March 2001 Technology Updates
1. Napster loses in court
On February 12, 2001, a federal appeals court issued a ruling that could lead to the shutdown of Napster, the popular Internet song-swapping service. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is suing Napster for copyright infringement. In July 2000, Judge Marilyn Patel issued an injunction against Napster, essentially ordering the service to shut down. The appeals court, however, allowed Napster to continue operations while it considered the case. Still, in a major blow to the company, the appeals court also stated, "Napster, by its conduct, knowingly encourages and assists the infringement of plaintiffs' copyrights."
In the February 12 ruling the court determined that Judge Patel needs to modify her original injunction. On March 5, 2001, Judge Patel issued the new injunction. She determined that the record industry must provide Napster a list of songs that should be removed from the service. Napster plans to comply with the injunction while pursuing other legal avenues.
Napster has been negotiating with the major record companies on a scheme to charge for its service and pay royalties to copyright holders.
For more information, click on these links:
2. PC Tips — Using conditional formatting in Excel
To make your spreadsheet data stand out based on certain conditions, you can use Excel's conditional formatting function. This function will automatically change the color, font, and pattern of cells based their value. Just follow these steps:
- Select the data you want to format.
- On the menu bar click on Format and then Conditional Formatting.
The conditional formatting dialog box will appear. It should look like this:
- In the left-most drop down box select Cell Value Is if you are working with cell data or Formula Is if you are working with a formula.
- In the drop down box that says "between" choose a conditional operator.
- Enter the condition value or values in the next box (or boxes for a between condition).
- Click on the Format button.
- Use the format dialog box to set a format for the condition.
- Click on OK to close the format dialog box.
- If you want to add more conditions, click the Add>> button and repeat steps 3 — 8.
- When finished with all conditional formatting, click on OK.
3. Alternative TLDs
Responding to widespread dissatisfaction within the Internet community over new top-level domains (TLDs), a new company, called New.net, plans to establish its own system of TLDs. Officially TLDs are established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an international standards body. ICANN approved seven new TLDs in November 2000.
New.net plans TLDs such as .store, .kids, .game, and .movie. The main drawback is that the system that converts English like names (such as www.prenhall.com) into Internet addresses (such as 198.4.159.5), called the Domain Name System, is made up of thousands of computer servers that would require reconfiguration. Many of the Internet service providers who own the servers may not be willing to make the change for "unofficial" TLDs. New.net has plans to bypass these servers by using software that works in conjunction with an Internet browser.
For more information, click on these links:
4. Anna Kournikova worm
A computer hacker from the Netherlands launched a very virulent e-mail worm that shut down some e-mail systems on February 12, 2001. An e-mail worm is a program that sends itself to everyone in a user's address book. This particular worm was targeted toward the popular Outlook Express e-mail software. The worm had the subject line "Here you are" or "Here you go." The message appears to contain a picture of the Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova. However, attempting to view the picture launched the worm.
The worm did not cause any damage to computers. Instead it was programmed to launch the user's Internet browser and link to a Dutch computer store's Web site on January 26, 2002. The hacker responsible for writing the program claims it was written in order to show that the Internet community had not learned its lesson from similar worms launched over the last year. He chose Anna Kournikova because he is a fan and chose the Dutch computer store's Web site at random. On February 14, 2001, the hacker surrendered to Dutch authorities and was released on bail. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
For more information, click on these links:
5. Did IBM help the Nazis?
In February 2001 a book was published alleging that IBM's German subsidiary actively helped the Nazis keep track of Holocaust victims. The book — IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Company — was written by a well-known Holocaust investigator, Edwin Black.
It has been known since World War Two that the Nazis used Hollerith Tabulators (the predecessor of modern computers). The book claims that IBM's German subsidiary customized the Tabulators and provided punch cards and spare parts. The book has led to a lawsuit against IBM. The plaintiffs seek to have IBM establish a $5 billion reparations fund for Holocaust victims.
For more information, click on this links:
6. The eyes can tell
Someday soon instead of administering a breath test to see if a driver is intoxicated, law enforcement personnel may use a sophisticated new device called SafetyScope. The device looks a bit like a machine an eye doctor might use. A person looks into the scope and follows a point of light. The machine, connected to a personal computer, tracks the eye movements and measures pupil size to determine if the user is impaired by alcohol, drugs, or fatigue.
The maker of the device, Eye Dynamics, claims a 97 percent accuracy rate. Many companies have expressed interest in SafetyScope since it is cheaper than urine tests used to screen for drugs. Some civil liberties groups have expressed concern over the use of the device in the workplace. However, the head of the American Civil Liberties Union's drug litigation program supports the idea of using impairment testing (like SafetyScope) over urine tests.
For more information, click on this links:
7. Microsoft appeals
Microsoft's appeal of a ruling that the company should be broken up was heard in an unusually short two-day session on February 26 and 27, 2001. During the sessions, in front of the seven members of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, the judges extensively grilled both Microsoft's lawyers and lawyers from the Department of Justice. However, the court seems to have targeted its harshest criticism against Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, the original trial judge.
During the trial Jackson had met with selected members of the press and spoke harshly about Microsoft in general and Microsoft's company executives. He likened Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to a drug trafficker. The comments appeared only after the trial. The appeals judges indicated that Jackson's comments were highly inappropriate and may be cause to throw out all or portions of his findings.
For more information, click on these links:
8. Cable break causes delays
On February 8, 2001, a trans-Pacific data cable was cut, causing a major slowdown in Internet traffic between Asia and the United States. The cable runs from Shanghai, in China, to the west coast of the U.S. It is one of the major routes for Internet traffic from cities such as Tapei, Singapore, and Hong Kong to North America. When the cut occurred about 80 percent of the data traveling through the cable was lost. Data was re-routed around the break, but response times were still dramatically decreased.
The cable is owned by China Telecom. The company does not know what caused the break. However, there was speculation that a fishing trawler might have inadvertently severed the cable. China Telecom stated the problem would be repaired within a month.
For more information, click on these links:
9. Court awards student $10,000
In 1999 Karl Beidler was suspended for one month from Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington. His offense was creating a Web site that parodied the school's assistant principal. The site showed the assistant principal having sex with cartoon character Homer Simpson and smoking marijuana. When school officials discovered the site the suspension followed.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took up the case and won it in July 2000, arguing that Beidler's free speech rights had been violated. The ACLU pointed out that the site was created on Beidler's free time and no school equipment was used. On February 23, 2001, the court ordered the school district to pay Beidler $10,000 in damages and the ACLU $52,000 in fees.
For more information, click on these links:
10. Info theft at Davos
The annual World Economic Forum, held at the Swiss ski resort of Davos in January, has become a prime target for anti-globalization protesters. Apparently, they have now taken their protest into cyberspace by hacking into resort computers and stealing information about political and business leaders.
The hackers stole credit card numbers, cell phone numbers, and passport information. Among those potentially affected are past attendees former President Clinton and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Credit card companies were informed as soon as the theft became known. On February 23, 2001, the Swiss police arrested a suspect. The 20-year-old Swiss citizen faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
For more information, click on these links:
|
