gnutella file-sharing network searched for pornography more often than they searched for music.

Pitts drafted the bill after reading a General Accounting Office (GAO) study showing the high availability of pornography on file-sharing networks, said spokesman Derek Karchner. GAO investigators in a test of the Kazaa network entered search terms including Pokemon, Britney Spears and Olsen Twins. More than 40 percent of the returns for those searches yielded child pornography, and another 30 percent returned adult pornography.

"He couldn't sit by and let that happen unregulated," Karchner said.

Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said he is skeptical about the viability of the beacons.

"I'm a little flabbergasted. I have no idea how you would even begin to build such a thing. The reality is that parents have to supervise their kids online and there is no government provision that is going to replace that supervision," he said. "Undergraduate computer science students can write these [file-sharing programs] in under a week. There's a [mistaken] notion that there might be a company and if there's a company, federal regulators can grab them."

Wayne Rosso, president of West Indies-based file-sharing network Grokster, said children also can find pornography with popular search engines like Google.

Peer-to-peer "should not just be singled out," he said. "There's no more or less of a pornography problem on [file-sharing networks] than there is on the entire World Wide Web. Pornography's only there if you're searching for it. It's not something that just pops up in your face like 'spam' on AOL."

The GAO study noted that there is far more pornography available on the Internet through normal search engine services than on peer-to-peer networks.

Greg Bildson, the chief technical officer of New York-based file-sharing firm LimeWire, said he has no problem forcing users to confirm that they are adults before downloading LimeWire, but said anything more complicated than a simple question with a yes/no answer would be difficult to administer and could compromise customer privacy.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) supports the bill, according to a spokeswoman for the group.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Jul24.html


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High-Speed Net Plans Launched
BBC

All of Northern Ireland is expected to have access to broadband internet services within three years, NIO minister Ian Pearson has said. The government has invited tenders to provide broadband throughout the province, as part of its telecommunications strategy. At present, broadband services such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) or cable modem are only available in Belfast, Londonderry and a small number of rural cities and towns. The government is making £16m in grants available to encourage BT and other telecommunications companies to make broadband more widely available.

Mr Pearson said on Tuesday that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment wanted to ensure "comprehensive and equitable provision of broadband services".

"This competition has been primarily designed to address this challenge in order to progress development of both our knowledge based economy and digital inclusion," he said.

The announcement follows a prior information notice given in May to more than 40 interested parties for the opportunity to put forward their views to the department without committing themselves. A shortlist of potential service providers will then be drawn up.

The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the announcement. Vice chairman John Friel said they had been concerned about the lack of availability of broadband for small businesses in rural areas.

"Small businesses need to be aware of the many advantages that broadband can bring to them," he said. "Broadband is also crucial in developing Northern Ireland's knowledge-based economy."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3087495.stm


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China Bans Lewd Text Messages
BBC

China's Liaoning province has launched an attempt to crack down on insulting or sexually explicit mobile phone messages. Phone users in Liaoning who send "insulting, sexual or fabricated" information could face criminal charges, the state-run Beijing Morning Post newspaper said on Monday. China's communist authorities already screen email messages and online chat rooms, as well as blocking access to a large numbers of foreign websites which they consider subversive. But until now, the newer text messaging technology - short message service or SMS - has not been controlled in this way.

An official from the Liaoning Telecommunications Administration said his department was already able to track down people who sent offensive messages, according to the Associated Press news agency. But the official declined to say how the government would be able to monitor the province's SMS users. An estimated 10 million text messages are sent every day in Liaoning.

Throughout China as a whole, the country's biggest service provider, China Mobile, has estimated that its customers sent 40bn text messages last year.

China is the world's biggest mobile phone market, with 207m phone users.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/3083269.stm


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Perfect Watch For The Sneakernet Set
Roy Furchgott

The Laks memory watch is more than just a pretty face: it incorporates a flash memory chip of up to 256 megabytes in a slim quartz timepiece with a U.S.B. connector cord nestled in the watchband. "A lot of people who are going to buy a stick of memory think they might as well get a watch with it," said Scott Smith, a founder of ThinkGeek (www.thinkgeek.com), which distributes the watch in the United States.

Made in Austria with as little as 32 megabytes of memory, the American versions offer 128 megabytes of storage ($100) or 256 ($150), with prices comparable to those of ordinary flash-memory devices of the same capacities.

The black-and-chrome watch includes a U.S.B. extension cable and comes with a start-up CD with drivers for Windows and Linux systems. Macintosh computer users do not need drivers for the product.

Laks has licensed the watch to BMW and Mini, which sell 128-megabyte versions imprinted with the BMW or the Mini logos (www.bmw-online.com or www.minimotoringgear.com) for $128. You might want to use the watch to store a reminder of where you parked your car.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/te...ts/24watc.html


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Software Rivals Vie for Pain-Free Burning
Wilson Rothman

IN the olden days of CD burning, 1997 or thereabouts, software and hardware were considered good if they burned most discs most of the time, even if they fell short of a perfect score. There was only one really friendly consumer program for Windows, Easy CD Creator from Adaptec (called Toast, on the Mac side). But it was understood that no matter how many special prayers you uttered or lucky talismans you waved, the gods might very well hand you a dud disc.

Today, the burning business is booming. With the rise of digital cameras and camcorders, even DVD creation on the desktop has become commonplace, and it does not take a record executive to tell you that the MP3 format has made burning music CD's more popular than ever. Fortunately, as disc-burning software and the optical drives that do the dirty work have evolved, the fear of duds has dissipated.

Adaptec has spun off its consumer division, Roxio, and Easy CD Creator has blossomed into adulthood. Roxio's formidable Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 "digital media suite" for Windows now offers recording tools in four major categories: music, photos, data backup and DVD video. It includes DVD Builder, with basic video and photo slide-show editing; PhotoSuite, for enhancing, retouching and general photographic goofing around; and AudioCentral, a jukebox, audio editor and music CD maker - all for $100.

Although PC makers typically offer a variety of burning and multimedia programs with their computers, Roxio has found a market among those seeking more integrated tools, and for five months Creator 6 has been relatively unchallenged at retail stores. This week that changes with the arrival of Ahead Software's Nero 6 Ultra Edition, tauntingly promoted as the "ultimate CD/DVD burning suite."

Addressing the same four cardinal categories, and charging the same $100, Nero has packaged more than 10 of its Windows-only media utilities under one umbrella. Like Roxio, Nero even has a label and case-cover designer.

