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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 04 Issue 25
Volume 4, Issue 25 Atari Online News, Etc. June 21, 2002
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2002
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:
Dan Iacovelli
Lafabrie Florent
Kevin Savetz
Rob Mahlert
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
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To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
http://www.icwhen.com/aone/
http://a1mag.atari.org
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=atari
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0425 06/21/02
~ eBay Wants Users Happy ~ People Are Talking! ~ Icon Extract News!
~ Java Back In Windows? ~ Sun Still After MS! ~ HighWire News!
~ Net Filters Re-thought ~ Disabling Censorship! ~ JagFest 2K2 News!
~ AlltheWeb Tops Google? ~ Virtual Child-porn Ban ~ 'Star Trek' Auction!
-* Bumpy Road For Napster Buyout *-
-* Perrun - "Proof of Concept" Virus! *-
-* Microsoft Rejects Compromise In Its Case! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This has been the week that vacations are meant to be weather-wise! Sure,
the weekend started off slow with intermittent showers, but it improved
quickly. All the "major" outdoor projects have been completed - the pool is
open, the vegetables have been planted (other than some seedlings still
starting), the flowers are in and the gardens mulched, and the lawn cut.
Yesterday was actually a day for doing a lot of nothing! Well, okay, I had
the stitches removed from my mouth and didn't feel much like doing anything
afterward!
So, in the spirit of rest and relaxation, there will be no commentary on the
world of technology this week. Even though the Microsoft antitrust case is
making headlines again (big surprise there!), Napster is still having
problems - even in bankruptcy, the web censorship zealots are still at it
with regard to web filtering, and more fodder for debate - I'll stick to the
position that vacation is more important! And to prove it, time to hit the
deck in a nice comfortable lounge chair, cool drink in hand! Joe, eat your
heart out! <grin>
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
HighWire 0.05 Information
While the HighWire development team works on resolving a few last bugs
before the next beta release, you can now get a glimpse of what lies
ahead.
There are 4 new screenshots available on the HighWire site and as can be
seen there, the support for graphics is what will be the big addition to
the upcoming HighWire release!
If you are curious about what HighWire is capable of at this point, you
need to pay the site a visit :)
http://highwire.atari-users.net
P.S. We now have a new Highwire Users mailing list, visit the Highwire
site for information on joining the list.
Icon Extract 1.3
Hello,
Here is a new version of Extract Icon that you will be able to download
on my site. A lot of news to the menu...
Best regard,
Florent LAFABRIE
WARNING : I research for a person for the translation of the
RSC file and the HYP help file. Thank's for your support.
Welcome in this new version,
Novelties :
o Support of icons to the XPM format (Linux).
o Support of the DRAG protocol DROP and toward INTERFACE.
o Support of the DRAG DROP and of a file on the icon of the
program under TOS, Mint and Magic.
o Possibility to associate the ICO files, CUR, ANI, ICL, DLL
and XPM to the program (Newdesk, Jinnee, Thing...).
o Support of the AV protocol toward ZOOM, RSM and INTERFACE.
o Support of the long filenames under Magic and Mint.
o Utilization of routines NVDI 5.xx for the transfer of an icon
8 bit in fashion 4 and 1 bit (with or no dithering).
o Themes for desktop and windows.
o Possibility to see the RSC files in 256, 16 and 2 colors.
o Possibility to suppress the window of treatment in order to use
another program in multitask fashion.
o New window of information on the material and the used fashion
video.
o New file for ST-guide.
o By default, the file for ST-guide is read since the repertory
of ICON Extract, otherwise in the repertory of the HYP files
specified in the ST-GUIDE.INF file.
o New files of configuration (incorporation of themes of desktop
and window).
Following bug corrections :
o Redraw correct of windows of the application under Magic.
o Redraw correct of the bar of the main window at the time of a
displacement.
o Rewrite of the ICONIFY routines and ALLICONIFY.
o Display correct of bars of windows of the other applications
in multitask mode.
o Programs is no more blocking in multitask mode.
o Programs functions now in all graphic fashions (1 bit to the
32 bits).
o The allocated memory is henceforth correct. Thank's to Eric
REBOUX for the MEMDEBUG program.
Contact me by email: lafabrie@club-internet.fr
Internet site: http://perso.club-internet.fr/lafabrie
New Version of UPX
There is a new UPX version on http://upx.sourceforge.net/
UPX is an Ultimate Packer for eXecutables. It supports many different
architectures including ATARI.
Halcyon Days Book Available Online
Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Video and Computer Programmers has
is now available online. This is a book of interviews with 8-bit game
programmers that I read years ago when it cost $20. There's an Atari
bias among the choice of interviewees, even including some authors of
games only available through the Atari Program Exchange.
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Have you ever gotten to the point in a
career or relationship or whatever when you just want to say "screw it
all" and just take off in a different direction? I'm not QUITE at that
point, but it's getting close.
What is it about life that makes us take up that attitude every so
often? Could it be nature's way of telling us that it's time for a
change? Or maybe our little inner voice... that tiny little nagging
feeling inside us that urges us to do things every once in a while...
telling us that something just isn't like it used to be. Regardless of
what it is that gives us that urge, it shows up every once in a while
and gives us a little kick in the pants.
Perhaps it's not really the message that's important, but the fact that
we hear it. I don't want to get too philosophical, but I think that part
of what makes us... well, us... is the fact that we feel the need for
change every now and then. Even if we don't change, it lets us know that
change is possible.
Normally, when someone asks me about dealing with computers, I tell them
that it's all about options. Computers give us more options than we've
ever had before. The problem usually occurs when we can't handle having
all those options. There's a point when too much information just
overloads us and we need to get out from under the sheer weight of it.
The trick is knowing when and how to do it.
Most of us haven't yet mastered the art of "unplugging". I know that I
haven't. I've pretty much made "deciding not to decide" an art form. For
instance... since my favorite computer manufacturer hasn't made a single
computer for ages and I need a new computer every so often, I simply
purchased a new computer that I could run an emulator on. You see?
Deciding not to decide!
Of course, I do run 'native' applications on the new machine, but that's
just work. When I'm running one of the available emulators (or
"alternative operating systems")... even if I'm not actually running
something important... I feel good. THIS is the way things used to be. I
never really understood the feeling of nostalgia until I started running
an emulator on a fast computer.
Just seeing that familiar green desktop is a tonic for the soul. Hey, I
told you about the "deciding not to decide" thing.
As a side note, both of the ST emulators for the Mac are really fast.
It's the first time I've run an emulator and not felt that nasty
jerky-motion thing so common with emulators. I still haven't had time to
put either of the emulators through their paces, but the general look
and feel of both of them is just terrific.
