Google Tips, 50 Most Important People

Google tips:
http://www.smallbusinesshub.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/1264/12-Quick-Tips-To-Search-Google-Like-An-Expert.aspx

50 Most Important People on the Web
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070305/tc_pcworld/129301

You don't know Jack

Jack's back!
http://www.digg.com/playable_web_games/You_Don_t_Know_Jack_full_games_now_online

I'm firmly convinced that YDKJ was 10% of the reason for the growth of the internet in the 90's and certainly one of the biggest innovators in using Adobe Flash.

FW: [IP] Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007

Sorry for the dorked up formatting, looked this bad when I got it.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
Subject: [IP] Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007

BTW, the weather i Tokyo is fine and warmer than Pittsburgh djf

Begin forwarded message:

http://www.boucher.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1011&Itemid=75

Reps. Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007 
(February 27, 2007)

DATE: February 27, 2007
Reps. Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007

Legislation Would Protect the Fair Use Rights of Digital Media Consumers

U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA) and John Doolittle (R-CA), 
today
introduced the Freedom And Innovation Revitalizing U.S. 
Entrepreneurship Act
of 2007 (FAIR USE Act) to protect the fair use rights of users of
copyrighted material and thereby enable consumers of digital media to 
use it
in ways that enhance their personal convenience. The legislation 
contains
several improvements to the Digital Media Consumer's Rights Act, similar
legislation which the lawmakers introduced in the 108th and 109th
Congresses.  Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is an original 
cosponsor of
the legislation.

Because the fair use rights of consumers of digital media are severely
threatened today, Boucher and Doolittle propose amending a 1998 law, the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was enacted at the behest of 
motion
picture studios, the recording industry, and book publishers.

"The fair use doctrine is threatened today as never before.  
Historically,
the nation's copyright laws have reflected a carefully calibrated 
balanced
between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the users of
copyrighted material.  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically
tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the
expense of the public's right to fair use," Boucher said.  "The FAIR 
USE Act
will assure that consumers who purchase digital media can enjoy a broad
range of uses of the media for their own convenience in a way which 
does not
infringe the copyright in the work," Boucher explained.

"Without a change in the law, individuals will be less willing to 
purchase
digital media if their use of the media within the home is severely
circumscribed and the manufacturers of equipment and software that 
enables
circumvention for legitimate purposes will be reluctant to introduce the
products into the market," Boucher added.

"America can and must be a world leader in technological innovation," 
said
Doolittle.  "This objective is hindered by the provisions in the DMCA 
that
discourage the free flow of ideas and information.  The FAIR USE Act 
removes
those disincentives, and I look forward to seeing the benefits that will
ensue."

The FAIR USE Act differs fundamentally from H.R. 107 and H.R. 1201, as
proposed in the 108th and 109th Congresses, respectively, by 
Representatives
Boucher and Doolittle. In an effort to address the concerns expressed by
content owners, the FAIR USE Act does not contain provisions which would
have established a fair use defense to the act of circumvention.

The legislation instead contains specific exemptions to section 1201 
of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act which do not pose a comparable 
potential
threat to their business models. For example, the proposed 
legislation would
codify the decision by the Register of Copyrights, as affirmed in a
determination made by the Librarian of Congress under section 1201(a)
(1) of
the DMCA, to allow consumers to "circumvent" digital locks in six 
discrete
areas. The bill also contains narrowly crafted additional exemptions 
that
are a natural extension of these exemptions.

Other new elements of bill include limiting the availability of 
statutory
damages against individuals and firms who may be found to have 
engaged in
contributory infringement, inducement of infringement, vicarious 
liability
or other indirect infringement.  A more narrowly crafted provision 
codifying
the Supreme Court's Betamax decision to eliminate any uncertainty 
about a
potential negative impact on the Supreme Court's holding in the Grokster
case is also contained in the legislation.

Finally, given the central role that libraries and archives play in our
society in ensuring free speech and continuing access to creative 
works, the
bill includes a provision to ensure that they can circumvent a 
digital lock
to preserve or secure a copy of a work or replace a copy that is 
damaged,
deteriorating, lost, or stolen.

