[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Aug 25 10:01:10 PDT 2004
GWeekly_August_25.txt
The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, August 25, 2004 PT1
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*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
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72 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
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*Flashback!!!
2602 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us ~30 years for the first 2602 !
That's the 7.25 months of 2004 as Compared to ~30 years!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #2602
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
>From NewsScan:
HACKER WANTS TO MAKE iTUNES EVERYBODY'S TUNES
[More below in Edupage section]
Jon Lech Johansen, the Norwegian hacker who gained notoriety for
developing DVD encryption-cracking software, has created a software key that
unlocks the encryption Apple uses for its AirPort Express -- which lets
users broadcast digital music from Apple's online iTunes Music Store on a
stereo not plugged into a computer. Johansen, who posted the key on his Web
site (mockingly named "So Sue Me"), is an open source advocate critical of
Apple for using a proprietary system to ensure that its products work only
with each other. Apple has not yet reacted to this new intrusion. (AP/San
Jose Mercury News 12 Aug 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9385704.htm
and in a related story
THE NEW MEANING OF OWNERSHIP IN THE DIGITAL AGE
When you buy a CD from a store, you "own" that music, and as long as
you don't bootleg it or charge lots of people money to listen to it, it's
yours. But if you purchase that same playlist online, in most cases you're
purchasing the "rights" to the content which is "locked" by some type of
digital rights management software. Not only that, but those rights may
change over time, dictated by the whims of the music company you get them
from. For instance, Apple Computer recently upped the number of computers
on which its iTunes music files can be concurrently installed from three to
five, but there's nothing stopping it from making its DRM more restrictive
in the future -- although the company says that's unlikely. Meanwhile,
customers of RealNetwork's Rhapsody music service "rent" their songs for a
monthly fee but can play them only on their PCs, not their MP3 players. All
these variables mean that consumers will need to be better informed in the
future about what it is they're actually getting for their money, says Alan
Davidson, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology:
"DRM underscores the point that consumers are going to have to become a lot
more sophisticated about what they're buying."
(Wall Street Journal 16 Aug 2004)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109260940215891895,00.html
and in yet perhaps an even bigger related story
REALNETWORKS UPS THE ANTE, SLASHES PRICES
In a strategy to undermine Apple Computer's dominance in the online
music market, RealNetworks is cutting its prices at the RealPlayer Music
Store to 49 cents per song and $4.99 per album. Apple's iTunes Music Store
sells songs for 99 cents apiece and albums for $9.99. The discount will
prove a losing proposition for RealNetworks in the short term, because it
will be charging less than it pays music companies in royalties, but
RealNetworks hopes its radical move will help to unseat Apple, which by
some estimates commands a 70% share of the music-download market.
RealNetworks also seeks to draw attention to its Harmony technology, which
enables users to listen to songs purchased from RealPlayer on Apple iPod
music players. Up until now, iPods have played only music purchased at
iTunes. (Wall Street Journal 17 Aug 2004)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109269116575992799,00.html (sub req'd)
You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan:
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*
>From Edupage
FCC TO REQUIRE DISCLOSURE OF WIRELESS OUTAGES
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that wireless
carriers must submit reports to government officials concerning
significant outages in service, though those reports will be kept from
public view. Disclosure of outages had been in place for wireless
carriers since 1991. After September 11, 2001, however, the information
in the reports was deemed potentially useful to would-be terrorists,
and the reports ended. Noting that emergency services increasingly
depend on wireless communication, and that disclosure of outages
promotes a more stable wireless network, the FCC will again require the
reports from wireless carriers. The Department of Homeland Security and
wireless telecoms argued that the reports pose a security risk and that
a voluntary reporting system would be preferable. In a concession, the
FCC agreed that the reports will be confidential and will not be
subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Wired News, 11 August 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,64528,00.html
and in a related story
FCC EXEMPTS HIGHER ED FROM CALEA
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a preliminary
ruling that exempts colleges and universities from costly projects to
reengineer computer networks to comply with the Communications
Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA requires telecom
companies to build their networks in such a way that federal officials
can eavesdrop on phone conversations and e-mail exchanges with proper
authority, and some have called for the FCC to rule that CALEA should
also cover computer networks that carry Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) telephone service. The FCC will not make a final decision on
CALEA until late this fall, but in the meantime it has issued a ruling
that identifies certain entities that would be exempt from CALEA for
the purposes of VoIP phone service. Aside from higher education,
exempted entities include libraries, hotels, and coffee shops.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 August 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/08/2004081301n.htm
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO COPYRIGHT EDUCATION
Citing what it calls one-sided information about copyright presented by
groups including the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Motion
Picture Association of America (MPAA) to school students, the American
Library Association (ALA) will release its own educational materials to
schools. ALA officials said that copyright information given to schools
from industry groups neglects to address such issues as fair use and
that the bias of industry groups doesn't serve the best interests of
school kids. A representative of the BSA said his group's materials
are not biased and that they focus simply on right versus wrong rather
than on covering the range of relevant issues. Darrell Luzzo, vice
president of education for Junior Achievement Worldwide, which last
year cosponsored a program with the MPAA on copyright education, said
that if his organization were going to repeat the project, it "would
want to talk more about fair use." Discussions with educators later
convinced Luzzo that the program should have been more broadly based
rather than focusing on just one side of the issue.
