Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review – March 29th, '03

[JackSpratts]

War and Peer-To-Peer

Unseen perhaps by its creators whose only intent was trading music but fulfilling the long predicted forecasts of observant social critics, Peer-To-Peer technology is delivering war news and imagery well outside the normal conduits of state owned or state-regulated commercial distribution, and giving people direct access to such information for the first time in history.

Users of the popular Fasttrack clients KaZaA Media Desktop, Grokster and iMesh are effortlessly trading sound and video clips of the present invasion of Iraq not easily acquired in other ways. Some of the near real-time information seems to contradict official reports, and some of the imagery is of such a disturbing graphical nature, particularly that of the mutilated and dead, that it has been pulled from television networks for risk of embarrassment to governments and alienation of viewers, or never aired to begin with.

This is a milestone for the access to crucial civic information and one that places new power into the hands of ordinary citizens while putting new obstacles in the paths of governments, repressive or otherwise, who depend on the tight control of information to manipulate the publics' perception of war.

Broadcasts can be censored, web sites closed and reporters killed or fired but the pieces of information placed on file sharing networks are especially robust and resistant to interference.

What was once hand carried in secret and at great cost over long and difficult distances is now requested and downloaded instantaneously and easily from anywhere to anywhere by anyone with PC and phone access or a wireless PDA.

These free and startling images are showing up everywhere, in emails and websites, on posters and t-shirts, and are used to shape debate, fuel dissent, and support expanded points of view well beyond that of the self-interested confines - and reach - of the governments involved.

Certainly historians of the future will look back upon these events as the first conflict of the modern Internet era - but so significant are these initial tentative steps and so filled with important ramifications it would not surprise me at all to find this invasion referred to as the "First P2P War".








Enjoy,

Jack.







Blitzkrieg Block!
Music industry drops anti-piracy pamphlets on campus
Bernhard Warner

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - The music industry said on Thursday it had begun cascading pamphlets on universities across the globe in its latest blitz against online piracy.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a global trade group representing major and independent music labels and publishers, said it had begun issuing brochures to universities in 29 countries in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia spelling out the legal and technological snares of online file-sharing networks.

The IFPI, which represents majors Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony Music, and BMG, has vowed to fight piracy on all fronts.

In addition to education initiatives, the group has stepped up lobbying efforts and has urged music labels to develop more compelling commercial download services.

The trade body said American universities, which have been targetted by U.S. music labels for the past two years, would not be included in this round of pamphleting.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/...rtr921627.html

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

Freedom of expression
Finns pass modified internet speech law
The law on liabilities in public communications

The Finnish parliament has passed with modifications the law on the use of freedom of expression in public communications and on some related laws (HE 54/2002 vp). The law is often called "a freedom of expression law". However, the law is not about securing the freedom of expression, it is about the liabilities and responsibilities relating to the use of freedom of expression. The correct name for the law is thus the law on liabilites in public communications.

On 11 February 2003 the Constitutional Committee of the Finnish parliament suggested the original government's law proposal to be changed (PeVM 14/2002 vp). The changes will make the law acceptable. The parliament passed the law on 17 February 2003 with modifications by the Constitutional Committee.

Summary of the changes introduced by the Constitutional Committee:

· 1.2 § now explicitly states that the freedom of expression principle should always have a priority when interpreting the law.

· The definitions were clarified. Essentially the regulation now applies only to material produced by or modified by the publisher. There is thus no longer threat to the discussion groups: there will be no editor-in-chief who would be held legally responsible for others' writing. Everybody is responsible for her own writings, as before. Also e.g. the web portals or typical home pages were excluded from the definition.

· The original proposal would have required the publishers to store the web publications or programs for two or three months. The time period was reduced to three weeks. This is a positive change, but is does not remove the fundamental problem. Why it is necessary to store web publications in the first place?

Storing multimedia or e.g. educational programs for three weeks is still expensive. Additionally storing changes may need version control tools and expertice, which might be a problem especially for associations and small businesses. It is also unclear how personified dynamically created content should be treated. If each user sees a personalized page should then all versions be stored?

Keeping the publication available would be sufficient to fullfill the archiving requirement, which is a good thing. However, it is still unclear whether the three weeks is counted from the moment that the web publication was first published or from the moment when the publication was last available to the public.

· Mandatory storing of traffic data was removed completely from this law.

· The Committee also made some other positive changes to the proposal.

The parliament made the proposed law significantly better - although there still are some problems. The Constitutional Committee did a good job.
http://www.effi.org/sananvapaus/index.en.html

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

Web Sites Cashing In On War
War Tests High-Speed Web
David Kirkpatrick

For decades, Americans have anxiously followed each war through a new communications medium, from the early silent films of World War I to the 24-hour cable news coverage of the first Persian Gulf war.

Now, with bombs exploding in Baghdad, a sudden surge in wartime demand for online news has become a pivotal test of the potential of high-speed Internet connections, both to attract users to online media outlets and to persuade them to pay for the material they find there, just as the value of CNN persuaded millions to subscribe to cable during the last war in Iraq.

Inspired by a steady rise over the last 18 months in the number of people with high-speed Internet access, now at more than 70 million in the United States, the Web sites of many of the major news organizations have hastily assembled a novel collage of live video, audio reports, photography collections, animated weaponry displays, interactive maps and other new digital reportage.

These Internet services are capitalizing on the remarkable abundance of sounds and images available from video cameras focused on Baghdad and journalists traveling with troops. And they have found a captive audience of American office workers at their PC's during the early combat.

Some executives at online services like America Online and Yahoo and news Web sites like CNN.com are already arguing that the war has brought the long-awaited adulthood of the high-speed, or broadband, Internet. "This is the coming of age of the broadband news medium, just like the first Iraq war for CNN," said James Bankoff, executive vice president for programming at the AOL division of AOL Time Warner, which also owns CNN.

But among the nagging questions facing the Internet organizations covering the war is whether users will be willing to pay for their enhanced service. Executives of AOL, Yahoo, CNN.com, ABCNews.com and the Webcaster RealNetworks say that the hunger for up-to-the-minute news of troops on the move and Baghdad in flames could help establish the viability of their recent efforts to have users pay for subscriptions to high-speed programming.

The history of past news events suggests this moment in the spotlight could end as soon as the shooting does, so some Web sites are making the most of it. "War in Iraq: Watch What Happens Next," is the headline on the Web page promoting a $10-a-month subscription to RealNetworks' online broadcasting service, which includes updates from CNN.com and ABCNews.com along with a range of entertainment services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/te...gy/24BROA.html

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

Martian NetDrive offers wireless file sharing
Peter Cohen

Martian Technologies LLC is aiming squarely at home networks with its new Martian NetDrive, a cross-platform, networked storage device that provides about 40GB worth of file sharing capacity along with integrated wireless networking.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) eschews the traditional dedicated computer model for a file server with a consolidated, sole-purpose device that typically occupies less space, consumes less power and costs a lot less than the traditional server. NAS is certainly nothing new -- several vendors offer solution for SOHO, workgroup and enterprise environments -- but what makes Martian's solution special is its out- of-the-box support for IEEE 802.11b, the same protocol used by Apple's AirPort products. The company claims the Martian NetDrive is the first wirelessly-connected network storage device.

The Martian NetDrive supports Macs, PCs and Linux boxen with the ability to share files or make backups. The device is self-configuring with DHCP, and uses a Web-based interface that makes it possible for you to configure it from a standard browser. You can also add password protection for extra security.

The Martian NetDrive measures about 2.5 inches high, 11.5 inches wide and about 10.5 inches deep. It works without a fan, also. If you're not on a wireless network but you're planning on adding one soon, there's a built-in 10/100Mbps Ethernet port that can jack into a wired network. What's more, the company makes available a "Basic" model without the wireless networking all together.

The Martian NetDrive Wireless costs US$399, and the Martian NetDrive Basic is $379. Both are available now; visit the Web site for details.
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/03/11/martian/

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

Consumers want intelligent broadband gateways, study

The focus on compelling services, not just a faster internet connection, is driving demand for an intelligent gateway device in the home, according to a new report from Allied Business Intelligence (ABI).

