NewsScan Daily, 22 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 22 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Verizon to Offer Phone Service Via Internet
       TiVo's Expansion Plans Opposed by Copyright Holders
       Vandals Attack Taiwan Site
       Data Theft Federal Law Suit
       Three Held on Phreaking Charge in Phillipines
       Mobile-Phone Wallets

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: Mysteries 'Solved'

VERIZON TO OFFER PHONE SERVICE VIA INTERNET
     Verizon is introducing Internet-based phone service to customers across
the nation. The Bell regional telephone companies have been slow to offer
Internet phone service (largely because it undercuts their main business of
connecting calls over copper wires), but they're under increasing pressure
from cable providers offering voice services bundled with high-speed data
and video services. Verizon will initially route its calls over the
Internet, but within the next six months will use more of its own
proprietary network. (New York Times 22 Jul 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/technology/22voice.html

TIVO'S EXPANSION PLANS OPPOSED BY COPYRIGHT HOLDERS
     In filings with the Federal Communications Commission, Hollywood
studios and other creators of digital content are trying to block the maker
of TiVo television recording devices from letting users watch copies of
shows and movies on devices outside their homes. TiVo wants to expand its
system next year to allow programs to be transferred to registered devices
outside the home -- such as at an office, vacation cabin, or friend's house.
The Movie Picture Association of America opposes this plan, and its general
counsel says: "Our concern is grounded in the fact that the remote access is
not limited to the recipient's summer home or boat or office. The people
that can receive the programming can be totally unrelated in any place on
the globe." (Washington Post 21 Jul 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4042-2004Jul21.html

VANDALS ATTACK TAIWAN WEBSITE
     Suspected Chinese hackers have launched an offensive against the
website of Taiwan's Military News Agency ahead of practice freeway landings
by fighter jets on the island. The hackers replaced the agency's homepage
with a slogan that said 'Reunification with Taiwan in 2021' in an attack
identical to one that occurred a month ago when suspected Chinese hackers
attacked the site of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's pro-independence
Democratic Progressive Party. Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po daily last
week quoted Chinese military sources as warning that Taiwan must re-enter
the Chinese fold or face military action within the next 20 years. (The Age
20 Jul 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/20/1090089146679.html

DATA THEFT FEDERAL LAW SUIT
     Federal charges have been filed against Scott Levine, the Florida
spammer who ran Snipermail.com, for allegedly stealing personal data about
"a great number of individuals." He is not accused of using the information
for identity fraud. Prosecutors say Levine and other Snipermail employees
got into the databases of Acxiom Inc. to take 8.2 gigabytes of consumer
files in 2002 and 2003. Levine now stands indicted on 144 counts, including
unauthorized access of a protected computer, conspiracy, access device
fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. (AP/San Jose Mercury
News 22 Jul 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9208688.htm

THREE HELD ON PHREAKING CHARGE IN PHILLIPINES
     Eight people, including two Indians, a Bangladeshi, and five Filipinos,
have been arrested for allegedly hacking into Philippines telecommunications
systems to make unauthorized long-distance calls. The suspects, who were
arrested in a series of raids in and around Manila, will be charged with
using computer equipment to break into the systems of corporate subscribers
of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and then selling
long-distance calls to other people, charging the costs to the unwary
corporate subscribers. (The Age 20 Jul 2004) Rec'd from John Lamp
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/20/1090089145519.html

MOBILE-PHONE WALLETS
     In Japan "smart cards" for making consumer purchases may soon be
replaced by virtual-wallet technology. A series of cellphones going on sale
this summer in Japan, for use on NTT DoCoMo's wireless network, are the
world's first with an embedded computer chip that you can fill up with
electronic cash. To pay you simply wave your cell phone within a few inches
of a special display found in stores, restaurants and vending machines
around Japan. Unlike infrared or other mobile payment schemes that require
clicks on the handset, you don't even need to open your phone. But whatever
money is stored on the phone is like cash, so if you lose your wallet you
lose your money. Just like the good old days. (AP/USA Today 22 Jul 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2004-07-22-wallet-phone_x.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Never retract. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl."
(Benjamin Jowett)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: MYSTERIES 'SOLVED'
     British scholar A. N. Wilson makes this interesting observation in his
book about the intelligentsia of the Victorian era:
     "The enormous commercial success in our day of 'popular science' books
might be attributable to the profound interest and enjoyment which we all
derived from the study of science in our childhood. Unable to kick the habit
of the chemistry set, the hour in the physics lab testing basic electric
circuits or in the biology lab dissecting frogs, we the reading public
continue our voracious scientific interests by reading works of astronomy,
cosmology, genetic biology and biochemistry.
     "Maybe. Or maybe we buy, in the greatest numbers, not those books which
humbly seek to explain the unfolding fascination of what Thomas Kuhn (with,
one assumes, deliberate dismissiveness) calls 'normal science' but those
which would induce the belief that science offers universal explanations for
angst-ridden metaphysical inquiries. Stephen Hawking, for example, modestly
suggests that his book 'A Brief History of Time' might help his readers to
'know the mind of God'. Darwin's most ardent representative on earth (since
the death of Thomas Huxley), Richard Dawkins, begins his superbly readable
account of the Darwinian theory of cumulative selection with a sentence
which deserves a prize: 'This book is written in the conviction that our own
existence once presented the greatest of all mysteries, but that it is a
mystery no longer because it is solved.'
     "Do those of us who enjoy these books -- and they are certainly
addictive -- feel that we have our money's worth? After all, you would think
that once we had seen into the mind of God or solved the greatest of all
mysteries, that would be that. We should not need to read another book on
the subject. But then... so readable are these popular scientists, and so
interesting the substance of what they have to say, that when the next of
them appears on a TV chat-show, often cunningly put up against some
dyed-in-the-wool creationist or religious believer, we rush out to the book
stores next morning to buy the book." [322 words]
     [See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C8WFP/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for A. N. Wilson's "God's Funeral: A Biography of Faith and Doubt in
Western Civilization" -- or look for it in your favorite library. Note: We
donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.]

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