‘DVD Jon’ takes his act to California
SAN DIEGO — The Norwegian who became a hacker hero at age 15 will have to adjust to warmer winters.
Jon Lech Johansen, also known as “DVD Jon” for his work with software to crack copy-protection in DVDs, began work in San Diego this week at MP3tunes, the digital music service started in February by Michael Robertson, an iconoclast in his own right.
As a teenager, Johansen developed and posted software called DeCSS to unlock the Content Scrambling System, or CSS, the film industry used on DVD movies to prevent illegal copying. After the film industry complained, Norwegian authorities charged him with data break-in, but Johansen was acquitted at trial and on appeal.
He has since posted programs that circumvent the copy-protection technologies on Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes music software.
Johansen, 21, is working on a project at MP3tunes dubbed Oboe, which “will bring digital music into the 21st century,” Robertson wrote on his Web site.
Robertsons launched mp3.com in 1997, a venture that involved buying thousands of CDs and making them accessible in a central server. That led to a slew of litigation.
Airport fight extends to Wikipedia
An eye-gouging fight between American Airlines and Southwest Airlines over air service in northern Texas has spilled over to an online encyclopedia.
Wikipedia lets users create, change and even erase articles on any topic, regardless of their expertise.
Supporters say its open, collaborative nature leads to a more complete, bias-free reference source, though when the topic is controversial the wiki entry can resemble a battlefield.
Last week, someone using a computer with an Internet address assigned to American Airlines edited Wikipedia to describe Southwest Airlines Co. as “a notoriously litigious company constantly seeking to change laws to gain an advantage.” For a time, the site also said Dallas-based Southwest is “known for its PR machine and litigious nature.”
Wikipedia volunteers deleted the phrases within hours.
Marketers: Filters are too good
A trade group for marketers is requiring its members to adopt a spam-fighting technology that could help improve the chances of their legitimate pitches getting through.
Businesses have been increasingly frustrated that overzealous spam filters are blocking newsletters, coupons and other e-mail requested by customers. Some estimates say that as many as one in four legitimate marketing messages get mistakenly rejected.
Separate authentication technologies pushed by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. would help an Internet service provider verify that a message’s sender is accurate and authorized. Spammers often use fake e-mail addresses.