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

NewsScan Daily, 8 Jul 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Sharp & Texas Instruments Join Up in Video Handset Market
        New Encryption System Doesn't Need a Public Key Authority
        Supreme Court Audio Tapes Free From OYEZ
        Adobe Abandons Some Mac Applications
        Court Says Thumbnail Image Linking Is Fair Use
        Coming To a Computer Screen Near You -- Tv Commercials

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: Animals and Doorknobs
        Safe & Sound in the Cyber Age With Chey & Stephen Cobb

SHARP & TEXAS INSTRUMENTS JOIN UP IN VIDEO HANDSET MARKET
With research firm IDC predicting that the camera phone market will expand 
more than 80% each year for the next two years, Texas Instruments (TI) and 
the Tokyo-based Sharp corporation have formed an alliance to enter that 
market with a "reference design" combining camera modules, flash memories, 
and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) from Sharp's with TI chipsets and 
multimedia processors. Analysts say using the reference design will enable 
handset makers to reduce manufacturing design time and costs, and will be 
able to offer phones for GSM/GPRS networks with camera and video-mail 
functions. (InfoWorld 7 Jul 2003)
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/07/07/HNtisharp_1.html

NEW ENCRYPTION SYSTEM DOESN'T NEED A PUBLIC KEY AUTHORITY
A Palo Alto, CA, start-up company called Voltage Security has developed a 
new way to encrypt Internet-delivered messages and documents based on 
something called "identity-based" encryption, as contrasted with the 
"public key" technology now widely in use. Whereas public key encryption 
requires message senders and receivers to register in a third party's 
address directory, identity-based encryption allows a user to send an 
encrypted message knowing only the recipient's e-mail message. The 
recipients must then authenticate themselves, providing information the 
sender requires. (San Jose Mercury News 8 Jul 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6255824.htm

SUPREME COURT AUDIO TAPES FREE FROM OYEZ
Under a copyright license from Creative Commons, which encourages copying 
and distribution of copyrighted materials while imposing certain conditions 
on their use, the OYEZ project has released the first group of recordings 
of notable Supreme Court rulings. OYEZ is a multimedia project begun in 
1994 at Northwestern University to chronicle the rulings and personal lives 
of Supreme Court Justices. The MP3s now available include oral arguments 
made before the Court in numerous famous cases, such as Regents v. Bakke 
and Roe v. Wade. Northwestern University professor Jerry Goldman, the OYEZ 
project director, says: "With the Creative Commons, we have for the first 
time found a way to license our content to assure use consistent with our 
objectives. As long as users meet the conditions of the license, they are 
free to enjoy and share a small treasure of American's legal and political 
heritage." The new metadata policy of Creative Commons is designed to make 
legitimate distribution of copyrighted material easy by integrating 
copyright information into the downloadable files themselves.  (Creative 
Commons Jun 2003)
http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/3737

ADOBE ABANDONS SOME MAC APPLICATIONS
Adobe Systems says the latest version of its flagship Premiere video 
editing program will work only with Microsoft's Windows XP operating system 
and its new Encore DVD-creation program will be limited to Windows-only 
compatibility as well. The news comes as a blow to Apple, which has long 
shared a customer base of "creative professionals" with Adobe. However, 
recent Apple software releases such as Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro 
compete directly with Adobe products. "If Apple does it, there's no room 
for a third-party developer. Why do it when the (operating system) provider 
could give it away for free?" says the senior director of Adobe's digital 
video group. (AP 8 Jul 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030708/D7S5BCJO0.html

COURT SAYS THUMBNAIL IMAGE LINKING IS FAIR USE
A federal appeals court ruled that a search engine's display of miniature 
images of copyrighted works is allowed under fair use, upholding a similar 
ruling in February 2002. The plaintiff in the case, photographer Leslie 
Kelly, had sued image search engine firm Arriba Soft over thumbnail images 
of her works that were accessible via Arriba's Ditto.com search engine. 
Yesterday's decision, however, failed to confirm the legality of displaying 
full-size images in search results -- a practice known as in-line linking 
or framing -- and that case is now ordered to go to trial. "As to the first 
action (on thumbnails), the district court correctly found that Arriba's 
use was fair. However, as to the second action, we conclude that the 
district court should not have reached the issue because neither party 
moved for summary judgment as to the full-size images," according to the 
opinion. The framing technique is used by a number of visual search 
engines, including Google, Lycos and AltaVista. Nevertheless, the ruling 
was viewed as a victory by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had 
filed a brief in favor of Arriba. "Web site owners can rest a bit easier 
about linking to copyrighted materials online," said an EFF staff attorney. 
"By revising its ruling, the court removed a copyright iceberg from the 
main shipping lanes of the World Wide Web." (CNet News.com 7 Jul 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1023629.html?tag=lh

