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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 05 Issue 42
Volume 5, Issue 42 Atari Online News, Etc. October 17, 2003
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2003
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 #0542 10/17/03
~ Lawmakers Hammer Spam! ~ People Are Talking! ~ AOL's No Frills!
~ New Version of Mozilla ~ Atari & Chicago Cubs? ~ Cooling Off Spam!
~ Video Games Aid Phobias ~ SJC Revisits Porn Laws ~ MSN Adds Security!
~ Web Tax Ban Is Renewed ~ Most Want No-Spam List ~ Forget Passwords?
-* i-Tunes For Windows Unveiled *-
-* Time Warner Is An AOL Name-Dropper! *-
-* Four More Critical Windows Flaws Are Found *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Forgive me if I'm not in the greatest of moods this week. Although I'm been
a New Englander for all of my life, I don't consider myself a Boston Red Sox
fan (Game 7 is less than an hour away from starting as I write this). When
I was younger - yes, I loved the Sox. These days, I like them as a fair
weather fan, and when they're up against the Yankees! But that's not the
source of my sadness. Like many baseball fans, I'm in a state of mourning.
Alas, those hapless Chicago Cubs lose another chance at baseball's most
holiest of grails! Forget about that fan who tried to catch a foul ball in
the stands that may have been caught for an out! That's just another piece
of baseball's ongoing urban legends to be used as an excuse as to why the
Cubs fail to move on, again. This all reminds me of being an Atari user!
We all know the failings of Atari. They coulda been a contender! They had
it all, but just couldn't pull it off in the late innings. Even when they
had their opponents down early, three games to one, they let the big prize
slip away. The fans - with all of their unwavering support - couldn't help
them make it. It happens. It will go down in history as just another one
that got away. The fans will remain, but the players will change. And so
it goes. Wait until next year...
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone, and again
it's time to take a look at what's going on in the UseNet. It's kinda
slim pickins this week, but there're still a few tidbits to feast upon.
If you've read this column more than once or twice, you know that one of
my pet peeves is the low quality of personnel on local news programs
these days. Well, they struck again.
Last night, after a freak storm, the 'reporter on the scene' pointed out
a fallen tree which must have been a hundred years old at the minimum
and referred to it as "humongus".
Now, I use slang just about as often as anyone else, but there are times
when it should be kept to a minimum and some standards need to be
applied.
I just wish that someone would tell the television stations that when
the government said "Hire the handicapped", they meant PHYSICALLY!!
Well, let's get to the news, hints, tips, and info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
David Leaver posts a problem with his removable drive:
"At any time during a read or write to the FD10, disk operations can
freeze. The TT has not crashed. Any program already running is
accessible, but no disk operation is possible. The freeze will last
a predictable amount on time, a few seconds less than two minutes,
after which the read or write resumes as if nothing had happened.
Nothing appears to be wrong with the completed read or write."
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, asks David:
"Did you switch the Fast ACSI option on? This does not work with some
drives (also refer to the manual) and may result in the problems you
have observed. Try to switch it off.
Besides note that the ACSI bus of many TTs is not working properly. But
with these TTs you usually get a loss of data with fast drives connected
to the ACSI bus. In your case it seems to be something different."
David tells Uwe:
"Uwe, thanks for the response. I should have mentioned that I have Fast
ASCI switched off, but having it switched on makes no difference. (The
FD-10 could not be considered fast - it uses a 10 mb 5.25" floppy
medium.)
I had never experienced this behaviour before creating the FAT32
partitions on the Quantum. However, since I posted my message, I have
tried booting with the Quantum switched off, and with the
"#_DPP -f2 -F32 -S2 J:" line deleted from MAGX.INF, and the FD-10
still freezes in the same way. There may be no connection with The
Quantum."
Uwe replies:
"Whatever it is, it cannot be directly related to the partition type. On
the level where the drive is accessed partition types are not relevant. If
possible, try using a shorter cable."
David tells Uwe:
"Unfortunately the ASCI input cable is a fixture in the drive, but it's
only about 50cm - it could not be much shorter."
Julian Wolfe asks about EtherNEC on his new C-Lab Falcon:
"Hoping someone can help me out here...I've recently purchased a C-Lab
Falcon MKX to replace my Mega/STE as my main machine. I just moved
all my software over, and am starting on the STinG/EtherNEC
installation. After installing the EtherNEC, I've found that even
though I can see the MAC address through STinG, the card will not
communicate with anything...Doing a PING yields no yellow lights. I
purchased the EtherNEC fully assembled with card from Lyndon Amsdon.
Here's my STinG setup:
Path - C:\STING
ENEC3.STX
RESOLVE.STX
TCP.STX
UDP.STX
ROUTE.TAB:
192.168.254.8 0.0.0.0 EtherNet 0.0.0.0
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 EtherNet 192.168.254.254
Mind you, save for ENEC3.STX in place of ENEC.STX, this setup is
identical to that on my Mega/STE, which works 100%
I tested this under MagiC 6.20 and plain TOS 4.0, and neither makes
any difference.
The setup on my C-Lab Falcon MKX:
MagiC 6.20, NVDI 5.03, 14MB RAM, ScreenBlaster II
The setup on my Mega/STE:
MagiC 6.20, NVDI 5.03, 4MB RAM
This problem seems uncannily similar to the EtherNEC problems TT
owners seem to be discussing here on C.S.A.S.
