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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 05 Issue 17
Volume 5, Issue 17 Atari Online News, Etc. April 25, 2003
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2003
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0517 04/25/03
~ Song Swappers Revealed? ~ People Are Talking! ~ Spammers Fight Back!
~ Shut Down Grokster? No! ~ New Privacy Laws Erupt ~ People Like 'Edgy'!
~ Apple Updates iBook! ~ Beware Web Mystery Fee ~ Antispam Registry?
~ PlayStation2 Sales Wane ~ Mortal Kombat Ad Angst ~ AMD Ships Opteron!
-* Amazon Violates Web Privacy? *-
-* eBay Patent-Infringement Trial On! *-
-* Apple Readies New Online Music Services! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's apparent that the antispam movement is starting to make headway, as
suggested in an article we've included this week. The e-mail marketing
industry (the spammers) are making attempts to fight back. It's hilarious.
Their strategy is to prove that the antispam movement is interfering with
their business. They claim that the movement is trying to have numerous
online networks remove the marketers from their services. They go on to
claim that the antispam movement is preventing the marketers' message from
getting to the American people! And, that they're doing so for their own
financial gain.
Talk about smoke and mirrors! E-mail marketers, aka SPAMMERS, will come up
with just about anything to retain their ability to send unsolicited junk
via the internet and e-mail. Well, people are sick of this stuff. I fully
support the antispam movement; I've made that quite clear in the past, along
with my other "marketing" pet peeves! I'm enjoying being able to watch the
spammers start to feel the heat. The antispam campaign may just take hold
and be achieved. Chalk one up for the home team for a change!
Well, seasonal events in these parts - such as the Boston Marathon, Patriots
Day, and the Red Sox playing at Fenway prove that we're in Spring, but the
weather still isn't reflecting it! Maybe we'll go right from winter to
summer, as has been typical the past few years. I don't know about you, but
I really enjoy the gradual move between seasons! I'm getting too old
(shaddup Joe!) for these radical temperature fluctuations. Oh well, there's
always next week!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. This week has been another hectic one for
me, and I'm assuming that I'm not alone in that.
It seems that, no matter whether the economy is good or bad, fast or
sluggish, those of us who actually do the work are asked to go at an
ever-increasing rate of speed.
Now, I'm not looking to start one of those "class struggle" kinds of
arguments here. All I'm saying is that most of us are having to work
harder for less of just about everything... less money (after taxes,
anyway), less free time, even less legal rights in the workplace.
You've probably heard me say it before, but they figure that prehistoric
man spent about 20 hours a week to hunt and/or gather everything he
needed to support his family for the week. True, he didn't have cable
bills and tuition to think about, but the bottom line is that he could
give them everything necessary to compete with only 20 hours of work.
Today, a lot of us put in more than the benchmark 40 hours per week. Some
of us put in a lot more. It was those of us for whom money isn't simply a
"given" that Atari computers were so special.
Sure, there was the Timex-Sinclair ZX81 and the TI99-4A, and even the
Coleco ADAM, but Atari's computers were special... they had something
that I'd never seen in a computer before... they had personality.
Here was a machine that I was happy to spend some money on. It 'felt'
right. Know what I mean? And even after all these years I've never been
able to put my finger on exactly what caused that feeling. Truth be told,
I stopped trying to figure it out years ago. I came to the conclusion
that it really didn't matter, and I've been content with that ever since.
It's funny, but even upgrades like Multi-TOS, MiNT and MagiC weren't
going to catch my interest much. NeoDesk and Geneva were, in my opinion,
the epitome of Atari computing, and whenever I think about my ideal
computer environment, that's what I picture.
Does that mean that I think that EVERYONE should be using it? Hell no.
First of all, Dan couldn't handle having all that money. <grin> Second,
it worked for me because of the way I did things. I know several people
who simply didn't care for NeoDesk/Geneva. And that's... okay. We don't
all need to be the same, we just need to understand that 'different'
doesn't mean 'wrong'. And, no, I'm not just talking about computing.
Now let's get to the news and stuff from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st newsgroup
====================================
'Tim' asks about hard drive booting:
"Which ST's and or TOS Rev's will support autobooting of HD's? I have
TOS 1.04."
Bob Brodie tells Tim:
"All of versions of TOS support autobooting of the hard disk, however,
you need to have the hard disk driver in order for the drive to autoboot.
The ST was not designed to recognize the HD without the driver."
Tim tries to get it straight in his head:
"So no autobooting straight from the HD? A boot floppy is needed!?!?!"
Peter West tells Tim:
"No, only the first time you use the driver software. This installs the
driver on the boot partition of the hard drive. You then need to install
the icons for the drives manually with the TOS desktop - others like
Thing and jinnee have an 'Install drives' or 'Mount devices' menu
function to do this. Don't forget to save the desktop or configuration,
so that the drive icons will be there next time you boot.
Note that you should keep a copy of the driver software handy on a
floppy, just in case the boot sector gets corrupted."
Tim now asks:
"So what HD software do you recommend? I will be using ICD's The Link 1
and a Quantum 810MB SCSI drive."
Greg Goodwin tells Tim:
"Free: AHDI
Not free, but should have been included with your Link: ICD
Not free, but very powerful and worth purchasing:
HD Driver
Note that you will have a 512Mb partition limit if you use normal TOS.
Thus, your drive will require at least two partitions."
Tim asks:
"Ok thats cool. So what kind of partitions will allow 512MB? I have TOS
1.04."
Dr. Uwe Seimet, author of HD Driver, tells Tim:
"With TOS 1.04 the maximum partition size is 256 MB. For 512 MB per
partition TOS 2.0x is required. YOu do not have to take care of the
partition type. The software used for partitioning the drive will handle
this automatically."
Beau Schutz asks about converting song files:
"Does anyone know how to convert old existing .son (song) files that I
presently have on my ancient atari to something that I can view and edit
on my PC? I would greatly appreciate any help, information or guidance that
anyone might be able to provide in this area as I have a substantial
number of old .son files which i need to get onto my pc."
Kenneth Medin asks:
"A .SON file from what application?
Note that file extensions themselves mostly does not tell what sort of
file you really have neither on Atari nor in Windows. We all know a .DOC
file is a Wordplus file don't we..."
Joseph Place adds:
"If these are Notator SL files, you could send the files to someone who
still uses Notator, (I do) and have them converted to midi files. How
many is a substantial number? I may be able to convert them for you,
depending on the time involved."
'Yala' adds:
"<I think this is what you want>
Download latest version of Creator or Notator for Atari (go to notator.org
for info)
Open the *.son file using the above on your Atari.
Save As *.mid file. You may have to do some fiddling with your *.mid file
on your PC."
Well folks, that's it for this week. I know it's short again, but the
little bits of spring sneaking through here and there must be keeping
people from posting. Yeah, that's it.
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 - PlayStation 2 Sales Slide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Mortal Kombat Ad Attacked!
'The Great Escape'!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PlayStation 2 Sales Begin to Slide
Sony expects shipments of PlayStation 2 consoles to fall this year for the
first time, it said Thursday. If it comes true, the prediction means Sony
Computer Entertainment, Sony's game subsidiary, will see sales of both of
its game consoles declining at least a year ahead of the launch of the
third-generation PlayStation machine.