The growing interest in home networking, as well as the increased popularity of wireless networking technologies like 802.11b/a/g, UWB and powerline communication (PLC), are creating the desire to share all that broadband has to offer among multiple devices in the home.

"The development of smarter devices - and finding a way to interconnect them - is the natural evolution in the digital ecosystem," explains Vamsi Sistla, ABI Senior Analyst, Residential Entertainment Technologies. "The industry could not avoid the loud and public battles between Hollywood, the FCC and consumer groups over the sharing of copyrighted content. Nevertheless, sharing is here to stay, and the industry will find a way, via devices such as gateways and media centers, to manage the content being shared over such peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Simultaneously, the industry will also a see a huge consolidation of these digital gadgets going forward."

Yet the ability to share content and services among various devices in the home requires a more intelligent piece of equipment than just a broadband modem. This has allowed for the coming of age of the home set-top box (STB) and its various industry players. According to ABI, the STB will undergo massive changes, with additional features continually being added to transform it into a broadband gateway and entertainment hub for the home. STB manufacturers such as Motorola and Pace have already deployed next generation boxes with DVR, DVD and home networking capabilities.

Beyond home networking, ABI maintains that a gateway has advantages for the service provider to deploy additional voice, video or data services to the home, to remotely bundle and manage those services, and to generate additional revenue streams by providing enhanced security in the form of firewalls and parental controls.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15483

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

Ok. This Is REALLY Fast.
Caltech computer scientists develop FAST protocol to speed up Internet

Caltech computer scientists have developed a new data transfer protocol for the Internet fast enough to download a full- length DVD movie in less than five seconds.

The protocol is called FAST, standing for Fast Active queue management Scalable Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The researchers have achieved a speed of 8,609 megabits per second (Mbps) by using 10 simultaneous flows of data over routed paths, the largest aggregate throughput ever accomplished in such a configuration. More importantly, the FAST protocol sustained this speed using standard packet size, stably over an extended period on shared networks in the presence of background traffic, making it adaptable for deployment on the world's high-speed production networks.

The experiment was performed last November during the Supercomputing Conference in Baltimore, by a team from Caltech and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), working in partnership with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the organizations DataTAG, StarLight, TeraGrid, Cisco, and Level(3).

The FAST protocol was developed in Caltech's Networking Lab, led by Steven Low, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering. It is based on theoretical work done in collaboration with John Doyle, a professor of control and dynamical systems, electrical engineering, and bioengineering at Caltech, and Fernando Paganini, associate professor of electrical engineering at UCLA. It builds on work from a growing community of theoreticians interested in building a theoretical foundation of the Internet, an effort in which Caltech has been playing a leading role.

Harvey Newman, a professor of physics at Caltech, said the fast protocol "represents a milestone for science, for grid systems, and for the Internet."

"Rapid and reliable data transport, at speeds of one to 10 Gbps and 100 Gbps in the future, is a key enabler of the global collaborations in physics and other fields," Newman said. "The ability to extract, transport, analyze and share many Terabyte-scale data collections is at the heart of the process of search and discovery for new scientific knowledge. The FAST results show that the high degree of transparency and performance of networks, assumed implicitly by Grid systems, can be achieved in practice. In a broader context, the fact that 10 Gbps wavelengths can be used efficiently to transport data at maximum speed end to end will transform the future concepts of the Internet."
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12356.html

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

Rio, ReplayTV maker Sonicblue bankrupt
Forced to sell assets to Japanese
Reuters

Consumer electronics maker Sonicblue Inc. said on Friday it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and sell the assets of its main product lines.

Sonicblue said it has agreed to sell its Rio unit, which made the first mainstream device to play music in the popular MP3 format, and its ReplayTV digital video recorder unit, which competes with TiVo Inc TIVO.O , to D&M Holdings 6735.T of Japan for $40 million plus the assumption of about $5 million in liabilities.

D&M is the parent company of well-known audio equipment makers Denon Ltd. and Marantz Japan Inc.

It also agreed to sell its GoVideo unit, which makes DVD players and other devices, to Opta Systems LLC, which is owned by Carmco Investments LLC, for $12.5 million. Opta Systems Vice Chairman Roger Hackett is a former Sonicblue executive who helped to develop the GoVideo product line.

Sonicblue said it obtained an additional $4 million in additional financing from its senior secured lender. The company anticipates the sale of its assets will be completed by the end of April, 2003, pending approval of the bankruptcy court and regulatory agencies.

The company plans to file for bankruptcy in the northern district of California, San Jose division.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml...toryID=2423476

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

Planned DVD-Audio Hybrid Will Play On CD Hardware
Brian Garrity

A hybrid dual-layer version of DVD-Audio (DVD-A) that can play on both CD and DVD hardware is expected to hit the market in the next six months, sources tell Billboard Bulletin. The move should help spur consumer adoption of the burgeoning format.

The hybrid discs would operate in essentially the same way as dual-layer discs from rival format Super Audio CD (SACD), according to those familiar with the situation. SACDs are forward- and backward-compatible, allowing for playback of the format's high-resolution audio and enhanced features on both dedicated devices and standard CD players.

The move toward a DVD-A hybrid comes as a consortium of labels and technology companies -- most notably Warner Music Group (WMG), EMI Recorded Music, and BMG Entertainment -- are stepping up education efforts about the product. DVD-A supporters are attempting to position the format as a mass-market product, rather than merely an audiophile experience.

In a presentation at the National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM) conference yesterday (March 19) in Orlando, Fla., executives from WMG, EMI, and other labels were pushing for retailers to embrace the new format. There are currently 500 DVD-A titles on the market, with distribution in 1,500 U.S. retail outlets.

In a discussion that accompanied the presentation, DVD-A advocates, including David Dorn, senior VP of media for Warner Strategic Marketing, noted that a shift to a new format is needed in part because consumers no longer see value in the CD. Retail and label executives acknowledged that DVD-A offers a better value proposition, with its ability to carry pictures, videos, lyrics, and downloadable portable music files all on one disc. The challenge, they said, is in creating consumer awareness for the product and building off the installed base of DVD hardware.
http://www.billboard.com/billboard/d...ent_id=1843131

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

Like something out of China
Repressive California Cyber Cafe Law Finally Gutted
Seema Mehta

An Orange County Superior Court judge voided most of Garden Grove's cyber cafe law Friday, saying the city failed to show why it required these businesses to take precautions such as videotaping clients, hiring extra security guards and barring minors during school hours.

Judge Dennis Choate also raised 1st Amendment concerns about limiting public access to the Internet, although that was not his justification.

"The court finds that the ordinance ... remains seriously and fatally flawed," he wrote.

Garden Grove city officials will discuss in closed session at Tuesday's council meeting whether to appeal the decision. Councilman Mark Leyes, who backed a stricter version of the ordinance than the one challenged in court, said the judge erred. "The judge is overreaching in his ruling -- he's getting into legislating," Leyes said. "We need to go over the details of this.... I'm of the mind that we ought to appeal it."

Cafe operator Seok Jun Choi, who challenged the ordinance, couldn't be reached for comment Friday. Efforts to reach attorneys for him and the city were unsuccessful.

The city first passed its law in January 2002, after several crimes at cyber cafes in Garden Grove and elsewhere in Orange County. The ordinance required cafes to log all customers, limit business hours, videotape the premises and hold those tapes for 72 hours in case the police needed them, among other mandates. Facing lawsuits from cafe operators, the city amended the law in November. Several requirements were left intact, but some provisions, such as business hours, were loosened. Choi sued anyway.

Among the provisions struck down Friday were:

· The permit process that allows city officials to add requirements for individual cafes.

· Requiring security guards, which Choate called "an undue burden ... given the facts presented to this court."

· Mandating videotaping.

