[11.30.2001]
Extremely sad news to report. Former Beatle George Harrison has died. According to his longtime friend
Gavin De Becker, Harrison died at 1:30 PM Thursday at a friends home in Los Angeles. He was 58. It's unconfirmed, but
reports coming in say it was from his long battle with cancer, as he was seeking medical treatment for it [cancer] at
UCLA. He will be sadly missed, but NEVER forgotten. No word on whether there will be a public funeral, although a private ceremony has already
taken place.
George Harrison: February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001.
An easier to read HTML version
of the U.S. Second Circuit Court Appeals decision on the Universal City v. Reimerdes case
(2600's DeCSS appeal) is now available. The slightly larger
PDF version
is still available.
KCET will be rebroadcasting the Frontline special "The Merchants of Cool"
on December 20. Get an inside view of how the media conglomerates are manufacturing and controlling pop culture and the tactics they use
to manipulate it; See how they're targeting teenagers -- a market segment worth an estimated $150 billion per year -- like specimens,
looking for any angle to get them to consume their products; See how they're selling "cool."
[11.29.2001]
More sad news to report. We've received word that a decision in 2600's DeCSS appeal
was handed down yesterday by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. And they lost. The ruling basically upheld Judge
Kaplan's earlier decision
which made illegal the publishing of or linking to DeCSS. This despite finding that computer code is speech and entitled to some
First Amendment protections and the recent victory in California where a Court of Appeal overturned the injunction
which prevented Andrew Bunner and others from publishing the DeCSS program. A
text of the decision
has now been made available.
Related Stories:
A decision in the lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
and Princeton Professor Edward Felten against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) also came down yesterday. "After less than 25 minutes of debate,... Judge
Garrett Brown of the Federal District Court in Trenton, New Jersey, dismissed the case."
The lawsuit stems from the threats made against Professor Felten for attempting to academically present his research on the
flaws of SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative). It was filed "to challenge the validity of such threats against academic research."
With all that's happened thus far, do we still have any First Amendment rights left? The EFF
plan to appeal the decision.
[EFF Press Release]
Related Stories:
We knew it'd happen sooner or later... According to a Wired news article, the
Department of Justice are already enjoying their new found powers, courtesy of the USA Patriot Act.
Previously unable to, the DoJ are now freely monitoring cable modem users, and they're doing it "without obtaining a judge's permission."
Say hello to Big Brother.
[Read More]
[11.28.2001]
First it was McAfee. Now Symantec
state that they too will not update their antivirus tools to detect the FBI's "Magic Lantern" keystroke logging
trojan/virus. According to Symantec chief researcher Eric Chien, "If it was under the control of the FBI, with
appropriate technical safeguards in place to prevent possible misuse, and nobody else used it - we wouldn't detect it."
Here's the Contact info. You know what to do next...
World Headquarters
Symantec Corporation
20330 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-517-8000
[11.27.2001]
A hearing was held yesterday in the case of Dmitry Sklyarov,
the Russian programmer charged with violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). At the hearing, the
only issue discussed was the setting of dates for pre-trial motions. John Keker, Sklyarov's attorney, also
announced his plan to argue the case on two main points: (1) the unconstitutionality of the DMCA and (2) the
issue of jurisdiction over Sklyarov's actions in Russia.
A brief on the DMCA issues will be due on January 14th with the hearing scheduled for March 4th. The brief on
the other issues will be due on January 28th with the hearing scheduled for April 1st.
The EFF is running a holiday appeal for your support:
As you may know, "the Constitution of the United States forms the basis for our free society. Yet, with increased surveillance
targetting the Internet, the sidestepping of judicial review and accountability, and the specter of secret courts, our Constitution
has never been in more danger. Freedoms are being sacrificed at an alarming rate without proof that our freedoms were ever the
problem. EFF needs your help to protect all of our rights on the electronic frontier. Please give generously this holiday season"
as their work depends on your support. Join or make a donation to the EFF today.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz will be deciding today whether Microsoft's civil antitrust settlement proposal
is acceptable or just another underhanded attempt at extending its monopoly by freely distributing Microsoft software
and hardware into primary and secondary schools.
[Read More]
[11.26.2001]
For those planning to attend the Royal Crown Revue gig at the Derby this week, note that the
date has changed. The new date is Thursday, November 29 at 8:00 PM instead of Wednesday, November 28. Tickets
are $12. Oh, and its a 21+ show. Sorry kids!
A Happy Birthday goes out to Indymedia. On Saturday, November 24, 2001,
Indymedia turned 2 years old. The first published article appeared at 6:45 PM that day, a few days
before the WTO protests took place in Seattle.
[11.25.2001]
The Washington Post is running an interesting report on the FBI's
spyware called "Magic Lantern," which we mentioned on 11.22.01. The article also
reports that antivirus software maker McAfee Corp. "contacted the FBI...
to ensure its software wouldn't inadvertently detect the bureau's snooping software." This is ridiculous!
