A break-in targeting State Department computers worldwide last summer occurred after a department employee in Asia opened a mysterious e-mail that quietly allowed hackers inside the U.S. government's network.

The mysterious State Department e-mail appeared to be legitimate and included a Microsoft Word document with material from a congressional speech related to Asian diplomacy, Reid said. By opening the document, the employee activated hidden software commands establishing what Reid described as backdoor communications with the hackers.

Compromise at the State Dept due to a Word document? Great job Microsoft...

Weren't they saying something recently about malformed Word documents crashing Word not being a problem? Makes you wonder how many of those "not a problem" bugs can result in situations like this...

State Department got mail, and got owned - Yahoo/AP

There is widespread agreement that "WKRP in Cincinnati" was one of the greatest television sitcoms ever produced. The original episodes are rightly considered to be a national treasure and cultural landmark.

Copyright law madness has destroyed it forever - plain and simple.

WKRP was created at a time when mass consumer home video was unheard of. As a result, the much of the music was only licensed for a limited number of years for use on broadcast television. You would think that by licensing the music, a derivative work such as a television show would have a fair use right to continue to use the music in order to preserve the artistic integrity that was vital for show to continue to exist. You would think that – but you'd be wrong. Within the maddening culture of entertainment legal affairs, the music licenses did not entitle the episodes to continue to use the music in other mediums in the future. The only way the show could be seen in the future was to destroy its original artistic vision and substitute other music tracks, which in some cases completely alter the feel of the scenes.

Most copies of the original show were destroyed – out of fear that if a tape were mislabeled and still contained the original music, then even a single accidental airing of the episode containing the original (unlicensed) music could subject the company to massive liability.

To make a long story short, WKRP is finally being released on DVD. However, they were not able to clear rights for the music. All the music used in the show has been replaced with generic Muzak.

Early word is that the release of this WKRP in Cincinnati is an artistic travesty.

Big surprise there...

WKRP In Cincinnati – Requiem For A Masterpiece

Elgg is an open source social networking platform based around choice, flexibility and openness: a system that firmly places individuals at the centre of their activities.

Your users have the freedom to incorporate all their favorite tools within one environment and showcase their content with as many or as few people as they choose, all within a social networking site that you control.

This is an open source software solution for building social network sites. It's becoming popular within educational institutions.

Elgg: the open source social networking platform

Internet radio broadcasters were dealt a setback Monday when a panel of copyright judges threw out requests to reconsider a ruling that hiked the royalties they must pay to record companies and artists.

A broad group of public and private broadcasters, including radio stations, small startup companies, National Public Radio and major online sites like Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, had objected to the new royalties set March 2, saying they would force a drastic cutback in services that are now enjoyed by some 50 million people.

In the latest ruling, the Copyright Royalty Board judges denied all motions for rehearing and also declined to postpone a May 15 deadline by which the new royalties will have to be collected.

This last week, I discussed the current state of Internet radio with a representative from Clear Channel. He told me that they were against this, yet they have no desire to use any of their power to influence the situation. Conviction is either not a word in their vocabulary, or there are other interests in play.

Internet radio has been dead for awhile. This nail is being hammered long after the coffin is secure. We need to ask why Internet radio had to die, as it's death was clearly consensual.

The economics here are completely screwed.

We are at the point where the only avenues available are those of public policy. Whenever I discuss these issues with players in the music industry -- and I do, regularly -- they don't understand this. There is a great fear and apprehension among those in the music business to approach problems from the angle of public policy. I'm starting to seriously wonder why...

Internet radio. Blanket licensing for digital music downloads. Statutory licensing for sampling. Et cetera -- Endless list of issues...

Was pushing an audio stream over a network pipe too extreme for incumbent interests? I know what answer you'd get if you ask Voynage.

This just pisses me off... I clearly see the solution given by the incumbent media powers: "Shut it off until we figure it out."

If this approach had merit, sales would not be down 13% this year.

Update: SoundScan turned the industry on its tail in the 90's because it had a picture that was more complete than that of anyone else. That is not the case today. The complete picture is currently more absent than it has ever been.

Internet radio broadcasters dealt setback == On to Public Policy

AOL News has obtained two plays a classmate says were written by Cho Seung-Hui. Ian MacFarlane, the former classmate and current AOL employee, provided us with the plays. A note from Mr. MacFarlane and links to the works appear below.

This kid was seriously disturbed. As information is coming out about this guy, it seems he was giving every warning sign that he was a problem waiting to happen.

Cho Seung-Hui's Plays

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

I don't find this shocking. There are a few things worth pointing out, as this relates to the bigger picture of the risks and gains posed by technological advance...

