Volume 14, Issue 17 Atari Online News, Etc. May 4, 2012
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2012
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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A-ONE #1417 05/04/12
~ US House Passes CISPA! ~ People Are Talking! ~ UK: Block Pirate Bay!
~ Google Raises Bounty! ~ $99 Xbox With Data Plan ~ Anonymous Indicted!
~ No Copyright for APIs! ~ Chrome 18 Most Popular! ~ Quality Over Speed!
~ Hoarder Buries Himself ~ CISPA Opposition Grows! ~ Xbox & Win 7 Ban!
-* Why CISPA Is Worse Than SOPA *-
* Website Address Revolution on Hold! *-
-* Amazon, Texas Reach Deal in Sales Tax Spat *-
->From the Editor’s Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
TOUT Tr re Oe ee ee ee ee
I’m still waiting for a few good things to happen these days! It seems
like tragedy and bad luck has a vice-like grip on me, with no chance to
get loose. The list of misfortune has continued to grow. Last week, it
was the lack of time due to the continuing "saga" of red tape regarding
my father’s estate, and my wife’s mother’s affairs after the fire. And
then, we took our ailing oldest dog to the vet to get an update on her
condition because she was getting worse.
So, the legal affairs continue to worsen as far as family members’ lack
of cooperation and communication - in both families. And, earlier this
week, our dog got even worse; and we could tell that she wasn’t going to
have much quality of life left. So, seeing her struggle early in the week,
we decided that it was time. It was rough for my wife and I to watch her
pass away, but we were there for her right to the end. What more could we
have done? So, the house is a little empty at the moment without her
presence, but she will always be with us in many other ways. 16 years
she was with us - a lot of great memories will stay with us.
So, I’m still not mentally all there at the present, so my thoughts for
other things aren't in focus right now. I’m sure you'll give me a little
leeway for a bit until things somehow get back into focus.
Until next time...
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Hoarder Buried Himself in Atari Games!
TOU TT Wr Oe Oe Oe Oe ee oe Oe oe ee ve ee oe ee ee ee ee eo $99 Xbox with Subscription!
—>A-ONE’s Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
TOUT Tre Wr Oe We Oe Oe ee ee oe ee ee ee
Hoarder Buried Himself in Atari Games and Bobble Heads
Lee Shuer’s hoarding began a decade ago as he began collecting Atari video
games then progressed to vintage art work and musical instruments.
But soon, his apartment was overflowing with bobble heads, collectibles
and anything he could get "free or a good deal."
"It got to the point where more is better," said Shuer, now 37, of
Easthampton, Mass. "Eventually, they spilled off the shelves, onto the
floor, down the hall, into the bedroom, off the bed - you could see the
tide flow."
Shuer’s acquisitions became part of his identity and self-esteem.
"If I had more fun and more toys, people might actually like me," he said.
"If I had enough things to play with, they might come hang out."
When he finally met his future wife and they had to clean out the clutter
to move in to a new home, she was horrified by the volume of things and
begged him to call for help.
Shuer did, and this week he is one of the key presenters at the 14th
Annual Hoarding and Cluttering Conference, sponsored by the San Francisco
Mental Health Association. There, both clinicians and hoarders will
attend an array of workshops on best practices and new treatments.
"I give my wife a lot of credit," he told ABCNews.com. "If it wasn’t for
her, I wouldn’t be talking to you now."
After participating in a study at Smith College in 2005 with pioneering
hoarding expert Randy O. Frost, Shuer joined a hoarding task force and
began to help others.
"Hoarding has been around a long time, all the way back to the 14th
century," said Frost, psychology professor and co-author of the 2011 book,
"Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things."
In one of the most famous cases in the 1940s, the Collyer brothers were
found dead in their New York City apartment under 100 tons of trash,
including human pickled organs, the chassis of an old Model T, 14 pianos,
hundreds of yards of unused silks and fabric, the folding top of a
horse-drawn carriage, and more than 25,000 books.
Frost identified the thr features of hoarding: excessive acquisition,
difficulty discarding and disorganization. He developed the "Buried in
Treasures" self-help program that gave Shuer his life back.
Compulsive hoarding is strongly associated with obsessive compulsive
disorder (OCD), a condition that affects about 4 million Americans,
according to the OCD Foundation. About 25 to 40 percent of those with OCD
have hoarding symptoms.
Psychiatrists are now hopeful that hoarding will get its own category in
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V this year,
distinguishing it from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Hoarding can lead to serious health or safety dangers and threaten
relationships with family and friends.
The disorder is diagnosed when a person experiences significant distress
and/or impairment as a result of their hoarding.
Homes on television shows like TLC’s "Hoarding: Buried Alive" can have
infestations of rodents or insects. Hoarders are unable to entertain
guests, prepare food or find their possessions.
"It’s difficult to actually get an estimate of how many people are
hoarders," said Julie L. Pike, who has appeared on the show and is a
psychologist at the Anxiety Disorder Treatment Center in North Carolina.
