Spam Hits Some Anti-Spammers, Who Think They Have a Culprit
Tens of thousands of readers of e-mail newsletters have recently been inundated with unsolicited overtures from pornography Web sites and get-rich-quick schemes, the newsletter publishers say, and they are blaming the company that manages and distributes the newsletters for them.
Particularly galling to some of the publishers is that the newsletters they send out are about ways to use e-mail to market responsibly and about the dangers of sending unsolicited e-mail, known as spam.
The publishers are blaming a company called SparkLIST.com, which offers services they use to distribute their e-mail newsletters. The reason for the accusation is that the spam has been sent to private, otherwise undisclosed e-mail addresses that are used only to receive the publishers' newsletters.
"The 10,000 people using our newsletter are now getting porno spam, and they think it's coming from me," said Andy Sernovitz, who runs GasPedal Ventures, a New York company that consults on using e-mail as a marketing tool. "I am freaking out."
Publishers are asking whether the database at SparkLIST, which is operated from Green Bay, Wis., has been broken into by hackers or otherwise compromised.
But there is no proof that the database has been breached, according to Lyris Technologies, a maker of software for anti-spam and e-mail marketing software; Lyris acquired SparkLIST in August. Steven Brown, the chief operating officer for Lyris, based in Berkeley, Calif., said the spammers might not have stolen the database at all but might instead have acquired the addresses some other way.
For instance, he said, they may be using computer programs that randomly generate e-mail addresses that, coincidentally, include addresses that belong to recipients of the newsletters. "We're trying to figure out where this has come from," Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Sernovitz and other customers of SparkLIST, which says it sends out 750 million e-mail messages on behalf of clients each month, say they are not sure what happened to SparkLIST's database, but they speculate that it has been broken into by hackers or that the data has been stolen by an employee.
The flood of unsolicited messages to recipients of the newsletters, which have hundreds of thousands of readers, comes at a time when the amount of unsolicited e-mail is already exploding. The Radicati Group, a market research group in Palo Alto, Calif., estimated earlier this year that 32 percent of the 7.3 billion e-mail messages sent each day were unsolicited commercial messages.
But the issue takes on added significance in the case of SparkLIST because a handful of SparkLIST's clients are among the best-known publishers and consultants who preach the responsible use of e-mail for marketing. Mr. Sernovitz, for instance, started the Association of Interactive Marketing, an early anti-spam organization.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/technology/12MAIL.html
Saturday, September 14, 2002
Thursday, September 12, 2002
Israeli Forces Destroy Palestinian Homes in Raids
Israeli forces destroyed eight Palestinian houses in pre-dawn raids in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including the home of a dead militant's family, witnesses said.
Shooting erupted between the Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen as tanks and armored bulldozers moved into the Shijaia neighborhood east of Gaza City. One Palestinian was seriously hurt, Palestinian officials said.
Israel has added house demolitions to its measures to combat the almost two-year-old Palestinian uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hoping this will deter militants behind suicide bombings and other attacks.…
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast-demolitions.html
Israeli forces destroyed eight Palestinian houses in pre-dawn raids in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including the home of a dead militant's family, witnesses said.
Shooting erupted between the Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen as tanks and armored bulldozers moved into the Shijaia neighborhood east of Gaza City. One Palestinian was seriously hurt, Palestinian officials said.
Israel has added house demolitions to its measures to combat the almost two-year-old Palestinian uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hoping this will deter militants behind suicide bombings and other attacks.…
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast-demolitions.html
Council Deals Arafat a Blow by Forcing Cabinet to Quit
Confronted by demands for democratic change from a newly defiant legislature, Yasir Arafat was compelled today to accept the resignation of his entire cabinet.
The dramatic retreat by a leader who has in the past treated the Palestinian Legislative Council largely with disdain followed two days of animated debate, in which the 72 deputies present resisted every maneuver and appeal by Mr. Arafat's lieutenants and made clear that they were determined to vote no-confidence in his cabinet.
When it became clear that a vote could not be avoided, Mr. Arafat's representative in the council, Tayeb Abdul Rahim, rose and announced that out of "deep respect for the legislative branch and the decisions it has taken," the cabinet had submitted its resignation, and Mr. Arafat accepted it. The council broke into sustained applause.
The deputies, a majority of them from Mr. Arafat's own Fatah movement, declared the session a triumph for the democracy and openness that the United States and other foreign governments have been demanding of the Palestinians. The defeat was also striking evidence of the erosion of Mr. Arafat's once-unquestioned political power.
But it was far from clear that the exercise in democracy was what the Bush administration or Israel had intended. The ousted cabinet, installed by Mr. Arafat in June, included ministers — most notably Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh — who had been named by Mr. Arafat as a result of Israeli and American pressure.
The legislators also forced Mr. Arafat to set presidential and parliamentary elections for Jan. 20, though the Bush administration had hoped to push the balloting back so more amenable leaders would have time to come to the fore.
"This is a message also to the Americans and Europeans," said Salah Taamari, a deputy from Bethlehem who was among the leaders of the fight for change. "If they are really sincere in their call for reform, they should make Israel allow the Palestinian Legislative Council to meet and function."
However satisfying their victory, the deputies were constantly reminded that they were still functioning under the iron grip of Israel, which had the final word on what powers they would be allowed to exercise. The session was held in two venues, Ramallah and Gaza, linked by video, because Israel had not permitted several Gaza deputies to travel. Ramallah was still under nighttime curfew.
Midway through the session, the speaker announced that the Israeli cabinet had decided to "annex" Rachel's Tomb, a holy site near Bethlehem.
In fact, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had proposed to include the site in the area to be enclosed by a wall that officials are considering building around Jerusalem. But the news still served as a reminder that the Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza were far from finished.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/international/middleeast/12MIDE.html
Confronted by demands for democratic change from a newly defiant legislature, Yasir Arafat was compelled today to accept the resignation of his entire cabinet.
The dramatic retreat by a leader who has in the past treated the Palestinian Legislative Council largely with disdain followed two days of animated debate, in which the 72 deputies present resisted every maneuver and appeal by Mr. Arafat's lieutenants and made clear that they were determined to vote no-confidence in his cabinet.
When it became clear that a vote could not be avoided, Mr. Arafat's representative in the council, Tayeb Abdul Rahim, rose and announced that out of "deep respect for the legislative branch and the decisions it has taken," the cabinet had submitted its resignation, and Mr. Arafat accepted it. The council broke into sustained applause.
The deputies, a majority of them from Mr. Arafat's own Fatah movement, declared the session a triumph for the democracy and openness that the United States and other foreign governments have been demanding of the Palestinians. The defeat was also striking evidence of the erosion of Mr. Arafat's once-unquestioned political power.
But it was far from clear that the exercise in democracy was what the Bush administration or Israel had intended. The ousted cabinet, installed by Mr. Arafat in June, included ministers — most notably Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh — who had been named by Mr. Arafat as a result of Israeli and American pressure.
The legislators also forced Mr. Arafat to set presidential and parliamentary elections for Jan. 20, though the Bush administration had hoped to push the balloting back so more amenable leaders would have time to come to the fore.
"This is a message also to the Americans and Europeans," said Salah Taamari, a deputy from Bethlehem who was among the leaders of the fight for change. "If they are really sincere in their call for reform, they should make Israel allow the Palestinian Legislative Council to meet and function."
However satisfying their victory, the deputies were constantly reminded that they were still functioning under the iron grip of Israel, which had the final word on what powers they would be allowed to exercise. The session was held in two venues, Ramallah and Gaza, linked by video, because Israel had not permitted several Gaza deputies to travel. Ramallah was still under nighttime curfew.
Midway through the session, the speaker announced that the Israeli cabinet had decided to "annex" Rachel's Tomb, a holy site near Bethlehem.
In fact, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had proposed to include the site in the area to be enclosed by a wall that officials are considering building around Jerusalem. But the news still served as a reminder that the Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza were far from finished.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/international/middleeast/12MIDE.html
Palestinian Council Debates Arafat's Cabinet, and Leadership
"This is a huge debate," said Salah Taamari, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Bethlehem, as it went into the second day of its first session since May.
"The tension within the council reflects the tension of the Palestinian people," Mr. Taamari said. "Now is our chance to tell the world we represent our people."
While the council met, Israeli news organizations gave prominent play to what was described as a declaration that Fatah, Mr. Arafat's movement, was about to make, rejecting attacks against Israeli civilians.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11MIDE.html
"This is a huge debate," said Salah Taamari, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Bethlehem, as it went into the second day of its first session since May.
"The tension within the council reflects the tension of the Palestinian people," Mr. Taamari said. "Now is our chance to tell the world we represent our people."
While the council met, Israeli news organizations gave prominent play to what was described as a declaration that Fatah, Mr. Arafat's movement, was about to make, rejecting attacks against Israeli civilians.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11MIDE.html
Baseline - Print Article FBI Bureaucracy Hobbles Tech Adoption
In the same month the twin towers fell, supervisors at the FBI's Computer Analysis Response Team ordered 83 copies of a software program that reveals the contents of images and files deleted from hard drives on personal computers, as well as visits to Web sites and the destinations of e-mail messages sent from those machines.
The software, known as Encase, had been used by several government agencies to process evidence seized during investigations of terrorist activity after Sept. 11. Earlier this year, Encase helped find the murderers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. His captors had sent e-mails to government and news organizations on a computer later seized by the Pakistani police.
Encase is easy to use. Examiners attach a small cable, known as a dongle, to the parallel or USB port on a target computer or enter through the computer's Network Interface Card. The connection allows investigators to preview the contents of a hard drive and to create a virtual image. The drive's original data is undisturbed.
Encase is a leader in its field, according to Charles Kolodgy, research manager for International Data Corp.'s Internet Security Program. Plus, it meets court-accepted standards for technical evidence, a critical factor in prosecuting or defending a case.
But the software was not used by the analytical response unit, which investigates such computer-related crimes as child pornography. It got a cold shoulder from the FBI, which appears to prefer to build similar software itself.
Despite a six-month backlog in collecting computer-based evidence for court cases, the FBI held up the distribution of those 83 licenses, according to a letter written in February by Marc Zwillinger, a Kirkland & Ellis attorney who represents Guidance Software, Encase's manufacturer.
By February, the chief of the team's unit, Mark Pollitt, was trying to block Encase, according to Zwillinger's letter, which was circulated to several government agencies and viewed by Baseline. Pollitt's goal, according to the lawyer's missive, was to preclude the software from being published in the FBI's Standard Operating Procedures, which lay out which products—whether software, hardware, or guns—the FBI has tested and validated for internal use.
Meanwhile, the FBI continues to try to develop its own alternative to Encase, called the Automated Computer Examination System (ACES). Whether it is available is unknown.
Putting already-available (and already-ordered) commercial software through the wringer is one small example of the many issues the Bureau faces as it struggles to bring its information systems out of what Robert Chiaradio, a former FBI Executive Assistant Director, describes as "a 1950s-style office culture." Chiaradio retired in June to manage KPMG Consulting's Homeland Security practice.
Two highly critical reports released in March allege the FBI's information systems are in complete disarray.…
http://www.baselinemag.com/print_article/0,3668,a=30966,00.asp
In the same month the twin towers fell, supervisors at the FBI's Computer Analysis Response Team ordered 83 copies of a software program that reveals the contents of images and files deleted from hard drives on personal computers, as well as visits to Web sites and the destinations of e-mail messages sent from those machines.
The software, known as Encase, had been used by several government agencies to process evidence seized during investigations of terrorist activity after Sept. 11. Earlier this year, Encase helped find the murderers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. His captors had sent e-mails to government and news organizations on a computer later seized by the Pakistani police.
Encase is easy to use. Examiners attach a small cable, known as a dongle, to the parallel or USB port on a target computer or enter through the computer's Network Interface Card. The connection allows investigators to preview the contents of a hard drive and to create a virtual image. The drive's original data is undisturbed.
Encase is a leader in its field, according to Charles Kolodgy, research manager for International Data Corp.'s Internet Security Program. Plus, it meets court-accepted standards for technical evidence, a critical factor in prosecuting or defending a case.
But the software was not used by the analytical response unit, which investigates such computer-related crimes as child pornography. It got a cold shoulder from the FBI, which appears to prefer to build similar software itself.
Despite a six-month backlog in collecting computer-based evidence for court cases, the FBI held up the distribution of those 83 licenses, according to a letter written in February by Marc Zwillinger, a Kirkland & Ellis attorney who represents Guidance Software, Encase's manufacturer.
By February, the chief of the team's unit, Mark Pollitt, was trying to block Encase, according to Zwillinger's letter, which was circulated to several government agencies and viewed by Baseline. Pollitt's goal, according to the lawyer's missive, was to preclude the software from being published in the FBI's Standard Operating Procedures, which lay out which products—whether software, hardware, or guns—the FBI has tested and validated for internal use.
Meanwhile, the FBI continues to try to develop its own alternative to Encase, called the Automated Computer Examination System (ACES). Whether it is available is unknown.
Putting already-available (and already-ordered) commercial software through the wringer is one small example of the many issues the Bureau faces as it struggles to bring its information systems out of what Robert Chiaradio, a former FBI Executive Assistant Director, describes as "a 1950s-style office culture." Chiaradio retired in June to manage KPMG Consulting's Homeland Security practice.
Two highly critical reports released in March allege the FBI's information systems are in complete disarray.…
http://www.baselinemag.com/print_article/0,3668,a=30966,00.asp
Law-Enforcement Tech: Online Resources
Law-Enforcement Tech: Online Resources
Below is a list of links to reports, congressional studies and sites dedicated to understanding and improving the state of the nation's law enforcement technology as it relates to crime fighting, the New York Police Department, the FBI and the Office of Homeland Security.…
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,3959,525625,00.asp
Law-Enforcement Tech: Online Resources
Below is a list of links to reports, congressional studies and sites dedicated to understanding and improving the state of the nation's law enforcement technology as it relates to crime fighting, the New York Police Department, the FBI and the Office of Homeland Security.…
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,3959,525625,00.asp
I've Been Framed
Israeli-based security firm Grey Magic Monday issued a warning that a new vulnerability discovered in Microsoft's (Quote, Company Info) Internet Explorer (IE) could allow attackers to compromise your computer through a Web site's frames.
All versions of the popular Web browser 5.5 and above are vulnerable to the flaw, as well as any other application that uses IE's engine, such as Outlook and MSN Explorer.
The vulnerability allows an attacker to execute script on any page that contains frame or iframe (inline frame) elements, ignoring any protocol or domain restriction set forth by IE.
By executing script, an attacker could steal cookies from almost any site, access and change content in sites and in most cases also read local files and execute arbitrary programs on the client's machine.…
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/1459341
Israeli-based security firm Grey Magic Monday issued a warning that a new vulnerability discovered in Microsoft's (Quote, Company Info) Internet Explorer (IE) could allow attackers to compromise your computer through a Web site's frames.
All versions of the popular Web browser 5.5 and above are vulnerable to the flaw, as well as any other application that uses IE's engine, such as Outlook and MSN Explorer.
The vulnerability allows an attacker to execute script on any page that contains frame or iframe (inline frame) elements, ignoring any protocol or domain restriction set forth by IE.
By executing script, an attacker could steal cookies from almost any site, access and change content in sites and in most cases also read local files and execute arbitrary programs on the client's machine.…
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/1459341
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Anger at U.S. Said to Be at New High
Anger at the United States, embedded in the belief that the Bush administration lends unstinting support to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians, is at an unparalleled high across the Arab world, according to analysts and diplomats in the region.
