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Old 28-05-04, 01:02 PM   #1
JackSpratts
 
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Default Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - May 29th, '04

Quotes Of The Week

"I told her [at the record company] I don't have the money. She told me to go talk to a lawyer and I told her I don't have no money to talk to a lawyer " – Sued single mom Tammy Lafky.

"I can't imagine that (Hollywood lobbyist) Jack Valenti or (RIAA chairman) Mitch Bainwol really wants to come before Congress and give testimony saying, 'We can't afford to bring these lawsuits. That's why we want the taxpayer to pay for them.' I can't believe they want to do that in public." – Philip Corwin.

"The second problem is that the editors wield their scissors differently according to their view of the characters' righteousness. When Americans are shot in "Black Hawk Down," the editors carefully omit the bullet's moment of impact. But when Somali gunmen are blown apart, you see the whole twitching, gruesome scene." – David Pogue writing about the movie censoring machine ClearPlay.

"But as it is, the evidence suggests that ClearPlay's technology is not intended for families at all. It's for like-minded adults, specifically those who are offended by bad language and sexual situations but don't mind brutality, destruction and suffering. Maybe every ClearPlay-sanitized movie ought to begin with a message: ‘This film has been modified as follows: It has been formatted to fit the taste, sensibilities and religious beliefs of a couple of guys in Utah. That'll be $1.50.’" – David Pogue.












Hackers Attack Govt Sites Over P2P Law
dpa

ROME: Hackers attacked several Italian institutional websites Tuesday, days after parliament approved a bill introducing jail penalties for those caught exchanging unauthorised copyright material over the Internet.

Police said the official government and parliament websites were among those targeted by hackers, who caused "only limited damage."

Last week, parliament approved a bill making unauthorised file-sharing of copyright material through such peer-to-peer (P2P) services as Kazaa and WinMX a criminal offence.

Penalties for those found guilty range from fines of between 150 and 1,000 euros (RM692 to RM4,600) to jail sentences of up to three years.

The bill was introduced by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government and was promoted by Italy's film industry.

However, parties from across the political spectrum have since said they may consider reducing the penalties for offenders. --
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/sto...sec=technology


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'Pirate Act' Raises Civil Rights Concerns
Declan McCullagh

File swappers concerned about getting in trouble with record labels over illegal downloads may soon have a major new worry: the U.S. Department of Justice.

A proposal that the Senate may vote on as early as next week would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against suspected copyright infringers, with fines reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The so-called Pirate Act is raising alarms among copyright lawyers and lobbyists for peer-to-peer firms, who have been eyeing the recording industry's lawsuits against thousands of peer-to-peer users with trepidation. The Justice Department, they say, could be far more ambitious.

One influential proponent of the Pirate Act is urging precisely that. "Tens of thousands of continuing civil enforcement actions might be needed to generate the necessary deterrence," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said when announcing his support for the bill. "I doubt that any nongovernmental organization has the resources or moral authority to pursue such a campaign."

The Pirate Act represents the latest legislative priority for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its allies, who collectively argue that dramatic action is necessary to prevent file- swapping networks from continuing to blossom in popularity.

"We view this as a key component of an enforcement package," RIAA lobbyist Mitch Glazier said Tuesday. "If you're going to try to make sure that you have effective deterrence, then one of the tools you'll need is to make sure that prosecutors have flexibility."

Foes of the Pirate Act have been alarmed by the unusual alacrity of the proposal's legislative progress. It was introduced just two months ago, on March 25, and not one hearing was held before the Judiciary committee forwarded it to the full Senate for a vote a month later.

"This was an attempt to move it in a stealthy manner," said Philip Corwin, a lobbyist for Sharman Networks, which operates the Kazaa network. "I can't imagine that (Hollywood lobbyist) Jack Valenti or (RIAA chairman) Mitch Bainwol really wants to come before Congress and give testimony saying, 'We can't afford to bring these lawsuits. That's why we want the taxpayer to pay for them.' I can't believe they want to do that in public."

Potential P2P prosecutions
Underlying the public jockeying over the Pirate Act is a classic political war of wills between the federal government's legislative and executive branches.

Under a 1997 law called the No Electronic Theft Act, federal prosecutors can file criminal charges against peer-to-peer users who make a large number of songs available for download. A July 2002 letter from prominent congressmen to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft urged the prosecution of Americans who "allow mass copying from their computer over peer-to-peer networks."

But not one peer-to-peer criminal prosecution has taken place in the United States. The Justice Department has indicated that it won't target peer-to-peer networks for two reasons: Imprisoning file- swapping teens on felony charges isn't the department's top priority, and it's always difficult to make criminal charges stick.

The Pirate Act was crafted to respond to the Justice Department's concern. "Federal prosecutors have been hindered in their pursuit of pirates by the fact that they were limited to bringing criminal charges with high burdens of proof," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in March. "Prosecutors can rarely justify bringing criminal charges, and copyright owners have been left alone to fend for themselves, defending their rights only where they can afford to do so. In a world in which a computer and an Internet connection are all the tools you need to engage in massive piracy, this is an intolerable predicament."

The RIAA's Glazier said: "The idea was to give prosecutors the flexibility to decide whether to bring a civil case against somebody. Giving them a criminal fine with a criminal record was viewed as a fairly harsh penalty for the activity...You're still committing a crime. But (prosecutors) are given a flexible remedy so there's some proportionality."

For copyright holders, there's an additional bonus. Unlike when the RIAA files its own lawsuits against peer-to-peer users, such as the 493 defendants it announced this week, the Justice Department likely would be able to seek wiretaps to collect evidence about P2P infringement. Current wiretap law says electronic communications may be intercepted when a potential federal felony is being investigated.

"Corporate copyright welfare"
In addition, the Pirate Act gives Ashcroft six months to "develop a program to ensure effective implementation and use of the authority for civil enforcement of the copyright laws" and report back to Congress on how many civil lawsuits have been filed. The Justice Department would receive an extra $2 million for the fiscal year beginning in October.

"It represents yet another point in another very long line of major corporate copyright interests pushing for and receiving what amounts to significant corporate welfare," said Adam Eisgrau, a lobbyist for the P2P United trade association. "This legislation literally offloads the cost of enforcing copyrights traditionally borne by the copyright holder onto the federal government and therefore the taxpayers."

Last week, the Pirate Act had been considered for a floor vote under a process normally restricted for noncontroversial measures. But the vote didn't happen, which one foe of the bill attributed to opposition from Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota.

Coleman has slammed the RIAA in the past for going too far in its fierce legal campaign against individual file swappers. A representative was unable to confirm Tuesday whether Coleman had placed a "hold" on the bill.

Critics also charge that the Pirate Act may invent a form of double jeopardy: It would let the RIAA sue the same people already sued by the Justice Department.

"The kinds of things we have a double-jeopardy doctrine to prevent seem to be implicated by the bill," said Jessica Litman, author of "Digital Copyright" and a law professor at Wayne State University. "I find it disturbing that the committee reported this out without at least having a hearing to consider some of the alternatives."

The RIAA points out that the bill does limit damages it can collect in a subsequent lawsuit, but opponents of the proposal said they weren't convinced.

"Why should someone be sued by the government and then be subject to a second lawsuit brought by a private party?" said Corwin, the Sharman Networks lobbyist. "The RIAA is settling most of these lawsuits. What's the Justice Department's policy going to be?"
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5220480.html


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Canadian feudalism: Farmers no longer own their own seeds

Monsanto Wins Patent Case on Plant Genes
Bernard Simon

TORONTO, May 21 - In a case central to the international debate over the right to patent gene-engineered organisms, Canada's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a Saskatchewan farmer infringed Monsanto's patent on genetically modified canola, even though he said the seeds landed in his fields by accident.

While the ruling upholds Monsanto's patent rights, there is no immediate financial benefit to the company. The court said Monsanto was not entitled to profits earned by the farmer, Percy Schmeiser, from his genetically modified crop because he had not financially benefited from the plants' engineered ability to withstand Monsanto's herbicide Roundup.

Mr. Schmeiser and his supporters, including numerous farm and environmental groups, expressed disappointment that the court had confirmed Monsanto's right to patent a plant gene and control its use by farmers.

"It's not nearly the victory that we were looking for," Mr. Schmeiser said at a news conference in Saskatoon.

Pat Mooney, executive director of ETC, a nonprofit environmental group based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said the ruling suggested that "wherever a gene wanders, it's under Monsanto's control."

But a patent law expert, Eileen McMahon, a partner at the Toronto law firm Torys, hailed the ruling as "a fantastic decision in terms of biotechnology and patents." According to Ms. McMahon, "we have a strong signal that cells and genes are patentable."

Monsanto also welcomed the decision, saying in a news release that it "has set a world standard in intellectual property protection."

While Canadian court decisions have no direct bearing on American law, Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety in Washington, said that the Canadian judgment could nonetheless have an impact on similar claims by Monsanto against American farmers.

Almost 100 such cases have so far gone to trial in the United States, and farmers have paid penalties averaging $100,000 each to Monsanto. Mr. Kimbrell said if American courts followed the Canadian court's example in not requiring Mr. Schmeiser to repay his profits, it might reduce the economic incentive for Monsanto to pursue other farmers.

The case involving Mr. Schmeiser, who is 73, had become a rallying point for critics of genetically modified plants. "He touched upon a long-standing issue that is not resolved globally," said Thomas Redick, a partner at Gallop Johnson and Neuman, a law firm in St. Louis.

In 1997, while spraying around power poles and ditches with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide near a three-acre canola field, Mr. Schmeiser noticed that some canola plants were unaffected by the weed killer. He then sprayed the entire field, and discovered that most of the plants were unfazed.

After he harvested that year's canola crop, Mr. Schmeiser stored a sizable quantify of seed from the Roundup-resistant plot, which he used as part of his planting the following year of 1,000 acres of canola.

A Monsanto investigator had taken samples in 1997 from canola plants growing along a road next to one of Mr. Schmeiser's fields. Testing revealed that the herbicide-resistant plants were Monsanto's genetically modified canola, known as Roundup Ready, which is specifically designed to resist Roundup herbicide. The company confronted Mr. Schmeiser in March 1998, warning him that planting the Roundup-resistant seeds he had saved would infringe the company's patent rights. He planted them anyway.

Mr. Schmeiser has surmised that the genetically modified seed either blew onto his property from neighboring farms or fell off passing trucks. Monsanto acknowledged that Mr Schmeiser had never placed an order for Roundup Ready canola.

The company nevertheless contended that no matter how Mr. Schmeiser obtained the Roundup Ready product, he should have signed a "technology use agreement" and paid the regular licensing fee of 15 Canadian dollars an acre. Under the licensing agreement, farmers are not allowed to save any seed for replanting and must buy new seed each year from Monsanto.

In Friday's judgment, which upholds rulings by two lower courts, the Supreme Court concluded by a 5-to-4 margin that Mr. Schmeiser had "actively cultivated" Roundup Ready canola as part of his business, thereby infringing Monsanto's patent.

"We emphasize that we are not concerned here with the innocent discovery by farmers of 'blow-by' patented plants on their land or in their cultivated fields," the judges wrote.

Nor, they said, were they concerned with the scope of Monsanto's patent or "the wisdom and social utility of the genetic modification of genes and cells."

"The patented genes and cells are not merely a 'part' of the plant," the court said. "Rather, the patented genes are present throughout the genetically modified plant and the patented cells compose its entire physical structure."

Under Friday's ruling, Mr. Schmeiser is barred from using Roundup Ready canola unless he pays Monsanto's license fee. He must also hand over to the company any Roundup Ready seed still in his possession.

Nevertheless, the court set aside the lower courts' decision that Mr. Schmeiser owed Monsanto 19,800 Canadian dollars in profits. The Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Schmeiser had earned the same profit from the Monsanto product as he would have from ordinary canola. It also overruled the lower courts' decision that Mr. Schmeiser was responsible for Monsanto's legal costs.

Farmers and environmental groups, among others, have mounted campaigns in several parts of the world against patents on genetically modified products, on the grounds that no commercial enterprise has sole rights to a living organism.

A court in southeastern France fined three people 600 euros ($722) each on Friday for destroying Monsanto test fields of genetically modified crops and awarded the company 4,000 euros in compensation for the damage. Similar charges have been brought in 11 other cases in France in the last six years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/22/bu...ss/22crop.html


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Single Mom Overwhelmed By Recording Industry Suit
Leslie Brooks Suzukamo

Tammy Lafky has a computer at home but said she doesn't use it. "I don't know how," the 41- year-old woman said, somewhat sheepishly.

But her 15-year-old daughter, Cassandra, does. And what Cassandra may have done, like millions of other teenagers and adults around the world, landed Lafky in legal hot water this week that could cost her thousands of dollars.

Lafky, a sugar mill worker and single mother in Bird Island, a farming community 90 miles west of St. Paul, became the first Minnesotan sued by name by the recording industry this week for allegedly downloading copyrighted music illegally.

The lawsuit has stunned Lafky, who earns $12 an hour and faces penalties that top $500,000. She says she can't even afford an offer by the record companies to settle the case for $4,000.

The ongoing music downloading war is being fought on one side by a $12 billion music industry that says it is steadily losing sales to online file sharing. On the other side, untold millions of people — many of them too young to drive — who have been downloading free music off file- sharing sites with odd names like Kazaa and Grokster and who are accusing the music industry of price gouging and strong-arm tactics.

Lafky says she doesn't download free music. Her daughter did last year when she was 14, but neither of them knew it was illegal because all of Cassandra's friends at school were doing it.

"She says she can't believe she's the only one being sued," Lafky said. "She told me, 'I can't be the only one. Everybody else does it.' "

A record company attorney from Los Angeles contacted Lafky about a week ago, telling Lafky she could owe up to $540,000, but the companies would settle for $4,000.

"I told her I don't have the money," Lafky said. "She told me to go talk to a lawyer and I told her I don't have no money to talk to a lawyer."

Lafky said she clears $21,000 a year from her job and gets no child support.

The music industry isn't moved. It has sued nearly 3,000 people nationwide since September and settled with 486 of them for an average of $3,000 apiece, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major and minor labels that produce 90 percent of the recorded music in the United States.

"Our goal in these cases and in this program (of lawsuits) that we're trying to achieve is to deliver the message that it's illegal and wrong," said Stanley Pierre-Louis, senior vice president for legal affairs for the RIAA.

Since the music industry began its lawsuit campaign, awareness of the illegality of downloading copyrighted music has increased several-fold this year, Pierre-Louis said.

"And we're trying to create a level playing field for legal online (music) services," he added.

These services sell music for under a dollar a song, and some have become well known, like Apple Computer's iPod service, which advertises heavily on TV. Others are just getting off the ground.

Pierre-Louis said the RIAA does not comment on individual cases like Lafky's, but he said the music industry typically finds its targets by logging onto the same file-sharing services that the file-sharers do. Its agents then comb the play lists for names of songs that are copyrighted and that they believe are being illegally shared.

The record companies follow the songs when they're downloaded onto computers, and they also note how many copyrighted songs are stored on that computer's hard drive memory, because those songs are often "uploaded" or shared with others through the file-sharing service.

Since January, the industry has filed 2,947 lawsuits, most against "John Does," until the record companies went to court to get names of the downloaders from their Internet service providers. Last month, the music industry filed 477 lawsuits nationwide, including two "John Doe" lawsuits against users at the University of Minnesota whose identities have not been revealed.

The industry is particularly keen on stopping people who keep their computers open on the Internet for others to share. On Lafky's computer, for instance, record companies like Universal Music Group, Sony and Warner Bros. found songs by groups they publish like Bloodhound Gang, Savage Garden and Linkin Park. Also found were songs by artists Michelle Branch, MC Hammer and country stars Shania Twain and Neal McCoy, which not only were downloaded but also available to others to upload, according to the lawsuit.

Federal copyright laws allow for penalties that range from $750 per infringement or song up to $30,000 per infringement, Pierre-Louis said.

If a defendant is found to have committed a violation "in a willful manner," he or she can be fined $150,000 per song, he said.

The record companies are willing to negotiate cases individually if someone says they cannot afford the penalties. So far, no case has gone to trial, the RIAA said.

Pierre-Louis said the RIAA isn't afraid of a consumer backlash. "We're facing a daunting challenge and we have to face it head-on," he said.

Tammy Lafky is facing her own challenge. She said she doesn't know what she'll do. "I told her," she said, referring to the record company lawyer, "if I had the money I would give it to you, but I don't have it."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...printstory.jsp


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Europe's Net File-Swappers Unfazed By Lawsuits
Bernhard Warner

The threat of lawsuits has failed to deter Europeans from using the Internet to hoard free music, movies and video games, a technology firm that measures Internet traffic says.

The latest Hollywood movies, television shows and albums zipping between Internet users accounts for 70 percent to 80 percent of all Internet traffic handled daily by European Internet service providers (ISPs).

The level of peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic, according to Canadian traffic filtering company Sandvine Inc., has remained steady since the start of the year.

"In the United States, there has been a small decline of about five percent. But in Europe, file- sharing levels remain as robust as ever," said Chris Colman, European, Middle East and Africa managing director of Sandvine.

The findings do not bode well for media companies desperate to derail the popularity of file- sharing networks, which they blame for eating into sales, nor the dozens of industry-backed download services operating in Europe.

Last week, Roxio Inc. launched a commercial version of Napster in the UK to much fanfare, the latest attempt by the music industry to woo file-swappers to industry-sanctioned pay services.

To slow the rampant growth of online piracy, music industry trade body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced in March it would begin suing the most prolific song-swappers in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Canada.

The clampdown is patterned on a controversial campaign by U.S. trade body the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has sued thousands of the most prolific American music file-sharers since September.

Declines In U.S.

Sandvine said file-sharing activity in the United States has dipped five percent to account for 65 percent of all Internet traffic in recent months, suggesting the American law suits are having a modest impact.

There have been a number of studies conducted to determine whether lawsuits are actually deterring Internet users from downloading and trading music over the Internet -- with mixed results.

The music industry said its own study shows the number of music files in circulation has dipped since the U.S. lawsuits, but there is no data yet for Europe.

For both Europe and North America, 30 percent of all high-speed broadband customers use peer-to-peer networks to swap all manner of files, Colman said.

There is one stark difference between the two regions. Europeans tend to download more bulky movie-sized files, making users of such file-trading protocols as Bittorrent and eDonkey more popular among Europeans.

"The trend seems to be more multi-media files are being downloaded by Europeans. EDonkey has really grown on the back of this," said Colman.

As broadband connections get faster and PCs memory expands, the capability to download and store larger files -- namely films -- has expanded rapidly, creating a big potential headache for movie studios.

Europe's biggest broadband markets -- Germany, the UK and France -- have some of the most active peer-to-peer users, Sandvine said.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackage...4&section=news


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DVD Rot, File Sharing and Consumer Rights
News Roundup

There's been some media attention lately on the issue of CD/DVD rot. CD/DVD rot occurs due to poor manufacturing of discs which allows oxidization to occur and eats away the aluminum layer of the discs, causing failed playback. While CD/DVDs are still far more long lasting than their tape cousins, they are apparently not as indestructible as first thought (the often quoted 100 year lifespan might be pushing it a little). Add this to the fact that children + DVDs = fingerprints, scratches and unplayable discs, allowing DVDs to be backed up properly, as a core consumer right, seems more important than ever.

While the RIAA/MPAA cry foul at the damage online file sharing to their respective industries, there is more and more evidence everyday that the loss in sales, if there are any, are most likely due to other factors. This article mentions games as a factor in the decline of box office revenue, as the limited income of younger-adult consumers plus the wide range of products and services aimed specifically at them will lead to someone losing out - in this case, it's Hollywood, although they still seem to get by alright with what they do earn. The music industry, on the other hand, have been experiencing both increasing and decreasing sales in the same time period. More the case of "potential income" lost, rather than "actual income" gained, perhaps?

Meanwhile, the digital rights community's favorite Congressman, Rick Boucher, is hard at work again pushing his DMCRA (Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act) amendment to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The amendment aims to ensure fair use is allowed under the DMCA, and that scientific research is not hindered by the flaws in the DMCA. The other part of the amendment tries to ensure proper labeling of copy protected discs, which is especially needed if the copy protection can lead to potential playback problems.
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/sh...php?newsid=105


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The Piper Wants Polk City To Pay

Music industry group wants town to obtain license -- but for what?
Lauren Glenn

POLK CITY -- This small town has no elevators, and consequently, no elevator music.

And the town hall doesn't use music to entertain callers who are placed on hold.

But the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a music copyrighting and licensing agency, says the city must be using some form of music it shouldn't be. The organization has made clear to Polk City officials that it can sue if the town does not receive a license and is discovered to be using copyrighted music.

Along with other music copyrighting organizations such as Broadcast Music Inc. and the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, ASCAP manages licensing and distribution of royalties for songwriters, composers and performers whose music others may wish to use publicly.

These groups have been among the major crusaders against the free distribution of music over the Internet, a fight that has already resulted in thousands of lawsuits throughout the country, the most notable taking place against file-sharing giant Napster and its customers. Polk City isn't the only local municipality being warned.

Haines City officials have received a letter and phone call from the music licensing agency advising them to register for a license also.

"Our city attorney has suggested we look into this further," Assistant City Manager Amy Arrington said. "We don't use music when people are on hold.

"We have a few instances where we use music, like during the fireworks for our Fourth of July celebration," Arrington said. "That eight-minute tape could be an example of when a city would need to have this kind of license."

The city of Bartow received notice six months ago and chose not to register with ASCAP or any other licensing agency.

"Our position is we don't do anything that would trigger the requirement of being licensed by them," said City Attorney George Dunlap.

Vince Abbatiello, vice president and director of general licensing at ASCAP, said the cities were contacted because "most municipalities play music at some point whether it be during parades or arts and craft fairs."

Until recently, local governments had to buy licensing agreements for each event that music was used for.

Now, Abbatiello said, cities can purchase a blanket agreement that allows the use of copyrighted music throughout the year without penalties.

The cost ranges from $260 annually for a town of up to 50,000 residents to a maximum fee of $52,000 for a city of more than 500,000.

According to ASCAP, about 700 municipalities nationwide have signed the blanket agreement.

The city of Lakeland has an agreement with both ASCAP and BMI, licensing productions that take place at The Lakeland Center, said city spokesman Kevin Cook. He was not aware of any other productions, musical or dramatic, that the city needed or had a license for.

In Polk City, few, if any, town functions involve music. The only music heard in the town hall comes from the small radios some staff members keep on their desks.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.d...405240365/1039


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Internet Offers Unfiltered Look Into Iraq War
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/business/8720769.htm


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Napster Arrives in Britain, But Success Isn't Certain
Jon Newton

Britons don't know Napster 2 is a shallow attempt to cash in on what was. They haven't been exposed to Napster 2 in the same way North Americans have. They still remember the old Napster, the P2P file-sharing application that first freed music lovers from the iron grip of the corporate music industry, and they think there's a similarity.

There's an article in Britain's prestigious Times Online today called "Q&A: Napster and the Music Industry," which seems -- at least on the surface -- to explain what Napster 2 will mean to Britons now that its owner, Roxio, has succeeded in snaking it into the United Kingdom.

"Easy, safe and legal" Napster relaunched, said the Financial Times yesterday.

Does that mean OD2 or iTunes, for example, or LimeWire, Blubster, BearShare, Morpheus, Grokster or any of the other commercial P2P applications is hard to use, unsafe and illegal?

No, although the implication is there. It's a reference to Shawn Fanning's Napster, the application that fired the first, resounding shots in what have since become the file- sharing wars.

Shallow Attempt To Cash In

Britons don't know Napster 2 is a shallow attempt to cash in on what was. They haven't been exposed to Napster 2 in the same way North Americans have. They still remember the old Napster, the P2P file-sharing application that first freed music lovers from the iron grip of the corporate music industry, and they think there's a similarity.

However, Napster 2 bears not the faintest resemblance to the application from which it draws its name. It's a cynical -- and not very effective -- hard-core marketing tool designed to get people in the United Kingdom to spend far too much on far too little.

