The Newspaper Shop -- Friday edition

[walktalker]

Anyone interested to read a few nappy news ?

The week in review: PCs under attack
Imagine trying to boot up your computer and finding that a hacker had disabled it or destroyed your data, and then imagine that you had no legal recourse because the U.S. government sanctioned it. That nightmare could become a reality if Hollywood executives get their way. A bill introduced into the House of Representatives would allow copyright owners to legally hack into peer-to-peer networks and disable PCs used for illicit file trading. The measure would dramatically rewrite federal law to permit nearly unchecked electronic disruptions if a copyright holder has a "reasonable basis" to believe that piracy is occurring.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-946587.html

Sony loses Australian mod chip case
Sony has suffered a setback in its international fight against "mod chips" that enable its PlayStation video game machines to play illegally copied games. A federal judge in Australia ruled Friday that mod chips sold for the original PlayStation do not infringe on Sony copyright protections under Australian laws, which are similar to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The decision comes a week after a Canadian man was sentenced to probation and fined $17,000 for selling mod chips and pirated games for Sony's PlayStation 2. Mod chips are add-ons that typically have to be soldered to a game console's main circuit board. Properly installed, they defeat copy protection measures built into the consoles, allowing users to play games originally sent to different geographic markets, backup copies and bootleg discs.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-946649.html

Microsoft begins to clean out Hotmail
For three months, freelance writer Lydia Zajc updated friends and family on her adventures in Southeast Asia by sending detailed messages from her Hotmail account. In a series of e-mails, she described munching noodles and buns on the streets of China and watching monks receive alms in Laos. Zajc planned to repurpose the e-mails for travel writing pieces when she returned home. But on Wednesday, Zajc, who had saved the messages in her Hotmail Sent file, logged on to find that her e-mails had evaporated into thin air. "I literally broke down in tears," said Zajc, who now lives in Newfoundland, Canada, and for the past 24 hours has been furiously e-mailing recipients of the messages, hoping some of them saved her missives.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-946513.html

Linux poised to plug in USB 2
Support for a faster version of USB in Linux is imminent and will become a permanent part of the Linux landscape when the next version of the operating system is introduced. The upcoming 2.4.19 version of the Linux kernel -- the core part of the Unix-like operating system -- for the first time will include support for many USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 features and devices. USB lets people easily plug devices such as digital cameras, mice or printers into a computer. The support, crucial to making Linux fully compatible with the mass of PCs and gadgets just coming to the market, demonstrates the ability of a host of volunteer programmers to keep up with computing trends. Linux, though bankrolled by some companies, remains a cooperative software project.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-946529.html

Spy-vy League: Yale reports Web break-in
Yale University has accused admissions officials at Princeton University of breaking into a Web site intended to inform prospective students of their admission status. The story was first reported in the Yale Daily News, the school's student newspaper. Princeton admissions workers allegedly used the birth dates and Social Security numbers of 11 students who had applied to both schools to tap into the Yale site, said Yale spokesman Tom Conroy. The site, launched by the admissions office this year, was programmed to show students a fireworks display if they had been accepted and a rejection notice if they hadn't, the newspaper said.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-946558.html

Open-source guru backs off tech demo
Like other researchers who've backed down for fears of Hollywood reprisals, open-source guru Bruce Perens said he would not include details about how to circumvent DVD player controls in a presentation on Friday. Perens is still scheduled to speak on the topic of digital rights management and open source activities at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention 2002 in San Diego. But under pressure from his employer, Hewlett-Packard, which worried that he would run afoul of digital copyright laws, he will not give a demonstration. As part of his speech, Perens had planned to show the audience how to modify a DVD player to play time-zone-restricted European DVDs that are designed to not work in U.S. players.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946667.html?tag=fd_top

UWB chips take their first steps
Some of the first integrated circuits that create a wireless network using the very powerful, and controversial, ultrawideband wireless technique are now on their way for testing by device makers. UWB chipmaker XtremeSpectrum said Friday it has begun shipping to several electronics companies batches of UWB chips that send video and audio wirelessly between devices. Other chipmakers are expected to follow with their own versions of UWB chips, likely in the next few months. XtremeSpectrum Vice President Chris Fisher claims the company is the first, however, to begin supplying manufacturers with "evaluation kits," which consist of chips and software that device makers will use to decide whether to use UWB in their devices.
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-946665.html?tag=fd_top

