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| China Temporarily Bans New Internet Cafes |
| Bianca's Smut Shack May Be Shut |
| Oh, No! Mr. Bill! |
| Carving a Niche for Himself |
| Bite Me, Dark Commando |
| Netsurfer Recommendations |
| Tragos: The Something or Other E-Zine |
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| Some Sirius Traveling |
| Sun Releases P2P Framework: Project JXTA |
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| It's Daniel, Not David Pink |
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BREAKING SURF
Independent Media Center Caught in FBI Investigation
Independent Media Center (IMC) is a news organization of independent journalists and news networks dedicated to "the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth". It arose out of the online coverage of last year's riot-plagued WTO summit in Seattle. This year, its coverage of the similarly protested Summit of the Americas conference in Quebec City got it in trouble with the law. Somebody leaked George W. Bush's secret travel plans - apparently lifted from a stolen laptop - to the Net and IMC reported the fact. The FBI and the Secret Service duly investigated, which normally wouldn't be a problem but the way those agencies handled this has raised alarm flags in online and media legal circles. The US government served the IMC with a request to identify "all user connection logs" for a specific period and then ordered IMC not to disclose the existence of the court order. Under US law, this kind of court order is highly problematic to say the least, and IMC scrambled to get some serious First Amendment legal representation. Not surprisingly, the story leaked despite the gag order. After Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyers got involved, the order was lifted and IMC finally could air its perspective.Story: http://seattle.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=3013
Court Order: http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=36912&group=webcast
Anonymous Proxies Battle Restrictive Governments
Not all countries allow unfettered access to the Internet. China and Saudi Arabia are just two of the countries that invest time, money, and resources in censoring the Web for their citizens. Frequently, governments block porn sites - but the sites of news organizations, of forbidden political movements, and sites critical of political leaders also become targets for censorship. Software and services that hide a user's online identity allow surfers to roam the Web at will, and governments seem to always lag a few steps behind in blocking access to such services as fast as they can. And so the battle goes, with each side getting more sophisticated in its attempt to impose or foil censorship. The New York Times has taken a good look at the situation (it requires free registration). Insert admonishment about taking the freedom to surf for granted here.http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/26/technology/26SAFE.html
Wireless Systems Open to Eavesdropping
If you want to find out what's going on in corporate offices across the country these days, just cruise nearby and listen in on their wireless networks. Big names like Sun and Nortel are as guilty as smaller companies of blithely ignoring basic communications security smarts and potentially letting anyone listen to their corporate networks. Follow Peter Shipley and Matt Peterson in this fascinating but disturbing MSNBC report as they fearlessly expose the unprotected underbelly of corporate America, all in the interest of getting companies to smarten up. Even when official systems are secure, individual employees sometimes set up unofficial networks that provide a backdoor through normal computer firewalls. You'd figure it must be hard to secure such wide-open wireless networks, but it's easy; it's just another sorry example of failure to implement basic security measures on computer networks. Hackers and industrial spies never had it so easy.http://www.msnbc.com/news/565275.asp
The Danger of Internet Messaging in a Business Environment...
