Thursday, February 13, 2003 at 7:11AM Six defendants have been criminally charged in California under the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions for activities aimed at descrambling satellite TV broadcasts. Story at c | net News.com. [via ILN]
Thursday, February 13, 2003 at 6:11AM California Senator Deborah Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), who introduced legislation in California that would enable spam recipients to recover the greater of actual damages or $500 per offending item (as discussed previously here), also is the author of SB 157, introduced two days ago. If passed, SB 157 would require businesses with no physical presence in the state to start collecting sales tax from California residents in online transactions.
Senator Bowen and California are not alone. Thirty-four other states and the District of Columbia are backing the Streamlined Sales & Use Tax Agreement (the "SSUTA," related site here), as further described in the Senator's press release and this San Jose Business Journal article. A six-part series on the SSUTA is available here, from E-Commerce Tax News.
These efforts are at odds with federal legislation introduced last month by Congressman Cox (R-CA) and Senator Wyden (D-OR), that would prohibit states indefinitely from requiring out of state online sellers to collect sales tax that would be charged if the buyer were making a local purchase. Subsequent commentary seems to suggest Cox and Wyden are more likely to obtain another extension of the existing moratorium -- which otherwise expires this November -- than the permanent ban they seek.
In other words, this is no hoax, people. Shop now, shop now...
Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at 8:32AM While I'm reading The Support Economy my Dad's reading and raving about The Hydrogen Economy, so I guess that's next on the list. Of related interest, Road to the Future: fuel cell development news from GM.
[Update] Also related: a new initiative from Congressman Cox (R-CA) and Senator Wyden (D-OR), to promote hydrogen fuel cell filling stations.
Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at 8:07AM This week on TV: Joe Millionaire didn't pick, and 60 Minutes II promo'd this segment as follows: "If you drink this, it will kill you. And he's about to do it!!"
Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at 6:10AM According to this (Nevada Delays Plans for Appeals Court, SFGate/AP) we shouldn't look for an intermediate appellate court, or an intermediate appellate court Web site, in the state of Nevada any time soon. However, for a thorough rundown of other appellate court Web site offerings, don't miss Howard's Legal Intelligencer article this month (available soon here, and via email subscription at that link; oh golly, I linked to a competitor again, somebody get the big net). The discussion is informative and useful, and I was pleased to see Rory Perry and his court get well deserved recognition for their efforts. The response Howard posted last night from the former IT director for the Eleventh Circuit also is fascinating. A sample: "Using such tools in house and putting Microsoft's Index Server on the public Internet are two very different undertakings. The number of successful hacks of Index Server on public web sites is staggering, and each time Microsoft swore that security patches 'fixed' their product, another successful hack of either the Index Server or Microsoft's web server occurred within days or weeks. There now are some safer Linux-based tools, and I think the Eleventh is quickly moving in that direction."
(By the way, can anyone explain why whenever I consider electric guitars in prison, all I can picture is Chicago, with Strats?)
