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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 09 Issue 36
Volume 9, Issue 36 Atari Online News, Etc. September 7, 2007
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2007
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:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0936 09/07/07
~ Priority Web Fees Okay ~ People Are Talking! ~ Eudora To Be Reborn!
~ Net Neutrality Warning ~ Netscape, Portal Again ~ Wii Outsells PS3 3:1
~ UK Reviews Violence! ~ Microsoft Loses Vote! ~ ACEC Is Saturday!
~ MS Compliance On Track ~ Iowa-MS Settlement! ~ Gamers Play At Work!
-* Cybersecurity Still A Concern *-
-* Pentagon E-Mail System Is Breached! *-
-* Judge Strikes Down Part of The Patriot Act *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Labor Day Weekend has come and gone, but summer is still here, with a
vengeance! This past week was perfect - temps in the 70s all week, until
Friday when it soared into the 90s. Wiped me right out! I'm not one to
usually wish this, but we sure could use a good dose of rain around here!
First, to cool things down, and the second to try and revive my lawn which
has turned an ugly beige!
So, I don't have much to say this week. And, I caught a glimpse of Joe's
column this week - he said enough for the both of us! So, while I find a
way to cool off (we closed the pool last weekend!), I'll let you find your
own source of cool and enjoy this week's issue!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Final Reminder ACEC Swap Meet This Saturday
ACEC Vintage Computer and Video Game Swap Meet September 8, 2007
ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS
OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
VINTAGE COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME SWAP MEET
September 8, 2007
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Oakland Park Community Center
980 Lenore St.
All vintage and classic computers, video games, systems, accessories,
games, and software invited!
Vendor and Flea Marketeer donation: Free!
Shoppers and onlookers donation: Free!
Further info:
chwbr...@ee.net Charles (614) 447-9789
rar...@columbus.rr.com
http://www.angelfire.com/oh4/acec/acec.html
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Good ladies, morning and gentlemen, goys
and birls.
Okay, that got the silliness out of my system for a while. Now we can
get to some real... well, "stuff".
Boy, you guys don't know how lucky you are. I just deleted a bunch of
stuff I'd written last night. I decided that I didn't need to, as our
commander-in-chief might say, beat a dead horse to death. I'm going to
truncate the main points and get you to the news and stuff as quickly
and as painlessly as possible, okay? Okay.
Things have gotten strange in politics in the past week, and I'm amazed
that one party can extol their virtues while rushing around, trying to
dissociate themselves from formerly well-thought-of members of their
own party. Please notice as well that there hasn't been a peep from the
other side. Perhaps the other side finally realizes that the so-called
conservatives will do their work for them, and more heartlessly than
they ever could have.
But the really interesting thing here is that Senator Craig was (at
least at the time of this writing) thinking of not resigning. Well,
that's his call, no matter what other members of his party say. It's
his decision as to whether or not he resigns. End of story.
I give it another week or so, and then the general mindset will be,
depending on who you ask, either that the good senator has been the
target of unfair influence, or that he's a 'bad egg' who deserves to be
cast out from the good graces of the other lofty members of the club
(like Jim McGreevey, David Vitter and Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert, I
wonder?). I doubt that anyone on either side (since both sides are
conservative... with the liberals sitting quietly on the sidelines,
wondering what it's all about) will stop to think about the actual
charges. There was no minor involved, no threat or coercion, no body
parts that are usually considered as "naughty bits" displayed, and no
hint of any enticement toward any illegal activity. It's not like he's
accused of exposing himself to a 12 year old and offering him opium. I
can understand the local police constabulary being involved in trying
to 'clean out' what they consider to be an undesirable element, and I'd
guess that most of the arrests made in this circumstance end in pleas
and a promise to stay away from wherever the were apprehended in the
future. The whole situation reminds me of a line from a Robin Williams
movie: "These are conservative republicans. They don't care if you're a
pig, they only care if you're a fag."
And THAT brings me to Jerry Lewis. During last week's telethon, he made
use of the word "fag". He apologized, and that seems to have placated
most people who took offense. But I've just got to say, "C'mon, folks.
