Monday, July 31, 2000

Hundreds protest broadcast of Dr. Laura show. Crap! Now she who knows all is gonna be on the teevee.

Harvard Political Review: The Thirty Years' War -- Looking back on three decades of American drug policy, are we winning the war on drugs?

CNN reviews Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. The authors "argue that the recent trend in scientific thought has gone too far. They suggest that even if the universe is teeming with life, complex organisms are not likely to appear on many -- if any -- planets besides our own."

Reuters: China sentences top lawmaker to death for graft -- "China sentenced a former top parliamentary official to death Monday for taking bribes of almost $5 million in what is seen as a clear, but not necessarily convincing, message it is getting tough on government graft."

Sunday, July 30, 2000

Buchanan removed from ballot? -- "Members of the Reform Party's executive committee voted Saturday to remove Pat Buchanan's name from the party's presidential ballot, but Buchanan campaign officials called the action 'bogus' and without any standing." [AP] ..... Some people just aren't good sports! ;-)

Chicago's oldest radio station to die -- WMAQ, dating back to the days of "Amos 'n Andy" and "Fibber McGee & Molly", is signing off this week for good. [AP]

Crap-in-the-Box? -- Oregon couple sues fast-food chain over allegedly spiked burger.

Friday, July 28, 2000

Napster wins stay in appeals court.

CNET: Earthlink nixes shell accounts -- 2,000 of Earthlink's several million users are in an uproar, and the company is rethinking its position. A shell account lets a user log on to his or her ISP's system as though from a Unix text-based terminal and actually run programs directly on the ISP's system. The article chiefly focuses on an issue related to Earthlink subscribers being able to keep old e-mail addresses, and it suggests that shell accounts are a dying breed. Nowhere does it mention one huge benefit of having a shell account: the ability to filter junk mail (spam) right at the ISP's server before it ever reaches your home computer. On the flip side, shell accounts are a bit arcane and not particularly user-friendly.

Clay Shirky:  "Napster has joined the pantheon of Netscape, Hotmail, and ICQ as a software-cum-social movement, and its growth shows no sign of abating any time soon. Needless to say, anything this successful needs its own lawsuit to make it a full-fledged Net phenomenon."

Thursday, July 27, 2000

Joel Spolsky: Does issuing passports make Microsoft a country? -- "[Passport is] a terrifying threat to everyone's personal privacy and it will make today's 'cookies' seem positively tame by comparison."

Wednesday, July 26, 2000

Scott Rosenberg: Why the music industry has nothing to celebrate

A former Artist & repertoire executive comments on the sad state of affairs at the major record labels.

Reuters: U.S. judge pulls plug on Napster. Judge Marilyn Hall Patel rules against the wildly popular program that helps Net users find and download music files from one another's computers, citing copyright infringement and piracy.

Tuesday, July 25, 2000

Salon: The ATF fired first -- Dan Gifford, co-producer of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Waco: The Rules of Engagement, offers a sharp rebuttal to the recent Danforth report, which exonerated the federal government of any wrongdoing in the 1993 siege.

AP: Camera expert will not attend Waco hearing -- "Judge Walter Smith said he decided against requiring David Oxlee to come to Texas after Michael Caddell, lead plaintiffs' attorney in a $675 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by surviving Davidians and family members, said he would not participate in the hearing."

ABC: Congress questions FBI on e-mail snooping device -- "The FBI played part of its high-tech, crime-fighting hand yesterday, as it answered pointed questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill about details concerning 'Carnivore,' its controversial Internet surveillance system. But the hearings left many questions unanswered."

Clinton signs bill to purchase 95,000-acre New Mexico ranch.

Bush announces Cheney as running mate.

Concorde crashes near Paris, over 100 killed.

O.J. vows never to pay. Still looking for who really did it; will not pay a dime in civil judgement.

Monday, July 24, 2000

Salon: Blow up the Internet! -- "As earnest lefties at a panel wring their hands over the fate of the Internet, three weird characters out of 'The Matrix' steal the show."

Sunday, July 23, 2000

Albuquerque Journal: Tomé Heirs Seek Site in Manzanos -- "To...heirs of the Tomé Land Grant, the Manzanos hold the key to ending a bitter, 30-year land-grant battle that tore apart their tiny, historic farming community."