Note: This is one EtherNEC that I've been moving from machine to
machine, so I know it works."
Wolfgang Hiestand tells Julian:
"I managed to get a setup EtherNEC/STinG running on my falcon under TOS
as well as MAGIC.
While testing, I identified problems with certain network cards.
The only stable setup for me was with a RealTek 8019 chip network card.
What card are you using?"
Kenneth Medin adds:
"You might want to try ENEC.STX to check if it works better than ENEC3.STX
Also the physical order of .STX files in the STING folder is of some
importance. On my system (TT with Magic)) ENEC.STX has to be the last
.STX module."
Mark DUckworth adds:
"Bear in mind I have never been able to get Ethernec working under STiNG
using Thomas Redelberger's drivers. My solution was to use ozk's mintnet
drivers at http://assemsoft.atari.org in combination with either MiNTNet
under MiNT or Magxnet under MagiC. This of course poses a problem if
you're a singletos/geneva/other system kind of guy. However from your
post it would appear you are a MagiC guy. Magxnet is highly recommended
by me, better internal latency, better throughput, even through the
gluestik arbitration layer. It just doesn't have the pretty config utils.
But I only had to place a few files in the right places and setup I think
3 lines of one file and 1 of another. Not complicated.
Alas, perhaps *someone* will be able to assist you with the STiNG setup.
I dropped that stack Of course the STiNG drivers might work better on
a non-falcon machine, but that wasn't a consideration of mine - I have a
falcon. Incredibly even after getting a CT60 everything still worked with
minimal changes - a credit to ozk and Lyndon's design. However if you get
a CT60 I would recommend an older version of ozk's driver which I can send."
Alexander Deuscher asks Mark:
"Are there problems with the current version of ozk's driver? I've just
ordered an EtherNEC for my CT60, thus have not made any experience with
this setup..."
Mark tells Alexander:
"No problems, just 0.0.14 or 0.1.14 or something .14, whatever I have is
faster for evl and I. With the latest driver I pull maybe 350K/sec, with
the 0.14 I pull 420+K/sec."
Julian tells everyone:
"I'm glad to say I've got the problems worked out, but it involved loading
MiNT on my system, which I needed to do anyway.
Thanks for all your help, everyone!"
Raoul Teulings asks about using NEON on a Falcon030:
"Does anyone have experience with working on a
Falcon with the programme NEON? I am thinking
about using it on my Falcon but first one to
know what has to be done before doing that. I
know that you need a FPU. Is that still true or
are there any nonFPU versions of NEON? And i've
read something about that it is better not to
have a coprocessor in the Falcon. Or am i
mixing things up now and is it that you better
not have a FPU installed and do require the
coprocessor...
And if in the case that i need a FPU; where can
i obtain one from?"
Robert Schaffner tells Raoul:
"Neon needs a 68882 FPU and the Neon dongle on Falcon LAN port..
The 'no coprocessor' thing... It's not a mistake but it's only a feature.
Not really needed for other software like games, word process and some
else.
If you had an stock falcon a cheap 68882/16 is enough.
For an accelerated falcon you need a expensive 68882/32/..50
Try to ask you local computer chip distributor."
Matthias Alles tells Robert and Raoul:
"A 68881 works too. I used Neon with this one for some years, but now I
have a 68882. Perhaps you want to have my 68881?"
Janez Valant adds:
"Just note: later versions of Neon don't require a dongle. I bought mine at
Neuss show, and only got manuals with it, no dongle. There was TT version
(u had to specify what computer u have) which i think still asks for
dongle.
Neon is actually very nice and capable program. Easy to learn, with
powerful and advanced options which makes life easier. Also include some
tricks to speed up work, like main crosshair usage, black option (switch
video off when rendering, so up to 20-25% increase of rendering speed)
etc..."
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 - Video Games Good For Phobias!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Study Finds Video Games Good for Treating Phobias
Scared silly of spiders? Horrified by heights? Terrorized by tight spaces?
Play a video game - doctor's orders.
Regular, off-the-shelf computer video games are an effective method of
treating people's fears, using a style of therapy that exposes people to
what scares them in a controlled setting, according to a new study released
on Friday.
The study, published in the October issue of the journal CyberPsychology
and Behavior, was conducted at the Universite du Quebec en Outaouais in
Quebec, Canada.
The researchers found that PC games that allow users to construct and
change game environments, used with a headset that lets wearers simulate
virtual reality, were just as effective at stimulating phobic responses as
dedicated simulation machines that can cost four times as much.
People with phobias are often treated with exposure therapy, where they
gradually spend more and more time in settings that scare them in an effort
to reduce the fear response and get them to relax and get over their
fright.
The researchers used the game "Half-Life" to create a spider-laden
environment for arachnophobic people, and "Unreal Tournament" to simulate
heights for acrophobics and tight spaces for claustrophobics.
A group of 13 people with phobias and 13 non-phobic people were tested
using the games, a low-end PC and the head-mounted display. They were run
through the simulations and then tested on a series of scales to measure
their response.
"The results demonstrate that despite their low cost and flexibility, (PC
simulators) can be phobogenic," the researchers said. "Moreover, virtual
environments derived from games can produce the mid-range levels of anxiety
that are most useful in therapy."
