|
REASON Express
- - Open Sources - - The Washington Post, of all places, decided to run a front page feature on Eric Raymond, unabashed booster of open-source software design. Even more amazing, the piece managed to present an overview of both Raymond's work and the open-source issue that even non-Netheads could understand. On the downside, the Post did not, perhaps could not in the space allotted, explore Raymond's self-described "gonzo libertarian" views and how they relate to technology and software design. And, like nearly every other mainstream media outlet, the Post failed to make the connection between the open-source software movement and the Justice Department's jihad against Microsoft. In sum, they are mutually exclusive views of the technological world. For if Raymond and the open-sourcers are right, Justice is fighting yesterday's enemy with last week's weapons over last month's battleground. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty good description of the modern state itself. http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/03/225l-120398-idx.html Eric Raymond will be speaking at the Reason Dynamic Visions conference in February. His Web site is at http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr For more on the conference, including online registration, see http://www.reason.com/dynamic.html
- - Spam or Speech? - - Intel now finds itself in the middle of the quest to draw a bright line between spam and free speech. Must private firms sit by while their employees are told that devious liars run the company? What about gripes about the choice of coffee vendor? Or should content even be an issue? A judge has temporarily halted mass e-mailings by a former Intel employee whose Web page speculates that Intel may have murdered employees, among other criticisms. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge John R. Lewis barred Ken Hamidi from sending any more messages to Intel. ''It boils down to the question of whether a private corporation can get an order from a government entity--the courts--preventing a speaker from sending a message because they don't like its content,'' said Barry Steinhardt, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Both EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union are considering entering the case on the side of Hamidi. Intel maintains the case is all about private property, that unwelcome visitors in any form, can be booted off the firm's property. There is little doubt Hamidi, 51, has an axe to grind. A former Intel engineer, he was fired in 1995 amid claims of job-related injuries. During the last two years Hamidi has sent mass e-mailings to Intel employees on seven occasions. Intel has tried to block the messages. Hamidi, in turn, has tried to disguise his missives with varying degrees of success. After a Hamidi success in March, Intel warned it would go to court to block any more messages. In September, Hamidi managed to reach more than 30,000 employees with a 500-word piece attacking Intel. That, Intel claims, was a serious disturbance to its workers. http://www.charlotte.com/click/wiretech/pub/016517.htm Hamidi's anti-Intel web site is at http://www.igc.apc.org/faceintel/ Michael Lynch looked at over-zealous attempts to control spam at http://www.reasonmag.com/9710/col.lynch.html
- - Experts Implant Evidence - - A panel of impartial medical experts has concluded that there is no evidence that silicone breast implants cause the immune system to break down. Such claims have been at the heart of class-action suits against breast implant makers. Like claims of soft-tissue injury in car accidents or on-the-job mishaps, claims of immune system damage are virtually impossible to disprove. Headaches, blurred vision, and fatigue are often primary symptoms. As such they are favorites of trial lawyers on the make for big settlements from outraged juries. In 1996 U.S. District Judge Sam Pointer, a federal judge in Alabama who is overseeing nearly 9,000 implant cases nationwide, sought to ground implant cases in facts. He ordered the creation of the panel, which was made up of leading immunologists and epidemiologists. The panel heard testimony from experts from both sides. Each member of the panel also reviewed 40 documents submitted by each side. Trial lawyers upset by the report are vowing to examine panel members under oath. Others welcome the report as a sign that some facts may actually be making their way into the tussle. "There's absolutely no credible evidence linking implants with any disease or abnormality elsewhere in the body... If some judge had done this much earlier it probably would have saved a lot of heartache, a lot of trouble," said Marcia Angell, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/02/063l-120298-idx.html http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Business/Dow_Breast_Implants_Suits/
For more background see Joseph Nocera, "Fatal Litigation," at http://www.pathfinder.com/fortune/magazine/1995/951016/cover.html and Michael Fumento, "A Confederacy of Boobs," at http://www.reason.com/9510/FUMENTOfeat.html Virginia Postrel also discusses breast implants and the breakdown of technocracy in chapter one of The Future and Its Enemies. For more on the book, see http://www.futureand.com or http://www.dynamist.com. For her editorials on the topic see http://www.reason.com/9601/VPedit.html and http://www.reason.com/opeds/vpasap1295.html.
