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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 06 Issue 02
Volume 6, Issue 2 Atari Online News, Etc. January 9, 2004
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2004
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0602 01/09/04
~ Next Gen Xbox In Works ~ People Are Talking! ~ eBay Settles Suit!
~ AOL Goes After Spyware ~ MSN: From Free to Fee! ~ MSN Messenger Worm!
~ Powerline Broadband! ~ eBay Raises Some Fees! ~ Man Sues Over Spam!
~ 'Helpful' Hacker Plea! ~ Sony PSP In November? ~ New Office for Mac!
-* PA Porn Law Blocks Too Much? *-
-* RIAA Lawsuits Curb Music Downloads? *-
-* Spam Is Still Flowing Into E-Mail Boxes! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Okay, so now that I know how eskimos feel in the cold, I have a new respect
for them. Somebody please turn on the heat up here in the Northeast! Man,
it's cold up here! Now I know why so many people from New England pack up
and move to Florida! This is winter, with a vengeance. Once the sun goes
down, I wait and dread when one of our dogs starts whining to go out. <g>
It's still fairly quiet out there these days after the holidays. The news
is still picking up a bit, but my mind is still not spinning much these
days with topics to rant about. Maybe I'm having a senior moment or
something; it usually doesn't take much for me to editorialize about one
topic or another these days! There will be something soon enough that will
get a rile out of me, I'm sure. Something to look forward to, I guess.
So, in the meantime, I'm going to grab a cup of hot chocolate, take the dogs
out one last time for the night, and then get bundled up and stay warm.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I was going to talk about the Mars Rover
that touched down this past week and have something interesting and
uplifting to say about it, but my comments this week are going to have a
sad tone, since I've got to relay some sad news. This week, two of us
here at A-ONE have suffered losses.
Our own TJ Andrews, Keeper of the Flame, lost his brother to a short-term
illness earlier this week. And today my grandfather passed away. Now,
normally I don't dwell on issues of this type here within these pages, but
the fact that two of us have lost loved ones gives me pause.
Without intruding upon anyone's privacy, these were two people at pretty
much opposite ends of the age scale... From mid-30's to early 90's in
age. And of course familiarity with computers is tied to their respective
ages. TJ's brother was even an Atari computer user who liked playing games
on his Atari 800 and was Treasurer of the Atari Computer Users of Syracuse
Users Group. My grandfather had trouble grasping the idea of computers as
information-providing devices and exactly how easy it could be to use them.
I didn't know TJ's brother at all, and I've never even met TJ in person.
But we have, nonetheless, been good friends for several years thanks to
email and instant messaging , so I (to borrow a phrase from Bill Clinton)
feel his pain.
My grandfather had been 'slipping' for the past several months and I have
had plenty of time to prepare myself for the unavoidable. Yes, it still
came as a shock and will require a sizable emotional adjustment, but I'll
recover as we all do when we have to.
At least once a month, my grandfather would ask me about how I was able
to chat with relatives on the other side of the country "on the computer".
What does it cost? How do you know they're there? How do you start talking
to them? What do you do when you're done?... questions like that.
He simply couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that there was no toll
charge involved like there is with long distance calls, and that you
really don't need to know anything too technical to make it all work.
Most times, after I'd explained it to him in terms that I thought he
COULD wrap his mind around, he'd just laugh and shake his head as if to
say, "you must be pulling my leg".
After all, in his day, televisions were for watching ball games and the
evening news, the phonograph and radio were for listening to music, and
typewriters were for 'office girls'. You didn't expect to listen to
music on the telephone, write a letter on the radio, or get in touch
with family through your camera. The idea of a multi-purpose device that
could do so many things so well so quickly must have seemed like a
fantasy to him.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not making fun of my grandfather. I'm simply
looking at his situation. When he was a young man, the telephone was the
hot new technology to his family. He was the first guy in town to buy a
television. He'd been building crystal radios for years, so this new
"vacuum tube" technology was cutting-edge to him. It was a 'revolution'.
He was able to appreciate the computer age without actually participating
in it. He seemed to understand that he didn't understand and simply
accepted it as the cost of living a long life. He was comfortable with it.
But I am left to wonder just what miracle machines will be invented and
in common use by the time I start closing in on a century.... and how
well I'll understand what I don't understand.
This is going to be a short column, since there are tons of family
things to do. So let's get to the news, hints, tips, and info from the
UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Carey Christenson asks about an accelerator:
"Does anyone have any information on the F/X BlowUp
card for the Falcon 030?? I just acquired a Falcon
030 with this card in it and wish to see technical
specs on this card. Any web-sites or information on
this card would be greatly appreciated. I also
acquired a 1040 STf with 4 megs of STram soldered in
place and this 1040 STf has a PC Ditto II card
soldered on to a LONG chip in front of the DISK DRIVE.
Any information that someone can provide for this
adapter would be greatly appreciated also. The board
is about 1 inch by 3 inches and has 2 rows of pins the
whole width (3 inch direction) of the board. If
anyone knows what this board is and how I can utilize
its capabilities I would greatly appreciate the
information."
Paul Lefebvre tells Carey:
"Back in 1990 or so I had a pc-ditto II card installed in my 1040STfm. It
was a good hardware PC emulator that used the NEC V30 chip. From what I
recall, it connected directly on top of the 68000 chip. It does require
special software to activate, which I no longer have. There was a lot of
controversy when pc-ditto II was first released as it was too large to fit
in a lot of people's STs. It also was not supposed to require soldering,
but those who were able to get it working almost always had to solder it."
Lonny Pursell tells Paul:
"Happened to follow your web link, and the file downloads seem to be
broken? Tried to download GENEVA_C.ZIP but I get an error 404."