Off the bat, it's clear that Roxio and Nero have different philosophies. Roxio is geared to simple, straightforward tasks and includes colorful animated tutorials, but the program itself is a bit plodding and at times unstable. Nero is noticeably smoother and faster and offers more flexibility in many cases, but it takes more getting used to. (In fact, because Nero's elements have to be installed individually, it's easy to skip over some of its richest offerings; it's best to install it in its entirety and then let Nero's StartSmart point you to the right tools.)

This odd-couple difference is visible in one function after another. When I built DVD menu pages on the two programs, Roxio immediately offered 20 menu template choices, complete with animated backgrounds and pleasant music. The templates are attractive, thematic, at times cute or hilarious - but never customizable. You can change the font and text size of the title and button names, but you cannot change the position of buttons or text, even when they're graphically in the least desirable location.

Nero is the opposite: I could move everything on the menu page, and loop in video and audio. But there were no one-click animated templates. Nero gave me total creative control, but almost no creative assistance.

Both programs met my more basic demands. One way to impress relatives is to combine a home movie with a photo and music slide show, all written to one DVD. Both Nero and Roxio can handle that, from video and photo capture all the way through to burning (and they can burn any format of CD or DVD recordable disc that your PC's disc writer may use). But while Nero's video options are more thorough, including funky effects and text titling, Roxio provides more photo options, like the ability to edit individual pictures and archive all the original photos on the disc along with the slide show's video file.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/te...ts/24stat.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Microsoft Finishes Windows P2P

Designed for real-time communications server
Paula Rooney

As it prepares several collaboration software products for debut this year, Microsoft has released a Windows XP update and software development kit to enable peer-to-peer networking across those products.

The Advanced Networking Pack for Windows XP, which is available Thursday as a stand-alone update and will be folded into the Windows XP Service Pack 2 later this year, incorporates the necessary plumbing to enable applications that exploit P2P functionality--realtime communications and collaboration apps, for example, Microsoft executives said on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the company disclosed updated names for its forthcoming Real-time Communications Server and Web conferencing technology: Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2003, formerly PlaceWare Conference Center, and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003, respectively.

Microsoft would not elaborate on how the collaboration services will leverage P2P technology, but one company executive said that Microsoft's P2P team has worked closely with the Real-time Communications Server team for some time.

The Windows XP P2P code and SDK will enable developers--including ISVs such as Corel, Groove Networks and Microsoft--to build better distributed applications and Web services that leverage corporate network resources, including the abundant processing power of PCs, executives said. And like Sun's Juxtapose (JXTA) P2P technology, Microsoft's code will allow distributed devices to be connected together.

Corel, for instance, plans to leverage Microsoft's technology to enable collaboration on its Tablet PC graphics program, Grafigo, from various locations, Microsoft said.

The software behemoth's P2P network stack includes enhancements to IPv6 that allow peer-to- peer traffic to traverse network address translators (NATs), a peer-to-peer name resolution tool, and graphing and grouping functionality for enabling more efficient multipoint communication and distributed data management, Microsoft executives said.

To handle security, Microsoft also integrated identity management features for the development of and management of peer-to-peer identities within and outside corporate firewalls.

One Microsoft executive said the technology will ultimately be integrated into Windows and all solutions to connect people together.

"It's a classic Microsoft platform play," said Adam Sohn, product manager for the Platform Strategy Group at Microsoft. "ISVS all want Microsoft to provide the network plumbing so they don't have to reinvent the wheel."

ISVs will also be able to exploit the P2P update and kit to develop enhanced software update sites. That would allow corporate customers to download updates once and redistribute them across their networks rather than exhaust network bandwidth by requiring each user to download it separately. This will be particularly useful for small businesses with 10 PCs or fewer and limited network bandwidth, executives said.

The software giant released a beta-test version of the Windows XP Peer-to-Peer SDK last February.

Sohn said the P2P technology will be tightly integrated and expanded in the company's next Windows client, code-named Longhorn, and will be leveraged by many Microsoft products.

"This is vital glue that enables a new set of applications and opportunities for solution providers and ISVs," Sohn said. "It's a key set of technologies for distributed applications development."
http://www.crn.com/sections/Breaking...rticleID=43448


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60 million cease and desist emails and counting.

Cyber Sleuths

The record industry is using cybercops to gather information on individuals who illegally share music, with prosecutions imminent.
David McCandless

In an air-conditioned room underneath Oxford Street, a black box is clicking away. Streams of numbers pour down its screen: IP addresses, times and dates. A few words fleetingly pass by: Hulk, 50 Cent, Finding Nemo...

These are the offices of NetPD, one of the leaders of a flourishing new arm of the copyright industry: "media defence". Here, and at other companies such as the Wiltshire-based WebSheriff.com, internet research technicians - cyber sleuths if you like - are gathering information on the activities and identities of internet song- swappers: their IP addresses, the search terms they use and the files they are downloading. All major peer-to-peer networks are scanned continually. "Phone directories" of data are generated, collated and filtered. These are then passed to the major record labels.

Until recently, the worst penalty you could expect was a cease-and-desist email, or a threatening instant message from a Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) spook.

In a change of tactics in its war on file sharing, however, the RIAA has announced plans to sue individuals who distribute illegal files across P2P networks. The goal is to create a climate of fear among users. The lawsuits will use evidence gathered by media defence cybercops.

Prosecutions have already begun. A group of IT students in the US was sued for $29.7bn, later reduced to $57,900. File sharers have also been arrested in Milan and Germany. But no individual in the UK has been sued or prosecuted. Yet.

"I think it's going to come," says Phil White, chief operating officer of NetPD, "but no one wants to be the first one to do it." Record companies will not want to be seen to target customers, he argues. They will leave it to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the RIAA's UK counterpart, to make the first move.

The BPI has made no specific threats against users. This is unusual, since it rarely falls out of step with the RIAA. Differences in US copyright law may be a factor. The industry says it is awaiting UK implementation of the EU copyright direc tive due this summer. The targeting of individuals, however, has not been ruled out.

"If we're faced with an individual who, for example, uploads a million files, and begins to enrich himself," says Peter Jamieson, BPI's executive director, "I would regard him as a perfectly legitimate target."

Other targets are more pressing. All UK universities and the top 100 corporations, for instance, have received BPI circulars pointing out that allowing employees and students to use P2P networks and infringe copyright could result in prosecution. At the same time, the bulk of the industry's anti-piracy resources are being poured into combating counterfeit piracy, which accounts for one in three CDs sold in the UK.

"We've got enough on our plate," says Iain Grant, the ex-Hong Kong police superintendent who heads up the BPI's anti-piracy enforcement division. "We're not looking at consumers. If you take an analogy with drugs, the consumer is a secondary target and somebody who needs help and education."