If you're a homosexual, you've almost certainly had to deal with more
offensive words than 'fag'." If not, you really need to get out in the
world more, you silly little moe. <grin>
Well, let's get to the news, hints, tips and info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Jo Even Skarstein posts:
"I've done a lot of work on Taskbar lately, mostly because I switched
from N.AES to XaAES last year and had to fix Taskbar accordingly. Now
large parts of the code has been completely rewritten, and many bugs
eliminated.
There was a particularly nasty bug that would cause a bus error under
certain circumstances, so hopefully the problems many has had with poor
stability should be gone now.
The new beta is available at http://atari.nvg.org/Taskbar/. Please
read the documentation carefully before installing, and report any
bugs to me. Thanks."
Edward Baiz tells Jo Even:
"I will give it a try. I did have a problem with the previous
version. I setup MagicNet on my Falcon (my Hades is toast) and Taskbar
booted up fine, but about 90% of the time when I tried to do anything
on the desktop I was told a program destroyed a block of memory. I
found out it was Taskbar.
I am new to the Falcon, so it is probably me and not the program. I will
load up the new beta and put in MagicNet and see what happens. Thanks
for the support."
Jo Even replies:
"It was probably Taskbar and not you ;-) There was a really nasty bug
in the previous release (3.99 from 2003 to 2006), it used an
un-initialized pointer in the AV code."
Peter Schneider asks about partition sizes:
"what the largest partition KOBOLD could address without changing to
GEMDOS mode?
My problem is to divide a 4.5 GB hard drive into the smallest possible
number of partitions. I tried two, but that slows down copying speed
very badly.
But I don't want to split that drive into 12 parts like the internal
one, for that would mean 24 logical hard drives. And then, what about
the CD reader and burner or MO drive?
So, what is the most reasonable partition of a 4.5 GB drive?"
'PPera' tells Peter:
"Falcon, ST(E) is too slow for large partitions, especially for
FAT32. In time of their design some 60MB was common capacity of
drives..."
Coda chuckles and tells PPera:
"60mb if you were rich!"
'GMAN' picks up the ball from Coda and runs with it:
"Or if you took your MFM 40Gigger and used a Adaptec 4070 RLL instead of
a 4000a host adapter."
Coda corrects GMAN:
"Gigger? A typo methinks ;-)
I used the 40 'megger' ;-) MFM and reformatted it on an RLL
controller.... That extra 7Mb was heaven :D"
GMAN tells Coda:
"Oops, thanks. I was thinking in 2007 terms, I should have been thinking
in
1987 terms.
Actually I think you came out with more than 7Mb didn't we? It was more
like another third capacity. Close to 60 MB."
Coda replies:
"Maybe you're right. I know it was 47mb afterwards though. Maybe it was
30 or 32 before then? Hmm... 15 years fries the memory circuits...
I just did a search and came up with this:
http://kb.iu.edu/data/adlt.html#rl "
GMAN tells Coda:
"See in the info on RLL it claims up to 50% increase, so yeah, a 40mb
would be roughly 60mb.
But of course with formatting and OS overhead, it would most likely be
around 50 something gb.
I have my old drive still mounted to the 4070 in a box O' crap out in my
garage, i just might hook it up to my secondary PC's scsi card and see if
it will format the beast for giggles!!!!!"
Jason Harmon jumps in and posts:
"I just replaced the inner workings of my MegaFile 60 with an ICD ADSI
ST connected to a 4GB UW SCSI drive. It is divided into 256MB
partitions and is worlds faster than the MegaFile with its RLL drive
could have ever thought about being. The machine is a stock 1040STFM
with TOS 1.2. This was about the biggest partition size I could get."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. 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 - Wii Outsells Sony PS3 3 to 1!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 'Metroid Prime 3'!
Gamers Play At Work!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Wii Outsells Sony PS3 Three to One
Nintendo's Wii is still holding the top spot in its home country, but
Sony's PlayStation 3 is gaining ground on the low-cost console. According
to Japanese game magazine publisher Enterbrain, Nintendo sold 245,653 Wii
consoles during the four weeks ending August 26. Sony sold 81,541 units of
the PS3 during that same period.
Those figures translate to the Wii outselling the PS3 three to one in
Japan. Nintendo's market lead is slowly but surely slipping. The ratio of
Wii to PS3 sales was four to one in Nintendo's favor in July and six to
one in June.
