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PGWeekly_March_05.txt
**The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, March 5, 2003**
******eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Over 31 years******
We Have Now Done 7278 eBooks!!! Up from 4710 this time last year!!!
A Review of "Wives and Daughters"
Review by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.
What a gem! That's what I said to myself when I finished reading Elizabeth
Cleghorn Gaskell's last novel, Wives and Daughters. I consider it a must
for anyone who enjoys Victorian literature or literature of any period in
which characters are exquisitely drawn in minute detail and become real
people.
Wives and Daughters has characterization in spades! At least a dozen
characters stand out. Foremost, of course, is the heroine, Molly
Gibson--intelligent, honest, proper, usually shy but bold when determined--all
that a Victorian heroine should be. The book opens with Molly not quite
grown, warmly attached to her widowed father, a diligent and warm-hearted
country doctor. During a prolonged visit to the nearby home of Squire
Hamley, Molly becomes attached to and beloved by the Hamley family,
including the sons Osborne and Roger. Stubborn, outspoken Squire Hamley
has breeding (his family has owned the estate since before the Norman
conquest) but no education and little money; he expects his sons, especially
Osborne, the elder, to marry for wealth and social position (a theme
often explored by Trollope). During Molly's stay at Hamley Hall, her
father decides she needs a stepmother, and he marries a widow with a
daughter Molly's age. The second Mrs. Gibson, one of the memorable
characters in literature, a born schemer and social climber unencumbered
by veracity, takes charge of Molly and, in trying to make her into a
"lady," makes her life miserable. Mrs. Gibson's daughter Cynthia is all
that Molly is not--beautiful, fashionable, flirtatious, and irresistibly
attractive to young men. But both Cynthia and Mr. Osborne Hamley have
secrets which are about to blow up. Molly unintentionally learns the
secrets and does her best to put things right. The action takes place in
and about a placid country village whose inhabitants are wonderfully
described, based on the author's personal experience.
Mrs. Gaskell (as she was called by Victorian readers) died before completing
the last one or two chapters. A modern reader would never know it, but
Victorians would have missed the final acknowledgment of love and uniting
in marriage required by their customs. Those who saw the magnificent
Exxon-Mobil Masterpiece Theatre dramatization on PBS saw one possible
ending, but not the one planned by Mrs. Gaskell.
Elizabeth Gaskell was unusual in many ways by Victorian standards. She
and her husband, a Unitarian minister, did not subscribe to the Victorian
conviction that women should be subordinated to men. Her novels and short
stories, while portraying Victorian life in accurate detail, explored the
relationships of men and women, the worth of individuals accorded by
character and achievement as opposed to social rank, and the plight of
workers in the new industrial society. One of her novels, Ruth, shocked
her contemporaries by dealing with illegitimate pregnancy and its
consequences in a society with a dual set of behavioral standards. She
left fewer than a dozen novels, by the mid-twentieth century largely
forgotten by all but scholars. She has, in modern parlance, been
"re-discovered," deservedly, and the quality of her writing has earned
her a place among the acknowledged greats of Victorian literature. To
me, Wives and Daughters is far more skillfully written and has a better
plot than Thackeray's best-known novel, Vanity Fair, and rivals the best
of Trollope's bountiful output. Trust me, and try it!
*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
to learn how you can get INSTANT access to our eBooks via FTP servers
even before the new eBooks listed below appear in our catalogue. The
eBooks are posted throughout the week. You can even get daily lists.