This article in ZDNet looks at the issue of using Internet messaging (IM) in a business environment. Lack of standards and a lack of security in IM products can become real problems for commercial IT organizations. Logs of IM conversations can be leaked, resulting in legal problems, and open IM ports through firewalls can lead to virus infection and password leaks. The article also discusses the plans of various organizations to release enterprise class versions of IM products designed to address business security and utility needs.http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2712552,00.html
...While Instant Messaging Tries to Go Commercial
Some interesting technology is trying to talk its way into the commercial market. ActiveBuddy has developed interactive bots that hang out as members of your buddy list in your instant messaging application, waiting for you to call them up and ask about stock quotes or the latest model of cars. The bot then accesses a database and returns with your information. If the technology matures the way its founders hope, you won't always be using a Web browser to retrieve information - sometimes you'll just ask your buddy. Check out CNet for more.ActiveBuddy: http://www.activebuddy.com/
CNet: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5726313.html
New Proposed E-Mail Standard RFCs Released
E-mail is the Net's de facto killer app, and all the world's e-mail has been running on a set of standards which have remained unchanged since they were codified back in 1982 by John Postel and David Crocker in two classic Request for Comment (RFC) documents. That's surely a tribute to the utility and good design of the protocols. This week, a new set of RFCs (2821 and 2822) designed to supercede the original have been released under the authority of the Internet Society. The two RFCs are still in the Proposed Standard stage, and do not radically change any aspects of the e-mail protocols. Rather, they are designed to clarify, consolidate, and bring the standards in line with current practice. If you're designing any software that has to deal with e-mail, you should read them. If you're curious about the RFC process and how Net standards become standard, the RFC Editor Web site has all the info you need.RFC 2821: ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2821.txt
RFC 2822: ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2822.txt
RFC Editor: http://www.rfc-editor.org/index.html
SDMI Researchers Back Down, Won't Present Paper
Last week, we reported how the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) threatened researchers who cracked SDMI watermarking technology in an attempt to prevent them from publishing and presenting their results at a scientific conference. This week, lead researcher Edward Felten released a terse statement saying that the team members would not present the paper. He cited the desire to avoid expensive litigation on the part of the authors and their sponsoring organizations. It's worth noting that the paper has already been leaked online and the case has received a great deal of media publicity. Given that the world already knows the watermark defeating methods and that the RIAA is trying to suppress research, caving in was a smart legal move. Meanwhile, as expected, the leaked paper has already propagated to many, many online mirror sites.Story: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,43353,00.html
Statement: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/sdmi/sdmimessage.txt
Paper: http://cryptome.org/sdmi-attack.htm
FAQ: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/sdmi/faq.html
File Renaming Frustrates Napster Judge
To its foes, the surge of music file swapping using Napster must seem like the ocean - an irresistible force, relentless and unstoppable. US District Judge Marilyn Patel must think so at times as she wrestles with the practical difficulties of getting Napster to purge copyrighted songs from its system. Wired reports that Napster users have been creatively renaming music files so that they swim unnoticed through the filters Napster uses to identify copyrighted material. Even minor spelling variations can prevent the files from being purged. Under terms of the Appeal Court ruling against Napster, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) must tell Napster which files to remove. The RIAA holds that complainants only have to tell Napster to block songs by artist and song names, but Napster argues that it must receive the actual file names being used. Unless the Appeals Court clarifies its intention, Judge Patel has decided, Napster is free to interpret the ruling as it has so far. More work for the lawyers, while the downloads go merrily along.http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,43421,00.html
Six million American adults do it every day - download music that is, or so this eight-page PDF research report tells us. The Pew Internet tracking report says more Americans download music than shop online. About the same number look for medical or travel information. Although the 37 million Americans who have tried music file sharing cover the demographic spectrum, it's most popular among the young and those with low levels of income and education. About 28% say they download music they already own and many report they listen to groups they didn't know about before. On the other hand, "the vast majority of music downloaders also say they do not frequently purchase the music they got for free on the Internet." The report provides fascinating insight into the burning question whether music file sharing is a destructive tsunami of copyright violation or just one of many waves that periodically creatively transform the nature of business. It also provides a useful summary of the legal tussles in the ongoing struggle over copyright infringement.
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=33
Open-Source Music: Open Audio License
In reaction to ever-stricter rules of copyright, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is advocating the use of an Open Audio License. Open Audio would allow artists to release material to the public and grant permission for the public to copy and distribute the material legally. Open Audio recordings can be manipulated (as long as credit is given where credit is due) and webcasters and DJs can broadcast the music royalty-free. It's basically open-source music, with the emphasis on enriching the public domain rather than a few record executives.License: http://www.eff.org/IP/Open_licenses/20010421_eff_oal_1.0.html
FAQ: http://www.eff.org/IP/Open_licenses/20010421_eff_oal_faq.html
Several national consumer protection agencies have got together to launch a Web site dedicated to curbing cross-border online consumer fraud. The site - available in English, French, German and Spanish - is maintained by the US Federal Trade Commission. Thirteen countries are involved in the Econsumer project, with the notable absences of Germany and France. Econsumer provides information about consumer protection laws in various countries and allows users to file complaints online. You have no guarantee anyone will take action on any individual complaint, although the information supposedly will help alert governments to abuses by companies within their borders and presumably help law enforcement focus its efforts appropriately. Read all about it at CNet or visit the Econsumer site for yourself.