Paul tells Lonny:
"Sorry about that. I recently reorganized the file structure. Until I get
the links fixed, try this:
http://www.logicalvue.com/atari/software/freeware/ "
Paul Lefebvre now asks about replacing the hard drive in his Falcon:
"I want to thank everyone with their help over the last couple months with
my CD-ROM problems. I could never get my AppleCD 300e to work with my
Falcon, but I picked up a Plextor 4Plex Plus on eBay and that worked right
away without any troubles.
My next project is to replace the hard drive in the Falcon with a bigger
model. My Falcon has a lowly 65MB Seagate drive. It works fine, but I
figure it can't hurt to have more.
I picked up an 810MB drive off eBay for $10 but have not had any luck
getting it to work with. It hooks up fine and I can hear it spin up, but
for some reason it renders the floppy drive inoperable so I can't run any
of my hard driver software to see if is recognized. I don't know the make
of the drive as its labels were removed.
Since I'm about to give up on that drive I'm wondering if people could
recommend some drive models that they know work in a Falcon and also
perhaps some places to purchase them. I'm thinking 1 to 2GB ought to be
enough."
'Tim' tells Paul:
"You need an updated Hard Drive Driver to make it work with larger drives. HDDriver, SCSI-Tools are two that work with larger drives. I have used 2GB, 4GB a
nd 8GB laptop drives in mine."
Paul replies:
"I am using CBHD as my hard disk driver, but as I mentioned I cannot even
run it since the floppy drive stops reading disks when the hard drive is
plugged in.
Although I had seen the hard disk driver topic discussed much in the
archives, I have found no reference to the associated floppy drive problem.
I did get the hard drive to be briefly recognized by mucking around with
the jumper switches until the floppy worked but I was unable to partition
it using CBHD or AHDI 6. Now it doesn't even want to spin up, so I'm just
writing it off as a bad drive."
John Garone tells Paul:
"I'm not the resident expert nor do I know if it effects floppy
recognition but I do know that improper termination would effect the system
The last physical drive in the chain must be terminated by a jumper on
the hard drive, passive terminator on the last connector and I've heard
of resistors on the drive."
Derryck Croker adds:
"Paul doesn't say whether this is an IDE or SCSI drive! I guess that this
is an IDE drive and that it's actually faulty. No termination issues with
these, only jumper positions Master, Slave, Cable select that I know of.
For SCSI drives I recommend setting TERMPWR to ON (with a jumper), and then
either using the drive's own termination resistors if it's the only SCSI
device, or removing them and rely on an external terminator on the second
SCSI port on the case (better, as this allows extending the system at a
later date)."
John Oakes asks about networking:
"I am trying to get XP and TT030 to talk to each other. I follow all the
instructions. My card NE2000 show mac as ff.ff.ff.ff.ff on the control
panel via sting setup. I noticed that on the two light only the green
flashes and orange stays off when I connect Ethernet cable this my setup.
TT030=EtherNet=Cable=Hub=Cable=Ethernet=XP
TT030 192.168.255.1
XP 192.168.255.2
Any clues would help."
Mark Bedingfield tells John:
"The ff.ff.ff.ff.ff, if that IS your mac and not an error, is a
broadcast address. This will cause copious problems. I have heard of some
cheap cards that had this address because the manufacturer stuffed up the
firmware. Or, as Kenneth points out the TT may not be able to read the Data
from the card correctly. The green leds are generally Link, and the orange
transmit. What response to you get from a simple ICMP (Ping) test? I don't
suppose you have another ISA Ne2000 to try?"
Djordje Vukovic adds:
"To this might be added that in "192.168.255.1" and "192.168.255.2" the
"255" is not exactly politically correct, though probably is passable
for most software. Probably would have been a better idea to use "0"
or any other number instead.
Are you sure that the cables are OK? I have seen these symptoms
(flashing "link" light) with faulty cables. Did you connect the RJ-45
connectors yourself? Do all the leads in the cable work? Also, I have seen
too many times UTP cables, even made by paid "professionals", which were
not laid out correctly. It is important to know: wires in an UTP cable are
NOT identical (orange, green, blue and brown pairs being twisted with
different pitches, etc.). It is not sufficient just to make a "correct"
pin-to-pin connection using whichever lead from the cable comes
conveniently over a pin on the connector being connected first. Correct
wire colours must be put to appropriate pins- otherwise you will get a
cable which will appear OK when tested with an ohm-meter but may, or may
NOT work on lengths of 2-3 meters and at 0M1bit/s, and most certainly will
not work at longer lengths or 100Mbits./ Also note that a cable for
computer-hub connection is not the same as a cable for direct
computer-computer connection (the latter having orange and green pairs
exchanged on one end)."
Michael Schwingen tells Djordje:
"Assuming a /24 netmask (ie. 255.255.255.0), these are perfectly valid
addresses. What makes you think otherwise?"
Djordje tells Michael:
"I sort of remember reading it in some RFC or another. I do not have the
RFC collection or any tcp/ip manuals handy now to check, that would have to
wait until I got back to work after the holidays (currently being Christmas
around here), but I do have a (rather old) tcp/ip tutorial text originated
at Rutgers University, which -does- say that both "255" and "0" should be
avoided in any of the four octets of a network or host address, because
they are reserved for special use, translatable in human terms roughly as
0 = this/unknown (network) and 255 = all/any (hosts/networks).
However, that not being an official document, I will allow that it may be
in error- but it makes sense to me, as, e.g. class B range is defined as
128.1 to 191.254. and class C range 192.1.1 to 223.254.254. - i.e. "1" and
"254" not "0" and "255". Besides, if, for example, 192.168.1.255 would be
an address mask for a broadcast within the limits of a 192.168.1. (private)
network, AFAIK it is permissible to specify an address mask 192.168.255.255
for a broadcast that would reach as far out as a complete set of
interconnected 192.168. private networks- and then it would not be
possible to differentiate between a broadcast and a 192.168.255 network.
