Makers of a recording by country-pop singer Charley Pride have agreed to stop tracking most listener habits and to warn consumers that the CD is not compatible with MP3 and other players, according to attorneys for a woman who sued the companies.

CBS MarketWatch - Senator rips Silicon Valley's stance on curbing piracy.

Disney CEO Michael Eisner said more than 350,000 pirated movies are downloaded off file-sharing Web sites every day, according to statistics from the research firm Viant. During the hearing, Eisner played a clip from Sony Pictures' "Black Hawk Down" -- now playing in theaters -- that was ripped from the Internet.

"The content community ... has historically feared technology," Vadasz said. Yet every technological breakthrough -- from Thomas Edison's little dog to the invention of home taping and digital devices -- "has proven to be a major growth catalyst for the studios."

If the industry succeeds in developing standards to protect content, consumers would lose the fair-use rights they are now guaranteed and the personal computer would become little more than an expensive DVD player, a "dumb" box, he said.

CIO Insight - Mobile Internet Hikes Video Chain's Profits.

The key is Tsutaya's ability to marry a rich database to mobility. Says Kirk Kramer, a Hong Kong-based vice president at Mercer Management Consulting: "Tsutaya realizes that being able to sample the population's pulse in real time is central to its success." Tsutaya founder Muneaki Masuda agrees: "We're not interested in merely renting videos to people. We're collecting lifestyle information, and the possibilities of that are, over time, enormous."

Slashdot | Japanese Video Chain Cashes in on Mobile Internet.

Arianna Online - February 27, 2002 - Cheney's War On The Public's Right To Know.

The war has moved into a new phase: Walker vs. Cheney. No, it's not John Walker and the War on Terrorism. It's David Walker and the War on the Public's Right to Know. Walker is the comptroller general of the United States. His foe is the vice president of the United States. Their battleground is government accountability versus the Bush administration's desire to keep secrets. Sunshine vs. Shadows.

Of course, to hear the White House spin it, this unprecedented legal showdown between the legislative and executive branches -- prompted by last week's filing by the General Accounting Office -- isn't really about lifting the veil on the energy industry's influence over the administration's regressive energy policy. It's about protecting freedom, liberty, the Constitution, motherhood, puppies and everything good.

USA TODAY - Bush, Cheney champion privacy -- for themselves.

Attorney-client confidentiality is another privileged relationship this administration seems to view dimly. Cheney wants candor from his advisers, as lawyers do from their clients. But the Justice Department let it be known that the conversations between lawyers and individuals detained late last year for interrogation about terrorist connections could be monitored.

So Cheney and Bush want privacy for their conversations, but not for anyone else's. And it may well be that they are entitled to have unchronicled conversations with advisers. But there is no good reason the names of people who have talked to the vice president about energy policy should be protected. No reason, of course, except the obvious one -- that Cheney has something to hide from Congress.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Press Release - "Doomsday Clock" Moves Two Minutes Closer to Midnight. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Cites Lack of Progress on Nuclear Disarmament, Greater Political Instability as Creating a More Dangerous World

CHICAGO (February 27, 2002) - Growing concern about the security of nuclear weapons materials stockpiled around the world and a lack of U.S. support for several global disarmament pacts today prompted the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock" forward two minutes - to seven minutes to midnight - the same position as when the clock made its debut in 1947.

The move marks the third time the hand has been advanced since the end of the Cold War in 1991. The hand was last moved in June 1998, from 14 minutes to nine minutes to midnight. The clock has been reset 16 times previously in its 55-year history.

Technology News from Wired News - U.K. Approves Human Cloning.

Britain's scientists won a green light on Wednesday to pioneer the cloning of human embryos for research and set up the world's first embryo cell bank.

An influential House of Lords committee ruled that embryo cloning -- which federally funded academics in the United States are barred from carrying out -- should be allowed to proceed under strict conditions.

Business News from Wired News - Dell Proves a Bit Gun-Shy.

A guy orders a computer from Dell and it never comes. He calls and asks why. Turns out he makes hand-crafted revolvers, and that spooked them. All's well that ends well, though.

[ ... ]

It turns out that a manager in Dell's (DELL) export compliance department flagged the shipment as a purchase that was prohibited under U.S. law. Weigand was told that his order had been canceled because, in these post-Sept. 11 days, the name of his company sounded a bit too terroristic for comfort's sake.

New York Times - free registration required Contract Offers Look at How Global Played Influence Game.

The Pentagon relaxed the security requirements for a planned network in a way that allowed Global Crossing to remain in the bidding for the lucrative contract.

Although the Defense Department and Global Crossing say there was nothing inappropriate about the way the bid was handled, the company's success in navigating the Pentagon's procurement system illustrates how Global Crossing, a onetime stock market wonder that filed for bankruptcy protection last month, became a formidable player in Washington.

[ ... ]

The Pentagon agreed to reopen the competition. But Pentagon officials confirmed this week that when they asked for new bids, they dropped the demand that workers who manage the network have clearances to deal with secret information. That removed an obstacle for Global Crossing, the only competitor that did not meet the initial standards.

eWeek - Security Quandary: Who's Liable?

Skittish at the prospect of being held liable for security breaches, software vendors are examining ways to get ahead of problems with solutions ranging from restrictive user agreements to forced security patches.

