Federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson wants a 60-day timeframe to finish the remedy phase of the Microsoft antitrust case. Jackson had set an April 5 meeting with both sides in the case to discuss speeding up the proceedings. Jackson ruled April 3 that Microsoft violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by using its PC operating system monopoly to try to cripple competitors. Jackson has said partial concern for the economy was a factor in why he wants the remedy phase to move quickly. "My transcendent objective," he told Wired, "is to get this thing before an appellate tribunal - one or another - as quickly as possible because I don't want to disrupt the economy or waste any more of yours or my time." Gates, meanwhile, attended the White House conference on the new economy and told Capitol Hill lawmakers a different administration might have made a difference in the Microsoft case. Microsoft has said it will appeal the case.
HOLLYWOOD - Once again, the Motion Picture Association of America has hit the DVD encryption busters in the legal breadbasket - the group has filed in New York for a second injunction against 2600 Enterprises Websites and their mastermind, Eric Corley (a.k.a. Emmanuel Goldstein) from linking to sites with the DeCSS program, which cracks DVD encryption. The MPAA sued 2600, a hacker newsletter, in January. A federal judge sided with the MPAA then, but 2600 hit back by asking other websites to host DeCSS, and then linked to those sites. MPAA president Jack Valenti compares Corley's persistence to "driving someone to a home so that they may burglarize the home." DeCSS was created out of a bid to reverse-engineer DVD encryption in order to allow computers using the Linux operating systems to play DVDs. The MPAA expects a favorable ruling in this second filing as well.
SAN DIEGO - Former military communications officer John W. Davis, who once worked at the White House, has been busted in an Internet sex sting. He's accused of flying to Los Angeles and driving to San Diego for sex with the teen daughters of a woman with whom he'd corresponded online. Authorities say the 44-year-old Davis believed she would let him have sex with the woman's 12- and 14-year-old daughters. One problem - they were the fictitious creations of an undercover San Diego police officer involved in a sting. Davis, who is married with three children, is a former director of the national Emergency Broadcasting System and former Director of the Emergency Actions Branch of the White House, according to court documents. The online communications with the "woman" occurred from December through March. He's charged with trying to have sex with children and distributing harmful material to a minor via the Internet. He faces twenty years in prison if convicted.
WASHINGTON - The Microsoft antitrust ruling won't exactly give Netscape a booster shot, say some analysts, even with America Online about to release a beta version of the new Netscape 6.0. Neither company stands to gain financially since they release the browsers free, thus the competition - especially in light of the Microsoft ruling - is more for bragging rights, according to Wired. Zona Research executive vice president Harry Fenik said most users don't really know the full difference between the two browsers and don't care. But Microsoft has a 65 percent share of the world browser market compared to Netscape's 35 percent - a reversal of their positions three years ago. Fenik praises Netscape 6.0, though, saying it's "quite good." AOL is due to announce the beta Netscape 6.0 this week, but the online giant won't say when the final version will be released.
--- Compiled by Humphrey Pennyworth