Napster, High-Flying Internet Store?

Digital download service Napster scored a major victory over archrival iTunes by launching in Britain Thursday, the first of the high-flying Internet music stores to make its European debut, according to Reuters.

High-flying Internet music stores? The flaccid online sites supported and supplied by the Big Five music labels?

"Napster goes live in UK, beating rivals," said an International Herald Tribune headline. "First blood to Napster in the battle for online music sales," said the Telegraph.co.uk. "Napster's a British beachhead," said Daily Variety. And "Napster relaunch takes music industry by surprise," said the Guardian.

Napster 2, which hasn't made a ripple in the North American music pool, "is launching in a brutally competitive European market," the Reuters story said, completely ignoring the reality that, at this point, there is no European market, brutal or otherwise. Nor is there much in the way of competition.

The music industry supplies everyone, everywhere, with the same 500,000 to 700,000 tracks that the corporate online music "stores" then attempt to resell at more or less the same grossly overblown prices.

Big Music's 'Product'

The launch of Phonoline, Germany's addition to the online corporate music store line-up, was a fiasco -- even embarrassing German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. Critics claimed the selection was too limited and the price of downloading individual songs too high.

Napster 2 is offering the very same Big Five "product" at twice what it's trying -- and failing -- to get in North America: 1.09 pounds (about US$1.94) per track. In the United States, the same product goes for 99 cents -- about .56 pence UK.

In the meantime, a serious lack of credibility isn't all Napster 2 has to contend with. In North America, when it comes to corporate music services, iTunes reigns supreme, and although the Recording Industry Association of America shoehorned Napster 2 into the American university system as its campus sales division, in effect, it isn't even a shadow on the wall.

ITunes, too, is on its way into the United Kingdom. But even without that as competition, Napster 2 must still go toe-to-toe with OD2, which -- with Peter Gabriel flying its flag -- is thoroughly entrenched throughout Europe as the primary corporate music presence.

Napster 2 Hasn't Beaten Anybody

Napster II hasn't beaten anyone at anything in the United States and certainly won't get anywhere near OD2 -- or anyone else, for that matter -- in Europe. So is Napster the future of music? "Until an even bigger idea comes along, yes," said the piece in the Times.

That is, of course, ridiculous. "Will Napster kill High Street record stores?" asks a BBC story. No fear -- not even nearly.

Meanwhile, as Big Music struggles to eliminate uncontrolled and unauthorized file-sharing, and while Apple boasts that it sold 70 million tracks in its first year of sales, online music lovers are downloading 1 billion free tracks every month, according to stats from music- industry tracker Big Champagne.

Thus, at the end of the day, legal downloads aren't that interesting to consumers.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/global/33938.html


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Filesharing affecting box office? Not hardly.

Records Fall at Box Office as 'Shrek 2' Opens Big
Jesse McKinley

Shrek 2," the sequel to the 2001 animated hit about a grumpy green ogre and his obnoxious donkey sidekick, earned a whopping $104.3 million over the weekend and has brought in an estimated $125.3 million since its release on Wednesday, its distributor, DreamWorks, said yesterday.

The opening for "Shrek 2" broke or flirted with breaking a number of box-office records. The film's weekend gross was second all-time only to "Spider-Man," which earned $114.8 million in a single weekend in 2002. On Saturday "Shrek 2" broke the record for single-day ticket sales with $44.8 million. And if the preliminary numbers hold, the movie is expected to break the mark for biggest five-day opening, surpassing "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which brought in $124.1 during its first five days in theaters last December.

The success of "Shrek 2" was welcome news in Hollywood, which has watched two big-budget adventures, "Van Helsing" and "Troy," do respectable but not blockbuster business during May, the traditional start of the lucrative summer season.

"This is definitely the movie that Hollywood needed right now," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks ticket sales. "The box office compared to last summer has been down significantly, so I think everyone in Hollywood was rooting for `Shrek 2' to do well. Of course it cut into everybody's audience, but it proved that there is an audience out there that wants to go to the movies."

Executives at DreamWorks, which has struggled to find commercial hits of late, seemed particularly pleased by the wide appeal of "Shrek 2," which opened in a record 4,163 theaters nationwide. According to the company's polling, the movie drew 60 percent of its sales from families, and almost equal numbers of boys and girls under 12.

"I think people were really ready for something fun in the marketplace," said Jim Tharpe, president of distribution for DreamWorks, who attributed the movie's big opening weekend to a number of factors, including name recognition and quickly spreading word of mouth. More than 70 percent of those polled by the company said they would consider seeing the movie again, he said.

That should also be good news for Hollywood, which has been suffering from a bad case of instant audience malaise, with both "Troy" and "Van Helsing," fading badly in the week after opening.

"Troy," for example, a $200 million epic loosely based on the "Iliad" and starring Brad Pitt as Achilles, was down 49 percent from last weekend — its opening weekend — bringing in an estimated $23.8 million.

That was good enough for second place behind "Shrek 2," but with a total gross of $85.8 million those numbers cannot thrill its distributor, Warner Brothers.

"Van Helsing," Universal Pictures' monster-slayer movie, which opened May 7, was No. 3 over the weekend, with $10.1 million in sales, down 51 percent from the previous weekend but enough to boost its total gross sales to a little more than $100 million.

With two popular comedians as its stars — Michael Myers gives voice to Shrek, the green ogre, and Eddie Murphy is his braying sidekick — "Shrek 2" may also indicate an audience hungry for some laughs. Another comedy, "Mean Girls," Paramount's teenage satire, was No. 4 at the box office and has grossed nearly $65 million since opening April 30.

"I think both `Troy' and `Van Helsing' offered very intense and action-oriented movies, and audiences tend to love those during the summer months," Mr. Dergarabedian said. "But `Shrek 2' came along and offered something different. And I think there was definitely a pent-up demand by families — and pretty much everybody else — for this kind of movie."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/24/mo...es/24BOXO.html


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File-Sharing Developer An Internet Celeb

TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese professor arrested on copyright charges for developing file-sharing technology is emerging as a celebrity and has received more than $62,000 toward his defense.

Word about a defense fund for Isamu Kaneko, a 33-year-old assistant professor at the prestigious University of Tokyo, spread mainly through "blogs," or Internet journals, which are rapidly attracting thousands of users in Japan.

Kaneko, a well-known figure here on a popular Internet bulletin board as "Mr. 47," was arrested last week for developing Winny software, which lets people swap movies and video games online.

If convicted, Kaneko faces up to three years in prison or a fine of $26,000. His lawyer, Toshimitsu Dan, says there are no laws in Japan that declare file-sharing software itself illegal.

Kaneko's defense fund is drawing people who'd met only through blogs, said Shunichi Arai, a software engineer who helped create the fund. Web pages are sprouting here, urging support for "Mr. 47" and updating news on his case.

About a million Japanese are believed to have used Winny, largely because of its reputation for anonymous file-sharing.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews...468173-ap.html


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Some swappers drift further underground

Online Music Plays a New Tune
Liane Cassavoy

Recovering Kazaa users are everywhere. They might be fearful of the recording industry's litigious rampage. Perhaps they're tired of pop-ups and promotions. Maybe they went straight--to Apple's ITunes or Musicmatch. Or perhaps they've just gone further underground for their digital music.

Kazaa's file-sharing software is still used by more than 20 million people, according to research from ComScore Media Metrix; that number is down from almost 35 million users less than one year ago. But the steep decline doesn't mean the death knell is ringing for free--and illegal--music online. Paid music services may be growing, but so are some of the smaller peer-to-peer services. And many Web surfers are finding new sources and new methods for trading music online.

So in the war against online music piracy, who is winning? It depends on whom you ask.

File-Sharing Under Fire

The Recording Industry Association of America began filing lawsuits against alleged file swappers last September, and calls the suits an effective deterrent against piracy. So far, 2454 individuals have been sued. The RIAA won't say how many suits are still pending, but it recently filed 477 new cases.

"The barometer of success for us is not the day-to-day traffic on any particular pirate peer-to-peer network. There will always be a degree of piracy online, just like there is always piracy on the street," says Jonathan Lamy, RIAA director of communications.

"The idea here is to create an environment where legitimate online music services can flourish. We look at whether we are facilitating the expansion of the legitimate online music market, and so far it's been very encouraging," he says. "Clearly, file sharing is still an enormous problem, and that means that we need to continue the course of deterrence through legal action and offering great legitimate alternatives."

Researchers confirm that file sharing appears to be on the decline.

"Our long-term tracking indicates that the usage of peer-to-peer services is down compared to a year, or a year and a half ago," says Russ Crupnick, president of music and movies at researcher NPD Group. However, he notes, "overall tracking tells us that peer-to-peer usage has been pretty stable for the last six to nine months."

Use of peer-to-peer services is down slightly in a recent survey by the Pew Internet Project and ComScore Media Metrix. ComScore also noted a drop in the use of the WinMX file-sharing service, says Graham Mudd, a senior analyst with ComScore. In December 2002, the service had an estimated 7.5 million unique users. By February 2004, ComScore's most recent data, that number was down to less than 6 million users, ComScore says.

Can You Hide?

However, ComScore notes an increase in the use of several smaller, lesser-known peer-to-peer networks, such as BitTorrent and eMule. BitTorrent, for example, had slightly more than 200,000 unique users in November 2003. By February 2004, the number was just under 400,000.

"There has been some speculation that these services have lower visibility, and it may be more difficult to track users on them," Mudd says. "More savvy Net users may be switching to these applications because they think they can fly under the radar."

The RIAA, however, disputes that assumption.

"The nature of these networks is such that if you are distributing music files to thousands or millions of other users, you can be found," Lamy says. "And why would you? There are great legal alternatives available, so there isn't any excuse for getting your music illegally."

While BitTorrent's usage almost doubled over a three-month period, it remains small. Clearly, not everyone uninstalling Kazaa and WinMX is moving to an alternative service, Mudd says. "The pickup in smaller applications does not make up for the overall decline in peer-to-peer usage," he says.

Some users are switching to legal services, such as ITunes, which celebrated its successful first year in April. (ITunes for Windows users launched last October.) ITunes sold 70 million songs in its first year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in celebrating the anniversary last month. While admitting that number falls short of Apple's goal of selling 100 million songs in its first year, Jobs called the growth "phenomenal."

ComScore's Mudd agrees ITunes' success is impressive but says users of legal music services are not all repentant file swappers.

"The drop-off in peer-to-peer is not necessarily being picked up by the paid services," he says.

Overzealous vs. Uncertain

Ironically, the RIAA campaign is also scaring off potential customers, the Pew and ComScore study finds. Sixty percent of people who have never tried downloading music say the threat of lawsuits will deter them from downloading music from any source--legal or illegal--in the future.

The RIAA's actions--intended to stop illegal file swapping--are clearly confusing some people, says Mary Madden, a Pew research specialist.

"This is a mixed message for the RIAA," Madden says. "On the one hand, they have significantly intimidated people from logging on to peer-to-peer services. But there's also the potential for people to be scared away from legal services. People are still very confused about what constitutes legal and illegal behavior."

After all, some file-sharing services promote premium or other fee-based services, and some also have legal uses, she notes. "So the potential is there for confusion," she says.

And there's still the matter of price--itself a moving target.

"There's only so much you can do to compete with free," says David Card, a senior analyst with Jupiter Research. "Guaranteed file quality helps. People cite that as a reason they'd be willing to pay."

Once Hooked, Pay More?

Music fans worry that the music industry will raise prices on its sanctioned sites once people switch over. Some reports said Apple was under pressure to raise the price of downloadable songs from 99 cents to as much as $2.49 each. Jobs felt it necessary to address the topic at the ITunes anniversary.

"Apple and the music labels will continue to offer songs for 99 cents," he said. He declined to discuss the status of any pricing negotiations with record labels.

Raising prices is a "terrible idea," says Jupiter's Card. Jupiter's research suggests 99 cents is a "sweet spot" for pricing, and that users will not pay more, he says. ITunes competes not only with free--if illegal--services, but also increasing competition from legit services. Wal-Mart recently launched its own music services, offering downloadable songs for 88 cents each; and RealNetworks and Sony both market similar services.

And ITunes and the rest still must compete with those newer, smaller services and alternative sources of music. Some savvy Web users are turning to newsgroups such as Usenet to swap music, and some are even creating their own private file-swapping networks.

Such ventures aren't immune from RIAA lawsuits, representatives for the industry group say. The RIAA won't discuss any particular legal steps it may take in the future.

But the lawsuits against alleged file swappers will "go on as long as necessary," RIAA's Lamy says. "Right now, the online music marketplace is overwhelmed by pirated and illegal music, and the legitimate services are put in a position of competing against free. Stolen copies of the same products are offered for free. We're never going to eliminate piracy, but we need to bring it down to a level where the legitimate services can compete."
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116262,00.asp


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RIAA Lawsuit Binge Continues
Erika Morphy

"[The music industry] lawsuits are a dead end," says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne. "After the RIAA filed the first lawsuit, file- sharing, in fact, exploded. It prompted a lot of articles about file- sharing in general and gave consumers -- basically -- a road map to these sites."

Another fiscal quarter, another 500 online music consumers sued. The Recording Industry Association of America announced it has sued 493 people for infringing copyrights when they illegally downloaded songs from the Internet.

This brings the total to close to 3,000 people sued by the group since September, when it first took off the gloves to combat this worrisome -- to the industry, that is -- trend.

Why are they doing it? Clearly, not for financial gain. The RIAA reportedly has settled some 486 cases at an average of US$3,000 each. Through the legal actions, the association is hoping to stem the overwhelming tide of people who have gone online to procure music instead of buying a CD or patronizing a legitimate music Web site. But surveys and studies conflict as to whether this strategy is effective.

Empirical Evidence

For example, a recent study from Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that file- sharing, while still popular and growing, has declined since the RIAA first started warning people they could be sued.

However, even though the RIAA might be winning the battle, it almost certainly is losing the war.

Another poll -- taken between April 14th and April 20th by Harris Interactive and commissioned by the Business Software Alliance -- found that more than half of the children and teenagers involved in downloading music for free are continuing the practice, even though they know they are breaking the law. Indeed, their primary concern was not that they were breaking the law, but that they might be downloading viruses, the survey found.

Viruses Feared More Than Lawsuits

In short, the lawsuits are almost useless, says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne , a firm that tracks the most popular online downloads. "Lawsuits are a dead end. After the RIAA filed the first lawsuit, file-sharing, in fact, exploded, he told NewsFactor. "It prompted a lot of articles about file-sharing in general and gave consumers -- basically -- a road map to these sites."

As for the threat of being sued, he says, many people are placing odds that it will not happen to them. And chances are good that it won't, he says. "With the millions of people online using these sites, even if the RIAA sued 500 people every few months for the rest of our lives, that is still a drop in the bucket."
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtm...story_id=24202


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RIAA Files Suits Against 493 More U.S. Music Swappers

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Monday (May 24) confirmed it has sued 493 additional individuals for alleged copyright infringement. The lawsuits, RIAA said, are a key part of the association’s ongoing campaign to curb so-called “file sharing” on peer-to-peer networks resulting in the copying of music over the Internet.

The RIAA’s actions Monday brings to nearly 3,000 individuals the association has sued since September in its efforts to stop people from copying songs through peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa and LimeWire. The association, which represents the five largest recording companies, has settled more than 400 of those cases for about $3,000 each.

The RIAA said it does not yet know the identities of the 493 individuals targeted in this latest round of lawsuits, but will set about to discover them via court-issued subpoenas. The association began using “John Doe” lawsuits last January when an appeals court ruled that Internet service providers like Verizon Communications don’t have to provide the identities of their customers to the RIAA.
http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1085417205.htm


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Music Industry Takes New View On Music Downloads
Simon Aughton

The music industry appears to have something of a change of heart about the effect of music downloading on CD sales.

Sales in the US are up 9.4 per cent this year despite the success of online stores such as iTunes and Napster. There is also little evidence that unauthorised peer-to-peer music sharing has significantly declined since the record industry began taking legal action, to which it added another 493 lawsuits yesterday.

Keith Jopling from industry lobbyists the IFPI told the BBC, 'I have a theory that there is something about these services such as iTunes and Napster which is sparking an interest in music which is leading to increased physical sales. The people joining legal services are music fans who have a chance to get excited about music again. What we are most happy about, so far, is most people who are consuming music online are buying CDs as well.'

Which contrasts somewhat with the comments of IFPI chairman and CEO Jay Berman, who in March this year wrote, 'For those who still doubt it, virtually every major independent survey and research project shows that file-sharing directly impacts on sales of legitimate music.'

Meanwhile, AOL has tied up a music licensing deal in the UK that will give it access to over 10 million recorded works.

The agreement is based on the Joint Online Licence (JOL) developed by two UK rights organisations, the MCPS and the PRS. The JOL was developed to make it easier for online music services to secure the rights to broadcast or stream music across the Internet.

It does not enable AOL to sell music downloads, although the company plans to do be doing just that before the end of the year.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.p...y.php?id=58236


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Sony’s Missteps
joegratz

Today, Sony made its second major misstep along a path to failure in the digital music space. The first was Sony Connect, YAPDDS (Yet Another Proprietary Digital Download Store), selling tracks in ATRAC format. Then, today, they introduced the VGF-AP1, a 20GB iPod-like digital music player. But it only plays Sony’s proprietary, DRM’d ATRAC format, not MP3 or AAC or WAV or anything else. So, in order to get their MP3s onto this new player, users will have to re-encode their collection into ATRAC format. Re-encoding always introduces additional compression artifacts, making the tracks sound worse.

Why would you buy one of these when you can buy an iPod, which will play MP3s too? I realize that ATRAC is and has always been a better codec than MP3; I have a Sony MZ-1, the first MiniDisc machine (MiniDiscs use ATRAC), and it still sounds fantastic. But requiring consumers to re-encode is just stupid. (What? You expect us to buy all of our tracks on Sony Connect? I don’t think so.)

This is an attempt at format lock-in, but happily it’s so ham-handed that it won’t work.
http://www.joegratz.net/archives/200...onys-missteps/


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Nielsen Rating System At Odds With RIAA's Claim Of "Lost Sales

RIAA says sales are down. Soundscan says "Wha..?" Who should you believe?
Moses Avalon

When speaking this month to a representative from Soundscan, the company that provides much of the data for the Billboard Top 200 Chart, I learned things that would contradict reported statements by the RIAA. Mainly that US labels have had a significant reduction in sales over the past three years. Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, responded personally, put his rebuttals on the record and in the process exposed intriguing insight into the way the RIAA calculates "losses."

Soundscan is a service owned by Nielsen, the company that computes TV ratings. Soundscan uses the barcodes on CDs to register sales at record stores. The correlated data contributes to the Billboard chart listings, as well as much of the market research that record companies use to determine which artists are worth keeping under contract.

My original reason for speaking to Soundscan was to determine if the "free" barcode many CD Replicators provide with a substantial order is a real added value to the indie artist, or just a bogus premium that sounds more intriguing than it really is. Replicators claim that with the barcode they give one can track indie sales on Soundscan. I have my doubts.

The answer will be revealed in my Keyboard article over the next few months, so I'm not going to spoil the punch here. Through my interview with the Soundscan rep, however, I learned the following:

- For the first quarter of 2003 Soundscan registered 147,000,000 records sold.

- For the 1st quarter of 2004 Soundscan will report 160,000,000 records sold.

That's 13,000,000 more units, almost a 10% increase in sales since last year. He also confessed that 1st quarter "album sales" (as opposed to overall sales) had increased 9.4% since 2003.

What gives? Didn't Cary Sherman recently attest to the "fact" that there was a "7% decrease in revenue since last year." (This quote was taken from Mr. Sherman's speech to Financial Times Media at a Broadcasting Conference in London.) And didn't he name piracy/file-sharing as the main reason? Yes, according to more than one source. (http://musicdish.com/mag/index.php3?id=9338)

So, I asked the Soundscan rep, who would only speak to me if I didn't use his name, "Would you disagree with what the RIAA is implying?"

"I would NEVER disagree with the RIAA," he said.

Of course he wouldn't; the RIAA is, after all, arguably Soundscan's biggest sycophant. But he did do the most amazing thing; he proceeded to explain the rational that would allow both of these seemingly inconsistent realities to exist in the same universe, "The RIAA reports a sale as a unit SHIPPED to record stores. Whereas Soundscan reports units sold [to the consumer] at the point of purchase. So, you're talking about apples and oranges."

Really!?! I fact-checked this with Cary Sherman, who confirmed, "He is correct," and added, regarding RIAA and Soundscan data, that "The two sets of numbers tend to be similar, but because of timing differences, they're usually a little different at any point in time."

Similar?!?! How is a 10% increase for first quarter of 2004 similar to, or a premonition of, a 7% decrease for the entire year of 2004?

THE SECRET: "SHIPMENTS" = "SALES"

Now armed with the secret decoder formula, I went back and read the RIAA and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) Web sites more adroitly. Sure enough, every time the RIAA complains of large drops in "unit sales" it includes international sales, not strictly domestic. Every time it speaks to domestic "losses" it is speaking ONLY of "units shipped in the US" to record stores. It seemed obvious that if the RIAA confined their revenue statistics to the US market alone they may not be able to publish ANY losses in REVENUE at all.

But what about Sherman's statement of 7% "losses" at the London conference? He answered, "I was speaking to an international audience, [and] thought they'd want worldwide figures, rather than just US."

Sherman's statements hinged on a statistic published by the IFPI. "Surveys in all major markets prove [file-sharing] is a major factor in the fall in world music sales, down 7% in 2003, and down 14% in three years." (Their Web site, which claims to "represent the industry worldwide," but, oddly enough, doesn't readily explain what the anachronism, IFPI, means, has a "fact sheet" at (http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/ press/20040330c.html) But the RIAA's website chart claims only a 7.1% drop in units SHIPPED. (http:// www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/pdf/2003yearEnd.pdf)

There is only one logical integration of all these statistics with the recent Soundscan data: even though actual point-of-purchase sales are up by about 9% in the US - and the industry sold over 13,000,000 more units in 2004 (1st quarter) than in 2003 (1st quarter) - the Industry is still claiming a loss of 7% because RIAA members shipped 7% fewer records than in 2003.

Forget the confusing percentages, here's an oversimplified example: I shipped 1000 units last year and sold 700 of them. This year I sold 770 units but shipped only 930 units. I shipped 10% less units this year. And this is what the RIAA wants the public to accept as "a loss."

I'll go a step further. This fact, that Sherman seems to confirm, should logically mean a smaller percentage of returns. But, shouldn't fewer returns mean higher profit margins and faster turnaround; and shouldn't that be good for both the retail and wholesale side of the industry? "Sure," admits Sherman today, "but I have no idea what US shipments looked like in the first quarter." Then how can he claim world-wide "losses" in his March speech to Financial Times New Media?

Roger Goff, an Entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles confirms that, indeed, retail has reacted this way in the Post-Napster era. "Retail used to buy 10 weeks-worth [of records] and now they realize, in most cases, they don't have to carry more than two weeks-worth." In other words, retail has adapted to more of an "on demand" model (similar to the Internet) as opposed to the, accepting-tons-of-product-shoved- down-the-pipeline model record companies imposed on them in the past.

I misplaced my MBA this morning, but my mental math assures me that fewer returns and shorter reserves should mean an INCREASE in record company profits and artists' royalties. If this is true, and file-sharing is responsible, one could conclude that "on-line piracy" has been the single greatest factor in increasing profits, because it forces record companies to keep a tighter lid on mass-production and costs.

Sherman's response is pithy, "Managing shipment and returns better is obviously a good thing. But to credit file-sharing is silly. That's like saying if enough thieves were holding up delivery trucks and causing massive losses to the industry, the thieves should be thanked for forcing record companies to keep a tighter lid on mass production."

