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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 14 Issue 04
Volume 14, Issue 04 Atari Online News, Etc. January 27, 2012
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2012
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 #1404 01/27/12
~ Twitter To Censor Tweets ~ People Are Talking! ~ Disable pcAnywhere!
~ Wikipedia Pats Own Back! ~ Jailbreaking Not Crime ~ More Powerful Xbox!
~ Wii U Launch Done Right! ~ Google's "No Opt Out"! ~ Targeting Online Spam!
~ Next Generation Internet ~ Pirate Party: Sue U.S. ~ Buy A Book, Get Coke!
-* ACTA More Dangerous Than SOPA *-
-* Efforts Trigger Privacy Concerns! *-
-* UK: Social Network Sites Differ from Press *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, SOPA and PIPA are dead in the water, or at most, treading water
hoping someone will throw either a life buoy! More than likely, both
bills have returned to their sources for re-writes and attempts at
compromises. I seriously don't think that the politicians are done
with either of these bills. And, waiting in the wings is another bill,
ACTA. Some have said that ACTA is more dangerous than either SOPA or
PIPA. Follow that story elsewhere in this week's issue!
We're still managing to survive this year's winter, finally one which
has been relatively uneventful. Cold temps, but nothing more than a
couple bouts of a dusting of snow. And nothing still on the ground! I
have no complaints so far, and hoping that nothing changes drastically
to change these events. We've earned a quiet winter for a change!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - New Xbox To Be 6 Times As Powerful As The Xbox 360!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Nintendo Chief Promises To Do Wii U Launch Right!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
New Xbox Said To Be Six Times As Powerful As The Xbox 360
Will Microsoft's next machine blow its current console out of the water?
The current video game console generation is entering its twilight years,
and with that inevitability comes the unceasing rumors of what each
company's next hardware will be capable of. Nintendo has already shown
its hand by unveiling the Wii U, and now some tasty tidbits are beginning
to surface regarding the next Xbox from Microsoft. Popularly nicknamed
the Xbox 720, some new, well-sourced rumors suggest that it will be six
times as powerful as the current console.
The Xbox 360 is no slouch, and it can still play host to the hottest new
releases, but the hardware is approaching its 6th birthday and some
serious advancements have been made in the world of graphics processing
in the last half decade. The new Xbox will reportedly run on a derivative
of AMD's 6670 graphics chip, which supports 1080p HD, 3D, and linking to
multiple external displays.
Compared to the Wii U, the Xbox 720 should be roughly 20% more powerful,
though the stats of the two systems appear to be close enough that players
may not notice a difference. Like Microsoft, Sony has yet to officially
reveal anything about its followup to the PlayStation 3, but based on
their console release history, a new machine is undoubtedly in the works.
Where the PlayStation 4 will stack up in comparison to the new systems by
Nintendo and Microsoft is anyone's guess.
Nintendo Chief Promises To Do Wii U Launch Right
Nintendo's chief is determined to get right the launch of its next game
machine, Wii U, set for this year's holiday shopping season, and
acknowledged Friday some mistakes with selling its 3DS handheld.
But Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata warned earnings for the fiscal
year set to begin April will be the toughest ever for the Japanese
manufacturer behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games.
Iwata's remarks come a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast
to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss, much larger than the 20 billion
yen ($260 million) loss projected earlier. It posted a 77.62 billion yen
profit the previous fiscal year.
Iwata blamed the strong yen, which erases overseas earnings, as well as
the arrival of smartphones and other devices that offer gaming.
The higher yen slashed nearly 54 billion yen ($701 million) from the
company's operating profit for the April-December period.
"I can see how the red ink may be perceived as abnormal," Iwata told
analysts and reporters at a Tokyo hotel. "The environment has changed."
The failure of the 3DS handheld, which offers three-dimensional imagery,
to take off with enough momentum during the last quarter of 2011 was one
of the main reasons for the dismal results, according to Iwata.
The 3DS has gradually started to sell better, but it took a price cut in
August. It still lacks a strong lineup of attractive software games, a
key factor for a machine to succeed in a big way.