The researchers made the environments they used for their study available
for download on the university's Web site. (http://www.uqo.ca/cyberpsy/)
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
AOL Time Warner to Drop 'AOL' From Name
As of Thursday, the world's largest media company will officially drop
"AOL" from its name and be known as "Time Warner Inc.," as it was before it
announced a merger with America Online at the height of the Internet boom
in early 2000.
The company's shares will also resume trading under their former ticker
symbol of "TWX" on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, instead of the
current "AOL." The company will also change its Web site to
www.timewarner.com from www.aoltimewarner.com.
The changes that go into effect Thursday were decided upon last month at a
board meeting of AOL Time Warner. The company said the changes would end
confusion between "AOL" the online service and "AOL" as shorthand for the
entire company, whose vast media holdings include CNN, HBO, Time magazine
and Warner Bros.
Veterans from the Time Warner side of the company have long pressed for AOL
to be removed from the company name as disappointment over the merger
mounted. Federal regulators are still investigating questionable accounting
at the AOL division.
But the drive for a name change gained momentum after Jonathan Miller, head
of the AOL division, made a personal appeal to chairman and CEO Richard
Parsons that the change be made in order to help AOL regain control over
its own brand.
The company previously announced that its new headquarters building in
Manhattan's Columbus Circle will be renamed to Time Warner Center from the
planned AOL Time Warner Center. Construction on the 80-story complex is
nearly complete, and occupants will begin moving in phases beginning this
fall.
Apple Set to Unveil iTunes for Windows This Week
Coming soon to a Windows PC near you: Apple Computer Inc.'s. popular iTunes
online music store, which analysts say will join an already crowded market
that could mute its chances of repeating the success of the Macintosh
version.
The computer maker is set to unveil this week the long-promised
Windows-compatible version of its online music service. Last week, it sent
invitations to reporters for an event on Thursday in San Francisco
proclaiming, "The year's biggest music story is about to get even bigger."
An Apple spokesman declined further comment.
Yet now, some analysts say that while iTunes for Windows may be just the
thing for fans, it may be coming too late for the broader market. There are
already similar services for Windows users, such as MusicMatch, already
entrenched and another called BuyMusic.com. File-swapping service Napster
has resurrected itself as a pay service, now under a parent company, Roxio
Inc.
"They're going to have a serious problem with the Windows community," said
Rob Enderle, principal of market research firm the Enderle Group. "If they
could have gone there first, they could have carved out a beachhead."
Apple unveiled the iTunes service for the 3 percent of the PC market that
uses Macintosh computers in April. Incorporated into its popular and
easy-to-use iTunes software for managing digitized songs, the interface is
simple, and songs cost 99 cents each to download.
The service took off, and the Cupertino, California, company has sold more
than 10 million songs in the five months since launching the service, which
has more than 200,000 songs for sale.
"The service has done great on the Mac side," Enderle said.
But the iTunes Music Store strikes a familiar tune for Apple, analysts
said. Apple was the first to popularize the graphical user interface, but
was ultimately leapfrogged by Microsoft. It was ahead of the curve with the
Newton handheld computer, but the handheld didn't take off until years
later.
In the case of online music, other offerings that have come along have aped
the Apple model, some dispensing with the subscription-based model in favor
of Apple's a la carte model.
The Napster service goes live Oct. 29, selling more than 500,000 songs,
what it calls the world's largest digital music library, at 99 cents each.
And BuyMusic, in its television commercials, went so far as to borrow the
style of Apple's own humorous ones, with actors singing along with their
digital music players against a white backdrop.
A MusicMatch spokeswoman said it was unclear how the Windows version of
Apple's online music store would affect its relationship with the Mac
maker.
"We were partners (with Apple) but always expected we would one day be
competitors once they launched the iTunes download service," a MusicMatch
spokeswoman said. "MusicMatch jukebox will continue to support iPod, but
it's up to Apple to decide if they'll ship IPOD with MusicMatch jukebox.
It's totally in their hands at this point."
Other services include RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody service. Dell Inc., AOL
Time Warner Inc.'s America Online and Amazon.com Inc. are also considering
whether to offer similar services.
When it unveiled the service, Apple said it was simple and cheap enough to
compete with the free song-swap sites that the record industry blames for
its two-year slump. And Apple was one of the few companies offering online
music sales to ink licensing agreements with all five big record labels.
The service also helped fuel a strong rally in Apple's stock price, with
shares soaring more than 70 percent since the service was introduced. And
Apple said that in its June quarter, it had record sales of its iPod music
players.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson has said that the Windows
launch of iTunes would be a Trojan Horse for the company that many say
popularized the personal computer, spurring more sales of the iPod players,
which have also been popular with Windows users.
Dan Niles, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, estimated that Apple sold 303,000
iPod digital music players in the June quarter at an average price of $365,
up from 78,000 in the March quarter, fueled by the launch of the company's
online music store.
But just how profitable is iTunes Music Store?
Apple said in its June quarter earnings conference call that the iTunes
Music Store was close to break-even in its first quarter of operations.
Niles estimates that Apple keeps about 30 cents from each 99-cent song
sold, before credit card transaction costs, which he said are high as a
percentage of revenue, up to 4 percent.
Mozilla Launches Version 1.5
The Mozilla Foundation on Wednesday is releasing the latest version of its
open-source Web application suite.
The Mozilla 1.5 suite, available now, includes a Web browser, e-mail
client, Web page design software and a chat client. With the release,
Mozilla is improving its tabbed browsing so that tabs and bookmarks work
better together, building a spell checker into the mail client and
improving the layout tools in the Mozilla Composer Web editor.