Or maybe it is more for the benefit of human operators than computers
themselves (i.e. avoiding the use of some values in order to make the
addresses and masks more readable?)
It may also be that different implementations of tcp/ip differ in their
treatment of this- and some other items; AFAIK in tcp/ip of DOS/Windows
one does not have much choice in specifying broadcast masks, and on the
other hand. for example, TCPIP of OpenVMS insists on specifying an
explicit broadcast mask when defining each network (off-topic, I also
remember that once it took me a lot of persuasion to convince the DNS in
Windows NT4 to use a current reverse-lookup once for e.g. 192.168.25.128/26
subnet - it insisted on automatically creating 25-168-192-in_addr... etc.
instead of 128-168-192-in_add..r., even though all the subnets and their
masks have been correctly defined in the routing table, and the same zoning
worked perfectly in DNS of OpenVMS TCPIP)."
Mark Bedingfield tells Djordje:
"According to Cisco ( I completed both the Netacad and CCNA this
year), that is fine, as long as the last octet is not Bcast or Network. So
192.168.0.1 to 192.168.255.254 are valid ranges for class C IP's. Cisco
also say that you should never use the first or last subnet. Thought the
RFC say you can. Although this is a different situation:-). Most people use
192.168.0.1-255. But, by your definition this would be invalid too, because
the third octet is 0. It is the first 2 bits of the octet that determines
the Class, http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1918.html seems pretty good as an
explanation."
Michael jumps in again and tells Mark:
""Classes" are obsolete since the introduction of CIDR. All that counts is
the netmask you use on your net - it is perfectly valid to use a 10.*
address with eg. a /24 (255.255.255.0) or /12 (255.240.0.0) netmask, as
long as all your machines are configured the same (which is always required
for IP to work).
When using 10.0.0.0/12 as a net, 10.0.255.255 is a valid, non-broadcast
address - 10.15.255.255 would be the broadcast address in that case. An IP
implementation that confuses 10.0.255.255 in this case with a broadcast
address is simply broken, and will not be able to reliably communicate with
other, conforming implementations, since there are special rules regarding
broadcast packets."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time,
same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony PSP In November?
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Next Generation Xbox!
ApeXtreme PC Game Console!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sony Narrows Date for PSP Launch
Sony has provided a little more detail into the launch schedule of its
much-anticipated PSP handheld gaming device.
The company had previously stated that it plans to launch the device
worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year. However, Chris Deering, the
recently appointed president of Sony Europe, said in an interview with the
company's PlayStation.com Web site that the current schedule calls for a
November launch.
"There's no official date for its unveiling, but it has been announced that
the target date for its global launch is November 2004, so I'm pretty sure
it'll be widely announced plenty of time ahead of that," he was quoted as
saying.
A spokesperson at Sony Computer Entertainment, the subsidiary responsible
for the company's gaming business, downplayed the interview and said that
the official launch date remains the fourth quarter of this year and is no
more precise than that.
But she stopped short of saying that Deering was wrong in identifying
November as the probable launch month.
Few details are currently available about the gaming device, though Sony
did show a design concept during an investor conference in New York in
November 2003.
Earlier in 2003 at the E3 show, where the PSP was first announced, the
company revealed that it will include a 4.5-inch, wide-screen TFT LCD with
a resolution of 480 by 272 pixels, 3D graphics, support for MPEG4 video,
and a USB 2.0 port.
Sony also said that the player will use a new media format called Universal
Media Disc (UMD). The 2.4-inch optical discs will be encased in a cartridge
and will hold up to 1.8GB of data, the company said at the time.
Microsoft at Work on Next Xbox
Microsoft Corp. is hard at work on the next generation of its Xbox video
game console, even as the current version starts to show its full potential
as an entertainment hub, founder and Chairman Bill Gates said on Wednesday.
In an interview ahead of his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas, Gates told Reuters the company would look to extend the
functionality of the Xbox, the only game console to ship with a built-in
hard drive and Ethernet connection.
"We are pushing the boundaries in terms of expanding what people think of
as what the device can do," Gates said.
Last year, Microsoft released a title called "Xbox Music Mixer" that allows
users to download music and photo albums from their PC to the console.
Later this year, Gates said, Microsoft will release a kit for the Xbox that
will extend the functions of its Windows XP Media Center Edition to the
console, turning it into a set-top box that allows the playback of live and
recorded video, music and photos.
"You'll see us keep pushing the boundaries there," Gates said.
Microsoft has lately been active in recruiting staff to work on gaming
hardware, although Gates declined to talk in much detail about the
company's plans for the next generation of the Xbox, which is widely
expected to come in 2005 or 2006.
Market leader Sony Corp., which has dominated the current generation of
consoles with its PlayStation 2, has been similarly circumspect about its
plans for a PS3.
"In terms of the next round, hey it's a new game. We're not showing our
hand and I don't think Sony's showing their hand," Gates said. "We're doing
some very cool work but that's really all we say at this point."
Despite heavy competition, though, Gates said he was pleased with the
market position of the money-losing Xbox, which was released in Nov. 2001
and has battled Nintendo Co. Ltd. for second place in the U.S. market.
"Our goal in this generation was to be one of the leaders, and we feel like
we've accomplished that very well," Gates said.
Apex to Roll Out Game Console
The personal computer has been losing ground to video game consoles for
years. But an alliance of several companies hopes to reverse that trend by
creating a computer that can play PC games on a television as conveniently
as a console.
Ontario, Calif.-based Apex Digital, the No. 1 maker of DVD players for the
U.S. market, is expected to introduce Thursday the ApeXtreme PC game
console, which will play more than 2,000 PC games on a TV set.
The PC has long been hamstrung as a game machine because of its inability
to easily play games on a TV set and slow loading.
