PGWeekly_October_01.txt
*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, October 01, 2003*
*****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers Since July 4, 1971*****
eBook Milestones
We Have Now Averaged 300 eBooks Per Year Since July 4, 1971 !!!
9,683 eBooks in 32 Years and 3.75 Months = 300 eBooks Per Year!!!
We Have Just Passed 2/3 Of The Way From 9,000 to 10,000 !!!
9683 Books Done. . .317 To Go. . . !
We're Nearly 39/40 Of The Way To 10,000!!!
This Week We Finished The Complete Works Of Nathaniel Hawthorne!
Once Again:
For those who were expecting more: we have about 30 more in the works,
but the files are so large that it's been taking longer than we expected
to get them moved around, headers added, and placed for download Other
than this, we are still pretty close to right on schedule to try #10,000
on October 15th, thus keeping up with Moore's Law. . .if the new eBooks
keeping coming in at the rate we are hoping for!!!
[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 13/53 Year History, We Have Now Averaged About 297 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 327 Per Month This Year!!!
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***
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
3 New From PG Australia [Australian, Canadian Copyright Etc.]
97 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> ,
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*** Progress Report
In the first 9.00 months of this year, we produced 2940 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our first 2,940 eBooks!
That's 39 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 Years!
100 New eBooks This Week
122 New eBooks Last Week
356 New eBooks This Month [September]
327 Average Per Month in 2003 <<<
203 Average Per Month in 2002 <<<
103 Average Per Month in 2001 <<<
2940 New eBooks in 2003
2441 New eBooks in 2002
1240 New eBooks in 2001
====
6621 New eBooks Since Start Of 2001
That's Only 33 Months! ~200/mo
9,683 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks
6,066 eBooks This Week Last Year
3,575 New eBooks In The Last 12 Months [99.47%]
3,593 Would Have Been Exactly Moore's Law[100%]
4,650 New eBooks in the last 18 months [94.90%]
4,900 Would Have Been Exactly Moore's Law[100%]
279 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
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eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists.
***
FLASHBACK!!!
2940 New eBooks So Far in 2003
It took us 30 years for the first 2940 !
That's the 39 WEEKS of 2003 as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2940
Dec 2001 Howards End, by E. M. Forster [E. M. Forster #3] [hoendxxa.xxx] 2946
[This is version 10a, see also #2891)
Dec 2001 Essays, Second Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson[E#2][2srwexxx.xxx] 2945
Dec 2001 Essays, First Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson [E#1][1srwexxx.xxx] 2944
Dec 2001 The Great Hunger, by Johan Bojer [From Norwegian] [ghngrxxx.xxx] 2943
Dec 2001 Two Penniless Princesses, by Charlotte M. Yonge #5[2pnprxxx.xxx] 2942
Dec 2001 The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena), by James Legge[prolgxxx.xxx] 2941
[Warning: This file in in English, but contains many Chinese characters]
Nov 2001 The Circulation of the Blood, by T. H. Huxley[#29][thx19xxx.xxx] 2939
[Full name: William Harvey and the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood]
Nov 2001 Yeast, Thomas Henry Huxley[Thomas Henry Huxley#28][thx18xxx.xxx] 2938
Nov 2001 Coral and Coral Reefs, by T. H. Huxley [#27][thx17xxx.xxx] 2937
Nov 2001 Geological Contemporaneity, by T. H. Huxley [#26][thx16xxx.xxx] 2936
[Title: Geological Contemporaniety and Persistent Types of Life]
Nov 2001 On the Study of Zoology, by T. H. Huxley [THH #25][thx15xxx.xxx] 2935
Nov 2001 On the Study of Zoology, by T. H. Huxley [THH #25][thx15xxx.xxx] 2935
Nov 2001 Improving Natural Knowledge, by T. H. Huxley [#24][thx14xxx.xxx] 2934
[On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge]
Nov 2001 On Some Fossil Remains of Man by T. H. Huxley[#23][thx13xxx.xxx] 2933
Nov 2001 Relations of Man to Lower Animals, T H Huxley[#22][thx12xxx.xxx] 2932
[Title: On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals]
Nov 2001 Man's Place in Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley[#21][thx11xxx.xxx] 2931
[Title: Evidence as to Man's Place In Nature]
Nov 2001 Criticisms on Origin of Species, T.H. Huxley [#20][thx10xxx.xxx] 2930
Nov 2001 The Origin of Species, by Thomas Henry Huxley[#19][thx09xxx.xxx] 2929
(See also #2009 and #1228)
Nov 2001 Time and Life, by Thomas Henry Huxley [THH #18][thx08xxx.xxx] 2928
Nov 2001 The Darwinian Hypothesis, by Thomas H. Huxley[#17][thx07xxx.xxx] 2927
