From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat May 1 14:01:01 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i41I11o00739; Sat, 1 May 2004 14:01:01 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 14:01:01 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200405011801.i41I11o00739@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #220 TELECOM Digest Sat, 1 May 2004 14:00:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 220 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Wal-Mart Using 'Smart' Label Technology (Monty Solomon) Wal-Mart Starts RFID Test, Promises Privacy (Monty Solomon) EchoStar in Tentative Deal With Turner (Monty Solomon) New Hard Drives to Expand DVR Capacity (Monty Solomon) Digital Video Recorders Take Off (Monty Solomon) Google-Like Technologies Could Revolutionize TV, Other Media (M Solomon) California Bans E-Vote Machines (Monty Solomon) Lawfully Surfing the Net: Disabling Public Library Internet (M Solomon) The Internet in Developing Nations: Grand challenges (Monty Solomon) The State of Copyright Activism (Monty Solomon) High-Tech Voting System Is Banned in California (Monty Solomon) Re: Good News! Four Oakland Men Cited in First US Spam Case (Wesrock) Share Day for April/May, 2004 (TELECOM Digest Editor) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 23:50:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Wal-Mart Using 'Smart' Label Technology Wal-Mart Using 'Smart' Label Technology - Apr 30, 2004 01:47 PM (AP Online) By CHUCK BARTELS Associated Press Writer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and a number of its suppliers are using a Dallas distribution center as the starting point for a technology that's targeted to one day replace the bar code. The radio frequency information, or RFID, tags provide automatic tracking of pallets and cases of goods. Starting Friday, eight suppliers are to participate, using 21 products to be tracked. Wal-Mart said Thursday that it will have more than 100 suppliers using the tags by January. Wal-Mart chief information officer Linda Dillman would not say how much the Bentonville, Ark.-based company is spending but said the tags are on the top line of Wal-Mart's technology budget. The RFID tags contain a chip that is imparted with information. In a backshop retail environment, the tags will contain the details of what is in a case or on a pallet of goods. Rather than have a worker with a handheld scanner logging in barcodes, the system will let a computer system use a radio signal to log the goods as they arrive at the loading dock. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41227467 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 23:52:21 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Wal-Mart Starts RFID Test, Promises Privacy By Emily Kaiser CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) on Friday launched its first live test of new merchandise-tracking technology and tried to quell concerns that the devices could pose a consumer privacy risk. Wal-Mart said a distribution center and seven stores in the Dallas, Texas, area would begin testing radio frequency identification -- or RFID -- tags, which use radio frequencies to send such information as where the item came from and when perishable items expire. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, thinks RFID will speed up distribution, cut costs and help it keep shelves better stocked, and it has aggressively pushed for the technology to become the industry standard. The retailer has asked its 100 biggest suppliers to affix RFID tags to pallets and cases of goods by January. Readers installed at Wal-Mart distribution centers and stores can then scan the tags for details on what the box contains or where the goods are stored. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41225239 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 23:54:12 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EchoStar in Tentative Deal With Turner NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - Dish Network owner EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) said it tentatively resolved a contract dispute with Turner Broadcasting System that could have led to the loss of the Cartoon Network, CNN and Turner Classic Movies channels for its 8 million subscribers. EchoStar said on Thursday the parties agreed in principle to a new contract, but details were still being worked out. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=41224750 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 00:06:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: New Hard Drives to Expand DVR Capacity By May Wong, Associated Press SAN JOSE, Calif. - The power of the U.S. cable and satellite TV industries rests on the 85 million households they count as subscribers. But the influence of Hollywood, which controls the entertainment flow, is even more formidable. That's why new external hard drives that are being designed to expand the capacity of cable or satellite industry digital video recorders will likely have to subscribe to the same copy protection standards dictated by Hollywood. Maxtor Corp., the world's second largest hard-drive maker, announced a new 160-gigabyte external drive this week that will be built as an expansion for cable or satellite set-top boxes. Seagate Technology, the world's No. 1 hard-drive maker, plans to announce next week a similar offering aimed at capitalizing on the growth of DVRs, now quickly gaining steam as the cable industry embarks on introducing DVR-equipped boxes to its massive customer base. The offerings by the two hard-drive companies will be tailored to order for their network operator customers, but both say they are certain their new external drives won't become unrestricted portable video storage boxes for TV viewers who want to move their recorded shows onto a computer or to someone else's DVR. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2004-04-29-dvr-expands_x.