Sony is not the only game in town. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is also selling in
Japan, but the Wii is also outselling the Xbox. Microsoft sold 11,288 Xbox
360s in Japan in August, Enterbrain reported.
Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman called the console competition in Japan
a two horse race. "First of all, Microsoft has never been much of a player
in Japan and I don't anticipate that it will be. Secondly, the PS3 is just
too expensive," Goodman said. "Sony has to make some moves it if wants to
compete with Nintendo in Japan."
One of the most obvious competitive advantages the Wii boasts is its $249
price tag. That's about half the price of a PS3. By Goodman's estimates,
Sony needs to slash the price of its next-generation console by between
$150 and $200 if it wants to find its place in Japan's mass market.
Sony is plagued by another competitive disadvantage, mostly at Microsoft's
hand. While more titles are now available for the PS3, Goodman noted, Sony
does not have runaway hits for its platform. Nintendo has its Wii Sports,
among other classic titles, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 boasts hits like
Halo 3.
"Even when the base game is available across all platforms, the additional
products that help drive sales are exclusive to another platform. In every
case, Sony is not the content provider that's getting the exclusives on
the best games," Goodman said. "This is a true role reversal. If you think
back to PS2, Sony had the best and most exclusive titles."
Getting Sony back on track in Japan and in other markets might sound
simple: Drop the price and secure some hot titles. But Sony's console life
is complicated by Blu-ray. Sony already is taking a $150 loss on each unit
thanks to its decision to add Blu-ray capabilities into its gaming system,
Goodman noted. If Sony shaves $150 off the PS3's price, it would amount to
a $300 loss on each unit.
There doesn't seem to be a good solution for Sony. The company might have
boosted the number of Blu-ray-capable devices on the market and succeeded
in driving down manufacturing costs for the DVD player, but that might
turn out to have been a fatal mistake.
"The reality is two studios decided to drop Blu-ray last week. You have to
ask if this is the right decision," Goodman said. "It may be that in two
or three years it's a different story. The book still has to be written.
But the early chapters are not very pretty for Sony."
Video-Game Review: 'Metroid Prime 3'
Action heroine Samus gets to face her evil twin in "Metroid Prime 3:
Corruption," the final game in the science-fiction trilogy and the first
for Nintendo's Wii.
The Wii's focus on casual games has meant a bounty of simple titles for
the whole family.
But there's been a dearth of action for the hardcore gaming set.
"Corruption" finally provides Wii owners something meatier than bowling
or tennis.
This $49.99, T-rated title pushes the Wii to its limits.
The graphics - while not up to Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 standards -
surpass anything else available for the Wii, which lacks high-definition
output.
Most importantly, the wireless controls actually work. The game makes full
use of the Wii's remote and nunchuk attachment for looking and moving
around, shooting and jumping.
The controls are perhaps the biggest initial obstacle players will face. I
found myself wrestling with them instead of the enemies.
But like anything new, you just have to give it some time. It took me a
several hours, but I eventually came to appreciate how motion-sensitive
controls can enliven a first-person shooter. The controls become an
extension of your arms.
The tactile sensation of flicking the nunchuk to throw a grapple beam and
yank something off a wall is unlike anything I've experienced before in a
video game. Instead of tapping a button to pull a lever, simply twist and
move your hand around to pull it, like you would in the real world.
And then there's the satisfying rumble of a fully charged Power Beam blast.
Fans will appreciate how "Corruption" wraps up the story of armor-clad
bounty hunter Samus, and her evil twin, Dark Samus.
There's no multiplayer, but the deep single-player saga includes a cast of
fellow Galactic Federation pals in a continuing battle against evil Space
Pirates. It's not as corny as it sounds, and the enemies, ranging from
packs of crawling bugs to oversized fire-tossing dragons, are quite scary
and devious.
There's more than just running and gunning, too. Sometimes you'll have to
solve puzzles, while other levels are more of a carnival shooting
gallery. The overall experience is one of exploration, puzzle-solving and
action that kept me wanting to push farther.
Owners of rival consoles can boast all they want about exclusive
blockbuster titles like "Halo 3" for the Xbox 360 or "Warhawk" for the
PlayStation 3. With "Corruption," the Wii has an excellent new video game
all to its own.
Three-and-a-half-stars out of four.