The resolve of President Bush to use force against Iraq, they say, compounds the antagonism, which is expressed with particularly unvarnished dismay in Egypt and neighboring Jordan, Washington's crucial Arab allies.
More than in previous bouts of anti-Americanism in the region, the anger permeates all strata of society, especially among the educated, and is tinged, people acknowledge, with disillusionment at their own long-entrenched American-backed leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11ARAB.html
Anger at the United States, embedded in the belief that the Bush administration lends unstinting support to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians, is at an unparalleled high across the Arab world, according to analysts and diplomats in the region.
The resolve of President Bush to use force against Iraq, they say, compounds the antagonism, which is expressed with particularly unvarnished dismay in Egypt and neighboring Jordan, Washington's crucial Arab allies.
More than in previous bouts of anti-Americanism in the region, the anger permeates all strata of society, especially among the educated, and is tinged, people acknowledge, with disillusionment at their own long-entrenched American-backed leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11ARAB.html
U.S. Lacks Up-to-Date Review of Iraqi Arms
Senior intelligence officials acknowledged today that the government had not compiled an updated, cross-agency assessment of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capacities, although the Bush administration is pressing for a quick statement of support for military action against Saddam Hussein.
Intelligence officials, responding to repeated complaints from Senate Democrats, said today that they were working on the authoritative document. The last such thorough assessment on Iraq's clandestine weapons was produced about two years ago, Senate and administration officials said today.
Senior Bush administration officials have given Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons as the main argument that the United States must act now to oust President Hussein, before the Iraqi leader acquires nuclear arms and alters the strategic balance in the Persian Gulf.
But the administration has not yet prepared what is called a national intelligence estimate, the intelligence community's most definitive written judgment on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. The document contains the coordinated intelligence assessments from the Pentagon, State Department, Central Intelligence Agency and other government entities and any significant dissenting views.
Some Democrats said they wanted to see such an intelligence estimate before they voted on a Congressional resolution backing military action against Iraq.
"What did we learn from Sept. 11? That we had a failure of coordination of America's intelligence capability," said Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. "Now we're being asked to consider going to war and vote on it within days, and we learn that our intelligence community has not coordinated their efforts to put together this critical document that's essential for us to make this decision."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11IRAQ.html
Senior intelligence officials acknowledged today that the government had not compiled an updated, cross-agency assessment of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capacities, although the Bush administration is pressing for a quick statement of support for military action against Saddam Hussein.
Intelligence officials, responding to repeated complaints from Senate Democrats, said today that they were working on the authoritative document. The last such thorough assessment on Iraq's clandestine weapons was produced about two years ago, Senate and administration officials said today.
Senior Bush administration officials have given Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons as the main argument that the United States must act now to oust President Hussein, before the Iraqi leader acquires nuclear arms and alters the strategic balance in the Persian Gulf.
But the administration has not yet prepared what is called a national intelligence estimate, the intelligence community's most definitive written judgment on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. The document contains the coordinated intelligence assessments from the Pentagon, State Department, Central Intelligence Agency and other government entities and any significant dissenting views.
Some Democrats said they wanted to see such an intelligence estimate before they voted on a Congressional resolution backing military action against Iraq.
"What did we learn from Sept. 11? That we had a failure of coordination of America's intelligence capability," said Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. "Now we're being asked to consider going to war and vote on it within days, and we learn that our intelligence community has not coordinated their efforts to put together this critical document that's essential for us to make this decision."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/11/international/middleeast/11IRAQ.html
New Policy Delays Visas for Specified Muslim Men
Under a policy quietly imposed by the Bush administration three months ago, tens of thousands of Muslim men, from more than 26 countries, have not been able to get United States visas, disrupting lives, creating diplomatic tensions and causing headaches for American diplomats.
The policy requires that officials in Washington approve visas for every male between the ages of 16 and 45 who is a native of any one of 26 countries. Most are in the Mideast, but the list also includes Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, several diplomats said.
Even if a man does not live in one of those countries, but he or a close relative was born in one of them, his visa application must be sent for approval. Before Sept. 11, consular offices or embassies could issue most visas after a routine check.
After Sept. 11, applications from men in this category had to be sent to Washington, and if nothing negative turned up in 30 days, the embassy could issue the visa. Now the consular office must send the application to Washington and wait for a response. The policy was changed because the administration found that there were too many applications to review adequately within 30 days, diplomats said.
The delays now are interminable. One American official said there was a backlog of least 100,000 visa applications, now being reviewed by the F.B.I. and C.I.A.
At a time that the United States is trying to improve its image and win friends, American diplomats say the policy is generating widespread hostility in the very countries and population — Muslim men — from which the Bush administration most wants to gain support.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/international/middleeast/10VISA.html
Under a policy quietly imposed by the Bush administration three months ago, tens of thousands of Muslim men, from more than 26 countries, have not been able to get United States visas, disrupting lives, creating diplomatic tensions and causing headaches for American diplomats.
The policy requires that officials in Washington approve visas for every male between the ages of 16 and 45 who is a native of any one of 26 countries. Most are in the Mideast, but the list also includes Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, several diplomats said.
Even if a man does not live in one of those countries, but he or a close relative was born in one of them, his visa application must be sent for approval. Before Sept. 11, consular offices or embassies could issue most visas after a routine check.
After Sept. 11, applications from men in this category had to be sent to Washington, and if nothing negative turned up in 30 days, the embassy could issue the visa. Now the consular office must send the application to Washington and wait for a response. The policy was changed because the administration found that there were too many applications to review adequately within 30 days, diplomats said.
The delays now are interminable. One American official said there was a backlog of least 100,000 visa applications, now being reviewed by the F.B.I. and C.I.A.
At a time that the United States is trying to improve its image and win friends, American diplomats say the policy is generating widespread hostility in the very countries and population — Muslim men — from which the Bush administration most wants to gain support.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/international/middleeast/10VISA.html
Israel Strips Citizenship From Arab Suspect
An Israeli Arab accused of aiding a suicide bomber was stripped of his citizenship today by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, the first time such a measure has been taken against an Israeli accused of a security offense.
The suspect, Nihad Abu Kishk, has been indicted on charges of membership in the militant group Hamas and driving a suicide bomber to Kfar Sava for an attack last year in which a doctor was killed. The Interior Ministry said he had not been convicted.
Civil rights advocates called Mr. Yishai's move an act of discrimination against Israel's one million Arab citizens, noting that no Israeli Jew convicted of a serious security offense had ever been stripped of citizenship.
"The minister's approach is that the citizenship of the Arabs is second class," said Dan Yakir, a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/international/middleeast/10JERU.html
An Israeli Arab accused of aiding a suicide bomber was stripped of his citizenship today by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, the first time such a measure has been taken against an Israeli accused of a security offense.
The suspect, Nihad Abu Kishk, has been indicted on charges of membership in the militant group Hamas and driving a suicide bomber to Kfar Sava for an attack last year in which a doctor was killed. The Interior Ministry said he had not been convicted.
Civil rights advocates called Mr. Yishai's move an act of discrimination against Israel's one million Arab citizens, noting that no Israeli Jew convicted of a serious security offense had ever been stripped of citizenship.
"The minister's approach is that the citizenship of the Arabs is second class," said Dan Yakir, a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/international/middleeast/10JERU.html
Sunday, September 08, 2002
It's Time to Turn Off Those Bells and Whistles
The trouble is, we have so often abused technology and let it dull our senses. And so, on Wednesday, consider observing a moment, if not a day, of data silence. Pull the D.S.L. connection out of that forearm vein. Listen. Slow down. Understand that whatever it is you think you need, you don't absolutely, positively need it overnight:
• Do not instant anything. Your interpersonal relationships are not enhanced by setting a record for the sending and receipt of messages like "Hi. How R U," or "Insnt MssGng Is so kool!" When the urge hits for interaction, get positively medieval: write a letter. Write it on something that the old-timers called paper. Use your own font. Handwriting has personality — yours. Let "instant" be replaced by "anticipation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/business/yourmoney/08SLAS.html
The trouble is, we have so often abused technology and let it dull our senses. And so, on Wednesday, consider observing a moment, if not a day, of data silence. Pull the D.S.L. connection out of that forearm vein. Listen. Slow down. Understand that whatever it is you think you need, you don't absolutely, positively need it overnight:
• Do not instant anything. Your interpersonal relationships are not enhanced by setting a record for the sending and receipt of messages like "Hi. How R U," or "Insnt MssGng Is so kool!" When the urge hits for interaction, get positively medieval: write a letter. Write it on something that the old-timers called paper. Use your own font. Handwriting has personality — yours. Let "instant" be replaced by "anticipation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/business/yourmoney/08SLAS.html
Israel Issues Blacklist of Palestinian Lawmakers
Israel issued a blacklist Sunday of 12 Palestinian lawmakers barred from personally attending a session of the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment but Israel had said earlier in the week that politicians ``involved in terror'' would not be permitted to attend the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) session Monday.
The meeting was expected to be the first time most of the 86 members of the legislative assembly would meet in person since a Palestinian uprising for independence began in September 2000 after negotiations for a final peace treaty deadlocked.
Over the past two years, lawmakers prevented from attending parliament sessions by Israeli military roadblocks and other restrictions have participated from their home towns in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through a television linkup.
Palestinian officials said the 12 lawmakers banned from attending Monday's session, all of whom are from the Gaza Strip, would take part in the meeting via a video link.
``We will not surrender to the Israeli dictates. The PLC will go ahead with the session the way we see fit,'' Nabil Amr, a parliamentarian and former cabinet minister, told Reuters.
The lawmakers were expected to vote on Yasser Arafat's June cabinet reshuffle at the parliament building after hearing a speech by the Palestinian president on ``national, political and security matters'' at his Ramallah headquarters.
``This is an illegal step from the Israeli government,'' said Dr. Kamal Al-Shurafi, a parliamentarian linked to Arafat's Fatah group who was blacklisted by Israel.
``The Israelis say we have a link to terror but we don't agree this is terror. This is our responsibility toward our people and we will continue to defend our people's rights.''
Israel Radio quoted officials at the army's civil administration office as saying they were doing their utmost to facilitate the attendance of most parliamentarians but that those linked to ``terror'' would be barred.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Israel issued a blacklist Sunday of 12 Palestinian lawmakers barred from personally attending a session of the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment but Israel had said earlier in the week that politicians ``involved in terror'' would not be permitted to attend the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) session Monday.
The meeting was expected to be the first time most of the 86 members of the legislative assembly would meet in person since a Palestinian uprising for independence began in September 2000 after negotiations for a final peace treaty deadlocked.
Over the past two years, lawmakers prevented from attending parliament sessions by Israeli military roadblocks and other restrictions have participated from their home towns in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through a television linkup.
Palestinian officials said the 12 lawmakers banned from attending Monday's session, all of whom are from the Gaza Strip, would take part in the meeting via a video link.
``We will not surrender to the Israeli dictates. The PLC will go ahead with the session the way we see fit,'' Nabil Amr, a parliamentarian and former cabinet minister, told Reuters.
The lawmakers were expected to vote on Yasser Arafat's June cabinet reshuffle at the parliament building after hearing a speech by the Palestinian president on ``national, political and security matters'' at his Ramallah headquarters.
``This is an illegal step from the Israeli government,'' said Dr. Kamal Al-Shurafi, a parliamentarian linked to Arafat's Fatah group who was blacklisted by Israel.
``The Israelis say we have a link to terror but we don't agree this is terror. This is our responsibility toward our people and we will continue to defend our people's rights.''
Israel Radio quoted officials at the army's civil administration office as saying they were doing their utmost to facilitate the attendance of most parliamentarians but that those linked to ``terror'' would be barred.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Poll Finds Unease on Terror Fight and Concerns About War on Iraq
Americans increasingly doubt that their government has done enough to protect them against terrorist attacks and are convinced, despite misgivings, that there will be a war against Iraq, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows. Majorities do not want war without Congressional and allied support first and a clear explanation from President Bush.
One year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, about half of the public said the Bush administration did not have a clear plan to fight terrorism, and nearly as many said they felt somewhat uneasy and not safe from another terrorist attack.
A quarter of the public, but a third of those in the Northeast, said they feared an attack in their area. One American in 10 said the administration had made "a lot of progress" in eliminating terrorist threats from nations besides Afghanistan.
The survey portrayed a hesitant nation with a sense of inevitability and little of the eager combativeness that surrounded the reaction to the bombing of terrorist targets in Afghanistan last year. A large majority said it expected the American forces to "end up fighting against Iraq."
One-fourth said Iraq presented such a grave threat that the United States should act now, while two-thirds said the nation needed to wait for support from its allies. Another big majority said Mr. Bush should get Congressional approval before making war.
The troubled answers about the campaign against terrorism at home and abroad conveyed a similar fatalistic, slightly cranky mood. A year ago, three-fifths of Americans said the government had done enough to protect them against another terrorist attack; now two-fifths do. That drop in confidence was mirrored in follow-up interviews.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/politics/08POLL.html
Americans increasingly doubt that their government has done enough to protect them against terrorist attacks and are convinced, despite misgivings, that there will be a war against Iraq, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows. Majorities do not want war without Congressional and allied support first and a clear explanation from President Bush.
One year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, about half of the public said the Bush administration did not have a clear plan to fight terrorism, and nearly as many said they felt somewhat uneasy and not safe from another terrorist attack.
A quarter of the public, but a third of those in the Northeast, said they feared an attack in their area. One American in 10 said the administration had made "a lot of progress" in eliminating terrorist threats from nations besides Afghanistan.
The survey portrayed a hesitant nation with a sense of inevitability and little of the eager combativeness that surrounded the reaction to the bombing of terrorist targets in Afghanistan last year. A large majority said it expected the American forces to "end up fighting against Iraq."
One-fourth said Iraq presented such a grave threat that the United States should act now, while two-thirds said the nation needed to wait for support from its allies. Another big majority said Mr. Bush should get Congressional approval before making war.
The troubled answers about the campaign against terrorism at home and abroad conveyed a similar fatalistic, slightly cranky mood. A year ago, three-fifths of Americans said the government had done enough to protect them against another terrorist attack; now two-fifths do. That drop in confidence was mirrored in follow-up interviews.…
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/politics/08POLL.html
Saturday, September 07, 2002
Israeli Army Wounds Stone - Throwing Boys - - Witnesses
Israeli armored combat vehicles fired at a crowd of stone-throwing Palestinian children in the West Bank on Saturday and wounded four of them, one critically, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.
GUNBATTLE AFTER BOYS WOUNDED, WITNESSES SAY
In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli armored vehicles on patrol fired mounted machineguns at boys who were throwing stones at them, witnesses said. The wounded were 11 to 12 years old, according to hospital sources.
Palestinian gunmen targeted the Israelis after the youths scattered, precipitating a gunbattle, witnesses said.
The army said it was checking the Palestinian accounts.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Israeli armored combat vehicles fired at a crowd of stone-throwing Palestinian children in the West Bank on Saturday and wounded four of them, one critically, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.
GUNBATTLE AFTER BOYS WOUNDED, WITNESSES SAY
In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli armored vehicles on patrol fired mounted machineguns at boys who were throwing stones at them, witnesses said. The wounded were 11 to 12 years old, according to hospital sources.
