The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

O.K., time to write a paper... the last one was destroyed by an unanticipated computer crash, I hate that when it happens

MS lawyers join open-source fray
Microsoft lawyers have joined the company's campaign against open-source software, restricting how developers may use what it terms "viral software" in connection with Microsoft programming tools. The license of the second beta version of Microsoft's Mobile Internet Toolkit -- software used so programmers can create server software to connect with handheld computers over the Internet -- prohibits customers from using the Microsoft software in conjunction with "potentially viral software." In describing this category of software, Microsoft includes the most common licenses used for publishing open-source software, such as the Linux operating system.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...chkpt=zdnn_tp_

Global treaty -- threat to the Net?
International policy-makers this week ended a round of talks aimed at setting common rules affecting online trade and commerce, but they made little progress in bridging divisions that threaten to delay a pact. In the works for nearly a decade, the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments is practically unknown outside international policy circles. Nevertheless, it could have broad implications for consumers and businesses by setting new rules for online copyrights, free speech and e-commerce -- if it is approved. Critics -- primarily from the United States -- voiced their opposition to the treaty following the end of a two-week drafting session on Wednesday.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...093109,00.html

Multi-nation cybercrime pact gets OK
A committee on crimes for the Council of Europe signed off Friday on the final draft of a broad treaty that aims to help countries fight cybercrime, but which critics say sacrifices privacy protections. When ratified by the council's leadership and signed by individual countries, the Convention on Cyber-Crime will bind countries to creating a minimum set of laws to deal with high-tech crimes, including unauthorized access to a network, data interference, computer-related fraud and forgery, child pornography, and digital copyright infringement.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...093153,00.html

Tool feeds ads to your e-mails
Melbourne-based online marketing company, Reva Networks, is currently promoting a new e-mail technology--Admail--that allows online advertisers to intercept e-mail messages as they enter the mail server and "wrap" them in advertising content tailored to the recipient's demographic profile. Unlike conventional unsoliciated e-mail, where advertising arrives in the users’ inbox as separate e-mail, Admail fuses advertising with the body message regardless of its origin.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779267,00.html

Microsoft: Audit, or else there's trouble
In its continuing jihad against software piracy, Microsoft's legal department has sent letters to corporate customers demanding they conduct internal audits of their software licenses and submit their findings within 30 days to the software giant. The letter, using language no less intimidating than the Internal Revenue Service might use, also includes a form that spells out the audit process. Customers must report the number of installs, documented licenses, license upgrades and unlicensed software. Covered in the process are operating systems, Office suites, individual applications, BackOffice products and the Visio product line.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779270,00.html

Does a snake lurk in Windows XP?
Last week, at a day-long get-to-know-you session that Microsoft Corp. hosted for venture capitalists, one attendee told a fable in which she compared Microsoft to a snake and asked Microsoft executives to respond. And in an on-the-spot audience poll, only 40 percent of the attendees agreed that the Redmond, Wash., software company would make a good partner for the fledgling companies in their investment portfolios. Granted, Silicon Valley is one of Microsoft's toughest constituencies. But the venture capitalists' continuing concern underscores a growing sentiment that Microsoft's efforts to bundle new Web services with Windows XP, the iteration of the computer operating system due out in October, may represent an even bigger power play than its earlier efforts to expand Windows.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779251,00.html

Mobiles to push PCs aside at TechX
As if anyone needed further evidence that the PC industry is on the skids, consider that it can't even command its own trade show anymore. The long-running PC Expo program is now part of TechX NY, opening Tuesday in New York. The name change is more than symbolic, as desktop PCs will be a low-priority item at the show. Attention instead will go to a range of devices, from tiny USB hubs to home entertainment products, PDAs and notebook computers.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...093118,00.html

Warning: Russia, China pose cyberthreat
Russia and China appear to be developing computer-based tools with the potential to do long-lasting harm to the U.S. economy, a top intelligence official told Congress on Thursday. Such arms will give future foes new leverage over the United States, including a way to ratchet up pressure and the prospect of anonymity, said Lawrence Gershwin, the national intelligence officer for science and technology. Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee, Gershwin cited what he called some nations' public acknowledgment of the role cyberattacks would play as the "next wave of military operations."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...pt=zdnn_nbs_hl

