The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[walktalker]

P2P hide-and-seek
A new technology, anointed by many tech-savvy computer users as an answer to file swapping's network traffic jams, is running into legal and practical problems as it breaks into the mainstream. Visitors to several of the most popular sites serving as hubs for BitTorrent file downloads last week found them gone, with explanatory messages variously citing legal threats from copyright holders, denial-of-service attacks and simple overloaded bandwidth. The phenomenon may prove a stumbling block to a technology that many in the online world have quickly adopted as the super-efficient answer to the kinds of slowdowns and download queues that are common with more popular services such as Kazaa or Morpheus. But the issues come as no surprise to the technology's creator, independent San Francisco programmer Bram Cohen, who says his work is badly designed for anyone who wants to trade copyrighted works without being identified.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5051...g=fd_lede1_hed

Microsoft reveals 'critical' flaw
Microsoft issued another passel of warnings about security holes Wednesday, including a "critical" flaw that affects most Windows PCs. The most serious of the flaws involves DirectX, a library of graphics and multimedia programming instructions used by most PC games, and could allow malicious users to run code of their choice on a vulnerable PC. The flaw is unusually widespread, affecting all versions of DirectX from version 5.2 to the current 9.0a running on all versions of Windows from Windows 98 through the new Windows Server 2003, according to the Microsoft bulletin. The flaw, which received Microsoft's highest severity rating, involves the way DirectX handles MIDI music files. A malformed MIDI file could overrun the buffer in DirectX, at which point extra software embedded in the file would be executed.
http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5053428.html?tag=fd_top

IBM unveils toolkit for talking computers
IBM on Wednesday announced the general availability of a software toolkit developers can use to build speech-recognition and other "multimodal" applications for Linux computers. The Multimodal Toolkit for WebSphere Studio helps developers create applications that can use more than one mode of communication. An example of a multimodal application is software on a personal organizer that can understand voice commands ("I need Mr. X's e-mail") and respond with a text message. Although speech-recognition software has yet to become a mass-market phenomenon, interest in it is being spurred by technological breakthroughs and the growth of computing devices that don't have room for full-size keyboards.
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5053376.html?tag=fd_top

House votes to block media ownership plan
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to tighten regulations limiting TV stations, radio stations and newspapers, setting the stage for a possible showdown with the White House. By a vote of 400 to 21, House legislators voted for a bill that would essentially overturn a decision last month by the Federal Communications Commission to relax the regulations. A majority of the FCC's commissioners argued that the decades-old regulations were obsolete in part because of the rise of the Internet and other new technologies. The House measure, part of a larger appropriations bill, says that the FCC may not approve TV station deals if the new owner would have an "aggregate national audience reach" of more than 35 percent, which would apply to about half a percent of stations nationwide. "Our democracy is strong," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in a statement. "It is not threatened by half a percent. It would be irresponsible to ignore the diversity of viewpoints provided by cable, satellite and the Internet."
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5053421.html?tag=fd_top

Study: Do-not-spam plan winning support
Americans overwhelmingly support a do-not-spam list, according to a new study released Wednesday by privacy consultant and antispam software seller ePrivacy Group. The company's 2003 Consumer Spam Study found that 74 percent of consumers want a federal do-not-spam list similar to the do-not-call list that goes into effect this fall. What's more, 79 percent said they want laws to ban or limit spam. The study surveyed about 1,090 adults in the United States asking them their thoughts about how to define spam and what they think can be done to quash it. It was released during a press conference by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., sponsor of a bill that would create a do-not-spam list, one of several antispam measures currently in Congress.
http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5053306.html?tag=fd_top

Training molecules to draw chips
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have come up with a way to organize molecules through lithography, the science of "drawing" chip circuits. It's a development that could one day help bridge the nanotechnology-silicon divide. The work performed by scientists at the University of Wisconsin's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) can be conceived of as "top-down meets bottom-up." It highlights how nanotechnology -- which involves manipulating molecules to make products -- could be used by the electronics industry in the future. Currently, creating circuits on silicon chips involves several hundred different procedures, including coating the wafers with metallic vapors, printing circuit patterns that have been shrunk to microscopic dimensions onto wafer surfaces, and burning the patterns into wafers through a series of chemical baths. Outfitting a semiconductor fabrication facility with equipment to perform these tasks can cost $3 billion.
http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-5053439.html?tag=cd_mh