The Tokyo company, which reported its full year earnings Thursday, said
shipments of PlayStation 2 consoles in its fiscal year 2002, ending March
2003, totaled 22.5 million units. That's up a quarter from the year before.
Shipments of PlayStation and PSOne consoles totaled 6.8 million, which
represents a decline of 8 percent from the year earlier.
For the current fiscal year beginning in April, Sony said it expects to
see PlayStation 2 shipments fall by about 12 percent to 20 million units
while PlayStation/PSOne shipments will drop more than 60 percent to 2.5
million. The prediction would put total shipments at below the levels
recorded in fiscal years 2002 and 2001.
The company's next generation console, the PlayStation 3, is not expected
on the market until at least 2004, if not later. Sony has not commented on
when it is likely to be released but disclosed plans earlier this week to
build semiconductor plants, along with Toshiba, to produce the Cell
microprocessor that is expected to lie at the heart of the machine.
The two companies, which are jointly developing the chip with SCEI and
IBM, are spreading their investments in the new factories over the next
three or four years. Toshiba said it does not expect to begin mass
production of chips until the latter part of fiscal year 2004, which is
the period from October 2004 to March 2005.
Shipments of the PlayStation 2 are already falling in Japan, down 38
percent on the year, according to Sony's figures. In contrast, shipments in
the U.S. and European markets rose 53 percent and 40 percent respectively.
PlayStation/PSOne unit shipments rose in Japan and the U.S., by 20 percent
and 13 percent respectively, and dropped 30 percent in Europe.
In the software market, Sony said shipments of PlayStation 2 titles jumped
56 percent to reach 190 million in fiscal year 2002 while those of
PlayStation titles dropped by about a third to 61 million. For the current
year Sony predicts total software shipments will hit 250 million units
which represents a decline of 1 million units from fiscal year 2002.
PlayStation 2 software unit shipments rose in all geographic regions, up
25 percent in Japan, up 64 percent in the U.S., and up 70 percent in
Europe, and PlayStation/PSOne software unit shipments fell in all regions,
down 50 percent in Japan, 14 percent in the U.S., and 42 percent in Europe.
A decrease in the number of in-house titles meant that, in monetary terms,
Sony saw a decline in revenue from PlayStation 2 shipments despite the unit
shipment gains.
Cuts in the price of the console, the result of an ongoing battle with
Microsoft's Xbox, hit revenues from sales.
Virtual McQueen Replays 'Great Escape'
Steve McQueen was talented, smart, good-looking and known for playing
characters who were tough but never cruel. Now it is within everyone's
reach to be that icon of cool, at least for the 40 hours or so it takes to
play "The Great Escape."
Based on its critically acclaimed 1963 MGM movie namesake, the Gotham Games
video game licensed McQueen's name, likeness and voice characteristics,
making it possible for gamers to be McQueen as his character, Captain
Virgil Hilts ("The Cooler King"), and his fellow prisoners of war break
free from the notorious Stalag Luft III prison camp and battle Nazis
throughout World War II-era Germany.
Gamers can choose to be one of three other characters besides McQueen. And
yes, the game includes the famous motorcycle chase scene: Players can try
their luck at leaping the barbed wire fence into Switzerland and to
freedom.
In addition to MGM's and Gotham's involvement, "The Great Escape" is
published by SCi Games Ltd. and developed by Pivotal Games Ltd. The game
will be available for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC.
"We think this will appeal to classic movie fans, Steve McQueen fans and
video game fans," said Leslie Golden, licensing manager at the Roger
Richman Agency, which represented the McQueen estate. "It has the nostalgic
look and feel of Steve McQueen brought up a notch."
Although the movie-based game has been in the works for many months, the
estate was cautious about authorizing the late actor's likeness. It
retained approval throughout the process. "We had to make sure it's as
accurate as possible," Golden said. "We had opinions and suggestions
because we like to capture the essence closely."
She said the project was attractive to the gaming companies because the
older demographic of McQueen and "The Great Escape" fans would extend the
game's target audience.
From the McQueen point of view, "They've truly captured the essence of
Steve," Golden said. "That builds interest and value in the brand. It also
brings a new audience into the movie and brings the brand awareness into a
whole new arena."
Nor can the royalties from the game be dismissed. "The revenues that you
see from the video game industry are so high right now," she said.
MGM's "The Great Escape" was based on the true story of an Allied escape
attempt from German POW camp Stalag Luft III in March, 1944. The movie was
directed by John Sturgess and featured an ensemble cast that starred
McQueen alongside James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson and
James Coburn.
The game re-creates many of the film's settings, including a mountaintop
fortified castle, a fortress, a hospital, a moving train and an active
Luftwaffe airfield as well as the German POW camp. As in the movie, periods
of stealth activities are interspersed with frantic and dramatic action.
'Mortal Kombat' Ad Attacked for Violent Imagery
Advertising for a video game that featured a hooded youth wiping his
bloodied hand on the shoulder of a middle-aged businessman with the logo
"It's in us all" has been judged to be offensive in Britain.
Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled a poster for
"Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance" was irresponsible because it could be seen
by children, even though the game itself is rated 18.
Software developer Midway Games said the game was not aimed at children.
"The poster in question was created in conjunction with a TV advertising
campaign, which hints at the player's competitive nature and what they are
thinking while playing. It does not portray a crime or violent act,"
Midway's European Marketing Director David Burton told Reuters on
Wednesday.
"It is regrettable if anyone was offended by the poster, this was not
intentional."
The ASA ruled that Midway games must consult with an industry advice body
before advertising in Britain again.
More than one million "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance" games have been sold
worldwide since its November 2002 launch, according to U.S.-based Midway.
"Beat 'Em Up" video games have long been slated by critics who believe they
encourage violent behavior in impressionable youngsters.
Edgy Games Drive Adults To Play More
For a year and a half, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. has ruled the
video game sales charts with its violent and gritty "Grand Theft Auto"
franchise.
Rivals have been slow to follow Take-Two's path in the mature-rated video
game sector, but competition is coming.
Meanwhile, Take-Two is adding more weapons to its arsenal, says Chief
Executive Jeffrey Lapin.
"I get this question all the time: 'How do we keep it up? How do we keep
it going?' I think you just have to look at our track record," he said.
Take-Two's "Grand Theft Auto 3," released in October 2001 and "Grand Theft
Auto: Vice City," released in October 2002, have been megahits. The two
titles, both produced by the company's Rockstar Games division, each have
sold more than 8 million copies. It has another big hit in "Max Payne,"
which has sold over 3.5 million copies.
Take-Two's Rockstar unit is working on 10 new games, only two of which have
been announced, Lapin says. They are "Manhunt," an action game akin to the
movie "The Fugitive," and "The Warriors," a gang drama based on the 1979
movie. "Manhunt" is set for release in October and "The Warriors" and a
"Max Payne" sequel are due out in the first half of 2005.
"We don't really announce the Rockstar games until very close to release
because we don't want anybody copying us," Lapin said.