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 00:11:48 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Digital Video Recorders Take Off By MAY WONG AP Technology Writer In the new world of digital video recording, TV viewers can forgo videocassettes, easily recording their favorite shows on a hard disk and watching them whenever they desire. It's "Saturday Night Live" on Wednesday or "Nightline" in the morning. DVR users can even pause live TV to tend to a crying baby, or do an instant replay to catch a missed line. DVRs have been around since 1999 _ with Echostar's Dish satellite TV receivers and standalone devices by TiVo and ReplayTV. Consumer adoption was initially slow, and getting TV viewers to understand the technology's groundbreaking features remains a challenge. But consumer interest in DVRs is gaining momentum, especially as the cable industry catches up to its satellite TV rivals by offering DVR-equipped set-top boxes. http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?story=200404301342_APO_V5985 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 00:14:39 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Google-Like Technologies Could Revolutionize TV, Other Media By Stefanie Olsen Staff Writer, CNET News.com The same joke has been around the ad industry for decades: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, I don't know which half." But that line, as old as Madison Avenue itself, may be headed toward obsolescence, as the dawning era of digital advertising helps identify those two halves. After years of failed promises for ads that can pinpoint targeted consumers, traditional media are finally taking interactive advertising seriously, on the Web and beyond. Companies that have advertised for years on platforms ranging from television to billboards are rethinking their marketing strategies, as Internet advertisers work through the technology glitches and privacy issues that have challenged the first wave of the technology. Rather than simple brand exposure, advertisers are adopting a new mantra: accountability. Pointing to the success of Internet pioneers like Google, advertisers are seeking similarly efficient kinds of correlation between their products and what consumers are searching for, especially as devices like digital video recorders (DVRs) enable viewers to skip standard TV commercials. It is nothing short of a seismic shift for many established advertising agencies, which have often been cast as dinosaurs in the Information Age. http://news.com.com/2009-1025_3-5201803.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 00:40:39 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: California Bans E-Vote Machines By Kim Zetter California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley ended five months of speculation and announced Friday that he was decertifying all electronic touch-screen voting machines in the state due to security concerns and lack of voter confidence. He also said that he was passing along evidence to the state's attorney general to bring criminal and civil charges against voting-machine-maker Diebold Election Systems for fraud. "We will not tolerate deceitful tactics as engaged in by Diebold and we must send a clear and compelling message to the rest of the industry: Don't try to pull a fast one on the voters of California because there will be consequences if you do," he said. Shelley said the ban on touch-screen machines would stay in effect unless and until specific security measures could be put in place to safeguard the November vote. http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 09:28:46 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Lawfully Surfing the Net: Disabling Public Library Internet Lawfully Surfing the Net: Disabling Public Library Internet Filters to Avoid More Lawsuits in the United States by Mary Minow Abstract As the 1 July 2004 E-rate deadline approaches, many U.S. public libraries are scrambling to understand the requirements of the Children's Internet Protection Act, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in July 2003. Of paramount importance are disabling policies that must be administered without significant delay. The Court and the FCC have given little guidance on this issue, leaving it to the libraries to establish norms and weather future lawsuits. To minimize the risk of an "as-applied" lawsuit, the safest position is one that minimizes overblocking and maximizes the ease of disabling the filter (or TPM) for adults, and unblocking for children. Contents Introduction Background facts, legal doctrines Application of legal doctrine to disabling filters in public libraries Conclusion and recommendations http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_4/minow/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 09:25:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Internet in Developing Nations: Grand Challenges by Larry Press Abstract This is a call for a "Grand Challenge" project for achieving truly global connectivity. For over a decade, we have hypothesized that the Internet could raise the quality of life in developing nations. We have conducted hundreds of studies of the state of the Internet and "e-readiness," done extensive training of technicians and policy makers, run pilot studies, and held local, regional and global conferences and workshops. After all of this activity, Internet connectivity is nearly non-existent in rural areas of developing nations, and far below that of developed nations in the urban areas of developing nations. This is not to say the activity of the past decade has been a waste. We have demonstrated the value of the Internet and raised awareness. The United Nations and the administrations of nearly all nations have acknowledged the potential of the Internet. The way has been paved, and it is time to act on what we have learned. After outlining the work of the last decade, we explore one possible Grand Challenge: Connecting every village in the rural developing world to the Internet using a strategy similar to