May 2002 The Defenders of Democracy by The Militia of Mercy[?dfdmxxx.xxx]3227
May 2002 Albrecht Durer's Memoirs of Journeys to Venice....[admjvxxx.xxx]3226
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Work Study Dictionary English-German [8woedxxx.xxx]3225C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Work Study Dictionary German-English [8wodexxx.xxx]3224C
May 2002 Honey's Correspondence Dictionary English-German [8coedxxx.xxx]3223C
May 2002 Honey's Correspondence Dictionary German-English [8codexxx.xxx]3222C
May 2002 Honey's Large Business Dictionary English-German [8lgedxxx.xxx]3221C
May 2002 Honey's Large Business Dictionary German-English [8lgdexxx.xxx]3220C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Tourist Dictionary English-German [8tredxxx.xxx]3219C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Tourist Dictionary German-English [8trdexxx.xxx]3218C
May 2002 Honey's Small Business Dictionary English-German [8smedxxx.xxx]3217C
May 2002 Honey's Small Business Dictionary German-English [8smdexxx.xxx]3216C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Insurance Dictionary English-German [8inedxxx.xxx]3215C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Insurance Dictionary German-English [8indexxx.xxx]3214C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Beginner's Dictionary English-German [8bgedxxx.xxx]3213C
May 2002 Mr. Honey's Beginner's Dictionary German-English [8bgdexxx.xxx]3212C
May 2002 Honey's Small Banking Dictionary English-German [8baedxxx.xxx]3211C
May 2002 Honey's Small Banking Dictionary German-English [8badexxx.xxx]3210C
May 2002 Honey's Medium Business Dictionary, English-German[8meedxxx.xxx]3209C
Today Is Day #63 of 2003
307 Days/44 Weeks Left Until First Report of 2004
[Our production year begins/ends
1st Wednesday of the month/year]
Week #45 Of Our SECOND 5,000 eBooks
Next December, Perhaps Our 10,000th eBook!
2568 New eBooks In The Last 12 Months
4710 eBooks This Week Last Year
7278 Tree-Friendly Titles Now Online
267 Monthly Average This Year
248 New This Month [1st month of 2003]
535 New This Year
4710 New At This Time Last Year
In this issue of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
- Intro (above)
- Making Donations
- Access to the Collection
- Information About Mirror Sites
- Submit a New eBook for Copyright Clearance
- Weekly ebook update
- Headline News from Newsscan and Edupage
- Information about mailing lists
***
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Please send in your thoughts and ideas on how PG can make best use
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who COULD get to the DC area [20 miles down towards Manassas] and get
some of these a day or two closer to others who may be able to make a
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I scanned the first books I ever OCRed on something much slower. . . .
***
Project Gutenberg has a new way to prepare digital editions of books
which can not be read on a conventional flat bed scanner.
Brewster Kahle has generously donated time on The Internet Archive's
(http://www.archive.org) Minolta 7100 orbital scanner
http://bpg.minoltausa.com 02
While its physical location in San Francisco at the Presidio effectively
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surface upon which the overhead scanhead focuses. Pages can be scanned
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upon the size of the scan area. (400 is the max resolution at max size).
The correction software for eliminating center lines and curved pages is
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Contact me if this sounds like something you can use!
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***
Here Are The Updated Listings For This Past Week
+44 New this week:
***] CORRECTIONS, REVISIONS AND NEW FORMATS [***
Corrected EDITIONS of our Ebooks get a new NUMBER, xxxxx11.txt, and
prior to 1998, occasionally a new eBook number.
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, xxxxx10a.txt, as
well as a new eBook number.
