Thursday, January 08, 2004

does the marketing by Lexis and Westlaw have an effect on librarians?. One of the things about my job that I'll sometimes miss is being courted by the two mega legal publishers, Westlaw and Lexis. Law librarians get presents from them all the time. During the two and half years in my... [explodedlibrary.info] 8:01:00 PM    comment []

In war on poverty, early gains and a long stalemate. A fresh look at a major national battle LBJ launched 40 years ago. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories] 5:37:26 PM    comment []

Mad scientists. From the Tuskegee study to Josef Mengele, from soldiers forced to march into A-bomb clouds to the CIA's secret LSD trials, a biologist provides a frightening tour of the 20th century's most evil experiments. [Salon Headlines] 5:06:18 PM    comment []

BNA News: HAND-HELD DEVICE IGNORES ANTI-COPYING TECHNOLOGY The WSJ reports that Hollywood's bid to control how its movies are copied, stored and played is being tested by a former French oil engineer near Paris. Henri Crohas's company, Archos SA, makes a small hand-held device that can record and then play back scores of movies, TV shows and digital photos on its color screen or on a TV set. Archos's device ignores an anti-copying code found on a majority of pre-recorded DVDs. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107343191287572300,00.html 3:13:48 PM    comment []

Password protection in Microsoft Word criticized, by Munir Kotadia, CNET News.com. Microsoft Word documents that use the software's built-in password protection to avoid unauthorized editing can easily be modified using a relatively simple hack that was recently published on a security Web site. Known as the Password to Modify feature, the password-protection mechanism in Microsoft Word can be bypassed, disabled or deleted with the help of a simple programming tool called a hex editor. The hack does not leave a trace, meaning an unauthorized user could remove the password protection from a document, edit it and replace the original password. Microsoft was informed about the vulnerability in late November by Thorsten Delbrouck, chief information officer of Guardeonic Solutions, which is a subsidiary of German security specialist Infineon Technologies. In a Knowledge Base article published in early December, Microsoft denied there was a problem because, the company said, the password-protection feature is not intended to provide fool-proof protection for tampering or spoofing, but is merely a functionality to prevent accidental changes of a document. 2:13:38 PM    comment []

How Dangerous Almanacs Are -- John Rosenthal, who edits the NY Times Almanac, in this week’s Observer, highlighting the subversive information that almancs contain. The section on the U.S. Postal Service lists domestic and international postage rates, so terrorists will know exactly how many stamps to put on an envelope full of anthrax. The media section lists the top-rated television shows, so terrorists will know exactly when most Americans will be too distracted to notice their neighbors planning a jihad. Ditto for the table of lunar and solar eclipses in 2004. The physics section lists the year the first atomic bomb was invented, as well as a brief explanation of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Armed with that information, a terrorist would need only a rocket and thousands of pounds of uranium to create his own nuclear device. See also Text of the FBI Christmas Eve Almanac Alert and FBI Issues Alert . . . World Almanac and Book of Facts endorses efforts of the FBI, and all government agencies, in thwarting illegal activities. 12:12:36 PM    comment []

Mexico introduces e-signatures for tax purposes 9:12:08 AM    comment []

Apple's Unlikely Guardian Angel. The Macintosh has had its ups and downs over the years, but there's always been one company that supported it. On the Mac's 20th anniversary, we reveal the machine's improbable best friend. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] 7:16:00 AM    comment []

China grants WLAN technology rights to more companies, by Sumner Lemon and Henry Lee, IDG News Service. 3:11:50 AM    comment []