New bill would save small Webcasters
A trio of federal lawmakers introduced a bill Friday that would eliminate potentially steep royalty payments for small Internet radio stations, many of which have said the fees would force them to close. The bill, which had been expected for several weeks, follows a controversial June decision on rules for Webcasting in which stations were ordered to pay about .07 cent per song, per listener for the rights to play music online. Although record labels criticized the sum as too low, small Webcasters said the fees would quickly add up to thousands of dollars, driving many out of business. Dubbed "The Internet Radio Fairness Act," the bill would exempt from royalties any business that makes less than $6 million in annual revenue, a group that would include the vast majority of online radio stations unaffiliated with a larger Internet or broadcasting company.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946642.html?tag=fd_top

Microsoft says no to music swapping
Microsoft warned its employees Thursday night that no swapping of music or other files is to occur via its PCs or networks. In an e-mail sent to the company's more than 50,000 employees, three senior Microsoft executives warned that peer-to-peer (P2P) networks used for sharing files raise "significant legal, public policy, and security concerns." Peer-to-peer networks are popular means for sharing MP3s and other files, typically in violation of the content owner's copyright. "The e-mail kind of speaks for itself," said Microsoft spokesman Jon Murchison. "Given the proliferation of the P2P network sites, we thought it was a good time to reiterate a longstanding corporate policy to our employees." Microsoft distributed the e-mail the same day that the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would allow copyright owners to legally hack into peer-to-peer networks.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946589.html?tag=fd_top

Internet privacy: The danger of good intentions
The government's preferred method of dealing with the challenges posed by technology by simply passing new legislation is now spilling over into the debate over Internet privacy. Even though legislation on this issue is not likely to be passed this year, the outcome of the ongoing conversation will have a significant impact. A lot of attention has focused on Senate Commerce chairman Fritz Hollings' "Online Privacy Protection Act." His bill legislates what a Web site's privacy policy should be, depending on two distinct types of information collected: "sensitive personally identifiable information" and "nonsensitive personally identifiable information." With the former, an opt-in strategy is required; the latter would need only an opt-out approach.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071-946598.html?tag=fd_nc_1

Celebrate the hidden computer helpers
It is often said that you cannot truly value something until it is taken away from you. And that is certainly true of the computer you use during your working day. If it crashes or the network it is sitting on becomes a "notwork" then you quickly find out just how much you appreciate it. And you learn to value even more the men and women who fix the problem and let you get back to work. The last Friday in July is the day that you are supposed to give something back to those system administrators and find a way to show your thanks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2151602.stm

Nokia is tops in EU smugglers' paradise
Nokia mobile phones and Nintendo game consoles were the runaway favorites of smugglers caught bringing fake goods into the European Union in 2001, figures released by the EU showed Friday. Customs officers in the 15 EU member states seized about 530,000 counterfeit Nokia products in 2001, or 52 percent of electrical items intercepted. The haul was more than five times the number carrying the brand of Nokia's rivals Ericsson, Siemens and Motorola. Fake Nintendo products made up 48 percent of all toys and games seized, or about 750,000 items. No breakdown of the category was available, but an EU official said it included game consoles.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-946561.html?tag=cd_mh

Music Bill Is Bully on IMs
Legislation meant to thwart unauthorized downloading on certain peer-to-peer networks will still allow major media companies to offer file-trading through their own systems. Rep. Howard Berman (D-California) introduced his much anticipated peer-to-peer legislation in the House of Representatives on Thursday. The proposal would give copyright owners, from Hollywood studios down to independent musicians, the legal go-ahead to employ a variety of technological measures that would stop computers hooked up to decentralized networks from trading. That would be bad news for users of Gnutella and Kazaa. In the interim, it would allow companies like Overpeer, which floods decentralized networks with bogus files, to flourish.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,54124,00.html

