Monday, January 13, 2003

>From BNA News: THE FIGHT OVER ONLINE MUSIC AND MOVIES There are several articles today that address online music and movie issues. Wired runs a story on Overpeer, a company that seeks to stop peer-to-peer music file sharing by inserting damaged sound quality files onto the peer network. Wired also covers a debate on the issue at the Consumer Electronics tradeshow. CNET, meanwhile, addresses the challenge of clearing all the necessary rights in order to offer movies on the Internet and covers the recent release of EFF's critical review of the DMCA. Articles at http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57112,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57181,00.html http://news.com.com/2009-1023-979754.html http://news.com.com/2100-1023-980112.html EFF report http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20030102_dmca_unintended_consequences.html 3:16:37 PM    comment []

So Many Holes, So Few Hacks, by Michelle Delio, Wired News. Experts who discover and report security holes seem to be far more industrious than the malicious hackers willing or able to exploit those holes. Despite the thousands of hackable holes that lurk in e-mail, on websites, in files and operating systems, most users' computers are never afflicted with more than the virtual version of a sniffle. 1:17:01 PM    comment []

Judge refuses to dismiss Microsoft case (Reuters). A federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss antitrust cases filed against Microsoft by two small rival software companies. Ruling simultaneously on suits by Be and Burst.com, U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz said he would allow the cases to proceed. I am satisfied there are sufficient allegations as to federal antitrust claims, Motz said in court after hearing arguments from the parties. 1:16:57 PM    comment []

Lexmark suit update: DMCA defendant to stop making chip: A federal judge has agreed to Static Control Components' offer to temporarily cease manufacturing a toner cartridge chip that drew a lawsuit under a controversial copyright law. By Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com. 1:16:54 PM    comment []

Registration is open for CFP 2003, for which there's not yet quite a program online, but at least now the outlines of a program and the promise of a real program there on Feb. 1. 1:16:51 PM    comment []

SimCode? Open-source folks -- and the rest of us -- will learn a thing or two from massive multi-player games. By Jimmy Guterman, in Business 2.0. Guterman argues there's a cultural similarity between successful open-source projects and successful contemporary gaming projects: "clans" emerge, "mods" can be added at will, and the core program is open but safe. He concludes with this prediction and question: [T]hese environments, which can harness the intelligence of millions, are likely to spawn a story as big and as unexpected as eBay. What could you do if you had a million people helping you? Good to wonder about. 1:16:48 PM    comment []

Q&A with the Chief Privacy Officer at the University of Pennsylvania: Penn's specialist on privacy sees her niche broadening, by Shari Rudavsky, Boston Globe. When Lauren Steinfeld attended the University of Pennsylvania, she, like most other college students, didn't blink when her Social Security number became her student ID. Now the 1989 Penn alumna spends her days thinking about privacy issues at the Philadelphia school. In January, Steinfeld, who has a law degree from New York University, became Penn's chief privacy officer. Although some schools have appointed officials to oversee compliance with new federal health privacy laws, Penn officials said they know of no other university with a post that has such a broad scope. Steinfeld recently spoke to the Globe about her job and its impact on higher education. Q. Why did Penn create your position? A. I think every university and, in fact, almost every organization that has personal data has to deal with privacy issues. I think that Penn recognized it earlier and really wanted to be a thought leader on the issue, to take a coordinated and proactive approach to privacy. 1:16:44 PM    comment []

Smithsonian : Museum for the world, by Joseph Szadkowski, The Washington Times. On Kids' Castle. 1:16:41 PM    comment []

Sniffing for WiFi: The ultimate Warchalking accessory: the credit-card sized WiFi sniffer from iDetect that can tell you with the press of a button whether a wireless networks is present and how strong the signal is. [Gizmodo] [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 7:53:08 AM    comment []

Zen and the Art of Small Claims You know those obnoxious recorded calls you get advertising credit cards or free vacations or auto-glass replacement? Those are illegal. So are junk faxes. In Washington State, so is commercial email with misleading headers. Every time you get one of these, the offending party owes you $500. Rather than just hang up, recycle or delete, I've been filing small claims against these obnoxious marketers. This page will track my progress and give some tips on how to collect $500 every time a company forces their illegal marketing tactics upon you. 2:18:47 AM    comment []