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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 06 Issue 11
Volume 6, Issue 11 Atari Online News, Etc. March 12, 2004
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2004
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
David Newman
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0611 03/12/04
~ Oracle, Feds to Court! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Anti-Spam Tactics!
~ PayPal Settles Probe! ~ Booze Site Get Kids! ~ PHP 5 Is Promising!
~ Spam Filters Too Much! ~ SCO's $50 Million! ~ New Atari Doom!
~ ~ PhillyClassic Expo! ~
-* Internet Radio Finds Groove! *-
-* Top E-Mail Providers Sue Spammers! *-
-* ICANN Approves Controversial Name Service! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I knew that I was going to jinx myself last week when I said, "watch, it'll
probably snow this weekend." It did! Not much, but just enough for Mother
Nature to remind us that winter is still here, unfortunately. We also
dodged a couple of storms already this week, one a major Nor'easter! So, I
guess we all have to be a little more patient and wait for that warm weather
to finally arrive for good.
I don't have a lot to say this week even though there are a number or really
interesting stories developing. As you'll see elsewhere in this week's
issue, Oracle and the Feds are heading to court to discuss Oracle's
continuing attempts at a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. Also, an
interesting turn of events with SCO's Linux suits - did Microsoft give SCO
$50 million in aid against Linux users? Kids being wooed to visit alcohol
sites? Are spam filters too aggressive? There's a lot of stuff this week,
so let's get to it!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. This is going to be another short
column... but not quite as short as last week's, I hope.
For my part, I really don't have much to say. Yes, that's a pretty good
indication of how I'm feeling. I seem to be making a little bit of
progress with physical therapy, but being a typical guy, it's not enough
or fast enough.
For anyone who might have missed it, I turned up with a herniated disc
and arthritis in my neck. The one thing I've heard most often from
people... and even from a doctor... is that I'm "too young to have
arthritis".
Unfortunately, that's not true. I know of several people who have
suffered from arthritis from a young age. I'm talking about
ostio-arthritis, which is bad enough, but I know of several people who
have suffered from rheumatoid arthritis from a very young age. I've got
ostio-arthritis, which you can think of as more of a "wear-and-tear"
kind of damage. Rheumatoid arthritis is much worse. It's what happens
when your immune system attacks your own joints. As annoying as my
problem is, it's nothing when compared with what someone with rheumatoid
arthritis deals with.
Well, enough about that. Spring is almost upon us, and one of my
favorite holidays is closing in fast. St. Patrick's day! Now, I'm only
1/8th Irish (the other portions being 1/2 Polish, 1/4 Italian and 1/8th
German), but that cannot dim my love of the traditional holiday meal
for Saint Patrick's Day: Corned beef and cabbage.
Well, from what I understand, the typical resident of Ireland wouldn't
be having corned beef and cabbage. I don't know what they WOULD be
having, but it ain't corned beef.
If you've ever read this column around Thanksgiving and Christmas,
you'll probably remember that I love turkey. Well, corned beef is number
two on the list. And I don't even know why. I mean, it's not
particularly tender, it's certainly not lean, and the amount of sodium
it contains could pickle a... well, a cow, I guess.
Well, while I prepare for the coming feast, let's take a look at the
news, hints, tips, and info available from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Last week, 'Sam' asked about displaying a background picture on his MagiC
desktop. This week, Ekkehard Flessa tells him:
"So you're presumably using Magxdesk. That one is able to set a background
image on it's own. In my german version, that option may be found under
Optionen/Einestellungen, Kategorie: Desktop, Kachel [filename.img]
As for graphics formats: The colour depth of the image should be equal or
less than the colour depth available for screen display, and it's colour
table should match the system colour table in bitplane resolutions.
Pictures from other origins have got to be converted to .IMG and the
appropriate colour depth and colour table first."
Mark Duckworth adds:
"It's not too tough. Check out MagiC's documentation. Under preferences
or settings depending on how your magic is translated you will see a
"desktop" dropdown (there are several different windows available).
Select desktop and there is a thing for image. Double click it and a file
selector will come up. Go to C:\gemsys\gemdesk\pat\256\ and select any
one of these images and hit okay. Whala, desktop changed.
Try it out. You should be able to find where it's at. If you're not
running in 256 cols, you have to use the lesser color ones in the "16"
folder."
Sam tells Mark:
"So you're telling me Magic is capable of this and I don't need picdesk?
Color me dumbfounded!!"
Derryck Croker tells Sam:
"I hate to say this, but...
It's always best to either read the manual or to take a look through all
the menu options for whatever program to look for such settings, especially
when there's a menu set aside for such things in full view..."
Sam changes the subject to messing with icons and posts:
"You know, I've been trying to replace some of the icons. I click on one,
then go to assign icon, select an icon, and nothing happens. What am I
doing wrong?"
Pascal Ricard tells Sam:
"Double-click on the new icon.
As for editing/adding new ones: use a RSC editor.
If you already have a RSC file with the icons for some program, you can
copy it (or a symb link to this file) in c:/gemsys/gemdesk/rsc/ "
John Oakes asks about ethernet for his TT:
"I have decided to link my Atari TT030 to my IBOOKG4. Any tips on how to
link via Ethernec device. I tried to go via a PC but like life the sod did
not want to play ball. So any clues will do."