--Please note the following changes, corrections and improvements:
The following is being re-indexed to correct the author's first
name (May, not Mary):
Dec 2001 The Midnight Queen, by May Agnes Fleming [mdnqnxxx.xxx]2950
The following iarebeing reindexed to include pseudonym information:
Sep 2004 The Cruise of the Kawa, by Walter E. Traprock [crskwxxx.xxx]6586
[Walter E. Traprock is a pseudonym of George S. Chappell]
Oct 2004 Verses and Rhymes by the way, by Nora Pembroke [vrhbwxxx.xxx]6601
[Nora Pembroke is a pseudonym for Margaret Dixon McDougall]
The following is being reindexed to correct filename and version
information, Version 10b, not Edition 11:
Oct 2004 Our Legal Heritage, 4th Ed., by S. A. Reilly [rlglhxxb.xxx]6603C
(Files posted: rlglh10b.txt/rlglh10b.zip)
We have posted the following in new formats as indicated:
Sep 2004 In the Court of King Arthur, by Samuel Lowe [crtrtxxx.xxx]6582
[Illustrated HTM, zipped-file, in crtrt10h.zip]
Jul 1999 The Lamp That Went Out, by Colbrun and Groner [tltwoxxx.xxx]1832
[HTML in tltwo10h.htm/tltwo10h.zip]
Apr 1999 Another Study of Woman, by Honore de Balzac[dB#62][nswmnxxx.xxx]1714
[HTML in nswmn10h.htm/nswmn10h.zip]
Oct 1997 1st PG Collection of Edgar Allan Poe[E. A. Poe #2][1epoexxx.xxx]1062
[HTML in 1epoe10h.htm/1epoe10h.zip]
Jun 1997 Tom Swift & his Submarine Boat, by Victor Appleton[04tomxxx.xxx] 949
[HTM in 04tom10h.htm/04tom10.zip]
Jun 1997 Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe [#1][usherxxx.xxx] 932
[HTML in usher10h.htm/usher10h.zip]
We have posted an improved 11th edition of the following:
Dec 1995 Moll Flanders, by Daniel Defoe [Defoe #1] [mollfxxx.xxx] 370
***] 2 NEW ETEXTS FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG OF AUSTRALIA [***
Mar 2003 Apache Devil, by by Edgar Rice Burroughs [EB#13][030027xx.xxx]0176A
[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300271.txt or .ZIP
Mar 2003 The Red and the Black, by Stendahl [ST#04][030026xx.xxx]0175A
[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300261.txt or .ZIP
[Author's real name: Henri Beyle]
For more information about Project Gutenberg of Australia, including
accessing those etexts from outside of Australia, please visit:
http://promo.net/pg/pgau.html
--Project Gutenberg of Australia--
--A treasure trove of Literature--
*treasure-trove n. treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership
For more information about about copyright restrictions in other
countries, please visit:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/okbooks.html
***] 43 NEW U.S. POSTS [***
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Complete [BL#67][b067wxxx.xxx]7639
[Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton][Contains: EBooks #7631-7638]
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 8 [BL#66][b066wxxx.xxx]7638
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 7 [BL#65][b065wxxx.xxx]7637
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 6 [BL#64][b064wxxx.xxx]7636
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 5 [BL#63][b063wxxx.xxx]7635
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 4 [BL#62][b062wxxx.xxx]7634
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 3 [BL#61][b061wxxx.xxx]7633
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 2 [BL#60][b060wxxx.xxx]7632
Mar 2005 The Disowned, by E. B. Lytton, Vol. 1 [BL#59][b059wxxx.xxx]7631
Feb 2005 Images from Confessions of Rousseau, by D. Widger [dw39wxxh.xxx]7555
Feb 2005 Images from Pepy's Diaries, by David Widger [dw38wxxh.xxx]7554
Feb 2005 Images from Works of Gilbert Parker, by D. Widger [dw37wxxh.xxx]7553
Feb 2005 Images from Motley's Netherlands, by David Widger [dw36wxxh.xxx]7552
Feb 2005 Images from The Essays of Montaigne, by D. Widger [dw35wxxh.xxx]7551
Feb 2005 Images from Works of George Meredith, by D. Widger[dw34wxxh.xxx]7550
Dec 2004 Prophet in Utah, by Cannon and O'Higgins [prutaxxx.xxx]7066
[Full title: Under the Prophet in Utah]
[Full author: Frank J. Cannon and Harvey J. O'Higgins]
Dec 2004 Children of the Bush, by Henry Lawson [chbshxxx.xxx]7065
Dec 2004 A Half-Century of Conflict V2, by F. Parkman[FP#5][?hcc2xxx.xxx]7064
Dec 2004 A Terrible Secret, by May Agnes Fleming [trsctxxx.xxx]7063
