NewsScan Daily, 19 February 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 19 February 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Conspiracy Theory
        Tables Turned on RIAA -- Accused File-Swapper Fights Back
        Blogging in Iran
        Wi-Fi Everywhere
        Flat Panels Slated to Outpace CRT Sales This Year

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Alice Paul
        Mailbag: The World As We Find It

CONSPIRACY THEORY
      Lawsuits filed yesterday by AOL and Earthlink accuse individuals and 
companies of running spam networks. The AOL suit alleges a conspiracy 
between three Floridians and two Americans living in Thailand to route 
mortgage-scam solicitations to AOL customers and to defeat AOL's spam 
filters through a company called Connor-Miller Software Inc. Earthlink is 
accusing 16 individuals and companies in Florida, California, Tennessee and 
Michigan of operating a multi-state spam operation that has sent more than 
a quarter of a billion e-mail messages promoting herbal supplements, Viagra 
and adult dating services and of using stolen identity documents to open 
Earthlink Internet accounts that were used to transmit the spam. The 
attorney who represents the Florida defendants in the AOL lawsuit argues 
that his clients are innocent of spamming: "They set up a network, just 
like AOL is a network." (Washington Post 18 Feb 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52951-2004Feb18.html

TABLES TURNED ON RIAA -- ACCUSED FILE-SWAPPER FIGHTS BACK
      A New Jersey woman has countersued the Recording Industry Association 
of America, accusing it of extortion and racketeering tactics in its 
strategy to sue individual file-sharers. Michele Scimeca's lawsuit is one 
of "a handful" of countersuits, according to the RIAA. "If someone prefers 
not to settle, they of course have the opportunity to raise their 
objections in court," says an RIAA spokesperson. "We stand by our claims." 
Scimeca contends that by suing file-swappers and then settling the cases 
before they're brought to trial while threatening potential liabilities 
that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the RIAA is 
engaging in activities more often associated with gangsters and organized 
crime. "This scare tactic has caused a vast amount of settlements from 
individuals who feared fighting such a large institution and feel victim to 
these actions and felt forced to provide funds to settle these actions 
instead of fighting," says Scimeca's attorney. "These types of scare 
tactics are not permissible and amount to extortion." The RIAA has sued a 
total of about 1,500 people and has settled with 381 of those. (CNet 
News.com 18 Feb 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5161209.html

BLOGGING IN IRAN
      Iranians have developed a passion for anonymous blogging because (in 
the words of one blogger) it gives them "a voice in a country where it's 
very hard to be heard" -- but now they're worried that the forthcoming 
parliamentary elections will result in the election of reactionary 
leadership that will expand Internet censorship. Columbia University media 
professor Sree Sreenivasan notes that, with the Internet, "You're basically 
avoiding the filter whether it's a nefarious government or an ignorant 
editor," and Iranian journalist Issa Sahakhiz expresses fear of increasing 
political censorship: "We have suffered under unjust press laws. We are 
afraid of more to come with this new parliament. The ultimate fear is that 
the regime will decide to place all servers under government control. If 
that happens, Iranians will no longer have an opportunity to see the 
Internet used to make sarcasms such as the following blogger's comment on 
the leadership of the religious mullahs: "It's very pleasant to have to 
talk with 18th century people in 2004." (AP/San Jose Mercury News 18 Feb 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7987394.htm

WI-FI EVERYWHERE
      Wi-Fi is in the air, and increasingly is being used for such 
household tasks as paying bills, searching for recipes from the kitchen and 
doing e-mail, and in the future it will be used to connect lamps, stereos, 
computers, and to integrate the Internet fully into daily life. Now, Wi-Fi 
is already being used in some consumer electronics, such as TVs, DVD 
players, stereos and other systems from Gateway, Microsoft, Samsung and 
others that make it possible to download a movie or song from the Internet 
and send it wirelessly to a home entertainment system. Still on the way: 
Wi-Fi systems to control your lights remotely, adjust your thermostat, 
check whether you left the iron on, and live your life as Mr. or Ms. 
Internet of the 21st century. (USA Today 18 Feb 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-02-18-wifi_x.htm