David Wade asks John:
"What have you tried? What software do you have on the TT030? Direct drive
mapping will required NFS or SAMBA for the TT030 and possibly the IBOOK
(not sure what you are running on it). I think there is a SAMBA client
about but I have never tried it. I use FTP to move files between my PC and
ST and TT."
John replies:
"I am going to try my OSX Panther via router and Atari ethernec."
David explains to John:
"That will only give IP connectivity. The Atari does not have any kind of
drive mapping software by default. If you take a look at at my page at
http://www.dwade.freeserve.co.uk/atari/main.html there is some info about
configuring STING for use with a router."
Rodolphe Czuba posts this about DOOM for Atari:
"Seen on DHS webs site : www.dhs.com
Data of Trio released a new version of Doom for Atari recently.
The new version uses SDL 1.2.7beta which features brand new
chunky-to-planar routines (by Mikael Kalms / TBL). This should be good news
for all Doom-playing CT60-owners as the c2p-routs by kalms are really quick
and optimized for 68060. Download PMDoom v0.30pre3. Visit the page of
Data/trio (Patrice Mandin)."
Clockmeister jumps in and asks:
"Doom, as in the original Doom? I used to run that on my 486 perfectly,
surely anything more then an '040 is overkill?"
Mark Duckworth tells the 'meister:
"The bottleneck is the video, so new c2p routines likely will help that."
Patrice Mandin explains:
"The C2P routine will only be used if you select a 8bit video mode. The
default bit depth on Falcon is 16 bits. Read the README files to know how
to list available video modes and to select one."
Well folks, that's it for this week. See? I told you it was going to be
another short one. Well, tune in again next week, same time, same station,
and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Legends at PhillyClassic Expo!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Newman
Tel 610.527.5325
david@phillyclassic.com
March 11, 2004
Meet the Legends of Video Gaming at PhillyClassic Expo
Philadelphia, PA - PhillyClassic is the largest video game expo on the
East Coast, and now, it has become the main annual gathering place for
living video game "legends" - the creators, programmers, and designers that
bring video games to life.
At least a dozen video game "legends" will be present at this year's
event, March 20-21, 2004 at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of
Prussia, PA.
In recent years the show has featured such notable pioneers as:
* Sid Meier (the "father of computer games" and creator of the
Civilization series)
* Bob Polaro (a notable programmer of one of the earliest video game
systems - the Atari 2600)
* Leonard Herman (author of the historical "bible" of the industry,
Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Videogames)
* John P. Sohl (creator of Astrosmash for the Intellivision system)
* Cassidy Nolen (author of two new games for the old Atari 2600 - Polo
and Frog Pond)
* Christopher Tumber (programmer who wrote numerous classic games for
the Vectrex system)
* Walter Day (Founder and Chief Scorekeeper at Twin Galaxies, the
"Guinness book of records" for videogames)
* Jeff Anderson (curator of Videotopia, the international traveling
museum exhibit of video games)
"This year, we're very excited to have some of our favorite legends
returning, as well as several new ones joining us for the first time,"
says PhillyClassic organizer David Newman of Bryn Mawr, PA. Newman
continues, "It is through our visiting "legends" that our show is able to
connect videogame past and present in an immediate, hands-on way. Gamers
get to talk to the people who created the worlds in which they've spent
countless hours. That's a unique experience that you can't get sitting at
home!"
The guest list for this year's PhillyClassic expo includes:
* Tommy Tallarico - a veritable video game industry icon. As one of
the most successful video game composers in history, he has helped
revolutionize the gaming world, creating unique audio landscapes that
enhance the video gaming experience. As a well-recognized on-air
television personality, Tommy brings his in-depth knowledge, years of
experience, and love of multimedia and video games to PhillyClassic 5.
* Leonard Herman - videogame journalist and author of Phoenix: The
Rise and Fall of Videogames, Lenny will be bringing a special treat to
PhillyClassic attendees: a handmade replica of THE original home video
game console, nicknamed "The Brown Box" (and later known as the Odyssey)
personally built by Ralph Baer, the officially recognized father of video
games. This unit will be available for hands-on play at PhillyClassic!
* Cindy Morgan - in 1981 Cindy played Yori and Lora in the
groundbreaking computer-generated Disney film, TRON. In 2003, she
returned to the TRON universe as the voice of Ma3a for the PC video game
TRON 2.0. Fans may also remember Cindy from her even more famous
(infamous?) role in Caddyshack.
* Howard Scott Warshaw - the Atari programmer and designer responsible
for classic titles such as Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and
E.T. Howard will be at PhillyClassic debuting Saboteur - his new game for
the Atari 2600 - an enjoyable multi-level shooter. Saboteur was never
released by Atari, and at some point work was even done to modify the
game to fit the A-Team television show. Howard will be autographing
copies of Saboteur purchased at the show!
* Jeff Anderson - curator of VIDEOTOPIA, the international traveling
museum exhibit of video games. Jeff has the incredible good fortune to
oversee VIDEOTOPIA's massive collection of over 900 arcade video games.
Jeff and his team will be hand-selecting 50 of their favorite coin-op
arcade games and bringing them to the show floor to serve as the heart of
our PhillyClassic arcade. But you won't need any quarters to play - the
machines will be set on free play for the duration of PhillyClassic!
