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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 05 Issue 21
Volume 5, Issue 21 Atari Online News, Etc. May 23, 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:
Kevin Savetz
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0521 05/23/03
~ HighWire News Update! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Barring Bulk Spam!
~ eBay Frequent Flyer! ~ MS Antivirus Info Site ~ AtariSIO Beta Out!
~ E-Mail Tax Stop Spam? ~ Napster Resurrection? ~ Atari Shares Sink!
~ New WinZip, New Format ~ California Anti-Spam! ~ Austin Gaming Expo!
-* Spam: Congress Needs To Act! *-
-* Video Games Group To Challenge Law! *-
-* House Panel Approves Permanent Net Tax Ban *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I really can't believe it, but it's almost Memorial Day already! The
unofficial beginning of summer. Where did April and May go? We've had some
nice days recently, but it's become damp lately. I've done little in the
yard because of the cool nights, but maybe that will change shortly. Lots
of things to get done outside, and in.
The war on spam continues to heat up! There have been a lot of discussions
on how to combat this garbage - some good and some outright ridiculous.
Imagine one suggestion to levy a small tax on e-mail to thwart spam! I'm
sure that the debates will continue for quite some time before some
solutions will come about.
Well, I'm going to cut this week's comments really short. I want to start
planning some of my holiday weekend activities - if the weather allows them.
Definitely plenty of barbecue activity! Maybe get in some golf, if I can.
We'll see! Remember to play it safe this long weekend.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
HighWire 0.1.2 Released
While months have gone by since the last public release. Rarely a day has
gone by without work being contributed to the project. We hope you enjoy
some of the updates and work that has gone on in the last few months.
While we still have a a lot of work ahead of us, this will hopefully provide
you with as satisfying update.
Changes since the last version include:
The new implemented navigation bar allows easy entering of URLs as well as
going for/backward in view history (can be hidden/shown by holding down the
ALT key while clicking the window's closer button).
Changed the behaviour of the window's info bar to have it more logical and
informative.
New control keyword for the configuration file to change the appearance of
the info bar, can be displayed now at the window's bottom (see example.cfg
highwire.cfg for explanation).
Forms now also support selection lists, as given from <select name=foo>
<option value=bar>.. tags.
Improved handling of framesets, frames are resizeable now.
Fixed wrong image colours under TrueColor, added support for 16bit
HighColor with reverted byte order. Improved vertical position and line
height calculation when align=top/bottom is set.
Initial implementation of OVLs for different network support (MiNTnet and
STiK2).
Improved calculation of the width of tables and their cells, makes several
pages looking a bit better.
Fixed a bug in interpreting of quoted file names from VA_START.
Improved parsing of urls to encode HTML entities and remove control
characters from links. Also invalid urls of the form with a missing http:
are supported now.
Fixed a bug in parsing of plain text files which led to an endless loop on
very long lines.
Fixed a bug in the style=".." parsing function which could cause crashes
before.
Mended some more memory leaks.
Overworked charset encoding to speedo encoding for better performance.
To download and more information, visit the
HighWire website: http://highwire.atari-users.net/
AtariSIO V0.20 beta Released
The new version includes the following enhancements:
- support for DCM/DI/XFD disk images
- transparent (de-)compression support through zlib
- devfs support in the kernel driver
- support for non-standard SIO2PC cables (using DSR instead of RI)
- added 'all' option to several atariserver functions
- several minor bug fixes and improvements
AtariSIO can be downloaded from my homepage
http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/
so long,
Hias
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
[Editor's note: See, Unka Joe stops smoking and his new-fangled Mac
PowerBook goes on the fritz! Joe will return next week!]
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - GameCube Sales Declining Sharply!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Atari Shares Sinking! Matrix Up!
Videogames Group to Challenge Law!
Austin Gaming Expo! And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Atari Shares Sink; 'Matrix' Selling Well
Have investors entered "The Matrix" and then left again just as quickly?
Shares in video game publisher Atari Inc. sank on Tuesday, their fourth
straight day of losses, as "Enter the Matrix," the company's biggest-budget
game yet, faced early negative reviews despite signs of strong sales.
After the April 17 announcement that the $30-million game had been
completed, shares in Atari, formerly known as Infogrames Inc., went on a
run, gaining about 200 percent through May 14, the day before the game's
launch.
But since May 14 the stock has been sliding, losing almost 28 percent,
although it is still up 168 percent in 2003. Analysts have said "Enter the
Matrix" is key to the company's fortunes, especially as it faces bond
payments over the next two years.
"Enter the Matrix" represented an unusually tight collaboration with
Hollywood. The Wachowski brothers, who wrote and directed the film, wrote
the game as well and shot an hour of footage with their actors specifically
for the game.
The film has broken box office records and initial data show the game as a
top-seller on Amazon.com in the United States and more generally in the
United Kingdom. Full sales data for May are not expected until mid-June.
Early reviews on the game, though, have been lukewarm.