Well, let's get on with the news, hints, tips, and info available on the
UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
'Chris' posts:
"One thing which I still don't get is what the Atari cookie jar is all
about. Only thing I know is that it wasn't used until latter versions of
TOS, I think."
Dan Ackerman tells Chris:
"The short story is that it's a method for publishing system extensions
to a common area. If you have an Auto folder program like GDOS that a
programmer can use, it publishes a cookie to the cookie jar stating it's
existence.
The program checks the cookie jar when it starts (usually) to find if
features it wants to have available are available. If we find a GDOS
cookie present with an acceptable value, then we know that certain
routines are available for use in the program.
The cookie jar also contains a pointer for the program to find routines
or functionality provided by the auto folder program.
If we didn't have a cookie jar, then we would probably have several
different methods of individual applications reporting their existence
to programs that might want to use them.
You can think of it in a way like an old fashioned bulletin board. When
a program is successfully ran from the auto folder it puts it's card on
the bulletin board with it's name and address. When you want to use
that auto program, you go to the bulletin board and see if it's card is
there and if it is you get it's address."
Chris tells Dan:
"Thanks for the reply, Its a bit more clear now. Do you know if there's
any guides to cookies at all ? There info for just about everything else
I can think of so I assume there must be some articles about it
somewhere?"
Adam Klobukowski tells Chris:
"If you are developing any program that you want to create new cookie
please try not to, especially if you want to pass any pointers to your
program memory space through cookies.
Please, avoid using cookie for anything other than passing information
that your program "exists" in memory (if possible)."
Standa Opichal asks:
"Is there any other mechanism to let the other application read my data?
I know this approach breaks the memory protection rules. But what should
one use e.g. to publish an interface?
Maybe a use of an SLB would be a solution. But how the SLB should check
whether the feature it needs is present or not?"
Adam tells Standa:
"If your program is some kind of library that adds additional
functionality, then the best way is SLB. But if your program is TSR the
you should use shared memory (available in MiNT and MagiC). Keep in mind
that if two processes share memory region they can see it under different
addresses so passing pointers is not acceptable.
You can also use pipes (and I think this is a best solution for TSR)."
Joseph Place asks about one of my favorite email options:
"Is there a web-based e-mail provider available that will work with CAB?
(I use CAB 2.7)"
James Haslam tells Joseph:
"Yeah I think that Atari-Users.Net has Cab friendly webmail."
Rob Mahlert of Atari-Users.Net (and, incidentally, A-ONE) tells Joseph
and James:
"We do offer a free web based e-mail system on Atari-Users.Net. But We
are moving to a new server and are not accepting new e-mail accounts
until we have the mail system working.
Hopefully within the next few weeks we will have everything working."
Bob Retelle asks about restoring ST disk images:
".ST disk images. I couldn't find this via a Google search (turns out
Google drops the "." and searches for every instance of "st"- you can
imagine how many articles THAT turns up..!).
What archiver should I use to restore .st disk image files..?
Is there one good one that can deal with multiple styles of disk
images?"
Stephane Perez replies to Bob:
"For what kind of computer? ST or PC ?
On an Atari ST, you can use JayMSA, it can deal with .MSA, .ST and .DIM
files. Check this : http://phoenix.inf.upol.cz/~opichals/jay/"
Well folks, I know it's short, but that's it for this week. People must
be out and about, enjoying the longer and (marginally) warmer days.
Personally, I think it's just a fad. <grin>
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 - JagFest 2K2 News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Online Gaming Buzz Builds!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Buzz Builds for Online Gaming on Xbox, PlayStation
Spencer Cheveallier could only watch as a double-dealing friend plucked a
powerful sword from the loot that lay scattered around his lifeless body.
Cheveallier, the very-much-alive manager of a video game store in Memphis,
Tennessee, had seen his character die and his valuables plundered in an
online version of "Phantasy Star" on the Sega Dreamcast ( news - web
sites) video game system.
Cheveallier's advice? You can't trust a stranger on the Internet.
But Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are betting that video game players will
do just that as they get ready to launch the next-generation of Internet
gaming on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
The challenge, of course, will be persuading game players to spend even
more money for the opportunity to slay monsters or just play football with
someone across the street, overseas, or wherever else the Internet is
available.
While the technology is impressive -- Microsoft will even sell a
telephone-style headset that allows people to gloat when they score a goal
or do away with someone -- there are still players who have their doubts.
Online services mean higher costs, new technological challenges, and a
different style of play to be learned.
"The idea of paying and paying and paying again just doesn't seem to
thrill [customers] too much," said Piers Pilkington, a salesman at Iceman
Video Games in Toronto. "There haven't been too many people who have been
really that interested."
Still, Pilkington said, the excitement could build once the game systems
start selling the technology and the buzz about the Internet-enabled games
themselves goes around.
The three video game console makers have unveiled plans for Internet
gaming -- but each one is slightly different.
Sony, which has the largest following with more than 11 million
PlayStation 2 systems sold in North America, is launching a service in
August. A kit sold for $39.99 will make it possible for users to connect
the console to the Internet via a phone line or high-speed connection.
For now, the only added expense will be the cost of the games themselves
and Internet access. Sony is not charging a monthly fee, though in the
future some game vendors may charge extra for online services.
Microsoft, whose Xbox comes enabled with a high-speed Internet adapter,
will launch Xbox Live in the fall. Dial-up Internet access is not allowed
-- too slow, Microsoft says. A $49 fee covers a one-year subscription, but
games cost extra.
Also this fall, Nintendo will sell a $34.95 dial-up modem adapter for its
Gamecube system.
For his customers at Games Plus in Memphis, Cheveallier said the combined
expense is a big drawback.
Add $199 for a game system, $50 a month more for high-speed Internet
access, and another $50 or so for an online game subscription, and you get
a price tag that may keep some people playing against each other
face-to-face, not over the Internet, he said.
But, for those who already have high-speed Internet access - or even a
dial-up connection -- online gaming could be a real draw.
Some of today's players have also experimented with online games on the
Sega Dreamcast. Sega no longer makes the Dreamcast system, but the company
proved that it is possible to build an entertaining online service.
There may also be an appealing crossover for people who play games on
personal computers. PC games have already attracted a loyal audience of
online players.
In perhaps the most extreme example of the passion PC games have
generated, addicts of role-playing game "Everquest," a fantasy world of
dungeons and crypts, can spend real money to buy weapons or other
equipment for their characters.
Microsoft may be best positioned to draw in PC gamers, said Hilary
Goldstein, who reviews Xbox games for IGN Entertainment , a video game
information publisher.
"The Xbox is basically marketed more to the PC gamers, who are generally
more inclined to be online anyway," Goldstein said.