"There is so much shame and so much hiding around it," she said.
Often hoarders do not seek help until it is too late - when they have lost
their children, their home or a spouse.
In one of the most serious cases of hoarding on the reality show, Pike
helped a woman whose home was infested with a nest of black widow spiders
and cockroaches. Uncapped insulin needles and dirty incontinence pads
were strewn everywher
"The exterminator said it was the worst infestation he’d seen in 23
years," said Pike.
$99 Xbox with Subscription Another Great Microsoft Idea
The Verge is reporting that Microsoft is getting ready to start selling a
$99 Xbox 360 as long as owners commit to a two-year data plan.
ZDNet reports that the monthly subscription to Xbox Live, which is the
online network for the Xbox, would ring in at $15 per month. The report
mentions that users would get access to the current level of Xbox Live
Gold membership benefits and also a few other features for entertainment
and sports. As long as the subscription comes with enough value added
channels and apps to offset the $15 per month fee, like a free Hulu or
Netflix subscription, the deal would be well worth it. It’s a great move
for Microsoft.
Ars Technica reports, the Xbox would move to more of an entertainment hub
than a game machine, which it already is in many homes. The big deal with
a $99 Xbox is how Microsoft would subsidizing the unit with online
subscriptions, and like ZDNet points out, gets handled exactly like a
mobile phone right down to the early termination fee. The move would
represent a major shift in the video game industry.
The video game world could be starting to skew into total home
entertainment, which only makes sense given the popularity of streaming.
Of course, Netflix is already available on the Xbox 360, and so is the new
streaming partnership courtesy of Vudu and UltraViolet. As buyers look for
a low purchase price, a relatively cheap Xbox combined with a Kinect
sensor is a great deal, and it looks even better when quality monthly
content is factored in.
A-ONE’s Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
U.S. House Passes CISPA
The United States House of Representatives has voted to pass the
controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), talk
of which has swept the Internet over the past few weeks. The House vote
was moved up to Thursday night, and CISPA passed as 248 members of
Congress voted for the bill and 168 voted against. The bill is sponsored
by Representatives Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) and Dutch Ruppersberger
(D-Maryland), and it now faces further modifications in the Senate if it
is to avoid being vetoed by the White House. President Barack Obama has
indicated that he intends to veto the bill if it makes it to his desk,
noting that as it is written now, the legislation would allow "broad
sharing of information with governmental entities without establishing
requirements for both industry and the government to minimize and protect
personally identifiable information." The American Civil Liberties Union
issued a statement following the vote. "Cybersecurity does not have to
mean abdication of Americans online privacy," said ACLU legislative
counsel Michelle Richardson. "As weve seen repeatedly, once the
government gets expansive national security authorities, theres no
going back. We encourage the Senate to let this horrible bill fade into
obscurity."
Why CISPA Is Worse Than SOPA
Following the SOPA/PIPA uproar that splashed across the Internet earlier
this year, we now have another cyber-security bill that threatens American
Web browsing privacy, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act,
otherwise known as CISPA.
The House of Representatives passed the bill Thursday evening, moving the
legislation closer to law. The bill is stalled in the Senate and President
Obama has said he would veto the law if it made it to his desk. Even so,
activists and observers on the Internet saw how far SOPA got and backers
expect it to pass, says ProPublica. Protestors also saw how far education,
blogging and general Internet awareness campaigns got them in the fight
against it. Many see CISPA as just as bad, if not worse than the previous
cyber security bills, and they’re pushing back on it.
Before doing any protesting, the techies first clarified what makes CISPA
the new SOPA. It’s actually not exactly the new SOPA, as ProPublica’s very
complete explainer, points out. "SOPA was about intellectual property;
CISPA is about cyber security, but opponents believe both bills have the
potential to trample constitutional rights," writes ProPublica’s Megha
Rajagopalan. But, both have to do with the way you use the Internet and
both threaten user privacy. This bill has nothing to do with copyright
and online intellectual property. It would do more than just shutdown
your favorite overseas pirates. But like SOPA, in the name of some
loftier goal - in SOPA’s case copyright, in CISPA’s case cyber-security -
CISPA gives the government your Internet. With SOPA, this meant censoring
the Internet. CISPA, however, gives companies many Americans use, like
Facebook and Twitter the ability to hand over your information to any
government agency.
And here’s where many decided CISPA was worse than SOPA. Both the Center
for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation agree
CISPA’s language is far too broad. As Gizmodo points out in its useful
explainer, the law’s vague language gives the government a lot of leeway
here. Per Gizmodo’s Sam Biddle:
CISPA says companies need to give up your information only in the face
of a "cyber threat." So, what is a "cyber threat"? Nobody really knows!
