Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - April 23rd, '05

[JackSpratts]

Quotes Of The Week


"We do not like peer-to-peer." - Ambuj Goyal, IBM


"A growing body of empirical work shows that users are the first to develop many, and perhaps most, new industrial and consumer products." - Eric von Hippel


"It's not like a virus where you can do something to protect yourself, it's about someone else exposing your e-mail address." - Eran Reshef


"Peer-to-peer is neither more nor less risky than using the Internet." – Adam Eisgrau


"I’m getting in trouble for having a Janet Jackson song and Usher. Usher is walking around with my college tuition on his wrist!" – Sued student
















Music makers watch lawsuit

Ban On Peer-To-Peer Networks Might Cut Into Audience
Robert Morast

Sioux Falls bands The Spill Canvas and Nodes of Ranvier have built big fan bases using Internet music downloading. But a case before the Supreme Court could threaten the future potential for local bands to thrive using the Internet the way they have.

“File sharing has helped pretty much every band I was in,” said Jon Parker, guitarist for the metalcore band Nodes of Ranvier. “When I was in Edict of Milan, we didn’t have any discs out, so we used file sharing to get the music out.”

Because the band has a record label, Facedown Records, Parker said a win by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who brought the suit, would have less of an effect now. But, he said, “If we had no record label, I would be distraught over that because I would be working my butt off to get our music on file-sharing servers.”

Thousands of musicians in South Dakota and across the nation use online peer-to-peer (P2P) services to distribute their music. The services allow a band to make their music available online for others to hear and download, essentially to create a copy of the song on their own computer.

And that’s exactly what the suit before the high court aims to eliminate. MGM is suing Grokster for creating the software that allows Internet users to download music, photo, game and movie files.
And while observers don’t expect a ruling until June or July, they already are preparing for the worst, saying the decision could eliminate all P2P Web sites.

“We have reason to believe that it could become a real bloodbath,” said Annalee Newitz, media coordinator/policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based donor-funded organization intent on protecting civil liberties in the digital world.

“It’s basically censorship in advance.”

In effect, such a ruling would undermine the court’s 1984 landmark copyright “Betamax decision,” which allowed inventors to create technologies capable of being used for infringement, such as the VCR, photocopiers and iPod.

In the Betamax case, the Supreme Court ruled that a company was not liable for creating a technology that buyers might use for copyright-infringing purposes, as long as the technology is capable of substantial non-infringing uses.

Discovered online

Many unsigned or unknown bands make their music available on the Internet through services such as Grokster and Kazaa.

“I know record labels like Roadrunner, they use file sharing to (scout for bands),” Parker said. “Bands have gotten signed that way.”

The local emo-rock group The Spill Canvas was discovered by One Eleven Records when label president Brad Fuschetti heard the group’s music on MP3.com. He signed the band in 2003.

Spill Canvas members were unavailable for comment this week because they were in a Kansas studio recording an album with producer Ed Rose.

But in the past, Spill Canvas frontman and songwriter Nick Thomas has talked about how file-sharing aided his career.

“I know it helped me with being discovered through my music,” Thomas told the Argus Leader in 2003 when MP3.com was shut down.

Numerous local groups used MP3.com for similar purposes. And before that, now defunct bands such as Billy Music and Spirit of Versailles floated their music through Napster. It may be one of the reasons Spirit of Versailles had a German fan base.

“I think (P2P sites are) really good for smaller bands,” said Ryan Gage, a local promoter and member of the band CSNVTT.

“This is bad for independent musicians,” Newitz said from her office in San Francisco. “It’s hard for them to get airplay on the radio. For many bands, even big bands like Wilco, having peer-to-peer networks out there to distribute their music, it’s helped ... them get people to hear their music who hadn’t heard their music before.”

And, there’s a real possibility that the young technology could be eliminated within months.

“I don’t pretend to predict the Supreme Court,” said Doron Ben-Atar, a history professor at Fordham University and author of the book “Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power.”

But, he said, “I suspect Grokster will be defeated.”

One reason is because it is illegal to trade copyrighted material on P2P networks. Such logic made it easy for a number of states’ Attorney’s General to attach themselves to MGM’s plaintiff stand.

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long said it only made sense to side with MGM.

“We’re law enforcement officers. The bottom line is that’s what we do,” he said.

“Grokster is producing a product that is basically a tool to allow violation of the copyright laws of the United States,” Long said. “And it facilitates massive amounts of illegal conduct. And that’s wrong. It’s wrong legally. It’s wrong morally.”

Long said he understands there are legal applications of P2P services that can help local musicians. But he also pointed to the fact that P2P networks often harm many full- time musicians who have no other form of income.

“Underlying all of (the music industry) is the assumption that the copyright laws are going to reward or protect ... the people who invest the time or money in that,” Long said.

‘Buy some records’

Hard rock guitarist Zakk Wylde, best know for his work with Ozzy Osbourne, understands how P2P services can help unknown musicians. But he’s more worried about the illegal applications that harm professional artists.

“There has to come a point where this is how these guys make a living,” said Wylde, who will perform at the Oaks Hotel and Convention Center on April 26 with his band Black Label Society. “You got to support the band. Buy some records.”

That’s a common argument against P2P services. But Parker talks about how file-sharing can lead to band income.

“To this day, when somebody wants to hear our stuff, I say, ‘Go and download it, and if you like it, buy it,’ ” Parker said.

He recalled a Dashboard Confessional concert in Sioux Falls years before the group became an MTV staple and frontman Chris Carrabba was called “the next Bob Dylan.”

“He said, ‘You don’t have to buy my record, just go download it,’ ” Parker said. “It didn’t hurt him. It hasn’t hurt me. It didn’t hurt any of us.”

Should MGM win and reverse a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, Calif., Grokster and similar P2P services will be shut down. Yet, that doesn’t mean file-sharing will die.

Ben-Atar said if the decision is able to stifle burgeoning technologies, it will hurt the nation’s economy. But he doesn’t think it will stop the file-sharing of copyrighted material. Inevitably, someone will come up with a new peer-to-peer file-sharing program, he said.

“It will have no effect on piracy. It’s never going away.”

“These people are just way too flippin’ smart,” said Rich Show, a local musician and leader of the group Violet. “There’s no way you can stop it. I think you almost have to embrace it instead of fighting it.”
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.../50418001/1001


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Latin Music Sales Surge
Thomas Mennecke

Over the course of 2004, several interesting things happened. One, it was perhaps the most active file-trading year to date. Two, the RIAA reported that mainstream music shipments increased 5.3% in 2004. Three, the RIAA is now reporting that Latin music shipments have increased substantially from 2003.

To break things down, first let us take a look at the growth of some of the major files sharing networks. eDonkey2000, the second largest P2P network behind BitTorrent, has almost doubled in size since this time last year. In April of 2004, eDonkey2000 averaged 1,740,659 users. As of April of 2005, it now sustains an average of 3,309,662 users. This represents an increase of approximately 49%.

In addition, the Gnutella network has also grown remarkably. Currently, Gnutella contains just over 1.3 million users, while this time last year had little more than 250,000 - a impressive near 80% growth.

Although no concrete data exists for the BitTorrent network, all indications suggest this community is alive and well. According to bandwidth consumption statistics from CacheLogic, BitTorrent has seen no appreciable decline in usage since the MPAA began its campaign in December of 2004.

The RIAA contends the proliferation of P2P networks and file-sharing causes detrimental effect on CD and music sales. Five years ago, when Napster was the only P2P network of consequence, its 1.5 million users was poised to completely destroy the music industry. Of course this never happened. What did happen was that Napster imploded, and the P2P community simply found a new home.

Today, there are a combined 10+ million individuals trading files online at any given time - approximately 6 times the amount during Napster's reign. According to the music industry's logic, the RIAA's corporate headquarters in Washington should be nothing more than a smoldering heap of rubble at this point, right?

Hardly. In fact, things couldn't be better for the music industry. As reported in March, mainstream music shipments have increased by 5.3% in 2004 (which equates to 2.7% value.) iTunes sales have passed 350 million and are expected to reach 1 billion by years end. Just when you thought things couldn't look any rosier, it gets even better.

The RIAA released new statistics today, which report Latin music shipments jumped 25.6% (or 48.5 million units compared to 38.6 in 2003). According to the RIAA, this represents a 21.6 growth in dollar value. The DVD format helped lead the charge, with a remarkable 278% gain in unites shipped and 246 percent increase in dollar value from 2003.

Interestingly, the RIAA makes no mention of Internet piracy in their press release. Rather, the RIAA states its efforts to control and eliminate physical piracy have been the key factor in promoting Latin music sales.
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=756


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comcast Sued for Disclosing Customer Information

Comcast Corp., the top U.S. cable television network operator, is being sued by a Seattle-area woman for disclosing her name and contact information, court records showed on Thursday.

In a lawsuit filed in King County, Washington, Dawnell Leadbetter said that she was contacted by a debt collection agency in January and told to pay a $4,500 for downloading copyright-protected music or face a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Leadbetter, a mother of two teenage children, was a customer of Comcast's high-speed Internet access service.

The company, Settlement Support Center LLC, based in Washington state, was using information that the Recording Industry of Association of America (RIAA) had obtained in a Philadelphia lawsuit over the illegal sharing of digital music files, said Lory Lybeck, the lawyer representing Leadbetter.

But no court authorized Comcast to release names and addresses of its customers, or notified his client that her information had been given to an outside party, Lybeck said.

"Comcast should respect the rights of privacy who pay them monthly bills," Lybeck said.

Comcast said it could not comment on pending litigation.

"We hold our customer's privacy in the highest regard," said Comcast spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick.

The RIAA has filed thousands of lawsuits since September and settled several hundred for about $3,000 each.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=8191226


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P2P United Initiative Informs Users of Risks
New Media Age

Adam Eisgrau, executive director for P2P United, said the organization had been working with the FTC to "debunk the outrageous claims" made by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America about the dangers of peer-to-peer programs.

P2P United, the U.S.-based trade association representing some of the leading peer-to-peer networks, has announced a new cyber-safety initiative, informing users of the risks associated with peer-to-peer programs.

The move comes after an investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refuted record and film industry allegations that P2P United members committed "false and deceptive practices" by installing spyware and viruses with their products.

However, the FTC added that peer-to-peer providers should be doing more to notify users of the potential risks that might occur from using peer-to-peer software.

Under the initiative, warnings will be displayed on peer-to-peer Web sites, software installation screens and on the user interfaces of peer-to-peer software. They will explain the dangers of viruses, spyware, pornography and copyright infringement liability.

Adam Eisgrau, executive director for P2P United, said the organization had been working with the FTC to "debunk the outrageous claims" made by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America about the dangers of peer-to-peer programs.

He said, "Peer-to-peer is neither more nor less risky than using the Internet. We will continue to work with government on these issues."
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/security/42451.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congress Confuses File Sharing With Manslaughter
Thomas C Greene

Making a movie available electronically prior to its release can now result in a three year sentence, thanks to the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act approved Tuesday by the House. The Senate has already passed its own version, and the final bill is expected to be signed by the President.

The bill also calls for three years in cases where a person is caught recording a movie in a theater with a camcorder - and six years for a second offence. It also indemnifies theater operators against all criminal and civil liabilities arising from detaining suspects "in a reasonable manner." (Welcome to movie jail.)

Since involuntary manslaughter brings, on average, anywhere from 0 to 36 months' incarceration, one might well question the morality of going harder on those who trade files than on those who negligently cut short the lives of fellow citizens. But the 109th Congress is about nothing if not morality, and it understands well the essential sacredness of the nation's ruling cartels.

Previously, criminal laws protecting copyright had been designed to target major, organized bootleggers doing serious damage, not individuals swapping files. The new legislation is designed to broaden the law to where almost anyone can now be treated as a hardcore criminal. And since we have seen the entertainment cartels using the civil courts to conduct a vendetta against file sharers in hopes of chastening them overall, one can expect that the same examples will be made of small fry using these new, quite Draconian, criminal sanctions as well.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/21/p2p_is_murder/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police Payoff Probe
Jamie Schram

Two NYPD veterans are being investigated by Internal Affairs for allegedly accepting payoffs from the motion-picture industry to arrest vendors of pirated DVDs, law-enforcement sources told The Post.

One officer, a sergeant on the force since 1992, has been transferred from the Staten Island Task Force to the 122nd Precinct pending the internal investigation.

The other, a cop for five years, still works on the task force.

As members of the unit, the officers, ages 36 and 32, would arrest the sellers of illegal DVDs and confiscate their stock.

Often they would act on tips from investigators with the Motion Picture Association of America, many of whom are former cops, sources said.

There is nothing improper about that practice. But on at least four occasions in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, the task force officers arrested the vendors, confiscated the illegal movies and then allegedly received gratuities of several hundred dollars from the MPAA itself or its investigators, the source said.

The MPAA strongly denied that the payoffs came from the trade organization.

"We don't give cash to police officers," said Bill Shannon, an MPAA anti-piracy official.

"We work with law-enforcement organizations by providing information and logistical support, and the police make the arrests."

No department charges have been filed against the NYPD officers, and neither is on modified duty.

The Staten Island Task Force last made headlines in 2003, when one of its members, Officer Bryan Conroy, allegedly shot and killed Ousmane Zongo, an unarmed African immigrant, inside a Manhattan storage warehouse.

Conroy and other officers were at the warehouse to bust DVD pirates.

Zongo, who spoke little English, was an innocent bystander. Conroy's trial earlier this year ended in a hung jury. He will be retried this summer.

The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that it loses $3.5 billion in potential worldwide revenue because of movie piracy.

Hollywood has stepped up its effort to bust video and DVD pirates.

An MPAA tip, for example, led to the recent prosecution of Randy Guthrie, the black sheep of a blueblood New York family, who was recently sentenced to 21/2 years in a Chinese jail for selling nearly $1 million in pirated movies over the Internet.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...icepayoffprobe


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UK Court Orders ISPs To Unmask 33 Filesharers
John Leyden

A British judge today ordered five ISPs to name another 33 music file sharers. The individuals concerned had uploaded more than 72,000 music files to the internet, according to a statement by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), which sought the court order as part of its broader legal offensive against illegal downloading on P2P networks.

The ISPs concerned have two weeks to give the UK record companies' trade association the names and addresses of the file sharers. The case brings the number of people in the UK to face legal action for illegal file sharing up to 90. These people will face claims for compensation and the legal costs in pursuing them, the BPI warns.

BPI General Counsel Geoff Taylor said: "This court order should remind every user of a peer-to-peer file sharing service in Britain that they are not anonymous. These 33 people will now face paying thousands of pounds in compensation. We are continuing to collect evidence every day against people who are still uploading music illegally, despite all the warnings we have given. If you want to avoid the risk of court action, stop file sharing and buy music legally."

Today more details of the 31 people subject to the BPI's last round of writs in March 2005 also emerged. Around a third of these defendants are thought to be parents whose accounts have been used to upload music illegally by their children. Eleven of the 31 are from London and the South East. Another file sharer hails from Norfolk while five are from the West Country. Two of the file sharers live in the Midlands, with five from the Yorkshire and the North West. Two of the file sharers are from Northern Ireland, three from Scotland and two from Wales.

Stat attack

A new study commissioned by the BPI shows the supposed extent of the damage that illegal file sharing is doing to the UK recording industry. A two-year study, carried out by research group TNS, on the effect of illegal file sharing on consumer spending in the UK found the downloaders spent a £654m less on recorded music over the last two years than otherwise be the case.

TNS estimates that downloaders' spend on recorded music was around £730m in 2002. Had their habits reflected overall market trends, spending would have increased to £767m in 2003 and declined slightly to £745m in 2004. However, downloaders' spend actually declined by 33 per cent over 2003 and a further 24.5 per cent in 2004 - a spending shortfall of £654m over two years.

TNS data shows that 18 per cent of the UK population aged 12-74 are downloading music from the internet, most doing so illegally from file sharing networks. The failure to differentiate legal and illegally downloading in these figures is a major shortcoming and provides ammunitition for critics who would say it illustrates the musics industry's ongoing inability to understand alternative sales channel.

Nonetheless, the BPI reckons its efforts are turning the tide against illegal file sharing. Of those not downloading, 84.3 per cent said they "would not consider" file sharing illegally. One in seven (15 per cent) of illegal downloaders said they will start to pay for downloads, but 34 per cent are undecided and 51 per cent said they will continue to file share.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04..._p2p_lawsuits/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UK Online Music Service Readies For Launch Of 99p Movie Downloads
Jennifer Whitehead

Wippit: launching film downloads

Wippit, the cut-price music downloads service, is to add downloadable movies from just 99p a film, starting this summer.

The company is in talks with three unnamed movie distribution firms about providing content, which it says will range from blockbusters and classics, to independent films and hard-to-find rarities.

News of the service comes as other download services, including Napster, look at entering the film market, and film studios look at a way of combating piracy. A recent report said that Britain is the biggest market for illegal downloads of television programmes.

A member of staff at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a production partner of the BBC, was recently sacked after they leaked the first episode of the new 'Doctor Who' series before it was broadcast. The BBC said that it would take legal action against individuals downloading its shows illegally.

Wippit already offers music downloads from 29p a track from a selection of 60,000 tracks, and unlimited downloads for the subscription price of £4.99 a month. It said it plans to add a movie download channel to its monthly subscription offer.

