The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

Oracle begins Linux partnership plan
Oracle is welcoming third-party software companies into the Linux fold, offering money for development and promotion to those with products that augment the database giant's efforts to back the Unix-like operating system. Oracle sells database software as well as higher-level programs for tasks such as tracking customers or keeping financial records. But software from the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company also is used in conjunction with other companies' programs. It is those companies Oracle is seeking to woo into the Linux camp, the company said Wednesday.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-994191.html?tag=nl

Wireless carriers in sync on 911 tech
Three U.S. wireless carriers are now stepping in unison with their technology strategy to meet a federal mandate requiring them to be able to locate cell phones that dial 9-1-1, newly filed federal records show. This week T-Mobile, the last of the wireless carriers planning to use CPS's Enhanced Observed Time Difference (EOTD) software, decided to switch to another technology. AT&T Wireless switched late last year, and Cingular Wireless made the change earlier this year. The Federal Communications Commission has required all U.S. carriers to meet a 2005 deadline giving emergency call centers the ability to locate 95 percent of all handsets dialing 9-1-1 within 50 meters (about 50 yards). The carriers also planned to sell new "Friend Finder" or other commercial services using the technology to help earn back some of the costs required to build the system.
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-994224.html?tag=fd_top

Fighting spam for a good cause
Two IBM researchers are proposing a new method of fighting spam that would force unfamiliar senders to donate to charity if they want to reach you. Under the proposal, concocted by IBM researchers Scott Fahlman and Mark Wegman, e-mail senders who haven't been cleared by a recipient would receive a message that their mail did not go through. They would then be instructed that they could reach the intended recipient if they were to pay a third-party site a few cents for a "charity stamp." The money paid to the third-party site, which could range from a penny to a quarter, would be donated to a charity of the sender's choice. E-mail bearing the charity stamp could then reach the recipient.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-994220.html?tag=fd_top

Bush order covers Internet secrets
President George W. Bush has signed an executive order that explicitly gives the government the power to classify information about critical infrastructures such as the Internet. Bush late Tuesday changed the definition of what the government may classify as confidential, secret and top-secret to include details about "infrastructures" and weapons of mass destruction. The new executive order also makes clear that information related to "defense against transnational terrorism" is classifiable. In his executive order, which replaces a 1995 directive signed by President Bill Clinton, Bush said that information that already had been declassified and released to the public could be reclassified by a federal agency. Clinton's order said that "information may not be reclassified after it has been declassified and released to the public."
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-994216.html?tag=fd_top

Use misleading domain name, go to jail?
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on a proposal that would criminalize using misleading domain names to lure unsuspecting people to sex sites. Under the proposal, a last-minute amendment to an unrelated child abduction bill, people who knowingly use an innocent-sounding domain name to drive traffic to a sexually explicit Web site could be fined and imprisoned for two to four years. An example of an innocuous-sounding domain name with pornographic content is WhiteHouse.com, which is not sponsored by the Bush administration. A second amendment that is scheduled for a floor vote at the same time renews Congress' campaign to outlaw "morphed" or virtual child pornography. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court slapped down Congress' first attempt to ban nude images of computer-generated minors and underage teens, saying the 1996 law violated the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-994201.html?tag=fd_top

Senator calls for copy-protection tags
Software, music and movies that employ copy-protection schemes must be prominently labeled with consumer warnings, according to a bill introduced in Congress this week. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would grant the Federal Trade Commission the power to establish labeling methods for technology that limits the ability of consumers to freely copy, distribute or back up digital content. "While digital media companies are racing to develop technologies to combat piracy, some of these antipiracy measures could have the effect of restricting lawful, legitimate consumer uses as well as unlawful copying," Wyden said in a statement. "My bill says that if digital content is released in a form that prevents or limits reasonable consumer use, consumers have a right to be told in advance."
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-994176.html?tag=fd_top

Music and the Net: Take two
It's not the easiest time to be selling music the old-fashioned way. For all the record labels' complaints about online piracy, it's the traditional record stores that have borne the brunt of falling music sales. Even a retailing stalwart like Wherehouse has declared bankruptcy, while the likes of Tower Records is skating on the edge of insolvency. But Pamela Horovitz, president of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), sees light at the end of what has seemed to be an ever-lengthening tunnel. The next year, she says, just might be the one where offline retailers figure out their role in the digital world. Horovitz is not given to unreasonably optimistic pronouncements about the Internet's effect on retailers' business.
http://news.com.com/2008-1082-994096.html?tag=fd_nc_1