Iwata vowed the company will be better prepared when it introduces the
Wii U home console during the 2012 year-end shopping season for a strong
comeback.
He declined to give details such as pricing or what the software games
available at that time might be.
But he said the Wii U will come with a strong game lineup at the launch as
well as secure and safe Internet services that will offer players
individual accounts.
The Wii U will come with new ways of playing that will almost make the
term "home console" obsolete, Iwata said. It will also offer mobile
gaming. The machine has a touch-panel controller.
Nintendo has long competed against rival game makers, such as Sony Corp.
and Microsoft Corp. These days, all face the threat from hit devices like
the iPad and iPhone from Apple Inc. that also offer games.
Iwata's comments also showed Nintendo is growing less cautious about the
Internet, which in the past it had brushed off as mainly for hard-core
gamers.
Kyoto-based Nintendo has built its reputation on making games fun to play
for casual and newcomer players.
"We are going to put to use our bitter experience with the 3DS," said
Iwata.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
ACTA 'Is More Dangerous Than SOPA'
SOPA and PIPA are stalled (or dead) in the halls of the U.S. Congress.
Yet, there may be a bigger, perhaps more dangerous threat to Internet
freedoms on the way, called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or
ACTA. At least that's how U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa sees it, telling
an audience, "As a member of Congress, it's more dangerous than SOPA.
It's not coming to me for a vote. It purports that it does not change
existing laws. But once implemented, it creates a whole new enforcement
system and will virtually tie the hands of Congress to undo it."
The stunning declaration came during what was actually an upbeat panel
discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The convo,
part of Mashable's Documented@Davos program at the WEF, featured
California Congressman Issa (R), Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales, Google
SVP and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, Scribd Cofounder and CEO Trip
Adler, and Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore.
Congress's inability to change ACTA, Issa added, is "what makes ACTA very
dangerous. It sounded probably to people like a good idea, but people
should ask, why did they work around the WTO [World Trade Organization]
and all the existing bodies? I think the answer is: They could work in
secret. They could get it done, and then they could tell people you
couldn't change it."
Unlike SOPA, (Issa called it "radioactive") and PIPA, which are bills in
Congress, ACTA is a more far-reaching, global treaty that seeks to
normalize copyright protection and intellectual property standards across
participating nations. It even addresses offline issues like counterfeit
pharmaceuticals.
ACTA already has significant support. Signers include Poland, France,
Italy, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea and, yes, the U.S. (it
signed last year). While it's unclear if ACTA shares the same "draconian"
enforcement measures, Issa said, "Many of the things in SOPA are basically
implied in ACTA."
If the movement against ACTA, which is gathering steam in countries such
as Poland, takes off, the anti-SOPA protest may provide the blueprint for
a wide-scale counteroffensive. Prior to the SOPA and PIPA protests, the
panelist noted, the tech community had only informally lobbied Washington
on issues like education, visas and other items not necessarily closely
related to technology. However, the game changed with SOPA. The relatively
young tech community, which, as Google's Drummond noted, does not have the
political organization or clout of, say, an older industry like Hollywood,
transitioned from sending letters to Congress to taking direct action, and
taking the issue directly to their site visitors and customers. Drummond
said the Web community now may have "the prospects of a lasting coalition
that will give us a bigger voice in Washington."
During the panel, Wikipedias Wales described how the community-sourced
online encyclopedia made the decision to protest SOPA by going dark. He
noticed in early December 2011 that "SOPA seemed to be on a fast track.
Was really being pushed through and not a lot was being done to stop it."
The possibility of a Wikipedia protest was discussed and decided by the
community. "In the end, we held a vote, and 87% were in favor," recalled
Wales. It was a dramatic act soon followed by many other online
destinations. As Congressman Issa sees it, this was the right approach.
"I dont want to understate the importance of money, I think everyone gets
that that's part of the process of politics at all levels. But ...a broad
coalition is more powerful than any amount of money." Issa believes his
fellow congressmen may now think twice before supporting similar
legislation, "The next time the content community comes with a
pre-packaged bill that they've written, every office is going to say,
'And how does the tech community feel about it?' " Issa told the panel.
