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

NewsScan Daily, 8 May 2003 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Earthlink Awarded $16M in Spamages
        Swappers Boost Music Sales
        TV-Show Swapping Catches Hollywood by Surprise
        MIT Pulls Out of Media Lab Asia
        E-Books to Take to the Beach
        PayPal to 'Adult' Merchandisers: Peddle Somewhere Else

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: The Blind Force of Cities
        Modern Life: "A Long Walk" By Mike Litrel, M.D.

EARTHLINK AWARDED $16M IN SPAMAGES
A federal judge awarded Earthlink $16.4 million in damages and instituted a 
permanent injunction against a Buffalo, NY, man identified as the 
ringleader of a group that used Earthlink's network to send 825 million 
spam messages over the past year. Earthlink said Howard Carmack and his 
cronies used Internet accounts opened with stolen identities and credit 
cards to send junk e-mail. The ruling is the latest in a series of legal 
actions taken by ISPs against bulk spammers. Last year Earthlink won $25 
million in damages in a suit against another bulk e-mailer, Kahn C. Smith 
of Tennessee, but it hasn't collected the award. The company also has 
several other lawsuits pending. Meanwhile, last December, America Online 
won a $6.9 million judgment against a now-defunct Illinois company that 
specialized in p*rnographic spam. Over the last few years, AOL has won 25 
spam-related lawsuits against more than 100 companies and individuals, says 
a company spokesman. (AP 7 May 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030507/D7QSJOQ80.html

SWAPPERS BOOST MUSIC SALES
A Nielsen/NetRatings survey of 36,000 Internet users found that Web surfers 
who download music from song-swapping sites are more likely to buy music 
online and in stores, than non-swappers. The research indicates that in the 
past three months, online music enthusiasts (defined as people who'd 
downloaded music in the past 30 days) were 111% more likely to buy rap 
music than the average Internet user. They were also 106% more likely to 
have purchased dance and club music and 77% more likely to have bought 
alternative rock than their average online counterparts. R&B, soul music 
and rock rounded out the top five genres favored by music fans. Greg Bloom, 
a senior analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings, says that understanding the 
preferences of online music enthusiasts may help recording executives in 
their attempts to promote their own, legitimate services: "The de facto 
standard may be a few years away, but understanding the genres of music 
that sell well online and offline will be crucial to generating revenue 
along the way." (Reuters/CNet News.com 7 May 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-1000420.html?tag=fd_nbs_emed

TV-SHOW SWAPPING CATCHES HOLLYWOOD BY SURPRISE
The proliferation in European broadband Internet access is fueling a new 
trend -- TV-show swapping -- which enables European viewers to catch the 
latest U.S. sitcoms just days after they first air, rather than waiting 
months for a local network to broadcast them. Jacqueline Hurt, a lawyer 
specializing in media law, says, "Until now, the effect of the Internet on 
TV and film has been small because of the speed issues involved in 
downloading. But with the increased uptake of broadband, and if the quality 
was acceptable, then this could be a big issue for broadcasters and 
program-makers… The value of a program to broadcasters will go down if the 
program is readily available on the Internet." But broadcasters remain 
largely unaware of the threat. Yinka Adegoke, deputy editor of New Media 
Age magazine, says: "No one I know in the industry is aware of it and it is 
just not on the agenda… If this goes from being a niche activity to the 
mainstream it will be virtually impossible to stop. This is exactly what 
happened to the music industry. Once the genie is out of the bottle you 
can't put it back in." The range of shows available for downloading 
currently is focused on the most popular U.S. programs, such as "Friends" 
and "The West Wing," and programs with loyal fan bases, such as science 
fiction. (BBC News 7 May 2003)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3006619.stm

MIT PULLS OUT OF MEDIA LAB ASIA
As the result of disagreements with India's new minister of education over 
the focus and management of Media Lab Asia's research projects, the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is withdrawing from the collaboration 
it began in 2001 with India's information technology ministry. The disputes 
have been both philosophical and bureaucratic: the new minister, Arun 
Shourie, has been unhappy that the lab's salary structure does not follow 
that of the Indian civil service, and he apparently also disagrees with 
MIT's focus on developing rural wireless networks and building speech 
interfaces to make information more accessible to illiterate people. MIT 
Media Laboratory director Nicholas Negroponte said the dissolution of the 
relationship "will certainly make us think," because "90% of what happened 
was driven by the change of minister, very much outside of our control." 
Media Lab Asia will probably continue the use of that name, since MIT has 
never trademarked the term 'Media Lab'. (New York Times 8 May 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/05/08/business/08LABS.html

