Two major scientific research centers said Wednesday that they had set a new world speed record for sending data across the Internet, with a transmission equivalent to transferring a full-length DVD film in seven seconds.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5092064.html
Saturday, October 18, 2003
A pioneering attempt to overturn the U.S. government's Cold War-era laws restricting the publication of some forms of encryption code ended quietly Wednesday when a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit--but only after assurances that the anticrypto laws would not be enforced.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco threw out the case after the Bush administration said it would no longer try to enforce portions of the regulations, according to parties involved in the proceedings.
Daniel Bernstein, an iconoclastic math professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, filed suit in 1995 after spending three years wrangling with the federal government over whether a simple encryption program could be freely distributed on the Internet. U.S. law at the time deemed online publication an "export" that could be punished with severe prison terms.
"I hope the government sticks to its promises and leaves me alone--but if they change their mind and start harassing Internet-security researchers, I'll be back," Bernstein said in an e-mail statement. Bernstein, author of the widely used qmail mail utility, did not respond to an interview request.
Bernstein's case, and two other similar attempts, have been credited with forcing the federal government to drastically scale back its attempts to regulate the kind of privacy-protecting encryption technology used in every Web browser and many e-mail readers. At one point such encryption was regulated by the State Department and treated as a "munition" like tanks and fighter jets, but the Clinton administration responded to the lawsuits by relaxing the rules and transferring responsibility to the Commerce Department.…
Bernstein's lawyers, with attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation among them, complained that the encryption regulations had been repeatedly changed to derail Bernstein's case, which claimed the rules violated the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression. In a separate case, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had said: "Because computer source code is an expressive means for the exchange of information and ideas about computer programming, we hold that it is protected by the First Amendment."
A January 2000 letter from Bernstein's lawyers to the government said that the rules unconstitutionally required researchers to divulge their work to the government. "The requirement that Professor Bernstein and others simultaneously notify both (the Commerce Department) and (the National Security Agency) at the time of electronic publication of source code, when no such notification is required for publication or communication of such code on paper, is another Constitutional problem," the letter said, citing regulations that will no longer be enforced.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5092154.html
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco threw out the case after the Bush administration said it would no longer try to enforce portions of the regulations, according to parties involved in the proceedings.
Daniel Bernstein, an iconoclastic math professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, filed suit in 1995 after spending three years wrangling with the federal government over whether a simple encryption program could be freely distributed on the Internet. U.S. law at the time deemed online publication an "export" that could be punished with severe prison terms.
"I hope the government sticks to its promises and leaves me alone--but if they change their mind and start harassing Internet-security researchers, I'll be back," Bernstein said in an e-mail statement. Bernstein, author of the widely used qmail mail utility, did not respond to an interview request.
Bernstein's case, and two other similar attempts, have been credited with forcing the federal government to drastically scale back its attempts to regulate the kind of privacy-protecting encryption technology used in every Web browser and many e-mail readers. At one point such encryption was regulated by the State Department and treated as a "munition" like tanks and fighter jets, but the Clinton administration responded to the lawsuits by relaxing the rules and transferring responsibility to the Commerce Department.…
Bernstein's lawyers, with attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation among them, complained that the encryption regulations had been repeatedly changed to derail Bernstein's case, which claimed the rules violated the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression. In a separate case, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had said: "Because computer source code is an expressive means for the exchange of information and ideas about computer programming, we hold that it is protected by the First Amendment."
A January 2000 letter from Bernstein's lawyers to the government said that the rules unconstitutionally required researchers to divulge their work to the government. "The requirement that Professor Bernstein and others simultaneously notify both (the Commerce Department) and (the National Security Agency) at the time of electronic publication of source code, when no such notification is required for publication or communication of such code on paper, is another Constitutional problem," the letter said, citing regulations that will no longer be enforced.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5092154.html
VeriSign sells off domain registrar
VeriSign said Thursday that it is selling its Network Solutions domain registration business for roughly $100 million, but plans to retain control over the database that directs people to .com and .net addresses.
The Network Solutions business is set to go to Pivotal Private Equity, a Phoenix-based venture capital firm, in exchange for $60 million in cash and a $40 million senior subordinated note. VeriSign will also retain a 15 percent equity stake in Network Solutions.
