|
|
|||||||
| Peer to Peer The 3rd millenium technology! |
 |
|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Display Modes |
27-12-02, 10:09 AM
|
#1 |
Join Date: May 2001
Location: New England
Posts: 10,017
|
Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - Dec. 28th, ‘02
Pirates, spiders, vacuum tubes, robots and Japanese rockets are just a few of the seemingly disparate things related to P2P showing up in this weeks review.
Fallout continues from OOL’s ill formed decision to cap u/l’s to P2Ps and IRC’s (Cox has joined the funeral too) even though technology exists to substantially increase upload bandwidth on cable systems by factors of three or more. If your provider is capping or giving it serious thought you might want to point this out. Christmas just ended and I find myself digging out from under a foot of heavy wet snow here in New England in what’s been the biggest December 25th storm in a generation. Not that I mind, on the contrary I love the white stuff blanketing the trees, streets, homes and lawns in an annual rite of much needed communal purification. That the cold came a month early this season may have something to do with the size of the job. Regardless of the cause it’s a real old fashioned winter around here with kids ice skating on the ponds and sliding down the hills but it wouldn’t be complete without the occasional expletive from an adult faced with a tight schedule and a frozen door lock. So toss another log on the fire, mull up some cider and try to relax. Here’s hoping your holiday season is a good one, - Jack. The ACLU Bill of Rights December Dinner Speech by Ken Hertz, 2002 Bill of Rights Award recipient This year, approximately 165 million consumers - over 61 million in the United States - used peer to peer file sharing to obtain and share untold billions of copies of music and other copyrighted material. Successful lawsuits against MP3.com, Napster and an assortment of others have not curtailed the supply of unauthorized files available for download. To the contrary, if anything, these efforts have resulted in an increasing audience for these file sharing systems, and an evolution of this technology which will soon be too decentralized to allow further enforcement without resorting to prosecuting individuals. To that end, On July 25, 2002, Representative Howard Berman introduced a bill, HR 5211 in the House of Representatives that would give copyright owners the right to violate the law in their efforts to stop the unauthorized circulation of their works on peer-to-peer networks. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation “The proposed law amounts to government-sanctioned vigilantism -- copyright owners are given the power to ignore the law in pursuit of those that they decide are guilty. There is no warrant requirement, no trial, no prior notice to the targets, no due process, and very little recourse for innocent bystanders caught in the cross-fire.” One commentator recently observed that the primary objective of our copyright laws is not to reward the author "but rather to secure for the public the benefits from the creations of authors." Currently, the major record distributors only make around 10% of their entire catalog available for purchase in any form – disc or download. Two-thirds of potential record consumers walk out of record stores empty-handed because they couldn’t find the record they went in looking for. Similarly, so-called anti-piracy countermeasures make purchased product less versatile then unauthorized downloaded files. Digital distribution and manufacturing-on-demand could create new income streams, but not so long as those systems offer less convenience, quality and value as so-called “peer to peer”. Peer to peer file sharing is really just interactive radio – consumers get to listen to exactly what they want – when they want it. This demand is not addressed by the record industry. In fact, it can’t be offered legally at any price. And as I think I’ve illustrated, technology and reality will insure that supply finds its way to meet that demand. http://www.xeni.net/images/boingboing/speech.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't make the play button a pay button. Fighting for Copy Rights Tom McNichol Joe Kraus was one of the six young founders of Excite, the Internet company born as Architext in a Palo Alto garage in 1993. It's a familiar story: Excite got big in a hurry during the boom, merged with @Home in 1999, and then just as quickly flamed out in the ensuing firestorm, filing for bankruptcy in September 2001. Kraus was the last cofounder out the door. Now Kraus has something new to excite him: the politics of digital copyright. Last spring he launched DigitalConsumer.org, a grassroots organization that wants to give consumers a seat at the bargaining table. The group has signed up 50,000 members, hired a full-time lobbyist in Washington, and sent more than 100,000 faxes to members of Congress. In March, Kraus testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on digital rights management. His next conquest: passage of a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights. WIRED:What makes an Internet millionaire start a public policy group? KRAUS: I was a poli-sci major at Stanford, and I've always wanted to engage in politics. After I left Excite, I took six months to chill out, and then I got involved in copyright issues. I think we're at a critical time with copyright laws and fair use. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...art.html?pg=13 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Whatever Happened to Leaving the Internet Unregulated? Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Adam Thierer Reporter John Markoff noted in a December 2000 column that, "In a remarkably short period, the World Wide Web has touched or has promised to alter -- some would say threaten -- virtually every aspect of modern life." Of course, not everyone has enthusiastically embraced the changes the Internet has brought, especially those who feel threatened by it. This is particularly true in the business marketplace where many well-established industries and older institutions fear that the Net is displacing their business or perhaps entire industry sector by bringing consumers and producers closer together. For example, in recent years, the following industries or interests have decried the rise of the Net and e-commerce: · car dealerships who fear direct-to-driveway vehicle delivery by auto manufacturers; · wine and beer wholesalers concerned about mail order shipping; · travel agents fearing online airline reservation systems; · optometrists warning of Internet sale of glasses or contact lenses; and · lawyers claiming free online legal advice by certain websites was illegal since it is not licensed by states. Older industries fearing newer ones is nothing new, of course. Any new and disruptive technology will attract its fair share of skeptics and opponents. Steamboat operators feared the railroads; railroaders feared truckers; truckers feared air shippers. Likewise, horse and buggy drivers probably sneered at the first automobiles that crossed their path. But while fear of technological change is to be expected, the problem is that older industries often have significantly more clout in the political marketplace and can convince policymakers to act on these fears. State licensing or franchising laws are often the favored club of choice for entrenched industries that are looking for a way to beat back their new competitors. Demanding that producers comply with a crazy-quilt of state and local regulations will often be enough to foreclose new market entry altogether. Various industry watchers have labeled this phenomenon, "revenge of the middleman" or "revenge of the disintermediated." More simply, these pleas can be thought of as old-fashion industrial protectionism. But requiring national or even global commercial vendors -- as is clearly the case with e-commerce and Internet sellers -- to comply with such parochial laws and regulations is antithetical to the interests of consumers and the economy in general. Consumers clearly benefit from the development of online commercial websites and value the flexibility such sites give them to do business directly with producers and distributors. More importantly, the development of a vibrant online commercial sector provides important benefits for the economy as a whole in terms of increased productivity. The Progressive Policy Institute has estimated that such protectionist laws and regulations could cost consumers over $15 billion in the aggregate. http://www.cato.org/dailys/12-22-02.