E-BOOKS TO TAKE TO THE BEACH
The E Ink corporation is reported in the journal Nature to have developed a 
very thin flexible ink display that can be viewed from most angles. It can 
also be bent and folded like paper, and is erasable for reuse multiple 
times. The device is still several years from being released commercially. 
The display is comprised of a thin-film transistor (TFT) array that can 
impart both positive and negative charges to different areas of its 
surface, which covers an electricity-conducting layer of clear fluid. 
(Scientific American 8 May 2003)
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0004A0BA-5BE7-1EB9-B 
DC0809EC588EEDF

PAYPAL TO 'ADULT' MERCHANDISERS: PEDDLE SOMEWHERE ELSE
PayPal, the eBay's payment service, says it will no longer process online 
payments involving 'adult' Web sites selling special magazines or toys. 
"This decision is across the board -- for items both on and off eBay," says 
eBay spokesman Jeff Donlay, alluding to the fact that about half of 
PayPal's overall transactions involve sites other than eBay. The reason 
behind the company's decision is the difficulty of collecting from buyers 
of that kind of special merchandise after the charges show up on their 
monthly statements. (San Jose Mercury News 7 May 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5810401.htm

*****

FLASH CARD
      "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, 
a hell of heaven." (John Milton)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE BLIND FORCE OF CITIES
      Historian Peter Ackroyd takes note of the fact that London, like any 
great city, has refused to follow the plans laid out for it:
      "Londoners took their dingy streets as a matter of fact, an 
unavoidable act of fate. But when whole terraces could be leveled with one 
bomb, they came to believe that even London was susceptible to destruction 
and could be changed. Even before the war was over, Patrick Abercrombie, a 
regional planner, had prepared proposals which would lend London 'order and 
efficiency and beauty and spaciousness.'
     "In topographical terms, the Abercrombie plans were immensely 
influential. They required a significant shift of population within the 
city itself in order to 'create balanced communities each comprising 
several neighborhood units'; the reconstruction of bombed London would 
proceed on the basis of 'density zones' which would disperse hitherto 
overcrowded neighborhoods. There would be a balance of housing, industrial 
development and 'open space' with key highways connecting variously 
integrated communities.
      "Other elements of Abercrombie's plans proposed that London become a 
'circular inland city' composed of four rings -- the Inner Urban Ring, the 
Suburban Ring, the Green Belt Ring, and the Outer Country Ring. It was a 
way of containing the 'inner city,' as if it were some dangerous or 
threatening organism which could not be permitted to grow. On most maps it 
is painted black.
      "It was also important to remove industry and people from this inner 
darkness as if the act of doing so would render it less dangerous. In order 
to expedite the migration of a million people another part of Abercrombie's 
plan suggested the development of new 'satellite towns' in the Outer 
Country Ring. Eight of these were built, and prospered, but the effects 
upon London itself were not exactly as had been anticipated and planned. As 
any historian of London might have told the various urban boards, neither 
schemes nor regulations would be able to inhibit the city. It had been 
proposed to check its industrial and commercial growth, by siting new 
industries in the 'satellite towns,' but London's commercial prosperity 
revived after the war.
      "London has always grown by taking over adjacent towns or villages 
and cradling them in its embrace. And so it overtook the newly created 
towns. Instead of restricting the size of the city, the postwar planners 
immeasurably expanded it until the whole south-eastern area became 
'London.' The Outer Metropolitan Area represented the latest manifestation 
of urban life, characterized by endless movement. But that was always the 
condition of London. Whenever the opportunity and location are offered, it 
replicates its identity. It is a blind force in that sense, not susceptible 
to the blandishments of planners or politicians -- except when they offer 
further prospects of growth."
                              ***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385497717/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for Peter Ackroyd's "London, The Biography" -- or look for it in your 
favorite library. [We donate all revenues from our book recommendations to 
literacy programs.]