Issa has sponsored another piece of online legislation known as the Online
Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act or OPEN Act, which has found
some support among Facebook and Google, two Internet companies that
opposed SOPA and PIPA.
No one is denying the issues of copyright infringement and content piracy
remain, but Scribd's Trip Adler, who said his site "wouldn't be able to
exist if SOPA was in place," thinks its time to take a different
approach. "We can innovate our way to a solution that's good for the users,
good for the Internet and good for content owners," he said. Google's
Drummond agreed, "There are ways to deal with these problems with
technology and being smart about it where we don't actually have to have
legislation."
While panelists talked about what they saw as the relatively secrecy under
which ACTA was authored, ACTA is by no means a new initiative. Posts about
the act started emerging online as early as 2008 (the initiation began
with the U.S. and Japan in 2006). Canada's Foreign Affairs and
International Trade site offers a comprehensive look at the act, and even
tackles the claim that ACTA was built and ratified in secret:
"This process has not been kept from the public. On October 23, 2007,
the partners involved in ACTA at that time publicly announced that they
had initiated preliminary discussions on ACTA. Several countries involved
in ACTA have conducted public consultations on the key proposed elements
of the ACTA."
One thing is clear: The temperature is finally rising for ACTA, and at
least one Congressman now publicly sees it as a greater threat than SOPA.
You can see the entire panel in the exclusive video above.
U.S. Cybersecurity Efforts Trigger Privacy Concerns
The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into
critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will
threaten Americans' civil liberties.
In a report for release Friday, The Constitution Project warns that as the
Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial,
communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks,
sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with
those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.
While the government may have good intentions, it "runs the risk of
establishing a program akin to wiretapping all network users'
communications," the nonpartisan legal think tank says. The Associated
Press obtained a copy of the report in advance.
Cybersecurity has become a rapidly expanding priority for the government as
federal agencies, private companies and everyday people come under
persistent and increasingly sophisticated computer attacks. The threat is
diverse, ranging from computer hackers going after banking and financial
accounts to terrorists or other nations breaching government networks to
steal sensitive data or sabotage critical systems such as the electrical
grid, nuclear plants or Wall Street.
Privacy has been a hotly debated issue, particularly as the Pentagon
broadens its pilot program to help defense contractors protect their
networks and ystems. Several companies, including critical jet fighter and
drone programs, have been attacked, although the Pentagon has said that no
classified information was lost.
And there are plans for the Homeland Security Department to use the
defense program as a model to prevent hackers and hostile nations from
breaching critical infrastructure. Officials have suggested that Congress
needs to craft legislation that would protect companies from certain
privacy and other laws in order to share information with the government
for cybersecurity purposes.
DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said the legislative proposals reflect the
administration's commitment to privacy protections and contain standards
to minimize contact with personal information while dealing with
cybersecurity threats. "DHS builds strong privacy protections into the core
of all cybersecurity programs and initiatives," Chandler said, adding that
the agency realizes that providing assistance to private companies is a
sensitive task that requires "trust and strict confidentiality."
The Constitution Project report recommends that officials limit the amount
and nature of personal information shared between the public and private
sectors. And it calls for strict oversight of the cyber programs by
Congress and independent audits, to ensure that privacy rights have not
been violated.
"The government should not be permitted to conduct an end-run around Fourth
Amendment safeguards by relying upon private companies to monitor
networks," it said.
In addition, the report raised concerns about the ongoing development of
the Einstein 3 program, a government network monitoring system that would
both detect and take action against cyberattacks on federal systems. DHS
officials have said that extensive privacy protections are in place.
But the report expressed concerns that as DHS and the secretive National
Security Agency share information about potential computer-based threats,
the NSA could review communications from U.S. individuals without setting
up privacy safeguards.
"With more and more people needing to share sensitive personal and
financial data over the Internet, it is absolutely vital that, while we
are looking to protect our networks against cyberattack, we also preserve
our constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy," said Constitution
Project committee member Asa Hutchinson, a former DHS undersecretary who
also served as a GOP congressman from Arkansas.
Lawmakers who have been wrestling with these issues over the past several
years have several bills in the works, and most include some privacy
provisions.