Mozilla also announced the latest releases of its stand-alone Firebird
browser (Version 0.7) and Thunderbird mail application (Version 0.3). Both
are technology previews because they remain in pre-version 1.0 states and
haven't undergone full testing, said Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation
president.
Along with the new releases, Mozilla is adding new end-user services in
its quest to become more user-focused. It is offering Mozilla 1.5, Firebird
and Thunderbird on a CD, in addition to software downloads, introducing
end-user telephone support and launching a revamped mozilla.org Web site.
A new version of Opera runs across operating systems. Read the story.
Since becoming independent from America Online Inc.'s Netscape
Communications subsidiary in July, Mozilla has heard from users wanting its
software offered on a CD, Baker said. International users and those with
low-bandwidth connections are likely targets.
"We want to remove any barriers for those who want Mozilla," Baker said.
The CDs are available for $3.95. As previously reported, the telephone
support is being offered through DecisionOne and costs $39.95 per incident.
Mozilla also is planning future e-mail support, Baker said.
The redesigned site, which will launch later this week, includes a section
devoted to Mozilla product information targeted to end users, Baker said.
In the past, much of the information on the Mozilla project's site was
solely developer-focused.
MSN Adds Antivirus, Firewall Tools
Saying that online safety is now its customers' primary concern, Microsoft
will offer McAfee virus scan and firewall products to U.S. customers of its
upcoming MSN Premium broadband Internet subscription service.
The software giant said Friday that it sealed a deal with intrusion
prevention provider Network Associates to include the company's McAfee
VirusScan and Personal Firewall Plus products with the MSN Premium service
due out later this year.
America Online has also enlisted Network Associates to provide the McAfee
products to its customers and Yahoo, which offers broadband service in the
U.K. with British Telecommunications under the BT Yahoo Broadband brand,
has said that it plans to add antivirus and free firewall products to its
service.
The added security measures are particularly important for broadband users,
Microsoft said, who have an always-on connection and are vulnerable to
viruses, worms, and Trojan horses transmitted through file sharing, Web
site downloads, and instant messaging.
McAfee's VirusScan product is automatic antivirus software that detects
potential threats and prevents them from infecting users' computers,
whereas the firewall product acts as a barrier between a user's PC and the
Internet.
U.S. customers of the upcoming MSN Premium service will receive both
McAfee products as part of their subscription, Microsoft said. The company
did not say whether the expanded security features would eventually be
available to subscribers outside the U.S.
The move to bolster broadband customers' online security comes amid wider
promises by the software maker to shore up its security efforts and on the
heels of a wave of damaging worm and virus attacks that have heightened
consumers' awareness of the threats.
"This collaboration between Microsoft and McAfee is welcome news because
our research shows that home broadband connections are most susceptible to
attacks," said DK Matai, chief executive of U.K. security company mi2g.
Matai said that most companies have antivirus tools in place but home users
aren't as savvy at protecting their PCs. However, no matter how much money
is put into bundling antivirus products with broadband services, the
biggest problem is getting home users to download security patches to
protect against potential threats, Matai said.
The "MSBlast" worm that circulated recently infected hundreds of thousands
of machines even though a patch was available, he said.
Matai suggested incorporating an automatic patch download program for home
users. For now, however, antivirus, and personal firewall products are a
step in the right direction, he said.
Microsoft Warns of Four New Windows Flaws
Microsoft Corp. warned consumers Wednesday about four critical new flaws in
its popular Windows software as the company shifted to monthly alerts for
serious problems that could let hackers break into computers.
In particularly embarrassing disclosures, Microsoft acknowledged problems
in its technology to authenticate software publishers over the Web and in
its Windows help and support system. Microsoft also announced a fifth, less
serious Windows vulnerability.
The company said it did not believe hackers were yet exploiting any of the
vulnerabilities it announced.
Microsoft said last week it will begin issuing monthly warnings and
software patches, responding to frustration from technology managers who
must apply sporadic patches each week across hundreds of computers inside
corporations.
The company said it expects to release future warnings on the second
Tuesday or Wednesday of each month. It has promised to rush out an
emergency patch midmonth if it determines hackers are actively breaking
into computers using a flaw it can repair immediately.
Separately, Microsoft began offering Windows XP users a single, convenient
patch that combines 22 previous updates. It was aimed at customers who
haven't diligently applied every software patch or who recently bought a
new computer or recently installed Windows from scratch.
All four of the most dangerous new vulnerabilities affect versions of
Windows 2000, which is commonly used by corporations and government
agencies. Three of them also affect other Windows versions, including
Microsoft's flagship Windows XP software, popular among home users, and
Windows Server 2003 for businesses.
Lawmakers Hammer on Spam
"What are we going to do about spam?"
It was a deceptively simple question posed by CNN's Lou Dobbs to a panel
of software company chief executives here discussing policy with top
government officials.
As expected, the CEOs denounced unsolicited commercial e-mail and some used
the opportunity to talk up their company's antispam products.
Digital credentials are one antidote to the growing problem, suggested Bill
Conner, CEO of Entrust. "At some point, you won't accept noncredentialed
e-mails," he said.
Borland Software's CEO Dale Fuller suggested erecting economic barriers.
"If you're going to put out a piece of junk, we're going to charge you."
George Samunek, Network Associates' CEO, believes some kind of penalty
should apply to spammers.
