NTK

 _   _ _____ _  __ <*the* weekly high-tech sarcastic update for the UK>
| \ | |_   _| |/ / _ __   ____18/09/98_ o Join! Mail 'subscribe ntknow'
|  \| | | | | ' / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ / / o  to majordomo@unfortu.net
| |\  | | | | . \ | | | | (_) \ V  V /  o Website (+ archive) lives at:
|_| \_| |_| |_|\_\|_| |_|\___/ \_/\_/   o     http://www.ntk.net/

        
         Dear .Net,
         Although you say in Issue 45 that downloading warez is
         equivalent to going into a shop and stealing something, the
         two situations are hardly comparable [...] 
                                                - Paul

         Dear Paul,
         Your naivity [sic] is touching yet misplaced. Why do you
         think the anti-piracy organisation Federation
         Against Software Theft is so called? And while we're at it,
         what about the Federation Against Copyright Theft?
                                          - .NET letters page, Oct 98
         ...so if we form SLOW, the Society for the Liberation Of Warez,
                                               would that make it OK?


                                >> HARD NEWS <<
                               free to peruse?

         The GUARDIAN this week devised an fiendishly distributed system
         of encryption for its article on police seizure of ISP-held
         data. Duncan Campbell's "Police tighten the Net" piece began
         with the revelation that a major ISP had been raided, and
         one of its employees arrested as part of the global
         "Operation Wonderland" child porn crackdown.  The ISP was
         not named in the main article: instead, the newspaper
         steganographically concealed its identity by hiding it in
         the same edition's "Corrections" section. The Guardian there
         apologised in advance for implying that any Demon employees
         were apprehend--- whoops! Meanwhile, safe from the lawyers,
         the Web edition of the paper identified Demon in the first
         (unedited) paragraph of the article - and continued to
         maintain an arrest had taken place.
         http://online.guardian.co.uk/theweb/905960359-privacy.html
         
         All of these tactics fortunately failed to conceal
         Campbell's main thesis - that ISPs are being pressured to
         open up their servers to general police inspection. The
         timing for ISPs couldn't be worse - at the same time as the
         police force are encouraging them to sign an informal
         "memorandum of understanding" to allow this, the government
         is preparing its draft E-COMMERCE BILL, expected in October
         and probably to include a new criminal offence, inserted by
         the Home Office: it will become a crime to refuse to provide
         plaintext versions of encrypted data to the authorities in
         the course of a prosecution. Worse still, over in the US,
         tech companies appear to be reaching a privacy consensus
         with the government there: in return for a relaxation on
         strong crypto controls, hardware manufacturers like Cisco
         will introduce new strong crypto-enhanced routers that will,
         nonetheless, have a plaintext backdoor for law enforcement.
         With that hardware installed at ISPs' offices, the memo of
         understanding signed, and the UK legislation in place,
         British ISPs will become what they have been desperately
         trying to avoid all this time: an easy touch when it comes
         to stomping over the rights of their own customers.
         http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/13658.html 
                  - in which the privacy lobby propose the compromise
         http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19980916S0012 
                - and the US government start being nice for a change
         
         Oh, yadda, yadda, yadda. Enough with the dull and gloomy
         crypto talk: what fun stuff is happening in that crazy zany
         UK IT industry? Well, the good news for ACORN fans is that
         next month's Acorn World show has been postponed, giving
         RISC PC owners a chance to build up even more excitement
         over the platform's future. The bad news is that... it
         doesn't have one. Acorn are abandoning all future RISC PC
         developments, sacking 2/3rds of their non-engineering staff,
         and moving everybody else to their set-top box and Apple
         co-development departments. Amiga owners should zoom over
         to comp.sys.acorn.advocacy and crow while you can. In the
         meantime, the remaining Acornites are talking of turning the
         original Acorn World date into a drunken wake. We'll drink
         to that.  
         http://wwwis.cs.utwente.nl:8080/~faase/Ha/Atom/ 
                              - from little Atoms, mighty Acorns fail 
         http://www.hotgames.com/games/v2000/review.htm 
                                   - still, there's always Virus 2000
         

