Washington Spam Law Upheld Spam & E-Mail 6/7/2001; 7:23:44 PM 'An anonymous submitter sent in news that the Washington state Supreme Court upheld Washington's anti-spam law today. The law requires truthful information on all commercial emails sent from Washington state or to a Washington resident - commercial emailers may not disguise the origin of their messages (but aren't prohibited from sending UCE if they don't try to disguise themselves).... The decision is interesting, because several state internet censorship laws have been struck down due to their effects on residents of other states - it's worth reading for anyone interested in internet legal issues.

Where's Dangerousmeta? Personal Notes 6/7/2001; 1:29:08 PM I've been trying to get through to Dangerousmeta now for a week or so, but can't. Is the site down, the DNS down, or is the problem on my end?

New Windows XP Feature Can Re-Edit Others' Sites Website Annotation6/7/2001; 9:35:46 AM 'I've already encountered one proposed feature, in a "beta," or test, version, that shows Microsoft may well flunk both these tests. The feature, which hasn't yet been made public, allows Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser -- included in Windows XP -- to turn any word on any Web site into a link to Microsoft's own Web sites and services, or to any other sites Microsoft favors.

Code-Breakers Go to Court DMCA 6/6/2001; 5:59:58 PM 'On Wednesday, Ed Felten of Princeton University and seven other researchers took their fight to a New Jersey federal court in a lawsuit asking that they be permitted to disclose their work at a security conference this summer....' "When scientists are intimidated from publishing their work, there is a clear First Amendment problem," says EFF legal director Cindy Cohn. "We have long argued that unless properly limited, the anti-distribution provisions of the DMCA would interfere with science.

FTC member says privacy concerns becoming 'hysteria' Privacy from Companies 6/5/2001; 8:14:24 PM 'Leary acknowledged that companies can and do collect a sea of data on individual consumers, but "this hysteria [over privacy] is misplaced." Citing the example of grocery stores that collect purchasing data from customers who use discount cards, Leary said there will be so much data out there that companies won't be able to use it all in ways that hurt the individual consumer.

Goodbye Tomalak's Realm Personal Notes 6/5/2001; 12:06:16 AM Goodbye to Tomalak's Realm, one of the best link-logs in existance. Good luck with your schooling and business plans!

Response to the Briefs DVD & DeCSS6/2/2001; 7:30:47 PM OK, I've read the two briefs now and I'd like to offer these comments:Based on these briefs, EFF is arguing a fundamentally stronger case. The MPAA has the always-difficult task of proving the absolute: DeCSS contains no speech elements whatsoever. While the EFF goes to the opposite extreme to state that DeCSS contains no non-speech elements (which I personally agree with), any compromise position will leave DeCSS as being at least partially speech, which would hurt the MPAA's position.

If You Can't Track 'em, Join 'em Music & MP36/1/2001; 9:29:37 PM 'An alliance between three media file-tracking companies makes it possible to monitor, track, contact and shut down the systems of users who engage in illegal activity on the Internet.'BayTSP, Media Enforcer and Copyright.net -- companies that have applications to search for copyrighted materials -- agreed to share their tracking technologies with each other as part of an equity deal that creates a loose federation of companies involved in rights management.

The music revolution will not be digitized Music & MP36/1/2001; 8:48:49 PM 'The power, then, is consolidated squarely back in the hands of the same record industry executives that held the reins before. Everyone with a good idea that doesn't fit into what the music moguls have already deemed appropriate is out of luck. That personalized radio station will be shut down, that peer-to-peer network will be decimated before it even has a chance to offer a subscription plan, prices for music downloads will be set sky-high, and new music-exchange services will contain only limited catalogs.

Web Behind Walls Misc. 6/1/2001; 1:15:27 PM 'At stake is the future and form of the Internet for millions of Americans whose access to the online world comes through the set-top portals of cable television. Instead of the multivaried pathways of the World Wide Web, these users will be provided easy access to a much smaller subset of items and options that reflect the network owner's online programming, as well as the offerings of its content partners.