L-Bomb
Humor/Amusing
5/2/2000; 5:55:09 PM Feb 8, 2000: The Curmudgeon suggests what I can only describe as a license bomb. Je l'aime!

Resume Theft
Privacy from Companies
5/2/2000; 5:53:53 PM Feb. 8, 2000: From MetaFilter, on Feb. 7th: "Personal rant time: I wrote my own resume a while ago, and have been building onto it for a couple years now. To me, it is copyrighted material, just as anything else I write. So why is it showing up in all sorts of resume databases? I'm getting calls from recruiters saying they got it from Aquent, Passport Access, and various other resume sites. These sites seem to be sucking down resumes, putting them on their site, and making money off them. I can't see my own resume, since I haven't paid to look at it. I find PassportAccess to be especially annoying: they offer an opt-out page. What the hell? Why should I even have to do this? It's my resume, not theirs!"

New KGB Takes Internet by SORM
Country Watch: Russia
5/2/2000; 5:50:22 PM Feb. 6, 2000: More demonstration that a government can certainly take a good shot at regulating the Internet: New KGB Takes Internet by SORM. The regulation requires all ISPs to install a little "black box" rerouting device, and to build a high-speed communications line, which would hot-wire the provider -- and necessarily, all Internet users -- to FSB headquarters.

Somehow, it does not seem entirely impossible that the US will at least try something like this sooner or later...

uTOK
Boundary Breakers
5/2/2000; 5:44:22 PM uTOK is a web annotation service.

Third Voice
Boundary Breakers
5/2/2000; 5:42:47 PM Third Voice is a famous 'web annotation' service.

Another Legal Defeat for Victim of Online Hoax Free Speech5/2/2000; 5:40:32 PM Feb 4, 2000: "Some legal experts hailed Zeran v. AOL as a decision that gave a boost to free speech online by eliminating the liability of Internet service providers for the third-party information they host, and thus less likely to monitor and censor that information. The case is studied in cyberlaw seminars in law schools around the country."Zeran added that his latest case against KRXO was an attempt to raise journalistic standards in the Internet age. He asked: "If you went to an e-mail screen and saw an e-mail from someone you didn't know -- an anonymous e-mail -- and the content was provocative and incendiary and pointed toward a particular person, would you publish that information in a newspaper? That's the essence of this case."The legal experts are right. Unfortunately, Zeran's case falls through the cracks.

Thumbs Down on Net Wiretaps
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
5/2/2000; 5:27:14 PM Feb 3, 2000: It took four months, a grim debate, and thousands of mailing list messages, but the group that sets Internet standards has decided not to support wiretapping. Gee, that inspires confidence for the next time this issue comes up...

Hackers' New Tack on Kid Porn
Hacking & Cracking
5/2/2000; 5:24:47 PM Feb. 3, 2000: More proof the Internet isn't too large to control: Suppose governments enlist their own population to control others? Hackers' New Tack on Kid Porn talks about a noble goal, but the general idea could be used against any socially unacceptable behavior... such as RAMPANT DVD PIRACY.... ahhhh, I mean... possessing a player capable of playing DVDs on Linux.

What Is A Web Page?
Essays
5/2/2000; 5:20:50 PM Feb 3, 2000: Everybody knows what a web page is, right? You enter a URL into a browser, you wait a few moments, and if everything goes smoothly, out pops a 'web page', right? So what's the question?

In 1998, I would have totally agreed with this assessment of the matter, and thought someone who was worried about it a little bit crazy. Time has forced me to change my opinion.

Down Under Smut Goes Up Over
Country Watch: Australia
5/2/2000; 5:16:18 PM Feb 2, 2000: An Australian site ordered to remove it's content relocates to the US.

"Technically, they have complied with the take-down notice we issued," ABA special projects manager Stephen Nugent said.