PG Weekly Newsletter: Part 1 (2003-08-13)

by Michael Cook on August 13, 2003
Newsletters

PGWeekly_August_13.txt
***The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, August 13, 2003***
******eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Over 32 Years*******


            This Week We Passed Another Major Milestone!!!

      We Now Have Produced Over 9,000 eBooks = 9/10 of 10,000!!!

>>>              8,000 eBooks In The Last 6 Years!!!!!!!            <<<

We Posted #1,000, Dante's Divine Comedy, The First Week Of August, 1997


                     We Are Now At 9,036!!!


Only 18 eBooks From Having Produced 5,000 eBooks Since Start Of 2001!!!


Imagine the 10,000 books have been separated into 10 stacks of 1,000 each,
we have just now completed 9 stacks leaving just 1 stack to go!!!


GRAND TOTAL #10,000

   _____
  (_10__( 10,000              BOOKS DONE!!!
   _____                     _____
  (__9__(  9,000            (__9__(   9,036
   _____                     _____
  (__8__(  8,000            (__8__(   8,000
   _____                     _____
  (__7__(  7,000            (__7__(   7,000
   _____                     _____
  (__6__(  6,000            (__6__(   6,000
   _____                     _____
  (__5__(  5,000            (__5__(   5,000
   _____                     _____
  (__4__(  4,000            (__4__(   4,000
   _____                     _____
  (__3__(  3,000            (__3__(   3,000
   _____                     _____
  (__2__(  2,000            (__2__(   2,000             BOOKS TO GO!!!
   _____                     _____                      _____
  (__1__(  1,000            (__1__(   1,000            (__1__(     964  <<<

GRAND TOTAL #10,000          BOOKS DONE!!!              BOOKS TO GO!!!



We Produced Hundreds More eBooks In 32 Weeks Than In The First 29 Years!


          Only 4 Months/17 Weeks Until eBook #10,000 I Hope!!!

          9036 Books Done. . .964 To Go. . .in 119 More Days!


[The Newsletter is now being sent in three sections, so you can directly
go to the portions you find most interesting:  1.  Founder's Comments,
2. News, Notes & Queries, and  3. Weekly eBook Update Listing.]


  This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter


Over Our 32 7/53 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 275 Ebooks/Year
And This Year Averaged Over That Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!!!!!


               We Are Averaging About 314 Per Month!!!

***

In this issue of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
- Intro (above)
- Requests For Assistance
- Progress Report
- Flashback
- Continuing Requests For Assistance
- Making Donations
- Access To The Collection
- Information About Mirror Sites
- Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
- Weekly eBook update:
   Updates/corrections in separate section
    75 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
- "The Future Of Project Gutenberg"
- Headline News from Newsscan and Edupage
- Information about mailing lists


*** Requests For Assistance

We're looking for a decent history of the US War of Independence,
or War of Insurrection, as it was also known.   Thanks!   Michael

***

We're forming a De-hyphenation Team. . .for a long time it was the
standard here not to include hyphenation, but, not being very bossy,
I didn't insist. . .but we have had several requests on this, so I
think we should look into it.

***

I am working on trying to collect and convert some public domain folk tunes
to ABC notation.  Could use some help tracking down public domain versions
of the melodies or proof that these songs are in the public domain.  Songs
I'm working on at present include:
I Know Where I'm Going
Simple Gifts
She Moved Throught The Fair
A Sailor Courted a Farmer's Daughter (aka Constant Lovers)
The Fisher Who Died in His Bed
Ufros Alienu
If anyone's interesting in converting folk songs to a digital public
domain format and would like to help or if you want to contact me, you can
do so through the mailing list at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdsongs

***

Latin Is A Dying Language???
Latin Library (www.thelatinlibrary.com) died,
and was resurrected recently, bring attention
to the fact that we need to save these files,
find matching paper editions, and be sure the
files don't disappear.

If you would like to help with Latin eBooks,
please let me know.

