WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
October already, and we are moving from the summer rains to the autumn rains. Last week's sunshine was just a flash in the pan, so to speak. Coming soon, the winter 2009/10 rains. On the other hand, the clocks go back soon, and we all get an extra hour's lie in. This will be especially welcome to those of my friends that normally get up at the crack of noon.
I've been really busy coding this week. Not very glamorous stuff - tools to help people using Federation's scripting language - but necessary. That means that I had three hours reading to do yesterday to catch up on the news ready for Winding Down. Since it's normally spread over the week, I hadn't realised what was involved.
Hmm - let me see. This is issue 338, so that's 339 x 3 = 1,017 hours (programmers start their numbering at zero). 1,017 divided by 24 is just over 42 days, and 42 divided by 7 is 6 weeks. Wow! That means that since autumn 2001, I've spent 6 weeks doing nothing but reading up for this news letter.
I hope you are all duly appreciative!
Shorts:
Amazon's Kindle e-book reader was in the news twice this week. The first was a piece analysing the settlement agreed over Amazon's high handed deletion of George Orwell's '1984' book . The irony of this being the book deleted did not escape anyone, of course. In the event, apart from the cash aspects of the settlement, Amazon was forced to lay bare the basis on which deletions occurred, and they are nothing to be happy about.
To quote Ars Technica; 'When it comes to blog and periodical content, as well as software, Amazon retains the right to perform a remote delete. But when it comes to books, deletions will only occur under a limited number of circumstances: failed credit card transactions, judicial orders, malware, or the permission of the user.'
I don't know about you, but for me that's a grade A no-no. As far as I'm concerned, no one has the right to delete anything on my kit without a judicial order. It belongs to me, not to Amazon or anyone else.
The second reason for Kindle being in the news is that it has now been launched outside the US. And what a mess that is. The Register accurately described the UK version as 'gelded', because, unlike the US version, you don't get free web browsing or reading blogs. So you have to lug around both a Kindle and a laptop or netbook if you want to do that. Another reason for me pass on buying a Kindle...
Readers interested in the problems of e-books might also like to take a look at the first item in the 'Homework' section this week.
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/10/amazon-stipulates-terms-of-book-deletion-via-1984-settlement.ars
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/07/kindle_uk/
Cnet news has a fascinating photo gallery showing how Nokia tests the physical aspects of their phones. Being me, I particularly liked the look of the one that was sawn down the middle, though I'm not sure why they stuck it in the middle of a block of resin first!
Other goodies include pouring household cleaners on the casings, jostling with loose change in the pockets of Levis 501's, and bending them in half to see how much being sat on it can take. Definitely an outlet for ones destructive impulses!
http://news.cnet.com/2300-1035_3-10001667-1.html?tag=mncol
Last week I mentioned the court case involving the question of whether software, in this case Autodesk software, could be sold second hand. Autodesk claimed that it couldn't be sold second-hand, arguing that it was only licensed to the 'buyer'. Well the US District Court for the Western District of Washington has backed the eBay seller and ruled that he owned the software and was allowed to sell it on.
This is what the court said, 'The Autodesk License is a hodgepodge of terms that, standing alone, support both a transfer of ownership and a mere license. Autodesk expressly retains title to the 'Software and accompanying materials,' but it has no right to regain possession of the software or the 'accompanying materials'. Licensees pay a single up-front price for the software. Autodesk can require the destruction of the software, but only as consideration in the later purchase of an upgrade.'
The conclusion was, therefore, that the license was a transfer of ownership. This has implications that are much wider than just selling on eBay. It will affect all software that doesn't involve the payment of an annual license fee, for instance. I think the lawyers will have a great deal of fun, and receive mountains of cash, for rewriting all the licenses to get round this ruling.
http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=10421
Some time ago, after You Tube was bought by Google, media giant Viacom filed a US$1 billion lawsuit for breach of copyright. Since then the case has been chugging along with little publicity as the two sides exchange information. That now seems likely to change, with rumours circulating that Viacom lawyers have uncovered an exchange of You Tube e-mails that provide evidence that You Tube employees were among those who uploaded unauthorized content.
Not only that, but it's also rumoured that the site's managers knew about, and discussed, this issue, but decided not to take it down. The phrase 'smoking gun' comes to mind. According to US law, sites like You Tube only have legal protection if they are unaware of infringing material, and if they take it down as soon as they become aware of it.
Of course, this issue works both way, and there is also the question of activities of Viacom employees in uploading material to You Tube, and allowing material to stay on You Tube for promotional purposes. As Google pointed out - how are they supposed to know which is which?
This may be another of those cases where we wish that the law allowed for a decision that both sides lose their case.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10365329-261.html?tag=nl.e703
There was a major coup for the Feds this week when they cracked a phishing ring that is estimated to have siphoned off at least US$1.5 million from Bank of America and Wells Fargo accounts. Usually in cases involving digital criminality I halve (at least) the estimated value, but in this case the figure may well be accurate.