that used in building the NSFNet. We speculate on wireless technologies that might play a role in working toward that goal: Terrestrial, high-altitude platform, and satellite. We conclude with a brief discussion of alternative Grand Challenges and a call for action. The time is ripe for an audacious project. What could we achieve with US$15 billion and ten years time? Contents Paving the way A grand challenge Conclusion http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_4/press/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 09:31:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The State of Copyright Activism by Siva Vaidhyanathan Abstract One of the great hopes I had while I researched and wrote Copyrights and copywrongs (New York: New York University Press, 2001), a cultural history of American copyright, during the late 1990s was that copyright debates might puncture the bubble of public consciousness and become important global policy questions. My wish has come true. Since 1998 questions about whether the United States has constructed an equitable or effective copyright system frequently appear on the pages of daily newspapers. Activist movements for both stronger and looser copyright systems have grown in volume and furor. And the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in early 2003 that the foundations of American copyright, as expressed in the Constitution, are barely relevant in an age in which both media companies and clever consumers enjoy unprecedented power over the use of works. Contents Introduction Political success, actual failure Effects on teaching and scholarship Opposition emerges and organizes The brilliance of real copyright Eldred v. Ashcroft Building a better system Conclusion http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_4/siva/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 09:38:52 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: High-Tech Voting System Is Banned in California By JOHN SCHWARTZ California has banned the use of more than 14,000 electronic voting machines made by Diebold Inc. in the November election because of security and reliability concerns, Kevin Shelley, the California secretary of state, announced yesterday. He also declared 28,000 other touch-screen voting machines in the state conditionally "decertified" until steps are taken to upgrade their security. Mr. Shelley said that he was recommending that the state's attorney general look into possible civil and criminal charges against Diebold because of what he called "fraudulent actions by Diebold." In an interview, Mr. Shelley said that "their performance, their behavior, is despicable," and that "if that's the kind of deceitful behavior they're going to engage in, they can't do business in California." The move is the first decertification of touch-screen voting machines, which have appeared by the tens of thousands across the nation as states scramble to upgrade their election technology. Opponents of the high-tech systems argue that the systems are less secure than what they replace, making it possible for the electoral process to be hacked. Without a paper trail, created at the time of the voting, to show the votes, they argue, electoral flaws or fraud could go undetected and recounts could be impossible. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/national/01VOTE.html ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 10:28:49 EDT Subject: Re: Good News! Four Oakland Men Cited in First US Spam Case In a message dated 5/1/04 12:25:05 AM Central Daylight Time, editor@telecom-digest.org writes: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: About a year ago, two no-good guys > held up our local McDonalds, and got away with several hundred > dollars. The Independence Reporter the next day noted in the police > activities column that police never did catch the two guys, and quoted > the manager as saying 'they had been watching for a couple days, and > apparently knew my routine for going to the bank each day'. Trouble is > of course there is no such entity as 'McDonalds'. > Ditto I think when the name 'Amoco' gets tossed around the same way. > PAT] But it was not tossed around the same way. The original story specified a computer of "Amoco Corp.", not a computer at an Amoco installation or an Amoco gas station. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Share Day For April/May Date: Sat, 01 May 2004 2:00:00 EST Instead of changing the Digest over to an advrtising supported forum, I have always elected to keep it as a user supported forum, and for the most part keep it spam and virus free. I am *only* able to do this because of financial support from readers here, and if you would rather not see these messages every month, then please pitch in and help now and then! Consider it sort of like public radio, which goes on for days at a time trying to raise money ... and maybe I should adopt the same system. Turn over the entire Digest once or twice a year to fund raising (entire issues, etc) and stop doing it when the budget for the year has been raised. But for now, I will stick with the present system of devoting a few messages at the end of each month to raising money for the Digest publication expenses. Out of 400-500 messages per month, in a spam, virus free environment, two or three (only) devoted to fund raising. You know who you are; please provide some help here financially. You can use Pay Pal to donate with a credit/debit card by going to our web site http://telecom-digest.org and at the bottom of the home page look for the PayPal 'donate' button. Or if you prefer, send a check or money order to Patrick Townson/TELECOM, Post Office Box 50, Independence, Kansas 67301-0050. The amount you send is entirely up to you. You know best how much you can afford and whether or not this Digest has any value for you. Thank you very much. Patrick Townson, Editor/Publisher TELECOM Digest ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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