You would think that a program designed to protect computers from virii would be reliable and secure, and not
have holes in it. Here's another company to add to your boycott list. Another solution would be to switch to
Linux or Mac OS, as the virus is most likely Windows based.
[Read More]
Got any complaints? Check out McAfee's contact page or try:
McAfee.com Corporate Headquarters
535 Oakmead Parkway
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
USA
Tel: (408) 992-8100
Fax: (408) 720-8450
Well well well... Looks like the Victoria's Secret fashion show
which ABC aired is being reviewed by the FCC's enforcement bureau for
being possibly too lewd. Commissioner Michael J. Copps ordered
the investigation on fears that it may have corruptted Americas youths. Yeah, like all the violence and foul
language seen and heard on other programs have no affect on them at all.
Would you defend the U.S. Constitution against violations made by the federal government, protect the lives
of animals, or if stopped by police question why? Well, you better think twice because the FBI are urging
citizens to report to them anyone who does because they're probably terrorists -- this according to their
flyer [flyer front |
flyer back].
Oh, and if you're a loner you're probably a terrorist, too.
[11.22.2001]
The disturbing world news dept. brings you.... more disturbing world news. The first is news that the FBI are
developing a tool which would install a virus on the computer of an unsuspecting user. Once installed, the virus
(known as "Magic Lantern") would remotely launch a program that logs all keystrokes on the computer as well as other
surveillance software to steal data and passwords. This could prove to be dangerous as the tool is not defined
by law, and as such it could lead to little oversight resulting in unsupervised surveillance by law enforcement
officials. Should we now fear our own government more than terrorists?
Over in China, authorities have shut down 17,488 Internet bars for failing to block websites which contain
"subversive or pornographic" material, while 28,000 have been ordered to install monitoring software. Subversive?
Oh, they must mean anything which runs counter to their current politcal or social beliefs.
And finally, a federal court in California will hold a pretrial hearing on Monday, November 26, for Dmitry
Sklyarov who has been charged with violating the DMCA. Looks like any attempt at negotiating has failed.
Related Stories:
[11.21.2001]
More disturbing news to report... In hopes of improving security in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Fresno's
Yosemite International Airport has installed a facial recognition system.
Needless to say, this will do little to improve safety. The use of this intrusive surveillance will only provide
a false sense of security while eroding fundamental privacy rights. A study by the U.S. Department of Defense has
even found the technology to be extremely flawed, finding "very high error rates even under ideal conditions where
the subject is staring directly into the camera under bright lights." Express your concerns to Fresno Airports
administrative personnel or to:
Charles R. Hayes -- charles.hayes@ci.fresno.ca.us
Director of Transportation
Airport Administration, City of Fresno
2401 North Ashley Way
Fresno, CA 93727
559-498-4700
[11.20.2001]
What a joke! Microsoft has agreed to settle their civil anti-trust cases with a $1.1 billion deal which would
require them to provide Microsoft-branded software and hardware to some of the nations poorest schools. This might be
good news for our schools and children, but how exactly is this suppose to teach Microsoft a lesson for abusing
its monopolistic powers and crushing competition? If finalized, this settlement will only strengthen Microsoft's
monopoly and further crush the competition. How many are willing to bet that Microsoft will also write off
the $1.1 billion as a business expense? And this punishes Microsoft how?
[Read More]
Another victory was won last week when Trader Joe's
announced that they're going to drop the use of Genetically Engineered (GE) ingredients in their store
brand products, "effective immediately." Trader Joe's is the first mainstream grocery chain to drop the
use of Genetically Engineered ingredients. This is due to acknowledging that "90 to 95 percent of customers
said they wanted the chain to stop using genetically engineered ingredients."
[Trader Joe's Press Release |
Greenpeace Press Release]
Looks like someone decided to take the initiative and have registered VivendiUniversalReallySucks.com.
We wonder how Vivendi Universal feel about this. Will Vivendi attempt to silence this individual, too?
If they do, it'll be an interesting battle as VivendiUniversalReallySucks.com is being pointed at the
EFF website.
[11.19.2001]
Once again the little guy has lost out to the big bad conglomerate. WIPO,
the World Intellectual Property Organization, has ruled in favor of Vivendi Universal
in its dispute over VivendiUniversalSucks.com. Basically, they
feel that visitors might get confused into thinking that VivendiUniversalSucks.com
is associated with the company being criticized. However they came to that conclussion is beyond us. Maybe it's
time someone registered the domains VivendiUniversal-Sucks.com, VivendiUniversalReallySucks.com,
FuckVivendiUniversal.com,... etc.
[Read More]
The U.S. Government has decided that what we know, we can no longer know. They fear our access to information
is simply too dangerous and must be destroyed. Our freedom of information is at risk and our other freedoms
are not far behind. If nothing is done to preserve them now, someday soon we will find them all gone.
Will it next be too dangerous to give people an education as knowledge appears to be a threat?