And while the buzz about the first online games circulates, excitement is
building at video game stores everywhere.
"People are lazy," said Logan Crookston, describing the draw of online
games for his customers at Game Force Denver, in Colorado.
"Just plug the Xbox in the wall and play with people who are states away,"
he said. "It's a whole lot easier than going somewhere."
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Jagfest 2002 News
Sponsors Announced for Jagfest 2002
For Immediate Release:
June 14, 2002
The organizers of The Sixth Annual Jaguar Festival (dubbed Jag fest 2k2)
are pleased to announce the current line of sponsors:
Atari Jaguar Directory:
an online directory listing of Atari Jaguar owners from around
the world. E-mail: Randy@atarijaguar.net
Website: http://atarijaguardirectory.com
The Game Trader:
A St. Louis area video game dealer that sells classic and
contemporary consoles and games. Located in St. Charles, Mo.,
at 2 Hawks Nest Plaza.
Directions: Directions: I-70 to Highway 94, south to the South Outer Road.
Turn right (west), go one half mile from 94 to Hawks Nest Plaza at the
Hawks Nest Drive overpass. Phone:1-636-723-0072.
Good Deal Games:
An online video game retailer that provides games for classic and orphaned
systems. Their website also provides information on video gaming past.
Michael Thomasson, President
Website: http://www.gooddealgames.com
Songbird Productions:
An online video game retailer and developer of Atari Jaguar and Lynx games.
Their store also hosted the third Jagfest in MN.
Carl Forhan, President
Website: http://www.songbird.atari.net
Telegames:
An online retailer and direct mail of video games for various game systems.
They also develop Atari games for the Jaguar and Lynx like Zero 5,
Breakout 2k and Worms for the Jaguar and Dessert Strike for the Lynx.
Telegames was also one of the first sponsors of Jag fest.
Address: Telegames, PO box 1855, Desoto, TX 75123
Phone: 1-972-228-0690 E-mail: Sales@telegames.com
Website: http://www.telegames.com
Trade n Games
1057a Gravois Road, Fenton MO. 1-636-349-3113. Trade n Games is
located on the bluffs off Gravois (the s is silent) overlooking
Fenton, Mo. Reseller of video games from Pong to Gamecube.
If you represent a business that would benefit from advertising in the
Jagfest program or appearing in the festival's dealer room to sell your
product or offer live demonstration, e-mail Greg George at
greg@ataritimes.com or JT August at starsabre@att.net for additional
details and a pricing schedule.
For more information On Jag fest 2k2 e-mail Greg George at
greg@ataritimes.com, James Garvin at omc@omcgames.com, Daniel Iacovelli at
atarivideoclub@yahoo.com or JT August at starsabre@att.net or visit the
Jagfest 2002 site at http://omcgames.com/jagfest
(be sure to visit the Jagfest message board and post your ideas for this
event.)
END PRESS RELEASE
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
AlltheWeb Claims Largest Search Index
Hoping to attract more mass appeal for an online search engine with a cult
following, AlltheWeb.com on Monday declared that it indexes more Internet
information than longtime pacesetter Google.
AlltheWeb, owned by Norway's Fast Search & Transfer, says its database
spans 2.1 billion Web pages, just ahead of the 2.07 billion scanned by
Google at the end of last week. AlltheWeb has been quietly building upon
its previous foundation of 800 million pages over the past two months.
The rapid expansion represents the latest salvo aimed at Mountain
View-based Google, whose growing popularity since its inception in 1998
has inspired a mixture of awe, jealousy and one-upmanship among
competitors.
The challenges haven't toppled privately held Google so far. Besides
operating one of the Web's most trafficked destinations, Google also
provides search results for other prominent sites, including Yahoo and
AOL.
AlltheWeb's effectiveness has already made it a hit among scientists,
librarians and other researchers looking for more obscure data.
By expanding the amount of online turf that it scans, AlltheWeb believes
it will become even more useful to a broader audience.
"Our goal is to develop the best search experience possible," said John
M. Lervik, Fast Search's chief executive. "We really hope Google responds
to this."
Google regards "quantity as just one component of search," said company
spokesman David Krane. "We still believe we offer the most comprehensive
search experience on the Internet."
While Google has long boasted about the breadth of its Web indexes, the
company takes even greater pride in the complex formulas that it had
developed to deliver quick results that list the most pertinent
destinations.
SpamNet Enlists You To Fight Spam
Ordinary Web surfers could play a major role in stemming the rising tide
of junk e-mail crippling the Net, if a new anti-spam company hits its
mark.
After operating in stealth mode for nearly two-and-a-half years, San Mateo,
Calif.-based Cloudmark on Wednesday is taking the wraps off a new
spam-fighting tool, called SpamNet, which aims to use the power of the
people to weed out unsolicited commercial e-mail.
Conceived by Napster co-founder Jordan Ritter and open-source developer
Vipul Ved Prakash, the company is touting the benefits of democracy,
networking and collaboration in the war against unscrupulous e-mail
marketers.
The company does face challenges. It is charged with transforming a tool
that's geared for a small Unix developer community into a product for the
masses. It also must offer a system that's simple and effective to reach a
critical mass. Finally, it must build in financial support for such a
system.
Then there is the Internet itself, whose enormous strengths of openness,
flexibility and redundancy have proven insurmountable foes for legions of
companies that previously have marched off to vanquish the hordes of spam.
Many, such as SpamCop and SpamKiller, already include tools to allow
e-mail recipients to report spam to their Internet service providers, a
form of democracy in action that has not proven terribly effective.
Technology pundits say most existing anti-spam solutions haven't been able
to keep up with the rising flood of junk and the sophistication of
marketers sending it. In this environment, Cloudmark is drawing attention
for what some analysts call a new approach to the problem.
"What's exciting about Cloudmark is that it's a distributed response to a
distributed problem," said Kevin Werbach, technology analyst at venture
capital firm EDventure Holdings.
"There are so many spammers out there," he said, "that it's difficult to
come up with sophisticated algorithms to catch all the spam and not catch
all the e-mail. But if you harness the power of thousands or potentially
millions of people on the network, then you can grow the response to the
spam almost as fast as the spam itself is growing."
Despite repeated attempts to keep spam down to size, the enemy has
proliferated: Internet researcher Jupiter estimates that consumers will
receive 206 billion junk e-mailings in 2006--an average of 1,400 per
person, compared with about 700 per person this year.
If Cloudmark is not the first company to address the problem, its claims
are among the boldest. Prakash drew inspiration for the company's name
from the sci-fi novel "A Fire Upon The Deep," by a former computer-science
professor, Vernor Vinge, who wrote about a router the size of a planet
"that could filter spam," Prakash said.