House asked to power up digital TV
The Federal Communications Commission would be required to accelerate the transition to digital television under a bill introduced Wednesday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure, called the Consumer Access to Digital Television Enhancement Act, would require the FCC to adopt a December 2002 proposal for a digital TV standard inked by dozens of cable operators and consumer electronics companies. The bill envisions a national "plug and play" standard for digital TVs that would not require set-top boxes. The proposal, or memorandum of understanding, covers the reception of analog basic, digital basic and digital premium cable television programming in the United States. Enhanced services such as pay-per-view or video-on-demand would be included in a future specification.
http://news.com.com/2100-1031_3-5053436.html?tag=cd_mh

Lawmakers restrict online game in Asia
A Korean game maker has created an online hit that has millions in Asia hooked, and some lawmakers are not amused. Ragnarok Online, a so-called massive multiplayer online role-playing game, has become so popular that it prompted Thai authorities to prohibit players from enjoying the game past bedtime. The game, created by Korea-based Gravity Interactive, is played over the Internet and can support millions of users globally. In countries like Thailand, where computer ownership is relatively low, Internet cafes and gaming centers have sprouted up and operators and are seeing a jump in revenue from the game's popularity. Avid gamers say the game improves their computer skills and familiarity with the Internet. However, the game also has spawned an online black market where users can sell their virtual weapons and characters for cash.
http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-5053209.html?tag=cd_mh

Indies Show They've Got Game
With the game industry looking more and more like Hollywood every day, the path for small, independent game developers seems increasingly treacherous. Making a title for the PlayStation 2 console -- increasingly the center of the interactive entertainment business -- typically requires a team of at least 20 and a budget of at least $5 million. That's a far cry from the time in the late 1980s when Will Wright designed and coded the original SimCity solo in his home office. Moreover, it's difficult for a small, independent developer to get experience using the PS2's complex development tools, let alone get funding to make a game. While it's possible to make a cheaper PC game, a distribution system dominated by gigantic companies can seem impenetrable. But make no mistake about it: Determined independents are making it in the game business.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,59728,00.html

Fans' Hopes of Doom Dashed
There was good news this week for Martian zombies and bad news for the people who love to kill them. Doom III, one of the most heavily anticipated PC games ever and a virtual slaughterfest for the interplanetary undead, will not be released this year, the game's publisher said Tuesday. Buried in video game publisher Activision quarterly conference call on Tuesday was that bad news for hard-core game junkies and others. A decade ago Doom revolutionized PC gaming with its intense graphics. The latest game in the franchise, Doom III, has been the subject of heavy anticipation ever since creators id Software acknowledged the game was in development.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,59746,00.html

Pentagon Wants to Make a New PAL
The Pentagon is doling out $29 million to develop software-based secretaries that understand their bosses' habits and can carry out their wishes automatically. Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science will get $7 million to build a Perceptive Assistant that Learns, or PAL, a kind of digital flunky that can schedule meetings, maintain websites and reply to routine e-mail on its own. A total of $22 million is going to SRI International, Dejima and a coalition of other researchers for the construction of a wartime PAL. The efforts could make leaders in the boardroom and on the battlefield more efficient, says the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa. But some defense analysts are finding it hard to see the military value in such a system.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59724,00.html

