Weekend Reading

Posted on January 25, 2000 by Dan Gillmor

  • Frank Rich, New York Times: Voyeurism for the Entire Family.The truth is that the phenomenal appeal of “Survivor” and “Big Brother” is the news right now — perhaps not coincidentally at a time when the shows’ promos bleed into amateur videos of real-life wilding in Central Park and Americans are said to be alarmed about Internet invasions of their privacy.
  • contenu.nublog: A Weblog on online content. The ability to use a Font menu does not make you a designer; reading and writing do not make you a journalist.
  • Online Journalism Review: The Final Days of Privacy. Widespread paranoia can be expected to be the norm when the books you buy, the songs you hear, the medical advice you seek, your religious, political and social beliefs and financial holdings become the stuff of common currency available to all who snoop, whether for profit or pursuits more perverse.
  • “Robert X. Cringely”: Justice is Blind. So how has Microsoft abused consumers in a way that is blatant, yet was somehow missed by the Department of Justice? The example I gave Geraldo was the technical precision with which Microsoft has taken control of the PC hardware standard. Yes, hardware.

    Jean-Louis Gassee on Coexistence with Windows

    In a new essay written for his company’s newsletter, Jean-Louis Gassee, chairman and CEO of Be Inc., explains why you can’t buy a dual-boot PC, that is, a machine that allows you to easily start Windows or some other operating system.

    Still think Microsoft should face no conduct remedies for its anticompetitive conduct?

    A Question of Trust

    The head of a self-described Internet fraud protection company in southern California has resigned (AP) after it emerged that he’d falsified his past in any number of ways. A felony conviction, for instance.

    This guy was foolish in more ways than one. He went on TV in a matter unrelated to his company, following which people who knew of his past let the local media know, too. Boom, he’s gone.

    But in the wake of the Oracle-Microsoft snooping flap this week, a reader wrote a letter I’m finding difficult to answer. Here’s an excerpt:

    I’m a semi-retired former corporate manager. I am pro-free enterprise to the
    max.

    Who the Hell can I trust anymore?

    I read the stories about Ellison’s “scandalous” conduct.

    I know that MSFT has hired top public affairs talent to spin stories their
    way.

    Should I believe the (stock) analyst who shot (a high-profile Internet company) out of the
    sky? Maybe the guy is bought and paid for by a competitor. Who’s watching the
    analysts. I see the NYSE just fined an analyst’s employer for the analyst’s
    false tips. That’s a first.

    The Motley Fool, which I love, preaches that I must do my own research on
    investments. This I accept.

    But how do I do that today? Who can I trust?

    Who, indeed?

    I find it astonishing, for example, that anyone believes anything posted on stock-trading chat or bulletin boards, where the pump-and-dump con artists prey on the genuine fools who buy or sell based on nothing but sheer rumor.

    How do we approach the question of trust today, in a world where companies with money can launder their propaganda through supposedly independent third party groups? Should we assume what we read and hear is false until proved true? Barring more solid disclosure of conflicts of interest, perhaps we should.

    And Now This

  • News.com: Failed dot-coms may be selling your private information.For example, privately held CraftShop is selling customer information along with the actual name of the site, noting that it does not constitute a transfer of information to a “third party.”
    Privacy-protection laws, anyone? What does it take for Congress to act?

  • Salon: Microsof.Net: Visionary or Vaporware? Unlike these previous ventures, .Net doesn’t appear to be a me-too project; it’s not kind of like anything. Whatever its strengths and weaknesses, it is a Microsoft baby, not an adopted child..

    Loudcloud Likes Microsoft — Oh, the Irony

    Marc Andreessen has been at the lead of one major movement as co-founder of Netscape, which lost out to Microsoft for a complicated set of reasons. His notes were among the key exhibits at the antitrust trial. He has no reason to like Microsoft.

    Yet Loudcloud, Andreessen’s new company, loudly declares itself a Microsoft ally, as I discuss in my Tuesday column.

    And Now This

    Jesse Berst: Why There are No PCs at PC Expo. “This year, it’s about devices: handhelds, Internet phones and other gizmos.”

    The NSI Dominance Continues

    Network Solutions Inc. continues to exercise — many say abuse — its power as the dominant domain-name registry. Now it’s commandeering elapsed domain names (Wired News) and planning to put them up for auction.

    No other company in the domain registry business comes close to the power and arrogance of NSI. Now under the wing of Verisign, NSI, which can’t seem to prevent rampant domain highjackings due to its inefficient security measures, seems more interested in leveraging its original monopoly into something much bigger. This should frighten not just competing registrars but all of us. When will it stop?

    Upgrading Windows — BIOS Updates Disabled

    The Register reports that Windows 2000 and Windows ME have created a difficult situation for people who need to upgrade their PC’s BIOS — They can’t. It’s a Catch 22 created by people who don’t consider the impact of their actions.

    Earth to Microsoft. Fix this.

    Quick Impressions Count

    Fortune: How to Lose a Customer in a Matter of Seconds. “Of course, users are less patient than they were five years ago. And now that they’re habituated to brief load times, a bad day for the Net can mean a really bad day for your online business.”

    Who’s Paying for That Opinion?

    When some organization lobbies on one side or the other of a major public issue, it’s useful to know who’s contributing money to that organization. Yet you rarely can find out, and sometimes that’s a scandal, I suggest in my Sunday column.

    Weekend Reading

  • Slate: Going Negative. “This type of negative site is what worries Internet political analysts the most, particularly as Webmasters improve in covering their digital footprints. How are people to tell whether a campaign is really behind any of these “volunteer” sites?”
  • DaveNet: Dot-What?. “To get the government off our back,” I imagine the Microsoft thinking goes, “we have to have real competition.”
  • Salon: Microsoft’s Brave New Dot-Net World. “I figure if Microsoft can bring in busloads of journalists and analysts to tout the wonders of software and services that it isn’t even planning to release until 2002, surely it’s not too early to start speculating about the drawbacks of that code-in-progress.”
  • The Economist: Instant Messaging: Trying to Connect You. “The antitrust enforcers clearly ought to make approval of the AOL/Time Warner deal contingent on a cast-iron agreement to open up the merged firm

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