                                >> ANTI-NEWS << 
                             berating the obvious
                
         SLASHDOT feature on the problems of too many Slashdot
         comments receives over 350 comments... more current
         Microsoft employees at BURNING MAN than current Wired
         employees... new Irish TV show TECHTV Web forum crashes
         after presenter is referenced as "that fucking gobshite" -
         see http://www.hackwatch.com/~kooltek for details... by
         contrast, the guestbook at http://www.alfayed.com/ is
         impressively one-sided... NYTIMES hackers gain respect
         via "greets" to GK Chesterton, lowercase lettering...
         "TV must do more than repackage for the Web" expensive
         FORRESTER REPORT uncovers... AINTITCOOLNEWS writes that
         Paramount execs watching STAR TREK: INSURRECTION screening
         were "literally blown away" - well, that's one way to get it
         past the suits... Jakob Nielsen criticises the STARR REPORT
         for poor Web usability - wait 'til they release the
         Quicktime movies... proposed domain naming organisation,
         ICANN, registers icann.org, icann.com and icann.net (Why all
         three? Because they *can*)... new MANICS album may contain
         "worst lyrics ever" (theirs or anyone else's)...


                               >> EVENT QUEUE << 
                         goto's considered non-harmful

         An NTK no-prize goes to the first person to make a
         "downsizing" gag at tonight's IT SLEEPOUT, in aid of the
         NCH's "House Our Youth" campaign (18/09/98, Finsbury Square,
         London EC2), billed to feature UK directors from 3Com and
         Bull. Unfortunately, if it rains, they won't be able to pop
         into the DIGITAL UNDERGROUND show in the nearby disused
         Aldwych tube station, because they are supposed to be
         outside, suffering the cold - not inside, suffering "sound
         and visual installation, robots, digital conversation, and
         unusual interfaces". And anyway, it shuts at 6 o'clock (12-6
         pm, 18-22/09/98, The Strand, London WC2). More advanced
         urban spelunkers shouldn't pass up the recon opportunities
         offered by LONDON OPEN HOUSE '98, including such tempting
         trophies as the ITN building, Lloyds of London, and a
         Victorian "Grade I listed waste-water pumping station" in
         Bexley.
         http://www.HOY2000.org.uk/contents.html
                - also has advice for homeless people with net access
         http://www.artserver.org/digitalunderground
                         - about as "underground" as these lamers get
         http://www.londonopenhouse.demon.co.uk/Listings%20One.html
                           - hey, it's no http://www.infiltration.org

         And another of those unfortunate date-clashes again next
         Thu, with THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL INVENTIONS FAIR
         (24-27/09/09, Barbican Exhibition Centre, London EC2Y) going
         right up against horrid consumer electronics show LIVE '98
         (24-27/09/98, Earls Court, London SW5), where virtual
         reality (oh god) sits alongside the very latest developments
         in car CD players. Yeah, we sound bitter, we know, but we
         never got over the "Live" show we went to a few years back
         where Microsoft demonstrators were painting the Win 95 logo
         onto children's faces.
         http://www.sphinx-exhibitions.co.uk/sphinx/invent98/
             - "hundreds of creative and charismatic characters, your 
                                                   fellow inventors."
         http://www.live98.com/
                     - anyone go to "Toys For The Boys"? Thought not.


                                >> TRACKING <<
                  making good use of the things that we find 
	
         If we were ever tempted to draw comparisons between MOZILLA
         and those other dinosaur mascots, the Jurassic Park raptors 
         (genetically engineered from doomed species, unable to
         reproduce, tendency to chomp heads off hackers releasing it
         into the wild, etc), we're stopping right here. After a long
         period of incubation, the Mozilla Open Source egg is
         beginning to hatch. Signs that life has found a way include a HTTP
         compression scheme that promises to speed up modem
         downloading 30%, the beginnings of a port to the Linux GNOME
         desktop, OS/2 and Rhapsody versions and - tee hee - even hooks
         into the Microsoft Active Desktop system. Psychologically,
         hacking Mozilla should become more fun too, now that Chris
         Nelson has introduced a "Worker's Heroes"-style hall of fame
         in his regular Mozilla Status page. Not that you'd ever
         think of coding just for a moment of tawdry glory...
         http://www.mozilla.org/status/
         - All Hail The Eternal Principles of Zawinskite Slashdotism!
         http://www.sky.co.uk/history/classroom/alevel/stalin3.htm
                                     - today's new word: Stakhanovitve