Squashing spam has no easy single answer. After all, Congress has tried to
pass antispam legislation since 1995.
Yet, no fewer than six antispam bills are still pending on Capitol Hill,
several of them making slow but steady progress.
"The problem with most of these bills, however well intentioned, is they
provide a big fig leaf of legitimacy for spam," says Andrew Barrett,
executive director of the Spamcon Foundation, a watchdog group. "Frankly,
they protect the status quo, and the language in the bill tends to frame
spam as fraud."
Two Senate antispam bills have cleared committee, but some say their
progress is stalled by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York). He wants to
attach a national do-not-spam registry to the final bills.
Critics of Schumer's proposal cite implementation barriers, including the
high costs related to maintaining such a list. Ari Schwartz, associate
director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, calls the costs
prohibitive. "And we don't even know where these spammers are coming from,"
he adds.
The Federal Trade Commission also questions a list's feasibility. "A
do-not-spam list is an intriguing idea, but it is unclear how we can make
it work," FTC Chairman Tim Muris said in an August speech. Most spam is
already so clearly illegitimate that the senders are no more likely to
comply than with the...laws they now ignore."
While acknowledging the hurdles, Spamcon's Barrett likes the Schumer bill
and the idea of a national no-spam registry. He says his bill supports
domain-wide opt-out. For instance, AOL or Yahoo could opt out entirely, so
all users of their e-mail services would receive no spam.
The CAN-SPAM Act and the Criminal Spam Act are the two bills that have
passed committee and are destined for the Senate floor. Under the CAN-SPAM
Act, federal prosecutors and ISPs can sue spammers who use misleading
e-mail subject lines, do not let recipients unsubscribe, or send e-mail
using dictionary attacks (a spammer practice that randomly generates e-mail
addresses for a domain).
The Criminal Spam Act also subjects senders of e-mail with misleading
headers to civil and criminal penalties, including up to five years in
federal prison and fines as high as $25,000 each day.
In the House, progress is slowed by two competing bills, the Wilson-Green
bill and the Tauzin bill. Both bills require users to opt out to avoid
getting unwanted e-mail. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico) proposes
enlisting state attorneys general to enforce her antispam law, which Rep.
Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) opposes. Wilson's bill also prohibits
affiliates or subsidiaries of companies from spamming users who have opted
out once.
Calling the Tauzin bill a "train wreck, "Spamcon's Barrett says the measure"
gives a veneer of legitimacy to spam." The RID-SPAM Act bans deceptive
messages, prohibits harvesting e-mail addresses, and lets ISPs (but not
individuals) sue spammers for damages. But Barrett says network
administrators and consumer groups call this plan the "Spammer Bill of
Rights."
He considers the Wilson bill little better. The principal problem is that
all the bills put the onus on users to opt out, giving spammers free rein
until then, Barrett says.
If every one of America's 23 million small businesses sent you an e-mail
just once each year, you would have to opt out of 640 e-mail messages every
day, he notes.
Also, the bills are problematic because they define spam as fraud, Barrett
adds. To him, the message is, "as long as you tell the truth, you may spam
away to your heart's content. But most these legislations make no
distinction between content and consent."
It's unclear whether differences can be resolved in time to pass an
antispam bill this year. A Wilson spokesperson says dialogue with Tauzin's
office continues, but won't put a time frame on the resolution.
"There is no one piece of legislation that will solve the problem
overnight,"Schwartz says. Identifying spammers is complicated, especially
when it involves overseas senders, he notes. Stopping spam completely is
too ambitious, he says. "If technology and legislation can turn the tide,
then we've made some progress," Schwartz says.
Every e-mail has a price tag. The mass volume of e-mail created by spam
increases the cost to the ISP, which passes it along to its customers in
fees. In contrast, with traditional direct mail, the sender pays for the
cost of sending the mail. According to the FTC, spam costs between $10
billion and $87 billion yearly.
Besides costing businesses big bucks, spam is changing the way Americans
use the Internet.
"Some people are diminishing their use of e-mail because of spam," says
Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. His
organization is releasing a report on spam and its effects on people's
behavior this week, Rainie says.
Survey: Internet Users Want No-Spam List
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) today renewed his offensive against junk
e-mail, citing a new survey that says 75 percent of the nation's Internet
users want a national "do-not-spam" list similar to the anti-telemarketing
registry launched by the Federal Trade Commission this month.
More than two-thirds of Internet users would sign up for the list,
according to the online survey of 1,500 Internet users conducted by
Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Insight Express and Chicago consulting
firm UnSpam.
The survey also found that Internet users remain unimpressed with efforts
to control spam. Less than half of those surveyed said spam filters are
effective, and 40 percent of the respondents said that large Internet
service providers are not doing enough to fight spam.
"Spam is not just a little nuisance, it's an epidemic, and getting rid of
it for good is not as simple as just hitting the delete button once or
twice," said Schumer at a press conference on Capitol Hill today to unveil
the survey.
Internet users increasingly are buckling under a tremendous wave of spam
inundating their in-boxes. Some estimates say that spam accounts for about
half of the e-mail that people receive daily. The Insight Express survey
found that one in four e-mails people receive at home are pornographic in
nature.
Support for an anti-spam list swelled after the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) unveiled its do-not-call registry earlier this year. That list now
has 52 million phone numbers, and went live at the beginning of this month
despite several court challenges.