The ApeXtreme aims to correct those deficiencies. The machine will debut in
the spring and sell for a $399 suggested retail price, with a version
selling for $299. That makes it far more expensive than the $179 Xbox and
Play-Station 2 consoles. But the console's producers say the machine will
be able to do a lot more things, like playing MP3 music files and
displaying videos and slide shows.
Sony's new PSX, a similar multifunction entertainment box that plays PS 2
games, is selling in Japan for about $800.
The ApeXtreme will include PC components from Taipei, Taiwan, chip maker
Via Technologies as well as software from Digital Interactive Systems, a
Long Beach start-up.
"We believe the timing is right because the technology is there and the
price is there," said Richard Brown, associate vice president of
international marketing at Via Technologies, which provided several chips
for the box and designed much of the hardware.
The personal computer has always been a nice gaming solution at the high
end of the market. But with prices for a game-worthy computer reaching
$2,000 or more, it misses most of the mainstream players.
Apex's console has features that make it less expensive than a standard
PC. It will run a version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system for
consumer applications. Via will provide its low-cost 1.2-gigahertz C3
microprocessor, a chip set and graphics for the machine. Digital
Interactive adds its DISCover "drop and play" software that allows the
machine to immediately begin playing any game that is inserted into the
machine's DVD drive. Gone are the hassles of installing a game on a PC.
Loren Kaiser, vice president of operations at Digital Interactive, said the
DISCover software makes PC gaming more convenient, allowing someone to
eject a game in the middle of playing without crashing the computer.
The PC will still have a tough time beating the consoles, which are selling
in the tens of millions. Consoles like the Xbox are easier to load, rarely
crash, and are designed for viewing on a TV set. But PC makers may be able
to update their hardware every six months.
ABS Computer and Alienware, both makers of PC gaming machines, also are
planning to launch living-room PC gaming machines that use DISCover
software.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Music Downloads Fall After RIAA Lawsuits
The music industry's controversial lawsuits against online song swappers
appear to have forced U.S. computer users to severely curb their free music
downloading habit, according to new research released on Sunday.
The percentage of Americans who downloaded music from the Internet fell to
14 percent over the four weeks ended Dec. 14, from 29 percent in a 30-day
sample conducted in March, April and May, according to a telephone survey
of 1,358 Internet users conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life
Project.
Since September, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has
filed about 400 lawsuits against music downloaders, claiming "egregious"
copyright infringement and seeking up to $150,000 per violation.
About half of the people hit with such lawsuits have settled out of court,
usually for $5,000 or less, while others have mounted fierce legal
challenges to the lawsuits.
The number of downloaders fell to about 18 million people in the winter
period, from 35 million in the spring, the Pew study found.
The steepest drops in usage were found among women, people with some
college education and parents with children living at home. Students and
broadband users also showed large drops in downloading.
In addition, the research showed that the use of peer-to-peer file sharing
programs, which allow users to swap music for free, fell significantly in
November from the year earlier.
The user base of leading platform Kazaa shrank by 15 percent while
Grokster's declined 59 percent, according to comScore Media Metrix, Pew's
data partner for the study.
Just last month, a federal appellate court handed a surprise setback to the
U.S. recording industry, ruling that record labels could no longer demand
via subpoena that Internet service providers release the names of people
who swap music over the Web.
Going forward, the labels must file lawsuits against anonymous "John Doe"
defendants, then get subpoenas from a judge to get their names and
addresses. Meanwhile, the accused get the right to contest the charges
before their identities are revealed.
With free file downloading curbed, comScore said music lovers flocked to
Web sites that provide downloads for a fee of around 99 cents per song.
Among the most popular of the paid services are Napster.com, the formerly
free swapping site that was relaunched by Roxio Inc. in October, and Apple
Computer Inc.'s iTunes.
Spam Is Still Flowing Into E-Mail Boxes
Computer users hoping that a new federal law would help cut the spam
flowing to their in-boxes so far have been disappointed.
Since President Bush signed the new restrictions into law Dec. 16 and they
went into effect Jan. 1, spam-filtering companies and Internet providers
report little change in spam patterns, which have relentlessly marched to
higher levels over the past two years. Estimates vary, but spam accounts
for roughly 60 percent of all e-mail traffic, with costs to fight it
exceeding $10 billion a year.
At California-based Postini Inc., which provides e-mail protection and
filtering for businesses, spam reached a new high last week, accounting for
84.9 percent of the roughly 1 billion pieces of e-mail it handles each
week.
"We're not seeing the hard-core spammers cleaning up their act in any way,"
said Andrew Lochart, Postini's director of product marketing.
At Brightmail Inc., the leading spam-filtering company, the number has held
steady at about 60 percent of the e-mail it handles. Internet account
providers Earthlink and America Online said they also have seen little
measurable change in spam patterns in the past couple of weeks.
The new law is designed to attack the most nefarious spammers and their
techniques for avoiding detection. The law makes it illegal to disguise
the originating Internet address of spam, to use misleading subject lines,
and to electronically "scrape" or copy e-mail addresses from Web sites that
then can be used to send spam or be sold to other marketers.
The law also requires that marketers provide valid ways for consumers to
request to be free of future mailings, and to honor those requests.
Marketers also must place their physical addresses on their e-mails.
As companies, consumers and policymakers have been more aggressive in
trying to combat spam, many bulk e-mailers have moved their operations
overseas to avoid detection and prosecution under U.S. laws. That movement
has accelerated in the past two weeks, said America Online spokesman
Nicholas J. Graham.
Graham said that of the roughly 2.4 billion pieces of spam AOL blocks a
day, there has been a roughly 10 percent shift in their origins to
overseas-based Internet addresses. AOL's spam-fighting group believes this
reflects spammers successfully commandeering unprotected machines and
networks overseas and turning them into spam-delivery engines, Graham said.
America Online also has seen an uptick in spam peddling counterfeit Xanax,
an anti-anxiety drug, and quick-weight-loss gimmicks, which Graham
attributed to the holiday season.