Take-Two has tapped into the hottest trend in console gaming, mature-themed
crime adventure games. M-rated games are the fastest growing segment in the
video game business today. They're meant for players 17 and older because
of their adult content.
For instance, the Entertainment Software Rating Board gives "Grand Theft
Auto: Vice City" a Mature rating because it includes "blood and gore,
strong language, strong sexual content and violence."
Take-Two's success has inspired other game publishers to come out with
"me-too products," says James Lin, a securities analyst with Jeffries & Co.
"Within the next 12 to 18 months, you're going to find a wide array of
M-rated titles coming into the marketplace."
The single-player crime adventure segment will be the most dominant
category, he says. Sony Corp.'s "The Getaway" is leading this new wave of
imitators. It was the top-selling console game in February.
Last year, sales of M-rated games rose 37%, Lin says.
Electronic Arts Inc., the largest independent game publisher, is steering
away from M-rated games. That's a mistake, says Michael Pachter, an analyst
with Wedbush Morgan Securities.
EA has the developer talent and marketing muscle to take on Take-Two, but
it's reluctant to do anything that might tarnish its family games brand,
Pachter says. He compares EA to the Walt Disney Co., which belatedly
entered the R-rated movie business in the late 1980s.
"The one company that could really compete (with Take-Two) is Electronic
Arts, and they choose not to," Pachter said. EA Chief Executive Larry
Probst has said his company makes "M-light" games compared to Take-Two's
"M-dark" games.
EA is best known for popular sports games like "Madden NFL" and mainstream
movie tie-ins, such as those featuring superspy James Bond and young wizard
Harry Potter.
Meanwhile, Activision Inc. is readying its answer to "Grand Theft Auto"
called "True Crime: Streets of L.A.," set for release in September.
One second-tier game publisher looking to get an edge from M-rated fare is
Midway Games Inc. "They're the ones that are really going after it
hard," Pachter said. Midway is readying three or four M-rated titles,
including the prison survival horror game "The Suffering."
Retail sales tracker NPD Fumarolic says about 20 million M-rated console
games were sold in 2002. That's 21.5% of all console games. In 2001, 9
million M-rated games were sold. That's about 18% of the total.
About 24% of games sold for Sony's market-leading PlayStation 2 console
were M-rated last year. About 19% of games sold for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox
console were mature-rated, NPDsays
"Mature-rated games are truly what's connecting with what mature gamers are
seeking, which is immersive, realistic game play," said NPD analyst Richard
Ow. Much of this has to do with the fact that video game consoles have
expanded into an older age group, he says.
NPD estimates that 78% of mature-rated games are sold to persons 18 and
over. The rest are sold to players 17 and under.
Beyond crime adventure games, mature-rated categories include military
shooter games, horror survival games and games with some nudity or sexual
content. The Entertainment Software Rating Board, an industry
self-regulatory body established by the Interactive Digital Software
Association, rates games. Ratings include Early Childhood, Everyone, Teen,
Mature and Adults Only.
Publishers are mistaken if they think that mature content alone will sell
games, analysts say. A good example is Acclaim Entertainment Inc.'s "BMX
XXX," which stirred up controversy last year with its nudity and raunchy
humor. Analysts say it failed to sell well because its game play wasn't
compelling.
Publishers will continue to test the bounds of what's acceptable content in
video games.
"Sometimes you have to take a little risk and push the envelope," Ow said.
"And in this case, it worked out great for Take-Two.
"How far publishers are willing to go and how successful (they'll be) is
really up to the gamer community, whether they receive it and they like
it," he said.
Violence and mature content in "Grand Theft Auto 3" and "Vice City" didn't
make those games hits. It was great game play, Pachter says.
"What made 'Grand Theft Auto' great wasn't that you killed everybody.
That's really not the point," Pachter says. "The point is that the game is
completely free form. When you play most games you're on a tractor pull.
You're pulled through the course."
The last two "Grand Theft Auto" games have provided an immersive story
with multiple coinciding missions. The next one is due out in 2004. A month
later, "Grand Theft Auto 3" and "Vice City" finish exclusive run on Sony's
PlayStation 2 and will be available for Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's
GameCube. "And they will sell, like, a jillion copies," Pachter said.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Apple Readies New Online Music Service
Apple Computer Inc. is readying to launch an online service that will cut
straight to the core of digital music distribution, winning the praise of
some record executives who see it is as a weapon against online piracy.
Music executives who have seen Apple's upcoming service said it is simple
to use, offers single songs from a deep catalog and - unlike Kazaa and the
other pirate services that have picked up where the now-defunct Napster
left off - it pays royalties to the troubled record industry.
Apple's new service will feature songs from all five major record labels,
link with its iTunes music software and allow for easy downloading to the
iPod, Apples popular digital music player, people familiar with the matter
said.
The new music service is expected to be unveiled on or around April 28.
"It's exactly the system that should have existed five years ago," said one
record industry executive.
Apple, which has a reputation for iron-clad secrecy before product
launches, declined to discuss the service, which is launching at a crucial
time for both the company and the troubled music industry that has become
its unlikely partner.
Cupertino, California-based Apple has been in talks with Vivendi Universal
about possibly acquiring Universal Music, the world's largest record label
and home to acts such as Eminem and U2. Apple has made digital
entertainment the centerpiece of its strategy to carve out a larger market
for its stylish and expensive machines.
Apple last week said it had not made a bid for any music company, but did
not deny that talks had been ongoing.
Unlike music-industry services like MusicNet and Pressplay, which are built
on subscription models, Apple's service will allow for the sale of
individual songs, those who have seen it said. The pricing was not
immediately known.
"If Apple can do for the downloadable music sector what the iPod did for
portable music, it will be a significant step for the industry," a second
music industry executive said.
Hilary Rosen, chairman and chief executives officer of the Recording
Industry Association of America (news - web sites), the music trade group,
said Apple's fanatical fan base could provide just the shot the music
industry needs right now.
"I think what the right company can bring is the right relationship with a
consumer, which is what the whole music industry is searching for right
now," she told Reuters.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs had previously angered the music industry with his
"Rip, Mix, Burn" slogan, which record executives heard as an incitement to
online piracy - blamed by the music industry for the decline in album
sales over the past two years.
But more recently Jobs has turned on his legendary charm, courting the
world's big labels to license their content, said people familiar with the
matter.
Jobs succeeded not only in licensing content from all five record giants,
including Universal, but in converting critics into fans with a service
that many see a the best potential weapon to date against online piracy.
The stakes are relatively small but growing. Last month, Jupiter Research
predicted that consumer spending on digital content - including music -
would rise to $2 billion this year from $1.6 billion in 2002.
Apple's service will only be available to Mac users, who represent less
than 3 percent of the global PC market, but at least one music executive
also expects the service will be available in a Windows version as well in
coming months.
"It's good right now only for the Apple market, because frankly, that's how
Jobs was able to persuade everyone to give him licensing deals," one
executive said.
Jobs still must convince fans to pay for music they have grown accustomed
to getting for free.
At the same time that it readies its online music service, Apple is also
expected to announce redesigned iPods with larger capacity.