Schumer introduced a bill in June that would create a national do-not-spam
list. It also would fine spammers up to $100,000 a day and require e-mail
marketers to put valid return addresses on their e-mails so consumers can
request to be taken off their lists.
"We've got parental advisory notices on music and ratings for TV shows and
movies to ensure that parents have the ability to keep their children from
being exposed to inappropriate materials," he said. "So it's baffling that
there's no safeguard in place to ensure that parents can protect their
kids from vulgar e-mail."
Schumer plans to try to attach his proposal to an anti-spam bill sponsored
by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). That bill, which
carries the direct marketing industry's support, appears to have a better
chance of passing.
Enforcing a do-not-spam list would be too difficult because it's easier
for spammers to hide their identity, said FTC staff attorney Brian Huseman.
"With a do-not-call list we can assure consumers that telemarketing calls
will decrease," Huseman said. "We cannot make those same assurances about
a do-not-spam list."
John Mozena, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial
E-Mail (CAUCE), said that Schumer's bill is the only one that "would
actually make a difference against spam."
Direct Marketing Association spokesman Louis Mastria said a do-not-spam
list would be "ineffective and impotent."
"It sounds like the silver bullet," Mastria said. "The reality is... you're
assuming that spammers are all of a sudden going to get religion about a
law. It hasn't happened to date. It won't happen in the future."
Schumer's bill is an alternative to several other bills in the House and
Senate that try to limit spam but contain several provisions that protect
direct marketers' efforts to continue using the Internet as a prime selling
opportunity.
The DMA and other advertising organizations were able to get a provision
inserted into a House anti-spam bill that would exempt them from legal
penalties if they join a business coalition that promises to develop an
online marketing code of conduct.
Such a conduct code was released yesterday by the DMA, the American
Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National
Advertisers.
The groups said that they have nine guidelines - including real return
addresses on e-mails and a promise to remove uninterested e-mail users from
their marketing lists - that will promote legitimate direct marketing on
the Internet.
Spam Slayer: Hot Tips to Cool off Spam
Spam has been a nuisance for years, but only recently has it reached
epidemic proportions. Not only does spam carry dangerous computer viruses,
but its sheer volume drains bandwidth and productivity.
Daily spam e-mail messages are forecast to hit nearly 9 billion by 2004,
up from more than 7 billion this year. About half of all e-mail is spam,
according to antispam software maker Brightmail.
Just ignoring spam is no solution. Just deleting spam isn't good enough
anymore, either. So we're going to have to deal with it: It's time for
spam slayers to unite.
Fix Broken Windows Microsoft's operating system has been criticized for
having more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese. Many viruses, bugs, and
worms have gained access to systems as spam. It's time to start checking
IDs. Activate the Windows Update feature inside your Internet Explorer Web
browser (under the Tools menu). This automatically checks for patches and
upgrades to Windows XP, Me, and 98. This is a good dose
of preventive medicine to head off disaster.
Top Tips
Here are seven more tips for protecting your e-mail address and preventing
it from being abused by the spamming hordes.
What's in a name? A favorite spammers' technique is running a software
dictionary program to generate millions of e-mail addresses - some of them
will actually work. So, if your name is John Doe and your e-mail address
is jdoe@domain-name.com, you're basically asking for spam. Try using a
variant of your name that you and your friends can easily remember, but
hard for an automated spamware program to guess. Mr. Doe might want to try
jdoe4321go@domain-name.com instead.
Handle with care Would you scrawl your name and phone number on a
telephone booth in Times Square soliciting personal advice? No, you
wouldn't. So don't do the virtual equivalent by posting your private e-mail
address on the Internet. Spammers use software versions of henchmen to
scour the Net and harvest e-mail addresses listed on Usenet groups, chat
rooms, and Web sites.
To solve the problem, try this: Most ISPs give you multiple e-mail
addresses for one account. Create a disposable e-mail address for public
postings and to give to used-car salespersons. Give your private e-mail
only to friends and family.
Creature of Habit If you can't change your e-mail address, you have only
one option: A spam filter. Personal tastes may influence which type you
prefer. Here are two free programs that can learn, adapt, and predict what
you consider spam.
SpamBayes works with Outlook, and, as you delete e-mail, it will learn
what you like and don't like. Similarly POPFile is free and compatible
with Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, and the Pegasus e-mail program.
PCWorld.com also maintains an extensive library of spam blockers and
filters in our Downloads section.
Opting to Opt Out Beware of spam that offers an "opt-out" option
supposedly to stop spamming you. Many spam messages invite you to click on
a link or respond to the message, leading you to believe you have just
unsubscribed from receiving more spam. Disreputable junk e-mailers love
this trick because it confirms your e-mail address is valid. You may never
see e-mail from the original spammer, but you're guaranteed to get more
e-crud from a dozen more dirtbags.
The tip for this spam reality is: It's okay to opt out, so long as you can
trust the recipient.
Spamware Proliferates Nobody reads the 12-page end-user agreements for
software they install. That's too bad, because you may inadvertently be
inviting malicious code that can turn your PC into a spam-sending machine.
The programs you get from less than reputable sources may do disreputable
things to your machine.
Go Ahead, Blame Yourself Speaking of paying attention to the small print,
consider the true cost the next time you sign up for a free Web service.
"Free" sometimes has the hidden tradeoff of getting spammed. Services
often pay for themselves by selling your e-mail address to marketers that
in turn send marketing pitches.
