Need To Know 2002-07-19

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"Until we secure our cyber infrastructure, a few keystrokes and an Internet connection is all one needs to disable the economy and endanger lives..." - Lamar Smith, US Senator http://www.msnbc.com/news/780923.asp?cp1=1 > DISABLE ECONOMY > You cannot do that here. > EXAMINE CYBER INFRASTRUCTURE > Access Denied. > HIT ECONOMY WITH STICK >> HARD NEWS << life-long pursuits On July 17th, 2001, DMITRY SKLYAROV, coder for the Russian software house ELCOMSOFT, was arrested while visiting the US. His crime: writing code that exposed flaws in Adobe's e-book security, in contravention of the USA's exciting new DMCA. In the next year, thanks to widespread protests, Adobe withdrew their call to prosecute the Russian hacker and Dmitry was freed. Elcomsoft is still in the dock for breaching Adobe's copy restriction routines. If the aim of the prosecution was to cow them into keeping quiet about security problems, it doesn't appear to have worked. On July 12th, 2002, ELCOMSOFT posted to Bugtraq a flaw in Adobe's e-book security. Namely, that in Adobe's "lending library" web app for the Adobe Content Server, you can borrow a book for over twenty years (instead of three days) just by changing a hidden Web form value. The library site is just a demonstration app, so it's not a serious problem, but it does give Elcomsoft room for a catty little addendum. "Some time ago", they write "we have found much more serious problem with another Adobe software and reported it to the vendor; however, there was no response at all, and so we decided not to waste our time reporting this one (about the library) to Adobe". How much reaction do they want? Salt sown in the soil of Moscow and the Volga canal aflame? http://lists.insecure.org/bugtraq/2002/Jul/0133.html - don't plan any trips to Disneyland, Vlad http://librarydemo.adobe.com/library/ - fixed, it looks, by stubbing out the code http://lists.insecure.org/bugtraq/2002/Jul/0193.html - now, for real chutzpah, post a Symantec exploit on the newly 0wn3d BugTraq We'll tread cautiously with this one, as it involves Vast Ageless Corporations Who Have Retained Counsel Living Where Their Glowing Eyesockets Used To Be. Just days before we read on Slashdot that zombie company FORGENT is demanding patent license fees for users of JPEG, we're contacted by someone who has received a similiarly threatening letter - this time, from the rather more established Lucent Technologies. The message reads: "After some market research it has come to our attention that some of your company's products may employ the JBIG/JPEG Standard. Therefore, Lucent Technologies GRL LLC, Lucent's licensing agent, is contacting your company regarding your interest in obtaining a license for patents." What follows is the usual demand for fees, dire threats if compliance is thwarted, requests that the guards seize the criminals and throw them in Patent Dungeon, etc. Now, Lucent's patents don't seem to be breached by a JPEG implementaton (although it's known that JBIG is patent-encumbered; hence JBIG-2). So why does Lucent bring up JPEG at all? A curious wording for sure, and we'd be interested to see if anyone else has been contacted in these terms. Mail us at tips@spesh.com if you have. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/07/18/157217 - best use of porn collection in slashdot post modded funny +5 http://www.ghostscript.com/pipermail/gs-devel/2002-February/001203.html - JBIG encumbered, JBIG2 no Oh, is it time again already for Esquire's 50 Sharpest Men 2002? Joy! Hidden among the usual suspects - which include Richard Dawkins ("scientist"), Kevin Warwick ("scientist"), Kevin Eldon ("comedian" - and KING OF HOBBIES), is one Charlie Brooker (listed here as a "TV Go Home"). Merely appearing in the list seems to have prompted the reclusive, unsmiling, and often violent comedian to hurredly post a TVGoHome update from his pile of cardboard boxes near Soho, which is all to the good. But does he really deserve the title? What *is* sharpness? "In case your are [sic] in any doubt", the site explains, "sharpness is, above all, an attitude". Now the dictionary says it's also "having a bitter taste", and "harshness of manner", and given that Hank, the Angry Drunken Dwarf is both unlisted and dead, we think Brooker's a show-in for the Web protest/mess-with-publisher's-heads vote. We urge you to vote now, express the will of the people, and win some vile perfume or a horrible watch. http://www.esquire.co.uk/esquire50.htm - warning: torturous and unnecessarilly prolonged web form http://www.thebee.com/bweb/iinfo106.htm - Hank: another exciting Net meme you missed because you go out too much >> ANTI-NEWS << berating the obvious when oh when will the public tire of PUERILE GOOGLE TYPOS?: http://www.google.com/search?q=overcocking , "addtition", "t-shits", "eductation", and (via prudish spellcheckers?): http://www.google.com/search?q=%22public+lice%22 ... don't buy: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?product_uid=26497 ... bringing a