Econsumer: http://www.econsumer.gov/
CNet: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-5715293.html
Pioneer 10 Once Was Lost but Now Is Found
Last August was the last time NASA had heard from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. This week, researchers unexpectedly managed to again detect the craft's faint radio signal, from 11.74 billion kilometres (about 22 light-hours) away. The machine, the first probe to explore Jupiter, is now heading into interstellar space and is still returning science data 29 years on. Scientists are waiting for Pioneer to reach the heliopause, the boundary between the solar wind and interstellar space. The craft has discovered at least one Kuiper Belt object through gravitational deflection and its signal is also being used in research on detecting faint signals using chaos theory. The NASA Pioneer Web page has all sorts of interesting tidbits about Pioneer 10 and its siblings, including the oldest operational space probe, 35-year-old Pioneer 6.http://spaceprojects.arc.nasa.gov/Space_Projects/pioneer/PNStat.html
For Sale: One Russian Space Capsule, Fully Loaded
A fully loaded Russian descent capsule is on auction this month. The capsule was part of Soyuz TM-26, which was launched in 1997 on a repair mission to Mir, and has been in space just over 197 days. Expected to fetch over $2 million, the capsule comes complete with an astronaut couch, an invitation to a Russian space launch, and free shipping. It is previously owned, and one side is a little charred from re-entry. It's worth dropping by the site to view the series of detailed pictures and close-ups of the capsule.http://www.superiorgalleries.com/upcoming/1SP01highlights.html
Fifth Annual Webby Award Nominees
Each year, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences bestows its Webby awards on a small number of Web sites that are supposed to represent the very best in their classes. This year, nominees are vying in 27 categories to attain this ultimate honor and prestige that most sites would kill for. It's probably also worth killing to attend the awards ceremonies, to be held July 18 in San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, but if you don't garner an invitation, you can always watch the webcast. As usual, a strong democratic streak in the organizers opens online voting for the People's Voice awards to all. This year, a new award will go to a single site that represents the best in all of the criteria used for judging - sort of a best-in-show ribbon. The list of nominees alone wonderfully cuts through the clutter and congestion of so-so places on the Internet and presents you with only the best.Webbies: http://www.webbyawards.com/
Nominees: http://www.webbyawards.com/nominees/index.html
Google Makes Available Deja.com Usenet Archive
Google has finally placed online the Usenet archive it purchased from Deja.com earlier this year. This means that the archive, dating back to 1985, is again available for searching and mining. The old archive has been integrated with up-to-date material. Google promises to add Usenet posting capability later this month.http://groups.google.com/
WarBirds' Free Memorial Day Weekend
WarBirds, a World War II-era air combat sim, will be offering free play during the American Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28. WarBirds remains the cutting edge in WWII flight sim development and if you think something like Combat Flight Sim even compares, you really ought to broaden your horizons. Why not? It's free (and so good that it's incredibly addictive). The free play will be divided among several WarBirds arenas as noted on the Memorial Day Shoot-Out page. For more on WarBirds in general (the game runs on Mac OS and Windows), visit WarBirds Headquarters.Shoot-Out: http://www.iencentral.com/warbirds/shootout/shootout_details.html
Headquarters: http://www.iencentral.com/warbirds/
ONLINE CULTURE
Only The Best in Bizarre Online Auctions
Yard sales, garage sales, estate sales, or whatever you like to call them attract drivers who pull over and scope out the seller's wares. The modus operandi works whether the seller's mom or dad is peering out from the kitchen window to supervise the whole process or an 18-wheel truck has spilled its guts onto a large parking lot, in the process showing off a variety of necessities at low, low prices, come on down! But that's all physical. Go online, enter the virtual world of Cyberspace, and reality takes a bit of a break. "Who Would Buy That?" points you to some of the odd gems for sale in online auctions. Every day you'd expect their selection to have run out, but the new discoveries never seem to end, and get weirder and weirder. Hey, earrings that are pierced wood slugs won't make her dreams come true, Romeo. Try Freddie Mercury's bright red satin sheets - er, maybe not them either.http://www.whowouldbuythat.com/
China Temporarily Bans New Internet Cafes