My pithy rebuttal: No, it's like acknowledging what most retail industries have been doing for the past ten centuries; theft (even by employees) needs to be built into the cost of doing business, and file-sharing has forced the record sales side of the industry to finally adjust to that dynamic. Should we thank the "thieves?" No, but we shouldn't let off the hook those who blame others for "losses," only to ask Congress to legislate fix-its due to their own mismanagement.

SO ARE THERE REAL LOSSES?

Maybe, but "we, the people" will never be able to figure them out due to this confusion, deliberate or not. Regardless, it's certainly been a great excuse for majors to clean house of over-paid executives. But as for a US major label's bottom line, the effect could never rise to the RIAA's/IFPI's claim that file-sharing is the "major factor" of revenue loss for labels, and certainly not for artists.

Nope. My analysis suggests that the number one reason for the loss of jobs in the industry is self- perpetuating major label PR, and that the number one cause of loss of unit sales revenue for artists is STILL record label accounting practices.

Take a bow, fellas; you finally beat the geeks.
http://www.kensei-news.com/bizdev/pu...le_23374.shtml


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Do-it-Yourself Ringtones Encroaching On Potential Profits, Some Record Labels Say
Dawn C. Chmielewski

New software that lets anyone create unique cellular phone rings for free has some record labels worried it will kill the cash cow that is the ringtone.

The software, called Xingtone, evokes the same ``oh wow, oh no'' reaction from the labels that greeted the original Napster. The fear is that people will make ringtones out of pirated songs, thus compounding the file-sharing problem while robbing the music industry of a new source of revenue.

The quest for a distinctive cell phone ring has created a $3 billion global market for everything from computer-generated renditions of such classics as The Temptations ``Just My Imagination,'' to near-CD-quality snippets of popular songs like OutKast's ``Hey Ya!.''

Ringtones are brisk business in Europe and Japan. They're catching on fast in the United States, where sales are expected to reach $140 million by year's end, according to market research firm Yankee Group.

But just as the record labels have begun hailing ringtones as a welcome windfall to help offset free-falling CD sales, along comes Xingtone.

The Los Angeles company's $15 software, sold online, allows anyone with average computer skills to take an MP3 file or favorite CD track, trim it to create a 30-second ringtone and send it to the phone with the press of a button -- just like a text message.

``It's problematic, because it has the potential to eviscerate the business model early in its development,'' said Ted Cohen, EMI Music's senior vice president of digital development and distribution.

`That's really cool'

Xingtone fans, like Kathy Schader, a 29-year-old who lives in West Hollywood, see things differently.

She describes it as a tool to express her individuality and varied musical tastes, which spans Bob Marley's reggae to the alternative rock of The Sundays.

``I had a few ringtones on my phone, but they were all sort of the beep bop boop: the Atari version of ringtones,'' Schader said of the songs she purchased from her phone company.

Now, Schader enjoys creating a sensation when her phone rings, while she's performing such mundane tasks as waiting in the supermarket checkout line.

``People stare. They wonder where the sound is coming from,'' said Schader. ``Then they have a reaction like, `Oh that's really cool.' ''

Reaction from the music industry is mixed.

Walt Disney's music label, Hollywood Records, entered into a promotional partnership with Xingtone to distribute ringtone songs from Hilary Duff, The Polyphonic Spree and Josh Kelley. And Artemis Records started distributing a free copy of Xingtone's software with every copy of Sugarcult's new album, ``Palm Trees and Power Lines'' to make it easier for fans to convert favorite songs to ringtones.

``The benefits of this technology are obvious,'' said Artemis Chairman and Chief Executive Danny Goldberg. ``Every Sugarcult fan's phone will be like a mini-radio station, introducing passersby to the new album.''

Other label executives are less convinced of the promotional benefits -- especially when ringtone sales are starting to pay dividends.

Until now, cellular phone carriers and music publishers have been the biggest beneficiaries of the ringtone trend. That's because most of the ringtones sold have been computer-generated compositions of popular songs. The record labels -- and by extension, the performers -- only get paid when someone buys the computerized version of a song.

The ringtone market is poised to explode with a new generation of mobile phones capable of playing actual recordings. Larry Kenswil, president of eLabs, Universal Music's new media and technologies division, predicts the global market for these real-sounding ringtone songs will be ``massive.''

``It's a lifestyle identification. It's more than consuming music. It's people labeling themselves with the music,'' said Kenswil.

Some cellular phone networks, such as Verizon Wireless, have taken steps to block songs they don't sell. Sprint PCS has opted not to; saying that software like Xingtone stimulate demand for wireless data services.

Jeff Hallock, Sprint's senior director of consumer marketing, quickly adds that his company doesn't support piracy: It works with the labels and the music publishers and sold 20 million licensed ringtones last year. He thinks do-it-yourself ringtones have limited appeal.

``It's not a mass-market kind of behavior,'' said Hallock. ``But for a younger consumer who's more tech savvy, it's going to be more popular.''

Xingtone's president, Brad Zutaut, said there is nothing ethically or legally wrong with people taking a snippet of a song they own -- or indeed any other audio artifact, -- and transferring it their own phone.

``It's not just about music. It's about audio. These are 10-second alerts,'' said Zutaut. ``Why shouldn't it make you smile when your phone goes off?''
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/bus...gy/8685217.htm


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TDK Fone Styla Lets Users Rip, Upload Content To Handsets For Free

Technology and recordable media firm TDK has launched a Bluetooth package called Fone Styla that makes transferring content such as ring-tones and games easier.

"Mobile content has become big business," said Nick Hunn, Managing Director of TDK Systems. "As mobiles morph into games consoles, movie and audio players, the demand for entertaining and amusing content continues to soar – but until now, users have had little choice in how content is delivered to their devices and they’ve had to pay premium rates set by the network operators and content providers. Fone Styla changes all that," he said.

"First, users learnt they didn’t need to pay for music, next they learnt the same for videos. Now, free mobile content has reached the web - polyphonic ring-tones, themes, wallpaper, games and even movie clips are widely available. Analysts have already warned mobile operators that mobile content that is for sale can be obtained from peer- to-peer networks - until now the limitation has been that the means of getting content onto your phone has been limited to a few hardcore geeks," said Nick Hunn, Managing Director of TDK Systems.

Fone Styla allows users to use their own PC to source content from websites on the internet and peer to peer file sharing sites. Included in the product package is a software application developed by TDK Systems that enables users to transfer content from their PC to their handset.

The software application with FONE STYLA allows users to put the content they want onto their phone in seconds without for free. "Now, if they want to change their ring tone every day, they can," said Stuart John, TDK Systems’ head of products and services.

The product in the UK market retails for about €57 (Ł38) and consists of a Bluetooth USB Adaptor and software applications on a CD. The adaptor and software support 18 handsets with more in the pipeline.
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=1877


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TDK Plugs P2P Into Bluetooth Phones
Matt Whipp

Why pay for content when you can download it off KaZaA is a question familiar to computer users. Mobile phone users however have not had to deal with that conundrum as they have been stuck with expensive ringtones and content downloaded off their network.

TDK though is hoping that the lure of free content from peer- to-peer networks will prove tempting enough for users of Bluetooth-enabled phones to stump up Ł38 for its Fone Styla gadgetry. Essentially it is a Bluetooth USB dongle for your PC and a software interface to load up mobile goodies downloaded from the Web across to your mobile.

Nick Hunn, MD of TDK Systems, said: 'Until now, users have had little choice in how content is delivered to their devices and they've had to pay premium rate sset by the network operators and content providers.

'Respected analysts have already warned mobile operators that "mobile content that is for sale can be obtained from peer to peer networks" - until now the limitation has been that the means of getting content to your phone has been limited to a few hardcore geeks.'

A quick search on KaZaA will net you 111 ringtones, not that we condone such behaviour if it falls the wrong side of the law.

And whether TDK will be as positive about peer-to-peer networks should its Fone Styla software ever appear on them remains to be seen. After all, a Bluetooth dongle is only around Ł20.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=57921


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It’s like really huge, and like, really fast

Cisco's $500 Million Router
Marguerite Reardon

After four years and $500 million in investments, Cisco Systems unveiled its high-end router--but it could be six months to a year before it starts seeing any revenue from the product.

The router, dubbed the Carrier Routing System-1 (CRS-1), is designed for carrier networks that handle the highest volumes of Internet traffic. It is the first product engineered by Cisco that will allow several boxes to be clustered together to function as a single router.

CRS-1, which previously had been code-named HFR for Huge Fast Router, also is the first core router to offer 40 gigabit-per-second optical interfaces. Rumors and speculation about the product have circulated for almost a year.

Four carriers, including Deutsch Telecom, Sprint, MCI and NTT Communications, were at a Cisco event here Tuesday to kick off the router. The carriers said they have been working with Cisco for the past few years to develop the product, which can be clustered through a switch fabric chassis to reach a routing capacity of 92 terabits per second. One gigabit is a billion bits; 1 terabit is a trillion bits.

So how long will it take for Cisco to make its money back? Executives say that's hard to tell.

"It purely depends on the growth of the Internet," John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, said in an interview after the event. "The key is how fast the Internet grows. A conservative estimate is that it's growing 100 percent per year, but then you look at Japan, and they are having growth of 400 (percent) to 500 percent per year."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5220313.html


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The Big Five Subpoenaed My Baby

How the RIAA spun music industry sales data
Nick Buono

It's easy to take sides on the issue of file-sharing and, more specifically, sharing copyrighted material such as music. On one hand, there are people who have essentially grown up using p2p (peer to peer) programs like Napster and vehemently continue to download music in the face of what they see as draconian legislative and judicial action by the corpulent corporate entity that is the mainstream music industry. On the other hand, there are those who see the simple click of a download as a blow against a legitimate business and against the artists that it represents and feel that it's unreasonable for a person to expect to be able to break the law free of repercussions.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the "Big Five" record labels (Sony, EMI, Universal, BMG and Warner Brothers), has been the most outspoken opponent of file- sharing and, to date, the only one who has taken direct action to stem the tide of copyrighted material flowing freely from computer to computer.

These five corporations have a huge influence over distribution and creation of music, as they are responsible for the bulk of CDs and other media that reach stores.

The Big Five's expansive rosters of artists have access to the marketing and promotional muscle that only a multinational conglomerate can provide them, with access to mainstream radio and television, which undoubtedly reach a greater audience than any other format.

The RIAA claims that digital piracy has accounted for the slumps in sales that their data show, up to 7 percent in 2003, according to a statement made at a March broadcasting conference by RIAA President Cary Sherman. Based on this, they have aggressively filed lawsuits numbering over one thousand, subpoenaing Internet service providers for information on clients that have large numbers of copyrighted MP3 files on their hard disks. However, in the past few months the RIAA's presentation of data has come into question, seriously damaging the validity of their extrapolations about the woes that file sharing causes their business.

RIAA market data is collected by SoundScan, a division of the Nielsen corporation, the same corporation that is responsible for tracking television viewership. SoundScan analyzes record sales from data collected weekly at the cash registers of music stores around the country. This is then used to (among other things) calculate chart success. However, the presentation of these data on the RIAA Web site focuses on units shipped rather than units sold.

For 2003, the industry's data claims a 7.2 percent drop in units shipped. But the SoundScan year-end data, as reported by Business Wire, points to an overall sales loss of only 0.8 percent for 2003, with purchases peaking at the end of the year and gaining 9.2 percent over the sales at the end of 2002. If all media is taken into account, including the exploding markets of DVD music and legal download services such as iTunes, then there was a 10.5 percent increase in sales.

So where did the extra 6.4 percent loss come from? Essentially, by presenting the number of units shipped instead of the number of units actually sold, the RIAA is able to put a spin on their numbers to better serve their cause against digital music.

The industry may be shipping fewer records, but retailers are selling about the same amount, and DVD and digital music go a long way to make up the gap. If anything, this means that labels are streamlining the process of distributing records to retailers, with less overstock and a more on-demand approach to sales.

Is illegal downloading responsible for the relatively small decreases in sales that the music business has suffered since 2000? There's really no way to be sure, but it seems somewhat unlikely, especially now that legal download services such as Apple's iTunes have opened up, with catalogs of music that can compete with the wide variety of official and bootleg material available on the larger p2p networks such as Kazaa or WinMX.

Not only that, but since the turn of the century the country has been falling progressively deeper into an economic recession similar to the one experienced in the early '80s with Reaganomics. Interestingly enough, at that time there was also a significant drop in record sales. Is this a coincidence or a trend?

The RIAA's reactionary view of digital album distribution is reminiscent of the past.

The early '80s saw an industry backlash against the new technology of cassettes, which were supposed to herald the death of the music business at the hands of this new, easily duplicated and easily distributed music format. Music buyers were greeted by a menacing skull-and-crossbones logo warning them not to pirate their new recordings, lest they destroy the livelihoods of the musicians that they loved.

This ended up not being the case. Cassette format became a staple until the CD took its place. Many people, including an increasingly large number of musicians, believe that digital distribution of music is now the most viable method. Digital distribution supersedes physical media such as CD and vinyl albums due to its global reach and ability to grant such huge distributing power to individual artists, independent of a record company.

With the increasing homogenization of radio and music television, artists that aren't big sellers and don't enjoy the financial and promotional support a huge label bestows on such cash cows have a hard time gaining exposure, and the Internet provides a venue for them to do so.

Instead of trying to quash this new technology with litigation, it would seem beneficial for the industry to embrace it. It has been made obvious over the past few years that the demand for digital music is present, with up to 200 million worldwide users willing to risk legal consequences to have access to their choice of free music.

The Big Five were slow to exploit this market, however, and only now are they beginning to establish online stores that can hope to rival the pioneering iTunes. Some IT professionals even feel that if the music industry is unable to adapt to the changing way people listen to, obtain and distribute music, they will cease to become relevant players in that process and may face extinction.

"Basically, the labels have a choice," said Mitchell Reichgut of Jun Group, a communications firm that studies file sharing. "They can fight and continue losing money, or try to tweak this 100-year-old model and get immediate results for artists, consumers and sponsors."



2003 Music Industry Statistics*

•Internet album sales increased by 3,621,326 units from 2002 to 2003.
•Overall music business down by 0.8 percent units sold.
•Overall album sales down 3.6 percent.
•CD album sales, which comprise 96 percent of all music sales, down 2 percent.
•19.2 million digital tracks sold from June 29, 2003, to December 28, 2003.
•Overall Music Video sales up 78.5 percent.
•DVD Music Video sales up 104.5 percent.
•Alternative, jazz and Latin album sales up.
•Cassette album sales down 39.8 percent.

*Information provided by SoundScan



Top Ten Selling Albums in 2003*

1. 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
3. Linkin Park - Meteora
4. Evanescence - Fallen
5. OutKast - Speakerboxx-Love
6. Beyoncé - Dangerously In Love
7. R. Kelly - Chocolate Factory
8. Hilary Duff - Metamorphosis
9. Toby Keith - Shock N Y'all
10. Coldplay - Rush of Blood to the Head

*Information provided by SoundScan


How Do Musicians Feel About The Recording Industry's Actions Against File-Sharers?

"They're protecting an archaic industry."
Bob Weir, Grateful Dead

"Lawsuits on 12-year-old kids for downloading music, duping a mother into paying a $2,000 settlement for her kid? Those scare tactics are pure Gestapo."
Chuck D, Public Enemy

"I don't know that there's any one factor behind the industry. Maybe it's downloading, or maybe people just didn't feel like buying so many records. So Metallica makes $10 million instead of $20 million, who cares? To me, the sympathy is unwarranted. Some of this is just the hazard of doing business. It's the nature of the world. At the end of the day, it's just rock 'n' roll. It isn't that big of a deal."
Wayne Coyne, Flaming Lips

"For the artists, my ass."
David Draiman, Disturbed

"Record companies suing 12-year-old girls for file-sharing is kind of like horse-and-buggy operators suing Henry Ford."
Moby, on his website

"Downloading is a great way to find out about music. I'm not going to criticize somebody for loving music. People come up to me and say, 'I downloaded your album, and I can't wait to go out and buy it.'"
Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand, to Rolling Stone

-Quotes reported by San Francisco Chronicle in "Artists Blast Record Companies over Lawsuits Against Downloaders," Thursday, Sept. 11 2003, unless marked otherwis



Indie Label MP3 Distribution

Most of the fuss about online music piracy seems to come from major labels, with smaller independents having a more holistic approach to the distribution of their music. Labels such as Seattle's Sub Pop Records, home to such luminaries as Kinski, Mudhoney and Iron and Wine, aren't afraid to post a few dozen MP3 files on their Web site to draw people in and turn them on.
"We believe any way you can get people to hear the music is good," said Chris Jacobs, Sub Pop's head of publicity. Although there's really no way for the label to track the effect that downloading has on their sales, it's relatively easy to infer that having samples of their music readily available hasn't hurt either. "In the past year or two we've been doing better than we ever have," Jacobs said.
The files made available help offset the lack of radio and television exposure, even for a larger indie like Sub Pop. "Downloading and people passing around songs can sort of fill that gap in a way," Jacobs said. The label already has a foot in the door in terms of digital distribution, as Sub Pop's catalog is available on their Web site by mail and they have already partnered up with Apple's iTunes distribution service as well.
http://www.dailyvanguard.com/vnews/d.../40b4456b98a29


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Online Music Plays A New Tune
Liane Cassavoy

Fed up with spyware or fearing lawsuits, file swappers are going underground or giving up

The number of surfers using Kazaa's file-sharing software is down to 20 million people, compared to almost 35 million users less than one year ago, according to research from ComScore Media Metrix.

But the steep decline doesn't mean the death knell is ringing for free and illegal music online. Paid music services may be growing, but so are some of the smaller peer-to-peer services. And many Web surfers are finding new sources and new methods for trading music online.

So in the war against online music piracy, who is winning? It depends on whom you ask.

"The barometer of success for us is not the day-to-day traffic on any particular pirate peer-to-peer network. There will always be a degree of piracy online, just like there is always piracy on the street," says Jonathan Lamy, Recording Industry Association of America director of communications. "Clearly, file sharing is still an enormous problem, and that means that we need to continue the course of deterrence through legal action and offering great legitimate alternatives."

Researchers confirm that file sharing appears to be on the decline. Use of peer-to-peer services is down slightly in a recent survey by the Pew Internet Project and ComScore Media Metrix. ComScore also noted a drop in the use of the WinMX file- sharing service, says Graham Mudd, a senior analyst with ComScore.

However, ComScore notes an increase in the use of several smaller, lesser-known peer-to-peer networks, such as BitTorrent and eMule. BitTorrent, for example, had slightly more than 200,000 unique users in November 2003. By February 2004, the number was just under 400,000.

"There has been some speculation that these services have lower visibility, and it may be more difficult to track users on them," Mudd says. "More savvy Net users may be switching to these applications because they think they can fly under the radar."

The RIAA, however, disputes that assumption. "The nature of these networks is such that if you are distributing music files to thousands or millions of other users, you can be found," Lamy says.

While BitTorrent's usage almost doubled over a three-month period, it remains small. Clearly, not everyone uninstalling Kazaa and WinMX is moving to an alternative service, Mudd says. "The pickup in smaller applications does not make up for the overall decline in peer-to-peer usage," he says.

Some users are switching to legal services, such as iTunes, which celebrated its successful first year in April. (iTunes for Windows users launched last October.) iTunes sold 70m songs in its first year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in celebrating the anniversary last month. While admitting that number falls short of Apple's goal of selling 100m songs in its first year, Jobs called the growth "phenomenal."

Ironically, though, the RIAA campaign is also scaring off potential customers, the Pew and ComScore study finds. Sixty percent of people who have never tried downloading music say the threat of lawsuits will deter them from downloading music from any source, legal or illegal, in the future.

The RIAA's actions, intended to stop illegal file swapping, are clearly confusing some people, says Mary Madden, a Pew research specialist.

"This is a mixed message for the RIAA," Madden says. "On the one hand, they have significantly intimidated people from logging on to peer-to-peer services. But there's also the potential for people to be scared away from legal services. People are still very confused about what constitutes legal and illegal behaviour."

After all, some file-sharing services promote premium or other fee-based services, and some also have legal uses, she notes. "So the potential is there for confusion," she says.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm...view&news=3967


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Italy Cracks Down On Internet Piracy
AP

ROME -- The Italian Parliament has passed a law to fight Internet piracy, with punishment as stiff as three years in prison, making Italy's crackdown one of the toughest around the world, observers said Tuesday.

The law, which went into effect Friday, provides for a maximum penalty of three years in jail for those convicted of using the Web illegally for commercial purposes -- to download products they have not paid for and want to make money from or to sell products whose rights they don't hold.

Fines for infringements go as high as 250,000 euros (US$300,350). The Culture Ministry says the law was necessary to update rules on the protection of intellectual property by incorporating Internet file sharing. "What we intended to do with this decree was to favor the development on the Internet of a legal market for artistic products" said Culture Ministry spokesman Carlo Zasio. But one expert argued that such laws are usually hard to enforce and discourage artists who rely on the Internet to promote their work. "This is the most extreme law that been passed against peer to peer file sharing internationally," said Robin Gross, head of IP Justice, a nonprofit that promotes a balance between protection of intellectual property and free use of the Internet. "I think it will have the effect of chilling the exchange of information," said Gross, speaking by phone from San Francisco.
http://www.detnews.com/2004/technolo...ogy-163999.htm


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Reporter's Notebook: Ad:Tech San Francisco, 'Darwin On Speed'
Tobi Elkin

"The Internet is Darwin on speed," enthused Peter Weedfald, senior vice president- strategic marketing and new media, Samsung Electronics America, and Tuesday's keynoter at Ad:Tech, San Francisco. "The Internet is a disruptive technology that is changing technology and the life cycles of business."

Weedfald cited the ways in which the Internet has changed the rules of the game, disrupting business models in the music, TV, and movie industries. For example, he cited dismal CD sales figures, attributing the weakness to the supremacy of peer-to- peer file-sharing networks and for-pay online music services.

Weedfald, known for his outspoken evangelism of the Internet and his drive to put Samsung advertising, marketing, and promotions on the Web "24/7, 365 days a year," spoke to a packed audience of show attendees who came to hear the marketer's idiosyncratic view of the Web. For example, Weedfald defined CRM, best-known as customer relationship management, as "customers really matter." He said that he and Samsung are in "launch mode 365 days a year" in order to have the "freshest lettuce on the shelf." And, he said, "people are trading up, not down." But Weedfald noted that these issues extend across categories. "You must have an integrated, Internet-ready company and [be] in launch mode 365 days a year, and overhaul your entire Internet infrastructure," he maintained.

Weedfald said the disruptive influence of the Internet has made its presence known in the content business, in the so-called "pipe" business via cable, Wi-Fi, broadband, digital subscriber line, and other distribution systems, and in Samsung's diverse and gargantuan global business.

Through Weedfald's efforts, Samsung in the United States reels in more than 1 billion impressions per month via the company's advertising presence on 360 Web sites (appearing above the fold), 24 hours a day. Samsung runs 40-50 different ad campaigns per month online. The company is currently conducting a global agency review. Its current agencies are Interpublic Group of Cos.' Foote, Cone & Belding, New York, and Cheil Communications, the company's in-house ad unit.

Weedfald offered several examples of Samsung's online promotional efforts, including a 2-week effort flagging a Jon Bon Jovi concert simulcast live on the Web. The simulcast drove 150,000 people to Samsung's U.S. Web site to tune in. Weedfald called the concert promotion part of the company's CRM (customers really matter) efforts.
http://www.mediapost.com/PrintFriend...ticleId=252775


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Microsoft Behind $12 Million Payment To Opera
Evan Hansen and Paul Festa

Microsoft agreed to pay Norway's Opera Software $12.75 million to head off a threatened lawsuit over code that made some Web pages on MSN look bad in certain versions of Opera's Web browser, CNET News.com has learned.

Opera disclosed the payment last week in a terse press release that omitted other details, including the name of the settling party and the nature of the dispute.

