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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 10 Issue 28
Volume 10, Issue 28 Atari Online News, Etc. July 11, 2008
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
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:
Brian Watson
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1028 07/11/08
~ Icahn Pitches New Deal ~ People Are Talking! ~ IE Zero-Day Attack?
~ Protext Free Download! ~ 'Beer' Is Too Strong! ~ AOL Raising Fees!
~ Gmail Remote Log-Off! ~ Internet Gets A Patch! ~ Yahoo Intros BOSS!
~ Online Use Is Tracked! ~ DOJ Drops Apple Probe! ~ Classics To Return!
-* Privacy Protections Disappear *-
-* FCC Chairman To Discipline Comcast? *-
-* Microsoft Says EU Court's Fine 'Excessive' *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The long July 4th weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year. I
think we cooked on the barbecue grill every day this past week; and the
food was terrific (ok, insert personal conceit here!). I think that I
gained a few pounds; and I will quickly blame my mother-in-law for her
role in all of this because she supplied a lot of the food to cook. It's
okay, I'll work off those extra pounds in no time!
The weather has been fairly good this past week, but we're just now
getting out of that warm day, thunderstorms evening weather pattern. We
had to finally get some medication for one of our dogs because she was
getting so stressed out with the thunder. It also didn't help that our
neighborhood had its share of fireworks going off all week. Hopefully
these meds will help calm her down during the spells of bad weather!
So otherwise. it's been a quiet week. Other than a little regular
maintenance, all of my outdoor projects are done. Well, I still have a
load or two of mulch to spread, but that's no big deal. The gardens are
coming along nicely; and I hope to start seeing some vegetables shortly.
The flowers and other plants are looking great. Even the lawn is
finally starting to look better. Gee, I wonder if any of this is related
to all that rain we've been getting?!
Well, on with the show!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Protext and Prodata To Be Available for Free Download
Since Arnor Ltd went bust, the two programmers and I have been supplying
and supporting the PC versions of Protext v6.7 and its database
companion Prodata v1.23 through Protext Software.
We have now decided the time is right to make it, and the latest Atari
and Amiga versions, available for free download, so we are doing just
that.
It is being arranged now and as soon as I have a URL to post here, I
will.
--
Brian Watson (for Protext Software)
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, another it's been warm and humid
here in the northeast. That kind of mirrors my mental weather this past
week.
As you know, I'm a political kind of guy, and have never hesitated to
get into a political discussion. I'm currently considering starting a
political blog along the lines of the Huffington Post, the Daily Kos,
or our old friend Charles F. Johnson's Little Green Footballs. There's
so much to take into account... not just what blog software I might
want to use, but posting policies, advertising, generating revenue,
etc. I just don't know. The political stuff would be the EASY part.
Politicians today don't seem to have a problem with supplying fodder
for commentary. Just ask Phil Gramm and Jessie Jackson.
Throwing Bill Clinton's name around is always good for generating
interest, as is Hillary's name. Taxes, healthcare, war, terrorism,
Darfur, immigration... there's no shortage of things to blog about and,
believe me, I've got opinions on just about everything.
I guess only time will tell if blogging will be my 'thing' in the near
future, or if I'll drop the idea and move on to something else.
I will, however, tell you that I'm already disgusted with the current
campaigns. Sometimes I think if I have to sit through another political
ad or commercial that spends its time telling me why "the other guy" is
a terrible choice while telling us nothing about the candidate that's
paying for or sponsoring the ad, I'm going to just put my foot through
the darned television.
I'll tell you what they should do... they should make it illegal to
mention anyone but the candidate that the ad is sponsored by or in
favor of. Swiftboat Veterans for Truth? Give me a break. They were
neither Swiftboat Veterans nor truthful. The ONE good thing about them
is that they've lent their name to a particular vein of dirty
politics... "Swiftboating"... say that word, and just about everyone
will know what you're talking about.
Heck, the current administration swiftboated John McCain four years
before the swiftboated John Kerry. And the RNC is swiftboating him
again now. As the campaign goes on, you're going to see more and more
things that are going to make you say, "that doesn't make any sense"
and "how could they let that happen".
Trust me; it's not that they'll 'let' it happen, but that they'll MAKE
it happen. You don't have to believe me now... just keep your eyes and
ears open for the next four or five months.
Well, that's enough of that, eh? Let's tune in to see what's new on the
UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Lee Hanken asks about what people use for hard drive drivers for their
Mega STs:
"Hi, I have a working Mega ST 2, and wondered if anyone else has this
particular type of atari with a hard drive, what hardware and driver
software are you using, and how you are finding it?'
Ben at Bravo Sierra Computers tells Lee:
"My Mega ST4 has a 1.2 Gig SCSI Hard Drive, CD ROM and I just got a
FlatBed SCSI Full Color Scanner, thanks to Ed Baiz Jr.! I get on the
Internet with my Flash Terminal Software, my 14,400 MoDeM and Dialup
with UNIX Shell Connection! I use ICD Drivers for my SCSI Hard Drive
Setup!"
PPetra adds:
"Mega ST with 4MB upgrade. IDE adapter in expansion slot - there may
attach any IDE drive, CD ROM, Compact Flash cards... Driver SW is
same as HW - made by me. For CD ROM or DVD used MetaDOS."
Our pal Ronald Hall adds:
"Well, I've got a Mega ST2, upgraded to 4 megs of RAM, ADSpeed
accelerator (16mhz), TOS v1.04, 4 gig hard drive, with a SCSI
CD-Writer, in an external box. I use it to run DarkForce (my BBS)."
Dave Wade tells Lee:
"I have an Mega ST2 which sadly only produces green video. I keep
meaning to get it fixed, but every time I plan a drive across to Barry
at Keychange something crops up. I used to have a "BBDP" hard drive
adaptor and their own software. These days I use HD Driver, but to be
honest I don't really have time to fiddle with my Ataris."
