This still won't play in the business world, where IT managers still won't be wanting their users installing (or having installed on them, without them knowing) stuff they haven't approved and decided to roll out themselves. So there'll still have to be some kind of escape hatch for them. From the home user's perspective too there's a certain amount of sense in making sure the updates aren't too invisible and too automagical, but Microsoft likely won't agree. Microsoft has been known to roll out service packs that break the software worse rather than fixing it. You might also want to maintain some control over which of the things you thought were apps decide to turn themselves into a part of the operating system.

Basically, you have to ask yourself if you think the storekeeper is a fit and proper person to be making these decisions for you. He has a long history of thinking he knows best what's good for you, and he has all sorts of other motivations that you might not agree with. He did say quite recently that he'd be using a signed driver system with a regularly updated revocation list to stop you copying digital music you didn't own, and by making himself custodian and approver of the hardware drivers, he might somehow also find himself relating this to the hardware mods he's planning in the future Secure PC.

All of these things and more, registrations, passports, product activation might end up in separate boxes that don't exchange data with one another, but the storekeeper is a serial control-freak, so how sure can you be about that?

ABCNews.com - Court: Abortion Threats Protected.

A federal appeals court threw out a record $109 million verdict against anti-abortion rights activists today, ruling that a Web site and wanted posters branding abortion doctors "baby butchers" and criminals is protected by the First Amendment.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously said the producers of the material could be held liable only if they authorized, ratified or directly threatened violence.

"If defendants threatened to commit violent acts, by working alone or with others, then their [works] could properly support the verdict," Cricuit Judge Alex Kozinski wrote. "But if their [works] merely encouraged unrelated terrorists, then their words are protected by the First Amendment."

Slashdot | "Nuremberg Files" Decision Overturned. ABC News is running a story on a US federal appeal court that threw out a record $109 million verdict against anti-abortion rights activists.

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Human cloning plans face US scrutiny. Controversial plans to clone a human being come under scrutiny in the United States on Wednesday.

A US fertility specialist and the leader of a group that wants to clone a couple's dead child are set to testify at a congressional hearing in Washington.

Members of Congress also plan to question federal regulators about whether they have the power to stop such experiments.

Today the technology to clone a human being still is not safe, and the full range of moral and ethical concerns still has not been addressed

Carl Feldbaum, Biotechnology Industry Organisation If federal authority appears limited, there is "a very good possibility" that Congress will move toward banning human cloning in the US, says Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Technology News from Wired News - How Secure Is Digital Hospital?.

Not content to merely make healthcare history with its all-digital, completely automated hospital, HealthSouth also hopes the Alabama facility it will build is going to encourage all medical institutions to improve patient care by using cutting-edge technology.

The digital hospital, a joint project between HealthSouth and Oracle, will offer Internet access from every patient bed, electronic medical-record databases, digital imaging instead of traditional X-rays, and a hospital-wide wireless network that will allow portable-computer-packing medical workers to update and access patient records from anywhere.

[ ... ]

But the biggest barrier to high-tech healthcare is doctors' concerns about the security of computer systems.

"With all of the stories we hear about how this website and that government computer system was hacked into, how can I feel good about putting my patients' medical records online?" said Henry Vitelle, a Manhattan obstetrician and avid computer user.

"When computer systems are completely safe, then I will feel safe about using them for critical data," he added. "I don't feel comfortable about having records somewhere that they could be tampered with by some joyriding hacker with no sense of the havoc he could cause."

CNET NEWS.COM - Children's sites short on privacy info.

Most Web sites geared for children don't follow federal requirements for privacy, independent researchers said Wednesday.

Almost half of the 162 sites checked don't have prominent links to their privacy policy, and one in 10 had no link at all on their home page--contrary to the 1998 regulations designed to protect children on the Web. The Federal Trade Commission wrote the rules for children's Web sites based on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

"One year after the passage of COPPA, we found more sites skirting the COPPA requirements than following them carefully," said Joseph Turow, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center and author of the study.

Slashdot | Continuing Security Concerns at DoubleClick.

Slashdot | Coming Soon: Burn-Proof CDs.

MS-NBC - First 'Napster-proof' CD set to burn. Country star Charley Pride takes lead with controversial technology 

If all goes as planned, Charley Pride will make music history in April. After selling more than 70 million records, Pride -- one of the last great figures from the pre-Garth, twang-box radio glory days of country music -- is set to release America's first copy-protected compact disk. A tribute to singer Jim Reeves, who died in a plane crash in 1964, Pride's CD will incorporate technology that, in theory, will stop listeners from ripping its tracks into MP3s. If it works -- a hotly disputed question -- copy protection will change the terms of the battle over online music.

[ ... ]

Trouble is, many high-end and car-stereo CD players use CD-ROM technology, which is both more accurate and less likely to skip when the player is jostled. Consequently, some audiophiles and commuters may not be able to play protected CDs. "I feel gloomy every time I go on a plane and see how many people are listening to music with their laptops," says a label executive who nonetheless regards copy protection as inevitable. "High-end players, car players, laptops -- those people are going to feel burned, and justifiably so, if they can't listen to music in the way they like."