But a source indicated that the payment came from Microsoft in order to close the books on a clash over obscure interoperability problems. On at least three separate occasions, Opera has accused Microsoft of deliberately breaking interoperability between its MSN Web portal and various versions of the Opera browser--charges that the software giant has repeatedly denied.

A Microsoft representative said the company does not comment on rumors.

Reached by phone, Opera executives refused to name the company involved in the settlement or describe the nature of the legal claims, citing a confidentiality agreement.

"We forwarded a few facts to a big international corporation and settled before we took legal action," Opera Chief Technology Officer Hakon Lie said Tuesday. "This resolves an issue very close to my heart."

The deal marks the latest in a string of settlements from Microsoft, which is seeking to simplify its business by clearing up potentially damaging legal claims. In the past year, the company has agreed to pay billions of dollars to wrap up litigation with Sun Microsystems, digital rights management developer InterTrust and Time Warner's Netscape Communications division, among others.

While the Opera payment is relatively tiny, it underscores ongoing ripple effects in the browser market that stem from the overwhelming dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Having used its desktop operating system monopoly to help trounce its primary rival Netscape, Microsoft has effectively abandoned significant browser development efforts. That's left companies with negligible market share such as Opera and Netscape's Mozilla open-source project to lead innovation in the field.

For example, IE 6, the latest version of Microsoft's Web browser, released in August 2001, does not yet offer a tool that automatically blocks Web pop-up advertising. Microsoft has promised pop-up blocking as part of a Windows XP upgrade due out later this summer known as SP2. That puts it well behind Opera and others that have offered pop-up blocking for months in response to overwhelming consumer demand.

Last year, a member of Microsoft's IE team indicated that the company planned to drop independent development of the browser altogether, opting instead to fold its functions into the next major overhaul of its Windows operating system, a project code-named Longhorn.

Since then, however, Microsoft has remained largely silent about its long-range browser development plans.

"I'm not sure what their plan is, whether they'll do some upgrades with SP2, wait for Longhorn or break out a separate release," Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff said. "Whatever they do, IE is not a major strategic technology for Microsoft anymore...They don't have a huge team working on IE, and there hasn't been a lot of evolution in IE for a couple years."

Web authors bow to IE
IE's dominance has also created fallout for Web standards, because Microsoft delivers the Web to roughly nine out of every 10 people who use it.

Although IE 6 provides good standards support, some Web site developers have decided that it's easier to create sites that work best with versions of IE, rather than use code that works equally well on all standards-compliant browsers. For example, Shutterfly, the online photo store backed by Netscape co-founder Jim Clark, does not support any version of Opera or Mozilla browsers, according to a warning displayed on the site this week.

The problem has been a top issue for Web standards advocates for some time, shifting the focus of standards compliance away from browser makers and toward companies behind popular Web authoring tools, such as Macromedia and Adobe Systems.

Opera's past complaints with Microsoft included charges that the software giant deliberately sought to undermine the experience of Web surfers using its browser by delivering a different set of instructions to Opera than those sent to IE for rendering Web pages on MSN. The results included misaligned margins and indentations that cut off some words, among other things.

Microsoft in 2003 admitted that it had taken steps to detect different types of browsers accessing MSN and sent different Web page layouts to different products. But the company said its efforts were aimed at promoting standards compliance rather than at hurting products that compete with its dominant Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft said it has since stopped the practice.

"MSN is committed to providing the best experience we can to all of its consumers, and there is no intent to degrade the consumer experience for any visitors to MSN," a Microsoft representative wrote in an e-mail. "When this issue hit last year, MSN tested Opera's latest browser, determined and made adjustments to ensure all Opera 7 users had a quality experience while visiting MSN."

Opera, by contrast, has long contended that Microsoft's alleged maneuvers were intentional and hurt its reputation.

MSN's browser lockouts at the time provided incendiary ammunition for Microsoft critics, including anti-Microsoft industry group ProComp, which in 2001 accused Microsoft of unfairly exploiting its massive lead in the browser market to muscle out smaller competitors.

"Who else could it be but Microsoft?" ProComp President Mike Pettit said this week, referring to the payment.

Pettit cast a jaundiced eye at the transaction, along with other settlements Microsoft has made with rivals that have alleged wrongdoing.

"If you really analyze the harm that is inflicted and measure the damages paid, it's a very small dollar amount to Microsoft," Pettit said. "It's just the cost of doing business to them, so they're just going to keep doing it over and over. They pay 5 or 10 cents on the dollar in damages way after the fact, and the net effect of it is to further unbalance the playing field. In the final analysis, they got away with it."

These days, Opera is looking to move past the PC to distribute its Web browser on devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants. As a result, Opera will in the future face less of a threat from Microsoft, Opera director John Patrick said.

"People wonder why anyone would get into the browser business," he said. "But this isn't about Microsoft and the PC. It's about every other kind of device, from set-top boxes to cell phones. IE doesn't dominate that. It's a different market...The opportunities are enormous."
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5218163.html


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United States: D.C. Court Of Appeals Holds That Digital Millennium Copyright Act Does Not Require Disclosure of Subscriber Information
Jennifer Elgin

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has held that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") did not authorize the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") to obtain subpoenas compelling Verizon and other Internet service providers ("ISPs") to disclose the names and other information about subscribers alleged to have violated copyright laws by illegally downloading over 600 songs in a single day from the internet using a peer-to-peer file sharing network. Recording Industry Association Of America, Inc. v. Verizon Internet Services, Inc., 351 F.3d 1229 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

The District Court Ordered Compliance With The Subpoena.

Under subsection (a) of Section 512 of the DMCA, a service provider is not liable for "infringement of copyright by reason of the provider's transmitting, routing, or providing [Internet] connections for, material through a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider, or by reason of the intermediate and transient storage of that material in the course of such transmitting, routing, or providing connections," 17 U.S.C. § 512(a). In addition, subsection (c) provides that: "A service provider shall not be liable for infringement of copyright by reason of the storage at the direction of a user of material that resides on a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider. Id. § 512(c)(1). Only subsection (c) spells out certain requirements to be met by copyright owners for effective notification of copyright infringement under this subsection – there is no equivalent provision in subsection (a).

The DMCA contains a broad subpoena power, 17 U.S.C. § 512(h). A copyright owner may obtain and serve a subpoena on a service provider seeking the identity of a customer alleged to be infringing the owner's copyright. The subpoena must contain "a copy of a notification described in subsection (c)(3)(A)," and a sworn declaration ensuring that the subpoena is solely to obtain the identity of the alleged infringer, which information will be used only to protect rights to the copyright." Id. §512(h)(2).

The RIAA served subpoenas on Verizon seeking the identity of alleged infringers using a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Verizon refused on the principle that the DMCA subpoena power applies only if the infringed material is stored or controlled on the service provider's system or network pursuant to subsection (c) of the DMCA, and presented several constitutional challenges to the DMCA. The RIAA contended that the DMCA subpoena power under section 512(h) applies to all service providers falling within the provisions of subsections (a) through (d), including Verizon. The district court rejected Verizon’s statutory and constitutional challenges to § 512(h) and ordered the disclosure of the names of the alleged infringers.

The Court of Appeals Reversed And Ordered That The Subpoenas Be Quashed.

On appeal, Verizon renewed its alternative arguments for reversing the orders of the district court. First, it argued that §512(h) does not authorize the issuance of a subpoena to an ISP acting solely as a conduit for communications the content of which is determined by others. Verizon argued that the subpoenas obtained by the RIAA fail to meet the requirements of the DMCA in that they did not – and cannot (because Verizon is not storing the infringing material on its server) – identify material "to be removed or access to which is to be disabled" by Verizon, and § 512(h)(4) makes satisfaction of the notification requirement in subsection (c) a condition precedent to issuance of a subpoena. According to the RIAA, the purpose of § 512(h) being to identify infringers, a notice should be deemed sufficient so long as the ISP can identify the infringer from the IP address in the subpoena. If the statute does authorize such a subpoena, Verizon argued, then the statute is unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals found the statutory issue dispositive and failed to reach the constitutional issues.

Writing for the Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Ginsburg concluded that, "We conclude from both the terms of § 512(h) and the overall structure of § 512 that, as Verizon contends, a subpoena may be issued only to an ISP engaged in storing on its servers material that is infringing or the subject of infringing activity." The Court of Appeals found it significant that the so-called "notice and take down" provision noticeably is present in sections 512(b)-(d), and noticeably absent in section512(a). The Court concluded that the defect in the RIAA’s notification was not a mere technical error nor "insubstantial" notification: "The RIAA’s notification identifies absolutely no material Verizon could remove or access to which it could disable, which indicates to us that § 512(c)(3)(A) concerns means of infringement other than [peer to peer] file sharing." 351 F.3d at 1236. The Court flatly rejected the RIAA’s argument that the definition of "[internet] service provider" in section 512(k)(1)(B) makes section 512(h) applicable to an ISP regardless what function it performs with respect to infringing material as borderline "silly". The Court wrote: "Define all the world as an ISP if you like, the validity of a § 512(h) subpoena still depends upon the copyright holder having given the ISP, however defined, a notification effective under § 512(c)(3)(A)." Id.

The Court of Appeals next agreed with Verizon’s argument that the presence in section512(h) of three separate references to section512(c), and that the absence of any reference to section512(a) suggests the subpoena power of section512(h) applies only to ISPs engaged in storing copyrighted material and not to those engaged solely in transmitting it on behalf of others. The Court held that, although the subpoena power applies to an ISP storing infringing material on its servers in any capacity, it "does not apply to an ISP routing infringing material to or from a personal computer owned and used by a subscriber." Id. at 1237.

Finally, the Court of Appeals rejected the RIAA’s contention that the legislative history of the DCMA indicates that the subpoena power should be interpreted to reach peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The Court held that it is "clear (albeit complex), [that] the legislative history of the DMCA betrays no awareness whatsoever that internet users might be able directly to exchange files containing copyrighted works." Id. at 1238. The Court refused to re-write the DMCA to address a problem that Congress left unsolved.
http://www.mondaq.com/i_article.asp_Q_articleid_E_26315


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Cracking Down-load

The recording industry is launching another round of lawsuits this week against nearly 500 people they say are illegally sharing music on the internet.

This follows a stream of lawsuits last month where almost 70 people targeted were using university networks.

In Bloomington, Jesse Magenheimer is listening to music he downloaded at Illinois Wesleyan University. It took him only a few minutes to download this song because he got it from I-Tunes.com, a website that provides legal copies of music.

But for some other university students who may download illegal copies of music from some peer file sharing sites.

''It's a significantly longer process for them. If you want to download something as simple as a 3 meg song, you'll be waiting 2 to 3 days,'' said Magenheimer.

University technicians installed a monitor box on their network that limits the amount of bandwidth for certain online activities. They call it the shaper.

''It will actually look at the bit level, at the traffic and try and determine 'is this web traffic'?'' said IT Director Fred Miller.

It will also determine what traffic is email and what traffic is coming from peer file sharing websites that may be illegal copies of music.

''We have various rules setup to help determine what kind of speeds that traffic can get through our internet connections,'' said Miller.

Miller says regular web traffic gets the highest priority, e-mail is second. They only allocate a small amount of bandwidth for downloads from peer file sharing sites.

The university doesn't stop with 'behind the scenes' technology to discourage illegal downloads.

''We start with students when they enter the university. We start with what is legal, what is illegal,'' said Miller.

Through education and bandwidth monitoring equipment, the university hopes to avoid litigation. And for students like Jesse, who download legal copies of music, he can avoid the 2 or 3 day wait time.

This week's recording industry lawsuits bring the total to almost 3,000.
http://week.com/morenews/morenews-read.asp?id=4491


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Frontline: The Way the Music Died
Michael Kirk, Filmmaker

The modern music scene was created in 1969, at Woodstock. Half a million fans, dozens of artists, and the politics of the times came together as a big bang moment that eventually would generate billions of dollars. But over the last twenty years, MTV, compact discs, corporate consolidation, Internet piracy, and greed have contributed to a perfect storm for the recording industry. Frontline examines how the business that has provided the soundtrack of the lives of a generation is on the verge of collapse.

Filmmaker Michael Kirk was online Friday, May 28 at 11 a.m. ET, to discuss his exclusive report, "The Way the Music Died."

"The Way the Music Died" airs Thursday, May 27 on PBS.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

________________________________________________

Boston, Mass.: What might the music industry do differently in the future to create an environment where quality music of different genres can thrive?

Michael Kirk: It needs to find a way to make it profitable to develop and nurture artists, not musical commodities.

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Lyme, Conn.: If the modern music business is dying, then please tell us this: what was the total sales of CDs, and how much profit did recording companies make on these sales? Can this business survive at this level of profitability? Can it allow music to evolve so the music doesn't die?

Michael Kirk: The advantage in economic terms is very much in favor of record companies if the CDs sell at high enough numbers to repay the following rule of thumb costs: $1 million to sign an artist and record their first album, at least half-a-million dollars to promote it. Therefore using simple mathematics, how many units must be sold to make a profit on a $1.5 million investment at $10 a unit. The simple answer is -- especially given the fact that one out of 10 albums (units) is marginally successfull -- so the simple fact is this is worse than gambling on longshots at the racetrack for the record companies. And if that album is downloaded illegally or not available because of the record stores all over America are going bankrupt, it's a real uphill struggle to find profitablility in the current marketplace.

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Waldorf, Md.: Do you feel by cutting back on TV exposure -- ie. MTV, VH1, etc. -- of music videos and increasing the tour schedules we can regain the demand for music industry product? It seems like in the old days, the artists' accessability was less visual, therefore more demanding.

Michael Kirk: The last point is the right question to ask. We're not gonna in reality be able to do anything in a free society with a marketplace orientation to control what MTV or consolidated radio decides to play. The best one can hope for if one's interest is nurturing the careers of artists, is a varied and thriving multi-faceted marketplace: clubs, the Internet, other ways of artists getting their music before people.

But that flies in the face of the trends of the last 20 years. The consolidation of the record business itself under multinational corporations; consolidation of radio at the hands of three major corporations; and some of those corporations are actually now moving into the live venue business. The musical futures of artists are therefore in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

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Columbia, S.C.: I enjoyed your program. A couple of questions:
Why didn't Scott Weiland participate in the interviews?
Has Sarah Hudson's album picked up any airplay since you completed filming?

Michael Kirk: Scott at the time we were making the film was in rehab. Happily, for his fans, he is now out and singing with the band.

Sarah's album is due to be released in July. Her single as we mentioned was released in early May, and its too soon to tell whether our program has had any effect on its sales.

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Chapel Hill, N.C.: Any musician with a bit of knowledge knows that when signing to a major label, there is a 99.999 percent chance of ending up tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. What the smart bands (who have a strong following) are doing is signing on to big independent labels like Epitaph. They by no means become famous or rich, but they are able to make a living on their music and constant touring. The independent labels, like the ones in the 50s, give musicians the creative space they need -- they pay attention to the music. So in this way the music didn't die, the independent music scene is just being ignored by the mainstream media.

Michael Kirk: The independent music scene is thankfully alive and thriving and that is a very good sign. Whether the work of those artists will be heard and appreciated by millions of Americans and exported in the way it used to be to the world as one of the nation's thriving cultural exports is no longer in question. They will not be heard by millions of Americans, exported to the world, and therefore their art is limited.

That may not matter to some artists, but its a shame that the major means of distribution and financial reward are extremely limited for those who aspire to it.

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Alexandria, Va.: Mr Kirk, one of the questions that I have always asked myself is why have British bands been more successful then American bands? (Particularly in the 60s 70s and 80s.) The one reason I believe is that American record companies are adverse to taking risks. Do you feel that this is accurate?

Michael Kirk: I'm not sure I agree with the premise of your question. Sure, there have been many very good and successful British bands, but it's not hard to list countless great American bands from the 70s, the 80s and early 90s. Risk certainly enters into the calculation any major label makes and there are those in our film who argue that that has caused some very uninspired choices lately.

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Atlanta, Ga.: What a wonderful program. Its really such a sad story. There are so many artists fighting that same fight. One band in particular I have taken recent notice of is Hanson. They are taking the indy route with their own label after parting ways with their label IDJ, which they fell on to after serveral corporate mergers. They are now on the charts with moderate success so far. Taylor Hanson often performs wearing a shirt bearing the phrase "The Music Lives." Thank you for the show. Enlighting, heartbreaking, glimpses of hope... well done.

Michael Kirk: Hanson and others who have left major labels to go their own way have a slightly easier route partially because of the notoriety derived from their years of association with major labels. The hardest route is the unknown, independent, but very talented performer who tries to make it in today's marketplace.

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Sterling, Va.: With the proliferation of file-sharing applications available, the current generation of teens have the mindset that, why pay for music if it's available for free? What does the music industry, particularly the major conglomerates, need to do to change this mindset?

Also, do you think that the quality of music today has declined from the past? If so, do you think the domination of the industry by major conglomerates who operate primarily with their bottom lines in mind and concerned more with demographics than with creativity and innovation have contributed to the decline in quality?

Michael Kirk: Sounds like you watched our program last night, so obviously I agree as do most of the people in the film.

As to why young people download -- many industry observers believe it is because the major labels convinced young people to buy a CD based on a great song they heard on the radio only to discover after they paid $18 that the rest of the CD was junk. It's not a surprise then that offered with the opportunity to download that single for free or even for $.99 at iTunes, they would do it.

What that means is downloading is surely a problem, but is it because downloaders are inherently larcenous or is it because of the greed of record companies?

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Austin, Tex.: Frontline didn't offer any new information about the music industry. I'm wondering if you see any movement in the industry toward looking for newer talent rather than scapegoating technology and blasting listeners rather than looking for new, fresh talent?

Michael Kirk: I disagree that we didn't offer new information -- sorry we didn't offer any to you, but maybe you're one of the lucky ones who is very knowledgeable. Reporting on music and culture is always an interesting proposition because it's the type of material everyone has an opinion on and most people feel expert about.

Regardless, there was -- for me, obviously -- information I didn't know before I started making the film.

As to the search for new talent, because of the consolidation of the ownership of both radio (the primary marketing outlet for music) and the corporations -- the people most willing to make a million dollar bet on a new artist -- the odds are very slim that they will scour the country looking for untested, untried commodities. On the other hand, there is the promise of independent Internet distribution. A group or performer can, if willing to make the investment -- financial and in terms of years of their lives to build a touring fan base -- there is a potential to at least make a living in the music business. But, the odds on stardom and millions of dollars are infentesimal in an environment where 30,000 albums were released last year and 100 were certifiable hits.

Did you already know that?

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Arlington, Va.: Hi Mike. What do you think of the show American Idol? Do you think this is a good vehicle for some aspiring singers to get the opportunity to gain exposure they would otherwise have much more difficulty getting? Or does the show represent some of the worst aspects of the industry as major companies try to make money at the expense of these aspiring singers?

Michael Kirk: Well, I personally find myself in agreement with the second half of your question. It feels a bit like marketing over substance (again, like MTV). Which is not to take anything away from the skills and aspirations of the talented performers on American Idol. But to comment on a business where the development of singer/songwriters and people who play instruments and carry cultural messages are not nurtured and rewarded. In this case, in the clash of art and commerce, commerce wins. And that's not necessarily good for anybody.

But, there has always been one form or another of American Idol in American popular music and there always will be.

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Washington, D.C.: All we hear from the record companies is that peer to peer networks are theft and cost the industry millions of dollars. I didn't get that impression from your show. IS p2p that big a threat?

Michael Kirk: There's no question that "sharing" or what some people in the industry would call "stealing," has had a significant effect on the record business. Now, the prevailing opinion is that in order to survive, the major companies must find a way to participate in the Internet as a vehicle for distribution and marketing of music.

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Qu?bec, Canada: What is the percentage of artists in today's Top 40 who are total marketing fabrications?

Michael Kirk: Total marketing fabrications is harsh, but it is true that in order to succeed in a business that has given itself over to marketing over substance through MTV, through an emphasis on singles, to what it takes to get a song played on the radio, and to the way record companies can maximize their profits -- that is by employing a performer (Britney, Jessica, Justin, JLo, Marya) rather than an artist (singer/songwriter) -- is the state of play because an artist takes time and money to develop.

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Boston, Mass.: I am in a band right now that has received some pretty serious interest from a few major record labels. We are working with a guy that has been in the industry for a long time, and will be shopping my band for the next year. We are working with a big-time producer right now, and we are all very jaded because we have been forced to cut our songs down in length, change lyrics, and basically tone everything down. Half of my band would like to forget the whole thing, and go back to doing it ourselves (making the music we want to make, and continue to get more interesting and complex musically). The other half of the band wants to continue "selling out," so to speak, and see where it takes us. What are your suggestions? And how did bands like Radio Head get to the point where they are now, where they are able to do whatever they want? That is what I want! How do we get there?

Michael Kirk: Where were you when I was starting to make this film, following the journey of your band right now is the stuff of a great story about the record business. In the story you've just articulated are all of the questions that have faced every artist who find themselves at the edge of a deal. The thing you probably know and surely will discover is that the odds against you are very high and that you will be faced with the choice between selling out and not making it. Or being true to your art and not making it.

In most cases, artists have to make that decision.

As to Radio Head and other bands who have finally reached a place -- through persistance, stubborness or good fortune -- where they get to do more or less what they want, it seems to be about whether a performer or an artist can catch lightning in a bottle and hold on long enough to get to control some of their destiny.

_______________________

Dallas, Tex.: It seems one of the biggest problems is the consolidation of radio stations in the hands of companies like Clear Channel, which is now going into the live concert business, & Infinity Broadcast. These companies have created monopolies. The FCC gives them the green light to do so. Is there ANY chance that music fans, artists, etc. can stop this from further happening & force them to relinquish control?

Michael Kirk: Well the FCC is a government agency that represents an administration and in the case of radio consolidation was lobbied extensively by the powerful broadcast lobby. It's the age-old question about how citizens in a democracy can independently affect policy. In this case, changing the way radio and the concert business is managed in political terms is virtually impossible. There's really only one vote that matters and that's the kind of voting you do with your feet. You don't attend the concerts and you don't buy the music and you don't listen to the radio.

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Lorne, Springdale, Ark.: It seems the recording industry has only targeted the 12 -30 year old market thinking that people over 30 don't buy music or if they do they're not going to give anything new a try. I think there a plenty of people like myself who still go out and by newer groups like OutKast and Evenessence even though I'm almost 15 years removed from high school.

While this formula has worked in the past do you think that limiting their target market has come back to bite them now that a lot of Brittany's and Justin's fans have outgrown them.

Michael Kirk: The answer is yes and the answer is not anymore. Clive Davis at RCA revived Rod Stewart's career by having him recently record CDs based on old standards. In fact, because "older people" do not download the major labels have discovered a vibrant marketplace where babyboomers are re-entering and re-buying much of their collection. Hence, Michael McDonald (former Doobie Brother) is back big. James Taylor continues to almost always sell between 700,000 - one million copies a CD, and Simon and Garfunkel are touring this summer at $70 a seat, selling out major venues.

The major companies are very happy to have older people back in on the marketplace.

_______________________

Pittsburgh, Pa.: Enjoyed the show - it was especially gratifying to see Mark Hudson in a Bob Mackie dress again - and he's still got that great figure, too. His reminiscences about the Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle days served as a reminder that the music 'biz' has always been about eating its young. Even the lawyer you interviewed said as much.

Michael Kirk: That's right.

_______________________

San Antonio, Tex.: How important is it for a new artist, to have
grassroots success before a major label picks
them up? And was Sarah Hudson a "local"
success before her shot at the majors?

Michael Kirk: The classic route to success continues to be the best way, they tell me, to proceed: build a touring fan base, small clubs first, larger clubs in a geographic area, opening for a headline act, becoming a headline act, selling your own CDs (either with a small label or that you've recorded yourself) and then signing on with a larger label that can use the power of your fan base to convince radio in a region to play you and hope that you catch on fire across America.