Nov 2001 Examination of Origin of Species by TH Huxley[#16][thx06xxx.xxx] 2926
[A Critical Examination of the Position of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On the
[Origin of Species," In Relation to the Complete Theory of the Causes
[of the Phenomena of Organic Nature]
***
Today Is Day #273 of 2003
This Completes Week #39
97 Days/14 Weeks To Go [We get 53 Wednesdays this year]
300 Books To Go To #10,000
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
Week #72 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:
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*** Have We Given Away A Trillion Books/Dollars Yet???
Statistical Review
In the 39 weeks of this year, we have produced 2940 new eBooks.
It took us from 1971 to 2000 to produce our FIRST 2940 eBooks!!!
That's 39 WEEKS as Compared to ~30 YEARS!!!
With 9,683 eBooks online as of October 01, 2003 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $1.03 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 $1.65 when we had 6015 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine 9,683 books each costing $.62 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 9,683 books each costing 1/3 less a year later???
At 9683 eBooks in 32 Years and 3.75 Months We Averaged
300 Per Year [We do more per month these days!]
25 Per Month
.81 Per Day
At 2940 eBooks Done In The 273 Days Of 2003 We Averaged
10.8 Per Day
75.4 Per Week
327.7 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:
DELL'S MEDIA STRATEGY
Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell says his company has been talking to media
companies "to get agreements with the content owners and the artists. We're
going to do some things with music and I think there's opportunity in
movies." Dell is expected to announce a new company strategy intended expand
its commitment to consumer's home with new digital products, possibly to
include a digital music player, flat-panel television sets and a new
handheld computer. Dell's competitors will include Apple, which sells the
iPod music player, and Gateway, which sells big-screen televisions.
(Reuters/Forbes 24 Sep 2003)
http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2003/09/24/rtr1090941.html
RIAA WITHDRAWS IN A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has withdrawn a lawsuit
that accused a 66-year-old woman of illegally downloading and sharing more
than 2,000 songs online. An attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
says the woman and her husband simply use the Internet to send e-mail to
their children and grandchildren. Also, they use a Macintosh, which cannot
run the software needed for the Kazaa file-sharing service they are accused
of using illegally. The RIAA accusation seems to have been a case of
mistaken identity, and the EFF attorney says more mistaken-identity cases
are expected because many Internet service providers do not assign IP
addresses to any one user but shuffle them around.
(San Francisco Chronicle 24 Sep 2003)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/09/24/nati
onal1155EDT0579.DTL
CRITIC OF MICOSOFT SECURITY LOSES JOB
Daniel E. Geer Jr., the chief technology officer for AtStake -- a Cambridge,
Mass., technology firm that works closely with Microsoft -- lost his job
after participating on a study that disparages security gaps in Microsoft
software. Microsoft-watchers see the firing as an example of Microsoft's
ability to silence its critics. Ed Black, head of the Computer and
Communications Industry Association (sponsor of the report in question)
says: "It's a tragedy this happened to someone who was speaking in the
interest of national security. It gives even more credibility to what he
said and what the report said. He was not in any way representing some
corporate interests of his company." A statement by AtStake says simply:
"The values and opinions of the report are not in line with AtStake's
views." (AP/USA Today 26 Sep 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/digest.htm
TERMINATION OF INFORMATION AWARENESS OFFICE
The Pentagon's controversial Information Awareness Office, which had been
headed by Admiral John M. Poindexter, has been closed down by Congress,
though a few of its projects will be shifted elsewhere within the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Senator Ron Wyden (D, OR) says:
"They turned the lights out on the programs Poindexter conceived. From a
standpoint of civil liberties, this is a huge victory." Wyden says the
programs that survived are mainly training initiatives, such as war-gaming
software that help agencies analyze evidence and communicate with one
another. (New York Times 26 Sep 2003)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/politics/26SURV.html
[I Don't Get It. . .Why Should THEIR Free Speech Extend Into MY House?]
