Don't Let Architecture Astronauts Scare You
Personal Commentary
4/17/2001; 8:47:49 PM

'When you go too far up, abstraction-wise, you run out of oxygen. Sometimes smart thinkers just don't know when to stop, and they create these absurd, all-encompassing, high-level pictures of the universe that are all good and fine, but don't actually mean anything at all.'

At the risk of matching this profile to a "T", I'd like to observe that this statement is true in more then just software engineering. Many philosophers are guilty of the same thing. I have to try my best to avoid it on this site.

How Corporate Lobbyists Colonized the Net
DMCA
4/17/2001; 12:57:53 PM

'"It means," Litman writes, "that all appearance of works in computers -- at home, on networks, at work, in the library -- needs to be effected in conformance with, and with attention to, copyright rules. That's new. Until now, copyright has regulated multiplication and distribution of works, but it hasn't regulated consumption."'

The best article Katz has done since he joined Slashdot, bar none. I don't think I've ever seen him fail to exaggerate his point before. It helps that the point is large to begin with... the regulation of consumption is a massive shift in copyright law and deserves all the attention it can get.

Anti-UCITA sentiment growing
UCITA
4/17/2001; 11:20:16 AM

'LEGISLATORS IN THE states of Iowa, New York, North Dakota, and Oregon have introduced anti-UCITA bomb shelter legislation, designed to negate the effects of the software licensing law on residents of those states.'

I can't find any good overviews of the details of these "bomb shelter" bills. I'd be surprised if these states can simply negate UCITA. Perhaps they can only mitigate certain provisions? I don't know, there's no details.

National Governments and the Internet?
Misc.
4/17/2001; 9:19:04 AM It's somebody's homework problem, but the discussion is interesting nonetheless. Read the highly-ranked comments for some interesting tidbits about how various countries are handling the Internet.

Futzing with design again Administrative4/17/2001; 8:04:53 AM I'm futzing around with the design again, still trying to make this place look more attractive and trying to move away from large swathes of white.This means that in the meantime, things will look a little ugly. Please bear with me, it should look good when I'm done.I intend to follow in the footsteps of A List Apart and create a completely compliant site that degrades tolerably in Netscape 4. I actually use Netscape 4 a lot to access my site personally, but I'll still benefit... Netscape 4 hates these nested tables. With a standards compliant, table-free site, Netscape will render a lot faster.While I'm talking about something other then news anyhow, I'd like to say I'm gratified, if somewhat surprised, to be used as an example in the Globe and Mail column ''Firms underestimate the power of blogging''. Thanks.

FBI turns to private sector for data
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
4/15/2001; 9:19:14 PM

'From their desktop computers, 20,000 agents at the IRS have access to outside data on taxpayers’ assets, driving histories, phone numbers and other personal statistics. Using a password, FBI agents can log on to a custom Web page that links them with privately owned files on tens of millions of Americans. And with just a few keystrokes, the U.S. Marshals Service can find out if a fugitive has recently rented a mailbox or acquired a new phone line.

Yahoo! is pornmonger no more
Free Speech
4/14/2001; 8:27:52 PM

Haven't been posting this one since I didn't consider it that interesting, but The Register did draw an interesting comparision between Yahoo!'s recent decision to stop selling porn and the France vs. Yahoo! Nazi memorbilia case, after the "Porn No More" heading.

'However you dress it, portals are not simply blind common carriers, in the manner of the telcos - even in the US.'

Teaching Kids About Hacking
Hacking & Cracking
4/14/2001; 5:18:27 PM 'Technical ignorance is an excuse used by too many parents and teachers in their failure to teach kids cyberethics, computer security consultant Winn Schwartau says.

'So Schwartau wrote a book, Internet and Computer Ethics for Kids, to educate both computer-savvy youngsters and technically challenged adults.

'Schwartau has been honored for his security work by heads of governments and the military in the United States and Europe, and has written or contributed to a dozen well-regarded books on computer and Internet security.'

MS sabotages MP3 quality under Win-XP
Music & MP3
4/12/2001; 12:25:41 PM

'According to a superb story in today's Wall Street Journal, MS "plans to severely limit the quality of music that can be recorded as an MP3 file using software built into the next version of its [PC] operating system, Windows XP. But music recorded in the Redmond software company's own format, called Windows Media Audio, will sound clearer and require far less storage space on a computer."

Just Compensation
Music & MP3
4/12/2001; 8:34:10 AM

'In finding that balance [between cable television and broadcast television], Congress kept separate two questions the [music] labels want you to confuse. One question was whether broadcasters should be paid for their content. Answer: Yes. The second question was whether broadcasters should have the power to control innovation in cable TV by deciding whether cable could run broadcasters' content. Answer: Absolutely not. While broadcasters and copyright holders were entitled to compensation for their content, the right to compensation did not have to mean the broadcaster's right to control. Cable providers had to pay for what they "stole," but they had, under Congress' law, a fundamental right to steal.'