COMING TO A COMPUTER SCREEN NEAR YOU -- TV COMMERCIALS
Advertisers are putting their TV spots online, spurred by a combination of 
better technology, the spread of broadband and the failure of other online 
advertising formats. And while ad agencies are enthusiastic about the 
trend, analysts note that advertisers risk sparking a backlash among Web 
surfers already irritated by intrusive pop-up ads. "In the television world 
we've seen consumers become more and more frustrated with commercials. If 
you're going to start providing that kind of advertising technology on the 
Web, it's going to result in the same response from consumers," says a 
Yankee Group analyst. Currently, "rich media" ads make up a small portion 
of the $6-billion online advertising market, but the category grew last 
year to 5% from 2% in 2001 and further growth is expected this year. "It's 
minute compared to television. But, given the trends we're seeing, it won't 
be minute two or three years from now." (Wall Street Journal 8 Jul 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10575907795884500,00.html

*****

FLASH CARD
      "Executives are like joggers. If you stop a jogger, he goes on 
running on the spot. If you drag an executive away from his business, he 
goes on running on the spot, pawing the ground, talking business. He never 
stops hurtling onwards, making decisions and executing them." (Jean 
Baudrillard)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: ANIMALS AND DOORKNOBS
      Author Edward Tenner calls attention to some hard-to-explain animal 
behavior:
      "In a Gary Larson cartoon, a number of dogs are tinkering with 
building hardware at laboratory workbenches. The caption explains that they 
are striving to improve canine life by mastering the Doorknob Principle. 
What makes this funny is partly the idea of pooch scientists standing on 
their hind legs, manipulating screwdrivers and even microscopes. It recalls 
the long-discarded notion that we humans are the only tool-using animals. 
It points indirectly to the unique versatility of the human hand, with its 
range of grips, and the relative specialization of other creatures' paws 
and claws.
      "There is something even stranger than Larson's image, though. Other 
animals have a surprising ability to manipulate human technology. Not all 
understand what people do with things, but they develop ways to work with 
human-made objects, and they transmit this knowledge socially. At the dawn 
of industrialization, the rats of early-nineteenth-century London, with no 
direct auditory or visual cues, had long known that water flowed through 
the lead pipes servicing houses. When sufficiently thirsty, they gnawed 
right through them. Unfortunately, by the 1830s the pipes sometimes 
contained gas; the holes left by the disappointed rodents added to the risk 
of explosions. Bears in Yosemite National Park have learned to twist open 
screw-top jars of peanut butter, to break into food lockers with a 
combination of paw and snout, and to raid Dumpsters through supposedly 
protective slots. Young bears learn from observation how to break open 
automobile doors and penetrate the flimsy barrier separating the backseat 
from the food the owners thought they were protecting in the trunk. 
According to park rangers, who call the practice clouting, bears recognize 
specific brands and models, for example Honda and Toyota sedans, that are 
most vulnerable to attack, and use similar techniques on each model. Mother 
bears show cubs how to pry open rear side doors by bending the door frame 
with their claws until it becomes a platform for reaching the backseat and 
trunk partition.
      "A young orangutan in the San Diego Zoo became famous for unbolting 
the screening of his crib, removing the wires, and moving through the zoo 
nursery, unscrewing lightbulbs. Other orangutans have learned to 
distinguish the faint sounds made by electrified barrier systems and to 
escape when they detect that the power is off. It should not be surprising, 
then, that dogs also learn the Doorknob Principle."
                             *
See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375407227/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Edward Tenner's "Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body 
Technology" -- or look for it in your favorite library. (We donate all 
revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.)

