Filter looks at the day's top technology news through snapshots and analysis of what the world's media outlets are covering. Washingtonpost.com's new Mon.-Fri. feature is penned by technology reporter Cynthia L. Webb. If a technology story breaks, a company falters or triumphs, or there's a new trend in technology, Filter wants you to know about it.
The New York Post plastered the story on its front page, with a huge headline reading "Spam Scam." The paper provided an update of the two arrested men. "Dunaway appeared in a Las Vegas court and was given 30 days to appear before a judge in New York. Smathers was ordered held by an Alexandria, Va., court until a hearing scheduled for today in Manhattan."
• New York Post: AOL Worker, Steal, Sells, Names: Feds
Time Warner released a statement yesterday about the arrests. "Earlier this year, AOL began litigation against a major spammer, and in the process of which, discovered that an AOL employee had stolen member screennames in 2003, which AOL believes were used to send junk email. AOL has uncovered no information indicating that this theft involved member credit card or password information stored by AOL. AOL rapidly brought this information to the attention of federal law enforcement, and this morning the AOL employee was arrested and charged with criminal activity relating to the theft of these screennames," the company said. "We deeply regret what has taken place and are thoroughly reviewing and strengthening our internal procedures as a result of this investigation and arrest. We take this very seriously, and we will continue to hold spammers fully accountable for their activities, through our own ongoing civil litigation, as well as further cooperation with authorities in criminal spam prosecutions."
$435 Million Later
Maybe a multimillion-dollar consolation prize will make AOL feel better. The company said today it is scooping up Advertising.com in a $435 million cash deal. "The companies said in announcing the deal Thursday that the combination would provide advertisers with an opportunity to reach more than 140 million Internet users. ... Baltimore-based Advertising.com said in a statement it works with more than 800 advertisers and over 1,500 online publishers on delivering and measuring the results of online marketing campaigns," the Associated Press reported. "Advertising.com, which earlier this year filed to go public, had income from operations of $12.1 million and revenue of $132 million, up 80%, for the year ended Dec. 31," The Wall Street Journal said in its coverage of the deal.
• Associated Press via The Washington Post: AOL Buying Advertising.com (Registration required)
• The Wall Street Journal: America Online To Acquire Advertising.com For $435 Million (Subscription required)
Party's Over, Dude
MediaLive International yesterday pulled the plug on this year's Comdex show, saying in a company announcement that the expo, always a hot Las Vegas mega-fest, has been "postponed." "We feel that while we could run Comdex profitably this year, it really wouldn't serve the interests of the broader IT industry," Eric Faurot, vice president of MediaLive International, told CNET's News.com, which was the first to report the news yesterday. In another article, the news site wrote: "Although organizers announced Wednesday that Comdex 2004 has been canceled, for tech executives like P.G. Bartlett the show died long ago. Bartlett, vice president of marketing for specialty software maker Arbortext, said his company gave up on Comdex in the late 1990s, as the show's broad audience made connecting with potential customers a hit-and-miss proposition. 'A lot of the people who come to the Comdex booths are trick-or-treaters rather than serious buyers,' he said. 'If the density of potential buyers is low...it's just not worth it.'"
• CNET's News.com: Organizer Cancels Comdex 2004 • CNET's News.com: Comdex Cancellation Packs Little Surprise
The Seattle Times wrote: "Microsoft, for years Comdex's largest presence, wants organizers to resume the show in 2005, but several observers said it's a stumbling dinosaur that needs an extreme makeover if it's going to survive. Started in 1979 as the Computer Dealers Exposition, Comdex blossomed as the industry surged in the 1990s. It became an event where you could see the next big thing in technology on the crowded exhibition floor, meet the inventor at a garish party and place an order with the company president the next day in his hotel suite. But the show lost its way after peaking with 200,000 attendees in 2000. Technology spending fell, crowds thinned and last year the company running Comdex went bankrupt."
• The Seattle Times: Comdex Event Canceled For '04
Mike Langberg of the San Jose Mercury News isn't shedding any tears. "Silicon Valley and the technology industry have grown too big for a single all-encompassing trade show. What was once a village is now a metropolis. Smaller, more focused trade shows have picked up the Comdex slack. One example is the annual Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas in early January, which has kept growing through the tech recession. CES in 2004 drew a record 133,000 attendees, with 2,500 exhibitors filling 1.4 million square feet. I didn't see any big stars at CES this year, unless you count Bill Gates of Microsoft, but I did gather a lot of useful information without standing in any long lines. I won't miss Comdex."
• San Jose Mercury News: Tech Show Won't Go On (Registration required)
Congressional lawmakers are starting to look at new ways to get rid of digital piracy, this time looking at who's posting the content online, not just who's downloading it.
"Top Senate leaders from both parties launched an assault on online music and video file-sharing services yesterday, introducing legislation that makes anyone who 'induces' illegal copying just as liable for breaking copyright law as someone who makes the copies. The proposed law, backed by Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), is intended to crack down on the free file-sharing services that the recording and movie industries claim are costing them millions of dollars in lost sales," The Washington Post reported. "But some legal experts argue that the bill is worded so broadly that it threatens numerous electronic devices and software products that enable copying of digital entertainment. And opponents worry that the bill is being hustled through the Senate without sufficient hearings and debate."
More from The New York Times on how the new bill draws a line in the sand: "[Critics] say that the bill's language is overly broad, and that it amounts to a fundamental unraveling of a 1984 Supreme Court decision that has protected companies developing otherwise legal technologies that could be abused by users. 'It's a very powerful blunt instrument that can be used to threaten and intimidate industries that copyright owners disagree with,' said Sarah Deutsch, associate general counsel for Verizon Communications. Echoing the concerns of other critics, Ms. Deutsch added that the Senate Judiciary Committee appeared intent on passing along the bill to the full Senate without holding hearings first. 'What's disturbing is that this is a dramatic sea change to copyright law, but there have been no discussions or hearings,' Ms. Deutsch said. Sponsors of the bill, however, insisted that such concerns were overblown."
• The Washington Post: Expanded Copyright Law Proposed (Registration required)
• The New York Times: Bill To Curb Online Piracy Is Challenged As Too Broad (Registration required)
Filter is designed for hard-core techies, news junkies and technology professionals alike. Have suggestions, cool links or interesting tales to share? Send your tips and feedback to cindyDOTwebbATwashingtonpost.com. (Yes, those spammers have been having a lot of fun with my e-mail address lately.)