Twitter To Restrict User Content in Some Countries
Twitter announced Thursday that it would begin restricting Tweets in
specific countries, renewing questions about how the social media platform
will handle issues of free speech as it rapidly expands its global user
base.
Until now, Twitter had to remove a Tweet from its global network if it
received a takedown request from a government. But the company said in a
blog post published Thursday that it now has the ability to selectively
block a Tweet from appearing to users in one country.
"Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold
content from users in a specific country while keeping it available in the
rest of the world," the Twitter blog said.
Twitter gave as examples of restrictions it might cooperate with, such as
"pro-Nazi content" in France and Germany, where it is banned.
It said even with the possibility of such restrictions, Twitter would not
be able to coexist with some countries. "Some differ so much from our
ideas that we will not be able to exist there," it said.
"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have
different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," Twitter
wrote.
In the interest of transparency, Twitter said, it has built a mechanism to
inform users in the event that a Tweet is being blocked.
A Twitter spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the blog.
Twitter's acknowledgement that it will censor content represents a
significant departure from its tone just one year ago, when anti-government
protesters in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries coordinated mass
demonstrations on the social network and, in the process, thrust Twitter's
disruptive potential into the global spotlight.
As the revolutions brewed last January, Twitter signaled that it would
take a hands-off approach to censoring content in a blog post entitled
"The Tweets Must Flow."
"We do not remove Tweets on the basis of their content," the blog post
read. "Our position on freedom of expression carries with it a mandate
to protect our users' right to speak freely and preserve their ability
to contest having their private information revealed."
And last year, Twitter General Counsel Alex Macgillivray declared that
the company was "from the free speech wing of the free speech party."
Still, some open Internet advocates said it appeared Twitter did the best
it could to navigate the dueling responsibilities of complying with local
law and upholding free speech.
Twitter would be banned outright in many countries if it did not agree to
restrict Tweets, said Cynthia Wong of the Center for Technology &
Democracy.
"The question is: What's best for freedom of speech?" Wong said. "If
Twitter was completely blocked from certain countries, is that really
better? It looks like Twitter has done a good job in thinking through how
to mitigate the human rights harm in complying with local law."
Twitter's move highlighted the frequent tensions over freedom of speech
and privacy issues between foreign governments and Internet companies such
as Google and Facebook as they expand rapidly overseas.
In 2010 Google relocated its Web search engine to Hong Kong, following a
very public spat with the Chinese government over its refusal to bow to
Beijing's Web censorship requirements and a hacking episode that Google
said it had traced to China.
Wikipedia Founder Hails Halting of U.S. Piracy Bills
The founder of Wikipedia has hailed the online encyclopedia's role in
helping halt U.S. legislation aimed at cracking down on Internet piracy.
Jimmy Wales told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that the
idea to black out Wikipedia's English pages for 24 hours came from the
site's volunteer editors, who voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move.
Wales says the two bills that Congress postponed indefinitely last week
were "very badly designed, technologically incompetent, and just something
that we felt needed to be stopped."
Wikipedia was among a number of sites that argued the Stop Online Piracy
Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act would hurt technological
innovation and infringe on free-speech rights.
The Web Reacts to Googles "No Opt Out" Privacy Policy Changes
Google has announced that it will revise its privacy policies to cover
wider data use across its range of online products and services.
The changes, which will take effect on March 1, have garnered a huge
reaction within the online community.
Many technology blogs are vocally opposed to the new privacy policy because
it tracks users actions across 60+ Google products - including YouTube,
Gmail, Search and Google+ - and combines this data to create a more
informed (read "easier to market to") user profile. There is also no way
for users to "opt out" of this type of tracking, complain members of the
internet community.
The new policy has been a long time coming, says Gizmodo. Google has "been
consistently de-anonymizing you, initially requiring real names with Plus,
for example, and then tying your Plus account to your Gmail account. But
this is an entirely new level of sharing. And given all of the negative
feedback that it had with Google+ privacy issues, it's especially
troubling that it would take actions that further erode users' privacy."
"Everything across your screens will be integrated and tracked," lambasted
ZDNet before Google jumped in to clarify that "it already has all that
data, but its now integrating that information across products. Its a
change in how Google will use the data not what it collects."
