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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 05 Issue 47
Volume 5, Issue 47 Atari Online News, Etc. November 21, 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
Tim Conrardy
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To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
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Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0547 11/21/03
~ Cybercrime Crackdown! ~ People Are Talking! ~ GenEdit Is Updated!
~ SmartScreen Unveiled! ~ Microsoft Loses Suit! ~ Spam Rage Reality!
~ Net Tax Bill Is Close! ~ ASMA Adds New Songs! ~ PayPal Scam Virus!
~ Security Threats Grow! ~ Tax Battle Heats Up! ~ Kazaa Launches Ads!
-* Spyware Is Tricky To Outlaw! *-
-* SCO Group Subpoenas Torvalds, OSDL! *-
-* Ballmer: Security Is Microsoft's Priority! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I don't have much to say this week. However, it just dawned on me that next
week at this time, I'll likely be feasting on Thanksgiving leftovers. I
realize that many of our A-ONE readers are not from the U.S., so please bear
with me. In America, it's a day for giving thanks - for whatever, I guess.
We live in a great country, even with its problems. Hey, where else in the
world could you elect the "Govern-ator"?? Things may not be as pleasant as
we'd all like, but we cope. At least it's a time for gathering of family
and friends, or even spending a quiet day with your immediate family to
enjoy a holiday. From all of us here at A-ONE - Happy Thanksgiving!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
New Version of Hybrid Arts GenEdit !
New Version of Hybrid Arts GenEdit!
I am now happy to announce the availability of a new version of
GenEdit. The original v1.1 did not really work very well. It is now
ver 2.02. Thanks is due to the long persuance [sic] of Joe Hlifka (of
Albuquerque, New Mexico) and his team. Joe has prepared three discs
along with an excellent tutorial/manual and example files. Not only
this but will be making available in the near future a CD ROM of the
complete system. Check it all out on The Hybrid Arts Page
http://tamw.atari-users.net/hyart.htm
Tim Conrardy
Tims Atari MIDI World
http://tamw.atari-users.net
Atari XL Music Archive ASMA v2.7 Adds 124 New Songs
Atari SAP Music Archive, or ASMA, was updated just today. Adding 124 new
songs, it is now totaling 1771 tunes. You will find new (or newly found)
tunes by Radek Sterba, Grayscale (Grzegorz Kwiatek and Lukasz Sychowicz},
Jakub Husak, Tomasz Liebich, and many others. The archive and players can
be found at the ASMA homepage.
http://asma.atari.org/
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone, and we're
now looking forward to Thanksgiving Day here in The States. While we
inventive yanks have come up with several... ummm... interesting ways to
prepare turkey, I must confess that none of them can take the place of
the traditional roasted variety. I love turkey.
I've heard that Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be America's
national bird. Personally, I think that the bald eagle was a better
choice. Had he prevailed, we probably wouldn't be allowed to eat
them.... we'd probably be eating spotted owls for Thanksgiving now!
<grin>
Did I mention that I love turkey? Ah. I see that I did. Well, you get
the idea.
For those of you who don't live in the United States and could care less
about our little self-congratulatory holiday, or those of you who say
that it's a sham because of the way native americans were treated, think
of it as a monument to honest ideals and good intentions. If that
doesn't appease you, all I can say is...
The heck with you... I'M HAVING TURKEY! Did I mention that I love
turkey?
This is going to be a short column... the newsgroup hasn't been pulling
in the posts that it used to. So let's get to the news and stuff. But
before we do, please allow me to wish you a happy, healthy, and safe
holiday. Please don't drink and drive. The life you save may be mine.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
First up, Kenneth Medin asks about ST emulators:
"Has anyone got the latest Gemulator version to boot from a disk image?
I have tried everything(?) I can think of (including HDDRIVER!) but so far
the only solution I have found is to run AHDI.PRG from floppy. As floppy
access is very slow in "Atari disk mode" this is not a usable setup.
The downloadable diskimages in gem2000x.zip from
http://www.emulators.com/ works (but not bootable) but if I try to create
a diskimage file with the built-in function (Tools - Create
unformatted...) the result is 4 bombs if try to boot with it "mounted".
As it says "unformatted" I tried to format it with HDX but this only
gives errors within HDX.PRG . Strange...
I am using an older version (dated 1/1-2001) booting from
diskimages with great success. The version available for download now
(dated 20/4-2001) however does not want to cooperate.
The host system runs Windows 2000 both at home and at work. At work I use
Gemulator to run a rather important TSP (actually "Delivery and Pickup")
application that really benefits from higher cpu speeds compared to my
TT...
I've been thinking of Aranym (have it running under Debian at home) but
it must be able to run under Win2000 at work without too much hassle and
as fast as possible. Which is faster for standard monochrome GEM apps,
Aranym or Gemulator?
Printing is a must and networking would be fun... Does this work
correctly with Aranym under Win2000?"
'Elliot' tells Kenneth:
"I had all sorts of problems with this too (some time ago), I gave up.
Many people were saying it had problems with 2K and XP and I think I did
some tests with a 98 machine and it worked better. People even put this to
the maker but he said it was fine in all Win versions, so.................
I use Steem and play with WIn Aranym from time to time, when it gets better I
will use that the most I think."