Bill Gates remains world's richest
Tech titans saw fortunes evaporate with the Nasdaq in the past year but wily investor Warren Buffett showed he can still make enough money to become the second-richest man in the world, Forbes business magazine said on Thursday. Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates is still the richest person on the planet -- for the seventh year in a row -- even though his net worth dropped from $63 billion to $58.7 billion. But Buffett, who chooses his investments the old-fashioned way -- by looking at a company's bottom line -- increased his wealth by $4 billion to $32.3 billion pushing him from fourth into second place on Forbes' list of world's billionaires.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...779259,00.html

Hackers hoarding code to exploit server flaw
System administrators who have delayed patching the latest security hole in Microsoft's Web server software should think again, security experts said Friday. While a program to exploit the flaw has yet to be made public, at least one hacker group has already developed such a tool, said Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer for network-protection company eEye Digital Security. "Because the hole is so huge, they want to keep the exploit (program) to themselves," he said. "There is a small circle of people that do these types of things who like to be able to say they have it so they can break into servers if they want to."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=tp_pr

New high-speed Net services from space
Hughes Network Systems announced plans to offer new broadband services from space. This week the subsidiary of Hughes Electronics launched Direcway, a package of satellite-delivered broadband services for homes and small businesses that can't get high-speed access through DSL or cable modem providers. Using satellites perched above the Earth's orbit, Hughes Network Systems will transmit data, voice and video traffic to multiple sites though various service provider partners including America Online, Earthlink, Juno Online and Pegasus Solutions.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Odigo calls for phone-based IM
Instant messaging company Odigo said it will provide a voice-enabled instant messaging service, which would let its members send instant messages via any phone, including wireless services. The service, dubbed Voice Instant Messaging, was created with voice application provider Audium. Odigo is still seeking telecommunications companies, Net access providers and others to carry the technology. The alliance is the latest move by Odigo to stay afloat in a market flooded with big rivals, including Yahoo, AOL Time Warner and Microsoft.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Copyright fears force newsgroup shutdown
Excite@Home removed several newsgroups this week that it said fostered copyright infringement under federal law. The Internet service provider pulled a handful of newsgroups it said were related to sharing files or pictures. Newsgroups are bulletin board-like services linked to an ISP that contain messages on specific topics. "We have closed some newsgroups that raise two sorts of concerns: One set could be fostering the sharing of copyrighted material; another set raises concerns about sharing child pornography," said John Sullivan, associate general counsel for Excite@Home.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=mn_hd

CIA says it can't keep up with hackers
Despite a major increase in intelligence efforts dedicated to computer security, attackers still develop new tools and techniques faster than the CIA can keep up, a top CIA official told Congress. Often, "we end up detecting (an attack) after it's happened," said Lawrence K. Gershwin, the CIA's top adviser on science and technology issues. "I don't feel very good about our ability to anticipate." Gershwin told the Joint Economic Committee that foreign governments will be the most potent threat to U.S. computers for the next five to 10 years, rather than terrorists or lone troublemakers.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=ch_mh

N.Y. Senate to nix driving-cell phone mix
The New York Senate approved a measure that will make the state the first in the nation to ban drivers from using handheld cell phones. The approval came Thursday night after Gov. George Pataki and legislative leaders said an agreement on the proposal had been reached. The state Assembly was to take it up Monday. "Finally, we will get the bird back in the cage," said Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, who began his campaign for the ban in 1996 amid his colleagues' snickers. "People were making a lot of fun of me, but it eventually became not only an issue at the state level, but on the national level."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Is fiber-optic construction creating overkill?
Telecommunications carriers have laid thousands of miles of fiber-optic cables in the ground, but now some analysts suggest the companies have dug themselves into a deep hole. Carriers have spent billions of dollars building networks they are only partially using because there isn't enough traffic to send through the cables they installed. As a result, companies have reduced their spending on equipment, cut prices and seen profits plunge, touching off a chain reaction in the telecom sector. In recent months, equipment giants Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks, among many others, have issued profit warnings and announced reorganization plans as a result of poor sales to these carriers that are reluctant to buy.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=cd_mh