        
                                >> MEMEPOOL << 
                              hasta la altavista
         
         New Urban Legend: URANIUM processing inspectors sprinkled it
         on their tongue to see if it "tasted right"... those cheap
         Asian rip-offs of the IMAC are already on their way:
         http://www.din.or.jp/%7Etoy/tb/tb20e.html ... REYNOLD B.
         JOHNSON, inventor of disk drive, spins off this mortal
         platter at 92... www.bluesnews.com goes for real life BFGs
         http://www.ittc.ukans.edu/~botanika/warning_label.htm#bfpg
         http://www.unabombertrial.com/documents/psych_report1.html -
         how would *you* score?... hey ECO-WARRIORS, how about
         "liberating" oil from supertankers?... DIY geek posters:
         http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ... Shatner? October? SPAIN?
         http://www.freeent.com ... our only VIAGRA joke ever (c/o
         the BBC news ticker) http://subatomic.com/images/viagra.gif
         ... imagine what hidden messages people will find on track
         10 of http://www.cddb.com/xm/cd/misc/d10ec20f.html ... 


                               >> GEEK MEDIA << 
                      may contain strongly-typed language

         TV>> like we should be grateful for the BBC's sci-fi "triple
         bill": despite SubGenius allusions (Zeists - or Xists?),
         HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING (10.20pm, Fri, BBC1), is
         incoherent nonsense - even by Highlander standards, FIRE IN
         THE SKY (11.45pm, Fri, BBC1) is just a plain dull redneck
         Rockford X-File, and draw your own conclusions about 1954's
         THE SHE CREATURE (1.30am, Fri, BBC1)... sources suggest that
         "accessible" net history GLORY OF THE GEEKS (8pm, Sat, C4)
         is only the first of two new tech series hosted by god-like
         Robert X Cringely... while another X-rated aliens blah blah
         conspiracy blah blah all a hoax (or *is it?*) yawnathon
         prolongs a new series of THE X FILES (9.25pm, Sat, BBC2)...
         yes, more nutty small-town Americans in MAXIMUM BOB (10pm,
         Sun, BBC2) - ignoring the inevitable Elmore Leonard link and
         direction from useless Barry "Men In Black" Sonnenfeld, it's
         actually supposed to be quite good... still, our money's
         with trapping-rappers containment drama TRESPASS (10.45pm,
         Sun, BBC2)... "hedge disputes" are the latest flashpoint for
         NEIGHBOURS AT WAR (9.30pm, Mon, BBC1)... real-life Tomb
         Raider goes on spurious QUEST FOR THE LOST CIVILISATION
         (9pm, Mon, C4) - his name: Graham Hancock... and not content
         with the exciting theory that a meteor killed the dinosaurs,
         EQUINOX (9pm, Tue, C4) spends a thrilling hour on the
         alternative hypothesis that it was just ordinary volcanic
         activity... old established media clearly too scared to
         mention NTK in publicity for wacko panel game KING STUPID
         (6.25pm, Tue, Radio 4)... lame sequel THE STEPFORD HUSBANDS
         (9.35pm, Thu, BBC1) precedes unexpected new episode of THE
         OUTER LIMITS (9.45pm, Thu, BBC2)... and "Renegade TV" worth
         rebelliously taping includes HOAX (12.40am, Thu, C4)
         interviewing people who con fly-on-the-wall shows. At least,
         that's what they *claim* they do...