Low-Budget Films Just as Good
In a digitally animated film titled The Cathedral, a man stumbles across a dreary landscape into a dark, ominous building. A brilliant flash of light fills the cavernous space, and branches shoot up, extending the structure high in the sky and seemingly strangling the man in the process. The entry from a tiny Polish production company in Siggraph's computer animation festival is one of a number of serious, often troubling works picked by this year's judges -- reflecting both their concerns about world events and their desire to allow new, international voices to join the festival's often Hollywood-heavy fare.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,54122,00.html

Nasty Engine for a Nasty Plane
A vast amount of thrust will be available to the Pentagon's new Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to Rolls-Royce data that could upset the competition to build engines for the plane. The engine being developed by Rolls-Royce, in cooperation with General Electric, is 40 percent more powerful than expected, according to figures provided by the British company. "Here is the F136 engine, which pumps out a whopping 56,000 pounds of thrust," said Colin Green, the head of Rolls-Royce's defense aerospace business. If the Rolls-Royce figure is accurate, it well exceeds the 40,000 pounds claimed earlier by GE and its military customers.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,54143,00.html

Time to Hop on the Gridwagon
Grid computing has its own kind of Moore's Law: "We've hit an inflection point and now we're seeing attendance double for every conference," says Charlie Catlett, Global Grid Forum chair and computer scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory. More than 1,000 participants thronged the main hall for the plenary session of the fifth Global Grid Forum held in Scotland this week, and one of the most promising signs of grid maturity was the heavy presence of major vendors. Grid computing uses distributed computers, data storage systems, networks, and other resources as if they were a single massive system. It uses software to create "virtual supercomputers" far larger the individual hardware components.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...,54098,00.html

Fugu genome offers clues to human life
The poisonous Japanese pufferfish, known as fugu to gourmets who risk their lives eating it, has yielded valuable new genetic information in the quest for deeper knowledge of the basics of human heredity and disease. Led by gene-mappers at the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, an international team of scientists has analyzed and assembled a virtually complete draft of all the genes in the deadly fish, the researchers report. And by comparing the sequence of genes in the fugu with those of what's known about the 30,000 or so human genes, the scientists say they have discovered nearly 1,000 in the fish that are apparently identical to previously unidentified ones in humans.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...26/MN15551.DTL

The atom's rise to power
Blackouts and dependency on oil from the Middle East have once again brought the debate over nuclear power in the United States to center stage. At current resource levels, even with conservation practices in place, there won't be sufficient electricity-generation capacity to meet U.S. demand, which will rise by 1.8 percent annually over the next 20 years, according to the Energy Information Administration. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, meeting the expected demand will require an additional 355,000 megawatts of power, which works out to roughly 35 new mid-size (500 MW) plants each year for the next 20 years.
http://www.herring.com/insider/2002/...wer072402.html

Black holes collide in computer
A computer simulation of two black holes violently merging into one will help direct astronomers in their search for gravitational waves - one of the most fundamental, yet elusive, phenomena in the Universe. Gravitational waves are predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity but have so far never been detected. Colliding black holes should generate the most thunderous gravity waves, shaking the fabric of space and time. But their effect on Earth would only minutely alter the distance between two objects. Nonetheless, scientists hope to measure this tiny difference using instruments that can detect changes of less than an attometre (one million million millionth of a metre). The new simulations ought to help them understand what to expect and how to interpret their results, says Gianpietro Cagnoli, an astrophysicist at Glasgow University, Scotland.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992595

Alcohol health boost has a kick
The good news is that drinking alcohol can indeed be good for your health, according to a large new epidemiological study. The bad news is that this is only the case if you abstain during your youth, delaying drinking until middle age. The researchers found that the health benefits of alcohol only outweighed the risks in men over 34 and women over 55. Below these ages, even light drinkers have a higher risk of death than those who did not drink at all. "Alcohol offers protection against coronary heart disease, but this benefit is not seen in young people because the condition is rare in the young," says Ian White who carried out the study at the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit in Cambridge, UK.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992596