Paul Myers, founder and chief executive of Wippit, said that research had identified consumer desire for movie downloads and that the service would not compete with premium DVD for home cinema.

"We're in talks and are slating a late summer release for Wippit Movies with a great selection of films from the suppliers we are currently in discussion with," Myers said.

He added that the catalogue that being made available to Wippit Movies was a starting point and that Wippit hoped to to enter into discussions with other studios, distributors or production companies.

Wippit has been running for five years, launching it legal peer-to-peer file sharing service in 2004, and introducing legal music downloads in 2004.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulleti...vie-downloads/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poor Yurick

Danish Court Convicts Eight In Nation's Largest Software Piracy Case
AP

Eight men were convicted Thursday of making and selling illegal copies of copyrighted music, games and software worth 3.4 billion kroner ($585 million) in Denmark's largest computer piracy case.

The group made about 1 million illegal copies abroad and sold them in Denmark on the Internet, the Copenhagen City Court said.

The court did not specify in what country the illegal copies were made.

The pirated copies were made between 1998 and 2002. The group also copied programs by Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia, the court said.

Two men, who the court said led the operation, were given 12 months and eight months in jail, respectively, for violating Denmark's copyright laws. Four others were given prison sentences ranging between two and four months. The remaining two were given fines.

None of the men were identified by the court in line with Danish privacy rules.

It was not immediately clear whether they would appeal.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...l/11394688.htm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IFPI Finland Sends 28 Requests For Investigation By Police Over Piracy

In keeping with moves in several other countries, steps are now being taken by Finnish authorities to stamp out illegal distribution of copyright music material via the Internet.
Suomen Ääni- ja kuvatallennetuottajat (ÄKT, the Finnish Branch of IFPI) have sent police requests for investigations of 28 individuals who they would like to see brought to justice for net piracy through the peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
ÄKT wants prosecutions brought against persons who have been spreading music through file sharing applications such as BitTorrent, KaZaa, eDonkey, and eMule.

The intention is not apparently to target those users who have been downloading small quantities of music for their own use, but individuals who have offered up files for thousands to download. ÄKT argues that these persons are guilty of illegal distribution of music that is subject to copyright, and that the time has come to put a stop to the practice, through the courts if need be.
In cases elsewhere in the world, fines have usually been handed down for persons found guilty. In May 2001 a 25-year-old man from Jyväskylä was obliged to pay fines and compensation totalling FIM 32,000 (EUR 5,400) in a similar case.

The requests to the police represent the first concerted Finnish involvement in an extensive international operation targeting illegal file sharing and safeguarding authors' rights and the legal end of online sales.
Cases have already been brought against users of peer-to- peer networks in the United States, Denmark, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Aside from Finland, countries such as Iceland, The Netherlands, Ireland, and Japan have now come on board.
This week a record number of 963 cases have been launched, and in all nearly 12,000 such cases are being heard.

In the background to the dispute over file sharing are the fears of the music industry, which has seen a decline in sales worldwide of around 20% over the past five years.
Last year alone, legal sales of recorded music in Finland fell by 12.5% in value terms.
Film producers, manufacturers of computer games, and software suppliers are equally dismayed and angry at the free distribution of their wares among potential paying customers.

The increasing public awareness of the illegality of the activity has had some effect.
Apparently the number of users of one such peer-to-peer arrangement, KaZaa, have declined from 4.2 million to 2.3 million, in spite of an increased number of people now enjoying the broadband connection speeds that facilitate large downloads - for example entire feature films, often available illegally online before they reach the cinemas.
However, if KaZaa's popularity is waning, it has been replaced by another application, BitTorrent.
Sites using BitTorrent have been forced to close by action from authorities in several countries, Finland among them. In December of last year, the country's largest file-sharing server was forced to go offline following a request to police from the Business Software Alliance
http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/engli.../1101979127547


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P2P Heads for Finnish Line
Techtree News Staff

Viralg, a Finnish anti P2P company, is claiming to have come up with an algorithm that renders a file downloaded off a P2P network useless.

The company has been working with BMG Finland to protect local music releases on file-swapping networks for more than a year. The principle used, involves getting onto a file swapping network which is capable of allowing downloads from several sources at once. It then mimics the digital signature of a desired song, movie or game, and then adds junk data into the download stream, corrupting the file.

According to a release by the company, "The technology 'virtual algorithm' mixes together files in P2P networks in a way that the illegal downloader will end up downloading useless garbage instead of real music, movie or game content. Our technology is capable of destroying already-shared functional files from peer-to-peer networks."

Viralg is also responsible for clogging the Kazaa, with numerous fake files and decoys. The company says its technology can be used on any of the existing P2P networks without damaging the networks, any ISPs or the downloader's PC as it'll simply corrupt the downloaded file so it cannot be viewed.

The company is keeping a low profile for now, though it is seeking international clients and investors. Viralg's marketing director declined to give the names of the founders or executives, or to reveal the size of the company.

The company says the technology has been used successfully by BMG's Finnish subsidiary, BMG Finland and it is seeking new clients in the entertainment industry.
http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp...p?storyid=3347

http://news.com.com/Finns+tout+new+a...3-5676756.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

J’accuse

Videotron Ready To Name Music Swappers
Canadian Press

Producing the identities of Internet users alleged of wrongdoing happens so regularly, says a lawyer for Videotron, that he's bewildered as to why other ISPs are fighting a motion from the music industry to hand over the names of people who share large volumes of songs on-line.

"We do it on a regular basis. It's not very complicated," said Serge Sasseville, following the conclusion of weighty Federal Court of Appeal hearings about file-swapping, which could lead to the start of lawsuits against so-called music pirates.

Headed by Chief Justice John D. Richard, the three-judge appeal panel adjourned late Wednesday after lengthy arguments about the applications of privacy and copyright law.

The judges will now review the case. There is no scheduled date for a ruling although some expect a decision by late summer.

Lawyers for the Canadian Recording Industry Association argued they need the identities of 29 people deemed "large scale uploaders" in order to charge them with copyright infringement.

The five Internet service providers named in the case — Shaw Communications, Rogers Cable Communications, Bell Canada, Telus Communications and Videotron — can't divulge the information without a court order because privacy legislation requires them to keep customer information sealed.

One of the major issues is determining whether making songs available on a peer-to-peer network contravenes Canada's Copyright Act.

Videotron is the sole ISP not fighting the request to turn over the names. The other ISPs argue they are simply looking out for the interests of their customers. Some argued that an IP address doesn't necessarily lead to the actual person doing the alleged uploading since it only reveals the account holder. Many people could be using the same computer, they say.

There's also been some question about how the music industry group linked on-line nicknames of Kazaa users to actual IP addresses.

"We just want to make sure CRIA proves its case ... not just merely allegations that something has gone on," Jay Thomson, the lawyer representing Telus, said Thursday.

"We're not in a position to make a determination if some activity is legal or illegal. Certainly if the court determines that it's illegal [to upload to Kazaa] we will respond to it."

Videotron has aligned itself with the music industry's motion saying it agrees that putting songs in a shared directory on peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa and IMesh constitutes copyright infringement because it allows users to copy and download the material for free.

It's peculiar, added Mr. Sasseville, that the ISPs are fighting the order so fiercely since many of them own entertainment subsidiaries that produce TV and film content that's increasingly being downloaded on-line for free. Some, such as Bell, are even part of coalitions lobbying for stricter rules against TV show and film piracy on the Net, he said.

"Piracy of music, piracy of TV, piracy of film — it's all the same. It's piracy of intellectual property and cultural products," Mr. Sasseville said Thursday from his office in Montreal. "Nobody gets paid. Not only the big companies but also the creators. It's really important that we protect our culture."

The IP address is a numeric code used to identify a computer when transmitting information on the Net. Internet companies use the figure to pinpoint the computer sending or receiving material.
http://www.globetechnology.com/servl...21.gtcourt0421


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Music Industry Back In Court To Fight Pirates
Canadian Press

Record labels begin an appeal Wednesday hoping to overturn a Federal Court decision which denied them the names and addresses of 29 people suspected of collectively making 43,541 songs available to the world for free.

It's the first step in the Canadian Recording Industry Association's quest to stop people from swapping songs online by filing lawsuits to recoup the cost of lost music sales to downloading networks like Kazaa and IMesh.

But before the three-judge panel will allow the identities to be disclosed, the association, which represents companies like Universal, Sony-BMG and EMI, will need to prove the lower court judge erred in how evidence and Canada's copyright laws were interpreted.

The case, being heard in Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday, will be watched closely by not only the music industry but those in the TV, film and book sectors, whose bottom lines have also been negatively affected by the popularity of peer-to-peer sharing systems.

In his decision last year, the lower court judge, Justice Konrad von Finckenstein, said he wasn't satisfied with the evidence connecting pseudonyms such as Geekboy(at)KaZaA or Jordana(at)KaZaA to specific IP addresses.

That evidence, collected by New York-based MediaSentry, included screen grabs showing the list of songs placed in a shared folder.

Four of the five named Internet service providers countered saying IP addresses couldn't always be sourced with absolute accuracy to a single computer.

"It would be irresponsible for the court to order the disclosure of the name of the account holder of IP address 24.84.179.98 and expose this individual to a lawsuit by the plantiffs," Von Finckenstein wrote in his 2004 ruling.

The judge also said in his ruling that simply uploading songs onto shared directories like Kazaa or IMesh did not contravene Canada's copyright laws.

"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings," he wrote. "They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories."

The big legal issue for the appeals court will be to determine how strong evidence against an alleged copyright infringer must be before their online privacy can be overridden, says David Fewer, a lawyer representing the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic in the appeal.

Fewer's group has been given intervener status to represent the general public.

"This hearing is all about the test that the court will apply whenever somebody comes to it alleging copyright infringement," he said from his office in Ottawa.

"The bigger lawsuit will be about file swapping."

Bell Canada, Shaw Communications, Telus Communications and Rogers Cable are fighting CRIA's request saying Canada's privacy laws prevent them from revealing identities without a court order.

Videotron has agreed to comply, saying owner Quebecor is very concerned about piracy in other parts of its business, which includes newspapers, television and CDs.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew..._9/?hub=Canada


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Germany

Linux Programmer Wins Legal Victory
Stephen Shankland

A Linux programmer has reported a legal victory in Germany in enforcing the General Public License, which governs countless projects in the free and open-source software realms.

A Munich district court on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction barring Fortinet, a maker of multipurpose security devices, from distributing products that include a Linux component called "initrd" to which Harald Welte holds the copyright.

In addition to being a Linux programmer, Welte runs an operation called the GPL Violations project that attempts to encourage companies shipping products incorporating GPL software to abide by the license terms. The license lets anyone use GPL software in products without paying a fee, but it requires that they provide the underlying source code for the GPL components when they ship such a product.

The case highlights the ease with which open-source software can spread across the computing industry--but also the growing pains that companies face as they adjust to new legal concepts underlying the collaborative programming approach.

Fortinet, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., said in a statement it's addressing the issue but is surprised that Welte resorted to legal action.

"Fortinet recently became aware of Mr. Welte's allegations and has, in good faith, been diligently working with him to resolve this matter outside of the German court system. Fortinet is actively taking steps to ensure that its products are compliant with GPL requirements. Therefore, Fortinet is surprised that Mr. Welte pursued a preliminary injunction against Fortinet in Germany and believes that this is an unnecessary action," the company said. "Fortinet is continuing its efforts to expeditiously resolve this matter with Mr. Welte."

Welte has said he doesn't object to corporate use of open-source software; he just wants it to be done properly. Welte first notifies companies of his accusations before beginning legal action, he said. In the case of Fortinet, the GPL Violations project informed the company of its concerns March 17, but "out-of-court negotiations on a settlement failed to conclude in a timely manner," the project said in a statement.

In March, Welte sent similar letters to multiple companies exhibiting at the CeBit trade show. And a year ago, he won a ruling against Sitecom in a case similar to that of Fortinet.

Fortinet uses Linux in the operating system included in its FortiGate and FortiWiFi products, the project said. "FortiOS is using the Linux operating system kernel and numerous other free software products that are licensed exclusively under the GNU GPL. This information was not disclosed by Fortinet," the GPL Violations project said.

Most actions by GPL Violation have been against European or Asian companies, and the Sitecom and Fortinet cases don't have direct repercussions outside Germany. But the actions this year also have targeted corporations in the United States--an indication that case law around the GPL could also start building soon in the world's largest computing technology market.

"Generally, corporations are becoming more conscious of the issues surrounding the GPL," said Brian Kelly, an intellectual-property attorney with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. "The process of clarifying the terms and limitations of the GPL through litigation will likely seem interminably long to industry watchers, but this latest result suggests that the process in the United States is soon to begin."

There could be several reasons companies don't release source code for GPL software that they include in products. They might not be aware of the GPL's provisions, thinking that software it governs is merely in the public domain. They might have software enhancements they want to keep secret. Or they might simply be using software from a third party and not even know it contains GPL components.

Open education
Activities to inform the computing industry about open-source licenses have become common. Attorneys could get continuing-education credit for two days of speeches on legal matters at the Open Source Business Conference this month, for example, and Linux seller Red Hat has just posted a video of its in-house lawyer discussing various licenses.

However, it's hard to tell whether GPL violations are decreasing, Welte said in an interview. "The number of cases I know about is always rising, but my guess is that this is mainly because the GPL Violations project becomes more known to the community, and therefore I receive more user reports (from people) who find GPL-licensed software in products they have bought."

And Welte said he wasn't happy with the response to the letters he delivered to company representatives at CeBit.

"Most of them failed to create any form of reaction on behalf of the companies. It's very sad to see that in most cases nobody would even start to listen to you unless you sent it via a lawyer," Welte said.

Without access to the underlying source code, Welte often has to work hard to find out if GPL software is used in a product. In Fortinet's case, the use of GPL software was unusually difficult to verify, because the company had encrypted it, Welte said. It took 40 hours of work to ferret out the information, he said.

The next step in the legal proceedings depends on Fortinet's response, Welte said. "If they do not appeal and (begin to) distribute products according to the license, then the case is basically closed, and they will have to pay all expenses. If they choose to appeal, or ignore the court order, then the case will continue," he said.

Initrd is a module essential to the process of starting up a Linux computer. Welte also has helped write the netfilter/iptables software that provides Linux with protective firewall abilities.

Welte didn't write initrd, but author Werner Almesberger transferred copyright on the software to him earlier in 2005, Welte said.

The court said Fortinet would have to pay a fine of five to 250,000 euros and that employees would face up to 6 months imprisonment for violation of the injunction. In addition, the company is responsible for Welte's legal fees.

The General Public License is 14 years old, but its creator, the Free Software Foundation, has begun an effort to modernize it.

Regardless how the Fortinet case turns out, one message is clear, said Mark Radcliffe, an intellectual-property attorney with DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and legal counsel for the Open Source Initiative.

"In any case," Racliffe said, "companies obviously need to be more attentive to the possible use of GPL code in their products."
http://news.com.com/Linux+programmer...3-5671209.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Study Finds Chinese Internet Filters Sophisticated
AP

The Chinese government has become increasingly sophisticated at controlling the Internet, taking a multilayered approach that contributes to precision in blocking political dissent, a report released Thursday finds.

The precision means that China's filters can block just specific references to Tibetan independence without blocking all references to Tibet. Likewise, the government is effective at limiting discussions about Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, Tiananmen Square and other topics deemed sensitive, the study from the OpenNet Initiative finds.

Numerous government agencies and thousands of public and private employees are involved at all levels, from the main pipelines, or backbones, hauling data over long distances to the cybercafes where many citizens access the Internet.

That breadth, the study finds, allows the filtering tools to adapt to emerging forms of communications, such as Web journals, or blogs.

``China has been more successful than any other country in the world to manage to filter the Internet despite the fast changes in technology,'' said John Palfrey, one of the study's principal investigators and executive director of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Saudi Arabia, for example, largely controls the Internet by having all traffic flow through a central agency, where it can be monitored. Visitors trying to access a banned site get a message saying it has been blocked, Palfrey said.

``China is much more subtle than that,'' Palfrey said. ``You don't know what you don't know. It's more effective than if you see it but know you can't access it.''

With filters at multiple points, including some search engines, content is simply removed rather than replaced with a notice, he said.

Google Inc. has acknowledged its Chinese-language news service -- introduced on a test basis last fall -- leaves out results from government-banned sites, though the company says that is done so users won't end up clicking on links that lead nowhere because of the Chinese filters.

Palfrey added that Chinese filtering methods are effective because they constantly change, keeping its users off-balance.

China, which has the world's second-largest population of Internet users behind the United States, promotes Internet use for business and education, while trying to curb access to political dissent, pornography and other topics the communist government deems sensitive. Many users do find ways around the controls -- for instance, using ``proxy'' servers that mask a site's true origin.

It is through similar proxy servers and long-distance calls that researchers outside China managed to test what users inside China see. The researchers also employed volunteers inside the country to conduct more extensive testing.

The researchers deployed software and physical equipment called packet sniffers to monitor the flow of traffic and try to gauge where content gets dropped. Palfrey would not elaborate on techniques, other than to say many Internet systems have security flaws through which outsiders can sneak in software.

Funded by George Soros' Open Society Institute, the OpenNet Initiative is a collaboration of researchers at Harvard, the University of Cambridge and the University of Toronto working on issues of Internet censorship and surveillance.