'Social software' effectively combines the best of real and virtual worlds
The smaller the group, the more immediate value in the relationship. That's one notion behind an emerging phenomenon called "social software,'' products that help groups work with each other more effectively. At the annual PC Forum conference in suburban Phoenix this week, we got a glimpse of what Clay Shirky, an acute observer of the technology scene, called the latest in "lightweight, bottom-up and Internet-enabled'' tools. I've had an early look at several such products, several of which I'll highlight here. Look for more in my weblog in coming weeks and months.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...ey/5485737.htm

Comcast Bundles TV, Internet to Keep Customers
Like millions of consumers, Nancy Levine is eager to take advantage of a special deal, but to her, Comcast Corp.'s latest promotion seems more like a shakedown than a marketing campaign. The Berkeley, Calif., writer subscribes to Comcast's high-speed Internet service but relies on a satellite company for television programming. Last month, Levine received a letter informing her that her monthly fee for Internet service would jump from $42.95 to $56.95 unless she signed up for cable television as well. "It feels like extortion to me," Levine said, noting that she has little choice but to pay the higher price for Internet service because she recently signed a one-year contract with Dish Network for television service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Mar25.html

Swedes nab Ganda worm suspect
Swedish police have detained a man suspected of writing the Ganda worm, which played on public interest in the current Iraq war to spread a dangerous payload. The worm did not spread to many computers when it appeared last week, but attracted attention because of the gimmick it used to trick readers into launching the attachment, promising "pictures taken by one of the U.S. spy satellites during one of its missions over Iraq" and other war-related files. However, the worm's code also contained an unsubtle message that police said helped them track down their suspect: "Coded by Uncle Roger in Haernoesand, Sweden, 03.03. I am being discriminated by the Swedish school system. This is a response to eight long years of discrimination. I support animal-liberators worldwide."
http://news.com.com/2100-1002-994148.html?tag=cd_mh

Movielink to feature more content
Movielink, the fledgling online movie site backed by five major film studios, said Wednesday it will expand its content to include independent films and will mount a new marketing effort. The company has struck a deal with independent film company Artisan Entertainment, which was behind "The Blair Witch Project," Movielink CEO Jim Ramo said. Movielink will also begin offering short films and other fare from other independent companies to bolster its catalog of movies available for download. To boost visibility among consumers, it plans to launch a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign mostly on the Web. Ramo did not specify how much it will spend on marketing. Financial details of the Artisan pact also were not disclosed.
http://news.com.com/2100-1024-994142.html?tag=cd_mh

Spam law a matter of fax?
Like a growing number of people fed up with annoying online marketing pitches, Mark Reinertson decided to take his grievances to court. And like many other antispam activists, he brought his case before a small-claims judge and eventually won a ruling against the defendant, in this case Sears Roebuck, which was ordered to pay $539 in damages last month. If Reinertson's case was in many ways typical of a growing number of antispam suits heading into the courts these days, it was also different in one important respect: While such cases usually take advantage of a patchwork of state antispam legislation, Reinertson filed suit instead under a federal statute banning junk faxes.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-994076.html?tag=cd_mh

Face recognition gets lift, U.S. says
Spurred by two federal antiterrorism statutes, the Commerce Department has released a study showing that face-recognition technology is hitting its stride. The Face Recognition Vendor Test 2002 (FRVT 2002) looked at 10 companies' work on face recognition and said they had made "significant advances" on the state of the art. The team that produced the report included a slew of government agencies. Evaluators included scientists from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which issued the report; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Department's Counterdrug Technology Development Program Office.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-994111.html?tag=cd_mh

POW pictures spark Internet censorship debate
A Florida-based Web hosting company knocked a small news site offline after it posted controversial photos of captured American soldiers, stoking accusations that private firms are censoring free speech. For several hours on Tuesday, www.YellowTimes.org was dark, carrying the message "Account for domain YellowTimes.org has been suspended." Later in the day there was sporadic access. The move is stoking fears that, as more grisly images and accounts of war surface, independent news sites trying to establish a name for themselves will have to tone down their coverage so as not to alienate readers and the companies that keep their sites alive.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/i...nsorship_x.htm

[JackSpratts]

he's back: great news!

- js.

[multi]

DAILY PAPERS - yummy !

[RDixon]

Nice to see the news back.