For example, the Web site IMBum.com gives away free instant messaging icons
for users of AOL AIM software. The price? You must accept e-mail marketing
pitches from IMBum.com partners. Worse: In order for you to register,
IMBum.com insists you "invite" a friend via e-mail to sign up.
Slay Spammers Yourself If it looks, sounds, and smells like spam, then
slay it yourself. You can report particularly vile spam to your Internet
service provider. Typically ISPs maintain abuse inboxes that follow the
convention abuse@isp.com or postmaster@isp.com.
If you're really ticked off by a spam, file a complaint with the Federal
Trade Commission and forward the spam to UCE@/FTC.gov.
States Renew Case Against Internet Tax Ban
With a moratorium on taxing consumer access to the Internet set to expire
next month, Congress is under pressure to decide whether states should be
barred from taxing a raft of budding online services - from Internet-based
phone calls to online music and movie downloads.
State lawmakers and tax officials are mounting a last-minute lobbying push
to convince Congress to allow them to collect taxes on those services,
which are expected to become some of the most lucrative businesses on the
Internet.
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who is sponsoring a Senate bill to renew the tax ban,
said the state lobbying campaign is "alarming."
"It seems to me what the states really want is to stop the Internet access
ban from becoming permanent, or they are looking for language that would
stick consumers with hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes each
year," Wyden said today on the Senate floor.
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill by the end of the month. The
House of Representatives passed its version in late September.
The five-year-old "Internet tax moratorium" bans state and local
governments from taxing high-speed digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable,
satellite and dial-up services that Americans use to connect to the
Internet.
It does not forbid states from collecting taxes on other online activities,
but local and state officials worry that telecommunications companies will
start "bundling" those services with their Internet access, making them
untaxable.
"What we're trying to do is make sure that as broadband becomes the garden
variety of access to the Internet that we protect ourselves from that
bundling," said Harley Duncan, executive director of the Federation of Tax
Administrators. "The way the bill is written now, a whole bunch of
proprietary information services would be exempt from taxation."
A September study by the Multitstate Tax Commission said that extending the
moratorium would reduce state and local revenue bases by as much as $8.75
billion annually by 2006 if telecom companies are allowed to bundle
their services.
States and localities have been able to tax voice communications for many
years, a precedent that led Maryland, Virginia and 13 other states to pass
laws to tax Internet access when it is bundled with voice services. Six
other states are poised to adopt similar legislation.
Three states - Alabama, Florida and Kentucky - charge sales taxes on DSL
service because it is considered a telecommunications service.
Under the bills to renew the access tax ban, the 10 states that taxed
Internet access before the ban became law no longer would be able to do so.
The court system already is weighing in. Last week, a federal judge in
Minnesota struck down a decision by state regulators to force companies
offering Internet phone service to obey traditional telephone regulations.
The decision means that companies offering Internet-based phone calls don't
have to collect the same taxes that regular telephone companies have to
collect.
The access tax ban is unrelated to a state effort to get congressional
approval to force retailers to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases.
Supreme Court to Revisit Online Porn Law
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to step into a fight over how the
government can protect children from online smut without resorting to
unconstitutional censorship.
Thorny issues raised by Internet regulations have returned over and over
to the justices since 1997, when the court struck down Congress' first
comprehensive attempt to punish people who make it too easy for children
to find racy material online.
The latest case asks whether a subsequent law, twice rejected by an appeals
court, restricts too much material that adults have the right to see or
buy. On a more practical level, the court will decide whether the
government can require some form of an adults-only screening system to
ensure child computer users cannot see material deemed harmful to them.
"The Internet is the wild, wild West. It's anything goes, and anything goes
because it has no discernible boundaries and you never know who's at the
other side of the mouse," said Douglas Kmiec, a law professor at Pepperdine
University.
Justices have an opportunity, Kmiec said, to decide "whether a legal fence
can be constructed in this otherwise wild and untamed terrain."
Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act in 1998 to crack down on
Internet sites that do not block pornography and other inappropriate
material from children. It calls for six months in jail and $50,000 in
fines for first-time violators and additional fines for repeat offenders.
It is on hold pending court challenges.
The American Civil Liberties Union, representing booksellers, artists,
explicit Web sites and others, challenged the law as an unconstitutional
damper on free speech.
The law could make criminals of many people who use the Internet for
legitimate reasons, the challengers argue. For example, those who operate
Web sites about gynecology and safe sex could be criminals under the law,
as could Mitch Tepper, who posts explicit how-to sexual advice for disabled
people, the ACLU claimed.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has twice struck down the law, most
recently and conclusively in March with a ruling that the law is riddled
with problems that make it "constitutionally infirm."
The Bush administration appealed to the high court, arguing children are
"unprotected from the harmful effects of the enormous amount of pornography
on the World Wide Web." The Child Online Protection Act is a reasonable
solution, Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the court.
Olson said the main target is commercial pornographers who use sexually
explicit "teasers" to lure customers.
The free teasers are available to nearly anyone surfing the Internet, and
sometimes appear even when computer users are not seeking out pornography.
They typically lead potential customers to a Web site that may require
payment and age verification.
Critics are concerned that if the law is upheld, online newspapers, chat
rooms and other sites that offer adult but constitutionally protected
speech could be forced to restrict access.
The law, signed by former President Clinton and endorsed by President Bush,
was written to replace a 1996 statute, the Communications Decency Act, that
the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional on free-speech grounds in
1997.