Salon: Secret costs -- "The price of increased security at nuclear weapons labs, some scientists say, is talent. Alleged security lapses, they say, have left in their wake a hostile and paranoid climate for workers, which is damaging national security by driving designers away."

Saturday, July 22, 2000

Holy cereal, Batman!

Detroit Free Press: Cereal maker chokes on CD Bible giveaway -- General Mills backs down at the last moment on including a CDROM-based Bible in its boxes of breakfast cereal. But 12 million boxes are already on their way to supermarkets. General Mills initially tried to suggest that the electronic Bible was slipped onto the CDROM (containing other reference material) without their knowledge. However, the software company who collaborated on the project calls that a "flat-out lie." Interfaith groups are annoyed that a Protestant Bible was included on the disk; American Atheists regards the entire affair as an affront.

Friday, July 21, 2000

Burying Waco

Exonerated again! -- Former Sen. John Danforth, a Republican from Missouri, had been appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno to serve as Special Counsel and to independently investigate allegations of government wrongdoing in the 51-day siege against the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas.

While acknowledging a troubling lack of "candor" by at least one FBI agent and some government lawyers, Danforth's preliminary report concludes that the tragedy was the fault of the Branch Davidians. The report states that no shots were fired by any government agents, no military personnel were improperly used, the fatal fire was started by the Branch Davidians, and that there has been no government conspiracy or coverup. When queried about prosecuting federal personnel who had been less than forthcoming, Danforth replied that doing so would be "overkill" and that the purpose of the inquiry was to "investigate bad acts, not bad judgement."

"Asked about the timing of the interim report, Danforth said he wanted to be sure that Reno was exonerated before she left office and hinted at another factor concerning himself: He might be under consideration as Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush's running mate." [Reuters]

And from AP: "Last week, a Texas jury said the government was not negligent in its handling of the siege. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith, who doesn't have to follow the jury's advice in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Davidian survivors and relatives, will make a final ruling after considering whether federal agents shot at Davidians as the siege ended." The article makes no mention of Judge Smith's previous open disdain for the Branch Davidians.

Redherring.com: Pop goes the Eazel -- "Eazel, the firm that hopes to make Linux the easiest computer operating system to use, says it expects to release the first version of its desktop application, Nautilus, and related Web services by the end of this year." [I can't wait!!]

Thursday, July 20, 2000

Salon: Guilty as charged -- "Russian oligarchs are being harassed and jailed in a crackdown that's raising eyebrows in the West. But most Russians thinks they're guilty -- just like everybody else."

Washington Post: Republicans Oppose FBI Scrutiny of E-Mail -- The controversy over the FBI's "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance system continues. "The Clinton administration's plans for policing the Internet are running into sharp opposition from Republican leaders in Congress, who say the government is overstepping laws intended to protect citizens' privacy." [See July 15 below.] House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) said that the most disturbing aspect of Carnivore is its psychological effect on citizens, adding, "There is an erosion of trust in the government."

Wednesday, July 19, 2000

NTBugTraq's Russ Cooper offers a plain-English explanation of latest Outlook/Outook Express vulnerability and how to fix it. Yes, your system can be compromised by merely checking your mail (never mind whether you open it or not). See the section Immediate Workarounds.

Mad sheep disease? -- The USDA wants to buy and incinerate the sheep on three Vermont farms, out of fear they may carry TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalopathy). TSE is similar to "Mad cow" disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), which broke out in Europe in 1996 and is 100% fatal to humans.

CNET: IE 5.5 bugged in first week -- Don't expect an end to security holes by upgrading to Microsoft's latest browser version, released this week.

AP: White House seeks to revise wiretap laws to include e-maill -- "The plan would require law enforcement officials to obtain high-level approval before applying for a court order to intercept the content of e-mail -- in line with current rules that govern listening to phone calls."

Reuters: Columbine Principal Sued by Victims' Familes. The suit alleges that "school employees knew about Harris' Web site that contained threats against fellow students." [Will they sue his former Internet Service Provider next? Enough, already.]

Tuesday, July 18, 2000

MSNBC: New e-mail vulnerability affecting Window 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT, particularly home systems having Internet Explorer 4.0 or later and using Outlook Express for e-mail.

News.com: Microsoft warns of new Outlook bug

Federal anti-spam bill passes 427-1 in the House of Representatives.

