[gweekly] PT1 Weekly Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Michael Hart
hart at pglaf.org
Wed Oct 13 10:03:18 PDT 2004
GWeekly_October_13.txt
*The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, October 13, 2004 PT1*
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*eBook Milestones
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*Hot Requests New Sites and Announcements
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*Progress Report, including Distributed Proofreaders
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*Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet?
*Flashback
*Weekly eBook update:
This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter
Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter
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128 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
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*Flashback!!!
3034 New eBooks So Far in 2004
It took us ~30 years for the first 3034 !
That's the 9.25 months of 2004 as Compared to ~30 years!!!
Here Is A Sample Of What Books Were Being Done Around #3100
Feb 2002 The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena), by James Legge[lggprxxx.xxx] 3100
Feb 2002 The Old Merchant Marine, by Ralph D. Paine [mrmrnxxx.xxx] 3099
[Title: The Old Merchant Marine, A Chronicle of American Ships and Sailors]
Feb 2002 The Paths of Inland Commerce, by Archer B. Hulbert[tpoicxxx.xxx] 3098
Title: The Paths of Inland Commerce, A Chronicle of Trail, Road, and Waterway
Feb 2002 The Wanderer's Necklace, by H. Rider Haggard [#31][ncklcxxx.xxx] 3097
Feb 2002 Beatrice, by H. Rider Haggard[H. Rider Haggard#30][betrcxxx.xxx] 3096
Feb 2002 The Lady of the Shroud, by Bram Stoker [bstoker#4][ldsrdxxx.xxx] 3095
Feb 2002 Red Eve, by H. Rider Haggard[H. Rider Haggard #29][rdevexxx.xxx] 3094
Feb 2002 The Eve of the Revolution, by Carl Becker [teotrxxx.xxx] 3093
[Title: The Eve Of The Revolution, A Chronicle Of The Breach With England]
Feb 2002 The Conquest of New France, by George M. Wrong[#2][confrxxx.xxx] 3092
[Title: The Conquest of New France, A Chronicle of the Colonial Wars]
Feb 2002 Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon, J. Verne[#14][800lgxxx.xxx] 3091
[Author: Jules Verne]
Feb 2002 Complete Short Stories, by Maupassant [GM#15][gm00vxxx.xxx] 3090
*Headline News from NewsScan and Edupage
[PG Editor's Comments In Brackets]
>From NewsScan:
HOUSE PUNISHES SPYWARE PERPETRATORS
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted 399-1 to pass the "Spy
Act," which imposes heavy federal fines on those who secretly install
"spyware" programs on people's computers to surreptitiously monitor their
Internet activities. The bill was introduced by Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.).
(AP/Washington Post 5 Oct 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9558-2004Oct5.html>
[and in a related story, also more in Edupage section]
SPYWARE IN FTC'S CROSSHAIRS
The Federal Trade Commission is launching an aggressive new strategy
to prosecute "spyware" perpetrators, and last week filed a civil lawsuit
against former spam-king Sanford Wallace and his companies, Seismic
Entertainment Productions and SmartBot. Wallace, who was once dubbed
"Spamford" for his earlier misdeeds, operates the PassItOn.com Web site,
which requires visitors to click through multiple pop-up windows in order
to exit. In an interview with CNet last year, Wallace defended his practice
of collecting personal information from people who visited his site: "We
don't violate anybody's privacy; everything is disclosed. We're giving
something away for free in exchange for consumers' permission to use
private information. It's no secret. Publishers Clearinghouse has been
doing this type of thing for years." However, an FTC investigator says
Wallace's actions go far beyond information-gathering, by changing the home
page of her Internet Explorer browser and using programming code to pop
open the CD drive in her computer while displaying a message saying, "If
your cd-rom drive opens~E you desperately need to rid your system of spyware
pop-ups immediately." Of course, the site then offers to sell a product
called Spy Deleter. Anti-spyware activist Ari Schwartz says the FTC has
"built a good case. This fits into the kinds of cases where FTC could get
their feet wet on this issue." (CNet News.com 12 Oct 2004)
<http://news.com.com/From+spam+king+to+spy+master/2100-1032_3-5406348.html>
[Did you know THEY can jam YOUR cell phone?]
FRANCE APPROVES CELL PHONE-JAMMING IN THEATERS
Tired of chatty theater-goers disturbing your entertainment
enjoyment? France Industry Minister Patrick Devedijian has approved a
decision by the country's Telecommunications Regulation Authority to allow
cinemas, concert halls and theaters to install cell phone jammers that
would prevent patrons from making or receiving calls during performances.