The BBC reports that China has temporarily banned the opening of Internet cafes. The three-month moratorium comes as part of a large-scale crackdown in which authorities check on the cafes' activities. The article notes that numerous cafes had "information purifiers" installed as part of the sweep. The authorities are apparently afraid of what Chinese Communist Party officials call "online heroin" and "illegal games", which the youth of China is exposed to in those dens of coffee and vice. The story is based on an article in Beijing Review, a refreshing oasis of unabashed propaganda in the desert of responsible (cough!) journalism.BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/monitoring/media_reports/newsid_1302000/1302309.stm
Beijing Review: http://www.bjreview.com.cn/bjreview/EN/Index.htm
Bianca's Smut Shack May Be Shut
One of the oldest venues for good natured smut camaraderie on the Net - it opened in 1994 just months after our own debut - is facing possible closure. Bianca's Smut Shack has since branched out and provided a forum for more then just sex content, but it has always been a cut above the rest as a venue for uninhibited, hip, and entertaining interaction with like-minded Net dwellers. Up-scale erotica webzine Nerve, which bought the Shack in 1999, has posted a note saying that the Shack may have to close because it's too costly to maintain in this dismal online advertising market. Nerve CTO and Shack founder Dave Thau says he's in negotiation to salvage something of the Shack. The forums at Bianca's are buzzing with the news which came as a bit of a shock and without much warning to what everyone agrees is a thriving and popular online community. In case you're not awake yet, yes, this all features adult content.Shack: http://www.bianca.com/
Forums: http://bathroom.bianca.com/shack/bathroom/sub/
Nerve: http://www.nerve.com/
Announcement: http://www.bianca.com/whatsnew/index.html
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
True fans of film-maker Walter Williams's animated Play Doh Everyman will enjoy CinemaNow's collection of Mr. Bill films. Once a star of eagerly awaited shorts on "Saturday Night Live" when it was good (in the 1970s), Mr. Bill survived uncountable splats and smooshes with valor and style. Co-starring Mr. Hands, Bill's dog, and arch-enemy Sluggo, Mr. Bill's movies are short and very funny. Note you're going to have to register with the site and use Windows Media Player under Windows or MacOS to actually watch the films. Not to worry. Those details are probably not going to be a deterrent to those who welcome Mr. Bill's return to fame.http://www.cinemanow.com/watch/watch-browse.asp?channelid=14&genre_id=-1
"I will be traveling through Europe for the next few months...." How many of us would love to have that on our answering machines? Carver Mostardi's Web site advises people to contact him via e-mail since, well, he'll be away for a bit, presumably shooting at some gorgeous continental location. Although his high speed photographs have the requisite Harold Edgerton-esque "bullet through an apple" and "drop of Retsyn" coronet, his underwater shots are more eerie and inspired. The Chiapas pictures are a fascinating study of a people living out their lives in the midst of civil turmoil; if you have been reading about the latest positions taken by Mexican President Vicente Fox and the Zapatistas, you may find them a reminder of the human aspect to the political struggle.
http://www.photocarver.com/
Here's how the story begins: four individuals act as an "elite covert assassination and special ops unit for the United States government", known as the Dark Commandos. Their secret weapon? Over 600 years of experience between the four of them. No, it's not Operation Hip Replacement - they're all vampires, hired to kill the bad guys. The first two episodes of the video serial (Quicktime 4.1.2 or later required) are available in English, French, and Spanish, as well as with differing amounts of eye-candy for all bandwidth capabilities. The fast-paced story is eclipsed only by the technology used to produce the video. The acting is all done green screen and the sets and effects are added later with software. Our weather forecaster has difficulties following cold fronts on a green screen, let alone acting in front of one. The first and presumably more carefully crafted episode exhibits the potential seamlessness between humans and computer graphics; the second episode's CGI has its hokey moments. However, it also has its brilliant bits, like that wonderful pivot Non does over the back of the plummeting van.... We should stop there. If we tell you more, we'll have to kill you.
http://www.darkcommandos.com/
BOOKS & E-ZINES
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Items our staff likes and you might too. Click on the image or title to order at a hefty discount from our affiliate Amazon.com, and send a few pennies our way as well.