Sued for linking -- Venerable web-zine 2600 finds itself sued by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for linking to sites which contain the source code for software which will bypass the digital encryption on DVD disks. The MPAA claims 2600 is aiding and abetting piracy. Lawyers representing 2600, paid for by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), argue that this is yet another attempt to stifle free speech. Linking is the lynchpin of the modern Internet. "If the MPAA succeeds in its lawsuit, the ability of Web sites to link to other information -- arguably the most valuable feature of the Web -- could be curtailed." [From ZDNet]

"Everybody is in favor of the First Amendment. But we'd have a hell of a time ratifying it today." (Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, quoted in the N.Y. Times.)

Radiation labels are likely to be required on cellular phones.

Monday, July 17, 2000

Department of Injustice

Robert Bryce: Waco's Unanswered Questions -- "The [wrongful death] trial is over, but both Branch Davidians and supporters of the government are disappointed that reports of lying and misconduct have been ignored."

Judge Walter Smith, Jr., a staunch Republican, has never made any effort to disguise his disdain for the Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the Seventh Day Adventists.

The trial was limited to only 40 hours of presentation by each side, automatically eliminating the presentaiton of much evidence and the calling of many relevant witnesses.

The five-member jury was given a very terse list of four questions to answer in their deliberations, carefully omitting key issues of conduct by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the FBI, such as why the infamous and totally unnecessary raid was staged in the first place.

Federal prosecutors expressed the wish that the public would "move on" and forget about Waco. Yes, I imagine they would like that very, very much.

For some excellent background, see Ros Davidson's The Waco Holocaust from April 1997, which raises, among other things, the issue of the Waco raid as a publicity stunt by the ATF.

This weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the Scopes monkey trial in Dayton, Tennessee. A recent survey indicates that 49% of Americans do not believe humans evolved from earlier life forms.

Could 100 Witnesses Have Been Mistaken? -- ABC looks at the fourth anniversary of the TWA Flight 800 crash and the missile theory that just won't go away.

Sunday, July 16, 2000

World's first all-Internet radio station -- KACD in Los Angeles "is the first to pick up and move everything--deejays, music, commercials--from an over-the-air frequency to the Internet." [Washington Post]

Albuquerque Journal: Overdrawn at the Riverbank -- Part One of a five-part look at the Rio Grande and the future of water in New Mexico.

Rodney King redux? -- Philadelphia police are captured on video beating a suspect. On one side of the coin, the suspect was being pursued in a carjacking and fired at police; on the other side, observers note that the department failed to follow procedures for stopping high-risk suspects.

Orwell was an optimist

Robert X. Cringely: Meet Eater -- More on the FBI's latest move to install wiretap boxes ("Carnivore") at Internet service providers. This is nuts.

A sealed box installed at the ISP's router "filters packets, finds e-mail going to and from identified criminals, and saves that e-mail for later decryption and analysis." The great concern here is that the snooping will not be limited to criminals. Cringely also goes on to note that this packet-sniffing technology already exists and does not require cloak-and-dagger antics by the FBI; with a court order, an ISP can provide exactly the same information to the authorities that this James Bond-like box provides.

Used as a switch, rather than a recording device, the Carnivore box, if installed at all 6,000 ISPs in the U.S. would theoretically give the government the power to shut down the Internet.

Saturday, July 15, 2000

The FBI's "Carnivore" surveillance system is causing a bit of uproar. This is basically an e-mail wiretap system that listens to message traffic and captures data matching keyword criteria.

Found on Usenet last year: "1984 was a typo."

Reuters: Solar flare could disrupt power grids and satellite operations Saturday -- The flare occurred Friday morning and is expected to reach earth by Saturday afternoon, traveling at a speed of 3 million miles per hour. People living in mid-latitudes may be able to see the northern lights.

Cigarette companies slammed with $145 billion punitive damage verdict. The lead lawyer for Philip Morris noted that the verdict could not become final for several decades, until the claims of several hundred thousand class-action plaintiffs are first settled. Meantime, Friday's record-setting verdict will be appealed. [Is the U.S. government still subsidizing tobacco farmers?]

Friday, July 14, 2000

Reuters: Jury Finds U.S. Agents Not to Blame in Waco Case --
The advisory jury in the wrongful death suit brought by the Branch Davidians exonerated U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents of wrongdoing. The jury's verdict is advisory only, and a final ruling will be issued by U.S. District Judge Walter Smith.

Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the plaintiffs' lawyer, stated "If this was not excessive force and negligence, then the U.S. government can employ the exact self-same conduct with impunity against any other group in America and no one here will be safe from the threat of violence. It has to be stopped."

Happy Bastille Day!

Wednesday, July 12, 2000

The Episcopal Church has narrowly voted against blessing same-sex unions, instead "a resolution to support and minister to gays and lesbians in committed, monogamous relationships." The original plan "narrowly failed by one vote among clergy members and by four votes among lay members." [AP]

Heinz introduces green ketchup -- No, thanks! ;-)

New Internet Policy Institute study indicates online privacy fears growing.

Tuesday, July 11, 2000

Salon: Cytotec: Dangerous experiment or panacea? -- "Doctors are prescribing an unapproved, unpredictable ulcer drug to induce labor in thousands of women. Why are women the last to know?"

Deceased futurist cryogenically frozen.

Washington Post: Clinton calls for 'Just and Enduring Peace' in Mideast. "Saying that Israel and the Palestinians have 'passed the point of no return,' President Clinton flew to Camp David by helicopter this morning to kick off high-stakes peace negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."

Hundreds dead in Manila garbage slide -- "Philippine officials said Tuesday more than 100 bodies had been recovered and another 100 people were missing and feared dead after a mountain of garbage crashed down on Manila's Promised Land shantytown." President Joseph Estrada said that the government will close the dump, adding "We are working on a housing project for these people so that they would have a decent place to live in." For 20 years, the ironically named dumpsite has symbolized the poverty gripping the Philippines. [Reuters]

Episcopal Church ponders blessing same-sex unions -- In sharp contrast to the Pope's blast at gay rights on Sunday, the Episcopalians' 73rd General Convention hotly debated recognizing various forms of relationships outside of traditional marriage. Insiders suggest that if passed, the resolution would create a schism between conservative and liberal factions within the church.

Monday, July 10, 2000

David Horowitz: The smearing of "The Patriot" -- "Anti-Americanism runs amok, again, and the left shows that nihilism is all that remains of its agenda."

Washington Post: Israeli Coalition Ruptures Over Arafat Summit -- "On the eve of his departure for a crucial Middle East peace summit at Camp David, Prime Minister Ehud Barak suffered a staggering blow when right-wing and religious parties opposed to territorial concessions announced today they would quit his crumbling coalition government."

CNN: Hundreds walk out on Mbeki at AIDS conference -- "The South Africa president has been heavily criticized in recent months for consulting with AIDS dissidents who argue that HIV does not cause the disease, a position strongly disputed by nearly all scientists and health officials." Deaths from AIDS in 1999 exceeded 2 million in sub-Saharan Africa. It is projected by the U.S. National Institutes of Health that half of the 15-year-olds in South Africa will eventually die of HIV/AIDS.

Matt Drudge reports on a possible merger of Disney, Apple, and Pixar, with Apple/Pixar's Steve Jobs becoming chairman of Disney. A senior source at Disney hotly denies this as wild speculation. However, Apple and Pixar reprepsentatives are expected in Burbank this week.

Sunday, July 09, 2000

Pope blasts gay rights march -- Citing Saturday's march in Rome as an "offence to Christian values," the leader of millions of Catholics worldwide also quoted an entry in the Catechism which characterizes homosexuality as "objectively disordered." (What in the heck is that supposed to mean?)

Gay rights groups were outraged at the pontiff's remarks. Franco Grillini, head of a gay rights group shot back that "The real offence is the homophobia and the anti-gay prejudice which is fuelled by the Vatican hierarchy."

One of the many placards carried in protest of the Pope's remarks read: "1943: The Vatican says nothing about the deportation of Gays and Jews; 2000: The Vatican speaks out against Gay Pride." Another said simply, "In memory of all those homosexuals persecuted and killed by the Catholic Church.''

Reuters: U.S. missile defense test fails -- "The United States' attempt to intercept and destroy a target warhead in space failed on Saturday, leaving the Pentagon to wonder what went wrong and the White House whether to proceed with the controversial National Missile Defense System." Critics of the NMDS say that it will surely unravel nuclear arms control and fuel a new arms race. Proponents argue that such a system is necessary to protect the U.S. against "rogue" states.

Tuesday, July 04, 2000

Happy Fourth of July!

