NewsScan Daily, 31 July 2003 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 31 July 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Government Sounds the Alarm on Hack Attacks
        SBC's Pac Bell Joins Legal Battle Against RIAA
        Ringtones May Ring Up Sales for Record Companies
        Cingular Bids on NextWave Licenses
        Virtual Stuntmen Set for Hollywood Debut

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: The Life Supreme

GOVERNMENT SOUNDS THE ALARM ON HACK ATTACKS
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns that in recent days computer 
hackers have successfully tested new tools that exploit a vulnerability 
known as "buffer overflows" in order to gain control of Windows PCs via the 
Internet. The vulnerability was discovered by Polish researchers who call 
themselves the "Last State of Delirium Research Group" and Microsoft has 
posted a patch on its Web site that individual PC owners can install to 
safeguard their machines. Experts warn that the attack tools, once 
perfected, could be used to disrupt Internet traffic by clogging data 
networks, or could allow crackers to delete or steal sensitive files. 
However, a senior security manager at Symantec says hackers haven't yet 
worked out all the glitches in these tools. "It is a little early. The 
exploit needs to be perfected. The effort applied to the exploit is 
certainly increased, but we're not sure if that's indicative of when we 
might see a widespread threat. People certainly need to be aware of this." 
Meanwhile, Internet Security Systems, which operates an early warning 
network for the technology industry, has raised its alert level to the 
second notch, indicating "increased vigilance" is warranted. "Everybody is 
predicting a widespread event, going from zero to 60 very quickly," says 
Internet Security Systems engineering director Dan Ingevaldson, who rates 
the probability of a major attack as "closer to imminent than probable." 
(AP/CNN.com 31 Jul 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/07/31/internet.atttack.ap/index.html

SBC'S PAC BELL JOINS LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST RIAA
SBC Communications' Pacific Bell Internet Services unit has filed a 
complaint against the Recording Industry Association of America, alleging 
that many of the subpoenas recently served against online music swappers 
were done so improperly. Pac Bell contends that more than 200 subpoenas 
seeking file-sharers' e-mail addresses were issued from the wrong 
jurisdiction, and also states that the RIAA's demand for information on 
multiple file-sharers cannot be grouped under one subpoena. An SBC 
spokesman added that the RIAA's use of a provision in the Digital 
Millennium Copyright Act to force ISPs to reveal information on their 
subscribers interferes with customer privacy: "The action taken by SBC 
Internet Services is intended to protect the privacy of our customers. 
Misapplication of DMCA subpoena power raises serious constitutional 
questions that need to be decided by the courts, not by private companies 
who operate without duty of due diligence or judicial oversight." (AP 31 
Jul 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030731/D7SKHAF80.html

RINGTONES MAY RING UP SALES FOR RECORD COMPANIES
Record companies will soon begin snapping up cell phone ringtone producers 
and distributors in a strategy to cash in on a potentially lucrative 
market, predicts a recent report by Strategy Analytics. In addition, the 
report says that record labels are likely to go one step further and set up 
ringtone studios to accommodate consumer demands for "real" music 
ringtones, as opposed to the simple ones available now. "We see ringtones 
as a catalyst for record companies to become more actively involved in the 
ringtone market, in light of dwindling CD single sales, as is often 
reported, and we advise that this would be a key strategy for moving them 
forward," says Strategy Analytics senior analyst Nitesh Patel. 
(Electricnews.net/The Register 31 Jul 2003)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/32100.html

CINGULAR BIDS ON NEXTWAVE LICENSES
Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth, is 
buying about a fifth of NextWave Telecom's 90 wireless licenses for about 
$1.4 billion. The purchase will enable Cingular "to potentially build out 
its own network in markets where it currently has holes," says an analyst 
with W.R. Hambrecht & Co. Analysts say the move could spur other wireless 
carriers, such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless, to make a competing 
offer. NextWave is currently operating under Chapter 11 rules, which allow 
other bidders to make counter-offers for assets being sold off. Any sale 
must still be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. (Bloomberg 
News/Los Angeles Times 31 Jul 2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-licenses31jul31,1,2539870.story?coll=la-headlines-technology

VIRTUAL STUNTMEN SET FOR HOLLYWOOD DEBUT
Natural Motion, based in Oxford, England, has developed software that 
creates and controls the bodies of virtual stuntmen who can perform 
death-defying feats just like real people, but without the risk of injury. 
The simulation system is being used to create stunts for the forthcoming 
historical epic, "Troy," which stars Brad Pitt as Achilles and Orlando 
Bloom as Paris. The software, dubbed Endorphin, is based on models of the 
human body and is capable of "learning" how real muscles and bone work 
together in a situation to create a convincing simulation of live action. 
"Sometimes you see some of our behavior engineers lying on the ground, 
rolling around trying to work out how they would do something," says 
Natural Motion technology director Colm Massey. "Then they try to teach the 
virtual actor to do what they had just been doing… We say to the director 
'what do you want to happen now? Do you want him to be blown up, do you 
want his legs to be ripped off or do you want him to fall down a cliff or 
reach out and grab for something and fail and stumble and fall?'" Massey 
says his Endorphin creations will never fully take the place of human 
stuntmen, who will always be needed for close-up action. "It's not the end 
of the day for real stuntmen, but we will take some of their jobs." (BBC 
News 31 Jul 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/3110755.stm

*****

FLASH CARD
      "When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be 
a subject of interest." (William Hazlitt)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE LIFE SUPREME
      In her recent memoir Justice Sandra Day O'Connor reminisces about 
what it is like to work at the Supreme Court:
      "There is one custom we have on the Court that was a pleasant 
surprise to me and that I treasure. Each day when there is oral argument, 
just before we go out on the bench, and each day before we confer, every 
Justice shakes the hand of every other Justice. To an outsider, this may 
seem baroque and unnecessary, but you must realize we are a very small 
group. We see and interact with one another often, and we all know we will 
continue to do so for the rest of our professional lives. It is important 
that we get along together so we can go along together.
      "The one-page memo and the color-coded distribution sheet have yet to 
reach the Supreme Court. Indeed, the Court is a more reliable backstop for 
the health of the paper industry than any protectionist legislation 
Congress might pass. A Justice is by protocol allowed to make a grocery 
list without making eight copies to distribute around the Court, but pretty 
much everything else is done not only on paper but with copies for every 
other Justice to read as well.
      "We follow an unwritten policy that it takes the agreement of at 
least four Justices to accept a case. With each petition we consider the 
importance of the issue, how likely it is to recur in various courts around 
the country, and the extent to which other courts considering the issue 
have reached conflicting holdings on it.
      "E. B. White said, 'Democracy is based on the recurrent suspicion 
that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.' In 
the narrow view, the Supreme Court is based on the suspicion that five 
Justices are similarly correct. In the broader view, I think that the 
Justices contribute to the wider democracy. We struggle with national 
issues and attempt to define from a national perspective what it is that 
the federal laws and the Constitution say. If you don't agree with all of 
the Court's holdings, you are certainly not alone. But you may be confident 
that we never stop trying in our writings on every case on our agenda to 
contribute appropriately to the fragile balances of our national democracy.'"
                                                                     ***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375509259/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for "The Majesty Of The Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice" -- or 
look for it in your favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book 
recommendations to adult literacy programs.)

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