Jim DeClercq adds his equipment to the list:
"Mega STe, TT030, Stacy needing new hard drive, and an ST or so,
including one with a memory upgrade by JRI (John Russel Industries)
personally, and more than one Portfolio.
My problem has been finding drives that do not drag down the machine
bus, and make unpredictable things not work. When 4 gig drives were
first made, 4 out of 12 worked on any Unix system, including Atari
MiNT.
What I have found are marginal. I have bought many, through E-Bay, and
scrapped most of them. The ones I kept HDDriver recognizes, formats, but
will not partition, since some of the full command set do not work on
these drives. So, I use ICD Pro Tools to format and partition, and if
for more than four partitions, I add two partitions not enabled, and
the fact that the last two partitions are not recognized when one boots
into HDDriver has no effect.
This is from a TT030, running MiNT, with an internal 4-gig drive
partitioned to C-J with ICD Pro Tools, with two extra not-enabled
partitions, (K and L) and a 4-gig external drive partitioned to K and L
as LNX partitions with ICD Pro Tools, and all of this boots and runs
under HDDriver.
My SCSI bus at the moment has that external MiNT drive, and the newest
Phillips IDE DVD and whatever drive on a icd to scsi bridge card.
This is all at the cost of about thirty scsi 4-gig hard drives, which
hit the trash, all to get me back to where I was years ago, with all
bus slots filled with something useful.
Mega Ste has a 2-gig drive. I do not remember the details, but DISCUS
tells me that ICD Pro Tools once partitioned it. It boots from HDDriver
8.20."
Guillaume Tello asks about using software to set serial port attributes
on the MegaSTE and TT:
"How [do you] set, by software (not using a CPX) the serial speed of the
TT/MSTE ports to a speed greater than 19200?
For example, I'd like to communicate at 115200 bauds, how can I do it?"
George Gnkua tells Guillaume:
"According to the Atari Compendium,
http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/apple/308/html/chap4.htm#serial,
"Rsconf() and Iorec() set the communication mode and input/output
buffers of the currently mapped serial port. You should note that
while some ports support transfer rates of greater than 19200 baud,
this is the limit of the Rsconf() call. Other rates must currently be
set in hardware (or with the Fcntl() when MiNT is present)."
Unfortunately how it should be set in hardware is not clear. I guess
next ide would be taking a look at the mint sources to find any clues."
Patrice Mandin adds:
"Rsconf() XBIOS function only supports up to 19200 bauds.
As far as I remember, most high speed serial TSR (like HSmodem) replace
the slower speeds (50,75) with high speed ones (115200,230400). But I
don't know if you can query the new/real baud rate.
If you really want to set high speed on a serial port, you'll have to
resort to call Fcntl() on a serial port device (HSModem provides it
for TOS, you have it by default under MiNT)."
Guillaume now asks about an updated version of AtariWorks:
"I have read about a beta version of AtariWorks 2.0, does anyone have
it? And I have also read about a book "Papa's Grafik Guide to
AtariWorks", anyone willing to sell it?"
Lonny Pursell tells Guillaume:
"Atari Works 2.0 (Beta)
http://dev-docs.atariforge.org/files/works2.zip
There was no docs with it, so I don't know what has changed. Found it on
some CD-ROM I had purchased."
Guillaume downloads it and tells Lonny:
"Thanks a lot! I could get it to run under Multitos, but not plain TOS.
And again the french RSC files were not accepted."
Mark Bedingfield offers:
"Here is the newest version I've found, 1.207
http://atariforce.free.fr/falcapuk.htm
You can substitute the English language files from earlier versions if I
remember correctly."
Guillaume replies to Mark:
" Thanks, that's the one I have too.
Does anyone know how to print automatically the page number in Atari
Works? For example, I'd like to get at the bottom of every page:
Introduction, page n°# "
Brian Watson adds:
"The free download release of Protext v6.6 is on the way, if you can
wait."
Guillaume tells Brian:
"The fact is that I have a very long document created with AW. And
translating it to another soft would be a long job! Unless Protext loads
directly AW files?..."
Brian replies:
""Possibly."
I regret I do not now have an Atari to try it out and I'm reluctant to
say it can unless I have tested it."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next time around,
same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - 'Beer' Is Too Strong!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Legendary Games Return!
E3 Forecast!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
For Nintendo, 'Beer' Is Too Strong for Wii Owners
According to the co-founders of JV Games, Nintendo asked them to change
the name and some of the content of their upcoming WiiWare title because
of one word: "beer." Their game, originally titled Frat Party Games -
Beer Pong, was renamed to the more family friendly Frat Party Games -
Pong Toss.
This conflicts with some of Nintendo of America President Reggie
Fils-Aime's statements last year about how "Nintendo will not do any
screening of ideas" on WiiWare. JV Games co-founder Vince Valenti recalls
how they "had a little discussion with Nintendo and there were some angry
parties." The two founders were shocked by Nintendo's reaction. As
Valenti puts it, his company's use of the word "beer" was "just like you
would hear in any movie or on TV." Co-founder Jag Jaeger said they
"wanted to focus on the sport of beer pong, not the alcohol that's
associated with it."
The sport in question is a college drinking game staple and consists of
a table with pyramids of cups laid out on each end. These cups are
filled with beer and the goal of the game is to throw a ping pong ball
into your opponent's cups until they are all gone. Whenever a cup is
hit, the opponent has to drink the beer in the cup.
Frat Party Games - Pong Toss still includes almost everything that was
in the original build of the game, including using the Wii Remote's
motion sensing capabilities to throw the balls, and a crowd that "still
says authentic college-ish things like 'Loser,' 'What was that?' and
'I've got the munchies.'" The only changes are in the name, the
now-empty red plastic cups, and in the new throw power meter, now
transformed into a bullet that merely resembles the glass of beer it's
replaced.
JV Games hopes to have Frat Party Games - Pong Toss out for WiiWare
sometime in July.