Brian Roland adds:
"There is a version of Aranym that works with Windows; albeit without some
functions of the versions for unix (JIT Compiler?). For most non-multimedia
GEM applications (like MPEG movie players) it should work just fine, and
may even work with the movie players and such...just more slowly. It can
be tricky to set up for the first time however...and does require an Atari
type disk image to get started. In your particular case, The only real
advantage I can think of to using this over a Windows ST emulator like
STeem/GEMulator/Winston/etc. is if you want to run things that would
benefit from high resolution displays (I.E. PhotoLine, TrueImage-paint,
Imageview, etc...with lots of colors and bigger screens).
Most of the ST emulators for windows are going to lock you into the
standard display modes (ST Low, Medium, or High). Some of them offer
bigger screen sizes, but you're still going to be locked into the usual ST
pallets and color modes. If you want out of those limitations, AFAIK your
only options are MagiC PC with its specialized version of NVDI, or Aranym.
Out of the Free emulators, I've installed several on my 533mhz Celeron
WinXP box w/256mb memory. I use STeem the most.
I'm working from memory here....
I believe that my Gemulator setup creates itself a C partition each time it
runs that has nothing on it but the hddriver and a desktop.inf file. You
can't write to this tiny little partition (putting in auto folders for
instance). It then puts my disk image as partition D.
Ultimately...I've switched over to STeem. STeem mounts any directory(ies)
of your choice from the windows file system as a virtual hard disk. It
also supports MIDI, ROM-Cartridge images, extended screen sizes, and all in
all, the emulator works pretty dern well.
Drawbacks to STeem as compared with GEMulator are:
You can't mount HD images that I know of.
It can't mount drives A and B to the real floppy drive; however, you can
mount the PC's floppy as a virtual hard disk. Note it has to be a disk of
a format that windows is happy with. When working with floppies, it's best
to make disk images and go from there.
You can't mount actual Atari Hard Drives like you can with GEMulator.
It seems to have problems loading some accessaries from hard drive that it
will load fine when booting from a Floppy Image.
Definite Pluses are:
The MIDI support...
Support for just about every floppy disk image format known to exist...I.E.
MSA images that are zipped can be read and run without being extracted.
You can set up games/utilities/etc as floppy images...double click them
from windows and STeem will boot up a virtual atari just like that...it's
cool.
It's a small download, and doesn't require HDSpace hungry hard drive
images...so, It's no loss to give it a try
http://steem.atari.org "
Paul Lefebvre asks about finding a new AC adaptor for his Daynaport:
"Would anyone happen to know what type of AC adapter works with Daynaport
SCSI/Link-T. The unit itself does not specify the voltage, milliamps or
polarity. It looks like I should be able to get a universal adapter that
could work given the plug size, but I don't want to fry the thing."
Jim DeClercq tells Paul:
"Dayna has a web site, giving specs for their discontinued products.
Without looking again, I think it is 10 volts DC, center positive.
Before you hook it up, you might want to find their site, and confirm
polarity."
Paul tells Jim:
"Apparently the Dayna products were bought by Intel
(http://www.intel.com/support/dayna/index.htm), but no where does it list
the type of specs I'm looking for."
Jim replies:
"My apologies... The web pages I thought were still there were still
there the last time I looked. I do remember that all Dynaport stuff
used the same power supply.
If one was marked 12v center positive, they all take that.
That 10 volt number came from a 1X NEC CDROM I needed to get working
again. 12 v. is probably right for the Dyna.
I have not found the generic replacement power supplies to be
underdesigned. I bought one rated for 750 ma for a 1000 ma application,
and it worked fine, and did not get warm. I think that means that the
smallest you can find at Radio Shack will do the job.
The last I saw of the missing web page, it listed voltage and polarity
only, and not power required. It cannot take much. It only moves
electrons.
I have two of those things, an 801 and an 802, and neither of them
mention the power required."
Brian Roland asks:
"What are some of your favorite games that work in ST High (Monochrome)
mode?"
'Joe' starts off the list:
"Empire
ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/atari/games/Medwayboys/med_026.st "
John Garone adds:
"Add Ballerburg II to the list (find on Chapelie FTP)"
Daniel Dreibelbis jumps in and adds:
"Super Breakout and Onyx are two examples of my favorite games to play
when I had my monochrome ST system."
Grzegorz Pawlik contributes:
"Exodrom
http://gregory.atari.pl/pliki/exodrom.zip
fits exactly into my, erm, intellectual level. <grin>
Maurits van de Kamp adds his picks:
"I like Skulldiggery, a Boulderdash clone written in STOS, and working
nicely in Monochrome. "
'Marius' adds:
"Two of my absolute ALLTIME favorites are:
Secret of Monkey Island
Stone Age
These games are great and work fine on monochrome atari ST system. I don't
know if the 'cracked' versions do, but I have the original disks, and they
work fine on mono."
Matthias Arndt asks about PNG graphics in CAB:
"Does a PNG plug-in or decoder for the old freeware CAB exist for viewing
inline PNG images without an external viewer?
If so, does it work under plain TOS on an unexpanded Falcon?"
Martin Tarenskeen tells Matthias:
"I would suggest to download the demo version of CAB 2.8 from the ASH
website. It is almost fully functional. Only the hotlist doesn't work
(create one with your free CAB version and use that one in CAB 2.8 ).
Get the Dan Ackerman's CAB.OVL for STiK/STiNG, or, if you use MiNT,
the special CAB.OVL for MiNTnet (with SSL support !) and there you go.
