Each report begins with a daily overview, followed by summarized news items (with supporting URLs to the full text) in each of fifteen industry-specific categories.

NIPC Daily Report

] The 1988 birth of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization
] is carefully chronicled in a cache of remarkable
] documents seized last year during a raid on the Bosnian
] offices of an Illinois-based charity that covertly raised
] funds for the terrorist group. A description of the
] seized material is contained in a 106-page proffer
] unsealed this month by federal prosecutors in Chicago.

It's not quite clear when "this month" is, but the information is still fascinating. Some of it seems to be the same as the translated Al Qaeda manual that's on the DOJ and Disaster Center websites (http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid3679/ ), but that version only included chapters 1-9, 11, 12, and 18.

This Smoking Gun Site version includes the missing chapters, including one which has detailed techniques on codes and ciphers, including how to use invisible ink, as well as using a grid system to encipher messages in Arabic.

Nothing about hiding messages in pr0n though! ;)

The Smoking Gun: Al Qaeda

A purported chapter from an Al Qaeda training manual, describing Arabic codes, ciphers, and methods of secret writing such as invisible ink.

Smoking Gun Website - Al Qaeda Codes

] The pan-Arab satellite TV pioneer MBC is due to launch an
] all-news channel from Dubai to compete directly with
] Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV in the battle for Arab viewers.

Multiple news sources are always a good thing. :) Now I just hope they also include an english-language version (or at least some other language that I can get at via Babelfish) in their planning!

Al-Jazeera Competitor Launches

This page contains a collection of recent judgments involving challenges to taxation law regarding internet services. For example, Tennessee sued America Online, claiming that Tennessee has a right to subject AOL to Tennessee state taxes because of such things as AOL maintaining dial-up lines in Tennessee, circulating AOL disks in Tennessee, and having volunteer staff who logged on from Tennessee.

The key word in all this seems to be "nexus", as in "Does a company have sufficient nexus within a state in order to be taxable in that state?"

I have to admit, that in regards my own online games, the idea that we'd have to figure out how to calculate and pay a bewildering array of different tax rates to every single state, country, and locality from which a user accesses us, is unsettling.

In Europe, legislation was evidently recently passed which covers digitally-downloaded software, and makes any such download taxable in the location that it's downloaded *to*, and subject to VAT (Value Added Tax), even if the software is being provided by a non-European company -- Non-EU companies will be required to register (with any European country of their choice), in order to figure out how to get the VAT collected.

Frankly, this sounds like such a bureaucratic nightmare, I can see some companies simply refusing to sell software in certain areas of the world, because of the complexity in working out tax issues.

A NY Times article also came out yesterday discussing the debate over online sales tax issues. NYT registration required, but here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/technology/17ECOM.html

Internet Law - Taxation & 'Nexus'

Some excellent quantitative demographic data about the players of EverQuest, as of 2001.

Norrathian Scrolls - EverQuest Demographics (2001)

Some data on relative subscriber numbers between a half-dozen graphical Massively Multiplayer Games, as of July 2002.

An Analysis of MMOG Subscription Growth (July 2002)

] He said he was jailed for 11 years by Saddam's regime for
] refusing to develop banned weapons but that he escaped
] from Iraq in 1991. He now lives in London.
]
] Shahristani said his information came from former
] colleagues and dissidents who had recently fled the
] country.

I am not really all that interested in hearing the suspicions of someone who hasn't even been in Iraq for over 12 years. As for the colleagues and dissidents that he mentions, I *am* interested in hearing what they have to say. Supposedly, there are recent defectors that we are getting this information from. How about getting one of them to come forward to the media? Disguise their voice, their face if necessary, but get them to give a statement, in their native language, with translations available.

It is my firm belief that one of the main causes of a rift between the Arab and Western worlds, is the language barrier. As difficult as it is for us to read what's going on in Arabic newspapers, it's doubly difficult for the people on the street there to understand what we're saying in ours! If we do have sources of information about Saddam's weapons, that can be presented in language that the Iraqi people can understand, let's present it. I'm sure they'd be far more interested to hear such news from someone speaking in their native tongue, and would give it far more weight, than just hearing it from an english-speaking politican.

*I* know to trust most of what I hear from Colin Powell. They, however, have not had the opportunity to build up that level of trust. Let's figure out a way for them to get the news from someone they *do* trust, speaking a language that even the common people can understand.

Iraq Scientist Says Saddam Hiding Arms Underground

] We [eBay] can (and you authorize us to) disclose any information
] about you to law enforcement or other government officials as we,
] in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate, in connection
] with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringements,
] or other activity that is illegal or may expose us or you to
] legal liability.

This is a question that I've been following closely, especially as regards the war on terrorism. If an ISP or other online service provider were to discover that one of the names on the "FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists" list showed up in their user list, what are they legally allowed to do? Is the ISP allowed to call up the FBI and say, "Hey, I may have one of the people that you're looking for?" Or do they have to request that the FBI generate a formal subpoena first? How much information can the ISP legally volunteer to law enforcement (name/address/credit card/surfing habits/etc), and at what point should the line be drawn about requiring oversight of which information is released?

Also, which law enforcement agencies should be entitled to which? If an ISP volunteers the full set of info to the FBI, can or should they also volunteer that information to their local police? Or what if a police department from another state contacts the ISP and asks for the info? Or a lawyer from another state? How much burden should the ISP assume in order to confirm that they're getting a bonafide request from a legitimate law enforcement agency? I hear that some ISPs require a subpoena for *any* info request. Another ISP that I've heard about won't release any info unless an agent *personally visits their offices*, which obviously places a huge, expensive (and in my opinion unreasonable) burden on agents attempting to investigate a cyberspace crime which may span across multiple states.

I'd like to see a consistent balance between allowing business to voluntarily help law enforcement with criminal investigations, while at the same time also protecting the privacy of individuals. And while I don't believe that law enforcement has the right to demand any information about anyone at any time, I also think that things can flop in the other direction too, where requiring a court order or personal "face to face" request for the release of certain types of non-sensitive information can be over-kill. I'm not certain myself what the ideal solution is, but I continue to follow the debates with interest.

LawMeme: eBay's Policies on Cooperation with Law Enforcement

] The Iraqi regime, symbolized and personified by Saddam
] Hussein, has in recent weeks come under increasing
] criticism from the Saudi media. Going beyond the
] criticism of Saddam and his regime, there are mounting
] calls on Saddam Hussein by Saudi newspapers to spare the
] Iraqi people the disasters and destruction of war by
] abdicating the presidency and seeking asylum outside
] Iraq.

MEMRI also reported that Egyptian columnists are becoming increasingly impatient with Saddam -- They're not huge fans of the U.S. either, but they can clearly tell that Saddam's behavior is not helping matters.

It's good to see (relative) support from other Arab countries on the situation.

Saudi Newspapers Call on Saddam to Abdicate or Commit Suicide