VeriSign said it would not part with the .com and .net database it operates, which it acquired through its $21 billion buyout of an independent company called Network Solutions three years ago. That company consisted of two businesses--a registrar, which sells Internet addresses, and a registry, which directs people to Web sites.
It's giving up the registrar business, which has become essentially a commodity service in a field in which competition has been heating up. VeriSign rebranded the unit in January as Network Solutions after two years of operation under its own name and had been seeking a buyer for the business over the last several months.
What it's keeping is the registry, recently renamed as VeriSign Naming and Directory Services--and which operates in a field where the company still has a relative monopoly. The registry business, according to VeriSign, is the backbone of a global .com and .net domain name infrastructure that handles over 10 billion interactions per day.…
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5092316.html
VeriSign said Thursday that it is selling its Network Solutions domain registration business for roughly $100 million, but plans to retain control over the database that directs people to .com and .net addresses.
The Network Solutions business is set to go to Pivotal Private Equity, a Phoenix-based venture capital firm, in exchange for $60 million in cash and a $40 million senior subordinated note. VeriSign will also retain a 15 percent equity stake in Network Solutions.
VeriSign said it would not part with the .com and .net database it operates, which it acquired through its $21 billion buyout of an independent company called Network Solutions three years ago. That company consisted of two businesses--a registrar, which sells Internet addresses, and a registry, which directs people to Web sites.
It's giving up the registrar business, which has become essentially a commodity service in a field in which competition has been heating up. VeriSign rebranded the unit in January as Network Solutions after two years of operation under its own name and had been seeking a buyer for the business over the last several months.
What it's keeping is the registry, recently renamed as VeriSign Naming and Directory Services--and which operates in a field where the company still has a relative monopoly. The registry business, according to VeriSign, is the backbone of a global .com and .net domain name infrastructure that handles over 10 billion interactions per day.…
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5092316.html
Friday, October 17, 2003
The Modern Tales syndication service allows webmasters to place a constantly-updating version of their favorite comics in the Modern Tales family on their own websites. At any given moment, the latest episode of the syndicated comic will appear within your own web page. Your readers will be drawn back to your website to follow the story (which is, of course, the same reason that newspapers and magazines carry comics). Some percentage of those readers will follow the link back to Modern Tales or one of its sister sites, and eventually choose to subscribe, to gain access to the archives (which is, in turn, analogous to buying a Dilbert paperback).…
http://www.moderntales.com/tooncast_list.php
http://www.moderntales.com/tooncast_list.php
Court Data Online
The federal court system is gradually moving its legal information online, making it much easier to search and read case information. The convenience of online access to court documents might eventually revolutionize court reporting.
The Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (known as PACER) allows users to get case and docket information online from Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy courts.
At least 26 of 94 U.S. District Courts and 60 of 90 bankruptcy courts are now using online electronic systems for tracking some or all files, according to the Associated Press. Appellate courts will convert next year.
In some cases, you can get the whole case online, from the first motions filed to depositions to the judgment. Other information available online can include:
A listing of all parties and participants, including judges, attorneys, and trustees
A compilation of case-related information, such as cause of action, nature of suit, and dollar demand
A chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record
A claims registry
A listing of new cases each day
Appellate court opinions
Judgments or case status
Types of documents filed for certain cases
Images of documents entered into evidence
You can see which courts make information available online and access links to them via this page.
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/links.pl
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=32&aid=51371
The federal court system is gradually moving its legal information online, making it much easier to search and read case information. The convenience of online access to court documents might eventually revolutionize court reporting.
The Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (known as PACER) allows users to get case and docket information online from Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy courts.
At least 26 of 94 U.S. District Courts and 60 of 90 bankruptcy courts are now using online electronic systems for tracking some or all files, according to the Associated Press. Appellate courts will convert next year.
In some cases, you can get the whole case online, from the first motions filed to depositions to the judgment. Other information available online can include:
A listing of all parties and participants, including judges, attorneys, and trustees
A compilation of case-related information, such as cause of action, nature of suit, and dollar demand
A chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record
A claims registry
A listing of new cases each day
Appellate court opinions
Judgments or case status
Types of documents filed for certain cases
Images of documents entered into evidence
You can see which courts make information available online and access links to them via this page.
