WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
'SUN ON TRACK TO HIT 2009 GOALS', said the headline. For a moment I thought our tick-box mad government had succeeded in micromanaging the solar system's energy output. Closer inspection revealed that the article was about Sun MicroSystems. Phew!
There was quite a lot of news this week, I've had to shelve the stuff about digital restriction management until next week. The remaining news was like the curate's egg - good in parts, bad in others. Typical of the good was an announcement by NEC that Windows XP will be available on their machines. The bad was that Motorola are to get out of the mobile phone business - what am I going to do when my Razr reaches the end of its life?
Somewhere in the middle, was the news that sci-fi writer and Creative Commons enthusiast Cory Doctorow has earned the eternal hatred of his new baby daughter by naming her Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow. What a dork!
And now, ladies and gentlemen (and geeks)...
Shorts:
This week there were two rather interesting stories indicative of the direction in which the big ISPs are moving. The first was about ISP giant Comcast altering its terms of service to include its traffic management policies. Comcast, like most of the big ISPs, has for some time been trying to redefine the meaning of the word 'unlimited' to mean 'unlimited, unless I don't like the amount you are using'.
Don't misunderstand me - I think making policies clear is a good move. If people don't like those policies, they can, of course, go to another provider. But wait a minute, what if there are no other providers? Then I would argue that Comcast is a monopoly, and it is for the regulators to specify what it can and can't do to its customers, who have no choice but to use Comcast or lose access to the Internet.
Meanwhile in Beaumont, Texas, Time Warner have launched an experiment to find out just how much they can gouge out of Internet users by charging by the gigabyte of data downloaded. If the experiment is lucrative enough, then it seems likely that Time Warner will roll out this pricing model all over the US.
Both these moves are really indicative of a problem first suffered by the Brits in the aftermath of the industrial revolution. Britain pioneered the industrial revolution, and benefited greatly from the massive increases in productivity that resulted. However, as time went by, other countries invested in industrial infrastructure - newer and improved infrastructure - and began to overtake Britain.
The Brits, unfortunately, had so much invested in the original infrastructure that companies were unwilling to write it off and rebuild new and better equipment, and so Britain's lead evaporated as other countries overtook her. The decline was already well advanced by the second half of the 19th century, but was masked by the firepower of the navy build up with the surplus from the industrial revolution, and the income extracted from an empire which straddled the world. Now, of course, it's obvious to everybody.
In the case of the Internet, the US was the first and reaped the benefits, but now the capacity of the network is declining relative to new types of demands, whereas late comers like South Korea have modern high capacity links to consumers. The solution is to increase the available bandwidth, including right through to the last mile, but the ISPs don't wish to write off their existing investments...
Now where have I heard that before?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080207-comcast-tweaks-terms-of-service-
in-wake-of-throttling-uproar.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012903205_pf.html
Ever sent an e-mail to the wrong person by mistake? That's what happened to drug giant Eli Lilley & Co this week. They are, it turns out, engaged in delicate negotiations with the US government about the amount of fine (likely to be in the region of US$1 billion) due for alleged marketing impropriety. Needless to say, the company and its lawyers were waiting for a suitable time to release the news - one when the best light could be thrown on the whole affair. (Note: traditionally the best light in this sort of affair is the dimmest available.)
Sadly for those involved, one of the lawyers e-mailed a confidential brief on the talks to a colleague Bradford Berenson. Only it wasn't Bradford Berenson he sent it to - it was New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who, of course, ran the story. Oooops! My guess as to what caused the boo-boo? I'd go for the auto-completion feature of the mail client.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/05/Eli-Lilly-E-Mail-to-New-York-Times
There's a neat little argument brewing in the EU about whether computers' network IP addresses are personal data or not. The IP address is the set of numbers - for instance, 192.168.5.17 - that identifies the computer on the network. Technically speaking, the address only identifies the computer, not the person using the computer, a fact which is not disputed by all sides in the argument.
However, in a number of high profile cases recently the IP address has been used to identify the person using the computer (this is reasonable in cases where only one person has access to the computer). It is this situation that the EU data protection authorities are interested in. Their argument is that once the IP address is used to identify someone, then the address becomes personal data and as such is subject to the EU's data protection laws.
On the other side are the search engines - Google, Yahoo, MSN and the like - whose privacy policies are under scrutiny by data privacy regulators. Google has already been forced to make some concessions to regulatory concerns by reducing the length of time it stores details of search information to 18 months, and cutting its cookies' time limit from the default 30 years to a 'mere' two years.
Will this be enough? I doubt it. I'll keep an eye on what's going on here and let you all know how things develop.
(Story from Physorg)
Get ready for an assault on your computer by Microyahooglesoft! Microsoft are teaming up with Google, Yahoo, IBM and the execrable VeriSign on the OpenID board. After years of plugging its own Passport system, Microsoft has finally thrown in the towel, and joined OpenID.
The concept is simple, it's the idea that you just have a single identity on the net, and that you use that identity to sign in everywhere, instead of having to remember different identities.
As I see it there are a number of problems with the idea.
Let's start at the beginning. Are multiple sign-ons really a problem? My experience is that most people who've been on the web any length of time actually use only a few sites, most of which don't require their users to sign in. Not much gain there for surrendering your personal info to the likes of Microyahooglesoft.
Next, a lot of the people who do have extensive multiple sign-ons have them because they want multiple identities on the net! Yes, really, you all know who I'm talking about. No deal on that one then.