This education may be late in coming. The number of file sharers in this country is growing. According to the BPI, UK peer-to-peer activity at its peak accounts for nearly 27% of worldwide P2P traffic. More than 1.2m users are exchanging around 287m files every weekend.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/netmu...005252,00.html


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Hollywood's file-sharing plea badly backfires

'Please don't dent our revenues' message angers cinema-goers...

An attempt to appeal to file-sharers and ask them not to download movies from services such as Kazaa has backfired on Hollywood's studio bosses - with cinema-goers deriding their efforts.

An advertising campaign to be run in cinemas shows studio staff such as make-up artists, stuntmen and set painters imploring file-sharers to stop pirating movies because it hits them hardest and not the millionaire studio bosses.

Troy Hoskison, a silicon.com reader, said: "I don't think [this campaign] will make much difference. It will only be people that are paid a share of the takings that will be affected by piracy. The light man will have been paid a wage that will have, in all probability, been set by the union. I doubt very much if these guys have had their wages cut. If they have then even more shame on the movie producers for grabbing this money when films are make making multi millions."

Other feedback we received echoed these sentiments. Robert Burkhill told us: "If the guys on the floor are affected by this, it is because they are employed by people who let them get affected. While I am sorry for this state, I don't believe my attitude towards file sharing is going to change it."

Another silicon.com reader Stuart Charman was even more cynical about the studio bosses' motives. "This story gives me the mental picture of the average 'Joe' being told by studio bosses that if he doesn't appear in the anti-piracy advert he'll be picking up his P45? I can almost hear the conversation. "You don't want to appear in the ads? Are trying to tell me you're not anti-piracy, Joe?'"

Australian reader Stephen McBride believes the ads will have the opposite effect and will actually advertise the fact that films are available to download online. "Of course it won't work," he said. "If anything it will increase by advertising the fact through cinemas."

Ed Neal, another silicon.com reader said: "While I have every sympathy with the ‘hard-up’ set painters, what makes them think that we, the ordinary consumer, are any better off?"

"Nowadays, we get to pay [£10] for cinema tickets - and we’re the ones who’re being accused of doing the ripping off? I don’t agree with file-sharing, but the belligerent attitude being displayed by the music and film companies is doing them absolutely no favours at all in solving the problem. Stop ripping us off and we’ll return the courtesy."
http://www.silicon.com/news/500022/1/5301.html


Top 10 D/Ls - Singles

BigChampagne


Another Complaint To Consumer Watchdog About Emi Music Discs
Sam Varghese

A second Australian resident has lodged a complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission against the copy control music discs being sold by EMI.

Russell Waters, a technical officer with an electricity company in Melbourne, said the gist of his complaint was that that the music discs and new, standard CD players were being sold without any warnings that they may not be compatible with each other.

"I also suggested that EMI were engaging in deception by selling products marketed as CDs, when in fact they don't seem to fit the standard definition of a CD and don't work in some standard players (such as my CD-ROM drive at work and my recently purchased portable CD player)," he said.

Waters had complained to EMI some time back when he found that the music discs which had copy-control measures on them would not play on a a Teac PD-P219C CD-player (with anti skip protection).

"I took the CD player to the manufacturer's service department for a replacement in case there was a problem unique to my unit. There wasn't (any problem with my unit), they acknowledged there was a general problem with that model and EMI discs," Waters said.

"However they offered me a replacement player of a different (better) model, which I accepted. The service tech also knew of other brands of brand new CD players being
affected at the moment by the same EMI problem."

EMI introduced the music discs with copy control technology in Australia last November.

One Australian consumer, Tom Dullemond of Queensland, has already lodged a complaint with the consumer watchdog about the low quality sound which the discs generate. The ACCC has not given him a response yet.

Last month, a resident of NSW complained to the Federal MP for his area, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott, about the problems he faced in getting some of these discs to work.

The discs have also irked music buffs, served to turn people off EMI products for life, prevented radio stations from giving artists play-time, raised questions about whether they are fish or fowl, resulted in EMI pulling its copy-control forum off the web, and sometimes the technology has had exactly the opposite effect it was intended to have.

Philips, one of the creators of the CD specs, has expressed concern over the side effects of the technology.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...853178774.html


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Music-Sharing Subpoenas Targets Parents
Ted Bridis

Parents, roommates - even grandparents - are being targeted in the music industry's new campaign to track computer users who share songs over the Internet, bringing the threat of expensive lawsuits to more than college kids.

"Within five minutes, if I can get hold of her, this will come to an end," said Gordon Pate of Dana Point, Calif., when told by The Associated Press that a federal subpeona had been issued over his daughter's music downloads. The subpoena required the family's Internet provider to hand over Pate's name and address to lawyers for the recording industry.

Pate, 67, confirmed that his 23-year-old daughter, Leah Pate, had installed file-sharing software using an account cited on the subpoena. But he said his daughter would stop immediately and the family didn't know using such software could result in a stern warning, expensive lawsuit or even criminal prosecution.

"There's no way either us or our daughter would do anything we knew to be illegal," Pate said, promising to remove the software quickly. "I don't think anybody knew this was illegal, just a way to get some music."

The president of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest music labels, warned that lawyers will pursue downloaders regardless of personal circumstances because it would deter other Internet users.

"The idea really is not to be selective, to let people know that if they're offering a substantial number of files for others to copy, they are at risk," Cary Sherman said. "It doesn't matter who they are."
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...ws/6371621.htm


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Critical Flaw Found In Microsoft's DirectX
Matt Whipp

Microsoft has alerted Windows users to what it describes as a critical flaw in its DirectX graphics and audio environment.

Pete Philips, a penetration tester with S3 at Integralis, told us the flaw may be particularly tempting for attackers. 'Most people don't consider multimedia files to be hostile, and would be more likely to click on them than, say, an executable file.'

The flaw exists in a DirectX API which checks for audio content in a multimedia file. The DirectShow technology that performs this function is vulnerable to two buffer overruns that could be exploited by a specially created MIDI file.

If successful, an attacker could cause code to be run in the security context of whoever is logged into the system at the time.

It would be possible to host such a MIDI file on a website and tempt users to it, or via an HTML email that would execute the file in the preview pane or if fully opened. It could also be accessed through network shares. Peer-to- peer file-sharing services, such as kaZaA, present an attractive location to host a malicious file that might tempt victims disguised as the latest top ten hit.

The flaw was discovered by E-eye, a security consultancy in the US.

Patches for a variety of DirectX version and Windows version is available at the end of this Security Bulletin.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=45274


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Windows Passwords Broken In 13.6 Seconds

Swiss researchers have refined a technique to crack alphanumeric Windows passwords in 13.6 seconds.
Brian Osborne

Cryptographic researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have developed a way to crack an alphanumeric Windows password in 13.6 seconds. The "faster time- memory trade-off technique" developed by Philippe Oechslin utilizes a 1.4 GB look-up table and a computer with over a gig of memory. A paper describing the technique, along with an online "Advanced Instant NT Password Cracker" which utilizes the technique, is available at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory website (LASEC).