Schwarzenegger Appeals Ruling On Video Game Law
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appealed on Wednesday a federal
judge's decision striking down a state law barring the sale of violent
video games to minors.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled last month that the law passed in
2005 was unconstitutional, adding there was no evidence that violent
video games were any more harmful than depictions of violence in
television shows and movies.
Schwarzenegger, who acted in many violent movies, argued that violent
video games should be for adults only.
"Many studies show the link between playing ultra-violent video games
and violent behavior. We have a responsibility to our kids and our
communities to protect against the effects of games that depict
ultra-violent actions," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
"We protect our children from buying inappropriate movies and ought to be
able to protect them from buying inappropriate video games as well," he
said.
Schwarzenegger's appeal was filed with the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California.
Britain To Review Video Game, Web Laws For Young
Britain's government said on Thursday it had launched an inquiry to see
what new legal measures may be required to protect children from the
impact of violent video games and Web pornography.
Britain already has extensive rules covering broadcasters and the video
industry, but said it needed to keep pace with developments on the Web and
may need to bring in new regulation.
Regulation of video content in Britain became compulsory in 1984. Still, a
number of games have been withdrawn by retailers in recent years after
complaints about the level of violence shown. Some studies have suggested
a link between video game violence and aggressive behavior in children.
The review, which is backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, will look at
how well children are protected from harmful and inappropriate material on
the Internet and video games.
The government said it appointed clinical psychologist Tanya Byron, who
has written books on child care and made television programs on parenting,
to lead the six-month review.
Culture Secretary James Purnell said he wanted children to enjoy new media
without their childhood being harmed.
The review, which will not cover television content, will also look at how
advertisers may need to face new rules and consider the impact of
user-generated content on the Internet.
One In Four Gamers Play At Work
Colleagues tapping away busily on their BlackBerry, phone or laptop at the
office might not be as productive as they seem - with one in four video
gamers admitting playing at work, even in meetings, according to an online
survey.
A survey of 2,842 office workers conducted on a video game Web site found
one in four people, or 24 percent, said they played video games during
their working day.
Game play increased up the corporate ladder with more than one third, or
35 percent, of chief executives and other senior executives who took part
in the survey admitting to playing games at work. They made up 8 percent
of the survey.
But while 61 percent of those who play games at work said they did so
during lunch or other official breaks, the survey by market researcher
Information Solutions Group found one in seven, or 14 percent, admitted
playing during business meetings or conference calls.
Two thirds of those said they did so at least once a month.
But the players claim it is not just for fun.
Eight out of 10 said playing a quick game helped them handle stress
while about five in 10 said it helped strengthen their memory.
Carly Drum, managing director of executive recruitment firm Drum
Associates, said it was not surprising that today's business professionals
were casual video games users.
"We're seeing employees who are much more technologically savvy and
familiar with all forms of new media from social networking to blogging
and beyond," Drum said in a statement.
The study was based on an online survey conducted in June among visitors
to the Web site of Seattle-based game provider PopCap.com.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Eudora E-mail Program Reborn As Open Source
Eudora, a pioneering e-mail program named after author Eudora Welty, is
rising from a technical grave as an open source program after owner
Qualcomm Inc quit selling the product in May.
Eudora routinely got strong reviews from computer magazines and had a
loyal user base, but commercially it was overshadowed by software that
Microsoft Corp included with new personal computers, International
Business Machine's Lotus software and Web e-mail programs.
Qualcomm donated Eudora to the open-source community, which means that
anybody is free to download and use it without paying for the product.
Developers can also access the code, change it and share those changes.
On August 31 the Mozilla Foundation started distributing a test
open-source version of Eudora, which was developed in the late 1980s as
one of the first e-mail programs by a student at the University of
Illinois.
Qualcomm acquired the software and hired its creator, Steve Dorner. At one
point it was used by tens of millions of people.
Eudora is not yet promoting the product on its home page as it does its
other titles including its popular Mozilla browser - a rival to
Microsoft's Internet Explorer - and Thunderbird, another e-mail program.
The new version of Eudora is being developed under the code name Penelope
and is available on the Web at http://wiki.mozilla.org/Penelope.
Mozilla has said it plans to develop both Eudora and Thunderbird.
AOL's Netscape.com Reverts To Being A Portal
AOL's venerable Netscape.com site, given an extreme Web 2.0 makeover 15
months ago and transformed into a spiffy social news site, will revert to
being a traditional portal again.