Spanish Firms Target File Traders
In what is being touted as the largest legal action of its kind, a Spanish law firm has announced plans to file a copyright-violation complaint against 4,000 individuals who allegedly have swapped illegal files over peer-to-peer networks in that country. Thirty-two Spanish companies that manufacture software or other material protected by the country's intellectual property laws have united to report the file traders to the Technological Investigation Brigade of the National Police, according to the plaintiffs' attorney, Javier Ribas. Ribas, who refused to identify his clients out of fear that angry P2P traders would organize boycotts of their products, said his law firm had pinpointed the IP addresses of 95,000 Spaniards using such programs to exchange copyright material, but narrowed the complaint to 4,000 individuals who had downloaded the most illegal files. He anticipated the case would be heard by a Spanish criminal court in September, adding that his law firm would demand jail sentences of up to four years for each convicted software pirate -- the maximum under the Spanish legal code -- in addition to compensation equivalent to the market value of each illegal file downloaded.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59720,00.html

Australia to ban spam
The federal government intends to introduce legislation later this year that will ban unsolicited commercial email, the minister for communications and information technology, senator Richard Alston announced today. The legislation is in response to a report by the National Office for the Information Economy, released in April this year, which advocated a multi-layered approach to spam prevention.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2138021,00.html

US passports to carry digitally signed images
US citizens will be issued with "smart" passports carrying a digitally signed photograph by late 2004. Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary for Passport Services at the US Department of State, says the first digital passports will be issued in the US by 26 October 2004. Moss announced details of the plans at the Smart Card Alliance Government Conference and Expo in Virginia last Tuesday. The new passports will include an embedded microchip that stores a compressed image of its owner's face. These microchips will be designed to prevent tampering and each digital image will be cryptographically signed to guarantee its authenticity.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993975

Privacy: For Every Attack, a Defense
Chris Larsen may seem like an unlikely privacy advocate. But then, as the CEO of online lending firm E-Loan (EELN ), Larsen has seen the murky underworld of personal data collection. As a player in a business that thrives on information, Larsen knows how easy it would be to use a consumer's credit score to manipulate the auto insurance rate the person pays or to track a consumer's buying trends to concoct a risk profile that could be used to justify a less-favorable mortgage rate. "Profiling is fast getting to the point where it crosses the line of efficiency in business to the dark side," says Larsen. "We're going to see a technology train wreck unless we can get it under control." And so Larsen, in an atypical move for a business leader, is donating $1 million of his own money to help get a financial privacy initiative on the March, 2004, ballot in California.
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...9870_tc125.htm

Video-game technology steps closer to reality
Computer software experts in Glasgow have developed a revolutionary new way to feature the world’s top celebrities in best-selling video games. The new technology will allow games publishers to use realistic-looking characters for the first time. In the past, using real-life celebrities in video games has been expensive and time consuming, with inferior quality reproduction. But now Glasgow-based developers Virtual Clones claims to have solved the problem with its cost-effective new system. Dr Colin Urquhart, the company founder, who began the research as a student, said the new character-creation software would turn the gaming world on its head. "Now we can take our cameras along to Rangers or Celtic for the day, and film the whole squad, as well as the managers and fans," he said. "That is a lot more straightforward than employing a team of experienced software modellers, which is very expensive. "It can take four weeks or more to translate just one player into a game character. We can now do that in minutes."
http://www.news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=797192003

Trace gas dates Universe's first stars
A giant cloud containing carbon monoxide has been spied in the most distant known galaxy in the Universe. Light from the galaxy was emitted when the Universe was just a sixteenth of its current age. Astronomers say the traces of gas prove that star formation got started astonishingly quickly in the young Universe. "The presence of carbon monoxide is very interesting because carbon and oxygen first need to form in stars of some sort, then be expelled by explosions," says team leader Fabian Walter of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico. The most distant known galaxy in the Universe is a "quasar" called J1148+5251, which contains a black hole at least a billion times heavier than the Sun. It shines so brightly because material being dragged inwards by the hole's powerful gravitational field gets heated to enormous temperatures.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993974