* Joe Grand - author of Hardware Hacking. In addition to all sorts of
computer modifications, this book has over 120 pages of videogame-related
hacks for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, 8-bit computers, and the
PlayStation2. The book also covers topics such as custom case mods, iPod
hacks, and wireless and mobile device experimentation. Scary!
* Chris Pence - a master arcade technician, Chris will provide a hands-on
workshop where attendees can see and document all the steps he takes
to make a groovy home arcade machine. Chris has re-built over 50 pinball
machines from top to bottom and retrofitted or otherwise worked on
countless arcade cabinets.
* Ed Fleming - is the founder of Videogame.net, the fastest-growing
videogame education program in America. Through boot camps, summer
programs, and continuing education seminars, Videogame.net teaches
students of all ages what it takes to make it in today's videogame
industry. Ed and his team will be hosting a free hands-on game design
seminar on creating videogame characters during the show.
* Deborah Palicia - better known as "Ms. Pac-Man," Deborah is the
author of the book, Pac-Man Collectibles. When Pac-Man hit the arcades in
1980, fans were hooked and Pac-Man plush toys, videos, cereal, puzzles,
magazines, clocks, phones - you name it - were everywhere. Now, you can
see over 400 photographs that document the Pac-Man merchandising
phenomenon. A fun book with market values that Pac-Maniacs will gobble
right up. Autographed copies of the book, as well as a ton of other
Pac-goodies, will be available at PhillyClassic.
* Roger E. Pedersen - has been designing, producing, and programming
games since the early 1980s. His cumulative title sales have surpassed 10
million copies on over 50 titles for PCs, videogame consoles, arcade
machines, as well as web-based and hand-held games. He is the author of
the best-selling book, "Game Design Foundations."
* Aimee Dingman - is an artist who spends a good deal of her time and
talent creating paintings based on videogames. Aimee's unique paintings
will be on display and available for purchase at the show. Aimee says,
"I've been an artist and a gamer all my life. That I have the opportunity
to create paintings that express my love of gaming is absolutely
outstanding! While Atari art is just a part of all that I do as an
artist, it's a big part of how I define myself." Aimee has also donated
two paintings as door prizes.
* Cassidy Nolen - is another arcade restoration wiz and programmer of
new games for the Atari 2600 system, including Polo and Frog Pond, which
will make its debut at PhillyClassic. Cassidy is also bringing with him
(for exhibit and free play) the very first coin-op arcade game, Computer
Space, and also a rare version of a Pong arcade machine made by Williams
Electronics. Cassidy is the webmaster of atarionline.com.
PhillyClassic organizer David Newman concludes, "PhillyClassic focuses
on the amusement and wonder of video gaming, and brings together all the
elements of our videogame culture. These 'living legends' are a huge
part of that."
The 5th annual PhillyClassic video game expo blasts into the Valley
Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA on March 20-21, 2004. Show
hours are Saturday 10am-8pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission is $10 for 1 day
($5 with student ID) and $15 for both days. Kids under 10 are free if
accompanied by an adult (1 child per adult).
For more information, and to register to win t-shirts, prizes, and other
goodies at the show, please visit the PhillyClassic website at:
http://www.phillyclassic.com
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
PayPal Settles N.Y. Probe, Faces Others
Online payment service PayPal has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle charges
that it misled customers who expected refunds when purchases went awry, New
York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said on Monday.
The payment service also faces inquiries from the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission and several states, parent company eBay Inc. said in its annual
report.
The settlement with Spitzer's office clarifies that consumers should not
expect the same level of fraud protection that credit-card companies
provide, a Spitzer aide said.
Meanwhile, PayPal's practice of freezing customer accounts as it
investigates suspicious transactions has drawn federal and state scrutiny,
eBay said.
An eBay spokesman said the FTC had asked the company a number of questions
last year but did not open a formal investigation. Other states are
currently asking questions as well but have not launched investigations,
eBay spokesman Chris Donlay said.
Internet fraud has grown in recent years as scam artists sometimes use
auction services like eBay to sell nonexistent products.
The rate of fraudulent PayPal transactions is less than one-half of one
percent, Donlay said. But due to the sheer volume of transactions it
handles - more than $12.2 billion last year, according to eBay's annual
report - the online service is frequently caught in the middle of disputes.
PayPal is not a credit-card company and is not required by law to provide
"chargebacks" to consumers should a transaction go wrong, a Spitzer aide
said, but the company's customer service agreement had led consumers to
believe they enjoyed such protection.
The company offers protection on purchases up to $500, Donlay said.
PayPal agreed to change its user agreement to more clearly describe
consumer rights, and will pay New York $150,000 in penalties and
investigation costs, Spitzer's office said.
Consumer complaints have also prompted the FTC and other states to
investigate.
"As a result of customer complaints, PayPal has ... received inquiries
regarding its restriction and disclosure practices from the Federal Trade
Commission and the attorneys general of a number of states," eBay said in
its annual report.
"If PayPal's processes are found to violate federal or state law on
consumer protection and unfair business practices, it could be subject to
an enforcement action or fines."
An FTC spokeswoman declined to comment.
Disgruntled buyers in irate postings on Internet message boards have said
that PayPal does not deal with complaints promptly, while sellers say the
payment service is too quick to side with consumers.
One critic said PayPal holds onto the disputed funds as long as possible
for its own gain.