SPEECH, PRIVACY, AND DO-NOT-CALL: 'I WANT TO BE ALONE'
Privacy and free speech are conflicting values in the current controversy
over "Do Not Call" legislation aimed at curtailer commercial telemarketing
calls (while continuing to allow calls made for political or philanthropic
purposes). David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, says: "The telemarketers have some First Amendment
rights to disseminate information. But the consumer also has some rights to
control unwanted information coming into the home." Telemarketers argue that
their own free-speech rights are being violated by the FTC's attempt to
establish a Do-Not-Call list, and UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh explains:
"When it comes to residential privacy, the Supreme Court has suggested that
content-based discrimination is illegal. The FTC is setting up content-based
discrimination." Some legal experts think the government could legally
expand the registry to all telemarketers, with a registry that just says,
like Greta Garbo, "I want to be alone." Attorney Bruce Johnson, an expert in
First Amendment law, says: "I don't think it's restricting political or
religious speech. The registry just says that I don't want to hear from
anybody." (San Jose Mercury News 27 Sep 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6874978.htm
FCC TRIES TO RESCUE DO-NOT-CALL
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will investigate complaints
from consumers who receive unwanted telemarketing calls beginning today,
regardless of the fact that the Do-Not-Call registry created by another
government agency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was put into limbo
by the ruling of U.S District Judge Edward W. Nottingham that the
legislation on which it was based is an unconstitutional abridgement of
free speech. In spite of Nottingham's ruling, many telemarketers plan to
honor the list, because (in the words of telemarketer Arthur W. Conway)
"it's the right thing to do," in addition to the fact that "we don't know
what the law is anymore."(Washington Post 1 Oct 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25319-2003Sep30.html
3G WIRELESS SIGNALS COULD MAKE YOU SICK
Radio signals used for next-generation (3G) wireless services can cause
headaches and nausea, according to a study conducted on behalf of the
Netherlands ministries for Economic Affairs, Health and Telecommunications.
The study compared the impact of radiation from base stations used for
current wireless services with those for new 3G networks, which transfer
data at a faster rate. "If the test group was exposed to third-generation
base station signals there was a significant impact. They felt tingling
sensations, got headaches and felt nauseous," says a spokeswoman for the
Dutch Economics Ministry. The Dutch government said follow-up research was
needed. Previous research on health effects of mobile phones, primarily
second-generation, has been inconclusive, but a long-term study conducted
by the International Agency on Research on Cancer is expected to yield
results next year. (Reuters 30 Sep 2003)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=7&u=/nm/20030930/
tc_nm/health_mobile_damage_dc
VISA REDUCTION ADVERSELY IMPACTS HIGH-TECH RECRUITMENT
The U.S. has sharply reduced (from 195,000 to 65,000) the number of H-1B
visas granted for skilled foreign professionals, a change which drastically
complicates the business environment for Indian software services companies
that provide workers for American companies. The H-1B visa program allows
foreigners to work in the United States for up to six years, and has done
much to contribute to the growth of Silicon Valley. The American
Immigration Lawyers' Association says there are about 900,000 H-1B
employees in the U.S., of which 35-45% are from India. The reduced visa
limit is expected gradually to diminish the U.S.'s ability to attract the
most talented workers, and as the economy continues to recover, the country
may see an even more acute shortage of skilled workers. Laxman Badiga of
Indian software exporter Wipro says: "If there are no visas to bring talent
to the U.S., American companies will eventually say, 'Let's go to India
where the resources are.'" (New York Times 1 Oct 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/10/01/business/worldbusiness/01visa.html
iTUNES MEETS ITS MUSICMATCH
Building on the popularity of Apple's iTunes Music Store, software maker
MusicMatch is launching a Windows-compatible music download service offering
songs from leading record labels with the fewest restrictions so far on
copying and portability. The new software allows customers to purchase songs
for 99 cents apiece without having to enroll in a monthly subscription
program, and users may copy the tracks onto as many as three different
computers and transfer them to portable music players, as well as burn as
many as 5 CDs with the same set of songs. MusicMatch president Peter D.
