The Newspaper Shop -- Tuesday edition

[walktalker]

I am a happy Napsterite

Attacks put privacy into focus
Companies are scrambling to ensure their online privacy policies do not run afoul of the sprawling investigation into last month's terrorist attacks, a move that could prompt some to rewrite their published statements, privacy experts said. Most online privacy policies contain provisions for sharing customer information with law enforcement agencies in the event of a criminal investigation or suspected illegal activity. Nevertheless, some companies that have been cooperating with authorities investigating the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon are now reviewing their actions for possible privacy violations, according to people familiar with their concerns.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

StarOffice overhaul reports for duty
Sun Microsystems on Tuesday unveiled the beta of StarOffice 6.0, a streamlined version of the company's free office software that's aimed to gain ground against Microsoft's Office. The company had already touted the multi-platform software, which runs on machines using the Solaris operating system, Linux or Microsoft Windows, to Linux fans in August. The new version replaces StarOffice 5.2, which was criticized as sluggish and hefty. But with its availability as a free download, the product had some appeal as a competitor against Microsoft's Office software. Sun made the software free just after acquiring StarOffice from Hamburg, Germany-based Star Division in 1999.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Yahoo looking for attention amid slump
Yahoo is considering several new paid services, including broadband access, that could help the Web giant find new sources of revenue amid a steep decline in online advertising. A series of customer surveys making their way onto Yahoo sites in recent weeks suggest the company is readying what may be its most serious effort yet to cut its dependence on advertising, although it's unclear whether Yahoo will actually launch any of the services. Among other things, recent Yahoo surveys take the pulse of consumer demand for a Yahoo-branded high-speed Internet access service and a secure corporate instant-messaging service. As previously reported, the company also is testing the waters for paid Web-based office applications.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Motorola creates gas-powered cell phones
Gas-powered cell phones aren't just a lot of hot air, Motorola said Tuesday. Motorola researchers announced Tuesday that they have successfully demonstrated a methane gas-powered fuel cell, which can provide enough juice between chargings for a month of cell phone calls. The fuel cell is essentially a miniature electrochemical plant that fits into a belt holster. Inside the cell, methane is stored in an area the size of a ballpoint pen's ink holder. A chemical reaction releases oxygen, heat and electricity. The electricity then either powers the phone directly or, in the case of Motorola's product, charges another battery that can then power the phone.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Anti-terrorism bill to go to House
U.S. lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday that could greatly expand the electronic surveillance powers of police and ratchet up penalties relating to certain computer crimes. Known as the Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (PATRIOT) Act, the bill was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and is expected to be debated in committee Wednesday afternoon. "It's incredibly likely to make it through," said an aide to the House Committee on the Judiciary. An earlier version of the bill, known as the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), was held up over civil rights concerns last week.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

.info registry stuck in traffic
Real-time registrations of .info domain names hit a brick wall on their second day out and are on hold pending the resolution of technical problems. Afilias, the company administering the new top-level domain, said the system for new registrations had been taken down today at 10 a.m. PDT, and would be restored at 6 p.m. The trouble started this weekend when Afilias implemented a system for real-time registrations, meaning that people could see if a name was available, register it, find it in the Whois database, and launch a site at that address within minutes. That system for instant gratification could not hold up under intense demand, according to Afilias.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Some cash-strapped firms offer tech workers equipment in place of severance pay
As technology companies go from merely wounded to comatose, some fired workers are receiving used computers, cellular telephones and pocket organizers instead of a check. While workers consider the gesture to be better than nothing, most say they would prefer severance pay. The phenomenon is difficult to quantify because no organization tracks it. But the practice is increasing now as the rocky economy and poor management decisions drag hundreds of firms under, leaving them unable to give fired workers a couple months of pay. Lesser said she uses her former company's notebook, a Sony Vaio, to job- hunt while watching television from her home in Newark. Her other notebook sits unused in a bag.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl....DTL&type=tech

How technology is used to mask communications
A network of people conspired to kill thousands -- and caught the world by surprise. In an era when just planning a picnic takes a multitude of phone calls and e-mails, the near-silent organization of the World Trade Center and Pentagon assaults has left authorities mystified. If privacy is dead, as is often alleged, then how did it serve as an accomplice to this murder? In an age of satellites, digital spying and computer surveillance, the answer to that question is likely to add new weight to a growing field of science -- "information hiding,'' or the use of emerging technologies to stay connected without being detected.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/ho...hide100201.htm

Federal grants fund security research
The federal government's technology standards agency announced on Tuesday that nine grants totaling $5 million were awarded to research data security technologies. The money will fund corporate and university projects aimed at securing wireless computer networks, analyzing the vulnerabilities created by merging computer and phone networks, developing new methods of detecting hackers and network intruders, and finding better ways to protect power networks. "These research grants will make an important down payment towards addressing the many cyber challenges we need to surmount to protect America's critical infrastructures," Richard A. Clarke, National Security Council adviser and national coordinator for security and counterterrorism, said in a statement.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=cd_mh

The Internet's greatest test
Even as individuals and organizations struggle to recover from the recent terrorist attacks, the nation and the world must start assessing the lessons of those events. For information technology groups, one of those lessons is the key role the Internet has played and is still playing in communications. When DARPA designed what has become the Internet, one of its goals was to create a network that could survive disasters. To accomplish this, it chose the technology of packet communications and built-in maximum switching flexibility, so if one physical pathway became blocked or cut, the network could reroute packets to lines that were operating. The terrible events of Sept. 11 put the Internet to its greatest test yet in this role.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-201...html?tag=cd_mh

San Francisco bans filters in libraries
San Francisco officials have voted to ban Internet filters on computers in local public libraries, risking the loss of some $20,000 in federal funds. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors on Monday unanimously prohibited Internet filters on city-owned computers used by the public for Web access. But an amendment to the legislation excludes Internet terminals designated exclusively for individuals under the age of 13. The filter ban rejects regulations governing federal funding of schools and libraries enacted last year under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CHIPA). That law requires schools and libraries to filter Web content or forgo federal funding. The American Civil Liberties Union and American Library Association have challenged the law, saying it violates First Amendment rights.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

EMI cozies up to rival Pressplay
EMI Recorded Music said Tuesday that it would license its catalog of songs to the Pressplay online music service despite the record label's association with rival offering MusicNet. The announcement comes as Pressplay and MusicNet prepare to launch their music-subscription services. Originally slated for a September release to consumers, Pressplay's launch was delayed last week by its corporate parent, Vivendi Universal, which blamed the postponement on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Until now, the major record labels were divided between the two digital music services, with Pressplay tapping songs from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, and with MusicNet to offer songs from Warner Music Group, BMG Entertainment and EMI.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Canon pairs digital cameras, printers
unveiling compact digital cameras and home printers that can hook up to each other directly to print photos. The company introduced two PowerShot compact digital cameras set to hit the Japanese, U.S. and European markets later this year. It also announced eight inkjet printers. Canon said the new products complete its lineup of digital cameras -- an area in which it got off to a slow start while rivals such as Sony, Fuji Photo Film and Olympus Optical took an early lead. The company, eager to make digital cameras easier and more fun to use, also launched an online service in Japan that lets people create Web-based photo albums, order prints over the Net and even download a special sound--such as a dog's bark or a police officer's whistle -- to replace the usual click of the shutter.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

More news later on