The Invincible(?) United States Personal Commentary 11/15/2000; 8:14:37 PM Nothing much seems to be happening in this site's topic area today, but I wanted to make a comment about something I've found increasingly disturbing over the past few years, and this political fracas over who the next President is isn't making me any more comfortable about it. This Camille Paglia Salon article, Becoming president under a noxious cloud, got me thinking about this.

iRights in Antarti.ca Personal Notes 11/14/2000; 4:53:55 PM Scripting News announces Antarti.ca, from Tim Bray. I think a lot of people are going to be looking to see who their "neighbors" are. Update: OK, maybe not.  Anyhow, here's a pic of what the 3D mode looks like... iRights in Antarti.ca ">

The Internet’s chastened child Privacy from Companies 11/14/2000; 4:49:27 PM 'As in a Greek tragedy, it was the characteristics that had brought Mr O’Connor so far that eventually failed him. A belief that he could write the rules for advertising on the web, because “there were no rules,” led him to miss the wider social and political impact of what DoubleClick was doing. The trigger was last year’s $1.7 billion acquisition of Abacus, America’s largest off-line database, which contains profiles of 90% of households, compiled from magazine subscriptions and store receipts.

MP3.com, Universal Settle Music & MP3 11/14/2000; 4:40:10 PM 'MP3.com will pay $53.4 million in damages to Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, to resolve the copyright infringement case between the two companies, a judge ruled Tuesday. 'Separately, MP3.com and Universal struck a deal for Universal to buy "a significant amount" of MP3 warrants, the chief executive of MP3 said.'

Cybercrime Treaty Draft: Take 23 Misc. 11/13/2000; 12:11:14 PM 'The world's first cybercrime treaty is being hastily redrafted after Internet lobby groups assailed it as a threat to human rights that could have "a chilling effect on the free flow of information and ideas."... '"We were surprised by the violence of these comments," said Peter Csonka, deputy head of the Council of Europe's economic crime division which oversees the drafting.

Law to protect [Australian] artists imminent Country Watch: Australia 11/13/2000; 11:33:17 AM 'Seven years after it was first seriously suggested, Australia is finally close to implementing what nearly 70 countries have long taken for granted: moral rights for artists.... 'The bill contains three basic rights: the right to attribution, the right against false attribution, and - the most contentious - the right to integrity. This would allow artists to protest against "

Graduate School Personal Notes 11/11/2000; 6:37:59 PM I am proud to announce that I have been accepted into the Michigan State University Computer Science Graduate program as a Masters student.  Yes, another two years of successfully avoiding the real world!

NH Court Rules School District Must Release Net Records Privacy from Companies 11/10/2000; 10:25:02 AM 'In what could be a landmark decision in the area of online privacy rights, a New Hampshire court granted the father of a public school student the right to obtain Internet usage records of all students who used computers and Web access supplied by the school district. The district was also ordered not to withhold records that may be requested in the future and was forced to pay plaintiff's attorney's fees.

Wings take to the water Patents 11/9/2000; 9:41:58 PM 'A retractable boat mast with a variable sail has been developed by a UK researcher after he studied the wings of bats and birds. 'Dr Richard Dryden, a part-time lecturer at the University of Plymouth, believes his patented design will work on a range of watercraft from sailboards and dinghies to larger vessels such as wind-assisted tankers. 'The structure is jointed and segmented which allows the shape of the rig to be adjusted to match the conditions.

eBay not liable for bootlegged content General IP Issues 11/9/2000; 12:02:29 PM 'In a ruling late Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Stuart Pollak in San Francisco County dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Grateful Dead fan who sought to stop sales of illegal concert recordings of the band.... 'In dismissing the suit, Pollak said he based his ruling on the Communications Decency Act, which forbids computer service providers for being punished for the speech of others.