The Bush administration hopes to build on success in a similar case earlier
this year. The Supreme Court upheld an Internet anti-pornography law
against free speech challenges, ruling that the federal government can
withhold money from libraries that won't install Internet blocking devices.
The Child Online Protection Act does not affect foreign pornographic Web
sites, so its reach is limited.
"If the law is upheld, maybe it will help parents a little bit - but only a
little bit," said Eugene Volokh, a visiting law professor at Harvard.
The case is Ashcroft v. ACLU, 03-218.
AOL Plans No-Frills Service
Trying to fend off cut-rate competitors, America Online plans to introduce
a discount version of its dial-up Internet access service early next year
that will carry the Netscape brand name, a person with the company said
Tuesday.
The new service is expected to cost $9.95 per month for unlimited access,
a big break on the $23.90 monthly tag that comes with AOL's current dial-up
service, which has seen its subscriber numbers fall. The new plan would
also beat the $14.95-per-month package AOL is pushing to people who get
their Internet access from a separate broadband provider.
However, executives at Dulles, Va.-based AOL, part of AOL Time Warner Inc.,
don't believe the new Netscape discount service will siphon away
bigger-spending customers after it debuts nationwide in the first quarter
of 2004.
The plan is instead targeted at people who want only bare-bones Internet
access and are considered unlikely to spend more on higher-end packages,
according to the AOL source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
For example, the slimmed-down service will not offer the parental controls
or exclusive content found on AOL's main service. And while AOL now lets
subscribers have up to seven different e-mail accounts, the Netscape
package will carry only one screen name and e-mail address.
The plan was first reported Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.
The discount plan amounts to the latest acknowledgment that AOL needs to
do more to keep its 25.3 million Internet access customers from fleeing -
after losing 1.1 million worldwide in the first half of this year.
Internet users are being enticed at both ends of the price scale, not only
by cheaper dial-up services like those offered by United Online Inc. and
Earthlink Inc., but also to much faster DSL and cable-modem services that
in some cases have fallen below $30 a month because of competition.
Mark Goldston, the head of United Online, whose low-cost Juno, NetZero and
Bluelight dial-up services have 2.6 million paid subscribers, called AOL's
discount plan a "desperation move." Goldston predicted that it will
ultimately widen the market for inexpensive Internet access and subvert
the flagship AOL package just as discount airlines have made life miserable
for premium carriers.
"I think this is a rather dark flag for AOL's business," he said.
By using the Netscape name for the new service, AOL will be reviving a
brand associated with the Internet explosion of the 1990s, when Netscape's
Navigator browser introduced millions to the burgeoning World Wide Web.
AOL bought Netscape for $10 billion in 1999, as Microsoft Corp.'s rival
Internet Explorer was surging past Netscape to become the dominant browser.
AOL sued Microsoft for allegedly using anticompetitive practices to achieve
that dominance; Microsoft settled with AOL Time Warner for $750 million
this year.
Forgot Your Computer Password Again? Press Here
Attention confounded consumers: there's a high-tech solution that could
render obsolete your growing jumble of credit card pin numbers and computer
passwords - and it's as plain as the nose on your face or fingerprint.
The concept is based on biometrics - a branch of technology that identifies
individuals based on biological traits - and has begun to take off in a
security-conscious world where credit card fraud and identity theft runs
rife.
Imagine a quick scan of your iris, fingerprint or entire face to authorize
a credit card transaction, speed your way through customs at the airport or
log you onto your computer.
A host of firms including Minnesota-based Identix Inc. and Paris-based
Schlumberger Smart Cards and Terminals built businesses on military and
government contracts. But with costs of raw material, computer chips and
scanners plummeting, the technology is moving to the high street.
"What will make biometrics practical is the price of the chip," said Derek
McDermott, managing director of UK-based ISL Biometrics. He said chip unit
costs in the past year have fallen from 40 pounds ($66.79) to four pounds.
The drop in price is expected to attract the interest of cost-conscious
consumers and businesses, building the biometrics market into a $4.0
billion segment by 2007, up from $900 million in 2002, according to recent
industry studies.
ISL Biometrics has installed fingerprint-recognition technology at over 60
British hospitals, McDermott said.
Some 11,000 National Health Service employees must press their finger to a
tiny finger pad on a computer before gaining access to patient information
or physical access to the prescription drugs ward, he added.
McDermott said privately held company ISL Biometrics has begun working with
large banks and retailers interested in an extra layer of security for the
growing number of transactions that take place on the Internet and other
data networks.
Currently, most credit card purchases require just a simple password to
authorize a transaction, making it increasingly easy for tech-savvy
fraudsters to hijack consumers' details and embark on a spending spree that
costs banks and retailers billions of dollars annually.
Another area biometrics firms are keen to exploit is the corporate sector.
According to a recent study by Aberdeen Group, large organizations spend
as much as $350 per employee annually on computer password management as
employees invariably ring the IT "help" crew asking them to reset one of
the myriad password codes needed to access the corporate computer network.
Cheap new devices such as mouse pads and laptop cards that come equipped
with a tiny fingerprint-matching scanner are being designed to whisk desk
drones onto the network.
And, in the near future, most mobile phones and handheld gadgets will be
fitted with the same feature, experts say.
"All you'll need is your fingerprint imprint and you'll be on the system in
no time," said McDermott.
=~=~=~=
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