Most important, CAB 2.8 supports PNG images. By the way: So does the new
and free Highwire browser. Have you tried that already ? It can't do
everything yet, but it is getting better with every new release."
Matthias replies:
"Seems like a very good idea to me - hotlist is not a problem as that is
rather rudimentary in CAB.
I've tried Highwire but I doubt it will work networked under plain TOS.
I do not like to use MagiC and Mint is not an option due to memory and hard
disk limitations.
PNG support in Highwire is broken btw., it does not render interlaced PNGs
properly.
I'll go with CAB 2.8 - doesn't hurt to try that out."
'Marius' asks:
"Is there anyone who can provide some link of that highwire thing?"
Matthias Arndt tells Marius:
"http://highwire.atari-users.net/"
Well folks, that's it for this week. Please remember to have a SAFE
holiday. Fun and merriment are of little use if you end up injured... or
worse.
'Till next week, remember to make sure you listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - 'Prince of Persia'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Prince of Persia Offers Lush Made-in-Canada Video Gaming Experience
Ubi Soft Canada, the Montreal-based video game designers who won kudos for
their stylish Splinter Cell title, has gone back in time to create another
lush gaming experience.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (available for GameCube, PlayStation 2,
Xbox and PC) takes you to a medieval land where a young prince has been
deceived into triggering an ancient curse. Equipped with a sword and a
magic dagger, the prince joins forces with Princess Farah (a Posh Spice
lookalike) to put things right.
The game, the latest in a Prince of Persia franchise that dates back to
1989, is gorgeous to look at and easy to play. The thin guidebook is
testament to the fact that gamers can learn as they go, helped by simple
yet fluid controls.
Hints help the gamer as they work their way through the early stages.
"It is in fact easy to play, on purpose," said Yannis Mallat, the game's
executive producer.
"But very difficult to master, so that truly everyone can enjoy it."
There are enough advanced moves, such as countering attacks, to satisfy
hardcore gamers, Mallat believes. The fight sequences are simple to play
"but very intense."
While the prince has to fight off a variety of foes, the game also offers a
challenging range of venues - in and around the cursed Palace of Azad.
That means finding secret passages, climbing pillars and swinging on bars
like an Olympic gymnast. The prince can also run along walls - briefly -
which helps his cause.
Adding to his arsenal is the magic dagger, which allows the hero to turn
back or slow time briefly. It's awfully useful when you fall off a cliff
or take a sword to the back.
Rewinding time is a gas, as the prince moves backwards in silky smooth slow
motion, like a dream sequence.
Each chapter is like one big puzzle, with the challenge getting from
point A to B. Visions help the gamer with clues as to what lies ahead.
The made-in-Canada game was 26 months in the making and was built from
scratch. The only thing Mallat's team had in July 2001 was the licence.
At peak times, there were 120 people working on the project.
"Very long hours, especially at the end," said Mallat. "The most devoted
team I've ever seen in my life. Truly we're talking 20 hours a day and
sometimes 36 hours in a row."
The franchise dates back to the original Prince of Persia, created by
Jordan Mechner after graduating from Yale. That was followed by Prince of
Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (1993) and Prince of Persia 3D (1999).
Mallat gave his design team a pair of seemingly contradictory goals: be
faithful to the licence but start with a blank page.
The first two versions of the franchise ended up selling more than three
million copies each and, according to Mallat, helped pave the way for
action-adventure games like Tomb Raider. But the last one, Prince of Persia
3D, did not do well and that put some extra pressure on the Ubi Soft team.
"We knew from the beginning that if we screw up, we screw up the licence
forever," said Mallat.
The backdrop to the game is superb, with Mallat noting that there was
cross-pollination between designers for Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell,
an award-winning game in its own right that shipped first.
Splinter Cell, the story of a covert operative set in the present day, was
widely lauded for such realistic touches as curtains swaying back and forth
in the backgrounds.
It turns out that Prince of Persia inspired the technology.
Mallat asked his designers to come up with a way of depicting a realistic
rope, rather than rely on animation. His designer came up with a code to
capture that realism, using real physics.
"And it was amazing," said Mallat.
A colleague working on Splinter Cell liked what he saw and asked if he
could share the code. Over the weekend, the Splinter Cell designer added
to the design, turning the rope into curtains.
"Which is more rope, put together," explained Mallat. "When we saw that it
was like 'Wow, that's cool. Can we have the curtain."'
The answer was yes, so both games benefited.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hit the shelves with a bevy of awards
already under its belt. The game won a Game Critics Award as the best
action/adventure game showcased at the influential E3 industry convention.
It has also won awards from the IGN.com and GameSpy.com websites, and PSE2
and GamePro magazines.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Microsoft's Ballmer Says Security Is Top Priority
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday security is the
software giant's top priority as it seeks to allay worries about computer
viruses while fending off calls for Asian governments to develop an
alternative to its Windows operating system.
"Our number one priority is investing to make our products more secure,"
Ballmer said in a speech at Tokyo's Waseda University after Microsoft
agreed to cooperate in training students there about security for the
Windows operating system.
The Microsoft head is on a weeklong tour of Japan in which he will seek to
ease concerns about the safety of its products after computer viruses
exploited security holes and brought global Internet traffic to a crawl in
August and September.
