We are advocating a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights that will positively assert a consumer's rights to fair use. The Bill of Rights will guarantee your ability to use your own digital media in the way that you choose. With the support of consumers, we are working to have the Bill of Rights passed into law. Our proposed Bill has already gained support from numerous consumers as well as prominent executives and venture capitalists, but there's a lot more that we need to do in order to let Washington know that this is important.

Wall Street Journal - Personal Technology - By Walter S. Mossberg - DigitalConsumer Takes Up the Fight Against Copyright Plans in Congress.

A crucial debate is shaping up in Congress and in private industry about how freely you, the consumer, will be able to use digital music and video in the future.

The record companies and Hollywood are scheming to drastically erode your freedom to use legally purchased CDs and videos, and they are doing it behind your back. The only parties represented in the debate are media and technology companies, lawyers and politicians. Consumers aren't invited.

[ ... ]

Thursday, a new group goes public to fight back on behalf of consumers. It's called DigitalConsumer.org (www.digitalconsumer.org) and was formed by Silicon Valley businesspeople who oppose the erosion of consumer rights and of technological innovation. It aims to get Congress to pass a six-point Consumer Technology Bill of Rights.

This bill of rights wouldn't condone theft of media content or bar the industry from protecting itself. It would merely mean that in doing so, industries couldn't trample on the rights of honest consumers who buy content legally.

In the new world sought by the media companies, you might not be able to buy a CD or DVD and play it back on your PC. You might not be able to copy to your hard disk, or to a custom-made CD, the few songs you really like from a CD you bought. You might not be able to tape, or to digitally record, any TV program you like.

[ ... ]

Let me be clear about this. I strongly support the concepts of copyright and intellectual property. I support the right of artists and rights holders to be paid for their work. I oppose the theft of intellectual property. But honest consumers also have rights under the law.

Copyright law embraces the idea that consumers have the right to unlimited private use of legally purchased music, videos, books and other media content. In simple terms, consumers are free to copy this material as long as they don't distribute the copies to others. A federal law, the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act, specifically confirms this freedom to copy music for personal use. However, the industry's latest plans would severely curb that right.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Slashdot | Consumer Technology Bill of Rights?

freshmeat.net: NSA Security-enhanced Linux 2002031409 .

Changes: The stable (2.4) LSM-based SELinux prototype was updated to kernel 2.4.18. The development (2.5) LSM-based SELinux prototype was updated to kernel 2.5.6. The modified utilities have been updated to Red Hat Linux 7.2-based versions. A number of new policy domains have been added and policy restructured. Support for usbdevfs and work for labeled networking has been added.

They have another upgrade.

New York Times - free registration required At Airport Gate, a Cyborg Unplugged.

Steve Mann, an engineering professor at the University of Toronto, has lived as a cyborg for more than 20 years, wearing a web of wires, computers and electronic sensors that are designed to augment his memory, enhance his vision and keep tabs on his vital signs. Although his wearable computer system sometimes elicited stares, he never encountered any problems going through the security gates at airports.

Last month that changed. Before boarding a Toronto-bound plane at St. John's International Airport in Newfoundland, Dr. Mann says, he went through a three-day ordeal in which he was ultimately strip- searched and injured by security personnel. During the incident, he said, $56,800 worth of his $500,000 equipment was lost or damaged beyond repair, including the eyeglasses that serve as his display screen.

Slashdot | Airport Security vs. Cyborg Steve Mann.

Banktech :: Treasury Proposes New Information-Sharing Regs.

The USA Patriot Act gave financial institutions and government agencies unprecedented leeway to share information.

Following up with the details, the "Treasury" published its proposed regulations for information sharing in the Federal Register on Feb. 26th, which marks the start of a 30-day comment period before the groundbreaking regulations take effect. The regulations describe how information will be shared between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions, and how financial institutions and associations can share information amongst themselves.

The new rules will create significant opportunities for financial technology firms to create linkages between the customer databases spanning the financial services industry, if only for the purpose of sharing suspicions held about their customers. It's an open question as to which industry associations or networks will take the lead in developing the communications networks permitted under the new regulations.

New York Times - free registration required Piracy, or Innovation? It's Hollywood vs. High-Tech

The question of whose role it is to stop illegal copying has captured the attention of Congress. Lobbying by Disney and other entertainment companies is fueling support for legislation that would require computer and consumer electronics makers to develop a standard for copyright-protection technology, or adopt one imposed by the government.