While many bloggers are arguing about user tracking and privacy, a separate
ZDNet article points out that "[m]any of the same techies who cry foul over
these new policies have also been pushing for the development of the
semantic web to make it easier to find what we actually need in the
trillions of web pages floating around the Internet."
Google argues that the data it collects about users online (and offline)
habits will help it to return more accurate search results and a "more
intuitive Google experience."
"We can provide reminders that youre going to be late for a meeting based
on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic
is like that day," says Alma Whitten, director of Privacy, Product and
Engineering at Google. "Or ensure that our spelling suggestions, even for
your friends names, are accurate because youve typed them before."
People are sharing more and more of their online and offline lives on
services like Google+, Facebook and Twitter. More data helps these "free"
online services provide relevant suggestions and a better overall
experience but also means they can build scarily accurate profiles of
their users online activity.
If you dont want your Google+ profile to be associated with your work
schedule on Google Calenders and prefer that Google doesnt link your
talking dog videos on YouTube with your forward-thinking math
presentations in Google Docs, you can always create separate Google
accounts for each service. Or you can export your Google data using the
companys Data Liberation tools and try your luck with Facebook.
UK Judge: Social Network Sites Differ from Press
The British judge presiding over a wide-ranging inquiry into media ethics
and practices has suggested that social networking sites such as Facebook
and Twitter should be seen differently than traditional publishers.
Lord Justice Brian Leveson said Thursday that there was a distinction
between what he described as "pub chatter" between friends on such sites
and organizations which publish material for public consumption.
Leveson's inquiry was set up in the wake of Britain's phone hacking
scandal and has the power to recommend far-reaching changes to the way
the country's media are regulated.
The judge also is considering whether nontraditional forms of media, such
as blogs, should be submitted to any eventual new rules.
Symantec Tells Customers To Disable pcAnywhere Software
Symantec Corp took the rare step of advising customers to stop using one
of its products, saying its pcAnywhere software for accessing remote PCs
is at increased risk of getting hacked after blueprints of that software
were stolen.
The announcement is the company's most direct acknowledgement to date
that a 2006 theft of its source code put customers at risk of attack.
Symantec said it was only asking customers to temporarily stop using the
product, until it releases an update to the software that will mitigate
the risk of an attack.
It acknowledged that some customers would need to continue using the
software for "business critical purposes," saying they should make sure
they were using the most recent version of the product and "understand
the current risks," which include the possibility that hackers could
steal data or credentials.
Still, it is highly unusual for a software maker to advise customers to
disable a product completely while engineers develop an update to fix
bugs. Companies typically recommend mitigating factors that will reduce
the risk of an attack.
"That's crazy. That's pretty much unheard of to just say 'Stop using it.'
Especially a vendor as large as Symantec," said H.D. Moore, chief
architect of Metasploit, a platform that security experts use to test
whether computer systems are vulnerable to attack.
PcAnywhere is a software program that is also bundled with some titles in
Symantec's Altiris line of software for managing corporate PCs, Symantec
said in a white paper and note to customers released on its website
overnight where it disclosed the warning.
Company spokesman Cris Paden said that Symantec has fewer than 50,000
customers using the stand-alone version of pcAnywhere, which was
available for sale on its website for $100 and $200 as of early Wednesday
afternoon.
The company last week warned customers of the 2006 theft of the source
code, or blueprints, to pcAnywhere and several other titles: Norton
Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security, Norton Utilities
and Norton GoBack.
It made the announcement after a hacker who goes by the name YamaTough
released the source code to its Norton Utilities PC software and had
threatened to publish its widely used anti-virus programs. Authorities
have yet to apprehend that hacker.
At the time, Paden said that the theft of the code posed no threat as
long as customers were using the most recent versions of Symantec's
software, with one exception: users of pcAnywhere might face "a slightly
increased security risk."
In the white paper published early on Wednesday morning, the company
indicated the situation was more serious.
"At this time, Symantec recommends disabling the product until Symantec
releases a final set of software updates that resolve currently known
vulnerability risks," it said in the white paper.
