I just preformed an update of the site's code. There was an error present causing some IE users to get file download boxes when trying to access certain pages, or loop when they logged out. Sorry about that, it went under my radar.. Our QA tends to be lacking on platforms we don't use.

Also, we are progressing well with project-get-the-hell-out-of-proof-of-concept-phase, so as expected, numerous things have changed under the hood. I'm still not giving ETAs on anything... Still a long way to go.

As always, if you run into any problems, let Tom or I know. (tom or nick @ m)

Well you can put that big heavy copy of the CRC (http://www.crcpress.com/corphistory.asp) down. !Webbook is here, it's great! Research all your favorite chemicals, play w/ neat and interesting graph data for almost any chemical you can think of.

Chemical Formula Search

] The complaint is constructed, as the lawyers say,
] "artfully". They vilify one of the defendants, without
] saying much about the other defendant; but they ask for
] an injunction against both. They gleefully quote one
] defendant calling himself a "hacker", apparently unaware
] that "hacker" is still a legitimate term of respect in
] some circles. They quote a law against distributing
] "access codes" and then trumpet a defendant's
] distribution of "code". And so on.
]
] There is no mention in these documents of the enormous
] free speech issue here. The injunction is a prior
] restraint on speech, which prevented the defendants from
] speaking to an specific audience that had gathered to
] hear them. Yet somehow neither Blackboard nor the court
] indicates that any consideration of the First Amendment
] was even necessary.

Felten takes notice..

Freedom to Tinker: Security Research Muzzled in Georgia

] You've seen these cards on the nightly news. They've been
] featured in newspapers worldwide. Now you can own the one
] true collector's item from Operation Iraqi Freedom. This
] is the same 55-card deck given to Coalition soldiers
] featuring the Iraq's 52 "Most-Wanted" leaders.

Yours for only $5.95

GreatUSAflags.com - Iraqi 'Most-Wanted' Deck of Playing Cards

In English, this meant that anyone who intentionally let people do drugs at their events could be held liable. It also expanded the crack-house statute in two significant ways: Now the law could be applied to one-night events -- concerts, raves, parties, festivals -- as well as permanent locales like nightclubs, and it added civil penalties for violations, lowering the burden of proof from "beyond reasonable doubt" to a "preponderance of evidence."

And the trampling of Civil Liberties just goes on and on! What would constitute knowledge that people are going to do drugs at your party or festival? The article lists the presence of overpriced bottles of water, glow sticks and pacifiers. Imagine this being applied broadly to shut down hacker conventions because there might be underage drinking or other illegal drug use. Time to cancel the masquerade party where someone would undoubtedly show up as a baby? Then apply it further and you could end up with college fraternities being shut down for throwing a costume party. This law could bring back the days of River City, IA, in The Music Man.

Dolemite

Your glow stick could land you in jail

] From: David Yaskin [dyaskin@BLACKBOARD.COM]
] Subject: Re: very troubling behavior by Blackboard Inc.

] At issue were the actions of a person working for a
] competitor who committed a physical crime and put
] many nonprofit academic institutions in potential
] jeopardy. Without going into too much detail,
] working for a competitor, an individual
] physically broke into hardware components belonging
] to a university solely to publicly distribute
] information that could enable a select group to
] falsify security events and financial transactions,
] putting the general public and approximately 275
] academic institutions in potential jeopardy.

Who? What is the string you are holding on to in order to keep calling this commercial speech..

] It is this harm, coupled with the safety of these
] academic institutions and their constituents (primarily,
] students and faculty) that mandated Blackboard take a
] very careful and measured stance. Recognizing that
] this is a crime with potentially very harmful results,
] we took a position to protect our clients.

Careful and measured, eh?

] Blackboard recognizes that the Hacker Community plays
] an integral role in assisting technology companies in
] improving their offerings, most notably around security.
] I thought the user community might find this
] clarification of value.