French group strikes at neo-Nazi portal
A French anti-racism group is asking for an injunction to block access to a neo-Nazi U.S. Web portal, a move set to fuel a running debate about Internet controls. International Action for Justice (AIPJ), whose action comes amid transatlantic wrangling over a separate case against U.S. portal Yahoo over xenophobic sites, wants France cut off from the Front14.org portal, which acts as a free-speech space for racists. Front14's Web site, which carries the slogan "online hate at its best," offers domain hosting, Web animation and Web marketing services for neo-Nazi organizations wanting to get onto the Internet.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Studios spin slowly toward Net films
Hollywood executives say they are in the deal-making phase of their campaign to distribute movies over the Internet, but showtime for the resulting ventures is still some way off. The biggest challenge has been drawing the studios together behind a common platform that would provide viewers access to a wide array of movies--seen by many in the industry as a needed step if beaming movies via the Internet is to succeed. "The negotiations are proving far more difficult than technological issues," Yair Landau, president of Sony's Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, said in an interview at the Streaming Media West conference, a major industry meeting.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Electronics makers to launch recycling study
Consumer-electronics makers are taking a first step toward a large-scale recycling program for PCs, peripherals, monitors and television sets. The Electronic Industries Alliance on Thursday announced a pilot project for the collection and recycling of electronic devices. The one-year project, scheduled to begin in October, is intended to provide data to help guide the creation of a cost-effective, more permanent system. "The pilot is going to test different models in different parts of the country, and we'll use information gained to develop a long-term recycling program," said Kerry Fennelly, a spokeswoman for the trade association.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200...html?tag=cd_mh

It's not even all !

[walktalker]

Ukraine's Domain in Dot-Dispute
Dot-ua is a domain in search of a master. The country code for Ukraine has been around since 1992, soon after the former Soviet republic gained its independence. But the company that registered it is defunct, its founders having fled Ukraine's ailing economy for the West. Stepping into the breach is Ukraine's successor to the KGB, known as the SBU, which said recently that it will take over the top-level domain name. Not so fast, says a San Francisco networks administrator who officially has control of the domain-name registration through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44012,00.html

E-Commerce Fears? Good Reasons
The little lock icon that appears in your Web browser's window is supposed to prove you are engaging in a safe transaction. But it may be nothing more than a visual placebo. The icon is intended to indicate that information is being encrypted as it moves from your computer to the e-commerce site's computer. But complete and uncrackable encryption of outgoing and incoming information may not always take place every time the lock appears on your computer's screen. And safe arrival at the site's servers doesn't guarantee your information is safe forever. Experts say that once the data arrives at the e-commerce site, it's often stored decrypted on the site's servers.
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,44690,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,44695,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,44740,00.html

Clone Ban a Life-Saving Ban, Too?
Two proposed congressional bills that would ban human cloning have researchers concerned that such legislation would hamper the development of treatments for heart failure, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. Thomas Okarma, CEO of Geron (GERN), a biotech company in Menlo Park, California, told a congressional panel that to ban all human cloning would not just outlaw the creation of carbon-copy humans. It would also eliminate "therapeutic cloning," which does not result in a new human but clones human embryos for research purposes.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,44737,00.html

Kids Get With the Programming
Net-happy pre-teens have popularized the language of emoticons and acronyms. But at one middle school in California, kids are learning more advanced languages, like Perl, Java, JavaScript, and HTML. Instead of keyboarding and word processing, seventh- and eighth-graders in Nancy Elnor's advanced computer science classes at Longfellow Arts & Technology Magnet Middle School are mastering skills that talent-starved technology companies crave.
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,44533,00.html

True Confessions: Only in Person
An ancient form of anonymous chat -– confession -- doesn't count if done over the Internet, Catholic Church officials say. The Internet is a "marvelous instrument for evangelization and pastoral service," said Monsignor John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. "But not for confession, which must always take place within the sacramental context of a personal encounter."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,44608,00.html

Spotlight turned on FBI computer systems
The FBI's antiquated computer system will be under the microscope in the coming months. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday that he has ordered a comprehensive review of the FBI, including its inadequate computer systems. The Justice Department's review comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first of a series of hearings into management problems at the bureau. Lawmakers proposed measures designed to fix the FBI, which was criticized as arrogant and insular. Those measures include the creation of a "blue ribbon" panel to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the bureau and the creation of an FBI inspector general position.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/fcw1.htm

Court Slaps Fees on CD Burners
Hewlett-Packard GmbH must pay intellectual-property fees on CD burners retroactively for three years, a German court ruled on Thursday. HP said it will appeal the ruling. The ongoing legal battle seeks to determine whether buyers of the devices must pay a flat fee to offset losses sustained by authors and artists whose work is duplicated without their permission. HP is fighting the test case on behalf of all hardware makers.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27374,00.html