[Read More]
[11.15.2001]
With the Justice Department readying to go out on a witch-hunt to interview people from Middle Eastern countries,
innocent victims need to be informed on what to do when they're stopped by law enforcement. If you feel you
might be at risk of becoming a target of the governments investigations in the wake of Sept. 11, take a look
at the pamphlets below. Citizens and non-citizens need to know their rights when being questioned or detained
by government officials.
Hopefully, these pamphlets will help reduce the number of people who've been detained and have been denied
their right to contact lawyers or their families. The pamphlet is currently available in
English,
Spanish, and
Arabic.
It should soon be available in Farsi, Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindu.
[11.12.2001]
There is an unconfirmed report that Osama bin Laden has for the very first time admitted to being responsible
for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. According to
the report,
bin Laden stated: "The Twin Towers were legitimate targets, they were supporting U.S. economic power. These
events were great by all measurement. What was destroyed were not only the towers, but the towers of morale
in that country." However, in another report bin Laden
denies personal responsibility for the attacks.
[11.10.2001]
Since the early days of Elizabethan England, the attorney-client privilege "has preserved the confidentiality of
communications between lawyers and their clients." But now the U.S. Department of Justice
has decided to, without public debate, start monitoring attorney-client communications. In one simple move,
one of our basic civil rights has been taken away.
[Read More]
[11.08.2001]
Victory! On Tuesday, November 6, 2001, San Franciscans overwhelmingly approved Proposition B. This measure
will give the city of San Francisco the authority to issue up to $100,000,000 in bonds to finance solar energy
facilities for city agencies and departments. The voters also approved Proposition H which will allow the
Board of Supervisors to issue bonds for the future of renewable energy projects and conservation initiatives.
To illustrate how states would benefit from an investment in solar power, Greenpeace has issued their
report "Solar Promise". "The study details the
possibilities of new job creation and pollution cuts in each state derived from an increase in solar power."
Unable to get tickets for U2's current Elevation 2001 Tour? Well, they have added eight more U.S. dates to
their itinerary. And most go on sale this weekend.
November 20th - Sacremento, CA - Arco Arena - On sale Nov 10th, 10am
November 23rd - Phoenix, AZ - America West Arena - On sale Nov 10th, 10am
November 25th - Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena - On sale Nov 10th, 12noon
November 27th - Kansas City, KS - Kemper Arena - On sale Nov 10th, 10am
November 28th - St Louis, MO - Savvis Center - On sale Nov 10th, 10am
November 30th - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena - On sale Nov 10th, 10am
December 1st - Tampa, FL - Ice Palace - On sale Nov 17th, 10am
December 2nd - Miami, FL - American Airlines Arena - On sale Nov 17th, 10am
The Pet Shop Boys have finalized their next album. The eleven track album will be released
in March. Members Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe also recruited guitarist Johnny Marr to play on nine of the
tracks. To hold us fans over until then, they'll be releasing Montage, a DVD of footage from their
1999-2000 tour.
The EFF has officially joined MusicCity's
legal defense team in the MGM v. Grokster case. The case is being fought to protect MusicCity's right
to distribute their peer-to-peer file-sharing program Morpheus and not be held liable for the alleged copyright
infringements committed by Morpheus users.
Unlike Napster, Morpheus will allow users to search and find almost any kind of digital file -- audio, video,
photos, reports, documents, etc. Hopefully, Judge Stephen V. Wilson will rule in favor of MusicCity.
[Read More]
[11.05.2001]
Tomorrow, San Franciscans will have the opportunity to vote on two extremely important propositions. Proposition B
will add up to 10 MW of solar power on municipal buildings and an additional 30 MW of wind power. Proposition H
on the other hand will allow the Board of Supervisors to issue bonds for the future of renewable energy projects
and conservation initiatives. And best of all, these Propositions won't increase taxes, but will
create clean energy now!
[11.03.2001]
A warning to all those who use Microsoft's Passport sign-on service.
It's security is seriously flawed. Should we be surprised? A software developer has developed a technique
that can steal a persons Passport, credit card numbers -- all by getting the victim to open a Hotmail message.
According to Microsoft, Passport is suppose to be "a secure, online location" for users to store their credit
cards and address information. "Only you have access to the information in your .NET Passport wallet." Secure,
huh?
[Read More]
Hooray! On October 31, 2001, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 332, the largest
IBEW local in Northern California, announced the completion of their new headquarters in San Jose featuring
the largest commercial solar power installation west of the Mississippi. The new Union Hall's photovoltaic
(PV) solar power system generates 55 kilowatts of power, enough to provide for 70 to 80% of the building's total
electrical needs, cutting the facility's utility bill in half while sending excess power back to the grid.
[11.01.2001]
Victory! A California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District,
has just overturned the injunction imposed by a lower court in the DVDCCA v. Andrew Bunner case.
[Read More]
Read the Court of Appeal opinion: H021153.PDF |
H021153.DOC
If you're gonna be at the Jane's Addiction show at the Joint (Hard Rock Hotel) this coming November 10 and 11,
be sure to pick up the hotels new Jane's Addiction chips. Both a $5 and $25 version will be issued to commemorate
their performances. They are expected to be in very limited quantities, so get 'em while you can.