In Sarah's case, she has not performed around Los Angeles, but has entered the business another way (perhaps a harder way). She is in a family that is embedded in the entertainment business -- her cousin is Kate Hudson, her aunt is Goldie Hawn, her father Mark Hudson is Ozzy Osbourne's, Aerosmith, Ringo and others' producer -- and she is connected to a good label, S-Curve, has good management, a powerful attorney and might -- based on that -- get a chance to be played on the radio. But as a female singer/songwriter aiming at the same pop music demographic that Britney, Jessica Simpson, Avril Lavigne, Sheryl Crow and countless other performers aim at, she will live or die in the business on the strength of whether radio programmers like her songs.

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Columbus, Ohio: I've actually read that there's quite a resurgence among
rock music with some really talented young, creative
bands (Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Stripes)
selling thousands and millions of records? Your
documentary didn't even address that and seemed about
five years behind the times...

Velvet Revolver? aack...

Michael Kirk: Velvet Revolver, the rock band we followed created out of Guns n' Roses and Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots is hardly five years old. They are the hottest rock band in America this week. We followed them for months as RCA records and Clive Davis decided to spend $2 million marketing them with the hope that they would be the standard bearers -- the new standard bearers in a rock revolution.

As good as the White Stripes and other bands you mentioned are, they are yesterday. Today, like it or not, Clive Davis' band, Velvet Revolver, is the band of the moment.

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Morgantown, W. Va.: Nice to see you cover the issue of Radio ownership. Any consideration for a Frontline special on the subject specifically?

Michael Kirk: Frontline is always interested in reporting on issues that matter to a wide range of people. Radio certainly touches most Americans and in music - - the soundtrack of most peoples' lives -- on radio is important and clearly a subject that Frontline is considering.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004May22.html
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Teens More Likely To Swap Than “Tweens” - report
David McGuire

Young children are far less likely than teenagers to illegally download music, movies and software from the Internet, according to the results of an online poll that were released today.

Fourteen percent of children ages eight to 12 said they have downloaded music from the Internet without paying for it, according to the poll conducted by Harris Interactive Corp. Three percent said they have downloaded software and 2 percent said they have downloaded movies.

By contrast, teenagers downloaded without paying for it much more frequently. Seventy-six percent have pirated music, 33 percent software and 17 percent movies, according to 621 teens interviewed by Harris. The polling firm collected the results as part of a larger study on children's downloading habits.

Harris conducted the survey between April 14 and 20 for the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a lobbying group that fights software piracy. The BSA's members include Microsoft Corp., Apple Computer and Adobe Inc.

The upswing in piracy once children become teenagers proves that parents, businesses and the government should spend more time and money to teach children that illegal downloading and file-sharing is wrong, said Diane Smiroldo, spokeswoman for the BSA.

The findings suggest that children can learn responsible downloading practices if taught at an early enough age, she said.

Younger children avoid Internet piracy because they are more likely to obey their parents and less inclined to break the law, said Parry Aftab, executive director of Wiredkids.org, a nonprofit group that studies children's Internet habits and teaches responsible computer use. It also has 9,000 volunteers who help victims of online harassment and aid law enforcement investigations into online criminal incidents.

"Eight- and 9-year-olds tend to follow the rules; 10-year-olds -- about half of them -- follow the rules, and by 11 they ignore everything you've told them," Aftab said.

The BSA, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have spent millions of dollars on educating the public on the legal consequences of online piracy. Nevertheless, compact disc sales have dropped from $13.2 billion in 2000 to $11.2 billion in 2003, and the RIAA attributes much of this to piracy. The BSA blames piracy for sapping $13 billion a year away from its members.

There is no demonstrable way to prove that education will make pre-teen children less likely to pirate entertainment and software once they become teenagers, Smiroldo said, but they are trying anyway. "At this point they're certainly more educated about copyright, so we hope they won't."

The RIAA has gained notoriety for suing suspected music pirates, some as young as 12 years old. Although the BSA has joined the record companies and movie studios in taking a hard-line approach to adults who download music illegally, Smiroldo said the group is more interested in educating younger people than suing them.

Preventing piracy is a laudable goal, but companies also see potential profits down the road by convincing younger children to pay for their products once they get older, said Don Montuori, editor of "U.S. Tweens Market, 2nd Edition," a report published in April 2003 by Rockville, Md.-based Marketresearch.com Inc.

In addition to being more likely than the average population to have Internet access, the 8- to 14-year-old age group commands $38 billion in disposable income, Montuori said. "For people who really don't work, that's not chump change. Marketers of all sorts recognize that this is a group with disposable income."

Tina Wells, managing director at New York-based youth-focused consulting firm Blue Fusion, said tweens spend their money on toys, gum and candy, clothes and shoes, computer and video games and music.

"The real tweens are getting their money from mom and dad [and] doing odd jobs," Wells said. "Tweens are very savvy and they're very smart and they know how to get money. They're selling toys on eBay."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004May26.html


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Net Dissident Ends Hunger Strike
Julia Scheeres

A Vietnamese dissident sentenced to seven years in prison for criticizing the communist regime on the Internet ended a three-week hunger strike Tuesday after authorities announced they would reconsider his verdict.

Hanoi's Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Nguyen Vu Binh, 35, who was charged with espionage for communicating with pro-democracy websites, publishing online essays urging political reform and e- mailing written testimony to the U.S. Congress detailing human rights abuses in the Asian country, according to Reporters Without Borders.


The French press freedom group said Vu Binh appealed the verdict -- which included three years of house arrest following the prison term -- but that the Supreme Court upheld the sentence on May 5 in a hearing that was closed to foreign journalists and diplomats. When his appeal was rejected, his wife said Vu Binh told the court that he would begin a hunger strike, saying, "For me, either freedom or death."

Although Article 69 of the Vietnamese Constitution permits free expression, free press and the right to form an association and demonstrate, the law is applied arbitrarily, activists say.

"Nguyen Vu Binh's arrest is plain and simple," said Nam Tran, co-founder of The Democracy Club for Viet Nam. "It shows the world that Vietnam's government is a dictatorship regime that will not tolerate any independent expression."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63599,00.html


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Online Dissident Trial 'Shocking'
Correspondents in Beijing

INTERNATIONAL press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the trial of Chinese internet dissident Du Daobin as "unfair" and "shocking".

Mr Du was tried on May 18 for "incitement to subvert state power" in Xiaogan city, central Hubei province even though his lawyer Mo Shaoping, who was only notified on May 14, could not prepare for the case and reach the city in time.

Du was appointed another lawyer, Li Zongyi, who refused to enter a not guilty plea, despite Du's demands, and only wanted to argue for a lighter sentence.

The trial was held behind closed doors. Mr Mo said he should have been informed earlier so he could adjust his schedule and Mr Du had a right to have the trial deferred.

RSF ("Reporters sans frontičres") condemned the denial of Mr Du's right to a fair trial.

"The authorities forced Du to plead guilty, showing their willingness to employ any means to silence dissident voices," it said in a statement.

It was not the first time Mr Du had been deprived of a lawyer. In November, his counsel Li Qingqiang had his licence withdrawn by his law firm, preventing him from defending his client. Mr Du then chose Mo Shaoping, only to be in turn deprived of his services.

Mr Du, a finance official, was detained in October for posting some 30 articles on the internet arguing for greater freedom of expression in China and calling for the release of university student Liu Di, who was imprisoned for posting articles on online forums calling for democracy in China.

She was released in November after more than a year of imprisonment without trial.

Mr Du's trial is part of steps by the government to clamp down on the use of the internet for what it considers subversive purposes.

His case prompted a petition in February signed by more than 100 Chinese intellectuals calling for Mr Du's release, and demanding official clarification of exactly what activities constitute "incitement to subvert state power".
http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...-15318,00.html


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Webmaster Finds Gaps in China's Net
Philip P. Pan

When Wu Wei's Web site was shut down for the 23rd time, police in the western Chinese city of Chengdu replaced it with one of their own. For a few days last summer, people trying to reach his Democracy and Freedom discussion forum instead found an odd message in large red characters on their computer screens.

"Because this site contains illegal information," the message said, "the webmaster is asked to quickly contact Officer Hu of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau Internet Supervision Department." Helpfully, the officer left a phone number.

Wu, 34, a part-time college lecturer living hundreds of miles away in Guangzhou on China's southeast coast, ignored the request. But users across the country called and berated Officer Hu for closing the site.

Wu said the officer eventually called his cell phone and offered to reopen the site if he turned over data that could help police identify people who had posted essays there.

Wu refused. Instead, he found another company, in another city, selling space on the Internet for personal Web pages. And five days after it was closed, the Democracy and Freedom site was online again.

The authorities have shut down, blocked, hacked or otherwise incapacitated Wu's Web site 38 times in the past three years, repeatedly disrupting the discussions it hosts on political reform, human rights and other subjects the ruling Chinese Communist Party considers taboo. Each time the site has been closed, though, Wu and the friends who help him run it have found a way to open it again.

Their cat-and-mouse game with the country's cyberpolice highlights the unique challenge the Internet poses to the party as it struggles to build a free-market economy while preserving the largest authoritarian political system in the world. It also illustrates how the bounds of permissible speech in China are blurring.

Nearly three decades after the death of Mao Zedong, Chinese enjoy greater personal freedom than ever before under Communist rule, and they routinely criticize the government in private without fear. But people are increasingly using the Internet to broadcast their opinions in public, challenging a key pillar of the party's rule -- its ability to control news, information and public debate.

The party is swift to jail some people who criticize senior leaders or express dissent on sensitive subjects such as Tibet, Taiwan and the Tiananmen Square massacre; at least 55 people are in Chinese prisons on charges related to their Web postings. But others who express the same views go unpunished, because police officers are sometimes apathetic about tracking them down and local Internet businesses are often more interested in attracting customers than enforcing vague rules.

More than 80 million people use the Internet in China, according to official surveys, and the figure has been doubling every 18 months. Unlike authoritarian governments elsewhere, China's rulers have chosen to promote Internet access, aiming to nurture a tech-savvy workforce, stimulate economic growth and improve government efficiency.

But the Internet has become the most unpredictable and difficult to control of the nation's mass media. While Chinese newspapers, radio and television stations are all owned by the state and must follow the party's orders, the country's most popular Web sites are privately owned, driven by profit to expand their audiences and less strictly regulated by government censors. These Web sites are at the cutting edge of an epic struggle unfolding in China today between the authoritarian state and those seeking more freedom.

Several times, the sites have drawn national attention to incidents of perceived injustice, prompting ordinary people to flood the Internet with angry messages. In a country where public demonstrations are forbidden, the government has felt compelled to respond to these online protests. In one case, after an outcry over the death of a young college graduate in police custody, it repealed a decades-old law giving police wide-ranging power to detain people not carrying their residency permits.

Worried about these challenges, the leadership ordered tighter controls on news Web sites this year. The government has also upgraded the technology it uses to block content from overseas and, according to the state media, has begun to install new surveillance software in Internet cafes. Nationwide, China employs an estimated 30,000 people to enforce vague regulations against using the Web to spread rumors, organize cults or disseminate "harmful information."

"The most important battleground for freedom of speech in China is on the Internet now. The authorities realize that, and they are trying to suppress it," Wu said recently, peering at his smudged computer screen and giving a tour of his Web site. "At the same time, we are continuously challenging their bottom line, and pushing them back. . . . This is a critical time."

A New World

A trim man with a wide, square face and large glasses that sit a little too low on his nose, Wu talks fast, with a thick Cantonese accent. His tiny apartment holds

only a bed and a small desk for a computer he assembled himself. A plastic cup he uses as an ashtray sits near his keyboard, and newspapers are taped on the only window to keep the sun from overheating the room. The neighborhood is a slum, located far from the college where Wu teaches a class on public administration once a week, and even farther from the factory where his wife works. But the couple chose the room because the rent was cheap and the landlord had wired the building for high-speed Internet access.

The eldest son of party officials, Wu joined the Communist Youth League in middle school and had planned to join the party in college because he believed it was China's best hope for a democratic and prosperous future. But as a freshman, he participated in the pro-democracy demonstrations that swept the nation in 1989, and changed his mind about the party after the Tiananmen massacre.

Wu had his own brush with the power of the state. During the crackdown, party officials demanded he identify teachers who led protests at his university, threatening to kick him out of school if he refused, Wu recalled. After several days of questioning, Wu gave them a name. He immediately regretted it, and decided then he would never give in like that again.

After graduating, Wu was assigned a job in a local office in charge of libraries and bookstores. He was frustrated and bored, until one day in 1998 a colleague introduced him to the Internet. Before long, Wu stumbled onto bulletin board sites hosting lively discussions on history, politics and current affairs. At first, Wu said, he only read what others had posted. But he was drawn into a new world.

When a popular discussion site was shut down in June 2001, he and two doctoral students he met online decided to launch the Democracy and Freedom forum, using a free bulletin board site. "I felt if I didn't speak out, I might not speak forever," recalled Wu, who adopted the Internet name Yedu, from a Tang Dynasty poem describing an empty boat on a river in the wilderness.

The new forum drew hundreds of visitors daily. Wu and his friends moderated debates on such sensitive subjects as President Jiang Zemin's plan to allow entrepreneurs into the party, independence for Tibet and whether China deserved to host the Olympics. Every Friday night, users gathered in an online chat room to continue the discussions in real time.

But less than three months after the Democracy and Freedom forum opened, authorities suddenly shut down the Web site hosting it. Neither police nor the site's managers contacted Wu. He simply clicked on his forum's address one day and saw a message on a white screen indicating the page was unavailable.

Wu and his colleagues set up the forum again on another free discussion site, and it flourished undisturbed for six months. Then, one day, as a group of users planned to meet in person, agents of the Ministry of State Security visited one of Wu's two partners. They pressured him to stop participating in the forum and threatened to withhold his doctoral degree, Wu said. After the student's wife also urged him to stop, he agreed to quit.

"We all could understand his decision," said Wu, whose own wife has urged him to give up the Web site. "People have to make their own choices."

Over the next six months, the authorities shut down Wu's forum 12 times. On a few occasions, the entire Web site hosting it would disappear. Other times, only his forum was closed, replaced by a message that said, "This forum has already been deleted."

Wu said he was not afraid back then because the government had not yet arrested many people for Internet activities and because he believed he was doing nothing illegal. "I mainly felt angry," he recalled. "We had freedom of speech on the Internet, but now the authorities wouldn't even let us have that space."

Still, Wu began taking precautions. When posting his own essays, he used a software program that allowed him to sign on to the Internet through a proxy server, making it difficult if not impossible for the authorities to track him down.

Despite the shutdowns, his forum continued to attract new users. Each time it closed and opened, Wu sent out a mass of e-mails with its new location, and flooded the Internet with similar notices.

Then, in November 2002, police in Beijing arrested two of his site's regular essayists. The same day, Wu's supervisor at the library and bookstore oversight office accused him of keeping "extremely reactionary essays" on his office computer and suspended him pending a party investigation.

For the first time since setting up the site, Wu was frightened and nervous. He was ordered not to leave his home. "Any time an individual faces the huge state organ, you feel alone and weak," he said. So he stayed off the Internet.

As the months passed, his friends online grew anxious. "We were worried he might have been arrested," recalled Mou Bo, 28, a medical student in Shanghai and one of the site's co-founders. But Mou and others kept the forum running.

In the end, the officials investigating Wu never asked about his Web forum or inspected his home computer, which he used to manage it. Instead, he recalled, they examined the essays he had downloaded at the office from dissident Web sites overseas. That was enough for him to lose his job.

Thriving Underground

In April 2003, after moving to Guangzhou in search of work, Wu finally signed on to the Internet again. To his surprise, the Democracy and Freedom forum was

thriving. Authorities had not shut it down in months. Wu said police appeared distracted by the SARS crisis.

The next time police shut down the site, in May 2003, Wu and his friends changed tactics. Instead of moving to another Web site hosting discussion forums for free, they decided to design a site of their own and rent space from an Internet service provider. More people could sign on simultaneously, and the discussions could be expanded and organized. Most important, they would be able to save a copy of the site so the material would no longer be lost every time authorities pulled the plug.

They named the main forum the Sound of Freedom and set aside another section to mark the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. They also began offering downloads, including the texts of banned books and a variety of video and audio files. Among the recent offerings was footage of the huge anti- government protests in Hong Kong last year and a bootleg copy of the movie "1984," based on George Orwell's novel.

One page on the site, titled "Freedom of Speech is Not a Crime," highlighted the danger of their endeavor. It listed the names of 20 people jailed for expressing their views on the Web, including several who were regular essayists on the site. Wu never deleted their writings after the arrests. Unlike the hosts of most Chinese Web sites, he has also refused to employ a software filter to block messages with sensitive phrases such as human rights.

A dozen other friends scattered across 10 provinces were helping Wu and Mou now. They were civil servants and computer programmers, entrepreneurs and scholars, even a government official and a well-known novelist, all using Internet pen names. Only a few had ever met. Instead they communicated using Microsoft's free instant messaging system, which allowed them to hold conversations and meetings online.

They rented Web space, available in China for about $15 a month, and the new site debuted in June 2003. Two days later, it was shut down. The Internet firm explained that police in Beijing ordered them to do so, Wu said.

Wu and his partners tried again with an Internet firm in Chengdu a few weeks later. The site stayed up about two months before the message from Officer Hu appeared.

Over time, a pattern emerged. Wu used the Google search engine to find a company renting Web space on a monthly basis and using software compatible with his. The process involved clicking on link after link, and could take days. Then he contacted the firm by instant messaging, and a partner would send the payment electronically.

The company usually put up the Web site immediately, without asking questions. Then, within a few weeks, it would shut it down. Often, an employee warned that police had ordered the closure and launched a criminal investigation.

But only once did police follow through and question Wu or his colleagues. Last September, police in Jiangsu province detained the Web manager from Wu's site who had contacted and paid the last Internet firm. At about the same time, officers from the Ministry of State Security detained another of the site's managers.

Wu and the others prepared for the worst. They stopped trying to rent Internet space. They also destroyed personal letters and meeting notes that might be used against them or their friends.

As he waited, Wu began rereading essays written by dissidents who had spent time in prison. "This was the most tense time," he recalled. "We had already lost several Internet friends. We knew what was possible."

But then his two partners were released. Days and then weeks passed without a knock on his door or word of any other arrests. Eventually, Wu and his friends concluded they were safe. And they began renting Internet space again.

Eluding the Police

As time passed, Wu and his colleagues came to a series of surprising conclusions about the men and women shutting down their Web site.

First, the Internet service providers didn't seem to care until police stepped in. State regulations require the providers to monitor the sites they host, save data

about the users who visit them and ensure that discussion sites are registered with the government. But the companies appeared more interested in winning customers than screening them.

There was a pattern to the behavior of the police too. It would have been possible to track down Wu and his partners, given the electronic trail they left by renting the server space and using it regularly. But the police didn't seem interested. The officers were usually in the same city as the Internet service provider, and they rarely left the jurisdiction.

It also would have been easy for the authorities to shut down the site quickly. Wu gave out the new address to anyone who asked. But the site often stayed open for weeks before police acted.

"The party is not a monolithic block," Wu said. "The police may feel, 'If we can avoid the trouble, let's avoid the trouble.' No one wants to go out of their way to hurt people."

Many officers and officials appear more concerned about profiting from the Internet than policing it. For example, a campaign to regulate Internet cafes has faltered because local authorities often look the other way when cafe managers fail to record customers' names or install surveillance software, as long as they pay taxes and fees.

"There are more and more of us mice, but the cat, for various reasons, is less interested in its work," said one of Wu's partners, a woman who helps manage Shanghai's economy. Another partner, a computer technician in Nanjing, added, "The cat is too busy making money."

'We're Not Going to Stop'

Wu said he cannot compete with the government's resources or its access to high technology. When he attempted to establish the site on a server overseas last

year, for example, the authorities blocked users in China from seeing it. But Wu said he and his friends are more committed to their cause.

In December, they took the fight to a new level, organizing a petition drive on the site for the first time. Wu drafted an open letter calling for the release of Du Daobin, a regular writer on their site who had been arrested and charged with "inciting subversion against the state" after posting essays supporting last year's protests in Hong Kong. "This is a case of criminalizing speech," Wu wrote, urging the government to clarify the nation's subversion laws and stop using them to "suppress the people from carrying out peaceful criticism."

Wu circulated the petition among liberal intellectuals and legal scholars, who made improvements, then posted it on his site on Feb. 1. Police were slow to respond, and it quickly drew more than 1,400 signatures.

About two weeks later, Wu noticed that someone had deleted pages from the online petition. Then people began to have trouble accessing other pages on the site. Messages appeared telling users that essays were inaccessible because they contained "illegal phrases." Some indicated "Communist Party" was an illegal phrase.

On Feb. 19, the site was shut down. The Internet firm hosting it said it had acted under orders from the Ministry of State Security. Since the beginning of March, the site has opened and closed five more times.

"We're not going to stop," Wu vowed. "We'll try again in a few days."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer


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U.S. Nearing Deal on Way to Track Foreign Visitors
Eric Lichtblau and John Markoff

The Department of Homeland Security is on the verge of awarding the biggest contract in its young history for an elaborate system that could cost as much as $15 billion and employ a network of databases to track visitors to the United States long before they arrive.

The contract, which will probably be awarded in coming days to one of three final bidders, is already generating considerable interest as federal officials try to improve significantly their ability to monitor those who enter at more than 300 border-crossing checkpoints by land, sea and air, where they are going and whether they pose a terrorist threat.

But with that interest have come questions — both logistical and philosophical — from Congressional investigators and outside experts. Will a company based outside the United States, in Bermuda, get the megacontract? How much will it end up costing? What about the privacy concerns of foreign visitors? And most critical, for all the high-end concepts and higher expectations, can the system really work?

Interviews with government officials, experts and the three companies vying for the contract — Accenture, Computer Sciences and Lockheed Martin — reveal new details and potential complications about a project that all agree is daunting in its complexity, cost and national security importance.

The program, known as US-Visit and rooted partly in a Pentagon concept developed after the terrorist attacks of 2001, seeks to supplant the nation's physical borders with what officials call virtual borders. Such borders employ networks of computer databases and biometric sensors for identification at sites abroad where people seek visas to the United States.

With a virtual border in place, the actual border guard will become the last point of defense, rather than the first, because each visitor will have already been screened using a global web of databases.

Visitors arriving at checkpoints, including those at the Mexican and Canadian borders, will face "real-time identification" — instantaneous authentication to confirm that they are who they say they are. American officials will, at least in theory, be able to track them inside the United States and determine if they leave the country on time.

Officials say they will be able, for instance, to determine whether a visitor who overstays a visa has come in contact with the police, but privacy advocates say they worry that the new system could give the federal government far broader power to monitor the whereabouts of visitors by tapping into credit card information or similar databases. The system would tie together about 20 federal databases with information on the more than 300 million foreign visitors each year.

The bidders agree that the Department of Homeland Security has given them unusually wide latitude in determining the best strategy for securing American borders without unduly encumbering tourism and commerce.

Whoever wins the contract will be asked to develop a standard for identifying visitors using a variety of possible tools — from photographs and fingerprints, already used at some airports on a limited basis since January, to techniques like iris scanning, facial recognition and radio-frequency chips for reading passports or identifying vehicles.

"Each of these technologies have strengths and weaknesses," Paul Cofoni, president of Computer Sciences' federal sector, said of the biometric alternatives. "I don't know that any one will be used exclusively."

Virtual borders is a high-concept plan, building on ideas that have been tried since the terrorist attacks of 2001.

But homeland security officials say making the system work on a practical level is integral to protecting the United States from terrorist attacks in the decades to come. "This is hugely important for the security of our country and for the wise use of our limited resources," Asa Hutchinson, under secretary for border security, said in an interview. "We're talking here about a comprehensive approach to border security."

But the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded in a report in September that "the program is a very risky endeavor," given its enormous scope and complexity. "The missed entry of one person who poses a threat to the United States could have severe consequences," the report said.