We have a few volunteers for this who could
help coordinate your efforts, if you should
be able to locate any Latin books.

***

Project Gutenberg DVD Needs Burners

So far we have access to a dozen DVD burners.  If you have
a DVD burner or know someone with one, please email me,
so we can plan how many DVD's we can make with all 10,000
Project Gutenberg eBooks on them when they are ready.  We
can likely send you a box of CDs containing most of these
files early, and then a final update CD in November while
you would download the last month's/weeks' releases.


*** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES

We are seeking pro bono or very cheap legal assistance to pursue
Project Gutenberg trademark infringers and similar issues.  Please
email Michael Hart <hart@pobox.com>.

[We received 3 replies from the US, 1 from Australia, but
may need more around December 10.]


*** NEW ADDRESS FOR "PUNCH" MAGAZINE TEAM

If you have, and are willing to scan bound volumes of Punch
pre-1923 please contanct as below. No single issues, please,
unless you have a complete year of them.
Please contact:  jonathan_ingram@yahoo.com


*** Progress Report

    In the first 7.25 months of this year, we produced 2300 new eBooks.

     It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our first 2,300 eBooks!

                 That's 32 WEEKS as Compared to 29 Years!

                   75   New eBooks This Week
                   90   New eBooks Last Week
                   75   New eBooks This Month [August]

                  314   Average Per Month in 2003   <<<
                  203   Average Per Month in 2002   <<<
                  103   Average Per Month in 2001   <<<

                 2293   New eBooks in 2003  <<<
                 2441   New eBooks in 2002
                 1240   New eBooks in 2001

                9,036   Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
                5,749   eBooks This Week Last Year
                3,254   New eBooks In The Last 12 Months  <<<

                4,416   New eBooks in the last 18 months  <<<

                  262   eBooks From Project Gutenberg of Australia


*Main URL is promo.net  Webmaster is Pietro di Miceli of Rome, Italy*
Check out our Websites at promo.net/pg & gutenberg.net, and see below
to learn how you can get INSTANT access to our eBooks via FTP servers
even before the new eBooks listed below appear in our catalogue.  The
eBooks are posted throughout the week.  You can even get daily lists.


***


                           FLASHBACK!!!

                  2293 New eBooks So Far in 2003

              It took us 29 years for the first 2293!

        That's the 32 WEEKS of 2003 as Compared to 29 YEARS!!!

     Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2293


Sep 2000 A House to Let, by Dickens, et.al.   [Dickens #53][hsletxxx.xxx] 2324
Sep 2000 Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee[releexxx.xxx] 2323
Sep 2000 Hans Huckebein, by Wilhelm Busch [Three Stories]  [?hckbxxx.xxx] 2322
  Contents: [In German]
    Hans Huckebein, der Ungluecksrabe
    Das Pusterohr
    Das Bad am Samstag Abend
Sep 2000 Goetz von Berlichingen, by Johann W. Goethe  [#12][?getzxxx.xxx] 2321

Sep 2000 Novelle, by Johann Wolfgang Goethe    [Goethe #11][?nvllxxx.xxx] 2320
Sep 2000 West-oestlicher Divan, by Johann W. Goethe[JWG#10][?wdvnxxx.xxx] 2319
Sep 2000 Droll Stories [V. 2], by Honore de Balzac[HdB #92][2drllxxx.xxx] 2318
Sep 2000 The Story of My Heart, by Richard Jefferies       [tsomhxxx.xxx] 2317
Sep 2000 The Choir Invisible, by James Lane Allen          [chrnvxxx.xxx] 2316

Sep 2000 The Flag-Raising, by Kate Douglas Wiggin[Wiggin14][flgrsxxx.xxx] 2315
Sep 2000 Geschichte des Agathon, Teil 2, by C M Wieland #3 [?2agtxxx.xxx] 2314
Sep 2000 Geschichte des Agathon, Teil 1, by C M Wieland #2 [?1agtxxx.xxx] 2313
[In German]
Sep 2000 Hermann und Dorothea, by Goethe [German 8-bits] #9[?hermxxx.xxx] 2312
Sep 2000 Travels through France & Italy, by Tobias Smollett[ttfaixxx.xxx] 2311