Saudis to increase oil output -- Taking an end run around fellow OPEC nations, Saudi Arabia will increase its output by 500,000 barrels if prices do not start declining towards a $25-per-barrel target. [Reuters]

Are cyberterrorists for real? -- Richard Clarke, of the National Security Council, says that "the administration's cyberdefense programs are battling a perception problem that stems from the misuse of the word terrorism." [CNN]

French to investigate U.S. spy system -- A French state prosecutor will investigate Echelon, the United States' s spy system, which can listen in on telephone, fax and e-mail messages. The French claim that the U.S. uses this system inappropriately for economic benefit; at home, controversy has expanded to allegations that the U.S. spies on its own citizens. [Reuters]

Monday, July 03, 2000

Mexico's PRI party ousted after 71 years. The election is likened to the fall of the Berlin wall; Mexico's president acknowledges Fox's victory, hopefully assuring peaceful transition from a virtual one-party system to full democracy. More coverage at CNN.

Hacker Endangered Astrounauts in 1997

Libertarians: the third party

Dalai Lama at Washington Mall -- "Tens of thousands of others made their own journeys, from as far as Nepal and Switzerland, to soak in the day's heat and reflect on the quiet wisdom of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet who brought his message of patience and enlightenment yesterday to the Mall." [Washington Post]

Saturday, July 01, 2000

We'll miss you, Walter Matthau. "In addition to his laconic manner and cynical, bemused expressions, Matthau had a face more than one writer compared to an unmade bed. Matthau saw it as a strength that set him apart in a Hollywood awash in a sea of glamour." [Reuters]

Reuters: Washington wildifre out -- The blaze, originally sparked by a fatal car collision, threatened radioactive waste dumps at the Hanford nuclear reservation and forced the evacuation of West Richland and Benton City. "The 560-square mile (1,400-sq km) reservation, set up during the 1940s to refine plutonium for the Manhattan Project that built the first atomic bombs, [had] recently launched a massive radioactive waste clean-up project." Satellite image.

Salon has more on the Hanford fire.

Searching for Jesse James

Ten Iranian Jews convicted of spying for Israel -- "The case has cast a pall over Iran's Jewish community and drawn concerned attention from the United States, Israel and elsewhere. Critics have questioned whether the accused could be fairly tried in a process in which there was no jury, in which the judge also acted as prosecutor, and from which observers were banned." [AP]

Iraq restarts missile program -- "The tests come eight months after American and British warplanes badly damaged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's missile factories after Iraq halted all cooperation with international inspectors searching for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and the missiles that can carry them. Iraq had agreed to forsake those weapons as a condition for the United States and its allies ending the Persian Gulf war in 1991.... With a range under 95 miles, the new missile does not violate United Nations restrictions." [AP]

Christian Science Monitor: Pervasisve computing may end the tyranny of desktop computers -- "Dubbed Project Oxygen, the effort aims to develop technologies and standards that will make computers as pervasive as oxygen and as effortless to use." Speech processing, which would be a vital component of pervasive computing, is almost there, but not quite. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sees pervasive computing as a means of liberating home users from the hassle of being their own technical support guru. Privacy concerns will be an issue, since individuals' files would reside on networks instead of on one's own hardware, and the new technology would involve various means of a system knowing where an individual is located at any given moment.

New IBM supercomputer aims to simulate nuclear testing -- "The computer, called Advanced Strategic Computing Initiative White, or ASCI White, covers 9,920 square feet of floor space, equal to two NBA basketball courts, and weighs 106 tons." The article notes that "...it would take one person with a calculator 10 million years to do the same number of calculations ASCI White can do in one second." The system would also reduce the current 18-hour global weather model cycle down to a matter of seconds. [Nando/AP]

White House turns over e-mail tapes -- "The White House has yet to recover any missing e-mails being sought by investigators and is turning over backup tapes that might contain the messages to Independent Counsel Robert Ray and the Justice Department, a judge disclosed Friday." [Salon/AP]

Perot won't run as Reform Party candidate -- "It now appears that the primary will be between [Pat] Buchanan and [John] Hagelin. Hagelin . . . is also the Natural Law Party's nominee." Hagelin stated: "Mr. Perot's candidacy was designed to prevent Pat Buchanan from using the Reform Party as a platform to promote his right-wing social agenda. I will vigorously uphold Ross Perot's vision of the Reform Party...." [Salon]