"They only seem to freeze accounts that have thousands of dollars in them,
and then when they freeze them they hold them for six months, so that gives
them six months' free use of other people's money," said Izzy Goodman, a
computer programer whose Web site collects PayPal complaints.
PayPal has recently streamlined the process, Donlay said, and holds onto
the money to make sure that it can be recovered.
"We need to do that to make sure the money is safe while we do the
investigations," Donlay said.
Credit-card companies American Express Co. and Discover, a division of
Morgan Stanley, agreed last year to provide chargebacks for consumers who
used their cards in PayPal transactions but did not receive the goods they
ordered.
Microsoft Behind $50 Million SCO Investment
Executives from Microsoft Corp. introduced The SCO Group Inc. to an
investment fund that provided the Lindon, Utah, company with a US$50
million investment last October, a spokesman for the fund confirmed
Thursday.
Microsoft executives talking to BayStar Capital suggested the investor
should look into SCO as an investment opportunity, said Bob McGrath, a
BayStar spokesman. "BayStar was introduced to SCO by executives at
Microsoft," McGrath said. "We talk to individuals all the time about
investment."
SCO claims that the Linux operating system contains code that violates its
intellectual property rights, and it has launched lawsuits against IBM
Corp. and Novell Inc. in connection with those claims.
Microsoft, whose Windows operating system monopoly is threatened by Linux,
has paid SCO in the past. A 2003 Unix licensing deal between the two
companies earned SCO $16.6 million last year, according to U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
The software giant's role in the BayStar financing, however, had been
unknown until recently. It first came to light last week, when open-source
advocate Eric Raymond published an e-mail written by Mike Anderer, a
consultant with SCO contractor S2 Strategic Consulting LLC that appeared
to suggest that Microsoft had funneled as much as $86 million into the
company
"Microsoft also indicated there was a lot more money out there and they
would clearly rather use BayStar 'like' entities to help us get
signifigantly [sic] more money if we want to grow further or do
acquisitions," the e-mail said.
SCO confirmed the authenticity of the Oct. 12, 2003, e-mail, but dismissed
its contents.
"We believe the e-mail was simply a misunderstanding of the facts by an
outside consultant who was working on a specific, unrelated project to the
BayStar transaction. He was told at the time of his misunderstanding," a
SCO spokesman said last week.
While he did not find it surprising that Microsoft had not made a direct
investment in BayStar, Raymond speculated that the SCO investment probably
involved "an unspoken quid pro quo that would be difficult to verify," on
the part of Microsoft.
"They're admitting the most innocuous parts of the truth in the hopes that
no one will press them to disclose the really juicy stuff," Raymond said
Thursday, suggesting that more disclosures on the relationship between
Microsoft and SCO could emerge should SCO be investigated by the SEC.
So far Microsoft's investment tip has not proved to be a good one. BayStar
purchased stock in SCO for $16.93. With SCO's stock trading at $9.66 on
Thursday, that means BayStar's initial $50 million investment is now worth
$28.5 million.
Microsoft and SCO declined to comment Thursday.
Oracle, Justice Dept. to Meet in Court
An antitrust lawsuit blocking Oracle Corp.'s hostile $9.4 billion bid for
rival PeopleSoft Inc. will go to trial June 7, accelerating the timetable
for a case that may reveal sensitive information about some of the world's
biggest software companies.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker set the trial date in a Wednesday
court hearing that also featured a fight to shield prized information
collected by the federal government from two of Oracle's in-house
attorneys.
The June 7 date means the pivotal trial will start two weeks earlier than
Oracle and the Justice Department had requested in a court filing earlier
this week.
Walker told lawyers he is eager to get the trial completed so the losing
side can make a likely appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. Walker
plans to allot roughly a month for Oracle and the Justice Department to
make their cases so he might be able to rule in July.
A Supreme Court appeal of Walker's decision probably wouldn't be heard
until autumn, further prolonging a high-tech showdown that began last June
when Oracle first made its unsolicited takeover bid for its rival maker of
business applications software.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft already has rejected Oracle's
$26-per-share offer, but the bid might still entice the company's
shareholders if Redwood Shores-based Oracle can prevail in the antitrust
battle.
The most contentious issue in Wednesday's hearing centered on a motion
demanding two of Oracle's in-house attorneys, Dorian Daley and Jeff Ross,
be given copies of confidential data that the government collected from 33
companies during an eight-month investigation.
The government agreed that all the information should be turned over to
Oracle's law firm, Latham & Watkins, but wants the flexibility to withhold
some documents from Daley and Ross, citing the concerns of the companies
that turned over the information.
Justice Department lawyer J. Bruce McDonald said some of the cooperating
companies are worried about Oracle exploiting the confidential information
to gain a competitive edge.
Oracle attorney Daniel Wall argued his company would be at an unfair
advantage if two of its own lawyers didn't have full access to the
evidence.
Walker sided with Oracle, saying he is confident Daley and Ross won't
share the confidential information with other Oracle employees. He gave
the 33 affected companies until Tuesday to explain why some data shouldn't
be shared with Oracle's in-house lawyers.
McDonald didn't identify any of the 33 companies, saying the group
consisted of Oracle competitors, suppliers and customers.
Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software company, is widely believed
to be among the cooperating companies because its plans to compete with the
Oracle and PeopleSoft market are crucial to the antitrust case.
After the court hearing, McDonald declined comment when asked if Microsoft
is among the 33 companies. He predicted extensive information about many
of the software industry's key players is bound to emerge during the
antitrust trial.
Top E-Mail Providers Sue Spammers Under New Law
Four of the nation's largest e-mail providers said on Wednesday they had
sued hundreds of online marketers under a new federal law that outlaws the
worst kinds of "spam" e-mail.
The lawsuits - filed by EarthLink Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and
Time Warner Inc. unit America Online - mark the first time the law has been
tested since it took effect in January.
Six suits were filed in federal courts in California, Georgia, Virginia and
Washington state. They claim the defendants obscured their identities and
used other deceptive tactics to send out hundreds of millions of pitches
for get-rich-quick schemes, pornography and other types of spam.
Company officials said the CAN-SPAM Act, passed last year, makes their
fight easier by imposing national standards and increasing penalties to
force spammers out of business.
"The lawsuits we file now have some added punch they didn't have before,"
AOL General Counsel Randall Boe told reporters at a news conference.
Spam accounted for 62 percent of all e-mail in February 2004, up from 50
percent six months earlier, according to anti-spam company Brightmail Inc.
Internet providers say the unwanted traffic drives up bandwidth costs and
frustrates customers.
The lawsuits filed Tuesday night invoke a wide array of federal and state
laws, from trespass to trademark and organized crime statutes. But much of
the behavior in question is specifically outlawed by CAN-SPAM.
Defendants falsified return addresses, routed their messages through other
computers to cover their tracks, and used misleading subject lines like
"important message from AOL," the lawsuits charged.
One group of defendants in Canada sent nearly 100 million messages to Yahoo
customers in January alone and resold the e-mail addresses of those who
asked to be taken off their mailing list, according to one lawsuit.
Eric Head, Matthew Head and Barry Head of Kitchener, Ontario, also tried to
circumvent spam filters by including random, invisible text in each
message, the lawsuit alleged.
The defendants could not be reached for comment.
"It's a myth that somehow you can evade the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts
by putting a computer offshore," said Microsoft Deputy General Counsel
Nancy Anderson. "Most of the individuals involved in spam reside in the
United States."
The civil suits filed by the e-mail providers seek unspecified amounts of
damages and penalties. Violators could also face jail time under the new
law, though government prosecutors have filed no criminal charges yet.
"Every major case we've filed, we've definitely had law-enforcement
interest and generally followed up, so I expect something will come out of
this as well," said EarthLink Chief Privacy Officer Les Seagraves.
The Federal Trade Commission has several spam cases in the works, a
spokeswoman said.
An FBI spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
One privacy activist noted that Internet providers had ensured that the
new law would prevent individual lawsuits, so their own marketing efforts
wouldn't get them in hot water.
"Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo all send out vast quantities of e-mail, and they
don't want to get sued," said Jason Catlett, president of the Junkbusters
Corp. consulting firm. "There could have been thousands of litigants
against spammers, not four."
U.S. Regulators to Weigh Anti-Spam Tactics
U.S. regulators said on Thursday they would seek to prevent "spam" messages
from reaching mobile phones and consider setting up a registry of e-mail
users who don't want to receive junk messages.
The Federal Communications Commission said it would look into ways to keep
cell phones free of the unwanted messages that plague computer networks,
while the Federal Trade Commission said it would explore whether it could
duplicate its "Do Not Call" anti-telemarketing registry for e-mail users.
At separate events, the heads of both agencies displayed starkly
contrasting levels of enthusiasm for their tasks.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell likened spam messages to "cockroaches" and said
he hoped government and private-sector efforts could "exterminate them from
your electronic living room" at an agency meeting.
FTC Chairman Timothy Muris, meanwhile, repeated his doubts that a
do-not-spam list could work against rogue marketers who already flout the
law.
"I've seen nothing to change my mind, but we are doing an in-depth study,
and perhaps there will be some new evidence that comes out of that study,"
Muris told a conference of consumer advocates.
Get-rich-quick schemes, pornography and other unsolicited bulk messages
account for 62 percent of all e-mail traffic, according to filtering firm
Brightmail Inc.
Consumer outrage spurred Congress to outlaw many of the worst forms of spam
last year. The law has already been invoked by four large Internet
providers in suits against online marketers, and FTC investigators say they
are preparing several cases as well.
But other aspects of the law, such as how to label pornographic messages,
need to be fleshed out by regulators before they can take effect.
Cell-phone spam has emerged as a major problem in countries like Japan,
where "text messaging" is popular.
U.S. carriers say they have largely controlled the problem so far as they
have much greater control over their networks than do Internet providers.
FCC regulators will ask for public comments as they try to figure out how
to distinguish unwanted spam from legitimate messages, how to allow
mobile-phone users to block unsolicited messages or tell marketers to leave
them alone.
The agency will also consider whether to set up a "do-not-spam" list of
text-message addresses. A report is due in late September.
The FTC will tell Congress by June 16 whether a no-spam list could help
regular e-mail users receive less spam.
The agency's Do Not Call registry for those who do not want to receive
telemarketing calls has been widely hailed as a success, attracting some
58 million phone numbers since it was rolled out last July.