Sep 2000 In The Carquinez Woods, by Bret Harte  [Harte #13][crqnzxxx.xxx] 2310
Sep 2000 The Freelands, by John Galsworthy  [Galsworthy #2][frndsxxx.xxx] 2309
Sep 2000 Bunyan Characters (3rd Series), by Alex. Whyte #3 [3bnchxxx.xxx] 2308
Sep 2000 The Depot Master, by Joseph C. Lincoln            [dpmstxxx.xxx] 2307


Aug 2000 Uncle Remus/Songs/Sayings, by Joel Chandler Harris[remusxxx.xxx] 2306
[Full Title: Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings]

Aug 2000 A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad [Joseph Conrad #24][seto6xxx.xxx] 2305
Aug 2000 Legends and Lyrics, Pt 2, by Adelaide Ann Proctor [lgly2xxx.xxx] 2304
Aug 2000 Legends and Lyrics, Pt 1, by Adelaide Ann Proctor [lgly1xxx.xxx] 2303
Aug 2000 Poor Folk, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky  [Dostoyevsky #3][prflkxxx.xxx] 2302
Aug 2000 A Simpleton, by Charles Reade                     [smptnxxx.xxx] 2301

Aug 2000 The Descent of Man, by Charles Darwin  [Darwin #7][dscmnxxx.xxx] 2300
Aug 2000 Pandora, by Henry James          [Henry James #21][pndraxxx.xxx] 2299
Aug 2000 Great Astronomers, by R. S. Ball                  [grastxxx.xxx] 2298
Aug 2000 Snow-Bound at Eagle's, by Bret Harte   [Harte #12][sbdaexxx.xxx] 2297
Aug 2000 Pillars of Society, by Henrik Ibsen[Henrik Ibsen2][pllrsxxx.xxx] 2296

Aug 2000 Waifs and Strays, etc, by O Henry Pt 1[O Henry #8][1waifxxx.xxx] 2295
Aug 2000 Anthol. Massachusetts Poets/William S. Braithwaite[mpoetxxx.xxx] 2294
Aug 2000 A New England Girlhood[Beverly, MA] by Lucy Larcom[grlhdxxx.xxx] 2293
Aug 2000 Yet Again, by Max Beerbohm       [Max Beerbohm #8][ytagnxxx.xxx] 2292
Aug 2000 David Elginbrod, by George MacDonald[Scottish][#7][?lgnbxxx.xxx] 2291

Aug 2000 Twenty-Two Goblins, Translated from the Sanskrit  [22gblxxx.xxx] 2290
Aug 2000 Rosmersholm, by Henrik Ibsen    [Henrik Ibsen #1] [rsmrhxxx.xxx] 2289
Aug 2000 Through Russia, by Maxim Gorky   [Maxim Gorky #2] [trussxxx.xxx] 2288
Aug 2000 Havoc, by E. Philips Oppenheim[E. P. Oppenheim #9][havocxxx.xxx] 2287
Aug 2000 Devil's Ford by, Bret Harte       [Bret Harte #11][dvlfdxxx.xxx] 2286

Aug 2000 Ridgway of Montana, by William MacLeod Raine  [#4][rdgwyxxx.xxx] 2285
Aug 2000 Animal Heroes, by Ernest Thompson Seton [Seton #2][anhroxxx.xxx] 2284
Aug 2000 The Lost Road, etc, by Richard Harding Davis [#30][lstrdxxx.xxx] 2283

***

The Future Of Project Gutenberg

We have had renewed interest in various areas of music, from publishing
more song lyrics and scores to listenable pieces in MIDI, WAV, and MP3.
We would LOVE to expand our Music Team to all kinds of music, classical,
folk, jazz, and music from a wide variety of countries and cultures.