The bill defines it as "efforts to degrade, disrupt, or destroy government
or private systems and networks." In other words, trying to do bad stuff
on the internet, or even just talking about it. Ideally, this would be
narrowed to specific malicious LulzSec stuff like DDoS attacks, but it’s
not. It can be almost anything!
Over at TechDirt you can read the broad reasons the government says it
needs information seizure, some of which got added to the bill last
minute. "The government would be able to search information it collects
under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with
complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim
someone committed a /’/cybersecurity crime’," writes TechDirt’s Leigh
Beadon. "Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at
all." And the government has structured the bill so it won’t have much
oversight, explains the Sunlight Foundation’s John Wonderlich. He points
to this section of the bill, which exempts CISPA from the Freedom of
Information Act. "The FOIA is, in many ways, the fundamental safeguard
for public oversight of government’s activities," he writes. "CISPA
dismisses it entirely, for the core activities of the newly proposed
powers under the bill."
The other part that’s scarier than SOPA is that it might actually pass.
Many have pointed out that a divided house passed the bill 248-168,
showing this is something both parties agree on. And while the House is
united, the Internet this time around is not, with big Web juggarnauts that
opposed SOPA, supporting CISPA. Facebook, for example, levied its support
in a company blog post. "Importantly, HR 3523 would impose no new
obligations on us to share data with anyone - and ensures that if we do
share data about specific cyber threats, we are able to continue to
safeguard our users private information, just as we do today," wrote
Facebooks vice president of public policy, Joel Kaplan. ProPublica has put
together a chart comparing the points of view of key players, showing how
they come out on SOPA versus CISPA. Wikimedia, which led the controversial
Wikipedia blackout, for example, is currently undecided on the topic. The
divide, as Rajagopalan explains, is happening this time around because
this bill would help these companies deal with real threats better. And
there’s a whole slew of other big name non-Internet companies, like
Boeing and Verizon, supporting the legislation, too. (Here’s the full list
of their letters of support.)
But many critics don’t even think the bill would make us safer. "Some cyber
security specialists note that neither CISPA nor other cyber security bills
in Congress would compel companies to update software, hire outside
specialists or take other measures to preemptively secure themselves
against hackers and other threats," writes. And even if it has minimal
net-benefits, it’s definitely not worth all the privacy we would give up,
which is the ACLU’s position. That group came out with the following
statement. "CISPA goes too far for little reason. Cybersecurity does not
have to mean abdication of Americans online privacy. As weve seen
repeatedly, once the government gets expansive national security
authorities, theres no going back. We encourage the Senate to let this
horrible bill fade into obscurity," said ACLU legislative counsel Michelle
Richardson after the house vote.
Even if the bill passes the Senate, where there is no corresponding bill at
the moment, Obama has already issued a veto threat, as ArsTechnica points
out. But the paranoid note that Obama’s veto rhetoric hasn’t been all that
reliable. "Dear Obama: Your rhetoric on NDAA, Gitmo & Wall Street proved
empty & false. We’1ll believe a #CISPA veto when we see it. Love, the
Internet," tweeted an Anonymous Twitter handle, @YourAnonNews.
Opposition Grows to CISPA ’Big Brother’ Cybersecurity Bill
Last-minute opposition to the CISPA, which has been criticized as a "Big
Brother" cybersecurity bill, is growing as the U.S. House of
Representatives prepares for a vote this week.
Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican and presidential candidate, warned in
a statement and YouTube video today that CISPA (PDF) represents the
"latest assault on Internet freedom." Paul warned that "CISPA is Big
Brother writ large," and said that he hopes that "the public responds to
CISPA as it did to SOPA back in January."
In addition, 18 Democratic House members signed a letter (PDF) this
afternoon warning that CISPA "does not include necessary safeguards" and
that critics have raised "real and serious privacy concerns." The number
of people signing an anti-CISPA petition is now at more than 718,000, up
about 100,000 from a week ago.
Excerpts from the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act:
"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a self-protected entity may,
for cybersecurity purposes —- (i) use cybersecurity systems to identify
and obtain cyber threat information to protect the rights and property of
such self-protected entity; and (ii) share such cyber threat information
with any other entity, including the Federal Government...
The term ’self-protected entity’ means an entity, other than an
individual, that provides goods or services for cybersecurity purposes to
itself."
CISPA would permit, but not require, Internet companies to hand over
confidential customer records and communications to the U.S. National
Security Agency and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
It’s hardly clear, however, that this wave of opposition will be
sufficient.
CISPA - also known as the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act -
has 113 congressional sponsors. Instead of dropping off as criticism
mounted, which is what happened with the SOPA protests in January, more
continue to sign up, with six new sponsors adding themselves in the last
week.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee,
said today that he remains confident that the CISPA will be approved this
week.
"Chairman Rogers continues to have an open door and continues to work to
address privacy concerns as the bill moves toward the floor," a House
Intelligence Committee spokesman told CNET this afternoon.