SAFE & SOUND IN THE CYBER AGE WITH CHEY & STEPHEN COBB
      This week, security consultants Chey and Stephen Cobb devote their 
NewsScan Daily column to the question: "Guess Who's Got To Do Better?"
                             *
      Does your company Web site contain statements that assure consumers 
any personal information they impart to you will be secure and protected? 
Do you visit Web sites that offer such assurances? Well, those assurances 
had better be more than mere words, otherwise the Federal Trade Commission 
may come knocking. Which is good news for consumers, on whose behalf the 
FTC has become an Internet security watchdog with teeth.
      And it's also good news for companies that go the extra mile to get 
security right. The FTC has now established, very firmly, that it is not 
only unfair for competitors to gain an edge by skimping on the security 
budget, it is also illegal. The FTC accomplished this with three landmark 
settlements, the third of which was handed down last month, although the 
decision was somewhat eclipsed by excitement over the commission's Do Not 
Call list.
      The first of these settlements was with Eli Lilly (see NewsScan, 
December 12, 2002) and we should point out that Stephen and his colleagues 
at ePrivacy Group assisted the FTC in that case, helping to assess the 
problem and determine what form the settlement should take. That case 
involved the inadvertent disclosure of PII or personally identifiable 
information (specifically the email addresses of persons who had expressed 
and interest in Prozac). The second of the three cases was Microsoft, which 
was not accused of exposing PII, but rather of claiming to protect it, with 
its Passport product, which subsequently was shown to have a large number 
of security holes.
      Last month, Guess, Inc., the seller of designer clothing and 
accessories, became the third company to settle with the FTC over 
accusations of poor security leading to potential loss of privacy. The FTC 
had charged that Guess exposed consumers' personal information, including 
credit card numbers, to widely known hacker attacks. More specifically, the 
company did not use reasonable or appropriate measures to prevent consumer 
information from being accessed at www.guess.com.
      So does that mean your company is breaking the law if security at 
your Web site is weak? Not exactly. The offense charged by the FTC was 
failure to deliver on the claim, made to consumers on the company Web site, 
that consumer information would be protected. Of course, a cynic might 
suggest a simple defense against such actions: don't tell people that you 
will protect their information. However, this course of action has its own 
drawbacks, namely the unwillingness of some consumers to patronize Web 
sites that don't make assurances about protecting information. Even if you 
don't think the average consumer cares that much about privacy statements 
and security assurances (and we would be the first to admit that survey 
data on this are less than conclusive) there is a good chance competitors 
who do make such assurances will soon point out your site's shortcomings. 
So here's the current reality for commercial Web sites:
      1. If you handle PII, you need to assure visitors it will be protected.
      2. If you don't make assurances, you will be criticized by consumers, 
consumer advocates, and your competitors.
      3. If you do make assurances, you must back them up (Note that 
Guess.com stated "All of your personal information, including your credit 
card information and sign-in password, are stored in an unreadable, 
encrypted format at all times." But in February 2002, a visitor to the Web 
site was able to use a SQL injection attack to read, in clear text, credit 
card numbers stored in Guess' databases.)
      4. Whether or not you make assurances, you will be tested.
      The outcome if you don't pass the test? Following the pattern 
established in the Eli Lilly case, Guess must implement a comprehensive 
information security program for Guess.com and its other Web sites, subject 
to FTC oversight and biannual review by an outside expert such as a CISSP. 
Note that the settlement agreement lasts for twenty years, as a form of 
probation, during which exposure of further security weaknesses could 
trigger fines, and an extension of the term.
      Finally, speaking of exposure, we should point out that on July 1 a 
new data security law came into effect which requires any company that 
maintains data on California residents to inform individuals of any 
security breaches that result in their personal information being 
compromised. If your company is not based in California you might have 
missed this one, but you can bet that Californians in your database have 
not: they now have a right to civil action against you if you let their 
personal data slip (all laws subject to appeal, results may vary, current 
law not yet tested, side effects may occur).
      [Chey Cobb, CISSP, the author of "Network Security for Dummies," is 
an independent consultant (www.cheycobb.com) and a former senior technical 
security advisor to the NRO. She can be emailed as [email protected]. 
Stephen Cobb, CISSP, helped develop SpamSquelcher, "the first product that 
actually stops spam." He can be emailed as [email protected].

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