In an interview, Prakash and company CEO Karl Jacob said Cloudmark's
software solves the problem of identifying spam and quickly updating
e-mail filters by harnessing the intelligence of the Web community at
large.
"It operates on a trust evaluation system; it evaluates the trustworthiness
of the user's suggestion to identify a spam message," said Jacob, an
investor in the company who recently left his job as CEO of advice site
Keen.com. "It's based on how long they've been in the community, how many
messages they've sent that were verified. The effect is it allows a
democratic vote."
The software is based on Prakash's open-source software Razor, a
collaborative spam-filtering system that sifts out about 5 million messages
per day. The technology has about 5,000 "users," or Internet Protocol
addresses linked to the community, with more than 60 midsize ISPs. SpamNet
will count new users as individuals, however.
Cloudmark's solution requires a free plug-in that plays a minor role in
the background of Microsoft's Outlook, the only e-mail client the product
is currently available for. Consumers will see a new file folder on the
left side of Outlook deemed for spam and a toolbar at the top for reporting
spam or "revoking a spam decision." Every time someone receives a new
message he considers spam, that person would report the message to the
program by clicking the first button.
As the software stands now, it filters junk into the spam folder based on
2.5 million "signatures," or combinations of zeros and ones, which are
used to identify a junk mail message. The underlying technology attaches a
signature to each incoming message, and based on a consensus among users,
it will mark a signature as spam in real time. So the more people who
participate, the greater depth the database will have with additional
marked signatures.
The signatures are unlike typical spam-fighting tools that are based on
"rules" or filters built around spoken language, headers or IP addresses
of commercial messages. Anti-spam software company Brightmail uses
rules-based filtering, for example. But Jacob says that model doesn't work
well because it depends on humans to constantly write new rules and
technology that can slow as it compares too many rules to each incoming
message. In contrast, Cloudmark uses algorithms to efficiently find
similar numerals or signatures in the database without scanning the entire
set.
A spokesman for Brightmail, one of the largest spam-filtering services,
said the company filtered more than 10 billion e-mails and blocked 1.5
billion junks mails in the past 12 months. The company's rules-based system
is constantly updated to avoid latency in scanning messages, he said,
adding that the majority of rules are written automatically, with some
exceptions for those particularly challenging spam attacks.
Cloudmark says it intends to always offer a free product to consumers, with
eventual plans to sell a more advanced service. It also expects to license
its technology to enterprise customers, of which it already has some beta
customers.
If anything, the company has the angst of Web users on its side.
"A community effort against spam is not something we've seen before, at
least not on the scale on what they're attempting to gather," said Ray
Everett-Church, chief privacy officer at ePrivacy Group, a
Philadelphia-based consultancy. "At least they've got a very fertile
community who are sick of spam and who are willing to try something new if
it will stop it."
Microsoft To Reinstate Java In Windows
In an about-face, Microsoft said Tuesday that it will reinstate the ability
to run Java programs in Windows XP.
Microsoft said it would include its own Java software in the Service Pack
1 update to Windows XP due late this summer. In the long term, though, the
company plans to remove Java from Windows altogether.
The reinstatement is a partial victory for Java inventor and Microsoft
rival Sun Microsystems, which in the 1990s had hoped people would use the
cross-platform language to write programs capable of running on any
computer, regardless of the operating system used by the machine.
Jim Cullinan, Microsoft's lead product manager for Windows, said Microsoft
will ship its own JVM, written in 1997 and based on version 1.1.4 of Java.
Sun wants Microsoft to ship the more modern version, currently 1.4. Sun
offers a download option on its Web page.
Sun praised the move but asked for more.
"Today's about-face decision by Microsoft to offer its Java (software) as
a default component of Windows XP is good news for both consumers and
software developers," Sun said in a statement. "It is unfortunate, though,
that Microsoft insists on using an outdated and incompatible (version of
Java) instead of a current and compatible one," and that Microsoft will
stop distributing Java in 2004.
Faced with serious legal challenges by the Justice Department ( news - web
sites), several states, Sun, AOL Time Warner and others, Microsoft has
adopted a strategy that indicates the company thinks it might be better to
bend than to break. In response to legal pressure in a federal antitrust
suit, Microsoft is working to make it easier for customers to install
third-party "middleware" such as Web browsers, media players or
instant-messaging programs in Windows instead of having to use Microsoft's
versions of these programs.
But the federal antitrust actions began four years ago and have the
potential to drag on for years more. Some believe Microsoft is winning the
war of attrition.
Microsoft doesn't lose much from the move but can gain by making itself
appear more accommodating and interested in helping out computer users,
Gartner analyst David Smith said.
"It's a very minor concession; it's not going to hurt them much at all,"
Smith said, adding that Microsoft still isn't a Java convert.
The move comes one day before closing arguments begin in the remedy
hearing involving the software giant and nine states that didn't agree
with the Justice Department's settlement. The timing of Tuesday's move "is
not a coincidence," Smith said.
Sun's March antitrust lawsuit against the software titan triggered the
change, Cullinan said.
The suit accuses Microsoft of trying to use its desktop computer dominance
to take over the server market, where Sun is strong. The suit seeks, among
other things, to have Microsoft include in Windows Sun's Java virtual
machine (JVM), software that lets a computer run Java programs.
Microsoft decided in April 2001 not to ship a Java virtual machine,
instead adding a "download-on-demand" feature that Sun said in its
antitrust suit violated settlement terms of an earlier Java legal dispute
between the two companies.
Microsoft plans to remove the download-on-demand option "to take an issue
off the table with the current legal action by Sun," Cullinan said, and
therefore is including its JVM as the "best way to minimize any
disruption" to customers. Java is used on some Web pages.
Cullinan said Microsoft told both Sun and the court of its decision. Sun
said it would comment after reviewing Microsoft's position.
The terms of the settlement of the earlier Java suit gave Microsoft the
right to ship its Java software in new products through Jan. 2, 2004, and
in existing products through Jan. 2, 2008. Microsoft, meanwhile, is
working on software similar to Java, including the C# programming language
(pronounced "C-sharp") and accompanying software to let C# programs run on
a variety of computing devices.
"For the next year and a half, we are going to include (the JVM) in
Windows XP. Then we'll make the changes to make sure that moving forward,
we don't put Windows or our customers at risk," Cullinan said, saying that
the settlement prohibits Microsoft from updating the software to fix
potential future security risks.
Cullinan also said Microsoft disagrees with Sun's assertion that its
download-on-demand option violates the settlement of the earlier Java
dispute.
Including Java gives Microsoft some legal fodder in its argument that it's
complying with the legal requirement to make it easier to remove Microsoft
middleware.