Foes of CISPA are hoping to submit amendments that, they believe, would
defang the most objectionable portions.
The House GOP leadership has scheduled a vote on CISPA for this Friday.
Proposed amendments to CISPA are required to be submitted to the House
Rules committee by 1:30 p.m. PT tomorrow.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat whose district encompasses the
heart of Silicon Valley, said today: "I cannot support it in its current
form. I made suggestions to improve the bill to safeguard the privacy and
due process rights of all Americans." (Lofgren posted (PDF) a longer list
of concerns on her Web site.)
What sparked the privacy worries - including opposition from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, the American Library Association, the ACLU, and the
Republican Liberty Caucus - is the section of CISPA that says
"notwithstanding any other provision of law," companies may share
information "with any other entity, including the federal government."
By including the word "notwithstanding," CISPA’s drafters intended to make
their legislation trump all existing federal and state civil and criminal
laws. It would render irrelevant wiretap laws, Web companies’ privacy
policies, educational record laws, medical privacy laws, and more. (It’s
so broad that the non-partisan Congressional Research Service once warned
(PDF) that using the term in legislation may "have unforeseen consequences
for both existing and future laws.")
A position paper on CISPA from Rogers and Ruppersberger says their bill is
necessary to deal with threats from China and Russia and that it "protects
privacy by prohibiting the government from requiring private sector
entities to provide information." In addition, they stress that "no new
authorities are granted to the Department of Defense or the intelligence
community to direct private or public sector cybersecurity efforts."
During a town hall meeting that CNET hosted last week in San Francisco,
Jamil Jaffer, senior counsel to the House Intelligence Committee, said the
protests ignored the fact that the bill was approved by a bipartisan
committee majority back in December.
"There’s no secret agenda here. It’s only 19 pages," Jaffer said. "You
don’t need to be a lawyer to read this bill."
Mozilla First Silicon Valley Heavyweight To Oppose CISPA
Thousands of people oppose the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing
and Protection Act (CISPA), including the Obama Administration and
Anonymous. The bill, which was recently passed by the United States
House of Representatives, looks to give businesses and the federal
government legal protection to share cyber threats with one another in an
effort to prevent online attacks. Internet privacy and neutrality
advocates feel as if the bill does not contain enough limits on how and
when private information can be monitored. Numerous technology companies
such as Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, IBM, Intel and Oracle have voiced
their support for the bill. Mozilla on Tuesday, however, took a stand and
announced its opposition against CISPA.
While we wholeheartedly support a more secure Internet, CISPA has a broad
and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security, the companys
privacy and public policy lead said to Forbes. The bill infringes on our
privacy, includes vague definitions of cybersecurity, and grants
immunities to companies and government that are too broad around
information misuse. We hope the Senate takes the time to fully and openly
consider these issues with stakeholder input before moving forward with
this legislation.
Mozillas Mountain View neighbor, Google, has yet to make its stance
known, and is one of the last tech firms to do so. We think this is an
important issue and were watching the process closely but we havent
taken a formal position on any specific legislation, a company
spokesperson said. The Internet giant has previously spoken out about the
Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act
(PIPA), even going as far as censoring its homepage and urging visitors
to oppose the bill.
Amazon, Texas Reach Deal To Settle Sales Tax Spat
Online retailer Amazon.com reached an agreement with Texas officials
Friday to settle a sales tax dispute by expanding operations in the state
and starting to collect sales taxes.
The deal comes less than a year after Amazon shut down a distribution
center in Irving to protest a $269 million tax bill sent by Texas
Comptroller Susan Combs in 2010.
Combs and Amazon said in a joint statement that the settlement calls for
the company to bring at least 2,500 jobs and $200 million in capital
investments. The company will begin collecting and paying sales tax
July 1. Last year Gov. Rick Perry denounced Comb’s decision to collect
the taxes, saying it would cost Texas jobs and discourage companies from
moving to Texas.
The announcement came the day after Amazon posted first-quarter profits
that blew away analysts’ estimates and boosted the company’s stock.
The move is a dramatic reversal for Amazon, which has fought hard across
the country against being forced to collect state sales taxes. Texas law
requires companies with a physical presence in Texas to collect sales
tax. After Combs concluded last year that the company owed $269 million
in uncollected sales taxes, Amazon closed down the warehouse and argued
it did not qualify under the law. The deal announced Friday settled that
dispute.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday, Amazon said it
still believes it never owed Texas any taxes but had nevertheless
reached a settlement. The national fight over whether online retailers
should have to collect state and local sales tax just the same way local
merchants must remains unresolved.
Local shops argue online retailers have an unfair price advantage because
they are not required to collect taxes on behalf of the state that in
Texas can reach 8.5 percent of the sales price. Combs and Amazon’s Vice
President of Global Public Policy Paul Misener both committed to working
toward a national solution to solving that problem.