FLAT PANELS SLATED TO OUTPACE CRT SALES THIS YEAR
      For the first time, global shipments of liquid crystal display (LCD) 
monitors will surpass those of cathode ray tube (CRT) units in 2004, 
according to IDC. Lower prices of LCD screens are fueling the shift, with 
costs for a 17-inch display now dropping below $400. By 2007, computer 
users in developed countries will have switched over almost completely to 
the slimmer displays, and IDC predicts shipments of CRTs to decline to 
about 30 million units, compared with an estimated 119 million LCD displays 
in 2007. According to an earlier study by iSuppli, worldwide revenue for 
LCD screens is projected to be $47 billion in 2004, up 32% from last year. 
"There's a universal attraction to these thinner, lighter, less cumbersome 
displays," says an IDC analyst. "Throw out an appealing price point to the 
masses, and you've got a formula for shaking up the marketplace." (CNet 
News.com 19 Feb 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5161666.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "True friends stab you in the front." (Oscar Wilde)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: ALICE PAUL
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American feminist Alice Paul 
(1885-1977).
      AS a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, Paul submitted an 
early version of an equal rights amendment to Congress in 1923. Her record 
in the Woman's Movement was one of strong-minded leadership and the 
willingness to engage in militant tactics, some of which many fellow 
feminists sometimes found excessive, if not outrageous. Paul, however, 
believed the movement called for the publicity that would be generated by 
giant parades, sloganeering placards waved in the halls of Congress and 
carried by pickets outside the White House, and hunger strikes when and if 
women protesters were jailed.
      She was born into a Quaker family in Morristown, New Jersey. After 
graduating from Swarthmore College in 1905, she then did graduate work at 
New York University's School of Social Work until 1906, when she left for 
England to work in a London settlement house. In the four years she spent 
in England she was an active participant in militant British Suffragette 
activities and was jailed on three occasions. She also attended the 
universities of London and Birmingham.
      Upon her return to the United States in 1910, she began studies for a 
Ph. D. at the University of Pennsylvania, which she received in 1912. That 
same year she became chairwoman of the Congressional Committee of the 
National Woman Suffrage Association, but quickly found herself dissatisfied 
with the organization's reluctance to engage in militant acts of protest. 
In 1913, she left to help form the Congressional Union for Women's 
Suffrage, which committed itself to strong protest marches and other direct 
action tactics. In 1917 this group would merge with the Women's Party to 
form the National Woman's Party.
      With the ratification in 1920 of the 19th Amendment granting the vote 
to women, many feminists returned to the routine of everyday life, 
believing the feminist cause had been won. Paul, however, soldiered on. She 
became a lawyer, to better equip herself for the fight to obtain full and 
equal rights for women. She drafted the first Equal Rights Amendment -- 
known as the Lucretia Mott Amendment -- that was introduced to Congress in 
1923. When it failed to pass, Paul brought the cause of woman's rights to 
the attention of the League of Nations. In 1942 she was elected chairwoman 
of the National Woman's Party, in which post she was later able to have an 
equality of the sexes statement included in the preamble of the United 
Nations Charter and later in the 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act. Then, in 1970 
she had the satisfaction of seeing Congress pass the Equal Rights 
Amendment, only to suffer the disappointment of having it fail to be 
ratified by the states.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/059500055X/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for a biography of Paul by Christine Luardini -- or look for it in your 
favorite library. [We donate all revenues from our book recommendations to 
adult literacy programs.]