Their testing determined that:

--Though some dissidents complain that e-mail newsletters sent in bulk are sometimes blocked, individual messages tend not to get filtered.

--Much of the filtering occurs at the backbone, but individual Internet service providers sometimes deploy additional blocking. Cybercafes and operators of discussion boards also control content proactively under threat of penalties.

--Filtering tends to be triggered by the appearance of certain keywords, rather than a visit to a specific domain name or numeric Internet address. The keyword-based filters also allow blogs to keep people from completing posts containing banned topics.

``You can filter much more precisely at a keyword level,'' Palfrey said. ``China wants to be able to enable its citizens to use the Internet and grow its economy. Shutting down all blog servers doesn't seem like a great idea, but it doesn't want to let through all forms of political dissent.''
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...l/11393833.htm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two Americans Jailed in China for DVD Piracy

The men were charged with selling pirated DVDs online, published report says.
Sumner Lemon

Two Americans have been sentenced to jail in Shanghai for selling pirated DVDs over the Internet, China's state-run media reported Wednesday.

Randolph Hobson Guthrie III, Cody Abram Thrush, and two Chinese accomplices were charged with selling pirated DVDs for $3 per disc over EBay's auction Web site and another site, called Three Dollar DVD, according to the official China Daily newspaper.

Police had estimated the group had sold 180,000 DVDs worth roughly $845,000 between November 2003 and July 2004, the report said. However, the judge who presided over the case at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court said evidence presented by police showed the group had sold 133,000 pirated DVDs worth around $398,000 to customers in more than 20 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia, it says.

Based on the evidence presented, the group's profit from these sales was found to be almost $120,000, it says.

Cracking Down

DVD piracy is rampant in China, and pirated discs can be found for sale in shops and on the street in many Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Beijing. The Chinese government has announced efforts to crack down on pirated DVD sales but these efforts so far appear to have had little impact.

Guthrie--who was described in the report as the "prime culprit"--was sentenced to 30 months in jail and fined $60,000 while Thrush and the two Chinese accomplices, Wu Dong and Wu Shibiao, were given sentences up to 10 months and fined between $1200 and $3600, China Daily reported. Guthrie and Thrush will be deported from China when their sentences have been completed, it says.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DOHS), which jointly investigated the case, codenamed Operation Spring, with Chinese law enforcement officials, Guthrie and five other individuals were arrested in Shanghai on July 1, 2004. The arrests were made by officers from China's Ministry of Public Security and the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

At the same time, Chinese police also seized 210,000 pirated DVDs and $67,000 and 222,000 renminbi (roughly $27,000) in cash, DOHS says.

Guthrie appears to not have tried very hard to hide his activities. A check of whois records for the domain name threedollardvd.com lists an address in Shanghai, a Shanghai telephone number, and a Yahoo e-mail address with the user name "randyguthrie."

Under Investigation

The DOHS investigation was launched in September 2003 by the department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Gulfport, Mississippi, and Houston, the department says. American officials approached their Chinese counterparts in April 2004 to assist with the investigation, it says.

DOHS also credited the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), an industry group, with providing "crucial assistance and information" to law enforcement officials in the U.S. and China. MPAA estimated U.S. film companies lose over $3.5 billion in potential worldwide sales due to piracy, DOHS says.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120511,00.asp


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

China Suspected In Web Attacks
Correspondents in Tokyo

JAPAN'S police and defence agencies said they had come under cyber attack, amid reports a Chinese website was calling for the jamming of Japanese servers amid a heated bilateral row.

"Access to the homepage of the National Police Agency was hampered" the national police said in a statement.

"We are investigating the cause but it is highly possible that it was a cyber attack in which a large volume of information was sent to the address of the homepage," it said.

Japanese media reports said a Chinese website had urged Internet users to flood Japanese servers with irrelevant data.

A police spokesman said the agency was "aware of the call" from China but had not identified what hampered the access.

Japan s Defense Agency also said its website had been experiencing access problems recently.

"It is hard to nail down the cause immediately ... but there is a possibility" of cyber attack from China, an agency spokesman said.

Tensions have been rising between Japan and China. Japan recently announced that its companies would have the right to drill for oil and gas in an area of the East China Sea bitterly disputed between the Asian economic powers.

Tens of thousands of Chinese rallied at the weekend after Tokyo approved a history textbook that China says whitewashes Japan's bloody wartime record.

The demonstrations were largely organized through the Internet. Chinese web surfers have also been blamed for previous cyber strikes on Japan.

Earlier this year, a controversial Tokyo war shrine said its website was barraged by emails believed to come from China.

The Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to Japan's war dead, including several convicted war criminals. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to it have enraged China, which has refused any state visits between the countries.
http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...-15319,00.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Crackdown On Online Porn In World's Most Wired Country
AP

The world's most wired country is raiding cyberspace's red-light district in a campaign pitting Confucian morals against modern technology.

Since January, the main prosecutor's office in Seoul has issued arrest warrants for about 100 people charged with spreading obscene material under South Korea's telecommunications law, a crime carrying penalties of up to a year in jail or a nearly $10,000 fine.

In a highly publicized case last month, police in the southern city of Busan arrested the operator of a Web site that offers a forum to arrange swaps of sex partners. The 36-year-old man, whose name hasn't been released, is charged with spreading obscene material and remains jailed while the investigation continues, said Busan police officer Lee Nam-sik, who is heading the probe.

The country is considering a crackdown offline as well, debating whether it will double penalties for crimes related to prostitution, long illegal, but tolerated.

Korea has an active sex trade -- both online and off. According to the Korean Institute of Criminology, the amount spent on prostitution alone amounted to $23.6 billion in 2002, the last year for which figures were available.

At a recent Cabinet meeting, where the campaign against prostitution was discussed, President Roh Moo-hyun stressed the need for establishing a ``healthy consumption culture,'' implying money should be spent on things other than the sex trade.

In a country where more than 70 percent of homes have high-speed Internet connections, access to cyberporn is easy.

That means traditional taboos in Korea's conservative, Confucian-based society have quickly shattered, said Lee Mee-sook, a sociology professor at Paichai University in the central city of Daejeon.

``The code of ethics became weak, and people started satisfying their sexual desires through the Internet -- anonymously,'' she said.

On a busy street in the center of the South Korean capital Seoul, ``adult'' Internet cafes aren't hard to find. In the cafes, customers can surf the Web in private booths, as opposed to the open rows of computers found in typical cybercafes.

Authorities ``can't really control it because it's the Internet, it's impossible,'' said Lee, 28, a worker at the Red Box adult Internet cafe, who gave only his last name. ``We should have the freedom to see whatever we want.''

Web operators insist that adult content appearing on mainstream sites has been rated by the Korea Media Rating Board, the agency responsible for setting age recommendations for everything from films to computer games, and complain that prosecutors have overstepped their authority.

``The portal sites are being accused for what they thought was legal,'' said Lee Yeun-woo of Kinternet, an organization that represents popular portals such Yahoo Korea, Daum and Naver. ``The fine actually isn't that much. But we want to prove what those sites did wasn't illegal and want the prosecutors to prove what was wrong.''

To get around laws regulating Web site content, some sex sites are based on Web servers outside South Korea. The Ministry of Information and Communications is asking Internet providers to block access to them as well.

Many Korean Web sites require users to enter their national identification card numbers to confirm their age to access adult content. But tech-savvy children can use programs to create false numbers or simply use their parents' IDs instead.

South Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but contains the caveat that such expression should neither ``violate the honor or rights of other persons nor undermine public morals or social ethics.''

The law doesn't define obscenity, but Jun Ji-yun, a law professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, said it was understood to be something that ``brings sexual disgrace to people.''

Given the sheer volume of Internet pornography, prosecutors realize they face an uphill battle. They are focusing on larger Web portals and other well-known sites first, in hopes that their investigation will draw attention to the issue and serve as a warning, said Kim Dae-hyun, a Seoul prosecutor.

``There are so many crimes and so many pornography sites out there,'' he said. ``We cannot deal with all of them with such a limited amount of people here.''
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...l/11394681.htm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Middle East

New Saudi Law To Jail, Lash Cellphone Porn Users

Anyone using camera phones to distribute pornography may face up to 1000 lashes, a 12-year jail term and a 100,000 riyal ($26,670 ($37,000) fine under a proposed Saudi law.

The proposed law comes after a Saudi court in January sentenced three men to jail and up to 1,200 lashes each for orchestrating and filming the rape of a teenage girl using telephones equipped with cameras and distributing the footage via the telephones.

The conservative Muslim kingdom’s consultative 150- member Shura council was expected to endorse the new law soon, local newspapers said.

The state telecommunications regulator earlier this year warned against using third generation (3G) mobile phones for "immoral" purposes.

3G mobile phones can access the internet, which is strictly controlled in Saudi Arabia, and receive high-quality video clips from adult sites.

A ban was recently overturned on the import and sale of mobile camera phones. Religious leaders said they are used to invade privacy, particularly of women.

The use of camera phones has triggered scuffles at weddings and girls schools after handsets were used to film and distribute pictures of unveiled women, newspapers have reported. Under Saudi Arabia’s strict Islamic rules, women must cover their heads in public.

Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing telecoms sector is gradually being opened up to competition, ending the monopoly of state-owned Saudi Telecommunications Co.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?...ectID=10121003


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Playboy Pics to Go on Portable PlayStation

Owners of the new PlayStation Portable handheld video game player can now take adult magazine Playboy on the road with them -- and they don't have to bother with the articles.

The online arm of Playboy Enterprises Inc. on Wednesday said it will offer photo galleries and videos shot and edited specifically for the PSP.

Playboy said it has shot a "sci-fi themed" spread of model Amy Cooper that was formatted for viewing on the PSP's wide-angle screen.

Playboy said "PlayboyStation Portable" is available for free, in the form of two non-nude picture galleries and one free video. Subscribers to Playboy's online service can access premium nude content.

The company last year created an "iBod" feature formatted for Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod photo digital music player and picture viewer.

Sony Corp. released the PSP on March 24 in North America, and it sold more than 600,000 units in a week.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=8240515


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monopoly: good. Competition: bad.

Qtel To Crack Down On Internet Telephony
The Peninsula

DOHA: Low paid expatriates from the Indian subcontinent who rely on Internet-based telephony will soon find the facility extinct. Qatar Telecom (Qtel), in collaboration with local law enforcement authorities, will shortly conduct raids on shops and other retail outlets operating as unlicensed cyber cafes and offering Internet Protocol (IP) telephony illegally using high-speed Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) connections.

The number of such illegal Internet cafes has mushroomed during the last few months, with Qtel offering broadband access at low rates. Crude billboards stating 'Internet' or 'Internet Phone' and similar words can be seen hung outside some shops in and around the Musheireb and the souq areas.

Low paid expatriates from countries in the sub-continent favour these unlicensed cafes since they can buy a 'phone card' from any international IP Telephony provider for as low as $10 (QR36.50) and talk to their friends and relatives back home for a fraction of what a regular International Direct Dialling call would cost.

IP Telephony on most providers is however restricted to the Simplex mode, which means only one person- either the caller or the called party- can speak at a time, unlike in conventional telephony.

Net static also renders the audio quality poor at times. Such unauthorised Internet cafes charge QR5 per hour from a customer wanting to make a IP telephone call. Qtel charges QR200 for high speed ADSL access, which from today, will be available at a rate of 512 kilo bytes per second (kbps).

Khalil Ebrahim Al Emadi, Executive Director, Wireline Services at Qtel, revealed that the company had drawn a long list of shops and retail outlets such as restaurants who were functioning as unlicensed cyber cafes to offer long distance calls on the IP and were working with local police to conduct raids on them.

The company will also take other action such as denying such persons the access to the services. Meanwhile, Qtel, despite the growing popularity of ADSL, will maintain its dial-up Internet access service, which now has some 26,000 subscribers, in addition to those using the facility with prepaid Ebhar (Surf) cards.

Wireless Internet access to be widely available soon, says Qtel

DOHA: Companies owning villa compounds and residential complexes as well as private entrepreneurs will soon be able to offer wireless Internet access to their tenants and customers: Qatar Telecom is planning to shortly launch wireless Internet access through hot spots run by private companies, Khalil Ebrahim Al Emadi, Executive Director, Wireline Services at Qtel, said here yesterday.

He disclosed, the hot spot service was already being negotiated by Qtel with various local companies interested in providing the facility. Currently, some such Internet hot spots are offered on an exclusive basis at the Doha International Airport, some five star hotels and for internal use, by private companies.

A prepaid wireless Internet access facility, he said, was also planned.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=88429


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stupid centralized chat!

AOL Sued Over Chatroom
Kevin Krolicki

A 19-year-old Los Angeles woman has sued AOL saying that a former monitor of its "kids only" chat room seduced her online when she was a lonely teenager, persuading her to send him nude photos of herself and to engage in phone sex.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also says that Matthew Wright sent sexually explicit videos of himself and planned to drive to California to meet the girl for a weekend together on her 17th birthday.

AOL, a unit of Time Warner, said it fired Mr Wright immediately after the company learned of his online relationship with the teenage girl in April 2003.

AOL immediately contacted the FBI in Oklahoma City, where Mr Wright worked in a company call centre, and in Los Angeles, AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said.

The company also alerted police in Kern County, north of Los Angeles, where the girl, Lesli Reed-Brennan, lived, he said.

Neither side in the lawsuit could say whether Mr Wright, also named as a defendant, had faced criminal charges. He could not be immediately reached for comment.

AOL, the world's largest internet service provider, has marketed itself in part on the strength of what it calls its "state-of-the-art parental controls" for families.

The lawsuit, which was filed on April 1, claims the protection failed. It seeks damages of more than $US25,000 ($32,500) for emotional distress, negligent supervision and false advertising.

Mr Wright, the lawsuit claims, was 23 and married when he began an online relationship with Ms Reed-Brennan, then 15.

According to the suit, the two exchanged explicit photos and ultimately engaged in "orgasmic phone sex".

The lawsuit described Ms Reed-Brennan as "a latchkey kid" whose parents divorced and who grew up "moving from town to town".

She "turned to the internet as a source of continuous social contact with friends around the country," first joining AOL as a subscriber at the age of 10.

Her lawsuit accuses Mr Wright of committing "one of the most heinous crimes in society today: to solicit sexual favours from a minor - a minor who he was hired to protect".

Mr Graham said that AOL company rules prohibit chat room monitors from interacting with members online.

AOL employees are subject to criminal background checks, some take drug tests, and all face "rigorous screening and training", he said.
http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...-15319,00.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's Moore's Law, But Another Had The Idea First
John Markoff

One of the cornerstones of Silicon Valley will mark an anniversary Tuesday. Forty years ago, Electronics magazine published Gordon E. Moore's celebrated article predicting that the number of transistors that could be placed on a silicon chip would continue to double at regular intervals for the foreseeable future.

Named Moore's Law several years later by the physicist Carver Mead, that simple observation has proven to be the bulwark of the world's most remarkable industry.

Yet Mr. Moore was not the only one - or even the first - to observe the so-called scaling effect that has led to the exponential acceleration of computing power that is now expected to continue at least for the next decade.

Before Mr. Moore's magazine article precisely plotted the increase in the number of transistors on a chip, beginning with 1, the computer scientist Douglas C. Engelbart had made a similar observation at the very dawn of the integrated-circuit era. Mr. Moore had heard Mr. Engelbart lecture on the subject, possibly in 1960.

Mr. Engelbart would later be hailed as the inventor of the computer mouse as well as the leading developer of many technologies that underlie both the personal computer industry and the Internet.

In a 2001 interview, Mr. Engelbart said that it was his thinking about the scaling down of circuits that gave him the confidence to move ahead with the design of an interactive computing system.

"I was relieved because it wasn't as crazy as everyone thought," he said.

Significantly, the two pioneers represent twin Silicon Valley cultures that have combined to create the digital economy.

Mr. Moore, who co-founded Intel, is an icon of the precise and perhaps narrower chip engineering discipline that today continues to progress by layering sheets of individual molecules, one on top of the other, and by making wires that are finer in diameter than a wavelength of light.

"Gordon was the classic engineer," said Craig Barrett, Intel's chief executive, who had just begun to teach engineering at Stanford University when Mr. Moore made his famous prediction. The chart that accompanied his article was a plot that showed just five data points over seven years and extrapolated out into the future as far as 1975, when a single chip would be able to hold as many as 65,000 transistors. Forty years later, memory chip capacity has gone far beyond one billion of the tiny switches.

Mr. Engelbart, in contrast, was the architect of a passionately held view that computing could extend or "augment" the power of the human mind. His ideas were set out most clearly in 1968, in a famous demonstration in San Francisco of his Pentagon-financed Augment computing system. Many things were shown to the world for the first time, including the mouse, videoconferencing, interactive text editing, hypertext and networking - basically the outlines of modern Internet-style computing.

Mr. Engelbart had an epiphany in 1950, in which he imagined what would decades later become today's Internet-connected PC. He set about building it. At the time he had no idea of how he would build such a machine, but it soon became clear that it would require a computer that did not yet exist.

Later he was offered a job at Hewlett-Packard, but when he learned that the company had no plans to enter the computer business, he went to work instead at Stanford Research Institute, now SRI International.

There he worked with a group of military-funded researchers who were attempting to build magnetic-based computing circuits. The military was interested in the technology because of its potential performance in outer space.