Computer industry associations from Japan, South Korea and China said last
Friday they would strongly recommend their governments seek open-source
software, such as Linux, as an alternative to Windows.
Microsoft has said open-source software - which can be copied and modified
freely - does not ensure a safer product.
Critics question the safety of using Microsoft's operating systems for
government computers since the firm, based in Redmond, Washington State,
does not disclose its source codes, the underlying blueprint for its
programs.
Microsoft tried to soothe those concerns by urging Japan to participate in
its Government Security Program, which allows governments and international
organizations access to source codes and special training for officials.
Japan has not yet agreed to join the program, and then trade minister Takeo
Hiranuma said in September it would be useful to seek a new kind of
software.
Ballmer, in a lively 45-minute speech to nearly 600 students, faculty
members and reporters, said software developers and governments should
work together to solve security problems.
"We need to make sure that when there are problems, the damage is small and
quickly corrected."
After the speech, a group of students handed him a huge bouquet of flowers,
while other students crowded around him seeking autographs or handshakes.
New Virus Appears as PayPal Scam
If you get an e-mail message warning you that your PayPal account is about
to expire, don't open it. If you open it, don't double-click the
attachment. If you double-click the attachment, don't complete the form
asking for your credit card information. And if you do fill in the form,
call your credit card company immediately.
And don't blame PayPal. The problem is an e-mail virus, Mimail.I, first
spotted on November 13. Most viruses are sick jokes; this one's out to
steal your money.
Mimail (pronounced "my mail") arrives in an e-mail that appears to be from
PayPal. In very convincing language, it states that your account will
expire soon unless you resubmit your credit card information. "We apologize
for any inconvenience that this may cause," the text politely reads.
The letter even appears concerned about your privacy: "Please do not send
your personal information through e-mail, as it will not be as secure."
Instead, it asks that you run the attached program. That's where you enter
your valuable information, which it then sends to four different e-mail
addresses.
It also scours your hard drive for new e-mail addresses to send the same
bogus message. These messages, like the one you got, are "spoofed" to
appear as if they came from PayPal.
"It appears to be another step in the advancement of spam," says David E.
Sorkin, an associate professor with the Center for Information Technology
and Privacy Law, at John Marshall Law School. "A few months ago there was
talk about spammers using viruses to send spam. Now they're using them for
fraud."
Bryson Gordon, senior product manager for McAfee's Security Consumer
Division, finds this "far more sophisticated in social engineering [than
previous worms]... We're starting to see marked change in the battle with
viruses: a worm for profit."
Luckily Mimail hasn't spread very far - at least not yet.
"It's not a major event. We're seeing less than a hundred infections
overall," says Vincent Weafer, a senior director at antivirus vendor
Symantec Security Response.
As Weafer notes, that can change. "103259 Klez sat around for about a week
and then shot up," he says. But he doubts this one will spread like Klez.
Mimail is a "relatively easy one to explain. You can say 'If you see this,
delete it.'"
But justice is not likely to be served. According to Weafer, the culprits
will get caught "Only if they're stupid." The logical trail to follow, of
course, is the four e-mail addresses embedded in the code, but it's
possible to set up anonymous e-mail accounts without identifying yourself,
or set up an account with a stolen credit card.
One thing is for certain: We'll see this sort of trick again, so it pays
to take precautions.
Be suspicious of any e-mail that asks for personal information, security
experts advise.
PayPal promises it "will never ask for your password or account information
in an e-mail," and most other companies on the Internet do likewise. If an
e-mail message contains a link to a form, examine the URL closely - it
could be just one letter away from the correct domain name.
Report suspicious e-mail to the company that is allegedly its source.
PayPal has an e-mail address, spoof@paypal.com, for just this purpose.
And, of course, keep your antivirus applications and definitions up to
date. Users of Symantec's Norton AntiVirus products, as well as security
programs from BitDefender and Network Associates, were able to download
the appropriate protection by last Friday morning. In addition, both
BitDefender and Network Associates offer free Mimail fixes on their Web
sites.
Spyware Would Be Tricky to Outlaw, Group Says
Lawmakers have yet to get a handle on the best way to combat computer
"spyware" that tracks Internet users' online activity, a nonprofit policy
group said on Tuesday.
Rather than drafting narrowly targeted legislation to outlaw specific
snooping tactics, Congress should establish broad online privacy rights to
protect against secret online surveillance, the Center for Democracy and
Technology said.
Concern about spyware has grown over the past several years as online
advertisers and song-swapping networks like Kazaa have placed programs on
users' computers to monitor their activity or use their computers'
processors for other activities.
Spyware can crash computers or slow their performance, and it is often
difficult to ferret out. Furthermore, many users are frequently unaware
that they are being monitored for commercial purposes.
Though some spyware may violate communications and computer-trespass laws,
most programs are protected by agreements buried in long, detailed
disclosures that users click on when they download other programs, CDT said
in a report.
Some spyware may violate deceptive-business laws, but to date the Federal
Trade Communication has taken no action against spyware merchants.
"We have followed up on some allegations and to date we haven't found
things that violated the law or violated individual privacy," said FTC
spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell, adding that the agency took consumer
privacy seriously.
Several lawmakers have introduced bills targeting spyware, but they are so
broadly written that they could outlaw largely innocuous technologies like
"cookies" and software-update utilities which pose little threat, CDT said.
