November 9, 1999
Wired News: TRUSTe Declines Real Probe.
TRUSTe's stated mission is to regulate the use of personal data submitted to Web sites by accepting input from consumers. TRUSTe declined to investigate RealNetworks because RealJukebox is music-listening software that works via the Internet, but only indirectly through a Web site visit.
Lighthouse: Virtual Community: an idea out of control.
Actually, Blue Mountain's success to date exemplifies the failure of the "community" model. Users talking about the Web rarely discuss the "experience", the "environment", the "community" of a Web site. Instead, they enthuse about the tasks they can perform...
Salon: The Internet illusion.
Review of Andrew Shaprio's book The Control Revolution. The Internet is the great leveler, we are told, where everybody's voice is broadcast at equal volume, and all information sinks or swims purely on its own merit. Or so the theory goes.
ZDNN: Net heavyweights launch Net think tank.
[Esther Dyson] "The hype comes from companies trying to promote their causes. (There are) people with a vested interest in raising the importance of the Internet saying it's going to be 10 gazillion dollars, so people will buy their market research..."
The Economist: Bandwidth from thin air.
To make the most of limited "bandwidth", as it is known, engineers have devised elaborate schemes to allow several devices (such as mobile telephones) to share a single frequency by taking turns to transmit.
Upside: Online Car Chase.
But dealers have an even stronger trump card to play: "It's illegal to replace dealers in many states," says Mike Morrisey, spokesman for NADA. State franchise laws are a crazy quilt, and manufacturers are barred from setting prices in 35 states, according to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey.
MSDN Online: One Man's Security is Another Man's Prison.
Robert Hess. On the one side, it is important to continue to increase both the functionality available to bona fide applications and the ease at which they interact with users. At the same time, it is important to appropriately safeguard these systems and prevent inappropriate access, while not impacting users with burdensome security barriers.
News.Com: Hotmail uses controversial filter to fight spam.
Hotmail is using the list to reduce the amount of junk email its users receive. But the list is harsh medicine. The filter, which does not distinguish between spam and other messages, will block legitimate email that happens to be routed through the blacklisted servers.
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