With the invention of the integrated circuit in 1959, however, the group realized that its work would soon fall by the wayside.

Thinking about the idea of miniaturized circuitry, Mr. Engelbart realized that it would scale down to vastly smaller sizes than the current electronic comments. He had that insight because earlier he had worked as an electronics technician in the wind tunnel at the Ames Research Center, a NASA laboratory in Mountain View, Calif. There, aerodynamicists made models and scaled them up into complete airplanes.

It was an easy conceptual leap to realize that integrated circuits would scale in the opposite direction. In 1959 he put his ideas into a paper, titled "Microelectronics and the Art of Similitude." In February 1960, he traveled to the International Circuit Conference in Philadelphia. There he explained to his audience that as chips scaled down, the new microelectronic engineers would have to worry about changing constraints, just as aerodynamicists had to worry about the macroworld.

One person who has a clear memory of Mr. Engelbart's description is Mr. Moore, although he does not remember whether he heard him speak in Philadelphia or elsewhere.

"The thing that I remember from it is his question if we would notice anything different if everything in the room was suddenly 10 times as large," he wrote in an e-mail message. "He answered it by suggesting that the chandelier might fall."

Several historians pointed out that Mr. Engelbart's previous observation did nothing to detract from the significance of Mr. Moore's careful plotting of the trend.

"It still should be called Moore's Law rather than Engelbart's Law," said Michael Riordan, a historian of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "Science is still based on theory and experiment."

As for Mr. Engelbart, the 1959 paper convinced him that the Augmentation machine he envisioned would be possible, because computing would be plentiful in the future.

He was one of the first to grasp the implications of the new technology. Years later he recalled in an interview that he told his Philadelphia audience, "Boy, are there going to be surprises over there."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/18/te...y/18moore.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flash, bang, wallop - Adobe buys Macromedia
John Kennedy

Content software firm Adobe Systems is to acquire the web development software player behind Flash web software, Macromedia, for an estimated all- stock transaction valued at €2.6bn (US$3.4bn). The deal has received mixed reactions from analysts who fear a combined software juggernaut could yet spark anti-competition court battles.

Adobe, which employs 65 people in Ireland, says the combination of both companies will provide its customers – predominantly in the graphic design and web development communities – with a richer, more powerful set of solutions for creating and managing content across multiple operating systems, devices and media.

Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by both boards of directors, Macromedia stockholders will receive, at a fixed exchange ratio, 0.69 shares of Adobe common stock for every share of Macromedia common stock in a tax-free exchange.

Based on Adobe's and Macromedia's closing prices on Friday (April 15) this represents a price of US$41.86 per share of Macromedia common stock. Upon the close of the transaction, Macromedia stockholders will own approximately 18pc of the combined company on a pro forma basis.

“Customers are calling for integrated software solutions that enable them to create, manage and deliver a wide range of compelling content and applications - from documents and images to audio and video,” said Bruce Chizen, chief executive officer of Adobe.

“By combining our powerful development, authoring and collaboration software - along with the complementary functionality of PDF and Flash - Adobe has the opportunity to bring this vision to life with an industry-defining technology platform.”

In the new combined operation, Chizen will continue as CEO while the CEO of Macromedia will join Adobe as president of worldwide field operations.

The news received a mixed reaction from analysts who cited “positives and negatives” that will result from the combined Adobe/Macromedia graphics powerhouse.

Bola Rotibi, a senior analyst with Ovum commented: “This acquisition is major news for the software industry, although not altogether surprising. Macromedia has regularly been seen as a prime candidate for acquisition.

“This makes good sense from both companies' perspective and this is clearly signalled in the fact that it comes with the blessing of both boards. Adobe has traditionally been strong in the offline graphical design business particularly with respect to desktop publishing in the newspaper and magazine publishing world. The company has also made its PDF reader ubiquitous in the desktop space and has a strong enterprise play.”

Rotibi continued: “Macromedia, on the other hand, has a much stronger presence in graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for the desktop with its Dreamweaver and Flash product set. Both companies have made plays into the wireless market with the promise of rich media applications and cross platform access.

“Macromedia, however has made stronger inroads into this market with recent deals with key operators and device manufacturers that will see Flash expanding its reach from the desktop environment to wireless platforms.

“The deal itself is not without issues from a competition standpoint since the resulting business will almost certainly hold a sizeable chunk of the GUI market that would make it difficult for some smaller vendors to play in. The companies have overlapping product sets and a product portfolio that goes in many different directions. That is both a positive and a negative and will need to be addressed, going forward, “Rotibi said.

Rotibi also warned that the transaction could result in anti-competition court cases arising from competitors’ inability to compete against what in effect will be a software juggernaut.

“Adobe's revenues are around $2bn and Macromedia's are around $350m to $400m - the revenue potential of their combined market play and future potential is substantial. The compelling offering of a cross platform play that serves Microsoft's own environment will make it a formidable competitor for the Redmond giant but we think it would have had trouble making its own bid for Macromedia on anti-trust grounds.

“Ultimately both Adobe and Macromedia both have superb cross platform technologies and if they can exploit the ubiquity of the PDF reader and Flash, and really emphasise the "any client anywhere" theme they will be a in a formidable position to dictate industry directions for the future,” Rotibi concluded.
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/...yid=single4694


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How One Pill Escaped the List of Controlled Steroids
Anne E. Kornblut and Duff Wilson

On the shelves of health stores across the country sits a dietary supplement that advertisements boast can "significantly alter body composition" - by converting to steroids in the bloodstream and, for some, helping pump up muscles like traditional steroids do.

But unlike every other substance in the steroid family, the supplement, DHEA, is not classified as a controlled substance. In fact, the chalky white pills and capsules enjoy a special exemption under federal law, thanks to a bill quietly passed by Congress late last year.

How DHEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, came to enjoy special legal protections granted by Congress - at the very moment that steroid abuse was grabbing national headlines, and just months before Congress itself held hearings on body-building drug use in professional baseball - is a study in skillful political maneuvering, according to participants in the deal.

Sports officials had favored an overall ban on steroids and related pills, like DHEA, which is banned by the Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the National Collegiate Athletics Association, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and baseball minor leagues.

Major League Baseball is the exception on banning DHEA, and at last month's congressional hearings, the top medical adviser to the league turned the tables on lawmakers, accusing them of failing to write zero-tolerance toward steroids into federal law. Baseball officials complain that the legal loophole has made it harder for them to ban DHEA in their own drug policy, which is already under fire.

"It is difficult, from a collective bargaining perspective, to explain to people why they should ban a substance that the federal government says you can buy at a nutrition center," said Rob Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations at Major League Baseball.

Nevertheless, Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, a Republican who represents a state where many dietary supplements are produced and a longtime champion of herbal remedies, felt strongly last year that DHEA must be kept legal and available as an "anti-aging" pill. Other lawmakers and staff members said he threatened to kill a far-reaching piece of legislation restricting the sale of other steroids, educating children about the dangers of steroids and increasing penalties for illegal use if his colleagues did not agree to include an exemption for it.

His son, Scott Hatch, is a lobbyist for the National Nutritional Foods Association, a trade association for the dietary supplement industry, and has represented supplement companies themselves, including Twin Laboratories, which sells DHEA. The elder Mr. Hatch said he did not think he had been lobbied by his son, and cited the legitimate uses for DHEA as his reason for fighting for it.

"There is a big argument that DHEA is very beneficial for health and well-being," Mr. Hatch said, noting that he did not believe there was significant opposition to leaving DHEA on the market. "I didn't see much resistance," Mr. Hatch said. "There are always those who are against any dietary supplement or anything not subject to total FDA approval." He was joined in fighting for the exemption by Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, a leading supporter of dietary supplements.

Most DHEA is manufactured in China from the dried roots of wild yam. About $47 million worth was sold in the United States in 2003, the most recent year for which sales figures have been compiled, according to Patrick D. Rea, research director for The Nutrition Business Journal. In humans, where DHEA is produced naturally in the adrenal glands, levels of the hormone usually peak by the time a person is age 25. The synthetic version is primarily marketed as an anti-aging drug.

The F.D.A. banned over-the-counter sales of DHEA in 1985. It reappeared after Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, releasing a flood of supplements classified as foods rather than drugs, and not requiring the F.D.A.'s approval. Senators Hatch and Harkin also led the push for that bill.

Although DHEA advocates say the supplement has a good safety record, there have been only limited studies of its performance and side effects. Its promised benefits, including enhanced mental acuity and slowed aging, have not been proven conclusively, and some scientists say there is still concern it could accelerate cancers.

"There isn't any logical reason it should be exempt," said Sidney Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen.

Utah, the home state of Senator Hatch and his son, is a nexus for vitamin and supplement production and distribution and the father-and-son Hatch team have a history of fighting for herbal remedies. The elder Hatch has played a leading role on two Senate committees that have oversight over the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Senator Hatch has also in the past defended the herbal supplement ephedra, which has been linked with more than 100 deaths. He supported a federal ban of ephedra in April 2004 after the deaths were reported. A federal judge in Salt Lake City overturned the ban last week.

Lawmakers in both parties said the unusual exemption for DHEA was created only in order to secure passage of a broader bill, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004.

The law, which took effect on Jan. 20, expanded the definition of anabolic steroids to include substances like andro, or androstenedione, which turns into testosterone after it is ingested. Andro was made famous by the former St. Louis Cardinals player Mark McGwire, who admitted taking it around the time of his record-breaking home run season in 1998. Andro and other steroids can enhance muscle growth; if abused, they can cause longterm physical and psychological harm.

As the abuse of steroid-like supplements became more widely discovered, athletic and medical groups pressed for stricter legislation, arguing that any substance that turns into a steroid hormone once it is digested should be regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

But faced with opposition from Mr. Hatch, lawmakers ultimately decided it was not worth sinking the entire bill to ban DHEA, several said. The law, which was passed without objection, gave the Drug Enforcement Administration more power to ban new steroids, with one named exemption, DHEA.

"We had to make a practical decision to get it passed," said Representative John Sweeney, Republican of New York.

Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, said DHEA was protected "because of the economic pressures from the dietary supplement people that stand to make a lot more money by selling it."

Besides the supplement industry and its select advocates in Congress, Mr. Waxman said: "No one else argued it should be given an exemption. The only opposition came from the supplements industry, and they're making millions off the sale of DHEA supplements."

According to one congressional aide who worked on writing the legislation, in one particularly intense negotiation with Senator Hatch, the Utah senator's staff members "were adamant that they were not going to take out the exemption."

Other current and former congressional staff members - all speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about back-room negotiations - gave similar accounts. One senior congressional aide who helped broker the agreement said: "We had to do an exemption for DHEA not because it was the right thing to do, to be perfectly honest, but because it was the politically necessary thing to do."

Congressional aides said they had not dealt directly with Scott Hatch, the senator's son, but had worked with Jack Martin, a partner in his firm, on this and other supplement issues. Mr. Martin is a former longtime aide to Senator Hatch. They did not return calls for comment.

Senator Hatch, in an interview, defended the DHEA exemption, calling it "basically a good dietary supplement." "Andro is an anabolic steroid precursor, and DHEA is far removed from that, from everything I've read and everything I've studied," he said. In fact, DHEA is a first cousin of andro: in the body, DHEA metabolizes into andro and then into testosterone.

Asked whether his son had lobbied on the exemption, Mr. Hatch replied, "Not that I know of."

"In fact, he won't even talk to me. He is that touchy," Mr. Hatch said. "He works the House and does it very honorably. He's very prissy about it, in fact. He doesn't have to be that prissy about it." He added: "His business is his business, not mine."

With andro now illegal, athletes who want to try to get a steroid effect from a legal pill are now more likely to turn to DHEA, according to Dr. Gary Green of the Olympic Analytical Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. Speaking to high school coaches in Texas about steroids in February, Dr.

Green, an adviser to baseball, said coaches should ask why DHEA received a special exemption, which member of Congress was responsible for that, what state he was from and what state DHEA is sold from.

But there is no evidence yet, other than chatter on Web sites, that athletes or young people are turning to DHEA as a replacement for traditional steroids and precursors, despite the fears of some medical experts that the trend will begin now that the law banning other substances has taken effect.

Susan Trimbo, a scientist with General Nutrition Centers, one of the nation's largest sellers of DHEA, said the drug has a good safety record, with side effects including acne and some facial hair issues in women. The drug affects women more than men because women naturally produce less testosterone.

"It's a rather weak steroid, so I don't see it as a good substance for abuse, from my perspective," Ms. Trimbo said.

But some advertisements do take aim at athletes, including promotions on the Web sites www.teenbodybuilding.com, www.bodybuilding.com and www.musclesurf.com.

One ad says: "DHEA is HOT, and you will see why. As a pre-cursor hormone, as it leads to the production of other hormones. When this compound is supplemented, it has been shown to have awesome effects."

Another ad, from AST Sports Sciences, says: "What Can DHEA Do For Me? If you're a bodybuilder, and want to increase in lean body mass at the expense of body fat, studies show this supplement may significantly alter body composition, favoring lean mass accrual."

There have been few randomized, double-blind studies of the effects of large doses of DHEA. One, in 1988, found that DHEA decreased body fat and increased muscle mass in five young men given 1600 milligrams a day for 28 days, compared with five men given placebos.

"Fortunately, reports of serious side effects to date have been minimal," Patricia D. Kroboth, dean at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, wrote in a review article in 1999. But she noted there have been no large-scale clinical trials gathering information on side effects, concluding, "Until we understand the risks and benefits of DHEA administration, its use in other than an experimental setting is not warranted."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/na...17steroid.html

[JackSpratts]

Rumors Roll On Despite Apple Suit
Ian Betteridge

As Apple Computer Inc. prepares to release its latest operating system at the end of the month, the same Web sites that the company is suing for publishing details of its products are continuing to reveal more of its upcoming product plans.

The company is currently embroiled in two cases against several Mac news Web sites, including Think Secret, AppleInsider and O'Grady's PowerPage.

However, the legal actions have so far failed to stem the tide of reports revealing details of Apple's future product plans, with both AppleInsider and Think Secret giving early reports of preparations for Tiger's release, as well as publishing details of forthcoming upgrades to the Power Mac and iMac range.

According to Think Secret, Apple is preparing to release updated versions of its professional Power Mac G5 range "within a few days" of Tiger's 29 April release. The updates, code-named Q87, will feature PowerPC G5 processors running at up to 2.7GHz, according to a report on the site. The top-of-the-range machine will reportedly include two 2.7GHz processors, dual 1.35GHz front-side buses, a Radeon 9650 graphics card with 256MB of memory, and a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive. All models will ship with DVD-RW drives with dual-layer DVD+R support.

Think Secret has also reported that an updated iMac G5, clocked at up to 2GHz, will also be released in the near future. The site claims that the new iMac G5 range will feature three models: a low-end model with a 17-inch LCD-based 1.7GHz processor, a 17-inch 2GHz midrange machine and a high-end model that sports a 20-inch screen and larger hard drive. Last month, AppleInsider also reported that the high-end iMac would receive a boost to 2GHz before the end of April.

In one of the cases against the Mac news Web sites, a California judge recently ruled that AppleInsider and Think Secret must reveal their sources for information on a product code-named Asteroid—an audio breakout box designed to complement Apple's GarageBand music software.

In the second case, against Think Secret, Apple is claiming that the Web site broke California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act—a law that makes it illegal to publish or leak trade secrets—by publishing stories that included details of iWork, iSync 1.1 and the Mac mini prior to their release.

Support for the so-called rumor sites has come from a wide range of sources, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation defending AppleInsider and PowerPage, while news organizations including the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News have filed amicus briefs supporting the sites.

The media companies have argued that, if the ruling to reveal sources is upheld, it will have a chilling effect on the ability of reporters to uncover stories in the public interest, and that Apple should "exhaust all alternative sources" before seeking information from the sites.

The EFF claims the decision in favor of Apple is a threat to journalists.

In a recent filing, Think Secret sought a dismissal of Apple's case against it under California's Anti-SLAPP law, on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, supported by statements from both a leading professor of journalism and Dan Gillmor, a 24-year veteran reporter.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1786643,00.asp


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Google Versus Froogles Redux
Susan Kuchinskas

Having been rebuffed by an ICANN panel, search giant Google brought its battle against Froogles.com to U.S. court.

Google filed a trademark infringement suit against Richard Wolfe, operator of the relatively tiny Froogles.com, on Monday. The search provider complained that consumers could confuse Wolfe's bargain- shopping site with Google's Froogle and even the name Google itself -- even though Wolfe had been using the name Froogles since December 2000. Wolfe applied for trademark protection for the name in September 2003.

Google launched Froogle in December 2002; it filed for trademark protection of the term in November 2002. The trademark application was approved in February 2004 and published to give others a chance to protest.

Both Wolfe and Stelor Productions, operator of kid-oriented Web site Googles.com, opposed granting the trademark. The Trademark Appeals Board is still considering whether to revoke the trademark, but Google has asked it to suspend the opposition proceeding pending the result of a court trial. Google executives had not responded to a request for comment by press time.

"I believe the trademark board is likely to grant the opposition and refuse to register the mark Froogle to Google," said Wolfe's attorney, Stephen Humphrey, a partner in the law firm Cameron & Hornbostel. He speculated that Google might have filed the civil suit in Wolfe's home state of New York to stave off a loss in front of the Appeals Board.