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/links.pl
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=32&aid=51371
ContextMenu Plus, the latest premium utility from PC Magazine, gives you the power to edit, add, or remove menu commands from any Windows context menu. Best of all, it won't force you to wade through a multitude of file extensions and registry entries to make your edits. Instead, you can make changes directly from the rightclick menu. It also includes a host of other timesaving features, like the ability to copy and move files and explore local and network drives through virtually any right click menu.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1337759,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1337759,00.asp
PC Magazine's Top 101 Web Sites - October 2003
Condensed choices to bring you the top 101 most incredibly useful sites comprising 16 categories
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,7488,00.asp
Condensed choices to bring you the top 101 most incredibly useful sites comprising 16 categories
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,7488,00.asp
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
20 Great Google Secrets
Google is clearly the best general-purpose search engine on the Web (see www.pcmag.com/searchengines). But most people don't use it to its best advantage. Do you just plug in a keyword or two and hope for the best? That may be the quickest way to search, but with more than 3 billion pages in Google's index, it's still a struggle to pare results to a manageable number.
But Google is an remarkably powerful tool that can ease and enhance your Internet exploration. Google's search options go beyond simple keywords, the Web, and even its own programmers. Let's look at some of Google's lesser-known options.…
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,3048,a=108625,00.asp
Google is clearly the best general-purpose search engine on the Web (see www.pcmag.com/searchengines). But most people don't use it to its best advantage. Do you just plug in a keyword or two and hope for the best? That may be the quickest way to search, but with more than 3 billion pages in Google's index, it's still a struggle to pare results to a manageable number.
But Google is an remarkably powerful tool that can ease and enhance your Internet exploration. Google's search options go beyond simple keywords, the Web, and even its own programmers. Let's look at some of Google's lesser-known options.…
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,3048,a=108625,00.asp
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-040
Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer (828750)
This is a cumulative patch that includes the functionality of all previously released patches for Internet Explorer 5.01, 5.5 and 6.0. In addition, it eliminates the following newly discovered vulnerabilities:
A vulnerability that occurs because Internet Explorer does not properly determine an object type returned from a Web server in a popup window. It could be possible for an attacker who exploited this vulnerability to run arbitrary code on a user's system. If a user visited an attacker's Web site, it could be possible for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability without any other user action. An attacker could also craft an HTML–based e-mail that would attempt to exploit this vulnerability.
A vulnerability that occurs because Internet Explorer does not properly determine an object type returned from a Web server during XML data binding. It could be possible for an attacker who exploited this vulnerability to run arbitrary code on a user's system. If a user visited an attacker's Web site, it could be possible for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability without any other user action. An attacker could also craft an HTML–based e-mail that would attempt to exploit this vulnerability.
In addition, a change has been made to the method by which Internet Explorer handles Dynamic HTML (DHTML) Behaviors in the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone. It could be possible for an attacker exploiting a separate vulnerability (such as one of the two vulnerabilities discussed above) to cause Internet Explorer to run script code in the security context of the Internet Zone. In addition, an attacker could use Windows Media Player’s (WMP) ability to open URLs to construct an attack. An attacker could also craft an HTML-based e-mail that could attempt to exploit this behavior.
To exploit these flaws, the attacker would have to create a specially formed HTML–based e-mail and send it to the user. Alternatively an attacker would have to host a malicious Web site that contained a Web page designed to exploit these vulnerabilities.
As with the previous Internet Explorer cumulative patches released with bulletins MS03-004, MS03-015, MS03-020, and MS03-032, this cumulative patch will cause window.showHelp( ) to cease to function if you have not applied the HTML Help update. If you have installed the updated HTML Help control from Knowledge Base article 811630, you will still be able to use HTML Help functionality after applying this patch.
