Web Enters Privacy 'Safe Harbor'
Privacy from Companies
11/2/2000; 2:48:14 PM 'A kind of data-privacy wall has popped up on the Web, and like the world's better-known walls, it is geographical in nature.

'Safe Harbor, an international privacy agreement approved earlier this year, took effect Wednesday and marked the line between acceptable privacy practices in Europe and the United States.

'The program, the result of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission, governs the transatlantic flow of data -- both online and off. The agreement set up a framework for certifying companies collecting data under privacy protection standards that satisfy the stricter standards of the European directive.'

The Incredible Shrinking Internet
Misc.
11/2/2000; 2:24:45 PM

'The really scary scenario for advocates of open access to broadband is that cable companies have the power not just to slow info, but to block it completely. If Time Warner should hook up with a big search engine, posits Rosen, the company could close the gate to others.

'Already some search engines are accepting money to rank paying companies higher than others, so a query about running shoes will result in a list of products from the advertiser. For regular consumers, it's not always apparent which search engines have paid placement and which don't. Now, with the rise of cable monopolies, search engines may be forced to bring up the names of businesses the broadband providers have arrangements with. "As it is," Rosen adds, "pure search engines like Google are getting rarer."

Red Herring Trend #8 - Government
General IP Issues
11/1/2000; 1:28:43 PM

'The Net was first run by academics and engineers. Then it was ruled by the commercial sector. Now, it's increasingly being regulated by national governments. The next iteration: it will be governed by international accords. That could mean a slowing down of the Internet's incorporation of radical innovation, a shift that will affect companies aiming to overthrow today's Internet with new applications and technologies....

Red Herring Trend #2 - IP
General IP Issues
11/1/2000; 1:00:11 PM

'In the year 2001 the debate over intellectual property and what constitutes fair use will intensify. Copyright owners on many levels -- from artists to multinational corporations -- will continue to aggressively protect their intellectual property by suing pirates, while consumers will find swapping illegal files so easy as to be irresistible.

'The programmers creating these file-swapping programs have no qualms about what they're unleashing. British programmer Ian Clarke deliberately designed his file-swapping program FreeNet to attack the whole notion of defensible intellectual property. FreeNet offers complete anonymity for its users, has no centralized control, and no way even to determine where files are being stored in the system (see chart Music To Your Ears).'

Clinton, GOP Compromise On Net Filtering
Free Speech
11/1/2000; 12:52:35 PM

'Although the government spending bill carrying a clause requiring Internet filtering on school and library computers that are federally funded is wrapped up in partisan melees, the White House and Republican lawmakers appear to have reached common ground on the filtering question.'

Turns out the Administration's objections centered on exactly which Federal dollars are to be spent on software to prevent children from seeing Bad Things. They're also apparently concerned about the use of the word "filter" and "block"... I guess the software will somehow filter and block the Bad Things without actually 'filtering' or 'blocking' them.

People Won't Pay For Privacy
Privacy from Companies
11/1/2000; 12:45:57 PM 'Zero Knowledge Systems seems to have finally realized a harsh truth: Internet users don't like to pay extra to protect their privacy.

'The Montreal-based firm won acclaim for its sophisticated identity-cloaking techniques, but very few people appear to have paid the $49.95 a year to cloak their online activities from prying eyes.'

Americans talk the talk, but they won't walk the walk of caring about privacy.  Almost by definition, nobody will care until it's too late...

BMG-Napster Deal Details
Music & MP3
11/1/2000; 12:31:56 PM

OK, so we're getting some more details on the BMG-Napster deal...

'The settlement calls for Bertelsmann's e-commerce group (BECG) to develop a paid membership service that would be separate from Napster's free 38 million member-strong free online swapping service. Presumably, Napster users will be able to purchase titles from Bertelsmann Music Group's (BMG's) entire catalog of music, while also being allowed to freely swap other titles on another area of the Web site. However, no date was announced for the new service, strongly suggesting that many details remain unanswered about this radically new business model....

Suit Turns the Tables on Patent Critic
Patents
11/1/2000; 9:59:30 AM

'An outspoken critic of the patent system, Aharonian regularly blasts software patents that he views as overly broad. One such patent holder has struck back.

'TechSearch -- a Chicago-based company that obtains ownership of patents and then seeks to enforce them -- filed a patent infringement suit against Aharonian in July. The company claims he is infringing its so-called "remote query communication system" patent, which covers a method for compressing and decompressing data transmitted from a server to an end user.

The Healthiest Addiction
Personal Commentary
10/31/2000; 3:34:41 PM

I've been reading Expanded Universe by Robert Heinlein, notable mostly for the commentary he includes between the stories that talk about when and why they were written.  I was reading a passage that has lept out at me before, but this time I wanted to take the time to share it. He's talking about a time early in his career. I'm chopping a lot out to conform with fair use, please read the book (on page 92) to see the full quote.

Government Property
Patents
10/31/2000; 2:41:56 PM 'Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington devoted the Oct. 14 Republican radio address to a question that has been strangely absent from the current presidential campaign – how best to keep innovation alive in the technology sector. Most of the senator's address was devoted to defending his home-state innovator, Microsoft (MSFT) . But in the course of his defense of the software giant, Gorton articulated a principle that is far more fundamental – and absolutely correct.