Hmm.. Would you care to extend that "clarification of value" to sections 5, 7, 9, 10, and 16 of the legal complaint? If you do infact believe the Hacker Community (thanks for the caps Dave) plays an integral role in assisting technology companies in improving their offerings, you may not want to play a role in forcing it underground.

politechbot.com: Blackboard responds to criticism of Interz0ne lawsuit

] The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) strongly opposes
] these state "super-DMCA" bills as unnecessary and
] overbroad. The proposed bills represent the worst kind of
] special interest legislation, sacrificing the public
] interest in favor of the self-serving interests of one
] industry.

EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney, Fred von Lohmann, on the "Super-DMCA" bills.

Sections:

* Resources
* Background
* These Bills are Unnecessary
* All Things Not Expressly Permitted are Forbidden
* Bolting on the "Intent to Defraud"
* Attacking Anonymity
* A Chill on Computer Security Research
* A Threat to Innovation and Competition
* Transferring law enforcement from public to private hands
* Dangerous Remedies
* * Remote Downgrades
* * One-Sided Attorneys' Fees
* * Automatic Injunctions
* * Abusive damages
* What You Can Do

EFF: State 'Super-DMCA' Legislation: MPAA's Stealth Attack on Your Living Room

] Author: Fred von Lohmann is a senior staff attorney
] at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

] Suing college students. Forcing ISPs to rat out
] customers. Petitioning Congress for unprecedented
] vigilante powers. Deploying armies of lawyers to sue
] technology companies. Threatening universities and
] corporations. Demanding that ISPs disconnect tens of
] thousands of Internet users. Hiring electronic enforcers
] to monitor computer users.
]
] None of these efforts by the recording industry has
] put a single nickel into the pockets of a musician. And
] none of these efforts has slowed the spread of
] peer-to-peer ("P2P") file sharing. More Americans have
] used file-sharing software than voted for the President.
]
] But we are paying a price. Responding to pressure
] from the entertainment industry, the University of
] Wyoming is now monitoring and recording all university
] Internet traffic. One hundred Naval Academy cadets have
] been disciplined for file-sharing. Investment in
] innovative P2P companies has dried up. Some members of
] Congress, addled by a steady diet of propaganda and
] campaign contributions from the entertainment industries,
] have suggested that the answer might be to expel, or even
] jail, college students. Music fans are frustrated and
] alienated from the musicians they love.

Goes on to propose a PRO style payout system driven by ISPs collecting money from Internet access costs.

The Daily Princetonian - New music rules are needed

] A Hong Kong mobile phone company is launching a service
] that lets customers know which nearby buildings have
] housed carriers of the deadly SARS virus.
]
] "With the dial of a few digits, subscribers can quickly
] get the peace of mind the need to go about their everyday
] lives," said Bruce Hicks, managing director of Sunday
] Communicatons Ltd, among the smaller of Hong Kong's six
] fiercely competitive cellular carriers.

Yahoo! News (AP) - Mobile Carrier Launches SARS Location Service

] Taking a break from working on his doctoral thesis,
] Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate
] student Andrew "Bunnie" Huang decided that it might
] be fun to poke around the security systems protecting
] Microsoft's Xbox game console.

] I want to put a stake in the ground and say, "Hey, I
] strongly believe what I'm doing is legal and it's
] beneficial for people to know about this stuff." If we
] don't know about it, then the bad guys are going to
] figure it out and they're going to take our lunch. Maybe
] I'm being a fool by saying this, but if someone wants to
] challenge me on this, I think it's something we need to
] talk about in a court of law. I don't know where I'd find
] the resources to defend myself. If I am taken to court,
] then I'll figure it out.

] There are things that they can try. But there's a dozen
] attacks that I've kept in my back pocket and that other
] hackers have kept in their back pockets that nobody's
] even talked about. Those will come out if Microsoft
] tries to secure the hardware again.

He also talks about his book on XBox technology, which he is having trouble publishing due to book publishers being scared to death about the DMCA. Many good quotes within..

CNET | Interview, Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang - DMCA, XBox Hacking, Silenced Researchers