"It's not whether Froogles infringes Froogle," Humphries said. "My client wins that, because he used Froogles for his shopping service long before Google did."

In its complaint to the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, Google refined its claims. First, it now says that Froogles.com also engages in "search engine services," because it offers the ability to search within the site. Second, Google claims that it owns any word ending in "-oogles."

"Google is the senior user of marks that incorporate the formative -OOGLE for Internet search services," the suit claims.

"Google has expanded its claim, and developed a fairly novel claim that not only does Froogles infringe the trademark Google, but that Google itself owns -oogle," Humphrey said, noting that there are quite a few registered trademarks that end in either the letters oogle or the phonetic version.

Humphrey said that after Wolfe filed an opposition proceeding with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office last spring, Google told Wolfe that if he would dismiss his opposition, it would leave him alone. If he refused, according to Humphrey, Google's attorneys said, "We'll file a complaint and take the trademark away from you."

The complaint filed today said that Wolfe should have been well aware of the Google name by the time he launched Froogles.com, thanks to the dozens of positive press reports detailed in the complaint.

If today's lawsuit is a retaliatory move for Wolfe's opposition at the USPTO, it may not be the first.

In May 2004, Google filed a complaint with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy adopted by ICANN. On July 18, 2004, a three-person NAF panel turned Google down, saying that Froogles was different enough from Google not to confuse the public. The NAF also noted that Google had waited four years from the date the Froogles.com domain name was registered, complaining only after Wolfe filed an opposition to Google's Froogle trademark.

Google still faces competition for the Gmail trademark, the application for which was filed April 2, 2004. Cencourse, a Miami company that provides multimedia services, still has a live application filed March 31, 2004, while Precision Research, a Santa Barbara, Calif., company that consults on the design of high-tech equipment, has a live application also dated April 2. But two other companies that had applied to trademark the term before Google have dropped out of the race.
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3498621


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Associated Press To Impose Online Licensing Fees
AP

The Associated Press will begin charging newspapers and broadcasters to post its stories, photos and other content online, a pricing shift that reflects the growing power of the Internet to lure audiences and advertisers from more established media.

Tom Curley, AP president and CEO, announced the change Monday at the annual meeting of the 156-year-old news cooperative.

Most of the 15,000 news outlets that buy AP's news, sports, business and entertainment coverage have been allowed to ``re-purpose'' the same material online at no extra cost since 1995. At that time, graphical Web browsers were just beginning to transform the Internet from an esoteric computer network to a mass medium.

The new pricing policy, effective Jan. 1, begins to shift some of the funding of AP to the growing online market, as technological advances and digital devices are making it ever easier for people to get their news whenever and however they want it.

``The need for online licensing is clear,'' Curley said during a speech at the meeting in the Masonic Auditorium, attended by member publishers, editors and broadcasters. ``For The Associated Press to endure during this digital transition, we must be able to preserve the value and enforce the rights of our intellectual property across the media spectrum.''

About 300 commercial Web sites, including popular destinations such as Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, already have been buying AP content, said Jane Seagrave, the news cooperative's director of new media markets.

But price increases are often a prickly issue for the AP because it's a not-for-profit cooperative that is owned by its customers -- the traditional media that form its membership.

The AP expects to offset the costs of the new online licensing fees by temporarily reducing its annual membership rate increases, Chairman Burl Osborne said.

These rates -- known within the AP as ``assessments'' -- have climbed by an average of 2.75 percent annually during the past decade.

A formula for calculating the AP's online licensing fees still hasn't been set, making it difficult to predict how the pricing change will affect individual news outlets. Currently, the AP bases its rates on the circulation of newspapers and audience of broadcasters, with the largest paying more than their smaller counterparts.

A digital advisory committee will be set up to ease the transition to online licensing, Osborne said. The committee is aiming to hold its first meeting by fall.

Curley, the former publisher of the Gannett Co.-owned USA Today, has been looking for new sources of revenue since he became AP's chief executive officer in mid-2003.

In Curley's first full year on the job, AP's 2004 revenue totaled $630.1 million, a 6 percent increase from the previous year. The news service's losses narrowed to $728,000 last year after a $11.1 million loss in 2003.

The AP products currently under development include a computer database of stories, photos, graphics, audio and video, designed to make it easier for newspapers and broadcasters to find the content that best suits their local market.

In September, the AP plans to introduce a new multimedia package designed to appeal to young adults, a prized advertising demographic deeply immersed in the Internet and other digital media.

``As the audience turns to new platforms and adopts new habits, the news must follow,'' Curley said.

Several newspaper publishers at the meeting said AP's new online licensing policy makes sense, as long as it doesn't significantly increase their expenses. ``I'd like to see what the total bill is going to be,'' said David Bradley, publisher of the St. Joseph News-Press in Missouri. ``I hope it doesn't turn into an onerous burden.''

Monday's meeting also featured five AP reporters who addressed trends changing the world, from evolving international alliances to strong currents of change within Christianity.

A bit of drama penetrated the conference hall when religion writer Rachel Zoll addressed the crowd from the Vatican, where she is covering the papal conclave. As Zoll spoke via video link, the crowd in St. Peter's Square could be heard roaring in the background.

``It's black smoke,'' she said, signaling that the gathered cardinals had not selected a pope during the conclave's first day. ``We'll just continue with our speech for now.''

Sally Buzbee, chief of Middle East services, spoke about the rise of China and the influence of Shiites in the Middle East; technology writer Brian Bergstein addressed the increasing capacity to archive digital information of all types; science writer Malcolm Ritter warned of the prospects of a global pandemic; and political writer Ron Fournier discussed the emergence of new American ``hometowns'' centered on churches and social groups.

Four incumbents and one new member were elected to the AP board of directors in results announced Monday.

Re-elected to three-year terms were Burl Osborne, publisher emeritus of The Dallas Morning News, owned by Belo Corp.,; Michael E. Reed, president and chief executive officer of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.; William Dean Singleton, vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group Inc.; and H. Graham Woodlief, vice president of Media General Inc. Dennis J. FitzSimons, chairman of Tribune Co., also was elected to a three-year term.

Incumbent Joe Hladky, chairman and publisher of the Gazette Co. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and new member David R. Lord, president of Pioneer Newspapers Inc., were appointed to two-year terms.

AP's meeting was held in conjunction with the annual convention of the Newspaper Association of America.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...l/11425945.htm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SonyBMG's Content To Be Offered on P2P Service
New Media Age

The major difference between Mashboxx and other P2P services is that it has signed an agreement with SonyBMG and is in discussion with other record companies to install an audio fingerprinting system into the MashBoxx identifying the record companies' content. This technology is being supplied by Shawn Fanning's new San Francisco-based company Snocap.

Former Grokster CEO Wayne Rosso and Shawn Fanning, the original founder of Napster, have convinced record company SonyBMG to offer content on a major new legal peer-to-peer (P2P) service.

The surprise move is a huge change for both Rosso, a vocal and ardent critic of the major record labels, and SonyBMG, a key leader in the drive to get peer-to-peer services closed down.

Mashboxx

The new service, which has been set up by Rosso, is called Mashboxx and is expected to launch in the first week of December. Both Rosso and SonyBMG have refused to comment formally on the matter.

Mashboxx is being described as a desktop file-sharing client which will use the Ares decentralized P2P network. However, there are also plans for plug-ins to other networks, including FastTrack (Kazaa, Grokster), Overnet (eDonkey) and Gnuttella.

But the key difference between Mashboxx and other P2P services is that it has signed an agreement with SonyBMG and is in discussion with other record companies to install an audio fingerprinting system into the MashBoxx, which will identify the record companies' content.

This technology is being supplied by Shawn Fanning's new San Francisco- based company Snocap.

Identifying Content

Once tracks have been identified, the content will be replaced with a "lo- fi" version of the music file in FM-radio quality. This will be free for the user to sample the music. It will have a "one-click" purchase functionality that will provide users with the commercial CD quality version.

MusicNet, a digital music aggregator co-owned by several of the majors, has been lined up to handle the e-commerce and fulfillment.

SonyBMG CEO Andrew Lack is said to have initiated the project and is committed to bringing the other major record labels on board the service once it has launched.

Working Together

Both P2P services and major record companies have been under pressure to work together since the early days of Napster but have failed to reach any compromise. Although record labels have received most of the negative headlines, many P2P services are reluctant to work with the record companies for fear of losing control or being sued retrospectively for copyright malpractice.

One source said, "The problem is that a number of P2P players have been offered these kind of opportunities in the past and have so far turned their noses up at them."

Mashboxx wouldn't be the first legal P2P service. Wippit, which has been running for three years, offers legally copyrighted content on a P2P basis. But it has been under pressure from its major record label suppliers not to work with other P2P services, including Kazaa and Grokster.
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/So...ice-42425.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tightwads

Only 5% Of Music Buyers Would Switch To A La Carte Online Music Subscription
Posted by IT Facts

Ipsos-Insight studied a representative sample of US music downloaders aged 12 and older, who were presented with simulated digital music acquisition environments consisting of various options for obtaining online music. One of these simulated environments included an online peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network, an on- demand streaming PC-tethered subscription-based service, and an a la carte pay-per-download service.

24% of current downloaders indicated a preference for obtaining music through a fee-based online offering, with an a la carte pay-per- download method most preferred (19%; compared to 5% preferring an on-demand PC-tethered streaming subscription service). When a new portable online music subscription service (which allows an unlimited number of songs to be transferred to associated portable devices) was introduced to the market scenario at $14.99 per month, the proportion of downloaders who would choose this method was 5%, one-third fewer than the 17% who would choose an a la carte method at $0.99 per song, yet greater than the 4% who would choose an on-demand PC-tethered streaming subscription service. This suggests a potential limitation in rapidly migrating current downloaders to this new method of fee-based online music acquisition.

Downloaders who have experience paying for online music are most pronounced in their preference for pay-per-download methods, as 28% of these consumers reported a preference for the a la carte option, 4% for an on-demand streaming PC-tethered subscription- based service, and 8% preferring the new portable subscription service. Meanwhile, downloaders with past experience using fee- based online music subscription services and those who currently own a portable MP3 player are most receptive to the new portable online subscription service, with 17% and 11% respectively choosing this method of purchasing fee-based online music in a simulated competitive context.

Adult downloaders aged 25 to 54 are the most likely to have paid to download digital music (50% among 25 to 34 year olds, 53% among 35 to 54 year olds). And while younger downloaders have typically been less likely to report having paid for digital music, in the most recent findings, over half of downloaders aged 12 to 17 report that they have paid for digital music (52%), suggesting that recent efforts to promote pre-payment methods to teens are proving successful.

Nearly equal proportions of male and female downloaders have paid to download digital music files off of the Internet: 49% of U.S. male downloaders aged 12 or older report having engaged in this activity compared to 45% of American females. American female downloaders are continuing to narrow this gender gap, as women’s current fee-based downloading experience levels have nearly tripled compared to one year ago (16% in December 2003), whereas men’s have nearly doubled (24% in December 2003).
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=1012


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IBM Doesn't Like Peer-To-Peer
Peter Bochner

The April 18 issue of BusinessWeek (with the cover story "IBM -- Beyond Blue") included a piece on the battle between IBM and Microsoft for control of the collaboration software market. In that article, BusinessWeek wrote that "IBM doesn't offer a rival technology" to the peer-to-peer technology Microsoft now owned, via its acquisition of Ray Ozzie's company, Groove, which "lets workers at different companies easily collaborate on projects through corporate firewalls."

IBM doesn't deny this. Sitting down with the editors of SearchDomino recently, Ambuj Goyal, general manager of the Lotus software division, did not mince words. "We do not like peer-to-peer," he said.

When asked why, Goyal said, "Frankly, peer-to-peer is not a business value proposition. The peer-to-peer proposition says I can exchange documents between two companies without going through the server. But the company has no clue as to what type of information is being exchanged. The real issue is whether two companies can share documents, securely, not whether the technology is router or router plus server."

Earlier, I had spoken to David Marshak, IBM's senior product manager for collaboration. Marshak also believes that a peer-to-peer buddy list model is the wrong collaboration model for business. More appropriate for business, he said, is a requester/resource model, since in that environment, you ask questions and seek information from others (on a role basis) who do not necessarily ask anything from you.

Still, there are those who are intrigued by the possibility of somehow incorporating P2P into Notes. A recent SearchDomino article on Microsoft's acquisition of Groove contained a discussion on the peer-to-peer model of corporate collaboration. In it, Julian Robichaux, author of the nsftools.com site, said, "The Groove product seems to be all about decentralizing the file sharing and collaborative process. I don't know how the IT departments that have been centralizing themselves for the past 20 years are going to react. I have a feeling it will take a lot of convincing, especially when you think about the risks that are involved with sharing files across workstations like that (with potentially no ability to monitor the access or back up the files on a regular basis). If we find out that IT departments are okay with the peer-to-peer model, we might see some enterprising Notes developers start to push Notes in that direction. Since Java and HTTP are built in to the Notes client, you might be able to do that right now -- build some sort of "listener" interface into Notes, and share it with your team."

John Vaughan, a Notes developer in Tampa, Fla., and the author of the story just quoted from, also thinks that IBM would be offering the best of all worlds if it could bolt a good peer-to-peer process into Notes or Workplace. "If they could do that in a really smart way, they would be serving the needs of organizations by serving the needs of individuals." In short, he says, they would be "competing squarely against Microsoft in a place where Microsoft has always had the advantage."
http://searchdomino.techtarget.com/o...081307,00.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Revolution Will Be Downloaded
Jan Frel

In the 1980's, Jack Valenti, Hollywood's top lobbyist in D.C., declared that "the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone." At the time, there was a panic in the film and TV industry that VCRs and their record buttons would allow consumers to avoid advertising and copy programming without paying for it. The studios would go bankrupt overnight! Hollywood assembled legions of attorneys and took its battle all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that there was nothing inherent in VCRs that encouraged copyright infringement. Consumers were allowed to have their record buttons after all. Good thing for Hollywood too.

Twenty years later, revenues from videotapes and DVDs amount to double what the film industry gets at the box office -- over $25 billion. Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, writes that Hollywood's initial fears in the face of a new distribution technology is hardly different from the piracy panic surrounding the invention of the telegraph in the 1870s. News organizations at the time feared that other outlets would use telegraphs to steal information from each other. This too, was eventually resolved in the courts, and the newspapers did very well by the telegraph.

Cooper sees the same trend of piracy panic underway in the recording industry's battle against online file-sharing programs: a fearful attempt to control the rise of a new means of content distribution.

The recording industry won its first battle in 2001 against the file-sharing site Napster, in a case that went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that the Napster's means of file sharing encouraged illegal copyright infringement -- Napster hosted content on a central server to be downloaded by the consumer -- and eventually the site was shut down. The post-Napster generation of file-sharing programs have gotten around this by setting up a system that allows for the exchange of files without storing them on a central network. Users who sign up on the same peer-to-peer system can access and download the files of any other user. The film and music industry filed a case against Grokster, one of the more popular peer-to-peer sharing sites, in the 9th Circuit last year. The 9th Circuit ruled in favor of Grokster using the same logic the courts had made for VCRs back in the '80s. The recording industry appealed the ruling.

The Supreme Court has already heard arguments in the Grokster case and a ruling is expected in June. AlterNet spoke on the phone with Mark Cooper from his Washington D.C. offices about the Grokster case in the wider context of the future of peer-to-peer file sharing, and whether it will enrich the recording industry or cause its demise.

You say that the court battles over file-sharing technologies represent a debate about progress, not piracy. But isn't the legal basis of these court cases like Grokster about piracy?

The recording and film industry has tried to frame this as a debate about piracy and copyright infringement. They've got into a major piracy panic. But the Supreme Court justices made clear in their questioning that [the] technological progress question is at least as important -- if not more important than the piracy question.

The recording industry killed off the first generation of peer-to-peer communication with [the] likes of Napster, but they haven't been able to kill off the second generation. The irony is that last year they started to make lots of money using virtually the same technology they've taken to court. The record companies took about six years to figure out that they could sell singles online. And they sold more singles last year than they've sold in over 20 years, so in a certain sense, the cat is out of the bag. It's clear that it's very low cost. And that's what this is about. The recording companies lost control of the technology to distribute content.

There's a lot of arguments being made about the advantages of not clamping down on peer-to-peer networks; that doing so will hamper technological innovation, hurt consumers, or punish innocent parties. But what's the argument that's going to win in the Supreme Court?

The justices clearly are thinking about two things in their questioning. They clearly don't want to undermine technology and the incentive to invent new technologies for distribution. The other thing they're saying is that you can clearly invent business models that infringe copyright that allow for the download of songs that aren't warranted. What may happen here is that the recording industry is so upset about the technology that they rushed to the Supreme Court without having a case on whether or not Grokster was infringing on their copyright; you know, was it an inducement to infringe, and so what the Supreme Court may say is that technology is not guilty, but that businesses designed to infringe copyrights are, and then tell the 9th Circuit to look at the rest of the case.

The recording industry raced this to the Supreme Court. They wanted to get the grand slam, so to speak. They wanted to knock the technology out of the box -- shut peer-to- peer down altogether -- rather than to have to get law to clarify which peer-to-peer business models are good and which are bad.