Then there is the question of how many sites actually require their casual users to sign in? OpenID claim more than 10,000 sites currently support their log-ons. Sounds a lot, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the hundreds of millions of sites out there. Not much mileage in that, I suspect.
Finally, who would you trust your personal information to? Microsoft? Google? Yahoo? IBM? VeriSign? Not a cat in hell's chance!
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/02/07/microsoft_openid_foundation/
I guess we might as well cover the other Microsoft bits and pieces at this stage.
PCWorld managed to get their hands on a copy of Vista's new Service Pack One. Yes, it seems to speed up the legendary slow file copy agro. The only problem is that everything else seems to be running even slower.
Microsoft have now 'fixed' Hotmail's useless Web interface with a new 'Full' interface, and guess what - it checks your browser type and operating system and refuses to work with Firefox 2 on Linux. Hotmail Customer Service advice? Change to Outlook Excess! Why am I not surprised.
On the EU front, Microsoft is now facing yet another EU probe over its lobbying for the International Standards Organisation (ISO) to adopt its cruddy OOXML file format as a standard. Although as a British Standards Institute C++ panel member I disapprove of Microsoft's activities, I'm not sure that it is any business of the EU.
Meanwhile, back in the US of A a punch up is brewing between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) over which regulator is going to investigate the purchase of Yahoo by Microsoft. (If it ever happens that is - the word on the street is that Yahoo wants at least US$40/share, as opposed to the offered US$31/share.) The FTC deals with advertising, the DoJ with anti-trust. Apparently they can't both deal with the case.
'Seconds out of the ring. Round One.' -Ding-
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206106956
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/02/microsoft_yahoo_bid_us_competition/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142233/article.html
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/hotmail_doesnt_work_with_firefox_2
Homework:
Ubiquity online magazine has an interesting new piece entitled 'End Laptop Serfdom' by Espen Andersen. It is basically arguing that Western companies can no longer afford to tie the hands of their laptop users with mindless regulations designed to enforce the lowest common denominator in computer use.
Andersen makes an excellent case for allowing users to exploit the power of their company laptops, using the tools they find appropriate, but he fails to deal with the biggest barrier to its implementation - the tyranny of 'best practice'. Best practice allows companies off the hook when something goes wrong, and it inevitably will regardless of what the 'procedures' are. Best practice is something that can be invoked to substantially reduce the cost of PR disasters, and best practice is something that regulators and Quangos with funds to disburse are going to insist on. In spite of that, the article is useful and well worth a read if you want to get an idea of what could be, as opposed to what is.
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/volume_9/v9i5_andersen.html
Wired has an useful piece from security guru Bruce Schneier about how 'security' is becoming double speak for 'control'. Using Apple's iPhone as an example Schneier discusses the issue of lock-in in its various guises - file format control, lack of phone number portability, long phone contracts, DRM etc. It's a nice summary of the current state of the battle for control of your computer. Well worth a read.
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2008/02/
securitymatters_0207
The ever perceptive Ephraim Schwartz has been off to Demo8 recently, and the conclusions he has drawn about the way ahead make interesting reading. In particular he looks at the infrastructure implications for using the distributed power of desktop PCs to replace things like the huge centralised phone infrastructure normal for medium to large businesses. He also looks at what's happening in the grey world of help desks, and comes to the conclusion that help in that field may just be on the way!
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2008/02/the_two_shifts.html
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2008/01/demo08_says_hel.html
Geek Toys:
An Israeli startup has come up with a neat idea. It's an iPod Nano sized cell phone called Modu. Yes I know - only under fives would be able to manage the buttons! That's not how it's used, however. The really neat part is that it's designed to be slipped into a 'jacket' which is big enough to use - and the jackets are interchangeable, so you could have a different one for each day of the week. Grey for work, Goth for the weekend, Psychedelic to provide chat up lines in the bar... The possibilities are endless and limited only by imagination. I predict that if it catches on, custom jacket manufactures will follow close behind.
http://www.physorg.com/news121601338.html
Recent reading:
Thames: Sacred River by Peter Ackroyd, Chatto & Windus
This is an interesting and eclectic look at the River Thames by the author of 'London: The Biography'. The meat of the book is a series of vignettes dealing with different aspects of the river, its people, and its environs. Also included is what the author titles 'An Alternative Topography, from source to sea' which is fascinating in its own right. This is really a book to dip into, rather than read from end to end, and in some places it gets a little too mystical for my taste. It has its own fascination, though, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it - especially to read in bed before you go to sleep.
Scanner: Other Stories
SCO 10K filing warns investors not to invest!
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080130145030314
College funding bill passes House, P2P provision intact
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080207-controversial-college-funding-bill-
passedp2p-proviso-intact.html
Motorola poised to offload mobile biz
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/01/moto_selling_mobybiz/
HMRC compensation model falls short
http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/11CA2577A7A5A4BD802573E50047896E?
OpenDocument
HP introduces Linux based NAS appliances
http://ct.enews.deviceforge.com/rd/cts?d=207-293-2-28-255-25483-0-0-0-1
Amateur space spotters track secret satellites
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/science/space/05spotters.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
NEC goes Back To The Future with XP for biz users
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/02/05/nec_xp_vista/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb, Fi, Lois, and to Slashdot's daily newsletter for drawing my attention to material used in this issue.
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Spamato spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
10 February 2008
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist. His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html
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