Sun's antitrust suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif.,
draws heavily on an appeals court decision to uphold a finding a year ago
that Microsoft illegally maintained its monopoly in desktop operating
systems. Some experts believe Sun may have bitten off more than it can
chew with its very broad suit.
Sun Micro Free Software Aimed to Undercut Microsoft
High-end computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. announced on Wednesday a free
software initiative aimed at undercutting Microsoft Corp. in the battle to
set the standards of the next-generation
Internet.
The battleground between Sun and Microsoft's .NET initiative is the layer
of software that will form the backbone of the next generation Internet,
and Sun will give away a key part, called an application server, that runs
on Microsoft systems as well as the hit operating system, Linux.
Sun and Microsoft see a world of "Web services" in which clever software
anticipates users' needs, such as automatically ordering parts for a
factory that is running low or finding directions to an appointment listed
in a business person's calendar.
For that to happen, a layer of backbone software must stitch together
computers that run operating systems and translate data between
applications.
Sun has a good start, because its Java platform runs programs while sitting
on top of many operating systems, including Windows, while Windows programs
run only on Windows.
The next step is aimed at cementing the ascendance of Java, despite
Microsoft plans to phase out support.
So Sun plans to give away for computers that run Windows, Linux and Unix
operating systems from Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM a basic version of its
application server, a type of backbone software that runs custom
applications necessary for web services and communicates data between
applications.
If it succeeds, developers wooed by free software will create programs for
its systems, rather than Microsoft's.
"We are going after the .NET developer and deployer and the Linux community
developer and deployer," said Marge Breya, vice president of the Sun ONE
software division.
"What we're really trying to do is bring together these three developer
communities into a consolidated Java web services ignition, if you well,"
she said.
Santa Clara, California-based Sun is a former Internet star which called
itself "the dot in dot-com" until the firms that bought its computers to
run their networks began going bankrupt.
Sun hopes that the free software will stimulate sales of its servers and
of other software tools, including more sophisticated versions of the
application server, Breya said.
By setting the non-Microsoft standard, Sun is "making sure we have a right
to compete," she said. "We define open standards, compete on
implementation."
However, the free offer is hardly an assurance of success for Sun, whose
hardware has long overshadowed its software.
Sun's competitive success in the application server market has been limited
so far. In 2001 Sun slipped to fourth place in the market with a 7.9
percent share, behind BEA Systems Inc., International Business Machines
Corp. and Oracle Corp., researcher IDC Corp reported.
BEA said Sun's free low-end offering would not compete with its application
server that run for about $200,000 and are used to build multimillion
dollar corporate projects.
"I think Sun has created this perception that they're going to giving away
what we currently sell," which was not the case, said Eric Stahl BEA's
director of product marketing.
CSFB analyst George Gilbert agreed that BEA was not likely to be hurt,
saying the application server market was becoming split between a low end
of near free "good enough" software and sophisticated high end platforms,
like BEA.
Microsoft Rejects Compromise in Antitrust Case
Microsoft refused on Wednesday to offer further concessions to end its
antitrust case, rebuffing a federal judge's invitation to revisit the
demands of nine states seeking stiffer sanctions against the software giant.
The state's proposed sanctions were "fundamentally flawed," Microsoft
attorney John Warden told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
during closing arguments.
"We can't remedy this by changing a few words here and there," Warden said.
"We can't fix it."
The nine states, in contrast, heeded the judge's instructions and
identified their most important demand -- a requirement for Microsoft to
share computer code that allows rival software to work well with
Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system.
The states accused the company of "thuggish" business practices in their
closing presentation, and portrayed the judge as the last chance to stop
Microsoft's bullying.
"I suggest to you that Microsoft still doesn't get it and you're the only
one left to tell them what it's all about," states' attorney Brendan
Sullivan told Kollar-Kotelly.
The nine states have refused to sign a settlement of the case reached in
November between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department and endorsed by
nine other states previously party to the four-year-old case.
Kollar-Kotelly issued an order on Tuesday telling both sides to come to
court prepared to answer questions on how their proposals could be
modified if she rejects their respective remedies as currently written -
suggesting she is open to some hybrid of the two positions in a modified
settlement agreement.
The judge's request "suggests that she's trying to understand what's most
important to the parties and what causes the least amount of pain," said
Mark Schechter, an antitrust attorney with the firm Howrey Simon Arnold &
White.
"I think it's reasonably likely that the court will order some additional
conduct restrictions" that go beyond the Justice Department settlement,
Schechter said.
Outside the courthouse afterwards, the hold-out attorneys general said
they were not surprised by Microsoft's decision to reject any further
compromise.
"I think it's a gamble that the judge may not mean what she said and is
going to go with what they want," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal.
The states said the sharing of key Windows computer code was even more
important than demands for a version of Windows with removable features
that could be replaced by competitors' software.
Microsoft would be forced to behave "more like a company facing
competition and less like a firm existing in a comfortable monopoly" under
the dissenting states' proposals said Steve Kuney, another attorney for
the states.
Kuney accused Microsoft chairman Bill Gates of arrogance and advocating
monopoly when he testified in April.
"Somehow they know better than anyone else what's best for this PC
ecosystem. What's good for Microsoft is therefore good for the economy,
good for consumers and good for everybody else," he said.
Warden, for Microsoft, accused Kuney of misrepresenting the company's
position. "Microsoft does not claim that monopoly is the preferred form of
industrial organization," he told Kollar-Kotelly.
Warden also took exception to Sullivan's portrayal of Microsoft as some
kind of scofflaw. "We haven't failed to get some message. We haven't
claimed that we're immune from the law or anything of that kind," he said.
Microsoft argued that the states demands go way beyond addressing the
antitrust violations it actually committed and would harm consumers and
the entire computer industry.
Warden said U.S. Supreme Court precedents for sweeping antitrust remedies,
cited by Kuney for the states, were not applicable to the Microsoft case.
Last June, a federal appeals court upheld trial court findings that
Microsoft illegally maintained its Windows monopoly in personal computer
operating systems by acts that included commingling Web browser code with
Windows to fend off Netscape's rival browser.
The appellate judges rejected breaking the company in two to prevent future
antitrust violations, but sent the case to a new judge, Kollar-Kotelly, to
consider the best remedy.
Microsoft has argued that the restrictions being sought by the states
would benefit rivals like AOL Time Warner Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc.,
and would deprive consumers of a reliable platform for software.
Under the Justice Department settlement, Microsoft would be required to
let computer makers hide desktop icons for some features of its Windows
operating system to allow the promotion of competing software by computer
makers.
The hold-out states say stricter sanctions are needed to protect new
technologies such as Internet services and handheld computers from any
anti-competitive tactics.