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Napalm & Silly Putty
Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw
The Producers
Red Hat Linux 7.1Tragos: The Something or Other E-Zine
Tragos Magazine is a new bimonthly e-zine based in Los Angeles. At first, it may seem a literary clone of the New Yorker, with the same cultural aspirations, what with artsy photography, fiction, clever commentary, and reviews. ("Tragos" is Spanish for "drinks".) It's more than that, as evidenced by sass and satire, but we aren't sure exactly what it is. Neither, apparently, is editor Gadi Dechter, who wants to avoid the word "irony". Even the contributors' notes are cryptic. The About The Magazine page has a curious invitation: "We are currently engaged in the mission-critical process of settling on a subject matter niche that will allow us a differential advantage in an already overcrowded media sub-market. Suggestions are welcome." We suggest you read such eye-catching titles such as "I Very Nearly Killed Neal Pollack", "Badass With a Heart of Gold", and "My California Adventure Can Beat Up Disney's California Adventure". For now, the word for it may be potpourri. The format is unassuming, but its first two issues are promising.http://tragos.org/
True news junkies have well-researched lists of Web sites tucked away in their browser bookmarks. TV stations, newspapers, magazines - any media form will do. Let's play a game. We'll see your bookmarks, and raise you sites that do news hunting for you. These news portals present all kinds of news in a nice easy-to-read format. One, the Internet News Network, goes beyond even the most passionate news addict's needs. This Tripod site (!) covers more than headlines from a wide variety of newspapers and magazines. It gives a fix of the US government's antics in Washington, and moves on to Entertainment buzz and plays in Sports. Instead of clicking on your multiple bookmarks each morning, you might decide to just visit this site. There are good odds that at least some portion of your bookmarks - including Slashdot, News of the Weird, and the NY Times daily crossword - are already waiting for you here.
http://www.netnewsnet.com/
SURFING SCIENCE
Science Education for Kids and Others
BrainPOP is loaded with a mix of education and animation created for children, although anyone can appreciate it. With the tricks of Flash animation, kids can play games and watch short movies that explain a variety of subjects. Get help with homework, experiment with Bob the ex-lab rat, or learn about stuff in science, health, or tech of all kinds. Movies galore present information that's both friendly and easily understood. If you suffer from asthma, listen to Tim and Moby the robot explain all about it. Quizzes ask interesting questions while the movies load up. It's often hard to find a truly constructive and useful Web site, particularly for the benefit of children; BrainPOP meets the criteria as a wonderful resource for parents and educators alike.http://www.brainpop.com/
Serious about space phenomena? Take your telescope, if you wish, on a trip arranged through Sirius Travel, an agency in Colorado that specializes in eclipse and adventure travel. It's owned and operated by university astronomers with experience in photography and, of course, teaching. Their next excursion will be a tour of top astronomical sites in the American Southwest this August. It includes the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, and Navajo and Hopi reservations. The tour group will view the Perseid meteor showers through the Mt. Wilson Observatory (rented for a full night of exclusive observation) above Los Angeles. In December 2002, Sirius Travel can take you to the outback of Australia to view a total solar eclipse. The agency's modest Web site belies its celestial attractions.
http://www.siriustravel.com/
SOFTWARE
Sun Releases P2P Framework: Project JXTA
Addressing the need for a standardized framework for building interoperable peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, Sun has released the specification for its shot at solving the problem. So how many of you, having read that sentence, are skipping the rest of this article? Sun's JXTA is a collection of standard protocols by which peers can discover each other, communicate, and organize themselves in hierarchies. The downloadable demo system is written in Java, but the protocols are language agnostic. In making the project public and open source, Sun is obviously hoping that the open source community will pick it up and run with it. The JXTA Web site has extensive technical info, white papers, and the downloadable protocol suite. Great resource for anybody with interest in P2P computing. O'Reilly P2P Web site also has a number of good articles about JXTA with a third-party perspective.JXTA: http://www.jxta.org/
O'Reilly P2P: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/all_p2p_articles
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
The Rainforest Action Network has created the equivalent of a Yahoo of the rainforest. Rainforestweb.org serves as a portal for all things related to rainforest education and activism. They say their goal for the site is to "strengthen the growing effort to save the world's endangered forests" and certainly consolidating all this information online is a good first step. To demonstrate how their portal approach works, the How Can I Help section of their site has over 100 links to sites ranging from traditional items like Environmental Volunteer and Research Opportunities to the less-expected but just as appropriate Alternative Fuels Data Center. Their news keeps the front page content fresh, and the Add a Site feature ensures that the site will grow with time.http://www.rainforestweb.org/
CORRECTIONS
Last week, we recommended the book "Free Agent Nation" but mistakenly gave the author's name as David Pink. It's actually Daniel Pink and he's surprisingly polite about correcting our goof. Here's the link to the book again.http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446525235/netsurferdigest