Dec 2004 A Daughter of Fife, by Amelia Edith Barr [?dgffxxx.xxx]7062
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7dgff10.txt and 7dgff10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8dgff10.txt and 8dgff10.zip]
Dec 2004 A March on London, by G. A. Henty [#15][?londxxx.xxx]7061
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7lond10.txt and 7lond10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8lond10.txt and 8lond10.zip]
Dec 2004 At Agincourt, by G. A. Henty [#14][?aginxxx.xxx]7060
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7agin10.txt and 7agin10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8agin10.txt and 8agin10.zip]
Dec 2004 Peregrine's Progress, by Jeffery Farnol [#4][peregxxx.xxx]7059
Dec 2004 Mankind in the Making, by H. G. Wells [#26][?mimkxxx.xxx]7058
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7mimk10.txt and 7mimk10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8mimk10.txt and 8mimk10.zip]
Dec 2004 Poindexter's Disappearance,by Julian Hawthorne[#2][?dpdpxxx.xxx]7057
[Full title: David Poindexter's Disappearance and Other Tales]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7dpdp10.txt and 7dpdp10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8dpdp10.txt and 8dpdp10.zip]
Dec 2004 Along the Shore, by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop [atshrxxx.xxx]7056
Dec 2004 Gone to Earth, by Mary Webb [gtrthxxx.xxx]7055
Dec 2004 World's Histories, France V1, by Guizot De Witt [?wbhfxxx.xxx]7054
[Full title: Worlds Best Histories - France Vol 7]
[Full author: M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7wbhf10.txt and 7wbhf10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8wbhf10.txt and 8wbhf10.zip]
Dec 2004 Pages from a Journal with Other Papers,Rutherford [pgjrxxxx.xxx]7053
[Author's Full Name: Mark Rutherford]
[Text in pgjr10.txt/.zip, XHTML in pgjr10h.htm/.zip]
Dec 2004 Dr. Heidenhoff's Process, by Edward Bellamy [#3][heidnxxx.xxx]7052
Dec 2004 The Good News of God, by Charles Kingsley [gdngxxx.xxx]7051
[Text in gdng10.txt/.zip, XHTML in gdng10h.htm/.zip]
Dec 2004 The Swoop, by P. G. Wodehouse [#22][swoopxxx.xxx]7050
Dec 2004 Ruckblicke, by Walter Grunfeld [?rblkxxx.xxx]7049C
[Language: German]
Dec 2004 Triumph of the Egg, by Sherwood Anderson [#3][?teggxxx.xxx]7048
[Full title: Triumph of the Egg and Other Stories]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7tegg10.txt and 7tegg10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8tegg10.txt and 8tegg10.zip]
Dec 2004 Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce [bkblbxxx.xxx]7047
Dec 2004 Annals of Jamaica Plain, by Harriet M. Whitcomb [arjplxxx.xxx]7046
[Full title: Annals and Reminiscences of Jamaica Plain]
[Full author: Harriet Manning Whitcomb]
Dec 2004 Marching Men, by Sherwood Anderson [#2][mgmenxxx.xxx]7045
Dec 2004 Courts of Memory, by L. de Hegermann-Lindencrone [?crtsxxx.xxx]7044
[Full title: In the Courts of Memory 1858-1875.]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7crts10.txt and 7crts10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8crts10.txt and 8crts10.zip]
Dec 2004 Der Kaufmann von Venedig, William Shakespeare[#18][?ws18xxx.xxx]7043
[Language: German]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7ws1810.txt and 7ws1810.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8ws1810.txt and 8ws1810.zip]
Dec 2004 Discipline and Other Sermons, by Charles Kingsley [dscpxxx.xxx]7042
[Text in dscp10.txt/.zip, XHTML in dscp10h.htm/.zip]
Dec 2004 Wie es euch gefallt, by William Shakespeare [?geftxxx.xxx]7041
[Language: German]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7geft10.txt and 7geft10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8geft10.txt and 8geft10.zip]
Dec 2004 Paula the Waldensian, by Eva Lecomte [?paulxxx.xxx]7040
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7paul10.txt and 7paul10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8paul10.txt and 8paul10.zip]
Dec 2001 The Midnight Queen, by Mary Agnes Fleming [mdnqnxxx.xxx]2950
***
Statistical Review
(This number includes the etexts posted at the PG Australia web site)
In the first 9 weeks of the new year, we have produced 535 new eBooks.