"I look forward to working with my colleagues and all interested 
parties in
an effort to properly balance the rights of content owners, consumers 
and
other constructive users of content. I will welcome their suggestions 
about
how the measure might be further improved as it moves forward in the
legislative process," Boucher concluded.

"As a consumer, I am excited about the possibilities that the FAIR 
USE Act
brings," stated Doolittle.

Supporters of the FAIR USE Act include the Consumer Electronics 
Association,
the American Library Association, the American Association of Law 
Libraries,
the Association of Research Libraries, the Special Libraries 
Association,
the Home Recording Rights Coalition, the Computer & Communications 
Industry
Association, and other organizations representing the public interest 
and
the consumers of digital media.

-------------------------------------------
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Monday links

Mostly from Slashdot, not much this weekend out there:

show us the Code!
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/25/009222

IRS to ebay:  Snitch on your customers!
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/24/2113211

Software grounds the F-22 (hope the same software isnt in the intercontinental nukes):
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/25/2038217

Creative Commons 3.0 launched:
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/02/26/1157223.shtml

Schneier on CYA security

He calls it CYA security, I call it Security Theater.

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72774-0.html

The Security Power Point Slides

Sorry, they can be grabbed at:
 
http://zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten/security.ppt
-----Original Message-----
Sent: 2/21/2007 2:36 PM
Subject: The Power Point Slides

Dear Prof. Posten,

I didn't see the Power Point slides on the class website.

FW: [IP] Techdirt. DMCA Takedown For Professor Showing How Copyri ght Owners Exaggerate Their Rights

Irony at its best!

 

---

http://www.techdirt.com/

 

 

DMCA Takedown For Professor Showing How Copyright Owners Exaggerate Their Rights

from the ah,-irony dept

We've covered way too many bogus DMCA takedown notices, but sometimes new ones stand out for being extra special. Wendy Seltzer, a law professor who used to work for the EFF and who founded the awesome Chilling Effects clearinghouse for providing an archive of various takedown notices, has apparently received her very own first DMCA takedown notice (found via Boing Boing). Seltzer posted a snippet from the Superbowl for her students to see. Not just any snippet, mind you, but the snippet where its announced: "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or of any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent, is prohibited." She posted it as an example of a copyright holder exaggerating its rights -- as the NFL cannot ban all of the things they ban in that statement. Yes, this is getting more and more ironic. Take a moment to think this through for the layer upon layer of absurdity. A law professor puts up a short clip for educational purposes (fair use allows both short clips and educational uses of content) for the sake of showing how the NFL exaggerates its copyright control -- and the NFL responds by then sending a DMCA takedown notice to better highlight how they not only exaggerate their claims, but then misuse the law to shut down fair use as well. Somehow, though, I doubt the NFL planned to help Seltzer demonstrate how the law is abused by trying to takedown her example of how they were abusing the law (got that?). Either way, it seems that the NFL is helping prove Seltzer's point.

Linux/Unix inquiry

Forwarded reply to a previous it10250 student with answers that may be
of interest to existing students:

---
Hi Brian!  Let me see if I can answer your questions as best I can.  I
am no expert in Solaris, I stopped at Solaris 2.5.1 and there have been
years of improvements since then but will see what I can do.
 
-I had you last semester for IT and we talked about linux and Solaris 10.
-I have an HP(Compaq) R4000 laptop(AMD 64) and was thinking about
-installing the software to use as my OS. Question?

-1 Should I do this?

Well, the key questions here are CAN and SHOULD.  You certainly CAN on a
machine of this calibre.  Should is much more tricky.  What are your
goals for doing so?

Common answers would be things like:
To avoid virusses and spam / get safer surfing
To learn more about Linux and Unix
To avoid Microsoft products
Because it is interesting/fun
Skillset for employment
Embrace Free and Open Source philosophy

If you find yourself saying 'yes' to any of the above, then yes, maybe
Solaris or Linux is a good fit for you.