An update issued by the accounting office earlier this month found that while homeland security officials had made some headway in meeting investigators' concerns about management and oversight problems, the progress "has been slow." The update said major questions remained about the project's cost and viability. "I don't think there's any less concern today," Randolph Hite, who wrote the reports, said in an interview.

"This program is going to get more and more complex as time goes on, and you can't count on human heroes bailing you out to ensure that the system works," Mr. Hite said. With the program to be phased in over a decade, he said, "the question you have to ask is: What value are we getting for these initial increments, and is it worth it?"

Indeed, the costs are enormous, and Congressional investigators said they did not believe officials had a clear handle on the financing. The bid request set a maximum of $10 billion, but the accounting office found that some of the cost estimates were outdated and the final price tag — when financing from agencies like the State Department is considered — could reach $15 billion by 2014.

The idea of virtual borders originated in 2002 with a group of researchers at the National Defense University's Center for Technology and National Security Policy. The group, led by Hans Binnendijk, the center's director, was trying to find new ways to secure the nation's shipping containers.

"We got interested in this soon after 9/11 as a fairly obvious problem," he said.

The group wrote an article discussing the need to inspect cargo long before it arrived in United States harbors. They then briefed a range of government agencies.

The virtual border is similar to the idea of an air traffic control center, officials note. In this case, the system would allow homeland security officials to monitor travel on a national level, shifting resources and responding as necessary.

The air traffic control analogy is significant in part because Computer Sciences and Lockheed Martin have traditionally been the nation's two largest contractors for the Federal Aviation Agency in the development and maintenance of the nation's air traffic control system.

The air traffic control parallel worries some executives. More than $500 million and 15 years were squandered on the effort to modernize the nation's aging air traffic system beginning in the late 1980's and a prime contractor was I.B.M.'s Federal Systems Division, now part of Lockheed Martin.

Another problem the system faces is the potential inability to get access to all needed data from foreign countries and from the United States' own intelligence community. Experts agree that no matter how good the technology, the system will rely on timely and accurate information about the histories and profiles of those entering the country to detect possible terrorists. It will have no direct impact on illegal immigrants.

The system will lead to a broad interconnection of federal databases, ranging from intelligence to law enforcement as well as routine commercial data.

Officials say they will work to ensure that the privacy of foreigners is protected and that the system will not be used to profile travelers, but civil libertarians say they are nonetheless alarmed that databases could be used to monitor both foreign visitors and American citizens, and they have already challenged it in court.

Yet another issue irking some lawmakers is the fact that Accenture is incorporated in Bermuda.

"I don't want to see the Department of Homeland Security outsourcing its business to a Bermudan company," said Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who has pushed to close a loophole allowing foreign bidders on federal contracts.

Federal officials say they are satisfied that Accenture, which has about 25,000 employees in the United States and less than a dozen in Bermuda, meets the definition of a United States company and is eligible for the contract.

Accenture, for its part, sees the issue as irrelevant.

Jim McAvoy, an Accenture spokesman, said, "The real question is: Should the federal government be forced to select an inferior bid because the bidder is incorporated in the U.S.?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/24/politics/24VISI.html


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Peer-to-Peer VoIP App in Beta -- To Support Open Source
Press Release

ByteEnable

NEW YORK -- Popular Telephony Inc., a telecommunications middleware company, today announced Peerio444™ -- the first Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application powered by true serverless peer-to-peer technology. Peerio444 marks the company's introduction of a consumer application for serverless peer-to-peer telephony, with plans to introduce a separate enterprise application based on this technology at SuperComm 2004, Chicago, IL, June 22-24, 2004.

Expected to completely transform traditional telecommunication infrastructures by eliminating the need for servers and associated hardware, the patent-pending technology behind both applications will also address previous scalability, security, redundancy and system issues inherent in a peer-to-peer network.

Currently in beta testing on a limited basis and expected to be generally available via free download at www.peerio.com in the coming weeks, Peerio444 turns a PC into a fully functioning telephone that allows users to make unlimited, free calls via the Internet to other PCs, as well as low-cost PC-to-phone calls. Inspired by the principles of peer-to-peer computing, the forthcoming enterprise application will enable companies to create and deploy a wide-scale serverless IP telephony network. Popular Telephony's groundbreaking technology will enable application developers to create VoIP-enabled applications to bring peer-to-peer telephony to a wide audience.

"We anticipate that within ten years there will only be peer-to-peer calls placed over the telephony network, making it the de-facto standard for next generation telecommunications," said Dmitry Goroshevsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Popular Telephony Inc. "Built on open standards and inspired by the principles of true peer-to-peer computing, we expect the enabling technology behind Peerio444 to become a basic platform for peer-to-peer telecommunications. Peerio444 will be forever free to consumers and is phase one of Popular Telephony's plan to become the leader in peer-to-peer telephony."

Calls placed using Peerio444 technology will be connected to any PC or telephone number -- including mobile phones, 800 and international numbers -- via a built-in telephony interface. The technology is currently compatible with Windows and Linux operating systems, with plans to add Macintosh compatibility later this year, and provides users with more free features than a traditional landline phone, including voicemail, call waiting, call hold, call transfer, contact management and filters. Unlike existing peer-to-peer VoIP technology, Peerio444 is not monitored by switchboards or Spyware, does not contain Adware or other backdoor profit tools and does not restrict users to call only other standard VoIP applications.
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/articl...40526100146979


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The Future of Online Music
p2pnet.net News Feature

File-sharers believe being able to find any track is more important than the fact the music is free, "clearly demonstrating that p2p network users may be willing to pay for a service which offers the range that only p2p can".

That's one of the findings in a study undertaken by Andrew James Laycock for his thesis The Future of Online Music, part of his submission for a BSc in Music Technology at Leeds Metropolitan University.

"Using the law to curb the file-sharing has seen some short-term success, but overall has actually advertised and improved the activity" is another of his conclusions.

"The publicity surrounding the Napster case essentially informed the world that free music was available in abundance on the Internet," he says in his findings, based on 317 responses to questions aimed at Internet users who download music from P2P networks such as LimeWire, KaZaA and Soul Seek.

"The [more] recent legal action has been severely detrimental to the industry?s public relations image," Laycock, who was using Napster in the early days, states.

"The music industry suing music fans is clearly a problematic route to encouraging legitimate downloading. The development of file-sharing technologies has also been accelerated because of the legal action against it. Problem solving is intrinsic to software evolution, computer programmers are simply trouble-shooters."

Laycock told p2pnet that none of the survey results came as a shock, "although my research into official music industry statistics produced some surprising results.

"In the UK we get headlines in the press about 'falling profits for the music industry' and 'an industry in crisis,' etc etc. But further analysis showed that more albums are being sold than ever before: it's just that prices are falling due to competition with other entertainment industries (eg, the movie industry, which is seeing a boom with DVD sales - exactly like the music industry did when it went digital with the CD in the eighties).

"The music industry don't highlight these inconsistencies obviously. One stat from the survey which I found particularly interesting was that file-sharers found the fact they could find any track more important than the fact the music was free - clearly demonstrating that p2p network users may be willing to pay for a service which offers the range that only p2p can."

Laycock say he finds p2p file sharing fascinating because, "it's so relevant to our time: something which I think will be profoundly important to the future of the intellectual property industries and to the internet."

Laycock told us that as another part of the degree process, since last September, he's been producing an album and so far, "I've produced a six track EP and a multimedia interactive element (featuring photo gallery video interview etc).
http://p2pnet.net/story/1531


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Will Popular Telephony Scare Skype?
Justin Hibbard

Message to Skype Technologies SA: You’ve got competition.

A French startup called Popular Telephony Inc. next month will introduce itself and two peer-to-peer, voice-over-IP (VOIP) software programs, Peerio and Peerio444, at the Supercomm 2004 tradeshow in Chicago, Light Reading has learned. The company’s consumer application, Peerio444, will compete directly with Skype, the highly publicized, free VOIP program from Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies (see Skype Me? Skype You! and VCs Pump $18.8M Into Skype ). But Popular Telephony’s true ambitions lie with Peerio, which is aimed at corporate customers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Peerio444 runs on Windows-based PCs and lets users make free, unlimited calls over the Internet to other PCs. In addition, the software will let users make inexpensive calls to phones on the public switched telephone network (PSTN), including mobile phones, 800 numbers, and international numbers. Free features include voice mail, call waiting, call hold, and call transfer. The product will not contain spyware, adware, or other technologies that have raised concerns about privacy in peer-to-peer file-sharing programs. Popular Telephony plans to release versions for Linux and Macintosh later this year.

Popular Telephony does not expect to distribute Peerio444 as widely as Skype, which has been downloaded over 12 million times and has attracted more than 1 million regular users in eight months, according to Skype Technologies. “We don’t have any plans like we want to conquer the world with [Peerio444],” says Dmitry Goroshevsky, CEO of Popular Telephony. “I’m not saying we have a plan here for 100 million downloads.” The company will offer the program for free through popular download sites and make portions of the source code open for users to modify and redistribute. But it will not spend a lot of money on marketing the product.

Instead, the company hopes Peerio444 will help fuel interest in Peerio, which is based on the same class library as the consumer product. Described as “middleware,” Peerio can be embedded in IP phones, handheld organizers, or other terminal devices used for VOIP calling. Popular Telephony will make money by licensing Peerio to OEM customers, the first of which it will announce at Supercomm (see Mobile Skype: Quality Issues? ).

Popular Telephony is betting that devices equipped with Peerio will appeal to corporate customers because the gadgets can communicate directly with each other over IP networks in P2P fashion, eliminating the need for costly central servers. “You won’t need to pay for the expensive enterprise IP PBX infrastructure to get exactly the same level of services,” Goroshevsky says.

Goroshevsky claims Peerio will scale to support the large numbers of users typically found in corporations, though he won’t explain how, promising more details at Supercomm. He adds that Popular Telephony is addressing the security problems inherent in P2P VOIP software. One of Skype’s most valuable features is its ability to pass calls through firewalls and Network Address Translation (NAT) systems. “This is great for users because they don’t need to configure anything, but it is a tremendous security threat,” Goroshevsky says. Popular Telephony is debating whether to include similar technology in Peerio.

Popular Telephony’s pitch to the corporate market “sounds like a tough sell,” says Daryl Schoolar, an analyst at In-Stat/MDR. “Peer-to-peer sounds like too much of a hobbyist, consumer application. They have to do a good job selling quality of service and security. Even with that, you can’t totally replace all of a company’s phone systems.”

Competition will be tough, too. Long-distance providers and regional Bell operating companies already provide VOIP services to businesses by using server-based equipment from vendors like Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO - message board) and Nortel Networks Ltd. (NYSE/Toronto: NT - message board). The potential savings from Popular Telephony’s “serverless” peer-to-peer approach may spark interest among businesses, but Skype Technologies is likely to make the same appeal to them, and it can point to its million active users. “I don’t see how someone else starting from scratch is going to get that kind of traction,” says Jon Arnold, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Popular Telephony is incorporated in the U.S. but maintains headquarters in Sophia Antipolis, France, and an engineering team in Israel. The company was started in 2001 with $4 million in seed funding from its founders and angel investors. Originally named CrossOptix, the company had intended to develop ultra-high-speed optical interconnect technology but changed its name and its focus as the telecom industry bottomed out.

Before starting Popular Telephony, Goroshevsky founded Internet Telecom Ltd., a Jerusalem-based maker of VOIP software. In 2000, Internet Telecom sold its assets to Terayon Communication Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: TERN - message board) for $40 million in stock. New York-based investment banker Stewart Rauner arranged the deal and is now an investor in, and a director of, Popular Telephony. In 2001, Terayon management changed its mind about the acquisition, shut down Internet Telecom’s development efforts, and took a $44 million charge.
http://www.lightreading.com/document...m&doc_id=53169


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Comcast Plans Internet Telephone Service

The Comcast Corporation said yesterday that it would offer telephone service over the Internet to more than 40 million households by 2006, as it follows a host of other cable operators challenging local telephone companies.

Comcast also announced that its chairman, C. Michael Armstrong, 64, had stepped down a year earlier than planned. He was succeeded by the chief executive, Brian L. Roberts. Mr. Armstrong was the chief executive of the AT&T Corporation before Comcast acquired AT&T Broadband in 2002.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable television company, said it would begin an aggressive rollout of telephone service with a technology known as VoIP, or voice-over-Internet protocol, which allows phone calls to be transmitted using a cable modem over high-speed data lines.

Comcast follows Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems and Cox Communications in combining phone service with video and Internet service in an effort to take business from the Baby Bells, while giving consumers an incentive not to switch to satellite television.

But with 21.5 million subscribers, Comcast is far larger than its competitors, and analysts say it offers the biggest long-term threat to telecommunications carriers in the areas it serves.

"Comcast will likely become one of the biggest phone companies over the next decade," said John Hodulik, a UBS analyst. "We expect these carriers to see accelerating pressure on residential access lines in 2005 as these deployments occur."

Shares of Comcast rose 12 cents yesterday, to close at $29.69. Shares of SBC declined 55 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $23.50, and Verizon fell $1.05, or nearly 3 percent, to $34.40.

Comcast's service area encompasses large chunks of the markets of larger carriers, including 30 percent of SBC Communications, 27 percent of Verizon Communications, 23 percent of BellSouth and 28 percent of Qwest Communications International.

The largest Baby Bells have been bracing themselves over the last year for tougher competition, and some have experimented with VoIP offerings of their own.

Verizon is expected to introduce its nationwide VoIP service before the end of June, while Qwest has tested a VoIP service in Minnesota.

A spokesman for SBC, Michael Coe, said that while the company saw cable companies as a long-term threat, SBC had time to respond.

"It's going to take a while for consumer VoIP to take off," he said. "SBC won't be standing still."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/te...y/27cable.html


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Australia Moves To Regulate VoIP
Rodney Gedda

Mid-2005 will herald a new era in voice over IP telecommunications when the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) introduces specific regulations for service providers and enterprises stipulating how the technology must be delivered.

The ACA’s acting chairman Dr Bob Horton said VoIP regulation is “inevitable”.

“VoIP is novel and needs to be treated with flexibility for a while as we are faced with an innovative approach to telecommunications and want to make sure we don’t stifle innovation,” Horton told Computerworld.

“We need to test the boundaries of existing regulation and then fashion something around VoIP. Regulation is inevitable because whoever is carrying it has obligations for data, voice, or whatever and there needs to be a requirement for universal service.”

Horton said a discussion paper covering the regulation of VoIP will be put down as early as December this year when the ACA will allow “a couple of months” for all parties to ponder its implications.

“We will then draw a set of regulatory conditions from that,” he said. “Around February 2005 the recommendations will be put to the industry and the complete regulation guidelines should be finalised by July next year.”

Horton is also adamant that VoIP regulation will not be an impediment to the “due diligence process” already in place between the ACA and industry.

“There is a period of tolerance because we’d like to see experimentation,” he said. “And the ACA thanks the early entrants.

"There is an atmosphere of industry self-regulation so we’re giving them as much flexibility as possible.”

As to the type of conditions VoIP regulations might impose upon service providers, Horton said the three areas of quality of service, call location, and privacy will be considered, along with existing carrier guidelines such as what will happen in the event of a power blackout and how access will be provided for people with disabilities.

“One concern would be to give customers an understanding of what they are buying,” he said. “Many VoIP service providers are positioning [their products] as a telephone replacement so if there is any difference – let them know! VoIP has distinguishing characteristics, for example it’s transportable, so for emergency calls you wouldn’t know where it’s coming from.”

Furthermore, Horton said if VoIP calls are made to non-VoIP phones the regulations may need to stipulate a new number range so end users “can expect a low quality of service” which will be part of the consideration in December.

Regulations for enterprises running VoIP over their internal networks, Horton said are difficult to predict. "It’s like a private network and that’s not something new but if you have a transmission link you have to become a carrier.”

He also stressed that in addition to forthcoming regulations, rogue VoIP operations will not be tolerated.

“The industry would detect odd players and we would move to close them down,” he said. “VoIP will spur a number of new carriers as some 700 [data] service providers are poised to offer voice.”

Individual calls are unlikely to be charged or taxed separately, Horton said, as regulations do not allow for this in keeping with the government’s stance on equal access.
http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?i...1&fp=16&fpid=0


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Net Traffic Shows File-Sharing Undented
Will Knight

The threat of legal action and hefty fines has done little to stop internet users around the world trading music and video files, according to a new study of network traffic.

The vast majority of shared files are copyrighted music or video, making the sharing illegal. In an effort to stamp out infringements, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) started a legal assault on hundreds of alleged US file-sharers in September 2003.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) followed suit in March 2004, announcing plans to sue prolific file-sharing infringers in Germany, Denmark and Canada. Some reports have suggested that these legal attacks have caused file-sharing to fall dramatically. But the study conducted by network monitoring company Sandvine, based in Ontario, Canada, reached a different conclusion.

"There's been no decline in the number of people file-sharing," says Chris Colman, European managing director for Sandvine.

Overall growth

The company's research indicates that the proportion of total net traffic used for peer-to-peer sharing has declined only slightly in the US over the last year, from 70 to 65 per cent.

Furthermore, file-sharing in Europe has not dropped at all - it now accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of net traffic. And internet usage in both the US and Europe is still growing, meaning that file-sharing is growing overall.

However, Sandvine's study does reveal that many US file-traders have moved away from the most popular service, Kazaa. File-sharing traffic via Kazaa has dropped from 90 per cent of the total to just 20 per cent. Users in the US have shifted to alternative networks, in particular eDonkey.

Colman believes this is because the RIAA has so far only sued users of Kazaa. The RIAA has also sought to undermine Kazaa in particular by uploading thousands of bogus music files, in an attempt to frustrate users. In Europe, Kazaa usage has dropped from 70 to 20 percent.

Deep analysis

Sandvine was able to measure the changing patterns of file sharing directly because it already provides hundreds of internet service providers in the US, Europe and Asia with technology that allows them to monitor the type data travelling across their networks.

The company's hardware monitors passing "packets" of data and determines what type of information they are carrying. This is done by a process known as "deep packet analysis", which looks beyond the packet's header to find identifying characteristics.

This reveals whether a packet is part of an email, a web page or a file-sharing transfer - and, in the latter case, which network the file was shared over.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/pri...?id=ns99995045


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File-sharing legal in Canada
Christian Bauer

Many have watched the long battle dread on by the Canadian music industry and users of popular file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Emule and many others. The large industry lawyers are finding every way to attack the user downloading music. Whether it be to preview before buying or just never paying to use the copyrighted works. This phenomena is seen through the downloading of movies, music and anything else you can think of.

On March 31, a Canadian judge, Konrad von Finckenstein, ruled that the Canadian Recording Industry Association had no right to ask for personal information about 29 alleged file-sharing users. They were very much prepared to sue for large sums of money and most important of all, make an example of users caught in the battle between file-sharing under siege by the large recording industries around the world.

Five Internet service providers were taken to court, among them was Shaw Cable, the most outspoken of the five. Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications was very pleased with the outcome. Along with Rogers and Bell. Videotron of Quebec was the only company which complied with the requests of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, although the company has interest in the recording industry.

To understand the situation a little better, one must realize the recent victories by similar organizations around the world, including the Recording Industry of Association America and it's affiliates in Denmark, Germany, the UK and most notably the United States of America. Industry lawyers were able to sue approximately 1500 users in the past for sharing songs and works protected by copyrights.

In a recent times, several children were sued as an example of how far the RIAA will go. Superbowl fans were able to see the commercial by Pepsi-iTunes where children were used as a huge corporate scheme to promote the downloading of music, legally. The general theme of the commercial was "I don't" they say. "I will still continue downloading". Unfortunately for Apple, the statement backfired in a show by enthusiasts making a clear message that using children to fight this battle will not get you far at all. You may view the original Superbowl advertisement at apple.com.

On similar occasions, the Movie Picture Association of America (MPAA) has made similar attacks on users allegedly sharing copyrighted movies via popular file-sharing clients. Several users have been forced to pay hefty fines in the past as the MPAA has targeted certain films being shared, most prominently, new releases.

In recent happenings, large 'ed2k', or edonkey2000 link sites have been shut down one way or the other. The largest of them, ShareReactor, was shut down by Swiss police acting on the complaints of many large corporations. A small victory by the recording and motion picture industries, but a chance for enthusiasts to regroup and form even stronger links.

As file-sharing right now in Canada is legal, Canadians should be aware of the expected and most certain long thought-out appeal being prepared right now by high-paid lawyers for the recording and probably movie industries in Canada.

Canadians are proud of new found freedoms in contrast to our neighbour southward. Citing cases in same-sex marriage and the decriminalization of marijuana under Canadian constitution... and now freedom to share files over the Internet without the fear of embarrassment and lawsuits.
http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/itemid172.html


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Semantic Web Roundup
Paul Ford

According to Tim Berners-Lee's WWW2004 keynote address, the Semantic Web is entering "phase II", a time of "less constraint" when Semantic Web developers are encouraged to build upon the foundations of RDF and OWL to create working applications on both the server and the desktop. And while other topics were discussed at WWW2004, such as mixed markup and XForms, this was definitely the Semantic Web's moment in the sun, with academic and corporate presentations alike focusing on the uses of RDF, triple stores, and data sharing.

The Semantic Web focus was not without its critics. Elliotte Rusty Harold posted the following to his site after listening to one of the many Semantic Web-related presentations at the conference:

I feel like I'm a mechanical engineer in 1904 listening to a bunch of other engineers talks about airplanes, but nobody's willing to show me how they actually expect to get their flying machines into the air. Maybe they can do it, but I won't believe it until I see a plane in the air, and even then I really want to take the machine apart before I believe it isn't a disguised hot air balloon. A lot of what I'm hearing this morning sounds like it could float a few balloons.

Both Berners-Lee and Harold are asking the same question from different vantages: where are the applications? There is a framework, not yet fully proven, for a massively distributed, world-wide database, glued together by ontologies -- and now what?

If the answer to "what can I do with the WWW?" was Mosaic 1.0, the question "what can I do with the Semantic Web" has no corresponding killer app. Indeed, Berners-Lee asked the assembled group to forget about killer apps totally; as reported last week, he said that the proof of the Semantic Web is when new connections are made, and new links between information emerge.

That said, there is a great deal of work going on within corporations and academic research groups, each of them trying to answer the question in its own way. Some are crafting better back-end storage and querying methods, others attempting to give the end-user a better experience. Throughout WWW2004's Semantic Web track, managed by Eric Miller, the W3C's Semantic Web Activity Lead, the conversation shifted from theory to practice as betas and demonstrations of working products were shown.
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/05/26/www2004.html


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ClearCube Provides Anytime, Anywhere Computing
Press Release

Switch Manager gives IT administrators the ability to eliminate downtime by immediately switching a user to a hot, spare PC blade in the event of a problem. By quickly switching users to spares in the event of a problem, rather than making them wait for a desk-side visit, Switch Manager enables uptime that exceeds 99.9%. New features include built-in management of ClearCube Cage assets including fans and power supplies, more flexible interfaces to third-party tools, and enhanced security and logon features.

Data Failover is a peer-to-peer backup and recovery tool-for use with PC Blades and standard box PCs. Data Failover is unique in that it virtualizes the unused hard disk space on users' Blades and PCs and makes it available for backing up user settings and data. New features include advanced disaster recovery management and visualization via multi-site backups and more efficient settings capture.