AMD Ships Opteron
After nearly a year of hype and development, Advanced Micro Devices has set
loose its new 64-bit Opteron processors, designed to attract buyers who
seek the power advantages of 64-bit computing but are leery of the costs
involved in adopting other 64-bit architectures.
The company surrounded itself with partners at its launch event Tuesday,
including software and hardware vendor IBM, Linux makers SuSE Linux AG and
Red Hat, and database leader Oracle. Also attending was Microsoft, which
said it is on track to complete by the end of this year an Opteron-tailored
version of its forthcoming Windows Server 2003 operating system.
IBM offered a major vote of confidence in Opteron Tuesday by announcing it
will begin selling in the second half of the year Opteron-based systems in
its eServer product line. The company is the first top-tier server vendor
to commit to developing around Opteron.
"Today, we're responding to our customers in this space who have been
asking us for an IBM solution based on this type of technology," said Mark
Shearer, IBM's vice president of eServer systems. "[Opteron] offers
compelling performance at a competitive price."
"Industry-standard pricing" was a mantra of AMD executives speaking at the
event. Based on the widely supported x86 instruction set, Opteron can run
both 64-bit programs and the 32-bit programs prevalent in the industry
today. AMD hopes that flexibility will attract customers who have so far
avoided more-expensive 64-bit platforms.
While Opteron isn't expected to compete directly with Intel's 64-bit
Itanium chips, which are based on a new explicitly parallel instruction
computing (EPIC) architecture, AMD nonetheless took some shots at its
biggest rival.
"By the end of this year, AMD will sell more AMD 64-bit-based platforms
than our competitor has sold since launching its 64-bit platform years
ago," said Marty Seyer, general manager and vice president of AMD's
microprocessor business unit. "Why will the AMD Opteron processor succeed?
Simply put, because we did it right."
AMD executives emphasized the niche Opteron will fill in offering customers
a 64-bit system without requiring them to port existing applications.
"It is time for all of us in the technology industry to change our ways.
No new technology without real customer benefits should be tackled," said
AMD Chief Executive Officer Hector de J. Ruiz. "The cost of change must be
minimized. New technology should not introduce new barriers. It should
knock them down."
One customer speaking at the launch, Dan Gregoire of JAK Films in Nicasio,
California, said Opteron-powered workstations are being used for
development work his company is doing on the forthcoming Star Wars: Episode
III movie due in 2005.
"This is a real boon to the effects industry," he said.
Likely early adopters for Opteron include companies in the life sciences
and industrial fields, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, biology
researchers, automobile makers, and petroleum firms, said IBM executive
Dave Turek, head of the company's newly formed Deep Computing unit. IBM
decided to build Opteron servers because of the frequent questions and
requests about the technology it was fielding, he said.
"I don't think this will be like a traditional technology introduction,
with a slow uptake and migration. I think you'll see a ready-made market
that will jump on this pretty aggressively," Turek said.
Three models of the Opteron are available at launch: the Opteron 240, 242,
and 244. AMD is using a model-rating system for the Opteron processor that
uses three numbers. The first number represents the maximum number of
processors that can be used in a system with that chip, and the last two
numbers the relative performance of that chip.
AMD started the performance numbering at 40 because it thought customers
might correlate the last two numbers with the processor's clock speed, and
4-GHz processors are not on the market yet.
In quantities of 1000 units, the Opteron 240 for two-way servers and
workstations costs $283, the 242 costs $690, and the 244 costs $794.
The 800 series for eight-way servers will be available later in the second
quarter, and the 100 series for one-way servers will be released in the
third quarter, AMD said in a release.
Apple Updates the iBook
Apple computer Inc. on Tuesday updated its iBook consumer portable adding
a larger hard drive and giving the notebooks a speed boost.
With the latest update the iBook configurations now reach 900MHz for all
but the low-end configuration, which clocks in at 800MHz. Three out of the
four iBook configurations received a 10GB increase in hard disk space,
while the high-end model gets a 20GB increase bringing it up to 60GB.
All other options on the iBook line, including RAM, video cards, optical
drives and L2 cache, appear to be the same. Pricing has also remained the
same on all but the high-end model, which has been increased by almost
US$30.
More information on the iBook configurations is available from Apple's
online store.
Consumer Groups Charge Amazon Violates Web Privacy
Consumer groups charged on Tuesday Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. with
violating a children's privacy law and asked the U.S. government to look
into the matter.
The online retailer collected e-mail addresses, birthdays and other
personal information from children without their parents' permission and
allowed them to post product reviews under their names on the site, the
groups charged.
Both actions are illegal under the Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act, a 1998 law designed to protect children from online predators by
limiting the amount of personal information Web sites can collect from
them.
Violators face penalties of up to $11,000 per count.
An Amazon.com spokesman said the company was not subject to the law as it
targeted an adult audience, and it took pains to keep children's personal
information off the site.
"We sell products for children to adults with credit cards," said
Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry.
But the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Consumer Federation of
America, and 10 other groups said in a complaint to the Federal Trade
Commission that Amazon.com caters to children through toy sales and the use
of bright primary colors.
While the site provides a special sign-in page for children under 13 who
want to post reviews, that page provided no additional protections, the
complaint said. Children were also able to sign in using the adult form,
the groups said.
"With this collection of information comes responsibilities, and
Amazon.com has not complied with those responsibilities," said Chris
Hoofnagle, deputy counsel at EPIC.
Curry said a software glitch, since fixed, was responsible for the flawed
sign-in page. Furthermore, the site could not possibly verify the ages of
its millions of visitors, he said.
"I'm reminded of the New Yorker cartoon that says, 'On the Internet nobody
knows you're a dog.' When we learn of inappropriate things on the site we
take them down," Curry said.
An attorney at the FTC acknowledged receipt of the complaint but declined
to provide additional detail, as FTC investigations are typically not made
public until a settlement has been reached.
"We appreciate EPIC bringing this to our attention and we will carefully
review the complaint," said FTC staff attorney Elizabeth Delaney.
The FTC has settled eight cases since the law went into effect three years
ago. In February, Hershey Foods Corp. and Mrs. Fields Original Cookies Inc.
agreed to pay a total of $185,000 to settle charges that their Web sites
collected personal information without parents' permission.
EBay Patent-Infringement Trial to Begin
A trial that pits eBay Inc. against a man who says he owns two patents that
are key to the Web auctioneer's operations is due to kick off in Virginia
federal court on Wednesday.
Thomas Woolston, a patent lawyer and former CIA technology expert who once
helped build the agency's communications network, is alleging that eBay
infringed two of his patents covering the process by which people make
binding offers secured by a credit card to buy items over the Internet.
He is seeking a permanent injunction and unspecified damages from eBay.
Woolston, who had hoped to build a business trading baseball cards online,
submitted the request for his first online auction patent in April 1995,
ahead of eBay's September 1995 launch. Woolston's company, MercExchange
LLC, now owns his five patents.
Silicon Valley-based eBay, which raised its 2003 revenue target to $2.05
billion on Tuesday, has refused to settle the case, which was filed in late
2001 in the Eastern District of Virginia.