Palestinian gunmen targeted the Israelis after the youths scattered, precipitating a gunbattle, witnesses said.
The army said it was checking the Palestinian accounts.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
On World Court, U.S. Focus Shifts to Shielding Officials
The Bush administration is shifting its emphasis in seeking exemptions for Americans from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, telling European allies that a central reason is to protect the country's top leaders from being indicted, arrested or hauled before the court on war crimes charges, administration officials say.
In most of their public utterances, administration officials have argued that they feared American soldiers might be subject to politically motivated charges. But in private discussions with allies, officials say, they are now stressing deep concerns about the vulnerability of top civilian leaders to international legal action.
As an example of the fear, one senior official pointed to the legal actions brought against former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger in Chilean and American courts. The actions were brought by people who accused Mr. Kissinger of aiding in the 1973 coup in Chile and in the ensuing 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
"The soldiers are like the capillaries; the top public officials — President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell — they are at the heart of our concern," the senior official said. "Henry Kissinger, that's what they really care about."
"They don't really care about the Lieutenant Calleys of the future," added the official, referring to Lt. William Calley, who was given a life sentence for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, but was then paroled.
Officially, the White House today repeated what its spokesmen have said in public speeches and statements: that their primary concern is that American soldiers, and not public officials, would be brought before the court on politically motivated charges.
But they also said protecting top officials has always been part of their opposition to the court, which was established this year to prosecute those charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
"We do not make the distinction between ranks here," said Sean McCormack, the spokesman for the National Security Council. "Our concern is politicized prosecutions of everyone — our servicemen and women and government officials."
State Department officials also acknowledged the concern about protecting top American officials and pointed to a speech in May by Mark Grossman, under secretary of state for political affairs, who said the administration "must insure that our soldiers and government officials are not exposed to the prospect of politicized prosecution and investigations."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/07/international/europe/07COUR.html
The Bush administration is shifting its emphasis in seeking exemptions for Americans from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, telling European allies that a central reason is to protect the country's top leaders from being indicted, arrested or hauled before the court on war crimes charges, administration officials say.
In most of their public utterances, administration officials have argued that they feared American soldiers might be subject to politically motivated charges. But in private discussions with allies, officials say, they are now stressing deep concerns about the vulnerability of top civilian leaders to international legal action.
As an example of the fear, one senior official pointed to the legal actions brought against former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger in Chilean and American courts. The actions were brought by people who accused Mr. Kissinger of aiding in the 1973 coup in Chile and in the ensuing 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
"The soldiers are like the capillaries; the top public officials — President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Powell — they are at the heart of our concern," the senior official said. "Henry Kissinger, that's what they really care about."
"They don't really care about the Lieutenant Calleys of the future," added the official, referring to Lt. William Calley, who was given a life sentence for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, but was then paroled.
Officially, the White House today repeated what its spokesmen have said in public speeches and statements: that their primary concern is that American soldiers, and not public officials, would be brought before the court on politically motivated charges.
But they also said protecting top officials has always been part of their opposition to the court, which was established this year to prosecute those charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
"We do not make the distinction between ranks here," said Sean McCormack, the spokesman for the National Security Council. "Our concern is politicized prosecutions of everyone — our servicemen and women and government officials."
State Department officials also acknowledged the concern about protecting top American officials and pointed to a speech in May by Mark Grossman, under secretary of state for political affairs, who said the administration "must insure that our soldiers and government officials are not exposed to the prospect of politicized prosecution and investigations."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/07/international/europe/07COUR.html
Israel Arrests Six in Gaza Strip
The Palestinian Authority expressed outrage after an army investigation cleared Israeli soldiers who killed 12 Palestinians in three incidents last week, calling it a cover-up. None of those killed carried firearms.
On Friday, the military released the results of an investigation into the killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers over four days last week.
Responding to the findings, Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said it was ``shameful for Israel not to bring to justice those who kill innocent children, innocent mothers in cold blood.''
The report said that in two cases, Palestinians were moving in a suspicious manner in areas that are off-limits to civilians, and soldiers acted according to regulations when they opened fire.
In the third incident, in which two Palestinian children and two teen-agers were killed in a targeted missile attack on suspected militants, one of the missiles missed the target, apparently because of a technical mishap, the statement said.
The army had investigated the deaths of four Palestinian farmers in Gaza, four laborers in a West Bank quarry and the four youngsters in the missile attack.
Military officials said the quarry workers had been masked, armed with an ax and that there was ``a possibility'' they were en route to carrying out an attack. The teens killed in the missile attack were accomplices of the wanted militiamen, the military officials said. Palestinians have insisted all 12 were civilians.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html
The Palestinian Authority expressed outrage after an army investigation cleared Israeli soldiers who killed 12 Palestinians in three incidents last week, calling it a cover-up. None of those killed carried firearms.
On Friday, the military released the results of an investigation into the killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers over four days last week.
Responding to the findings, Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said it was ``shameful for Israel not to bring to justice those who kill innocent children, innocent mothers in cold blood.''
The report said that in two cases, Palestinians were moving in a suspicious manner in areas that are off-limits to civilians, and soldiers acted according to regulations when they opened fire.
In the third incident, in which two Palestinian children and two teen-agers were killed in a targeted missile attack on suspected militants, one of the missiles missed the target, apparently because of a technical mishap, the statement said.
The army had investigated the deaths of four Palestinian farmers in Gaza, four laborers in a West Bank quarry and the four youngsters in the missile attack.
Military officials said the quarry workers had been masked, armed with an ax and that there was ``a possibility'' they were en route to carrying out an attack. The teens killed in the missile attack were accomplices of the wanted militiamen, the military officials said. Palestinians have insisted all 12 were civilians.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html
Global Connections . U.S. Foreign Policy | PBS
Despite the physical distance between the United States and the Middle East, U.S. influence has been felt in every country within the region. Throughout the 20th century, strategic interests, including a longstanding competition with the Soviet Union, have provoked a variety of U.S. interventions ranging from diplomatic overtures of friendship to full-blown war.
American economic interests -- particularly in assuring access to Middle Eastern oil -- have long motivated presidents and lawmakers to intervene in the region. In addition, strong cultural ties bind American Jews, Arab Americans, Iranian Americans, and Turkish Americans, among others, to the area, and these interest groups seek to make their voices heard in the U.S. foreign policy arena.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/uspolicy/index.html
Despite the physical distance between the United States and the Middle East, U.S. influence has been felt in every country within the region. Throughout the 20th century, strategic interests, including a longstanding competition with the Soviet Union, have provoked a variety of U.S. interventions ranging from diplomatic overtures of friendship to full-blown war.
American economic interests -- particularly in assuring access to Middle Eastern oil -- have long motivated presidents and lawmakers to intervene in the region. In addition, strong cultural ties bind American Jews, Arab Americans, Iranian Americans, and Turkish Americans, among others, to the area, and these interest groups seek to make their voices heard in the U.S. foreign policy arena.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/questions/uspolicy/index.html
Yet More Dubious Legislation
The latest iteration of this legislative phenomenon—the Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act (HR 5211)—comes from Mission Hills, California Democrat Howard Berman. Congressman Berman wants to permit the sabotage of systems belonging to copyright violators, among other fixes for the problem (like the prosecution of individuals who keep the trading going).. Berman claims that 1.8 billion downloads a month are now occurring on P2P networks.
"Copyright owners could, at least conceptually, employ a variety of technological tools to prevent the illegal distribution of copyrighted works over a P2P network," he says. "Using interdiction, decoys, redirection, file-blocking, spoofs, or other technological tools, technology can help prevent P2P piracy."
In other words, let the hackers take over the store!
In the FAQ for this bill there was one interesting question:
Q: Who does H.R. 5211 benefit?
A: H.R. 5211 will help all copyright owners, including songwriters, photographers, musicians, software programmers, needlepoint designers, film producers, journalists, graphic artists, and recording artists. H.R. 5211 restores to these copyright owners the right to decide whether their creations are distributed through P2P networks, and takes that decision out of the hands of pirates. A photographer—not a pirate—should decide whether her photographs are distributed through Gneutella [sic].
Oh, please. This is about music and movies, period. Let's be honest here. Why sugarcoat it by claiming you're protecting photographers and needlepoint designers? The statement that a photographer—not a pirate—should decide whether her photographs are distributed through Gnutella bothers me the most. It's disingenuous. I'm surprised the bill didn't say "we're doing it for the children" or some other rubbish. In an upcoming PC Magazine print column, incidentally, I assert that none of this would happen if the price of a prerecorded disk were $1.40, as it should be. Of those 1.8 billion supposed downloads a month, how many are bootleg photographs? I'm sure a lot of those downloads are porn swaps, and perhaps Danni Ashe is annoyed by pics from her for-pay site being freely traded, but I'm not hearing her squawking like these music folks. And I seriously doubt that she's going to go to the justice department at the drop of a garment to institute some cracking procedure. So let's be honest about all this instead of creating some bogus rationale designed to bamboozle the public. It's about the music and the movies.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,508254,00.asp
The latest iteration of this legislative phenomenon—the Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act (HR 5211)—comes from Mission Hills, California Democrat Howard Berman. Congressman Berman wants to permit the sabotage of systems belonging to copyright violators, among other fixes for the problem (like the prosecution of individuals who keep the trading going).. Berman claims that 1.8 billion downloads a month are now occurring on P2P networks.
"Copyright owners could, at least conceptually, employ a variety of technological tools to prevent the illegal distribution of copyrighted works over a P2P network," he says. "Using interdiction, decoys, redirection, file-blocking, spoofs, or other technological tools, technology can help prevent P2P piracy."
In other words, let the hackers take over the store!
In the FAQ for this bill there was one interesting question:
Q: Who does H.R. 5211 benefit?
A: H.R. 5211 will help all copyright owners, including songwriters, photographers, musicians, software programmers, needlepoint designers, film producers, journalists, graphic artists, and recording artists. H.R. 5211 restores to these copyright owners the right to decide whether their creations are distributed through P2P networks, and takes that decision out of the hands of pirates. A photographer—not a pirate—should decide whether her photographs are distributed through Gneutella [sic].
Oh, please. This is about music and movies, period. Let's be honest here. Why sugarcoat it by claiming you're protecting photographers and needlepoint designers? The statement that a photographer—not a pirate—should decide whether her photographs are distributed through Gnutella bothers me the most. It's disingenuous. I'm surprised the bill didn't say "we're doing it for the children" or some other rubbish. In an upcoming PC Magazine print column, incidentally, I assert that none of this would happen if the price of a prerecorded disk were $1.40, as it should be. Of those 1.8 billion supposed downloads a month, how many are bootleg photographs? I'm sure a lot of those downloads are porn swaps, and perhaps Danni Ashe is annoyed by pics from her for-pay site being freely traded, but I'm not hearing her squawking like these music folks. And I seriously doubt that she's going to go to the justice department at the drop of a garment to institute some cracking procedure. So let's be honest about all this instead of creating some bogus rationale designed to bamboozle the public. It's about the music and the movies.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,508254,00.asp
PGP Vulnerability Opens Door to Remote Attacks
Security researchers at Foundstone Inc. have discovered a serious vulnerability in PGP--the popular e-mail encryption program--that gives remote attackers the ability to use encrypted files to force a vulnerable machine to run arbitrary code.
The flaw lies in the way that the Pretty Good Privacy Corporate Desktop 7.1.1 application handles encrypted files. In many instances, the application fails to check the length of the filename. As a result, PGP will crash if the user tries to encrypt or decrypt a document with an overly long filename.
An attacker could exploit this fairly easily. Once he creates a filename of the specified length, he would then simply encrypt the file with the public key of the targeted user and send the file.
When the user tries to decrypt the document, the filename would overflow the memory buffer set up for it and execute whatever code the attacker has included. In some cases, this condition may also reveal the user's passphrase, as PGP crashes after the file is decrypted but before the passphrase is overwritten in memory, Foundstone said in its advisory, released Thursday.
This attack takes advantage of one of the things that makes public-key cryptography so elegant and efficient: the ready availability of users' public keys. And because public keys in many cases contain data on the version of PGP in use and its associated client software, an attacker could search through the keys on a given key server and find vulnerable targets.
Network Associates Inc., which owned PGP Corporate Desktop until its recent sale to the newly formed PGP Corp., has issued a patch for the flaw. It is available on the NAI Web site at www.nai.com/naicommon/download/upgrade/patches/patch-pgphotfix.asp.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,518902,00.asp
Security researchers at Foundstone Inc. have discovered a serious vulnerability in PGP--the popular e-mail encryption program--that gives remote attackers the ability to use encrypted files to force a vulnerable machine to run arbitrary code.
The flaw lies in the way that the Pretty Good Privacy Corporate Desktop 7.1.1 application handles encrypted files. In many instances, the application fails to check the length of the filename. As a result, PGP will crash if the user tries to encrypt or decrypt a document with an overly long filename.
An attacker could exploit this fairly easily. Once he creates a filename of the specified length, he would then simply encrypt the file with the public key of the targeted user and send the file.
When the user tries to decrypt the document, the filename would overflow the memory buffer set up for it and execute whatever code the attacker has included. In some cases, this condition may also reveal the user's passphrase, as PGP crashes after the file is decrypted but before the passphrase is overwritten in memory, Foundstone said in its advisory, released Thursday.
This attack takes advantage of one of the things that makes public-key cryptography so elegant and efficient: the ready availability of users' public keys. And because public keys in many cases contain data on the version of PGP in use and its associated client software, an attacker could search through the keys on a given key server and find vulnerable targets.
Network Associates Inc., which owned PGP Corporate Desktop until its recent sale to the newly formed PGP Corp., has issued a patch for the flaw. It is available on the NAI Web site at www.nai.com/naicommon/download/upgrade/patches/patch-pgphotfix.asp.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,518902,00.asp
Digital Web Magazine - Features: 99.9% of Websites Are Obsolete
An equal opportunity disease afflicts nearly every site now on the Web, from the humblest personal homepages to the multi-million-dollar sites of corporate giants. Cunning and insidious, the disease goes largely unrecognized because it is based on industry norms. Though their owners and managers may not know it yet, 99.9% of all websites are obsolete.
These sites may look and work all right in mainstream, desktop browsers whose names end in the numbers 4 or 5. But outside these fault-tolerant environments, the symptoms of disease and decay have already started to appear.
In the latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Mozilla (the Open Source, Gecko-based browser whose code drives Netscape Navigator, CompuServe, and other browsing environments), carefully constructed layouts have begun falling apart and expensively engineered behaviors have stopped working. As these leading browsers evolve, site performance continues to deteriorate.
In off-brand browsers, in screen readers used by people with disabilities, and in increasingly popular non-traditional devices from Palm Pilots(TM) to web-enabled cell phones, many of these sites have never worked and still don't, while others function marginally at best. Depending on needs and budget, site owners and developers have either ignored these off-brand browsers and devices or supported them by detecting their presence and feeding them customized markup and code—a practice the industry calls "versioning."
href="http://www.digital-web.com/features/feature_2002-09.shtml
An equal opportunity disease afflicts nearly every site now on the Web, from the humblest personal homepages to the multi-million-dollar sites of corporate giants. Cunning and insidious, the disease goes largely unrecognized because it is based on industry norms. Though their owners and managers may not know it yet, 99.9% of all websites are obsolete.
These sites may look and work all right in mainstream, desktop browsers whose names end in the numbers 4 or 5. But outside these fault-tolerant environments, the symptoms of disease and decay have already started to appear.
