Copyrights Rule
General IP Issues
10/12/2000; 3:58:48 PM

'As the copyright wars rage on in courts across the country – the deCSS case in New York, MP3.com (MPPP) and Napster in California, Cyberpatrol in Massachusetts – some people are beginning to ask a very interesting question: Why do the courts treat laws that regulate copyright so differently from laws that regulate pornography? Or to put it another way, why is it so easy to invoke the power of the state to protect Hollywood, yet so difficult to wield the power of the state to protect kids?...

Spam blacklist battle goes to court
Spam & E-Mail
10/12/2000; 3:54:23 PM

'In a case with a host of free speech and e-commerce-related legal implications, a San Jose judge today is scheduled to consider arguments in a lawsuit involving the conduct of Mail Abuse Prevention System, or MAPS, a widely used Peninsula company set up to help companies screen junk e-mail.

'Under attack from companies that have wound up on its so-called ``Blackhole List'' of junk e-mailers, MAPS filed suit this spring seeking a definitive ruling from a California court that its practices do not violate any laws. The target of the suit was Black Ice Software, a New Hampshire maker of software tool kits that had threatened legal action over being placed on the Blackhole List....

SDMI cracked! Maybe!
Music & MP3
10/12/2000; 3:19:31 PM

'Watch out -- recording industry executives are about to start running for cover. All of the Secure Digital Music Initiative's watermarks -- its much ballyhooed music protection scheme -- have been broken. A spokesperson for SDMI has denied the reports, but according to three off-the-record sources, the results of the Hack SDMI contest are in and not one single watermark resisted attack.'

Full Disclosure
Administrative
10/11/2000; 2:43:08 PM

I've wanted to have the ability to look into the web server log for this site for a while but haven't been able to, because that info is not available through EditThisPage.com. Several people around ETP.com have been using SiteTracker, but I do not want to farm this out to a third party.

Thus, I've tacked something on the end of my pages that will ask for an image from another web site I have possession of and the ability to read the logs of.

When to Make the Link
Free Speech
10/11/2000; 2:27:37 PM

'It's an illustration of potential pitfalls as news organizations direct readers into cyberspace. And it raises the question: If these news organizations have an obligation to stand behind the content of their stories, should they also be responsible for the material on the sites to which they send their readers?'

Well, that depends. When the news announces that there will be a Klu Klux Klan rally at the capitol steps tommorow at 5:30 p.m., are they somehow magically responsible for the rally? Should we prosecute the news outlets under hate crime laws?

Why the world needs reverse engineers
Privacy from Companies
10/10/2000; 2:22:28 PM 'Many of the privacy risks we face today such as the unique computer identification numbers in Microsoft Office documents, the sneaky collection of data by Real Jukebox, or the use of Web bugs and cookies to track users were only discovered by opening up the hood and seeing how things really work. Companies do not publish this kind of information publicly.

Center for Democracy and Tech: Bills Before Congress 106
Misc.
10/10/2000; 1:23:18 PM Update: Hey, the links actually work now! (Sorry, I was using the new WYSIWIG entry controls and they fooled me into thinking the stuff was linked.)

Bills before the 106th Congress, broken out by type:

• Encryption
• Digital Signitures
• Free Speech
• Domain Names
• Privacy
• Junk E-Mail
• Wiretaps and Cyber-Security
• Access
• Bandwidth

It Doesn’t Take Much To Make You Stand Out
Privacy from Companies
10/10/2000; 10:33:33 AM

'“EIGHTY-SEVEN PERCENT of the population of the U.S. can be uniquely identified [only] by their date of birth, gender and five-digit ZIP code,” says Latanya Sweeney, assistant professor of computer science and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Web sites often ask for such seemingly innocuous information and people provide it, thinking that they will remain unknown.'

F.B.I. Calls For Cyber Ethics Education
Misc.
10/10/2000; 10:25:20 AM

'FBI agents are spreading a new gospel to parents and teachers, hoping they'll better educate youths that vandalism in cyberspace can be economically costly and just as criminal as mailbox bashing and graffiti spraying.

'The Justice Department and the Information Technology Association of America, a trade group, has launched the Cybercitizen Partnership to encourage educators and parents to talk to children in ways that equate computer crimes with old-fashioned wrongdoing.'

Ransom: Customer Data
Privacy from Companies
10/10/2000; 9:57:37 AM

'Jules Neuringer never intended to become a martyr. But that was before Motorola tried to co-opt his customers. Now, the man who spent 30 years minding his own business selling two-way radios in Brooklyn, N.Y., finds himself the unofficial spokesman for a small but growing band of independent dealers in a catch-22 nightmare they say was crafted by one of the communications industry's biggest players.