"If you are a fan of 'The Matrix' and like action games, then the game is
for you. However, the game isn't an outstanding representation of its
genre, but rather just a good one," wrote Alloutgames.com in a review of
the PC version, which it gave a 78 percent rating.
Gamerankings.com, which amalgamates reviews from across the Web and
averages their scores, showed scores of between 70 percent and 80 percent
for the game. Top games regularly exceed 90 percent in their calculations.
A spokeswoman for Atari was not available to comment on the early reviews
of the game.
According to Frank Sadowski, vice president of consumer electronics
merchandising at Amazon.com, "Enter the Matrix" is the top seller on the
PlayStation 2 and Xbox, outselling its closest competitor two-to-one and
four-to-one, respectively.
On the GameCube, "Matrix" is barely number two to "The Legend of Zelda,"
while on the PC it is second but being outsold three-to-one by "Sims
Superstar."
The game is also the top seller on all platforms in the United Kingdom,
Europe's top games market, according to weekly ChartTrack sales data.
"Enter the Matrix" was released the same day as the hotly- anticipated
film "The Matrix Reloaded," which had the second- largest opening weekend
ever for a movie and the best ever for an "R"-rated film.
Sony to Launch 'Charlie's Angels' Game Online
"Charlie's Angels," the 1970s TV show that spurred a blockbuster movie and
now a sequel is coming back yet again - as a video game.
Sony Corp.'s movie division on Monday said would release an online video
game based on "Charlie's Angels" to coincide with the new "Angels" movie
which it is also releasing.
The double-barreled release comes as Hollywood and the games industry
increasingly look to cross-promote their offerings on the view that the
hype over a game can help boost the fortunes of a new movie, and vice
versa.
Sony Pictures Digital Networks said "Charlie's Angels: Angel X" would be
released in June to tie in with the June 27 theatrical debut of "Charlie's
Angels: Full Throttle."
The game is being developed by 7 Studios, best known for console games
like "Defender," and will feature five levels set in places like a scrap
yard and a martial arts dojo.
Among the games that have been or will be released this year to coincide
with new movies are "Enter the Matrix," "Finding Nemo," "Terminator 3" and
"Tomb Raider."
The TV side of the entertainment business has also increasingly tied up
with the games industry, as seen in deals games based on shows like "Alias"
and "CSI."
On Friday NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., said it had entered a deal
with games developer Arush Entertainment to create a line of games based on
the stunt reality series "Fear Factor." Arush is also working on a
"Playboy" series of games.
Videogames Group to Challenge Washington State Law
Washington State Gov. Gary Locke signed a bill on Tuesday making it illegal
to sell or rent video games to minors that depict violence against law
enforcement officers - a move that an industry trade group immediately said
it would challenge in court.
The bill, signed into law by the Democratic governor, calls for $500 fines
to be imposed on anyone who sells or rents a game depicting violence
against police to customers under the age of 17.
The Interactive Digital Software Association, the trade group for the U.S.
video game industry, said in a statement it would go to court to seek an
injunction against enforcement of the law. The IDSA said the law violates
First Amendment guarantees of free speech.
The association has already successfully defeated an Indianapolis ordinance
in federal appellate court that would have restricted the access of minors
to arcades, and it is challenging a St. Louis ordinance in federal
appellate court that would impose retail restrictions on violent games.
"If the goal is to keep games out of the hands of kids for whom they are
not appropriate ... then the answer is to focus on parental education and
awareness of the (ratings system), not to try to turn retailers into
parents," IDSA President Doug Lowenstein said in a statement.
Nintendo Profits Decline 37 Percent
Nintendo Co. reported Thursday a 37 percent decline in profit for the
fiscal year through March as sales of its GameCube console fell short of
the Japanese video-game maker's target in a clear defeat to rival Sony
PlayStation 2.
The Kyoto-based company, which makes Pokemon and Super Mario games, earned
67.3 billion yen ($572 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31, down
from 106 billion yen the previous year.
Sales totaled 504 billion yen ($4.3 billion), down 9 percent from 555
billion yen a year earlier. Nintendo generated 75 percent of its sales
overseas.
Since going on sale in 2001, GameCube has lost ground to PlayStation 2,
the rival machine from Sony Corp., which has emerged the global leader in
the sector.
As of March 31, 9.55 million GameCube machines have been sold around the
world - short of Nintendo's goal of 10 million and far below the 51.2
million PlayStation 2 consoles shipped worldwide so far.
Nintendo is about to face competition from Sony in portable game machines
as well, where its Game Boy has dominated. This month, Sony announced it
will introduce its own handheld, the PlayStation Portable, next year. It
did not show a prototype or give a price.
Nintendo has sold 33.8 million Game Boy Advance machines so far, including
15.7 million in fiscal 2002.