Choate left intact the city's authority to set business hours and curfews for minors. Leyes said the revised ordinance was diluted too much already. "The thinking was, 'If we gave in a little bit and compromised, we would get something,' " he said. Instead, the judge "took out probably the most effective provisions of the ordinance," Leyes said. "I'm not willing to compromise when it comes to the safety of our children and families."
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...2Dtechn ology

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet Subscribers Could Get Refunds

Customers buying high-speed Internet access from Time Warner Cable in Los Angeles and Orange counties could get refunds of up to $40, the company said. More than $1.8 million in franchise fees will be refunded, with current customers finding the credits on their bills and former customers receiving refund checks, the company said last week. The rebates will put the company in compliance with a Federal Communications Commission decision that franchise fees cannot be collected on Internet access services.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...2Dtechnolog y

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

What a guy
Free-Software Guru Is Out of Work but Not Out of Steam
Bruce Perens is not ready to stop baiting Microsoft or fighting for shared code.
Rachel Konrad

Open-source software evangelist Bruce Perens is looking for work, but corporate America isn't biting. It's not that companies are uninterested in his ideas for revolutionizing computing and saving money by embracing nonproprietary software with shared code. Rather, his reputation as a gadfly at hacker conferences and as an outspoken critic of Microsoft Corp. tends to overshadow his resume. Unwilling to toe company lines, Perens rarely misses a chance to bellow against the injustices he believes proprietary software encourages. His last job ended in August, when Hewlett-Packard Co. fired him. The 45-year-old husband and father now struggles to find consulting work.

"I've had to work just to line up customers," Perens said at his hillside home east of San Francisco. "On the other hand, I don't have people calling up my boss at HP every week and saying, 'What is Bruce doing to us now?' "

Perens is a persistent crusader: He spends at least a week each month at conferences, pushing open-source software on companies and governments from Iceland to Peru. He peppers journalists when his movement makes news and is prolific in online discussion forums.

Perens extols the virtues of shared code with the same passion that other social activists stump for equal access to quality education for the poor. In 1998, he wrote "The Open Source Definition," which listed the guidelines for creating and distributing free software. He was an early member of the Open Source Initiative, founded to promote free software to corporations.

"He can argue issues without being fanatical and tends to be looking for common ground," said Alan Cox, a deputy to Linux project leader Linus Torvalds.

Michael Tiemann, chief technology officer of Linux vendor Red Hat Inc., compared Perens and more radical free-software evangelists Eric Raymond and Richard Stallman to American revolutionaries.

"Some of them are as crazy as Thomas Paine, and some are only as crazy as Thomas Jefferson," Tiemann said. "But all those guys back then were quite radical and quite unable to tolerate the status quo."
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...2Dtechnolo gy

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

The Sound of Things to Come
Marshall Sella

No one ever notices what's going on at a Radio Shack. Outside a lonely branch of the electronics store, on a government-issue San Diego day in a strip mall where no one is noticing much of anything, a bluff man with thinning, ginger hair and preternaturally white teeth is standing on the pavement, slowly waving a square metal plate toward people strolling in the distance. ''Watch that lady over there,'' he says, unable to conceal his boyish pride for the gadget in his giant hand. ''This is really cool.''

Woody Norris aims the silvery plate at his quarry. A burly brunette 200 feet away stops dead in her tracks and peers around, befuddled. She has walked straight into the noise of a Brazilian rain forest -- then out again. Even in her shopping reverie, here among the haircutters and storefront tax-preparers and dubious Middle Eastern bistros, her senses inform her that she has just stepped through a discrete column of sound, a sharply demarcated beam of unexpected sound. ''Look at that,'' Norris mutters, chuckling as the lady turns around. ''She doesn't know what hit her.''

Norris is demonstrating something called HyperSonic Sound (HSS). The aluminum plate is connected to a CD player and an odd amplifier -- actually, a very odd and very new amplifier -- that directs sound much as a laser beam directs light. Over the past few years, mainly in secret, he has shown the device to more than 300 major companies, and it has slackened a lot of jaws. In December, the editors of Popular Science magazine bestowed upon HSS its grand prize for new inventions of 2002, choosing it over the ferociously hyped Segway scooter. It is no exaggeration to say that HSS represents the first revolution in acoustics since the loudspeaker was invented 78 years ago -- and perhaps only the second since pilgrims used ''whispering tubes'' to convey their dour messages.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/magazine/23SOUND.html

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

New P2P, IM Blocker from Akonix
Cameron Sturdevant

Akonix Systems Inc.'s L7 Enterprise Version 2.0 strips the covers off instant messages and, in so doing, will likely chill the emerging uses of instant messaging.

eWEEK Labs' tests show that L7 Enterprise, released last month, will give IT managers far greater IM surveillance capabilities, with new enterprise features that make it simple to set policies for IM usage and to view messages in real time.

L7 Enterprise is a gateway that identifies IM and peer-to-peer traffic, tests the traffic to ensure it conforms to corporate policies, and then allows or disallows the connection. We used L7 Enterprise to monitor communication among the most widely used IM clients from America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and ICQ Inc. (support for which is new to this version of L7 Enterprise).

In tests, L7 Enterprise worked as described. We could monitor IM conversations in real time and even terminate connections among participants. IT managers seeking to regulate IM usage will find many tools they need to accomplish the task in L7 Enterprise.

However, we worry about privacy with products such as L7 Enterprise. Akonix's product can log and archive IM and P2P connections, along with the content of messages. Managers should make sure the corporate policy regarding IM is well-understood by all employees before using L7 Enterprise.

L7 Enterprise comes with a component called Enforcer, which checks IM and P2P connections to make sure they are coming from legitimate users. In tests, when a user tried to evade the system, it appeared to the user that it was impossible to log in to the client. In fact, Enforcer was intercepting the connection attempt and blocking the log-in.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,970650,00.asp





Music's In A Spin
Internet forces much-needed tune-up of record industry
Jon W. Sparks
Record companies and music retailers, having dithered for years, are scrambling to get in front of the fast-moving parade of digital downloading being led by the rogue file-swapping free-music phenomenon.

America Online Inc., last month unveiled its music service for subscribers who, for an additional fee, can listen to or copy from a library of about 250,000 tunes. AOL, a partner in the enterprise with Musicnet.com, is but the latest in the music subscription fray. Listen.com's Rhapsody service is letting subscribers copy songs to CDs for 49 cents a track - it's usually 99 cents - through March 31. And PressPlay.com is offering new features, including access to Billboard's music charts for the past 47 years.

The competitors offer roughly the same thing. For a monthly subscription of about $10 you get to listen to any of the hundreds of thousands of songs in their libraries on demand. If you want it on disc, you pay a bit extra to burn it. You can log in wherever you have Internet access. And the service is tailored to your likes. Burn only the tracks you want. Create a playlist. Listen to the streaming radio with the genres you fancy. The services also have the blessing of record companies. PressPlay is backed by Sony and Universal Music. MusicNet was created by Warner Music, EMI and BMG.

But where does all this leave CD retailers?

Six brick-and-mortar sellers, including Tower Records, Best Buy and FYE, announced in January they'd formed a consortium to let customers download music. The specifics of how they'll handle this significant move are still being considered, but it'll likely be a combination of Internet access, pricing, extras and in-store specials.

The marketplace will make that decision. In the meantime, the recording industry is getting heat for not having paid attention.

Memphis Music Commission chairman Philip Trenary says the labels are way behind, having relied so much on putting old vinyl tunes onto CDs. "It's been coming for years. There was a false period of prosperity for the major record labels. It looks like they rested on their laurels in a high-margin business and missed the opportunity to be on the cutting edge."

The Digital Media Association (DiMA) is a trade group representing companies that market music and video over the Internet. Executive director Jonathan Potter is confident that pay services will prevail. "Record companies have gone through an emotional state of resistance trying to control their own destiny. They've given up and have to meet the consumer in the marketplace."

Potter says to succeed, the record companies will have to offer portability, where consumers can easily burn their own CDs with tracks of their own choosing. They also need to guarantee quality, functionality and build customer loyalty.

Dr. Peter Alhadeff, associate professor at the Music Business/Management department of Berklee College of Music in Boston, says, "These services will ultimately have to match the infinite and interesting selection provided by their pirate cousins."
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/enterta...829288,00.html

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

EqualLogic closes $15M second round
Rodney Brown

EqualLogic Inc. of Nashua N.H., today announced it closed a $15 million second round of funding led by TD Capital Technology Ventures.

The company says it will use this latest round of funding, which also includes Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners, to support its sales and marketing efforts for its PeerStorage architecture.

EqualLogic has secured $27 million in funding to-date.