In an official blog posting Thursday, a Netscape official explained that
feedback from Netscape.com visitors prompted AOL's decision to scrap the
site's redesign.
In short, people want the site to offer a more traditional Web portal
experience, with news items chosen by Netscape.com editors instead of
visitors, a prominent search engine box and links to AOL and Netscape
services and content channels.
At press time, Netscape.com still retained the format it moved to in June
of last year to compete with the likes of Web 2.0 social news upstarts
like Digg.com.
However, those interested in checking out how Netscape.com will look like
soon can see its forthcoming format at an alternate address.
Proving that everything old is new again, the new format looks a lot like
Netscape.com before its social news metamorphosis.
After Netscape.com adopts its new/old portal format, AOL will move the
social news site to another, as of yet undetermined, Web address,
according to the blog posting.
The decision is not surprising. Jason Calacanis, the blogging entrepreneur
who masterminded Netscape.com's transformation into a social news site,
left AOL in November, shortly after Jonathan Miller was replaced as AOL's
CEO. Miller had overseen AOL's acquisition of Calacanis' Weblogs Inc. in
October 2005 and become a Calacanis mentor at AOL.
Then in June of this year, AOL relaunched its AOL News site with a raft of
social news capabilities, such as the ability for people to vote on, rank,
and share links to articles, photos, and video clips, as well as comment
on them, duplicating many of Netscape.com's features.
Interestingly, AOL News apparently relies on the Netscape.com social news
site for its section on stories submitted by readers. It's unclear if or
how the transformation of Netscape.com will affect AOL News'
user-submitted stories section.
Pentagon E-mail System Breached
The Pentagon on Tuesday said computer hackers gained access to an
unclassified e-mail system in the office of Defense Secretary Robert
Gates, but declined comment on a report that the Chinese army was
responsible.
The security breach occurred late last spring when Defense Department
monitors detected the penetration of "elements of an unclassified e-mail
system" that was immediately taken off line, Pentagon spokesman Bryan
Whitman told reporters.
The e-mail system, located in the office of the secretary of defense, did
not return to full operation for up to three weeks.
"There was never any threat to the classified systems," Whitman said.
"There was no disruption to (defense) operations or adverse impact to
ongoing operations that the department was conducting ... all
precautionary measures were taken and the system was restored to
service," he said.
Whitman spoke after the Financial Times newspaper quoted current and
former U.S. officials as saying that Chinese People's Liberation Army
hackers broke into a Defense Department network in June and removed data.
China rejected the report's claims.
"The Chinese government has consistently opposed and vigorously attacked
according to the law all Internet-wrecking crimes, including hacking,"
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing.
"Some people are making wild accusations against China ... They are
totally groundless and also reflect a Cold War mentality," she said.
The Financial Times cited one source familiar with the Pentagon incident
as saying there was a "very high level of confidence ... trending towards
total certainty" that the Chinese army was behind it.
Beijing has devoted a large part of its rising defense budget to
developing more advanced technology, including computer capabilities.
But Whitman declined to comment on the hackers' suspected origins and
other details of the incident.
"It is often very difficult to pinpoint the true origin of a particular
intrusion," Whitman said.
"Even if you have some degree of confidence in origin, attaching origin
to - for example - a nation state or an authorized activity of a
government, that's a wholly different kind of thing," he said.
Hackers attempt to probe the Pentagon's Global Information Grid hundreds
of times a day, he said, adding that major incidents are turned over to
U.S. law enforcement and counterintelligence for investigation.
The Financial Times report came a week after German Chancellor Angela
Merkel raised similar claims that Chinese hackers had infected German
government ministries with spying programs.
Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported last month that hackers believed
to be linked to the Chinese army had gained access to Merkel's office and
the German Foreign Ministry. China's Foreign Ministry denied that report
as well.
Judge Strikes Down Part of Patriot Act
A federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act on
Thursday, saying investigators must have a court's approval before they
can order Internet providers to turn over records without telling
customers.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be
subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten
Patriot Act "offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks
and balances and separation of powers."
The American Civil Liberties Union had challenged the law, complaining
that it allowed the FBI to demand records without the kind of court order
required for other government searches.