In the latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Mozilla (the Open Source, Gecko-based browser whose code drives Netscape Navigator, CompuServe, and other browsing environments), carefully constructed layouts have begun falling apart and expensively engineered behaviors have stopped working. As these leading browsers evolve, site performance continues to deteriorate.
In off-brand browsers, in screen readers used by people with disabilities, and in increasingly popular non-traditional devices from Palm Pilots(TM) to web-enabled cell phones, many of these sites have never worked and still don't, while others function marginally at best. Depending on needs and budget, site owners and developers have either ignored these off-brand browsers and devices or supported them by detecting their presence and feeding them customized markup and code—a practice the industry calls "versioning."
href="http://www.digital-web.com/features/feature_2002-09.shtml
Microsoft Puts Out Patch for Windows Flaw
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday released a patch for the Windows flaw discovered last month that allows an attacker to generate and sign fake certificates for third-party Web sites.
The flaw affects all versions of Windows back to 95, Office for Mac, Internet Explorer for Mac and Outlook Express for Mac.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,518168,00.aspThe vulnerability is actually in the Windows CryptoAPI, which constructs and validates certificate chains. It manifests itself in the way that Internet Explorer handles digital certificates used in Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections to remote Web servers. Such certificates are typically issued and signed by certificate authorities (CAs) such as VeriSign Inc., and list the URL of the Web site to which they are issued.
But, IE doesn't check the Basic Constraints field on the certificate, which shows the maximum allowable length of the certificate chain as well as whether the certificate is a certificate authority or an end-entity certificate. As a result, a malicious Web site operator could generate and sign a bogus certificate for another site and collect credit card data and other information from any users lured to the site.
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday released a patch for the Windows flaw discovered last month that allows an attacker to generate and sign fake certificates for third-party Web sites.
The flaw affects all versions of Windows back to 95, Office for Mac, Internet Explorer for Mac and Outlook Express for Mac.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,518168,00.aspThe vulnerability is actually in the Windows CryptoAPI, which constructs and validates certificate chains. It manifests itself in the way that Internet Explorer handles digital certificates used in Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections to remote Web servers. Such certificates are typically issued and signed by certificate authorities (CAs) such as VeriSign Inc., and list the URL of the Web site to which they are issued.
But, IE doesn't check the Basic Constraints field on the certificate, which shows the maximum allowable length of the certificate chain as well as whether the certificate is a certificate authority or an end-entity certificate. As a result, a malicious Web site operator could generate and sign a bogus certificate for another site and collect credit card data and other information from any users lured to the site.
Friday, September 06, 2002
Israel Army Strikes Back at Palestinian Militants
In a separate interview with Israel's Maariv newspaper, Sharon signaled there could be no return in any future peace process with the Palestinians to interim deals that led to the establishment of self-rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.
``Oslo no longer exists. Camp David no longer exists, nor does Taba,'' he said, referring to past negotiating venues.
Palestinian cabinet minister and peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sharon's remarks were indicative of what he called a plan by the right-wing Israeli leader to destroy the Palestinian Authority.
``Sharon has told the world today that he is seeking to replace negotiations with dictates that are imposed by his tanks, and the war crimes that his troops are carrying out against the Palestinians,'' Erekat told Reuters.
The fresh bloodshed also cast further doubt on the ``Gaza-Bethlehem First'' deal reached nearly three weeks ago in which Israel was to ease its military clampdown if Palestinian police reined in militants.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
In a separate interview with Israel's Maariv newspaper, Sharon signaled there could be no return in any future peace process with the Palestinians to interim deals that led to the establishment of self-rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.
``Oslo no longer exists. Camp David no longer exists, nor does Taba,'' he said, referring to past negotiating venues.
Palestinian cabinet minister and peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sharon's remarks were indicative of what he called a plan by the right-wing Israeli leader to destroy the Palestinian Authority.
``Sharon has told the world today that he is seeking to replace negotiations with dictates that are imposed by his tanks, and the war crimes that his troops are carrying out against the Palestinians,'' Erekat told Reuters.
The fresh bloodshed also cast further doubt on the ``Gaza-Bethlehem First'' deal reached nearly three weeks ago in which Israel was to ease its military clampdown if Palestinian police reined in militants.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Hostility and Drama Swamp Palestinian's Hearing
The second court appearance in three weeks by Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian leader to be put on trial by Israel, proved even more tempestuous than the first today, with his children struggling to reach him while Israelis who lost relatives in suicide attacks shouted in rage.
Mr. Barghouti largely stole the show last month at his first appearance in a Tel Aviv courtroom by shouting in Hebrew that he wanted to present his own charges against Israel. The Israeli government tried to head off a repeat this time by widely publicizing its case and by allowing several families of victims of suicide bombings to attend.
The shouting and pushing that ensued in the cramped courtroom and in the halls outside, Mr. Barghouti's refusal to recognize the proceedings as legitimate, and the competing news briefings afterward all indicated that the actual trial is certain to be even more politically charged once it starts.
The appearance by three of Mr. Barghouti's children, who said they talked their way through Israeli checkpoints by claiming they were on their way to school, gave a new dimension to the drama. After talking with Israeli officials, Mr. Barghouti's daughter, Ruba, 15, and his sons, Arab, 12, and Sharaf, 13, were allowed into the courtroom.
When Mr. Barghouti was led in at 11:40 a.m., the two boys, who last saw their father seven months ago, tried to get to him, shouting, "Abba! Abba!" — father, father. Sharaf leaped across the benches toward his father, but was stopped by a guard. As his son began to cry, Mr. Barghouti called out, "Habibi!" — darling. "They are children, only children," he said, "let them through."
Outside the courtroom, Jews and Arabs shouted fiercely at one another. At one point, a man identified as Itamal Ben-Gvi, a member of the Jewish radical group Kach, tried to assail Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, and was dragged off by guards.
Mr. Barghouti was not allowed to read out a statement in court. Instead, it was read outside by a Palestinian-American lawyer, Michael Tarazi, who said he was there as a spokesman for the Barghouti family.
The Israeli spokesman in the case, Daniel Taub, repeatedly insisted that the case was not about Mr. Barghouti's political views, but about the killings. "What is important to us is to ensure that the world understands what it is to be a democracy fighting terrorism," he said outside the courtroom after the session.
But Israeli newspapers have been increasingly questioning the government's wisdom in putting Mr. Barghouti on public trial, because until the current uprising the popular West Bank leader was accepted in Israel as a political moderate, a staunch supporter of the Oslo peace agreements, and as a potential successor to Yasir Arafat.
"It should be hoped that those who decided to capture Barghouti, to bring him to Israel and to put him on trial, carefully weighed this move," wrote Nahman Shai in the newspaper Maariv. "Because if not, this trial, being a public and open trial in a civilian court, is liable to turn into the central stage on which the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue will be held, not necessarily to Israel's benefit."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/06/international/middleeast/06MIDE.html
The second court appearance in three weeks by Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian leader to be put on trial by Israel, proved even more tempestuous than the first today, with his children struggling to reach him while Israelis who lost relatives in suicide attacks shouted in rage.
Mr. Barghouti largely stole the show last month at his first appearance in a Tel Aviv courtroom by shouting in Hebrew that he wanted to present his own charges against Israel. The Israeli government tried to head off a repeat this time by widely publicizing its case and by allowing several families of victims of suicide bombings to attend.
The shouting and pushing that ensued in the cramped courtroom and in the halls outside, Mr. Barghouti's refusal to recognize the proceedings as legitimate, and the competing news briefings afterward all indicated that the actual trial is certain to be even more politically charged once it starts.
The appearance by three of Mr. Barghouti's children, who said they talked their way through Israeli checkpoints by claiming they were on their way to school, gave a new dimension to the drama. After talking with Israeli officials, Mr. Barghouti's daughter, Ruba, 15, and his sons, Arab, 12, and Sharaf, 13, were allowed into the courtroom.
When Mr. Barghouti was led in at 11:40 a.m., the two boys, who last saw their father seven months ago, tried to get to him, shouting, "Abba! Abba!" — father, father. Sharaf leaped across the benches toward his father, but was stopped by a guard. As his son began to cry, Mr. Barghouti called out, "Habibi!" — darling. "They are children, only children," he said, "let them through."
Outside the courtroom, Jews and Arabs shouted fiercely at one another. At one point, a man identified as Itamal Ben-Gvi, a member of the Jewish radical group Kach, tried to assail Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, and was dragged off by guards.
Mr. Barghouti was not allowed to read out a statement in court. Instead, it was read outside by a Palestinian-American lawyer, Michael Tarazi, who said he was there as a spokesman for the Barghouti family.
The Israeli spokesman in the case, Daniel Taub, repeatedly insisted that the case was not about Mr. Barghouti's political views, but about the killings. "What is important to us is to ensure that the world understands what it is to be a democracy fighting terrorism," he said outside the courtroom after the session.
But Israeli newspapers have been increasingly questioning the government's wisdom in putting Mr. Barghouti on public trial, because until the current uprising the popular West Bank leader was accepted in Israel as a political moderate, a staunch supporter of the Oslo peace agreements, and as a potential successor to Yasir Arafat.
"It should be hoped that those who decided to capture Barghouti, to bring him to Israel and to put him on trial, carefully weighed this move," wrote Nahman Shai in the newspaper Maariv. "Because if not, this trial, being a public and open trial in a civilian court, is liable to turn into the central stage on which the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue will be held, not necessarily to Israel's benefit."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/06/international/middleeast/06MIDE.html
News: VeriSign may lose domain sales
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Tuesday accused VeriSign of breaching its contract because it failed to correct inaccurate customer information in a timely fashion.
At issue is the Whois database, which contains personal contact information of people who register Web sites. ICANN cited 17 specific violations over the past 18 months that have yet to be corrected, including one customer who registered a domain name using the fictitious name of "Toto" with the fake address of "Yellow Brick Road" in "Oz, Kansas." ICANN is giving VeriSign 15 days to correct the problems or face the prospect of losing its ability to sell domain names.
Of the 150 domain name companies, VeriSign is the most popular, registering .com, .net and .org domain names. ICANN is a nonprofit organization formed in 1998 to allow more competition in the domain-naming business. The organization has a contract with the U.S. government to approve Web domain names, such as those ending in .info and .biz, and oversees policies to allow smaller companies to sell domain names.
"VeriSign Registrar appears frequently to publish incomplete Whois data and to routinely ignore reports of inaccurate and incomplete contact data in its Whois database," Louis Touton, ICANN's vice president and general counsel, wrote in a letter to VeriSign executives on Tuesday.
ICANN said VeriSign's violations include ignoring repeated requests to correct customer information for Dundjerski.com, in which the administrative contact was, "OOO Blank St., No City, XX 0000" with a phone number of "123-123-1234."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-956433.html
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Tuesday accused VeriSign of breaching its contract because it failed to correct inaccurate customer information in a timely fashion.
At issue is the Whois database, which contains personal contact information of people who register Web sites. ICANN cited 17 specific violations over the past 18 months that have yet to be corrected, including one customer who registered a domain name using the fictitious name of "Toto" with the fake address of "Yellow Brick Road" in "Oz, Kansas." ICANN is giving VeriSign 15 days to correct the problems or face the prospect of losing its ability to sell domain names.
Of the 150 domain name companies, VeriSign is the most popular, registering .com, .net and .org domain names. ICANN is a nonprofit organization formed in 1998 to allow more competition in the domain-naming business. The organization has a contract with the U.S. government to approve Web domain names, such as those ending in .info and .biz, and oversees policies to allow smaller companies to sell domain names.
"VeriSign Registrar appears frequently to publish incomplete Whois data and to routinely ignore reports of inaccurate and incomplete contact data in its Whois database," Louis Touton, ICANN's vice president and general counsel, wrote in a letter to VeriSign executives on Tuesday.
ICANN said VeriSign's violations include ignoring repeated requests to correct customer information for Dundjerski.com, in which the administrative contact was, "OOO Blank St., No City, XX 0000" with a phone number of "123-123-1234."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-956433.html
News: Groups implore FTC to outlaw spam
In a 14-page set of proposed rules that already has drawn fire as overly regulatory, the groups suggest that the FTC outlaw commercial e-mail that misrepresents the content of the message or fails to provide a way to unsubscribe from the mailing list.
"Spam is threatening the value of the Internet," said Samuel Simon, chairman of the Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC). "We believe there is regulatory authority for the Federal Trade Commission to act and do something. It's not perfect, but if the rule we ask for is enacted, spam will be reduced significantly."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-956502.html
In a 14-page set of proposed rules that already has drawn fire as overly regulatory, the groups suggest that the FTC outlaw commercial e-mail that misrepresents the content of the message or fails to provide a way to unsubscribe from the mailing list.
"Spam is threatening the value of the Internet," said Samuel Simon, chairman of the Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC). "We believe there is regulatory authority for the Federal Trade Commission to act and do something. It's not perfect, but if the rule we ask for is enacted, spam will be reduced significantly."
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-956502.html
News: Warning: Top-ten e-mail hoaxes in August
Anti-virus firm Sophos Tuesday released a list of the 10 most common e-mail hoaxes reported during August--some purporting to be virus warnings--others trying to scam users out of their hard-earned, easily lost, cash.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-956507.html
Anti-virus firm Sophos Tuesday released a list of the 10 most common e-mail hoaxes reported during August--some purporting to be virus warnings--others trying to scam users out of their hard-earned, easily lost, cash.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-956507.html
ZDNet: Tech Update
Enterprises are being besieged with increasingly more junk e-mail. It may be inherently worthless, but spam doesn't come free. It hogs your bandwidth, diverts your employees from their daily tasks, and, if the message is potentially offensive or X-rated, it could land your company in court.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/filters/specialreport/0,14622,6022207,00.html
Enterprises are being besieged with increasingly more junk e-mail. It may be inherently worthless, but spam doesn't come free. It hogs your bandwidth, diverts your employees from their daily tasks, and, if the message is potentially offensive or X-rated, it could land your company in court.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/filters/specialreport/0,14622,6022207,00.html
News: Here's what to watch in Washington
When the U.S. Congress reconvenes today after a month recess, let's remember what a New York judge said in 1866: "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session."
Sure, Judge Gideon Tucker may have exaggerated a trifle. But it's still a good rule to keep in mind as politicos use the anti-terrorism campaign and the Sept. 11 anniversary to inflate budgets, widen deficits, and hand police more eavesdropping powers.
One of politicians' favorite ways to grease the rails for such proposals is to use the appropriations process. That's how Congress enacted a law requiring schools and libraries to install filtering software and a law restricting online erotica. Because the federal government's fiscal year begins Oct. 1, and because not one of the 13 necessary appropriations bills has been signed into law, this is a likely vehicle as the deadline nears.
Another favorite underhanded tactic is to call votes on bills without telling members of Congress what's in them. And if a proposal is touted as an anti-terrorist bill, who dares vote against it?
President Bush has asked Congress to grant federal police hundreds of millions of dollars to build fatter databases, share more information, and conduct more surveillance. The Justice Department would receive a budget increase of $1.8 billion to a total of $30.2 billion, not counting $539.2 million it already received as part of an emergency spending package last year.
The FBI would receive $61.8 million and 201 more employees or contractors to support the agency's "surveillance capabilities to collect evidence and intelligence." That would permit the FBI to devote more resources than ever to controversial spy technologies like Carnivore, keyboard logging devices and Magic Lantern.