The production statistics are calculated based on full weeks of
production, each production-week starting/ending Wednesday noon,
starting with the first Wednesday in January. January 1st was
was the first Wednesday of 2003, and thus ended the production.
With 7278 eTexts online as of March 5, 2003 it now takes an average
of 100,000,000 readers gaining a nominal value of $1.37 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 1.6 percent of the world's population!
This "cost" is down from $2.12 when we had 4710 eBooks A Year Ago
Can you imagine 7278 books each costing $0.75 less a year later???
Or. . .would this say it better?
Can you imagine 7278 books each costing 35% less a year later???
At 7278 eBooks in 31 Years We Averaged 19.56 eBooks per month
At 535 eBooks Done in 2003 We Averaged 248.00 eBooks per month
***
***Headline News***
[My Comments In Brackets]
Headlines From Newsscan:
MARRIOTT, INTEL CUT DEAL FOR WI-FI ACCESS IN HOTELS
Marriott International and Intel are launching a joint marketing campaign
to promote the availability of Wi-Fi access at 400 Marriott, Renaissance,
Courtyard, Residence Inn and other hotels. "Customers are making decisions
about where they stay based on where this technology is available," says
Lou Paladeau, Marriott VP in charge of technology development. "If you
don't have it, you're not getting them in the door." Wi-Fi hotspots will be
located in lobbies, meeting rooms, and other public spaces. Guests will pay
$2.95 for the first 15 minutes of service, and 25 cents a minute
thereafter. Marriott estimates that 10% of its guests have Wi-Fi
capability. About 19% of laptops sold last year came with Wi-Fi circuitry
included, according to IDC, which estimates that percentage will grow to
91% by 2005. (Wall Street Journal 27 Feb 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1046311909953942903.djm,00.html (sub req'd)
FEDS SEIZE DOMAIN NAMES OF ALLEGED OFFENDERS
Attorney General John Ashcroft says federal agents have taken control of
several Web sites allegedly selling illegal "drug paraphernalia" and have
redirected them to servers at the Drug Enforcement Administration. A
federal judge in Pittsburgh ruled that the takeover was permitted until a
trial can take place. Meanwhile, the DOJ also reported it has seized the
iSoNews.com domain, whose owner pled guilty to using his site to sell "mod"
chips that enable Xbox and PlayStation owners to modify their game consoles
so they can play illegally copied games. Visitors to the iSoNews.com site
yesterday were greeted with a notice stating: "The domain and Web site were
surrendered to U.S. law enforcement pursuant to a federal prosecution and
felony plea agreement for conspiracy to violate criminal copyright laws."
The seizing of Internet domain names represents a new tactic in the DoJ's
arsenal against crime, with a spokesman for the Electronic Privacy
Information Center observing that the practice becomes a kind of
"electronic flypaper" that raises novel legal questions. (CNet News.com 26
Feb 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-986225.html?tag=fd_top
TWO DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR MAKERS OF ONLINE GAMES
In one corner of the ring is Microsoft; in the other, a partnership of
Sony, IBM, and grid-computing company Butterfly.net. Whereas Microsoft is
using its own technology exclusively for online games, the
Sony-IBM-Butterfly team uses a layer of software that was created by
Butterfly.net and is based on the open-source software standard known as
"Open Grid Services architecture." The Sony-IBM-Butterfly effort has
introduced grid computing to the consumer market, providing a way for
multitudes of online players to enjoy fast, realistic graphics with fewer
glitches. In the judgment of Curt Benefield, the chief executive of the
company that makes the multiplayer science fiction game VibeForce, "This
will standardize the industry and put everyone on a more equal footing."
