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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2002 TRUSTe Founder Disappointed with Current State of Affairs Microsoft Releases Free Security-Checking Tool RealNetworks Offers Pay Service AND IBM Unveils Antipiracy Software Co-Founder of Netscape Says Copy Protection is Doomed Company Gets Caught Sharing MP3s Among Employees Amazon's Used-Book Sales Upset Authors TRUSTE FOUNDER DISAPPOINTED WITH CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS Esther Dyson, one of the founders of TRUSTe five years ago, said she is disappointed at what the organization has become. Rather than trying to establish privacy and security policies, TRUSTe verifies that companies comply with the policies they have created. Dyson said, "[TRUSTe's] board ended up being too corporate," and many view the organization as a corporate apologist. A recent change to the privacy policies of Yahoo!, which still bears the TRUSTe "trustmark," had many consumers complaining that the mark is meaningless. Fran Maier, executive director of TRUSTe, defended her organization, saying that they were able to prevent Yahoo! from enacting many of the proposed changes in order to retain the trustmark. Wired News, 9 April 2002 http://www.wired.com/news/exec/0,1370,51624,00.html MICROSOFT RELEASES FREE SECURITY-CHECKING TOOL A free tool from Microsoft finds potential security holes in users' operating systems. The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer looks for security weaknesses that result from improper configurations or not having security patches installed. The tool scans a system and produces a report to the user. Although the tool does not fix the holes it finds, it gives instructions for how to do so. [It is available at <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/Tools/mbsahome.asp>.] InfoWorld, 9 April 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_844200_1794_9-10000.html REALNETWORKS OFFERS PAY SERVICE A new service from RealNetworks lets users charge consumers for the content they access, through a pay-per-view, rental, or subscription model. With the RBN Managed Subscription Service, the video or audio streams are hosted by RealNetworks, which also handles online billing for content producers. RealNetworks has been moving its core business recently from developing software to play different media to media access services. The company has faced significant pressure from Microsoft and its Windows Media application, but the market for paid online content has strengthened significantly. CNET, 9 April 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1023-878860.html ALSO ***************************************************** IBM UNVEILS ANTIPIRACY SOFTWARE IBM will announce a new software tool, the Electronic Media Management System (EMMS), to protect against illegal copying of digital content. According to IBM, EMMS encodes files in wrappers that can only be unlocked by a digital "key," which will prevent the file from functioning on another computer. The creator of an electronic media file that uses EMMS can designate how the key functions in allowing legitimate copies made by the purchaser of the content. IBM is confident that EMMS is more secure that similar products from AT&T and Microsoft, among others. Edward Felten, a professor at Princeton who is known for his ability to crack antipiracy software, is skeptical of the new program, saying that it is unlikely that any system could be unbreakable. NewsFactor Network, 9 April 2002 http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17162.html CO-FOUNDER OF NETSCAPE SAYS COPY PROTECTION IS DOOMED Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of Netscape, said to a general session of the National Association of Broadcasters convention that digital music, movies, and television programs will never be copy-protected. He said, "If a computer can see it, display it, and play it -- it can copy it." His address compared the current situation of digital entertainment files to the early days of software, when Bill Gates struggled with software piracy in a new market. As the market for digital entertainment balloons, Andreessen argued, the industry should appreciate the enormous demand for their products, flood the market with inexpensive music files, and remind consumers that swapping files is illegal. San Jose Mercury News, 9 April 2002 http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3031836.htm COMPANY GETS CAUGHT SHARING MP3S AMONG EMPLOYEES Last year the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) found out from an e-mail tip about an Arizona company's server dedicated to sharing MP3 files among employees. Part of the business of Integrated Information Systems (IIS), which had the server set up on its internal network, is developing software for securely distributing digital content, including music files. After the RIAA threatened legal action against IIS for copyright infringement, the company began talks to settle out of court. The sides have reached an agreement that charges the company a $1 million penalty. Newsbytes, 10 April 2002 http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175771.html AMAZON'S USED-BOOK SALES UPSET AUTHORS The Authors Guild sent an e-mail Tuesday to its members encouraging them to remove links to Amazon.com from their own sites to protest the company's selling of used books, which pays nothing to writers or publishers. Amazon began selling used books in November 2000, and they now constitute 15 percent of Amazon's business. Aside from not getting any royalties on used books, writers and publishers complained that used books were being sold on Amazon as soon as the books were published, fueling a suspicion that review copies were being sold online. Despite requests that there be a set period of time between when a book is published and when used copies are available, Amazon has not changed its practice. Patti Smith, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said that used books allow readers to try different genres and authors, at a lower price, and that this benefits everyone. New York Times, 10 April 2002 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/technology/10BOOK.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EDUCAUSE Quarterly" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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