[ ... ]

@Stake last week released a report showing that 70 percent of the security defects found in an analysis of its customers' networks were the result of software design flaws. "Applications are our current biggest security risk. Automatic security updates [could be] made part of the license agreement as a way to address that," Geer said.

Slashdot | Who Is Liable For Software With Security Holes?

Political News from Wired News - High-Tech: U.S. Out of Hollywood.

America's largest and most powerful tech firms have agreed on one point: Keep Congress far away from digital content standards.

In a 600-word letter sent to movie studios on Wednesday afternoon, the chief executives of IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and five other corporations said they were eager to work with Hollywood to find "technically feasible, cost effective solutions" for protecting entertainment delivered in digital form.

The letter ostensibly went to the chief executives of Walt Disney, AOL Time Warner, MGM, Sony Pictures and so on -- but the real audience was Senate Commerce chairman Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina), who is convening a hearing Thursday morning on whether the U.S. government should require that copy protection be embedded in nearly all PCs and consumer electronic devices.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - ech Industry To Hollywood: Slow Down, Camper.

Slashdot | Book Review - Security Engineering.

With all the recent discussion on organizations rethinking their security strategies, I thought I would do a review on one of my favorite books. I have stayed pretty quiet on /. over the years, but security is something I don't think developers anywhere should be taking lightly. Hopefully some of them will get something out of my review and pick this book up.

Washington Post - We Get What They Pay For.

Behold the soul of a search engine. It appears to be available to the highest bidder.

[ ... ]

This ambiguity led consumer watchdogs to complain to the Federal Trade Commission last year that paid search listings are misleading Web surfers and could be construed as deceptive advertising. The case has yet to produce a public response from the FTC.

It remains to be seen whether pay-for-placement represents a temporary response to the drop in Internet ad sales or a more fundamental shift in the nature of online searches. The Internet, after all, serves many masters. Its role as the world's largest library is generating increasing tension with its function as a directory for global commerce.

[ ... ]

"Overture is a giant database of ads, not a search engine," said Tim Armstrong, Google's ad sales director.

In what is shaping up to be a feisty battle, "Google" is taking aim at Overture by trying to sell its own paid listings, along with regular unaltered search results. It also is trying to ensure that any paid listings not appear unless they have a reasonable connection to the search request.

Google hopes its ability to offer both kinds of results will help it unseat Overture as the preferred keyword-ad network for major Web gateways. Since Overture has no Web-wide search engine, its clients turn to other providers such as Fast Search & Transfer and Inktomi Corp. for basic search results.

[ ... ]

Google alone among the top search services has vowed not to collect fees from companies to guarantee them inclusion in searches. By contrast, AltaVista, Inktomi and Lycos all charge fees in return for inclusion and sometimes favorable treatment in their Web indexes.

Google also said money alone would not dictate placement, even in its paid links. The rate at which users click on a paid link also will be part of its formula, the idea being that the more relevant the ad, the more clicks it should generate, and therefore the higher it should appear in the results.

Slashdot | Search Engine Payola.

SiliconValley.com part of San Jose Mercury News - Consumers must exercise and insist on privacy rights.

The financial services conglomerate that issued my credit card encourages me to go online to look at my recent charges. It encourages me to go online to pay my bill, or to change my mailing address.

The conglomerate doesn't believe in convenience, however, if I want to exercise my rights under federal law not to have the credit-card issuer sell and trade my personal information. To exercise my limited privacy rights, I must fill out a paper form and mail it to New Jersey. My request will be honored ``approximately 30 days'' from its receipt by the company, which is free to sell my data until then.

No matter what I want with regard to data privacy, federal law lets the card issuer ship my information to its affiliates in the banking, credit card, consumer finance, securities and insurance industries. If I'm a customer of any of those affiliates, I am obliged to notify each of them separately.

That's the state of financial privacy in America these days. The public may want more, according to polls, but we sure aren't getting it. Since Sept. 11, especially, government and business alike have been doing everything they can to ensure that our lives are transparent.

New York Times - free registration required Justices Hear 2 Arguments on the Right to Privacy.

Two arguments for privacy clashed at the Supreme Court today in a case on whether a city can constitutionally require Jehovah's Witnesses or other door-to-door advocates for religious or political causes to identify themselves to the authorities and obtain a permit.

"We do not believe anyone needs to go to the government for permission to speak to their neighbors," Paul D. Polidoro, the Jehovah's Witnesses' deputy general counsel, said in asking the justices to overturn a federal appeals court's decision that upheld a permit ordinance in the small eastern Ohio village of Stratton.

HBS Working Knowledge: Cyberposium 2002: A High-Tech Solution to Security Versus Privacy?

It's a booming business: gadgets and machines and all kinds of high-tech technology designed to boost security. But where does privacy give way? In a panel at Cyberposium called "Securing Freedom," specialists debated the pros and cons of a more secure world. "There is no silver-bullet technology that will capture all types of terrorist threats," said one panelist.

CNET NEWS.COM - Scripting flaw leaves sites vulnerable.

A flaw in the common open-source scripting language PHP could allow attackers to crash or compromise a hefty fraction of the nine million servers running the open-source Web software Apache, as well as other Web servers.

A member of the PHP engineering team warned Web developers of the software flaws in an advisory on Wednesday, but security experts believe that while some in the Internet underground have tools to exploit the flaw, few people have the resources.

"It is not really easy to execute," said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer for the SANS (System Administration, Networking, and Security) Internet Storm Center, who obtained a program file that illustrates the vulnerability.