But unlike telemarketers, who respected the list even as they challenged
it in court, spammers are likely to simply ignore a do-not-spam list, Muris
said.
"I said last summer I would advise you not to waste your time to sign up if
there was such a registry, because again we're dealing with people who are
already violating a lot of laws," he said.
Spam Filters Often Lose E-Mails
As spam-fighting tools become increasingly aggressive, e-mail recipients
risk losing newsletters and promotions they've requested.
A new study attempts to quantify missed bulk mailings. Return Path, a
company that monitors e-mail performance for online marketers, found that
nearly 19 percent of e-mail sent by its customers never reached the inboxes
of intended recipients.
The figure, for the last half of 2003, is up 3.7 percentage points from the
same period in 2002.
In some cases, the messages weren't delivered at all; in other cases,
messages wound up in spam folders that are rarely checked. Though technical
glitches can also cause mail to disappear, Return Path blames most of the
deletions on spam filters.
Major e-mail service providers, aware that filters can falsely tag messages
as spam, have been working on better tools to verify senders of e-mail, so
that legitimate mailings can get through.
Promotions and greeting cards were the types of messages most likely to
disappear, the study found.
The study was based on a snapshot of messages sent by 100 Return Path
customers. Return Path set up test mailboxes with 18 major Internet service
providers and monitored about one-fourth of the 120,000 marketing campaigns
from those customers.
ICANN Board Approves Controversial Domain Name Service
While a controversial back-ordering service for Web addresses moved another
step closer to becoming a reality over the weekend, pending lawsuits leave
its future murky.
The board of directors for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers on Saturday approved the back-ordering service, called the wait
listing service (WLS), during their Rome meeting. The unanimous board vote
followed the end of negotiations between ICANN and VeriSign Inc., which had
proposed the service about two years ago.
The WLS would allow those seeking a particular domain name to pay for the
right to claim it in the event the current registration expires. It has
spawned lawsuits and Congressional hearings questioning whether VeriSign,
as the sole registry for the Internet's top domains, .com and .net, should
run such a service.
Even as the back-ordering service gains approval, its future remains
uncertain. VeriSign last month sued ICANN challenging whether the
non-profit corporation has the authority to regulate and restrict the types
of services it can offer in the domain-name registry area. In the lawsuit
filed earlier this month, VeriSign cites the WLS as one of a series of
services that it says fall outside of ICANN's approval.
A VeriSign spokesman on Monday said that the company will continue to
cooperate with ICANN concerning the WLS and looks "forward to a
resolution."
"We may disagree about whether or not the WLS is a registry service and
requires the 2 f year process it has gone through," VeriSign spokesman Tom
Galvin said. "(But) we are always going to coordinate and cooperate with
ICANN because it's the appropriate thing to do."
ICANN officials say the oversight body will continue its work on the
service despite the lawsuit.
"We're moving forward with business as usual on it, and the lawsuit is not
affecting ICANN's process for the WLS," Jeffrey said.
Ironically, while VeriSign's lawsuit challenges ICANN's right to regulate
it, a group of eight registrars are suing ICANN to block the WLS
altogether. They allege that the service, in its current form, would harm
consumers and threaten competition.
Derek Newman, the attorney representing the group of registrars, said on
Monday that he planned to seek an injunction if the Commerce Department
approves the service.
"We would expect (the Commerce Department) to rubber stamp it," said
Newman, of Newman & Newman, Attorneys At Law, LLP, in Seattle. "As far as
ICANN is concerned, the WLS is approved."
During ICANN's weeklong meetings in Rome last week, the VeriSign-proposed
back-ordering service drew criticism during periods of public comment,
according to registrars who attended. To Ric Chambers, managing principal
of registrar R. Lee Chambers Co. LLC of Ooltewah, Tenn., a plaintiff in
the ICANN lawsuit, the board seemed determined to approve the service
regardless of the objections raised in Rome.
"It is hard to reconcile the level of disagreement on the WLS and a vote of
the board," Chambers said in a statement. "It suggests that there was more
going on here this week than was seen and heard in the public meetings."
In other action, ICANN's board voted to start developing a process for the
opening up bidding for operation of the .net domain. VeriSign's registry
contract for .net expires in June 2005. ICANN plans to develop a process by
June 30 of this year.
Alcohol Web Sites Attracting Kids
Alcohol company Web sites are offering a "cyber playground" for underage
youths despite promises from the companies to limit their access, according
to a study released Tuesday.
The study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown
University estimated that alcohol company Web sites received nearly 700,000
visits by underage people from July through December. Many played video
games and downloaded music, e-mail gadgets and icons - all the while
immersed in the marketing of beer and liquor, center director Jim O'Hara
said.
"These alcohol Web sites are a virtual cyber playground with no adult
supervision," O'Hara said. "If a liquor store were this ineffective in
policing underage visits, the community would be up in arms."
Frank Coleman of the Distilled Spirits Council in Washington called the
study a publicity stunt aimed at generating fund raising. He said the
Federal Trade Commission has "reviewed our ads and said they were directed
to adults, that our Web content is directed to adults and that 99.9 percent
of them had age verification in place, in addition to having responsible
drinking messages throughout."
For the study, the Internet audience-measuring service comScore Media
Metrix used its panel of U.S. residents as a statistical sampling of
Internet users. The study was not a survey but instead monitored actual
Internet usage, O'Hara said.