'Space Invaders,' 'Arkanoid' Return
In 2028, when 3D holodecks are in every strip mall and we'll be able to
have games downloaded directly into our brains, we'll look back
wistfully on the hits of 2008. Wasn't "Grand Theft Auto IV" quaint,
we'll muse. Aren't our alien overlords much nicer than that nasty Locust
Horde in "Gears of War 2"?
That's assuming that the games of today have the staying power of those
we played 20 years ago. Every time someone cracks open a fresh new game
like "Grid" or "Metal Gear Solid 4," someone else is discovering or
revisiting a classic like "Frogger" or "Donkey Kong." Sometimes I'll dip
into "Ms. Pac-Man" or "Tetris," only to realize a couple hours later how
quickly the time has passed.
The legendary games of the 1970s and '80s have been subjected to
frequent updates, which usually dilute the charm of the originals.
Taito, however, has refurbished two of its biggest hits with some clever
innovations that should please newcomers and old fans alike.
* "Space Invaders Extreme" (Square Enix, Nintendo DS, PlayStation
Portable, $19.99): Five rows of aliens are slowly approaching, and you
have to destroy them with your laser cannon before they land. That's the
essence of "Space Invaders," which celebrates its 30th anniversary this
year with an electrifying revamp.
The first thing fans will notice is that the bunkers, which you could
hide your ship behind, are gone. There are far fewer enemies onscreen at
any time; during the occasional "boss" encounters, you may be facing
just one big alien. The levels zip by really quickly, and most players
will be content to simply rest a thumb on the fire button and blast away.
If you want to rack up high scores, though, you need to keep one simple
strategy in mind: Try to hit aliens of the same color consecutively. If
you succeed, you're blessed with more powerful weapons or shields. That
simple addition adds some real juice - and a lot of replay value - to a
time-tested formula, making "SIE" a bargain at only $20. Three stars out
of four.
* "Arkanoid DS" (Square Enix, Nintendo DS, $19.99): One of my favorite
games of the '80s was Taito's "Arkanoid," a variation on Atari's
"Breakout," in which the object was to destroy a cluster of blocks by
bouncing a ball into them. "Arkanoid" innovated by adding power-ups
that, for example, made your paddle longer, slowed down the ball or gave
you lasers that you could used to shoot the blocks directly.
"Arkanoid DS" delivers 140 levels with increasingly difficult formations
to eliminate. The major addition is a "quest" mode that lets you tackle
any of the screens you've already completed but tacks on some
restraints. You may be given a time limit, for instance, or be limited
to hitting the ball a certain number of times.
The "Arkanoid" makeover isn't as radical as "Space Invaders Extreme,"
but the core gameplay holds up. (Both games, by the way, allow
multiplayer competition.) It's a solid little portable time-killer that
outclasses most newer puzzle games. Two-and-a-half stars.
* "Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy" (Majesco, Wii, $39.99): "Blast
Works" doesn't have the name recognition of the Taito titles, but it
certainly has the look and feel of an old-school arcade game. Based on
an indie PC game, it's essentially a side-scrolling shooter like
"R-Type" or "Gradius."
It adds one brilliant gimmick: when you destroy an enemy, you can add
its weapons to your vehicle. Enemies' parts cling to your ship,
sometimes awkwardly; if a gun is pointing up when it gets stuck, it will
fire bullets upward. The haphazard buildup of parts around your ship
makes "Blast Works" look like a cross between "Defender" and "Katamari
Damacy."
The package includes a basic editing program that lets you build your
own levels. It's a bit more complicated than it needs to be, but does
offer the promise that other users will be creating new levels that you
can download once you're finished with the main game. "Blast Works"
looks primitive, even compared with some '80s favorites, but it's
certainly original. Two-and-a-half stars.
* "Space Invaders Extreme": http://www.taito.com/csm/title/2008/sie/
* "Arkanoid DS": http://www.taito.com/csm/title/2008/arkanoid* ds/
* "Blast Works": http://www.blastworksgame.com/
Holiday Titles, Price Cuts in Focus at Game Show
As top video game makers gather next week in Los Angeles for the E3
trade show, they will be touting hot titles, new online offerings and,
potentially, console price cuts to drum up gamers' support.
The mood on the event floor is expected to be festive, with the game
business having thus far weathered sluggish consumer spending and
soaring oil prices - in stark contrast to the gloom and uncertainty
hanging over many other industries.
"The major message that's going to come out of it is that the industry
is very strong now," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams.
"Demand for hardware right now remains robust."
Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii enjoys a clear lead against Sony Corp's PlayStation
3 and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 in the current console cycle. All three
are expected to lay out plans during the show on how they expect to drive
new demand for their machines.
Game fans are awaiting Nintendo's lineup of holiday titles, while Sony
is set to unveil a video download service for its PlayStation 3, and
Microsoft is expected to cut prices for its Xbox 360 console.
Nintendo, which has spurred Wii sales with blockbuster titles like "Wii
Sports" and "Wii Fit," has disclosed little about its software lineup
for the rest of the year, leaving both gamers and investors on
tenterhooks
"I've been covering this company since 1999. I've never been so unaware
of what their big year-end titles are at this point in the year," Credit
Suisse analyst Jay Defibaugh said.
The creator of iconic video game characters Mario and Zelda is expected
to wade into interactive music video games with "Wii Music," a new
entrant into a market dominated by "Rock Band," distributed by
Electronic Arts Inc, and Activision Blizzard Inc's "Guitar Hero" series.
Sony, which had enjoyed a decade-long dominance in the game industry
since the mid-1990s, plans to launch a movie and TV episode downloading
service for the PS3 this summer to boost the machine's appeal. The
details have yet to be announced.
Sony Computer Entertainment Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai told reporters
last month that the PS3 is already connected to big-screen TVs ready for
high-definition video, making it a device that can straddle the worlds
of video game and non-game content as well as packaged and downloaded
media.