The arrival of a Sony portable is a big threat to Nintendo at a time when
it is counting on Game Boy Advance sales and hoping to sell games that
link the Game Boy Advance with the GameCube, said Takeshi Tajima, analyst
at BNP Paribas in Tokyo.
"Trying to prevent GameCube from dying out is the only strategy left for
Nintendo," he said. "When the gap in market share is this great, a rally
from behind is virtually impossible."
Nintendo is forecasting even lower profits at 65 billion yen ($553 million)
for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004. It predicts sales will improve
to 550 billion yen ($4.7 billion).
In fiscal 2002, Nintendo fared better in selling game software than in
selling machines.
It sold 59 million games for Game Boy in fiscal 2002, up 26 percent from
47 million a year ago. It sold 46 million games for GameCube, about triple
the 14 million in fiscal 2001.
Nintendo officials have said they no longer hope to compete in making more
sophisticated machines. They want instead to make fun software, an effort
that won't cost as much but can produce profits.
"It is becoming increasingly more difficult to create new and unique games
which utilize the full capabilities of new hardware," Nintendo said in a
statement Thursday.
"Pocket Monsters Ruby & Sapphire" sold well, proving that Pokemon games
remain strong products, it said.
Nintendo stocks, which has slid over the last year, finished up 3 percent
at 8,440 yen ($72) Thursday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange shortly before
earnings were announced.
Rival Japanese game maker Sega Corp. has also suffered from the competition
from Sony but managed to turn a profit in fiscal 2002 for the first time in
six years. Sega, famous for Sonic the Hedgehog, dumped its Dreamcast
console in 2001 and makes games for PlayStation 2, GameCube and Microsoft
Corp.'s Xbox.
Sony's game unit is making solid profits. Sony is also planning to make
the game machine a central part of what it envisions as the future network
home, where people use mobile phones, Net-linking cars and TVs, as well as
the game machine, to watch movies, read the news and exchange e-mail.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Austin Gaming Expo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2003
A Celebration of Video Games, Both Past and Present
Austin, TX - As the Video Gaming Industry now surpasses the 10 Billion
dollar mark, videogame enthusiasts will converge this Summer in Central
Texas for the Austin Gaming Expo. Kicking off its first year, this
premiere event in the making caters to Young and Old, Classic and
Contemporary gamers alike. Attendees will take part in a celebration of
video games, the world's most popular form of electronic entertainment.
The Austin Gaming Expo is being held on July 26, 2003 in Austin, Texas,
centrally located to all of Texas' major cities. This event is the first
of its kind for the state of Texas, and will feature a large number of
vendors and exhibitors showcasing both classic and modern video games and
consoles. AGE Co-Organizer Tim Wilson states, -Austin's central location
in Texas makes it a great venue to hold a gaming event of this nature.-
Featured sponsors of this event include:
AtariAge.com
AtariCart.com
AtariProtos.com
The Atari History Museum
Goodwill Computerworks
Pixels Past
Video Game Bible
Sunmark
"Classic video gaming fans across the southern United States have desired
an event like this for years, and we are pleased to be able to finally
grant this wish- says AGE Co-Organizer Albert Yarusso, who is also one of
the co-founders of the popular Atari fansite AtariAge.com.
Highlights of the Austin Gaming Expo include:
ú Vendors with a wide variety of videogame merchandise for sale
ú Large number of game systems setup for play, both Classic and
Contemporary
ú New game releases and demos from notable Homebrew authors
ú Game tournaments on consoles of all types
ú Giveaways and door prizes
ú Buy, Sell and Trade with other gaming enthusiasts
The Austin Gaming Expo is being held at the Marriott Austin North, a
modern hotel with many amenities for attendees and those wishing to stay
overnight in the Austin area. The show hours are from 10am until 8pm and
admission is $5. Vendor tables are available for $30 for any individuals
or businesses.
For more information, please visit the Austin Gaming Expo website at:
http://www.AustinGamingExpo.com
CONTACT: info@austingamingexpo.com
###
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Roxio Buys Pressplay, to Relaunch Napster
Napster is coming back, this time as a paid music service in partnership
with two of the record labels that fought to shut it down, according to a
deal announced on Monday,
In an ironic coda to the Napster saga, CD-burning software maker Roxio
Inc., said it had bought Pressplay, a struggling online music service
launched by Vivendi Universal and Sony Corp., for about $39.5 million in
cash and stock.
The deal combines the Napster brand with assets of two of the record labels
that forced Napster's closure in July 2001 through lawsuits claiming that
the popular file-sharing network aided Internet piracy.
Roxio bought the rights to Napster's name and technology at a bankruptcy
auction last year for just over $5 million.
Analysts said the deal pointed to more consolidation in online music, where
commercial services have had only mixed success in the nearly two years
since Napster was shut down.
Another subscription service, Listen.com, was recently sold to RealNetworks
Inc., while independent service FullAudio denied rumors on Monday it was
shopping for a buyer.
