20 December 2002

Wonderful 19th Century Predictions About the Future of Media HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE -- But what of the future of books? The narrator argues that Gutenberg's invention will soon disappear. Reading causes lassitude and wearies us tremendously. Words through the speaking tube, however, give us a special vibrancy. The gramophone will destroy printed works. Our eyes are easily damaged, but our ears are strong. But, his listeners object, gramophones are heavy and the cylinders easily damaged. This will be taken care of; new models will be built which will fit in the pocket; the precision of watchmaking will be applied to them. Devices will collect electricity from the movements of the individual, which will power the gramophones. The author will become his own editor. In order to avoid imitations and counterfeits, he will deposit his voice at the Patent Office. Instead of famous men of letters, we will have famous narrators. The art of diction will become extremely important. The ladies will no longer say that they like an author's style, but that his voice is so charming, so serious, that he leaves you full of emotion after listening to his work--it is an incomparable ravishment of the ear. [The Schism Matrix and Boing Boing]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Movie Maker Mentality Aaron Swartz -- Every so often the people fighting sharing slip up and tell us what they really think. Ed Felten points to an article about a program that lets you copy DVDs. “It’s like somebody selling a digital crowbar,” said Patricia Benson, an attorney for the studios. As Felten points out, crowbars are available at the local hardware store, even though they can be used to break into private property and actually steel things, as well as attacking people. Last time I checked, you didn’t need a licence to get one. In the movie studios world, they’d pass tough new laws making it illegal to sell crowbars, or describe how to build one. They’d speak out against the makers of crowbars, claiming they were only selling them for profit and ignoring the terrible harm they can do. They’d try to throw people who created new innovative crowbars in jail. And, of course, they’d ignore the legitimate reasons to have crowbars. Would you like to live in that world? [Aaron Swartz]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Emily Is Wearing In Her Leather Dress DUBBERLEY -- Since I like Emily's Blog, I am going to have to buy the magazine and the book.   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Dive into XML and Tap the Power of the Press BUSINESS WEEK -- There's nothing difficult or mysterious about putting together a press kit aimed at generating some free publicity. Blogging your message helps elevate its prominence, because as Greg Elin notes, once you blog, you're Googled. And as Mark Pilgrim knows, a good blog with a reach in the thousands can get you a publishing deal out of the blue. [Karen Klein and Greg Elin plus Dive into XML]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Mobile games will boom as MMS languishes DUBLIN -- Semi-sober discussions around Molloy's pub in Christchurch focused on the revenue horizon ahead for Ireland's mobile phone networks. Only one person among the 22 techies assembled had an MMS-capable cameraphone. Another planned to buy a Nokia 7650 before the New Year. That leaves more than 90 percent of our anecdotal audience without MMS in 2003.Nokia plans to release more new models next year than in any in its history. Even without buying up, everyone in the group can download ringtones, operator logos and games. So like Strategy Analytics, we think MMS is a good idea, but it won't generate significant revenue for the mobile telecos until more than half of the users have camera phones. That event horizon is more than two years away. [ENN and Business Week and Brian Greene and Electric Search]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Bloggers Catch What Mainstream Press Misses Dave Winer -- The mainstream press missed incinderary comments made by Senator Trent Lott, but those remarks were picked up and stirred for public consumption but several astute bloggers, giving the story cause for follow-up days after the tempest would have cleared. [Scripting News and Cynthia Webb in the Washington Post]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

The Incredible Vanishing Web SEARCH ENGINE WATCH -- "More than any other country, the U.S. government has used the Web to make a wealth of information available to its citizens. But as we are now discovering, the dark side of Web-based information is the ease with which it can be deleted," notes Danny Sullivan. Recognising the need for best practise, Irish developers in South Tipperary have built their county council site structure around traditional documents and hypertext. Visitors can get information in lightweight HTML while also downloading traditional documents for applications such as standard forms-based transactions. So even if someone wipes the HTML, core documents will remain. Moblogged with the best colour phone on the mobile market today.   [Comment on Shoptalk]

