[anti-spam] Edupage, September 24, 2003 (fwd)

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TOP STORIES FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2003
  California Passes Tough Anti-Spam Law
  VoIP at Dartmouth
  Microsoft to Shutter Most Chat Rooms
  Judge Blocks Federal Do-Not-Call List
  BMG's Experiment in Legal File Sharing

CALIFORNIA PASSES TOUGH ANTI-SPAM LAW
California has passed the nation's toughest anti-spam law, though
critics called the law flawed and said it would do little to address
the problem. Under the new law, all unsolicited commercial e-mail to
recipients in California is banned (the so-called opt-in approach to
e-mail marketing), and violators risk fines of $1,000 per message and
$1 million per campaign. The law also allows individuals--not just
state prosecutors--to file suits against alleged spammers. Legal
challenges are expected to the law. Critics said that because many spam
e-mails either come from or are routed through computers outside the
United States, the law will do little to limit spam. David Sorkin of
the John Marshall Law School noted that the law will likely pass
Constitutional tests for freedom of speech but could run into
difficulty if the courts rule that it interferes with interstate
commerce. "If you can't tell where the recipient of an e-mail is,"
said Sorkin, "and still have to comply with different state
regulations, it is a burden on interstate commerce."
International Herald Tribune, 24 September 2003
http://www.iht.com/articles/111100.html

VOIP AT DARTMOUTH
Entering freshmen at Dartmouth College this fall can use their
computers as telephones using the institution's voice-over-Internet
protocol (VoIP) system, which runs on the campus wireless network. The
program will be expanded to cover 13,000 students, faculty, and staff
on campus. Officials from Dartmouth believe theirs is the first
wireless VoIP implementation of such a size. Students will be able to
make local or long-distance calls for free, an arrangement that results
from the college's recent decision not to charge for long-distance
calls. Dartmouth had come to the conclusion that costs for billing
long-distance calls were higher than the calls themselves, and tracking
such calls in the new system would be unrealistic. "Imagine the
complexities of trying to track down who made what call when on a
large, mobile, campus voice-over-IP network," said Bob Johnson,
director of network services.
New York Times, 23 September 2003 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/23/technology/23DART.html

MICROSOFT TO SHUTTER MOST CHAT ROOMS
Saying that "free, unmoderated chat isn't safe," Microsoft has
announced it will close Internet chat rooms in most countries around
the world and will limit access to subscribers to other Microsoft
services in those countries where chat rooms will still be
available--the United States, Canada, and Japan. Chat rooms have earned
a reputation as havens for pedophiles and other child predators.
Leaving the service available to subscribers is seen as significantly
less risky because personally identifiable information about those
users is kept as part of billing records. Geoff Sutton, European
general manager of Microsoft MSN, said the free and open days of the
Internet are over because a "small minority have changed that for
everyone." Those who supported the company's decision--and urge that
other companies follow suit--pointed to a sharp rise in the past year
in the incidence of online child predation. Critics of the move,
including free-speech advocates and some children's rights groups,
wondered whether eliminating chat rooms will simply force predators
underground rather than address the root problem.
Wired News, 23 September 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,60567,00.html

JUDGE BLOCKS FEDERAL DO-NOT-CALL LIST
Federal Judge Lee R. West in Oklahoma has ruled that the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) does not have the authority to establish and implement
a federal do-not-call list. West's opinion said that although
eliminating "telemarketing fraud" and "deceptive and abusive
telemarketing acts or practices" is a worthy goal, Congress had not
expressly granted authority to the FTC for the do-not-call list.
Lawmakers supporting the list said they were confident the ruling would
be overturned and promised to "take whatever legislative action is
necessary." The list was to go into effect October 1. Telemarketers
have said the list could have cost the industry $50 billion annually.
The Direct Marketing Association, which acknowledged that the millions
of names on the do-not-call list indicate "their preferences not to
receive telephone-marketing solicitations," praised the judge's ruling
against implementing the list.
Wall Street Journal, 24 September 2003 (sub. req'd)
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106441898488092700,00.html

BMG'S EXPERIMENT IN LEGAL FILE SHARING
A new type of CD from BMG Entertainment works differently on computers
and other devices, allowing users a limited range of copying and
sharing options. In home or car stereos, portable players, and the
like, the CD will play like any other CD. When the CD is used in a
computer, however, in addition to playing the songs, users will be able
to save the songs to the hard drive and subsequently copy them to a
maximum of three other CDs. The songs can also be e-mailed to others
who will be able to listen to them for 10 days, at which point they
expire and stop working. The new CDs represent the latest attempt by
record companies to develop technology that balances user demands for
reasonable use of legally purchased music with the need to protect
intellectual property of artists and the recording industry. Other
record companies are reportedly watching the BMG experiment to see if
it satisfies consumers and is secure from hackers.
Washington Post, 23 September 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49456-2003Sep22.html

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• Previous message: Mustafa Akgul: "[anti-spam] [Fwd: ANNOUNCE: MONKEYS.COM: Now retired from spam fighting] (fwd)"