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

I OWE MY SOUL TO THE COMPANY STORE
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10071
      There's a wonderful saying that "what goes round comes round." 
Proponents and opponents of this payment idea might like to consider the 
circumstances that led to the introduction of the various "Truck Acts" in 
Britain and elsewhere in the 1800s. Then and there, many workers were paid 
only in certificates or tokens that could only be redeemed at the "Company 
Store" at the prices the company set. A latter-day semi-slavery was thus 
created, which required much social upheaval to correct. Let's hope this 
possible revival, though no doubt well meant at this stage, doesn't turn 
into something similar. (Scott Pollard)

HIGH FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10062
      You are only hearing part of the story concerning broadband over BPL 
lines. There have been complaints submitted ever since the subject came up. 
The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) and a couple Federal Agencies have 
presented the FCC documentation on interference this will cause to the High 
Frequency (HF) band from approximately 80 meters to 6 meters. This 
interference has the potential of reducing HF emergency communications to 
unusable. High interference levels from broadband over BPL high voltage 
transmission lines has been proven to exist by the ARRL. The FCC appears to 
be turning a deaf ear to the proven complaints for the big bucks involved 
in this issue. Japan had considered this method of broadband transmissions 
and killed the project when the HF interference issue came up. Please 
contact the ARRL for supporting information on this issue.  (Al Dawson)

THE SOUND OF JINGLING POCKET CHANGE
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10046
      Regarding the Flash Card from Joseph Epstein ("...And I should like 
to add that I don't think I learned a thing from my students, except that, 
as one student evaluation informed me, I tend to jingle the change in my 
pocket"): How sad it is that Mr. Epstein missed the opportunity of sharing 
an education rather than forcing someone to memorize facts. He reminds me 
of the many uninspired and uninspiring teachers in my own academic history. 
If that's the most memorable comment a student could provide him, I'd 
venture a guess that they probably didn't learn much from him either. Then 
there are the gems who make public education such a positive experience by 
being creative, intelligent motivators and resources for their students 
despite the bureaucratic nightmare that surrounds them and the politicians 
that continually bleed them of their much-needed tax dollars. (Greg Youngs)

IT'S ALL DATA, IT'S ALL GOOD
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10053
      Michael Bell's comment of the difference between voice and data in 
his Mailbag contribution ("If It Sings, It's Opera") fails to look at the 
bigger picture.  What about "data" that has been created using a speech to 
text program such as Dragon's Naturally Speaking or IBM's Via Voice. Voice 
or data?   What if I have my email client set up to "read" my email to me." 
Voice or data?  What if I have a voicemail system that sends a WAV file 
attachment to my email inbox, and by clicking on the attachment, I can hear 
my voice  message on the computer's speakers.  The voice mail call came in 
on the telephone, but the message was delivered by email. Voice or data? 
What about the likelihood that before long we will not be using the GUI and 
a keyboard and mouse for data entry, but instead a VUI -- a Voice User 
Interface.
      At the beginning of the automobile age, there were inane attempts to 
try to squeeze the automobile in to existing horse travel paradigm.  There 
used to be a law somewhere that an automobile needed to have a flagman 
walking on foot ahead of the vehicle to alert people on horseback or in 
wagons of the automobile's approach. Kind of defeats the purpose of having 
an automobile. We seem to be similarly plagued with wrongheaded ideas about 
how to regulate and tax data services.
      Once voice is converted into packets for transport via the Internet, 
they are no longer "voice" -- they are data packets, period, end of story. 
The telephone networks themselves have been converting analog telephone 
signals into data packets for communication between phone company central 
offices via ATM for over a decade. Now phone companies like Sprint and 
Qwest and several others have announced their intention to begin the 
conversion process to Voice over IP.  This is simply because packet 
switching is a vastly less expensive way than circuit switching to move a 
voice conversation around. The only thing preventing it from happening 
right this minute is the vast multi-billion dollar investment the phone 
companies have in circuit switching technologies.
      Today, if the communication occurs on the circuit switched telephone 
network it is regulated and taxed as a telephone call.  This includes DIAL 
UP MODEM access to the Internet. If the communication flows in across a 
packet switched network like the Internet, or a Frame Relay network, or 
oven a data private line network, it is not regulated and taxed as a 
telephone call. This means large companies using their own private data 
networks to move voice traffic around using technology like the Cisco or 
Avaya Voice over IP phone systems are also not regulated and taxed as a 
telephone call. Using this kind of system, I can place a call from my 
office in St Paul, Minnesota to Paris, France using my company's data 
connection to my Paris office, and have my phone call appear to be a local 
Paris phone call. This cuts out the local phone company at my end, and the 
long distance carrier, from the call. Is it voice or data?
      Going back to my automobile analogy, what we have now is like an 
automobile with a horse tied to the back. I use the automobile everywhere 
it is capable of taking me, and when it gets stuck, I ride the horse. 
Eventually, my automobile will improve, my horse will die, and I will not 
replace the horse.
      And besides that -- what in the world are we doing trying to create 
more regulations and taxes!!.  The federal excise tax on telephone service 
was instituted at the turn of the 19th century to pay for the Spanish 
American War!  Does anyone think we might have paid that off?  The tax is 
still here. The only thing in this life approaching eternity is taxation. 
No Internet taxes please..
      I am sure there will be no way to prevent regulation and taxation in 
the long run, but let's get beyond the "is it voice or is it data" 
issue.  If it's on a packet-switched network, its all data.  (Bob Weiss, MCSE)