You write that whatever happens with the Grokster case, it's going to be one of many fights. Do you think it's going to be the eventual string of losses or victories for file-sharing technology that will decide the final result? Or will it be because peer-to-peer becomes too immersed in society?

I think it will be the ubiquity of peer-to-peer. The point is that the industry is going to find it impossible to get peer-to-peer out of the marketplace. You knock Napster down, and 50 more spring up in its place, adapting to the law. Meanwhile, it took the record companies took about six years to figure out that they could go online too, and sell music. It's going to be harder and harder for them to sell whole albums on CDs. I see it going this way: most music will be sold one-by-one; digital singles. Artists will increasingly find that they don't need labels [to] promote their music, and they'll move to build direct relationships with their audience.

That's how it's going to work in the digital age. It's a win-win for consumers and creative artists. Look, a creative artist who sells two digital singles for two dollars with peer-to- peer makes more money than they would selling a $16 CD through a recording label. Imagine leaving $14 dollars in the consumer's pocket, some of which will be bought buying a third and fourth song from that same artist. That's where the win-win is. This is a real dramatic efficiency in improvement.

But I didn't hear from you that file-sharing is going to help out the recording industries. It's a win-win for consumers and creative artists, but what about the companies?

Clearly [for] the label owners and the recording companies, their distribution model is based on a brick-and-mortar distribution model that they can control. That's over. That's going to disappear, no doubt about it. They will clearly try to use their labels and promotion to maintain a significant role in the middle of the industry, but that will diminish over time. There's no doubt that the creative industries are going to look very different in the near future. They've held on to the means of distribution for decades.

We're on the verge of a dramatic revolution in the production of cultural goods. It's important to remember just how expensive it is to market and distribute content the way the recording and film industries do now -- the production of CDs, the ad campaigns, the delivery of CDs to market, etc. Compare it with peer-to-peer, which is a direct transmission of content from producer to consumer. The recording companies as we know them will disappear.

Do you think recording labels see Grokster as a fight for their lives?

That's exactly how they've treated it. They see what the stakes are. They need to find a way to kill this technology. But they're screwed. All the new profits are coming off the selling of singles digitally while the traditional model of selling records through marketing campaigns directing consumers to music stores is drying up. So now they sue everybody all the time immediately. They understand very well that the economic basis of their dominance of the industry is threatened by these new technologies.
http://www.alternet.org/story/21817/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Pope and the Wizard

Harry Potter was toppled by the new pope yesterday from his perch atop the German book charts, Reuters reported. After the German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI, his books jumped to the top four places in the German Amazon.com rankings, and three more of his titles, none of them previously in the top 100, turned up in the top 10. His latest book, "Values in Times of Upheaval," above, published only a week ago, was sold out. Reuters also reported that in the United States, eight of the pope's works made it to the Top 20 on the Amazon chart, but advance orders for J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," due in July, were strong enough to keep it in Amazon.com's top spot. "Salt of the Earth," a transcript of a long interview given by Cardinal Ratzinger nearly a decade ago, was his leading title in Germany, and also in the United States, where it held No. 7 on Amazon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/21/bo...ooks-pope.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yahoo Gains Users and Sales as Profit Soars
Saul Hansell

Yahoo, the big Internet portal, said yesterday that its profit doubled in the first quarter, as its audience grew rapidly and advertising sales grew even faster.

Yahoo reported that 372 million people visited its network of sites in the quarter, up 36 percent from a year ago. Yahoo asserts that 13 percent of time spent online is spent on its search, e-mail and other services.

As a result, the company has been a primary beneficiary of the increased interest among advertisers in using the Internet, both for text ads on Web searches and in more elaborate graphical advertising.

Yahoo earned $205 million in the first quarter, up from $101 million a year earlier. That comes to 14 cents a share, including a penny a share from investment sales and legal settlements. Analysts had expected Yahoo to earn 11 cents a share.

Yahoo's total revenue was $1.17 billion, up 55 percent from a year ago. Analysts like to look at Yahoo's revenue after deducting the payments it makes to sites that carry its ads, like Microsoft's MSN search service. On that basis, Yahoo's revenue was $821 million, higher than the $797 million that analysts expected.

The company's international growth was especially vigorous. The company's revenue outside of the United States was $355 million, up 124 percent. Its domestic revenue was $819 million, up 37 percent.

Yahoo's advertising revenue, after deducting the payments to other sites, was $672 million, up 50 percent. While the company does not break out the sources of its advertising, Safa Rashtchy, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Company, said he believed Yahoo benefited especially from an increase in spending by major national brands on graphical advertising.

"They are catching up with Google on search," Mr. Rashtchy said. "And they are especially strong in branded advertising."

Yahoo released its results after the close of normal trading. In after-hours trading, its shares increased by $1.64, to $34.86. In regular trading, shares rose 67 cents, to $33.22.

Yahoo's fee-based business - like enhanced e-mail service and its dating service - grew even faster than advertising, posting $149 million in revenue, up 61 percent. Yahoo has 8.9 million paying customers, 53 percent more than a year ago. It said it expected 11.5 million to 12 million paying customers by the end of the year.

Over the rest of the year, Yahoo will introduce a series of activities meant to expand its fee income, said Terry Semel, Yahoo's chief executive. It will introduce a new music service and will vastly expand the services it offers through mobile telephones, especially outside of the United States.

"For Yahoo there is a great opportunity to connect to users beyond what they do on the PC," Mr. Semel said in a telephone interview.

Yahoo's cash balance increased to $3.9 billion, up $110 million. And that does not include $751 million in other investments, largely its holdings of stock of its rival Google. The cash balance increased even though Yahoo bought $315 million of its stock and spent $54 million in cash on acquisitions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/20/te...y/20yahoo.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One-Time Gains Gave a Lift to Intel's Results

Intel Corp. boosted earnings by taking one-time gains in the first quarter it had not previously disclosed, pushing results well above Wall Street's expectations, according to financial analysts and an accounting expert who reviewed Tuesday's results.

There was no suggestion that Intel manipulated the results, and in fact the gains stem largely from internal forecasts that proved to be too conservative. However, company executives acknowledged that some improvements seen in the first quarter were unlikely to be repeated in future periods.

The quarter's gains -- a reversal of inventory write-downs, an earlier determination that two new chip models were ready for final production, and a nonrecurring decline in factory start-up costs -- boosted Intel's earnings by about 2 cents per share, said Richard Shannon, the semiconductor industry analyst with PiperJaffray.

Intel's per-share profit of 34 cents topped the average analyst expectations by 3 cents. Neither the write-down nor the early product qualifications had been publicly disclosed to analysts before Tuesday, meaning their impact on earnings would not have been included in analyst estimates.

Intel's $2.2 billion profit and 59 percent gross profit margins sent a wave of relief through Wall Street on Tuesday, seeming to counteract the negative sentiment touched off by last week's negative earnings report from International Business Machines Corp.

Shannon said he remains positive on Intel's stock, but not because the company's profit was higher than anticipated in the quarter. "I personally heavily discount it," he said.

Intel, whose shares rose as much as 3.6 percent on Wednesday before closing about unchanged, did not break out the relative impact of the gains in the quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant made clear on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday that the gains in the first quarter were not expected to be repeated. He forecast a decline in gross profit margin, a measure of how much profit Intel pockets from each sale, by about 3 percentage points in the second quarter.

More Than Meets The Eye

While a company's profit can seem like a straightforward measure of how much it earned, in practice the myriad accounting rules underlying net income add a layer of fuzziness to the equation.

For instance, Intel got a boost in the first quarter from selling chips that it had previously written down as impaired. Chips, like perishable goods, can decline rapidly in value if they are still unsold as more powerful chips become available.

Generally accepted accounting rules require a company to take a charge on earnings when writing down the value of a product. So when Intel sold the written-down chips, it was able to record a higher-than-normal gain on the items.

"They borrowed earnings from the past," said Charles Mulford, an accounting professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "You're supposed to not write something down until you're pretty sure that its value was impaired. It says to me that the write-down was premature."

Another unexpected gain came as Intel determined that two new models of chips were ready for final production a quarter ahead of plan. By deeming the chips salable, the company effectively deferred recognizing their manufacturing expense to future periods when the chips are sold, Mulford said.

The deferral boosted Intel's per-share profit of 34 cents by about a penny, estimated Ben Lynch, the chip analyst with Deutsche Bank. Lynch said Intel may have been overly conservative about getting the parts ready for prime time after a string of product delays last year.

"I don't think they have the full confidence back so they've been sort of holding back a bit just in case," he said.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=8244526


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a PC's Power, That's Entertainment
Tim Gnatek

Personal computers increasingly fill home entertainment needs. And why not? They are already the repositories for digital photos, music and video collections. With an attached TV or radio tuner and digital video recorder and encoder, they can replace nearly every entertainment device in the house.

But the demands placed on machines to store large video files and process them quickly can be too much for standard home computers.

To fill the need, a new breed of multimedia systems is entering the market. Not only can they record, store and manage music, movies and television shows, but they can also showcase them on high-definition screens and in surround-sound audio, all with a click of the remote.

Most multimedia machines come with powerful Pentium or Athlon processors, the latest graphics cards, FM radio and television tuners (sometimes more than one, so users can watch one channel while recording another), DVD recorders and enough memory and hard-drive space to store and play back hours of high-quality programming. Many also incorporate the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, which adds specialized multimedia features to Windows XP.

Because the entertainment PC's are designed for living rooms, they come with wireless keyboards, mice and hand-held remotes for controlling functions far from the computer. Nearly every major computer maker is now producing entertainment PC's as laptops and desktops, and even as horizontally designed machines that resemble stereo components.

For the Desktop

One line of desktops, the Vaio RA series of digital studio PC's from Sony (starting at $1,799), presents bulked-up computers in tall, black cases that enclose Intel Pentium 4 processors, one gigabyte of random-access memory, and at least 320 gigabytes of storage. A 5.1 surround-sound speaker system comes with the packages, providing cinematic audio entertainment. To keep unwanted noise to a minimum, the computers use a liquid cooling system, rather than a standard fan, to carry heat away from the processors.

Though the media computers can be priced higher than average machines, shoppers do not have to wait for less expensive models to come to market. This month, Gateway began selling a $1,000 media computer, the 832GM Media Center PC, which includes a Pentium 4 processor, a gigabyte of memory, a 250-gigabyte hard drive, TV and FM tuners, a DVD+/- RW drive, a speaker package, a wireless keyboard, two-button mouse and remote.

Laptops

Multimedia machines also come as laptops, and their thin profile may be preferable in small apartments or dorm rooms, or for users who prefer the small footprint of a portable device.

One such computer, the Toshiba Qosmio, balances the portability of a laptop with the features one might expect from its larger cousins. Its premier model, the G15 ($2,599), has a 17-inch TruBrite liquid-crystal display, which offers a clear picture from peripheral angles as well as head-on. Built-in Harmon Kardon speakers mimic surround sound to lend a richer tone than is usually found in laptops. To get to the entertainment faster, CD's, DVD's and television programming can start in a powered-down mode without booting the whole operating system.

From Dell, the Inspiron XPS Gen 2 ($2,349 with promotional discount), intended more as a portable gaming station, has a similar 17-inch display and, like the Qosmio, provides quick access to media content when the computer is shut down. It is also the first laptop to come with the new, powerful NVIDIA 256MB GeForce Go 6800 Ultra graphics card, capable of processing feats like playing one high-definition program on the laptop screen while simultaneously showing another on an external monitor. For the Living Room

Hewlett-Packard was an early purveyor of computers running Windows Media Center when it was released in 2002. Today, in addition to desktop and laptop models, it markets a system designed for the living room.

The HP z545 digital entertainment center ($1,799 with rebate at hpshopping.com) features a horizontal brushed-black aluminum case that more resembles a stereo component than a PC. The system comes with a wireless keyboard and integrated trackball. For storage, the computer houses a 200-gigabyte internal hard drive as well as a 160-gigabyte removable drive, an ATI Radeon X300 graphics card, a built-in FM tuner, dual television tuners and 512 megabytes of RAM, expandable to 2 gigabytes. Users can even take their entertainment with them by transferring media files onto an HP iPAQ rx3115 Mobile Media Companion ($349 at hpshopping.com), a hand-held for carrying photos, music and video.

A similar unit from Alienware, the DHS5 ($1,758), is also aimed at the digital living room. The slim computer comes with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor, 80 gigabytes of hard-drive space, up to three television tuners and Dolby Digital sound.

Alienware, which has always catered to the gamer market, has also made its DHS line attractive to active play by adding Discover Console technology, which automatically loads, installs and optimizes PC-based games from a CD without troubling the user with prompts.

The Operating System

Most PC manufacturers developing multimedia machines have chosen Windows XP Media Center Edition as their operating system. The Media Center environment, which has expanded considerably since its debut, allows remote navigation of computer content.

Media Center starts with a click of a button on a computer's remote control, and has a simple scrolling menu of television programs, FM radio, DVD's and recorded videos, photo albums and music collections.

Using a multimedia PC for home entertainment does carry some risks: if your computer crashes, so does your television. But there are benefits to the arrangement as well. The My TV feature on Media Center, for example, can turn the computer into a digital video recorder without the monthly charge of dedicated services like TiVo. The system automatically downloads viewing guides, based on the user's location and provider, and allows for scrolling through programming lists, recording individual shows or entire series. In the 2005 edition of Media Center, viewers can record programs in high definition and manage up to three TV tuners, recording two programs while watching a third.

The operating system can manage music and photo files as well. Media Center can search and sort music collections, using album cover icons as identifiers, and link to online music stores where users can purchase additional music. Another feature, Online Spotlight, provides a directory of additional Internet content, including access to National Public Radio programs, news feeds, sports clips and subscription radio, movie and music services.

All these features on the living room screen can make other household TV's seem dull in comparison. But they, too, can become a node in a Media Center network. To carry the computer-based entertainment around the house, the Linksys Media Center Extender ($239 after rebates at Amazon.com) attaches to other nearby televisions and takes controls and recorded programs to other rooms over a wired or wireless network. The device can carry video programming, music and photos stored on the base computer, but cannot display DVD's, CD's or HDTV content.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/21/te...ts/21basi.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Innovation Moves From the Laboratory to the Bike Trail and the Kitchen
Virginia Postrel

WHEN most people think about where new or improved products come from, they imagine two kinds of innovators: either engineers and marketers in big companies trying to "find a need and fill it" or garage entrepreneurs hoping to strike it rich by inventing the next big thing.

But a lot of significant innovations do not come from people trying to figure out what customers may want. They come from the users themselves, who know exactly what they want but cannot get it in existing products.

"A growing body of empirical work shows that users are the first to develop many, and perhaps most, new industrial and consumer products," Eric von Hippel, head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in "Democratizing Innovation," recently published by MIT Press. (The book can be downloaded at Professor von Hippel's Web site, http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/ .)

Innovation by users is not new, but it is growing. Thanks to low-cost computer-based design products, innovators do not have to work in a professional organization to have access to high-quality tools. Even home sewing machines have all sorts of computerized abilities. And once a new design is in digital form, the Internet allows users to share their ideas easily.

Because users are often quite different from each other, their innovation, by definition, accommodates variety. A survey of users of Apache Web server software found that different sites had different security needs: one size definitely did not fit all. Nineteen percent of the users surveyed had written new code to tailor the software to their specific purposes.

"Users are designing exactly what they want for themselves; they have only a market of one to serve," Professor von Hippel said in an interview. "Manufacturers are trying to fit their existing investments and existing solution types to the largest market possible."

Open-source software like Apache or Linux is an obvious example of users developing and sharing innovations, but it is not the only one. Many of the book's examples come from extreme sports like kite surfing and snowboarding, where enthusiasts often invent their own equipment. Mountain biking, Professor von Hippel noted, grew to about half a million participants before manufacturers started to make bicycles suited for wild rides on rough terrain.

Mountain bikers ride on different terrains and in different weather conditions, and they do different sorts of tricks. They also come from varied professional backgrounds, from orthopedic surgery to aerospace engineering, giving them different skills to draw on.

Not surprisingly, bikers have come up with a wide range of innovations. One biker developed his own armor and protective clothing. Another invented a way to carry his bike on steep mountains and dangle it over cliffs. Yet another added metal studs to his tires for biking on ice.

In order for companies to generate new ideas, Professor von Hippel urges them to pay more attention to "lead users" like these biking enthusiasts: people who stretch the limits of a technology and create their own innovative prototypes.

In a study at 3M, he and several colleagues found that product ideas from lead users generated eight times the sales of ideas generated internally - $146 million versus $18 million a year - in part because lead users were more likely to come up with ideas for entire new product lines rather than minor improvements.

The definition of "lead users" can become a bit circular, identifying anyone who innovates as a "lead user." But in some fields, it is not hard to spot the people whose need to lower costs or enhance performance is particularly great.

"The Disney animators or Pixar animators are ahead on video editing tools from the ordinary consumer," Professor von Hippel said. "Yet we know the stuff that these guys develop now ends up migrating downstream to the general people over time."

To get people exactly what they want, user innovation suggests an alternative to mass customization, the manufacturing process that seeks to tailor products to specific users while maintaining the economies of large-scale production. Mass customization generally entails mixing and matching pre-specified components, which significantly limits its flexibility.

When you order a Dell computer, for instance, "you can slot in any disk drive you want, but it's still a disk drive," Professor von Hippel said. Truly flexible manufacturing technologies, he suggested, would work more like photocopiers, which do not limit what sort of images they can reproduce.