High-tech thieves plant money "bugs"
Clever real-world credit card thieves apparently have a new high-tech tool in their arsenal. A credit card terminal maker says it has discovered the existence of small, number-stealing electronic "bugs." The devices can be secretly placed inside store terminals, where they "skim" card numbers with each transaction. The bugs are even smart enough to trick a terminal into "phoning home," delivering batches of stolen numbers to fake credit card manufacturing locations. While acknowledging the threat may be real, Visa International and other terminal makers caution that use of the James Bond-esque device is hardly widespread.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/589575.asp

The end of the code war?
Modern cryptography, such as that employed in a widely used program, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), relies on the mathematical manipulation of data. To encrypt, or "lock", a message, the program performs a series of mathematical steps on it, using a number more than a hundred digits long. Only that number’s correct mate, or "key", is able to undo these steps and unpack the message. The size of these numbers, and the mathematical formula that links them, make it, in effect, impossible to work out the key by computational brute force. One of today’s keys could not be calculated even if all of today’s computers worked for the lifespan of the universe on the task. Surely that is safety enough? Perhaps not.
http://www.economist.com/science/dis...tory_ID=664508

Space Medicine Gets Smart
Smart medical devices that help astronauts handle emergencies such as electrical burns will become part of the International Space Station perhaps as early as next month. Further down the road, astronauts in trouble may also rely on "virtual clinics" on earth for in-depth medical assistance. These technologies, presented at the June meeting of the American Telemedicine Association in Fort Lauderdale, FL, could also be used to help people on the ground in isolated places with no doctor nearby.
http://www.techreview.com/web/basu/basu062001.asp

Tailor-made laser surgery could give eyesight that is better than "perfect" 20/20
Improved techniques for corrective laser eye surgery could give people much better eyesight than those with so-called normal vision, say researchers in the US. Jim Schwiegerling, an ophthalmologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says customised surgery could take patients to the theoretical limits of human vision. People would be able to pick out small objects from twice or maybe even four times as far away as those with normal or 20/20 vision. Fewer than five per cent of people are born with such super-vision.
http://www.newscientist.com/dailynew...p?id=ns9999908

Supper time... I'll be right back

[walktalker]

Canada Tackles Copyright Laws For Digital Age
The Canadian government today signaled the start of what could lead to dramatic reform of copyright law, releasing "consultation papers" that ask how those laws might be rewritten to work in the digital era. The call for wide-ranging modernization of Canadian copyright law could clarify the legal status of iCraveTV-like Internet radio and television retransmitters, and determine what hardware and software consumers can use to play copy-protected DVD movies. Also up for debate are the legal responsibilities of Internet service providers for the copyright-law infractions of their customers.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167203.html

Study Predicts Black Skies Ahead For Newspapers
Compared to other media, newspapers have not lost too much of their audience to the Internet - yet. According to a study that will be released next week, the Internet poses a long-term threat to newspapers because of the way people use the Web to obtain information. The study by the Content Intelligence Group, a division of Lyra Research Inc., found that nearly 60 percent of people expect their Web usage to increase either "somewhat" or "substantially." Fewer than half of respondents expect their usage of newspaper Web sites to increase.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167200.html

Civil Liberties Group Defends Online Scientology Critic
Fearing that fugitive Scientology protester Keith Henson is being unjustly "slimed" by the Church of Scientology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Friday publicly proclaimed its support for the convicted Internet critic, who has taken refuge in Canada from California authorities. "Online civil liberties groups are concerned about what happened to Mr. Henson," EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn said today. "We felt the need to counter some of the sliming that is going on by Scientology." Cohn said that during the period surrounding Henson's trial, the Church of Scientology "bombarded" the media with scathing attacks against Henson, who in April was convicted by a California criminal court of threatening to interfere with the church's freedom to practice religion.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167198.html

Microsoft's XP Trashed As Grounds For New Antitrust Suit
The combination of Microsft's Passport, HailStorm and Instant Messaging initiatives in its new Windows XP are grounds enough for another antitrust case against the software giant, according to a white paper released by the some of the company's biggest competitors. "Passport, Hailstorm and Instant Messenger are the last pieces of the architectural puzzle necessary for Microsoft to control commerce and communications on the Internet," said Mike Pettit, president of ProComp, a trade group that includes AOL Time Warner, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle Corp.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167196.html

