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        "The DVD Copy Control Association appealed this decision, 
         arguing that the ruling gave criminals the go-ahead to use 
         technology to copyright movies on a large scale..." 
         - BBC really getting into that "Creative Commons" attitude
                         http://www.ntk.net/2003/08/29/dohdecss.gif


                               >> HARD NEWS <<
                                  IP abused

         As we all know, those crazy deluded protesters never change
         anything. Which is was good news for the four hundred very
         sane demonstrators that went to Brussels this week to
         complain about the imminent adoption of software patents.
         While the banners - and, yes, mimes - clustered outside, the
         more besuited free software advocates nipped in to alert 
         MEPs to the freedom-crippling nature of the evil they were
         about to unleash. Whatever they said, it was enough to get
         the Europarliament to withdraw Arlene McCarthy's pro-patent
         report and postpone discussion of the topic until the JURI
         committe has reconsidered their approach. As Irish
         campaigner Ciaran O'Riordan notes, the original report only
         nipped through the committee with a 64% vote, so there's a
         chance that some MEPs can be turned around to get the idea
         of software patents thrown out of Europe for good.
         http://belgium.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/72093.php
                                                               - boo!
         http://lwn.net/Articles/46839/
                                                     - Ciaran's notes
         http://www.europarl.eu.int/committees/juri_home.htm
                                                      - pick your rep

         What is about the Irish and their bolshy upstart
         actually-doing-something-about-the-problem ways? A bit
         confused about why they were supposed to be handing blood
         money to SCO for the One True Linux License, the IRISH LINUX
         USER'S GROUP have not idly sat back. They've been pestering
         SCO Ireland for an accurate description of what they're
         forking out for. And if SCO can't come up with one? Why,
         they're going to take them to the Irish equivalent of the
         Trading Standards people. Of course, not all of Ireland
         feels the same way: as subscriber JONATHAN BAKER-BATES
         notes, Dublin band The Thrills have apparently taken SCO's
         side with their "Santa Cruz" hit. The song commiserates with
         Santa Cruz against the "august [free software] cowboys",
         who, they say "stole your style [of C commenting and
         indentation]". Whether SCO's "train [of legal papers]" will
         indeed "roll in on time" might well be up to other Linux
         users kicking up a similiar fuss.
http://ie.suberic.net/~kevin/cgi-bin/blog/random/sco.linux.license.2.comments
                     - hullo, Steve, it's us - your future customers!
         http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/rock/thrills/001.htm
                                    - tell me where it all went wrong
         http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/smoking-fizzle.html
                                        - ... in great detail, please

         Thanks for all your suggestions to alleviate the commuter 
         misery that is NATIONAL RAIL ENQUIRIES' online timetable. 
         PETER MARTIN was one of several to praise the Teutonic 
         efficiency of the national German rail site (available in 
         entirely accent-free English, too), but only ANDREW DANCY 
         noted that "the old [Railtrack] site lives on in the form of 
         the Wandsworth Council travel planner", believed to use "the 
         same data as the old Railtrack timetable site", which 
         presumably originates from the German state railway, Deutsche 
         Bahn again. Lone accessibility re-arranger MATTHEW SOMERVILLE 
         has prepared his own "*very* rough first draft" rework of the 
         National Rail site and, while nonetheless intrigued by the 
         German and Wandsworthian versions, claimed that "they all give 
         different answers", before being distracted by the fact that 
         nothing was being done about the BT directory enquiries site. 
         And still the crimes against usability trickle in, this week's 
         most ironic being CAM MESIAS' spotting of ACCENTURE CAREERS' 
         "Global Meritocracy Statement", explaining how they do not 
         discriminate on the basis of "non-disqualifying physical or 
         mental disability" - in a JavaScript pop-up window.
         http://bahn.hafas.de/english.html
                        - Reisen zum Oktoberfest in Munchen gewinnen! 
         http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/railplan/bin/query.exe/en
           - vs http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/railplan/bin/query.exe/de
         http://www.dracos.co.uk/railway/timetable/
                             - still needs "a lot" of work, he admits
         http://careers3.accenture.com/xd/uktsWeb/exp.asp
                - source code *does* discriminate for Macintosh users
         http://www.xcom2002.com/ntktext.cgi
         - CAMERON MACPHAIL: "the huge paragraphs are freaking me out"