The model is custom semiconductor design and manufacturing.

"For digital components, you can design anything you want, whether it's artificial life or a dishwasher controller, and just like you print characters on a piece of paper, you can print your design," he said. Users can design and test whatever they need and turn the design over to the chip maker's flexible manufacturing technology.

Custom chips are possible because chip makers, beginning with LSI in the early 1980's, developed "tool kits" that let customers design their own solutions without mastering the manufacturer's technical knowledge. That is a model other industries could follow, Professor von Hippel suggested.

In the book, for instance, he discusses the problems of creating recipes for restaurant chains. Traditionally, the restaurant chefs use regular kitchen ingredients to develop new recipes. For mass production, those recipes have to be translated into factory ingredients and processes, which do not have the same tastes and textures. To reproduce a new dish, then, food processors have to work from a chef's sample but reinvent the recipe. Getting the right formula often requires many iterations.

To help chefs create the final recipes themselves, Ernie Gum, director of food product development for the Nestlé FoodServices division of Nestlé USA, developed what Professor von Hippel called a "tool kit" of preprocessed food ingredients identical to those actually used in the factory - for example, a chili purée processed on industrial equipment. In field testing, Professor von Hippel found, the tool kit cut the time to develop new foods from 26 weeks to only 3.

Tool kits speed innovation by letting users and manufacturers apply their own specific knowledge. With a tool kit, the customer can turn a poorly articulated wish into a well- specified plan. "I can say," Professor von Hippel said, " 'I'll design my wish and then you make it.' "
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/21/business/21scene.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lifting your email address from someone else

File-Sharers Facing Spam Attacks
Mark Ward

Research has revealed that peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are proving a lucrative hunting ground for spammers.

Start-up Blue Security has found that junk mailers are actively harvesting and spamming e-mail addresses they find on file-sharing networks.

The address books they are exploiting are inadvertently being shared on the peer-to-peer networks by novice users.

The company warns that addresses stolen this way could be used to avoid filters set up to stop spam getting through.

Lurking danger

File-sharing networks such as Kazaa, Edonkey and Gnutella are proving very popular with folk keen to share their music and movie collections.

But Blue Security has found that they are proving very popular with spammers because they are a great source of live e-mail addresses and contact lists.

Eran Reshef, founder and chief executive of Blue Security, said spammers' liking for P2P was brought to light by research staff looking at the ways junk
mail reaches users.

Blue Security is working on a Do-Not-Disturb registry for e-mail that would work in a similar way to the Do-Not-Call registries for phone owners.

Mr Reshef said many naïve users of file-sharing systems had set their PCs to share almost any file on their hard drive which let anyone else on the network get at it.

"Spammers are sitting on P2P networks and basically lurking there waiting for novice users to accidentally share their addresses," said Mr Reshef.

Spammers are using the search tools built in to file-sharing systems to find archive files of popular e-mail programs such as Outlook or simply files that contain mail addresses.

"It's not a special technology or anything else," said Mr Reshef, "its just a clever use of the existing tools."

Some of the address books that can be found in file-sharing networks were huge, said Mr Reshef, suggesting that they contain all the addresses to which users have ever sent messages.

"It could contain your entire life," said Mr Reshef. "The fact that people are sharing this is quite amazing."

Anyone trawling peer-to-peer systems for the archive files or documents containing addresses could quite easily harvest tens of thousands of active e- mail addresses, said Mr Reshef.

Examples of address books found by Blue Security on P2P systems include a list of professors at a university, an address list of pro-gay marriage supporters and an internet store's complete customer list.

Test case

To see if spammers had noticed that address books were available, Blue Security created 500 fake accounts that shared address books via the Gnutella and edonkey networks.

Within three days all the files containing addresses had been downloaded, on average, 25 times each. More than 700 spam e-mail messages had also been sent to the addresses listed in the files.

Mr Reshef said the spam came from many different sources suggesting that the addresses had been traded among spam groups.

What is especially useful about e-mail addresses harvested in this way, said Mr Reshef, was the contextual information that archive files provide.

Using this spammers could work out who knows whom and fake who an e-mail is coming from to make it look legitimate. In this way, said Mr Reshef, spammers could defeat block lists.

"They could make spam look like it's coming from a friend so the white lists treat it as a safe sender," he said.

While users can change settings to stop sharing e-mail archive files this may not be enough to protect them.

"It's not like a virus where you can do something to protect yourself," said Mr Reshef, "it's about someone else exposing your e-mail address."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4466509.stm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pancreatic Cancer Latest Target in Peer to Peer Computer Campaign
Press Release

OXFORD, England & PHOENIX & BETHESDA, Md.--Cancer researchers running the world's second largest virtual supercomputer announced today that their vast Peer-to-Peer Network has turned its attention to fighting pancreatic cancer. In a joint statement, with the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), Dr. Graham Richards, Chairman of the Oxford University Chemistry Department and Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, Director of the NFCR Center for Targeted Cancer Therapies at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, announced the new collaborative research project that will target developing cancer drugs to fight one of the world's most deadly cancer types, pancreatic cancer.

The Screensaver-LifeSaver project (www.NFCR.org) directed by Dr. Richards, also announced that the program has now connected over 3

million computer users from more than 200 countries. These computer users now donate more than 10,000 hours of volunteer computer time to cancer research each month. The project is powered by Peer-to-Peer technology provided by United Devices and in silico simulation software from Accelrys.

Targeting Pancreatic Cancer

Through NFCR's collaborative international network of "Laboratories without Walls", pancreatic researchers will work with several newly identified protein targets related to the development of pancreatic cancer. These targets, Aurora A Kinase, Aurora B Kinase, PRL-1 Phosphatase, and Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator (uPA), have been recently confirmed to be involved in the progression and invasion of pancreatic cancer and other types of cancers. The target will be screened against more than 3.5 million drug-like molecules as potential drug candidates.

"The success of our cancer research program based on the computational drug design program has been very encouraging to this point. Over 10% of our hits in a pilot study are genuine drug target candidates, much better than the pharmaceutical industry expected," said Dr. Richards.

In 2005, an estimated 32,000 individuals in the United States alone will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As the fourth leading cause of death from cancer in the US, pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all types of malignancies, with the 1-year relative survival rate of only 24% and the 5-year survival rate of about 4%. "The process for pancreatic cancer drug development must be accelerated to save patients' lives," said Dr. Von Hoff. "This Lifesaver-Screensaver project targeting pancreatic cancer will work to speed the drug development process by at least 3 years, hopefully more."

"We are very proud that NFCR is able to facilitate this very potentially very significant collaboration program and provide the collaboration funding for this project against pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Sujuan Ba, Science Director for the NFCR.

How it Works

Individuals interested in participating can download the free screen saver at www.NFCR.org and click on the download screensaver button. The screen saver will run in the background on a user's computer while the computer is idle and when connected to an internet connection, the user's computer will download a target molecule and run the program against a database of molecules. When finished, the computer will then upload the results back to the central servers and download a new assignment.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...&newsLang =en


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tariffs On Tunes: Copyright Collectives Want A Big Cut Of Music Download Services' Revenues
Michael Geist

The Canadian Recording Industry Association's (CRIA) legal campaign against music file sharing heads back to court today as a three-judge panel continues its appellate hearing of last spring's decision that denied a request for identifying information on 29 alleged file sharers due to insufficient evidence, privacy concerns, and doubts about proof of infringement under Canadian copyright law. CRIA is again arguing that peer- to-peer file sharing hurts Canadian artists and the industry, which at long last is seeking to develop fee-based alternatives such as Apple iTunes, Napster, and Puretracks.

Despite all the rhetoric, there remains much doubt about whether peer-to-peer is really responsible for declining sales. The industry's own numbers suggest otherwise since the popularity of DVDs, changes in the retail distribution of music, and reduced retail pricing on CDs have all played significant roles in the industry's self-proclaimed woes (which themselves are not so woeful with sales increasing by more than 10 per cent in the six months following the federal court decision last year).

Moreover, there is little doubt that Canadian artists' royalty losses have been offset by the private copying levy system. The Canadian Private Copying Collective has collected approximately $120 million over the past five years with much of that revenue earmarked for Canadian artists.

While CRIA has argued that the private copying levy was not intended to cover music downloading, those claims ring hollow in light of recent statements and collection practices. Last month, the industry acknowledged to the U.S. Supreme Court that users have the right to copy their CDs in order to listen to the same songs on devices such as the Apple iPod. Given that $30 million was collected from Canadians last year, it must surely have been paid for something other than activities already permitted under the law.

In fact, the real threat to fee-based alternatives in Canada does not come from the peer-to-peer systems. Rather, Canada's copyright collectives are poised to kill the nascent industry by demanding the creation of a new iTunes tariff that would require music download services to surrender at least 40 percent of their revenues to the collectives.

The Society of Music Composers, Authors, and Publishers (SOCAN) recently filed a revised Tariff 22 proposal that directly targets music download and streaming sites. SOCAN had previously focused Tariff 22 on Internet service providers. That led to a lengthy legal battle that culminated last year with the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling that ISPs should be treated like common carriers who rarely face liability for the transmission of data on their networks.

In search of a new deep pocket, SOCAN has reformulated Tariff 22 by targeting websites that communicate music to the public. The largest tariff -- an astonishing 25 percent of gross revenue -- is reserved for sites or services that permit users to select, listen to, or reproduce music for later listening (ie. music download services). By comparison, the top SOCAN tariff for commercial radio stations in Canada is currently 3.2 per cent of gross revenue.

SOCAN's proposal does not stop with music download services. The new Tariff 22 also calls for a tariff of 15 per cent of gross revenues from both audio webcast sites that feature content similar to conventional radio stations as well as from established radio stations that webcast their signal. Moreover, gaming sites that communicate musical works as part of their games face a potential tariff of ten percent of gross revenues. In fact, to ensure that no one escapes Tariff 22, SOCAN envisions a tariff of 10 percent of gross revenues for all other sites that communicate music.

If this SOCAN proposal were not damaging enough, it does not stand alone. SODRAC, a Quebec-based collective, has teamed up with the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) to propose a pair of new tariffs to cover the reproduction rights associated with online music. The SODRAC/CMRRA proposals demand the greater of either 15 per cent of gross revenues or 10 cents per permanent download. Webcasters would also be hit with a minimum tariff of five per cent of gross revenues.

Incredibly, the 40 per cent of gross revenues envisioned by these tariffs may not cover all the rights associated with commercial music download services. It remains possible that other groups, including collectives representing music performers and producers, may come forward to demand their share of compensation by further cutting into online music services' revenues.

Although the tariff proposals are not final -- the Copyright Board of Canada will set the ultimate tariff after conducting hearings that are certain to attract fierce opposition -- the starting point for discussion is discouraging since this short-sighted cash grab fails to recognize that a smaller share of a larger pie may often be better than a large share of a small pie.

In the U.S., large collectives such as ASCAP and BMI have struck more reasonable deals for webcasting royalties. BMI expects to collect $400 U.S. in 2005 from each local radio station that webcasts its signal, while ASCAP has built the webcasting right into its existing over-the-air royalty structure.

The Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA) has pegged the value of the Canadian market for music downloads at $100 million. While the established players have negotiated agreements with the record labels, the future growth of the industry depends upon the development of an economically viable model. The true threat to that future does not come from peer-to-peer downloads that is already subject to compensation through the private copying levy, but rather from collectives that seem determined to receive a very large share of a very tiny market.
http://www.canada.com/technology/sto...9-dc55f3200216


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Piracy Cases Attempting To Keep Students From Sharing
Alex Fontana

First Napster was disabled by lawsuits, then Audiogalaxy.

Now Grokster, Streamcast and Kazaa are fighting a court case for copyright infringement.

MGM and 27 other large entertainment companies such as Sony, BMG and Universal have filed charges against the file-sharing programs for allowing their users to pirate intellectual material.

The MGM Studios vs. Grokster Ltd. suit has moved to the Supreme Court. The suit aims to grant corporations the power to sue any company whose programs are used for file-sharing as well as any person involved with pirating digital material, said Annalee Newitz, media spokesperson for Electronic Freedom Front.

Jessica Ray, a freshman from Hartsville, Tenn., said she does not believe the case will affect how much people download.

"People will still continue to download, especially college students who don't have the money to buy all the music they want," she said. "They will find ways around it."

Ray said availability is one reason why people download.

"Even with paid programs like iTunes, some songs are really hard to find and you have a better chance of finding them from someone else," she said.

Newitz said an MGM victory would make it much easier for entertainment corporations to file lawsuits against file-sharing programs in the future.

"They'll just sue them into the ground," she said.

Newitz said it would be very difficult to start peer-to-peer programs if the lawsuit is successful and corporations would start focusing on lawsuits rather than usual business matters.

She said a recent Intel press release stated if entertainment companies prevail in the lawsuit, they'll fire engineers and hire lawyers.

There would be a large increase in the amount of lawsuits entertainment corporations pursue, which could drain resources and time, Newitz said.

The corporations filing the suit want to hold peer-to-peer systems liable for the infringing activities of their users, she said. "Vicarious infringement" is not anonymous, and most peer-to-peer programs do not protect anonymity.

According to a Supreme Court report from Duke Law, the suit originated at the district level and was ruled in favor of Grokster. MGM appealed the suit to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and was ruled again in favor of Grokster. Now the case is at the Supreme Court and a ruling is still pending.

The court case will be decided in late June, said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America.
http://www.wkuherald.com/news/2005/0...g-932482.shtml


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starbucks Brewing Hits

Coffee chain gets behind Antigone Rising . . . is Dylan next?
Steve Knopper

The long island all-female band Antigone Rising had just performed three songs for Starbucks executives at their record label's New York offices. The Starbucks team huddled briefly, then offered to release an Antigone Rising CD exclusively at the coffee chain, which serves 33 million customers a week. It was a huge break for a hard- rock band that has sold just 20,000 albums on its own. But before signing, singer Kristen Henderson had a question for the Starbucks execs. "I asked, If they were at a Starbucks, would they know how to go behind the counter and make the coffee themselves?" she says. "They said they would. That was reason enough. I liked these guys. It was really important to us that it was, like, a grass-roots mentality."

Starbucks, which jumped into the music business last year, selling 700,000 copies of Ray Charles' multiplatinum, Grammy-winning swan song, Genius Loves Company, has the rare corporate ability to seem small and grass-roots while earning $5.6 billion in yearly revenue. With CD sales slumping in the last four years and record stores losing customers to file- sharing and video games, Starbucks is an unusual retail success story. It sold 65,000 copies of Tina Turner's All the Best, helping it debut at Number Two on the charts; installed burn-your- own-CD "media bars" at forty-five stores; put out a Joni Mitchell collection with the reclusive singer-songwriter's cooperation; and plans a new release by jazzman Herbie Hancock this fall.

The biggest project may be yet to come. Although Starbucks officials won't comment on upcoming releases, sources say Bob Dylan and Sony Music are in talks with the chain to exclusively put out The Gaslight Tapes, a series of 1962 solo shows at New York's Gaslight Cafe that collectors and bootleggers have cherished for decades.

Antigone Rising, who will release a Starbucks-only unplugged album on May 11th, before the electric version is due in record stores next fall, is the chain's first attempt at breaking a new, largely unheard artist. "When we talk to adult consumers, they say, 'It's difficult for me to find out about new music, and when I do hear about a new record I'm interested in, I find it difficult to get,'" says Don MacKinnon, vice president of music and entertainment for Starbucks, who co-founded a national mail-order catalog, Hear Music, and sold it to Starbucks in 1999 for $8 million. "This is about building trust in that consumer and delivering conveniently."

For Antigone Rising's Henderson, Starbucks is a great marketing opportunity in a world where The O.C., TV commercials and Internet downloads can break artists almost as well as radio and MTV. "Our records will be front and center," she says. "We couldn't find the negative."
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...player=unknown


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April 24, 2005: Boycott Week!

The entertainment industry is using its various alphabet enforcement organizations to try to terrorize 'consumers' into buying 'product'.

But Emma over in Sweden has had it up to there and wants the last seven days in April, 2005, to be a boycott week that’ll show the entertainment industry just how much it stands to lose if its ex-, existing and potential customers decide they, too, had enough.

The multi-billion-dollar Big Seven movie studios and Big Four record label cartel say they're being "devastated" by people sharing files on p2p networks. Files shared represent sales lost, they claim, and to protect their interests, must sue the file sharers.

They've never been able to prove or demonstrate that a shared music or movie file equals a lost sale.

The music cartel tried to sue customers into submission. But its legal war is an abject failure, as has been proven over and over again by a range of academic and commercial statistical studies and evaluations..

So far, it's hammered more than 7,700 ordinary men and women and their children, using its RIAA (Recording
Industry Association of America) enforcement unit as the anvil.

The second ’A’ in RIAA stands for ‘America,’ and yet only one of its four owners, Warner Music Group, is American. The other companies suing US citizens are based in France (Universal Music Group), Japan and Germany (Sony BMG Music Entertainment) and Britain (the EMI Group).

And not one of the ‘file sharing’ cases has ever been heard in a civil court because the people being sued simply don’t have the resources to stand up to the Big Four with their tremendous political clout, limitless financial resources and endless legions of expert lawyers.

Instead, victims are forced to make private settlements, well out of the glare of public scrutiny.