SPEED FRUSTRATES
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10033
      In the Cobbs' article, they bring to mind the scourge of Photo Radar 
which was implemented (and thankfully removed) in the '90s. We always 
believed that speeding tickets issued by officers took into account traffic 
and weather conditions as well as population and highway factors (except 
late in the month when quotas had to be met). By contrast, photo radar was 
a totally mechanized process untouched by human thought. It was a pure cash 
grab or, as I characterized it, a tax on efficiency. All my tickets were on 
dry straight highways with no other traffic visible. In fact, only my car 
was guilty as there was no evidence as to who was driving. In a rare 
instance of democracy, opposing parties got elected with a platform that 
included abolishing the dreaded photo radar in two jurisdictions. The good 
news was that demerit points could not be issued because the driver 
identity was unknown. What this experience really illustrates is that 
elected representatives should never be entrusted with anything really 
important to our quality of life other than issues of national security. (I 
know this is a big leap but at least it supports the following notion.) The 
thought that legislators will frame our safety regarding use of computer 
information is a very daunting prospect. What we need is a strong truly 
independent consumer advocacy group -- like a Consumers Association that is 
aligned with the priorities of their populace! (Keith Cowan)

TWO GLOOMS AND A GREAT
Re: 
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&dateissued=2004 
0212
      Glooms -- Number one on SLIMEWARE aptly named for a pathetically 
rubbishy piece of purported reasoning from the originators of something 
that invades private information and turns it into "spectacular technology" 
-- get thee hence back to your swamp and keep your miserable presence away 
from my friendship list. I didn't ask you in -- so go away, you are nothing 
but spam by another name. Then next, Gloom number 2 -- NOT for the Victoria 
Police officers who are only following up a natural interest in a tragedy 
that affects us all -- but a MURRAIN on those of their superiors who say 
"we will sack them" because of totally inadequate access controls on their 
own central files. If it's SO important, why were there no passwords on the 
information restricting access to the specific investigating officers? As 
ever, a systemic management failure is then blamed upon lower level 
individuals. And, third, a GREAT -- Cole Porter's lyrics. Fantastic, and 
thanks! (Scott Pollard)

BLAME IT ON HIS MOTHER
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10060
      I found the Karl Kraus Flash Card quote about psychoanalysis 
distasteful and ignorant. I think educated people accept that 
psychoanalysis is a useful treatment, that lives on because of this fact. I 
think your audience is educated and would agree with me, or want to know 
the context of that quote. (Spenser Zee) [Kraus was a Viennese journalist 
and a contemporary of Freud; he accused psychoanalysis of creating new 
myths worse than any it replaced.]

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