The FBI worked on the case for several years with its opposite number in Egypt, and the result was that 53 people were charged in the US and 47 in Egypt. That means that the round up netted 100 suspects, which is a suspiciously round number...
Lets hope that it wasn't just the small phry that were rounded up in this exercise, and that the big phish were reeled in too!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/08/100_phishers_netted/
And while we are on the subject of phishing attacks, earlier this week it was revealed that slightly less than 10,000 Hotmail users had the details of their accounts revealed. A day or so later it came to light that Gmail, AOL, Comcast, EarthLink and Yahoo Mail were in much the same boat. The providers are falling over themselves to block the accounts and help the owners sort them out, but it surely represents a waking up call.
Much was made of the fact that the most popular password was '12345', but a closer look indicated that it was used less than 100 times in a sample of just under 10,000. That's a mere one percent. Not what I would call 'popular'. Actually, I'm pleasantly surprised that it wasn't more used - perhaps an indication that warnings about picking a difficult password to guess -are- having some effect.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/100609-gmail-yahoo-mail-join-
hotmail.html?hpg1=bn
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/352243/12345-most-popular-stolen-
hotmail-password
OK - here's a little bit of politics, but it is vaguely tech related - speed cameras in the UK. The current government has been encouraging the local Councils to install these roadside cash cows by subsidising them for years. The Conservatives have now announced that if they are elected early next year, they will immediately cut all the subsidies, publish data on the effectiveness of the cameras, and encourage measures which will improve traffic flow, rather than hinder it. They will encourage the use of better ways to keep roads safe - like traffic police, education, and vehicle activated signs. Sounds like a major vote winner to me!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/07/tory_speed_cameras/
Are you one of those people who holds up the supermarket checkout line by producing a large wad of tatty looking money-off coupons and thumbing through them to see if any apply to your current purchases? There is, I understand, a new level of hell with your name on it, where you will be condemned to stand in a supermarket queue forever, while imps and other denizens riffle large wads of fire-proof tokens offering 110% off in front of your face.
In the mean time, here on Earth, you might like to take a look at Ask.com's new Ask Deals site, which collects together information on just this sort of coupon from popular coupon sites, retail sites, message boards, etc. I'm not sure I should be telling you about this...
http://www.physorg.com/news174024195.html
Homework:
The New York Times has an interesting piece on e-publishing from the point of view of authors and publishers. The key question is whether, with e-book readers becoming more common, the book publishing industry will end up going down the same route as that of the music and the film industry.
The writing is already on the wall (so to speak) for the publishers. A search commissioned by the NY Times writer revealed that there are no less than 166 unauthorised copies of Dan Brown's 'Lost Symbol' book available on the net, if you know where to look. And no, I don't intend to make snide remarks about the quality of the writing (yet). I'm using it as an example because it's a recently published book by a best selling author.
The real question facing the publishing industry is very simple. Are they going to try and emulate the music industry by taking legal action to defend a business method which no longer works, or can they find a way out of this dilemma? Going down the latter route is not going to be easy, but then re-inventing yourself from the whole cloth never is.
Since we are talking mainly about the equivalent of paperback novels, I would suggest they look at price points that would make it easy for people to buy a book on spec. This would do two things. One, help overcome the fact that there will soon be a dearth of real bookshops in which you can browse for new stuff you've not heard of. Two, make it not worth the effort of seeking out unauthorised versions of the works. I would suggest something like 99 cents as being that price point (50 cents would be even better, but unlikely, I suspect).
Are the publishers going to learn from the bad experiences of the other businesses who have faced this problem, or will they go down the same route as the medieval guilds trying to hold back the industrial revolution? Only time will tell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/business/04digi.html?_R=2
Geek Toys:
H P Lovecraft geeks take note of a new toy from etsy.com. It's a Cthulhu quill and inkpot set complete with representations of tentacles on the pot, and obscure glyphs on the green quill. Listening to the gibbering wrecks who have already taken the step of using this little item, I conclude that it is the fashionable way of calling up high level representatives of the greater evil. I also note that the advert does not give any indication of what the ink is made of!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32107870&ref=sr_gallery_21&ga_
search_query=cthulhu&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=date_desc&includes
Scanner: Other Stories
Nobel chemistry work patented by Yale and others
http://yalepatents.org/2009/10/07/nobel-chemistry-work-patented-by-yale-and-others/
This blog has been brought to you by the Federal Trade Commission
http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/blog-has-been-brought-you-federal-
trade-commission-684?source=IFWNLE_nlt_blogs_2009-10-06
Injunction delivered over Twitter worked, attorney says
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138985/Injunction_
delivered_over_Twitter_worked_attorney_says
UK Ministry of Defence 'How to stop leaks' guide leaked
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/05/leaked_defence_manual/
New ICANN agreement runs into criticism
http://www.infoworld.com/t/internet/new-icann-agreement-runs-criticism-157?
source=IFWNLE_nlt_networking_2009-10-06
IE, Chrome, Safari duped by bogus PayPal SSL cert
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/05/fraudulent_paypay_certificate_published/
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
11 October 2709
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! 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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