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 !