(New York Times 27 Feb 2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/technology/27GRID.html
HOORAY FOR NETFLIX, THAT SCREWY, BALLYHOOEY NETFLIX!
[With apologies to composer Johnny Mercer for our headline.] Just two days
ago NewsScan reported the soaring success of companies that have found a
niche in the online DVD rental service business. And now Netflix, the
largest such service, is saying that it has just surpassed 1 million
subscribers -- fresh evidence it and its rivals (companies such as
www.cafedvd.com, www.walmart.com, and www.filmcaddy.com) are on to
something. People seem increasingly to be interested in renting movies
online, receiving them through the U.S. mail, keeping them as long as they
like, and then returning them in order to replace them with new rentals.
[Is it too late for NewsScan to get into this business? Well, maybe we
should stick to our knitting.] (AP/San Jose Mercury News 27 Feb 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5275435.htm
MONSTER.COM WARNS JOB-SEEKERS ABOUT POTENTIAL ID THEFT
Monster.com, a job-seeker's Web service whose database holds a quarter of a
million resumes, has issued an e-mail message to its customers warning that
"regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and
used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting
job-seekers." What should job-seekers do to protect themselves? Monster.com
advises them not to give out their social security, credit card or bank
account numbers, not to disclose marital status or other information not
relevant to their job qualifications, and to be especially careful when
responding to job-postings from prospective employers outside the country.
(AP/San Jose Mercury News 28 Feb 2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5285264.htm
MICROSOFT REVEALS ALL TO CHINA
Microsoft has agreed to reveal its Windows source code to the Chinese
government, making China the first country to benefit from Microsoft's new
efforts to dispel foreign governments' security fears. Without knowing the
inner workings of an operating system, governments may worry that backdoors
might be installed to leak sensitive information. "Microsoft's GSP
[Government Security Program] provides us with the controlled access to
source code and technical information in an appropriate way. It also
establishes cooperation between China and Microsoft. Microsoft has taken a
step forward to let us understand its product security," says Wu Shizhong,
director of the China Information Technology Security Certification Center.
In the past, China's government and its military have stated their
preference for the Linux operating system because its source code is
publicly available. (CNet News.com 28 Feb 2003)
http://news.com.com/2100-1007-990526.html?tag=fd_top
SEGA SURVEYS SUITORS
Sega, which last week announced its plan to merge with pinball-machine
maker Sammy, is now enjoying the attentions of Microsoft and Electronic
Arts, as the two separately explore the possibility of buying part or all
of the ailing videogame maker. For Microsoft, the acquisition would give
its Xbox console access to exclusive game titles, particularly high-quality
sports games, which are one of the most popular and fastest-growing game
categories. In addition, Sega's acquisition could open doors in Japan,
where a dearth of Xbox titles that appeal to Japanese gamers has left
Microsoft with stacks of unsold inventory. Meanwhile, from Electronic Arts'
perspective, a Sega acquisition would give EA a boost in Japan, and would
at the same time eliminate a competitor in the sports games category.
Spokespeople at both companies declined to comment. (Wall Street Journal 28
Feb 2003)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1046381423691854663.djm,00.html (sub req'd)
NORWEGIAN DVD-PIRACY CASE TO BE RETRIED
What's going on, property theft or the exercise of intellectual freedom?
Norwegian teenage programmer Jon Johansen was acquitted last month of using
software he developed to steal DVD movies, but an appellate court in Oslo
has ruled that the case needs to be reexamined. The software involved is
known as DeCSS. What it does is unscramble manufacturers' security locks on
DVDs, much to the distress of the Hollywood movie studios. (Reuters/USA
Today 28 Feb 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-02-28-dvd-retrial_x.htm
RIGHT TO POSSESS OR RIGHT TO CREATE? WHICH CARD TRUMPS?