Devedijian stipulated that emergency calls and calls made outside theaters
and other performance spaces must not be affected, however. The move comes
in response to "a long-standing request" from cinemas, says Jean Labbe,
president of the National Federation of French Cinemas, noting that movie
theaters had invested heavily to improve comfort and that "the
authorization of jammers is the cherry on the cake." (AP 11 Oct 2004)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041012/D85LIBC80.html>
U.S. GOVERNMENT FUNDS CHAT ROOM SURVEILLANCE
The U.S. government is funding a year-long study by a Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute computer science professor aimed at developing
mathematical models to identify patterns in the chaotic traffic generated
by online public forums that might reveal "hidden communities" of
terrorists. RPI professor Bulent Yener will download data from selected
chat rooms while tracking the times that messages were sent in order to
create a statistical profile of the traffic. For instance, if QTpie and
RatBoi consistently send messages within seconds of each other in a crowded
chat room, it might be inferred that they are "speaking" to each other,
camouflaged by the "noise" of the chat room environment. "For us, the
challenge is to be able to determine, without reading the messages, who is
talking to whom," says Yener. The $157,673 grant to conduct the study comes
from the National Science Foundation's Approaches to Combat Terrorism
program, which works in concert with U.S. intelligence agencies to make its
selections. However, some scholars doubt the concept has much merit: "In a
world in which you can embed your message in a pixel on a picture on a home
page about tea cozies, I don't know whether if you're any better if you
think chat would be any particular magnet," says Harvard Law School
Internet scholar Jonathan Zittrain. (AP/Washington Post 11 Oct 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25272-2004Oct11.html>
REUTERS TRIPLES JOBS AT SITE IN INDIA
UK-based Reuters news service and data company will triple the number
of employees it has in India, with as many as 1,500 employees (mainly in
technical and data-entry jobs) in Bangalore by 2006. That figure represents
about 10% of the total Reuter's workforce. Reuter's chief executive Tom
Glocer says: "The amazing thing -- and this is the dirty little secret about
outsourcing that people need to talk about publicly a bit more -- not only
is the cost conflation amazing at four, five or even six to one, but the
quality and productivity is better too. We are flooded. We have 100
qualified applications for every data input person and these people have
qualified accounting degrees." (New York Times 8 Oct 2004)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/08/business/worldbusiness/08reuters.html>
ADVANCED CHIPS FROM CHINA
[China: Not Just For The Chinese Any More]
Chinese computer chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International
Corp. (SMIC) will be supplying 90-nanometer chips to Texas Instruments and
other major clients as part of Beijing's plan to reduce the country's once
total dependence on imported chips for its own electronics industry. Texas
Instruments has been using SMIC for late-stage processing of 130-nanometer
chips since 2002, and SMIC's adoption of the 90-nanometer technology will
bring it to the level of the highest industry standard. But SMIC has assured
governments in Europe, the United States and Japan that it will never use
its equipment to produce defense-related products. (AP/San Jose Mercury News
8 Oct 2004) <http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9868936.htm>
EBAY BOSS HEADS 'SHE POWER' LIST
[The Times They Are A'Changin'"]
Meg Whitman of eBay has been named the most powerful woman in
corporate America by Fortune magazine, toppling Carly Fiorina of
Hewlett-Packard, who had headed the list since it began in 1998. Fortune
ranks the women on criteria including the size and importance of a business
in its market, the businesswoman's clout at her organization, her career
trajectory and social or cultural impact. In Ms Whitman's case, there was
one over-riding factor, the magazine said: "2004 belongs to Meg Whitman.
Here's just one reason: The $60-billion market value of eBay, the company
she runs, has surged past that of HP." The online marketplace is one of the
fastest growing companies in history. This year it expects to report
operating profits of about $1 billion on revenue of $3.2 billion. (The Age,
6 Oct 2004) rec'd from John Lamp
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/05/1096949508672.html>
You have been reading excerpts from NewsScan:
NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class
organization making significant and sustained contributions to the
effective management and appropriate use of information technology.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text, html, or handheld versions
of NewsScan Daily, send the appropriate subscribe or unsubscribe messages
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NewsScan-To-Go: http://www.newsscan.com/handheld/current.html
*
>From Edupage
HOUSE SUPPORTS ANTISPYWARE LEGISLATION
The U.S. House of Representatives this week voted overwhelmingly to
pass the Spy Act, which prohibits a range of actions including
surreptitiously installing software, tracking users' keystrokes, and
hijacking home pages. Those found guilty under the Spy Act are subject
to civil penalties of up to $3 million. The House is expected to pass
similar legislation, called the I-Spy Act, which adds criminal
penalties to many of the violations covered by the Spy Act. The bills
include exemptions for determining if a computer is authorized to use
software that is being legitimately installed; monitoring networks, as
long as such monitoring is for security or repair purposes; and using
cookies to allow access to certain Web sites. With those exemptions,
the bills earned the support of The Business Software Alliance, Dell,
eBay, Microsoft, Time Warner, Yahoo, and EarthLink. Although no votes
have been scheduled for companion legislation that is pending in the
Senate, lawmakers still hope that the bills can be delivered to the
president's desk before Congress adjourns this Friday.