This could very well be for real, and if so is quite serious. All policy regulating technology is potentially dangers. Many things interrelate in the big picture.

If heavy usage of certain areas of the frequency spectrum is killing bees, the correct solutions may be to breed/engineer bees resistant to it. When we discover a type of sonar is killing all the wales, you have to stop until you find a work around that don't start killing things in large numbers. In this case, bees are easier to experiment with, and their breeding is already controlled to a certain degree, so it's highly likely a solution is just going to involve playing god a bit.

When regarding the places where public policy could collide with technology, research, and anything backed up with an argument that includes the phrase "playing god", one must remember that some problems can't be ignored, and some solutions like turning off all the cell phones are not reasonable approaches. If one technology is getting us unto a problem, another type of technology will most likely get us out. Unless we just drop the damn ball.

I firmly believe that at this point, for the long run of humanity, it might be a good idea to entertain the area of "playing god" for a few decades... We might need to get good at that, in order to solve future problems. Plus, it sounds like fun work.

I've found myself wondering before what we would have done if at some point we found out that the Eisenhower Highway System was screwing up migration patterns and killing all the birds.. And what the future equivalent of such a thing might be..

Furthermore, in a continuation of the William Gibson future meme. We already got ADD, now we have CCD.. I can't wait till we get to the point where we have NAS.

heh..

Birds, bees, mobile phones, and the apocalypse

When the Air Force formed Air Force Space Command in 1982, it marked formal recognition that space was a distinct operating arena. The first commander, Gen. James V. Hartinger, said, “Space is a place. ... It is a theater of operations, and it was just a matter of time until we treated it as such.”

Meanwhile, around that same time, sci-fi author William Gibson published a novel entitled Neuromancer, a work that gave the world a strange new term—“cyberspace.” The book didn’t call cyberspace “a place” but a “consensual hallucination” of billions of humans. Few military men gave it much thought.

Nearly a quarter of a century later, though, it’s deja vu all over again. The Air Force has come to recognize cyberspace, like “regular” space, as an arena of human activity—including armed activity. It is, to reprise Hartinger, a theater of operations.

“This is probably the only warfighting domain in which we have peer competitors,” said Keys of ACC. “We have to stay ahead of them.”

Whenever I say that we are riding on the crazy train to the world envisioned by William Gibson, people usually chuckle, thinking that I am making a joke of some sort...

War in the Third Domain

Search engine leader Google is buying privately held DoubleClick, a top digital marketing services firm, for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies said Friday afternoon.

Google (Charts) is buying DoubleClick from private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, which bought DoubleClick in 2005 for $1.1 billion in a deal that took the company private.

All your ad are belong to Google.

Google scoops up DoubleClick for $3.1 billion - Apr. 13, 2007

Gov. Jon S. Corzine was critically injured when his motorcade crashed en route to a meeting between radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team, a doctor said.

Corzine, 60, suffered numerous broken bones but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, officials said. He was recuperating early Friday at Cooper University Hospital in Camden after two hours of surgery to repair a seriously damaged leg and other injuries.

Doctors also inserted a breathing tube that would remain "for days to weeks, until [Corzine] is able to breathe on his own again," Ostrum said.

Corzine had a broken sternum, a broken collarbone, a slight fracture of his lower vertebrae, a broken left leg, six broken ribs on each side and a laceration on his head, said Dr. Steven Ross, head of trauma for the hospital.

Corzine was riding in his two-car motorcade's sports utility vehicle when a white pickup truck swerved to avoid a red pickup truck that had corrected itself after driving onto the right shoulder of the Garden State Parkway around 6 p.m. EDT, said State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes.

Meanwhile...

The Rutgers team -- including the 10 players, their parents, coaches, administrators and religious leaders -- met with Imus Thursday night at the New Jersey Governor's Mansion.

"We were able to really dialogue," said coach C. Vivian Stringer. "I thought it was productive. I am extremely proud of our 10 young basketball members. I have been throughout this entire ordeal."

Stringer declined to talk about what was said during the meeting or the CBS decision.

And Codey is in charge of the state again. Sigh...

New Jersey governor critically injured in motorcade crash while Imus meets with Rutgers team

This is an audio sample from the documentary Jesus Camp, where youth pastor Becky Fischer offers prayers to her ministry's electrical system, PA system, microphones, projector, and PowerPoint presentations. At the end, it trails off into her speaking in tongues.

Be sure to use this when setting up for your next presentation...

Lord Jesus, Bless This Powerpoint Presentation (mp3)