When the Logic Bombs Chey and Stephen Cobb -- This week a former sysadmin for UBS PaineWebber, Roger Duronio, was arraigned in a New Jersey federal court on charges of sabotaging two-thirds of the company's computer systems. His alleged motive? To undermine the company's stock price and make a bunch of money. He is alleged to have "shorted" over 30,000 shares of UBS stock prior to unleashing his attack which means the potential was there to make 30,000 times the amount by which the stock dropped when the media got wind of the attacks. In the recent stock manipulation case involving Emulex, shares fell 50 percent. Based on the trading range of UBS PaineWebber stock at the time of Duronio's alleged attack, it is reasonable to say his profits could have exceeded half a million dollars. The flaw in Duronio's alleged scheme was the obviously unexpected ability of UBS PaineWebber to prevent news of the attack getting out. This was quite a feat on the company's part because the logic bombs activated on about 1,000 of its nearly 1,500 computers and the malicious programs did actually delete files. Indeed, the company says attack cost it $3 million. These days, newer forms of malicious programming, such as viruses and worms, tend to vie for our attention, but the logic bomb, dormant code that is later activated or triggered by specific circumstances, is one of the oldest forms of computer attack, dating back to mainframe days. For example, in September 1987, Donald Burleson, a programmer at the Fort Worth-based insurance company, USPA, was fired for allegedly being quarrelsome and difficult to work with. Two days later, approximately 168,000 vital records erased themselves from the company's computers. Burleson was caught after investigators went back through several years' worth of system files and found that, two years before he was fired, Burleson had planted a logic bomb that lay dormant until he triggered it on the day of his dismissal. Burleson became the first person in America to be convicted of "harmful access to a computer." This week, the federal grand jury charged Duronio with one count of securities fraud and one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. If found guilty, Duronio could be hit with up to 20 years in prison and fines of more than $1.25 million. Earlier this year, Timothy Allen Lloyd was sentenced to 41 months in prison for leaving behind malicious programs that deleted critical data from the servers of Omega Engineering, a high-tech measurement company that claimed the cost of the attack was $10m. How can companies defend against such attacks? By hiring the right people and then treating them right. In other words, this is a people problem and so it needs a human solution. All the technology in the world is not going to prevent an insider, with authorized system access and detailed knowledge of the system, from planting a logic bomb. There are some technologies, such as network surveillance and monitoring programs, that might detect attempts to create logic bombs. Integrity checking software might deflect attacks from logic bombs. Properly enforced software development policies and procedures will make it harder for someone to plant a logic bomb. But the bottom line is that a determined insider is almost impossible to stop. On the other hand, it is fairly easy for other humans to spot a disgruntled insider. We've seen numerous cases of insider system abuse where the identity of the culprit came as no surprise, at least to co-workers, if not supervisors or managers.. So, before your company spends money on technology to cut down on insider system abuse, take a look at morale and working conditions. Talk to the people who have the skills and access to mount this sort of attack. And read the landmark 1993 paper on the subject by Dr. Mich Kabay: "Psycho-Social Factors in the Implementation of Information Security Policy" (Risks Digest). [Chey Cobb and Stephen Cobb and NewsScan] Sent by Nokia 9210i mail2blog over Vodafone HSD aboard Irish Rail.   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Finding: First Time for No Inbox Mail DUBLIN -- At 1711 GMT on Friday, 21 December 2002, I used my Nokia Communicator to check for e-mail and discovered nothing to download. No spam. No list mail. No direct mail. No SMS text mail. In my 17 months of using a Nokia Communicator to handle mail-on-the-go, I have never had a totally empty mail queue during the course of a working business day. This is a first for me and an occasion that helps me restrain my expenses. Sent from Nokia 9210i as mail2blog.   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Irish Labour Market Review Recommends Targeted Approach DUBLIN -- According to The Irish Labour Market Review 2002 by the Irish national employment and training authority, a "more targeted immigration approach" is warranted, "focusing on skilled immigrants working in occupations where shortages are both critical and obvious."   [Comment on Shoptalk]

New Java for Mobile Phones ONLINE BLOG -- Sun has released a new form of Java for mobile phones. The latest version comes from a developer group headed by Motorola, Zdnet reports today. Mobile Information Device Platform 2 (MIDP 2) will give developers more control over interface design, improve game performance and standardise data transfer, among other improvements. But MIDP 2.0 will require up to 100k of memory to run - exceeding the limits of most mobile phones currently available. Nevertheless, the new Java platform indicates that Sun's platform-independent software is consolidating its position in areas where Microsoft has failed to dominate. [ZDNet and Alistair Alexander]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Trashing Someone's Computer is Not On CRYPTO-GRAM -- The MPAA disabling someone's computer because he's suspected of copying a movie is wrong, even if the movie was copied. Revenge is a basic human emotion, but revenge only becomes justice if carried out by the State. [Counterpane]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Recommendations on Building Ireland's Information Society Sylvia Leatham -- The Information Society Commission presented its intial report to Mary Hanafin, the Irish Government's Chief Whip. The report, which contains 60 key recommendations, encompasses the views of government, industry and representative bodies with regard to building a knowledge society in Ireland. The study identifies three key points that the government should take on board. A climate of innovation building on world-class research must be encouraged. Accessibility to affordable broadband must be accelerated. Lifelong learning must become a key public policy objective. [Building the Knowledge Society by ISC and ENN]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Irish Internet Association Active in Downturn GARRINGREEN HOTSPOT -- I think it is notable to document that even in an economy that has slowed down, the Irish Internet Association remains an active focal point for the industry. It logged an enviable track record during the past 12 months. Ran over 30 events in 2002 with 12 in the regions Launched the IIA North West Branch Ran two 2-day Conferences - National Conference in Dublin and ICT and eWork @ Work Conference in Kilkenny Moved into Temple Bar Launched the IIA eGovernment EzineBecame a major contributor to public policy Developed Website Privacy Policy Template for Members Relaunched the Members and Non-Members Ezines in html format Launched the new IIA Website with members extranet I believe Sinead Murnane deserves special mention for the dedication required to accomplish all these tasks.   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Technology Built in the Garage TECHDIRT -- Mike had lunch with a friend who started his own company a few years ago. They laughed about how far off the mark venture capitalists seem to be, and how many people are building real businesses the old fashioned way: bootstrap a product with extremely low costs, and then make money by actually selling that product to real customers. That's the new Silicon Valley plan, it seems. Companies are being started inside people's homes. Everything is cheap these days, including labor. The get-rich-quick tourists have all gone home. The excitement among startups is how little they spend on expenses, not how much money they've raised. In the end this means counting "honest revenue" - which is real money from real customers paying for real products. It seems like such an obvious concept, and it's happening all over the valley. [G!]   [Comment on Shoptalk]

Marriott Adds Wireless John Blau -- Marriott plans to add wireless to 400 of its hotels. It will collaborate with wireless service provider STSN to offer the service in hotel lobbies, meeting rooms, restaurants and other public spaces, complementing its current in-room high-speed access. The plans involve services from STSN because Marriott has a stake in the Salt Lake City service provider, as does the Intel Communication Fund. STSN will deliver dual band 802.11a and 802.11b wireless access in the hotels, the company said. It expects to complete the deployment by June 2003. [Infoworld]   [Comment on Shoptalk]