And Big Music’s purpose has been served. It’s been able to criminalize file sharing and file sharers, and to give the

entirely erroneous impression that it’s successfully prosecuted thousands of ‘criminals’ for the heinous crime of sharing music online.

The fact that most of the movie studio and record label problems would be radically diminished if they'd accept the reality that they're operating in a digital universe and should be using p2p and p2p technologies not only stay afloat, but to prosper, is ignored.

In the meanwhile, the real criminals – the international counterfeiters and duplicators – grow rich.

Now the studios' MPAA is (Motion Picture Association of America) is following the RIAA's lead, choosing

BitTorrent servers as the immediate targets.

But, "I got pissed off," Emma emailed us. "Why not try to do something?

And why not? After all, the internet IS p2p – peer-to-peer.

Before the Net, the only way we could make our views known was to march in the streets, send letters to the editor, and so on. But this kind of protest didn't achieve much, unless it was picked up by the media. And even then it didn't last.

Today, however, WE are the media. And because of p2p - the Net, in other words - we completely by-pass the newspapers, magazine, radio and tv stations which used to control what we saw, read and heard.

Music and movies are only the tiny tip of the p2p iceberg, but they demonstrate that previously untouchable corporate entities with unlimited resources are now touchable.

Very.

That’s why they're panicking.

Emma ...

"I'm emma, admin on a couple of bittorent sites and completely into bittorrent," Emma told us.

"As of late, the bittorrent sites has been biting the dust like flies. Mind you, not ONLY because of legal threats, some actually has quit working on their sites because they need to reclaim their lives and others are just waiting for this whole thing to blow over.

“Anyways, I got pissed off, and figures - Why not try to do something? Most of us are actually consumers, and it's kinda sad that the powers-that-be doesn't recognize that fact, so I wrote the letter, that is on the front page on P2P, and asked people on Filesoup.com if they thought we should do something instead of whinging about it.

"And well - they tended to agree with me, so here we are. First week - ideas flying, and there are loads of things
that I need to do. Like authoring some sort of goals/agenda thing, and spread the word and catch people that might be interested from other P2P venues, like edonkey and different DC hubs and so on.

“So basically, it's all been rather tentatively started up, but more an more people joining in, and all eager to help out.”

Emma's P2PUnite web page has this to say.

"As of late the MPAA's and RIAA's of the world are claiming that we are robbing them of their rightly earned money and are trying to find ways to legally put and end to it," says Emma on her new . "The scare tactics have been fruitful, it would seem as they keep getting settlements out of court and probably make a profit out of it.

"This campaign of theirs, of course, isn't to target and eradicate filesharing as much as an attempt to control the market and where our money goes. Most of us feel that they should very well look into availability and affordable prices instead of claiming higher moral ground. The wealthiest nowadays decide what we shall listen to and watch, using staggering PR campaigns, and most releases are 'format' productions, where talent and creativity comes second only to business concept and money."

Bill Evans was one of the first to suggest that boycotts might be the only way to halt Big Music in its tracks. He started the original, and seminal, Boycott-RIAA.com. Unfortunately, he and its new owners couldn’t agree he’s no longer associated with it.

However, his ideas were sound and Emma wants everyone who's shared a file, "downloaded something from online or think that the prices are outrageous in general" to send a message.

But, "This is not to be confused as go pirate everything you can find as the production companies are common robbers," she emphasises.

Rather, it's a way, "to show that we are indeed supporting them already, so stop fighting us!"

"Spread the word everywhere you can think of," she adds on her web page.
http://p2pnet.net/story/4610


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Report: Fans Increasingly Download Pirated TV Shows
Wendy Davis

ALTHOUGH THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY HAS attempted to crack down on downloads of pirated content, consumers continue to obtain music, movies and television shows from peer-to-peer networks. And, at least in the case of video content, consumers' use of peer-to-peer has recently increased, according to a report released Wednesday by media services firm Magna Global. "Video trading over peer-to-peer networks is today where the music industry was in 1999," said report author Brian Wieser, vice-president, director of industry analysis at Magna Global. "It's growing and should continue to grow at a fairly rapid clip."

For instance, downloads of the television show "24" on BitTorrent networks nearly tripled from an average of 35,000 per episode in the 2003-2004 season to 95,000 for the 2004-2005 season. The report attributes those figures to research from Envisional, a UK-based peer-to- peer traffic monitoring company.

The 10 most popular pirated TV downloads worldwide are: "24," "Stargate Atlantis," "The Simpsons," "Enterprise," "Stargate SG-1," "The O.C.," "Smallville," "Desperate Housewives," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Lost," according to a February survey by Envisional, cited in the report. Much of the downloading occurs overseas, especially in the English-language United Kingdom, where shows aren't usually broadcast until months after they've aired in the United States.

Often, television shows available on peer-to-peer networks are stripped of commercials. But, said Wieser, the growing popularity of peer-to-peer networks need not be completely bad news for marketers. Instead, he suggests, advertisers might be able to find ways to reach consumers who use file-sharing networks. One possibility, stated the report, is to spread branded entertainment, virally, throughout the networks. Marketers might also distribute individual songs or videos and, at the end, ask consumers to visit a Web site. Wieser also suggested that marketers consider releasing classic commercials in networks for free distribution.

The report also criticizes the entertainment industry for the "defense"- oriented stance it has so far taken. "Decoy copies of programs are placed online to frustrate would-be pirates (otherwise known as 'fans') and lawsuits such as the one against Grokster and its peers have been launched," stated the report. "We believe these tactics can at best delay the inevitable."
http://publications.mediapost.com/in...rt_aid=29 413


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DualDiscs May Bolster Record Sales
Taiowa Berman Waner

It is common knowledge that the music industry has been in trouble since the first days of peer-to-peer file sharing, and the signing of massive amounts of untalented bands.

Napster was the first and most popular peer-to-peer program, with millions of people relying on it for their daily music fix.

The music industry saw peer-to-peer file sharing as a major problem, even though, according to Wired News, CD sales were increasing between 1999 and 2000.

Eventually, the combined efforts of the Recording Industry Association of America, and the rock group Metallica shut down Napster.

After that, there was a short drought of peer-to-peer file sharing programs, but soon there was another deluge of these types of programs, and once again the RIAA was up in arms.

Between 2000 and 2001, CD sales fell 10 percent. The RIAA quickly blamed peer-to-peer sharing, not realizing that raising the average price of a CD might hurt sales, according to Wired News.

This pattern continues to the present day. However, labels now think that they might have an answer to illegal downloading and shrinking sales, CD-DVD DualDiscs.

The music industry hopes that DualDiscs, as well as the increasingly popular choice of buying music in MP3 form, such as with Apple?s wildly popular iTunes, will help curb 'illegal downloading' of MP3s.

DualDiscs have a conventional CD on one side and a DVD on the other.

A DualDisc is usually between $1 and $5 more than a traditional CD, but the music industry argues that the additional content is well worth the additional price.

In a USA Today interview, Brian Garrity, a business writer at Billboard magazine said, "The industry is very much trying to add value to the CD."

"We're basically operating in a time where physical-product music has been substantially devalued," said Garrity.

The DVD side of the disc is the equivalent of movies on a regular DVD complete with its bonus content. That visual half of the DualDisc offers every artist a chance to contribute their own personal touch to every consumer's experience, whether it is studio footage, tour footage, music videos or commentary.

Some analysts believe that the DualDisc package has helped sales.

The "punk" band Simple Plan has sold around a million copies of their DualDisc album 'Still Not Getting Any' which, according to a USA Today article, is due in part to included video footage.

If Simple Plan can sell a million records DualDiscs could be the reason. That, or a lack of talented musicians has left the masses with no other options.

If the music industry really wants to sell more CDs, I have a recommendation: Better Artists!

Stop signing every crappy "pop/punk/emo" band that you think you will be able to convince people they enjoy listening to and start looking for Talent!

In my opinion, people don't buy CDs because, on average, there are only two or three good/ marketable songs on them. Find artists that can create a CD full of Good Music, not marketable music.

If a band can make a Good CD then people will buy it. Look at bands like Green Day; their rock-opera 'American Idiot' has been on the Billboard best-seller list since its debut. Why?

Talent and Quality.

Whether these two-sided shiny pieces of plastic are the catalyst that the industry is looking for to jump start flatlining sales is only a question time can answer.

But I believe the answer is not adding onto the music, its making Better Music.

Leave the untalented bands in the garage where they belong.
http://oracle.newpaltz.edu/article.cfm?id=1846


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vigilante Worm Attacks Music-Sharers
Jack Kapica

Someone out there appears to agree with the music industry on the issue of copyright "piracy" — the vigilante has created a virus that wipes MP3 files from infected computers.

Technically a computer worm, the virus, called Nopir-B, appears to have been written by a French hacker, says the London-based security company Sophos Labs, which found it in the wild late yesterday.

Nopir-B spreads along peer-to-peer file-sharing systems posing as a program to make copies of commercial DVDs. If opened, it displays an anti-piracy graphic, and attempts to delete all MP3 music files, disable various system utilities, and wipe other programs on the infected computer.

"The Nopir-B worm is designed to inflict malicious damage on people's Windows computers and targets those who may be involved in piracy, however the worm fails to decipher between the true pirates and those who may have obtained MP3 files legally," Sophos security analyst Gregg Mastoras said in a statement.

When the U.S. recording industry started launching lawsuits against file-sharers a few years ago, a spokesman for the industry suggested it would consider creating a virus that would do much the same thing, but the Canadian industry quickly distanced itself from the vigilante and the worm.

"I can tell you categorically that [the Canadian Recording Industry Association] and its members have absolutely nothing to do with this, and to my knowledge the record industry worldwide has absolutely nothing to do with it," said CRIA legal counsel Richard Pfohl.

Mr. Pfohl said the appearance of the worm emphasizes the need for people to acquire music and other intellectual property through legitimate services. Peer-to-peer networks are among the greatest disseminators of computer viruses and violate privacy (including identity theft), and expose people to child pornography. They are also culled for e-mail addresses by spammers.

"I'm surprised that none of the purported Internet public-interest groups ... has warned consumers about the multitude of dangers from P2P services," Mr. Pfohl added. "They claim to be concerned about Internet privacy, spam and other threats to Internet users, but apparently they don't believe such a warning is in the public interest."

The ultra-fast Internet2 network that connects universities researching the next- generation Internet has become popular among college students who download music and movies on peer-to-peer networks. This month in the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry trade group, filed federal lawsuits against more than 400 students at 18 colleges with access to the Internet2 network.

Also this week, the Canadian Recording Industry Association appeared in an appeals court in Toronto asking it to overturn a federal decision last year that declared Internet service providers should not be forced to hand over alleged infringers' real names based on an IP address that made hundreds of music files available on peer-to-peer networks Kazaa and IMesh.

Last month, a Canadian man lost his job after it was found he had leaked the first episode of the eagerly anticipated BBC science fiction series Doctor Who onto the Internet three weeks before its official broadcast.

"The entertainment industry has taken piracy quite seriously for some time now especially as technology and the Internet has made sharing copyrighted songs and films far more easier," Mr. Mastoras said.

"We are likely to see more vigilante-type worms in the future."

Sophos reported that it has not seen a great number of reports about the worm, meaning it is not a great threat at this point. The company recommends that computer users update their antivirus software to prevent it from spreading.

Viruses that can zap MP3 files are rare, but not new. The Klez-F worm, widespread in 2002, overwrote MP3 files on certain days of the month. The Scrambler worm made MP3 files sound like a scratched record, while the Mylife-G worm overwrote MP3 files with the words "my lIfE."

But none of these worms has appeared on file-sharing networks, as has Nopir.

Nopir affects only those computers running the Windows operating system. When run, it displays an anti-piracy image on the screen, which shows a message from "The French Hacker" superimposed on a French flag, and then proceeds to delete all .COM and MP3 files from the computer.

The worm will also disable Task Manager, registry tools, and access to the control panel, and check for debuggers, which it will attempt to disable.

Nopir copies itself to the Projects Visual Studio.NET directory under a random name, and changes a number of registry keys.
http://www.globetechnology.com/servl...ry/Technology/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lack Of Guilt Over Illegal File-Sharing Ensures The Failure Of RIAA Lawsuits
Robin Averbeck and Marianne Madden

Even with the specter of Recording Industry Association of America lawsuits looming over their glowing computer screens, illegal file-sharers continue to operate gleefully and generally free of guilt. Our generation is the first to be reared on the Internet, and we operate according to a double standard and a questionable ethical code: Shoplifting CDs from a store is abhorrent; downloading the same albums for free on i2hub is a fun afternoon. Why, when all other social norms of “do not steal” are understood and observed, does this maxim fly out the window when we get in front of our computers?

The technology of the Internet burst upon the scene when we were coming of age, lacking a guidebook and spreading like wildfire while our identities and morals were still developing. Without a road map or rules, parents had no idea how to handle this new tool, or even what it was, while our generation took to the technology like fish to water. Becoming computer savvy is similar to learning a language: Those who start out at an early age seem to catch on more quickly. Hence, the college students now being served subpoenas by the RIAA were mere middle-schoolers when they first learned the magic of the Internet, and they learned it before their parents or any other authority figure dispensed the moral do’s and don’ts of cyberspace.

So, we made up rules on our own — and we decided that downloading illegal copies of music and movies definitely does not count as an ethical trespass, or if it does, it is a minor one that is made less severe by the perceived transgressions of the music industry: inflated CD prices, homogeneous and subpar offerings, and so forth. Unfortunately, the RIAA — spurred by its own moral codes, or merely the bottom line — vehemently disagrees.

Many of us expect the music industry to adapt to our addiction to free music, or we revel in the idea of spoiled pop stars getting ripped off. At the very least, we operate blissfully unaware of the possible consequences of denying the music industry our dollars. A UCSD student the Guardian interviewed, likely facing an RIAA lawsuit, said the lawsuit has made him stop downloading music, but he “didn’t really feel bad” when he did it.

“If I was downloading music from Jay-Z and I saw he was having a rough year then I’d feel bad, but most of the artists I download I don’t see doing badly,” the student said.

Another student currently assigned to an IP address listed in the recent lawsuit told us, “I’m getting in trouble for having a Janet Jackson song and Usher. Usher is walking around with my college tuition on his wrist!”

Clearly, the music industry has yet to convince this generation that downloading music is significantly harming the profits of individual artists. How, in a world where VH1 and MTV lineups are stacked full of shows documenting the excesses of celebrity lifestyles — with an emphasis on female pop starlets, hip-hop artists and their entourages, all laden with bling bling — could we ever buy the argument that students are forcing musical artists out of house and home? Another UCSD ex-downloader expecting prosecution described herself as “scared shitless” about the lawsuit, but described the music lawsuits as “a lost cause that they’re stressing too much over. … I feel like people are still going to buy CDs. … There’s no way the music industry is going to go kaput.”

She speaks for a generation of American college students, and anecdotal evidence supports the assertion that downloading may be taking a small slice out of CD purchases, but not obliterating them. Whatever the economic reality, the RIAA is perceived as a greedy bully, not as a legitimate victim of stealing.

The RIAA started a suing spree two years ago that has continued with settlement after settlement — leading many to conclude that the RIAA is draining downloaders’ pockets and lining their own to compensate for a small loss from illegal file-sharing.

Although the average suit from the RIAA is settled out of court for $3,000 or so, the fines can run into the hundreds of thousands, and such financial consequences contribute to the ethos of downloading as rebellion against corporate America. Yet such a justification provides little comfort when the fat cats come knocking on your door — exactly the situation faced by the 25 UCSD students being hunted by the RIAA after using i2hub. Yet guilt and remorse are not all several of these students say they are feeling as they await court documents. Instead, they feel victimized and unfairly targeted, but resigned to their fates.

One target for a subpoena said, “I don’t think [facing a lawsuit] is fair at all. It’s kind of sad that I’d like to see more people get punished for it. It’s such a small number. Only 25 students — come on! That’s not even an elementary school classroom. ... It’s like you have three murderers and you only convict one.”

Clearly, the die has been cast. Whatever conditions that would have created a sense of ethical boundaries on the Internet community have been lost, and it’s too late to create them. Or maybe our scruples are simply superseded by the ease of downloading music, even when facing a slim chance of being caught and paying a heavy price.

What’s certain is that this generation of prosecuted file-sharers — and the droves of unprosecuted ones hiding in the shadows — spare no sympathy for musical artists and especially the RIAA. While it seems most students targeted for lawsuits at UCSD will stop sharing files online and warn their friends to do the same, it still remains to be seen whether RIAA lawsuits, or even more extreme measures, will wipe out file-sharing altogether. If history holds, several new peer-to-peer networks will spring up to replace any that are eradicated, bolstered by hordes of downloaders fueled by the convenience of file-sharing and bitterness toward the music industry and the tactics used by the RIAA.
http://www.ucsdguardian.org/cgi-bin/..._2005_04_21_01
















Until next week,

- js.














~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Current Week In Review.





Recent WiRs -

April16th, April 9th, April 2nd, March 26th, March 19th, March 12th

Jack Spratt's Week In Review is published every Friday. Please submit letters, articles, and press releases in plain text English to jackspratts (at) lycos (dot) com. Include contact info. Submission deadlines are Wednesdays @ 1700 UTC.


"The First Amendment rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public." - Hugo Black