Csathy says it took months of negotiations with the labels to agree on those
terms. A digital music store "is DOA when you have complex usage rules,"
says Csathy. Those terms are likely to soon be offered by others targeting
the Windows market, which represents more than 90% of computer users. (Los
Angeles Times 29 Sep 2003)
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-musicmatch29sep29224416,1,6990564.st
ory?coll=la-headlines-technology
CHANGES AFOOT FOR NIELSEN'S TV RATING SYSTEM
Nielsen Media Research -- the television industry's lead authority on
audience ratings -- is revamping its operations in an effort to capture more
data on audience demographics for viewers of small digital-cable channels.
The company plans to double the size of its national sample to 10,000 by
2006 and is testing a new "psycho acoustic coding" system that can
differentiate between broadcasters' multicast signals. The system requires
broadcasters to embed distinctive audio signals -- inaudible to humans--
into their digital broadcasts that will enable Nielsen's new set-top box
(known inside the company as "golden ears") to monitor the different
channels. Digital television is still in its infancy but is growing up fast
as the deadline set for broadcasters to switch over from analog to digital
looms. Estimates suggest that fewer than 50 digital stations are currently
multicasting, but that number is expected to mushroom over the next few
years. Nielsen is also working with radio ratings service Arbitron in a test
to gauge the number of often uncounted viewers in dorm rooms, hotels and
gyms, using a "portable people meter" the size of a pager to track what kind
of radio and television programming people are consuming outside the home.
In Europe, Nielsen is studying a wristwatch-type meter to measure an
individual's viewing, be it at home or on the road, but the "portable people
meter" still has a few kinks to work out. For instance, it records a
television signal playing in a bar, even if the user isn't watching the
show. Still, many critics see the moves as a step in the right direction.
"Since VNU took over there has been a positive movement by Nielsen to
advance the state of measurement rather than just sit back and watch their
margins grow," says CBS research chief David Poltrack. "They have a plan for
measuring the future and are keeping on top of things."
(Wall Street Journal 29 Sep 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10648012103934100,00.html (sub req'd)
COMPUTERS FOR THE LIVING ROOM
Microsoft, Dell, Gateway, and other hardware companies are announcing PCs
using Windows XP Media Center software that turns a computer into a digital
entertainment system allowing user to watch TV shows, play digital music
collections, listen to the radio, review photos, watch DVDs and buy music
over the Internet. Microsoft cofounder and chairman Bill Gates says: "Our
goal is to create software breakthroughs that break down the boundaries
between the different devices people use in the home and make the most out
of all the technology available today. The Media Center PC is our next step
in this vision, a new kind of computer that simplifies everyday life --
enabling the TV, stereo, and other devices (to) work together with a single
remote, and getting TV shows, movies, pictures and music into every room of
the house." Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research says: "It really feels
like much more of a consumer electronics type of product as opposed to a PC
product." (USA Today 1 Oct 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-09-30-ms-media_x.htm
VANDALS DIVERTING COMPUTERS TO $5-A-MINUTE PORN SITES
Network vandals have been exploiting a security gap in Microsoft's Internet
Explorer software and using it to connect their computers to $5-a-minute
porn lines by sending computer users to sites that change a computer's
dial-up settings, connecting it to expensive long distance telephone numbers
instead of the user's ISP. The original hole in Internet Explorer was
discovered last month, and Microsoft issued a software patch to fix it,
there but new variations of the malicious code seem to be evading the
existing patch. (Internet News 29 Sep 2003)
http://www.internet-magazine.com/news/view.asp?id=3732
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***
From Edupage
[Long Distance "Too Cheap To Meter!!!]
