The Newspaper Shop -- Thursday edition

[walktalker]

Here's your daily dirt from newsland
Security experts protest copyright act
Two well-known computer security experts pulled down their works from the Internet this week for fear of being prosecuted under 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Along with the threatened lawsuit of Princeton computer-science professor Edward Felten, and the arrest of Russian encryption expert Dmitry Sklyarov, the incidents are the latest to point at what is quickly becoming a touchy environment for security experts. "When they started to arrest people and threaten researchers, I decided the legal risk was not worth it," said Fred Cohen, a well-known security consultant and a professor of digital forensics, who took his evidence-gathering tool -- dubbed Forensix -- off his Web site earlier this week.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp01

DOJ won't pursue Microsoft breakup
In a bid to "streamline" the next phase in the Microsoft antitrust case, the government on Thursday said that it would not seek to break up the software giant. The Justice Department also will not seek a rehearing on the tying claim -- that Microsoft illegally integrated its Internet Explorer Web browser with Windows 95 and 98. The agency said in a statement Thursday that it is "taking these steps in an effort to obtain prompt, effective and certain relief for consumers." Even as the agency removed those issues from consideration, however, it opened the door for others, saying it wants the court "to investigate developments in the industry since the trial concluded" -- which could include the forthcoming Windows XP operating system.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

FBI under fire for Code Red response
The security company that discovered the software hole exploited by the Code Red worm has launched an attack on the FBI for its reluctance to publicize the flaw. The self-propagating worm infected an estimated 975,000 servers in July and August 2001. But representatives of eEye Digital Security, which discovered the flaw in Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) exploited by the worm, say the FBI should have been more proactive in warning people about a "test" version of the worm to which it was alerted in April. "Had the FBI been more vigilant in its warnings, Code Red would have had less of an impact than it did," said Mark Jones, U.K. manager of eEye Digital.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Big Blue: Enemies are everywhere
Computer hackers come in many shades -- extortion artists, corporate saboteurs, determined teenagers and legitimate IT professionals. But according to security experts at IBM, they have one thing in common: Every office has at least one. Seizing upon the timely topic of Internet security risks, IBM this week has launched a global advertising and public relations initiative to plug its e-business security software and consulting expertise. Business managers, concerned at the threat of attack, are fortifying their internal computer systems. Last week, a Corporation for British Industry survey revealed that two-thirds of U.K. businesses have been the victim of a serious computer-related incident, whether it be hacking, a virus attack or some form of cyber fraud.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Windows XP: A boon for home-networking market?
Microsoft's Windows XP may give the lagging market for home networking the jump-start it needs. The company's forthcoming Windows operating system will support a technology standard known as Wi-Fi, or 802.11b, a wireless protocol that allows people to connect their computers and laptops so they can share the same Net connection. That way, people can roam through the house and still surf the Web or check e-mail. "It's huge anytime Microsoft endorses a protocol or a service like home networking because they basically legitimize it," said Ross Fujimoto, strategic program analyst at Linksys, which makes home-networking kits.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...kpt=zdnnp1tp02

Ready for e-mail that can self-destruct?
Imagine e-mail that can self-destruct after a certain amount of time, leaving no trace in in-boxes and servers. Omniva Policy Systems has created software that can do just that. The San Francisco-based firm, founded in 1999 as Disappearing Inc., has taken on the loophole left by the deletion key: Even though an e-mail has been deleted, it still lurks within the servers of the sender and recipients. What Omniva aims to do is help companies establish retention policies for e-mail, much like those typically in place for paper documents, by offering the e-mail equivalent of a paper shredder. After spending nearly two years on research and development, the company released the first version of its software in July.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/ne...810767,00.html

New cable standard may triple speeds
A new cable Internet standard slated to be finalized later this year could boost cable modem speeds, clearing the way for a raft of new services. Denver-based CableLabs, the cable industry's research and development arm, announced recently that it will certify a new version of DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification), the technology protocol cable operators use to deliver high-speed Net access using cable modems. The latest version, which will be called DOCSIS 2.0, significantly increases cable bandwidth, or network capacity, particularly for so-called upstream transmissions, according to CableLabs. The standard, which will be finished by year's end, is designed to triple the speed at which cable modem users may send data and Internet traffic. But equipment -- certified as being based on the standard -- is unlikely to be ready for more than a year, some analysts say.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200...html?tag=mn_hd

