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Issue no. 241 - 24 July 2002

• Mit Peekabooty gegen Zensur (Heise)
  Nachdem im Frühjahr bereits Falschmeldungen über eine Veröffentlichung von Peekabooty kursierten, steht es jetzt tatsächlich zum Download bereit. Das Tool richtet sich gegen die Zensur des Internet in Ländern, "in denen Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit nicht als Menschenrechte geachtet werden".

• The War For Your TV (MSNBC)
  Digital video recorders like TiVo let you watch shows when you want to rather than when the programmers decide. The new Replay DVR even lets you automatically skip ads and allows you to trade shows online. Now the nets are striking back.

• US - AOL not sold on IM sharing (ZDNet)
  America Online is backing away from opening its instant messaging servers to let them communicate with rival networks, according to a government regulatory filing.

Issue no. 240 - 14 July 2002

• Writing file sharing's final chapter (CENt News.com)
  By Gene Kan. Each time a new concept was unearthed during the boom days of the Internet, venture capitalists would chase it. Checkbooks in hand, they backed countless start-ups, flogging each one as the next big thing. CNet Editor's note: Gene Kan was an entrepreneur who helped articulate the potential of peer-to-peer technology in various articles and appearances at industry forums. He was 25 when he passed away on June 29.

Issue no. 239 - 30 June 2002

• Net 'brain' has all the answers (BBC)
  An internet "brain" that could replace human interaction has been invented by two Cambridge University researchers. The system, dubbed Metafaq, can answer e-mailed questions and also guide surfers through websites. It may have artificial intelligence but it can answer questions as well as any human, claims inventor Doctor Davin Yap.

Issue no. 237 - 16 June 2002

• US - Report Flays Open-Source Licenses (Wired)
  After appearing on the Web for a few hours, a much-anticipated report on the possible threats to national security posed by open-source software was pulled by its authors, who said that the report needed more editing. But despite its hasty un-publication, the full report -- called "Opening the Open Source Debate," by Kenneth Brown of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution -- still made it onto Slashdot, where its low opinion of open source was roundly criticized.

Issue no. 236 - 8 June 2002

• Cheap pen cracks 'copy-proof' CD (Reuters)
  Technology buffs have cracked music publishing giant Sony Music's elaborate disc copy-protection technology with a decidedly low-tech method: scribbling around the rim of a disk with a felt-tip marker.

• May the fraud be with you (Guardian)
  Record companies are making it impossible to play - and copy - music CDs on a PC.

• New IM application wows Internet users (NUA)
  Jupiter Media Metrix: Internet users have been quick to adopt Trillian, a new instant messaging (IM) application which connects users of all the major messaging services, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and ICQ.

• US - Digital TV's Big Hurdle: Copy Protection (Washington Post)
  The consumer electronics industry and Hollywood are struggling to come up with an answer to to the question of how to keep high-quality digital television broadcasts from being shared Napster-style on the Internet, but to judge from a report issued this week, there's still a long way to go.

Issue no. 235 - 20 May 2002

• JN - Fun with Fingerprint Readers (Counterpane Crypto-Gram)
  Tsutomu Matsumoto, a Japanese cryptographer, recently looked at biometric fingerprint devices. These are security systems that attempt to identify people based on their fingerprint. For years the companies selling these devices have claimed that they are very secure, and that it is almost impossible to fool them into accepting a fake finger as genuine. Matsumoto showed that they can be reliably fooled using gelatin. Fake finger fools fingerprint detectors about 80% of the time.

Issue no. 234 - 11 May 2002

• A cookieless Web monitor? (MSNBC)
  Researchers in Scotland are developing a new kind of Web monitoring software that they claim can collect enormous amounts of data on Web surfers while remaining nearly undetectable.

• File sharing pirates go underground (vnunet)
  Software pirates are borrowing techniques and tools from hackers in a bid to take over high bandwidth servers, such as those at universities and web hosts, to help develop large underground file sharing networks.