Wired News, 13 August 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64543,00.html
[iTunes Restrictions Continue To Fall]
DVD JON GOES AFTER AIRPORT EXPRESS
The Norwegian hacker known as DVD Jon has published a software key for
Apple Computer's AirPort Express, a wireless device that allows users
to transmit songs from iTunes on a computer to a stereo. Jon Johansen,
now 20, found himself the subject of criminal prosecution as a
15-year-old when he published a key to the encryption for DVDs,
allowing users to make copies--legitimate or otherwise--of encrypted
DVDs. Ultimately, Johansen was acquitted of those charges. Johansen has
been an outspoken critic of proprietary software and voiced his support
on his Web site for a recent announcement from RealNetworks that they
had developed an application to allow their content to be played on
Apple's iPod music player. The software key that Johansen published
this week for the AirPort Express is the third time this year he has
defeated Apple's copy protections for music files. The new key,
according to some experts, could allow development of a range of
products from companies other than Apple that will work with the
AirPort Express device.
San Jose Mercury News, 12 August 2004
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9385704.htm
MICROSOFT TO OFFER BASIC WINDOWS XP IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
[Linux Forces MicroSoft Prices Downward In Competition]
Microsoft will distribute a slimmed-down version of Windows XP in five
developing nations beginning this fall as part of the company's
ongoing efforts to facilitate computer use and literacy. Consumers in
Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia will see the so-called Windows XP
Starter Edition on PCs starting in October; the other two countries in
the program were not named. The Starter Edition of the operating system
has fewer features than the standard package, and versions are
customized for each country, including appropriate languages and items
such as screen saver photos that reflect the local landscape. Also part
of Microsoft's initiative is a program that offers free operating
systems and inexpensive Office software packages to certain schools in
67 developing countries. Prices for the Starter Edition were not
announced, though some reports indicated it might be about $36.
According to a spokesperson from Microsoft, the low price allows the
company to compete with Linux and may also discourage piracy, since
buyers of inexpensive, legitimate copies of the software are eligible
for patches and updates.
CNET, 11 August 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-5304023.html
UNLISTED PHONE NUMBERS PUBLISHED
[Ooops!]
Officials at Verizon Communications said this week that due to a
computer problem, phone numbers of as many as 12,000 Verizon customers
who asked that their phone numbers be unlisted may end up published in
phone directories. Verizon published at least 9,000 of the numbers in
its own directory that includes Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia,
but the company, which is required to disclose its customers' numbers
to competing directory services, inadvertently released as many as
12,000 unlisted numbers to other directories. Verizon has offered to
refund the fees that consumers pay to have their numbers unlisted or to
change customers' phone numbers free of charge if they so choose.
Officials from Verizon said the problem resulted from a conversion to a
new computer system.
Washington Post, 11 August 2004 (registration req'd)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55022-2004Aug10.html
You have been reading excerpts from Edupage:
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***
More Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media
NEW "OVERTIME BILL" CAUSES WAVE OF FAKE PROMOTIONS
TO LOWER PAY SALARIED POSITIONS THAN HOURLY WAGES
The new "Overtime Bill" that is supposed to insure that work
done over the 40 hour per week limit gets extra pay is being
re-interpreted by businesses to do just the opposite. . .the
result being that 1 million people will get more pay while 6
million will get less pay by being renamed as salaried jobs,
which don't get overtime at all. They are making it look as
if it were a promotion on paper, no longer an hourly wage to
be ashamed of, but the truth is that it's really a demotion,
when it comes down to the bottom line. It's going to be put
to an interesting test soon, as apparently waitresses aren't
going to be hourly wage earners any more, but salaried, just
to keep from having to pay them overtime. . .as if they ever
got paid enough to be of any concern to their employers.
Apparently the medical industry is one of the leaders in the
effort to re-interpret the meaning of this bill, staging the
movement of their hourly wage earners including nurses to an
underpaid salaried position to avoid hourly overtime pay.
However, it's not only industries that seem to be be doing a
huge intentional misinterpretation of the intent: municipal
employess, including the police, seem also to be being hit.
***
ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK
70,000 security people at Greek Olympics, plus all the workers,
often outnumber the actual ticket holders.
Only 1% of the events were sold out, and that's counting the
opening ceremonies as an actual event.
Tourism in Greece has been cut in half by the Olympics,
even with new discounts offered at hotels, etc.
During the Korean Olympics the Korean army was bussed in
wearing civilian clothing to fill the empty seats.
In other Olympics the unsold tickets were given away
free of charge to fill the seats.
Since we've been keeping track of China:
The average wage in China is 31 cents/hour, with 17 cents as
the basic minimum wage.
I continue my prediction that we will be hearing a lot more.
Concerning the Olympics, I predict that over the next decade
China will win as many Olympic gold medals as any country.
Concerning the economy, I predict that in retrospect we will
find that China has already become a major power in both the
areas of production and of consumption.
*
"Monday Night Football" from ABC Sports in the US loses just
about $10 million per game, if you divide their losses among
the 16 regular season games.
*
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