The study showed that about 13 percent of all visitors to 55 alcohol
company Web sites were under the legal drinking age of 21. The most popular
sites among young people involving distilled spirits, beer and so-called
"malternatives," generally sweet-tasting alcohol products.
Bacardi's site - www.bacardi.com - received about 59 percent of its visits
from underage persons, according to the study. The two sites receiving the
most total hits from underage users were both affiliated with St.
Louis-based beer giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. - www.budlight.com and
www.budweiser.com. Both received more than 90,000 estimated visits during
the six-month study period.
Parental controls on computers block some, but not all sites, O'Hara said.
The study found that while six of eight parental-control programs studied
blocked access to the Bud Light site, only one kept underage users away
from Bacardi's.
The sites themselves generally require age verification, though there is no
way to verify the truthfulness of the user.
The study found that games were featured on 10 of 15 beer Web sites, seven
of 19 sites for distilled spirits and four of 12 for so-called
"malternatives" - beverages that are malt-based like beer but flavored to
taste like liquor.
"There are a lot of features that appear to be in conflict with the
industry's own marketing and advertising codes, where they shouldn't be
using toys and games," O'Hara said.
Eric Shepard, executive editor of Beer Marketer's Insight magazine, said
many 20-somethings play video games, too.
"I don't know how you keep people off a Web site," Shepard said. "What do
you do? Take a credit card?"
Anheuser-Busch did not return telephone calls Monday seeking comment.
Bacardi USA spokeswoman Pat Neal had not seen the report but said the
company was "highly suspect of the science behind it."
"We are responsible marketers and we do not target underage consumers,"
Neal said.
Internet Radio Finds Its Groove
Bluegrass fans in the U.S. capital yodeled in protest when radio station
WAMU scaled back its music programing in the summer of 2001 in favor of
more news and talk shows.
On the floor of the House of Representatives, North Carolina Republican
Howard Coble suggested that station managers need to be "introduced to the
woodshed" for dropping the likes of Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe.
But while Washingtonians may no longer be able to hear that high, lonesome
sound when they drive home from work, they can listen all day at the office
as WAMU disc jockeys now broadcast online at
http://www.bluegrasscountry.org/.
The Web site, which is affiliated with the member-supported radio station,
"streams" bluegrass music around the clock and draws roughly 175,000
listeners per month, some from as far away as Australia and Japan.
Broadcast radio stations may be evolving into the aural equivalent of
Burger King, offering the same focus-group tested playlists across the
United States, but music fans looking for more flavorful fare can pick from
more than 5,000 options on the Internet, where "Webcasters" offer
everything from Iranian pop to hip-hop subgenres like turntablism.
"The commercial broadcasters have abandoned all but the top few formats,"
said bluegrasscountry.org manager Dick Cassidy. "Whether it's jazz,
classical, show tunes or whatever, you can get a lot of that on the Web if
you want it."
The medium has found a niche among office workers, where a pair of
headphones plugged into a computer may be less intrusive than a desktop
radio.
Top services now attract more than 1 million listeners per week, according
to research firm Arbitron Inc. .
One address - http://www.shoutcast.com - points to thousands of different
stations. There's western swing at http://www.steelradio.com/, ambient
techno and lounge music at http://www.somafm.com/ and favorite porno film
soundtracks at http://fluffertrax.com/.
Many conventional radio stations also "simulcast" their signals to reach a
broader audience. Seattle's KEXP (http://www.kexp.org), which relies on
listener contributions, says 20 percent of pledges come from outside
Washington state.
Anybody with a computer, a CD collection and broadcast software like
Destiny Media Technologies Inc.'s Pirate Radio (http://www.pirateradio.com)
can set up an online radio station. But staying online can be tough.
Unlike regular radio stations, success spells higher expenses for online
broadcasters because they must buy more bandwidth as their audience grows.
Most are also liable for royalties to performers, songwriters and record
labels.
"I think the struggle right now is, 'Hey, it's time to make some money on
this,"' said Paul Maloney, editor of the Radio and Internet Newsletter, an
online trade journal at http://www.kurthanson.com/.
Some stations slip in commercials between songs, but avid listeners may
find it worthwhile to pay a monthly fee to enjoy more features, fewer ads
or better sound quality.
Pioneer service NetRadio Corp. pulled the plug in 2001 after funding dried
up, but emerged a year later as a subscription service
(http://www.netradio.com) offering jazz and classical-music broadcasts for
$8.99 per month.
Yahoo Inc.'s LaunchCast (http://launch.yahoo.com) offers some channels for
free and allows listeners to build their own stations around their favorite
music.
Users specify their favorite artists, and LaunchCast builds a custom
playlist of similar material, based on the same technology Amazon.com Inc.
(http://www.amazon.com) uses to recommend books.
Those who pay $3.99 a month enjoy a wider selection of commercial-free
music, better sound quality and the ability to skip past songs they don't
like. They can also create multiple custom stations.
America Online (http://www.aol.com), a division of Time Warner Inc., touts
its 175 net-radio stations when it tries to convince dialup customers to
upgrade to broadband service, where sound quality is noticeably better.
AOL's service has been a hit, claiming 14 of the top 20 most-heard
stations, according to Arbitron. Popular broadcast formats such as smooth
jazz, soft rock and "Awesome 80s" loom large on the list.