"This is an important step in leveling the playing field in Texas," Combs
said in a statement. "However, Congress should enact federal legislation
that will give states access to revenues that are already due, which
would resolve this issue fairly for all retailers and all states."
Amazon has said in the past that the complexity of the state and local
sales tax system makes it impossible for big online retailers to
accurately collect sales tax and that it supports a national,
standardized approach.
"We appreciate Comptroller Combs working with us to advance federal
legislation," Misener said. "We strongly support the creation of a
simplified and equitable federal framework, because Congressional action
will protect states’ rights, level the playing field for all sellers, and
give states like Texas the ability to obtain all the sales tax revenue
that is already due."
The Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which has fought to force online
retailers to collect state and local tax, also welcomed the agreement and
called for Congress to enact a national solution.
Sales Tax Deal with Texas is Amazon’s Latest
Amazon.com agreed to begin collecting sales tax in Texas on Friday,
forging a deal that promises to bring more jobs to the southern U.S.
state and as the online marketer lost another round in a series of
state-by-state sales tax battles.
The agreement, to take effect on July 1 for Texas’ 6.25-percent sales
tax, follows another accord reached with Nevada earlier in the week to
begin collecting that state’s 8.1 percent sales tax on January 1, 2014.
Amazon rings up an estimated 20 percent of all U.S. online retail sales,
making it the country’s largest online retailer.
Most online purchases are free of sales tax, which has given the company
an edge over traditional, bricks-and-mortar retailers that do collect
sales tax.
As online sales have grown, and municipal budgets have tightened, states
have been pushing hard to capture more e-tail sales tax revenue.
Under federal law, retailers with physical facilities in a state can be
forced by the state to collect sales tax on purchases made by a resident
of that state. That includes e-tailers with distribution centers.
E-tailers without physical facilities in a state need not collect the
tax.
As Amazon has grown, it has needed more distribution facilities, and in
the past few years has parlayed the promise of new facilities in exchange
for the best tax terms possible with states across the country.
The importance of that advantage was clear when Amazon pulled up stakes in
Texas last fall, shutting down its distribution hub at the Dallas-Fort
Worth airport after Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs sent Amazon a
$269 million bill covering sales taxes it did not collect from 2005 to
2009.
In exchange for Amazon’s promise to collect future taxes, create at least
2,500 jobs and make at least $200 million in capital investments in the
Lone Star state, Combs is dropping the demand for back taxes.
Texas will bring to six the number of states where Amazon currently
collects sales tax.
According to its website, it already collects sales tax in five of the 50
states - Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota and Washington - on
purchases made by people who live in those states. Those are the five
states where it has physical facilities or affiliated sellers and no
agreement with state governments exempting Amazon from collecting sales tax.
A comprehensive federal solution to the question of which companies must
collect sales tax on online purchases has yet to reach a vote in Congress.
In announcing the deal with Texas, Amazon’s Vice President of Global
Public Policy, Paul Misener reiterated the company’s support for a
national solution.
On Thursday, Amazon reported net sales of $13.18 billion for the first
quarter of 2012, up 34 percent from the same quarter last year, with net
income of $130 million.
Website Address ’Revolution’ on Hold
The Internet domain name "revolution" was on hold Friday due to a flaw
that let some aspiring applicants peek at unauthorized information at
the registration website.
It remained unclear when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) would resume taking applications from those interested in
running new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) online.
ICANN cancelled a Monday event at which details of who applied for which
new domains were to be revealed after a system problem delayed the close
of the application window. The original domain name application deadline
of Thursday was extended to April 20.
"We have learned of a possible glitch in the TLD application system
software that has allowed a limited number of users to view some other
users’ file names and user names in certain scenarios," ICANN chief
operating officer Akram Atallah said in an online message posted on
April 12.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we took the system offline to protect
applicant data... We are examining how this issue occurred and considering
appropriate steps forward."
In January, ICANN began taking applications from those interested in
operating Internet domains that replace endings such as .com or .org with
nearly any acceptable words, including company, organization or city
names.
Outgoing ICANN president Rod Beckstrom has championed the change as a
"new domain name system revolution."
The new system will allow Internet names such as .Apple or .IMF or .Paris.
ICANN says the huge expansion of the Internet, with two billion users
around the world, half of them in Asia, requires the new names.
"When the application system reopens, users will be able to review their
applications, including those already submitted, to assure themselves
that their information remains as they intended," Atallah said Thursday
in an update.
"We expect that demands on the system will be high when it reopens, and
we are enhancing system performance as part of our preparations for the
reopening."
More than 25 global bodies have expressed concern about the possible
"misleading registration and use" of their names.
They fear it could cause confusion about their Internet presence and force
them to spend huge amounts on "defensive registration" to stop
cybersquatters, who buy up names and try to sell them at an inflated
price, and fraudsters.
Registration costs $185,000 with a $25,000 annual fee after that.
ICANN insists, however, that safeguards are in place to protect names of
established companies and groups.