Hacked EU Site Back Online, But Attack Continues
SaferInternet.org, the European Union-sponsored Web site that was yanked off the Web last week after being hacked twice, is now back online. But it is still being targeted for attack. “The minute the site went back online (Thursday), the log files (were) showing attempts at attack," said Tara Morris, project manager for the site. "We are under sustained attack." Furthermore, the Web site, which is managed for the EU by Ecotec Research and Consulting Ltd. of Birmingham, England (http://www.ecotec.co.uk), still is not running at 100 percent.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167187.html

Roxio Strikes Back In Tussle With Gracenote
CD-writing software company Roxio [NASDAQ:ROXI] has struck back in a legal battle with song-title collector Gracenote Inc., claiming that Gracenote's patent for technology that automatically can identify a CD's contents was obtained "fraudulently." Roxio's allegations are part of the company's countersuit reply to a controversial lawsuit Gracenote filed in May against Roxio. In that suit, launched after Roxio dropped Gracenote as the online source of song titles for its CD-burning software, Gracenote complained about patent and trademark infringement, in addition to breach of contract. Gracenote's move signaled that the Berkeley, Calif., company formerly known as CDDB might be aggressive in staking a claim to the massive CDDB database and the technology that allows users of Internet-connected CD players to identify millions of song titles.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167175.html

The Intricate Plot Behind 'A.I.' Web Mystery
They called it "The Beast," and the CIA might have envied the secrecy in which it was shrouded. About 50 people worked on the elaborate Web project promoting Steven Spielberg's upcoming movie, A.I. But fewer than 10 — including Spielberg, of course — understood its magnitude. On March 8 a team of Web designers, led by Microsoft, covertly launched a complex of interconnected sites that became the basis for an elaborate Internet game. Clues to a murder are sprinkled across the Net; solving one puzzle leads to the next, in an evolving, interactive mystery.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/167179.html

No Bombs Here: Pearl Harbor Books Take Off Like Rockets
This week's shakeup at Disney may be partly due to the not-so-great showing of Pearl Harbor, but when books remember that infamous day, sales soar. Among the scores of Pearl Harbor books released and re-released this spring to coincide with the movie, one has emerged as the standout: a novel from Hyperion based on the soap-opera love triangle that dominates the film. Pearl Harbor, by Randall Wallace, is the only Pearl Harbor-related title on the current New York Times list of bestsellers. Through the week ending June 10, it sold 24,232 copies at Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton stores, outlets whose sales are thought to account for around 20 percent of all U.S. book sales.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?arti...33203&pod_id=8

The AIDS-drug warrior
Every day a new headline emerges touting a victory in the global fight against the AIDS epidemic. One day, a pharmaceutical company announces it will deeply discount its drugs for the African market. The next, Yale University and Bristol-Myers Squibb announce they will no longer enforce their patent on an AIDS drug used in HIV-ravaged South Africa. Then 39 companies abruptly withdraw their lawsuit against the South African government over a 1997 law that would make it easier for the country to produce generic versions of patented drugs or import brand-name drugs from other countries to sell at cheaper prices. All good news, right? Wrong, says Jamie Love. It's just slick humanitarian-flavored spin.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/20...ove/index.html

End of an affair?
On June 7, four hackers released a software program that threatens to do for TV shows what Napster did for music and DivX may do for movies. The code, called ExtractStream, allows users of TiVo digital video recorders to move compressed copies of television shows from their beloved TiVo boxes into their computers, and beyond. Like many hackers, the programmers saw their unauthorized exploit as a boon to society. "Even though TiVo, understandably, can't admit it," says one member of the group who asked to remain anonymous, "this code's good for everybody." Their optimism is understandable. But ExtractStream's release provoked an unexpectedly vituperative outpouring of criticism from precisely those people who once might have been counted on for hotblooded support.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ack/index.html

[relic]

looks as if I am going to have bump this thread for days for everyone to be able to read all the news

I'm to go play some CS so I will have to read the articles when I'm done hehe.

[walktalker]

Originally posted by aaacbada
looks as if I am going to have bump this thread for days for everyone to be able to read all the news

This should keep my readers busy for a while

Geez, thanks for all the news walkertalker.

Study Predicts Black Skies Ahead For Newspapers
Compared to other media, newspapers have not lost too much of their audience to the Internet - yet. According to a study that will be released next week, the Internet poses a long-term threat to newspapers because of the way people use the Web to obtain information.

Hehe, you're going to put them outta business man.

[walktalker]

ZUMP.

woah.

[relic]

http://www.economist.com/science/dis...tory_ID=664508

good article...and here's another bump