Sony Computer Entertainment, the video game unit of Japanese electronics
and entertainment conglomerate Sony, has lagged behind Microsoft in
creating a online network to rival the software maker's Xbox Live
service.
Analysts expect Microsoft to stir up demand for the Xbox 360, which, in
recent months, has been competing with the PS3 for second place in the
U.S. market, with price reductions.
Media reports have said the best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model could soon
see its price cut by $50, to $299. Microsoft has declined comment.
The price cut is likely to come "if not at E3, then shortly around that
time," DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole said.
A counter price cut for the PS3 is unlikely as Sony aims to turn its
video game business profitable this year.
"Their priority now is not on selling it in bulk, but on profitability
and on various network-related challenges," said Mizuho Securities
analyst Takeshi Koyama.
Besides announcements and developments from the three console makers, a
slew of heavy-hitting games from third-party publishers will be
attracting attention at E3.
"Gears of War 2," created by Epic Games exclusively for Xbox 360, is
expected to be one of the most anticipated titles at the show. The
original "Gears," released in November 2006, sold 3 million copies in
its first 10 weeks, and gave a strong boost to Xbox 360 hardware sales.
Other high-profile titles include action horror "Resident Evil 5" from
Capcom Co Ltd and "Rock Band 2," which is set for September launch and
includes a replica Fender Stratocaster lined with a wood-grain finish.
Rock Band 2, developed by Harmonix Music Systems Inc, will be published
by Viacom Inc's MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts.
"The guitar looks awesome ... It's amazing how accessories are really
becoming important," Janco Partner research analyst Mike Hickey said.
"There's a lot of room for growth in 'Guitar Hero' and 'Rock Band'
land."
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Icahn Pitches Microsoft Deal to Yahoo Shareholders
Activist shareholder Carl Icahn said Monday that he is still interested
in doing a deal with Microsoft, if he can persuade shareholders to oust
the current board at Yahoo on Aug. 1.
In a letter sent to Yahoo shareholders, Icahn argued that shareholders
should replace chief executive Jerry Yang and other executives, if they
in fact wish to sell the company to Microsoft. Icahn said that he had
held discussions with Microsoft over acquiring the company or its search
business, which Microsoft confirmed.
"Much has been said about how badly the Yahoo! board has 'botched up'
negotiations with Microsoft over the past months. There is no need to
keep pointing out the mistakes I believe Yahoo! made by not immediately
taking a $33 offer made by Microsoft," Icahn said in his letter. "But
one thing is clear - Jerry Yang and the current board of Yahoo! will
not be able to "botch up" a negotiation with Microsoft again, simply
because they will not have the opportunity."
Microsoft, meanwhile, said that it was still interested in purchasing
Yahoo, an on-again, off-again negotiation process that has taken place
over several months. Yahoo executives have consistently rejected offers
to sell the company. Meanwhile, Yahoo's stock price has tumbled, to
$21.35 at press time. Microsoft originally bid $31 per share before
officially calling off talks last month.
"We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election Microsoft
would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction
with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the "Search"
function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative,
purchasing the whole company," Microsoft said.
In his letter, Icahn argued that Yahoo's board was simply not doing what
was right for the company.
"Our company is now moving toward a precipice. It is currently losing
market share in its 'Search' function; our current Board has failed to
bring in a talented and experienced CEO to replace Jerry Yang and return
Jerry to his role as Chief Yahoo!, and currently it is witnessing a
meaningful exodus of talent," Icahn said. "It is no secret that Google
(which hired a great operator as CEO) continues to dramatically
outperform Yahoo!. According to publicly available information, Google's
income from operations grew 59% per year over the last two years while
Yahoo!'s shrank 21% per year. However, none of the above has caused the
Yahoo! board to hesitate in paying themselves $10,000 per week. IT IS
TIME FOR A CHANGE."
"However, Steve made it clear to me that if a new board were elected, he
would be interested in discussing a major transaction with Yahoo!, such
as either a transaction to purchase the "Search" function with large
financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole
company," Icahn added. "He stated that Microsoft would be willing to
enter into discussion immediately if the new board that has been
nominated were elected."
Privacy Protections Disappear with A Judge's Order
Credit card companies know what you've bought. Phone companies know whom
you've called. Electronic toll services know where you've gone. Internet
search companies know what you've sought.
It might be reassuring, then, that companies have largely pledged to
safeguard these repositories of data about you.
But a recent federal court ruling ordering the disclosure of YouTube
viewership records underscores the reality that even the most benevolent
company can only do so much to guard your digital life: All their
protections can vanish with one stroke of a judge's pen.
"Companies have a tremendous amount of very sensitive data on their
customers, and while a company itself may treat that responsibly ... if
the court orders it be turned over, there's not a lot that the company
that holds the data can do," said Jennifer Urban, a law professor at the
University of Southern California.
In the past, court orders and subpoenas have generally been targeted at
records on specific individuals. With YouTube, it's far more sweeping,
covering all users regardless of whether they have anything to do with
the copyright infringement that Viacom Inc., in a $1 billion lawsuit,
accuses Google Inc.'s popular video-sharing site of enabling.
It's a scenario privacy activists have long warned about.
"What we're seeing is (that) the theoretical is becoming real world,"
said Lauren Weinstein, a veteran computer scientist. "The more data
you've got, the more data that's going to be there as an attractive kind
of treasure chest (for) outside parties."
U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton dismissed privacy arguments as
speculative.
Last week, Stanton authorized full access to the YouTube logs - which
few users even realize exist - after Viacom and other copyright holders
argued that they needed the data to prove that their copyright-protected
videos for such programs as Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart" are more heavily watched than amateur clips.
"This decision makes it absolutely clear that everywhere we go online,
we leave tracks, and every piece of information we access online leaves
some sort of record," Urban said. "As consumers, we should all be aware
of the fact that this sensitive information is being collected about
us."
Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department official who is now with FTI
Consulting Inc., said the ruling could open the floodgates for
additional disclosures.
Though lawyers have known to seek such data for years, Rasch said,
judges initially hesitant about authorizing their release may look to
Stanton's ruling for affirmation, even though U.S. District Court
rulings do not officially set precedence.
The YouTube database includes information on when each video gets
played. Attached to each entry is each viewer's unique login ID and the
Internet Protocol, or IP, address for that viewer's computer -
identifiers that, while seemingly anonymous, can often be traced to
specific individuals, or at least their employers or hometowns.
Elsewhere, search engines such as Google and Yahoo Inc. keep more than a
year of records on your search requests, from which one can learn of
your diseases, fetishes and innermost thoughts. E-mail services are
another source of personal records, as are electronic health
repositories and Web-based word processing, spreadsheets and calendars.
One can reassemble your whereabouts based on where you've used credit
cards, made cell phone calls or paid tolls or subway fares
electronically. One can track your spending habits through loyalty cards
that many retail chains offer in exchange for discounts.
Though companies do have legitimate reasons for keeping data - they can
help improve services or protect parties in billing disputes, for
instance - there's disagreement on how long a company truly needs the
information.
The shorter the retention, the less tempting it is for lawyers to turn
to the keepers of data in lawsuits, privacy activists say.
With some exceptions in banking, health care and other regulated
industries, requests are routinely granted.
Service providers regularly comply with subpoenas seeking the identities
of users who write negatively about specific companies, at most warning
them first so they can challenge the disclosure themselves. The music
and movie industries also have been aggressive about tracking individual
users suspected of illegally downloading their works.
Law enforcement authorities also turn to the records to help solve
crimes.
The U.S. Justice Department had previously subpoenaed the major search
engines for lists of search requests made by their users as part of a
case involving online pornography. Yahoo, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Time
Warner Inc.'s AOL all complied with parts of the legal demand, but
Google fought it and ultimately got the requirement narrowed.
In the YouTube case, Viacom largely got the data it wanted.
Google has said it would work with Viacom on trying to ensure anonymity,
and Viacom has pledged not to use the data to identify individual users
to sue. The YouTube logs will also likely be subject to a
confidentiality order.
But privacy advocates warn that there's no guarantee that future
litigants will be as restrained or that data released to lawyers won't
inadvertently become public - through their inclusion as an attachment
in a court filing, for instance.
And retailers, government agencies and others are regularly announcing
that personal information, stored without adequate safeguards, is being
stolen by hackers or lost with laptops or portable storage drives.
"You just never know," said Steve Jones, an Internet expert at the
University of Illinois at Chicago. "There are some circumstances under
which what seems to be private information is going to be shared with a
third party, and the court says it's OK to do that."
Watch Out for An IE Zero-Day Attack
Microsoft yesterday warned of a new attack underway against a flaw in
the ActiveX control for the Snapshot Viewer for Microsoft Access, used
by IE. There is not yet any patch available for the zero-day security
hole, and the attacks likely focus on business targets.
In its security advisory, Redmond says the vulnerable control installs
with "all supported versions of Microsoft Office Access except for
Microsoft Office Access 2007. The ActiveX control is also shipped with
the standalone Snapshot Viewer." A poisoned Web page that exploits the
hole could surreptitiously download malware to a victim PC.
"Active, targeted attacks" are underway on a relatively small scale,
according to the advisory. Targeted attacks typically involve more
careful planning and crafting, and may use a victim's name and title in
a socially engineered e-mail with a link to a malicious site, for
example. I usually only see targeted attacks against businesses, which
fits given the vulnerability in Microsoft Access. So watch out for
this while you're at work.
The US-CERT vulnerability report doesn't inspire hope: "We are currently
unaware of a practical solution to this problem." You can set what's
known as a kill bit for this particular ActiveX control to prevent it
from running in IE, but doing so could prevent you from viewing Access
report snapshots, and it involves mucking with the Windows Registry. See
this Microsoft Support Page for kill bit instructions (the CLSID is in
the security advisory).
The US-CERT report also says that IE 7's ActiveX opt-in feature should
help mitigate the vulnerability, which the Microsoft advisory
surprisingly doesn't mention. That should mean that you'd get a prompt
before running the control on a poisoned page, and would have a chance
to stop it before it attacked your computer.
If you have the choice, it may be a good idea to use Firefox until this
hole is fixed. And if you're still on IE 6 at work, hammer on your
IT to get you upgraded. Every security expert I talk to says
you're basically asking for it if you surf the web with the outdated
browser. If there's a particular in-house app that only works with IE 6,
then use Firefox as your default Web browser, and only fire up IE 6 for
that old app.
The Internet Gets a Patch, as DNS Bug Is Fixed
Makers of the software used to connect computers on the Internet
collectively released software updates Tuesday to patch a serious bug in
one of the Internet's underlying protocols, the Domain Name System
(DNS).
The bug was discovered "by complete accident," by Dan Kaminsky, a
researcher with security vendor IOActive. Kaminsky, a former employee of
Cisco Systems, is already well-known for his work in networking.
By sending certain types of queries to DNS servers, the attacker could
then redirect victims away from a legitimate Web site - say, Bofa.com -
to a malicious Web site without the victim realizing it. This type of
attack, known as DNS cache poisoning, doesn't affect only the Web. It
could be used to redirect all Internet traffic to the hacker's servers.
The bug could be exploited "like a phishing attack without sending you
e-mail," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technical officer with security
company Qualys.
Although this flaw does affect some home routers and client DNS
software, it is mostly an issue for corporate users and ISPs (Internet
service providers) that run the DNS servers used by PCs to find their
way around the Internet, Kaminsky said. "Home users should not panic,"
he said in a Tuesday conference call.