• Grid to Revolutionize Video Gaming Industry? (Internetnews)
  IBM and Butterfly.net are aiming to revolutionize online video gaming by moving it to a grid, which can support any connected device, from PCs and handhelds to dedicated video game consoles.

Issue no. 233 - 4 May 2002

• Future of secure digital music initiative grim (AP)
  Four years ago the record industry and some technology companies banded together to match wits in a combined effort to stamp out Internet music piracy. Their goal: to usher in an age of secure digital songs wrapped in unbreakable code. The Secure Digital Music Initiative was supposed to be just the medicine to marginalize the Napster phenomenon. Soon, there would be SDMI protected CDs and SDMI digital music downloads playing only on SDMI-compliant devices. Now SDMI is roadkill, outpaced by developments in digital technology and done in by the narrow interests of its own members - record labels competing for dominance and music hardware companies impatient to get their products out to consumers.

Issue no. 232 - 28 April 2002

• Hackers turn tables on file-swapping firms (CNET News.com)
  For the past several weeks, a pseudonymous programmer has been releasing versions of popular file-swapping programs online with the advertising and user-tracking features stripped out.

Issue no. 231 - 14 April 2002

• Web surfers brace for pop-up downloads (CNET News.com)
  Web surfers who thought online advertisements were becoming increasingly obtrusive may be dismayed by a new tactic: pop-up downloads. In recent weeks, some software makers have enlisted Web site operators to entice their visitors to download software rather than simply to view some advertising. see also Browsers Beware: Ad Technology Retools Toolbar (Newsbytes).

Issue no. 228 - 17 March 2002

• Hong Kongers to get 'smart' ID cards (AP)
  Hong Kong's new ID card will be a "smart" cards, with embedded computer chips that hold names, pictures and birthdates - as well as a digital template of both thumbprints.

Issue no. 227 - 10 March 2002

• Protecting Free Expression Online with Freenet (IEEE Internet Computing)
  This article (PDF) provides an excellent technical introduction to the core ideas behind Freenet.

Issue no. 226 - 3 March 2002

• Morpheus looks to Gnutella for help (CNET News.com)
  A glitch this week that locked millions of people out of the most popular file-trading network since Napster's fall is raising new questions about the future of the Net's free-music bonanza.

Issue no. 224 - 16 February 2002

• Microsoft unveils internet software (FT)
  Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, revealed Visual Studio .Net, a set of development tools that should permit programs from different vendors to be linked together easily over the internet in a "plug-and-play" manner.

• The future of computing (Economist)
  It is easy to discount web services as yet another fad, but behind the hype surrounding this new way of letting computers talk to each other over the Internet lies a crucial question: who will provide the dominant software platform of the next generation of computing? Already, the battle lines are clearly drawn. On one side is Microsoft, with its .NET plan; on the other an array of rivals, including IBM, Oracle and Sun, touting a technology based on the Java programming language.This week Microsoft took the battle a stage further, launching a set of tools to develop web services, plus a software framework to run them. This puts .NET on a par with its Java-based competitor.

Issue no. 222 - 2 February 2002

• Peer-to-peer sharing on the Internet: how Gnutella networks are used to distribute pornographic material (CJLT)
  by Michael D. Mehta, Don Best and Nancy Poon. The availability of pornographic video files, generally considered obscene or illegal, constitute a relatively small percentage of the overall set of video files being shared through Gnutella. The vast majority of video files shared represent themes commonly found in other sources of pornography (e.g., VHS format, magazines). Although video files defined as pedophilic in nature represent 3.7% of the sample, due to the millions of files being exchanged, this represents a sizeable number. The most commonly searched for files on Gnutella are either copyright protected software, movies encoded in divx format, and pornographic material, with a very strong emphasis on both child and hebephilic (sexual attraction to pubescent adolescents) pornography.