This is not a new vulnerability in Windows passwords. The technique has been around since 1980, but has been refined by these Swiss researchers. The paper detailing the technique claims a 99.9% success rate in cracking alphanumeric Windows passwords.

The technique can only be used by someone who has control of a computer or has administrator privileges to view password files. Users can increase the time it takes to crack their Windows passwords by including a non-alphanumeric character.
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0724020975.htm


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RIAA Subpoenas.. It's Been Done Before
Angry_Babs

So, a major corporation is trying to sue you in civil court. What grounds do they have? Lets look at that. Some guy, working for the RIAA, indescriminately browses P2P networks looking for songs distributed under their organization. He then downloads the song, records your username and does a trace on your domain name at the time at which you were logged on.

The then does a tracert and gets your IP address.
Next, he sends a subpheona to your ISP asking for the information about who was logged in with this IP at said time.

They then try and sue you in civil court.

Do they have a leg to stand on? Not really. How did they get money from the college students who were sharing files? They used scare tactics. They made them think their whole future was in jeopardy, and thus they should settle monitarily out of court. They cant fight it, they are broke college students, they can't afford a 2000 retainer for a lawyer to fight a civil case that could last for a long time. Settling is the only way out, the RIAA knows this.

DirecTV, the satellite TV company, has been doing this for a few years now. They get the federal marshalls to raid a suspected "dealer" of "illegal" equipment and the records of shipment are sent to a set of lawyers. These bottom feaders then send a blanket letter to everyone involved with the business, claiming they have proof you have received equipment to receive illegal TV, and thus you must contact them.
By contacting them you are basically admitting guilt. They then add you to a "responded list" and eventually you get a second letter, followed by forms that look like civil suit filing forms, but are really just BS they made up to threaten you into it.

DTV has sent out close to half a million of these letters. They have successfully sued NO ONE (at least not the purchasers, the dealers usually cut deals.) They are making a killing off of harrassing people into paying them money. The blanket effect falls down when you simply ignore the letter. Ive researched the class action lawsuit in California pending now. People are suing BACK for harrassment. Some people purchased other items from these sites, have the records to prove it, and are thus feeling bullied into giving money.

The real funny part about this whold blanket effect is that they are making money hand over foot by doing it. The average settlement as reported by "www.legal-rights.org" is around 3000 dollars. This equates out to about 7 years of 40 dollar a month programming. On top of that, they must subscribe to the service for 2 years at Platium. Im not sure of the price of that, but it gives you every channel except pay per view, so it's not cheap.

Now, the RIAA is trying a similar tactic. They will get anyone who shares anything, trace then through their ISP, and threaten to sue them. They wont immediatly sue them, as this is high profile and would certainly turn many people against them. They will harrass, and claim they have all this evidence to prove you are infringing on copyright.

Most people will want a way out and will settle.

The history of record sales proves one thing: Lowering production lowers sales. It has been proven many times. Well, the RIAA is trying to show that "sharing is hurting record sales" claiming that this is a major reason they must crack down. Well, they lowered production the last two years running. They started lowering production before the economy went to shit. Now, in these times when unemployment is higher than it has been in 10 years, they wonder why people aren't buying records.
http://www.geeknews.net/?info=214


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Comcast May Enter Vivendi's Auction
Martin Peers and Bruce Orwall

As Vivendi Universal SA's auction of its film and television businesses drags on, the French media and telecom conglomerate may be close to attracting a deep-pocketed potential bidder that could shake up the contest.

Comcast Corp., the biggest cable-television operator in the U.S., has decided to take a preliminary look at Vivendi's assets, which include Universal Studios and the USA cable channel, people familiar with the matter said. If Comcast decided to make a bid, it would join a field that includes Liberty Media Corp., General Electric Co.'s NBC unit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and an investor group led by former Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Vivendi has been hoping to attract more bidders, unhappy with the level of bids received in the first round. Most bids are thought to have been in the range of $11 billion to $11.5 billion, which Vivendi believes is too low. It has indicated it will abandon a private sale and sell stock in the assets in an initial public offering if it doesn't end up getting a higher price.

Whether Comcast is serious is hard to determine. People familiar with the matter insisted Comcast's interest is preliminary but genuine. The company is considering putting together a proposal and has informed Vivendi of its interest. Aside from operating cable systems that serve nearly 22 million subscribers, Comcast owns part or all of cable networks such as E! Entertainment and the Golf Channel. It recently agreed to sell its majority stake in the QVC home shopping cable channel to Liberty for roughly $8 billion, although that money has been earmarked to reduce the debt Comcast took on when it bought AT&T Corp.'s cable operations last year.

Vivendi's assets are "relevant" to Comcast's business, said one person familiar with the situation. Indeed, Comcast often has been the subject of speculation about its interest in acquiring content companies such as Walt Disney Co., for example. Buying Vivendi's entertainment assets would make Comcast a fully integrated media company — with cable distribution, cable networks and a film studio — that would compete more directly with AOL Time Warner Inc. and News Corp.

Until now, for example, GE or Liberty have been seen as the front-runners in the auction — a scenario that would radically change with Comcast in the picture. The move also would pressure some of the auction's more aggressive bidders, such as MGM, to step up with more lucrative proposals. MGM has submitted an $11.5 billion bid, the richest proposal for the assets yet.

Vivendi Chairman and CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou was in New York over the past week, where he talked with most of the bidders. Vivendi executives are expected to meet with bidding groups over the next few days to discuss in more detail the price that Vivendi wants to get, as well as other issues, such as how much upfront cash the French company is hoping for.

Vivendi is hoping to get another round of bids by mid-August, allowing it to narrow down talks to one or two players and get a deal by Labor Day.
http://www.mediareform.net/news.php?id=736


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U.S. Senate Votes To Keep Feds Out of IT Databases
James Maguire

"The problem is, [TIA] leeches into hundreds of different areas," says EPIC deputy counsel Chris Hoofnagle. "All of a sudden, you get into every database in the world, and everything is suspicious, and all sorts of innocent behavior comes under scrutiny."
Responding to pressure from privacy advocates, the U.S. Senate has voted to stop funding for a controversial computer surveillance program that would have allowed government access to a broad array of private and public records.

Called the Terrorism Information Awareness, the program would have used advanced data-mining technology to comb through a massive database of information -- from credit card bills to school and medical records -- in an attempt to ferret out terrorist activity.