After discovering the bug several months ago, Kaminsky immediately
rounded up a group of about 16 security experts responsible for DNS
products, who met at Microsoft on March 31 to hammer out a way to fix
the problem. "I contacted the other guys and said, 'We have a problem,'"
Kaminsky said. "The only way we could do this is if we had a
simultaneous release across all platforms."
That massive bug-fix occurred Tuesday when several of the most widely
used providers of DNS software released patches. Microsoft, Cisco, Red
Hat, Sun Microsystems and the Internet Software Consortium, makers of
the most widely used DNS server software, have all updated their
software to address the bug.
The Internet Software Consortium's open-source BIND (Berkeley Internet
Name Domain) software runs on about 80 percent of the Internet's DNS
servers. For most BIND users, the fix will be a simple upgrade, but for
the estimated 15 percent of BIND users who have not yet moved to the
latest version of the software, BIND 9, things might be a little more
difficult.
That's because older versions of BIND have some popular features that
were changed when BIND 9 was released, according to Joao Damas, senior
program manager for the Internet Software Consortium.
Kaminsky's bug has to do with the way DNS clients and servers obtain
information from other DNS servers on the Internet. When the DNS
software does not know the numerical IP (Internet Protocol) address of a
computer, it asks another DNS server for this information. With cache
poisoning, the attacker tricks the DNS software into believing that
legitimate domains, such as Bofa.com, map to malicious IP addresses.
Security researchers have known about ways to launch these cache
poisoning attacks against DNS servers for some time now, but typically
these attacks require that attackers send a lot of data to the DNS
server they are trying to infect, which makes the attacks easier to
detect and block. However, Kaminsky discovered a far more effective way
to launch a successful attack.
Because Kaminsky's flaw lies in the design of DNS itself, there is no
easy way to fix it, Damas said. Instead, companies like ISC have added a
new security measure to their software that makes it harder for cache
poisoning to work.
In the long run, however, the most effective way to deal with cache
poisoning will be to adopt a more secure version of DNS, called DNSSEC
said Danny McPherson, chief research officer with Arbor Networks.
Tuesday's fix is basically "a hack that makes it a lot more difficult,"
he said. "But it doesn't fix the root problem."
Kaminsky says he will give network administrators a month to patch their
software before revealing more technical details on the flaw at next
month's Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. In the meantime, he has
posted code on his Web site that allows users to see if their corporate
or ISP's DNS server has been patched.
Yahoo BOSS Opens Search Technology to Developers
In a move to build partnerships with third-party developers, Yahoo on
Thursday introduced a new open Web services platform. Yahoo Search BOSS
(Build Your Own Search Service) gives outside developers unprecedented
access to Yahoo's search technology, including the ability to re-rank
and control the presentation of results.
Yahoo launched BOSS as an API in beta and said it will enable developers
and companies to build world-class custom search experiences and disrupt
the search industry.
BOSS extends Yahoo's Open Strategy by giving developers access to its
search infrastructure. This builds on the recent launch of Yahoo's
SearchMonkey developer platform, which opened up the Yahoo
search-results page to allow site owners and developers to create
enhanced search results.
"Today, the search market is generally limited to three major search
engines to drive innovation and growth," said Prabhakar Raghavan, chief
strategist for Yahoo Search. "BOSS opens up the playing field for
developers and companies to disrupt the search market, become principals
in search and build new Web search experiences that offer more choice
for users."
Yahoo said BOSS will make it more economical for companies to build
Web-scale search experiences. BOSS will also generate revenue for
Yahoo's partners. Over the next several months, Yahoo plans to introduce
a BOSS monetization capability using Yahoo search advertising and
potentially other models to create a search revenue stream.
From a design perspective, BOSS lets developers control the presentation
and ranking of Web search results as well as unlimited queries per day.
Its framework allows developers to blend Yahoo Search results from Web,
news and image indexes with any data source from across the Web. Over
time, the company said other Yahoo Search indexes will become available.
BOSS will offer two options for companies and developers. Immediately,
developers can begin using the BOSS self-service API and the mashup
framework tools. The BOSS Custom service will be offered to select
partners with large-scale needs.
Some observers are supposing that Yahoo is acting in sheer desperation,
but the move to open the search platform is consistent with Yahoo's
disclosed plans. Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market
Intelligence, said the initiative might be likened to a more ambitious
version of the Google Custom Search Engine.
"If you are take a skeptical view you could say that BOSS is a ploy, but
I don't think it's a last-minute reaction," Sterling said. "Whether or
not it will it do much for Yahoo in a practical matter remains to be
seen. I don't think in the near term Yahoo will see much benefit from
this, but if it really takes off, then in a year it could make an impact."
Yahoo is compelled to experiment. If strategy A isn't working, Sterling
said, then you try strategy B. Sterling sees BOSS as Yahoo's move to
open up and become a desirable partner for third parties. "It's a policy
change more than anything," he said. "Yahoo is liberalizing a set of
policies to encourage third parties to use their tools."
Yahoo has also partnered with top technology universities to drive
search experimentation and innovation. Researchers will now be able to
conduct open research on search engines that was impossible in the
academic environment, the company said.
Specifically, Yahoo is currently working with Carnegie Mellon
University, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Stanford University, the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of
Massachusetts Amherst.
Congress Studies How People Track Your Online Use
Executives from major Internet players - Microsoft Corp., Google Inc.
and Facebook Inc. - are due for a grilling about online privacy in a
Senate committee Wednesday, but the company likely to get the most
scrutiny is a small Silicon Valley startup called NebuAd Inc.
NebuAd has drawn fierce criticism from privacy advocates in recent weeks
for working with Internet service providers to track the online behavior
of their customers and then serve up targeted banner ads based on that
behavior.
According to Ari Schwartz, vice president of the Center for Democracy &
Technology, a civil liberties group, NebuAd's business model raises many
of the same concerns as an earlier generation of "adware" companies.