“The reduced costs and improved effectiveness of shared storage achieved by large financial institutions, for example, demonstrates the value and necessity of PeerStorage solutions,” said Peter Hayden, chief executive officer and co-founder of EqualLogic, in a statement. “This equity investment provides continuing validation of our team, technology and the mid-range storage market. EqualLogic's relationships with leading financial institutions continue to deepen with this investment led by TD Capital Technology Ventures.”

The company says its PeerStorage architecture powers modular, self-managing enterprise class IP-based storage arrays by automating storage management across multiple arrays and allowing for the easy expansion of storage pools, dynamically and online.

By using the peer-to-peer storage and retrieval most commonly found on file-sharing systems such as Kazaa, EqualLogic claims, companies can save significant costs over current storage methods.
http://www.masshightech.com/displaya...p?Art_ID=62163

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

Bandwidth bandit loses business
Peter Griffin

Net4U's days as an up and coming internet provider are numbered as damning evidence emerges that the Hamilton start-up has been stealing internet bandwidth from large suppliers to prop up its business.

An investigation is underway into the cyber-activities of Net4U and its founder, 17-year-old Sahil Gupta, with his admission that the company had been covertly "leeching" bandwidth capacity from Attica - a now defunct subsidiary of internet provider and tolls operator CallPlus.

"Dude, we were leeching 512Kbps international off [Attica]. You know how much it costs? ... $2000 a month," Gupta boasted in a recording of a conversation obtained by the Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydispl...ection=general

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MPAA Mulls State by State Judicial Offensives. PDF - http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/doc...mpaa_27mar.pdf

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

RIAA in Several Battles
Barry Willis

The US music industry is fighting a war on several fronts—industrial piracy in foreign countries, casual piracy in the States, unhappiness among consumers, and disagreements with artists.

Part of the industry's malaise may be its misuse of recording technology in the attempt to make every pop recording sound louder than the last one. That is the view of Rip Rowan, editor of the professional recording site www.ProRec.com. In a lengthy piece originally published in September 2002, Rowan analyzes the ever- shrinking dynamic range on recordings made by Rush, one of his favorite rock bands. Echoing observations made about Carlos Santana's monster hit Supernatural by our own John Atkinson in his December 1999 As We See It, Rowan notes that excessive use of peak limiting serves only to squash all the life out of a good performance. Narrowing the dynamic range of a recording may make it the "loudest one in the CD changer," but paradoxically quieter on the radio, because broadcasters' limiters will squash it further. The music industry's obsession with loudness could be contributing to the blurred distinction between CDs and low-resolution MP3s—why should consumers be expected to pay good money for discs that don't sound any better than low-bit-rate files crimped from the Internet?
http://www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?1602

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

A Viable Alternative to Slavery: Have Fanbase, Will Travel
Mary Hodder

Viral, direct marketing is nothing new, but for the music business and musicians, putting more and more of their work out onto the Internet, it's different. Madonna is selling her latest single, "American Life", available for download with a $1.49 payment via Paypal. Simply Red has released their eighth album, HOME, on their own label, simplyred.com, including lyrics and samples of the music. They apparently hope to make 300-400 percent higher returns than on standard record company contracts.

Mick Hucknell refered to these contracts as "immoral" in a series of articles at FT.com about the music business and ditching the major labels. These marketing scenarios turn old models upside down, and while this isn't really new for the audience, who've downloaded directly for years, it is new from the business end. Madonna is doing this through her label, Warner Bros., but Simply Red is on their own.

While Simply Red may be the game to watch these days, there are some other smaller artists out there giving this a try, like Eleni Mitchell. But the theory is that having an established fan base and quality music are the only way to make the direct model succeed.

Hucknell says he will never go back: “No, this is how I will make records for the rest of my career,” he insists. “There’s not a chance I’d go back to a major – not a chance. I’ll do distribution deals with people, but nothing beyond that.”
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/proje...ve/000757.html

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

UAlbany pursues Internet violators
Albany-- College cracks down on use of computers for file-sharing, denying students access to network
Alan Wechsler


The University at Albany is fighting the illegal sharing of movies or music on the Internet by hitting student perpetrators where it hurts -- the college is taking them off-line.

Since the spring semester began in late January, UAlbany has cut off more than 180 students who were accused by record and movie companies of file-sharing, said Martin Manjak, associate director of the residential network.

The students were all dorm residents who were using their personal computers. To get their Web connection reinstated, students had to meet with Manjak for a short lecture on copyright laws. Students also had to pay a $25 fee.

A handful of students had their services suspended for 30 days because they had done so much trading, he said.

"That's pretty drastic," said John Ellis, director of educational technology at the College of Saint Rose. "We're not doing it here yet."

The College of Saint Rose, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Skidmore and Union colleges all give students a warning when told of illegal file-sharing. At some colleges, a handful of students have been judicially referred for continuing to download copyrighted materials.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories...t e=3/24/2003

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SACRAMENTO - A Senate committee will hold an informational hearing Thursday on peer-to- peer Internet file sharing of music CDs and video DVDs. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...310EST0015.DTL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Palm slapped with infringement suit
American City Business Journals

Peer-to-Peer Systems LLC on Monday filed suit against Palm, Inc., the Milpitas-based maker of personal digital assistants (PDAs). Peer-to-Peer says Palm infringed on its patent for playing interactive, multiple player computer games on ad hoc, wireless local area networks.

The complaint alleges that the use of Palm PDAs and clone PDAs to play multiple player games wirelessly and interactively on two or more such devices directly infringes Peer-to-Peer's patent.

The suit was filed in the United States District Court in Delaware.

There was no immediate comment from Palm.
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjo...24/daily9.html

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

Altnet's Spam Dialer Revenue Plan
Simon Hayes

AUSTRALIANS could be paying for MP3 files over the telephone following the announcement of plans by peer-to-peer provider Altnet to use controversial internet dialer technology as a micropayments system.

Altnet - which provides copyright-protected music, videos and games through the Kazaa file-sharing system - revealed Kazaa users had downloaded 18 million paid files and 57 million promotional licensed files since it launched in the middle of 2002.

To encourage more sales, the system, owned by Australian-founded internet media company Brilliant Digital Entertainment, is pushing for alternatives to credit-card sales. BDE chief executive Kevin Bermeister said internet dialers, which disconnect users from their ISP and reconnect to a premium-rate or international number, were an option. Telcos split revenue from such calls with content providers. Other options include local exchange billing, not available here.

Mr Bermeister said users in the US and Europe would have a call-back system where a recorded message would ask them to pay for a track, and the charge would be added to their phone bill. "You won't initially be able to use this in Australia, but we are working on dialer options for other countries," he said. "There are a number of streams of revenue that can be extracted."

Internet dialers have come under fire recently for "dumping" unsuspecting users and reconnecting them without their knowledge to expensive international calls. The Federal Government instructed the Australian Communications Authority earlier this month to cap maximum bills on the local 1900 network to stymie the fraud, but the international option remains open. Widely used by internet pornography and gambling sites, dialers use numbers in remote locations such as Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa to run up big bills.

Mr Bermeister said dialers were a convenient micro-payment option, and were legitimate as long as users were informed of costs prior to use. "Provided we clearly communicate with users it's okay," he said. "In the past, they have been used by casinos and pornographers without warning to users about what is occurring."
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...E15306,00.html

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

SMC unveils long-range wireless PC card
Marie Lingblom

SMC Networks Tuesday unveiled a new wireless PC card with longer-range capabilities as the first product in its new EliteConnect High Power family.

The SMC2532W-B 2.4GHz 802.11b High Power Wireless PC Card, scheduled for early April availability and priced at US$139.99, features transmit power of up to 200 milliwatts and operating range of up to 2,700 feet. That range can be increased by attaching an optional high-gain antenna to one of the two available MMCX connectors, according to the company.

SMC's new wireless PC card is IEEE 802.11b-compliant and Wi-Fi certified, can be configured to operate in ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) or infrastructure mode and operates on any 802.11b network, according to SMC.

Connections are secured via 64/128-bit WEP encryption and the new Wi-Fi Protected Access, following an update in the second quarter. Also expected in the update is 802.11x user authentication, which helps ensure that only authorized users can access the resources of the wireless network.