The provision that cut off TIA funding was part of a military bill the Senate passed unanimously. In the provision, the Senate forbade the Defense Department from using any of its US$369 billion budget on TIA.

"TIA is, in many respects, a metaphor for the growing surveillance society, said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty program. "We have been warning for some time that there are no longer any technological bars to the creation of a surveillance society."

Therefore, he told NewsFactor, "The Senate's vote is a historic and positive step forward in combating the surveillance of society."

The Bush administration contends that TIA is necessary for homeland security, and TIA supporters say that new technology is needed to meet the new threats to security.

But the program has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. It "changes the role of law enforcement from one of reacting to criminal events to a system focused on prospective crime -- that's a very dangerous avenue for our government to enter," Hoofnagle said. "TIA treats everyone as suspicious all the time."

Steinhardt said the technological approach itself is flawed. "This is the theory that you can find the needle in the haystack by pouring more hay on the stack.

"This is not going to combat terrorism, it's going to divert resources and attention away from following up in more traditional ways on real evidence we have," he said. "It could result in the creation of dossiers on 300 million Americans."
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21929.html


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Electronics takes huge hit.

Sony Reports 98% Drop In Profits

Hardware profits down 73% while music off less than 9%.
AP

Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony reported a 98% decline in profit for the April-June quarter as sales faltered in key businesses such as electronics, video games, movies and music.

Sony said Thursday it earned 1.1 billion yen ($9 million) in the first quarter of its fiscal year, down from 57.2 billion yen for the same period last year.

Sales for the Tokyo-based company fell 6.9% to 1.6 trillion yen ($13.5 billion) from 1.7 trillion yen.

Sony set off a plunge in Tokyo share prices in April after it reported a loss in the final quarter of fiscal 2002, setting off worries about the state of Japanese industry, which has been struggling to cut costs and switch strategies amid competition from Asian rivals.

Its earnings report Thursday was released after the Tokyo stock market closed. Its U.S. shares were up 26 cents at $31.67 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sony has pledged to turn itself around by investing in computer chip production and other research to offer broadband network gadgets and cutting-edge products that rivals can't easily imitate at lower prices.

But analysts say Sony may have fallen behind in popular products including flat- panel TVs and DVD recorders. Sales of its Vaio computers are lagging.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinv...sony-2q_x.htm#


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Internet Tops TV In Battle For Teens' Time
Janet Kornblum

"The reality is the media landscape has changed," said Wenda Harris Millard of Yahoo, which commissioned the study with media agency Carat North America. "It's not that it's about to change; it has."
Teens and young adults spend more time on the Net than they do watching TV, a study says today.

Several studies have chronicled the increasing amounts of time spent online by teens and young adults weaned on computers and cellphones. But this time, the Internet seems to have a solid lead.

The study of 13- to 24-year-olds, by Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited, finds that young people spend an average of 16.7 hours a week online (not including e-mail), compared with 13.6 hours watching TV.

It also confirms something other studies have shown: Young people like to multitask, watching TV while instant messaging and e- mailing or surfing the Web. In addition to the Net and TV, they spend an average of 12 hours a week listening to the radio; 7.7 hours talking on the phone and six hours reading books and magazines.

"This has been a trend that's been building," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which chronicles Internet trends. "This has been a generation that has grown up with these multiple technologies."

The Net is better than TV, says Brooke Avery, 14, of Mountain View, Calif., who participated in the study. She spends about three hours a day, off and on, e- mailing, instant messaging with friends and checking out Web sites such as mtv.com and seventeen.com.

She doesn't have cable TV, but if she did, "pretty soon I'd just get bored of it," she says. On the Internet, "you can actually interact with it. TV, you can't really do anything but watch."

And you can't talk to your friends on television, she adds.

"The reality is the media landscape has changed," says Wenda Harris Millard of Yahoo, which commissioned the study with media agency Carat North America. "It's not that it's about to change. It has."

The study included an online questionnaire of 2,618 respondents ages 13 to 24 in June and a focus group.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/31185.html


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Wi-Fi To Overtake Broadband

Wi-Fi is set to boom according to new research. But broadband providers will make more money.
Peter Judge

Five years from now, Wi-Fi will have left broadband in the dust, according to a new study by Pyramid Research.

Penetration will shoot upwards until it is more than double that of broadband, and stand comparison with mobile phone usage, according to the research.

However, fierce competition will mean that most wireless service providers will go bankrupt, and revenues from Wi-Fi services will be much lower than for broadband or mobile.

By 2008, there will be 707 million Wi-Fi users worldwide, 2 billion mobile phone users, and only 262 million users of fixed broadband says Pyramid. Wi-Fi will generate only $21 billion as against fixed broadband’s $80 billion and $586 billion for mobile.

Average revenue per Wi-Fi user will drop from $30 per month this year, to $3 per month in 2008, Pyramid predicts.

“Price erosion is going to force the majority of ISPs under,” said the report’s author, analyst John Yunker. “The ones that survive will have to provide localized solutions - likely targeting enterprise segments where the margins are better.”

Wireless service providers will survive, doing installation and site surveys, he said, but the users will all deal with the usual suspects: “The consumer-facing Wi-Fi businesses will almost certainly be the major carriers.”

Despite the pressure on price, most road warriors will use commercial services, rather than relying on the free Wi-Fi hotspots which are currently available.

“Free Wi-Fi is nice for the casual user,” said Yunker, “but for road warriors I think you'll find that companies will stay pay for Wi-Fi access - using companies such as iPass and GRIC. They're paying for a consistent interface, customer support and possibly the support of their company's security policies.”

The same consolidation will happen to equipment makers: “The decision by Intersil, the leader in Wi-Fi chip sales, to sell its Wi-Fi business to GlobespanVirata for $365m is a clear sign that this is a low-margin game that only the major players [Intel and Cisco] can survive in,” said Yunker.

“We expect the established infrastructure providers, such as Ericsson, Alcatel, and Lucent, to gobble up the nascent Wi-Fi software and device manufacturers. Those that don’t get eaten are going to struggle to survive on their own.”
http://www.techworld.com/news/index....ews&NewsID=293


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Shareaza 1.9 RC (1.8.9.17)
Beta Version

Author: Shareaza
Program Type: Freeware

File Description:

Shareaza is a p2p file sharing program that delivers more Gnuetella firsts. It gives you the power to take advantage of all the latest Gnutella features, and keeps you in control every step of the way. Partial file sharing, real live upload queuing, ultra-friendly home tab, library organizer, more stability, more compatibility, power user features, automated upgrade system, and heaps more.