The ACLU said it was improper to issue so-called national security
letters, or NSLs - investigative tools used by the FBI to compel
businesses to turn over customer information - without a judge's order or
grand jury subpoena. Examples of such businesses include Internet service
providers, telephone companies and public libraries.
Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said
prosecutors had no immediate comment.
Jameel Jaffer, who argued the case for the ACLU, said the revised law had
wrongly given the FBI sweeping authority to control speech because the
agency was allowed to decide on its own - without court review - whether
a company receiving an NSL had to remain silent or whether it could
reveal to its customers that it was turning over records.
In 2004, ruling on the initial version of the Patriot Act, the judge said
the letters violate the Constitution because they amounted to
unreasonable search and seizure. He found that the nondisclosure
requirement - under which an Internet service provider, for instance,
would not be allowed to tell customers that it was turning over their
records to the government - violated free speech.
After he ruled, Congress revised the Patriot Act in 2005, and the 2nd
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directed that Marrero review the law's
constitutionality a second time.
The ACLU complained that Congress' revision of the law didn't go far
enough to protect people because the government could still order
companies to turn over their records and remain silent about it, if the
FBI determined that the case involved national security.
The law was written "reflects an attempt by Congress and the executive
to infringe upon the judiciary's designated role under the
Constitution," Marrero wrote.
DHS Head: Cybersecurity Remains A Concern
Fixing cybersecurity problems in the U.S. is a top priority at the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, said the agency's leader, but lawmakers
didn't focus on the issue during a hearing in Congress Wednesday.
Cybersecurity is a "very big issue" that DHS remains concerned about,
said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, testifying before the House of
Representatives Homeland Security Committee. Chertoff didn't go into
details because much of the department's cybersecurity efforts are
classified, he said.
"I can assure you that we are working with other elements of the federal
government and giving highest priority an enhanced strategy with respect
to cybersecurity," he said. Cybersecurity threats have "enormous
potential to do damage to the United States in years to come," Chertoff
added.
Chertoff testified before the committee in a hearing titled, "Holding the
Department of Homeland Security Accountable for Security Gaps." But while
cybersecurity problems continue inside and outside of the U.S.
government, lawmakers focused on other issues during the hearing,
including the hiring of border agents, training of bomb-sniffer dogs, and
the scanning of airline cargo.
Just this week, the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledged a successful
attack on an unclassified e-mail system earlier this year.
While not focusing on cybersecurity, committee chairman Bennie Thompson,
a Mississippi Democrat, said DHS needs to improve in several areas.
Thompson has criticized the department's cybersecurity efforts in the
past, but cybersecurity issues were not on Thompson's list of top
priorities for Chertoff in the remaining 16 months of U.S. President
George Bush's administration.
Instead, Thompson called on Chertoff to fill vacancies at DHS, to finish
regulations for container security at ports, and to implement a
biometric air passenger screening program.
"We owe the American people security," Thompson said. "We owe them
accountability. And most importantly, we owe them freedom from fear."
Other than the short Chertoff statement on cybersecurity, the issue did
not come up again in more than 90 minutes of questions from lawmakers.
Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, used part of his
question time to complain to Chertoff that many bomb-sniffing dogs used
by DHS came from overseas.
Rogers urged Chertoff to find ways to breed bomb-sniffing and cadaver
dogs in the U.S. "I'm concerned that we are increasingly relying on
foreign imported dogs," he said.
Justice Dept. Wary Of "Net Neutrality" Proposals
Antitrust authorities at the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday warned
regulators against imposing "network neutrality" regulations that would
bar broadband Internet service companies from charging extra to some
content providers.
In comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, the
department said some net neutrality proposals "could deter broadband
Internet providers from upgrading and expanding their networks to reach
more Americans."
"Regulators should be careful not to impose regulations that could limit
consumer choice and investment in broadband facilities," the department's
antitrust chief, Thomas Barnett, said in a statement.
The concept of net neutrality is being studied by the FCC and has been
the subject of much debate in Congress. Some lawmakers tried
unsuccessfully to get net neutrality legislation passed last year.
Network neutrality proposals, backed by Internet content companies like
Google Inc and eBay Inc, would bar Internet providers from charging extra
fees to guarantee access to the Internet or give priority to some
content.
However, the idea has been staunchly opposed by high-speed Internet
providers such as AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc.