Internet News, 6 October 2004
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3417891
COLLEGES PRAISED FOR EFFORTS TO LIMIT COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS
Members of Congress this week praised the efforts of some in the higher
education community to limit the incidence of illegal file trading on
campus networks. At a hearing of the Judiciary Committee's
Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property,
witnesses testified about legal online music services on certain
campuses and about software developed by the University of California
at Los Angeles (UCLA) that automatically handles notices of copyright
infringement. The UCLA system disconnects students from the networks
and notifies them by e-mail of the offending files. Network access is
restored after the individual removes the files in question. Members of
the subcommittee applauded UCLA's system, saying the blocking of
network access for illegal file traders is an appropriate course of
action. James Davis, UCLA's associate vice chancellor for information
technology, said the number of copyright notices received by the
institution has fallen since the introduction of the system, and no
student has been disconnected more than once. The subcommittee also
said it supports the work of the Joint Committee of the Higher
Education and Entertainment Communities, which encourages colleges to
offer free legal services for students who download music on campus.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 October 2004 (sub. req'd)
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2004/10/2004100604n.htm
FIRST VICTORY FOR CAN-SPAM ACT
The first state prosecution under the federal CAN-SPAM Act was resolved
this week when the state of Massachusetts reached a settlement with DC
Enterprises and its principal owner, William Carson. Massachusetts
Attorney General Tom Reilly had filed the suit against Carson and DC
Enterprises in July, alleging that the company sent thousands of
messages that failed to provide a valid "opt-out" feature, did not
identify themselves as advertisements, and used bogus return addresses.
The messages reportedly asked recipients to send personal and financial
information. In a statement, Reilly described the e-mail messages as
the type that "threaten the credibility of companies using e-mail for
legitimate purposes." Carson and DC Enterprises will pay $25,000 and
will end practices that violate the CAN-SPAM Act as well as
Massachusetts state laws.
CNET, 11 October 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5406062.html
PURDY NAMED INTERIM HEAD OF CYBERSECURITY
Andy Purdy has been named interim head of cybersecurity in the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), replacing Amit Yoran, who
abruptly resigned from the post after serving just one year. Yoran was
reportedly frustrated with what he saw as the Bush administration's
lack of support for efforts to improve cybersecurity. Yoran and members
of the technology industry had lobbied to have Yoran's position within
DHS elevated, a move that Congress appeared set to make this week.
Under a bill sponsored by Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the position would be
elevated such that the director would report to the undersecretary for
information analysis and infrastructure protection, one step below DHS
Secretary Tom Ridge. In addition, the bill would require government
agencies to demonstrate consideration of security issues when
requesting new technology systems.
Reuters, 7 October 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=6444284
FTC PURSUES SPYWARE PROSECUTION
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed charges against Sanford
Wallace, alleging that his companies are guilty of installing spyware
that change browser settings, track users' surfing habits, and open
pop-up ads on their computers. Wallace is further charged with selling
antispyware tools that, according to the FTC, "resolve the specific
problems that the defendants themselves have caused." The FTC has asked
the courts to force Wallace's companies to remove the software they
have secretly installed and to refund consumers for the cost of the
antispyware products they have purchased. The U.S. House of
Representatives this week passed two antispyware bills, despite
comments in April by the FTC that it already had sufficient authority
to investigate and prosecute those accused of installing spyware.
Internet News, 8 October 2004
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3419411
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More Headline News Avoided By Most Of The Major U.S. Media
NEW CORPORATE TAX CODE REPLACES ILLEGAL CORPORATE SUBSIDIES
More new tax breaks for American manufacturers, even though
corporate tax rates are already the lowest ever since WWII:
in a not so surprise move of "robbing Peter to pay Paul," a
bill in they U.S. Congress is about to continue the subsidy
to America as a corporation that was declared illegeal when
the World Trade Organization enforced various trade tarriff
and other treaties the U.S. has been avoiding so illegally,
up to now, that the WTO responded by putting a 12% tarriff,
as of 7 months ago, on 1,600 U.S. products sold abroad.
[Remember the WTO making all the news? It appears it today
is the case that the administration NOW thinks WTO rulings,
when they are not in lock-step with party politics, are NOT
such a good thing. . . .
It would appear that any company expressing an interest for
inclusion in this bill has been accomodated, from importers
of ceiling fans, to makers of fishing tackle boxes, all the
specific pork-barrel additions to this bill make a list the
lobbyists are saying was the most easy pickins of history.
One commentator said a company got a tax break if they have
just an ordinary lobbyist with a pulse.
Apparently the only proposed inclusion in this bill that is
NOT going forward was one to create a body to study the new
tax and deficit situation caused by the bill. . .literally,
the only ones NOT getting a break from the bill, taxpayers.
$145 billion more for them to pay, as their goverment finds
a way to make something now declared illegal appear legal.
One HUGE benefit is that outsourced corporations would send
home huge profits that were previously taxed at 35%. . .but
now will be taxed at only 5.25%. . .more like a sales tax.
Halliburton, General Electric and Texas oil are listed as a
sample of the largest beneficiaries, and the 4.3 cent tax a
trucker pays on diesel fuel has been repealed, while normal
drivers still have to pay their gasoline taxes. Prices for
airline tickets will continue to increase as jet fuel taxes
will be increased rather than decreased.
This bill will probably be passed this Friday, but you will
not see much follow-up in the major media.
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