In addition to applying this security patch it is recommended that users also install the Windows Media Player update referenced in Knowledge Base Article 828026. This update is available from Windows Update as well as the Microsoft Download Center for all supported versions of Windows Media Player. While not a security patch, this update contains a change to the behavior of Windows Media Player’s ability to launch URLs to help protect against DHTML behavior based attacks. Specifically, it restricts Windows Media Player’s ability to launch URLs in the local computer zone from other zones.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-040.asp
Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer (828750)
This is a cumulative patch that includes the functionality of all previously released patches for Internet Explorer 5.01, 5.5 and 6.0. In addition, it eliminates the following newly discovered vulnerabilities:
A vulnerability that occurs because Internet Explorer does not properly determine an object type returned from a Web server in a popup window. It could be possible for an attacker who exploited this vulnerability to run arbitrary code on a user's system. If a user visited an attacker's Web site, it could be possible for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability without any other user action. An attacker could also craft an HTML–based e-mail that would attempt to exploit this vulnerability.
A vulnerability that occurs because Internet Explorer does not properly determine an object type returned from a Web server during XML data binding. It could be possible for an attacker who exploited this vulnerability to run arbitrary code on a user's system. If a user visited an attacker's Web site, it could be possible for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability without any other user action. An attacker could also craft an HTML–based e-mail that would attempt to exploit this vulnerability.
In addition, a change has been made to the method by which Internet Explorer handles Dynamic HTML (DHTML) Behaviors in the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone. It could be possible for an attacker exploiting a separate vulnerability (such as one of the two vulnerabilities discussed above) to cause Internet Explorer to run script code in the security context of the Internet Zone. In addition, an attacker could use Windows Media Player’s (WMP) ability to open URLs to construct an attack. An attacker could also craft an HTML-based e-mail that could attempt to exploit this behavior.
To exploit these flaws, the attacker would have to create a specially formed HTML–based e-mail and send it to the user. Alternatively an attacker would have to host a malicious Web site that contained a Web page designed to exploit these vulnerabilities.
As with the previous Internet Explorer cumulative patches released with bulletins MS03-004, MS03-015, MS03-020, and MS03-032, this cumulative patch will cause window.showHelp( ) to cease to function if you have not applied the HTML Help update. If you have installed the updated HTML Help control from Knowledge Base article 811630, you will still be able to use HTML Help functionality after applying this patch.
In addition to applying this security patch it is recommended that users also install the Windows Media Player update referenced in Knowledge Base Article 828026. This update is available from Windows Update as well as the Microsoft Download Center for all supported versions of Windows Media Player. While not a security patch, this update contains a change to the behavior of Windows Media Player’s ability to launch URLs to help protect against DHTML behavior based attacks. Specifically, it restricts Windows Media Player’s ability to launch URLs in the local computer zone from other zones.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-040.asp
SpamAbuse
SpamAbuse helps you report and punish spammers for sending you their junk e-mail. This is a completely free service. Often, by reporting spammers, they can lose their accounts and even get charged "fees" by their Internet Service Providers. In addition, reporting spam to SpamAbuse results in blacklisting the sites responsible for allowing it to be sent. SpamAbuse not only reports spammers once, but tracks them down and follows their provider, reporting them continuously as they try to change their tactics and move from ISP to ISP. By reporting spam, you can help to turn the tide on spammers. SpamAbuse makes this otherwise slow and technical task quick and easy and we follow up to make sure these spammers get banned for good.
http://www.spamabuse.org/
SpamAbuse helps you report and punish spammers for sending you their junk e-mail. This is a completely free service. Often, by reporting spammers, they can lose their accounts and even get charged "fees" by their Internet Service Providers. In addition, reporting spam to SpamAbuse results in blacklisting the sites responsible for allowing it to be sent. SpamAbuse not only reports spammers once, but tracks them down and follows their provider, reporting them continuously as they try to change their tactics and move from ISP to ISP. By reporting spam, you can help to turn the tide on spammers. SpamAbuse makes this otherwise slow and technical task quick and easy and we follow up to make sure these spammers get banned for good.
http://www.spamabuse.org/
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Journalism Tools: Watchdog Reporting
Thoughts and strategies on one of journalism's most important missions, monitoring the powerful.
http://www.journalism.org/resources/tools/reporting/watchdog/default.asp
Thoughts and strategies on one of journalism's most important missions, monitoring the powerful.
http://www.journalism.org/resources/tools/reporting/watchdog/default.asp
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