"The market's going through consolidation because these services have been
around for a couple of years, burning cash and not generating much revenues
from subscribers or advertising," said PJ McNealy, analyst with GartnerG2.
The one standout success in online music has been the service launched by
Apple Computer Inc., which sold more than 2 million songs at 99 cents each
in just over two weeks, easily topping the traffic on label-sanction
services such as Pressplay and MusicNet, according to analysts.
The service, accessible only on Apple computers, is a pay-per-download
model that does not require users to pay a monthly subscription, unlike
other services.
Chris Gorog, Roxio's chief executive, said the company was evaluating both
subscription and pay-as-you-download models for its upcoming
Napster-branded service, expected to be launched before Roxio's fiscal year
ends in March 2004.
Roxio said it bought Pressplay's technology and catalog rights with all
five major music labels for $12.5 million cash and about 3.9 million
shares. The $39.5 million purchase price excluded about $1 million in
transaction costs.
Roxio Chief Financial Officer Elliot Carpenter said the company would spend
about $20 million to relaunch Napster and cautioned that it would lose
money until the service was adopted widely. Roxio said it will offer a more
detailed outlook when it reports earnings on May 21.
"Napster is the most prominent brand in online music. It's a massive
competitive advantage," Gorog told Reuters.
Larry Kenswil, president of Universal Music Group's eLabs, agreed. "We
thought this deal would bring a lot more subscribers to Pressplay a lot
quicker because of the branding," he said.
But others questioned whether consumers would be willing to pay for
Napster, a name synonymous with free music for many.
"I think Roxio's plans to integrate a service like Pressplay is a great
move, but it will still be a huge challenge to rehabilitate the Napster
brand to consumers who largely equate with it being free," McNealy said.
Under the terms of the deal, Sony Music and Universal Music each have the
right to earn up to $6.25 million if the Napster service generates positive
cash flow, and both companies will have a representative on Roxio's board.
In a March filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Universal
said it had lost $30 million on Pressplay.
Congress Needs to Act on Spam, Lawmakers Say
Congress needs to move quickly to outlaw unwanted "spam" e-mail, lawmakers
and tech-industry experts said on Wednesday in a hearing that highlighted
the urgency the issue has taken on Capitol Hill.
Senators at a Commerce Committee hearing proposed tougher criminal
penalties, extended racketeering laws, and international treaties to combat
the unsolicited pitches that now make up between half and three-quarters of
all e-mail traffic.
Tech-industry moguls like America Online Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis said
they needed a national law to help fight the problem, while even one online
marketer who said he sends out up to 180 million messages each day said it
would be a good idea.
Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain said he hoped to send an anti-spam
bill to the Senate floor by August.
"I hope to get this issue to the floor sometime before the summer recess
because it's clearly an issue that needs to be addressed one way or
another," the Arizona Republican said.
Efforts to pass a national law have foundered for years in Congress, but
with the volume of spam now doubling every four to six months, the issue
has come to a head in Washington.
The Federal Trade Commission, which has used anti-fraud laws to prosecute
some 53 spammers, said it needed additional authority to go after
Internet-based scam artists who operate across national borders.
The consumer-protection agency, which recently hosted a three-day
conference on the issue, said it would deliver a report to Congress within
45 days recommending the best way to tackle the problem.
Sen. Ron Wyden, whose anti-spam bill was approved by the committee last
year but did not pass the Senate, said he did not want to wait for the
FTC's report.
"We've had a lot of years of study and I think we ought to get moving on
it," said the Oregon Democrat, who introduced his bill again this year
with Montana Republican Conrad Burns.
Other lawmakers pitched their bills to the committee as well. Minnesota
Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton called for the creation of a special
law-enforcement team to track down spammers, while Florida Democratic Sen.
Bill Nelson said prosecutors should be able to bring anti-spam cases under
organized-crime statutes. New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said the
United States should set up a "do not spam" list, similar to the FTC's
anti-telemarketing "do not call" list.
FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle said Internet providers and other businesses
bear the primary responsibility to stop spam through filters and
responsible marketing practices.
"I have not seen one piece of legislation that I think would be adequate,"
Swindle said. "This is going to be an evolving process."
Lawmakers Unveil Long-Awaited Anti-Spam Bill
U.S. lawmakers introduced a long-awaited anti-spam bill on Friday that is
likely to move quickly through Congress, despite criticism from consumer
groups who say it will do little to stop the plague of junk e-mail.
The bill, sponsored by North Carolina Rep. Richard Burr, is the result of
months of negotiations by powerful Republican lawmakers in the House of
Representatives who hope to beat back spam while still allowing businesses
to market their products over the Internet.
The Reduction in Distribution of Spam Act, as it is known, establishes
tough penalties for e-mail marketers who lie about their identities or
engage in other deceptive tactics, but otherwise does not prevent
businesses from contacting anybody with an e-mail address.
Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner and Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin have signed on as co-sponsors, making it
likely that the bill will encounter few hurdles on its way to a full vote.