Another thing to look for
Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., chairman of the House committee overseeing copyright law, is planning to convene a hearing this month on a controversial bill that would permit peer-to-peer hacking. In a recent opinion article, Coble pledged to "conduct a hearing on the issue of piracy on peer-to-peer networks"--indicating he may be serious about enacting his bill this year.
Also sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., the proposal would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic disruptions if they have a "reasonable basis" to believe that piracy is taking place.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-956272.html
When the U.S. Congress reconvenes today after a month recess, let's remember what a New York judge said in 1866: "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session."
Sure, Judge Gideon Tucker may have exaggerated a trifle. But it's still a good rule to keep in mind as politicos use the anti-terrorism campaign and the Sept. 11 anniversary to inflate budgets, widen deficits, and hand police more eavesdropping powers.
One of politicians' favorite ways to grease the rails for such proposals is to use the appropriations process. That's how Congress enacted a law requiring schools and libraries to install filtering software and a law restricting online erotica. Because the federal government's fiscal year begins Oct. 1, and because not one of the 13 necessary appropriations bills has been signed into law, this is a likely vehicle as the deadline nears.
Another favorite underhanded tactic is to call votes on bills without telling members of Congress what's in them. And if a proposal is touted as an anti-terrorist bill, who dares vote against it?
President Bush has asked Congress to grant federal police hundreds of millions of dollars to build fatter databases, share more information, and conduct more surveillance. The Justice Department would receive a budget increase of $1.8 billion to a total of $30.2 billion, not counting $539.2 million it already received as part of an emergency spending package last year.
The FBI would receive $61.8 million and 201 more employees or contractors to support the agency's "surveillance capabilities to collect evidence and intelligence." That would permit the FBI to devote more resources than ever to controversial spy technologies like Carnivore, keyboard logging devices and Magic Lantern.
Another thing to look for
Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., chairman of the House committee overseeing copyright law, is planning to convene a hearing this month on a controversial bill that would permit peer-to-peer hacking. In a recent opinion article, Coble pledged to "conduct a hearing on the issue of piracy on peer-to-peer networks"--indicating he may be serious about enacting his bill this year.
Also sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., the proposal would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic disruptions if they have a "reasonable basis" to believe that piracy is taking place.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-956272.html
Thursday, September 05, 2002
Liberalism's Patriotic Vision
The American left, too, had its version of unilateralism. Responsibility for the attacks had, somehow, to lie with American imperialism, because all responsibility has to lie with American imperialism — a perfect echo of the right's idea that all good powers are and should be somehow American. Intellectuals and activists on the far left could not be troubled much with compassion or defense. Disconnected from Americans who reasonably felt their patriotic selves attacked, they were uncomprehending. Knowing little about Al Qaeda, they filed it under Anti-Imperialism, and American attacks on the Taliban under Vietnam Quagmire. For them, not flying the flag became an urgent cause. In their go-it-alone attitude, they weirdly paralleled the blustering right-wing approach to the world.
Long before Sept. 11, this naysaying left had seceded. When Ralph Nader's Greens equated a Bush presidency with a Gore presidency, they took leave of any practical connection to America. Rightly demanding profound reforms but deluded about their popularity, they withheld their energy from the Democrats and squandered alliances that would have promoted their ideals. They acted as though their cause had to be lonely to be good.
Many liberals and social democrats saw through this hollow negativity and posed necessary questions. What was a war against terrorism? To what did it bind the nation? War against whom, and for how long? Why should American foreign policy be held hostage to oil? How should strong and privileged America belong in the world? Was the United States to be a one-nation tribunal of "regime change" wherever it detected evil spinning on an axis?
Some good answers float in the air now. They have not yet found political support, but they could. As the Bush administration paints itself into a corner, we could be headed toward a new liberal moment. Liberals need to step up their promotion of a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan and elsewhere, helping to stifle terrorism. Even conservatives no longer smirk about nation building or foreign aid.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/opinion/05GITL.html
The American left, too, had its version of unilateralism. Responsibility for the attacks had, somehow, to lie with American imperialism, because all responsibility has to lie with American imperialism — a perfect echo of the right's idea that all good powers are and should be somehow American. Intellectuals and activists on the far left could not be troubled much with compassion or defense. Disconnected from Americans who reasonably felt their patriotic selves attacked, they were uncomprehending. Knowing little about Al Qaeda, they filed it under Anti-Imperialism, and American attacks on the Taliban under Vietnam Quagmire. For them, not flying the flag became an urgent cause. In their go-it-alone attitude, they weirdly paralleled the blustering right-wing approach to the world.
Long before Sept. 11, this naysaying left had seceded. When Ralph Nader's Greens equated a Bush presidency with a Gore presidency, they took leave of any practical connection to America. Rightly demanding profound reforms but deluded about their popularity, they withheld their energy from the Democrats and squandered alliances that would have promoted their ideals. They acted as though their cause had to be lonely to be good.
Many liberals and social democrats saw through this hollow negativity and posed necessary questions. What was a war against terrorism? To what did it bind the nation? War against whom, and for how long? Why should American foreign policy be held hostage to oil? How should strong and privileged America belong in the world? Was the United States to be a one-nation tribunal of "regime change" wherever it detected evil spinning on an axis?
Some good answers float in the air now. They have not yet found political support, but they could. As the Bush administration paints itself into a corner, we could be headed toward a new liberal moment. Liberals need to step up their promotion of a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan and elsewhere, helping to stifle terrorism. Even conservatives no longer smirk about nation building or foreign aid.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/opinion/05GITL.html
Trial Begins for West Bank Leader of Arafat's Fatah Faction
Handcuffed and unshaven, Palestinian faction leader Marwan Barghouthi told an Israeli court Thursday he did not recognize its authority to try him on charges of masterminding deadly attacks on Israeli citizens.
Israel is hoping the trial will show Palestinian leadership complicity in attacks during a two-year-old uprising for independence.
The trial of Barghouthi, head of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank, is the first of a major player during the revolt.
``I don't recognize this court. This is a court of the occupation,'' said Barghouthi, who was captured by Israel in the West Bank in April.
Barghouthi, 43, told the packed courtroom he was a ``freedom fighter.'' A relative of an Israeli killed in an attack shouted back: ``You are a murderer! You are a terrorist!''
Israeli media reported that several Israelis were wounded near the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza when a tank rolled over an explosive device and was engulfed in flames.
A caller who said he was from the Popular Resistance Committee, militants from different Palestinian factions, told Reuters by telephone the group was responsible for the attack.
The Israeli military sources said a Palestinian militant opened fire at a school near the Jewish settlement of Nisanit in Gaza, wounding at least two Israelis.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the shooting. They named the gunman as Mahmoud Seyam, who died in the attack.
Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, an aide to Arafat, said: ``We have never said that we do not want to negotiate with Israel...We have always preferred peaceful solutions but self-defense against tanks, soldiers and settlers is a legitimate resistance.''
Barghouthi's popularity has soared during the uprising and the trial exposure could ultimately cement his chances of replacing Arafat and leading Palestinians.
But if he is found guilty of murder he could face a life sentence.
``You have no right to put me on trial, the state of Israel should be on trial,'' he said, rejecting representation by either a state-appointed or a Palestinian lawyer as a mark of protest.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Handcuffed and unshaven, Palestinian faction leader Marwan Barghouthi told an Israeli court Thursday he did not recognize its authority to try him on charges of masterminding deadly attacks on Israeli citizens.
Israel is hoping the trial will show Palestinian leadership complicity in attacks during a two-year-old uprising for independence.
The trial of Barghouthi, head of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank, is the first of a major player during the revolt.
``I don't recognize this court. This is a court of the occupation,'' said Barghouthi, who was captured by Israel in the West Bank in April.
Barghouthi, 43, told the packed courtroom he was a ``freedom fighter.'' A relative of an Israeli killed in an attack shouted back: ``You are a murderer! You are a terrorist!''
Israeli media reported that several Israelis were wounded near the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza when a tank rolled over an explosive device and was engulfed in flames.
A caller who said he was from the Popular Resistance Committee, militants from different Palestinian factions, told Reuters by telephone the group was responsible for the attack.
The Israeli military sources said a Palestinian militant opened fire at a school near the Jewish settlement of Nisanit in Gaza, wounding at least two Israelis.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the shooting. They named the gunman as Mahmoud Seyam, who died in the attack.
Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, an aide to Arafat, said: ``We have never said that we do not want to negotiate with Israel...We have always preferred peaceful solutions but self-defense against tanks, soldiers and settlers is a legitimate resistance.''
Barghouthi's popularity has soared during the uprising and the trial exposure could ultimately cement his chances of replacing Arafat and leading Palestinians.
But if he is found guilty of murder he could face a life sentence.
``You have no right to put me on trial, the state of Israel should be on trial,'' he said, rejecting representation by either a state-appointed or a Palestinian lawyer as a mark of protest.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
A Palestinian Senses an Opening for Peace
Last week, Mr. Dahlan sat with Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's premier columnists. They acted like old friends, poking fun at each other, leaning back in their chairs, sipping mint tea. On the previous night, Israeli naval ships attacked barrels bobbing in the sea, suspecting that they were full of arms. They turned out to be filled with refrigerators. That gave Mr. Dahlan his opening.
"Actually, we expect everything from Israel — they spent all night looking for fridges in the sea," he said. "It's not a joke!"
[The night after their interview on Aug. 28 the joke abruptly collapsed when an Israeli tank fired a shell at a group of Palestinians in Gaza, killing a family of four. The next morning, Mr. Dahlan called Mr. Barnea. "Tomorrow you will say that there were terrorists here," he said. "How can I convince people to reach an agreement, when you are shooting all the time?"]
Mr. Barnea demanded to know how Mr. Dahlan could justify sending 17-year-olds as suicide bombers. "You cannot deal with the phenomenon of suicide bombers if you don't deal with the roots of the phenomenon," the Palestinian declared, reciting the mantra of humiliations, house demolitions, assassinations, loss of hope.
But Tanzim is the armed wing of Fatah, Mr. Dahlan's movement, Mr. Barnea argued. "The Tanzim are your people, somebody told them to do that," he said.
Mr. Dahlan responded. "You cannot remove Tanzim from the Palestinian people," he said. "Tanzim is making mistakes. But why don't you remember that for seven years Tanzim supported the peace process? That in 1993 they planted an olive branch in your machine gun? These are the same people. Something's wrong here."
Why put the responsibility on us? Mr. Barnea demanded. The same people who offered the olive branch are now making guns. "You are just making slogans," he said. "You are a prisoner of your theories."
"Why don't you want to accept the truth?" Mr. Dahlan fired back. "That's your problem."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/international/middleeast/05GAZA.html
Last week, Mr. Dahlan sat with Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's premier columnists. They acted like old friends, poking fun at each other, leaning back in their chairs, sipping mint tea. On the previous night, Israeli naval ships attacked barrels bobbing in the sea, suspecting that they were full of arms. They turned out to be filled with refrigerators. That gave Mr. Dahlan his opening.
"Actually, we expect everything from Israel — they spent all night looking for fridges in the sea," he said. "It's not a joke!"
[The night after their interview on Aug. 28 the joke abruptly collapsed when an Israeli tank fired a shell at a group of Palestinians in Gaza, killing a family of four. The next morning, Mr. Dahlan called Mr. Barnea. "Tomorrow you will say that there were terrorists here," he said. "How can I convince people to reach an agreement, when you are shooting all the time?"]
Mr. Barnea demanded to know how Mr. Dahlan could justify sending 17-year-olds as suicide bombers. "You cannot deal with the phenomenon of suicide bombers if you don't deal with the roots of the phenomenon," the Palestinian declared, reciting the mantra of humiliations, house demolitions, assassinations, loss of hope.
But Tanzim is the armed wing of Fatah, Mr. Dahlan's movement, Mr. Barnea argued. "The Tanzim are your people, somebody told them to do that," he said.
Mr. Dahlan responded. "You cannot remove Tanzim from the Palestinian people," he said. "Tanzim is making mistakes. But why don't you remember that for seven years Tanzim supported the peace process? That in 1993 they planted an olive branch in your machine gun? These are the same people. Something's wrong here."
Why put the responsibility on us? Mr. Barnea demanded. The same people who offered the olive branch are now making guns. "You are just making slogans," he said. "You are a prisoner of your theories."
"Why don't you want to accept the truth?" Mr. Dahlan fired back. "That's your problem."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/international/middleeast/05GAZA.html
Sharon Says Tough Measures Could Lead to Peace Talks
Mr. Sharon offered a comforting assessment of Israel's condition, declaring that his government had prevented economic instability over the past year, and that the country was prepared for an Iraqi attack against Israel if the United States attacked Iraq.
But the comments about potential talks with the Palestinians coincided with a report in the newspaper Yediot Ahronot that Mr. Sharon had agreed to meet with an unnamed senior Palestinian official in the next few days. They came as signs emerged that ranking Palestinians were seeking an end to the violence, including a denunciation of suicide attacks, by the Palestinian interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh.
In another conciliatory sign, Mr. Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer announced on Tuesday that they would allow the Palestinian Legislative Council to meet in Ramallah next Monday for the first time in more than a year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/international/middleeast/05SHAR.html
Mr. Sharon offered a comforting assessment of Israel's condition, declaring that his government had prevented economic instability over the past year, and that the country was prepared for an Iraqi attack against Israel if the United States attacked Iraq.
But the comments about potential talks with the Palestinians coincided with a report in the newspaper Yediot Ahronot that Mr. Sharon had agreed to meet with an unnamed senior Palestinian official in the next few days. They came as signs emerged that ranking Palestinians were seeking an end to the violence, including a denunciation of suicide attacks, by the Palestinian interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh.
In another conciliatory sign, Mr. Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer announced on Tuesday that they would allow the Palestinian Legislative Council to meet in Ramallah next Monday for the first time in more than a year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/international/middleeast/05SHAR.html
Israel Expels 2 of Nablus Militant's Kin to Gaza
The sister and brother of a Palestinian militant accused by Israel of organizing a suicide bombing were expelled today from the West Bank, in an Israeli armored vehicle that dropped them off on the dunes south of Gaza City.
The two, Intissar and Kifah Ajuri, accused of having helped their brother, Ali, engineer the attack, were sent to Gaza a day after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected their petition against the expulsion, a new Israeli tactic against suicide bombings that has been condemned by rights groups as collective punishment.
"There are no charges against us," said Intissar Ajuri, 34, who the Israelis say sewed an explosives belt. "If they had proof against me they would have put me on trial."
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called the expulsion a violation of international law. Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, called it a "crime against humanity."
My daughter cried and said, `Take me with you,' " recalled Kifah Ajuri, 28, a house painter with three small children who was accused of serving as a lookout for his brother.
Given bottled water and about $200 in Israeli currency, the two were driven to the Gaza Strip and taken blindfolded to the dunes near the Israeli settlement of Netzarim, well away from journalists who had gathered at the Erez checkpoint, the main entry to the strip. Intissar Ajuri said, "We walked until we saw a farmer, and my brother talked to him so he would tell us where we were. We understood from him that we were in a very dangerous area near Netzarim, where four Palestinians were killed last week."