                                >> ANTI-NEWS <<
                             berating the obvious

         "I notice Sir has a preference for the more 'mature' formats": 
         http://www.ntk.net/2003/08/29/dohmd.gif ... RAMBLERS revealed 
         to be "single most important form of communication, education" 
         etc: http://www.ntk.net/2003/08/29/dohram.gif ... "Teachers" 
         viewers: http://www.ntk.net/2003/08/29/dohteach.gif - see me!
         ... a cry for help: http://www.designaid.co.uk/ ... (bottom of 
         page) "Re-wrote copy within the site to expalin the OSF's core 
         competanices": http://www.element12.net/html/casestudy_osf.htm 
         ... GUARDIAN doesn't give away *all* answers in [Alt] tags: 
        http://film.guardian.co.uk/quiz/questions/0,5952,1030334,00.html
         ... no wonder the internals of B&Q stores are so well fitted: 
         http://www.diy.com/bq/category/category.jhtml?CATID=168708 ... 
         puerile double-URLtendres: http://www.NewSexTracts.com/ , 
         http://www.muffinthemail.co.uk/ , and the top 3 PDF links at: 
         http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/corner/presentations.html ... 
         B3TA.com finally fesses up to its secret EMAP-funded origins:
www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/features/2003/08/rob_manuel/rob_manuel.shtml


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

         Even if you missed yesterday's BRIGHTON BLOGGERS MEETUP, it's 
         surely worth clearing space in your diary for another seafront 
         sojourn courtesy of C64 revivalists BACK IN TIME LIVE 4 (from 
         11am-11pm, Sat 2003-09-13, The Brighton Centre, BN1, UKP5 for 
         exhibition until 6pm, UKP10 extra for concert in the evening). 
         It's a rare opportunity to browse MARTIN GALWAY's "original 
         computer and source disks", hear Danish Commodore games-music 
         covers band PRESS PLAY ON TAPE, and witness ROB HUBBARD in an 
         "unplugged" performance of some of his classic game themes on 
         what is now regarded as one of the primitive predecessors of 
         the SID chip, the piano. In short, it should be something of 
         an eye-opener even if you're not as much of a Commodore 
         devotee as reader MAT FLETCHER, who objected to our recent 
         mention of the Vic-20 "heyday of the 20-column text adventure" 
         with the succinct correction: "22 dear boy, not 20! That would 
         have been unbearable!"
         http://c64audio.valuehost.co.uk/live/bitl4/
          - shame they couldn't get a few more animated GIFs in there
         http://www.ironstonepartners.com/news.html
             - seems to have kept going longer than the Amiga, anyway
         http://homepage.ntlworld.com/speccyverse/orsam.htm
               - equally enthusiastic Speccy show in Norwich this Nov


                                >> TRACKING <<
               sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering

         Since sticking Flemming Frandsen's UserContent.css file into
         .phoenix/[foo]/[blah]/chrome/ we've really not had much problem
         with ads on the Net. But if you're stuck with IE or want to
         fine-tune your control over cookies and pop-ups, it'd be remiss
         of us not to (finally) mention PRIVOXY - the filtering Web proxy
         for MacOSX, Unixes, and Windows. It's all very simple: you
         install the program with a couple of clicks, type in the magic
         127.0.0.1 numbers into your browser's proxy settings, and Privoxy
         will strip out anything that looks dodgy, from banner ads to
         nasty javascript. Privoxy has a wide range of built-in actions,
         from replacing ads with a customised graphics to sending rude
         messages in the headers of your Webpage requests. Apart from a
         barely noticeable delay at the start of every Webpage (which we
         now regret even mentioning to you), Privoxy is as good as
         invisible - and so are the ads. Install it, and undermine the
         precarious economy of new media today!
         http://www.privoxy.org/
                    - ... set it up for your whole network to use too
         http://dion.swamp.dk/stuff.html
                                    - search down for userContent.css