***

Today Is Day #224 of 2003
This Completes Week #32
146 Days/21 Weeks To Go  [We get 53 Wednesdays this year]
964 Books To Go To #10,000
119 Days To December 10, 2003
[Our Goal For eBook #10,000]
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]

Week #68 Of Our SECOND 5,000 eBooks

   72   Weekly Average in 2003
   47   Weekly Average in 2002
   24   Weekly Average in 2001

   39   Only 39 Numbers Left On Our Reserved Numbers list
         [Used to be well over 100]


*** Continuing Requests For Assistance:

Project Gutenberg--Canada will be starting up soon,
please let us know if you would like to volunteer!
Copyright in Canada is "Life +50" as in Australia,
and we have volunteers working on both of these.
We will also be seeking volunteers from others of
the "life +50" countries.

email:  Diane Gratton <diane_xml@hotmail.com>

***

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Be part of our research!!!

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for a link to the study.
It only takes a few minutes."

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San Jose State University

***

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please contact:  tex@spacerad.com  <<<We're Doing Einstein!!!

***

DISTRIBUTED PROOFREADERS NEEDS CONTENT, PROOFERS AND SCANNER TYPES

Please contact us at:

dphelp@pgdp.net

if you would like to know more about the Distributed Proofreaders.

Thanks to very good recent publicity, the Distributed Proofreading
project has greatly accelerated its pace.   Please visit the site:
http://texts01.archive.org/dp for more information about how you can
help, by proofreading just a few pages per day.

If you have a book that has been scanned, but not yet run
through OCR (optical character recognition) or proofed,
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Also, DP is seeking public domain books not already in the
Project Gutenberg collection.  To see what is already online,
visit http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL (a text file),
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Do you have Public Domain books your would like to see in the archive?
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Proofreading Team! Please email dphelp@pgdp.net with your geographic
location. You will be given the address of the nearest high-speed scanner
(note that the high-speed scanner requires destruction of the book(s) which
will not be returned)." Alternatively, you can send your books directly to:

Charles Franks
9030 W. Sahara Ave. #195
Las Vegas, NV 89117

Please make sure that any books you send are _not_ already in the archive
and please check them against David's In Progress list at

http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html

to ensure no one is currently working on them. It would also be helpful if
you obtain copyright clearance before mailing the books, and send the 'OK'
lines to

dphelp@pgdp.net

Do you like to work on an entire book at once but don't have the time
or technology to do the scanning, OCR, and initial proofing yourself?
Distributed Proofreaders has the perfect solution!  Just send us email
telling us that you are interested in post-processing and we will help
find a you project you would like to work on.

***

We Have Included Quick and Easy Ways to Donate. . .As Per Your Requests!


We Are Looking For Volunteers To Add eBooks In More Languages,
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*** HOW TO GET EBOOKS FROM OUR MIRROR SITES

http://promo.net/pg (aka http://www.gutenberg.net) allows searching by
title, author, language and subject.  Mirrors (copies) of the complete
collection are available around the world.

http://gutenberg.net/list.html  can get you to the nearest one.


These sites and indices are not instant, as the cataloguing needs to be
done by our professional Chief Cataloguer.


--"INSTANT" ACCESS TO OUR LATEST eBOOKS

Use your Web browser or FTP program to visit our master download
site (or a mirror) if you know the filename you want.  Try:

http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04
or
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04

and look for the first five letters of the filesname.  Note that updated
eBooks usually go in their original directory (e.g., etext99, etext00, etc.)


*** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???

Statistical Review

In the 32 weeks of this year, we have produced 2293 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 1999 to produce our FIRST 2293 eBooks!!!

         That's 32 WEEKS as Compared to 29 YEARS!!!


With 9,036 eBooks online as of August 13, 2003 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $1.11 from each book,
for Project Gutenberg to have currently given away $1,000,000,000,000
[One Trillion Dollars] in books.