"Gaza is part of my homeland, but this does not justify tearing me away from my family to be deported to an area where I know nobody," Ms. Ajuri said. "My place is in Nablus."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/international/middleeast/05MIDE.html
The sister and brother of a Palestinian militant accused by Israel of organizing a suicide bombing were expelled today from the West Bank, in an Israeli armored vehicle that dropped them off on the dunes south of Gaza City.
The two, Intissar and Kifah Ajuri, accused of having helped their brother, Ali, engineer the attack, were sent to Gaza a day after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected their petition against the expulsion, a new Israeli tactic against suicide bombings that has been condemned by rights groups as collective punishment.
"There are no charges against us," said Intissar Ajuri, 34, who the Israelis say sewed an explosives belt. "If they had proof against me they would have put me on trial."
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called the expulsion a violation of international law. Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, called it a "crime against humanity."
My daughter cried and said, `Take me with you,' " recalled Kifah Ajuri, 28, a house painter with three small children who was accused of serving as a lookout for his brother.
Given bottled water and about $200 in Israeli currency, the two were driven to the Gaza Strip and taken blindfolded to the dunes near the Israeli settlement of Netzarim, well away from journalists who had gathered at the Erez checkpoint, the main entry to the strip. Intissar Ajuri said, "We walked until we saw a farmer, and my brother talked to him so he would tell us where we were. We understood from him that we were in a very dangerous area near Netzarim, where four Palestinians were killed last week."
"Gaza is part of my homeland, but this does not justify tearing me away from my family to be deported to an area where I know nobody," Ms. Ajuri said. "My place is in Nablus."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/05/international/middleeast/05MIDE.html
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
News: Report: Anti-terror plans hit privacy
In the year that has elapsed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the world's governments have moved to restrict privacy, boost surveillance and increase linking of databases, according to a survey released by a pair of advocacy groups on Tuesday.
The 393-page report, which reviews current and proposed laws in 50 nations, is the first comprehensive survey of how privacy rights have been globally affected after last September's catastrophes. It was released by human rights group Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Four trends have become apparent, according to the report: the swift erosion of pro-privacy laws; greater data sharing among corporations, police and spy agencies; greater eavesdropping; and sharply increased interest in people-tracking technologies, such as face-recognition systems and national ID cards.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-956286.html
In the year that has elapsed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the world's governments have moved to restrict privacy, boost surveillance and increase linking of databases, according to a survey released by a pair of advocacy groups on Tuesday.
The 393-page report, which reviews current and proposed laws in 50 nations, is the first comprehensive survey of how privacy rights have been globally affected after last September's catastrophes. It was released by human rights group Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Four trends have become apparent, according to the report: the swift erosion of pro-privacy laws; greater data sharing among corporations, police and spy agencies; greater eavesdropping; and sharply increased interest in people-tracking technologies, such as face-recognition systems and national ID cards.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-956286.html
Who's Your Daddy?
The clique of conservative intellectuals pushing the war has labeled Colin Powell and the Bush I crowd wimpy "appeasers."
Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol echo the message of Eliot Cohen, author of "Supreme Command": "As Lord Salisbury said, `If you ask the soldiers, nothing is safe.' To which the politicians must respond, `Neither is inaction.' "
They paint the military brass as wimpy. "Powell did not want to do Bosnia," said a whack-Iraq'er. "The Pentagon was reluctant on Kosovo. On Iraq, Powell and Schwarzkopf dragged their feet on the first war. And the civilians are right this time, too. Iraq has had 11 years to comply with cease-fire arrangements on weapons of mass destruction."
The military types snipe back that the loudly squawking hawks — Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle — are war wimps. "All the generals see it the same way," said the retired Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni, a Powell adviser, "and all the others who have never fired a shot and are hot to go to war see it another way."
And Senator Chuck Hagel, a hero in Vietnam, chimed in: "Maybe Mr. Perle would like to be in the first wave of those who go into Baghdad." (Maybe he would.)
Giving a new definition of chutzpah, the conservatives pushing for war began taunting W., saying he had gone too far on Iraq to turn back now without being a wimp.
"The failure to take on Saddam after what the president said," Mr. Perle said, "would produce such a collapse of confidence in the president that it would set back the war on terrorism." Or: Nice little administration you have here; pity if something should happen to it.
The Bushies figured if they went after Saddam, whom they could find, as opposed to the vanished Osama, they would not seem wimpy.
But the more the president let Dick Cheney make the case for him, the more he risked being seen as wimpy. He was saved only by the Democrats, silent all summer, too wimpy to take on the White House and carve out their own case on Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/opinion/04DOWD.html
The clique of conservative intellectuals pushing the war has labeled Colin Powell and the Bush I crowd wimpy "appeasers."
Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol echo the message of Eliot Cohen, author of "Supreme Command": "As Lord Salisbury said, `If you ask the soldiers, nothing is safe.' To which the politicians must respond, `Neither is inaction.' "
They paint the military brass as wimpy. "Powell did not want to do Bosnia," said a whack-Iraq'er. "The Pentagon was reluctant on Kosovo. On Iraq, Powell and Schwarzkopf dragged their feet on the first war. And the civilians are right this time, too. Iraq has had 11 years to comply with cease-fire arrangements on weapons of mass destruction."
The military types snipe back that the loudly squawking hawks — Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle — are war wimps. "All the generals see it the same way," said the retired Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni, a Powell adviser, "and all the others who have never fired a shot and are hot to go to war see it another way."
And Senator Chuck Hagel, a hero in Vietnam, chimed in: "Maybe Mr. Perle would like to be in the first wave of those who go into Baghdad." (Maybe he would.)
Giving a new definition of chutzpah, the conservatives pushing for war began taunting W., saying he had gone too far on Iraq to turn back now without being a wimp.
"The failure to take on Saddam after what the president said," Mr. Perle said, "would produce such a collapse of confidence in the president that it would set back the war on terrorism." Or: Nice little administration you have here; pity if something should happen to it.
The Bushies figured if they went after Saddam, whom they could find, as opposed to the vanished Osama, they would not seem wimpy.
But the more the president let Dick Cheney make the case for him, the more he risked being seen as wimpy. He was saved only by the Democrats, silent all summer, too wimpy to take on the White House and carve out their own case on Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/opinion/04DOWD.html
9/11 Lesson Plan
Lesson #3: Why do so many foreigners reject the evil perpetrators of 9/11 but still dislike America? It's because, while we have the best system of governance, we are not always at our best in how we act toward the world. Because we want to drive big cars, we support repressive Arab dictators so they will sell us cheap oil. Because our presidents want to get votes, they readily tell the Palestinians how foolishly they are behaving, but they hesitate to tell Israelis how destructive their West Bank settlements are for the future of the Jewish state. Because we want to consume as much energy as we please, we tell the world's people they have to be with us in the war on terrorism but we don't have to be with them in the struggle against global warming and for a greener planet.
The point, class, is that while evil people hate us for who we are, many good people dislike us for what we do. And if we want to win their respect we need to be the best, most consistent and most principled global citizens we can be.
Assigned readings: The U.S. Constitution, Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points speech and the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/opinion/04FRIE.html
Lesson #3: Why do so many foreigners reject the evil perpetrators of 9/11 but still dislike America? It's because, while we have the best system of governance, we are not always at our best in how we act toward the world. Because we want to drive big cars, we support repressive Arab dictators so they will sell us cheap oil. Because our presidents want to get votes, they readily tell the Palestinians how foolishly they are behaving, but they hesitate to tell Israelis how destructive their West Bank settlements are for the future of the Jewish state. Because we want to consume as much energy as we please, we tell the world's people they have to be with us in the war on terrorism but we don't have to be with them in the struggle against global warming and for a greener planet.
The point, class, is that while evil people hate us for who we are, many good people dislike us for what we do. And if we want to win their respect we need to be the best, most consistent and most principled global citizens we can be.
Assigned readings: The U.S. Constitution, Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points speech and the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/opinion/04FRIE.html
2 Palestinians in Gaza After Expulsion From West Bank
"They drove us for about 20 minutes," Intissar Ajuri said at a news conference in Gaza City. "Suddenly they took us out of the tanks and freed our hands and we found ourselves in the middle of a farm planted with figs and grapes."
"We walked until we saw a farmer," she added. "We asked him where we are. He told us that we are in a very dangerous place where four Palestinians were killed last week. The farmer told us, `Hurry, hurry before they shoot you. "
She called the expulsion a "crime."
The nine-judge Israeli panel ruled unanimously on Tuesday that expulsion of militants' relatives to Gaza did not violate international law, but that the measure could be used only against people who posed a security threat, not as a general deterrent.
Struggling to halt Palestinian suicide attacks, Israel decided in July to expel relatives of suicide bombers and other militants in the West Bank to the Gaza Strip if they were found to be involved in the militants' activities.
Tuesday's ruling was the first court test of the new tactic, raising questions about the proper balance between security concerns and human rights.
Saeb Erakat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, called the decision "a black day for human rights," charging that "Israel has approved collective punishment in principle."
Amnesty International contended that "unlawful forcible transfer" of Palestinians under Israeli occupation constituted a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and violated the right to a fair trial.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/international/middleeast/04CND-MIDE.html
"They drove us for about 20 minutes," Intissar Ajuri said at a news conference in Gaza City. "Suddenly they took us out of the tanks and freed our hands and we found ourselves in the middle of a farm planted with figs and grapes."
"We walked until we saw a farmer," she added. "We asked him where we are. He told us that we are in a very dangerous place where four Palestinians were killed last week. The farmer told us, `Hurry, hurry before they shoot you. "
She called the expulsion a "crime."
The nine-judge Israeli panel ruled unanimously on Tuesday that expulsion of militants' relatives to Gaza did not violate international law, but that the measure could be used only against people who posed a security threat, not as a general deterrent.
Struggling to halt Palestinian suicide attacks, Israel decided in July to expel relatives of suicide bombers and other militants in the West Bank to the Gaza Strip if they were found to be involved in the militants' activities.
Tuesday's ruling was the first court test of the new tactic, raising questions about the proper balance between security concerns and human rights.
Saeb Erakat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, called the decision "a black day for human rights," charging that "Israel has approved collective punishment in principle."
Amnesty International contended that "unlawful forcible transfer" of Palestinians under Israeli occupation constituted a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and violated the right to a fair trial.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/international/middleeast/04CND-MIDE.html
Tuesday, September 03, 2002
SearchDay - Battling Information Overload - 21 August 2002
In case you were in any doubt that we're inundated with data, consider the study conducted in 2000 by the School of Information Management and Systems of the University of California, Berkeley. "How Much Information" found that we produce 1.5 billion gigabytes of content a year. And a delightful article from Inc. magazine claims that people spend 150 hours a year looking for lost information and that 45% of people watch TV and use PCs simultaneously. No wonder we're overwhelmed!
Searchers can fight information overload in two ways -- at the source and with tools and techniques that cut down on the amount of information we wade through.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/02/sd0821-infoglut.html
In case you were in any doubt that we're inundated with data, consider the study conducted in 2000 by the School of Information Management and Systems of the University of California, Berkeley. "How Much Information" found that we produce 1.5 billion gigabytes of content a year. And a delightful article from Inc. magazine claims that people spend 150 hours a year looking for lost information and that 45% of people watch TV and use PCs simultaneously. No wonder we're overwhelmed!
Searchers can fight information overload in two ways -- at the source and with tools and techniques that cut down on the amount of information we wade through.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/02/sd0821-infoglut.html
SearchDay - Why Search Engines Fail - 29 August 2002
Two major research studies stress-tested web site search engines around the world, analyzing search failures and offering important insights for dramatically improving search usability.
Key findings from the study:
- 74% of test searches were unsuccessful.
- Sites were best at handling multiple word queries, though worst at coping with ordinary language queries.
- E-Commerce sites offered the worst relevance among corporate, government and media sites, although:
- Public sector sites were worst at overall search usability.
The most significant conclusion from the study was that most sites force users to interact with the search tool in an unintuitive, precise way -- in other words, users can only search successfully if they already know the answer to the question they are asking!
The second study was performed by Mondosoft, a search engine company based in Denmark, that analyzed its own customers' search patterns. The scope of this project was huge: More than 57 million queries across a wide range of both North American and European customers, including both broad public portals and narrow verticals. The findings are both significant and well-supported by the amount of data gathered.
Unlike the Infonic study, Mondosoft found that about 60% of all searches were successful, but the results included a range from 30% to 90% among different sites. Other key findings:
- The average search session lasted 1:50 minutes, ranging from 48 seconds to four and a half minutes.
- Only 1 in 20 visitors will scroll to the second page of search results.
- 22% of searches produce no results.
- 52% of all queries are single word; only 12% are three or more words.
- There is no significant difference in user behavior in North American or European web sites.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/02/sd0829-search-failure.html
Two major research studies stress-tested web site search engines around the world, analyzing search failures and offering important insights for dramatically improving search usability.
Key findings from the study:
- 74% of test searches were unsuccessful.
- Sites were best at handling multiple word queries, though worst at coping with ordinary language queries.
- E-Commerce sites offered the worst relevance among corporate, government and media sites, although:
- Public sector sites were worst at overall search usability.
The most significant conclusion from the study was that most sites force users to interact with the search tool in an unintuitive, precise way -- in other words, users can only search successfully if they already know the answer to the question they are asking!
The second study was performed by Mondosoft, a search engine company based in Denmark, that analyzed its own customers' search patterns. The scope of this project was huge: More than 57 million queries across a wide range of both North American and European customers, including both broad public portals and narrow verticals. The findings are both significant and well-supported by the amount of data gathered.
Unlike the Infonic study, Mondosoft found that about 60% of all searches were successful, but the results included a range from 30% to 90% among different sites. Other key findings:
- The average search session lasted 1:50 minutes, ranging from 48 seconds to four and a half minutes.
- Only 1 in 20 visitors will scroll to the second page of search results.
- 22% of searches produce no results.
- 52% of all queries are single word; only 12% are three or more words.
- There is no significant difference in user behavior in North American or European web sites.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/02/sd0829-search-failure.html
The Search Engine Report, Sept. 3, 2002, Number 70
In This Issue
Search Engine Strategies Comes To Munich
Google: Can The Marsha Brady Of Search Stay Sweet?
Inktomi Increases Size, Introduces Anti-Proximity
German Search Engine Resources
Terra Lycos To Launch Paid Placement Network
Search Engine Resources
SearchDay Articles
Search Engine Articles Review
List Info (Subscribing/Unsubscribing)
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/current.html
In This Issue
Search Engine Strategies Comes To Munich
Google: Can The Marsha Brady Of Search Stay Sweet?
Inktomi Increases Size, Introduces Anti-Proximity
German Search Engine Resources
Terra Lycos To Launch Paid Placement Network
Search Engine Resources
SearchDay Articles
Search Engine Articles Review
List Info (Subscribing/Unsubscribing)
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/current.html
Israeli Court Approves Expelling Two Palestinians
Israel's Supreme Court approved on Tuesday the expulsion to Gaza of two West Bank Palestinians accused of assisting their brother with a suicide bombing, a ruling Palestinians called a blow to human rights.
But in what Israeli legal experts described as a setback to the military, the court's landmark decision set limits on internationally condemned plans to expel families of Palestinian militants as a deterrent to future attackers.
The nine-judge panel ruled unanimously that a militant's relative could not be expelled solely on the basis of family ties but had to pose a security risk, even if the army believed deportation could dissuade others from mounting attacks.
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called the decision, marking the first time in a decade Israel is invoking an expulsion policy, a ``black day for human rights.''