"The slipperiness of the term 'spyware' makes it very hard to craft a
definition that is precise enough for use in legislation," the report said.
"For this reason, we believe it will be extremely difficult to adequately
address all of the privacy concerns with spyware outside the context of
general privacy legislation."
Attempts to pass a broad online privacy bill have gone nowhere in the past
several years. The Senate Commerce Committee passed one version in the last
session of Congress, but it never came to the floor for a vote.
Kazaa now offers a spyware-free version of its popular "peer to peer"
software.
Security Threats Will Get More Serious
Taking on ever more sophisticated and aggressive cyberattacks requires a
new approach and a lot of security software and services, John Thompson,
chair and chief executive officer of Symantec said on Wednesday in a
keynote speech at Comdex.
Today's practice of applying security updates after a software
vulnerability becomes known or after a virus has been reported won't cut
it in tomorrow's world of super-fast spreading worms and viruses that will
surface with increasing speed after a software flaw is published, Thompson
said.
Soon computers will face "Warhol" threats that spread across the Internet
and infect systems worldwide within 15 minutes, Thompson said, referencing
Andy Warhol's line about 15 minutes of fame. In a few years, the Internet
will be hit by "flash" threats that can spread in just seconds, he said.
"These types of threats are fundamentally unstoppable by today's
technologies. We will need proactive technologies that can protect and
stop new attacks on the fly," he said.
Even more than today, businesses will need multiple layers of security,
starting with securing key applications, and intelligence in the form of
an alert system, Thompson said. "The best way is to know about threats and
vulnerabilities before they occur," he said, pitching his company's
security response and threat management services.
Thompson also criticized the various antispam laws that have been passed
in the U.S., saying that such legislation is "unmanageable" and gives
Internet users "a false sense of hope." Instead Internet service providers
and the industry should take technological measures to block mass
e-mailers, he said.
And for all those unemployed IT workers, Thomson suggested security
training. "We will have a shortfall of tens of thousands of security
professionals in the next couple of years in the U.S.," he said.
One attendee at the Las Vegas trade show said Thompson's speech was
disappointing. The Symantec chief discussed threats, but his speech lacked
concrete advice, said George Hallahan, of Integrated Datasystems, a
computer sales and service point in Keene, New Hampshire.
Congress Reaches Deal on Anti-Spam Bill
The first federal law against unsolicited commercial e-mail - the online
scourge popularly known as "spam" - came a step closer to reality today
after House and Senate negotiators ironed out differences over key
provisions.
The House is expected to vote on the bill today and lawmakers expect to
send it to the White House early next week, said Ken Johnson, a spokesman
for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin
(R-La.).
"For the first time during the Internet era, American consumers will have
the ability to say no to spam," Tauzin said in a prepared statement.
The legislation would empower the Federal Trade Commission to establish a
national "do-not-spam" list similar to the anti-telemarketing "do-not-call"
list, and it would impose stiff jail sentences on e-mail marketers who
violate the law. The compromise bill would also preempt tougher anti-spam
laws already passed by the states.
FTC Chairman Timothy Muris has questioned the feasibility of a do-not-spam
registry, saying it would be cumbersome to administer and wouldn't stop
rogue spammers from sending unwanted mail.
The legislation would make it a crime - punishable by up to five years in
jail - for e-mail marketers to mask their identities by falsifying their
return addresses.
Stiffening an anti-spam bill approved by the Senate last month, the
compromise version would double the largest fines that could be imposed
against spammers from $1 million to $2 million and remove a loophole that
would have allowed marketers to dodge key provisions of the bill in cases
where they have existing relationships with consumers, said Jennifer
O'Shea, spokeswoman for Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).
Anti-spam advocates are unhappy because the deal struck today would
invalidate tougher state anti-spam laws. California and Washington, for
example, allow people to sue spammers, whereas the federal bill does not.
California's law also allows fines against spammers of up to $1,000 per
e-mail message with a cap at $1 million.
Some anti-spam experts also are skeptical of the congressional effort
because it caters to groups like the Direct Marketing Association, which
they consider to be not much different from fly-by-night anonymous
spammers.
Rather than telling marketers to stop sending unsolicited messages, the
bill creates a legal framework for e-mail marketers, and that sends the
wrong message, said John Mozena, the co-founder of the Coalition Against
Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE).
"The problem today is not that there's too much unregulated spam, the
problem is that there's too much spam in general," Mozena said.
U.S. Crackdown on Cybercrime Nets 125
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 125 suspected computer hackers,
identity thieves and other cyberspace scammers in a nationwide crackdown on
Internet crime, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
Those facing charges include run-of-the-mill counterfeiters and software
pirates, as well as a man who illegally tried to sell Congressional Medals
of Honor online and another man who hijacked the Web site of the al-Jazeera
Arabic language news network to display a patriotic U.S. message.
"The information superhighway should be a conduit for communication,
information and commerce, not an expressway to crime," Attorney General
John Ashcroft said. "It is a top federal law enforcement priority to stop
crime on the Internet."
The investigation, dubbed "Operation Cyber Sweep," has uncovered about
125,000 victims with losses topping $100 million over the past several
months. Seventy indictments to date have led to arrests or convictions of
125 people, with more expected as the probe continues.