None of the Internet service providers or spam-filtering companies spotted
indications that spammers are complying with even pieces of the law.
The most notorious spam still has no unsubscribe links. If the unsolicited
e-mail does, it is likely to be used by spammers to confirm that they have
hit a valid e-mail address, Lochart said.
This presents consumers with a dilemma. Under the new law, spammers are in
violation only if they disregard the opt-out request, but many anti-spam
groups advise consumers not to click those links if the e-mail appears to
be from an illegitimate business.
Subject lines also increasingly contain garbled characters to try to evade
spam filters, and some simply contain links to Web sites that might contain
pornographic content. The new law requires pornographic material to be
labeled as such.
In an informal survey of incoming e-mail trapped by spam filters, The
Washington Post found one bulk company had included a prominent unsubscribe
link and a physical address on its e-mails pitching men's ties and auto
loans. The e-mails were sent by Optinrealbig.com, a Colorado-based bulk
mailer recently sued by New York state prosecutors for fraud in an
elaborate spam scheme.
The company's owner, Scott Richter, has denied the charges.
The new federal law is controversial, because it supplanted some state laws
that were more restrictive on e-mail marketing. The early returns fuel
critics who have argued that the worst spammers will ignore the new law,
while other firms will send more commercial e-mail as long as it is within
the rules.
But the Internet and spam-filtering providers said it is still too early to
pass judgment on the new law.
Man Sues Firm Over Unsolicited E-Mails
A man from Washington state has accused a western Pennsylvania telemarketer
of sending him hundreds of unsolicited e-mails and has sued the company
under his state's anti-spam law.
In a complaint filed in his home state court last month, Jim Gordon of
Richland, Wash., said he wants Commonwealth Marketing Group Inc. of
Hopwood, Fayette County, to pay him $500 for each piece of spam the company
allegedly sent him. According to Gordon, that adds up to more than $600,000
for more than 1,200 messages.
"My motivation is to get this spam stopped," Gordon told the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette for a story in Sunday editions. "I sent them a letter saying
stop. And they didn't."
Gordon's lawsuit focuses on a Washington law that prohibits the sending of
deceptive or misleading e-mails. Gordon's suit also was filed under two
other Washington laws governing unfair business practices and harassment.
CMG's e-mails were "designed to entice" him to believe he was applying for
a major credit card, such as a VISA or MasterCard, Gordon said. But CMG was
really offering its own products and credit.
In his lawsuit, Gordon also accused CMG of using invalid addresses in
violation of state law. He received messages from 551 different senders,
which he eventually traced to the company, Gordon said.
CMG Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Kane said that his company is the one
being wronged. The lawsuit, and a letter Gordon sent the company demanding
more than $10,000, amount to a scam, Kane said.
"This guy has requested e-mails from us," Kane said. "Our computers are
programmed to identify him. It's a shakedown. It happens all the time. We
probably get one or two of these a week."
Gordon said he sent a letter to CMG in August, saying he had received 27
unsolicited e-mails from the company and demanding a check for $10,800, or
$400 for each message. The letter threatened that Gordon would bump up the
fee up to $500 per e-mail and would contact the Washington attorney general
if he didn't hear from CMG officials in a few weeks.
"If payment has not been received by 5 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2003, I will
conclude that an out-of-court settlement is not possible," the letter said.
Gordon has also demanded money from three other companies that he said
spammed him.
"Its is totally meritless," said Kane, who also denied that the subject
lines of his company's e-mails are deceiving. "There's not a shred of truth
in it."
CMG has been investigated before.
The firm's owner, Frederick F. Zeigler III, pleaded guilty in February in
U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to tax violations and no contest to bank
fraud in connection with a credit card scheme. He is serving a 15-month
federal prison sentence.
Prosecutors said Zeigler claimed personal purchases as business expenses.
Zeigler's company marketed credit cards to low-income people and enticed
them to charge vacation packages the company sold on the cards, prosecutors
said. After doing so, only about $13 in credit remained and the cardholders
found their cards rejected when they tried to use them, prosecutors said.
Pennsylvania Porn Law Blocks Too Much?
A Washington nonprofit group was scheduled on Tuesday to argue against a
Pennsylvania child-pornography law that has unintentionally cordoned off
wide swaths of the Internet for users in and out of the state.
The arguments will be made before a federal judge in Philadelphia.
Among the 600,000 sites blocked are a community recreation center in
Bradford County, Pennsylvania, a tribute to a Paraguayan soccer player,
reviews of opera singer Alice Baker, and a vendor of "family edited" DVDs
that have nudity and other content removed, the Center for Democracy and
Technology said in a court filing.
CDT, the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and
Internet provider Plantagenet Inc. have sued to overturn the law, arguing
that it amounts to an unconstitutional restraint on free speech.
The law allows district attorneys to require Internet providers to block
access to a Web site they believe contains child pornography. State
investigators have filed more than 500 requests since April 2002.
But the blocking orders have rendered inaccessible hundreds of thousands of
other sites that share the same address, CDT said. Out-of-state users are
affected as well because Internet providers such as Time Warner Inc.'s
America Online have no easy way to only restrict access for customers in
the state.
A better approach would be to sue the pornographers directly, CDT said, or
ask the company that hosts the content to remove it.
State investigators said prosecution is expensive and difficult, especially
if the suspect is located overseas. Getting a foreign Web-hosting company
to cooperate can be difficult as well, Acting Attorney General Gerald
Pappert said in a filing.
Internet providers can use a variety of techniques to reduce overblocking,
the attorney general said, such as filtering out specific pages rather than
entire numerical addresses such as 209.25.162.15 that underpin domain names
likewww.example.com.
America Online to Add Spyware Protection
America Online said on Tuesday that in the coming weeks its Internet
services will include a feature that helps users detect and delete
"spyware" that secretly tracks Web surfing habits for marketers, and in the
worst case could lead to identity theft.