VOIP AT DARTMOUTH
Entering freshmen at Dartmouth College this fall can use their
computers as telephones using the institution's voice-over-Internet
protocol (VoIP) system, which runs on the campus wireless network. The
program will be expanded to cover 13,000 students, faculty, and staff
on campus. Officials from Dartmouth believe theirs is the first
wireless VoIP implementation of such a size. Students will be able to
make local or long-distance calls for free, an arrangement that results
from the college's recent decision not to charge for long-distance
calls. Dartmouth had come to the conclusion that costs for billing
long-distance calls were higher than the calls themselves, and tracking
such calls in the new system would be unrealistic. "Imagine the
complexities of trying to track down who made what call when on a
large, mobile, campus voice-over-IP network," said Bob Johnson,
director of network services.
New York Times, 23 September 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/23/technology/23DART.html
[BTW, my recollection is that Dartmouth has about 4,000 undergrads,
can anyone confirm?]
CONGRESS PROVIDES NO FUNDS FOR CONTROVERSIAL PENTAGON OFFICE
Congress has approved a spending bill that includes no funds for the
Pentagon's Information Awareness Office, effectively eliminating it.
The office and its former head, John Poindexter, had been criticized by
civil-rights and privacy groups for initiatives including the Total
Information Awareness program (later called the Terrorism Information
Awareness program) and a futures market on terrorism, which was ended
almost immediately after details of its intended operation were made
public. A few of the office's programs, specifically training, will
continue but will be transferred elsewhere within the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency.
New York Times, 26 September 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/politics/26SURV.html
MICROSOFT TO SHUTTER MOST CHAT ROOMS
Saying that "free, unmoderated chat isn't safe," Microsoft has
announced it will close Internet chat rooms in most countries around
the world and will limit access to subscribers to other Microsoft
services in those countries where chat rooms will still be
available--the United States, Canada, and Japan. Chat rooms have earned
a reputation as havens for pedophiles and other child predators.
Leaving the service available to subscribers is seen as significantly
less risky because personally identifiable information about those
users is kept as part of billing records. Geoff Sutton, European
general manager of Microsoft MSN, said the free and open days of the
Internet are over because a "small minority have changed that for
everyone." Those who supported the company's decision--and urge that
other companies follow suit--pointed to a sharp rise in the past year
in the incidence of online child predation. Critics of the move,
including free-speech advocates and some children's rights groups,
wondered whether eliminating chat rooms will simply force predators
underground rather than address the root problem.
Wired News, 23 September 2003
DHS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR VISA-TRACKING SYSTEM
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security have announced a
project to build a massive system to photograph, fingerprint, and track
all foreigners as they enter and leave the United States with visas.
Called U.S. Visitor and Status Indication Technology, U.S. VISIT, the
system would attempt to keep tabs on the millions of non-U.S. citizens
who enter the country each year on visas, including providing records
of when those visa holders leave the country--something the existing
system does not do. Details of the system are expected in November,
when contractors will submit bids on the project, which analysts expect
to cost between $3 billion and $10 billion. The program has drawn
criticism from civil rights groups, who expressed concern over privacy
issues, and from others who said the system cannot be effective without
procedures for deporting those who pose a threat. Others noted that
only 20 percent of the visitors to the United States each year have
visas because the rest come from countries deemed not to present a
security risk. James A. Lewis, director of technology policy at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, "The problem
we're fixing may not be the al Qaeda problem" because such groups
could send people to the United States who have clean records or who
travel from countries that do not require visas.