                                >> MEMEPOOL <<
                contains a source of http://snackspot.org/

         best laughter = medicine: http://www.qfever.com/ ... THE TIMES 
         calls on DJ, car buff, civil rights watchdog TONY BLACKBURN: 
         http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-790512,00.html 
         ... at last - a Lileks' Gallery Of Regrettable Food that 
         hasn't been compiled by an alarmingly right-wing warblogger: 
         http://www.flaneur.org.uk/html/food.html ... new Madonna TV ad 
         misses opportunity to use lyrics: "Get into the Gap/ you've 
         got to sap/ your will to live"... spot the actual anti-piracy 
         ad: http://static.hugi.is/video/fyndin/dctf-1.wmv vs 
         http://overstated.net/media/RIAA_PSA.mpg (9 meg, sorry)... new 
         thrill - the quest to find the DULLEST TITLED BOOK ON AMAZON: 
         http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471403911/ ... 
         "[this] is the REAL best picture ever", demurs MAT BETTINSON: 
         http://www.ntk.net/2003/08/29/best_picture_ever_2.jpg ... IMDB 
         US "Showtimes" feature supports latitude/ longitude - in URL: 
         http://www.imdb.com/showtimes/location/33.94,-118.4/10m ... 


                                >> GEEK MEDIA <<
                                  get out less

         TV>> a week of military hypotheticals kicks off with WWII 
         tanks Tiger vs Sherman in GREATEST MILITARY CLASHES (8pm, Fri, 
         C5)... TIME COMMANDERS (8pm, Thu, BBC2) re-enacts Hannibal vs 
         Scipio 218 BC using Creative Assembly's "Rome: Total War" 
         engine http://www.totalwar.com/ - shame they didn't license 
         "C&C: Red Alert", then they could loadout with Mirage tanks, 
         Tesla coils and Chrono Legionnaires... and Francesca "Lady 
         Jessica" Annis provides the Bene Gesserit commentary in 
         weapons-grade talk-heavy Bohr vs Heisenberg nuke play 
         COPENHAGEN (10.40pm, Sat, BBC2)... Robert "Begbie" Carlyle 
         proves predictably unsuitable parent material in Oirish 
         poverty porn ANGELA'S ASHES (9pm, Sat, C4) ... Geena Davis is 
         understandably annoyed when Jeff Goldblum starts taking their 
         relationship for granted, "lets himself go" a little, in THE 
         FLY (11.40pm, Sat, C4)... and SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE 
         JEWISH (7.30pm, Sun, C4) was a quote rarely attributed to Nazi 
         apologist DIANA MOSELEY: ADOLF, OSWALD AND ME (8pm, Sun, C4) 
         ... arch-enemies are pitted against each other once again in 
         GLADIATOR: BENN V EUBANK (9pm, Sun, C5) - though clearly at 
         least one of them survives to appear in "The Osbournes" knock-
         off AT HOME WITH THE EUBANKS (8pm, Tue, C5)... there's a 
         double-bill of Bacon-bashing in SNORTING COKE WITH THE BBC 
         (9pm, Sun, C4) and THE CURSE OF BLUE PETER (9pm, Mon, C5)... 
         yet it's hard to care about SCREAM 3 (10pm, Sun, C4) since 
         it's up against the untold "Omni" story in THE RISE AND FALL 
         OF PENTHOUSE (10.35pm, Sun, C5)... even "Red Planet" is better 
         than demented Connie "Gladiator" Nielsen "2001" wannabe 
         MISSION TO MARS (11.30pm, Tue, ITV)... Katie "Dawson's Creek" 
         Holmes and writer Kevin "Scream" Williamson fail to make the 
         grade in TEACHING MRS TINGLE (11.15pm, Wed, BBC1)... but star-
         studded OAP astronaut comedy-drama SPACE COWBOYS (8.30pm, Thu, 
         BBC1) is worth a look if you don't want to sit through FACE/ 
         OFF (9pm, Thu, C5) again...
         