Jon Bettino, SMC's network product marketing manager, said the new wireless PC card is aimed at providing better range and security to customers. SMC plans to release other products in SMC's EliteConnect wireless networking product family soon, according to the company.
http://www.cmpnetasia.com/ViewArt.cf...id=5&subcat=48

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

Tadpole sorts IM interoperability
Chris Lake

Peer-to-peer software developer Tadpole Technology today said it has achieved full interoperability between AOL, Yahoo! and MSN instant messaging (IM) products.

Subsidiary Endeavors has released software that enables users to communicate securely between the three major IM products, which have up until now been unable to 'talk' to one another.

The company has been working on securing individual instant messaging products to allow companies to comply with corporate governance regulations by creating audit trails, but this is the first time AOL, AIM and MSN Messenger users have been able to interact in this manner.

Enterprise IM is emerging as a huge market sector as more and more employees recognise the benefit of communicating and working on documents in real-time, regardless of their location.

Analysts at IDC believe that more than 60m individuals currently use IM in the workplace, a figure predicted to rise to 255m users in two years time.

Last August, a group of global banks formed FIMA (the Financial Instant Messaging Association) to tackle to the thorny issue of interoperability. It requested that IM vendors agree on common standards as soon as possible.

Tadpole has essentially created a product that bypasses the need for AOL, MSN and Yahoo! to agree on interoperability, something that they have so far shown no interest in.

Subsidiary Endeavors is a founding technology vendor of FIMA and is now concentrating its efforts on sales and marketing, having developed its technology over the past three years.
http://www.netimperative.com/cmn/vie...ews_0000050572

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

War on Warez
John Leyden

Managers of websites offering illegal business software could face criminal proceedings under new laws due to come into effect from the end of this month, the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) warned yesterday.

The new law, precipitated by the EU's Information Society Directive, makes it an offence to "communicate to the public" copyright works, such as software, if the person knew or had reason to believe that this would infringe copyright.

Until now, UK copyright legislation (principally the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) has been directed to illegal dealing in physical articles - such as CD Roms - rather than Warez (illegal software) sites as such.

In general, according to FAST, ISPs have taken down websites used for distribution of illegal software. However, mirror-sites can easily be established. Copyright enforces are pleased at the forthcoming introduction of law that allows them to target running pirate sites directly.

The new law (Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003) "offers the prospect of up to a two year jail term and fine to companies running such sites", according to Fast. The law also makes any director, officer or manager of companies operating such sites liable under the same offence.

Paul Brennan, General Counsel at FAST, said that the removal of uncertainties within current law means "enforcement bodies and the police can at last begin to target these illegal sites with confidence."

Robin Fry, intellectual property partner at city law firm Beachcroft Wansbroughs, explained: "The existing criminal sanctions date from 1911 and were principally to criminalise physical copies. This has rapidly become meaningless in the digital age - and the new rules put beyond doubt the criminality of offering illegal downloads."

But trade in illegal software over peer-to-peer networks remains a grey area.

Fry commented: "Where it's a member of the network sharing files - rather than the website owner himself - the website may not itself be handling any illegal copies. But, in truth, such networks are no different from the organisers of car boot sales.

"If they know what is going on then they have to take the rap", he added. ®

The new Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 include a specific extension to existing criminal provisions.
This states that "a person who infringes copyright in a work by communicating the work to the public - (a) in the course of business, or (b) otherwise than in the course of business to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright, commits an offence if he knew or had reason to believe that copyright in the work would be infringed".
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/29919.html

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

Princeton CPUC describes dangers of piracy
Kathy Li

The University must address copyright infringement concerns immediately after receiving an official complaint against a user of the campus network, said Rita Saltz, OIT security expert, yesterday afternoon at a meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community.

Colleges and universities are hotbeds of piracy, said Clayton Marsh '85, a University lawyer, and the entertainment industry has begun to take more aggressive measures against individual violators of copyright law.

According to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the University is a service provider and not liable for violations of the law. The University is under no obligation to monitor its services for illicit action.

However, the University is obliged to act immediately when a complaint is brought against a member of the University community. These "take-down letters" or "infringement complaints" can be from individuals or major entertainment industry corporations, said Saltz and Marsh.

This academic year, the University has received several infringement letters. On Jan. 28, two complaints were filed, one against a student who had 314 music files and another against a student who had downloaded 1,022 files onto his computer, Saltz said.

Each week, the University receives one or two infringement letters, although there are sometimes as many as five or six, she added.
Punishment for copyright infringement can range from criminal prosecution to statutory penalties, for which the offender can pay up to $150,000 per file, Marsh said.

Infringement can range from deliberate to inadvertent file sharing, usually through peer-to-peer technology like Kazaa. Marsh said many students believe they will not be prosecuted for illegal file sharing because it is so prevalent.
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/arc...ews/7662.shtml

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

Microsoft's new Office software could trace document recipients
Al Fasoldt

Microsoft's monopoly in the PC market has an ominous new twist.

A future version of Microsoft Office will be able to track the identities of Office users who open documents and e- mail, and can even block access to people who haven't been pre-approved by Microsoft.
This attempt to control users and documents is so far-reaching that it seems to have come straight from the "Big Brother" mind-control force in George Orwell's classic novel "1984." But it is not fantasy. Microsoft is already testing the software, as shown by a beta version that leaked out of the company's notoriously insecure private Web servers this month.
The new version of Office, referred to as Office 11 in Microsoft's internal notes, is likely to hit the market later this year.
Millions of Americans use portions of Microsoft Office every day. It is a suite of productivity programs that provides word processing, e-mail, database management, financial calculations and many other functions. Office 95, Office 97, Office 2000 and Office XP are the Windows versions in current use.

Versions for the two Macintosh operating systems are popular also, but Microsoft hasn't indicated whether the Macintosh software will be fitted with the access-blocking software.
The new technology is part of Microsoft's so-called "Digital Rights Management" (DRM), designed to block unauthorized users from opening documents, listening to music, opening unauthorized e-mail messages and attachments or viewing sections of Web pages.

One possible commercial use for Digital Rights Management seems obvious. Music companies could try to reduce the theft of copyrighted material by using DRM to prevent those who haven't paid for a song from playing it, even if they've downloaded it.

Imagine the problems you could face if Microsoft's Digital Rights Management system takes hold. You wouldn't be able to open and read e-mail from anyone who turns on DRM in the new version of Microsoft Office unless you also have Microsoft's proprietary e-mail software AND have been pre-approved to read the message or download the attachment.
When you install that software, it will "phone home" (by contacting Microsoft over the Internet) to establish your credentials. If the same copy of Microsoft Office has already been used on another PC, even on one owned by you, Microsoft will tell your software that it is not allowed to run.

If for any reason Microsoft doesn't want to approve you or your computer, you're out of luck. (Did you say you got your PC at a garage sale? Does Microsoft know that, or is your PC actually listed as stolen property? Or maybe your kids were downloading music from non-approved file sites, and the traces of those files are on your hard drive. Would you get approved for DRM when Microsoft finds traces of those music files?)

You might think I'm overreacting. But let me explain.

Your Windows PC would become, in this scenario, an agency of Microsoft and perhaps of the government. I'm not exaggerating. Your privacy could, in the most literal sense, be diluted every time you handled a document that used Digital Rights Management.

Is this something to worry about? You bet. We should understand that some of what DRM can do is good and necessary, but Microsoft, in its inimitable way, is about to make a mess of what could be a very important safeguard for those who create art for a living. By turning DRM into something that can track what you do, what you read and even what you reject, Microsoft is reminding us that our democracy requires its own kind of "rights management."

I'm more worried about DRM than about any other technological change facing us. Initially I was less concerned, but something almost trivial changed my mind.
I discovered that Microsoft's Digital Rights Management even prevents Windows users from making screen shots of DRM-encoded messages that they are authorized to read.
I'm not trying to be funny. If you finally get approval from Big Brother as someone Microsoft can trust, you're not trusted enough to press your Print Screen key. If you do try to copy the screen to the clipboard, nothing happens if a DRM document is on the screen.