Those companies developed software programs that - when downloaded to a
computer - could track where a user went on the Internet and mine that
information to deliver customized online ads. Several NebuAd executives
in fact were once employed by Gator Corp., an adware company that later
renamed itself Claria Corp.
Privacy activists say adware companies duped many Web surfers into
downloading their software programs by bundling them with free screen
savers, online games and other Internet applications. But NebuAd has a
new twist: It works directly with Internet service providers to scan
their customers' Web surfing habits and deliver ads presumed to be of
interest to them.
By injecting its monitoring in between consumers and the Web sites they
visit, NebuAd's technology could violate a 1986 federal wiretapping law
that requires at least one party to a communication to consent to a
wiretap, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the Center for
Democracy & Technology. British technologists have leveled similar
criticisms against a NebuAd-like system being prepared in that country
by Phorm Inc.
"This is analogous to AT&T listening to your phone calls all day in
order to figure out what to sell you in the middle of dinner," said
Robert Topolski, a technology consultant to Public Knowledge and Free
Press, two other public interest groups that have raised concerns about
NebuAd.
Although no major Internet service providers are known to have partnered
with NebuAd so far, a number of smaller ones have worked with the
company, including Wide Open West, a privately held broadband company
based in Denver.
Amid the publicity surrounding NebuAd, however, Wide Open West has
stopped using the company's advertising software. And other ISPs that
had been planning to conduct trials with the technology, including
Charter Communications Inc., have put those plans on hold.
For its part, NebuAd has stressed that it does not collect any
personally identifiable information about consumers and that it requires
Internet service providers to notify their subscribers about its
advertising system. On Tuesday, however, the Redwood City, Calif.,
company unveiled a new set of privacy protections, including an online
notification system and an opt-out mechanism for consumers.
"NebuAd is committed to driving innovation in online advertising while
pioneering industry-leading privacy practices," NebuAd chief executive
Bob Dykes said in a statement.
Besides NebuAd, Wednesday's hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee may
also examine Facebook's "Beacon" monitoring tool, which tracked online
purchases made by Facebook members and sent alerts to their friends on
the site.
In addition, the committee will explore the need for stronger online
privacy protections in general. Among the issues on the table: whether
Internet companies should be expected to make their programs "opt-in"
(you're automatically excluded from a service unless you sign up) or
whether "opt-out" (you're automatically in unless you speak up to say
no) is acceptable.
While the committee has no online advertising legislation pending, the
hearing could lead to new bills. The committee will also examine the
potential role of agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission or the
Federal Communications Commission. Last year, for example, the FTC
released a set of proposed self-regulation guidelines for online
advertising companies.
Witnesses testifying Wednesday include NebuAd's Dykes, Microsoft
associate general counsel Mike Hintze, Google chief privacy counsel Jane
Horvath and Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly. Lydia Parnes,
director of the consumer bureau for the Federal Trade Commission; Leslie
Harris, chief executive of the Center for Democracy & Technology; and
Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., vice president for policy at the Competitive
Enterprise Institute, will also testify.
FCC Chairman Seeks to Discipline Comcast
In what may be an early test of enforcing open-access rules for the
Internet, the head of the Federal Communications Commission said
Thursday that he will seek to have Comcast punished for violating
openness guarantees.
According to the Associated Press, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said his
agency "has adopted a set of principles that protects customers' access
to the Internet," and Comcast violated those principles. The FCC policy
to which Martin refers is a 2005 set of principles.
The violation involved Comcast's blocking of Internet traffic between
users exchanging large downloads via a file-sharing application. Martin
told AP that Comcast "arbitrarily" blocked access without regard to how
much bandwidth was actually being used, and did not tell those customers
about the actions.
The FCC chairman was to outline his recommendation for enforcement
action to other FCC commissioners Friday, and a vote will be held on
August 1. The action would make Comcast cease blocking while informing
the FCC about what it has done, and telling consumers what its policies
will be.
A spokesperson for Comcast denied it blocks content or services, and
said its actions were part of "carefully limited measures" that it takes
to make sure all its customers receive quality service.
The FCC's action followed a complaint by Free Press, a nonprofit group
that supports network neutrality. Neutrality is the concept that all
Internet traffic should be treated equally. Some Internet service
providers have advocated the ability to adjust charges for either
different levels of service or different kinds or levels of content.
Larry Hettick, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis,
noted that less than 10 percent of Internet consumers use 40 percent or
more of Net bandwidth. He noted that this asymmetry raises several
questions, such as whether it's fair to the other 90 percent. A user's
connection speed might slow, for instance, because of a neighbor's
downloading high-definition movies, yet both pay the same.
This problem is only going to get worse, Hettick said, as huge downloads
such as high-definition movies become commonplace. He described
Comcast's actions as "a bit bold" in that it apparently didn't make the
policy or actions evident, but he noted that cutting off bandwidth
abusers is commonplace among satellite providers of Internet service.
Hettick said a solution should involve making the terms of a service
more obvious, although he noted that Comcast's is a "best effort"
service. The ultimate solution, he said, is to set up service model
classes for consumers, where a user can pay more for higher capacity.
Microsoft Says EU Court's Fine "Excessive"
Microsoft has told a European Union court that an antitrust fine of 899
million euros ($1.4 billion) against it is both excessive and
disproportionate, the Court of First Instance said on Monday.
On February 27 the European Commission found that Microsoft used high
prices to discourage competition, failing to carry out sanctions imposed
against it as part of a long-running case. Microsoft is appealing
against the fine imposed in February.
"The Commission failed to take due account of the fact that the
contested decision only concludes that the royalties allegedly
established by Microsoft under one particular license ... were
unreasonable," the court said in summarizing Microsoft's arguments,
published in the EU's Official Journal.
A Commission spokesman disagreed.
"The Commission is confident that its decision to impose the fine was
legally sound," Jonathan Todd said.