100,000,000 readers is only about 1.585 percent of the world's population!

This "cost" is down from about $1.74 when we had 5749 eBooks A Year Ago

Can you imagine 9,036+ books each costing $.64 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 9,036+ books each costing 1/3 less a year later???

At 9036 eBooks in 32 Years and 2.25 Months We Averaged
    280 Per Year   [About how many we do per month these days!]
     23 Per Month
    .78 Per Day

At 2293 eBooks Done In The 224 Days Of 2003 We Averaged
     10 Per Day
     72 Per Week
    314 Per Month

The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks of
production, each production-week starting/ending Wednesday noon,
starting with the first Wednesday in January.  January 1st was
was the first Wednesday of 2003, and thus ended the production
year of 2002 and began the production year of 2003 at noon.
This year there will be 53 Wednesdays, thus one extra week.


***Headline News***

[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]


From Newsscan:

UCITA SUPPORT FADING FAST
Key backers of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)
have bowed to pressure from opposition groups and will stop lobbying for
the bill's passage. The bill was intended to protect software developers
from intellectual property theft by bringing into conformity conflicting
software licensing laws in various states, but critics, including the
American Bar Association and the American Library Association, said the
legislation would grant software makers too much power over their products
at the expense of consumers. So far, UCITA has been enacted in only two
states, Maryland and Virginia, and now that the effort has lost the support
of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL),
UCITA is unlikely to gain further consideration from other states, says an
NCCUSL spokeswoman. Opponents of the bill commended NCCUSL for its
decision: "It is heartening to see NCCUSL backing away from a very flawed
statute, but it will never be able to write sound law for the information
economy until it takes to heart the criticisms of the user sector," said
Jean Braucher, a law professor at the University of Arizona and a member of
AFFECT -- Americans For Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions. (CNet
News.com 7 Aug 2003)

[THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT *NOT* MADE GLORIOUS SUMMER VIA TECH SUPPORT]
[I have advised 100's of people NOT to do this. . .duh!  Here it lies R.I.P.]
[I downloaded an "upgrade" from Micron to fix some problems that made their
CDROM drive pretty iffy on reading CDROMs written via consumer CD writers.
Well, it's not "iffy" any more. . .now it won't read ANY of them, AND will
not read many OEM install CDROMs, even many from MicroSoft, so I can't
install a new OS which Micron said MIGHT help some.] [I just spent THREE
hours installing a new OS over a network connection. . .didn't help. . .
in fact I liked ALL the old stuff better, so far.]

NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT WITH TECH SUPPORT
A March survey of 10,000 computer users by Consumer Reports magazine
indicates that of the 8 million users who seek tech support from software
companies every year, about a third are not helped. "People are so
frustrated with tech support, they're not even calling," says CR senior
editor Jeff Blyskal. Not only that, but software's getting worse, according
to a 2002 report funded by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology. That study estimated that software glitches cost the U.S.
economy about $60 billion a year, with more than half of that borne by
users. "Consumers are unpaid conscripts in an unpaid army of product
testers who go and find the problems and alert the manufacturers," says
Blyskal. And while a spokesman for the Software and Information Industry
Association says software makers do not intentionally hurry products to
market before all the bugs are worked out, experts say the current crop of
software is riddled with errors, in part because of its increasing
complexity. To make matters worse, many companies are starting to charge
users for the privilege of attempting to resolve problems while the number
of tech support personnel steadily dwindles. And software firms' strategy
of channeling users toward online help menus and e-mail leaves much to be
desired, according to the CR survey, which showed that 73% of users said
Web solutions are hard to find, navigate or don't work at all. The e-mail
route is equally as frustrating, with 50% reporting either unhelpful
replies, response delays of longer than two days or no response at all.
Meanwhile, industry watchers hold out little hope for improvement: "You're
adding more complex software, more hardware devices, home-based Internet
applications. These things interact and they don't always work together.
That's going to make this a bigger problem," says Blyskal.(CNN.com 8 Aug 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/08/07/software.glitches/index.html