         TV>> more low-budget high-concept mind-bending from Vincenzo 
         "Cube" Natali, as Lucy "Charlie's Angels" Liu and Jeremy "The 
         Net" Northam satirise the unforgiving geometry of corporate 
         conferences in limited-release short story scifi CYPHER (imdb: 
         amnesia/ false-identity/ brainwashing/ conspiracy/ memory-
         loss/ flashback/ love/ psychological-thriller/ trust)... as 
         Film Threat astutely pointed out, being variously marketed as 
         "a hard-nosed detective story", "a laugh-a-minute buddy cop 
         film", and "a character drama of two opposites learning to 
         work together" http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=4627 
         isn't an good sign for grouchy Harrison Ford misfire HOLLYWOOD 
      HOMICIDE ( http://www.capalert.com/capreports/hollywoodhomicide.htm :
         misleading reference to spirituality; stereotyping of 
         tolerance for homosexual practices; man and woman making out 
         while nude, ostensibly for intercourse)... rather more basic 
         thrills are on offer in rural "Worzel Gummidge: The Revenge" 
         eat-'em-up JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 (imdb: scarecrow/ shot-in-the-eye/ 
         sequel)... or limited-release French animated "Aeon Flux" 
         lookalike BELLEVILLE RENDEZ-VOUS ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : 
         contains mild slapstick and nudity and moderate violence)... 
         
         AVAILABLE IN A WIDE RANGE OF BLACK>> and if you're as enraged 
         about the "retro gaming phenomenon" as embittered webzine UK 
         Resistance http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/issue10.html , then 
         you can now express your dismay with our latest co-production 
         t-shirt: 10 PRINT "RETRO GAMES ARE SHIT" 20 GOTO 10, currently 
         on sale at http://www.ntkmart.com/ for just 10.00 pounds Earth 
         money. Also new this month: a sort of handwritten IF I HAD A 
         LIFE I WOULDN'T BE HERE (a bit like the scene where "help me" 
         appears on the kid's skin in "The Exorcist"), and the first 
         official merchandising from acclaimed dance music education 
         establishment THE MUSEUM OF TECHNO - UKP2.00 from each sale 
         going to help fund their new project "to restore a recently 
         uncovered Jin dynasty Roland 303 Bassline to full working 
         order": http://www.museumoftechno.org/news/20030716.html . Oh, 
         and Andy Brice's THAT'S WEIRD - IT WORKS ON MY MACHINE has 
         sold out again, though fans of his work may also enjoy his 
         Demotivators-But-Without-The-Sarcastic-Tagline-style digital 
         photo prints available from http://www.andybrice.com/ ... a 
         reassuringly deranged selection of reader designs, as ever, 
         with DAN DUKESON's "uck SC" being perhaps the most topical 
         http://www.ntkmart.co.uk/images/uckSC.png , and TOM DE 
         MULDER's selection at http://www.furrfu.org/t-shirtideas/ the 
         most prolific, though our "Do I look like a people person?" 
         favourite is quite a popular t-shirt slogan already, we fear. 
         AMANDA STONE kept the text-only entries self-referential with 
         "ceci|n'est|pas|une|pipe", DANNY JONES mused "How many 
         Slashdotters could Slashdot Slashdot if Slashdot could be 
         Slashdotted?", and only ANDREW SMITH and MARTIN RODGERS let 
         the side down with their not-particularly-subversive screen 
         grab http://www.ntkmart.co.uk/images/assteroids.gif and 
         "Colour coordinated chroma-coding is *so* gay" (in "black text 
         on a white shirt"), respectively. LLOYD WOOD accurately 
         anticipated we'd like some slogans having a go at bloggers, 
         suggesting "Blogging - good! Journalism - bad! Bandwagons - 
         excellent!" and "WE ARE THE BLOGS. JOURNALISM IS FUTILE. YOU 
         WILL BE ANNOTATED", but we're still interested in variations 
         on this theme (or indeed our own "Does my ass look fact-
         checked in this?")... "Buy One, Subvert The Mass Media, Get 
         One Free" entries were particularly disappointing this month, 
         with DAVE PHELAN pathetically listing 3 missed opportunities 
         to have flaunted one during the blanket coverage of Brighton's 
         PiertoPier wifi network http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/3068915.stm , 
         so the winner has to be to TV's IAIN LEE for wearing an 
         "Elite" shirt during "Big Brother's Little Brother" in July on 
         Channel 4 http://www.ntkmart.co.uk/images/ . Iain receives a 
         free t-shirt of his choice if he (or someone pretending to be 
         him) would like to get in touch to claim it - please email 
         tips@spesh.com with the subject line "I am Iain Lee (or someone
         pretending to be him)"... 


                               >> 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.
                       Registered at the Post Office as
                          "relax girls, he's married"
                 http://www.gnomedesktop.org/article.php?sid=1301

                                 NEED TO KNOW
            THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK.
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