The Virtual Voyager
This is the virtual-reality "cave" at Brown University's Center for Advanced Scientific Computation and Visualization. Big cathode-ray projectors fed by powerful computers cast high-resolution 3-D images onto the three walls and the floor. Modeling blood flow is just one application of this immersive technology. Besides medical imaging, Brown's virtual cave is used for simulations in fields as diverse as archaeology and studio art. "The cave is sort of like the holodek in Star Trek, except you can't touch anything," quips David Laidlaw, cave curator and assistant professor of computer science.
http://www.techreview.com/web/basu/basu090501.asp

Tech companies turn talkative
Tech companies sure are chatty these days. Tech giants such as Sun Microsystems, Altera, Intel and Novellus Systems are increasingly using midquarter conference calls, which barely existed a few quarters ago, to tell customers, investors and analysts about their businesses, and possibly diminishing the importance of their quarterly conference calls. On Thursday, Intel will give its second midquarter update and tell financial analysts how to tweak their estimates for the quarter. Never mind that many companies don't change their outlooks too much on these calls. For example, Rambus was happy to say its outlook is about the same as it was half a quarter ago. What's next? Monthly conference calls? Hourly business updates?
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200...html?tag=cd_pr

IE 6 gains foothold in browser market
Microsoft's recently released Internet Explorer 6 has taken 2.4 percent of the browser market, quickly closing in on AOL Time Warner's Netscape 6, according to a new study. IE 6, released Aug. 27, showed a fast adoption rate in the week after its launch, StatMarket, a division of audience measurement service WebSideStory, said Wednesday. StatMarket would not release the figures for Netscape 6, but it said that the browser was used by less than 2.5 percent of Internet users worldwide in its first week. StatMarket said that although IE 6 had a "strong" start, it expects a low adoption rate compared with its predecessor, IE 5. Launched in 1999, IE 5 gained between 2 percent and 3 percent of the browser market in its first week.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

FBI denies racism in Web host raid
An 80-strong U.S. terrorism task force raided the Texas-based host of Arabic Web sites, including that of the Arab world's leading independent news channel, prompting charges Thursday of an "anti-Muslim witch hunt." But the FBI, which took part in the raid Wednesday at privately held InfoCom in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, denied any anti-Arab bias and said it was executing an unspecified federal search warrant. InfoCom's owners said the raid resulted in a temporary shutdown of Web sites it hosts for about 500 customers, including that run by Al-Jazeera television and the newspaper Al-Sharq, both based in the Gulf state of Qatar. Al-Jazeera is a major regional news source for Arabic speakers. Often dubbed "the Arab CNN," it has emerged as a major force in a region where most broadcasters operate under direct state control.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

EU reconsiders canning spam
The European Parliament hit deadlock Thursday over a pan-European ban on unsolicited e-mail known as spam, sending legislation on the issue back to a committee for another look. The proposals, part of planned EU laws on confidentiality of electronic data and communication, call for the adoption across Europe of the opt-in system, where online marketing companies may send commercial e-mails only if customers have explicitly asked them to do so. A move in this direction would radically change the online landscape of the 15-member region, where 10 countries have adopted a system by which consumers may opt out from unwanted electronic mailing lists, usually by clicking a tiny box at the end of a Web page.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=cd_mh

Report shows more Web-wired homes
America is seeing a dramatic increase in the number of homes wired to the Internet, census figures show, as the demand grows for quicker communication -- from shopping to e-mail to instant messaging. About 42 percent of all U.S. households could log on to the Web in 2000, up from 18 percent three years earlier, according to the Census Bureau report released Thursday. People shop, check stock quotes and do research online. But it is the desire for fast communication that has made Internet access a “must-have” item for many people, said Susannah Fox, research director for the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200...html?tag=ch_mh

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