Companies like eBay and Google worry that AT&T and Verizon will charge
them more to get access to consumers or make it harder for consumers to
get access to unaffiliated content.
The network providers counter that they would not block access to public
Internet sites but want to offer private Internet-based services with
faster speeds for uses such as downloading movies.
Last year, the FCC approved AT&T's purchase of BellSouth Corp after AT&T
promised to maintain net neutrality of its high-speed Internet platform
for two years. It was one of several key concessions that AT&T made to
ease concerns about competition.
The comments from the Justice Department come on the heels of a report in
June by antitrust experts at the Federal Trade Commission that expressed
similar views and recommended that regulators "proceed with caution" on
any such proposals.
The department said proponents of the Internet regulation had failed to
show that many consumers had been harmed in a way that would justify
government intervention.
It said there was nothing unusual about the practice of setting different
levels of service and pricing, citing as an example the various mail
options offered by the U.S. Postal Service.
"These differentiated products respond to market demand and expand
consumers' choice," the department said.
Advocates of the network neutrality idea criticized the department's
conclusions, saying regulations were needed because many consumers had
little or no choice of broadband providers.
"This lack of competition and consumer choice for broadband access is the
reason why (we support) preemptive safeguards to ensure that cable and
telephone companies do not destroy the Internet as we know it," said the
Open Internet Coalition, a group comprised of consumer groups and
Internet content companies such as Google.
On the other hand, the department's comments were met with praise from
AT&T.
"We continue to urge policymakers to focus on the real issue of the
broadband era, which is to promote the benefits of broadband services at
affordable rates for all consumers," AT&T said in a statement.
Feds OK Fee For Priority Web Traffic
The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should
be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.
The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing
high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality,"
the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any
Web user.
Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon
Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the
option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web
sites faster than others.
The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could
hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from
upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the "entire
burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto
consumers," the agency said in its filing.
Such a result could diminish or delay network expansion and improvement,
it added.
The agency said providing different levels of service is common,
efficient and could satisfy consumers. As an example, it cited that the
U.S. Postal Service charges customers different guarantees and speeds for
package delivery, ranging from bulk mail to overnight delivery.
"Whether or not the same type of differentiated products and services
will develop on the Internet should be determined by market forces, not
regulatory intervention," the agency said in its filing.
The agency's stance comes more than two months after Federal Trade
Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras cautioned policy makers to
enact Net neutrality regulation.
Such a regulation could prevent rather than promote Internet investment
and innovation and have "significant negative effects for the economy and
consumers," the Justice Department said in the filing.
Supporters of Internet regulation have said that phone and cable
companies could discriminate against certain Web site and services.
However, the agency said it will continue to monitor and enforce any
anticompetitive conduct to ensure a competitive broadband marketplace.
Microsoft Loses Vote On File Standards
Microsoft Corp. has failed in a first step to win enough support to make
the data format behind its flagship Office software a global standard,
the International Standards Organization said Tuesday.
This weekend's vote by standards agencies from 104 nations did not
provide the two-thirds majority needed to give Microsoft's format the ISO
stamp of approval. But they will meet again in February to try to seek a
consensus, and Microsoft could win them over at last.
ISO approval for Microsoft's Open Office XML would encourage governments
and libraries to recognize the format for archiving documents, which in
turn could help ensure that people using different technologies in the
future could still open and read documents written today in Open Office
XML.
Approval of its system as a standard would also help Microsoft tamp down
competition from the Open Document Format, an international standard
created by open source developers and pushed by such Microsoft rivals as
IBM Corp.
Massachusetts state government stirred huge interest in the matter when
it advocated saving official documents for long-term storage in the
nonproprietary ODF format. That prompted Microsoft to seek recognition of
Open XML by the global standards body, an effort that was backed by Apple
Inc., Novell Inc. and the Library of Congress.
Microsoft has offered to license Open Office XML for free to anyone who
wants to build products that access information stored in Office
documents. It claims the format is richer than ODF because, being based
on XML computer language, it can store the layout of spreadsheets and
legal documents created with Office 2007.
But Shane Coughlan of the Free Software Foundation Europe, a group of
open source developers, questioned whether Open Office XML would truly
live up to its name and be open to all. Coughlan said it was unclear
whether some of the code requires Microsoft's permission to be used.