The nine states still pursuing the case are California, Connecticut,
Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah, West Virginia, plus
the District of Columbia.
EBay Fights to Keep Customers Happy
Twelve eBay users from around the country have been invited to company
headquarters to give the Internet auction site's executives pieces of their
minds: Customer service is lousy. The search engine is weak. Pop-up ads are
deplorable.
The eBay manager writing down their gripes quickly fills a large sheet of
paper, then two, then three, eventually taping so many onto a wall that new
ones go on the door.
Michael Benson, a baseball card collector from St. Louis, adds his
complaint: "eBay is going with the big sellers over the little sellers."
Murmurs of assent can be heard around the table. "You've got to get back
to mom and pop sellers," nods Judy Tomlin of Mecosta, Mich.
That complaint is not new, but it is becoming increasingly common among
longtime eBay users. Many say eBay, committed to growth, is giving big
companies an unfair advantage by prominently featuring their brand-name
wares, creating tough competition for the millions of regular folks who
made eBay huge.
"It's so infuriating to see the stock continually rise and know that it's
happening because the little guy is taking it in the shins," said
collectibles seller Tricia Spencer of Riverside, Calif., who was not among
the 12 users invited to headquarters. "It's like a kingdom where the serfs
have done all the work and the king eats hale and hearty while the serfs
starve."
EBay executives say the charge is unfounded. But they acknowledge that
after eBay's astonishing rise in recent years, it is more difficult than
ever to stay connected to its treasured "community" the hobbyists and
small businesses that trade everything from AstroTurf to zithers, and dole
out "feedback points" that reflect their online reputations.
"Our communication, frankly, to the community is broken," Bill Cobb, eBay's
director of marketing, told the group of 12 at eBay's most recent "Voice of
the Customer" session. "We have to figure out a better way."
EBay hopes relations get a big boost from its first "community
celebration," called eBay Live, June 21-23 in Anaheim. More than 3,000
users are expected to mingle with company managers, trade advice on how to
buy and sell things in more cost-effective ways, hear a speech by CEO Meg
Whitman and attend an awards ceremony.
Founded in 1995, eBay is by far the world's top Internet auction site, with
nearly 50 million registered users and sites in 27 countries.
It long ago shed its roots as an online flea market. With big companies
such as Dell and IBM now unloading goods on eBay, the site is more like a
giant mall with a flea market and a used-car dealership in the parking lot.
To attract even more corporate sellers, eBay and consultancy Accenture plan
to launch a service to facilitate auctions for companies with discontinued
or out-of-season merchandise.
Executives say such deals are essential for eBay's long-term financial
growth, which will come largely by expanding its slim market share in major
consumer categories. More brand-name products will bring new buyers, which
ultimately helps big and small sellers, they say.
They also point out that eBay charges all sellers the same fees between 30
cents and $3.30 to list most items, depending on their value, and a 1.5
percent to 5.25 percent commission on successful sales. And they say 96
percent of the $13 billion in merchandise that will be sold on eBay this
year is from small and medium-sized businesses.
Even so, many sellers say they are feeling pinched by increased competition
while the listing and commission fees they pay to eBay have only gone up.
Prices of collectibles on eBay dropped 11 percent in May from last year and
25 percent from 2000, according to AuctionBytes.com, which tracks Internet
trading. Perhaps more telling, collectibles' average "sell-through rate"
the percentage of listed items that sold was 55 percent last month, down
from 72 percent in 2000.
"The traffic to my auctions has slowed to almost half since the influx of
discounters and wholesalers into the categories," said Mischelle Martin of
Los Angeles, who sells women's clothing on eBay.
Brian Burke, eBay's senior manager of community development, argues that
such developments are a natural part of eBay's marketplace system.
"We haven't eliminated competition by putting it online," he said. "We've
probably actually enhanced competition."
Promoting that benign image hasn't proven easy. Adding to the perception
that eBay is unresponsive: On its online message boards, many community
questions are answered not by real eBay staff but by fellow members or
with canned, automatically generated replies.
"If you ever have a question regarding costs or your invoice, try to find
some help from a real person," said Doug Duguay, who sells cycling clothes
on eBay from Portland, Ore. "It's very difficult."
EBay has tried to help users for years by offering "eBay University," a
traveling series of seminars with buying and selling tips. The "Voice of
the Customer" sessions began in 1999 and are staged every two months.
The meetings give eBay a chance to hear complaints, solicit opinions on
new services under development and explain the rationale for contentious
policies. The users are asked to keep in touch through regular conference
calls after they return home.
After taking part in the most recent session, Lance Shoeman of Canon City,
Colo., said he was impressed by eBay's receptiveness but thinks it needs to
work harder at community relations rather than merely "allowing a handful
of people to bend their ear every now and then."
"They're listening," he said. "but not properly communicating that fact to
their members."
'Star Trek' Fans Eye Captain's Seat on eBay
Some lucky "Star Trek" fan will have a chance to take the captain's seat
in an upcoming auction available on eBay.
Captain Kirk's command chair from the starship Enterprise will be one of
some 374 mostly "Star Trek"-related lots that will go up for auction next
Thursday.
The auction will be conducted live in Los Angeles by auctioneer Profiles
in History; however, eBay members can preview the auction catalog online
and participate online via eBay's Live Auctions technology.
Much of the items come from the collection of Bob Justman, an associate
producer on the original "Star Trek" series, said Lorna Hart, general
manager at Profiles in History.
"There's some really incredible stuff (that gives insight) into how these
brains were thinking when they created the show," Hart said.
eBay representatives did not return calls seeking comment about the "Star
Trek" auction.
This is the latest high-profile auction on eBay. Last month, Guernsey's
auction house sold a collection of Grateful Dead memorabilia on the site,
including two one-of-a-kind guitars formerly owned by the band's lead
singer, Jerry Garcia. In April, a round of golf with Tiger Woods sold on
eBay for $425,000.
Last fall, George Lucas sold memorabilia from the rival "Star Wars"
universe on eBay in a charity auction. Among the jewels in the auction
were a lightsaber prop used in "Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace,"
which fetched more than $45,000, and a Stormtrooper helmet used in "The
Empire Strikes Back" that sold for more than $35,000.
The "Star Trek" memorabilia figures to out-duel the "Star Wars" auction.
The Captain Kirk command chair alone has an estimated value of between
$100,000 and $150,000, and the bidding on it starts at $80,000.
Other notable pieces in the "Star Trek" auction include the costume and
the helmet and gloves worn by Ricardo Montalban as Khan in "Star Trek: The
Wrath of Khan." Profiles in History estimated the value of both lots at
between $20,000 and $30,000.