Sensenbrenner said he hoped the House would pass the bill by the end of
June.
The RID Spam Act has also drawn backing from technology titans like
Microsoft Corp. and trade groups like the Direct Marketing Association.
But anti-spam groups said it would do little to fight the problem as
marketers could still send out as many messages as they wished.
"We find it incomprehensible that, in the face of such strong consumer
outcry to stop spam, the response from Congress is legislation that
protects marketers and deprives customers of their right to be left alone,"
said the Coalition Against Unsolicited Email, a grass-roots group of 40,000
Internet users.
Unsolicited commercial e-mail is now widely viewed as a serious threat to
the Internet as a whole, flooding users' in-boxes and costing businesses
billions of dollars in wasted bandwidth. Internet providers and filtering
companies say spam now makes up between 40 percent and 80 percent of all
e-mail.
The Federal Trade Commission estimates that two out of three of these
messages contain misleading information of some sort, such as false return
addresses, misleading subject lines, or pitches for miracle cures and other
questionable products.
Burr's bill seeks to cut down on deceptive spam by requiring e-mail
marketers to disclose their online and physical addresses and honor
customer requests to be taken off their mailing lists. Pornographic e-mail
would be labeled as such, and marketers would not be allowed to "harvest"
e-mail addresses from sources that say they will not resell customer
information.
Those who violate these guidelines could face fines of up to $1.5 million
and jail time of up to two years. Internet providers, state attorneys
general and federal-law enforcement agencies such as the FTC and the
Justice Department could go after suspected spammers, but the bill does not
allow individual lawsuits or class-action suits.
The bill would also override existing state laws, except those that
prohibited misleading information, and carves out an exemption for
"legitimate" commercial messages, such as airline ticket confirmations and
bank notices.
Absent from the list of co-sponsors was New Mexico Republican Rep. Heather
Wilson, whose earlier anti-spam bill was sidelined after the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks.
A Wilson aide said the bill contained too many loopholes and set the bar
too high for the FTC and other enforcers.
The Senate is expected to act soon on a similar bill introduced by Montana
Republican Conrad Burns and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden.
Tough California Anti-Spam Bill Passes in Senate
The California State Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would make it
illegal to send unsolicited e-mail advertising and allows people to sue
so-called spammers for $500 per unwanted message.
If the bill, which now goes to the California Assembly, becomes law, it
would be one of the strictest anti-spam measures in the country. Gov. Gray
Davis has taken no position on the measure.
Federal regulators and lawmakers are trying to find ways to keep computers
from being inundated with spam e-mails, which tout everything from sex aids
to home loans and are estimated to account for between a third and a half
of e-mail traffic.
The measure, which was approved by a vote of 21-to-12, would require
Internet marketers to get advance approval from e-mail recipients if they
did not already have a business relationship with them.
Currently, California law requires spammers to include "ADV" in the subject
line of their e-mail so people will know it is an advertisement. The law
also requires spammers to stop sending the e-mails after recipients ask
them to or face a $1,000 fine.
The new "opt-in" bill puts the burden on Internet marketers to get approval
to spam consumers rather than forcing people to ask to be removed from the
spam list after the fact.
Under the new bill, a judge can triple the $500 fine if it is determined
that the spam sender willfully and knowingly violated the California law.
The measure is modeled on a federal law banning junk faxes which allows
consumers to sue fax spammers for $500 per fax.
"Spam isn't just annoying; it burns people's time and money by forcing
them to wade through millions of messages that cost spammers virtually
nothing to package and fire off," said Democratic State Senator Debra
Bowen, of Redondo Beach near Los Angeles.
Last month, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would require
Internet marketers to provide legitimate return addresses on their e-mails
and to honor requests to be taken off customer lists. It would not allow
consumers to sue spammers directly, but would require state attorneys
general to sue on their behalf.
A January study by Ferris Research estimated that spam costs U.S.
corporations as much as $8.9 billion each year. The amount of spam jumped
86 percent between 2001 and 2002, to more than 260 billion e-mails,
according to Jupiter Research.
The problem has become so large that the Direct Marketing Association, a
trade group that represents telemarketers and direct mailers, last year
reversed its position and said it would support national anti-spam
legislation.
More than half of the states in the country have anti-spam laws.
Consumer Groups Seek Law to Bar Bulk Spam
Eight consumer groups sent a letter to U.S. congressional leaders on
Thursday urging them to bar Internet advertisers from sending unsolicited
bulk commercial e-mail and to let people sue if they get spammed.
The current bills "repeat many of the legislative mistakes that have
exacerbated the unsolicited commercial e-mail problem, permitting it to
grow to the epidemic proportions it has reached today," the letter said.
It was sent to eight lawmakers who head up the Judiciary and Commerce
committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Groups
signing the letter included the Consumer Federation of America, the SpamCon
Foundation, the Privacy Rights Clearing House, the Coalition Against
Unsolicited Commercial Email and Junkbusters Corp., a group that opposes
invasive marketing of all types.
