The week in review: Copyright fights

For the second time in a month, the Recording Industry Association of America's Web site was attacked, apparently by opponents of the industry group's efforts to shut down online music trading. A modification contained messages in favor of file trading, and even direct links to downloadable music and to file-swapping service Kazaa.

"RIAA is willing to try alternative approach to music-sharing services," the defaced site's top headline temporarily read, according to one screen shot provided by a visitor to the site. A month ago, the RIAA site suffered a malicious denial-of-service attack, knocking it offline for close to four days. Wednesday's more serious attack is also illegal under federal and state laws, with penalties of up to five years in prison.

After dodging trademark and copyright arrows since its inception, the Web's premier dot-com dead pool went dark as a result of legal pressure from offended Web sites. F***edCompany.com, a Web site that has gained fame and some fortune collecting rumors and reports of layoffs, closures and other dot-com fiascos, found itself shut down for nearly two days after Ford Motor complained to the site's hosting provider about alleged trademark infringements.

Apple Computer invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent its customers from burning DVDs on external drives. Earlier this month, the company's lawyers sent a stiff warning to an Apple dealer, warning that a patch to Apple's iDVD burning software ran afoul of the controversial 1998 copyright law.

At issue in the legal threat is Apple's well-received iDVD application, which permits users to burn DVDs only on internal drives manufactured by Apple. In unmodified form, it does not permit writing to external drives manufactured by third parties. That means Macintosh owners with older computers or laptop computers, or people who opted not to buy the "Superdrive"-equipped Macs, could not use iDVD to save movies.

How about some privacy?
The Canadian government is considering a proposal that would force Internet providers to rewire their networks for easy surveillance by police and spy agencies. A discussion draft also contemplates creating a national database of every Canadian with an Internet account, a plan that could sharply curtail a user's right to be anonymous online.

Arguing that more and more communications take place in electronic form, Canadian officials say such laws are necessary to fight terrorism and to combat crime. They also claim that by enacting these proposals, Canada will be following its obligations under the Council of Europe's cybercrime treaty, which the country is considering.

Microsoft has begun to incorporate new privacy policies and procedures in upcoming products, apparently in response to this month's settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The newest beta, or test, version of Windows Media Player 9 Series prominently displays Microsoft's privacy policy for the program and offers consumers options for controlling just how much information they share when using the product.

The changes appear to be in response to a recent FTC settlement, in which Microsoft agreed to 20 years of government oversight of consumer privacy policies and procedures. Last year, 14 consumer and privacy groups filed a complaint with the FTC, alleging that Microsoft's online Passport authentication system violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Privacy can be expensive, as Ziff Davis Media found when it agreed to pay $125,000 to end a multistate investigation into a security breach on its computer system that exposed some 12,000 subscription orders last year. The investigation stemmed from a subscription promotion last November that Ziff Davis ran on its Web site for its Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. Due to what Ziff Davis called a "coding error," the site exposed the personal data, including credit card numbers, of some of the customers who signed up for the promotion.

News.com special focus
Since Sept. 11, predictions of a "digital Pearl Harbor" have persisted and become a driving force behind controversial new law enforcement measures portrayed as necessary by the government but decried by civil libertarians as an assault on constitutional rights to privacy. Yet security experts, network managers and public safety officials say privately that the threat of cyberterrorism has been overblown and misunderstood--and that physical attacks remain far easier to carry out. In a three-part special report, CNET News.com examines the technological and political realities of this volatile issue.

Corporate networks are becoming increasingly clogged by e-mail pitches for pornography, money-making schemes and health products, and there's little relief on the horizon. Once a mild annoyance, unsolicited bulk e-mail--also known as spam--could make up the majority of message traffic on the Internet by the end of 2002, according to data from three e-mail service providers. Market research firm Gartner estimates that a company of 10,000 employees suffers more than $13 million worth of lost productivity because of internally generated spam. And as people become increasingly frustrated with spam, e-mail marketers are finding it more difficult for their messages to get through.

Also of note
Netscape Communications launched the latest version of its Web browser amid mounting evidence that almost all Internet surfers are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer instead...A little-noticed detail of Amazon.com's recent deal with Target may revive an e-commerce feature once given up for dead: the online wallet...The business of speeding Net traffic, once viewed as one of the most lucrative and important parts of the Internet's infrastructure, has descended into a tangle of lawsuits and allegations better suited to a soap opera than a technology sector...Board meetings at the top communications companies still resemble fraternity gatherings, according to a new study on women in leadership roles...Delta Air Lines has started selling tickets on rival Hotwire, an airline-backed discount travel site...The assets of the long-shuttered Napster file-swapping service are expected to wind up in the hands of benefactor Bertelsmann, as the near-defunct start-up's bankruptcy hearings close.

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