• Australia - Super-net puts people in 'touch' (CSIRO Press Release)
  Australia's super network has had its first successful demonstration, proving it can carry an enormous amount of data between two locations.

Issue no. 220 - 19 January 2002

• A Cop in Every Computer (IP Worldwide)
  by Mike Godwin. The content and technology industries differ over an initiative that would build infringement-sniffing powers into new computers.

• Philips blasts labels over protected discs (Reuters)
  The new music discs making their way into record stores in the United States and Europe contain countermeasures that prevent playback on computers and, in some unintended cases, normal CD players as well. Philips, the co-creator of the CD, is refusing to play along. Because of conformity issues, it has warned the record labels that the discs are actually not compact discs at all, and must bear warning labels to inform consumers. That means labels would also be barred from using the familiar logo stamped on every CD.

Issue no. 218 - 6 January 2002

• Rise of Internet 'Borders' Prompts Fears for Web's Future (Washington Post)
  Software that attempts to match a computer's unique Internet address with a general geographic location, a technology that is becoming more precise every day, is growing in popularity.

• Tracking Down the Nasty Guys (eweek)
  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has deployed VisualRoute, an advanced IP trace route tool that allows it, in many cases, to quickly identify the source and even the physical location of servers hosting possibly illegal Web sites.

• Isle of Man - Test run for future phones (BBC)
  It is rare that people look to the Isle of Man for a glimpse of the future. But this self-governing dependent territory of the British Crown - you might be surprised to learn - has actually become a playground for new technologies.

Issue no. 217 - 16 December 2001

• Distributed computing's prime moment (ZDNet News)
  A 20-year-old in Owen Sound, Canada, has found the world's largest known prime number using a mere desktop computer. But he didn't work alone: His system was part of a 210,000-machine quasi-supercomputer stretched across the globe.

Issue no. 214 - 23 November 2001

• Mirror Software Makes It Easier To Spoof Famous Sites (Newsbytes)
  Responding to a deepening legal dispute over a parody of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Web site, a loose-knit band of Internet activists has created software that will purportedly allow technically savvy users to spoof virtually any Web site in a matter of minutes.

Issue no. 213 - 11 November 2001

• File Trading Instantly Is Easier (Wired)
  Instant-messaging services that allow users to trade music, movie and television files over the Internet appear to be safe from the legal woes that have plagued other digital music and movie companies. Microsoft, America Online and Yahoo now have added file-sharing enhancements to their instant-messenger applications that allow users to swap any digital files over centralized networks.

• Visa studies geolocation technology (Wall Street Journal)
  Visa International has entered into a partnership with Quova, a closely held company that has developed technology for tracking Internet users’ geographic location.

Issue no. 212 - 27 October 2001

• Peer to Peer Opportunities: Keeping an Open Mind on File-Sharing Networks (Digital Beat)
  by Jamal P. Le Blanc. Critique of the report titled Children's Access to Pornography Through Internet File-Sharing Programs. The report and its accompanying publicity constructs too narrowly the questions one might ask about Internet file-sharing applications and peer-to-peer networking.

Issue no. 211 - 20 October 2001

• Information und Spektakel (Telepolis)
  Peer-to-Peer zwischen Abscheulichkeit und Aufklärung Während das deutsche Fernsehen Filesharingprogramme als "Snuff-Börsen" bekämpft, nutzt Morpheus den Tausch von Gewaltbildern als Argument gegen die Vorwürfe der Medienindustrie.

• RIAA: We'll smother song swappers (ZDNet)
  The recording industry is experimenting with new technology it hopes can smother online song swapping by targeting music traders' computers directly. The software would essentially act as a downloader, repeatedly requesting the same file and downloading it very slowly, essentially preventing others from accessing the file. While stopping short of a full denial-of-service attack, the method could substantially clog the target computer's Internet connection.

Issue no. 210 - 14 October 2001

• Les systèmes d'échange court-circuitent l'industrie du disque (Le Monde)
  Gnutella et ses clones, descendants de Napster, narguent toujours les majors de la musique.