The major anti-spam measures now before Congress would allow advertisers
to continue sending mass spam, requiring them to remove individuals from
spam lists only upon request.
The proposed federal legislation also would allow government agencies or
Internet service providers, but not individuals, to sue spammers who
violate the law.
All the current bills "are 'opt-out' bills, which basically say spammers
can spam as long as they stop when an individual asks them to stop. They
are basically a federal license to spam," said Jason Catlett, president of
Junkbusters.
People don't have the time to opt out, he said.
"Some people already are getting hundreds of spams per day," Catlett said.
"You could spend most of your working day trying to figure out the
complicated opt-out procedures that spam e-mail requires."
Laws to prevent e-mail spam should mirror federal legislation that allows
people to sue companies that send them junk facsimiles, the groups argue.
Microsoft Corp., AOL Time Warner Inc. and many other companies prefer
opt-out anti-spam legislation and oppose allowing individuals to sue.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates sent a letter this week to Senators John
McCain and Ernest Hollings, chairman and ranking member, respectively, of
the Senate Commerce Committee.
Gates argued that industry should be allowed to set good practices and
regulate itself, and that ISPs and state Attorneys General should be
allowed to prosecute spammers, but that individuals should not.
Lawsuits have already been filed by ISPS including Microsoft, AOL and
EarthLink, as well as by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and many state
attorneys general, Gates said.
Earlier on Thursday, the California State Senate approved a bill, modeled
on the junk fax law, that would force spammers to get permission before
sending e-mail to consumers they don't already have a business relationship
with and allow citizens to sue for $500 for each message.
Delaware is the only state with an opt-in anti-spam law, but only the
Delaware Attorney General can sue spammers, which has never happened,
Catlett said.
Spam has become a scourge in corporate and consumer e-mail inboxes, with
estimates that it represents one-third to half of all e-mail messages and
costs companies billions of dollars each year.
Will Taxing E-Mail Stop Spam?
Lawmakers, antispam activists, and even a self-professed spammer are
mulling several methods for canning spam, from imposing a small charge for
sending e-mail to an international spam treaty.
Congress should impose a small charge for each piece of e-mail sent, one
senator told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee at
a hearing Wednesday.
"I think it's worth looking at some very, very small charge for every
e-mail sent, so small that it would not be onerous for an individual or
business that has regular (e-mail) use, but it would be a deterrent for
those who are sending millions and even billions of these e-mails," said
Senator Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota).
In early March, Dayton introduced the "Computer Owners' Bill of Rights,"
which proposes creating a national antispam registry but does not include
a charge for sending e-mail. But at the hearing, Dayton promoted an e-mail
tax as well as a federal antispam SWAT team to combat growing amounts of
unsolicited commercial e-mail in Internet users' in-boxes.
Dayton's ideas were several advanced at the hearing, where the consensus
seemed that something should be done about spam before it cripples the
Internet. But few senators and witnesses could agree on a solution.
"What was a simple annoyance last year has become a major concern this
year and could cripple one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century
next year if nothing is done," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York
Democrat who proposed an international spam treaty.
E-mail marketers trying to do the right thing by providing contact
information and opt-out links are being driven underground by ISPs that
kill their service, said Ronald Scelson, operator of Scelson Online
Marketing.
Scelson's company has been forced to disguise the sender information of
the 180 million pieces of e-mail it sends daily, Scelson said. One carrier
shut him off after receiving 1200 complaints, he said. But with a 1 percent
response rate on the unsolicited commercial e-mail it sends, far more
people buy the products advertised than complain about the spam, he said.
"Why do more people buy than complain about it?" Scelson asked. "If [the
mail is 100 percent legal, and [ISPs] get a single complaint, they will
turn around and kill your circuit, so we go out of business or we're forced
to forge the headers. The biggest complain is you can't find us. If you
could, you're going to shut us down, so why should we let you find us?"
Some ISPs add to the amount spam costs U.S. busineses - estimated at $10
billion in 2003 - by setting up spam filters that force bulk e-mailers to
send one message at a time. The process eats additional bandwidth at both
ends of the e-mail process.
Outlawing most commercial e-mail amounts to censorship, Scelson said,
asking whether Congress will ban bulk postal mail as well.
"I'm told that there's a lot of cost factors in reading this e-mail,"
Scelson said. "When you read this e-mail, you go through and push
'delete.'" But with postal mail, he said, "you have to walk outside, take
this junk mail out of the box, read this junk mail - have you thought about
how much chemicals, pollution, and trees that are involved with this? And
then you've got to throw it away."
He promised to work with Congress on any spam legislation, and threw his
own spam prevention idea into the mix. Scelson advocates all e-mail
applications include a "no bulk e-mail" box for customers to check,
bouncing bulk e-mail back to the sender.