Big deal? Do you think it's merely silly? After all, you can take all the screen snapshots you want with your digital camera.
Ah, here's where I became convinced that there is something sinister about DRM. Microsoft knows about digital cameras. It's not that stupid. So of course it's got another plan. I feel this in my bones.
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/tec032303.html

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

Hollywood Needs a Digital Story Line
Jane Black

Consumers want the choice of on-demand delivery, and if that means Tinseltown has to rethink its business, the time to start is now
Never mind the suspension of the red-carpet walk because of the war in Iraq. Or this year's somber tone at the Academy Awards. The producers of Chicago were popping champagne on Sunday night. The award for Best Picture equals big bucks, as much as 10% in extra ticket sales, not to mention lucrative deals with cable operators and broadcasters.

The champagne has been flowing all around Hollywood lately. Box-office receipts jumped 13.5%, to $9.5 billion, in 2002 -- the biggest year-over- year increase in two decades. DVD sales grew 71%, to more than $11 billion. That doesn't even include DVD rental revenues, which grew from $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion, according to DVD Entertainment Group, an industry association. You can't blame Hollywood for not wanting to rock the boat.

NO STOPPING IT NOW. If the movie industry is to continue its blockbuster growth, however, it needs to risk getting seasick. The spread of fast connections to the Internet is just one sign that demand for digital distribution of movies is set to take off, just as digital distribution of music did half a decade ago (see BW, 3/10/03, "A Real Hollywood Horror Story").

What the music industry's battle against now-defunct Napster and still-prospering KaZaA illustrated was that there's no holding back the tide. Consumers want choice, and if that means a rethinking of how business is done in the Digital Age, the time to start is now.

The first step is to realize that digitization of content isn't simply a matter of translating analog films into ones and zeros. It's a technology that plants the seed of the on-demand culture -- a desire by film lovers to see any movie any time they want via the Internet, through their cable or satellite box, or on a portable device.

LUCRATIVE TIMETABLE. For this, Hollywood is unprepared. It says it's ready. And last October, five studios launched Movielink, an initial attempt to create a legal alternative to illegal Internet downloading. But Tinseltown's main effort has been to send master lobbyist Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, on a traveling roadshow to preach the evils of piracy and to promote a new moral code.
http://www.businessweek.com/print/te...3_tc078.htm?tc

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

There's a solution to digital television's piracy problem
David Hendricks

As the digital television age approaches — 2006 is when all broadcasts must be in digital format — the federal government is grappling with the inevitable dispute between the recording electronics industry and the artist community.

DVD recorders are coming to market soon. The TiVo machines that digitally record television programming on hard drives are profitable already because of their clear superiority over the more familiar VCRs.

The federal government is moving television broadcasts to digital because that format requires only a tiny portion of the broadcast frequency band, compared with the more prevalent analog method.

The world is running out of broadcast bandwidth, and the federal government needs to free up frequencies for various purposes, national security the most important.

With digital, however, consumers' ability to record copyrighted material and produce duplicates for family members and friends without loss of quality, which in turn can be exactly reduplicated innumerable times, is here now.

Unfortunately, the same goes for professional pirates, who can sell duplicates for much lower prices because they do not pay the artists, which the broadcasters and the recorded music and movie companies must do.

"There is a great danger of massive piracy of unprotected broadcasts once the transition to (digital television) is complete," U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said this week before a congressional hearing on video-related piracy.

Smith is chairman of the House subcommittee on courts, the Internet and intellectual property, which is watching as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to issue copyright rules in advance of 2006.

"Pirates can easily copy and redistribute millions of digital files in a matter of seconds," Smith noted. "In the absence of protection against unauthorized redistribution, it is unlikely that content owners will make high-value programming available to broadcasters."

In other words, mediocrity will reign in the digital broadcast world.
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.c...110&xlc=960303

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There were a lot of wonderful movies released last year. Like The Lord of the Rings. Now that was a great download!” – Steve Martin at the Academy Awards.

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

AOL to swap Real audio technology
Jim Hu

America Online is expected to announce that it will replace RealNetworks with Dolby as the default audio streaming technology for its narrowband Net radio service, according to Dolby.

AOL will swap RealNetworks' audio streaming technology with Dolby AAC in its narrowband Radio@AOL product. AOL also will incorporate Dolby's audio encoding files in its Broadband Radio@AOL service, which streams MP3 files to its high-speed Internet users. The companies will collaborate on future products such as a live encoder or audio-ripping software.

The announcement is expected to occur within the next two weeks, according to a source familiar with the launch. Despite the change, AOL will still support RealNetworks in other areas on the AOL site. An AOL representative declined to comment.

AOL's decision to discontinue using its technology is a setback for RealNetworks, which has long counted the online giant as its staunchest ally against Microsoft. RealNetworks has been engaged in a market share war against Microsoft's Window Media for many years and has witnessed its dominance in the industry slip.

AOL and RealNetworks have partnered to launch MusicNet, an online subscription service that uses RealNetworks' streaming and download technology. AOL is MusicNet's primary distribution partner.

RealNetworks said the switch will not affect its ongoing relationship with AOL. Dan Sheeran, RealNetworks' vice president of marketing, said AOL will continue to deliver other types of multimedia content using RealNetworks' servers and will support its digital rights management software and its media formats as well.

"They are still a very deep partner of ours, and they're still using a lot of our technology," Sheeran said.

But the two companies have loosened their dependence on one another and may become competitors in other areas.
http://news.com.com/2100-1027-993928.html

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

Madonna grooves with MP3 release
John Borland

Monday marked the first time pop singer Madonna's music went out digitally to her legion of Net fans--and with the move, the Material Girl broke a little new online ground for major artists.

Madonna is selling her new antiwar single, "American Life" on her Web site, charging $1.49 for the download of a high-quality, wholly unrestricted MP3 file. Her publicists started taking preorders a week ago, and in a novel move for a high-profile recording artist, enlisted fans to help sell the single on their own Web sites.

The so-called Madonna Project program--drawn directly from Amazon.com's and other Web sites' affiliate strategies--saw banners and advertisements for the single pop up on fan Web pages and blogs last week. Sites whose advertisements resulted in sales of the single would get credit toward Madonna prizes and merchandise. "The Madonna Project is a top-secret initiative to revolutionize how music is distributed on the Web, and Madonna wants you to join," the singer's site read last week. "The more singles sold through your site or links, the better your chance to win a pat on the back, a gold star and some serious Madonna prizes."

The release of a high-quality, unrestricted MP3 single online marks a significant turnaround for Madonna, and helps underline how far the big record labels have come in their steps toward online distribution. Madonna was one of the first artists to make a public stink about her work slipping onto Napster before its official release date. In more recent months, she has been one of the major artists to block distribution of most of her work through online subscription services such as Pressplay or Listen.com's Rhapsody service.

Word went out a week ago that fans signing up on her Web site, and paying $1.49 though the Paypal service, would be able to download the single Monday. The high-quality MP3 format meant that fans would be able to burn it to a CD or transfer it to a portable device without the restrictions usually imposed on authorized major-label downloads. If the single slipped out on file-swapping networks before that time, fans would get the single in their e-mail box, the singer's Web site promised. Predictably, the tune found its way online Sunday, and the record label e-mailed it to fans that day. In the ensuing week, "thousands" of people signed up to be Web affiliates, a Warner Music representative said.

The single was also simultaneously released on several of the online music subscription services, the first time Madonna's major-label work has appeared on any of the legal music services.
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-993941.html

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

Copyright Versus Consumers' Rights
How Companies are Using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to Thwart Competition
Chris Sprigman

Back in 1998, Congress rewrote copyright law to address the entertainment industry's concern that digital piracy
would destroy the ability of content owners to profit from copyrighted books, films and music. The statute that Congress passed, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), makes illegal both the circumvention of technical measures that control access to copyrighted material, and "trafficking in" any tools or technology that can be used in the process of circumvention.

The DMCA immediately became controversial - in part because its broad language swept in even the limited forms of copying (for example, for comment, criticism, or parody) that have traditionally been allowed as fair use.

Early DMCA cases were also controversial. They targeted the circumvention of access and copy controls in various media, from streaming audio, to DVD films, to computer games, to e-books. Like the statute itself, the results in these cases arguably trampled fair use, and inhibited innovation. Nonetheless, in all of these cases the claims were at least related to Congress's intent in enacting the DMCA - the protection of independently marketed copyrighted works against digital piracy.