Google Raises Bounty on Software Bugs
Google on Monday raised to $20,000 its bounty on software bugs that
hackers could exploit for cyber attacks on the Internet giant’s online
services.
The maximum reward for exposing a vulnerability that would let an
intruder’s code get up to mischief in a Google datacenter was ramped up
from the $3,133.70 payout set when the bounty program launched in
November of 2010.
"When we get more bug reports, we get more bug fixes," Google security
team manager Adam Mein told AFP. "That is good for our users; that is
good for us."
Google has paid out approximately $460,000 since it established the
Vulnerability Reward Program.
Of the 11,000 software flaws reported to Google, more than 780 qualified
for rewards ranging from $300 to the maximum, a figure selected because
the digits translate into a technical term in a hacker programming
language.
The bounty was raised to inspire software savants to hunt for
difficult-to-find, and potentially perilous, bugs hidden deep in programs,
according to Mein.
"We want them to know the reward is there for them if they find the most
severe bugs," Mein said.
Bugs found in more sensitive services such as Google smartphone "Wallet"
software tends to merit more generous rewards.
People vying for bounties have tended to be computer security
professionals; engineering students honing their skills, and website
operators, according to Google.
UK Court Tells Service Providers: Block Pirate Bay
Britain’s High Court has ordered the country’s Internet service providers
to block file-sharing website The Pirate Bay, the U.K.’s main music
industry association said Monday.
A High Court judge told Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, 02 and
Virgin Media on Friday to prevent access to the Swedish site, which helps
millions of people download copyrighted music, movies and computer games.
Music industry group BPI welcomed the order by justice Richard Arnold that
the service providers block the site within the next few weeks.
BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said sites like The Pirate Bay "destroy
jobs in the U.K. and undermine investment in new British artists."
The service providers said they would comply with the order. A sixth
provider, BT, has been given several weeks to consider its position, but
BPI said it expected BT would also block the website.
Providers who refuse could find themselves in breach of a court order,
which can carry a large fine or jail time.
Monday’s announcement follows a February ruling by the same judge that the
operators and users of The Pirate Bay have "a common design to infringe"
the copyright of music companies.
The Pirate Bay has been a thorn in the side of the entertainment industry
for years. In 2010, a Swedish appeals court upheld the copyright
infringement convictions of three men behind the site, but it remains in
operation.
The website, which has more than 20 million users around the world, does
not host copyright-protected material itself, but provides a forum for
its users to download content through so-called torrent files. The
technology allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several
different users, increasing download speeds.
Defenders of such sites say old creative industry business models have
been overtaken by technology that allows music, movies and games to be
acquired at the touch of a finger on computers, tablets, phones and other
devices.
Both 02 and Virgin said banning orders against copyright-breaching sites
had to be accompanied by other measures that reflected consumers’
behavior.
O2 said in a statement that "music rights holders should continue to
develop new online business models to give consumers the content they
want, how they want it, for a fair price."
Indictment Returned in NYC Computer Hacking Case
The name of a Chicago man already charged in a computer hacking case aimed
at taking out key players in the worldwide group Anonymous was added to an
indictment Wednesday, boosting the accusations against him by including
him in much of the wider conspiracy to hack into corporations and
government agencies worldwide.
Jeremy Hammond, 27, joined four other defendants named in the indictment
in federal court in Manhattan in a prosecution revealed in March. Hammond,
27, is being held at a lower Manhattan lockup after initially appearing in
a Chicago court.
Authorities said the prosecution marks the first time core members of the
loosely organized worldwide hacking group Anonymous have been identified
and charged in the U.S.
Prosecutors said the defendants and others hacked into companies and
government agencies worldwide, including the U.S. Senate. They say they
also stole confidential information, defaced websites and temporarily put
some victims out of business. Authorities say their crimes affected more
than 1 million people.
A message left with Hammond’s lawyer for comment was not immediately
returned. It was not clear when Hammond would appear at an arraignment to
enter a plea to the indictment.
Hammond is the only defendant in Manhattan, except for Hector Xavier
Monsegur, a 28-year-old self-taught, unemployed computer programmer who
was living on welfare in public housing in New York when he joined other
elite hackers in various schemes.
A legendary hacker known as Sabu, Monsegur pleaded guilty and cooperated
for most of the last year with the FBI, which built the case against
Hammond and four others, who were arrested in Scotland, England and
Ireland. None of the others have come to the U.S. to face the charges.
Extraditions were being sought.
Hammond is charged in the indictment with conspiracy to commit computer
hacking, computer hacking, conspiracy to commit access device fraud and
aggravated identity theft.
The indictment adds allegations that the conspiracy included a hack of
the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a state law enforcement agency
in Arizona.
ICANN To Notify Domain Applicants of Data Breaches
Organizations taking part in the most ambitious expansion of the Internet
so far will find out next week whether their applications for new domain
names could have been viewed by competitors as a result of a software bug.
