PGWeekly_September_17.txt
*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, September 17, 2003*
******eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Over 32 Years*******
New eBook Milestones
We Reached 1/2 Of The Way From 9,000 to 10,000 Yesterday!!!
9505 Books Done. . .495 To Go. . . !
We're Over 19/20 Of The Way To 10,000!!!
Correction: I reported 102 new eBooks last week, it actually was 101.
We could use a volunteer to spend perhaps 10 minutes per day helping
us check that our count is perfectly accurate as we approach 10,000.
Please email me if you are willing to help us with this.
Here is a rough graph of our progress toward 10,000 eBooks:
YR 1990/1991/1992/1993/1994/1995/1996/1997/1998/1999/2000/2001/2002/2003 ^####
[95%] Sep 16, 2003 9,500>9/03 9,500
Aug 10, 2003 9,000>8/03 9,000
July 4, 2003 8,500>7/03 8,500
May 20, 2003 8,000>5/03 8,000
[75%] 7,500>3/03 7,500
7,000>1/03 7,000
6,500>12/02 6,500
6,000 >9/02 6,000
5,500 >7/02 5,500
[50%] April 10, 2002 5,000 >4/02 5,000
4,500 >2/02 4,500
4,000>10/01 4,000
3,500 >5/01 3,500
3,000 >12/00 3,000
[25%] 2,500 > 8/00 2,500
2,000 >12/99 2,000
1,500 >10/98 1,500
[10%] 1,000 >8/97 1,000
500 >4/96 500
[ 1%] 100 >12/93 <<<December 10, 1993 100
10 > 12/90 10
YR 1990/1991/1992/1993/1994/1995/1996/1997/1998/1999/2000/2001/2002/2003 ^####
[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 12/53 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 295 Ebooks/Yr
And This Year Averaged Over That Same New eBook Level. . .PER MONTH!!!!!
By The Way, It's Been About 1 Billion Seconds Since The First eBook!!!
We Are Averaging About 335 Per Month This Year!!!
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
1 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
76 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
- Headline News from Newsscan and Edupage
- Information about mailing lists
*** Requests For Assistance
Interested in music? Project Gutenberg's music project
(http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/music) is seeking people to
digitize musical scores. We also have a small budget to
work on publicity recruitment for our sheet music efforts.
Email Greg Newby <gbnewby AT pglaf.org> if you would like
more information.
***
!!!
I need a copy of zip for AIX that can do the "-9" high compression,
and still unzip via the standard unzip programs!!!
***
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
***
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 when
you would download the last month's/weeks' releases.
I have the first test DVD here right now!!! Nearly all
of our first 9,000 eBooks, and multiple formats!
*** PROJECT GUTENBERG IS SEEKING LEGAL BEAGLES
Project Gutenberg is seeking (volunteer) lawyers. We have
regular needs for intellectual property legal advice
(both US and international) and other areas. Please email
Project Gutenberg's CEO, Greg Newby <gbnewby AT pglaf.org> ,
if you can help.
*** Progress Report
In the first 8.25 months of this year, we produced 2762 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our first 2,762 eBooks!
That's 37 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 Years!
77 New eBooks This Week
101 New eBooks Last Week [Corrected from 102]
178 New eBooks This Month [September]
335 Average Per Month in 2003 <<<
203 Average Per Month in 2002 <<<
103 Average Per Month in 2001 <<<
2762 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
6443 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 32 Months! 200+/mo
9,505 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
5,977 eBooks This Week Last Year
3,490 New eBooks In The Last 12 Months [98.61%]
3,516 Would Have Been Exactly Moore's Law[100%]
4,642 New eBooks in the last 18 months [95.46%]
4,815 Would Have Been Exactly Moore's Law[100%]
273 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 catalog.
eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists.
***
FLASHBACK!!!
2762 New eBooks So Far in 2003
It took us 30 years for the first 2762 !