whole new meaning to "colour naming systems": http://www.ntk.net/2002/07/19/dohhue.gif ... might explain its bewildered state: http://www.ntk.net/2002/07/19/dohpot.gif ... http://www.contactnet.ro/solutiixxi/index.php?lim=e vs "On our children's game-place, they can romp after hug-desire!!": http://www.tourismus-tirol.com/scharnitz/risserhof/indexe.html ... self-fulfilling: http://www.ntk.net/2002/07/19/dohdig.gif ... and when VIM met the PALM platform, the "Related E-Books" were MOIDER: http://www.ntk.net/2002/07/19/dohvim.gif ... >> EVENT QUEUE << goto's considered non-harmful Yes, we have concerns about encountering Slashdot readers "au naturel" without any kind of intervening moderation system. And yet, at the same time, we cannot look away. 7pm local time, Thu 2002-07-25 marks the world's first SLASHDOT MEETUP EVENT (check local listings for details, free), attracting - at time of writing - an impressive 91 interested signups for the London gathering (19 for Manchester, Leeds 17, Glasgow 11, Birmingham 9, Liverpool 6, and so on). Usual warnings about meeting your online "friends" are, we imagine, more than usually applicable here - especially as no-one can work out what the organisers are getting out of it. Spamming lists? Kickbacks from the democratically selected venues? Or valuable demographic info like the fact that "Elijah Wood" is currently more popular in hobbit-friendly Glasgow than U2, Tori Amos, or Duran Duran? http://slashdot.meetup.com/ - #goth girls for bearded sysadmins http://www.defcon.org/ - plus Defcon in Vegas in two weeks' time >> TRACKING << sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering Once again that silly 5K Web competition thing gets the headlines. And once again, we must rub its fatty, fatty chin against the honed shard of flint that is the 2002 1K MINIGAME 8-BIT CODING COMPETITION until it's shaved meek. 1024 bytes is all you (must have) wrote: to enter, arrange them to form a working game on any 8-bit micro you choose. In response to complaints from last year, "middle class BBC Micro Fauntleroys" will be permitted, says last year's judge, Matt Westcott. More weakness is shown by permitting Atari 2600s, which have 2K cartridges, to enter (you must fill the last 1K with zeros), and also the TI99/4A which as everyone knows has sixteen bits. We do hope this doesn't end in Zork virtual machines or Postscript or something. http://www.ffd2.com/minigame/ - "The competition will never be 'fair'" - BETTER! http://entries.the5k.org/946/wolf5k.html - oh, the decadence http://www.igf.com/submit.htm - $20,000 prize money; probably not accepting Oric Forth games this year >> MEMEPOOL << ceci n'est pas une http://www.gagpipe.com/ "Now That's What I Call Copyright Infringement, Vols 1,2,3": http://pod-135.dolphin-server.co.uk/~boom/thecd/boom.php ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/2131236.stm - a case for: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1490000/1490957.stm ? ... forget offshore accounting - what's to stop them going back in time with the proceeds and killing all the investors' grandfathers?: http://www.timetravelfund.com/ ... telnet econet: http://www.heyrick.co.uk/econet/misc/tcpip.html ... ... you know, wouldn't a simple 404 attract less attention?: http://www.ttfn.com/ ... Transformers! Terrorists in disguise! http://www.tsa.gov/workingwithtsa/aircraft_prohibit.shtm ... obligatory filk Pie cover: http://home.mchsi.com/~jeffwadler/ ... they laughed when I sat down at the VT100 terminal: http://www.prodikeys.com/ ... and kept laughing, thanks to: http://www.colorpilot.com/sound.html ... >> GEEK MEDIA << what, *another* http://www.tvgohome.com/ ? TV>> now that kids are taking over from teachers in RULE THE SCHOOL (5pm, Fri, BBC1) and redecorating their homes in HOME ON THEIR OWN (7pm, Sat, ITV), we can't wait for the concept gameshows where they fly planes, run pubs and perform lifesaving surgery... Wired UK's Hari Kunzru reappears on NEWSNIGHT REVIEW (11pm, Fri, BBC2)... and if you like James "Copland" Mangold's sensitive character study of an overweight man HEAVY (1.05am, Fri, BBC2), the IMDB also recommends Eddie Murphy's "The Nutty Professor"... The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" is the subject of ART THAT SHOOK THE WORLD (7.20pm, Sat, BBC2), even though it doesn't have "Good Vibrations" on it... Meg Ryan experiments with setting a romantic comedy during the Gulf War, and where one of the protagonists is dead, in COURAGE UNDER FIRE (9.15pm, Sat, BBC1)... but we'd skip that - along with laboured Tim Burton homage MARS ATTACKS! (10.35pm, Sat, ITV) - in favour of Ensign Ro and Kevin Spacey - together at last! - in top-notch low-budget office horror SWIMMING WITH SHARKS (10.50pm, Sat, C5)... Radha "Pitch Black" Mitchell shows up in Aussie relo-drama LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES (1.05am, Sat, BBC2)... Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer fails to halt the downward slide of the "National Lampoon" franchise in Washington excursion NATIONAL LAMPOON'S SENIOR TRIP (12.30am, Sat, ITV), compared to acknowledged classics like NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION (9pm, Tue, C5)... the final of JUNKYARD WARS (8pm, Mon, C4) offers a taste of where these shows are going when the teams must build full-size remote-controlled "combat cars"... while a "I Preferred The Terrorism Of The 1980s" special recreates the SAS - EMBASSY SIEGE (9pm, Thu, BBC2) - if only everything was as simple as pseudo-'70s supernatural action comedy GOOD VS EVIL (9pm, Wed, Sci-Fi)... FILM>> David Cronenberg explains why the "Friday The 13th" machete murderer is so hard to kill, shortly before he goes up against two of the chicks from "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" in undemanding self-referential "Alien"-alike JASON X ( http://www.cndb.com/movie.html?title=Jason+X+%282001%29 : [Lexa "Andromeda" Doig] [is] flat on her back on a table recuperating, and the camera shows her boobs; [Lisa "Beka Valentine"] Ryder plays a robot who wants to be more of a woman [...] her nipples fall off for a little comic relief)... while the director of "Candyman" and UK hacker classic "Smart Money" digital-videos drug-fuelled Hollywood self-excoriation IVANS XTC ( http://www.cndb.com/movie.html?title=ivans+xtc : [Lisa Enos], who also wrote the screenplay and whose first film this is, appears in a few full frontal scenes a little more than a third of the way through)... otherwise it's star- packed CGI talking animal interspecies romance STUART LITTLE 2 (imdb: sequel/ anthropomorphic/ based-on-novel/ bird/ mouse/ part-computer-animation/ soccer)... or odd-sounding Oirish period frolic THE ABDUCTION CLUB ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Cuts required to sight of 2 men hanging by necks in execution scene, on grounds of potentially harmful imitable technique, [in accordance with] category standards and Video Recordings Act 1984)... CONFECTIONERY THEORY>> as tastebuds acclimatise to the acquired tang of DIET COKE LEMON, reader WAYNE WILLIAMS has been forced to look further afield for his acidic thrills, proclaiming the "Citrus" version of ROWNTREE'S FRUITSOME CEREAL BARS "pretty tasty, a bit like a lemon meringue pie in a bar". Frankly we preferred the "Tropical" and "Red Berry" variants, though neither as much as the various ALPEN BARS with "yoghurt" or "chocolate" style toppings - and all for just twice the fat of ordinary breakfast cereal! In other most-important-meal-of-the-day news, those eggy "breakfast pizza" CHICAGO TOWN SCRAMBLES [NTK 2002-04-12] are delicious (particularly with tomato ketchup), and have been flying off the shelves in a 2-pack for 99p deal in selected branches of Sainsbury's... as predicted in NTK 2001-08-10, KFC have taken advantage of MCDONALD'S weakness in the KITKAT MCFLURRY arena, and rolled out their identically-sized rival AVALANCHE (also 99p) with a freakish selection of toppings including chocolate sauce, Cadbury's Flake, M&M's and Starburst Joosters. In a non-ice-cream-related incident, CHARLOTTE LATIMER was the first to contact us with a sighting of STARBURST "straight- out-of-the-1993-naming-dept" FLIPSTERS HARD CANDY (from 30p/pack): "pretty nice hard candies (peach, apple, raspberry and forest fruits) with a yucky plastic-looking splodge on one side that purports to offer some kind of creaminess (we guess)", but still no news yet of the brand's other mutant offspring: teardrop-shaped FRUITINESSE (from 49p), non-fish- flavoured gummy SEA MONSTERS (from 99p/bag), and STARBURST CAKE BARS (UKP1.05 for pack of 5)... and finally, MIKE WALSH of Finland remained nonplussed with last month's UK sighting of an imported South African NESTLE SMARTIES IN MILKYBAR CHOCOLATE, maintaining he bought a White "Ritter Sport" bar with Smarties in, "in a branch of the (German) Spar chain in Tenerife in January", and was generally disappointed by its usability: "Smarties kept falling out", he complains. But Nestle is innovating over here as well, with the imminent arrival of WONKA XPLODER and GOLDEN CRUNCHER biscuits (79p/ pack of 6) - replacing underperforming former NTK "Taste Abominations" WONKA OOMPA sweets - and its first new chocolate launch in 5 years, solid-looking would-be Dairy Milk-killer NESTLE DOUBLE CREAM (40p, available from July 29)... >> SMALL PRINT << Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent. Registered at the Post Office as '"funny"' http://www.net-watch.org/1.htm NEED TO KNOW THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ Unsubscribe? Mail ntknow-unsubscribe@lists.ntk.net Subscribe? Mail ntknow-subscribe@lists.ntk.net NTK now is supported by UNFORTU.NET, and by you: http://www.geekstyle.co.uk/ (K) 2002 Special Projects. Copying is fine, but include URL: http://www.ntk.net/ Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com All communication is for publication, unless you beg. Press releases from naive PR people to pr@spesh.com Remember: Your work email may be monitored if sending sensitive material. Sending >500KB attachments is forbidden by the Geneva Convention. Your country may be at risk if you fail to comply.