PRICE DISCRIMINATION COULD SPARK CONSUMER BACKLASH
The Internet has made it easy for consumers to comparison shop for items
such as mortgages, cars, airline tickets and the like, but the flip side of
that convenience is that sellers also know more about buyers than ever
before: how much they buy, when they buy, and even how much they can afford
to pay. The inevitable result is price discrimination -- the practice of
offering different prices to different buyers, something that drives
consumers crazy. For example, a few years ago Coca-Cola experimented with
vending machines that jacked up the price of its sodas as the temperature
rose. And airlines have become masters of the practice, offering different
customers the exact same thing -- a seat on a plane -- for vastly different
prices. But University of Minnesota mathematician Andrew Odlyzko says even
though consumers hate it, companies increasingly will try to vary their
prices to suit certain times, places or buyers. But the trend could spark a
consumer backlash, fueled by growing concern over personal privacy issues.
"The growth in price discrimination is just one factor involved in this
evolution of our economy toward where the fight is really going to be --
about ownership or control of information," says Odlyzko.
(AP/Siliconvalley.com 7 Aug 2003)

NEW WORM TARGETS MICROSOFT SECURITY SITE
A virus-like computer attack expected to infect hundreds of thousands of
computers worldwide is programmed to direct all infected computers to
attack the security-related Microsoft Web site www.windowsupdate.com, used
by millions of Microsoft users each week. The worm, variously called
LoveSan, Blaster and MSBlaster, is apparently similar in structure to the
Code Red virus that affected 300,000 computers two years ago; it targets a
flaw in Microsoft Windows operating systems, and is considered to be a worm
type of virus because it doesn't require computer users to open an e-mail
attachment or take any other action to spread automatically from computer
to computer. Home computer users who leave computers constantly online to
the Internet through DSL or cable are among those most at risk. (San Jose
Mercury News 11 Aug 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6511962.htm

AMERICA ONLINE WANTS 'AOL' FOR ITSELF
America Online CEO Jonathan Miller has asked AOL Time Warner to drop the
"AOL" portion of its moniker, because he's concerned that "AOL," the online
service, is being confused with "AOL," used as shorthand for the world's
largest media company. "I believe it's time for us to get our brand back,"
said Miller in an e-mail to staff Monday. "Any controversy or criticism
involving the corporate entity has actually hit our consumer brand." A
company spokeswoman said AOL Time Warner chief executive Richard Parsons is
considering Miller's proposal, but the final decision will be up to the
company's board. AOL Time Warner's name has been in the news recently as
the Securities and Exchange Commission investigates possible accounting
irregularities, mainly at the AOL division, which is also struggling with
dialup defection as subscribers switch over to broadband ISPs. (AP 11 Aug 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030811/D7SS04DO0.html

MICROSOFT MUST PAY $521 MILLION FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENTS
A federal court in Chicago has ruled that Microsoft must pay $521 million
to Eolas Technologies and the University of California for infringing
patents owned by UC and licensed to Eolas. At issue is code included in
Internet Explorer that enables it to use plug-ins and applets, allowing Web
surfers to view multimedia or real-time content within a Web browser rather
than a separate software application. Eolas originally filed the lawsuit in
1999, and will receive 75% of the proceeds from the verdict, minus legal
fees and costs, and UC will receive the remaining 25%. Microsoft has said
it will appeal the jury verdict. (CNet News.com 11 Aug 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5062409.html