         FILM>> spectacular action-by-numbers, but the passing of Mel
         Gibson's suicidal tendencies blunts the impact of LETHAL
         WEAPON 4 (imdb "plot keywords": blockbuster /
         illegal-immigrants / slave-labor / frog / handy / murder /
         dentist / martial-arts / shark / racism / police-brutality /
         counterfeiters / marriage / triad / chase / los-angeles /
         police / pregnancy / baby). And hey, whatever weapons
         they're using, they're clearly not *that* lethal... in a bit
         of deja-viewing for anyone who's seen his Alan Turing story,
         Derek Jacobi plays a gay genius who falls for a burglar in
         LOVE IS THE DEVIL (imdb: biographical / drama) (and Kurt
         Cobain is Jesus, presumably?). But this time it's the
         arty-looking life of dead painter Francis Bacon (the one
         whose stuff looks a bit like Bill Sienkiewicz)... David
         "Friends" Schwimmer plays slightly against type, sleazily
         battling Jason "Chasing Amy" Lee over Mili "Sha'uri from
         Stargate" Avital in expletive-packed rom-com KISSING A FOOL
         (imdb: comedy / independent)... a limited London release for
         grunge cameo-heavy not-about-video-games-at-all trashfest
         THE DOOM GENERATION (imdb: devil / black-comedy / bisexual /
         teen / mistaken-identity / nazi / satire / road /
         cult-favorites / castration / vulgarity / violence /
         nihilism / rape / _drama_ / sex / gay / masturbation-scene /
         murder)... so surprise recommendation of this week: John
         "Lone Star" Sayles' worthy but harrowing Central American
         self-explanatory Heart Of Darkness holiday MEN WITH GUNS
         (MPAA rated: R "for language and some violent images")...

         MAGS>> the first "proper" issue of FRONTIERS (out now) is,
         indeed, all that we feared, with glaring typos in each of
         the first three picture-spread features ("pray" for "prey",
         "wrecked" for "wreaked", "peak" for "peek"); reporting of
         the famous Blitzkrieg hoax as fact (p76); some confusion
         over the use of "sheep sperm" to create the Dolly clone
         (p30) (hint: she's called "Dolly" [Parton] because they were
         udder cells); and bizarre references to Damon Knight's
         sci-fi story "March Of The Morons" (p73), when they actually
         mean "The Marching Morons" by Cyril M Kornbluth. We didn't
         get any further - the rest was so pre-teen dull that we
         ended up yearning for Focus, which is *never* a good sign...
         conflicting noises about whether Future's new semi-adult
         games lifestyler (due 17/11/98) is still going to be called
         "Arcadia" (as believed in NTK 21/08/98), or the rather more
         pedestrian ARCADE. Still, let's hope it lasts as long as
         their previous multi-format effort, "Ultimate Future
         Games"... also from Future, watch for their attempt at a
         games news site - http://www.futuregamer.com/ - plus a new
         version of OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE, aimed at "younger
         readers" (What, *toddlers*?)... EMAP Images' SEGA SATURN
         MAGAZINE is believed to have run its last House Of The Dead
         walkthrough, leaving the division (our source opines) "with
         only three magazines to their name. Two of which aren't very
         good"... despite his feature byline in the Sept issue of
         wacky women's monthly FRANK, Hari Kunzru now denies all
         responsibility for the closing comment: "Ms Pac-Man has
         recently been relaunched as a Web game"... and finally,
         something good for a change, tipped by excellent
         Disinfotainment importer and kinder egg fan Mark Pawson -
         http://www.mpawson.demon.co.uk/ . Praise THE IMP issue 2, a
         68-page "extended essay" on Jack Chick religious comics,
         featuring title checklist, cross-ref'd dictionary, and
         Daniel Clowes cover for just UKP3.25. Ultimate damnation or
         your money back!...


                               >> SMALL PRINT <<

       Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that
         happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it
       on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have
     nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent.
           It is registered at the Post Office as "well-connected":
                   http://users.ox.ac.uk/~trin0364/dirk.html

                                 NEED TO KNOW
            THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK.
                         Archive - http://www.ntk.net/
                      Excuses - http://www.spesh.com/ntk/

      Unsubscribe? Mail majordomo@unfortu.net with 'unsubscribe ntknow'.
        Subscribe? Mail majordomo@unfortu.net with 'subscribe ntknow'.
             NTK now is helped by THE ILLUMINATI and UNFORTU.NET.
              They worry about us, but we don't worry about them.

           (K) 1998 Special Projects. Non-business copying is fine,
                        but retain SMALL PRINT. Contact
                terry@spesh.com for commercial license details.

                   Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com.