MODERN LIFE: "A LONG WALK" BY MIKE LITREL, M.D.
      [Dr. Litrel is in practice at Cherokee Women¹s OB/GYN in Woodstock 
and Canton, GA., and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Emory University 
School of Medicine. He lives in Woodstock with his wife Ann and their two 
sons. You can e-mail him at [email protected].]
                          ***
      Ann once asked me what was wrong with the hinges on the kitchen 
cabinets. After a few moments of manly inspection, I reassured her they 
were fine. Then why, she asked in an innocent voice, do they never close 
after you use the cabinets?
      So the other day when she asked me if the lenses on my glasses were 
scratched, I feigned deafness and hid behind my newspaper. It was the 
perfect way to recover from a long night's work at the hospital. I just 
wasn't in the mood for a discussion about my personal flaws, no matter how 
fascinating the conversation sounded. Surprisingly, the subject came up 
anyway. Apparently, I do not put my dirty clothing inside the laundry 
basket. Ann was curious if I believed my clothing magically made its way 
from the floor into the laundry basket. Or did I grasp that another human 
being was somehow involved in the process?
      I defended myself with a rhetorical question. Am I jeopardizing 
someone's life by leaving my dirty clothing on the floor? This is a neat 
doctor trick I learned way back in medical school. Pay close attention to 
the subtleties. I am reminding my wife that in my profession, life and 
death decisions are sometimes made. This makes what I do seem important. 
Simultaneously -- and this is the fun part -- I am also belittling what Ann 
does.
      The tacit point was that it should be an honor to pick up my dirty 
laundry, so shut up and leave me alone.
      But Ann was exhausted too. The children had been fighting all 
afternoon. She had barely made a dent in her day's work. And her husband, 
instead of lending a hand when he came home, had crashed on the couch. Now, 
that same husband -- a supposed expert in Women's Health and well cognizant 
of the difficulties of womanhood, was belittling her efforts as both a 
mother and a wife? Well, this time my neat doctor trick didn't work so 
well. In fact, it was more like throwing gasoline on a fire.
      An argument ensued.
      Awake almost all night, I had looked forward to coming home to rest 
in the bosom of my family. But yelling kids in the background and a nagging 
wife in the foreground was not exactly what I had in mind. After a while I 
couldn't decide if I wanted to scream or cry or just break an expensive 
glass object.
      I went for a long walk instead.
      An oath I took fourteen years ago contained language that involved 
the concept "for better or for worse." Blessed with beautiful children, a 
beautiful wife, and good health, I understood intellectually, as upset as I 
was, that this still fell under the "for better" category. But it sure as 
heck felt like "for worse." Why is it that the people you love the most are 
also the most annoying?
      My angry thoughts cooled down in the night air and my memories 
drifted back to a long walk I took many years ago. I was staying with my 
parents in New York during the Christmas break between semesters of my 
sophomore year in college. I awoke in the middle of the night, restless and 
troubled. For a long while I sat by my parents' Christmas tree trying to 
sort out my thoughts. Then I drove to Jones Beach on Long Island's South 
Shore, and began my long walk.
      A young woman I hardly knew was critically ill. She was an artist, a 
student at the University of Michigan, whom I had met just two months 
earlier on a visit to my brother. I was attending college in Connecticut, 
but she and I had stayed in touch over the phone. I had called her a day 
earlier at her parents' home in Valdosta, Georgia. I was shocked to 
discover she was in the intensive care unit at Emory University. Her brain 
had started to bleed from a birth defect she never knew she had. There was 
a significant chance she would die.
      I walked for miles on that empty winter beach. The waves crashed 
unseen in darkness, the wind blew cold. The night sky glittered with stars. 
Life can appear futile sometimes. Why do we suffer? Why do we die? As a 
student of science, I had learned that life on Earth emerged from the ocean 
billions of years ago. Our sun is but one star in an ocean of stars that 
number like grains of sand on a beach. What do one person's concerns matter 
when compared to the infinity of the universe? I thought about my friend 
and felt helpless. The pain of my loneliness overwhelmed me. So on that 
cold December night, I opened my heart for the first time and I prayed in 
earnest and was rewarded with an understanding that reverberated through my 
soul.
      I still did not know whether my friend would survive. But I knew for 
certain that I was not alone, nor was she, and that none of us ever are. 
She might die. I would mourn her death then, but I would do so with faith 
that this was God's will. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us. Celebrate 
God's gift of life today.
      The memory of that long walk and the lessons learned helped me 
realize that an argument with my wife was probably not the best way to 
celebrate this gift of life. So I apologized to Ann when I got home. It 
wasn't the first time we had gotten into a stupid argument, and wouldn't be 
the last.
Fortunately, I had been gone long enough on my walk so Ann had cooled down 
too, and even started worrying about me.
      We sat together as a family by the Christmas tree just before the 
children's bedtime. I think Ann and I were still a little annoyed with each 
other. But we laughed as we were making up. I admitted that I didn't think 
it was a privilege for her to clean up after me. She confessed that she 
knew my glasses weren't scratched. And after a while as I sat with my 
family, I understood this was the happiest moment of my life.
      Although the art student's neurosurgeon thought she made a complete 
recovery from her bleed those many years ago, she and I still laugh and 
wonder aloud if she did show signs of brain damage in one instance at least 
-- when she agreed to marry me.

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