[Anyone Want To Try This On Behalf Of Project Gutenberg??? hart@pobox.com]
IS 'SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION' THEORY AN ACADEMIC MYTH?
Columbia University researchers have conducted the first large-scale
experiment examining the "six degrees of separation" theory, which posits
that a short chain of acquaintances (six links or less) can be found
between almost any two people in the world. In this global study, more than
60,000 people tried to get in touch with one of 18 people in 13 countries,
and of the more than 24,000 e-mail chains that were started fewer than 2%
reached their targets. The successful chains arrived quickly, requiring
only four steps to get there, but the rest failed when someone in the
middle did not forward the e-mail. Psychologist Judith S. Kleinfeld of the
University of Alaska calls the "six degrees of separation" theory the
"academic equivalent of an urban myth" and says: "Instead of showing we
live in a small world, it really shows the opposite. Ninety-eight percent
of people can't reach anybody. What do they conclude? 'Hey, we're all
connected.' What? All I'm saying is this study didn't prove it." The
follow-up experiment is at http://smallworld.columbia.edu.
(New York Times 12 Aug 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/science/12MAIL.html


History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely
once they have exhausted all other alternatives. Abba Eban

If knowledge can create problems, it is not
through ignorance that we can solve them.  Isaac Asimov


JUDGE THROWS OUT RIAA SUBPOENAS
A federal judge in Boston has rejected subpoenas filed by the Recording
Industry Association of America last month as part of its nationwide
crackdown on digital music file-sharing. The subpoenas targeted students at
Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who used
various screen names to share songs online. In his ruling, Judge Joseph L.
Tauro said that under federal rules, subpoenas issued in Washington cannot
be served in Massachusetts. The RIAA called the ruling "a minor procedural
issue" but declined to say whether it would refile in Boston. (AP 8 Aug 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030809/D7SQ5LC80.html

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From Edupage

RIAA ENCOUNTERS ROADBLOCK
In what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has deemed
a "minor procedural issue," a federal judge ruled that some of the
RIAA's subpoenas are invalid because they were issued from the wrong
jurisdiction. Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology recently received subpoenas requesting the identities of
students suspected of illegally trading copyrighted material, but the
schools noted that the subpoenas were issued from Washington, D.C., and
should not be valid in Massachusetts. Judge Joseph L. Tauro agreed and
threw out those subpoenas. The RIAA said the ruling does not change the
"undeniable fact" that Internet service providers, in this case the
universities in question, are legally required to reveal the identities
of suspected copyright violators.
BBC, 11 August 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3140933.stm

ISPS CONTEST RIAA SUBPOENAS
An organization representing Internet service providers (ISPs) will
send a letter this week to the recording industry, expressing the
group's concern over the ongoing subpoenas from the recording
industry. The letter from NetCoalition, which represents more than 100
ISPs, requests a meeting with representatives of the recording industry
to discuss how the group determines which individuals to pursue as
violators and how it maintains accurate information in the subpoenas.
According to the letter, NetCoalition fears that the goal of the
subpoenas is to make ISPs legally accountable for the actions of their
users, something the recording industry "has not yet been able to
accomplish in Congress" but that it is trying to accomplish in the
courts. An attorney from the recording industry association said the
purpose of the subpoenas is simply to force ISPs to comply with the law.
New York Times, 11 August 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/11/technology/11LETT.html


["Nothing In Our Schools Is More Important Than Safety," school official.]
[Those Who Would Sacrifice Freedom For Safety, Deserve Neither." Franklin]

WEBCAM SURVEILLANCE IN BILOXI SCHOOLS
Public schools in Biloxi, Mississippi, now have Web cameras in every
classroom, as the result of a two-year-long school-safety project. The
webcams are housed in circular domes on the ceiling and provide a sweeping
view of the classrooms to school administrators. A Biloxi school system
administrator reports that students and teachers have said they feel safer:
"They've been well received in the community. We have not had any problems
or complaints whatsoever." In rebuttal, the president of the Mississippi
American Federation of Teachers worries the cameras may affect
teacher/student rapport and doubts the cameras will act as enough of a
crime deterrent to justify the intrusion or the $2 million project cost.
(AP/New York Times 12 Aug 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Classroom-Cameras.html


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