IndustryClick - Bush Seeking Delay of EC Privacy Rules.

Adopted on 22 March 2001 Opinion 4/2001 on the Council of Europe's Draft Convention on Cyber-crime.

The Working Party emphasises the Council of Europe's important role as efficient guardian of fundamental rights and freedoms for decades. The Working Party takes the view that the Council of Europe, in promoting international co-operation in matters of cyber-crime outside its own membership, needs to pay particular attention to the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, especially the right to privacy and personal data protection.

The Working Party therefore sees a need for clarification of the text of the articles of the draft convention because their wording is often too vague and confusing and may not qualify as a sufficient basis for relevant laws and mandatory measures that are intended to lawfully limit fundamental rights and freedoms. Explanations in the explanatory memorandum cannot replace legal clarity of the text itself.

Computerworld - Former U.S. trade official: Privacy headaches will linger.

Despite the "safe harbor" agreement aimed at protecting U.S. companies from lawsuits over Europe's stringent data privacy laws, multinational corporations are far from being clear of privacy-related headaches, a former U.S. trade official said here today.

Barbara Wellbery, who was the principal negotiator of the European safe harbor deal when she worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce, also warned during a speech at a meeting of the Hong Kong chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce that conflicting privacy laws in different countries could hamper corporate e-commerce initiatives.

ZDNet - News: Wireless spammers come under attack.

But then colleagues of Joffe's who also used AT&T Wireless phones reported receiving the same message. Joffe later was hit with another message from the same company. Annoyed, he realized that the unwanted messages were costing him money--as AT&T charges customers for every text message, or SMS (short message service), they receive.

Now Joffe is taking action. He's working the phones to round up other spam victims in Phoenix and is talking to lawyers about a class-action suit.

[ ... ]

A class-action suit, Joffe said, likely would hinge on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which outlaws calls to a number, including a cellular one, when the recipient has to pay for a call received without the recipient's authorization.

Cahners | TVinsite - Web-Privacy Bills Make Cable Interests Queasy.

Meanwhile, dozens of other privacy bills address everything from stopping data collection on children to requiring disclosure of software that enables data collection from users.

Bills introduced by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) would even require warning labels for software and devices that enable the collection of personally identifiable data. Depending on how federal agencies interpret the measures, they could potentially cover addressable set-top boxes at some point.

While most of the bills focus on notice and the ability to opt out of data collection, some go further.

Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) is expected this session to reintroduce a bill that would require marketers to get permission before collecting data on consumers--a concept known as "opt-in."

A Hollings spokeswoman said the new bill will contain minor changes but stressed that the opt-in provisions--lauded by consumer groups but generally feared by the industry--will stay.

USA TODAY - Thompson seeks changes to medical privacy rules. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday that he expects to make changes to Clinton administration medical privacy rules, responding to industry complaints about the potential cost.

vnunet.com - US throws down the gauntlet over e-privacy.

An ecommerce trade war is looming as a transatlantic data privacy agreement is challenged by the new US government.

The US departments of Treasury and Commerce have written to the European Commission (EC) complaining that the so-called 'Safe Harbour' agreement to ensure US companies comply with EC privacy laws is 'unduly burdensome'. They want to delay its introduction.

Thestar.com - Ressam judge rejects Canadian wiretap witness.

In a setback to the prosecution, U.S. District Court Judge John C. Coughenour dismissed Tuesday a motion that would have allowed the Canadian witness to testify anonymously via television from Canada.

''I am very troubled that the tape recordings don't exist any more,'' the judge said solemnly in court, with the jury absent. ''Apparently, this is the Canadian way of doing things.''

''I am also concerned that the person who heard what was said is unwilling to have his or her identity known, and is unwilling to come here and sit in this witness stand.''

Guardian Unlimited Observer | Business | Give me your huddled masses of personal data . Hailstorm is designed to suck us all into Microsoft's version of the internet

[ ... ]

In other words: give us your data and we will look after it - for a fee. Hailstorm, said Dan Gillmor of the San Jose Mercury News and a grizzled observer of these things, is 'designed to suck all of us into Microsoft's version of the internet's next generation.' What Gates & co are essentially proposing is that we move all our personal data - financial transactions, calendars, address books, documents, you name it - on to its computers. And this from a company that once disdained the notion of a 'network computer'.

Slashdot | Surveillance on Peer-to-Peer Networks.

New York State Consumer Protection Board - Do Not Call Preregistration.

On October 12, 2000, Governor George E. Pataki signed the "Do Not Call" telemarketing registry bill into law.  The new law will become effective on April 1, 2001.

Under the law, it will be illegal for telemarketers to call you once your name appears on the registry.  This will eliminate unwanted high-pressure calls in which telemarketers attempt to sell you a product or service over the telephone.  Telemarketers who violate the law could be subject to a fine of up to $2,000 per call.

As far as I know this only works for New York State phone numbers. It might also be restricted to telemarketers based in New York State, but then again it might not, and every little bit helps.