"We remain very confident in our position and we are very anxious to
present our case to a judge and a jury," eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove
told Reuters late on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, eBay said in a quarterly filing in November that the case
could prove costly - even if it wins.
Fighting the claims will be expensive and could divert the attention of
management, the company said.
"If the plaintiff were to prevail on any of its claims, we might be forced
to pay significant damages and licensing fees, modify our business
practices or even be enjoined from conducting a significant part of our
U.S. business," eBay said in the filing.
Among other things, Woolston is expected to present as evidence an e-mail
from June 2000 in which eBay lawyers asked him to give them a presentation.
In published reports, Woolston said eBay was interested in buying his
patents. For its part, eBay said MercExchange approached it prior to the
e-mail and suggested eBay buy the patents.
Woolston may be the underdog in this case, but he is no stranger to the
patent enforcement process.
He sued GoTo.com, now Overture Services Inc., for patent infringement and
two years ago received a settlement and a license agreement for his
technology.
ReturnBuy Inc., formerly a co-defendant in the eBay case, in December
settled with MercExchange for an undisclosed sum. Ashburn, Virginia-based
ReturnBuy, which sells returned and excess inventory via the Web, is now
paying to license Woolston's technology.
Court Says Verizon Must Reveal Song Swappers
A U.S. court said on Thursday that Verizon Communications must reveal the
names of customers suspected of downloading copyrighted songs from the
Internet without permission even as it appeals the decision to a higher
court.
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates said Verizon must reveal the names of
the two alleged copyright infringers within two weeks unless the appeals
court says otherwise.
Bates originally ordered Verizon to reveal the customers' names in January,
but Verizon had argued that their identities should be protected as it
pursues an appeal.
The ruling marks another legal victory for the recording industry as it
tries to stamp out the unauthorized Internet song-swapping it says is
partially responsible for a decline in CD sales.
The Recording Industry Association of America took Verizon to court last
summer in an effort to get the telecommunications giant to help crack down
on online song-swapping.
The RIAA argued that Verizon is obligated under the 1998 Digital Millennium
Copyright Act to help its members to protect their copyrights. Verizon says
it is willing to help, but argued that the law only applies to Web pages
stored on its computers, not traffic on the "peer-to-peer" networks that
merely travel across its wires.
After Bates rejected that argument in January, Verizon said that the law
also violates free-speech and due-process rights protected by the U.S.
Constitution.
In his written decision, Bates rejected Verizon's constitutional arguments
and denied the company's request to keep its customers' identities private.
"Because Verizon is unable to show irreparable harm or that it is likely
to succeed on an appeal of its constitutional or statutory challenges, the
Court also denies Verizon's request for a stay pending appeal," wrote
Bates, who serves in Washington.
RIAA President Cary Sherman, in a statement, welcomed the decision.
"If users of pirate peer-to-peer sites don't want to be identified, they
should not break the law by illegally distributing music," Sherman said.
"Today's decision makes clear that these individuals cannot rely on their
ISPs (Internet service providers) to shield them from accountability."
A Verizon lawyer said the company would ask the Court of Appeals to stay
Bates' decision.
"We're hopeful that on appeal the court will look beyond the interests of
large copyright owners such as RIAA and realize the case has implications
far beyond the goal of enforcement of copyright," said Verizon Vice
President Sarah Deutsch.
As it stands, the decision could allow stalkers and other criminals to use
copyright claims to track down people they meet online, Deutsch said.
Over the past year, the RIAA has urged universities and businesses to
crack down on students, employees and others who use their networks to
download digital songs without permission. Earlier this month the trade
group filed suit against four students it believes operated on-campus
peer-to-peer networks that enabled the practice.
An RIAA spokesman declined to say whether the Verizon customers would face
similar legal action.
The RIAA represents the five largest recording companies: AOL Time Warner
Inc.'s Warner Music; Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group; Sony
Corp.'s Sony Music; Bertelsmann AG's BMG Music Group; and EMI Group Plc.
In the Hopper: New Privacy Laws
Privacy issues are seizing the legislative spotlight as Congress reconvenes
next week to tackle bills ranging from reins on government surveillance to
a national war on spam.
Internet privacy issues are likely to regain some attention now that the
war in Iraq is waning, according to Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation. The nonprofit civil liberties organization is itself keeping
close tabs on several proposals.
For example, the Data Mining and Moratorium Act (S. 188) would put the
brakes on the Bush administration's Total Information Awareness plan. The
Defense Department is developing Total Information Awareness so federal law
enforcement agencies can sift through people's Internet, medical, credit
card, and travel records, regardless of whether they are charged with a
crime.
Law enforcement agencies say they need the massive database to help
identify suspicious patterns of behavior that could indicate terrorist
activities. But some members of Congress and civil liberties activists have
accused the Justice Department of trying to vastly expand the scope of its
data gathering without legal justification.
The moratorium would require the Departments of Homeland Security and
Defense to inform Congress of their database-sweeping activities.
Democratic senators Russ Feingold, of Wisconsin Jon Corzine of New Jersey,
and Ron Wyden of Oregon proposed the bill.
"There is no evidence that data mining will, in fact, prevent terrorism,"
Feingold said in January. "And when one considers the potential for errors
in data, for example, credit agencies that have data about John R. Smith
on John D. Smith's credit report, the prospect of ensnaring many innocents
is real."
The bill would continue to allow use of existing intelligence techniques
such as computer searches of public information and of suspected criminals.
Dissent also continues among members of Congress and the public about a
possible extension of the Patriot Act.
The Patriot Act of 2001, approved quickly after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, broadened government surveillance powers. The act
expires in 2005. But the Administration is already seeking to expand
government surveillance powers and make them permanent in the Domestic
Security Enhancement Act, nicknamed "Patriot II."
Though Patriot II is still in draft stage, leaks about its existence
infuriated civil rights and privacy groups. They fear government intrusion
will erase personal privacy.
People should withhold judgment until a final version is introduced, says
Viet Dinh, a U.S. assistant attorney general, who helped craft the Patriot
Act.
"Patriot II is nothing but a leak," he says. "What we do is not a sea
change in law but a shift in focus in our activities."
Concern about commercial intrusion on private PCs is the focus of the
CAN-SPAM bill (S. 877), recently reintroduced for the third time in two
years. Consumer groups and the Senate support the bill. If it becomes law,
it would force e-marketers who violate the law to pay with fines and prison
time.
Wyden and Senator Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, introduced the
legislation and say they are confident it will pass. Currently, there is
no uniform way of dealing with spammers; each state sets its own rules.
"A crazy quilt of state rules is not going to get the job done," says Carol
Guthrie, a Wyden spokesperson.
Some critics say the bill does not go far enough because it allows
legitimate businesses to send unsolicited e-mail ads.
"Unintentionally, it could generate more spam rather than less," says John
Mozena, executive director of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial
E-mail. The organization wants to eradicate all spam.
"We see the bill as a framework for regulating the spam industry and not
getting rid of spam," Mozena says.
Spam isn't limited to desktop and laptop computers. Congress is also eyeing
ways to curtail unsolicited e-mail sent to cell phones and personal digital
devices.
Democratic Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey addresses one of these problems
with a bill (H.R. 122) to ban spam from wireless phones.
Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico, Republican, is also working on a bill
that would create an e-mail opt-out list. The approach would be similar to
one developed by the Federal Communications Commission that fights unwanted
telemarketers.
Court Rejects Suit Against Web Song-Swappers
A federal court denied a request to shut down Internet song-swapping
services Grokster and Morpheus on Friday, handing a stunning setback to
the record labels and movie studios that have sought to curb unauthorized
downloading of their works.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson said the two services should not
be shut down because they cannot control what is traded over their systems.
Like a videocassette recorder, the software in question could be used for
legitimate purposes as well as illicit ones, he said.
"It is undisputed that there are substantial noninfringing uses for (the)
Defendants' software," wrote Wilson, who serves in Los Angeles.
A recording-industry trade group involved in the case said it would appeal.
Wilson's decision marks the first significant legal setback for the
entertainment industry in its battle against the wildly popular
"peer-to-peer" services that allow users to download movies, music and
other files for free.
Federal courts have ordered earlier peer-to-peer services such as Napster
to shut down, and courts have so far supported the industry's efforts to
track down individual peer-to-peer users, as well.
But Wilson's ruling gives Grokster, Morpheus and other Napster successors
some legal basis on which to operate. Just as the Supreme Court in 1984
said videocassette recorders should not be outlawed because they can be
used for legitimate purposes, peer-to-peer services should not be shut down
even though users are certainly trading copyrighted movies and music, he
said.
Grokster President Wayne Rosso said he was surprised by the decision
because it showed that the judge understood the technology. Peer-to-peer
services could be used to enable the Pentagon to better share information,
among other uses, he said, and the recording industry should try to work
with such services rather than driving them out of business.
"Grokster doesn't and hasn't ever condoned copyright infringement," Rosso
said. "We hope this sends a clear signal to the rights owners in this case
to come to the table and sit down with us."
The Recording Industry Association of America said it was disappointed with
the decision.
"Businesses that intentionally facilitate massive piracy should not be able
to evade responsibility for their actions," RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen said in a
statement.
Rosen highlighted two portions of the 34-page decision she found favorable:
first, that individuals are accountable for copyright violations; and
second, Wilson's statement that Grokster and Morpheus "may have
intentionally structured their businesses to avoid secondary liability for
copyright infringement, while benefiting financially from the illicit draw
of their wares."
The Motion Picture Association of America, whose movie-studio members also
filed suit, had no immediate comment.
The decision could also provide a shot in the arm to Kazaa, another popular
peer-to-peer service involved in a separate legal battle with the
entertainment industry. A Kazaa spokeswoman said the company's lawyers were
still evaluating the decision.
A Morpheus investor, speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a conference
in Silicon Valley, said the decision would give his product a boost just as
the company plans to roll out a new version.
"The timing of this couldn't be better," said Bill Kallman, a managing
partner at Timberline Venture Partners, which has invested about $4 million
in Morpheus since 1999.
RIAA members include AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music; Vivendi
Universal's Universal Music; Sony Corp.'s Sony Music; Bertelsmann AG's BMG
Music Group; and EMI Group Plc.
MPAA members include Walt Disney Co.; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.;
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.;Paramount Pictures Corp.; News Corp Ltd.'s
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.; Vivendi Universal's Universal Studios
Inc.; and AOL Time Warner's Warner Bros.
Antispam Registry Proposed
A coalition of e-mail service providers plans to develop registries
intended to separate the legitimate bulk e-mailers from the spammers, in
the latest in a series of recent antispam efforts.
The Email Service Provider Coalition (ESPC), formed by the Network
Advertising Initiative, counts among its members 30 companies that provide
outsourced e-mail services or Internet advertising services for a variety
of companies, including DoubleClick and Advertising.com. The group on
Wednesday announced the "blueprint" for a registry standard to launch in
six to nine months.
It will focus on a certification process for companies sending out bulk
e-mail. Vendors who pass the certification will get a sort of seal of
approval.
The effort is intended as an alternative to current blacklists and spam
filters that sometimes ban legitimate vendors, said Hans Peter Brondmo,
senior vice president for strategy for Digital Impact, who chairs the ESPC
technology working group.
High-volume e-mailers would get a score something like a credit rating,
based on numbers of customer complaints, how many times people have to
unsubscribe and other factors, Brondmo said. High-volume e-mailers will
submit to performance ratings as a way to remain on the registry. The
coalition hopes the registry will serve as a whitelist that ensures e-mail
users of legitimate e-mailers.
The certification process for the registry, code-named Project Lumos, will
require bulk e-mailers to reveal their identities. It proposes imposing a
standard system for including all sender information in mail headers, and
an authentication process that provides a secure proof of identity in the
SMTP header.
The registry would say, "Here's who I am, I'll be that person tomorrow,
I'm willing to adhere to certain best practices," Brondmo said.
Brondmo acknowledged that companies sending unsolicited commercial e-mail
may not want to be part of the registry, but that's when blacklists and
spam filters should be unleashed, he said.
"We believe a properly administered blacklist would likely be a part of
the future," he added.
The problem with blacklists and spam filters right now is the confusion on
how legitimate e-mailers can stay off those lists, or get off once they're
put on, Brondmo said. Project Lumos will bring "trust, transparency and
accountability into the fabric of e-mail," he said.
The coalition's blueprint isn't intended to replace legislative efforts to
counter spam, such as a bill re-introduced in the U.S. Senate earlier in
April, Brondmo said. Leaders of at least one other antispam effort,
launched by ActiveState, have promoted technology options over legislative
efforts. Brondmo said he believes there's a place for several antispam
efforts.
"I don't think it's one or the other," Brondmo said. "There's a technology
dimension, there's a best-practices dimension, and there's a legislative
dimension. They're all interconnected."
E-Mail Marketers Sue Antispammers
A group of Florida e-mail marketers have fired another round - in court -
in the rapidly escalating spam wars.
A Boca Raton trade association calling itself Emarketersamerica.org has
filed suit against a dozen prominent antispam groups, seeking a jury trial
and damages of $75,000. The complaint alleges antispam groups have
interfered with contracts between marketers and their Internet service
providers by petitioning the ISPs to remove the marketers from their
networks.
The group also claims that organizations Spamhaus and the Spam Prevention
Early Warning System, the two primary defendants named in the suit, "sell
products which block the electronic transmission and communications of
American citizens and businesses."
The move follows several recent suits by ISPs against purported spammers.
Congress is also considering legislation to crack down on spam.
"They're interfering with a contract between the members of our
association, the tier-one providers, and the American people," says Mark
Felstein, director of the trade group and the attorney who brought the
suit. "I believe they're doing it for their own financial gain."
An examination of the Spamhaus and SPEWS Web sites failed to turn up any
products for sale. Both sites maintain free lists of IP addresses allegedly
used to send spam; these lists are used by ISPs and corporations to block
unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Antispammers contacted for comment seemed more amused than concerned by
the suit. Defendant Adam Brower, who provides hosting services for antispam
activists, said his reaction is "disbelief, followed by hilarity, followed
by the gratifying realization that I have been handed a nuclear weapon."