Radon leaks could reveal water on Mars
Sniffing for puffs of radioactive radon gas could be the easiest way to find water lurking metres beneath the Martian soil. We already know there should be plenty of water on Mars. Probes have found water vapour in the Martian atmosphere and ice on the surface at the poles. And NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft recently detected traces of hydrogen, almost certainly bound up in ice near the surface. But Mars Odyssey's sensors could only peek into the top metre of soil, and although the European Space Agency's Mars Express - due to reach the planet in December - has surface-penetrating radar that can spot water, it can only probe to between 100 metres and 5 kilometres underground. That leaves a gap between 1 and 100 metres. NASA plans to send another craft to probe this depth with radar in 2005. But while radar is great at finding liquid water, it has a hard time distinguishing between ice and solid rock.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993968

EFF Working to Make RIAA Subpoenas Public
Subpoena requests are public documents, but unfortunately court procedures to release them are at best tedious, at worst costly. The district court does provide online copies of all incoming RIAA subpoena requests, but only after a user applies for an account and waits at least seven days for a password to be snail mailed to them. Furthermore, there is a charge for each accessed document. With more than 900 outstanding subpoena requests, obtaining copies is prohibitively expensive. The Electronic Freedom Foundation, a public interest advocacy group based in San Francisco, has told several news sources, including USA Today, that it is working to obtain copies of all subpoena requests and establishing an online database of user names that are being targeted. The list is expected to be on the EFF website at www.eff.org by the end of the month. ISP's have already received several subpoenas, and most will respond by providing the RIAA with the name(s) on the account, the mailing address at which service is located, and the telephone number on file with the ISP. The ISP will also notify the customer that this information has been provided to the RIAA. Many will also advise the customer to consult an attorney to prepare for possible legal action.
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/article.../07232003c.php

Linux users: SCO threats don't have them worried
The SCO Group Inc. may be threatening to sue all businesses using Linux, but users so far appear to be unmoved by the company's latest legal stance. Tom Pratt, information systems manager at Coastal Transportation Inc., a shipping company in Seattle, said SCO's newest threats aren't a concern because far too many businesses are now using Linux. "I don't see how they could sue so many [companies] to pony up for a licensing fee," he said. "They don't have any kind of tracking [system]. I don't remember signing anything with SCO saying I owe them any kind of licensing fees." Coastal uses Linux as its primary computer operating system to run databases, payroll and other accounting functions, human resources applications, and shipping logistics software, according to Pratt.
http://www.computerworld.com/softwar...,83350,00.html

Sexist bug that enjoys a free ride through life
Men who pine for the pre-feminist days of fawning women have found a new role model: the tiny Zeus bug. Nature usually dictates that the male courts the female and risks life and limb to pass on his genes to the next generation. In the case of the Zeus bug, (Phoreticovelia disparata), a water skater common on Australia's east coast, the male is provided with free transport, free food and unlimited sex. The male is about a millimetre long and piggy-backs on the female, which is twice his size, seating himself in a seemingly custom-made hollow. During the ride, he sups on a protein-packed wax secreted from a gland near the female's head. All that remains for the male is to get down to the business of mating.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ixportal.html

Makers Of File-Sharing Software Bolster Efforts To Mask Users' Identities
As the recording industry prepares hundreds of copyright lawsuits against online music swappers, the makers of file-sharing software are fortifying their programs to try to mask users' identities. Some of the upgrades reroute Internet connections through so-called proxy servers that scrub away cybertracks. Others incorporate firewalls or encryption to thwart the sleuth firms that the recording industry employs. "Everyone is concerned about their privacy," said Michael Weiss, chief executive of StreamCast Networks. The upgrade to his Morpheus file-sharing software has been downloaded more than 300,000 times since its release last week. Music industry officials insist file-swappers can't hide. "Nothing that has been invented has prevented us from being able to identify substantial infringers and collect evidence," said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America.
http://www.informationweek.com/story...cleID=12802917

More news later on

[JackSpratts]

"Nothing that has been invented has prevented us from being able to identify substantial infringers and collect evidence," said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America.

key word - "substantial."

that's because a substantial number of users (essentially every one of them) use open IP protocols. when savvy users migrate to masked systems the riaa will have so much difficulty tracking them down it will be hardly worth the effort, and when isp's stop keeping IP records it will become substantialy impossible.

- js.