"I believe if you say to these people, `You get us a system by Dec. 31 or we'll do it for you,' you'll be surprised at how innovative they'll become," Mr. Eisner told the lawmakers at last month's hearing.

[ ... ]

But many veterans of Silicon Valley say it is not the responsibility of technology to enforce copyright law. Telling technology companies to build devices that prevent copyright infringement, they contend, is like telling automakers to build cars that cannot exceed the speed limit.

Other technology executives draw a parallel between Hollywood's complaints about Internet piracy and its attempts in the late 1970's and early 80's to outlaw the VCR -- before videocassette sales and rentals dwarfed box-office receipts. Critics say entertainment companies would be able to make money from digital media if they started offering it to consumers in the way the consumers want it, and stop focusing on how to control current forms of distribution.

That might mean changing long- entrenched ways of doing business, like selling individual songs instead of an entire CD, or releasing movies simultaneously over the Internet and in theaters. It might also mean accepting lower profit margins, and seeking to compensate for that by building bigger markets.

BankTech I'll have o do the pull quote and title later. I'm having problems with my connection and have to go.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - New Info-Sharing Regs Make Tracking Easier.

WaterWorld - Water and Wastewater Technology - 2002 industrial, commercial and residential utility customer databases are now available. DURHAM, N.C., March 6, 2002 -- Jackson Associates today announced the availability of 2002 MAISY utility customer databases for all states and more than 200 individual utility service areas.

Year 2002 updates reflect major extensions of MAISY commercial and residential databases which were first introduced in 1997. Industrial databases, which were introduced in 2000 for selected geographic areas, have been expanded and are now available for all states and service areas.

MAISY (Market Analysis and Information System) databases have been developed from information on more than 600,000 individual utility customers throughout the US and provide a representative sample of customers for individual states, regions and utility service areas.

CIO - Alarmed: Making it Personal - Security & Privacy Research Center.

Newsbytes - Fighting For Privacy From Telemarketing.

Newsbytes - High-Tech Senate GOP Agenda Tackles Taxes, Privacy.

The Senate Republican High Tech Task Force (HTTF) today unveiled its policy agenda for the rest of the current session of Congress, promising to fight for broadband tax credits, consumer privacy online without comprehensive legislation, cyber-security, liberalized trade ability and a permanent research and development tax credit.

It also said that, contrary to some congressional efforts in the past decade, that it would not support federal control of Internet content or define what is "decent" online content, but would encourage parents to use Internet filtering programs and to take a role in deciding what their children see or hear.

[ ... ]

The senators also said that they would support the Federal Trade Commission's stated Internet privacy plan, which would fight identity theft and deceptive business practices, while avoiding the passage of comprehensive privacy legislation, something favored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C.

Mass High Tech - P3P proposal puts privacy in palm of Web users but may be lacking .

For example, if a person surfing a P3P-compliant site wants to know what kind of information has been collected about him, the P3P standard doesn't require that it be made available.

Privacy advocates say consumers should also be able to access the information a site has collected and edit it, but P3P doesn't require that either.

Another issue is security, Naughton said.

P3P does not "ensure that the folks collecting your data are maintaining it in a secure location," he said.

Privacy advocates also want to be sure that when there are violations to the policies, there is enforcement behind it.

"The P3P does not specify the punishment you should get," Naughton said. "Privacy advocates say these are good developments but not sufficient to address all concerns."

AP Technology Story via Austin360 - Privacy Program Back, Less Anonymous .

A Montreal company that specializes in privacy software said Tuesday it is again offering a service for browsing Web pages anonymously--but users will be less anonymous this time.

The Freedom Network, discontinued by Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. last fall, was too expensive to run and too complicated to use, so it remained a niche service, spokesman Dov Smith said. He said the new service, called Freedom WebSecure, is designed for the mass market.

The main difference is in the level of anonymity users can expect.

[ ... ]

Under the new system, data will make only one pass through a server run by Zero-Knowledge. Web sites still wouldn't know the user, but in this case, employees at Zero-Knowledge would.

Although Zero-Knowledge said it won't regularly store the information, it could respond to law-enforcement's requests to track future surfing.

``This is not a tool you'll be using to hide from the FBI,'' Smith said.

Newsbytes - Radio Ads To Spread Online Privacy Messages.

The Privacy Leadership Initiative (PLI) and the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) have co-produced a series of public service announcements designed to help people protect their privacy online, the two organizations said today.

PLI, which describes itself as a privacy watchdog group comprised of CEOs from major corporations and business associations, said participants in recent focus groups it conducted named identity theft and online privacy as two areas of greatest concern.