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Cable Technology Triples Upload Speeds Loring Wirbel and Robert Keenan CableLabs Inc. announced its certification of equipment from six suppliers that complies with the International Telecommunication Union's Docsis 2.0 specification, fulfilling a promise to complete its first certifications this year. The industry group certified a chip set from Texas Instruments, modems from Motorola, Scientific-Atlanta, Terayon and Xrosstech, and the cable modem termination system (CMTS) of Terayon. Since hybrid fiber/coax networks are inherently asymmetric, cable modems have delivered higher bandwidth downstream while offering significantly slower speeds in the upstream. But with Internet users more likely to exchange larger files such as MP3 audio files, the cable industry has seen a need to increase upstream performance. The Docsis 2.0 specification was developed with these requirements in mind, increasing upstream performance from a peak data rate of 10 Mbit/second to a peak rate of 30 Mbit/s. "The significance of Docsis 2.0 is that it opens the upstream channel for the future expansion," Rauschmayer said. By supporting the higher data rates, cable modems can better support online gaming, peer-to-peer services and future high-bandwidth Internet applications, he said. "The future is wide open," Rauschmayer said. That future was slowed somewhat by Terayon Communication Systems Inc.'s promotion of S-CDMA, which it claimed was inherently more bandwidth-efficient that A-TDMA. http://www.commsdesign.com/story/OEG20021219S0044 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Toshiba Announces Two Firsts: Industry`s First Ever CableLabs PacketCable Certification and Company`s First DOCSIS 2.0-Based Cable Modem BizWire Business Editors & High-Tech Writers Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Network Products Division (TAIS NPD) today announced that it is the first major cable modem vendor to be awarded CableLabs(R) PacketCable certification status for any Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)-enabled cable modem, its PCX3000. Toshiba also received its first DOCSIS 1.1 certification for a DOCSIS 2.0-based modem, which uses the same Texas Instruments (TI) silicon that has been awarded DOCSIS 2.0 certification under the TI name in the recently concluded CableLabs Certification Wave 24. Toshiba's DOCSIS 2.0-based modem supports both advanced time division multiple access (A-TDMA) and synchronous code division multiple access (S-CDMA) modes, and will enable operators to create and support new services for both home and business use such as video conferencing and peer- to-peer applications. The DOCSIS 2.0 standard allows cable modems to deliver increased upstream throughput from the end user to the Internet, as well as give the network operator the ability to offer symmetrical bi-directional data services. http://www.eet.com/story/24860 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phone Calls on the Cable Bill Will Wade ALL Peter Odabashian wanted was a second phone line. But when the phone company said it needed to run new wiring into his apartment, which would cost nearly $300 and require waiting several weeks, he found an alternative: the cable company. Mr. Odabashian turned to the RCN Corporation, a cable company that offers telephone service as well as "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos." "RCN said it would install the line for free and throw in a month of service," said Mr. Odabashian, a film editor in New York who previously had cable service from Time Warner. "I signed up for the full works. Now I have two phone lines, TV and a cable modem from them." Mr. Odabashian is one of a growing number of consumers who receive telephone service from a cable company instead of a telephone carrier. Faced with the increasing success of satellite television, cable companies are moving to retain customers by offering services that satellite companies cannot match. Phone traffic is part of that strategy. Cable companies have spent millions in recent years to upgrade equipment to carry digital television and two-way Internet traffic. Adding a third information stream, voice, is not difficult. Not only does this reduce defections to satellite services, it also generates a new source of income. The cable industry's long-term goal is to deliver digital television, high-speed Internet access through cable modems, and telephone service; insiders call it the triple play. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/26/te.../26nucabl.html NYT: nick - bobbob pass - bobbob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Partner For Next Gen Satellite Broadband Press Release, LinCsat Communications Inc LinCsat Communications Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Imark Corporation (TSX:IAK), today announced that it has been selected by Hughes Network Systems, Inc. (HNS), to join the HUGHES Broadband Alliance. The HUGHES Broadband Alliance is designed to encourage companies to develop new, cutting-edge two-way, high-speed Internet applications utilizing SPACEWAY(TM), the next generation satellite network for DIRECWAY(R). HNS is the world's leading provider of broadband satellite solutions, which it markets under the DIRECWAY brand. LinCsat is currently a "Powered by DIRECWAY" partner of HNS for its two- way, High-Speed Internet by satellite service. DIRECWAY is the leading broadband-by-satellite service for consumers, small businesses and enterprises from Hughes Network Systems (HNS), Inc. "We are pleased to have been selected by HNS to become the latest member of the HUGHES Broadband Alliance team, joining other world-class industry leading companies such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, Inktomi and Sony Electronics. LinCsat will be actively involved with the SPACEWAY platform and will be providing its remote site system integration, service coverage extension by utilizing larger customized antenna's, and expertise in the application development and widescale deployment of this latest generation of two-way high-speed Internet by satellite technology," said David Lewis, President and COO of LinCsat Communications Inc. HNS also recently announced that Industry Canada has granted HNS approval to use the SPACEWAY North American satellites at 99 degrees and 101 degrees west longitude to provide services to, from and within Canada. This authorization permits SPACEWAY satellites to utilize Ka-band spectrum for advanced broadband services to earth stations licensed in Canada. SPACEWAY's coverage footprint will exceed 80% of Canada's population, including many geographically dispersed and underserved areas. LinCsat plans to continue to provide its "Powered by DIRECWAY" Ku-band service offering to those areas of Canada who are not able to receive the SPACEWAY Ka-band service coverage. http://www.canadait.com/cfm/index.cf...&Se=0&Sv=&Lo=2 Interesting to see what happens with the partners now that Hughes has announced plans to exit the business. – js. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Broadband About-Face By Jim Hu The broadband race is making a U-turn, as Web giants such as Yahoo, MSN and now America Online head away from plans to run their own high-speed Net access services and move toward branding partnerships with the Baby Bells and other heavyweights. Faced with economic realities and the reluctance of broadband providers to rent their pipes for "leased-line" services, AOL and the others hope to package their Internet products as a front end for services essentially run by their network partners. AOL announced plans along those lines last month, falling in behind Yahoo and MSN. And analysts believe such partnerships are likely to take off next year, fueling growth in an industry that has faced high costs for both providers and consumers. "I think 2003 has to be the year that a large portion of the transition to getting more broadband access for Internet services comes forward," said David Joyce, an analyst at Guzman & Company. The impact on consumers is not yet entirely clear, but analysts said the trend bodes ill for dial-up Internet providers such as AOL and Microsoft's MSN, which may wind up playing only an auxiliary role in the coming broadband world. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978804.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Donating Technology's Castaways Barbara Whitaker THE holiday season often means new high-technology gadgets in many homes. Outdated devices, meanwhile, are often left to gather dust in home offices and closets or, worse, tossed into the trash with the boxes and bows. One way to help the environment, and to possibly save a little on your tax bill this year, is to donate these old machines to charity. Many organizations are clamoring for used PC's and PC parts, cellphones and other electronic products. "We will take one computer; we will take 4,000," said Dr. Yvette Marrin, co-founder and president of the National Cristina Foundation (www.cristina.org), a group in Greenwich, Conn., that collects and helps distribute used computers, software, peripherals and related business technology to individuals and nonprofit groups that need them. The National Recycling Coalition says experts have predicted that nearly 500 million personal computers would become outdated between 1997 and 2007. Yet only about 5 percent of discarded PC's are being donated to charities or nonprofit groups, according to Dataquest, the market research arm of Gartner Inc. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 80 percent of discarded computer components will end up in landfills. And 130 million cellphones are expected to be discarded by 2005, according to Inform, an environmental group based in New York City. Most nonprofit groups are looking for computers that have Pentium chips or the equivalent, although some would be happy to take older machines with 486 microprocessors. "Anything we can connect to the Internet we will find a home for," said Robert Lubell, who runs the Dare to Dream program at the TCI College of Technology in Manhattan. The program refurbishes donated computers and gives them to needy individuals as well as to hospitals and veterans' groups. Student volunteers are taught to repair and reprogram the donated machines, then to train the recipients to use them. "You get the hands-on training while you're doing community service; this I can put in my portfolio," said Allanna Laidlow, 21, a student at the college. To find a list of groups that recycle electronics or are looking for donations, check the E.P.A.'s Web site, www.epa.gov, or the site of the National Recycling Coalition at www.nrc-recycle.org. It lets people search by ZIP code for groups and businesses that accept old equipment. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/bu...ey/22CHAR.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Going Electronic, Denver Reveals Long-Term Surveillance Ford Fessenden, Michael Moss DENVER, Dec. 14 — The Denver police have gathered information on unsuspecting local activists since the 1950's, secretly storing what they learned on simple index cards in a huge cabinet at police headquarters. When the cabinet filled up recently, the police thought they had an easy solution. For $45,000, they bought a powerful computer program from a company called Orion Scientific Systems. Information on 3,400 people and groups was transferred to software that stores, searches and categorizes the data. Then the trouble began. After the police decided to share the fruits of their surveillance with another local department, someone leaked a printout to an activist for social justice, who made the documents public. The mayor started an investigation. People lined up to obtain their files. Among those the police spied on were nuns, advocates for American Indians and church organizations. To make matters worse, the software called many of the groups "criminal extremists." The incident has highlighted some pitfalls of police intelligence software, which has been hailed widely as a major tool in the war against terrorism. One of Orion's newest clients, in fact, is the New York City Police Department, where 200 people in the intelligence division are being trained to use the program, according to city records and Orion officials. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/21/te...gy/21PRIV.html NYT: nick - bobbob pass - bobbob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet John Markoff, John Schwartz The Bush administration is planning to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and, potentially, surveillance of its users. The proposal is part of a final version of a report, "The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," set for release early next year, according to several people who have been briefed on the report. It is a component of the effort to increase national security after the Sept. 11 attacks. The President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board is preparing the report, and it is intended to create public and private cooperation to regulate and defend the national computer networks, not only from everyday hazards like viruses but also from terrorist attack. Ultimately the report is intended to provide an Internet strategy for the new Department of Homeland Security. Such a proposal, which would be subject to Congressional and regulatory approval, would be a technical challenge because the Internet has thousands of independent service providers, from garage operations to giant corporations like American Online, AT&T, Microsoft and Worldcom. The report does not detail specific operational requirements, locations for the centralized system or costs, people who were briefed on the document said. While the proposal is meant to gauge the overall state of the worldwide network, some officials of Internet companies who have been briefed on the proposal say they worry that such a system could be used to cross the indistinct border between broad monitoring and wiretap. Stewart Baker, a Washington lawyer who represents some of the nation's largest Internet providers, said, "Internet service providers are concerned about the privacy implications of this as well as liability," since providing access to live feeds of network activity could be interpreted as a wiretap or as the "pen register" and "trap and trace" systems used on phones without a judicial order. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/20/te...gy/20MONI.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Administration Denies Plans, Says Times Is “Wrong” - ISP Rep Says Plans Are Real. Scarlet Pruitt A REPRESENTATIVE FOR the U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied a report Friday that the U.S. government was planning to release a proposal requiring ISPs (Internet service providers) to help build a centralized system designed to monitor Internet use. The denial came after the New York Times reported in its online edition Friday that a final version of "The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace" report, due out early next year, called for the creation of a centralized Net monitoring system. "The story is wrong. There is no such proposal under consideration," said Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. Despite the government's claims that it has no plans to monitor Internet use, Stewart Baker, a partner with Washington, D.C.-based law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP who represents a group of ISPs, said Friday that his clients have seen a version of the report that includes a Net monitoring system. "This struck us as a bad enough idea that we should talk about it," Baker said in an interview. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn...nd.xml?s=IDGNS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TIA Is Feeling Groove-y Commercial Peer To Peer Program Is Foundation For Pentagon Surveillance System John Markoff, John Schwartz In the Pentagon research effort to detect terrorism by electronically monitoring the civilian population, the most remarkable detail may be this: Most of the pieces of the system are already in place. Because of the inroads the Internet and other digital network technologies have made into everyday life over the last decade, it is increasingly possible to amass Big Brother-like surveillance powers through Little Brother means. The basic components include everyday digital technologies like e-mail, online shopping and travel booking, A.T.M. systems, cellphone networks, electronic toll-collection systems and credit-card payment terminals. In essence, the Pentagon's main job would be to spin strands of software technology that would weave these sources of data into a vast electronic dragnet. Technologists say the types of computerized data sifting and pattern matching that might flag suspicious activities to government agencies and coordinate their surveillance are not much different from programs already in use by private companies. Such programs spot unusual credit card activity, for example, or let people at multiple locations collaborate on a project. The civilian population, in other words, has willingly embraced the technical prerequisites for a national surveillance system that Pentagon planners are calling Total Information Awareness. The development has a certain historical resonance because it was the Pentagon's research agency that in the 1960's financed the technology that led directly to the modern Internet. Now the same agency — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa — is relying on commercial technology that has evolved from the network it pioneered. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/te...gy/23PEEK.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call it the incredibly shrinking government Web site. Federal Database Spy Site Fading Away Declan McCullagh As controversy grows over the Defense Department's shadowy Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, the project's virtual presence is steadily decreasing. If fully implemented, TIA would link databases from sources such as credit card companies, medical insurers, and motor vehicle databases for police convenience in hopes of snaring terrorists. First, biographical information about the TIA project leaders, including retired Adm. John Poindexter, disappeared from the Defense Department's site last month. A mirror that one activist created from Google's cache shows the deleted information included four resumes listing past work experience but no addresses or contact information. Then, sometime in the last week, the TIA site shrank still more and some links ceased to work. The logo for the TIA project--a Masonic pyramid eyeballing the globe--vanished, a highly unusual step for a government agency. So did the TIA's Latin "scientia est potentia" slogan, which means "knowledge is power." The disappearing documents come as the TIA has become a lighting rod for criticism and as online activists have been turning the tables on Poindexter by reposting his personal information and home telephone number as widely as possible. The process started with a column in SF Weekly, a San Francisco alternative newspaper, by Matt Smith. He reported Poindexter's home address and telephone number and recounted a brief telephone conversation he had with Poindexter's wife, Linda. Then John Gilmore, the co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, replied with a widely read essay that urged a broader effort to surveil Poindexter. "Even if some of the information that people end up revealing or using about such targeted scumbags is incorrect, such a public demonstration would highlight the damaging effects that incorrect database information can have on innocent peoples' lives, when used to target them for harassment without due process of law," Gilmore wrote. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978598.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Telco Layoffs AP Verizon Communications is laying off 2,400 workers in New York, effective immediately, because of competition and a slumping economy, the company said yesterday. The cuts, which had been expected, will affect mostly installation and service technicians, a Verizon spokesman, Cliff Lee, said. The company has attributed the job losses to tight competition from traditional, cellular and cable modem services and the poor health of the telecommunications industry. But the union, the Communications Workers of America, said Verizon wanted to cut the work force all along and would offer only limited job security in return for large-scale concessions. "Their offer was ridiculous," a union spokesman, Bob Master, said. "They were asking us to give away our contract and not really offer any job security in return." Mr. Master said the company told union officials that about 1,100 of the job cuts would be made at operations upstate, north and west of Westchester County. Mr. Lee declined to give specific breakdowns of where the cuts would be made. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 256 Megabytes in a Minute: A Snappy Little Storage Vault Ian Austen Many, if not most, personal computers made today come with at least one U.S.B. 2.0 port, a higher-speed version of the outlet used to connect computers to auxiliary devices like printers and digital cameras. Yet few products can take advantage of the new port's extra speed. Sony, however, will soon begin selling U.S.B. 2.0 gadgets that won’t even require a software driver to work. A new version of its Micro Vault data storage device - a key-chain-size unit for storing files or moving them between computers - will operate at the faster standard when connected to the 2.0 port. The new Micro Vault will be offered in four capacities, starting with a 32-megabyte unit ($60). Sony estimates that it takes four and a half minutes to fill the 256-megabyte Micro Vault ($200), its highest-capacity model, while using a U.S.B. 1.1 port. With U.S.B. 2.0, however, the time drops to just under one minute. Most of the units will not reach stores until January, although the 256-megabyte model may be available by the end of the month. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/19/te...ts/19data.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do You Hear What I Hear New Software Allows Users To Search Lyrics Inside WAVs Jon Udell CHEAP STORAGE MAKES it feasible to save voice recordings of many of our meetings, teleconferences, interviews, and other conversations. In some environments -- call centers and certain sectors of finance and government -- that already happens. But audio surveillance isn't yet routine, and the thorny legal, social, and cultural issues it raises haven't yet been widely debated. That's because, until now, there was no practical way to mine voice data. As with other forms of practical obscurity, this artificial barrier was bound to topple, and now it has. Fast-Talk Communications' revolutionary phonetic indexing and search technology brings the magic of full-text search to the formerly opaque realms of audio recordings and video soundtracks. If you consider the way in which Google has already become everyone's indispensable "outboard brain," and extrapolate that to all the voice data that exists -- and to the vast quantities that soon will exist -- it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Fast-Talk is one of the most disruptive technologies in the pipeline. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/ap...6apfastalk.xml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DSL to Grow Steadily Yankee Group Report The market for DSL customer premises equipment (CPE) is undergoing a profound transformation, according to a new Yankee Group report, "Global DSL CPE Remains Strong in a Volatile Market." The Asia-Pacific region, which is driving much of the Global DSL CPE growth, will exceed the $1 Billion mark next year and continue to grow. North America will remain strong, but revenues will drop below the $500 million market and remain there over the five- year forecast period. Europe will increase from approximately $570 million in 2002, to just over $900 million in 2007, and Latin America will hover around the $70 million mark for most of the forecast. Gateways and routers--featuring built-in DSL modems that share broadband connections in homes and businesses--are replacing basic modems used to terminate DSL lines. New opportunities are emerging for DSL CPE vendors that can migrate end users to devices that will bolster margins. "The DSL CPE market has experienced much of the disruption of the broadband landscape over the past 18 months," according to report author Matt Davis, Yankee Group Broadband Access Technologies director. "Despite falling prices and new entrants into this competitive arena, the DSL customer premises equipment market opportunity will continue to be strong over the next 5 years." The report defines DSL CPE, outlines emerging trends that are shaping product development and the overall market, and offers a 5-year forecast measuring DSL CPE unit shipments and revenues generated out of the four major global markets. http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=26139 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright Cops Shutting Down Internet Artists Matthew Mirapaul In a 1950's horror movie the Thing was a creature that killed before it was killed. Now in a real-life drama playing on a computer screen near you, the Thing is an Internet service provider that is having trouble staying alive. Some might find this tale equally terrifying. The Thing provides Internet connections for dozens of New York artists and arts organizations, and its liberal attitude allows its clients to exhibit online works that other providers might immediately unplug. As a result the Thing is struggling to survive online. Its own Internet-connection provider is planning to disconnect the Thing over problems created by the Thing's clients. While it may live on, its crisis illustrates how difficult it can be for Internet artists to find a platform from which they can push the medium's boundaries. Wolfgang Staehle, the Thing's founder and executive director, said the high- bandwidth pipeline connecting the Thing to the Internet would be severed on Feb. 28 because its customers had repeatedly violated the pipeline provider's policies. While the exact abuses are not known, they probably involve the improper use of corporate trademarks and generating needless traffic on other sites. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/ar...gn/23ARTS.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Critics Decry Digital TV Signal Coding AP If Hollywood gets its way, future broadcasts of digital television will not only have crisp video and sound but also invisible data to block unauthorized sharing. The ``broadcast flag'' is promoted by content owners as the least intrusive way to keep consumers from illegally redistributing copyright works. Digital TV technology, they say, can finally take off once popular movies and shows can be safely broadcast without fear of Internet piracy. But critics argue the flag is the latest attempt to wrest control from consumers, stifle innovation, create inconvenience, turn tinkerers into criminals and raise prices -- all for a technology that won't stop piracy anyway. ``This has to do with controlling the customary, expected uses of law-abiding consumers in their homes,'' said Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. ``When they say `This keeps honest people honest,' they mean `This keeps honest people in chains.''' No longer would users be trusted to take the ethical route. Rather, anyone who strays from a content creator's desires would run into a technical roadblock. The concept mirrors a trend in ``trusted'' computer chips and software. The technology is designed to keep hackers out, but can also be used to restrict everyday users. High-definition video broadcasts are simply too large to be circulated online, and laws already exist to prosecute infringement, Doctorow said. ``It addresses a nonexistent problem with an insufficient technical measure at great expense to liberty and innovation,'' he said. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/tech...cast-Flag.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hijackware Stressing Out Merchants Howard Wolinsky Attention Internet shoppers: That rebate, bonus points or contribution to a college fund you're expecting in exchange for an online purchase might end up being diverted into someone else's pocket. Likewise, some small businesses--hundreds of thousands of people signed on as affiliate online marketers with sites such as Amazon--have seen their incomes plummet as their commissions were nabbed by companies not involved in the transaction. Hidden software, known in the fledgling online affiliate-marketing industry as "parasiteware" or "stealware," automatically redirects browsers by rewriting Web addresses so that someone else gets the money. Computer users, in most cases unknowingly, download this software, especially from sites offering free screensavers and music downloads. Fingers were being pointed, especially at Kazaa, Morpheus and LimeWire, peer-to-peer file-sharing successors to Napster. Kazaa did not answer an e-mail from the Sun-Times. But spokesmen for Morpheus and LimeWire conceded they once had problems, but their software providers, Wurld Media and TopMoxie, respectively, had fixed the problems. http://www.suntimes.com/output/busin...fftrack23.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Deadline Passes for Euro DMCA Bernhard Warner A deadline for adopting a new EU law on copyright protection has passed with just two member countries signing up, dealing a blow to media and software companies beset by unauthorized duplication of their works across the Internet. "It's a bit disappointing," Francisco Mingorance, European policy director for the Business Software Alliance (BSA) trade group told Reuters on Monday. "Obviously, this will delay the process." The deadline for implementing the European Union (news - web sites)'s Copyright Directive, a broad set of laws designed to better protect the distribution of film, music and software across the Internet and onto digital devices such as mobile phones, was Sunday night. Just Greece and Denmark have adopted the directive into local law, officials said. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=1951344 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Judge Steamed At Madster AP The file-sharing service Madster and its founder could face $51,000 in fines for violating a court order barring the swapping of copyright songs. U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen in Chicago found Madster and Johnny Deep in contempt of court Friday. He scheduled a Jan. 23 hearing on the fines. Deep said he had no comment on the ruling. On Oct. 30, Aspen issued a preliminary injunction against Madster after finding evidence the Albany-based service had violated copyright law. The injunction called for Madster to monitor its system and disable access to copyright works. Recording companies suing Madster claimed the service was disregarding Aspen's initial injunction, so on Dec. 2 a federal judge ordered the Albany-based service to immediately shut down. Download links on the Madster site have been unavailable since then. The $51,000 in possible fines amounts to $1,500 for each of the 34 days between the two orders. "John Deep was held in contempt for a very good reason. He refused to comply with the court's order, arguing that it was not possible to prevent illegal downloading and uploading on his network," said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America. "Only after the record companies filed a motion for contempt did Deep turn his system off - thereby proving his argument false." Deep said he didn't know if the file-sharing service was still operating. http://newsobserver.com/24hour/techn...-5085564c.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Music Pirates Face State, Local Crackdown UPI State and local police are helping with a crackdown on pirated music this holiday shopping season with some success, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Monday. Thousands of pirated CDs worth tens of thousands of dollars have been confiscated from music stores, flea markets and record stores. The Recording Industry Association of America, representing the nation's five largest recording labels, said millions of pirated CDs are costing the industry $300 million nationwide and Florida is a hot spot. Maria Elian Puieon was charged Dec. 7 with copying of CDs of some of the nation's hottest markets when she showed up at the Fun Lan Swap Shop in Tampa with 3,777 disks. Police said she was selling the CDs at a fraction of the $15.98 a copy charged by many retail stores. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, known as the FDLE, and local police are cooperating with the recording association. http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=...3-014021-5768r ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Record Making Pirate Gets Record Making Sentence ITWEB One of the largest counterfeit software cases in US history ended recently with the sentencing of Lisa Chen, 52, from Los Angeles, to nine years in prison. She was also ordered to pay $11 million in compensation. According to US prosecutors the sentence is the longest prison term for a first-time conviction on software piracy. Chen was one of four people arrested in November 2001 as part of a ring that prosecutors say imported nearly $98 million worth of counterfeit Microsoft computer products and software from Asia, including manuals, end-user licence agreements and other materials. Mark Reynolds, group licensing compliance manager at Microsoft SA, says the reports from overseas indicate that the ring was broken up after an 18- month investigation. "Chen was a key player in the ring, which was bringing high-quality counterfeit products into the US. The court ruling shows that authorities worldwide are really taking piracy seriously.” http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/soft....asp?A=%25&O=F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Doctor Is Out MP3s and Ear Damage…All That Plus Charts & Graphs Nowadays technologies for lossy data compression of digital audio recordings get widely used in more and more applications. This way methods like MP3, WMA, MPEG and ATTRAC are not only used for memory saving music downloads through the internet and comfortable use on portable players, but they are also employed for background musics in modern videogames and already today they are used in ordinary radio stations to store all kinds of audio material on harddisks to permit comfortable access for broadcast. Due to such technologies are also employed in DVD films and all other common digital video systems (those e.g. are used for TV broadcasting), and because it is even planned to replace soon the entire analogue television system with digital TV (DVB) that is based on these technologies, it is strictly necessary to precisely research on the health risks of modern data compression methods. The lossy (neuroacoustic) audio data reduction does now basically nothing else than to simulate the interferences of the cochlea and their compensation circuits in the brain. For this it separates during recording the sounds by filters into many frequency bands and evaluates for each band how strong its perceptibility would be disturbed ("masked") by simultaneous or after- roaring loud sounds on nearby frequency bands (i.e. basilar membrane zones). Then the as best perceivable evaluated frequency bands get encoded with high sample resolution, worse perceivable frequency bands with correspondingly lower sample resolutions, and all sounds below a fixed threshold of perceptibility simply don't get encoded at all but are omitted to save memory and transmission bandwidth. http://www.informatik.fh-hamburg.de/.../MP3-risk.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rediscovering a Secret of 60's Sound: Vacuum Tubes Roy Furchgott BUTCH VIG, drummer, songwriter and producer of the multiplatinum band Garbage, has a state-of-the-art digital recording studio in which two 64-channel mixing boards mesh with the computerized sound-shaping and editing tools he uses to create his lush, layered hit records. But it's not just modern computers that give his work its trademark sound. For that, Mr. Vig, best known as the producer who forged the grunge sound of albums like Nirvana's "Nevermind," relies on technology that was passé by the time Elvis got out of the Army: vacuum tubes. "The nature of the tubes sort of have an inherent harmonic distortion that fuzzes up the sound that gives it a warmth and body," said Mr. Vig, who amplifies instruments and vocals with vacuum tube sets. "Tubes, particularly the older ones, have a quality that is endearing." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/19/te...ts/19tube.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Warming PC Sound With Vacuum Tubes John Borland Putting vacuum tubes in a PC might sound a little like adding a hand crank to a Porsche, but at least one company thinks it might be the future of computer audio. Taiwanese components company AOpen, part of the Acer Group, is selling a PC audio card based on a vacuum tube--the same century-old technology that sends electric guitar players and hi-fi aficionados into paroxysms of listening delight. Will AOpen's audio card revolutionize PC audio? Unlikely, analysts say. But the company's focus is one of a number of increasingly clear signs that the intermingling of PCs with other household entertainment devices is steadily marching along and that PCs are beginning to hold their own in terms of quality. According to product manager Richard Jen, the company has sold about 5000 of the tube boards in the United States since August. They aren't available in retail stores--the company distributes mostly through resellers, who in turn sell the product for between $180 and $220. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978617.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please To Overclock Kind Sir - China Pushing Homegrown Chip Reuters Chinese government officials and private companies joined hands on Monday to promote a homegrown computer chip in their push for a domestic information technology industry that is less reliant on foreign companies. Unveiled in September, the "Dragon" central processing unit boasts speeds between 200MHz and 260MHz, roughly equivalent to models that global chip leader Intel first marketed between 1995 and 1997. The Chinese chip is likely to be used in applications requiring less speed than the fastest chips now available. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-978693.