Amnesty International said in a statement after the ruling that the ``unlawful and forcible transfer'' of Palestinians under Israeli occupation was a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
``Under the Rome Statute such violations may also constitute crimes against humanity,'' the London-based rights group said.
Leah Tzemel, an Israeli lawyer for the Ajouri siblings and a human rights campaigner, saw a silver lining in the decision.
``The court ruled with a loud voice that deterrence cannot be a cause to take steps. This is a very, very positive point,'' she told Israel Radio.
But Erekat told Reuters: ``Israel has approved in principle the concept of collective punishment.''
``There is absolutely no cause for celebration by the security forces,'' legal analyst Moshe Negbi told Israel Radio. ``The court basically said in a clear and decisive way that you cannot harm the rights of an innocent person who is not a terrorist.
Israel used expulsion tactics in the first Palestinian uprising, from 1987 to 1993, banishing 415 suspected Islamic militants to Lebanon, a move that did little to quell anti-Israeli violence. Most returned to the Gaza Strip and West Bank within a year of their 1992 expulsion.
Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior official in the militant Islamic group Hamas, said the deportation ruling was a ``grave escalation'' which ``will be met by an escalation in the Palestinian resistance.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Israel's Supreme Court approved on Tuesday the expulsion to Gaza of two West Bank Palestinians accused of assisting their brother with a suicide bombing, a ruling Palestinians called a blow to human rights.
But in what Israeli legal experts described as a setback to the military, the court's landmark decision set limits on internationally condemned plans to expel families of Palestinian militants as a deterrent to future attackers.
The nine-judge panel ruled unanimously that a militant's relative could not be expelled solely on the basis of family ties but had to pose a security risk, even if the army believed deportation could dissuade others from mounting attacks.
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called the decision, marking the first time in a decade Israel is invoking an expulsion policy, a ``black day for human rights.''
Amnesty International said in a statement after the ruling that the ``unlawful and forcible transfer'' of Palestinians under Israeli occupation was a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
``Under the Rome Statute such violations may also constitute crimes against humanity,'' the London-based rights group said.
Leah Tzemel, an Israeli lawyer for the Ajouri siblings and a human rights campaigner, saw a silver lining in the decision.
``The court ruled with a loud voice that deterrence cannot be a cause to take steps. This is a very, very positive point,'' she told Israel Radio.
But Erekat told Reuters: ``Israel has approved in principle the concept of collective punishment.''
``There is absolutely no cause for celebration by the security forces,'' legal analyst Moshe Negbi told Israel Radio. ``The court basically said in a clear and decisive way that you cannot harm the rights of an innocent person who is not a terrorist.
Israel used expulsion tactics in the first Palestinian uprising, from 1987 to 1993, banishing 415 suspected Islamic militants to Lebanon, a move that did little to quell anti-Israeli violence. Most returned to the Gaza Strip and West Bank within a year of their 1992 expulsion.
Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior official in the militant Islamic group Hamas, said the deportation ruling was a ``grave escalation'' which ``will be met by an escalation in the Palestinian resistance.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
ZDNet: Tech Update: Enterprise Applications / Simulation may be the
e-learning "killer app"
Simulation software has been used in equipment service and military applications since the 1980s. Now it is poised to become a mainstream corporate application through e-learning.
What you need to know
Simulation-enabled content can revolutionize learning and accelerate the transfer and application of knowledge. Enterprises should leverage the scalability and immersion characteristics of simulations to accelerate time to competency and depth of competency. By 2006, 70 percent of all off-the-shelf and custom e-learning content will include some application of simulations (0.8 probability).
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2878649,00.html
e-learning "killer app"
Simulation software has been used in equipment service and military applications since the 1980s. Now it is poised to become a mainstream corporate application through e-learning.
What you need to know
Simulation-enabled content can revolutionize learning and accelerate the transfer and application of knowledge. Enterprises should leverage the scalability and immersion characteristics of simulations to accelerate time to competency and depth of competency. By 2006, 70 percent of all off-the-shelf and custom e-learning content will include some application of simulations (0.8 probability).
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2878649,00.html
News: Compatibility drives down PC costs
Why does software cost so much? Software vendors--and I'm not just talking about Microsoft here--will tell you it is because R&D costs so much. Well R&D does, but Microsoft didn't save up $40 billion of cash in the bank by pumping all its software revenues into research, and something tells me the money didn't all come from sales of keyboards, mice and SideWinder joysticks.
Software costs so much because of file formats. Most big software companies out there grew on the back of proprietary (read 'incompatible') file formats that forced you first of all to buy their products and once you had bought them to follow the annual upgrade cycle. And as more companies bought the software of one particular vendor, so more people had to buy that software if their files were to be read. If it were any other industry it would sound bizarre, but I have heard of government departments in one country demanding that all correspondence must be sent in a particular file format if it is even to be opened.
And of course not only did you have to buy the software, but as your business associates upgraded, so you had to upgrade. Ten years ago it was WordPerfect. Today it's Word. It's all the same, but it's changing thanks in part to XML.
In XML, word processors call a spade a spade and every other word processor knows what it means--no more of the weird non-ASCII characters that fill proprietary file formats (and which you can see if you open a Word--or WordPerfect--file in Notepad).
Now WordPerfect can read Word files, StarOffice can read WordPerfect files, SmartSuite can read StarOffice files, and... you get the idea. The important thing is that compatibility brings us three very important things: competition, choice and freedom from the upgrade treadmill.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-955935.html
Why does software cost so much? Software vendors--and I'm not just talking about Microsoft here--will tell you it is because R&D costs so much. Well R&D does, but Microsoft didn't save up $40 billion of cash in the bank by pumping all its software revenues into research, and something tells me the money didn't all come from sales of keyboards, mice and SideWinder joysticks.
Software costs so much because of file formats. Most big software companies out there grew on the back of proprietary (read 'incompatible') file formats that forced you first of all to buy their products and once you had bought them to follow the annual upgrade cycle. And as more companies bought the software of one particular vendor, so more people had to buy that software if their files were to be read. If it were any other industry it would sound bizarre, but I have heard of government departments in one country demanding that all correspondence must be sent in a particular file format if it is even to be opened.
And of course not only did you have to buy the software, but as your business associates upgraded, so you had to upgrade. Ten years ago it was WordPerfect. Today it's Word. It's all the same, but it's changing thanks in part to XML.
In XML, word processors call a spade a spade and every other word processor knows what it means--no more of the weird non-ASCII characters that fill proprietary file formats (and which you can see if you open a Word--or WordPerfect--file in Notepad).
Now WordPerfect can read Word files, StarOffice can read WordPerfect files, SmartSuite can read StarOffice files, and... you get the idea. The important thing is that compatibility brings us three very important things: competition, choice and freedom from the upgrade treadmill.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-955935.html
News: Music business on a collision course
Starting with the assault on Napster and continuing to the present day, the people running the big studios have treated this dispute as the moral equivalent of war. All the while, they have refused to budge from the party line that digital file swapping is theft. It is a position that, by definition, puts compromise beyond the pale. (After all, how can you treat with common criminals?)
But treating this as a zero-sum game, where there is one winner and one loser, hasn't brought the music industry any closer to final victory. Illegal digital downloading is more rampant than ever. So how does the industry respond? It sics the lawyers on individual users accused of facilitating the sharing of digital music.
Oh yeah, as if that's going to help.
The truth is, it will only reinforce the impression that the music business is run by a clique of clueless prima donnas out of touch with the new reality that is the Internet.
They may be able to keep it up for a while, but then what? The legacy of baseball's own greed has come back to haunt the owners, with power shifting from owners toward the players. For baseball, free agency was the catalyst; for music consumers, it's going to be peer-to-peer technologies.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-956056.html
Starting with the assault on Napster and continuing to the present day, the people running the big studios have treated this dispute as the moral equivalent of war. All the while, they have refused to budge from the party line that digital file swapping is theft. It is a position that, by definition, puts compromise beyond the pale. (After all, how can you treat with common criminals?)
But treating this as a zero-sum game, where there is one winner and one loser, hasn't brought the music industry any closer to final victory. Illegal digital downloading is more rampant than ever. So how does the industry respond? It sics the lawyers on individual users accused of facilitating the sharing of digital music.
Oh yeah, as if that's going to help.
The truth is, it will only reinforce the impression that the music business is run by a clique of clueless prima donnas out of touch with the new reality that is the Internet.
They may be able to keep it up for a while, but then what? The legacy of baseball's own greed has come back to haunt the owners, with power shifting from owners toward the players. For baseball, free agency was the catalyst; for music consumers, it's going to be peer-to-peer technologies.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-956056.html
For Arab Informers, Death; For the Executioners, Justice
"My daughter made a mistake," she said. "My daughter fell into the trap of my brother. My daughter was cheated by her uncle. My daughter was an informer. Everybody looks at us in a different way. I want to turn the page. I want a decent life."
As Muyasar Ibrahim ranted on, her other children, ranging from a toddler to a young man, huddled anxiously around her at the entrance to their three-room hovel at the end of an alley. They alternately urged visitors to leave and glanced fearfully at a clutch of Palestinian youths laughing and watching from the alley.
On Friday, the 43-year-old woman's 17-year-old daughter, Rajah Ibrahim, was shot dead as a collaborator by members of the militant Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Six days earlier, Ms. Ibrahim's sister, 35-year-old Ikhklas Khouli, was similarly killed. Six months earlier, Ms. Ibrahim's husband was executed.
In the street, there was no pity, no doubt that justice had been done.
Collaboration has always ranked as a heinous crime among the Palestinians. Dozens of men have been killed as collaborators, often publicly. Ms. Khouli and Ms. Ibrahim, however, had the distinction of being the first women executed in the current uprising, and their deaths attracted considerable attention.
The band of neighborhood boys happily led reporters to show them Ms. Khouli's similarly meager home a block away — or at least its remains. After she was killed, the family moved in with her daughter's husband in a village a few miles away, and two days later the home was burned down. Now a broken door and a few charred mattresses litter the darkened rooms.
"We don't want them to come back," explained an 18-year-old who gave his name as Mahmoud.
"They should have hanged them in front of everybody," shouted another youth. "She deserved it."
In a videotaped confession Ms. Khouli made before she was shot, in all the accounts given in the streets and in a furtive interview with members of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the story was that the women had been working for Ali Yassin, the brother of the two women. A "well known" collaborator, as people described him, he had fled to Israel and now worked with the Israelis.
Some said he had threatened the women, others that he gave them money. But the consensus was that he had recruited them — one to use her many children to report on the movements of Palestinian militants, the other to plant a bomb.
In an unusual move, a spokesman for the Brigades agreed to an interview. Everybody was talking about the executions, he said, and he wanted to explain.
After a furtive meeting in the open street, during which the man and a clutch of his comrades repeatedly glanced in all directions and made calls on their cellphones, he led reporters to an apartment hung with posters of Aksa "martyrs," who had been killed in clashes with Israel. An AK-47 assault rifle hung over one.
The most prominent poster was of Raed al-Karmi, a 27-year-old leader of the group in Tulkarm who was killed by a hidden bomb in January. Many Palestinians, and some Israelis, say his death broke an informal cease-fire that had been in force for several weeks, and prompted Al Aksa, an offshoot of Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement, to begin carrying out attacks inside Israel, which until then had been largely the work of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
To the Israeli Army, Mr. Karmi was a terrorist, whom they had already tried to kill in September. In Tulkarm, he has been a folk hero, a warrior to whom songs were composed, who commanded fierce loyalty in the streets.
Rajah Ibrahim, the man explained, had been responsible for bringing in the bombs that killed Mr. Karmi and for burying them at a spot he often passed. Before the uprising, most of the men in Tulkarm worked in Israel, which is right outside the town. Most of them were barred from entering Israel, but women — including Ms. Ibrahim, a seamstress — were still allowed to cross.
"While in Israel, Rajah was recruited by her uncle," said the spokesman, a burly man who would not give his name. "She met with two Israeli officers and her uncle at the checkpoint, with two other girls, who are now in Israel, who are known to us. They gave her two bags, a black one and a red one. One of the girls led her to the place where she should put the bomb, and the other helped her dig a hole for it. Her brother kept an eye out."
The militants in Tulkarm were wary of men coming back, but nobody noted a girl carrying bags. "It came as a big surprise to us to realize that Israeli intelligence started using Palestinian women and girls in certain missions," the man said.
"To be honest, the girl didn't know what she was doing," he said. "She was promised a better job, more money. She knew it was a bomb, but not for whom. She didn't ask why."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/international/middleeast/02PALE.html
"My daughter made a mistake," she said. "My daughter fell into the trap of my brother. My daughter was cheated by her uncle. My daughter was an informer. Everybody looks at us in a different way. I want to turn the page. I want a decent life."
As Muyasar Ibrahim ranted on, her other children, ranging from a toddler to a young man, huddled anxiously around her at the entrance to their three-room hovel at the end of an alley. They alternately urged visitors to leave and glanced fearfully at a clutch of Palestinian youths laughing and watching from the alley.
On Friday, the 43-year-old woman's 17-year-old daughter, Rajah Ibrahim, was shot dead as a collaborator by members of the militant Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Six days earlier, Ms. Ibrahim's sister, 35-year-old Ikhklas Khouli, was similarly killed. Six months earlier, Ms. Ibrahim's husband was executed.
In the street, there was no pity, no doubt that justice had been done.
Collaboration has always ranked as a heinous crime among the Palestinians. Dozens of men have been killed as collaborators, often publicly. Ms. Khouli and Ms. Ibrahim, however, had the distinction of being the first women executed in the current uprising, and their deaths attracted considerable attention.
The band of neighborhood boys happily led reporters to show them Ms. Khouli's similarly meager home a block away — or at least its remains. After she was killed, the family moved in with her daughter's husband in a village a few miles away, and two days later the home was burned down. Now a broken door and a few charred mattresses litter the darkened rooms.
"We don't want them to come back," explained an 18-year-old who gave his name as Mahmoud.
"They should have hanged them in front of everybody," shouted another youth. "She deserved it."
In a videotaped confession Ms. Khouli made before she was shot, in all the accounts given in the streets and in a furtive interview with members of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the story was that the women had been working for Ali Yassin, the brother of the two women. A "well known" collaborator, as people described him, he had fled to Israel and now worked with the Israelis.
Some said he had threatened the women, others that he gave them money. But the consensus was that he had recruited them — one to use her many children to report on the movements of Palestinian militants, the other to plant a bomb.
In an unusual move, a spokesman for the Brigades agreed to an interview. Everybody was talking about the executions, he said, and he wanted to explain.
After a furtive meeting in the open street, during which the man and a clutch of his comrades repeatedly glanced in all directions and made calls on their cellphones, he led reporters to an apartment hung with posters of Aksa "martyrs," who had been killed in clashes with Israel. An AK-47 assault rifle hung over one.
The most prominent poster was of Raed al-Karmi, a 27-year-old leader of the group in Tulkarm who was killed by a hidden bomb in January. Many Palestinians, and some Israelis, say his death broke an informal cease-fire that had been in force for several weeks, and prompted Al Aksa, an offshoot of Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement, to begin carrying out attacks inside Israel, which until then had been largely the work of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
To the Israeli Army, Mr. Karmi was a terrorist, whom they had already tried to kill in September. In Tulkarm, he has been a folk hero, a warrior to whom songs were composed, who commanded fierce loyalty in the streets.
