February 20, 2001
Wired News: PGP Creator Bolts to Hush.
Phil Zimmermann will become the chief cryptographer for Web-based e-mail company Hush Communications. Citing differences with Network Associates Zimmermann said he left the company so he could devote his time to making the open standard called OpenPGP more accepted in the industry.
NY Times: The Key Vanishes: Scientist Outlines Unbreakable Code.
But with Dr. Rabin's system, the message stays secret forever because the code uses a stream of random numbers that are plugged into the key for encoding and decoding. The numbers are never stored in a computer's memory, so they essentially vanish as the message is being encrypted and decrypted.
Industry Standard: Napster Offers Settlement with Record Companies.
Napster, the wildly popular online song swap service, on Tuesday offered $1 billion in licensing fees over five years to settle its legal battle with the U.S. recording industry which wants it shut down and establish a workable business model of its own.
Business Week: Hype Addiction: It's One Tough Habit to Kick.
"Why don't you write something positive? Why don't you write about something good happening?" These are the kinds of questions that I've been getting recently, not only from public-relations people but also from company executives I speak with for stories.
Internet World: The Pretend Privacy Watchdog.
What does warrant attention is that eBay came to this decision in concert with TRUSTe, a so-called privacy advocate that sells quality assurance seals and advice on privacy policies to hundreds of Web sites. So, how could any privacy advocate look over this proposed change and give it a clean bill of health.
Inside: Source Philosophy Lies at the Heart of Media Businesses.
Jason Chervokas and Tom Watson. Just because the law ignores reality doesn't mean reality is going to change, and as a result media business will continue to be under assault from new technologies until we develop some consensus based not on stop-gap approaches to specific technologies, but basic principles.
Industry Standard: The Lonely Crowd.
Of course, as media distribution migrates to the digital world, companies will want to charge for something. So the question remains: If distributing conventional media online doesn't work, what will? How do you create successful media products for a hypernetworked audience?
Editor & Publisher: Feds Mull Court-Record Access In Cyberspace.
During last year's presidential vote recount battle, Florida courts quickly posted lawyers' filings and counterfilings on the Internet. For journalists craving access to the historic arguments, the rapid-fire Web postings showed a promising face to the brave new world of electronic court documents.
| 