-2 Can I access XP from the Solaris? Or like switch OS to OS

You sure can.  In fact if you use something called a Live CD, you never
install the new OS at all, you simply boot to it from CD, do your work
in that OS and then the next time you reboot, XP is back like it never
knew it wasnt running.  The downside of course is the CD is a LOT slower
than a hard disk.  If you find that you like the new OS, you can install
it so that you get a Dual Boot mode, ie you can choose to run XP or the
new OS each time you reboot.  You need to set a part of your hard disk
aside as a seperate partition, this is somewhat tricky but definitly
doable, especially if you follow any of the billion tutorials available
online.

The Solaris Live CD can be found here:
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3647306
<http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3647306> 
You can also check out Knoppix at:
http://www.knoppix.org <http://www.knoppix.org> 
and Ubuntu at:
http://www.ubuntu.com <http://www.ubuntu.com> 

Both are great versions of Linux that can be found either as installables or live CDs.

-3 I think I will have more security and be able to surf more effectively. True or False

Somewhat true, but you could get most of the benefits by simply ditching
IE and moving to Firefox.  I'd start there and see how you like it.

-4. Do you like it?

For work, absolutely.  For home, no I wouldnt use it as my only OS.  I'm
too much of a gamer and games and Linux arent really on the same sheet.
Even Mac OSX is kind of lame as far as gaming goes.

-5. Any thing I should consider or Know about installation?

Back up everything =)  And dont get discouraged if things dont go right
the first time.  Unix is a lot different and it takes a bit of getting
used to, but there are many advantages in a lot of areas.

-Thanks Professor Posten, I hope you don't mind questions from time to
time.

-Brian

My pleasure!  Some other great places to get you started:
http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html
<http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html> 
http://www.justlinux.com/ <http://www.justlinux.com/> 
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/ <http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/> 
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8
<http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8>
http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/
<http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/> 

May I forward your question and my answer to my blog and current class?
The blog is at:
http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com <http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com> 

Linux/Unix inquiry

Forwarded reply to a previous it10250 student with answers that may be of interest to existing students:

---
Hi Brian!  Let me see if I can answer your questions as best I can.  I am no expert in Solaris, I stopped at Solaris 2.5.1 and there have been years of improvements since then but will see what I can do.

 
-I had you last semester for IT and we talked about linux and Solaris 10.
-I have an HP(Compaq) R4000 laptop(AMD 64) and was thinking about
-installing the software to use as my OS. Question?

-1 Should I do this?

Well, the key questions here are CAN and SHOULD.  You certainly CAN on a
machine of this calibre.  Should is much more tricky.  What are your
goals for doing so?

Common answers would be things like:
To avoid virusses and spam / get safer surfing
To learn more about Linux and Unix
To avoid Microsoft products
Because it is interesting/fun
Skillset for employment
Embrace Free and Open Source philosophy

If you find yourself saying 'yes' to any of the above, then yes, maybe
Solaris or Linux is a good fit for you.

-2 Can I access XP from the Solaris? Or like switch OS to OS

You sure can.  In fact if you use something called a Live CD, you never
install the new OS at all, you simply boot to it from CD, do your work
in that OS and then the next time you reboot, XP is back like it never
knew it wasnt running.  The downside of course is the CD is a LOT slower
than a hard disk.  If you find that you like the new OS, you can install
it so that you get a Dual Boot mode, ie you can choose to run XP or the
new OS each time you reboot.  You need to set a part of your hard disk
aside as a seperate partition, this is somewhat tricky but definitly
doable, especially if you follow any of the billion tutorials available
online.

The Solaris Live CD can be found here:
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3647306
<http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3647306> 
You can also check out Knoppix at:
http://www.knoppix.org <http://www.knoppix.org> 
and Ubuntu at:
http://www.ubuntu.com <http://www.ubuntu.com> 

Both are great versions of Linux that can be found either as installables or live CDs.

-3 I think I will have more security and be able to surf more effectively. True or False

Somewhat true, but you could get most of the benefits by simply ditching
IE and moving to Firefox.  I'd start there and see how you like it.

-4. Do you like it?

