Thursday, October 9, 2003

In The Rear with Broken Gear I deployed twice in four years –- both times with plenty of warning, both times with training "gear" that would have offered me zero protection against a chemical attack, and an M-16 rifle probably older than me. With all the U.S. Army’s recent rethinking and retooling, it still equips its soldiers as if we were fighting on a World War II -- or Civil War -- era battlefield: with the support and combat-support troops scrambling to find working equipment. [The Morning News] 4:28:42 PM

SunnComm Says Pointing to Shift Key 'Possible Felony' A couple of weeks ago BMG released an audio CD with a new type of DRM. Earlier this week, a computer science graduate student at Princeton wrote a report showing the DRM was ineffective - it could easily be defeated by use of the 'shift' key. The stock of the DRM company (SunnComm) has since fallen by 20%. Now, SunnComm plans to sue the student under the DMCA and claim that SunnComm's reputation has been falsely damaged. [Slashdot] A few hours ago I linked to a joke article, but asserted that the joke was on us, in that the joke could come true. Now here's an article that proves I was right, the joke has come true. The DMCA needs to be repealed. 4:18:32 PM

Microsoft Wins Browser War, Abandons 'Innovation' Internet Explorer's bugs aren't just in rendering, they're security holes as well: iDefense and eEye have basically said that Internet Explorer is full of holes and just surfing the Web using it is "unsafe". There's 31 un-patched holes in IE, but MS won't talk about it... It took them nearly a month to roll out a new patch after this one was found to be more or less useless. [Slashdot] 3:46:36 PM

California Academy of Sciences: Seasons of Life and Land. Photographs of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If you need another reason to oppose drilling, here's one. [dangerousmeta!] 3:41:19 PM

It's Even Worse Than You Think Last week the federal government ended the fiscal year with a reported deficit of approximately $400 billion, pushing the federal debt held by the public to nearly $4 trillion. Sobering though these numbers are, they actually understate the problem. Through an accounting sleight of hand with far greater consequences than the corporate scandals of recent years, the federal government distorts public debate, threatens social programs and impoverishes future generations. Were the federal government to account for its Social Security obligations under the rules of accrual accounting, which govern public companies, its financial outlook would be far worse. By the end of last year, the Social Security system owed retirees and current workers benefits valued at $14 trillion. In other words, the system's current shortfall -- its assets minus its liabilities -- is $10.5 trillion. Until the federal government adopts principles of accounting that recognize this, the federal budget will remain the most misleading document in Washington. And that's saying a lot. [via dangerousmeta!] 3:35:53 PM

Developers gripe about IE standards inaction In the 1990s, Microsoft won the browser war over Netscape Communications and secured a monopoly for IE through a strategy of co-opting technology, an approach critics dubbed "embrace, extend, extinguish." With market share locked up, the company is content to rest on its laurels: Microsoft has failed to keep pace with browser standards despite repeated pleadings from developers. Complaints over Microsoft's CSS support come amid broader criticisms that improvements in browser technology have slowed to a glacial pace since the software giant crushed credible competition in the market--an outcome that some view as ironic given Microsoft's cries during the antitrust trial that court-mandated restraints on its ability to bundle applications would stifle innovation. [CNET News.com] 9:04:14 AM

Keyboard Manufacturers Named in DMCA Suit German-based media giant Bertelsmann Group has launched a 400 million dollar lawsuit against major hardware manufacturers, alleging they traffic in banned circumvention devices that can be used to illegally copy their music CDs. It says that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act entitles it to protection from devices that can be used to circumvent its technological protections against piracy. Specifically, it demands compensation for the inclusion of "Shift" buttons on standard computer keyboards. [Kuro5hin.org] For the humor impaired, this is a joke. Except, there's nothing in the article that couldn't be true. The DCMA could actually be used to file a lawsuit to prevent the inclusion of the Shift key on computer keyboards. And you could be sued just for telling people that holding down the Shift key when you insert a music CD into your Windows computer will get around the copy protection scheme on that music CD. 9:00:21 AM

Gartner echoes concerns on Microsoft reliance Exclusive use of Windows could subject firms to greater damage during a cyberattack, says an upcoming Gartner report. The note mirrors a paper by prominent security researchers. [CNET News.com] Microsoft, of course, dismisses the entire notion of a "monoculture", or that the Windows monopoly poses a risk for corporate or national networks. Just like they used to dismiss Linux and Open Source, or the notion that they needed to do actual work to make their software more secure. I'll write it again: CEOs and CIOs are on notice; they know about this problem now, and if they continue to put shareholders at risk by not addressing this very real security issue, they should be sued. I would suggest that shareholders start asking about this at the annual company meeting. 8:45:39 AM

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