Changes in Current Version:

· New Navigation Bar replaces the old toolbar
· New distributed ghost ratings and smart delete function
· Other GUI fine-tuning and streamlining
· eDonkey/eMule ratio system
· Fixed hangs when browsing users
· Fixed BitTorrent tracker access that affected some sites
· Image viewer plugin registered properly once again, and enumeration of all non- generic plugins
· Faster skin/language selection
· Fixed inability to resume "Moving" downloads
· Reduced the number of wizard steps

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail...fid=1027497542


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EFF's Cindy Cohn, on the MIT/Boston College motion to quash RIAA subpoenas:

"It's very troubling that the RIAA's position is not only that they can throw out our basic privacy rights but that they can force all ISPs nationwide to respond to subpoenas out of a single court rather than a local court. In other words, we can add basic notions of jurisdiction to the long list of things that the RIAA is willing to set aside in their crusade."
http://www.copyfight.org/20030701.shtml#45858


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Play Your Tunes Away From Home
Katie Dean

The funny thing about covering the music beat for Wired News is that I rarely listen to music while I work.

That's why it was such a treat to poke around Muse.Net. The service plugs people in to their digital music collection through any Internet connection.

So for the past few days, I've been quietly humming "Possibly Maybe" by Bjork and bobbing my head to "Begin the Beguine" while typing. Yes, there was even a little chair dancing to Michael Jackson.

"Your media should move with you," said Ian Rogers, president and CTO of Mediacode, the parent company of Muse.Net. "Muse.Net provides the ability to play back from anywhere, to anywhere. That might be as simple as having one machine at home where you store all your music that you want to access at work."

Sure, listening to music at work is not unique. People do it every day and pull their toe-tapping tunes from a variety of sources. Still, the site is a cool way to organize and play your songs that reside in remote locations.

Plus, it's easy to use, legal and doesn't allow music to be shared.

To use Muse.Net, a listener downloads the software onto any broadband-connected PC. The media files on that computer are then pooled together and can be accessed whenever the user logs in to Muse.Net. The desktop acts like a server hosting the music.

The service does not know where the files originated. It will play anything in your collection -- whether the tracks are MP3s ripped from a CD or MP3s downloaded from peer-to-peer sites like Kazaa. You can also play video files from your remote PC.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59646,00.html


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Lessons from Apple
Danielle Iuliano

There are some good things that may come out of Apple’s foray into the online music business to teach us some digital music lessons. Lesson 1: We do not need a single security format decided by an industry consortium and the government as suggested last year in the Senator Hollings’ bill and painfully attempted by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) in 1999. Rather, we need clarification of what fair use means for technology, e.g., no more than 10 CD burns of the same playlist. Apple launched its iTunes service with its own ‘homemade’ security to prohibit users from making unlimited copies of a specific playlist or album. Lesson 2: The technology and entertainment industries should specialize in what they do best. Both will benefit if they play within their strengths: the music industry finds, develops and creates great content, and the tech industry builds technology that encapsulates customer service, delivery of content in new ways and mechanisms to track usage to compensate parties. Apple did a good job of creating an easy to use consumer interface and simple service in contrast to label-backed services such as Pressplay and MusicNet that had technical difficulties, were expensive and had strict limitations on use of content. Lesson 3: Congress must take another look at copyright law and the processes of examining new technologies to protect and encourage the large and the small. Small companies and individual users have been beaten and bullied in court. We need guidelines for any technology company to innovate new and cost-effective digital media services so that it is not just the Apples and Microsofts of the world that are allowed to use their market power to play a tune.
http://www.empoweramerica.org/stories/storyReader$829


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Respect Copyright, Says a Pious Hollywood
Dan Gillmor

Sony, Disney, AOL and the other big movie studios have set up a cleverly named site, Respect Copyrights.org, as part of a campaign (also including TV commercials and in-theater pitches) aimed at persuading us all of a single point -- that it's wrong to infringe on copyrights.

Well, of course it is, especially when the purpose is to get something of value for nothing or deprive someone else of what he or she has legitimately earned. But in its typical overstated way, the film branch of the entertainment cartel is demanding a whole lot more, too.

The industry insists that its customers bow to copyright holders' absolute control over how buyers may use what they've bought. It demands a veto on innovation with entirely benign uses, if that innovation might also be used to infringe. And it sneers at the bargain that copyright holders once made with society -- a deal that would reward creativity while constantly refilling the well of public knowledge and art.

The dishonesty on this website isn't so much in what it says, though there are more than a few howlers. It's in what the Motion Picture Association of America doesn't say.

The site is, as you'd expect, totally slanted in a single direction. It offers no hint that customers or users of copyrighted materials have any rights beyond those the copyright holder decides to grant.

The mega-corporations that own the studios, through their MPAA front, piously quote the Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. Congress has the power "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries..." -- but the cartel has turned "limited times" into the near-permanance, and the exclusivity has always been circumscribed.

The point of copyright is not solely to pay creators. It's equally designed to get ideas and inventions -- arts and sciences and scholarship -- first into the the public sphere, and ultimately into the public domain, where other creators build on them to make new art, new science, new scholarship.

Part of the process involves "fair use," the ability to quote in limited ways from copyrighted works. Fair use, in the modern world, has also come to include our right to make backup copies of what we have purchased; to "time shift" entertainment so we can watch TV programs when we, not the networks choose; and (among other things) the right to copy a song we've bought into a format that plays on another device (such as a car cassette player).

But the cartel believes it has the right to allow or forbid any and all of those uses if they involve digital copying. It plans to enforce these regimes through "digital rights" (read: "digital restrictions") technology, which has the ugly by-product of destroying customers' privacy, and harsh, frequently abused laws like the rigid Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The cartel believes -- and basically says -- that fair use is something copyright holders may provide or withhold at their whim.

This stance tells customers they have no rights, except to spend or not spend. This stance abrogates two centuries of tradition and common sense. It steals from our heritage -- and dims our future.

The cartel wants us to respect copyrights. Fine. But when will the cartel respect our rights, and the public good, as well?
http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/colu...6.shtml#001216


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House Asked To Power Up Digital TV
Declan McCullagh

The Federal Communications Commission would be required to accelerate the transition to digital television under a bill introduced Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The measure, called the Consumer Access to Digital Television Enhancement Act, would require the FCC to adopt a December 2002 proposal for a digital TV standard inked by dozens of cable operators and consumer electronics companies. The bill envisions a national "plug and play" standard for digital TVs that would not require set-top boxes.

The proposal, or memorandum of understanding, covers the reception of analog basic, digital basic and digital premium cable television programming in the United States. Enhanced services such as pay-per-view or video-on-demand would be included in a future specification.

"This bill provides a clear blueprint to move the television medium into the 21st century," said Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., who introduced the bill with Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. "This flexible legislation provides a path to ensuring digital TV services for all American households."