That's the 37 WEEKS of 2003 as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2762
Sep 2001 The Koran/The Q'uran, by Mohammed/Mohammad . . . [koranxxx.xxx] 2800
[Author Also As: Muhamad/Muhammad/Mohomet] [See also eBooks #3434 and 7440.]
Sep 2001 Eben Holden, by Irving Bacheller [bnhldxxx.xxx] 2799
Sep 2001 The Queen Of The Pirate Isle, by Bret Harte[BH#45][qotpixxx.xxx] 2798
Sep 2001 The Wolves and the Lamb, by William M Thackeray 22[wlvlmxxx.xxx] 2797
Sep 2001 The Yellowplush Papers, by Wm. M. Thackeray WMT#21[yloplxxx.xxx] 2796
Sep 2001 Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush by Thackeray[yloplxxx.xxx] 2796
Sep 2001 Bob Son of Battle, by Alfred Ollivant [bsonbxxx.xxx] 2795
Sep 2001 Found At Blazing Star, by Bret Harte [Harte #44][fabstxxx.xxx] 2794
Sep 2001 Flip: A California Romance, by Bret Harte [BH #43][flpcrxxx.xxx] 2793
Sep 2001 My Ten Years' Imprisonment by Silvio Pellico [mytenxxx.xxx] 2792
Sep 2001 Essays and Tales, by Joseph Addison [Addison #1] [etaddxxx.xxx] 2791
Aug 2001 The Poems of Hristo Botev/Our First Bulgarian Book[botevxxx.xxx] 2790
Aug 2001 The Motor Girls on A Tour, by Margaret Penrose [tmgotxxx.xxx] 2789
Aug 2001 Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott [L. M. Alcott #6][ltlmnxxx.xxx] 2788
Aug 2001 An Old-fashioned Girl, by Louisa May Alcott[LMA#5][ofgrlxxx.xxx] 2787
Aug 2001 Jack and Jill, by Louisa May Alcott [LM Alcott #4][jandjxxx.xxx] 2786
Aug 2001 The Elusive Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy[Orczy #3][lsvpmxxx.xxx] 2785
Aug 2001 Colonel Starbottle's Client, by Bret Harte[BH #42][strbtxxx.xxx] 2784
Aug 2001 The Trampling of the Lilies, by Rafael Sabatini #9[ttotlxxx.xxx] 2783
Aug 2001 Wilhelm Tell, by Johann Friedrich von Schiller [wtellxxx.xxx] 2782
[AKA: William Tell] [Author: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller]
Aug 2001 Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling [Kipling #15][jusssxxx.xxx] 2781
Aug 2001 My Life and My Efforts, Autobiography by Karl May [kmlaexxx.xxx] 2780C
[German Title: Mein Leben und Streben][Language: English]
Aug 2001 Mein Leben und Streben, Autobiography by Karl May [kmlusxxx.xxx] 2779
[English Title: My Life and My Efforts][Language: German]
(Note: #2780 is the copyrighted English translation of #2779, expressly
(made for Project Gutenberg, copyright by Gunther Olesch.)
