28. april 2003

DMCA: patching the monster Five years after US politicians spinelessly passed the draconian Digital Millennium Copyright Act, at least one representative sees what a disaster it's been. Representative Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) has written the Digital Media Consumer Rights Act. Knowing there is no way to get the DMCA repealed in face of the lobbying power of Hollywood and the recording industry, he considers this the only way that can work. Think about it as DMCA, service pack 1. 11:11:58 PM    comment []

An end to spam? I have tried to keep my primary email address as secret as possible, but I still get the occasional spam mail to it. Microsoft Outlook has some rudimentary built-in spam protection that essentially never catches a single piece of spam. An add-in for Outlook called Spammunition comes highly recommended from many quarters, and I just downloaded and installed it. They warn it's still a beta, but it hasdn't crashed anyrthing yet, so... I'll keep you updated when I've tested it properly. This program, like many modern filters, is based on Paul Graham's theories set forth in his article A Plan for Spam. Essentially, it is a bayesian process, where certain keywords or characteristics increase the probability of an email being spam, and other keywords decrease it. Held together, an algorithm can know with very high probability whether a mail is spam or not. Of course, false positives are not acceptable. Graham's filters seem very hard to beat for the spammers. But I bet they'll try. Now I'm just waiting for msn/hotmail to install a proper spam filter, too. 10:21:26 PM    comment []

North Korea makes an offer North Korea has offered to scrap its nuclear programme in exchange for some important, unspecified concessions. The US is discussing the offer with its allies, Powell says. 8:44:03 PM    comment []

— US planners underestimated strength of Iraqi shiites US administration sources say that planners were unprepared for how well-organised Shiite groups were in Iraq, and they now fear that an anti-American fundamentalist government, influenced by Iran, may come to power in the country. Some argue that the Pentagon were "dazzled" by the exile Ahmed Chalabi, a shiite who favours a secular government. Ironically, the US may benefit from playing up Arab nationalism against the Persian shiites. In the long term, however, the most important weapon against fundamentalism is a secular education. Iraq once had the best educational system in the region, but the last decade's sanctions have left it in shambles. I don't doubt there is some truth in the arguments, but mostly press reports like this one is part of the ongoing turf wars between the State Department and Pentagon. State never liked Chalabi, and they already feel sidelined by the military success and the diplomatic failures in the Iraq war. Their job is essentially to be against any sort of military intervention, as that takes any crisis out of their hands and transfers it to the men with guns. 5:15:40 PM    comment []

Fraudster forgot to turn on mobile key lock A would-be insurance fraudster gave the game away to the insurance company when he boasted to his collegue about his scam after he inedvertedly hit the redial button on his mobile. He had just placed a phone call to the Loss Management Group, claiming he had lost seven pieces of jewlery, and put the phone in his pocket without the key lock enabled. Tony Le Fevre, managing director of the LMG, explained: "Unfortunately for the individual concerned, we automatically record all calls for training and monitoring purposes so had the complete conversation on tape." LGM says that according to recent research, jewlery fraud costs the insurance industry £70m a year. Obviously, not all fraudsters forget the key lock. 4:25:28 PM    comment []

Caught with his hands in the condom jar An 11 year old boy managed to get his hand stuck in a condom machine. Apparently, young Michael Steiner tried to get his hands on some coins in the condom machine in the cinema toilet in the town of Braunau in Austria. An employee failed to get him free, and a doctor who was called to the scene had no more luck. In the end, the town's fire brigade had to cut the condom machine into pieces to get the boy free. There is no such thing as safe theft. 3:03:06 PM    comment []

404 page not found Area 404 has made a collection of funny, amusing, annoying and crazy "page not found" pages on the net. Some of the pages are spoofs of the Internet Explorer "cannot find" page, like this one. 2:02:51 PM    comment []

VO, we've been missing you! Finally, after a little break, Mark has put together a new issue of the Occoquan Inquirer with some of the best articles from the past week on Salon blogs. Don't miss this! 1:06:00 PM    comment []

Animal rights leader wants to be barbequed Ingrid Newkirk, the president of the animal rights organisation PETA, has drawn up a will directing that her flesh be barbequed and her skin being used for leather products in a protest against humans' ill-treatment of animals. If the name Ingrid Newkirk rings a bell, yes I've written about that nutcase earlier, when she wrote to Arafat protesting the use of animals in bombings. Newkirk has a vivid imagination; she has also suggested that her feet be used as a lamp stand like elephant feet has been used, and she wants her liver sent to France to be used protesting the eating of geese and duck that are force fed to get a large liver. But Newkirk is also a Formula One fan, for which reason she has asked for a part of her heart to be buried near the Hockenheim racing circuit in Germany. 12:51:16 PM    comment []

"How does the Senator feel about doggy style?" A reader of Oliver Willis' blog phoned Senator Rick Santorum's office to ask for advice on what is appropriate sex. You just have to read the transcript. If you've got questions for the Senator concerning appropriate sexual behavior, why not give him a call? (202) 224-6324 And make sure you post the result! 2:25:10 AM    comment []

Peace talks in Nepal "cordial" The first days of peace talks between the Nepalese government and Maoist rebels were described as "cordial" by both parties. Communist rebels have fought for a communist republic since 1996 in a struggle that has cost nearly 8,000 lives. It has been a major breakthrough that the rebels have been willing to debate introducing a form of constitutional democracy. Yet, it is a long way to go, and the talks meet stern opposition from many Nepalese parties that oppose negotiating with the rebels. 12:31:46 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.05.2003; 03:01:10.