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?

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.

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.

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.

Microsoft Pushing P3P Privacy from Companies 4/11/2001; 11:31:07 PM 'Now Microsoft Corp. says it has a high-tech solution to the problem -- no Draconian action needed. The software giant's answer: a system, based on industry standards, that lets consumers choose how much protection they want. The approach will effectively let PC users adjust the dial on a kind of privacy thermostat built into their Web browsers. 'Known as the Platform for Privacy Preferences, or P3P, the technology promises to reshape the debate about Web privacy.

ACLU Ad Highlights Massive U.S. Government Surveillance Surveillance and Privacy from Government 4/11/2001; 11:14:53 PM 'The ad, appearing in the April 15 issue of The New Yorker and the April 16 issue of The New York Times Magazine, features a large photo of a cell phone, with the headline: "Now equipped with 3-way calling. You, whoever you're dialing, and the government."'