For work, absolutely.  For home, no I wouldnt use it as my only OS.  I'm
too much of a gamer and games and Linux arent really on the same sheet.
Even Mac OSX is kind of lame as far as gaming goes.

-5. Any thing I should consider or Know about installation?

Back up everything =)  And dont get discouraged if things dont go right
the first time.  Unix is a lot different and it takes a bit of getting
used to, but there are many advantages in a lot of areas.

-Thanks Professor Posten, I hope you don't mind questions from time to time.

-Brian

My pleasure!  Some other great places to get you started:
http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html
<http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html> 
http://www.justlinux.com/ <http://www.justlinux.com/> 
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/ <http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/> 
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?s=
<http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8>
&forumid=8
http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/
<http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/> 

May I forward your question and my answer to my blog and current class?
The blog is at:
http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com <http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com> 

Vanity Fair on movie piracy

http://www.vanityfair.com/ontheweb/features/2007/03/piratebay200703?currentPage=1

Surprisingly detailed look at the Pirate Bay and its users.

What did the Aqua Teen overreaction really cost?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17050732/

 

Bottom line is that the total costs were less than half the cost of a superbowl commercial, but probably not the smartest thing to do.  And it didn’t help ratings anyway.

 

What does this have to do with computers?  Viral Marketing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

 

The top half of the article also clearly lays down just what the national debt means to us in relative terms.  Have to admit this is something I never knew that much about but was kinda worried it would be a bigger problem in the future, but knowing that compared to our actual GDP it’s not as bad as it was 50 years ago is actually a bit of a relief, but still needs to be managed better.

From [IP] Excellent article on Google's scanning strategy

A good update to what Google's up to in books.

Also check out Ted Nelson's Xanadu project which preceded the Web by decades at www.xanadu.net

-----Original Message-----
Begin forwarded message:

From: Ted Nelson <tandm@xanadu.net>
Date: February 12, 2007 12:52:36 AM EST
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Cc: Ted Nelson <tandm@xanadu.net>
Subject: recorrected :xu: EXcellent article on Google's scanning 
strategy
Reply-To: tandm@xanadu.net

Hi Dave--

Everybody wonders what Google is going to do next.

Here's a great piece called "Google's Moon Shot"--

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070205fa_fact_toobin
  printable at
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/070205fa_fact_toobin

Thiis excellent piece (from the Feb 12 New Yorker) describes the
  current strange situation-- all the major American publishers are
  suing Google for scanning their books without permission;
  Google is expected to PAY THEM OFF, which it can easily afford,
  gaining the keys to the kingdom.

How to deliver final information to users-- this is where I think
  the Xanadu Project, with its design for parallel media views
  and recomposition, is still highly relevant.

CheersT

--
Theodor Holm Nelson
   Visiting Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute
   Visiting Professor, University of Southampton
   Founder, Project Xanadu

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How does the "Hacker" economy work?

http://www.informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197004939&pgno=1&queryText=

In this class we will distinguish between the terms hacker and cracker, this story uses the term Hacker incorrectly technically but in the way that the general public would expect.  This is a really good and detailed look at how the 'scene' works.  It's BIG business these days.  If you find it interesting, make sure you read the sidebar too.

My pet peeve: Diamond Hype

http://www.wisebread.com/the-greatest-story-ever-sold-is-a-fantasy-covered-in-blood

Semi off topic, but one mission I'm on is to get more people to question the worth of diamonds.  If you do the research and still feel that spending your hard earned dollars on them is worth it, more power to you, but most people I know simply listen to the marketing hype and are trained to spend ridiculous sums simply to show off.  There are plenty of other truly valuable gems and metals out there that don't have a mysterious global monopoly artificially inflating the costs.

Forbes reviews Vista

Tip of the Hat to Fake Steve Jobs (http://fakesteve.blogspot.com):
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0226/050.html?partner=yahoomag

"A vista slightly more inspiring than the one over the town dump."

"... a fading theme park with a few new rides, lots of patched-up old ones and bored kids in desperate need of adult supervision running things."

"Should you upgrade your current machine? Are you nuts?"

"... utterly unimaginative, internally discordant and woefully out of tune."

OUCH