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Thursday, May 19, 2005 |
So, taking time out from killing the Sober-variant, German worm detritus in my e-mail account today, I followed up on e-mail saying I had a postcard from a family member. New one to me, thought I'd take a closer look, saw the .ro domain and the interesting postcard.gif.exe hook and eventually made my way to Mail Call: Email Crime (Phishing Trip Part 0), which proved to be a very good essay. It's a little more technical than I would usually recommend to most of the people I work with, but any of them not scared off by a few bits of code (that can safely be skipped over, though the reader won't get the full monty that way) will likely learn from it.
Also found the disclaimer at 1001 Postcards: Aunt Edna Virus & postcards.gif.exe, and thought it was pretty good.
3:35:36 PM 
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The lies that led to war. A leaked British memo, and other documents, make it clear that Bush intended all along to invade Iraq -- and lied about it to the American people. The full gravity of his offense has not yet sunk in. [Salon.com]
1:54:32 PM
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Freedom to Tinker: Register of Copyrights Misunderstands Copyright.
The office of the U.S. Register of Copyrights recently released its annual report for 2004. Along with some useful information about the office's function, the report includes a sort of editorial about the copyright system, entitled "Copyright in the Public Eye." The editorial displays a surprising misunderstanding of the purposes of copyright.
Consider, for example, this sentence:
The Founders knew what they were doing when they made explicit that Congress was to secure to authors an "exclusive Right." They understood that individual rights, especially property-like rights, were the key to establishing a stable and productive society.
ubtle rewriting of the Constitutional language. The Constitution does not direct Congress to establish copyright, but merely allows it to do so. Let's be clear: the implication that the Founders would approve of today's copyright statute finds no real support in the historical record. The first Congress passed a copyright act, and it was vastly narrower than the one we have today.
The Constitution allows Congress to do other things, too, such as imposing taxes and regulating interstate commerce. But nobody would argue that the Founders wanted the broadest possible taxation and regulation. The Founders trusted Congress to use its power judiciously, in copyright as in other areas.
[unmediated]
1:54:20 PM
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Breaking News: Netflix Takes Over Walmart DVD Rentals.
The LA Times is reporting that Netflix is taking over Walmart's DVD rental program. Wal-Mart is offering its existing online DVD rental customers the chance to continue their subscriptions with Los Gatos-based Netflix at their current price for the next year. Those who don't sign up with Netflix by June 17 will lose their service. Wal-Mart plans to continue promoting the Netflix service on its Web site. In return, Netflix will remind its subscribers that they can buy DVDs from Walmart.com. Netflix issued a press release which included the following: In connection with today's joint promotional announcement with Walmart.com,...
[Hacking NetFlix]
1:49:54 PM
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Rafsanjani needs the youth vote.
Looks as if Rafsanjani's pollsters are worried about his popularity among the youth. Take a look at the pictures he has recently taken during a meeting with some young Iranian boy and girls and you'll know why.
It's worth noting that Iranian officials usually avoid appearing with the young boys and girls who favor a rather more Westernized look over the semi-official look that, for instance, is used by TV anchors. (Men should not wear jeans and short sleeves and women should completely cover their hair and wear Chador.)
Pictures are taken by Fars News which is not quite friendly toward Rafsanjani and seems to be supporting Larijani.
- From Iran Scan 1384
[Editor: Myself (English)]
7:39:27 AM
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site for would be bloggers?.
A reader wrote me to ask whether I knew of a website that leads you through starting to blog - you know, explaining how to get started and making it easy to tell the difference between the different systems so you can figure out which would suit your needs. A decision tree would be perfect.
I don’t really know of such a site, but I bet there’s one out there. Any ideas?
[jill/txt]
7:38:50 AM
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Cory: Star Wars III online, all studio countermeasures futile, Lucas still rich
 There's a workprint of Star Wars Episode III on the Internet already. It's got some timecode and watermarks, but judging from the 19 second XVID sample that Waxy has posted, it seems like it's eminently watchable.
Workprints leak from studios. The studios are trying to lock down what customers do with DVDs and cable TV and PCs, but they can't even keep their own house in order. They've got laws that allow them to get your name from your ISP and to sue you into bankruptcy for file-sharing. They've got laws to criminalize the math to defeat DRM. They're after laws to let them design TVs and camcorders.
None of those laws, measures or policies will stop files like this from circulating on the Internet. Don't take my word for it, read what Microsoft's leading DRM engineers have to say about it.
But that's OK, because Star Wars III will make a metric crapload of money, no matter how many copies are downloaded from the Internet. Hell, the licensing deals alone have already recouped the cost of production, before the first ticket was sold.
The studios don't have a problem with downloading. There's plenty of downloading, but there's no problem. But even if there is a problem, none of the costly measures the studios have asked for will solve it.
Putting the shouting, petulant babies from the studios in charge of technology is plain nuts. They are too blinded by greed and hubris to be trusted. Link
7:35:28 AM
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Ready or Not, China Gets Blogged. Investors in China don't really know what a blog is or whether it can make money, but that's not stopping Edwyn Chan from trying to become the country's blogfather. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg. [Wired News]
7:29:02 AM
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In the vein of "