"It costs no money on AOL's end and no money on our end," he said. It
"costs no money and gives the power back to the people. I agree that there
needs to be a solution, but just don't take the freedom away from the
individual."
Committee members Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, and Ron Wyden, an
Oregon Democrat, promoted their Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited
Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act. The measure, introduced in April,
outlaws false e-mail headers and requires senders of bulk commercial e-mail
to provide legitimate addresses where people can opt out of future e-mail.
But antispam activists have criticized the bill for only setting fines of
$10 per e-mail, instead of requiring bulk e-mailers get advance permission
from recipients.
During the hearing, Commissioner Orson Swindle of the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission repeated criticisms of CAN-SPAM and other antispam legislation
voiced at an FTC spam forum in April. Internet users shouldn't have to opt
out of every piece of junk e-mail they receive, Swindle said. He also
complained that companies don't want to deal with spam complaints because
they might hurt their marketing opportunities.
Swindle advocates a technological solution that allows Internet users to
block all e-mail except from people in their address books. "Give the
consumer the power," he said. "Empower the consumer to say no to what's
coming into his mailbox."
The problem with spam is that it's difficult to find the spammers, calling
into question the effectiveness of most legislation, Swindle said. Senator
Bill Nelson, D-Florida, proposes charging some spammers under racketeering
laws, and Swindle said he's close to supporting criminal penalties for
some spammers.
"What we need are a couple of good hangings," Swindle said. "I have not
seen one piece of legislation that I think would be adequate."
Swindle's comments prompted Wyden to question why the FTC supported an
earlier version of the CAN-SPAM bill, which was passed by the committee
last year but didn't go to a vote of the full Senate.
"When you have the real scofflaws, when you have the real bad actors, those
are not people who are paying attention to what industry self-regulatory
initiatives are all about," he said, countering Swindle's calls for the
industry to police its own. "That's why we've got to move the government
quickly."
Schumer urged an international spam treaty. He has also proposed a national
do-not-spam registry and criminal penalties for fraudulent spam. Without an
international treaty, a U.S. law would cause the "most prolific spammers to
flee to other countries," Schumer said.
A national law is not enough, Schumer added. "The bottom line is that the
second we tighten up enforcement here at home, rogue actors go overseas to
continue their activities," he said. "If we're just focused on curbing spam
here at home, we'll be unsuccessful."
Would an FTC-administered national do-not-spam list work? Swindle said it
would not. "You're talking about an incredibly large database that would
be difficult to secure," he said. "If I'm a spammer, I think that (list)
is a target-rich environment."
Microsoft and Symantec contributed to the hearing as well, offering their
own ideas to combat spam. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called for global
independent trust authorities that could certify legitimate e-mail
solicitations, while Symantec urged increased enforcement of existing fraud
laws and beefing up the prosecutorial staff at the FTC.
The wide range of proposals came from such witnesses as Congress members
and ISPs, the Network Advertising Initiative and the Electronic Privacy
Information Center. All agreed that something must be done to combat spam.
"We needed legislation last year, we needed it yesterday, we need it as
soon as possible," said J. Trevor Hughes, executive director of the Network
Advertising Initiative, a cooperative of Internet advertisers. "Once we
have that, we need strong enforcement."
Not Getting Enough Spam? Here's 10 Ways To Get More
How E-mail addresses attract spam shouldn't be news to IT and security
administrators, but company workers often need reminders. In that vein,
FrontBridge, an E-mail protection vendor, released its top 10 list of ways
spammers find people.
Based on its evaluation of hundreds of millions of messages, FrontBridge
distilled the characteristics of filtered spam to identify how spammers
obtain, or in some cases, guess, E-mail addresses.
Put an E-mail address on a high-traffic Web site.
Post (or reply to a post) on Usenet.
Post (or reply to a post) on a public Web-based discussion group.
Register the address with a Web site that goes out of business and sells
its list.
Register the address with a Web site that sells its list.
Subscribe to a porn site with the address.
Reply to an opt-out E-mail or click on an opt-out link in a message.
Use an address with a common name that can be easily guessed (such as
bob@company.com).
Register a domain name.
Post an E-mail address in a chat room.
Reminding employees of these bad habits, said FrontBridge, will reduce the
risk of having workers inundated by spam.
Updated WinZip Alters Zip Format
WinZip 9.0, from the market leader among file-compression utilities, has
entered public beta with scheduled release later this year, bringing with
it a new .zip format - which means some of its functions will not be
compatible with earlier versions or other programs.
If you use the forthcoming WinZip 9.0's latest encryption and compression
options, or create larger archives than were previously possible, your .zip
files won't be universally readable.
The final version will cost $29, and will be available as a free upgrade
for all registered users. Other new features include HTML help and improved
dialog boxes.
Almost every PC user can open a .zip file. Dedicated compression programs
such as file managers, file viewers, and even Windows XP can handle these
compressed archives. When a format is this ubiquitous, changing it, even to
make major improvements, is risky for all concerned.
