Policy and Law
Saturday, February 16, 2002Sony Comments on Settlement
Sony: MS already using Seattlement terms to screw us. IP landgrab [The Register]
47 Out of 15,000
The U.S. Justice Department on Friday released 47 public comments on the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case and only five of them supported the government's settlement with the software giant. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is due to decide next month whether to approve the settlement, said she planned to read the comments before making her ruling.
Why The Nine States Want The Code
In brief, the nine dissenting states believe - as do others - that Microsoft's argument that it's impossible to divorce such components as Internet Explorer from the base operating system are specious. To butress their argument, the states want to examine the source for Windows XP - specifically, the embedded version of the OS. The article notes potential customers can buy the embedded system in some 10,000 individual pieces. While most are individual device drivers components also include - you guessed it - Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. Among the state's goals is a 'stripped down' version of Windows that, they believe, would foster competition. Inasmuch as this was among the original anti-trust complaints, it directly addresses concerns of competitors.
Senators Seek To Eliminate Option Benefit
If the proposal - which would require companies taking a tax deduction for options granted to employees also take a hit on earnings - makes it to law, expect major changes in how options are used as an incentive by high tech firms. Not to mention an accounting disaster at companies like Microsoft that have used options extensively as an inventive for employees and others. Either way, this one is going to get ugly.
Senators' stock options move could cost MS billions. IT giants could have to pay some tax, shock horror [The Register]
Not As Stupid As You Thought?
Testimony in Congress this week included the observation that Enron head Kenneth Lay just didn't seem to get it when informed of potential accounting problems. Looks like he understood more than he let on.
Lay Sold Shares for $100 Million. A large part of the $100 million in Enron stock that Kenneth L. Lay sold came after he was warned by Sherron S. Watkins that the company might collapse. [The New York Times: Business]
Biometrics Perform Poorly In Real World Trials
One vendor's system correctly identified an individual about half the time, while a competitor's reached 94%. That sounds good until you start doing the math - in a thousand people, that's 60 mistakes. Multiply 60 by the thousands of people who travel by air each day, and you get an unworkable mess.
Scanning Tech a Blurry Picture. About those eye and face scans that promise to ferret out the evildoers: The feds say they don't work as well as advertised. By Declan McCullagh and Robert Zarate [Wired News - Technology]