The suit will enable antispam groups to uncover details about how marketers
operate, as part of their defense in the suit, Brower says.
Steve Linford, director of Spamhaus, says the complaint is merely a SLAPP
(Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) designed to intimidate
antispam activists.
"All of the information and allegations contained it [are] false," Linford
says. "One of the individuals being sued is my brother who lives in Italy
and doesn't even know what Spamhaus.org is."
According to Florida public records, Felstein incorporated
Emarketersamerica.org on March 10, 2003. The group has no Web site and
Felstein declines to name any of its members, saying simply they are "local
Florida businesses that do electronic marketing."
Linford of Spamhaus claims the suit is being brought by a group of
marketers known for sending e-mail advertisements for pornography and
sexual aids.
"The spammers behind Emarketersamerica.org are the Boca Raton gang of Eddy
Marin, Brendan Battles, and other Florida 'make-penis-fast' spammers,"
Linford says.
Felstein denies his clients send such ads or that they knowingly send
unsolicited e-mail. However, he acknowledges representing Opt-In Services,
a marketing firm that caters to the adult industry and employs Eddy Marin.
Opt-In has previously brought legal action against antispam organizations.
Brower says the suit may ultimately help eradicate spam.
"I hope this case will eventually establish case law settling once and for
all the right of providers to block unsolicited bulk e-mail," he says.
Linford says such lawsuits may indicate that marketers who rely on mass
e-mail fear a legislative clampdown.
"The closer we get to the possibility of a U.S. antispam law, the more
desperate spammers are becoming," Linford says.
Beware Mystery Fees for Web Services
When Geoff Sigg noticed a small charge from an unfamiliar company called
Spoonfull.net on his company's SBC Communications phone bill last
September, he looked a little closer. He discovered that for two months, he
had paid $4.31 including taxes to a company he'd never heard of.
He checked further and found that Spoonfull.net was charging to list his
Connecticut jewelry store in its Internet directory. But he couldn't find
the listing on Spoonfull.net's site, and he says he never ordered such a
service.
Sigg soon learned he isn't alone. Other SBC customers have questioned
similar charges. Sigg says a Spoonfull.net representative told him and
others who complained that they had ordered the service either online or
by telephone. Sigg protested, but the bills came for two more months before
the charges finally stopped in December. Sigg says he received refunds for
two months, then gave up the fight in frustration.
Florida-based Spoonfull.net is one of four Web services firms operated by
the mother-son duo Mary Lou Farr and Willoughby Farr. One or more of the
firms have been sued by state attorneys general in Illinois and North
Carolina, and two are under investigation in Florida. The scrutiny involves
allegations of a practice known as "cramming," in which unauthorized
charges - often small and often overlooked amounts - are placed on
individual and company phone bills. (It's a cousin to "slamming," in which
long-distance carriers are switched without a customer's consent).
Willoughby Farr flatly denies that Spoonfull.net or his other companies
engage in cramming.
"We would never knowingly bill someone who never signed up for the
service," says Willoughby Farr. Mary Lou Farr refused to comment for this
report.
Farr says all of the entries in Spoonfull.net's directory are requested
and paid for by companies that ask to be listed. He declined numerous
requests to supply names of satisfied customers.
The companies run by the Farrs include Voicenet, Spoonfull.net, Switched
Access Communications, and Directory Service. Voicenet advertises a service
that lets you call a toll-free number to retrieve e-mail by using
text-to-speech technology. Spoonfull.net offers a Web directory and dial-up
Internet access service. Switched Access markets long-distance telephone
services. Directory Service offered national telephone directory assistance
before it closed last year, Willoughby Farr says.
It is a common practice - and perfectly legal - to charge for Internet and
telephone-related services via a home or business phone bill when a
customer orders and receives products.
Most charges are placed through independent third parties called billing
aggregators, which work with telephone companies to place charges on phone
bills. When customers pay their bills, the money is routed back through
the aggregator (which keeps a percentage) to the company providing the
services.
Telephone companies have been required to work with aggregators since
AT&T's breakup in 1984, says Allen Hile, assistant director with the
Federal Trade Commission's marketing practices division.
Until recently, Spoonfull.net billed for its services through an aggregator
called Integretel. On February 20, Integretel terminated its contracts with
Spoonfull.net and Voicenet because of an "unacceptable level of consumer
complaints and problems," says Ken Dawson, an Integretel spokesperson.
Between Spoonfull.net and Voicenet, Integretel billed close to 100,000
customers on the Farr's behalf, Dawson says.
Some customers' March phone bills include lingering charges for
Spoonfull.net and Voicenet while Integretel completes the billing cycle, he
says. Integretel will issue credit to customers who complain that they were
billed in error, Dawson adds.
Integretel quit billing for Directory Service a year ago, also because of
"an excess number of complaints," Dawson says.
Willoughby Farr denies that the companies he runs engage in cramming
practices. All four of the companies are now fighting such accusations in
court.
In March, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused both Farrs,
Voicenet, and Switched Access of violating Illinois consumer fraud laws.
The state's complaint seeks a permanent injunction prohibiting the two
companies from conducting their telecommunications business in Illinois or
billing Illinois residents for unauthorized charges. It also seeks
restitution for consumers, plus civil penalties of $50,000 or more.
The complaint alleges Voicenet has billed an unspecified number of Illinois
residents between $3.95 and $6.95 plus taxes monthly for Voicenet service
without their consent. The state's lawsuit claims that as of April 2002,
Voicenet had caused 9068 charges to be placed on the phone bills of 2527
Illinois residents, to the tune of $35,818. The complaint also notes that
Integretel and local telephone carriers have issued only 504 refunds or
credits to Illinois consumers, which amounts to 6.9 percent of the billings
to Illinois customers that Integretel made on Voicenet's behalf.
Spoonfull.net is not named in this complaint.
North Carolina is charging Directory Service and Switched Access with
violating the state's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In May
2002, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper alleged cramming on phone
bills of North Carolina small businesses, citing 37 examples of
customer
complaints.
The state believes both firms billed consumers for $1.99 in directory
assistance calls they did not place, and $5 to $6 for collect calls they
did not accept, says John Bason, a spokesperson for the North Carolina
Department of Justice. The suit seeks refunds for consumers and unspecified
civil penalties. The questioned charges appeared on phone bills from
BellSouth, Sprint, Carolina Telephone & Telegraph, and Central Telephone,
Bason says.
The Florida State Attorney General's office confirms it has begun a formal
investigation into possible cramming by Spoonfull.net and Voicenet.
The Farrs declined to comment on the various allegations. However,
Willoughby Farr says Spoonfull.net and Voicenet have implemented new
safeguards in recent months to ensure customers are aware of their billing
relationship with the firms. Now, both companies send a service
confirmation letter to new customers and e-mail a copy of the monthly
invoice to Spoonfull.net customers, Farr says. However, when PCWorld.com
signed up for Voicenet service in February, we did not receive a service
confirmation letter or a bill.
PCWorld.com spoke with dozens of businesses identified as Spoonfull.net
customers on its Web site, and found many were being charged for the firm's
services without realizing it.