Washington Post, 29 September 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14287-2003Sep28.html
TSA THREATENS DATA-SHARING MANDATE
Criticism of government programs to increase airline security has left
many airlines reluctant to participate in test programs, prompting the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to raise the possibility
of requiring airlines to participate. Delta Airlines had previously
agreed to be part of testing for the Computer Assisted Passenger
Prescreening System (CAPPS II), which requires passengers to provide
certain pieces of personal information then used to screen passengers
for their probability of being terrorists. After a strong public outcry
at the proposal, Delta withdrew. JetBlue Airways is facing similar
consumer backlash after it acknowledged releasing passenger information
to a defense contractor, though the airline claimed it was not part of
the CAPPS II program. TSA Chief Administrator James Loy said that if no
airlines are willing to participate, the agency may issue a mandate
that all airlines must participate.
Internet News, 29 September 2003
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/3084711
MUSICMATCH ENTERS THE FRAY
Musicmatch has announced plans to begin selling songs online, using its
own Musicmatch Jukebox software. Rumors of Dell's involvement in the
program remain unsubstantiated. Musicmatch will charge 99 cents per
song or $9.99 for most albums. Musicmatch songs, which will be in
Windows Media format, can be played on PCs or portable music players.
Songs can be written to CDs a maximum of five times. The company said
it will have 200,000 songs available initially and expects to have
500,000 by the end of the year. Other companies, including Sony,
RealNetworks, and Amazon.com, are expected to join in the market for
legal music downloads, a market that some see as the inevitable outcome
of ongoing copyright enforcement.
CNET, 29 September 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5083282.html
CONGRESS PROVIDES NO FUNDS FOR CONTROVERSIAL PENTAGON OFFICE
Congress has approved a spending bill that includes no funds for the
Pentagon's Information Awareness Office, effectively eliminating it.
The office and its former head, John Poindexter, had been criticized by
civil-rights and privacy groups for initiatives including the Total
Information Awareness program (later called the Terrorism Information
Awareness program) and a futures market on terrorism, which was ended
almost immediately after details of its intended operation were made
public. A few of the office's programs, specifically training, will
continue but will be transferred elsewhere within the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency.
New York Times, 26 September 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/politics/26SURV.html
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[And A Few Articles That Didn't Get Enough Coverage]
Straight out of "Wag The Dog" [which was truer than you might think]:
Presidential candidate Howard Dean mixed fiction and reality in a
fizzing, but perhaps non-alcoholic beverage, last week by using his
lines from the HBO show "K Street" [DC's version of Madison Avenue].
In the show, noted Presidential advisor James Carville feeds Dean a
line that says if having lots of black contituents made one more
sensitive to racial issue, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King.
Dean crossed the lines into reality by using that line in the debates.
I wonder if there are any copyright issues there, since the line was
undoubtedly copyrighted by HBO.
***
Perhaps the most important event of last week, and I almost included
it in last week's Newsletter, but wanted to do more research, I only
heard about it with about 18 hours to deadline, is the fact that the
polar icecaps, both of them, are cracking in places that have been
frozen solid for thousands of years. Here are some of the details:
Just over a week ago, the largest ice shelf in the northern hemisphere
started breaking up, splitting right down the middle with more and more
cracks in the remaining two major pieces. A freshwater lake, apparently
pretty much landlocked for those thousands of years, drained into the
salt water of the ocean, which undoubtedly changed the ecology further.
The Ward Hunt ice shelf, as it is called, calved off many icebergs
which will undoubtedly become major obstacles to ocean navigation
this winter, if not longer, as well as perhaps being a danger to
oil drilling platforms at sea.
Even though similar breakups of huge ice shelves in both the Arctic
AND the Antarctic have been sighted, scientists are trying to convince
everyone that these are just local and regional events, and not tied
to any kind of global warming, even though 90% of the northern ice shelf
surrounding Ellesmere Island, where the recent events occured, is now gone,
and the temperature has been rising about 1 degree F. per decade since
the measurments starting in the International Geophysical Year of 1957.
Given the simultaneous reporting of the loss of much of the glaciers
for which Glacier National Park is names, and so many other reports
of warming trends, not to even take into account the French heat wave
that killed 15,000 recently, I find all this denial of global warming
just a bit hard to take.
In the long run, this might be the biggest story of recorded history,
yet I've seen only ONE short story about it in the major news media.
***
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