Monday, March 15, 2004

When Big Brother Invades the Examining Room. The tradition of patient confidentiality goes back to the fourth century B.C. And when doctors don't follow it, patients lose. By Howard Markel, M.d.. [New York Times: Science] 8:25:20 PM    comment []

New Zealand Police lay first charge for hacking, by Richard Wood, The Dominion Post. Electronic crime lab national manager Martin Kleintjes says the charges relate to alleged damage caused to a website and the computer systems of a company in Maryland in the United States. He declines to name the firm. 12:46:09 PM    comment []

Half a month left to get in on the special trial offer to check out The Well. Friends are invited to join The WELL: The WELL, one of the most cherished and original online social gathering places, has engaged, informed, enraged and transformed people from around the globe since 1985. On April 1 our community - and we don't use that term lightly - will be 19 years old. We're inviting friends of friends to join the conversation in celebration. We're pleased to offer a very special (and very occaisional) Friend To Friend rate. All you need is the login name of your friend at The WELL. Join the award-winning, non-anonymous conversations at a special rate through April 1, 2004. Explore either of our membership packages for two full months for a setup fee of just $2.00. If you cancel by phone or email during the two months, you go on your way, no regrets. If you stick around, our regular monthly rate will kick in starting with the third month, until you say otherwise. Some WELL members have been at home here for over 18 years, and it could just happen to you. Tell 'em bumbaugh sent you, and they'll let you in. 10:45:48 AM    comment []

EU Moves Forward With Tough Microsoft Antitrust Ruling, by Paul Geitner, AP. A closed-door session with representatives of the 15 EU governments -- which had been expected to run all day due to the case's complexity -- ended shortly after noon instead, European Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said. The member states have unanimously backed the Commission's draft decision, she told reporters without elaborating. Sources familiar with the case said there were no problems raised, and the draft is tentatively set to be adopted next week. The endorsement bolsters the Commission's hand in dealing with Microsoft, which is still seeking a last-minute settlement even as it pledges to carry on the fight in court. . . . Sources say the EU's draft ruling similarly finds Microsoft abused its monopoly in computer operating software to gain share in markets for digital media players and low-end servers. But the remedies sought go beyond the U.S. deal. The EU wants Microsoft to offer computer makers a version of Windows without its Media Player to give rivals like RealNetworks Inc. a better shot at getting onto consumer desktops. It also would demand Microsoft release more basic Windows code to improve "interoperability" with competing networking software made by Sun Microsystems and others. . . . The national antitrust regulators reconvene next Monday to consider the size of the fine against Microsoft. The Commission is expected to adopt the decision as early as March 24 and set out a time frame -- usually a matter of months -- for compliance. The European Court of Justice could suspend the decision pending Microsoft's promised appeal, but such an injunction is not automatic. Given the rapidly changing nature of the industry, the Commission is expected to argue its order would be meaningless by the time the appeal is decided, a process that can drag on for years. 9:45:39 AM    comment []

U.S. Videos, for TV News, Praise Medicare Law. Investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the new Medicare law. By Robert Pear. [New York Times: Business] 7:03:05 AM    comment []

Lynda Barry: Plastic surgery soundtrack. [Salon.com] 6:59:49 AM    comment []

Sketchy Grades for Cyber Schools. Dozens of online schools offer instruction in 19 states, and more are getting into the act. But many of the current schools aren't measuring up. By John Gartner. [Wired News] 6:57:51 AM    comment []

Planets Aren't Greek No More. ...'cos there's a new one, and its name is Sedna, named after the Inuit goddess of the ocean. It's probably smaller than Pluto, and it's WAY out in the Kuiper Belt, the mass of debris three times farther out from the Sun than Pluto. According to the Beeb, the difference between this object and other KB objects, such as Quaoar (named after the creation goddish thing from the Tongva mythology, a group of Los Angeles-area Native Americans), or Varuna (which is named after an Indian god), is that it appears to be in its normal orbit, while the other objects "originated in the KB but have since been perturbed into different orbits". Or something. Of course, the question over whether this is a planet or just another large-but-not-large- enough object is far from settled. [Andrew Bayer is Dreaming of China] 6:56:43 AM    comment []

The Problem of Evil Solved at Last. I'm delighted to see this brilliant paper by my friend Ken Gemes (Birkbeck College, London) is now available on-line. The core idea: "[C]onsider the world we know and inhabit. It is a possible world, hence one that God has thought of. Furthermore, our world pretty clearly, pace Descartes, contains evil. Now God being perfect would not create a world containing evil. Ergo God did not create this world, he merely thought of it. Our world then is a merely possible world, one God thought of but chose not to create. Presumably it was his knowledge of the evil in this world which led him to decide that it was beneath creation. The actual world is some other world that contains none of the evil of this world or any other possible world." Not everyone, admittedly, may like the solution, but I'm convinced it's the only one in the offing, absent rejection of some other premise that those exercised by the problem typically want to retain. [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates] He's right: I don't like a solution that denies the ordinary meaning of "actual world". 6:28:13 AM    comment []

Privacy Fears Erode Support for a Network to Fight Crime. Matrix, a controversial program intended to find criminals and terrorists, appears to be withering under its critics' attacks. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Business] 6:24:23 AM    comment []