At the end of a recent mock trial sponsored by the Berkeley Center for Law
and Technology to debate issues of copyright in the digital age, the judge
urged the participants: "Go back to work and clear up this mess for us. And
don't take too long to do it because we're losing ground fast." It's a case
of "digital rights management" (technology to place locks on DVDs and other
copyrighted material to prevent their being misappropriated) versus an
innovator's ability to make technological advances by taking a competitor's
products apart to understand how they work. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.),
who is introducing a bill to amend the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright
Act, says, "We have ceded too much power to copyright owners. People are
afraid to proceed on innovative measures." (New York Times 2 Mar 2003)
http://shorl.com/bapog
AOL SEEKS TO 'MONETIZE' INSTANT MESSAGING
About the only good news for AOL recently has been its spectacular success
with its instant messaging service, the world's most popular electronic
communications tool. Every day, about 2.3 billion instant messages are sent
via AOL, and about 40% of all Americans aged 14-24 use the AOL IM service.
The only problem is, it's free. And while AOL isn't considering charging
for its IM service or burdening it with advertising, company insiders are
putting together targeted pitches to capitalize on the demographics of the
AOL instant messaging community. At the same time, the company is pushing
IM into the workplace, where employees often use the service to exchange
messages without supervision from their company's computer administrators.
"This is really an enormous untapped audience online," says Stephen Kim,
research director of ComScore Media Matrix. "It is a big audience, and it
is really active, but it is really hard to turn that into dollars."
Nevertheless, AOL plans to keep on trying: "There is a very significant
effort to build new revenue streams and businesses over the next one to two
years," says a high-ranking AOL official. "If we have done nothing two
years from now, we will have a problem." (Washington Post 3 Mar 2003)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30944-2003Mar2.html
THE NET IS ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF CASH REGISTERS
John Rose, an executive vice president of music company EMI, says there's
gold in the hills of the Internet, where unauthorized music downloads
constitute an enormous challenge to the music industry: "If all the
consumers who pirate tracks today bought them for a buck, that would be a
$5 billion a month business" -- or twice the size of the music business
today. So will people actually pay that much? Industry players seem to have
decided that they will. The major music download services, including
late-entry AOL, now charge about $9 or $10 a month, allowing a customer to
stream songs from a pool of a quarter of a million titles -- and charge
about 99 cents to download a song and copy it onto a CD. (USA Today 3 Mar
2003)
http://partners.nytimes.com/2003/03/03/technology/03TUNE.html
SOFTWARE FILTERING CASE GOES TO SUPREME COURT
Tomorrow the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case challenging
the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2001,
which requires any library that receives federal money to block access to
online pornography and obscenity. In support of the Act, U.S. Solicitor
General Ted Olson says that libraries are being asked merely to use the
same kind of discretion they've always used in managing their print
collections: "Public libraries have broad discretion to decide what
material to add to their collections. The use of filtering software to
block access to online pornography falls well within the permissible limits
of that discretion.
(USA Today 3 Mar 2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-03-03-library-porn-usat_x.htm
TEXT MESSAGE ESSAY BEWILDERS BRITISH TEACHER
A 13-year-old's "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essay proved to be almost
indecipherable to her poor teacher. "I could not believe what I was seeing.
The page was riddled with hieroglyphics, many of which I simply could not
translate," the teacher told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The girl's
essay began: "My summr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF
& thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc." For those who had trouble
reading that, here's a translation: "My summer holidays were a complete
waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his
girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York.
It's a great place." The text messaging craze is partially to blame for a
decline in grammar and written English abilities, says Judith Gillespie of
the Scottish Parent Teacher Council. "Pupils think orally and write
phonetically." (Reuters/CNN 3 Mar 2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/03/03/offbeat.text.essay.reut/index.html
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