The investigation involves 34 U.S. attorneys and a host of law enforcement
agencies, including the FBI, Secret Service, Postal Inspection Service and
Federal Trade Commission. Announcement of the arrests was intended in part
to reinforce the government's commitment to tracking down computer crime
perpetrators.
"Cyperspace is not outer space," said FTC Chairman Timothy Muris. "It makes
no difference where you break the law."
Many of the cases detailed Thursday involve stolen credit card numbers,
illegal drugs, and sale of counterfeit goods and computer software. Some
were more unusual:
_John William Racine II, a Web site designer in Norco, Calif., pleaded
guilty to charges of wire fraud and illegal wiretapping after he managed
to divert Internet traffic and e-mail from the al-Jazeera Web site to one
he designed. That site contained an American flag shaped like the United
States and the words "Let Freedom Ring." Racine was sentenced to three
years' probation, a $2,000 fine and 1,000 hours of community service.
_Edward Fedora was charged in western New York with illegal sale of a
Congressional Medal of Honor, which the government alleges he offered to
auction online for up to $30,000. Undercover FBI agents bought one medal
in May and seized another during a meeting with Fedora in Buffalo,
authorities say. One of the medals was awarded for service during the
Spanish-American War and the other to a Civil War soldier who fought at
Gettysburg and Bull Run.
_Allan E. Carlson was charged in a federal indictment in Philadelphia with
hacking into computers around the country to launch e-mail spam attacks
containing his complaints about the management of the Philadelphia Phillies
baseball team. Carlson also was charged with identity theft for allegedly
using in his scheme e-mail addresses of Philadelphia newspaper reporters
and the Phillies.
_Helen Carr pleaded guilty Oct. 28 in Alexandria, Va., federal court to
charges of sending fake e-mails to America Online customers urging them to
update credit card numbers to continue their service. In fact, no such
updates were needed. An accomplice of Carr's is serving a 37-month prison
sentence.
The crackdown stemmed from indications that Internet fraud continues to
rise. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, run in part by the FBI, referred
some 58,000 complaints to law enforcement in the first nine months of 2003,
up 10,000 from 2002.
Earlier this year, a similar Internet crime sweep called "Operation E-Con"
resulted in charges against more than 130 people.
Penis Enlargement Web Ads Prompt California Spam Rage
Call it spam rage: A Silicon Valley computer programmer has been arrested
for threatening to torture and kill employees of the company he blames for
bombarding his computer with Web ads promising to enlarge his penis.
In one of the first prosecutions of its kind in the state that made "road
rage" famous, Charles Booker, 44, was arrested on Thursday and released on
$75,000 bond for making repeated threats to staff of an unnamed Canadian
company between May and July, the U.S. Attorney's office for Northern
California said on Friday.
Booker threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores" to the
company, to "disable" an employee with a bullet and torture him with a
power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and castrate the employees
unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.
In a telephone interview with Reuters, Booker acknowledged that he had
behaved badly but said his computer had been rendered almost unusable for
about two months by a barrage of pop-up advertising and e-mail.
"Here's what happened: I go to their Web site and start complaining to
them, would you please, please, please stop bothering me," he said. "It
just sort of escalated ... and I sort of lost my cool at that point."
Booker, of Sunnyvale, California, now faces up to five years in prison and
a $250,000 fine, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for next month. He
said he did not own any guns or have access to anthrax.
Booker said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded
from the Internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his
computer.
Booker identified the object of his rage as Albion Medical, which claims
to produce the "Only Reliable, Medically Approved Penis Enhancement."
The company's Web site does not provide any telephone numbers for contact.
In other cases, Internet vigilantes have bombarded spammers with both
unsolicited e-mail and regular mail and phone calls, launched attacks on
spammers' computers and posted spammers' personal information on the
Internet, according to reports.
Separately, lawmakers in Washington said the U.S. House of Representatives
could vote as early as Friday on a measure to outlaw most Internet spam.
Lawmakers hope to pass a national anti-spam bill before a much tougher
California state law goes into effect on Jan. 1.
SCO Subpoenas Torvalds, OSDL
The SCO Group is taking aim at Linux creator and founder Linus Torvalds and
the Open Source Development Labs in an open courtroom.
On Wednesday, the Beaverton, Ore.-based Linux organization and its newly
appointed fellow, Torvalds, received subpoenas from attorneys for The SCO
Group regarding the company's pending litigation with IBM.
According to a statement issued on Friday by the OSDL, SCO requested that
the organization and Torvalds release documents to be used in SCO's legal
case against IBM, which was filed last spring.
SCO claims that IBM violated its Unix contract with SCO by improperly
donating Unix code to the Linux kernel. Torvalds is the chief developer of
the Linux kernel.
The OSDL said it will pay for Torvalds' legal representation. The
organization is represented by AterWynne LLP, also of Portland.
Gates Unveils Junk E-Mail Software
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates has announced new junk e-mail filtering
technology called SmartScreen at his keynote address at the annual Comdex
trade show in Las Vegas.
Gates, who was the keynote speaker Sunday at Comdex for the 20th year in a
row, also unveiled new software to improve network security, which will be
available to customers under a "beta" test program starting in January.
The SmartScreen technology will be used in several products. The technology
will use algorithms to judge whether incoming e-mail messages qualify as
junk e-mail and filter them out before they get to the end user's
e-mailbox, said Corey duBrowa, a Microsoft spokesman.