Melissa Darrow, treasurer of the Atlanta Women's Club, was angered to
discover the organization may be a victim of cramming. The group has been
charged $4.07 for the past five months for "Internet access services" that
Darrow says no one at her organization authorized or requested. "I've never
heard of Spoonfull.net," she says.
A partial Web directory listing appears on Spoonfull.net with the name,
address, and phone number of the Atlanta Women's Club. The text that
accompanies the listing is gibberish that repeatedly reads: "If the
inverting-core acceptor deflects the complex." This language is filler text
generated by a plug-in to the Macromedia Dreamweaver site-design program,
and it is found in dozens of Spoonfull.net directory listings.
"The audacity of these companies--to just stick these charges on my bill,"
says Paul Pettys, president of the Florida firm Pettys Design. Like all of
the business owners willing to talk with PCWorld.com, he was amazed that
Spoonfull.net had managed to charge the firm's phone bills without consent.
A representative of Massachusetts retirement home Pulaski Heights says the
business was unaware it had been billed by Verizon on behalf of Voicenet
since March 2002.
Evaluations of Internet access services offered by Spoonfull.net and the
text-to-voice e-mail service from Voicenet raise further questions. Both
services repeatedly failed to work over the past three months in which
PCWorld.com tried to independently test them.
Since early November, a toll-free number listed on Voicenet's Web site for
retrieving e-mail by phone has been mostly inoperable. One customer service
phone number was functioning in mid-January, but a recorded message asked
callers to leave a message in a voice mailbox that was too full to accept
messages. A toll-free customer service number appeared to be disconnected.
After PCWorld.com asked to review Voicenet, the toll-free e-mail retrieval
phone number became operational on January 17. Using a Voicenet house
account, we successfully retrieved e-mail messages and heard them read them
back using text-to-speech technology. However, when in the same timeframe
PCWorld.com tried to test the service independently - as a consumer user
rather than as a media reviewer with a house account - we failed to obtain
service at all. In addition, Voicenet sent no confirmation for the
independent order. The Voicenet e-mail retrieval number has offered a "no
longer in service" message most of the time over the past few months.
Spoonfull.net's dial-up Internet access number has consistently not worked
since PCWorld.com first tried testing it in early November. Repeated
attempts to reach its service failed--we checked at least once each week
for months. After PCWorld.com inquired, on January 17 Spoonfull.net posted
a message stating dial-upse rvice was "temporarily unavailable" and would
be restored on January 2; 0however, it has remained inoperative when tested
at least weekly since then.
Willoughby Farr blames network "stress" on company computer systems for
technical problems with Voicenet and Spoonfull.net. When asked to explain
patterns of people denying signing up for his service, he insists that
someone at the home or business billed agreed to the service.
Spoonfull.net previously worked with billing aggregator ILD
Telecommunications, which passed the Spoonfull.net charges to telephone
companies. After three months, ILD "abruptly" terminated its relationship
with Spoonfull.etn and Voicenet, says Fred Lloyd, ILD senior vice
president. Lloyd woldun't comment on why. In November, Spoonfull.net and
Voicenet began working with billing aggregator Integretel. That
relationship also lasted only a few months.
Now that Integretel is no longer acting as a billing integrator for
Spoonfull.net, the firm may need to find another way of getting the
company's charges onto phone bills.
The other arptner in this business scenario - the telephone company - walks
a fine line. Many majort elcos report a jump in customer complaints
claiming phantom tack-on Internet services such as Web sites, e-mail boxes,
and Net access. BellSouth and SBC say they've experienced a significant
increase; Qwest and Verizon also report a spike in cramming complaints.
Canadian telco Ontonagon County Telephone Company recently warned its
customers of "epidemic" Netre-lated phone bill cramming.
"We are required by law to work with these third-party billing agents,"
says Beverly Levy, an SBC representative.
However, telephone companies can cut off the relationships under some
circumstances. For example, SBC last year barred Spoonfull.net from billing
its Connecticut customers, citing an unspecified but excessive number of
complaints.
BellSouth has implemented guidelines hewn dealing with third-party
aggregators, says Susan Scott, a BellSouth spokesperson. For charges to
appear on BellSouth statements, billing irfms must be able to provide on
request a voice recording or written o erlectronic authorization from
customers approving the charges, Sctto says.
Each telephone company has different requirements for billingag gregators,
says Jacquelene Mitchell, who chairs the Coalition to Ensrue Responsible
Bililng, a trade association of billing aggregators. Mitchell says billing
agents must adhere to telephone company requirements.
BellSouth's Scott says billing aggregators share the responsibility of
making sure customers authorize the service fees, since it's the aggregator
who deals with the Web service firms. But the problem of cramming remains.
"The bottom line? Always, always check your phone bill," says SBC's Levy.
Despite the phone companies' increased diligence, telcos say customers are
responsblie for reviewing their phone bills just as they review their
credit card statements. Here are some tips to avoid being crammed:
* Check your monthly phone bill for mystery charges. Scrutiizne the
"Miscellaneous Charges and Credits" section for small obscure
charges.
* Be wary of salespeople who call to offer a "free" service, such as a
no-cost Web site or Internet yellow pages listing.
* Formally ask your phone company to ban third-party billing on your account. For example, BellSouth, SBC, and Verizon allow customers to
block third-party billing unless expressly permitted.
* Carefully read all service offers, especially for phone and Internet
services.
* You may want to check out an offer, but be judicious in calling the
toll-free numbers for services you're not familiar with. Such calls
can often give your phone number to the party you're calling, which
may enable them to put unwanted charges onto your phone bill.
* Report suspected cramming to your phone company and to federal and
state authorities as well as to consumer advocacy groups.
Students Lose Web Use in Copyright Case
Penn State deprived 220 students of high-speed Internet connections in
their dorms after it found they were sharing copyrighted material, the
university said Monday.
"Basically, we received a complaint," said Penn State spokesman Tysen
Kendig, who said he could not reveal who registered the complaint.
"Upon investigation, we found that the students had publicly listed
copyright-infringing materials on their systems to other members of this
network," he added.
Music and movie industry groups have urged universities to curb the sharing
of copyrighted files and penalize violators.
Students, who often have fast Internet connections and little cash, are
seen as the vanguard in a wave of downloading that the entertainment
industry claims is cutting into its profits.
"I was kind of surprised at being caught," Jason Steiner, a freshman in
aerospace engineering, told The Daily Collegian, Penn State's student
newspaper. "I was sitting there online and all of a sudden I wasn't, with
no idea why."
The sanctioned students all live in campus residence halls. They can still
access their campus accounts from other computers.
The connections to their dorm rooms will be restored once the copyrighted
materials have been removed, Kendig said.
On March 31, Penn State's executive vice president and provost, Rodney
Erickson, sent an e-mail to more than 110,000 students, administrators,
faculty and staff reminding them that the university prohibits sharing
copyrighted material and warning that such sharing is against the law.
Earlier this month, 85 students at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.,
were disciplined for using the school's network to trade copyrighted music
and movies.
"Apple wants to make a natural connection between iPods and the service, a
seamless connection between hardware and content," analyst Rob Enderle of
Giga Information Group said.
=~=~=~=
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