Torpedo fuel leak sank Kursk
The Russian government has finally admitted that the Kursk nuclear submarine was sunk by an explosion caused by a torpedo fuel leak, not a collision with a foreign vessel or a World War II mine. The Kursk sank on 12 August 2000 killing all 118 crewmembers during a training exercise in the Barents Sea. For two years the government has been unwilling to conclude that one of its nuclear submarines, the pride of the navy, could have suffered a malfunction. The government has also faced criticism for failing to rescue sailors who were trapped inside the sunken vessel. On 1 July, Russia's Industry and Science Minister Ilya Klebanov revealed that the official investigation into the catastrophe suggested that a torpedo explosion was to blame.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992600

Criminal investigation into Korean human cloning
South Korea is launching a criminal investigation into a claim that a Korean woman is pregnant with a cloned embryo, it was announced on Friday. The claim was made by the Korean office of a human cloning company called Clonaid. The company was set up by a US-based religious cult, the Raelian Movement, which believes that humans were created by extraterrestrials using cloning. "The woman has a cloned embryo which was implanted into her about two months ago," said Kwak Gi-Hwa, a spokesman for Clonaid. "The operation was carried out outside South Korea and therefore the government has no right to meddle with it. She would leave the country if the authorities continue harassing us."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992599

More news later on

[butterfly_kisses]

just a quick thank-you walkertalker for once again bringing us a great 'issue' (or copy) of the virtual news.

So many great articles here...hard to pick just one to comment on...so I'm just going to enjoy reading them now.

TA!

[campingman]

Thanks WT keep em coming

[ssj4_android]

Imagine trying to boot up your computer and finding that a hacker had disabled it or destroyed your data, and then imagine that you had no legal recourse because the U.S. government sanctioned it. That nightmare could become a reality if Hollywood executives get their way. A bill introduced into the House of Representatives would allow copyright owners to legally hack into peer-to-peer networks and disable PCs used for illicit file trading. The measure would dramatically rewrite federal law to permit nearly unchecked electronic disruptions if a copyright holder has a "reasonable basis" to believe that piracy is occurring.

This is absolutely wrong. I've recently thought of something though. Couldn't a hacker just create something, have it be shared by P2P, and do a lot of legal hacking?

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by walktalker
Anyone interested to read a few nappy news ?

Ok ok... you got me lured...

New bill would save small Webcasters
A trio of federal lawmakers introduced a bill Friday that would eliminate potentially steep royalty payments for small Internet radio stations, many of which have said the fees would force them to close. The bill, which had been expected for several weeks, follows a controversial June decision on rules for Webcasting in which stations were ordered to pay about .07 cent per song, per listener for the rights to play music online. Although record labels criticized the sum as too low, small Webcasters said the fees would quickly add up to thousands of dollars, driving many out of business. Dubbed "The Internet Radio Fairness Act," the bill would exempt from royalties any business that makes less than $6 million in annual revenue, a group that would include the vast majority of online radio stations unaffiliated with a larger Internet or broadcasting company.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-946642.html?tag=fd_top

It is good to see that Hilary R. and Jack V. haven't yet managed to corrupt all U.S. legislators. This sounds like a healthy bill, helping to keep the webcasting scene active and protecting the diversity of offerings.

- tg

[butterfly_kisses]

Originally posted by ssj4_android

This is absolutely wrong. I've recently thought of something though. Couldn't a hacker just create something, have it be shared by P2P, and do a lot of legal hacking?

rules are made to be bent not broken ssjr_android...so I'm sure they'd find some way to twist 'em in order to use them against you.





____________

the Freedom to Think Out Loud

[walktalker]

The Dark Side of Hacking Bill
Coming soon to a computer near you -- Hollywood Hackers. Watch as they rifle through your files, dismantle your network, and delete all those songs and movies you can't prove have a legal right to exist on your hard drive. Hope the special effects don't include the accidental destruction of your data when your computer becomes a stunt double in Hollywood's latest blockbuster attempt to protect its copyrighted material. Security experts said the bill's wording is too vague and wonder exactly what sort of "technological tools" will be permitted. They also fear that approval of the bill could result in a multitude of clumsy and ill-conceived "hack" attacks that could have widespread, system-damaging effects on both file traders and those who have never downloaded a single song from a file-trading server.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54153,00.html

More news later on