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Digging Up the Dirt on the Dirty Digger Inside the empire of one of Jack Valenti’s mysterious bosses…Book Review. Alan Cowell As the fruit of many years of forensic reporting on Murdoch's empire, ''Rupert Murdoch'' offers a damning indictment of its subject's business practices, cutting through the corporate spin and the secrecy. For those who fear the kind of globalization that Murdoch has created, the implications are dire; the empire has become so vast that no single national jurisdiction can control it. Effectively a power unto itself, ''it had taken up permanent offshore residence.'' http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/bo...22COWELLT.html NYT: nick - bobbob pass - bobbob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why Copyright Today Threatens Intellectual Freedom A Public Policy Report The realm of copyright is full of mystery. What is "fair use"? What does it mean for a creative work to enter the "public domain"? And why should we care? Copyright law is at the core of today's hot controversies in the arts, science, and scholarship. Teenagers swapping music online; encryption schemes that lock up e-books, songs, and movies; ever-longer extensions of copyright control -- conflict over these issues has caused a crisis in the worlds of creativity and culture. With computer technology, these conflicts have intensified. The Internet allows ideas and information to be shared worldwide on a scale never possible before. But technology also enables media companies to exercise unprecedented control over the use of their products through systems of "digital rights management" that undermine traditional "fair uses" of copyrighted works. Laws passed by Congress to aid the companies that make up the "copyright industry" have also intensified the debates. Writers, scholars, artists, and free-speech activists, both online and off, have challenged these laws. Some have campaigned for "Free Software" or even advocated an end to copyright protection. Others, including publishers, movie producers, and many authors, artists, and composers, have argued for stronger restrictions on copying and sharing, and longer terms of copyright protection. In between are increasing numbers of citizens who recognize that while copyright serves an important function in advancing science, art, and culture, these new laws have badly upset the "difficult balance" between rewarding creativity through the copyright system and "society's competing interest in the free flow of ideas, information, and commerce." This report describes the challenges to art, scholarship, and free expression posed by current copyright law. For many artists, scholars, Web surfers, and lovers of music file-sharing, this may be terra incognita. For almost all of us, it is an area where a relatively small priesthood of lawyers and policymakers communicates in a largely unknown language. But the tension between strong copyright control and free expression today cannot be ignored. This report is intended to help inform the debate even though it cannot, obviously, cover all the ins and outs of "intellectual property," which includes not only copyright, but trademark, patent, and "trade secrets" law. We hope the report will provide a useful guide to the issues while underscoring the vital link between free expression and core elements of the copyright system, such as fair use and the public domain. http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/copyright.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDISK AND MIRON SETTLE PATENT LAWSUIT Bloomberg News The SanDisk Corporation, one of the world's biggest makers of flash-memory data storage products, said yesterday that it had settled a patent lawsuit with Micron Technology over memory chips that retain information when the power is off. SanDisk sued Micron last year, accusing it of infringing on a patent for SanDisk's Flash EEprom memory system that SanDisk said was a potential replacement for bulkier disk drives now used on most computers. "The terms are confidential," a SanDisk spokesman, Mike Wong, said. "This settles everything." Sean Mahoney, a spokesman for Micron, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Store 80 Gigs on Your Network With a No-Fuss File Server Glenn Fleishman One of the main reasons for creating a home network is to share files among computers. But when those files are super-size - containing digital movies, for example - they can overwhelm the humble PC that is designated as the server. To ease the strain, Linksys has introduced a high-capacity file server that offers home users shared storage and several easily configured network options, including a file transfer protocol server, printer sharing and remote Web-based file retrieval. The Linksys EtherFast Instant GigaDrive (EFG80) is essentially an 80-gigabyte hard drive with an Ethernet connection that operates at 10 or 100 megabits a second. A parallel port can be used to connect a printer to share over the network. The unit, little bigger than two hard drives, is available for $525.95.(More information is at www.linksys.com.) The EFG80 can be configured for individual user accounts and work groups, and can function as a file server using Windows 98 and later, Mac OS X 10.2 and several flavors of Linux and Unix. Files can also be transferred to and from the EFG80 by FTP or a Web browser, whether locally or over the Internet. The device comes with an empty second drive bay if even more storage is needed. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/26/te...ts/26stor.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Your Humble Car Radio, Your Favorite MP3's and CD's Sarah Milstein Your favorite music files are MP3's, or on CD's and tapes. Your car has only a radio, and your home stereo does not play MP3 files. To bridge those gaps, First International Digital has created the irock! 300W, a wireless adapter that lets you play music from an MP3, CD or tape player through any FM radio. The 300W, which is about the size and shape of a small computer mouse, plugs into a player's headphone jack with a short cord. Placed within range (10 to 30 feet) of a radio tuned to 88.1, 88.3, 88.5 or 88.7, it transmits songs from the player on the chosen frequency, effectively taking over that channel. The sound is clear and consistent, and it does not take up static from the radio. The device uses two AAA batteries that last for about 20 hours. No software is required. The 300W is $30 at www.myirock.com and at major retail outlets like CompUSA and RadioShack. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/26/te...ts/26link.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EUROPEAN PANEL APPROVES INTERTRUST DEAL Reuters The Sony Corporation and Royal Philips Electronics won permission yesterday from the European Commission to acquire InterTrust Technologies, which holds patents for techniques used to protect easy-to-copy digital material. Some analysts say that the deal, worth $453 million, may permit the resulting venture to challenge Microsoft's position in the area. InterTrust, based in Santa Clara, Calif., holds 26 patents in the United States for a mix of software and hardware techniques used to protect digital material from unauthorized duplication by business rivals, fans or professional pirates. The company has struggled because of a slow uptake of digital sales, but its sale to two well-capitalized companies could help it become a force in the industry. The acquisition could also provide competition for Macrovision, the dominant supplier of copy protection for feature films worldwide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Gadget That's Never Met a Memory Card It Didn't Like J.D. Biersdorfer Juggling Secure Digital cards, Memory Sticks and CompactFlash cards - while trying to keep track of which gadgets use which - might make you wish to forget about memory cards altogether. But before you do, consider this: some card readers can handle several different formats. The latest version of the ImageMate 6 in 1 Reader/ Writer by SanDisk not only reads six different memory card formats, it also does so at the much faster U.S.B. 2.0 speed. U.S.B. 2.0, which is being incorporated into new computers and devices, can transfer data at a speed of 480 megabits a second, compared with the maximum 12 megabits a second that the older U.S.B. 1.1 connections provide. The 6 in 1 Reader/Writer can read data from and record it to CompactFlash Type I and II cards, Secure Digital cards, Memory Sticks, SmartMedia and MultiMediaCards - which between them cover just about the whole range found in digital cameras, hand-held organizers and other devices. The 6 in 1 Reader/Writer ($49.99) works with Windows 98 and later and most current versions of the Macintosh operating system. But to take advantage of its high- speed data transfer capacity, your computer must have a U.S.B. 2.0 port. (It works with standard 1.1 ports, but at the slower transfer speeds.) A list of places to buy it can be found at www.sandisk.com/consumer. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/26/te...ts/26card.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New MPEG-4 Based Video System Takes Step Forward Martyn Williams THE TECHNICAL DESIGN for a new video compression system based on the MPEG-4 standard that promises better quality digital video was agreed at a meeting in Japan last week, said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Members of a joint video team of the ITU, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) agreed on the technical base for the system, which the ITU has named H.264/AVC and the ISO/IEC has named 14496-10/MPEG-4 AVC. The system promises to significantly reduce the amount of bandwidth required to send a video image and should mean better quality video from a range of technologies such as digital satellite broadcasts, digitally stored video or Internet streaming. With the Internet in mind, the system has been designed to cope with packet and data loss better than previous standards, such as the widely used H.262/MPEG-2 or H.263 formats. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn...hnmpeg4avc.xml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CD Sales Continue to Slide Lynette Holloway Despite efforts by record executives to stanch declining CD sales by releasing a cavalcade of big-name artists during the critical Christmas shopping season, early sales figures show an already struggling industry may now be in even worse shape. In the five weeks since mid-November, when the record labels began their biggest holiday blitz in recent memory, compact disc sales were down 12.9 percent compared to the period in 2001, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales. That poor performance comes even as new CDs from artists like Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z and Paul McCartney have sold well, and has pushed overall sales for the year down further. Through the week ended Dec. 15, the record industry is off 10.8 percent, compared to a year earlier. On Nov. 10, the music business's tally for the year had been down 10.5 percent from 2001, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Unless there is a crush of last-minute shoppers and bargain-hunters in the week after Christmas, the industry's flood-the-market strategy will have failed, music business analysts say. "Given the level of star power that's out there, the sales are disappointing," said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "It's a worrying thing. It doesn't bode well for next year. I can't imagine a line-up like this for next Christmas. It just says that next year is going to be bad." Industry executives blame the decline on Internet file-sharing and counterfeiting, while consumers complain of a lack of exciting new talent and uninspired music from older artists. Further, a weak economy has forced people to become choosier about how they spend their money and some have decided to spend it on video games and DVD's, music industry analysts say. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/bu...rtne r=GOOGLE Or it could be that people just don’t care much for the RIAA and its members – js. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RIAA nominated for Internet Villain Award Tim Richardson Oftel, the Home office and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are among this year's shortlist for the Internet Villain Award being dished out by the UK's Net industry. As ever, there are two hotly-contested gongs that always seem to court controversy. However, the Internet hero and villain shortlists reflect the people and organisations that have helped - or hampered - progress in the Internet industry. http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/categories/villain.htm - Nominations http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/28668.html - Story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2002: The Year in Technology NewScientist.com news service The entertainment industry upped its attack on the internet file- sharing in 2002 by introducing new and controversial "copy protection" technologies to prevent computer copying of music and movies. The year began on a sour note when the company behind the Compact Disc standard, Philips, publicly condemned these technologies, arguing that protected CDs may malfunction in many normal CD players. Just a few months later, another copy protection system was found to cause serious malfunctions in certain Macintosh computers, causing them to crash and refused to reboot. A piece of sticky tape or a marker pen was then shown to be enough to defeat another protection system. And yet in June an even more heavy-handed strategy was suggested in the US. A proposed law would give copyright owners the right to hack into file sharing networks and connected computers to disrupt infringement. The plans have caused outrage and prompted some researchers to develop pre-emptive countermeasures. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993215 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commerce Power Shift Could Shake Up Piracy, Broadband Debates David McGuire As the newly Republican Senate prepares to take office in January, high-tech lobbyists are anxiously waiting to see how the power shift affects the measures they care about most. In the Commerce Committee, which holds sway over a clutch of high-tech issues, Arizona Republican John McCain's return to the chairmanship could shift the balance in key debates over broadband and electronic copyright protection. The Commerce Committee has done little more than release a brief statement detailing its plans for early 2003, promising examinations of spectrum policy, media takeovers, cable rates, broadband rules, telecom competition and intellectual property law. But staff members won't discuss McCain's positions on these topics. McCain has a record of fighting passionate yet sometimes unsuccessful battles against legislative juggernauts that often originated in his own party, but tech industry lobbyists said that he is a shrewd practitioner of compromise and may bring that art to some of the most difficult debates facing the technology industry. The Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, described McCain's approach to broadband policy as "pragmatic deregulation." One of McCain's staffers noted that while the senator believes in free competition, he favors "consumer interests above special interests." In the just-concluded session, the Commerce Committee considered several bills to make it easier for the traditional local phone companies -- the Baby Bells -- to sell high-speed digital subscriber-line services wherever they want. Hollings, a supporter of the long-distance companies and smaller firms that compete against the Bells, was no fan. When he was chairman, none of the proposals made it through the committee. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Dec23.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beware of Spiders on the Web John Jerney The Internet and Web make it easy to exchange all types of information, including text, music, digital images, and even motion pictures. However, a number of people have gone past the practice of sharing their favorite CD or movie with a friend or two, and have started large-scale trading of copyrighted material using peer-to-peer networks or free online servers. Media companies, most notably those in the music recording and motion picture industries, have been making big noise about this issue, and have spent considerable time lobbying the U.S. Congress and other governments around the world to modify their copyright laws. In the United States, the media industry was well rewarded for their efforts with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which gives copyright owners new support in attacking illegal distribution on the Net. In particular, the DMCA now makes Internet Service Providers jointly liable for copyright material illegally posted to their servers if they fail to remove the material after official notification from the copyright holder. But how exactly are copyright owners enforcing their rights on the Internet? It turns out that there are two principal methods. The first method uses a so-called digital watermark. Just like a regular watermark, which is only visible if you hold a print to the light, a digital watermark embeds a special signature into a digital image or other digital material. An alternative approach to digital watermarks involves searching for unaltered copies of material throughout the Web. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021112wo69.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Removable Hard Disk Group to Show New Device, Plans Include Copy Protection Kuriko Miyake A CONSORTIUM OF companies developing a removable hard disk system for consumer use called iVDR (Information Versatile Disk for Removable usage) plan to unveil a prototype 1.8 inch drive with a serial ATA interface for the first time at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in January, an iVDR consortium representative said on Wednesday. At CES, three prototypes are expected to be showcased including a 2.5-inch iVDR disk with a parallel ATA interface, and a 2.5 and 1.8-inch iVDR drive with a faster and less costly serial ATA interface, said Toshiaki Hioki, a consortium representative from Sanyo Electric. The drives will be shown at the booth of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, the new hard disk drive company being established by Hitachi Ltd. after it acquired IBM's hard disk unit in June. The 1.8-inch iVDR will be slightly thinner than a 2.5-inch iVDR disk, which measures 130 millimeters wide by 80 millimeters deep by 12.7 millimeters high. This will allow the 1.8-inch disk to be fitted into a 2.5-inch size slot with an adaptor, Hioki said. Currently an iVDR disk can hold up to 80GB bytes, which is expected to be doubled by the first quarter next year, and costs around $166 to $249, Hioki said. "This price may be acceptable for a computer peripheral but not for consumer electronics," he said. One more hurdle to clear for iVDR in the use of consumer electronics is that of a copyright protection format. The consortium plans to approach the movie industry soon and hopes to complete the standardization of its copy protection code by March, next year, Hioki said. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn...dr.xml?s=IDGNS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Less than four minutes to write a disc New Laser Should Mean 16X DVD Writers By 2004 Martyn Williams MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP. has developed a more powerful semiconductor laser that should pave the way for 16X DVD writers to be commercially available from 2004. The new laser is able to deliver pulses of light at a power of 200 milliwatts, which is double that of lasers used in today's 4X DVD writer drives, the Tokyo company said this week. Each bump in the speed of optical drives means the laser, which is used to create the light beam that burns data into the disc, has to be made more powerful. When DVD writers first came out, they required 50 milliwatt lasers. The jump to 2X speeds required a 70 milliwatt laser and, beyond today's 4X drives, the next generation of 8X drives will need a 140 milliwatt laser. Such products are already well on the way to being commercialized. For users, the eventual arrival of 16X drives will bring big benefits. At that speed drives will be capable of writing data at 176M bps (bits per second) which means a complete 4.7G byte DVD disc can be written in three and a half minutes, according to Mitsubishi. That compares with around 14 minutes for today's fastest 4X drives and almost an hour for a first generation drive. Samples of the new laser will be available from June 2003. With the introduction of the new laser, Mitsubishi says it expects its monthly laser production to increase from the current 1 million to 1.5 million during 2003 and reach 2 million units in 2004. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn...er.xml?s=IDGNS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Making Robots, With Dreams of Henry Ford Scott Kirsner ONE robot was tossed into an abandoned building in Afghanistan by soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division. Another shimmied through a thin air shaft in the Great Pyramid of Giza. A third hunted dust bunnies under Helen Greiner's bed. Field testing for products made by the iRobot Corporation takes place in settings both exotic and mundane. "When you put robots into situations where there haven't been robots before," said Ms. Greiner, the company's president, "you very quickly find out whether they're up to the job, and what design changes you might need to make." IRobot is perhaps the only company in the world that develops and sells robots to the military, researchers, large corporations, and consumers. Most robotics makers focus on just one segment, and 2002 has been a busy year for the company. Four of its rugged PackBots were shipped to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to help soldiers clear caves and compounds that had been occupied by the Taliban; one of them discovered a buried antipersonnel mine. A custom-built robot called the Pyramid Rover starred in a National Geographic program called "Pyramids Live: Secret Chambers Revealed," poking its fiber-optic camera into long-forgotten spaces. And retailers report that the company's Roomba Intelligent FloorVac, the autonomous cleaning machine that was put through its paces beneath Ms. Greiner's bed, sold briskly during the holiday shopping season. "Robots used to be things that were bolted to the floor in factories, and ordinary people didn't interact with them," Mr. Brooks said, "just like computers in the 1960's and 1970's were locked away behind glass walls. In 50 years, I think the world is going to be full of robots, and we want iRobot to be one of the companies that's building them." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/26/te...26newlabb.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ F.C.C. Lets Convicted Hacker Go Back on Net AP A hacker once labeled by the federal government as "the most wanted computer criminal in U.S. history" has won a long fight to renew his ham radio license, and next month may resume surfing the Internet. The hacker, Kevin Mitnick, 39, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., served five years in federal prison for stealing software and altering data at Motorola, Novell, Nokia, Sun Microsystems and the University of Southern California. Prosecutors accused him of causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to corporate computer networks. Mr. Mitnick was freed in January 2000. The terms of his probation, which expires on Jan. 20, require that he get government permission before using computers, software, modems or any devices that connect to the Internet. His travel and employment also are limited. He has been allowed to use a cellphone and received permission this year to type a manuscript on a computer not connected to the Internet. "Not being allowed to use the Internet is kind of like not being allowed to use a telephone," Mr. Mitnick said today in a phone interview. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/27/te...gy/27HACK.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Japanese Rocket Carries Australian Satellite Into Space AP TOKYO -- A Japanese rocket carrying an Australian satellite lifted off from a remote island Saturday, marking the first time the domestically developed H-2A has been launched with an international payload. The black and orange rocket, which also carried a satellite designed to monitor the movement of whales, lifted off into blue skies from the Tanegashima Space Center on a small, rocky isle off the coast of southern Japan. Australia is the first country to entrust Japan with launching a satellite into space, and officials were hoping it would mark a major boost to Japan's efforts to join the commercial satellite launching business. The 120-pound FedSat has high- tech communication, space science, navigation and computing equipment and was intended to help bring broadband internet services to remote parts of Australia. Data from its three-year mission was to be shared between the two nations. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...et-Launch.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clickable Countdowns and the Year on the Web Pamela LiCalzi O’Connell Online Advent calendars that count down from Dec. 1 to Christmas are popular holiday destinations. Two of the best are not overtly religious and will appeal to anyone looking for seasonal cheer, not to mention Web graphics. The Q Creative Calendar (www.q-creative.com), in its fifth year, is the work of a freelance designer, Susan J. Preston. (The site is named for her business.) Its December run has become an annual event for thousands of visitors. Ms. Preston's whimsical site boasts sophisticated animation, much of it involving puppets. Among those featured this year are a hen surprised to be laying glass ornaments and a cat meowing the melody to "Silent Night." Speaking of cats, Tate the black cat is the star of Tate's Advent Calendar (advent-calendars.com), a Web tradition since 1995. The site reports that more than 27,000 people have visited it this month. Indeed, its fans are so devoted that volunteers translate it into five other languages. The calendar, created by an artist named Penelope Schenk, is a charming picture book come to virtual life. (The children I showed it to were disappointed it was not available in print.) "I think the ecumenical story format has helped more people enjoy it," Ms. Schenk said by e-mail. There is, however, a crucial element missing from the online calendars: chocolate. (A popular type of printed Advent calendar offers a piece of chocolate behind each day's "door.") "I must concede," said Ms. Preston, "that chocolate is much better than my animations." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/19/te...ts/19diar.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Move over, Napster Google's Zeitgeist includes a listing of the top gaining and declining queries, reflecting whether a certain star or phenomenon is on the way in or out. Spider-Man topped the gainers while Nostradamus, which was the focus of many Sept. 11 hoaxes, and defunct file-swapping service Napster, led decliners for the year. But the demise of Napster hasn't killed the public's taste for unauthorized music files, according to search term trends. Kazaa and Morpheus repeatedly show up among the top search terms. Pressplay and MusicNet--music sites backed by the major labels--do not. "No matter how hard the music industry wants to kill file-swapping, they never will," predicted Lycos' Schatz. Schatz said search terms also are reflecting the increased Web activity of teenage girls. Anything related to the prom or a young, male actor is on the rise, he said. "It's really amazing how many searches those heart-throbby actors get," said Schatz, who lists "Hulk" star Eric Bana and high-school basketball star LeBron James as hot commodities for the coming year. Yahoo, which keeps a Buzz Index of popular Web trends, also tries to use the terms to predict what will be hot and not in the years ahead. Stephanie Blair, managing surfer at Yahoo, said celebrities and movies will continue their rise in popularity. "I think people are definitely learning about and connecting to entertainment," she said. According to search terms climbing the Buzz Index, 2003 promises to be a banner year for movies like "The Hulk" and "Daredevil," reality television such as "The Bachelorette," music artists Nivea and 50 Cent, and "The Sims Online" game. One interesting year-end finding came from AltaVista, which unlike most other search sites does not filter out generic terms. According to the site, the word "sex"--always a top search term on the Web--posted the biggest decline among surfers during the holiday season. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978615.html Dropped in from another site? Check Napsterites.nets Peer To Peer for the latest news and information concerning all things P2P. Until next year, - js. Current Week In Review Submit articles and press releases in English - text only, no HTML - to jackspratts at lycos dot com. Please include contact info. Deadlines are each Wednesday @ 1700 UTC. |
|
|
|
27-12-02, 12:44 PM
|
#2 | |
|
.- -.. -- .. -.
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Aus - The Zone
Posts: 6,588
|
Re: Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - Dec. 28th, ‘02
Quote:
p.s thanks for the comprehensive news review Jack  |
|
|
|
|
|
27-12-02, 10:30 PM
|
#3 | |
|
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 20
|
Quote:
|
|
|
|
|
|
30-12-02, 04:29 AM
|
#4 | |
|
Thanks for being with arse
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: The other side of the world
Posts: 10,343
|
Quote:
BTW.good to see ya in the #napsterites channel ,jack |
|
|
|
|
|
| Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Linear Mode