Recently, however, Lexmark - the Lexington, Kentucky company that is the world's second largest manufacturer of computer printers and printer supplies - filed a new kind of DMCA case that arguably does not track Congress's intent.

Unlike in prior DMCA disputes, the object of Lexmark's DMCA claim is not to prevent piracy of a copyrighted work. Instead, it is to prevent rivals from offering cheaper cartridges for Lexmark's printers. This is not copyright protection, but profit protection.

Looking at the DMCA's legislative history, it's easy to see what Congress had in mind - protecting Hollywood's profits from pirates. Unfortunately, the text of the statute is so broadly drawn that all sorts of companies will be tempted to use suits like Lexmark's to shut out legitimate competitors.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/scripts..._sprigman.html

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

Beyond War News, AOL's Broadband Plan May Face a Struggle
Saul Hansell

America Online had hoped that the Academy Awards ceremony would be a glamorous occasion for kicking off its new service for customers with high-speed, or broadband, connections. So even though the war in Iraq caused Hollywood to scale back some of its usual pomp, AOL officials decided late last week to proceed with plans to begin a splashy new advertising campaign featuring a commercial with Sharon Stone in bed with AOL's "running man" icon.

The war does create an opportunity for AOL to show, rather than simply tell, some of what its new service can do. It has a fair bit of video news from ABC and CNN. And it has a host of features, like one that lets family members upload photographs of relatives serving in Iraq.

But when the dust settles, AOL appears to have quite a challenge ahead selling its new, largely untested vision of what broadband customers want. A survey by Odyssey, a consumer research firm, indicates that the online public has little interest in AOL's vision of enhanced content. Even worse, their overall opinion of AOL is plummeting. In January, just 23 percent of respondents said they had a "very good" image of AOL's service, down from 39 percent a year earlier.

Jonathan Miller, who became AOL's chief executive last summer, readily admits that the company needs to reintroduce itself to current and potential customers. AOL built a huge and profitable business as a safe and easy place for people to get their first experience on the Internet. But it is now clear that the company stayed with that positioning too long after the majority of users were no longer novices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/technology/24AOL.html

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

Data Expert Is Cautious About Misuse of Information
Steve Lohr

As the government gears up its domestic security program, the chief executive of a venture capital firm founded by the Central Intelligence Agency warned today of the danger of amassing a large, unified database that would be available to government investigators — as some technology executives have advocated.

"I think it's very dangerous to give the government total access," said Gilman Louie, chief executive of In-Q-Tel, a venture fund established by the C.I.A. in 1999.

Besides, the real lesson learned from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Louie said, was that the intelligence failure was not so much that the government had too little information but that the information held by different government agencies was not linked, shared and analyzed.

It is already clear that a part of the vast amounts of personal and commercial data housed in government and corporation will increasingly be used in terrorist-related government investigations. But there is a vigorous debate over what data should be collected and how it should be used to balance the interests of national security with personal privacy and individual freedom.

Speaking at the PC Forum, an annual gathering of corporate technology executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, Mr. Louie said there were two different paths being pursued toward data surveillance by the government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/te...gy/25DATA.html

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

AARP's New Hangout: KaZaA, Web's Mosh Pit
Chris Nelson

The computer literacy gap between children and their grandparents may be narrowing. In fact, older people now spend so much time online that the AARP, the association for middle-age and older adults, has begun advertising on KaZaA Media Desktop, software used by millions of teenagers and young adults to swap songs online.

One advertisement links the desktop users to an article on "death with dignity" from the AARP magazine.

The typical KaZaA user tends to be young, high school or college age, and on the lookout for the latest hot tune — hardly the audience mulling the pros and cons of assisted suicide. But AARP members are joining that Web crowd and they might well be interested in end-of-life issues, even as they are swapping MP3's.

"These people are not just surfing on grandparents' sites," said Nicole Mansdorf, an account director with itraffic, the agency that created the AARP banner. "They're trading music. They're chatting. They're using instant messenger."

Kelly Larabee, a KaZaA spokeswoman, said there were no statistics about the age of the users of the program, which is distributed by Sharman Networks, with headquarters in Australia. The ad was placed through Premium Network on a bevy of ad-supported software programs. KaZaA users might see the AARP spot, which is in light rotation, a few times a week, Ms. Mansdorf said.

Since the demise of Napster, KaZaA has become the most popular file-sharing program. It links users anonymously, allowing them to trade music, videos, pictures, software and other types of computer files. KaZaA has been downloaded more than 200 million times, according to Sharman.

But KaZaA has also attracted considerable opposition. The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group representing the major music labels, says that programs like KaZaA aid music piracy, contributing to a decline in CD sales. Earlier this month, the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, issued a report that said child pornography was easily accessible through KaZaA.

Controversies aside, KaZaA offers an arena to reach potential members, said Rick Bowers, the AARP's director of new- product development and digital media. "We try to be conservative, but at the same time we try to be on the cutting edge whenever possible," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/te...gy/24TUNE.html

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

Peer-To-Peer To Help Municipalities
Press Release

MeshNetworks, Inc., an industry leader in the design and development of mobile broadband networking solutions and Viasys, a leading provider of infrastructure development and maintenance services for the transportation and power utility industries, today announced the signing of a value added reseller agreement.

Under the agreement, Viasys will begin offering MeshNetworks proprietary ad hoc peer-to-peer (p2p) technology to its customers. The combined solution is designed to easily and cost effectively help municipalities, counties and Departments of Transportation overcome the challenges of rolling out fixed and mobile wireless data networks.

The federal government through the Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, has made transportation safety infrastructures a top priority by allotting more than $23.5 billion dollars towards the development and installation of intelligent transportation and security systems. Viasys, which installs and maintains the latest in traffic control, safety systems, and wireless communications solutions for every level of local, state and federal government, has played an important role in the implementation of many of the country's most visible and celebrated ITS installations.

"ITS deployments save time, lives and money, as well as maximizing existing highway infrastructure at a time when most states' road building budgets have been dramatically reduced," said Viasys Director of Business Development Dan Himes. "MeshNetworks' technology will allow us to offer a cost-effective, robust wireless solution that reduces the dependency on costly fiber optic infrastructure for ITS applications."
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/...m&footer_file=

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

Microtune Shares Rise on Broadcom Ruling
Reuters

Shares in Microtune Inc. rose nearly 50%, one day after a Texas jury found in the chip maker's favor in a patent lawsuit against Broadcom Corp.

Shares of Microtune were up 43.8%, or 77 cents, at $2.53 on Nasdaq. Broadcom shares were down 3 cents at $15.96 on Nasdaq.

Microtune said a jury in federal court in eastern Texas found that Irvine-based Broadcom infringed on a Microtune patent related to a single- chip tuner used in TVs, set-top boxes, cable modems and digital TVs.

Broadcom said it would appeal. Broadcom has filed two lawsuits against Plano, Texas-based Microtune alleging patent infringement
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la...Dtechnolog y.

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

Coalition Eyes Measure To Repeal 7-Year Statute
Tamara Conniff,

Representatives of the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC) are in talks with top political consultants to arrange polling and focus groups for a possible California ballot initiative to repeal legislation that ties recording artists to contracts for more than seven years. If RAC moves forward with the plan, it could put its Creative Artists Initiative on the ballot for the November 2004 election. About 373,800 signatures are required to get an initiative on the ballot.

"The ballot initiative is something that has to be looked at; it's certainly an idea that I think the board of RAC is interested in reviewing and will be getting some serious consideration," said Simon Renshaw, RAC board member and manager of Dixie Chicks. The initiative has yet to be brought before the entire RAC board.

The move comes after negotiations have stalled between record companies and artist rights activists to find a compromise solution. A legislative action introduced by California state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City), was put on hold last year and was reintroduced last month as a bill in a music industry package along with two bills that would clean up allegedly ambiguous record label royalty and accounting practices.

Combating piracy is one area where artists and record labels agree. Murray will chair an informal hearing on peer-to-peer file-sharing tomorrow (March 27) in Sacramento before the members of the Senate Select Committee on the Entertainment Industry. Representatives from such services as KaZaa and Morpheus as well as the Motion Picture Association of America, RIAA, RAC, and EarthLink are expected to speak.