Aug 2001 Jewel, by Clara Louise Burnham [jewelxxx.xxx] 2778
Aug 2001 Cabbages and Kings, by O Henry [O Henry #10][ckngsxxx.xxx] 2777
Aug 2001 The Four Million, by O Henry [O Henry #9] [4millnxx.xxx] 2776
Aug 2001 The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford [gsldrxxx.xxx] 2775
Aug 2001 The Patrician, by John Galsworthy [JG #13][ptrcnxxx.xxx] 2774
Aug 2001 Fraternity, by John Galsworthy [JG #12][frtrnxxx.xxx] 2773
Aug 2001 The Country House, by John Galsworthy [JG #11][chousxxx.xxx] 2772
Aug 2001 The Island Pharisees, by John Galsworthy [JG #10][ipharxxx.xxx] 2771
Aug 2001 Five Little Peppers And How They Grew, Sidney [#1][5lpepxxx.xxx] 2770
Aug 2001 Cleopatra, by H. Rider Haggard [H. R. Haggard #22][clptrxxx.xxx] 2769
Aug 2001 The Paris Sketch Book, by W. M. Thackeray[WMT #21][?tpsbxxx.xxx] 2768
Aug 2001 The Devil's Paw, by E. Phillips Oppenheim[EPH #10][dspawxxx.xxx] 2767
Aug 2001 The Red Acorn, by John McElroy [rdcrnxxx.xxx] 2766
Aug 2001 The Lady From The Sea, by Henrik Ibsen [Ibsen #7] [ldysexxx.xxx] 2765
Aug 2001 The Mahatma and the Hare, by H. Rider Haggard[#21][tmathxxx.xxx] 2764
Aug 2001 The World's Desire, by Rider [#20], and Lang [#27][wldsrxxx.xxx] 2763
Aug 2001 The Brethren, by H. Rider Haggard [HR Haggard #19][brthnxxx.xxx] 2762
Aug 2001 Benita, by H. Rider Haggard [H. Rider Haggard #18][bnitaxxx.xxx] 2761
Aug 2001 Marquise de Ganges, by Alexander Dumas, Pere[# 27][gangexxx.xxx] 2758
Aug 2001 Vanika, by Alexander Dumas, Pere [Dumas, Pere 26][vaninxxx.xxx] 2757
Aug 2001 Marquise Brinvillier, by Alexander[Dumas, Pere 25][brinvxxx.xxx] 2756
Aug 2001 Murat, by Alexander Dumas, Pere [Dumas, Pere #24][muratxxx.xxx] 2755
Aug 2001 Countess St. Geran, by Alexander Dumas, Pere [#23][geranxxx.xxx] 2754
(Alt. Title: Countess de Saint-Geran, by Alexander Dumas)
Aug 2001 Ali Pacha, by Alexander Dumas, Pere[Dumas Pere 22][alpacxxx.xxx] 2753
Aug 2001 Martin Guerre, by Alexander Dumas, Pere [Dumas 21][mguerxxx.xxx] 2752
Aug 2001 Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexander Dumas, Pere 20 [emaskxxx.xxx] 2751
(This is the essay entitled The Man in the Iron Mask, not the novel)
***
Today Is Day #259 of 2003
This Completes Week #37
119 Days/17 Weeks To Go [We get 53 Wednesdays this year]
495 Books To Go To #10,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
Week #71 Of Our *SECOND* 5,000 eBooks
75 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
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email: Diane Gratton <diane_xml@hotmail.com>
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*** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 37 weeks of this year, we have produced 2762 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our FIRST 2762 eBooks!!!
That's 37 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
With 9,505 eBooks online as of September 10, 2003 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $1.05 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 1.5% of the world's population!
This "cost" is down from about $1.67 when we had 5977 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine 9,505 books each costing $.62 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 9,505 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 9505 eBooks in 32 Years and 3.25 Months We Averaged
295 Per Year [About as many as we do per month these days!]
25 Per Month
.80 Per Day
At 2762 eBooks Done In The 259 Days Of 2003 We Averaged
10.7 Per Day
74.6 Per Week
325.3 Per Month
The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks'
production; each production-week starts/ends Wednesday noon,
starts with the first Wednesday of January. January 1st was
the first Wednesday of 2003, and thus ended PG's 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:
[Who Was That Masked Man? The One Touting Terabytes For All?]
IBM LAYS OUT PLAN FOR INTELLIGENT BRICKS
Researchers at IBM's Almaden Research Center are proposing a new type of
computer configuration -- one that involves Lego-like stacking of so-called
Collective Intelligent Bricks to build a customized data storage center.