The company argued that the Commission made a "manifest error" by
labeling its rates as unreasonable without considering that they were
"intended to facilitate negotiations between Microsoft and the
prospective licensees."
As well, Microsoft and the Commission had agreed to have a trustee
review the rates if need be, in a mechanism that had been used in
another case, Microsoft argued.
The Commission also erred by the yardstick that it used in requiring
Microsoft to establish its trade secrets were innovative, ignoring many
arguments prepared by patent experts, the company said.
"The Commission also denied Microsoft's right to be heard," because it
failed to give the company a chance to give its views at the end of the
period for which it was fined, Microsoft said.
The Commission has said it imposed the fine because the U.S. software
group had defied a 2004 order from Brussels to provide information to
competitors on reasonable terms.
Microsoft has been fined a total of 1.68 billion euros by the EU for
abusing its 95 percent dominance of PC operating systems through its
Windows operating system.
The 899 million euro fine was the biggest ever imposed on a company by
the EU executive.
The Commission initially fined Microsoft 497 million euros in March 2004
for withholding interoperability information for "work group server"
software and for deliberately damaging rivals by tying its Windows Media
Player to its Windows system.
Microsoft unsuccessfully appealed against that penalty and was also
later fined 280.5 million euros by the Commission for non-compliance.
The latest fine picked up from where the 280.5 million euro penalty left
off, covering the period from June 21, 2006 until October 21, 2007.
The company announced its appeal of the latest fine in May.
DOJ Drops Criminal Probe into Apple Options
The U.S. Justice Department has decided not to file charges against
Apple Inc, leader Steve Jobs and other current or former
executives in a probe of backdated employee stock options, lawyers for
the people targeted in the investigation said on Wednesday.
Apple, the fast-growing consumer electronics company, is one of more
than 200 mostly high-tech companies that have been investigated for
irregularities over their accounting for stock options awarded to
employees over the past decade or so.
Three of the attorneys in the case told Reuters that the Justice
Department had decided to drop its criminal inquiry.
A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an
investigation for backdating options grants to Jobs, the company's
co-founder and chief executive. Apple's own probe found no wrongdoing by
Jobs or current management.
The SEC later cleared the company after it cooperated with the
investigation, but the agency sued former Apple Chief Financial Officer
Fred Anderson and former General Counsel Nancy Heinen last year.
"There was never any basis to bring charges against Nancy, so it is no
surprise that the government reached this conclusion," Cristina
Arguedas, Heinen's lawyer, said of the DOJ's decision. "We were always
confident that after a full and fair review of the facts there could be
no other outcome."
The SEC case relies on testimony from a lower-ranking former Apple
lawyer, Wendy Howell, who testified she was asked by Heinen to falsify
minutes of meetings of Apple's board of directors that never took place.
Thomas Carlucci, Howell's lawyer, said that she would not be charged
either by the DOJ.
The DOJ's decision was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which
cited people familiar with the case.
The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco, which was handling the
case, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
AOL: Fee Up 20 Percent for Some Plans with Phone Help
If you're still paying for AOL, your bill may be going up 20 percent
this month.
AOL's cheapest dial-up Internet access plan is going from $9.99 to
$11.99 to offset costs of round-the-clock help by telephone. Subscribers
can keep the $9.99 rate if they forgo full phone support, but they must
actively change their plans to avoid an automatic price increase.
Millions of AOL users have already ditched subscription plans entirely
now that the company is giving away free AOL.com e-mail accounts and
other features as part of a push to generate more revenue from its free,
ad-supported Web sites.
AOL's parent company, Time Warner Inc., is even working on splitting its
access and advertising businesses, a move that could lead to the sale of
one or both.
As of March 31, AOL had 8.7 million U.S. subscribers for Internet
access, fewer than a third of its peak of 26.7 million in 2002. AOL no
longer breaks down subscribers by pricing plan, though it said most are
on a $25.90 premium plan, which remains unchanged.
The low-end plan offers either unlimited dial-up access with basic
security software, or 10 hours of dial-up with additional security
services.
Even with the price increase, AOL's plans are still competitive.
EarthLink Inc.'s cheapest dial-up plan, at $12.50 a month, requires a
year of prepayment, while United Online Inc.'s Juno and NetZero $9.95
services charge for phone help - Juno also requires a year's commitment.
Of course, if you have no need for dial-up access or extras like
technical support, you can cancel your account and still keep your
e-mail address.
On the Net:
https://bill.aol.com/changePlan/changePlan.adp
Gmail Allowing Remote Log-off in Case You Forget
One of the benefits of Web-based e-mail is the ability to log on from
just about anywhere - at home, at work, a friend's house, a mobile
device or even a public library or cybercafe.
But what if you forget to log off? Someone else who encounters an active
session not only can read your personal correspondences, but they also
can use that account to grab your passwords from many online services
that offer to send reminders via e-mail.
Google Inc.'s Gmail service is trying to address that by letting you
know if you're still logged on elsewhere and giving you a chance to
disconnect remotely.
At the bottom of a Gmail inbox is a small notice of other active
sessions. The new feature, being rolled out to users in waves, also
offers some information on the time and location of recent Gmail
activities.
The notification is bound to be useful, though it's by no means
foolproof. You have to be log on somewhere to learn of other active
sessions, and you have to look carefully for that notice. And if you
have chosen to save your password on the other computer, someone else
can simply log back on unless you change it.
But the feature does offer an extra level of comfort.
"Usually I remember to sign out, but every once in a while I wonder if I
really did," Gmail engineer Erwin D'Souza wrote on a company blog. "Now
I no longer have to wonder."
Other major Web e-mail providers - Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s
Hotmail, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL - also allow simultaneous sessions, but
they do not provide similar notice or ability to remotely log off.
However, AOL does have a setting forcing automatic logoff after as
little as 30 minutes of inactivity. Microsoft said Hotmail will ask for
a password if the session remains idle for too long.
=~=~=~=
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