Still, the update provides a few handy new functions.
No change to the .zip format is likely to be as welcome as improved
encryption. Using the old standard, a password-protected .zip file was safe
from the prying eyes of an average person, but not those of an average
hacker.
So WinZip 9.0 supports 128- and 256-bit key AES encryption, which is
unlikely to be cracked by anyone. The old password protection is available,
as well.
The new beta can also make your archives smaller with the optional
"enhanced deflate" compression method. But don't expect miracles. Casual
testing shows significant improvements only with files that compressed a
great deal to begin with, such as.bmp files. The current WinZip 8.1 can
read, but not write, "enhanced deflate" .zip files.
The new version's 64-bit extensions mean you can create archives holding
more than 65,535 files and larger than 4GB--assuming you have the hardware
resources and desire. Of the three format changes, this one is least likely
to cause compatibility problems; few people share 5GB files over the
Internet.
WinZip isn't the first company to monkey with the .zip format recently; but
its market share makes it significant. PKWare, the corporate heir to the
late Phil Katz, inventor of the .zip format, has introduced incompatible
options over the years, as well.
In fact, WinZip's enhanced deflate method and 64-bit extensions are based
on, and compatible with, recent PKZip upgrades. PKZip added AES encryption
earlier this year, but the two implementations are not compatible.
WinZip has posted the encryption spec on its Web site. Unlike PKWare,
WinZip will not offer a free viewer for users lacking the appropriate
application.
Will other developers of compression utilities adopt the changes?
Representatives of PentaWare, maker of PentaZip and Aladdin Systems, which
markets Stuff-It, confirm that they are working to make their products
compatible with WinZip 9.0. PKWare has not yet decided whether it will
support WinZip's encryption.
And what about Microsoft? Windows XP handles .zip files transparently, and
less knowledgeable Windows XP users sometimes unzip without even realizing
they're opening compressed files. These people may not know why a
"compressed folder" refuses to open, if Microsoft does not support WinZip's
new format. Microsoft will only say that it "has nothing to announce at
this point."
Whatever happens, it's inevitable that some users will find themselves
looking at a .zip file that they can't open.
House Panel Approves Permanent Internet Tax Ban
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee voted on Thursday to make
permanent a ban on Internet-specific taxes, shrugging off attempts to link
it with a more controversial effort to allow online sales taxes.
The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law passed a measure by
voice vote that would make permanent a ban on "multiple and discriminatory"
taxes on Internet access fees and online traffic due to expire in November.
Senior Bush administration officials last week urged Congress to extend the
ban before it expires, saying new taxes could slow the roll-out of
high-speed Internet access.
The ban does not address online sales taxes, which are currently prohibited
under a 1992 Supreme Court decision that forbids states from taxing
catalog, telephone and other remote sales.
Cash-strapped states, "brick and mortar" retailers and other advocates of
online sales taxes have sought to tie the two issues together, hoping to
link the politically popular moratorium with the more controversial right
to impose sales taxes on the Web.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Chris Cannon said the two issues should be dealt
with separately.
"I think we've come to a point where we understand what we're doing with
the moratorium, and we want to make it permanent," the Utah Republican
said.
Cannon said his committee would hold a hearing to examine state efforts to
simplify their sales-tax codes, which would make collection of such taxes
less difficult.
Microsoft Launches Antivirus Information Site
The timing couldn't have been better. The very day a new worm dubbed Palyh
that targets Windows users is spreading throughout the Internet, Microsoft
launched a new virus information center available at its Web site.
Microsoft has partnered with antivirus vendors Network Associates and Trend
Micro to provide detailed information about significant viruses that target
Windows products and operating systems. The company says it will use
information from Network Associates' Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team and
Trend Micro's TrendLabs to help its customers better combat viruses that
affect Microsoft customers.
Microsoft software and operating systems, because of their ubiquity, are
the target of choice for worm and virus writers. The most lethal worms to
strike the Internet to date, including Code Red, Nimda, and Slammer, all
targeted various Microsoft apps to spread. Microsoft Outlook is the most
targeted E-mail client software by virus writers as well.
The Virus Information Alliance Web site is up and available.
eBay Program Turns Airline Points Into Pennies
Users of the online auction service eBay will now be able to pay for their
purchases with points from frequent flier and hotel loyalty programs.
EBay Inc. has partnered with Sprint Corp., and Hilton Hotels for its new
Anything Points program. Also, through the Web site points.com, American
Airlines frequent flier miles can be converted into eBay Anything Points.
Each point is worth one cent, which can then be used to pay for items won
on eBay auctions. However, the exchange rates are not one-to-one with other
loyalty programs; it takes 10,000 Hilton HHonors points to earn $10 worth
of eBay points.
Sprint will offer points as a bonus for new customers.
While eBay has made no formal announcement of the program, details are
available on the eBay Web site (http://anythingpoints.ebay.com).
=~=~=~=
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