The bricks are really cubes with edges measuring 20cm and inside each brick
are 12 disk drives, each of which can store 80 gigabytes of data. The
bricks house a processor to run the disks and a chip that enables the
connectors on the outside of the brick to link to other bricks for data
exchange. The transmission rate between connectors is now relatively slow
-- 3 gigabits per second -- but lead scientist Jai Menon is hoping to boost
that to 10 gigabits soon -- a rate comparable to high-speed fiber optic
connections. And while there are still cooling issues to be worked out
(it's hard to keep all those components cool when they're packed so tightly
together), the brick design has one feature that engineers value the most
-- redundancy. If one brick goes bad, the network of connections can be
routed around it to isolate it, and back-up copies of all data can be
stored in multiple bricks to ensure no failure would be catastrophic. (The
Economist 11 Sep 2003)
http://www.economist.com
[It's Only The "Industrial Smoke And Mirrors" eBooks That Are Out,
Those Who Want Huge Profits Without Offering Huge Advantages. . .]
E-BOOKS TAKE A HIT, BUT DON'T COUNT THEM OUT
The future of e-books got slightly more fuzzy last week when Barnes & Noble
announced it was closing down its eBooks store, but industry watchers say
the long-term forecast for the nascent market is still upbeat. And while
today's e-book technology is viewed by many as a solution in search of a
problem, companies like Microsoft, Palm and Adobe stand firmly behind their
investments in the industry. "We think that in the long-term, e-book
technology has a great future. Market acceptance has not taken off quite as
quickly as was predicted, but we are certainly continuing to invest in this
area," says an Adobe spokesman. And while it may be a long wait until the
average consumer turns to e-books for pleasure reading, e-books may
ultimately find their niche with tech-savvy youth accustomed to on-screen
browsing and the burgeoning cohort of retiring baby boomers, predicts
Richard Doherty, research director at Envisioneering Group. "Two audiences
that will benefit best are young people who loathe the idea of a library,
and aging people who want the convenience of large type on demand" and the
freedom from lugging hefty hard copy around. (Reuters 14 Sep 2003)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=2&u=/nm/20030914/
tc_nm/media_ebooks_dc
[Peace In Our Time. . .???] [That's NOT The Chicago Way!!!]
ANTI-SPAM EFFORT WOULD PAY SPAMMERS TO STOP
A new anti-spam service, called Global Removal, is taking a different
approach to fighting spam -- it's proposing to pay spammers for cooperating
with their effort. Internet users fed up with junk e-mail would pay a $5
lifetime fee to have their e-mail addresses put on a Global Removal
do-not-spam list. Addresses on the list would be cross-referenced and
deleted from mailing lists maintained by Global's partners, which include
more than 50 known spammers and an equal number of legitimate e-mail
marketers. These partners would be rewarded for their diligence through an
affiliate program, which would pay $1 for every new subscriber that they
bring to the service. In order to avoid a new flood of spam touting Global
Removal's service, the spammers would be allowed to send only one message
to their purged mailing lists. "Despite the urban legend, these guys don't
really want to keep these names on their lists if they know that the people
aren't going to be receptive to advertising," says Global CEO Tom Jackson.
"They can make more money for less effort through our program." Critics say
the flaw in Global's sales pitch is that subscribers would still receive
junk e-mail from spammers not affiliated with Global and that Global's
spammers could always renege on their deal and go back to their old lists.
One intellectual property lawyer says, "It's a little like paying
protection money to mob bosses. There's precious little assurance about the
comprehensiveness of the protection, or that the prices won't go up at the
whim of the 'bosses.'" Still, if spammers "could be assured some minimum
bit of income by not sending me mail, it's a better deal for them and a
relief to me." (Wired.com 15 Sep 2003)
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60431,00.html
[Can Those Who Draw The Internet Maps Send YOU to .com, .net, or AOL?]
[Remember That Quote: "S/he Who Controls The Agenda Controls Outcome"?]