The company also reiterated its previous guidance that users of its other
software titles were not at heightened risk because of the breach in 2006.
"The code that has been exposed is so old that current out-of-the-box
security settings will suffice against any possible threats that might
materialize as a result of this incident," it said on its website.
Facebook, Washington State Target Online Spam
Facebook is partnering with Washington state to combat a type of spam
called "clickjacking" that is plaguing the social networking site, company
and state officials announced Thursday.
Two separate lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California and
Washington state against Delaware-based Adscend Media LLC, which officials
say is behind the spamming.
"The way we think about it, security is an arms race," Facebook's general
counsel, Ted Ullyot, said alongside Washington state Attorney General Rob
McKenna at the social media company's Seattle offices. "It's important to
stay ahead of spammers and scammers."
In "clickjacking," links on Facebook promising shocking or salacious
videos have code embedded in them that spreads the link to the user's
page. That makes it seem like the user "liked" the link, with the aim of
attracting more clicks from the user's friends. The links eventually lead
users to a survey or information from an advertiser.
Adscend Media is spreading spam through misleading and deceptive tactics
and has encouraged others to do the same, McKenna's office said.
An email inquiry sent to Adscend was not immediately returned, and an
attorney for the company had not yet been listed in federal court
records.
Social networking sites are popular targets for spammers because people
are more likely to trust and share content that comes from people they
know. This makes spam, scams and viruses easy to spread.
Still, Facebook says less than 4 percent of content shared on the site is
spam. By comparison, about 74 percent of email is spam, according to
security company Symantec Corp., though the bulk of it gets filtered out
before reaching someone's inbox.
Facebook has more than 800 million users.
Named in Washington state's lawsuit are Adscend co-owners Jeremy Bash, of
West Virginia, and Fehzan Ali, of Texas. The lawsuit says Adscend violated
several state laws, as well as the federal CAN-SPAM act, which makes it
unlawful to procure or initiate transmission of misleading commercial
communication.
McKenna said Adscend has annual revenue of $20 million.
Washington state is the only state partnering with Facebook. The company
said it partnered with Washington state because of a history in the state
of technology consumer protection.
The attorney general said Washington state has been a leader in technology
consumer protection since his predecessor, now Gov. Chris Gregoire, began
filing suits against malware and spyware users.
"As spammers adjust their tactics, we adjust ours," McKenna said.
Israel Sets Sights on Next-Generation Internet
Israel is often referred to as "Startup Nation," thanks to its long
history of high-tech breakthroughs produced by scrappy little companies.
But in one critical area, the speed of Internet connections, Israel has
fallen behind other tech-savvy countries.
In the coming months, Israel's state-owned electric company hopes to
change this by rolling out a nationwide, high-speed broadband network.
Exploiting the small size of the densely populated country, the effort
aims to put Israel at the forefront of the next generation of Internet
technology.
Experts say the fiber-optic lines can provide connections of 10 to 100
times current speeds, transforming the way the Internet is used in such
areas as entertainment, business and health care.
"All the developing countries that have a vision for 10 years ahead, or 20
years ahead, understand that the name of the game will be communications,
broadband communications, very fast communications," said Tzvi Harpak, the
electric company's senior vice president for logistics.
The technology is known as "fiber to the home," or FTTH. Using fiber optic
lines, it can provide connection speeds of 100 megabits to a blazing 1
gigabit per second. Today, the typical broadband user in the developed
world connects at five to 10 megabits using older cable and DSL
connections.
Oliver Johnson, chief executive of British research firm Point Topic, said
FTTH technology is the "gold standard" of the next generation of broadband
service. Although cable and DSL lines can be upgraded to higher speeds,
FTTH has smoother transmission of data and a much higher upside in terms
of speed, he said.
"It's easier to go higher. It's future-proofed," he said.
The added bandwidth could transform the way the Internet is used. Massive
video files will be downloaded instantly, opening the door for
high-definition and 3D movies to be delivered more easily.
Since the system will have equally fast upload speeds, individuals or
businesses will also be able to deliver pictures, videos and other large
files. In South Korea, where FTTH lines are common, users rave of the
lightning fast downloads and crystal clear Skype connections.