"Those are big pieces for followers," Hart said.
The auction includes an assortment of other costumes, such as several worn
by William Shatner as Captain Kirk; a pair of prosthetic earpieces worn by
Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock; the original film of the second pilot episode
of the original "Star Trek" series; and a collection of production memos
from various "Star Trek" episodes.
In addition, the auction includes a few non-"Star Trek" lots. Among them
are costumes, props and other memorabilia from such films as the 2001
remake of "Planet of the Apes," "Logan's Run" and "Men in Black." The last
lot in the auction is a collection of Jimi Hendrix's original Army medical
reports from his stint in the military in the early 1960s.
eBay members who want to bid on the auction need to register for it,
indicating that they have read the terms of the auction. Unlike most eBay
auctions, Profiles in History will charge successful bidders a premium of
15 percent of the final purchase price if they pay in cash or 18 percent
if they pay with a credit card.
The auction is the second "Star Trek" auction handled by Profiles in
History. The auction house held the previous one in December. The standout
items in that auction included a phaser rifle prop that was used in "Star
Trek: First Contact" that sold for $45,000, Hart said.
'Proof of Concept' Virus Infects Picture Files
Innovation is usually a good thing when it comes to technology and the
Internet, but a new computer virus capable of infecting .JPG picture files
shared over the Web has antivirus experts concerned.
The virus, known as Perrun, is what is called a "proof of concept" virus,
which means it was written to prove a technical possibility. While Perrun
is not spreading and poses minimal danger to user machines, the virus may
mark a new type of threat that could reach anyone clicking on photos of
friends or family.
Experts also said they are concerned that virus writers will build on
Perrun's blueprint, which paves the way to infect other digital data files,
including pictures, MP3 and other music files, movies or text.
JPEG is a standardized image-compression mechanism. The acronym stands for
"joint photographic experts group," the original name of the committee
that wrote the standard.
Experts agreed there is little cause for concern. While the virus does
infect .JPG files, it cannot spread itself in the same file and requires
an extractor file, as well.
However, the virus -- whose author submitted it this week to antivirus firm
McAfee.com - potentially could be the basis for an outbreak via the popular
picture files or some other format.
"They haven't been able to get it into one single file to infect and
propagate," McAfee.com virus research manager April Goostree told
NewsFactor. "That's the next step, and that's what we'll be looking for."
While most viruses infect program files capable of running themselves,
Perrun represents the first malicious code that infects regular files such
as pictures, text or even MP3s.
Security Focus senior threat analyst Ryan Russell told NewsFactor that he
was not concerned about the threat of the Perrun virus. However, he said,
the concept of it represents -- that is, infecting a regular file type
with a special viewer and executing arbitrary code -- could mean that "any
type of file at all," including .JPG, .GIF and other file formats, might
be susceptible.
Experts say the proof-of-concept Perrun virus may be taking the trust out
of .JPG and MP3.
Russell, who called .JPG "a totally trusted download," at present, said
the popular picture files found on Web sites and shared over the Internet
will remain trusted until the files with the extension actually cause
adversity for users.
Goostree went further, describing .JPG and MP3 as "two very trusted sources
that are now compromised."
"Now, every file type should be suspect, and that's going to cause a huge
problem," Goostree added, referring to consumer and business approaches to
file-sharing as well as issues of blocking and scanning files.
The typical pattern of virus writers -- building on previous viruses, using
security gaps left open by other viruses, and taking advantage of hacker
techniques - makes Perrun's capabilities troubling.
Russell cited the example of two totally different viruses building on
each other accidentally, adding that for viruses, working in pairs is
nothing new.
Goostree said it is "a fairly large leap" to enable a .JPG virus to infect
and spread among personal computers in one file, but it is only a matter
of time before it is accomplished.
"The issue for the general public is education," Goostree said. "This is
going to be the next big thing, most likely."
Anti-Censorship Advocate Draws Heat
Internet activist Bennett Haselton has made a name for himself by helping
minors disable filtering programs designed to block Web sites that their
parents deem offensive or pornographic.
His Peacefire.org site offers free downloads and details methods for
circumventing filtering software that critics say also inevitably blocks
out a range of useful, even beneficial, Internet content.
Yet while Haselton's crusade, launched six years ago while he was a
college student, has made him a hero among some Web-savvy minors, he's
something of a supervillain to filtering advocates.
"He's being totally irresponsible," said Marc Kanter, marketing director
for Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Solid Oak Software, which makes the
CYBERsitter program.
"When he started Peacefire, he was a kid himself," Kanter said. "Basically
he was enticing minors into his beliefs and activities, which was to
undermine parents' rights. As an adult now, he should know better than
that."
Haselton, a 23-year-old who simultaneously earned a bachelor's and
master's degree in mathematics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
Tenn., says his objection to Net censorship is not born so much of passion
as logic.
The criteria used by filter program designers is too arbitrary, he says.
Besides, children should be able to view whatever Web page they like,
Haselton asserts: "I think intellectual development is one of the
fundamental human rights and it's also a right that people under 18 have."
Haselton was heartened by a federal appeals court decision last month that
struck down the Children's Internet Protection Act, ruling that public
libraries cannot be forced to install filtering software in order to
receive federal funding.
But many who share Haselton's opposition to filtering consider his position
extreme.
"I'm not of the opinion that parents don't have any say where children
should go" on the Internet, said Chris Hunter, a University of Pennsylvania
researcher who testified on behalf of librarians at the trial.
Hunter worries that Haselton's line of thinking "that parents shouldn't
have a right to monitor their children's access lends fuel to the other
side saying that we're somehow uncaring about the issue."
Haselton, who works from a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Seattle's
eastern suburbs, was raised as a U.S. citizen in Copenhagen, Denmark,
where his mother taught music to diplomats' children, among others.
After graduating from Vanderbilt at age 20, he went west to work for
Microsoft. But he left in January 2000, frustrated that he was writing
code rather than tracking bugs for the software giant.
In addition to running Peacefire, Haselton now does battle with purveyors
of Internet spam and works to ferret out security flaws on the Internet.
He made about $15,000 in bounty from Netscape last year for discovering
flaws in the company's browser software. And last month he gained notoriety
for finding flaws with Anonymizer.com, a popular Internet privacy service
that lets Web surfers visit sites anonymously.
"That was pretty sophisticated," Anonymizer President Lance Cottrell said.
"The fact that he was able to find it is testimony to what a clever fellow
he is."
Haselton also has won 10 of 14 small-claims cases and thousands of dollars
in judgments against senders of e-mail spam - though he has yet to collect
a cent. Washington is one of about two dozen states with anti-spam laws.