VERISIGN'S SITE FINDER PROFITS FROM TYPOS
Internet registrar VeriSign has launched a new service, Site Finder, that
offers users who mistype a URL a list of alternative Web sites that they
might be trying to reach. Several ISPs do the same thing -- most notably
AOL and MSN -- but critics say that because VeriSign controls the directory
computers for ".com" and ".net" names, they could easily reroute all
queries to Site Finder. "We put so much of our research into developing
this AOL search result page," says an AOL spokesman. "We are reviewing our
potential options. We are strongly opposed to them interjecting themselves
into our members' search experience." Site Finder's suggestions include
both standard search results and pay-for-placement advertisements, which
are identified as such. But while VeriSign VP Ben Turner says the new
service is designed to "improve overall usability of the Internet," Danny
Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch, warns that Site Finder's
capabilities could also be abused -- by directing users only to
pay-for-placement sites, for instance. Meanwhile, the new service provides
a much-needed new revenue stream for the Internet registrar. "Right now,
VeriSign's business is not a growing business, and anything that they do to
add the slightest amount of growth is going to be positive," says an
analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. (AP 15 Sep 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030915/D7TJ2U5O0.html
SBC RESISTS SUBPOENAS TO IDENTIFY MUSIC DOWNLOADERS
In another challenge to the recording industry, No. 2 regional phone
company and Internet service provider SBC is refusing to comply with
subpoenas requiring it and other ISPs to turn over to the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) the identities of subscribers
suspected of music copyright infringers. SBC's general counsel James D.
Ellis sees it as a privacy issue: "Clearly, there are serious legal issues
here, but there are also these public policy privacy issues. We have
unlisted numbers in this industry, and we've got a long heritage in which
we have always taken a harsh and hard rule on protecting the privacy of our
customers' information." Matthew J. Oppenheim, a top RIAA executive, says:
"SBC believes that free music drives its business. That's the only
explanation for why they would relitigate issues that have been resolved."
(New York Times 16 Sep 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/business/media/16SWAP.html
[Then Why Does SBS Relitigate When THEY Lose?]
IM-ING HABITS DIFFER IN U.S., U.K.
Using Instant Messenger at work to flirt with colleagues, complain about
the boss and gossip about co-workers are among the most common IM themes --
at least in the U.K., where 65% of survey respondents say they use IM for
personal purposes during work hours. "If you're leaning forward and typing
away at your machine, who's to know what you're typing about," says Nigel
Hawthorn, whose cybersecurity firm, Blue Coat Systems, conducted a poll of
some 300 firms in the U.K. and the U.S. Half the British respondents
admitted to spicing up their IMs with abusive language; 40% used IM-ing to
conspire with colleagues during conference calls; and nearly a third
confessed to "making sexual advances" via IM. U.S. respondents, meanwhile,
were much more circumspect in their IM habits, with fewer than one in five
using IM to comment on senior management or to flirt. The difference, says
Hawthorn, is probably attributable to the Big Brother syndrome. While
nearly 60% of Brits were pretty sure their bosses couldn't monitor their IM
activities, 71% of U.S. respondents believed -- correctly -- that their IM
messages could be traced back to them. (Reuters 15 Sep 2003)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=9&u=/nm/
20030915/tc_nm/tech_internet_im_col_dc
COMPUTING PRICES ARE WAY TOO HIGH, SAYS MCNEALY
Consumers are paying up to 10 times as much as they should for the
privilege of buying and using computers, according to Sun Microsystems CEO
Scott McNealy, who predicts cheaper prices in the future. "The world has to
be getting a little disappointed in our industry," McNealy told attendees
of the SunNetwork conference. "We are overcharging in our industry by an
order of magnitude," or by up to 10 times. "That cost^E is going to come out
of our industry in the next five to 10 years." The companies most likely to
take a hit are the ones with a vested interest in today's complex computing
environments, such as Microsoft and IBM. Sun's answer to the problem is its
Java Enterprise System for servers and its Java Desktop System, which
offers a Linux-based alternative to Microsoft Windows and Office. Sun hopes
its new products will boost its flagging revenue, which has declined
alarmingly in the last few years. In a demonstration of Sun's new desktop
technology, software executive Jonathan Schwartz showed off a Linux user
interface called "Looking Glass," which treats Windows as 3-D hinged panes
of glass that can be folded back out of the way or made transparent. (CNet
News.com 17 Sep 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1010_3-5077619.html
[Moore/More Terabytes]
SERVERS GET PERSONAL
Senior Intel researcher Roy Want has devised a prototype device that the
company's calling a Personal Server -- a matchbox-size PC that can be used
to store personal data and may be accessed by a variety of devices.
