Friday, August 22, 2003

Double Whammy. The MSBlast/LoveSan worm and the largest power outage to ever hit North America provided IT executives with a harsh reminder that no company is an island--and that business continuity and security remain top IT priorities. (Information Week). 5:21:19 PM    comment []

Daley Announces Latest Selection In “One Book, One Chicago” Reading Program The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien will be highlighted in book discussions, readings, films and performances during the Chicago Book Festival in October. Its selection was announced this morning by Mayor Richard Daley and Mary Dempsey, commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, at a news conference at the Canaryville branch library, 642 W. 43rd St. The book's title refers to the things soldiers carried into war, from weapons and gear to mementos and private thoughts. One of the most fascinating aspects of Tim O'Brien's work is how he mingles and sometimes blurs fact with fiction, Daley said. The stories unfold through the eyes of a diverse group of characters. At different points, it's impossible to discern what is truth, and what is fiction. O'Brien, an author and veteran, will visit the city in October to discuss his writings and sign copies of his book. Steppenwolf Theatre Co. ensemble members will read selections, the Old Town School of Folk Music will host a community song circle, and DePaul University will offer a graduate-level course on the book and host a staged reading and panel discussion. Also, a film on the Vietnam War will be given a free screening every Saturday in October at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Featured films will include "Apocalypse Now Redux" (2001), "Platoon" (1986), "Deer Hunter" (1978) and "Regret to Inform" (1998). . . . Previous selections were To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Night by Elie Wiesel, My Antonia by Willa Cather and A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Ald. James Balcer (11th), a Vietnam War veteran, said he liked the book because he related to it and made him recall good and bad experiences. It brought back feelings of the people that I served with, people that I had seen die, people that I had seen wounded, different things that I had done in Vietnam myself, Balcer said. The book was relevant to the current times, he said. People are seeing people die. People are seeing people wounded. People in the military are losing, some of them are losing their friends, Balcer said. Great, great choice. The Things They Carried is one of the best things I've ever read. 2:20:58 PM    comment []

Global Race Against the Clock to Beat Sobig Virus, by Bernhard Warner, European Internet Correspondent, Reuters. A frantic global hunt was under way from the United States to South Korea (news - web sites) to find and switch off 20 home computers with high-speed broadband connections that were due to be targeted by hundreds of thousands of computers infected by Sobig.F at 3 p.m. EDT Friday. Security experts discovered only late on Thursday that the Sobig.F virus, which has sown panic since Monday by infecting Windows systems and using them to send a deluge of junk mail, was harboring a sinister secret. Hidden within the virus is an instruction to the infected machines to make contact at 3 p.m. EDT with the 20 computers, which host an unidentified program. The problem is we don't know what that program is. It could mean a smiley face dances across your screen or it could be something massive, said Carole Theriault, anti-virus consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. It's still under the control of the virus writer. Even if the mystery program is a harmless gag, the sheer volume of Internet data converging on the 20 computer targets could slow the Internet to a crawl. The time trigger is set to be activated again at the same time on Sunday, August 24. The search for the owners of the 20 machines -- to get them to disconnect before the deadline -- has had some success. We've taken more than half offline, said Mikko Hypponen, anti-virus research manager at Finland's F-Secure. But if one is left standing, there will be an attack. . . . Since surfacing late on Monday, Sobig.F has been crippling corporate e- mail networks and filling home users' inboxes with a glut of messages. Hypponen estimated that Sobig.F had generated close to 100 million emails. Sobig.F spreads when unsuspecting computer users open file attachments in emails that contain such familiar headings as "Thank You!," "Re: Details" or "Re: That Movie." Once the file is opened, Sobig.F resends itself to scores of email addresses from the infected computer and signs the email using a random name and address from the infected computer's address book. It has generated a massive flow of potentially infectious emails, bogging down computer servers. Some security experts estimate more than one million computers have been infected worldwide, though they stressed an accurate tally was difficult to measure as so many home computer users had been hit. 2:20:51 PM    comment []

UK GROCER ENDS RFID TAG TRIAL. According to BNA News: UK grocer Tesco has dropped its trial of RFID tags in Gillette products in a Cambridge store. The store was hit with protesters and a boycott Gillette movement was launched following announcement of the trial. 1:20:41 PM    comment []

File swapper fights RIAA subpoena. An anonymous California computer user goes to court to challenge the recording industry's file-trading subpoenas, charging they are unconstitutional and violate her right to privacy. [CNET News.com] 8:02:29 AM    comment []

Lessig: a very well reasoned CFC decision. One of the most frustrating aspects of Eldred was the crudeness, in many places, of the legal anaysis by the government, and courts. Distinctions that should have been important were ignored or glossed over. Arguments making distinctions that should have been important were just glossed over. It is therefore extraordinarily encouraging to read this by the Court of Federal Claims in the case of Figueroa v. US. Judge Futey is exceptionally careful and subtle in his analysis of the claim about patent fees. I don't know enough about the non-Eldred parts here, but the constitutional analysis is very well done. 8:01:07 AM    comment []

F.C.C. Discloses New Rules for Telecom Industry. The Federal Communications Commission released its detailed regulatory plan for the telecommunications industry. By Jennifer 8. Lee. [New York Times: Business] 7:59:18 AM    comment []

Who's minding the Net?. CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says the different responses to the blackout and to new Net worms speak volumes about our preparedness for a serious attack on the cyberinfrastructure. [CNET News.com] 7:55:09 AM    comment []