- - Zero Common Sense - - Public school administrators have recently gone on "zero tolerance" kick against violence. Pencil pushers in Deer Lake outside Pittsburgh went one further when they suspended Jordan Locke for bringing an axe to school. "An axe?" you say. "What a menace! It must be that heavy metal music." Yes, but it was a plastic axe, Jordan is a 5-year-old, and the weapon in question was part of a Halloween fireman costume. School district policy prohibits weapons of any kind, toys included. "As administrators of schools, with the safety of hundreds of children in mind, it is also our job to protect lives, too!" Superintendent Joel Carr and school board President Thomas DeBolt breathlessly explained. Whatever. Perhaps their day jobs as superheroes are not fulfilling enough. To top it off Carr and DeBolt only felt compelled to explain themselves because area fire fighters objected to a fireman's axe being labeled a weapon. http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19981103ax2.asp Walter Olson looked at zero tolerance and school contraband cases at http://www.reason.com/9706/col.olson.html
- - Some Laundry Is Dirtier Than Others - - Congress, on the strength of a damning General Accounting Office report, will likely put Citibank's handling of Mexican drug money under the microscope. But while any examination of U.S. anti-money laundering rules is welcome, the real issue is much broader. Banks have increasingly joined forces with the government on a host of currency control issues, effectively blurring the line between private and governmental action. In addition to money laundering controls, which make suspects out of anyone who deals in cash, loan information is now regularly shared with the IRS. The sums often tied up in such scrutiny do not belong to the $100 million Raul Salinases of the world, but to small businessmen and women, restaurateurs and the like. http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/04/066l-120498-idx.html
- - Keys to the Kingdom - - U.S. officials are talking up an international agreement which will allow the easy export of encryption software with keys up to 64 bits long. That adds all of eight bits to the keys that can be exported for widespread use. By way of comparison, 128-bit encryption is the preferred method for commercial transactions on the Net. Dig a little deeper and the agreement is even less impressive. Omitted from the group of countries pledging to work together on the crypto front are Israel, pound-for-pound a powerhouse in coding, and China, a potential bad actor by any definition of security. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/biztech/articles/04encrypt.htm http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/16623.html
QUICK HITS - - Quote of the Week - - "You can't be in Washington five days a week and service your district," Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) objecting to any change in the three-day-a-week schedule that the House has operated under. This overlooks the possibility that Americans might be sore from their servicings.
- - Quote of the Week, Better Late Than Never - - "Recent events have proven that the Internet is a segment of our economy where innovation is thriving. Further government intervention or regulation is unnecessary and, in my judgment, unwise," South Carolina Attorney General Charles Condon, announcing his state was pulling out of the antitrust case against Microsoft. Condon cited the $4.2 billion Netscape-America Online merger as evidence Redmond does not have a Net monopoly. http://www.msnbc.com/news/221412.asp
- - Ten Most Wanted - - Congress has appointed 10 members to the all-important panel that will examine Internet tax issues. The group will study federal, state, and local taxes on e-commerce and issue a report to Congress in 18 months. http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,29385,00.html
- - Fear of a MP3 Planet - - Record execs blew a gasket when hip-hoppers Public Enemy posted unauthorized MP3 versions of their own music. Rapper Chuck D says he can see the fear in the eyes of record companies unprepared to cope with technological advances that may render them obsolete. http://www.public-enemy.com/audiovideo/btn.html http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/cyber/articles/04enemy.html#1
REASON NEWS Virginia Postrel will be discussing her new book, The Future, and Its Enemies, at events in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix this week; and in Austin, Dallas, and Houston next week. For more information, see www.futureand.com. She will also discuss the book on the following shows: Talkspot.com: TODAY, 3:00 pm Pacific time, The John Carlson Show. Tune in using RealAudio at talkspot.com San Diego: 12/10 1:35 pm local; KOGO-AM 600; the Roger Hedgecock Show Dallas: 12/11, 10-11 am local time, KERA-FM 90.1 (NPR) The People's Agenda Houston: 12/18, 3-5 pm local time, KPRC-AM 950, The Mike Richards Show (in-studio) Pittsburgh: 12/17, 8:20 am local time, WJAS-AM 1320, Wheeler in the Morning See www.futureand.com for details. To be notified of Reason media appearances and events in your area, send a note with your e-mail address and your Zip code to Neha Shah at nshah@reason.org
HOLIDAY REMINDER Support Reason with your holiday shopping: Place your Amazon orders for books, CDs, videos, and other gifts at http://www.reason.com/bookstore.html and Reason will receive a portion of the cost. Browse our bookstore selections, or go directly to Amazon from the link at the top of the page. Reason Express is made possible by a grant from
The DBT Group (www.dbtgroup.com),
manufacturers of affordable, high-performance mainframe systems
and productivity software. We encourage you to forward Reason Express. |