"Storage capacity is growing in leaps and bounds," Want told participants
at the Intel Developer Forum. "By 2012 you will be able to carry a device
that could record a lifetime's conversations. It would take about three
terabytes of data to do. To include video, you'd need 97 terabytes, which
is expected to be economically viable at current development rates by
2014." Intel's Personal Server could be controlled by a unit built into a
wristwatch, and would use a wireless link to download prices, timetables
and news from billboards and other public access points. "I would be very
surprised if you don't see devices like this on the market in five years'
time," said Want. (VNUNet 16 Sep 2003)
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1143659
GOODBYE AOL TIME WARNER (WE HARDLY KNEW YE)
Name change. What was trumpeted a couple of years ago as the merger of the
ages, is still (apparently) the merger of the ages, but with an unmerged
name. AOL Time Warner is taking back its old name, plain ol' Time Warner
(stock symbol TWX), and its Internet division, AOL, will be called, not
unreasonably, AOL). Sources in the company (Time Warner, that is) say that
the corporate name change is not a sign that there will be a sale or
spinoff of the America Online division, nor a sign that the company is
close to settling an ongoing SEC investigation into accounting problems at
AOL. (Washington Post 17 Sep 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21766-2003Sep16.html
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From Edupage
ANTI-SPAM LAW WORKING IN SOUTH KOREA
Toughened anti-spam legislation in South Korea is credited with a drop
in that country's incidence of unwanted e-mail. The law was
strengthened in December, raising the limit for monetary damages and
instituting criminal penalties for spammers. The law also forbids
automatic generation of e-mail addresses, harvesting addresses from Web
sites, and circumventing spam blockers with technical measures.
According to data from surveys conducted by the Korea Information
Security Agency, users in March of this year reported that more than 90
percent of commercial e-mail was unsolicited. By July, that number had
fallen to about 70 percent. The survey indicated that in July, each
South Korean user received an average of 41 spam e-mails per day, of
which 35 are considered illegal and 23 are obscene. These numbers
represented decreases of 18 percent, 20 percent, and 27 percent,
respectively, compared to data from March.
InfoWorld, 15 September 2003
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/15/HNkoreaspam_1.html
PAYING OFF THE SPAMMERS
Founders of San Antonio, Texas-based Global Removal believe that the
way to end spam is to offer spammers an economic incentive not to send
unwanted messages. The company offers a subscription service by which
consumers who pay Global Removal $5 will be removed from the mailing
lists of all of the company's partnering organizations, which include
around 100 spammers and legitimate e-mail marketers alike. Partnering
organizations can earn $1 for each new subscriber they draw to the
service. Tom Jackson, CEO of Global Removal, argues that senders of
commercial e-mail would prefer to know who on their lists is not
interested. "They can make more money for less effort through our
program," he said. Critics of Global Removal's approach said it is
flawed because it does not guarantee effectiveness and has no way to
enforce the agreement. Julian Haight of SpamCop.net compared it to
"curing the disease by killing the patient," and Denise Howell, an
intellectual property lawyer, said it was like "paying protection money
to mob bosses."
Wired News, 15 September 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60431,00.html
RESEARCH SAYS MOVIE PIRACY STARTS WITH INSIDERS
Data from researchers at AT&T Laboratories and the University of
Pennsylvania indicate that more than three-quarters of all movies
available on peer-to-peer networks come from movie-industry leaks. The
finding runs counter to the popular notion that most pirated movies
come from unauthorized home reproduction or from in-cinema taping. The
researchers developed software that examined a number of features of
the electronic files, features that can indicate the source of the
file, such as editing, pre- or post-production, or review copies of the
movie. Many pirated movies appear on peer-to-peer networks before they
are released in theaters, and online trading of movies is estimated to
cost the industry as much as $3 billion a year. Pirated VHS and DVD
copies of movies cost the industry an estimated $30 billion annually.
New Scientist, 15 September 2003
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994166
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