The other product focuses on improving the overall security of a network,
including simplifying how to keep software up to date and with its security
holes patched.
The products fit into Gates' overall discussion of "seamless computing,"
in which computers and other devices can "talk" automatically and trade
data without technological hiccups or security issues.
Such "seamless computing" is happening already on a small level. For
instance, cell phone users are able to connect with their e-mail servers
to read their messages.
Gates also discussed an improved version of Windows XP for tablet PCs -
notebook-like personal computers - due out in the first half of 2004,
according to a Microsoft news release. The new version of the operating
system will include better handwriting recognition software.
Gates demonstrated Microsoft Research's Stuff I've Seen project, which is
developing a tool for rapidly finding material that users have seen -
whether it was an e-mail, Web site or document. The tool is not to be
incorporated in any products anytime soon, but shows people some of where
Microsoft's billions of dollars in research is going, said duBrowa.
A humorous video was also prepared for the address, depicting Gates and
chief executive Steve Ballmer in a spoof of the popular futuristic film,
The Matrix. Gates took the role of spiritual guide Morpheus who gives
Ballmer - playing Neo, the savior - an "innovation pill" to aid him in
battling competitors.
Senators Spar Over Internet Access Taxes
An increasingly acrimonious battle over the size and scope of a bill to
permanently ban Internet access taxes has led to an impasse in the U.S.
Senate that could derail the proposal altogether.
Congress was expected to complete action on the bill before lawmakers
adjourn for the year, but several senators representing states that stand
to lose tax revenue if the proposal becomes law are blocking the measure,
arguing that it would prevent state and local governments from taxing a
raft of other Internet-based products and services.
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) said he will block plans by the moratorium's
chief sponsors - Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and George Allen (R-Va.) - to
include it in a massive $284 billion federal spending package.
Carper said that the moratorium bill's language is so broadly written that
it would free telecommunications carriers from a range of taxes that
provide critical funding for state and local governments.
The Delaware Democrat and his Senate allies said they prefer an alternative
proposal for a two-year extension that would not change the definition of
which Internet services are tax-exempt. Some of the senators come from
states that are currently allowed to tax Internet access under a
grandfather clause included in the original ban. Under the new bill, they
would lose that right.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said that he would seek a
nine-month extension of the tax ban if the senators fail to reach a
compromise.
Allen decried efforts to scale back the permanent ban. "Extending the
current law for nine months is like punting from the 20-yard line right
before halftime," he said. "This is another excuse to provide an
opportunity for States to begin taxing the Internet, especially broadband
DSL."
The Internet tax ban moratorium was first enacted in 1998 and renewed in
2001; it expired again on Nov. 1. Supporters argue that tax exemption keeps
Internet access affordable and entices more consumers to get online. The
telecommunications sector and high-tech businesses are urging Congress to
clarify that states cannot continue taxing Internet access technologies
that were in their infancy five years ago, including DSL.
Supporters say this change is necessary because a growing number of states
and local governments are taxing DSL access like regular telephone service.
States have traditionally taxed telephone service, and say DSL should be
taxed since it is delivered through regular phone lines.
But the states worry that the new language in the bill could be interpreted
to make all kinds of Internet services tax-exempt, including online movie
and music downloads. They also are worried about losing revenues to
Internet-based telephone services, which are becoming more popular.
According to a September study by the Multistate Tax Commission, this could
reduce state and local revenue bases by $8.75 billion annually by 2006.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), cosponsor of the permanent tax ban, said the
states are inflating their loss in a quiet bid to eventually get the power
to tax e-mail and instant messaging services. Wyden said if the Senate
passes anything less than the permanent extension he would push for
additional language in the bill to specially bar states from taxing such
services.
The states that are grandfathered under the original moratorium - Hawaii,
New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Washington and Wisconsin - could collectively lose between $80
million and $120 million a year in tax revenue, the Congressional Budget
Office estimates. But the CBO said the states could lose substantially more
tax revenue depending on how the bill was interpreted.
The Senate version would allow the states to continue collecting Internet
access taxes for three years, while the House's bill would eliminate the
practice as soon as it is signed into law.
The access tax is unrelated to a state-led effort to get congressional
approval to collect taxes on almost all Internet sales.
Kazaa 'Pumps Up The Volume'
Nikki Hemming, the reclusive chief of Kazaa, the wildly popular source of
pirated music and movies, came in from the cold Thursday to urge the U.S.
entertainment industry to work with her global file-sharing service.
Kazaa launches a major promotional campaign next week in newspapers and on
college campuses that asks the 60 million Americans who use file-sharing
services to demand that Hollywood "embrace the revolution" and distribute
licensed movies and music through Kazaa.
"It's intended to galvanize them into action," said the Sydney,
Australia-based Hemming in a rare interview with an American newspaper.
"It's mobilizing a grassroots force we believe is already there, to get
them to write to the industry, to politicians, to each other. I imagine
that if we add 60 million voices to my one voice, then we really will pump
up the volume."
Kazaa has emerged as the leading successor to Napster, the outlaw
file-swapping service that shut down in July 2001. The Kazaa Media Desktop
has been downloaded more than 294 million times - twice that of its closest
rival, Morpheus, and exponentially more than Napster in its heyday.
