News crap

[assorted]

For those that don't read the news (and cause I'm avoiding work).....

http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB1003101283134197160.html

From the Wall Street Journal. Seems there is gonna be an American anti-trust investigation into whether the music industries new online music plan is a monopoly; and whether they abuse copyright law to enforce said monopoly. (WHOO-HOO!)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/ent...00/1600064.stm

From BBC News - the European Union is checking it out too. (WHOO-HOO AGAIN!)

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/2001...wappers_1.html

http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47552,00.html

From Wired and ZDNet. Both articles concern the RIAA considering taking a much more aggressive stance against us naughty pirates (i.e: their customers). One plan involves trying to flood p2p networks and the other tries to get the anti-terrorism bill to allow them to delete files from the computers of "copyright infringers" (Bad RIAA! Bad!). Hmmmm... I just don't quite see the RIAA winning a "hacker war"; methinks they're better off sticking to corporate intimidation and legal blackmail with their $$ (you know, their strenghts).

http://www.eff.org/alerts/20011010_e...tap_alert.html

Action alert by the Electronic Freedom Foundation. The new anti-terrorism bill is going to consider terrorism breaking into a business computer and doing even minimal damage. Pretty ugly stuff. (Ya know terrorism comes with a lifetime sentence?)

http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_sssca_alert.html

Another (older) action alert by the EFF. This one concerns legislation that would require all digital technologies sold in America to have some form of copy-protection built in (Digital Rights Management technologies; as the bill says).