The announcement from AOL comes as MSN, Microsoft Corp.'s online division,
rolls out a similar security feature to current users and follows by
several months the launch of spyware-blocking capabilities from rival
EarthLink Inc.
AOL, the online unit of New York-based Time Warner Inc. which has been
fighting to curb customer defections, is using anti-spyware technology from
Aluria Software. The new security feature will be available when the
company releases a big upgrade to AOL 9.0 in the next few weeks, company
spokesman Andrew Weinstein told Reuters. EarthLink, in partnership with
Webroot Software, has had the services since October, spokesman Jerry
Grasso said.
MSN this week is expanding the availability of its anti-spyware offering to
new users. That technology is provided by Network Associates Inc.'s McAfee
consumer security division, a Microsoft spokesman
said.
Internet service providers say spyware is the largest undiagnosed problem
on the Web, akin to spam in magnitude.
A study last year by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 91
percent of broadband users have spyware or adware on their home computers,
and that in most cases it surreptitiously found its way there via music or
file-sharing programs.
Spyware programs have rapidly spread as companies look for ways to gather
personal information to use in targeted marketing and advertising campaigns
that help boost sales.
While many spyware programs do not pose great security risks, newer
keystroke logging programs track what Web users type while they're logged
on and can tease out such sensitive information as social security numbers,
e-mail addresses, financial account numbers and passwords.
Broadband Over Power Lines Hits a Snag
If some radio operators have their way, broadband Internet access may never
travel over power lines. Ham radio operators and at least one U.S. federal
agency contend that the emerging technology interferes with their radio
signals.
The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), a national ham radio association,
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are among the organizations
that have raised concerns with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
over possible short-wave radio interference caused by broadband over power
lines, often called BPL.
Companies experimenting with BPL, which uses traditional power lines to
transmit data over the Internet, have promoted it as an
inexpensive-to-deploy alternative to cable-modem or DSL services.
Some BPL supporters champion it as a way for broadband to reach rural and
other areas with limited broadband service because of the near ubiquity of
power lines.
The two sides are miles apart on the interference issue, which the FCC is
examining in a request for public comments that has been ongoing since last
April. The ham radio association says it has found radio interference in
every place it has tested short-wave BPL systems, while representatives of
the BPL industry say they can't find interference caused by their systems.
The FCC's rules already prohibit unlicensed electronic devices, including
BPL transmitters, from interfering with licensed devices, such as ham
radios. If the FCC were to find interference and enforce its existing
rules, most of the BPL industry could be shut down. "If the commission were
to follow its rules, that would be the practical effect," says Dave Sumner,
chief executive officer of ARRL. "If the commission decides that BPL cannot
operate in this country, that'd be fine with us."
Most BPL vendors use devices called repeaters to amplify and clean up the
data signal carried on power lines, and those devices, as well as BPL
modems, emit frequencies in the same range as radios used by ham radio
operators and some emergency responders, according to the ARRL. Some BPL
vendors are experimenting with devices that use microwave signals, and the
ARRL says those devices would not interfere with ham radios.
But Current Technologies, which offers BPL service in the Cincinnati and
Rockville, Maryland, areas, can't find interference caused by its system,
says Jay Birnbaum, the company's vice president and general counsel.
Current Technologies uses a technology standard called HomePlug, designed
to not interfere with other radio signals.
"[Interference] just doesn't exist," Birnbaum says. "They based a lot of
their assumptions on outdated noise flow analysis."
Birnbaum accuses the ARRL of being overprotective of its turf. "The
decision-maker here is not the ham radio community--the decision-maker is
the FCC," he says. "It's been [ARRL's] policy to oppose any new technology
that causes emissions, whether they be harmful or not." ARRL does maintain
a Web page listing nine technologies it calls "threats to our amateur
bands."
It doesn't make sense for BPL companies like Current Technologies to move
forward with their business plans and financing if they're causing
interference, because the FCC could immediately shut them down if they did,
Birnbaum adds. Any interference the ARRL is measuring might be coming from
other licensed radio devices, he says.
"If it turns out I'm trying to make a device or sell a device that would
cause interference anytime it's used, it kind of belies logic that I could
raise money to do that," Birnbaum says.
The ARRL has posted a video on its Web site showing interference in four
BPL test areas, including Current Technologies' Maryland location. "For
them to say that [they don't cause interference] shows they don't know what
they're talking about," Sumner says of Current's position. "It's a classic
case of denial. We'd be glad to go down and show them the interference
we've observed on their system."
If the FCC were to enforce its existing rules against interference, ARRL
would be happy, Sumner says. ARRL became concerned that the FCC would relax
its interference rules when commissioners praised BPL during a commission
meeting in April, he says. FCC Chairman Michael Powell called BPL a
"monumental breakthrough in technology."
"The benefits don't outweigh the negative consequences," Sumner says.
"You're taking a part of the radio spectrum that's unique - it's the only
part of the radio spectrum that supports communications long distance
without infrastructure."
The FCC has received about 5000 comments on BPL, and a possible next step
would be to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking later this year, if the
commission determines new rules are needed for BPL, an FCC spokesperson
says. In December, the Federal Emergency Management Agency filed comments
saying BPL could "severely impair FEMA's mission-essential HF radio
operations."
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the U.S.
Department of Commerce is conducting its own study, and phase one is due
out in the first half of 2004. The agency is attempting to address the
balance between accommodation of BPL and protection of vital federal and
private services, according to an agency spokesperson.
The FEMA objections simply repeat the concerns of the ARRL, says Brett
Kilbourne, director of regulatory services and associate counsel at the
United PowerLine Council. The FCC should allow BPL to continue operating
after it's finished researching the issue, he says.
"Our experience in the field contradicts what [the ARRL is] alleging,"
Kilbourne says. "We're entirely satisfied that there won't be any
interference."