The U.S. non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), which operates the Internet’s naming system, has been inviting
Organizations to apply to own and run their own domains, for example
-apple, .nyc or .gay, instead of entrusting them to the operators of
.com, .org and others.
But the system hit a problem earlier this month, just as a three-month
window for applications was about to close, when a software glitch was
discovered that allowed some applicants to see user or file names of
other applicants.
Organizations had been careful not to reveal the domain names they were
applying for, fearing the knowledge they were applying for a generic
domain like .food would encourage rivals to compete for that domain and
drive up the price.
"We’re very apologetic for the inconvenience to any applicants," ICANN
chief executive Rod Beckstrom told Reuters.
"Clearly, we’re going to take every step that we can to make sure that no
one takes advantage of any information they may have obtained," he said
in a telephone interview, declining to detail exactly what steps could be
taken.
The domain-name expansion programme had been opposed by some influential
trademark owners who feared they would have to spend large sums of money
simply to protect their brands online, despite protections built into the
system.
Critics have also complained about conflicts of interest as some past and
present ICANN board members stand to benefit financially from the
programme.
Peter Dengate Thrush, who was chairman of ICANN when it gave the go-ahead
for the expansion, went on to become executive chairman of Top Level
Domain Holdings, a London-listed firm set up to acquire and operate the
new domains.
Beckstrom said he was confident the glitch in the system had been caused
by a software bug rather than an attack.
"We have absolutely no reason to believe it’s a hack. We have been able to
find some of the instructions in the software that caused the issue," he
said.
Beckstrom added that ICANN had captured every keystroke made by applicants
since the window opened in January, and was currently combing through the
more than 500 gigabytes of data to determine what may have been visible to
whom.
The organization plans to notify applicants by May 8 if details of their
applications could have been viewed by others, but will not tell them who
could have seen those details. Those who may have viewed such information
will also be notified.
ICANN, which says it has now fixed the bug and is extensively testing the
system, plans to reopen the application window at a date yet to be
determined for an extra five days.
Beckstrom said 1,268 Organizations had registered for the application
system to date, up from a previously reported figure of 839, and stressed
that most applicants were not affected.
"As CEO, I take full responsibility for this issue," said Beckstrom, who
is due to step down on July 1. "I would like to resolve it before handing
on the baton."
Internet Group: Quality Over Speed in New Domains
The organization in charge of expanding the number of Internet address
suffixes - the ".com" part of domain names - is apologizing for delays
but says it’s favoring "quality, not speed."
Three weeks ago, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
abruptly shut down a system for letting companies and organizations
propose new suffixes, after it discovered a software glitch that exposed
some private data. At the time, ICANN planned to reopen the system within
four business days. The system remains suspended indefinitely.
"We've very focused on the quality of what we do," ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom
said. "We take this very seriously. That’s why we’re moving very
methodologically and professionally."
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Beckstrom added, "We
apologize for the delay, but we’re committed to getting this right."
ICANN has said it needed time to figure out why the software failed and
how to fix it. That was completed last week, Beckstrom said, but ICANN
still must undergo extensive testing on the fixes and inform companies
and organizations whose data had been exposed. He declined to offer a
timetable.
Up to 1,000 domain name suffixes could be added each year in the most
sweeping change to the domain name system since its creation in the 1980s.
The idea is to let Las Vegas hotels, casinos and other attractions
congregate around ".Vegas," or a company such as Canon Inc. draw
customers to "cameras.Canon" or "printers.Canon." The new system will also
make Chinese, Japanese and Swahili versions of ".com" possible.
After several years of deliberations, ICANN began accepting applications
in mid-January. The application window was to have closed on April 12 -
the same day ICANN had to shut down the system, just hours before the
deadline.
The glitch did not affect general availability of the Internet’s domain
name system -— the databases that let Internet-connected computers know
where to send email and locate websites. It also did not affect the
ability to register new names under existing suffixes.
Rather, the glitch was with the software ICANN had set up to take
applications for new suffixes.
The proposals were supposed to be confidential until the application
period closed. The software glitch allowed some applicants to view data
about others, including potential competitors. The data were limited to
file names and usernames, not the contents of the files.
But those names in some cases offered clues about which companies were
proposing what suffixes, Beckstrom said. Knowing that could allow an
applicant to change a proposal and gain an advantage.
ICANN believes that 105 applicants might have had data viewed by others,
while 50 applicants might have seen information on others - inadvertently,
ICANN believes. That’s out of 1,268 registered applicants, each of which
can submit as many as 50 suffix proposals.
Beckstrom said that once the system reopens, ICANN will monitor applicants
to determine whether they make adjustments based on what they might have
seen. Applicants will also have at least a week to make sure their data
didn’t get lost or corrupted.
The delay shouldn’t have a major effect on the availability of new
suffixes, as the new names won’t appear in general use until at least next
spring - in many cases, much later.