The hearing will also address CD pricing and how the copyright infringement occurring on peer-to-peer services will next affect the film and television industries.
http://www.billboard.com/billboard/d...ent_id=1849018

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

Hip shaking to file sharing
Rock 'n' roll evolves among helpful and hurtful relationships with television and the Internet
Chelsea Sime

It is Sept. 9, 1956. The phenomenon known as rock 'n' roll is still in its infancy, with many Americans refusing to accept its followers as a subculture. Elvis Presley, a young man with slick hair and swiveling hips, takes the stage at "The Ed Sullivan Show." Because of a car accident, Sullivan himself could not make the show, so it is actor Charles Laughton who fills in as guest host.

Presley is paid $50,000 to play four songs - and the viewing audience isn't even allowed to see below his waist because his gyrating hips were considered too provocative for television.

The performance is the turning point for rock 'n' roll as a genre. Most would agree it was also the defining moment for the synthesis between music and television.

Almost 50 years later, what was once unmentionable has now become prudish, and there is much more than pelvis thrusts allowed on modern TV. Music and TV have evolved through a strange symbiotic relationship, and it's not over yet. They vie for sales and audience attention by manipulating one another, yet work together to mandate the entertainment industry.

It is perhaps impossible to tell where the future of television and music will venture or how far the limits will be stretched before boundaries no longer exist. The biggest problem may be that the development of the Internet and free file- sharing will drastically wound music and television. Or maybe the two media will work together, as they have shown in the past, to build a whole new pop culture revolution.

"The music industry is scarred," Grant said. He prophesies a new technological model soon that will have TV, DVD, radio and gaming consoles all in one. "Entertainment on demand," Grant said. "And a 3-D Princess Leah in my living room would be nice."

Friedlander, however, said, "Radio was the Napster of the '20s. File-sharing, if anything, has had no impact, or even increased album sales to the young audience." When radio first emerged, the professor said, people didn't think that is was possible to broadcast free music and still expect people to spend money on albums, which is the same debate that is happening now over online music swapping.

Many students use the Internet where radio and television leave off and search the Web for music that even underground scene hasn't heard of yet. MTV may have influenced the generation when they were younger, but online sources are now replacing the often-tired music channel that now plays few music videos.

"I think the opportunity [to trade music files on the Internet] is incredible," Avakian said. "It broadens everyone's horizons."
http://www.orion-online.net/vnews/di.../3e82584cd7296

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

Grant Thornton LLP Selects Colligo's Wireless Productivity
Press Release

VANCOUVER, March 24 /PRNewswire/ - Colligo Networks, Inc., the leading provider of peer-to-peer wireless productivity software, announced today that Grant Thornton LLP, a leading global accounting, tax, and business advisory firm, has licensed Colligo(TM) Workgroup Edition for deployment in all of their 51 US branches to be used by auditing teams who must work offsite.
Colligo Workgroup Edition is a productivity tool for workgroups that need to securely communicate, exchange information, and share resources such as printers without relying on central access points, servers, or Internet connections. While working offsite, Grant Thornton auditors can wirelessly connect to each other to avoid traditional methods of file transfer such as disk swapping, dial-up, and mini-LANs. This instant network environment translates into increased productivity, convenience and file protection for auditors while reducing IT department costs and support headaches.

"We selected Colligo Workgroup Edition to allow our auditors to instantly create wireless networks in the field to securely transfer files from notebook to notebook. With Colligo software on their machines, they can show up, instantly connect with each other, and immediately start working," said Keith Newton, Partner in Charge of Auditing Standards, Grant Thornton.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2003,+09:01+AM

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

Broadband groups to establish open model for services

A group comprised of some of the world's major broadband DSL industry service providers, consumer electronics
and solutions vendors announced today their intention to develop, standardise and support an open model for interactive entertainment services over broadband DSL.

With the number of worldwide broadband subscribers expected to reach 150 million by 2005, the consortium beleives broadband is rapidly becoming a mass market and a lucrative distribution mechanism for online content and services.

Alan Pyne, director at Schema, the independent management consultancy firm specialising in the technology and media markets, says: "The provision for online content such as movies, games and music is now a major requirement for broadband's 36 million subscribers. This presents a huge opportunity for the content, consumer electronics and telecoms industries, which we believe all benefit from the development of open standards."

The initiating group consists of Alcatel, Belgacom, Philips Consumer Electronics, Bluewin / Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telekom Austria and Thomson. It is currently developing a set of proposals to describe a model for the provision of broadband entertainment services in a profitable manner for every implied stakeholder.

The group intends to garner additional input and support from other broadband stakeholders including the content industries with a view to collectively submitting a proposal to the appropriate standards bodies later in 2003.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15536

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

DSL to beat cable modem across Europe over next 4 years, report

The European broadband market will develop at a rate of 68 per cent over the next four years, and 33.1m residential DSL and cable modem subscribers across the continent by the end of 2006, according to market analysts Yankee Group.

The researchers are also predicting that the sector will be worth 17.9bn by the same date, and that demand for DSL will surpass considerably that for cable modem.

That said, the analysts also say that enterprise subscriptions will make up around 50 per cent of all DSL revenues, and will spend the most in terms of average revenue per user (ARPU), and will represent only 22 per cent of subscriptions.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15547

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

41m European broadband households by end of 2006, report

The European broadband market will expand at an annual rate of 68 per cent over the next few years and be worth
E17.8bn (USD18.9bn) in the year 2006, according to the communications and consultancy firm, Yankee Group.

According to the organisation’s forecasts, take up rates for digital subscriber line (DSL) services will dominate penetration in the consumer market, far outstripping the numbers connected using cable modem services. With high average revenue per users (ARPU) rates, the business market is predicted to account for around half of DSL revenues but only 22 per cent of its subscriber base.

Yankee’s forecast that, by the close of 2006, there will be 33.1 million European residential users accessing broadband through DSL and cable modem connections is largely corroborated by a separate report from Datamonitor which predicts that a total of 41 million households will be connected via all high-speed internet services by the end of 2006.

Though broadband penetration at the moment stands at around only 10 million, Datamonitor expects the rush of broadband uptake to happen by 2004 with revenues tailing off after that date. Datamonitor also suggests that subscription tariffs will need to come down before the mass market migrates from narrowband.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15537

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

Eircom introduces cut-rate wholesale DSL

Irish telco Esat BT has said that they are happy with incumbent Eircom’s new DSL wholesale pricing, and that it is
set to roll out it’s own cut-rate retail DSL by the summer.

Recently, Eircom had announced its intention to produce a retail DSL product for roughly E50 a month – around a 50 per cent reduction from the company’s existing retail product.

Although this had initially angered competitor Esat BT, as Eircom has submitted a new wholesale price to telecoms regulator ComReg, everything seems to be hunky-dory now for the entrant telco. Eircom’s new wholesale price will be E27 per line per month for Esat BT and other entrants.

Esat BT is currently working out their own retail pricing strategy, with a cut-rate DSL service to be launched by the late spring or early summer.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15545

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

Telewest in 2Mb broadband 'give-away'

Telewest is to trial a new ultra-fast broadband service by offering free upgrades to 1,500 of its customers currently subscribed to its 1Mb cable broadband package.

The move is a bit of a PR coup for Telewest, with many NTL customers still glowering at the data cap that limits the amount of data they are permitted to download.

The 2Mb connections being trialled by Telewest are about 4 times faster than a standard consumer broadband connection and around 40 times faster than dial-up access. Telewest is hoping to establish through the trial the viability of offering ultra-fast connections to individual households. Currently 2Mb broadband connection are usually aimed at businesses.

Telewest aims to launch the full 2Mb service later this year.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15565

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Motorola launches music downloading for handsets

Motorola has announced a programme offering consumers downloadable packaged themes featuring music
from a variety of rock, pop, hip-hop and R&B artists. The packaged themes include technology that delivers animated screensavers based on music videos, polyphonic ringtones of new songs, and wallpaper of artists’ photos.

This new offering, called Makethemixmoto, enables music fans to morph compatible Motorola phones into handheld tributes to existing favorites or newly discovered talent on the global music scene. Fans can act as artist advocates by playing ringtones for some albums that have yet to be released, creating early buzz and interest in new artist releases.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15599