Archive for September 2004
Civil Suit Filed Against Student-Based Networking Site
"Mark Zuckerberg ’06-’07 planned to spend his semester away from the College focusing on improvements to his popular networking site, thefacebook.com, while readying his next endeavor, Wirehog, for its long-awaited release. But any dreams of a stress-free semester were dashed on Sept. 2, when the founders of competitor ConnectU.com filed a lawsuit against his site and its five officers.
"The suit asks the court to shut down the site and force Zuckerberg and thefacebook.com to turn over the profits resulting from his alleged breach of contract.
"According to the complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, ConnectU LLC, formed by Divya K. Narendra ’04, Cameron S. H. Winklevoss ’04 and Tyler O. H. Winklevoss ’04, is seeking damages for Zuckerberg’s alleged theft of their idea—then called Harvard Connection—and his subsequent deception."
Timothy J. McGinn. Lawsuit Threatens To Close Facebook. The Harvard Crimson. Sept. 13, 2004.
OMB Seeks to Sweep Away P2P Use
"Federal chief information officers received a reminder this week that peer-to-peer file sharing is an activity that, in most cases, should not be tolerated on federal networks.
"A Sept. 8 memo from Karen Evans, administrator for information technology and e-government in the Office of Management and Budget, asked CIOs to monitor and enforce federal policies on employees’ use of P2P technology. The memo cites no recent incidents or statistics on P2P file sharing by federal employees."
Florence Olsen. OMB: Clamp Down on P2P. FCW.com. Sept. 14, 2004.
Free Download Protects IM and P2P
"IMlogic Inc. on Tuesday launched a free tool to let enterprises detect and block the use of instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing networks and voice-over-IP applications within their walls.
"Called IM Detector Pro, the software provides a first step for organizations to get a handle on the extent of such traffic flowing on their networks and to decide how to best manage it, said Dave Fowler, IMlogic’s vice president of marketing and strategic alliances.
"With the use of IM and P2P increasing, corporations can face risks of sensitive information being disclosed, employees illegally sharing copyrighted files, or viruses and worms entering their networks, Fowler said. Meanwhile, they must meet corporate governance requirements to prevent security breaches."
Matt Hicks. IMlogic Launches Free IM, P2P Blocker. eWeek. Sept. 14, 2004.
See also Dan Muse. Detect and Block IM � for Free. InternetNews.com. Sept. 14, 2004.
Additional Patent Infringement Lawsuits Filed
"Acacia Research, the Los Angeles-based company that claims to have broad patent rights to on-demand streaming-media technology, sued a second round of cable companies Monday for patent infringement.
"The company has already filed suit against most of the largest cable TV and satellite companies in the United States, including Comcast, Cox Communications and DirecTV, charging that their video-on-demand programming and a handful of other services violate its patent rights.
"Monday’s suits (.pdf) targeted 20 small cable companies, mostly in Arizona, Minnesota and Ohio. Acacia also added Mediacom Communications to its previous cable-focused lawsuit in Northern California."
John Borland. Acacia Steps Up Lawsuits Against Cable TV. News.com. Sept. 13, 2004.
RFID Technology Could Be Tangled in Intellectual Property Battle
"A key patent holder’s demand for royalties has triggered concerns that promising RFID technology could become embroiled in an intellectual property battle.
"The royalty flap stems from a new protocol, the Electronic Product Code Generation 2 standard, designed to improve the compatibility of radio-frequency identification (RFID) equipment from different suppliers and iron out a number of other technical kinks.
"The protocol is likely to contain certain patented technology from RFID equipment maker Intermec Technologies. The Everett, Wash., company recently demanded royalties for the use of the patents, and is suing Matrics, a rival, for allegedly infringing on some of them. The patent infringement suit, filed in June, is pending. No schedule has been set for the trial."
Alorie Gilbert. Static over RFID. News.com. Sept. 13, 2004.
USA Ranked Third in Global E-Government Study
"A study of digital government (.pdf) finds that the 198 nations around the world are making steady progress at putting services and information online, but movement forward has been slowed because of budget, bureaucratic, and institutional factors. The United States and Canada rank third and fourth behind Taiwan and Singapore."
Fourth Annual Global E-Government Study. Inside Politics. September, 2004.
Attribution: SNTReport.com first discovered news the Global E-Government study through a posting in ResourceShelf, edited by Gary Price.
Anti-Piracy Technology for Video
"NDS, STMicroelectronics and Thomson said on Friday they will develop new encryption technology to foil video piracy, a $3.5 billion problem for broadcasters and movie studios.
"The anti-piracy technology, known as the secure video processor platform, is designed for media companies to protect their content from unauthorized copying and redistribution."
No author. Tech Firms Announce Video Anti-Piracy Technology. Reuters. Sept. 10, 2004.
COPYCENSE 