`Revolution' campaign Kazaa's new "Revolution" campaign comes as
Nielsen//NetRatings finds a dramatic decline in Kazaa's usage since June,
when the Recording Industry Association of America announced plans to sue
individuals for illegally distributing copyrighted songs on file-swapping
networks. Nielsen estimates that half as many U.S. households now download
content from Kazaa, based on its survey of 40,000 homes.
Hemming, chief executive of Sharman Networks, the Australia company that
owns Kazaa, dismissed the Nielsen statistics as misleading. She said Kazaa
experienced a seasonal downturn that occurs every summer when students and
others go on vacation. The lawsuits, rather than scare away users, have
prompted them to embrace legally licensed video games, software and videos,
with 45 million files distributed every month on Kazaa, she said. Some of
those files are for purchase while others are available for a free preview.
The licensed content, distributed through Kazaa's Southern California-based
business partner Altnet, is the cornerstone of Hemming's plans to
commercialize the file-sharing phenomenon. A new version of the Kazaa
service, launched in conjunction with the ad campaign, seeks to entice users
to pay for content by offering bonuses - such as lyrics, a video of the
artist or discounted concert tickets.
Hemming has already struck a deal to distribute a feature-film from
Bollywood studio Yash Raj Films. Hindi-language film, "Supari," is being
offered to Kazaa users for $2.99. About 4 percent of the users who viewed
a free movie preview purchased the film, she said.
"What that says to us is that Kazaa or peer-to-peer as a distribution
mechanism for a feature-length movie - and particularly, of a planned
campaign - can absolutely work," Hemming said. "We may not have Hollywood
today, but we have Bollywood."
Indeed, Hollywood portrays Kazaa and other file-swapping services as the
villain in a movie trailer released last month, which attempts to put a
human face on piracy. It features stuntman Manny Perry who describes the
adverse effects piracy has on the nearly one million Americans who work in
the movie industry.
The music industry has been similarly deaf to Kazaa's overtures. An RIAA
spokesman pointed to the congressional testimony of RIAA Chairman Mitch
Bainwol, in which he called on the file-sharing services to remove
copyrighted works, inform users that uploading and downloading music
without permission is illegal, and to switch off file sharing so that
children and teens don't unwittingly distribute songs from their computer.
"If Kazaa or any file-sharing network wants to be considered responsible
corporate citizens who don't induce their customers to break the law, they
need to first start with these three common-sense steps," RIAA spokesman
Jonathan Lamy said.
Public enemy No. 1 Kazaa's popularity has made it public enemy No. 1 for
the entertainment industry and Congress. The Motion Picture Association of
America's chief executive, Jack Valenti, cited it as the source of
"multiple Maalox moments" for the studios. And Sen. Orrin G. Hatch held a
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this fall exploring its connection with
pornography.
Thirty-one entertainment companies have sued Kazaa's parent company for
allegedly contributing to global piracy of copyrighted works. The studios
and labels also are questioning its business partner, Altnet, a Woodland
Hills firm that distributes thousands of licensed songs, movies and video
games on the file-swapping network.
And the RIAA this fall began suing hundreds of individual users of Kazaa
and other file-swapping networks for illegally distributing copyrighted
songs.
Some surveys suggest the suits, first brought in September, are achieving
the desired effect. Nielsen//NetRatings found that Kazaa use has plummeted
since June, with the number of U.S. households launching the Kazaa
application falling from 7 million U.S. households in early June to 3.2
million for the week of Nov. 9.
Raw data collected by market researcher BigChampagne in Los Angeles shows
that while fewer Americans may be downloading content from home, the
Kazaa's global audience is at an all-time high. That's because people
continue to access Kazaa from college campuses, workplaces and countries
beyond the reach of the American legal system.
"The RIAA campaign clearly is having an effect on some of the target
audience," said Eric Garland, chief executive of BigChampagne. "But, with
this ever-expanding global phenomenon that is as mainstream as the Internet
itself, that's not enough to halt or reverse the growth trend."
Microsoft Loses Patent Suit
A jury has ordered Microsoft to pay $62.3 million in damages for infringing
on a patent held by manufacturing and technology company SPX, the companies
said Friday.
SPX said its Imagexpo subsidiary sued Microsoft in October last year for
infringing on its patent with a feature of Microsoft's NetMeeting
conferencing product. The patent related to real-time conferencing, SPX
said in a statement.
The jury awarded Imagexpo $62.3 million in compensatory damages and found
that Microsoft willfully infringed the patent, the company said. The court
has yet to rule on other aspects of the case that could affect the final
outcome, SPX said.
"We are disappointed in the jury's verdict and we continue to stand firm
in our belief that there is no infringement of any kind on the patent,"
Microsoft spokesperson Stacy Drake said. She added that the Imagexpo and
Microsoft technologies in question are "quite different."
She also said that certain aspects of Microsoft's defense in the case have
yet to be ruled upon.
Microsoft can appeal the outcome of the case, SPX said.
Microsoft infringed on the patent in a feature of its NetMeeting product
called Whiteboard, SPX said. Microsoft stopped offering the Whiteboard
feature in version 3 of NetMeeting, according to information on its Web
site.
"Previous versions of NetMeeting included Whiteboard functionality. We
regret that we are no longer able to offer Whiteboard in this version of
NetMeeting," the Web site states.
Drake said Friday that the lawsuit had "no bearing" on Microsoft's decision
to stop offering the feature.
=~=~=~=
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