"Blade computing is one of the leading technologies that is expected to dramatically change the corporate desktop during the next three years," said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. "The current generations of PCs do not adequately provide the level of security and reliability required by today's enterprise and as a result, PC blades were created. ClearCube has moved sharply to address these needs by improving remote systems management, using RDP and direct connect solutions at the desktop to address user's needs, and increasing desktop PC reliability to a level consistent with server blades."
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2004,+08:04+AM


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Q ‘n’ A

Firewalls Hamper File Sharing Via Instant Messenger
J.D. Biersdorfer


Q: I TRIED TO SEND a file to a friend using America Online's stand-alone In- stant Messenger program, but it wouldn't work. Why not?
A: In addition to real-time text messaging, AOL Instant Messenger software can transfer files directly between two connected users, including documents that might be too large to e-mail. Firewall protection on either user's computer is one of several factors that can hamper file-sharing. If you suspect that a firewall might be blocking the transfer, select a different port in the AOL Instant Messenger connection preferences or adjust your firewall software settings to allow transfers. If you are trying to transfer files in an office that uses a corporate firewall, you should ask your network administrator which port to use. Next, be sure that you and your friend have configured the AIM program correctly so that you both are set up to receive files. You and your buddy should be using the same version of the AIM software, preferably the most current edition. If your transfer is between a Windows- based PC and a Macintosh, check the program settings on the Mac version to make sure the file-sharing feature is enabled. When exchanging files, even with people you know, it is a good idea to have your antivirus program set up to scan incoming files. Spyware that uses the social aspects of instant-message programs to persuade people to download and install an intrusive program should be avoided.
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/S...68419,00.html#


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Is Profiting from P2P Wrong?
Cory Higgins

Let’s delve into some of the moral issues surrounding commercial file sharing clients in these upcoming paragraphs. Most file-swapping junkies would admit that those who sell pirated material are “in the wrong.” How much does Kazaa’s shadow ring of dummy company fronts make each month? And how do they really differ all that much from the large factory in Taiwan that pumps out pirated DVD’s by the hundreds for sale? Kazaa and other large commercial P2P clients like Blubster make big bucks from advertising and adding 3rd party software. People use these networks because of the availability of free, copyrighted material.

File sharers often justify their use of P2P on the grounds of how the RIAA is screwing artist. These swappers are right, and that’s what makes their use of commercial P2P programs hypocritical. When buying a CD, the RIAA gets a huge chunk of the money, leaving the artist only a small portion. That’s wrong. The RIAA is getting way too large of a profit for just for being a distribution tool.

What is P2P to music? Bingo, a distribution tool. What percentage of the profit, in the form of ads and bundled software, is the commercial P2P making off being the distributor? 100 percent, that’s right. Sure they are making less money off the artist then the RIAA, but they are keeping a larger percentage of the profit that should be going to the artists. The argument that P2P results in many new fans for many different bands is very valid. And without a doubt most bands probably sell more concert tickets because of P2P; regardless this doesn’t make the prior point moot.

The moral pitfalls of profiting off P2P may not even end up being the driving source behind the movement to non-commercial P2P’s. Some of today’s most popular file sharing clients are ones I would label non-commercial. eMule and Bit Torrent are two prime examples of the growing popularity of non-commercial P2P. Commercial clients often have “clean” versions of their software circulated. Clean Blubster and Kazaa Lite are usually preferred over the regular users. The fact they have the invasive spyware removed is great. In many cases the software simply works better also. Significant speed and performance are often noticed when stripping out the ad serving portions of the software.

Most the large commercial P2P’s didn’t start off like that. They usually trace their roots back to a smaller, tight community. The addition of investors and ad buyers begins to shift who the developer is accountable to. Where they at one time answered to the user base, they begin to have answering to a different source. They begin to worry about making potential ad buyers mad. Or begin to have to succumb to investor pressure to show profit.

Becoming a profit turning corporation also makes it much easier to be targeted by officials. The music, movie, and software industries, not to mention the government, have a much harder time figuring out whom to go after with a community project like eMule, then something like Optisoft or Sharman.

This has prompted a rise of the new generation of P2P. Communities like eMule, and Bit Torrent have restored faith in the open movement. Many questioned the open movement considering the chaos multiple clients created on Gnutella. Both eMule and Bit Torrent see updates at rates many times that of some commercial P2P’s. Profiting off P2P simply goes against ideals many file sharers hold. File sharing should be a part time hobby by a team of developers, not a job.

Some Examples of Commercial P2P Offenders:

Kazaa/Grokster: The worst offenders ever. These programs are bundled with nearly countless spyware and adware programs. One of the major problems is the lack of actual network development, and getting rich on the backs of those who make creative media. The shining example of what’s wrong with profiting off P2P.

MP2P: A network that started off with the purest of intentions. However with the adding of bundled software and ads; it’s following in the footsteps of Kazaa.

Bearshare: In some ways just as bad as Kazaa, as it is a commercial company riding the wave of an open source network. Sure, Limewire and Bearshare have done tons for the development of Gnutella, however they still make 100 percentage profit off the distribution of creative property.

Some Examples of Non-Commercial P2P’s

Bit Torrent: Open source, freeware, and ad free. All that, plus it’s probably the hottest thing in P2P right now. It is changing not just illicit file sharing, but how information is being distributed by legitimate websites.

eMule: Came along by offering a superior client to and already good network. This client showed the benefits of many individual open source developers working together.

Sharaza: Not open source. Arguments can be made about their methods, but not the motives. Shareaza has offered one of the finest Gnutella clients, and brought a new network into being, G2 is a solid network in its own right. It has also become one of the first good multi network clients. All this without any ads or spyware. Totally non- commercial; so far.
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=485


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Philippines

Chikka Builds Up Arsenal Of Intellectual Property Around SMS Applications
Manila Bulletin

One has to, if one is to be a major global player in the wireless space.

Thus, says Chikka Asia, Inc. chief executive Officer Dennis Mendiola as to why the company has spent over a million dollars on global patents.

A total of 12 patents have been filed by Manila-based Chikka and its affiliate companies who together in the last two years blanketed the Philippine wireless space for various uses of SMS - to communicate with someone on the Internet, to bid for a rare product, to register a complaint to government, to make payments, and yes, to find ones romance.

The first of the patents were actually granted by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore with subsequent grants expected from other signatories to International Patent Cooperation Treaty. The patents are employed firstly by the mobile Instant Messaging application popularly known as Chikka Text Messenger. The application unifies ones GSM phone number and PC Instant Messaging account so that: one, your PC log-on ID is nothing but your phone number; and two, messages are forwarded to your phone when you are off-line. "Instant messaging" can thus continue on mobile mode. The patented innovations are in popular use by overseas Filipinos who are able to send text messages from the Internet to any Globe or Smart mobile phone.

An affiliate company Bidshot owns patents particular to Bidshot.com, the world’s only SMS-enabled auction site. The innovation has been certified where one is alerted on the status of his bid and subsequently able to bid on items via SMS. Another patented innovation lies in the fact that buyer and seller are able to interact anonymously.

Sagent, another affiliate leading in "natural language," or SMS’ counterpart of "artificial intelligence" owns patents for "mBrace." M-brace is simply your usual 1-800FLOWERS number, except the numeric digits are text or SMS short codes.

Still another Manilabased company who has filed patents for proprietary technologies is Paysetter International. The company pioneered the "virtual wallet," sending and receiving actual cash via SMS with ones GSM number linked to his bank account.

More recently, the group led by Paysetter partnered with Globe Telecom to give the country its first variable peer-to-peer (p2p) secure credit reloading system dubbed "Sharea-Load." The application, seen as a major development in enabling real mcommerce, again benefits from patented processes, in particular the most natural way by which one sends an amount of call credits to the recipient’s GSM phone number.

‘A love affair with text’

"For everything that has been launched, the patented processes have always translated to giving people more and more things to do with SMS. This, while retaining the simplicity, economy, and ease of use which have been at the very center of the Filipino’s love affair with text," says Mendiola. "We now look to exporting this culture to the whole world."

Audrey and Yu Sarn, Singapore-based counsel for intellectual property of Chikka says that by global standards, the company and its affiliates have assembled by far the most impressive cluster of patents to trip any wouldbe infringer.

Asked about developing applications in an environment where IP rights are frequently violated, Chikka’s Mendiola says: "Respect for intellectual property, I guess starts from within. You tend to respect others intellectual property, when you jealously guard your own. We hope to provide the spark."

Chikka Asia, Inc. is a pioneer in wireless applications services development, having created the world’s first mobile IM and proceeding to launch it in the coveted "SMS Capital" in 2001. The company has since developed multi-platforms including mobile-interactive TV, SMS-enabled auction sites, mobile matchmaking, and mobile versions of Internet Relay Chat. It has fully exploited proprietary "suffixing" technology to bring successful Internet models to the mobile world. It licenses the same patented methods to affiliates and partners who have employed them for their various mobile solutions in turn launched by international carriers.

In 2002, Chikka Asia, Inc., the company’s regional operating entity based in Manila became one of the first mobile data enablers in the world to be ISO-certified under the 9001:2000 series. By aligning its management and software development processes with international standards, Chikka has helped establish the region as a global hub for excellent wireless applications testing and development.
http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO2004052110034.html#


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Are Saudis Using British Libel Law to Deter Critics?
Sarah Lyall

LONDON, May 21 — "House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties" (Scribner), Craig Unger's book about the tangled connections between President Bush and his circle and Saudi Arabia's royal family, became a best seller in the United States this spring, and is now being published in Germany, Spain and Brazil, among other places.

But it is not for sale in Britain.

Earlier this year, Mr. Unger's book became the latest casualty of Britain's tough libel laws when his British publisher, Secker & Warburg, canceled publication, saying that it was afraid of being sued. British publishing has long been notoriously hamstrung by the country's libel laws, which place the burden of proof on the defendant and often make it prohibitively difficult for authors to win their cases if they are sued. But what is causing particular consternation in publishing and legal circles now is that Mr. Unger's case may be yet another example of how wealthy Saudis are increasingly using British laws to intimidate critics.

"Some Saudis appear to be using the U.K. as a back door to silence their critics and repress free speech by threatening litigation, persuading publishers to back down rather then face years of expensive litigation — even if what they're publishing might in fact be true," said Trevor Asserson, who specializes in defamation in the London law office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius.

One of Mr. Asserson's clients, Rachel Ehrenfeld, had a British deal to distribute her new book, "Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It" (Bonus Books), canceled because of a legal threat by one of the Saudis she wrote about. Mr. Asserson declined to reveal who that person was.

In the mid-1990's, Charles Glass, an ABC reporter who spent a decade as the network's chief Middle East correspondent, tried to interest British publishers in a book about Saudi Arabia and the corrupting influence of its royal family, but was turned down on libel grounds. "One publisher called me later, very embarrassed, and said that the legal people would not take the risk," Mr. Glass said in an interview.

With Mr. Unger's book, the publishers admitted they were worried about a possible lawsuit from one of the deep-pocketed Saudis who were mentioned, even though none explicitly made such threats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/22/books/22LIBE.html


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To Quiet a Whirring Computer, Fight Noise With Noise
Anne Eisenberg

THE constant drone of a computer cooling fan can be annoying. But a professor at Brigham Young University has taken an unusual step to mute this noise: more noise, produced in just the right quantities from tiny loudspeakers that surround the fan.

"We make anti-noise," said Scott D. Sommerfeldt, a physicist who created a noise suppression system with his students. It is the latest example of a technology called active noise reduction, or noise cancellation, well known from its use in headphones designed to block out the low rumble of jet engines.

The sound waves engineered by Dr. Sommerfeldt are out of phase with sound waves from the fan and thus they cancel each other out, substantially reducing fan noise.

Dr. Sommerfeldt's system has four miniature speakers and four even tinier microphones set in a ring around the computer fan. The microphones and other sensors detect the noise of the fan blades and, with the help of digital signal processing and algorithms, radiate opposing tones from the speakers. The whole system can be tucked into the same space that a conventional computer cooling fan would occupy.

Noise-cancellation technology has been in development for more than 50 years, Dr. Sommerfeldt said. In typical headphones, microphones in the headset detect noise; the speakers in the earcups counter with anti-noise.

Dr. Sommerfeldt's target was not the roar of aircraft, but the hum of office machinery. To counter this noise, some active noise reduction systems place microphones and related gear in the middle of a room to calculate the amount of cancellation needed.

But Dr. Sommerfeldt wanted to put the system within the computer casing itself so that it might one day become a built-in feature of personal computers.

Trying to cancel noise from within the computer turned out to be tricky, though. "You are asking for trouble if you place the mikes right next to the fan," he said. While it may be possible to reduce the sound substantially at the microphone, he said, the noise level could increase farther away, where someone might be sitting.

To solve the problem, Dr. Sommerfeldt built an aluminum enclosure that mimicked a typical computer chassis and put a standard cooling fan within. He and his students placed microphones and speakers around the fan, analyzing the nature of the sounds they would have to suppress and modeling systems to counter this sound.

"The fan is not an easy source of noise to control," said Gerald C. Lauchle, a professor of acoustics at Pennsylvania State University and a colleague of Dr. Sommerfeldt. "Many interacting mechanisms create the noise."

The specific sounds Dr. Sommerfeldt decided to counter were those made by the blades of the fan as they rotate and push air past obstructions like fan supports. The pushing is periodic, dictated by the number and speed of the blades.

In the experiments, sensors mounted near the blades of the fan recorded the motion, and the information was fed to the digital signal processor along with the data from the microphones that were monitoring the overall noise. Then algorithms developed by the group adjusted the amount of canceling sound waves sent to the speakers so that the basic tone of the blades could be suppressed, as well as overtones or harmonics of the basic tone.

"The basic tone is distinct," Dr. Sommerfeldt said. "It sounds like one you could hear if you hit a piano key."

To find the pattern that worked best, the experimenters set up systems with one, two, three and four speakers. "We went with smaller loudspeakers and more of them," Dr. Sommerfeldt said. "The best configuration turned out to be four speakers spaced around the fan."

The group measured the reduction in sound at the fan and at various points at a distance, said Brian B. Monson, a graduate student of Dr. Sommerfeldt.

The experiments used two fan sizes, with blade diameters of about three inches and two-and- a-half inches. The smaller unit allowed the researchers to fit the entire assembly of fan, speakers and mikes into the space that would normally be occupied by a standard cooling fan.

Both systems resulted in a substantial reduction of sound, Dr. Sommerfeldt said, ranging from about 10 to 20 decibels for the basic tone and for the three harmonics.

"This work is marvelous," Dr. Lauchle said of Dr. Sommerfeldt's results, "because it's a new way of controlling that tonal fan noise."

Although the noise of the fan has been toned down considerably, it still emits a faint hum. "We've dealt with the constant pitch sounds," Dr. Sommerfeldt said, "the tonal noise that sticks out above the smear of frequencies you get from random excitation" of acoustic waves. But the random noise remains.

"We've taken the process a good step," he said, "but there are still improvements to be made."

Robert L. Clark, a professor of engineering at Duke University who is an expert in active noise control, said he was pleased with Dr. Sommerfeldt's success. "Those fan tones tend to be very annoying," he said. "It's good that he's reducing them significantly with this new method."

Still, it remains to be seen whether consumers will accept the additional costs should the system be developed commercially, Dr. Clark said. "It's not an overly expensive system," he said, "but there are the prices associated with all those components."

"It's going to be a matter of what the consumer will be willing to pay for a quiet computer," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/te...ts/27next.html


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Add 'Cut' and 'Bleep' to a DVD's Options
David Pogue

THIS column is rated PG-13. It contains salty language, dripping sarcasm and descriptions of some really gross movie scenes.

All that is unavoidable, really, because the topic is RCA's new DRC232N, a DVD player that automatically skips cinematic violence, sex, swearing and drug use.

Its scene-cutting technology, called ClearPlay, comes from a Utah company of the same name. Its executives maintain that by sanitizing movies, they're actually doing Hollywood a favor by building a broader audience.

Hollywood begs to differ. Actually, it sues to differ; eight movie studios and the Directors Guild of America have taken ClearPlay and a group of similar companies to court. "ClearPlay software edits movies to conform to ClearPlay's vision of a movie instead of letting audiences see, and judge for themselves, what writers wrote, what actors said and what directors envisioned," the Directors Guild says.

Meanwhile, the RCA player is available for $70 at Wal-Mart and at a few online stores. It's a sleek black super-thin machine with progressive-scan outputs (connections to high-end TV sets for superior color). The only misfire is the remote, whose buttons don't light up and are mostly the same size and shape.

The machine plays regular, unmodified commercial DVD's. It skips objectionable scenes based on software filters created by human editors and stored in its memory. (It does not filter DVD bonus materials, homemade DVD's or copies of DVD's.)

The filters for 100 recent movies come installed. You have to pay for access to the other 500 filters the company has released so far: $1.50 for a single movie, $50 a year for the entire library, and so on.

Installing new filters is a hassle. You feed them to the player on a CD that you've either burned yourself using a computer (after downloading the filters) or ordered from ClearPlay for another $3 each (one-shot, weekly or monthly). As for movies that the company hasn't yet edited, you can set up the RCA player to play them, refuse them, or play them only if they're "below," say, PG-13.

You, the password-wielding parent, can specify just how zealously you want the player to filter four kinds of material: Violence, Explicit Scenes & Nudity, Language, and Other (which turns out to mean "explicit drug use").

For example, the Language category offers checkboxes for screening options like these (shown here with ClearPlay's own onscreen descriptions): Cursing ("Profane uses of 'h*ll' and "d*mn"'), Strong Profanity ("Swear-words, including strong profanities such as 'a**' and 's***'), Ethnic and Social Slurs ("Ethnically or socially offensive insults"), Crude Language and Humor ("Crude language and bodily humor"), and Vain Reference to Deity ("Vain or irreverent reference to God or a deity").

To mask bad language, the player momentarily mutes the soundtrack. As you know from watching cleaned-up TV movies, it's usually not hard to guess what you've just missed, thanks to the context and the lip movements. (When Steven Seagal says, "Go to [beep]," it's a pretty good bet he didn't say "bed.") But if you're worried about young children in attendance, this bleeping may be better than nothing.

To filter out violence, sex and "disturbing images," on the other hand, the player simply skips ahead. A quarter-second video freeze, a discontinuity in the music and, sometimes, bizarre holes in plot or staging make you quite aware when ClearPlay's magic scissors are at work. (Among its most ham-handed edits: In "The Matrix Reloaded," Neo and Trinity kiss longingly, and then - blink! - instantly appear, sweaty and tousled, chatting in bed. ClearPlay just sent three and a half minutes to the cutting-room floor.)

The funny thing is, you have to wonder if ClearPlay's opponents have ever even tried it. If they did, they would discover ClearPlay is not objectionable just because it butchers the moviemakers' vision. The much bigger problem is that it does not fulfill its mission: to make otherwise offensive movies appropriate for the whole family.

For starters, its editors are wildly inconsistent. They duly mute every "Oh my God," "You bastard," and "We're gonna have a helluva time" (meaning sex). But they leave intact various examples of crude teen slang and a term for the male anatomy.

In "Pirates of the Caribbean," "God-forsaken island" is bleeped, but "heathen gods" slips through. (So much for the promise to remove references to "God or a deity.")

Similarly, in "Terminator 3," the software skips over the Terminator - a cyborg, mind you - bloodlessly opening his abdomen to make a repair. Yet you're still shown a hook carving bloody gouges into the palms of a "Matrix Reloaded" character.

The second problem is that the editors wield their scissors differently according to their view of the characters' righteousness. When Americans are shot in "Black Hawk Down," the editors carefully omit the bullet's moment of impact. But when Somali gunmen are blown apart, you see the whole twitching, gruesome scene.

ClearPlay's most ridiculous assumption, however, is that excising only the split second of central violence somehow makes the overall scene less traumatic. In "Spider-Man," you're spared the three frames of film in which the Green Goblin is impaled by the razors on his own flying skateboard - but you see the entire painful, lingering death that follows. (Maybe ClearPlay assumes that your first grader is numb by now, having already seen Uncle Ben's ClearPlay-approved sidewalk death, his assailant's fall from a six-story window, a test pilot's midair incineration and a grenade blowing several city elders into glowing skeletons.)

Similarly, in "The Ring" (caution: plot spoiler ahead), ClearPlay doesn't want us to see a disturbed woman murder her own daughter by throwing her down a well. So instead, we see the two of them march up to the edge of the well, and then - snip! - we see the girl falling down its shaft and drowning. What are we supposed to think, that she got tossed in by a sudden gust of wind?

Then in "Terminator 3," the editors excise the naked Terminator's exit from his "arrival sphere": a back-lighted nighttime shot that revealed nothing personal about his anatomy to begin with. Good thing, too; a shot of Arnold Schwarzenegger's shadowy flank would surely be more upsetting than the scenes of global nuclear Armageddon - "three billion lives, wiped out in an instant," as the narrator helpfully puts it - that ClearPlay leaves for you to explain to your youngsters.

Pervading the editing is an infuriating literal-mindedness, a squeamishness about sex and language but an astonishing indifference to violence, destruction and pain. In "Terminator 3," for example, a man learning that he has unwittingly triggered the annihilation of mankind is not allowed to say "Dear God" - but you won't miss a frame of the movie's hyperviolent fight sequences. (In one of them, the Terminator smashes a urinal on his cyber-opponent's head and shoves her head into a toilet; she slams him through a marble wall, hurls him across the room using his groin as a handle, and blasts his face with a flamethrower.)

ClearPlay says that it won't try to create filters for movies like "Kill Bill" or "The Passion of the Christ," which are more or less nonstop violence. Good call.

So why, then, does it even bother with horror movies like "Gothika" and "28 Days," tales of incessant brutality like "Amistad" and "Gladiator," and disturbing films like "The English Patient" and "The Pianist"?

Every parent's tolerance is different, of course. But even if you cut out everything but the credits, only Gomez and Morticia Addams would consider these movies suitable for young children.

ClearPlay works fine on movies that might, in fact, be considered family-friendly if relieved of the occasional gory injury or strong language - say, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" or "Freaky Friday." And for any movie, you can press the right-arrow button twice on the ClearPlay welcome screen to see a list of things the filter will make no attempt to skip (Intense Life/Death Situations, Intense Battle Sequences, Murder and so on). Nonetheless, had ClearPlay done a little filtering of titles and not just scenes, its arguments might have been a bit more persuasive, and the current court battle more meaningful.

But as it is, the evidence suggests that ClearPlay's technology is not intended for families at all. It's for like-minded adults, specifically those who are offended by bad language and sexual situations but don't mind brutality, destruction and suffering.

Maybe every ClearPlay-sanitized movie ought to begin with a message: "This film has been modified as follows: It has been formatted to fit the taste, sensibilities and religious beliefs of a couple of guys in Utah. That'll be $1.50."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/te...ts/27stat.html


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Encrypted File Sharing: P2P Fights Back
Jack Germain

Masking the user's IP address is the Holy Grail of file- sharing networks. With a hidden IP address, Web surfers can visit Web sites, post messages and send e-mail without leaving a traditional trail that can link the communication with a particular Internet connection to a computer's physical location.

Is it possible to end the investigations and prosecutions that the RIAA, the music download police and similar entities use to prosecute users of file-sharing networks? The answer depends, say online security experts, on which next-generation technology proves to be more successful. So far, enforcement investigators hold the upper hand.

"Everybody now knows you can't download stuff for free," said Mark Ishikawa, CEO and founder of BayTSP, a leading security firm for the record industry. People who participate in file sharing through networks, he said, sooner or later will get caught. "It's like playing Russian Roulette."

But that could change soon. An innovative software product recently released by Syncodea could eliminate concerns about getting caught and sued for sharing music and data files. Syncodea CEO Leo Lee told TechNewsWorld that his product does not hide the IP address. Rather, it allows users of peer-to-peer shareware networks, such as Kazaa , to share files and data in encrypted transmissions on the open-swapping networks.

"This will end any technology that tries to monitor or duplicate files flowing in the P2P networks," Lee said.

Anonymity Is the Goal

Masking the user's IP address is the Holy Grail of file-sharing networks. With a hidden IP address, Web surfers can visit Web sites, post messages and send e-mail without leaving a traditional trail that can link the communication with a particular Internet connection to a computer's physical location. Existing technology provides some degree of online anonymity.

A simple Internet search using the keyword "anonymity" results in several pages of information on service providers and software products that claim to mask a user's online identity. Choices range from simple pseudonymous servers, such as anonymizer.com, to not-quite-completely impregnable anonymity offered by remailers.

