31st August 2002 Archive

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Under-fire and unrepentant: American tech VCs turn nasty

Same bubble again, please!

"You cannot deftly manipulate the control stick if you are suffering from diarrhoea" - [from a previously unpublished manual for Japanese Kamikaze pilots] You'd think that with the equities markets suffering a slow motion freefall on a scale of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, and with so much "new economy" hype now exposed as …

Business 31 Aug 2002, 01:38
Spam blacklist withdraws controversial fines policy

User group accuses Monkeys.com of 'extortion'

A huge row has broken out after the maintainer of a list of spam-friendly insecure sites floated the idea that lax admins should pay a deposit to be removed from the list. Anti-spam campaigner Ron Guilmette, of monkeys.com, maintains a 'blocklist' of sites carrying scripts vulnerable to a formmail perl scripting vulnerability, …

Music and Media 31 Aug 2002, 09:08
MP3 royalty scare over – not many dead

Software decoders exempt

Thomson Multimedia, who license the MP3 format have confirmed that software players are not under threat, and can remain free. The disappearance of a specific opt-out for software from Thomson's licensing page caused great alarm earlier this week. Thomson's licensing page had indeed changed, and an opt-out of free decoders had …

Software 31 Aug 2002, 10:33
Pigopolist's pants still down

RIAA website just carries on giving

It's taken two days for the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) to restore the front page of its website, after hackers defaced large sections on Wednesday in the third attack in recent weeks. But the Pigopolist has still left this page open, containing downloadable MP3s. It reads:- RIAA to sue music sharers? Not …

Music and Media 31 Aug 2002, 13:06
Prudes sue for right to edit rented flicks

Movie directors not amused

A couple of prudes in Denver are suing for the right to distribute rental flicks with all the good parts removed. Apparently, one of the plaintiffs has some gimmick involving a modified remote control whereby viewers can select between the original and bowdlerized editions, according to a Reuters report. "Clean Flicks of …

Music and Media 31 Aug 2002, 23:19