NewsScan Daily, 8 October 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 8 October 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Appeals Court Stays Lower-Court Ruling Blocking Do-Not-Call List
        Microsoft Sued for Damages Caused by Security Flaws
        Sony's PSX: A Game Machine with Wider Ambitions
        Disabling CD Lock Is Easy as Pressing the Shift Key
        T-Mobile Institutes Handset Buyback
        Souped Up PCs Can Mimic TiVo Functionality

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: Did You Work Hard Today?

APPEALS COURT STAYS LOWER-COURT RULING BLOCKING DO-NOT-CALL LIST
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed a ruling of U.S. District 
Judge Edward Nottingham which has prevented the Federal Trade Commission 
from running a national Do-Not-Call registry on the grounds that it 
unfairly blocks calls from businesses, but not from charities or political 
organizations. The appeals court said in its ruling: "The Supreme Court has 
held that there is undoubtedly a substantial governmental interest in the 
prevention of abusive and coercive sales practices. The prevention of 
intrusion upon privacy in the home is another paradigmatic substantial 
governmental interest." The court also noted that Congress had found that 
some telemarketing calls "have subjected consumers to substantial fraud, 
deception and abuse." (AP/San Jose Mercury News 8 Oct 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6955894.htm

MICROSOFT SUED FOR DAMAGES CAUSED BY SECURITY FLAWS
Film producer Marcy Levitas Hamilton, whose Social Security number was 
stolen by network vandals, has filed a lawsuit aimed at holding Microsoft 
responsible for damage stemming from security flaws in its software. The 
suit is designed to form the basis of a class action, and alleges that the 
majority of cyberattacks trace back to vulnerabilities in Microsoft 
software. Internet security and privacy consultant Richard M. Smith sasy: 
"This is the first time Microsoft has had its feet held to the fire on 
security issues." Hamilton's lawsuit notes that after the vandals stole her 
Social Security number, her bank accounts were accessed and frozen, and her 
attorney says: "They completely cannibalized her life." Microsoft executive 
Sean Sundwall responds: "This complaint misses the point. The problems 
caused by viruses and other security attacks are the result of criminal 
acts." (USA Today 7 Oct 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/2003-10-07-msftsuit_x.htm

SONY'S PSX: A GAME MACHINE WITH WIDER AMBITIONS
Sony's new next-generation PlayStation, the PSX, is a hybrid gaming machine 
plus digital media hub that includes a TV tuner, DVD and hard-drive 
recording, and photo album and music player functions. It will go on sale 
in Japan before the end of the year, beginning at $720 for a 160-gigabyte 
hard disk version that can record 200 hours of digital video; the system 
will ship with Ethernet and USB ports for networking, online gaming and 
connections with such peripherals as digital cameras and game controllers. 
Sony Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei says: "We want to create a new genre." 
(AP/New York Times 8 Oct 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Sony-PSX.html

DISABLING CD LOCK IS EASY AS PRESSING THE SHIFT KEY
A Princeton University student has posted instructions for disabling the 
copy-protection "lock" incorporated into the latest CD released by soul 
artist Anthony Hamilton on the BMG label. The anti-copying software, 
developed by SunnComm Technologies, is automatically loaded onto a Windows 
PC whenever the Hamilton CD is played in its CD drive, but graduate student 
John Halderman found that he could prevent the software from being loaded 
simply by holding down the shift key for awhile. The discovery was 
confirmed by BMG and SunnComm, but they downplayed its significance. "This 
is something we were aware of," said a BMG spokesman. "Copy management is 
intended as a speed bump, intended to thwart the casual listener from mass 
burning and uploading. We made a conscious decision to err on the side of 
playability and flexibility." SunnComm's technology is one of the most 
flexible on the market, and includes "pre-ripped" versions of songs on the 
CD, which buyers are free to transfer to a computer, burn to a CD several 
times, or transfer to a variety of portable devices. The Anthony Hamilton 
CD is the first release to come with these "second session" tracks designed 
for use on a computer, but holding down the shift key prevents access to 
that feature. (CNet News.com 7 Oct 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5087875.html

T-MOBILE INSTITUTES HANDSET BUYBACK
Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile International wireless unit is hoping to 
jumpstart wireless multimedia services in Germany by offering to buy back 
old handsets if the money is applied toward the purchase of selected 
multimedia phones or a contract extension. The company plans to pay up to 
€40 ($47) per phone. (Wall Street Journal 8 Oct 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106556964092334700,00.html (sub req'd)

SOUPED UP PCs CAN MIMIC TIVO FUNCTIONALITY
SnapStream's Personal Video Station 3 software allows users to record their 
favorite TV shows to their PCs, as well as perform many of the control 
functions offered by personal video recorders, such as pause, rewind and 
fast-forward real-time TV. The $60 software offers a cheaper alternative to 
PVRs such as TiVo, which costs about $250 for the box plus a monthly 
subscription fee in the $13 range. But there's a catch -- your PC needs to 
have plenty of processor speed -- 733 megahertz or faster -- and an $80 
tuner card. Similar software is available from InterVideo (WinDVR 3) and 
Microsoft's latest version of Windows XP works with the company's $1,500 
Media Center Edition PC. (CNN.com 8 Oct 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/10/08/tv.recording/index.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "As regards the celebrated "struggle for life," it seems to me for 
the present to have been rather asserted than proved. It does occur, but as 
the exception; the general aspect of life is not hunger and distress, but 
rather wealth, luxury, even absurd prodigality -- where there is a struggle 
it is a struggle for power." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: DID YOU WORK HARD TODAY?
      Recalling events from the 1960s, Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin 
compare the rigors of getting to work with the challenges of clearing the 
forest or shooting a bear:
      "The spread of prosperity encouraged most citizens to identify 
themselves with the 'middle class.' Americans were assured by the mass 
media and other authorities in business and government that the days of 
backbreaking labor for little reward were over. Supposedly, getting to and 
from the job was now more arduous than anything one did while at work. In 
1960, Time published a cover story entitled 'Those Rush-Hour Blues' in 
which a psychiatrist stated that commuters (their maleness assumed) 
actually enjoyed traffic jams and crowded trains. 'The twice-daily 
sacrifice of the commuter to the indignities of transportation satisfied 
something deep within the husband's psyche,' explained Dr. Jose Barchilon. 
'In modern society, there are few opportunities for the breadwinner to 
endure personal hardship in earning the family living, such as clearing the 
forest or shooting a bear.'"
                                         ***
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195091914/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Maurice Isserman and Michael Kazin, "America Divided: The Civil War of 
the 1960s"-- or look for it in your favorite library. (We donate all 
revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.)

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