Issue no. 209 - 1 October 2001

• CD copy compromise in the works (MSNBC)
  Industry is experimenting with a new strategy for protecting CDs from being copied in CD burners or on computers. Unlike previous anti-copying measures, this plan will place two versions of an album on a single disc: one in standard CD form, modified so that it can’t be transferred to a computer hard drive, and another in Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio digital format, rigged so that files can be copied to a PC, but with some restrictions on how they can be used.

• Universal plans protection for all CDs (Reuters)
  Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group plans to start issuing CDs in October with software that prevents music from being digitally copied into computer files.

Issue no. 207 - 18 September 2001

• From paper to the internet (BBC)
  An innovative and sophisticated way of communicating with the internet has arrived - paper. The Swedish-based company Anoto have developed pens that use wireless technology to communicate directly with the internet.

Issue no. 206 - 3 September 2001

• ‘Keyword’ software raises ire (MSNBC)
  Microsoft may have backed off of its controversial smart tag plans, but that hasn’t stopped everyone. Two small software companies have developed third-party products that turn plain text into hyperlinks.

• Adult Location-Based Services Driving Wireless Portal's Growth (Press Release)
  Mobile Motion are hiring new employees and are experiencing exponential growth driven primarily through their wireless location-based adult services: Strip Club Search and Escort Search. To access the service, consumers simply click on Mobile Motion on their Web-enabled phones (wap.mobilemotion.com) or handheld device (pda.mobilemotion.com) and enter their current location by area code, zip code, airport code, address, or city and state.

• CD-Kopierschutz von Macrovision ausgetrickst (Heise)
  Macrovision hat mit SafeAudio einen Kopierschutz im Angebot, der das Kopieren von Audio-CDs verhindern soll. Beim Grabben der Audio-CD beschert einem SafeAudio hingegen Fehlermeldungen und verweigert die Kopie. Wie nun die Website CD Freaks berichtet, gibt es mehrere Möglichkeiten, die den Kopierschutz angeblich austricksen.

• Doing science by stealth (BBC)
  Scientists have found a way to coerce computers into doing science without the consent of their owners. By exploiting basic functions of web servers, a group of US scientists have been able to make the machines carry out a small part of a much larger computation.

• Tweaking Technology to Stay Ahead of the Film Pirates (New York Times)
  Copy protection schemes are different for videotapes and DVD's, and they are being tweaked regularly to adjust to new video technology, but they are all aimed at making it hard for home users and small- time businesses to make casual copies.

Issue no. 205 - 3 August 2001

• Distributed computing gets a corporate twist (CNET News.com)
  Grid technology, which distributes computing jobs and databases across numerous servers, has largely been an academic phenomenon. But IBM plans to give the idea a corporate twist with its so-called Grid Computing Initiative.

• New software pinpoints location of web users (FT)
  "Geo-location software", the next wave in collecting information from on-line users, traces backwards the connection route established by an on-line user, locating down to the city where a person is logging on. The software promises significant implications for a wide range of industries. But the controversial new product is also raising concerns about on-line privacy.

Issue no. 204 - 27 July 2001

• Airport check-ins based on your iris (MSNBC)
  Starting in October at London’s Heathrow Airport, new iris recognition technology will enable selected passengers to look into a video camera at the passport control checkpoint and have their identity verified within seconds. The Heathrow program will be the first large-scale passenger processing trial in the world to rely entirely on biometric identification.

• Plug.In: Peer-To-Peer Shows Mainstream Potential (Newsbytes)
  The types of peer-to-peer file sharing networks that are giving record labels a run for their money could one day soon find their way into mainstream corporate use as companies seek to lower their digital distribution costs.

Issue no. 203 - 19 July 2001

• A Standard for e-Comments (Technology Review)
  W3C's Annotea lets you tack information to existing Web pages.

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