Their legislation says the FCC will implement the proposal "within 30 days after the date of enactment of this act." It also requires that all television receivers marketed as "digital cable-ready" follow FCC regulations.

In January 2003, the FCC began the process of asking for public comment on the memorandum of understanding drawn up by cable and consumer electronics industries.

Some of the companies that have signed the proposal include Hitachi America, JVC Americas, Philips Consumer Electronics North America, Sony Electronics, Comcast Cable Communications, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable.

Last August, the FCC said that beginning July 1, 2004, TV sets with screen sizes of 36 inches and larger must include digital receivers.
http://news.com.com/2100-1031-5053436.html


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Will MP3 Downloads Annihilate the Record Industry? The Evidence So Far

Stan J. Liebowitz, University of Texas at Dallas - School of Management

Abstract:

This paper investigates the impact of unauthorized downloading of MP3 files on the recording industry. Although the no longer extant Napster was the most famous system used for such downloading, its progeny have continued to allow millions of music listeners to download music (and other) files without remuneration to the copyright owners. Using data on the historical sales of prerecorded music I examine in detail the recent decline in record sales and attempt to gauge the importance of various alternative factors that have been put forward to explain this decline. I conclude that the evidence supports a claim that MP3 downloads decrease sales.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...ract_id=414162


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RIAA Is 'Fighting For Survival'

We asked Reg readers for their thoughts on the RIAA's aggressive pursuit of college students, and answers have poured in. Many people out there suggest that the RIAA is moving with such incredible speed in its litigation because the organization is fighting to justify its existence before artists get wise. Imagine that.

Others take a, um, slightly more aggressive tact, saying the RIAA is part of an intricate government conspiracy. Whatever your opinion on the matter may be, the RIAA's pursuit of grandparents and children has some people concerned.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/31950.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aural Intercourse: See Ya In Court, Kids
Mike Prevatt

There's a knock at the door. You just got home from SAT prep class, you're tired, and all you want to do is grab the iPod and blast some AFI. Who could it be?

A tall man in a suit towers over you. "Are you the Kazaa user of the household, young man? This is for you, straight from Washington." And, lo and behold, your first subpoena.

Essentially, this has happened--in fact, more than 1,000 file sharers will be sued by the Big Five record companies' lobbying arm over the next few weeks. Looks like the Recording Industry Association of America wasn't kidding around. Just when you thought it was solely after the most prolific uploaders, downloaders and freeloaders--because the RIAA said as much a few months back--it has been reported that lawsuits have been drawn up for users with as few as five copyrighted songs available for sharing. Which, at maximum penalty per illegally ripped song, could come to $750,000. Quite a step up from that $278 fine for parking in a handicapped spot while running into 7-Eleven for a pack of Camels, huh?

The media is all over the story like Dave Matthews fans on leaked pre-release MP3s. The cover of last week's U.S. News & World Report featured a picture of a young boy with headphones, with "WANTED" shouting across his forehead. The subhead reads, "Got a Digital Pirate in Your House? Got a Lawyer?" The RIAA, fighting against piracy activity on which it blames a 25 percent drop in sales, is through trying to scare headstrong teens and college students assuming cyberspace anonymity. They're now threatening the parents--y'know, the ones who can afford the settlements.

And speaking of online secrecy--a thing of the past in John Ashcroft's America--you were once protected by your Internet service provider (AOL, Verizon, et al). But, through legal channels, the labels won the right in June to force those companies to fork over the names of Net identities such as "indepunk74." Worse, some lawmakers are suggesting they break into your computers, or even digitally damage them should you freely download something you should be buying.

It's certainly taken the RIAA--and the Motion Picture Association of America, which claims to be losing about $3.5 billion a month thanks to online pirates--long enough. Before recent settlements with four college students in May, the last time it won against file trading was when Napster was shut down by a federal judge in 2000. It may have been waiting for other developments that would stave off suing its customers. That has proved futile.

Many believe the genie has been let out, so to speak, and hackers will keep these digital bootleg copies in circulation indefinitely, and/or thwart the efforts of the RIAA. Furthermore, the idea that downloaders were trying to send a message to the labels seems true enough when looking at upcoming plans for protest. There are already plans for action to take place Aug. 1-2 (www.boycott-riaa.com/action/action.php), on top of peer-to-peer trading advocates blacklisting companies associated with the RIAA.

For now, the online community scrambles to clear its shared music folders and caches, and erase its P2P programs. How the other 59,999,000 music fans not yet subpoenaed fight back is sure to keep the single biggest revolution in entertainment and technology raging longer than the download time for a copy of 8 Mile on a dial-up connection. To paraphrase that flick's star, they won't give up that easy, no, they won't have it.
http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2003/.../21774939.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Son of Napster

One Possible Future for a Music Business That Must Inevitably Change
Robert X. Cringely

When I mentioned in last week's column that I would this week be writing about a legal way to do a successful music downloading business -- a business that would threaten the Recording Industry Association of America and its hegemony -- dozens of readers wrote to me trying to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the fact that the real issues here aren't technical but legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I'm probably more of a diabolical loon.

The reason I am even writing this column is two-fold. The biggest reason is simply because I would like people to consider lateral solutions to problems. I am pushing the concept of problem solving in a new way. There is no particular methodology here, just the underlying concept that if things aren't working the way you like, think of something different. Too often, people restrict their thinking or they somehow expect the world to change just for them, which it won't. But taking a lateral approach often yields interesting results. And once you've found an approach, maybe it can be applied to a different problem. What I am about to describe as a model for music distribution might be even better for something else. You tell me.

The second reason I am doing this is because I don't like the current situation in the recording industry where power is concentrated in the hands of executives who are doing all they can to stop the rotation of the Earth. Technology has already changed the economics of music creation and distribution, but the record companies are resisting with every weapon they have. I would too if I was in their position, which is fat, rich, and having everything to lose. But times do change, and I think the music business is ready to adopt new ways of moving forward. And once that happens, it will resume growing. But what is needed for that to happen is a catalyst, which I am attempting to provide right here.

If anyone actually does this business, don't forget where you first heard it. Of course, if you actually spend the $2 million as I suggest and lose it all, please forget my name.

The business I am about to describe has not been legally tested. I have run it past a few lawyer friends of mine, but a true legal test can only be done in the courts. Having said that, the universal response I have received from lawyers can best be described as giddiness. They get it. And the implications of this idea -- the sheer volume of trouble it could create -- gets their billing glands working.