On a recent weekday, virtually every square foot of floor space in
Haselton's apartment was covered by stacks of programming books, floppy
disks, empty boxes, dirty clothes and an upended office chair. Four
computers dominated a corner table, where Haselton probes for
vulnerabilities in filtering programs.
Haselton says that while he intends to keep sniffing out bugs for bounty,
he hopes to focus more of his energy on Peacefire's crusade.
"This is something that practically nobody else is working on, and only a
couple of people in the world actually know as much about the blocking
software issue," he said.
House Panel OKs Rewritten 'Virtual' Child-Porn Ban
A House of Representatives committee voted on Wednesday to reinstate a
recently rejected ban on Internet child pornography, hoping that a more
narrowly tailored version would pass courtroom muster.
The Supreme Court struck down a previous law that outlawed "virtual" child
pornography in April, saying it could criminalize simulated sex acts in
mainstream movies like "Traffic" and "Romeo and Juliet."
By a vote of 22 to 3, the House Judiciary Committee approved a more
narrowly drafted bill that would outlaw only computer images that were
indistinguishable from actual photographs or movies. Pornography involving
prepubescent children would be outlawed entirely, "virtual" or not.
Defendants in child-pornography cases would have to prove that the images
in question were entirely computer generated and not a depiction of actual
events. Most criminal cases in the United States place the burden of proof
on prosecutors.
In debate on Tuesday, bill sponsor Lamar Smith said prosecutors would find
it impossible to prove whether a pornographic image was a digital
assemblage or an actual photograph once it has been scanned into a computer.
"Retransmission makes it impossible to tell if it's a real picture or not,"
the Texas Republican said.
But some Democrats balked at the so-called "affirmative defense" provision,
saying it would criminalize protected speech and would end up on the
judicial scrap heap along with previous congressional attempts to control
online smut.
"I think this bill is the newest in a series of attempts to do what the
Supreme Court has said we repeatedly cannot do," said New York Democrat
Jerry Nadler.
Fellow Democrat Adam Schiff, a former
prosecutor, said it was the only way
to give the ban any teeth.
"If we only go after pornography produced using real children ... we will
effectively preclude any real prosecution of child pornography," said
Schiff, a Californian.
A spokesman for House Majority Leader Dick Armey said the bill would be
taken up quickly by the full House now that it had cleared the Judiciary
Committee.
"It's a priority, and we want to do it quickly," said spokesman Richard
Diamond.
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Missouri Democrat Jean
Carnahan.
The committee also approved two bills that would make it easier to
prosecute "sex tourists" who travel abroad to have sex with children, and
allow judges to require monitoring of sex offenders after they served their
prison terms.
High Court to Consider Net Filters
The Bush administration renewed its legal fight against Internet
pornography on Thursday, asking the Supreme Court to permit Congress to
pressure public libraries to block sexually explicit Web sites.
A three-judge panel in Philadelphia last month struck down the Children's
Internet Protection Act, which would have taken effect next month. The law,
signed by President Clinton in 2000, required libraries to install software
filters on Internet computers or risk the loss of federal funds.
Public schools and school libraries are still subject to the law.
The Justice Department, acting on behalf of the Federal Communications
Commission and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, formally
notified the Supreme Court on Thursday it will appeal last month's ruling.
The panel from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled
unanimously that the law relies on filtering programs that also block sites
on politics, health, science and other topics that should not be
suppressed. Its decision was the third time since 1996 that courts have
struck down U.S. laws aimed at keeping youngsters from seeing Internet
pornography.
"Given the crudeness of filtering technology, any technology protection
measure mandated by CIPA will necessarily block access to a substantial
amount of speech whose suppression serves no legitimate government
interest," the judges wrote.
Under the law, adults could have asked for librarians to turn off the
filters. But the court said some patrons might be too embarrassed to ask,
and librarians may not know how.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that Internet smut is so pervasive
that protections are necessary to keep it away from youngsters, and that
the law simply calls for libraries to use the same care in selecting online
content that they use for books and magazines.
They also pointed out that libraries could turn down federal funding if
they want to provide unfiltered Web access.
Critics of filter technology have argued that the software still is easily
tricked into accidentally blocking Web sites that are not pornographic.
Bumps Rising In Napster Buyout
Napster's road to being acquired by German giant Bertelsmann is getting
bumpier, thanks to a small music-software companywith a history of
David-and-Goliath battles.
In documents filed with a Delaware court Tuesday, PlayMedia Systems said
it provided key parts of the Napster technology, which the company couldn't
automatically transfer to Bertelsmann.
PlayMedia, which created the MP3-playing functions of Napster's original
file-swapping software, along with some of the security features of the
planned subscription service, says it isn't trying to derail the $8 million
bankruptcy buyout. It's just notifying the court, which is still in the
early stages of the bankruptcy proceedings, that it has an interest,
the company's attorney said.
"We're just trying to protect PlayMedia's licenses," said Richard Riley,
the Delaware attorney representing the company. "Depending on what
(Napster's) position is on the PlayMedia license, we may have to object to
the transaction."
PlayMedia is far from a household name, but it has made headlines before.
In 1999, it sued Nullsoft, the company that created the popular Winamp MP3
software, for $20 million, contending Nullsoft had used its code to create
the software. When America Online agreed to buy Nullsoft later that year,
it quickly settled with PlayMedia. The terms of that settlement were not
made public.
Last year, a judge temporarily barred AOL from distributing a new version
of its flagship Internet software, saying it had likely violated its
license with PlayMedia.
While unlikely to derail Bertelsmann's acquisition of struggling file
swapper Napster, PlayMedia's involvement could delay the transfer or make
it more expensive for the German media company, which has already spent
more than $85 million keeping its protege afloat.
Bertelsmann agreed to buy Napster for $8 million last month, just days
after an earlier, pricier buyout bid collapsed. As part of the deal, the
file-swapping company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which
will help it clear much of its accumulated debt.
As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, the door must be opened to other
bids and to objections by creditors, however.
Other bidders are expected to be scarce in this case--any company that
steps in would inherit as debt the tens of millions of dollars Bertelsmann
loaned Napster. But the process does allow other companies, such as
PlayMedia, an opportunity to have their claims heard in court.
PlayMedia's filing contained some interesting insight into how Napster had
been working in its difficult late days. The original contact to provide
Napster's MP3-playing capabilities was a written, nonexclusive license,
the company's attorney said. Legally, that means it can't automatically be
transferred to Bertelsmann, Riley said.
But there is no written contract for the PlayMedia technology inside
Napster's new subscription service, which--according to the filing -
included MP3 playing and security features. Instead, that contract is "oral
and implied," the filing said. Napster has not asked permission to transfer
either license, the company said.
A Napster representative had no immediate comment on the filing.
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