Search results include directions for setting up privacy options and databases with hundreds of anonymous proxy servers located around the world. Also readily available are lists of anonymous proxy servers and directions for chaining connections through multiple proxy servers to further bury one's Web-surfing tracks.

"We see developers trying to come up with tools that will give anonymity. But it doesn't work," Ishikawa told TechNewsWorld. "You can't make IP addresses completely disappear. There are always tracks of activity on the Internet left behind."

Ishikawa said IP address tracking is the nature of the beast and won't change. He also does not see any hope for file traders who seek anonymity on peer-to-peer networks.

"We just don't see a method for peer anonymity," he said, adding that his company can even track dynamic addresses with state-of-the-art algorithms. Dynamic IP addresses are assigned by ISPs to a single user for a one-time logon. They are common for dial-up connections over telephone lines.

File Encryption Falls Short

Encrypting files before swapping them isn't a reliable method to mask online activity, according to Internet security experts. Decryption keys are readily available, especially to experts whose jobs involve intercepting encrypted data that is part of file-swapping activities.

Experts say it is quite common for investigators to trap encrypted files from peer-to-peer networks and determine the content.

"Encryption might be used between nodes in the delivery process, but public keys are available to investigators. So that's no solution for file swappers," said Ishikawa of BayTSP.

BayTSP is one of only two companies that seek to identify individuals who are illegally sharing movies, music and software online. Its service is used by three of the five top record labels, six of the seven top movie studios and some of the largest software makers in the world. Those companies use data provided by BayTSP to pursue file traders, have them remove infringing material and, in some cases, prosecute them in the courts.

Fear of Getting Caught Big Deterrent

BayTSP logs 3.5 million to 5 million unique infringement attempts per day. The company publishes a monthly incident report on P2P usage. The report for the latest period available shows that use of Kazaa and its underlying Fast Track protocol held steady in April. Kazaa had an average of 2.9 million users daily, following several months of decline. eDonkey, which had been adding users for several months, also held steady during April with an average of 2.2 million users daily, according to that report.

File-swapping investigators work much like law-enforcement investigators who catch those who use false identities in chat rooms to talk to youngsters. The online investigator logs on to a P2P network and requests a specific file or song. When the file is downloaded to the investigator's computer, the security company has the evidence needed to file charges.

Ishikawa said his company uses a three-step process to get users to stop sharing illegal files and music. One, investigators identify the file sharer. Two, the company that owns the intellectual property sends out a cease-and-desist notice. Three, investigators go to the file sharers' ISP with a request that their Internet access accounts be terminated.

Typically, court-imposed fines range from US$5,000 to $150,000 per case. The average settlement is $3,000, according to Ishikawa.

Next Generation Solution

Leo Lee is confident that his innovative software creation, MyGudio, will turn the tables on investigators who hunt down file-sharers on P2P networks.

During a recent phone interview at a conference in Taiwan, Lee said MyGudio is designed to provide users with privacy while downloading every type of file through the Kazaa file- sharing network. The program is available as trialware from mygudio.com and download.com.

Next month, Lee plans to release a version of the program tweaked to work on the Morpheus file-sharing network. He said he doesn't know yet if users will need a network-specific version of MyGudio or if a later version will work on multiple networks.

According to a mission statement on Lee's Web site , the software is a solution for giving file sharers a defense against assaults on their online privacy. It says the developers believe P2P network users should have the tools to defend themselves against organizations that invade their privacy and online sharing activities.

How It Works

Lee said MyGudio doesn't try to mask users' identities. Instead, it blocks all monitoring software. "There is no perfect way to hide your identity online, so our solution blocks all monitoring software to protect file-sharers," he told TechNewsWorld.

The software allows users to detect each file's signature acronym. Much like a fingerprint, the signature acronym is the main source used by investigators to trace and verify the legitimacy of files being shared online.

MyGudio allows users to modify this signature to form a new acronym set. The result is that file-hunting software is disabled and cannot intercept and compare the origin of the file. As a result, the files selected for sharing are invisible or unrecognizable to organizations that search files based on file fingerprints stored in an investigating company's database.

File encryption technology is a major strategy in the product's design. MyGudio uses one of the most advanced security measures in the world: AES 256-bit file encryption keys. The 256-bit structure makes encrypted content virtually ironclad.

The Digital Encryption Standard (DES) keys are about 56 bits long. This provides 7.2 x 1,016 possible DES keys. With AES 256-bit keys, there are approximately 1,021 x 2 more keys possible than DES 56-bit keys provide. According to product information, it would take more than 8 million years for today's fastest supercomputer to crack 256-bit AES encryption.

Shakeout Period

Lee said the initial version of MyGudio has a design limitation: It requires that both parties to a file-sharing exchange have an installed copy of the software. The software links up and periodically changes the decryption key.

Also, the software is designed for private rather than commercial use.

"This is the first stage. There are a lot of things we will have to improve upon," Lee said.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/34052.html


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A New Wave For Computing

The IT revolution of the past two decades has moved into a new phase, with a trio of developments that could bring many changes to the way we live.
Clive Akass

Three developments are accelerating changes that have finally forced the music industry to come to terms with the internet and their effects will spread far beyond the record companies.

Always-on fast web links, cheap high-capacity storage and ubiquitous wired and wireless networking will change profoundly how we work, communicate and obtain information or entertainment.

The three aspects of this new wave of IT are the marriage of the handheld and Digital Audio Broadcasting (Dab); the larger untethered computer, as exemplified by the smart display; and the changing face of broadband.

Today's entry-level broadband hardly lives up to its name by delivering just 500Kbps. It's 10 times faster than dial-up, yet barely fast enough for a video stream.

I have been trying Telewest's pilot 2Mbps cable service, which is more like the web should be, delivering pages for the most part as fast as flicking through a book.

This should be the entry level, and it surely will be one day when the economies of access allow. Danes typically use links twice as fast, and Swedes commonly enjoy 10Mbps access, but their compact populations are said to be easier to mesh than in Britain.

Of course, a slow server, or a sluggish link en route, stays slow however fast your own line, so you are never immune from the world wide wait.

And today's content is designed for slow lines, which will not always be the case; pages are likely to pack more kilobytes as delivery speeds rise, so we will be clawing for faster links for a long time.

Currently, the problem is rather the reverse. There is little content available that needs 2Mbps, and little incentive for people to pay a premium for the extra speed.

This is a reprise of the Catch 22 that has long plagued the web: you won't get the content until you get the users, and you won't get the users until you get the content.

"This is why we are offering this service for the first time to consumers. Someone has to make a start," said Telewest web consultant, Fergal Butler.

It has to be said that 2Mbps is also available from some ADSL operators, at a price. A second reason for the Telewest pilot (which was offered free on a first- come basis to 1,500 subscribers to its 1Mbps service) is to establish how much people will be willing pay.

Not that these early adopters - keen online gamers, teleworkers, or people sharing a connection - are a typical slice of web users.

In the long run, broadband operators are likely to move away from a flat-rate charge. The very mention of the possibility sends ripples of fury through web discussion groups, yet it seems a perfectly sensible move that could be good for all involved if properly implemented.

You would probably get a flat-fee basic service much like you do today (better, one might hope), though perhaps with a cap like the 1GB-a-day limit imposed two months ago by NTL.

If you wanted a faster link for a while, perhaps to watch a film, you would pay a little extra and if you visit an online shopping mall, say, the faster access might be paid for you.

But you'd pay for quality of service as much as speed. Indeed you do already when you make a dial-up phone call rather than messing with telephony over the internet, which is not good at the timely delivery required.

Operators, for a price, could set up an IP link of the required quality and it could be used for video phoning as well.

This touches a sore point, as videophones require bandwidth upstream, which is restricted to 250Kbps even on the 2Mbps pilot. It is likely to remain so.

Butler blames peer-to-peer (P2P) users swapping audio and video files: "If we increased the upstream speed they would simply swallow up the bandwidth."

P2P users tend to blame greedy operators, record companies, movie companies - everyone, that is, except greedy P2P users.

The problem lies not with their own downloads, so much as the fact that their machines act as file servers for others, crowding out local traffic.

The cap on upstream speeds is one reason for the relatively slow take-up of videophones (or video messaging) and remote surveillance, which are sure to become major web applications.

They could be seen as intrusive and oppressive but on the plus side they could transform the lives of housebound people by easing their isolation. Working parents could check up on their children, or see whether it was a thief or the cat that tripped the burglar alarm.

Fast downstream speeds give the operator a chance to establish a potentially profitable portal that gives users much better transfer rates than the wider web. Dial-up users won't know the difference because their local link is usually the slowest in a connection.

With 2Mbps links and fast local servers, we have the start of a system in which you can have any amount of programmes, films, music and other material on tap.

The BBC, which has one of the world's best content archives, already has this in embryo on its site where you can listen to recent radio programmes. Clearly, people will want scheduled programming too, but even this is changing with the advent of high-capacity storage.

Low-cost hard disks can easily store the equivalent of 25 movies, and allow you to time-shift TV to the extent that some in the industry believe that within 10 years only 10 per cent of programmes will be seen at the time they are put out.

Storage at the user end also gives operators the option of providing programmes as a single file on a low-quality IP stream, rather than broadcasting or streaming them in real time.

There are many possibilities here for a flexible pricing: you might pay more for an instant video streamed movie, slightly less to have it sent as a file within a few minutes, or less still to have it delivered in the slack night hours.

Butler reckons a content-on-tap system like this will be functioning within five years.

Over at NTL Broadcasting, head of product development Simon Mason stresses that for a mass market such systems will have to be "easy enough for my grandmother to use".

It wouldn't be hard to design a graphical interface friendlier than that of the average video recorder. But there is a wider point here: some of the trickiest problems of this new wave of IT could turn out to be ergonomic rather than technical.
http://www.vnunet.com/analysis/1142034


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Music, Film, Gaming Converge to Address Alternatives for Distribution of Talent
Press Release

WEBSITE: www.globalentertainmentnetwork.com

KEYNOTES: Miles Copeland (Ark 21 Records,) Larry Kasanoff (Threshold Entertainment,) Derek Sivers, CD Baby, Andre Fischer, Producer

WHO: The Global Entertainment & Media Summit (GEMS Los Angeles) is dedicated to helping artists and industry promote their projects and make valuable connections. GEMS features more than 40 seminars, workshops, clinics, and keynotes presented by industry visionaries and leaders who are helping define the future of the entertainment industry.

WHAT: From idea to distribution, immerse yourself in an audience featuring: Film and Music Companies, Producers, Directors, Videographers, Performing Artists, Filmmakers, Songwriters, Music Video Directors, Managers, A&R Executives, Agents, Talent Directors, Entertainment Attorneys, Digital Cinema Companies, Video Companies, Engineers, Cross Platform Entertainment Solution Providers, Developers & Programmers, Media, New Media, Gaming Companies, Advertising & Public Relations Professionals, Venture Capitalists & Advisors, Entrepreneurs.

WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13, 2004; Opening night V.I.P. Party Friday, June 11 at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Los Angeles Hilton and Conference Center, 5711 West Century Blvd, Los Angeles.

PANELS AND SESSIONS: Cutting Edge and Thought Provoking Panel Topics Include: The Record Company of the Future, DV or Not DV, New opportunities for entertainment in gaming, Celebrity Branding, Alternative placements for music and film, The Pro-active Artist, ASCAP Presents Music, Money and the Movies, Alternative ways of financing your project, Creative Alternatives for Exposure and Distribution, Intergrity in the Media, Redefining Success, The Legal Panel, How Multimedia is Helping you sell product, New Opportunities for Filmmakers and Distribution, Heavy Hitters Publishing Presents: Placing your music in films and television, The American Federation of Musicians Presents, The Latin Revolution, Creative Marketing and Promotion, Actors Network Presents, P2P: How Peer to Peer File Sharing is Helping the Industry, Producers on Artist Development, Cutting through the clutter.

SPONSORED BY

Music Connection, Billboard, MovieMaker Magazine, Disc Makers, The American Federation of Musicians, AFTRA, ASCAP, BMI, Insite Interactive, Production Hub, SongsAlive!; LA Music Productions, The Producers Guild, Association of Independent Feature Film Producers, What is Enlightenment Magazine, LA411, Music Business Registry, LA Music Productions, Starpolish, Indie911,Sonic Bids, Crack the Code, Seagoddess Entertainment, California Lawyers for the Arts and The Indie Contact Bible
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release...lease_id=67706

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Viewers Upset Over Digital TV Taping Restrictions

Measures implemented by NHK and private TV broadcasting companies to control the copying of digital television programs have drawn a flood of complaints from TV users, with some saying they have been deprived of certain editing freedoms.

On April 5, NHK and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan began airing their programs with a special transmission signal that allows only a single copy of the program to be made.

Because programs that have been copied once cannot be duplicated or edited digitally, editing the programs via a personal computer has become impossible.

In addition, the broadcasters' move has made it necessary for viewers to insert a special user identification card, known as a B-CAS card, into their digital TV sets to watch programs.

These duplication controls are being applied to digital TV programs aired by both digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasters.

In the week after the measure was implemented, NHK and the grouping of private broadcasters received more than 15,000 inquiries and complaints about the scheme.

With the Olympic Games in Athens coming up, mass retailers of home electronic appliances are stepping up their sales pitch for large-screen digital TVs.

"Customers often ask me about 'duplication control' but I have difficulty in helping them understand it," said store manager Yuki Kanno.

Hot-selling flat-screen TVs are priced at 300,000 yen or higher; the main buyers of these models are older people.

"But the duplication control is difficult for elderly people to understand," a sales clerk said.

With digital images or sounds, repeated copying does not cause a deterioration in picture or sound quality.

It is partly for this reason that pirated editions of popular TV dramas have been mass-marketed in Asia and other regions.

The duplication controls have been adopted to protect broadcast copyrights, an NHK official said, adding, "Easy violation of copyright would make movie and music copyright holders reluctant to provide their works and prompt actors and singers to refuse to appear on TV."

The posts and telecommunications ministry plans to terminate analog terrestrial and satellite broadcasting and have companies switch to digital broadcasting completely by 2011.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/ge...20040525a2.htm


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Download Too Much, Lose Your Broadband

ISPs are imposing transmission rate caps, limiting how much data customers can download or upload in a fixed time period.
Scott Spanbauer

Cable and DSL offer blazing-fast Internet connections, but they're not unlimited founts of data. As more and more subscribers exploit the speedy throughput times that make downloads a snap and media streaming smooth, ISPs are placing limits on how much you can download and upload within a set time period.

These transmission-rate caps are intended to prevent bandwidth-hungry customers from gobbling more than their share of pipeline from the ISP's back-end connection to the Internet. If you keep your file-sharing programs, streaming media players, and media downloads pumping data to and fro 24 hours a day at your bandwidth limit, your cumulative bandwidth consumption can be staggering. As your monthly Internet traffic increases to 100GB, so do your chances of receiving a nasty letter from your ISP regarding your bandwidth consumption.

Judging from customer reports posted on BroadbandReports.com's forums, usage caps run from 5GB to 50GB a month.

Broadband Internet is the ultimate PC comfort food: An always- on cable or DSL connection's speedy downloads and snappy response times seldom disappoint. But if bandwidth-use limitations burn you up, look for a broadband provider or subscription plan that doesn't restrict your downloads. Though Bell Canada's Bell Sympatico DSL Basic Internet service limits you to 2GB of combined upload and download traffic per month, the company also offers plans (at a higher price, naturally) with unlimited bandwidth.

If no other provider or plan looks better than the one you have already, you may be forced to moderate your Internet traffic to fit within your ISP's acceptable-use policy. Of course, few broadband providers explicitly publish what their acceptable monthly download limit is. Comcast's Acceptable Use Policy, for example, states that your online activity must not "represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast) an unusually large burden on the network." Cox Communications maintains a similar policy. To determine your ISP's bandwidth limitations--if any--contact the company's customer service department, or check the forums listed at BroadbandReports.com to see what other people in your area have to say about the provider.

Track Your Downloads

Just because you're saddled with a bandwidth-usage cap doesn't mean that you have to give up your file-sharing and streaming programs completely, however. Most peer-to-peer applications have settings that let you throttle back uploads to more moderate levels to help keep you under any usage limits imposed by your ISP. Visit Salisbury University's Help Desk page, which offers a quick summary of the relevant settings you need to adjust in the leading peer-to-peer programs.

If you use Windows XP, you can monitor your own bandwidth hogging via Task Manager's Networking monitor tab. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to open Task Manager, and select the Networking tab. To introduce downloads to the display, choose View, Select Columns, check Bytes Received, and click OK (you may have to adjust the window and column size to see the new column). If you'd like to make the data cumulative, choose Options, Show Cumulative Data (see FIGURE 1). Close Task Manager and go about your normal Internet activity (but don't shut down or restart Windows--that resets the counter). To see your total downloads a day, week, or month later (if you've left your PC on continuously and it hasn't crashed), just press Ctrl-Alt-Del again.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116037,00.asp


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Beat the CoolWebSearch Hijacker--For Free

You may have noticed that the amount of spam and viruses bombarding your PC has increased sharply over the last year or so. The same is true of yet another Internet plague: spyware. I've been recommending a couple of free anti-spyware tools for the last few years--Lavasoft's Ad-aware and Patrick M. Kolla's Spybot Search & Destroy. Even the combination of these two great spyware and adware cleaners can't stop some versions of an insidious and viruslike pest called CoolWebSearch. Fortunately, a Dutch student who goes by the name Merijn has written a tiny (128KB) free tool called CWShredder that removes dozens of CWS variants.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/...37,pg,2,00.asp


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California County Ditches Diebold e-Voting Machines
Robert Lemos

The Board of Supervisors for Solano County, Calif., decided on Tuesday to break with Diebold Election Systems and accept a contract with Election Systems and Software to provide electronic voting machines for the November presidential elections. Solano is one of four counties whose Diebold-made systems had been banned in April by an order from California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.

The county has not paid Diebold for any election machines and plans to thoroughly test ES&S's systems before accepting the contract, said Ira Rosenthal, chief information officer and registrar of voters for Solano. Other counties have taken a different tack toward the November elections: Kern County, another of the four counties whose systems were banned, has joined a lawsuit against the secretary of state.
http://news.com.com/2110-1028_3-5221145.html


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North Korea Operates Hacking Unit
Ryu Jin

With South and North Korea seeking ways to ease tensions along the heavily militarized border guarded by 1.7 million troops from both sides, the two Koreas are bracing themselves for the warfare of the future, often characterized as the `cyber war’.

In the midst of a paradigm shift in the future of warfare, largely determined by capabilities to break down information systems of the enemies, the North was found operating a high-quality military unit to hack into the South’s computer networks and secret information.

Lt. Gen. Song Young-geun, chief of the Defense Security Command (DSC), said on Thursday that the crack contingent of hackers had been set up under orders from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

``The unit is under operation with a view to stealing a wide range of information from our government agencies and research bodies,’’ he said in his opening address to the Defense Information Security Conference 2004, hosted by the DSC.

It is the first time for the defense agency to officially confirm the existence of such a hacking unit in the North, though an opposition lawmaker had made a similar allegation last year.

According to the DSC, the North selects graduates from a top military university and gives them intensive training of computer-related skills to later appoint them as commissioned officers of the hacking unit.

``The hacking capability of the unit is assessed as equivalent to that of the CIA of the United States,’’ Song explained.

The drastic development in science and technologies, spurred mainly by the advances in IT technologies, have brought about a paradigm change in warfare; the mass killing and destruction in the wars of the industrial age are giving ways to precision targeting and paralysis of intelligence systems in the new era.

The more a nation’s defense relies on information technologies, however, the more vulnerable its security will be, said Chung Koo-don, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA).

``We understand the North’s hacking skills stand at a high level, having little difficulty in paralyzing Internet networks by spreading virulent computer viruses or penetrating the online systems,’’ Chung told The Korea Times.

In regard to the defense area, he added, it would be not easy for them to get into the military network since the nation’s armed forces use an intranet, which is not connected to the worldwide web.

``But what we should know is the vulnerability of the online computer network. It can collapse at any given moment if a single figure operating the system is infiltrated into the enemy’s side by spies,’’ the expert stressed.

Earlier this month, a rank-and-file soldier was investigated by the military security agency after leaking confidential information by accident through an Internet file-sharing service. The soldier let slip second-grade secret information in March while using peer-to-peer (P2P) software offered by a private Internet portal service provider.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/2004...7193710160.htm


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U.S. Govt Computer Surveillance Rings Alarms
Andy Sullivan

Nine months after U.S. Congress shut down a controversial Pentagon computer-surveillance program, the U.S. government continues to comb private records to sniff out suspicious activity, according to a congressional report obtained by Reuters.

Privacy concerns prompted Congress to kill the Pentagon's $54 million (29 million pounds) Total Information Awareness program last September, but government computers are still scanning a vast array of databases for clues about criminal or terrorist activity, the General Accounting Office found.

Overall, 36 of the government's 199 "data mining" efforts collect personal information from the private sector, a move experts say could violate civil liberties if left unchecked.

Several appear to be patterned after Total Information Awareness, which critics said could have led to an Orwellian surveillance state in which citizens have little privacy.

"I believe that Total Information Awareness is continuing under other names, and the (Defence Department) projects listed here might fit that bill," said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor who served as the Clinton administration's top privacy official.

Defence Department officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Data-mining software has been used by the government and private businesses for years to make sense of large piles of information. Banks use data-mining tools to sniff out possible credit-card fraud, for example.

Most government data-mining projects aim to improve service or cut down on waste and fraud, the report said.

The U.S. Navy tracks each ship part ordered since 1980 to see which ones fail most frequently, while the Department of Education checks its student loan records against those held by the Social Security Administration to make sure it is not loaning money to dead people.

Others projects raised red flags for privacy experts.

The Pentagon agency that handled TIA is not working on any data-mining projects, but another agency is mining intelligence reports and Internet searches "to identify foreign terrorists or U.S. citizens connected to foreign terrorism activities," the report said.

That description prompted Electronic Privacy Information Centre general counsel David Sobel to file a Freedom of Information Act request to find out more about the project.

"Congress now needs to take a close look at ways to oversee and regulate the use of data-mining technology within the government," he said.

Hawaii Democratic Senator Daniel Akaka said he had asked the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, to examine some projects more closely.

"The federal government collects and uses Americans' personal information and shares it with other agencies to an astonishing degree, raising serious privacy concerns," Akaka said in a statement.

The report shows that data mining can be a useful tool for the government, but safeguards should be put in place to ensure that information is not abused, said Nuala O'Connor Kelly, chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security.

Swire said the report did not appear to list any Justice Department programs that use information from data aggregators ChoicePoint Inc. and Acxiom Corp., even though the agency has signed contracts with those companies.

The Justice Department did not return a call seeking comment.

The report also failed to note a planned airline passenger-screening system that has drawn widespread criticism from lawmakers and air travellers.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040527/80/eulz2.html

















Until next week,

- js.














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Jack Spratt's Week In Review is published every Friday. Please submit letters, articles and press releases in plain text English to jackspratts (at) lycos (dot) com. Include contact info. Submission deadlines are Wednesdays @ 1700 UTC.
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Old 30-05-04, 07:52 AM   #3
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You, the password-wielding parent....
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Old 01-06-04, 05:42 PM   #4
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Thanks for another excellent WiR, Jack!

As the case of the new Italian legislation demonstrates, the battle over p2p and copyrights is only getting tougher. It is becoming an international showcase of people's will against corporate will, people's power against corporate power. There is much more at stake than the profits of the copyright industries. Who owns and controls the cultural information? Do we have a right to private communications? Can we have full control over our own computers, or do we have to give a remote control to the Big Brother?

For the time being the corporate party of the battle has the advantage of parliaments around the world approving harsh laws against file sharers, thanks to years of well-organized lobbying and corruption among politicians and legislators. This advantage is luckily bound to wear out though. Heightened media attention in itself will make corruption more difficult and risky, and due to the hot nature of the issue we can also expect new (or reborn ) politicians with pro-p2p attitudes and agendas to emerge to balance the situation.

- tg
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