] LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As the recording industry prepares
] hundreds of copyright lawsuits against online music
] swappers, the makers of file-sharing software are
] fortifying their programs to try to mask users'
] identities.

Just like Tom said. What we could ultimately end up with is systems that are completely peer-to-peer -- even for data transfer. All the nodes cache and there's some magic distributed directory services that maps file names to IDs and hashes. The result is that any one node only knows the IP addresses of its peers and unwinding the web becomes very difficult.

The bad news here is that it might well force the industry's hand to seek legislation banning peer-to-peer systems like this in the first place. Like we've said, the only place you can get any good degree of copy-protection is a totalitarian state.

As I see it now, the Right program is to bleed enough money out of the "IP Industry" (MPAA/RIAA) until real reform of the entire copyright system becomes feasible. Fair use is too soft. Arguing against copy-protection ultimately requires arguing against copyright.

"Copyright" or "Intellectual Property" is a totally spurious meme. What is more appropriate is "copytax" ... you're entitled to receive a (fixed) royalty whenever someone copies something you created. But you have no right to *control* copies or derivative works.

Such a system would allow the movie industry to remain viable though perhaps not as outrageously profitable as it has been.

The music industry is a somewhat different story. In the past, the music industry provided 3 things: production, distribution and marketing. Production is widely available and inexpensive. Similarly, getting CDs pressed is very cheap now and distribution via the net even cheaper. Good music sells itself. You only need marketing to sell bad music, right?

InformationWeek : File-Sharing : Makers Of File-Sharing Software Bolster Efforts To Mask Users' Identities : July 23, 2003

]
] Novell said Wednesday that NetWare 6.5 will include
] features for business continuity, open source, Web
] application services and "virtual office" capabilities to
] reduce network costs and complexity while giving users
] around-the-clock access.

I guess I knew that they hadn't folded but I didn't realize that they were still doing active development. Up until NT4 or so, Netware was king ... who uses it now?

And it still seems to be their same, old, expensive licensing scheme...

Internet Week : NetWare : Novell Preps NetWare For Linux Future : July 24, 2003

] The recording industry's plan to collect the names of
] music traders on college campuses hit a snag this week
] when two schools filed motions to quash the subpoenas in
] court.
]
] The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston
] College filed the motions Monday in U.S. District Court
] in Boston.

Sort of a technicality, but still...

Wired News: Schools Rebuke Music Biz Demands

] "You can get crackerjack Java programmers in India right
] out of college for $5,000 a year versus $60,000 here,"
] said Stephanie Moore, vice president for outsourcing at
] Forrester Research. "The technology is such, why be in
] New York City when you can be 9,000 miles away with far
] less expense?"

Ick ... someone else blogged a similar story a few weeks ago...

I.B.M. Explores Shift of White-Collar Jobs Overseas

]
]
]
] Open-source advocates yesterday blasted a Linux licensing
] scheme that The SCO Group Inc. is proposing to address
] alleged copyright violations in the Linux operating
] system (see story).

More SCO licensing flak. And SCOX is up to $13.25 ... pump and dump anyone?

Linux advocates doubt validity of SCO licensing scheme - Computerworld

]
] The SCO Group, which has spent the last few months suing
] I.B.M., a leading supporter of the Linux operating
] system, and warning that Linux violates its copyright,
] announced plans yesterday for profiting from Linux rather
] than trying to fight it.
]
] SCO, a small software marketer, said that it would offer
] the large corporations that use Linux a license so they
] can continue to use it without any worries about lawsuits
] that accuse them of copyright infringement.

Extortion by any other name...

SCO Changes Tactics in Dispute Over Linux

] Who owns Unix? To read much of the recent news coming out
] of Lindon, Utah, you might think that it's SCO Group, the
] company currently suing IBM Corp. over Big Blue's alleged
] donation of Unix code to the Linux community. But you'd
] be wrong.

Open Group on UNIX trademark, etc.

SearchEnterpriseLinux.com, a TechTarget Web site

]
] VIENNA, Austria - The man believed to be the first
] recipient of a human tongue transplant was recovering
] Tuesday and showed no signs of rejecting the organ, his
] doctors said.

Whoa!

Kansascity.com - Your Kansas City Everything Guide

Decius wrote:
] I thought I would post and see what people's experience has
] been with various spam filtering tools. A few comments:
]
] 1. I see spam as a law enforcement problem. The VAST majority
] of the spam I receive contains forged headers and is being
] relayed through systems without permission. If the government
] simply enforced the laws it already has, it could prosecute
] these people for computer fraud. This would eliminate most of
] the problem that I see. The reason that I get all this spam is
] because the government won't enforce their laws. (Although
] they are happy enough to raid internet "bong" dealers. Gosh
] I'm glad to be safe from them.)

Agreed. The big problem is that a lot of it comes from abroad and you need to get the US govt to armtwist Korea, China, Russia, etc.


] 6. This morning I was considering implementing Challenge
] Response for all of my email. This sounds like an effective
] solution. Unfortunately, its not. The problem is that there
] are a number of bots out there, mostly related to ecommerce
] sites, that I probably do need to see email from. I can try to
] list them in my whitelist, but I risk missing something.

PGP is a similar solution -- only accept signed mails -- but lacks critical mass to work. A little weaker than this: I use qmail and often give ecommerce sites addresses like bucy-amazon@gloop.org, etc. Sendmail supports bucy+amazon ... don't know about other MTAs.

] What systems are you using? How effective are they?

I've been using SpamAssassin for awhile now. With a threshhold of 5, I don't think I've gotten a single false positive and I'd guess that the false negative rate is maybe 10%.

RE: Spam Filtering

crankymessiah wrote:
] ] The sci-fi classic gets a sequel and an upgrade.
]
] FINALLY!!!

IIRC, the Penny Arcade guys said the demo was terrible...

RE: Tron Reloaded