Without having been truly tested, so far I have yet to find a lawyer who sees a serious flaw in my logic. What I am about to propose is apparently not illegal under current law, which of course means that the RIAA will throw their lobbying muscle into making it illegal, getting Congress to pass a new law specifically against my technique. The trick then is to establish the business before that can happen. Gentlemen, start your engines!

I call my idea Son of Napster, or Snapster for short.

Read On - http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030724.html











Until next week,

- js.









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Recent WIRs -


http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=16975 July 19th
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=16893 July 12th
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=16830 July 5th
http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...threadid=16759 June 28th





The Week In Review is published every Friday. Please submit letters, articles, and press releases in plain text English to jackspratts at lycos.com. Include contact info. Submission deadlines are Wednesdays @ 1700 UTC.

[SA_Dave]

Thanks for the hard work as usual!

Parental-control software does not work on the P2P file-sharing programs. None of the parental-control programs tested by the GAO (including the common NetNanny) managed to block all pornographic images. Parental-control settings within the P2P networks can easily be disabled by children. Penny Nance, president of the Kids First Coalition, says she sees the lack of filter ability for parents as a major concern and believes that the Federal Trade Commission should force P2P networks to install effective parental controls.

Maybe you could start by not suing every hash/verification portal site out of existence? [Maybe killing off Sharman isn't such a bad idea though... ]

Deep Links Are Legal In Germany. Official
Drew Cullen

Deep-linking has won the legal thumbs-up in Germany.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/31838.html

The fact that it took this long casts doubt on the overall intelligence and integrity of the judicial system in (ahem...) "certain territories".

The Bill

Piracy Deterrence And Education Act Of 2003 (H. R. 2517)

Pity that the 10-year old that wrote this doesn't know the difference between a dirty, amoral murderer and someone who shuffles bits through a wire. And don't get me started on the "intellectual property" moniker!

It's horrible to think that real criminals are actually being treated more fairly than the average consumer and these outrageous copyright and patent restrictions are having a negative effect on the rest of the world too. As though there aren't more important things to worry about!

Mickey Aims To Sink The Pirates
Paul Carr

Success based on talent rather than scheduling; a sackload of revenue for broadcasters; massively increased choice for viewers? Oh brave new world of television! And if Microsoft and Disney put their financial muscle behind it, it might not be that far away. For once I wish them every possible success.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/new...002126,00.html

How amusing conservative naivete ("optimism" if you will) can be! He forgot about the physicists and biomedical researchers though. This technology is more about running accurate simulations than streaming commercials...uhmm..."content".

DVD's Meant for Buying but Not for Keeping
Eric A. Taub

Once the product is exposed to the elements, a chemical clock starts ticking, turning the disc black and making it unreadable by a DVD player's laser after the designated time has elapsed. Until that happens, the disc can be played as often as desired. Employing a chemical rather than software process to disable the disc is meant to ensure that the process will work with any DVD player. And like any standard DVD, the discs can have software copyright protection that would deter a user from copying them onto the hard drive of a computer or onto a blank DVD that would not self- destruct.

While experts say that the technology is intriguing, it remains an open question whether a self-destructing DVD will interest consumers who normally expect that any purchase of a physical object is theirs to use forever.

This reminded me of a stupid fake news article I read about DVD players that explode after you've watched a movie...

Hollywood's file-sharing plea badly backfires

Australian reader Stephen McBride believes the ads will have the opposite effect and will actually advertise the fact that films are available to download online. "Of course it won't work," he said. "If anything it will increase by advertising the fact through cinemas."
http://www.silicon.com/news/500022/1/5301.html

I've always felt that the RIAA doesn't understand this concept, and the MPAA seems to have the same philosophy. Your FastTrack stats are proof that all the media attention will only unite and recruit more users into the p2p ranks.

I'm not so sure about Cringley's Snapster. At least the article gave me a good chuckle!

[theknife]

New Music Download Service Launches
Alex Veiga

A new Internet music download site for PCs debuting Tuesday boasts the cheapest per-song rates yet but many of the same restrictions on copying that have stymied wider use of other music services.

Although online retailer BuyMusic.com will offer a catalog of more than 300,000 songs from the five major record labels, users of the service will not necessarily have the freedom afforded customers of Apple Inc.'s iTunes service to transfer the music purchased to multiple computers and portable devices, or to burn it to compact discs.

another music service - this one is particularly bogus.

Ironically, despite its name, BuyMusic.com does not actually let you "buy" music. The system's "Terms and Conditions" note that content is "sublicensed" to users, "and is not sold, notwithstanding use of the terms 'sell,' 'purchase,' 'order,' or 'buy.'"

hmmm...one would think this is deceptive enough to run afoul of various consumer protection/truth in advertising rules.

yet another great job, Jack

[goldie]

The First DVD Player with Digital Outputs

Bravo D1 Player

The first to offer Digital DVI Output & MPEG-4 Playback! MODEL: BRAVO D1

Take your home entertainment to the next level with the BRAVO D1 DVI/MPEG-4/DVD Player. Based on the Sigma Designs EM8500 state-of-the-art single chip Media Processor, it has the ability to playback DVD Video, Video CD, and CD-R/ RWs. In addition, this technologically advanced DVD Player also supports playback of MP3-CDs, MPEG-4 AVI movies or videos and JPEG picture CDs.

Media Support:

• DVD-Video, Superbit
• DVD, SVCD, VCD 1.0 and 2.0
• DVD-R/DVD+R/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/Audio CD
• MP3 files using ISO 9660 format
• MPEG-4 AVI files using ISO 9660 format
• Kodak Picture CD (JPEG files using ISO 9660)

Video Decoding:

• MPEG-2 MP@ML
• MPEG-4 Simple
• MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile**

Audio Decoding:

• Dolby Digital, MPEG-1,2, and 3 (MP3), and PCM

Video Outputs:

• NTSC/PAL composite and S-Video
• Analog YPbPr video and digital DVI (Progressive or Interlaced) scalable up to 1920x1080i or 1280 x 720p resolutions**
• Macrovision copy protection on 480i, 576i, and 480p outputs
http://vinc.com/level2.asp?id=31&PID=21

SHWEET!!!!

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by JackSpratts
Ultimately this is not a bad thing for the people. In point of fact it’s the opposite. Dependence on a handful of media companies is in no one’s interest outside of the companies themselves and they’ve long since ceased being responsible keepers of our cultural flame. I mention the above only to illustrate what might have been, maybe even what should have been had the Nobuyuki Ideis of the world gotten their way, and to reflect perhaps on how lucky we are that they did not.

Change doesn’t always come easily and it seems each day this change gets harder and harder still. But if it comes to it this groundbreaking cultural shift will be worth every one of those thousands and thousands of desiccated subpoenas to see it through.

Well put, Jack.

- tg