The bigger damage could be in the long-term confidence in ICANN. Even
before the glitch was discovered, opponents of the domain-name expansion
questioned ICANN’s ability to roll out new suffixes smoothly.
Beckstrom said all organizations encounter technical problems, and he said
ICANN hopes to retain people’s confidence by resolving the problems and
communicating well
Chrome 18 Is Worlds Most Popular Browser
Internet monitoring firm Pingdom on Monday released a new report on global
Web browser share by browser version. The company found Microsofts
Internet Explorer 9 to be the most popular browser in North America with a
21.2% share, and it was closely followed by Google Chrome 18 at 20.2%.
Internet Explorer, however, featured a combined total of 40.4% of the
North American browser market. Globally, Pingdom found that Chrome 18 is
the most popular browser with a 25.6% share, leading Firefox 11 with 15.8%
and Internet Explorer 9 and 8 with 15.7% and 14.6%, respectively.
Microsofts browser has the largest worldwide market share when all
versions are combined, followed by Chrome and then Firefox.
Motorola Wins Xbox and Windows 7 Ban in Germany
Motorola Mobility has been granted an injunction against the distribution
of key Microsoft products in Germany.
The sales ban covers the Xbox 360 games console, Windows 7 system
software, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.
It follows a ruling that Microsoft had infringed two patents necessary to
offer H.264 video coding and playback.
A US court has banned Motorola from enforcing the action until it
considers the matter next week.
The handset maker is in the process of being taken over by Google.
This is just one of several cases involving about 50 intellectual
properties that the smartphone maker has claimed that Microsoft should
have licensed.
Microsoft has said that if it met all of Motorola’s demands it would face
an annual bill of S$4bn (£2.5bn). Motorola disputes the figure.
A statement from Motorola said: "We are pleased that the Mannheim Court
found that Microsoft products infringe Motorola Mobility’s intellectual
property. As a path forward, we remain open to resolving this matter.
Fair compensation is all that we have been seeking for our intellectual
property."
Microsoft said it planned to appeal against the German ruling.
"This is one step in a long process, and we are confident that Motorola
will eventually be held to its promise to make its standard essential
patents available on fair and reasonable terms for the benefit of
consumers who enjoy video on the web," a spokesman said.
"Motorola is prohibited from acting on today’s decision, and our business
in Germany will continue as usual while we appeal this decision and pursue
the fundamental issue of Motorola’s broken promise."
Microsoft moved its European software distribution centre from Germany to
the Netherlands last month ahead of the verdict to minimise potential
disruption.
However, Motorola cannot enforce the ruling until a Seattle-based judge
lifts a restraining order.
[The restriction was put in place after Microsoft claimed that Motorola was
abusing its Frand-commitments - a promise to licence innovations deemed
critical to widely-used technologies under "fair, reasonable and
non-discriminatory" terms.
A hearing is scheduled for 7 May, although the judge may issue his ruling
at a later date.
The German case is also likely to be considered by the European
Commission.
It is carrying out two probes into whether Motorola’s Frand-type patent
activities amount to "an abuse of a dominant market position".
EU’s Top Court: APIs Can’t Be Copyrighted, Would "Monopolise Ideas"
The European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that application
programming interfaces (APIs) and other functional characteristics of
€
t
omputer software are not eligible for copyright protection. Users have
he right to examine computer software in order to clone its functionality
and vendors cannot override these user rights with a license agreement,
the court said.
The case focuses on the popular statistical package SAS. A firm called
World Programming created a clone designed to run SAS scripts without
modification. In order to do this, they bought a copy of SAS and studied
its manual and the operation of the software itself. They reportedly did
not have access to the source code, nor did they de-compile the software's
object code.
SAS sued, arguing that its copyright covered the design of the SAS
scripting language, and that World Programming had violated the SAS
licensing agreement in the process of cloning the software.
he EU’s highest court rejected these arguments. Computer code itself can
be copyrighted, but functional characteristics - such as data formats and
function names - cannot be. "To accept that the functionality of a
computer program can be protected by copyright would amount to making it
possible to monopolise ideas, to the detriment of technological progress
and industrial development," the court stated.
"The purchaser of a software licence has the right to observe, study, or
test the functioning of that software in order to determine the ideas and
principles which underlie any element of the program. Any contractual
provisions contrary to that right are null and void," the court ruled.
American courts have generally agreed with the European court’s position
that functional characteristics of computer programs are not eligible for
copyright protection. (But the idea is currently under debate in the
high-profile legal battle between Google and Oracle. Oracle says Google
violated its copyrights by cloning Java APIs for use in Android.)
But American courts have been reluctant to overrule license agreements,
which often remove rights that a user would otherwise possess. For
example, in 2010 the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld
EULA terms that prohibited reverse-engineering World of Warcraft.
After Wednesday’s ruling, European software users enjoy broader rights to
clone software than do users on this side of the pond.
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