This could mean much-improved videoconferences in the workplace, easy
sharing of information in complicated engineering tasks, doctors monitoring
their patients or assisting in operations by long distance. It will also
likely speed up the migration of information, photos and video from
personal computers to the "cloud," making it easy for users to access their
information from any Internet connection.
Around the world, decision-makers are reaching the conclusion that faster
connections will be essential for economic growth. A number of countries
are engaged in a gold rush of sorts as they build new networks with FTTH
technology.
"Everyone feels that bandwidth will be this commodity down the road. If
you don't have it, you'll be out of luck," said David St. John, spokesman
for the FTTH Council, an industry trade group based in the U.S.
FTTH technology was introduced more than a decade ago, but adoption has
generally been slow because of its high costs. As costs have gradually come
down, particularly in densely populated areas, it has begun to take off.
And when new networks are rolled out, it makes more sense to go with the
new technology.
According to the council, heavily urbanized South Korea leads the world
with just over half of households connected to FTTH lines, followed by
Japan and Hong Kong, both at about 40 percent. In the U.S., about 7.1
million homes, or 6.6 percent, have the technology through services like
Verizon's FiOS.
Not surprisingly, South Korea leads the world in average broadband
connection speed at 13.8 mbps, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, according
to Akamai Technologies Inc.'s closely watched "State of the Internet"
report. The U.S. is ranked 16th.
Israel, dominated by DSL and cable broadband services, is No. 28, with an
average connection speed of about 4.5 megabits per second. According to
Point Topic, 92 percent of Israeli homes have broadband connections, a
respectable number but only about 19th in the world.
Despite its small size, Israel is one of the world's leading high-tech
centers.
Israeli companies have created leading products in areas such as security
software, instant messaging and e-commerce. Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp.
and other technology giants maintain operations here, and Apple Inc. is
reportedly planning its first overseas development center in Israel.
Akamai itself was co-founded by an Israeli-American.
With so much at stake, it is not surprising the government is backing
Israel Electric Corp.'s effort to roll out the fiber-optic network.
"Providing high-quality, fiber-to-the-home bandwidth for consumers all
over Israel (especially in peripheral areas) is a national interest as it
promotes economic growth, education, provision of government services,
social welfare," said Eden Bar-Tal, the director general of Israel's
Communications Ministry.
Despite the relatively late start, Israel is well-positioned to quickly
join the world's leaders. About 92 percent of the 7.8 million people live
in urban areas, according to government statistics, making it easier to
connect large numbers of people relatively quickly.
The electric company also has a key advantage in being able to build on
top of its existing infrastructure of overhead wires. That avoids the
costly process of having to dig up existing cables or laying down new
wires.
It hopes to have 10 percent of the country wired by next year, and
two-thirds of the country covered within seven years.
If Israel can stick to that schedule, it would be "among the leading
countries" in terms of deployment, said St. John of the trade council.
Harpak, of the electric company, said IEC is seeking bids from potential
partners to help build the network. Companies have until Jan. 31 to submit
their business plans.
Under guidelines set by the government, the partner will hold a 51 percent
stake in the new company, while the electric company will hold a 49
percent stake. Bidding starts at 300 million shekels, or around $75
million, said Harpak, who is heading the election committee that will
choose the new partner.
The election committee will review the proposals and hold an online auction
by midyear to select its partner, Harpak said.
IEC is banned from identifying any of the potential suitors, but local
media reports have said Telecom Italia SpA, BT Group PLC and local
companies Elbit Systems Ltd., Rapac Communication & Infrastructure Ltd.
and private equity firm Tamares are all in the running.
The new company is to build the infrastructure, while allowing Internet
service providers to actually market the service to consumers.
"There's been quite a lot of interest," said Philippe Guez, Managing
Director at Rothschild, the investment bank that is acting as the
financial adviser to the election committee. "We believe and hope the
government and the Israel Electric Corp. will make the appropriate changes
in order to make this wonderful project happen."
Spanish Pirate Party Gathering Ex-Megauploader Lynch Mob To Sue U.S.