But specialized operators say they're unlikely to get crowded off the dial
this time.
Bluegrasscountry.org is "pretty close" to meeting its expenses, thanks to
bandwidth-saving technology, donations from listeners, and underwriting
support from bluegrass festivals and other businesses.
"We are supported pretty much by those wonderful people who like what we're
doing," Cassidy said.
Will PHP 5 Live Up to Its Billing?
PHP, the open-source scripting language popular in Web applications, is
undergoing major renovations. The new version, PHP 5, already has appeared
in three public betas and will be in a fourth beta shortly. The development
team is aiming for May 2004 availability.
PHP 5 promises Web developers an environment that contains a revised
object-oriented programming approach, better XML support, and built-in SQL
database capabilities. While those changes may sound trivial, they are
nothing short of a major improvement in a language that is being used more
and more in large enterprises.
Previous versions of PHP had some form of object-oriented support, but it
was very limited, Zuraski said. "The lack of a strong object-oriented
interface began to show" as developers pushed PHP's capabilities. The new
version of PHP is what Java would have been if it were a scripting
language, he explained. "If you're creating hybrid applications that
contain some Java components and PHP, then the syntax, behavior and
semantics will be quite similar."
In PHP 4, objects were nothing more than a fancy array, said John
Coggeshall, author of "The PHP Developer's Handbook."
"Since then, Zend Engine 2 (the core scripting engine of PHP) completely
gutted that system and re-implemented objects in a more logical fashion,"
Coggeshall told NewsFactor. "[PHP 5] is modeled on a real object-oriented
approach to programming," he said.
Another important capability in PHP 5 is improved native XML support.
Formerly, PHP was no better than Java or any other language at processing
XML. For example, if a programmer had two different XML extensions, they
were not interoperable, Coggeshall pointed out.
With PHP 5, however, working with XML is much simpler. XML parsers, for
instance, can be manipulated as if they were PHP objects, Zuraski said.
The new implementation drastically cuts the amount of code that has to be
written to get or exchange a piece of XML data. "It makes PHP at least
one, ... if not the best, language for processing XML," he said.
PHP 5 builds on that XML support to provide programmers a better way to
develop and consume Web services, Zuraski said. With a new SOAP (simple
object access protocol) interface written in C, PHP programmers can develop
Web services more easily. "Earlier, if you wanted to write a Web service or
access you had to do most of the plumbing yourself," Zuraski said. "The
[new] functions and objects give [the programmer] an abstraction of SOAP
and hide all the plumbing details."
PHP always has been good for creating dynamic-content Web applications that
use server resources efficiently. But now developing those applications
will become even easier. An important addition to PHP is the addition of
SQLite, a lightweight implementation of SQL that obviates the need for the
developer to install or integrate a full-fledged SQL data engine.
In PHP 4, a developer had to use a "roll-your-own" file system storage
technique or use a database extension, Coggeshall explained. "SQLite can
open up fields directly on the filesystem. [There's] no longer a need to
write to a proprietary storage system," he said.
Because the data resides on the same server as the application, the setup
is ideal for applications that do not need a central database or a cluster
of servers, Zuraski said. The license is open source, and SQLite consumes
very little memory, he noted.
The only downside to SQLite is that that a developer would not to want to
use it when the application requires more than one Web server, Zuraski
said. It also should not be used for applications that perform many
simultaneous reads and writes. "Database-wide locking will hurt performance
quite a bit," he explained.
"It does have an upper limit as to the requests per second you can
process," Coggeshall acknowledged. "It's good for smaller applications or
useful as a fallback database system."
With all of the fundamental changes to PHP, it is unrealistic to expect
100 percent backward compatibility in PHP 5, Coggeshall said. "The goal is
to get [compatibility] as close as possible."
Coggeshall recently attempted to get an object-based library working under
PHP 5 and found that about 99 percent of the code worked. "There were only
very minor differences and they were easy to spot and correct," he said.
The only "complaint" Coggeshall has about PHP 5 is that the superiority of
PHP 5's object model accentuates the inefficiency of PHP 4 scripts. "There
is no need to rewrite scripts," he said. "But I feel compelled to."
PHP 5 could remove a barrier to entry for enterprises wanting to use PHP
to develop fast Web applications, said George Schlossnagle, a principal at
OmniTI, which builds high-speed Web and e-mail architectures. "As [PHP]
tries to move into those enterprises, programmers want to reuse the
object-oriented techniques they have learned," Schlossnagle told
NewsFactor. College graduates from the past 10 years consider
object-oriented support a core feature, he said.
For the most part, PHP developers will not be breaking down doors to get
the new version of PHP. In a recent survey conducted by Zend Technologies,
about 20 percent of respondents said they planned to upgrade as soon as
PHP 5 is released. About 75 percent said they would upgrade within one
year. The rest responded by saying they did not plan to upgrade.
"There are definitely a lot of people anxious to have PHP 5 get out the
door," Schlossnagle said. "But there are other people - more conservative
- who are interested in it being stable before they adopt it."
Most of the users and companies that are just now migrating to PHP are
going to use PHP 5 and not bother with PHP 4, Zuraski said. But it will
take more than a year before most programmers have switched to the new
version.
=~=~=~=
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