New Worm Strikes MSN Messenger
A new worm targeting users of Microsoft's MSN Messenger software has
squirmed through the instant messaging application.
The Jitux.A worm comes in the form of an instant message inviting users to
click on a URL. By clicking on the URL, users download the jituxramon.exe
file, which then becomes resident in their computer's memory and sends new
messages containing the link every five minutes to all contacts stored in
MSN Messenger.
Jitux.A has no other apparent destructive effects, nor does it cause
changes to the system configuration, according to Panda Software. Panda was
among the first to detect the worm, which began spreading rapidly on
Friday, largely in Portugal, Spain, and Mexico.
The malicious code is compiled in Visual Basic and runs on Windows 95, 98,
ME, NT, 2000, and XP operating systems.
Several antivirus vendors, including Network Associates and Symantec,
updated their products and recommend users update their antivirus software
and scan for the virus.
Jitux.A isn't the first worm to wiggle into popular instant messaging
networks, particularly MSN Messenger. More than 60 IM vulnerabilities have
been published, according to security researchers from Symantec. They range
from security holes that could be used to crash IM clients in denial of
service attacks to those that allow attackers to install and run malicious
code remotely on computers running the vulnerable IM clients.
Trojan Poses as Windows XP Update
Security companies are warning Internet users about a new Trojan horse
program spreading via spam e-mail and masquerading as a Windows XP software
update from Microsoft.
The program, known as "Xombe" or "Dloader-L," arrives as an executable
attachment in spam e-mail messages purporting to come from
windowsupdate@microsoft.com and installs itself on victim's computers when
users open the attachment.
Once installed, Xombe connects to a Web site, then downloads and installs
another program, called Mssvc-A, which is a Trojan horse program that
conscripts victim computers in distributed denial of service attacks
against Web pages, according to antivirus company Sophos.
Xombe is considered a low risk by most antivirus companies, including
Sophos, Computer Associates International, and Symantec. The program is not
a worm or virus and cannot make copies of itself. Instead, it is
distributed using spam e-mail messages.
Those messages read, in part, "Window [sic] Update has determined that you
are running a beta version of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP1). To help
improve the stability of your computer, Microsoft recommends that you
remove the beta version of Windows XP SP1."
Recipients are told to "run the file winxp_sp1.exe in attach [sic] and make
sure to restart your PC after installation," according to CA, Sophos, and
others.
Sophos says it has received several reports of the Xombe Trojan program
from customers.
Antivirus companies are offering updated virus definitions to spot Xombe
and are providing instructions on removing Trojan programs from infected
computers.
Microsoft frequently distributes security bulletins using e-mail, but never
includes software updates as attachments, according to the company's Web
site.
Most Microsoft software updates are made available through the Windows
Update, Microsoft Office Update, or the Microsoft Download Center, the
company says.
Microsoft Unveils New Version of Office for Mac
Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday that it would start selling a new version
of its Office e-mail, document, spreadsheet and presentation software suite
for Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh personal computer during the first half
of 2004.
Microsoft, which dominates the PC industry with its Windows operating
system software but also develops applications for the Macintosh, unveiled
Office 2004 for Mac at MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.
Among the new features in the latest Mac version of Office are a project
manager that allows users to track e-mails, documents, contacts and
meetings related to a project and also take notes within Word, the
document program.
Microsoft has promised to continue development of Office for Mac, which
counts 7 million users, although the world's largest software maker has
already said it will phase out another Mac program that it makes, Internet
Explorer for the Mac. Apple is working on its own Web browser, called
Safari.
The software will cost the same as Mac v. X, the current version of Office
for Macintosh computers, at a retail price of $360, or $140 for academic
buyers.
Buyers of Office v. X for Mac will be able to upgrade to Office 2004 for
free, Microsoft said.
The Professional version of Office 2004 for Mac, which is marketed toward
businesses, will also include Virtual PC for Mac Version 7, the latest
version of the software that allows users to run Windows and Windows
programs on a Macintosh.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it will launch the latest version
of Virtual PC during the first half of 2004 as well.
Web Auctioneer eBay to Raise Listing Fees
Online auctioneer eBay Inc. on Monday said it will soon raise the fee it
charges to list the most expensive items on its site by 45 percent as part
of its first such fee increases since 2001.
The fee hike, which was accompanied by a pledge to credit sellers for
listing fees when initial winning bidders fail to pay, underscores eBay's
powerful position in online auctions, one analyst said.
"Prices are something that we constantly evaluate. It came time to do it,"
eBay spokesman Hani Durzy told Reuters.
Past fee increases have not disrupted the upward trend of gross merchandise
sales, or the total value of goods sold at eBay, he said.
San Jose, California-based eBay on Monday unveiled the new fee schedule for
its main auction site and its specialty site, eBay Motors. The changes,
which include a price cut on promotional placement, will go into effect in
the coming weeks.
Listing fees, which eBay calls insertion fees, on Feb. 2 will go up 17
percent for items with starting prices of $1 to $9.99. Fees for items
priced at $10 to $499.99 will rise 9.1 percent. Items priced at $500 and
up will carry a fee of $4.80, a 45 percent increase from the current
listing fee of $3.30.
Meanwhile, the fee for listing the cheapest items - those priced between
a penny and 99 cents - will remain 30 cents.
Insertion fees for motorcycles on eBay Motors will be raised to $30 from
$25. Transaction services fees for motorcycles also will increase to $30
from $25.
The 10-day listing fee on eBay.com and eBay Motors Parts 5.
Ebay's Durzy said he expected a mixed reaction from sellers. "Some are
going to be more pleased about it than others. It's probably a little too
early to tell," he said.
But the new pricing came as no surprise to U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
analyst Safa Rashtchy.
"It's a positive indication that they can do it. ...that they can absorb
any shock from it," Rashtchy said.