If you belong to the group swept up by the FBIs swift shutdown of
Megaupload, the Pirate Party wants you to help them sue. The Spanish
branch of the Pirate Party announced a platform for persons or
organizations affected by the closure to register complaints. The hope is
that they can bring these complaints against the US and receive some
justice.
The effort is lead by the Spanish Pirates of Catalonia, followed by Pirate
Parties International, the UK Pirate Party and others. The argument is
that, while the FBI may have been justified in penalizing US copyright
infringment, the cost was much greater than the gain since many individuals
and organizations legally using the service have lost the use of the
archives.
The groups are investigating ways that the US breached the law in other
countries. Basically, the complaint is about the US narcissism, and the
group wants to register complaints from as many users in different
countries as possible. The first hit for the Pirates of Catalonia is a
possible violation of Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code, which
deals with misappropriation of personal data.
Justice or whipping boy - whichever side of the argument about Megaupload
you stand on, the protest wants to fly under the banner of rights outrage:
"Regardless of ideology, or opinions on the legality or morality of those
running Megaupload, actions such as the closure of this service cause huge
damage to lawful users of the sites and are unacceptable and
disproportionate violations of their rights."
Even if the group does get the support it wants, will the US even listen
to all these countries? The unapologetic Department of Justice has already
said that legitimate users of the Megaupload service will simply have to
soldier on without their personal files, pointing out that the cyberlocker
warned users about data security even before the US barged in.
Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime
You bought it. You own it. Tell the Copyright Office: let me install
whatever software I want on my phone, tablet, or video game system.
bunnie Huang, author of Hacking the Xbox, is standing with the Electronic
Frontier Foundation to defend users' right to jailbreak. Will you sign on
to bunnie's letter to show the Copyright Office that users everywhere are
demanding the right to jailbreak?
Dear Ms. Pallante,
Whether it's patching a security vulnerability or homebrewing video games
and apps, people who own smart phones, tablets, and video game systems are
finding inventive ways to use and improve their devices. Often users need
to gain full administrative access, through a process known as
"jailbreaking," to innovate and take advantage of the device's full
potential.
But right now, jailbreaking a device can lead to legal threats. That's a
vulnerability in the law: we need you to create a "patch" so users who
jailbreak devices won't be at legal risk.
Three years ago, the Copyright Office agreed to create an exemption to the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act so that folks could jailbreak their
smartphones. But that exemption is about to expire. We need you to renew
that exemption and expand it to cover jailbreaking gadgets with similar
computation potential. These are all siblings to the PC, yet unlocking
their potential as versatile and powerful computers is burdened with legal
murkiness.
We need these exemptions to conduct security research on devices to help
safeguard everyday users from security threats. Furthermore, users of these
products benefit from the flexibility to choose their own operating systems
and run independently developed software. We need the law to catch up with
how people are using technology.
Jailbreaking is helping to make technology better, more secure, and more
flexible. Please defend the rights of users.
Thanks for enabling us to keep technology innovative, secure, and focused
on the users.
bunnie Huang
@bunniestudios
Student Orders Terrorism Textbook on Amazon,
Gets $400 Bag of Cocaine As A Bonus
All Sophia Stockton wanted from Amazon was a textbook for one of her
classes. Little did she know that it was going to be shipped to her with
something extra on the side. Leafing through the pages of her new book,
she was alarmed when a bag of white powder fell out, which she feared was
Anthrax. So imagine her surprise when she found out that the powder was
far from being a biological weapon - it was actually $400 worth of cocaine!
Stockton, a junior at the MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas, ordered
a copy of Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives and Issues from
the retailer's website. Upon coming across the curious bag of white powder,
she took it to authorities who immediately examined the substance, and
determined it was a Schedule II drug.
The book she received was marked "used," which usually indicates an item is
shipping from a third-party Amazon Marketplace reseller. But Stockton says
she's positive the book came directly from the website, and it was even
sealed in Amazon packaging when it arrived.
Without an official response from Amazon, we could only guess how a bag of
cocaine got in between the pages of a textbook, though authorities are
currently investigating its possible sources. We can only hope that no
other stashes of illegal substances make their way to unsuspecting buyers
in the mean time.
=~=~=~=
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