Rethinking Music Security Music & MP3 5/23/2001; 10:15:07 PM 'Last Friday, a consortium of more than 100 content and technology companies called the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) failed to reach a consensus on a screening application that would enable media players to distinguish between secure and unsecure files. 'The lack of agreement means that for yet another year, portable and PC media players will continue to play both secure and unsecure music files and MP3 files.

Net TV firm set to guard Canadian border Misc. 5/23/2001; 10:12:14 PM 'JumpTV, which has yet to turn on the most controversial part of its service, says it will avoid the lawsuits by limiting its viewership to Canadians, with technology that purports to pinpoint Web surfers by country, region and even ZIP code. 'If implemented, it would be the first time a high-profile Web entertainment service has set up a technological walled garden attempting to eliminate the international reach of the Web.

High Court to Hear Net Porn Case Free Speech 5/21/2001; 2:13:31 PM 'The Supreme Court said Monday it will revisit the free-speech debate over congressional efforts to limit children's access to online pornography. 'The court agreed to review lower court decisions blocking enforcement of a 1998 law making it a crime to knowingly place objectionable material where a child could find it on the World Wide Web.'

First Anniversary Personal Notes 5/20/2001; 11:48:53 AM No [more] posts today... it's my first wedding anniversary! Party time!

Eurocops want seven-year retention of all phone, Net traffic Misc.5/18/2001; 3:20:13 PM 'The official EU body that represents the member governments will recommend the long-term retention of personal data at a meeting with the European Commission later this month, according to documents leaked to London-based civil liberties journal Statewatch. 'The Council of the European Union, which represents the 15 member governments, will discuss implementing a policy originally designed with the FBI six years ago.

Proposed international law treaty puts rights at risk Misc.5/18/2001; 2:58:20 PM 'But the treaty's drafters began their work before cyberspace took its present form. Back then, business in other nations included a physical presence. You went there, set up shop and agreed to abide by that place's rules.... Cyberspace has blurred all borders....'Some nations' laws deny rights we take for granted in the United States and some other democracies. If critics are correct, the Hague Convention would turn local laws into international fiats, making the most restrictive laws anywhere the effective law of the Internet.

MS incites UCITA breach UCITA5/12/2001; 7:11:27 PM 'Whereas Maryland's version of UCITA gives jurisdiction to Maryland, Microsoft insists that jurisdiction for the use of Passport resides in the law and courts of Washington state. As a result of this conflict, it appears that Maryland residents are not allowed to use the Microsoft service.''Although this conflict did seem to be an amusing instance of both Microsoft and the legislative sponsors of UCITA in Maryland getting hoisted on their own petards, I at first didn't see any significant consequences to all this legal snafu.

They Know If You've Been Bad or Good Surveillance and Privacy from Government5/12/2001; 11:34:03 AM 'Independence Hall will forever be depicted in history books as the birthplace of the United States. Along with the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, it is among the most recognizable symbols of freedom in the world. Ironically, this building where the Declaration of Independence was signed, emancipating Americans from an intrusive government, is now the site of a high-powered video surveillance camera.

Transaction Costs and the Social Costs of Online Privacy Privacy from Companies 5/11/2001; 10:46:06 PM 'Economically, privacy can be understood as a problem of social cost, where the actions of one agent (e.g., a mailing list broker) impart a negative externality on another agent (e.g., an end consumer). Problems in social cost can be understood by modeling the liabilities, transaction costs and property rights assigned to various economic agents within the system, and can be resolved by reallocating property rights and liability to different agents as needed to achieve economic equilibrium.

Judges Seek Answers on Computer Code as Free Speech Free Speech5/11/2001; 10:42:23 PM 'In what may signal a heightened significance for a case testing the constitutionality of a 1998 digital copyright law, a panel of appeals court judges has asked both sides of a case to answer a list of 11 questions on whether computer code can qualify as free speech.'Here's the court request with the questions.I'll post the EFF's answers (which I'm sure they will post) when I can get them.