On other fronts, users of eBay's Seller's Assistant Pro software which
helps bulk sellers manage their listings, will see monthly subscription
fees rise to $24.99 from $15.99.
Also starting on Feb. 2, eBay will issue fee credits when sellers relist
and successfully sell items after an earlier sale failed to close because
the winning bidder did not pay.
The company also is cutting the cost to have items added to a rotation of
featured listings that appear at the bottom right side of the eBay.com
home page.
On Jan. 31 eBay will cut that fee permanently to the current promotional
fee of $39.95 for a single item, compared with the prior fee of $99.95. The
fee for multiple items, which had been $199.95, will be cut to match the
current promotional price of $79.95.
A full listing of changes to U.S. fees is available at
www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml. Some international eBay sites also have
changed their fee structures, eBay said.
MSN: From Free to Fee
Microsoft took the wraps off its new MSN portal, which offers features that
are intended to appeal to broadband users who want additional services. The
Web portal business is heating up as firms try to build their subscription
lists.
The MSN service is designed for users who have a high-speed service from a
provider, in many cases one of Microsoft's partners, such as Comcast
or Verizon.
MSN Premium, priced at US$9.95 a month, offers virus protection, a pop-up
filter, parental controls, e-mail support, and other services. MSN Plus is
a scaled down version at $5.95 monthly. Much of the content on MSN's pages
will remain free for now.
Under the old dial-up model, MSN's content was merely the add-on to the
service people really wanted: a way to surf the Internet. The new Web
portal unveiled Thursday focuses on offering services - sans the Internet
connection - that people actually will pay for.
Yahoo started the ball rolling when CEO Terry Semel transformed the portal
by packaging features into essentially a basket of value propositions that
have bucked the stigma of having to be free. AOL is expected to follow the
trend.
"Is there room for more than those firms?" IDC analyst Jonathan Gaw asked,
referring to MSN, Yahoo and AOL. "No, they can build out their services
much more efficiently than anyone else can," he told NewsFactor. Other
firms - like NetZero or EarthLink - do not have the massive numbers of
subscribers needed to spread the costs of development.
Even then, making money on the Internet is a lot harder than it looks, as
Microsoft can attest. The company says its MSN unit brought in more cash
than it expended for the first time ever in the third quarter of 2003. Not
many companies have the capital to sit and wait for a property to bloom.
Like Yahoo's transformation, MSN's Premium service is a way to shift users
from free services to fee-based ones. But this is just an early step. "The
portal services - like security, e-mail, communications and content - are
things we've been fairly familiar with over the years," Gaw remarked. "But
as people use the Internet and networking more intensively, these things
are only going to expand."
One new service could be the management of home audio and video players.
"As networking technologies become more pervasive - going from the desktop
into consumer electronics," added Gaw, "you'll see Yahoo, MSN and AOL going
right along with them."
Ebay Settles Patent Suit With Tumbleweed
Online auction giant eBay Inc. has settled a lawsuit alleging its online
payment service had been violating a patent governing the personalized
e-mail links sent to customers.
The settlement includes a cross-licensing agreement between San Jose-based
eBay and Redwood City-based Tumbleweed Communications Corp., which filed
the suit against PayPal in May 2002. Tumbleweed later expanded the suit to
include eBay after the auction service acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion.
EBay has repeatedly denied Tumbleweed's allegations.
Neither eBay nor Tumbleweed disclosed the financial terms of their
licensing agreement. Tumbleweed had alleged PayPal violated its patents for
sending personalized links through e-mail. PayPal uses the links to alert
customers about a financial transaction.
Tumbleweed, a tiny software company with less than $50 million in annual
revenue, previously has used the same patent claim to obtain licensing
agreements with several other companies, including Hallmark and American
Greetings.
"We are pleased to put our differences behind us," said Jeff Smith,
Tumbleweed's chief executive officer.
Ebay said it plans to work with Tumbleweed on ways to improve e-mail
security.
'Helpful' Hacker Readies Guilty Plea
Adrian Lamo, the hacker who made a name for himself by breaching the
security of large companies and then offering to help them fix the
vulnerabilities he found for free, is expected to enter a guilty plea on a
federal hacking charge later this week.
Lamo told InformationWeek during a telephone interview that he was flying
from his California residence this week for a court appearance in New York,
where he would plead to a single federal hacking charge. Lamo didn't
discuss the details of his plea or the charge for which he expects to
plead, other than to say, "I believe it's the right thing to do."
"I always said that I was aware that my actions have consequences and that
I wouldn't deny the consequences of my actions," he said late Monday.
Sean Hecker, Lamo's federal public defender, confirmed Tuesday that Lamo
is scheduled for a hearing Thursday but wouldn't provide details other to
confirm that a "potential guilty plea" will be discussed.
If a plea is entered, the next step would be a sentencing hearing, which
should occur in about three months, Hecker said.
A federal compliant was filed in August in the Southern District of New
York as a result of Lamo's alleged hack into the private network of The
New York Times in February 2002. The complaint alleges that Lamo's access
caused $25,000 in damages as a result of his adding his name to the paper's
Op-Ed database. The complaint also alleges Lamo racked up $300,000 in
LexisNexis fees as a result of his searching for news stories containing,
among other things, his name.
The federal complaint also lists a string of other intrusions allegedly
conducted by Lamo - who, in each case, after breaching the security of the
company, offered to help the company fix the flaws. After the security
holes were plugged, Lamo then would make the breach public through the
media.
The companies Lamo allegedly breached with his hack-and-tell style include
Excite@Home, Yahoo, Microsoft, MCI-WorldCom, and SBC Ameritech. Some of the
companies Lamo allegedly hacked, including WorldCom, thanked him for
finding and helping to fix the security holes he uncovered.
In early September, Lamo was released into the custody of his parents on a
$250,000 bond that they secured. Lamo says he's attending college with a
focus on journalism and is seeking employment.
=~=~=~=
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