"It is important that everyone owns their data, that access does not
depend on any one company," he said. "Any serious corporation or
government should be dubious about using it if the legality is unclear."
Publishing an open standard means it will be available to everyone, a
sort of Rosetta stone that makes sure the key documents of today -
whether they be legal texts, novels-in-progress or accounting
spreadsheets - don't become unreadable hieroglyphics to future
generations.
Despite losing the initial round of voting with ISO, Microsoft was
confident of future success, contending that many of the ISO members that
did not vote for the format said they would do so when certain criticisms
have been addressed.
"This preliminary vote is a milestone for the widespread adoption of the
Open XML formats around the world for the benefit of millions of
customers," said Microsoft's general manager for interoperability, Tom
Robertson. "We believe that the final tally in early 2008 will result in
the ratification of Open XML as an ISO standard."
According to ISO, Microsoft had 53 percent of the votes in favor instead
of the 66 percent it needed.
The ISO process is essentially a debate that tries to fix outstanding
problems so a format can win sufficient support. But Coughlan said
Microsoft's heavy lobbying for Open Office XML had showed that ISO
selection needs to be reviewed to make sure one voice could not shout
louder than others. Coughlan and others have alleged that Microsoft
unduly influenced the industry committees that advise national standards
bodies on ISO votes.
Microsoft counters that IBM has been behind the efforts against Open
Office XML.
Microsoft Antitrust Compliance On Track
Microsoft Corp. has submitted a test version of its Windows Vista
operating system with features that make it easier to use non-Microsoft
programs to search PC hard drives, according to a report issued by the
Justice Department last Friday.
The report, a regular update on Microsoft's compliance with a 2002
antitrust settlement, said the Redmond, Wash.-based company was on
schedule in other areas, including the massive task of rewriting
documentation it provides to licensees of its technology.
Microsoft agreed to make changes to Vista in response to antitrust
complaints from Google Inc., which in June said Microsoft's hard-drive
search program was interfering with Google's own tool.
The Justice Department said preliminary testing shows the new version,
which will let Vista users set a competing search program as their default
and see it in the Windows Start menu, works as expected. The changes will
be available in Service Pack 1, a package of upgrades and fixes expected
in the first quarter of 2008, the department said.
The department also said in its report that it is looking into differences
between original technical documentation and rewritten versions from
Microsoft, and that it is testing fixes Microsoft made to some software.
Microsoft has been the subject of antitrust investigations since the early
1990s. The U.S. government and many states sued the company, and the court
found Microsoft was using its operating system dominance to quash other
types of competing software, including Netscape's Web browser. This led to
a 2002 settlement and a consent decree that says Microsoft must help
rivals build software that runs smoothly on Windows, among other
conditions.
Most of the terms of the consent decree are set to expire in November, but
the Justice Department has extended through 2009 its oversight of
Microsoft's technical documentation and licensing program.
On Thursday, a group of states led by California submitted a report to the
U.S. District Court judge who oversees Microsoft's compliance with the
settlement, which said ending oversight in November doesn't allow enough
time to review the antitrust implications of Windows Vista. A hearing is
set for Sept. 11 in U.S. District Court in Washington with Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly.
Also in September, a European court is set to rule on Microsoft's
antitrust appeal. The European Union has levied more than a billion
dollars in fines against the software maker for depriving competitors of
technical information, and charging too much for some licenses.
Judge OKs Settlement In Microsoft Case
A district court judge on Friday approved the $179.95 million settlement
in the Iowa class-action lawsuit against Microsoft Corp.
The approval pays the attorneys who brought the suit seven years ago $75
million in fees and costs, an amount legal experts said is likely a
record in the state.
Polk County District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg concluded that the
settlement was fair and reasonable and said he would enter an order
Friday finalizing it.
Des Moines attorney Roxanne Conlin and Richard Hagstrom, an attorney
with a Minneapolis law firm, filed suit against Redmond, Wash.-based
Microsoft, claiming the company engaged in anticompetitive conduct that
caused customers to pay more for software than they would have if there
had been competition.
The lawsuit initially sought more than $330 million on behalf of Iowans
who bought Microsoft computer software between 1994 and 2006.
The settlement finalized Friday was announced in April.
=~=~=~=
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