Rajah Ibrahim, the man explained, had been responsible for bringing in the bombs that killed Mr. Karmi and for burying them at a spot he often passed. Before the uprising, most of the men in Tulkarm worked in Israel, which is right outside the town. Most of them were barred from entering Israel, but women — including Ms. Ibrahim, a seamstress — were still allowed to cross.
"While in Israel, Rajah was recruited by her uncle," said the spokesman, a burly man who would not give his name. "She met with two Israeli officers and her uncle at the checkpoint, with two other girls, who are now in Israel, who are known to us. They gave her two bags, a black one and a red one. One of the girls led her to the place where she should put the bomb, and the other helped her dig a hole for it. Her brother kept an eye out."
The militants in Tulkarm were wary of men coming back, but nobody noted a girl carrying bags. "It came as a big surprise to us to realize that Israeli intelligence started using Palestinian women and girls in certain missions," the man said.
"To be honest, the girl didn't know what she was doing," he said. "She was promised a better job, more money. She knew it was a bomb, but not for whom. She didn't ask why."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/international/middleeast/02PALE.html
Deaths of Arab Civilians Prompt Israeli Inquiry
The mangled hulk of a car rested by the side of a road in this village today near the spot where 6-year-old Bahira Daraghmeh was killed on Saturday as she walked out of a store with a new ruler after her first day in school.
An Israeli helicopter missile attack on the car, which carried two Palestinian militants, killed the first-grader, her 14-year-old cousin, who was also out on the street, and two other teenagers riding in the vehicle. The man who was the apparent target of the strike was wounded but escaped, and the second militant was killed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/international/middleeast/02MIDE.htmlToday, four more Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli troops near Hebron under disputed circumstances. Last Wednesday, a Palestinian mother, her two sons and a relative were killed by Israeli tank shelling in the Gaza Strip.
The rash of killings of civilians raised questions in Israel today about whether restraints are slipping among troops after nearly two years of deadly conflict with the Palestinians. There was also concern that the recurrent civilian deaths could provoke lethal revenge attacks in Israel after a nearly monthlong lull.
"Matters have to be thoroughly checked, and if the army finds that soldiers are trigger-happy, then it will certainly draw the necessary conclusions," President Moshe Katzav said.
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer directed the army's chief of staff to set up a team headed by a general to examine the civilian deaths and to recommend ways to avoid such episodes, his spokesman said.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that the number of recent lethal incidents was "pretty worrisome." Haim Ramon, the leader of Parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, asserted that the killings of innocents would only swell the ranks of those attacking Israel.
Some critics pointed to interviews in which the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, and the commander of the air force, Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz, suggested that civilian casualties were acceptable when attacking Palestinian militants responsible for deadly attacks on Israelis.
General Yaalon told the newspaper Haaretz that the army estimated that civilians would be wounded in the bombing of a house in a crowded Gaza neighborhood in July, where the target was a leader of the militant group Hamas. "Wounded, not killed," he said. The one-ton bomb killed the militant, Sheik Salah Shehada, along with 14 other people, 9 of them children.
General Halutz, in a separate Haaretz interview, said that he "sleeps soundly at night" after the Gaza bombing. "Is there a situation in which it is legitimate to hit a terrorist when you know that it will carry the price of harming civilians?" he asked. "The answer is affirmative.
In Tubas today, relatives of the young cousins killed in the Israeli attack said that it was terrorism because it was carried out in a residential area. "Because of one person they were after, they made everyone fair game," said Ghaleb Daraghmeh, an uncle of the dead girl.
It was not the first time bystanders had died in a targeted Israeli killing of Palestinian militants. In 80 such killings since the start of the Palestinian uprising, 36 bystanders have been killed, according to the Israeli human rights group B'tselem.
The mangled hulk of a car rested by the side of a road in this village today near the spot where 6-year-old Bahira Daraghmeh was killed on Saturday as she walked out of a store with a new ruler after her first day in school.
An Israeli helicopter missile attack on the car, which carried two Palestinian militants, killed the first-grader, her 14-year-old cousin, who was also out on the street, and two other teenagers riding in the vehicle. The man who was the apparent target of the strike was wounded but escaped, and the second militant was killed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/international/middleeast/02MIDE.htmlToday, four more Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli troops near Hebron under disputed circumstances. Last Wednesday, a Palestinian mother, her two sons and a relative were killed by Israeli tank shelling in the Gaza Strip.
The rash of killings of civilians raised questions in Israel today about whether restraints are slipping among troops after nearly two years of deadly conflict with the Palestinians. There was also concern that the recurrent civilian deaths could provoke lethal revenge attacks in Israel after a nearly monthlong lull.
"Matters have to be thoroughly checked, and if the army finds that soldiers are trigger-happy, then it will certainly draw the necessary conclusions," President Moshe Katzav said.
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer directed the army's chief of staff to set up a team headed by a general to examine the civilian deaths and to recommend ways to avoid such episodes, his spokesman said.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that the number of recent lethal incidents was "pretty worrisome." Haim Ramon, the leader of Parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, asserted that the killings of innocents would only swell the ranks of those attacking Israel.
Some critics pointed to interviews in which the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, and the commander of the air force, Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz, suggested that civilian casualties were acceptable when attacking Palestinian militants responsible for deadly attacks on Israelis.
General Yaalon told the newspaper Haaretz that the army estimated that civilians would be wounded in the bombing of a house in a crowded Gaza neighborhood in July, where the target was a leader of the militant group Hamas. "Wounded, not killed," he said. The one-ton bomb killed the militant, Sheik Salah Shehada, along with 14 other people, 9 of them children.
General Halutz, in a separate Haaretz interview, said that he "sleeps soundly at night" after the Gaza bombing. "Is there a situation in which it is legitimate to hit a terrorist when you know that it will carry the price of harming civilians?" he asked. "The answer is affirmative.
In Tubas today, relatives of the young cousins killed in the Israeli attack said that it was terrorism because it was carried out in a residential area. "Because of one person they were after, they made everyone fair game," said Ghaleb Daraghmeh, an uncle of the dead girl.
It was not the first time bystanders had died in a targeted Israeli killing of Palestinian militants. In 80 such killings since the start of the Palestinian uprising, 36 bystanders have been killed, according to the Israeli human rights group B'tselem.
Sunday, September 01, 2002
The Truth About Confessions
The idea that one can confess to a crime one didn't commit seems bizarre. Confession is the most personal of statements. It is supposed to express the intimate truth of the individual, to reveal his lived experience and "inner dispositions," as Rousseau put it in his "Confessions." This truth, these dispositions, are obscure, shifting, illusive; most confessions are laden with unintended meanings.
In a legal context, a confession has for centuries been considered the "queen of proofs," the most probative evidence one can have. And when courts in the United States have a signed confession from a suspect, they rarely question it. It's enough to convict, or to arrange a plea bargain without further ado.
And yet it's clear that people do make false confessions. The use of DNA testing by groups like the Innocence Project has now exonerated 110 convicted felons, a number of whom gave false confessions. Other false confessions have been exposed by vigorous lawyering and the work of psychologists. There is no way to guess how many convictions in the past were based on false confessions.
Eddie Joe Lloyd was in a mental hospital at the time he was interrogated by the police. A number of the false confessions that have been brought to light come from persons with mental disturbances, with low I.Q. levels, or from minors. But it would be wrong to conclude that only those not wholly in command of their faculties make false confessions. The range of normal psychological functioning is broad, and it includes many persons who can be made to confess to things they didn't do. The human psyche is a fragile and still mysterious thing; subject to certain pressures, it can crack.
How can one make a false confession, absent torture or other physical abuse? Perhaps because the falseness of the "facts" confessed to has less importance during the interrogation than the need to confess in order to propitiate your interrogators. They have locked you in a room, and they tell you the only key to your release is your confession. They claim to know you are guilty, and want merely to seek confirmation of how you did the crime. They tell you things will go more easily for you if you confess.
Interrogators understand that their main obstacle is a suspect's silence. If they can convince the suspect to talk, once he begins there's a good chance they can shape his story. In most human beings there are more than enough guilty feelings to go around, and pressures to confess those feelings. Confessions speak of guilt, but they don't necessarily name the guilt, the relevant crime. Suspects who confess falsely accept the story told by their interrogators because they have lost confidence in their own recollections or reached such despair that they will say anything to make the questioning stop. As the psychoanalyst Theodore Reik noted in "The Compulsion to Confess," confession is often not an end in itself, but rather the means of an appeal to parents or authority figures for absolution and affection.
Police interrogators are authority figures with a vengeance. They can use the consolatory model of religious confession, implying that absolution will come from making a clean breast of things, leading to a reintegration with the community from which the suspect is now wholly severed. Courts have played along, permitting them to use all sorts of ruses, including outright lies — claiming "proof" of guilt from fabricated polygraph tests, false eyewitness reports, false findings of fingerprints, hair, blood or semen at the crime scene.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/opinion/01BROO.html
The idea that one can confess to a crime one didn't commit seems bizarre. Confession is the most personal of statements. It is supposed to express the intimate truth of the individual, to reveal his lived experience and "inner dispositions," as Rousseau put it in his "Confessions." This truth, these dispositions, are obscure, shifting, illusive; most confessions are laden with unintended meanings.
In a legal context, a confession has for centuries been considered the "queen of proofs," the most probative evidence one can have. And when courts in the United States have a signed confession from a suspect, they rarely question it. It's enough to convict, or to arrange a plea bargain without further ado.
And yet it's clear that people do make false confessions. The use of DNA testing by groups like the Innocence Project has now exonerated 110 convicted felons, a number of whom gave false confessions. Other false confessions have been exposed by vigorous lawyering and the work of psychologists. There is no way to guess how many convictions in the past were based on false confessions.
Eddie Joe Lloyd was in a mental hospital at the time he was interrogated by the police. A number of the false confessions that have been brought to light come from persons with mental disturbances, with low I.Q. levels, or from minors. But it would be wrong to conclude that only those not wholly in command of their faculties make false confessions. The range of normal psychological functioning is broad, and it includes many persons who can be made to confess to things they didn't do. The human psyche is a fragile and still mysterious thing; subject to certain pressures, it can crack.
How can one make a false confession, absent torture or other physical abuse? Perhaps because the falseness of the "facts" confessed to has less importance during the interrogation than the need to confess in order to propitiate your interrogators. They have locked you in a room, and they tell you the only key to your release is your confession. They claim to know you are guilty, and want merely to seek confirmation of how you did the crime. They tell you things will go more easily for you if you confess.
Interrogators understand that their main obstacle is a suspect's silence. If they can convince the suspect to talk, once he begins there's a good chance they can shape his story. In most human beings there are more than enough guilty feelings to go around, and pressures to confess those feelings. Confessions speak of guilt, but they don't necessarily name the guilt, the relevant crime. Suspects who confess falsely accept the story told by their interrogators because they have lost confidence in their own recollections or reached such despair that they will say anything to make the questioning stop. As the psychoanalyst Theodore Reik noted in "The Compulsion to Confess," confession is often not an end in itself, but rather the means of an appeal to parents or authority figures for absolution and affection.
Police interrogators are authority figures with a vengeance. They can use the consolatory model of religious confession, implying that absolution will come from making a clean breast of things, leading to a reintegration with the community from which the suspect is now wholly severed. Courts have played along, permitting them to use all sorts of ruses, including outright lies — claiming "proof" of guilt from fabricated polygraph tests, false eyewitness reports, false findings of fingerprints, hair, blood or semen at the crime scene.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/opinion/01BROO.html
Israeli President Seeks Probe Into Palestinian Deaths
Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians over the weekend, including two children in a helicopter raid, which led Israel's president on Sunday to call for an investigation into whether the army was ``trigger-happy.''
The violence also appeared to cloud prospects for the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian security talks on initial steps toward a truce in nearly two years of bloodshed.
In what Palestinians described as the killing of innocent quarry workers, Israeli soldiers outside the West Bank city of Hebron shot dead four Palestinians on Sunday.
An army spokesman said soldiers opened fire at the men after they had broken into a fenced-in agricultural area run by Jewish settlers, fearing a potential attack. The army said the men were carrying axes, clubs and wirecutters.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers entered Jenin refugee camp and killed Abdel-Kareem al-Saadeh after gunmen fired at them, Palestinian sources said. The Islamic Jihad group said the youth was one of their fighters.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat blasted Israel for the latest killings and accused its government of a deliberate policy to derail fragile efforts at a cease-fire.
``What happened is not a massacre, but massacres, with an Israeli decision from the highest military and political levels to end the peace process,'' Arafat told reporters.
Israeli President Moshe Katzav, a former right-wing Likud party lawmaker who now holds a largely ceremonial position, said during a visit to an Israeli Arab school that it was imperative the army examine its tactics following two strikes in the last week which killed several Palestinian civilians.
``The claim as to whether the (army) was trigger-happy must be examined,'' he said. ``If the army reaches the conclusion that this was the case, it will decide what to do -- but it would be hasty to draw conclusions now.''
Palestinians expressed anger at the latest deaths.
``All talks with the Israeli side should be suspended after all these massacres,'' Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians over the weekend, including two children in a helicopter raid, which led Israel's president on Sunday to call for an investigation into whether the army was ``trigger-happy.''
The violence also appeared to cloud prospects for the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian security talks on initial steps toward a truce in nearly two years of bloodshed.
In what Palestinians described as the killing of innocent quarry workers, Israeli soldiers outside the West Bank city of Hebron shot dead four Palestinians on Sunday.
An army spokesman said soldiers opened fire at the men after they had broken into a fenced-in agricultural area run by Jewish settlers, fearing a potential attack. The army said the men were carrying axes, clubs and wirecutters.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers entered Jenin refugee camp and killed Abdel-Kareem al-Saadeh after gunmen fired at them, Palestinian sources said. The Islamic Jihad group said the youth was one of their fighters.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat blasted Israel for the latest killings and accused its government of a deliberate policy to derail fragile efforts at a cease-fire.
``What happened is not a massacre, but massacres, with an Israeli decision from the highest military and political levels to end the peace process,'' Arafat told reporters.
Israeli President Moshe Katzav, a former right-wing Likud party lawmaker who now holds a largely ceremonial position, said during a visit to an Israeli Arab school that it was imperative the army examine its tactics following two strikes in the last week which killed several Palestinian civilians.
``The claim as to whether the (army) was trigger-happy must be examined,'' he said. ``If the army reaches the conclusion that this was the case, it will decide what to do -- but it would be hasty to draw conclusions now.''
Palestinians expressed anger at the latest deaths.
``All talks with the Israeli side should be suspended after all these massacres,'' Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
Civilian Palestinian Deaths Prompt Israeli Apologies
Israeli soldiers, saying they had been warned of an attack, shot and killed four Palestinians near a Jewish settlement's vineyard in the West Bank on Sunday. The shootings brought the weekend Palestinian death toll to 11, including two children and several other civilians.
Senior Israeli officials apologized for the loss of civilian lives, while Palestinians and some Israelis charged the army has lost its sense of restraint in its drive to crush the Palestinian uprising.
``Our hearts are full of sorrow,'' said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. He called the civilian deaths ``very regrettable'' and said he was sure military officials ``will take every necessary step to prevent it from happening again.''
The army said the four Palestinians killed Sunday were trying to cut through a fence near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, outside Hebron. It said its soldiers had been warned that four Palestinians would attempt an attack in the area and opened fire when they saw the men. The four were killed near the settlement's vineyard, settlers and Palestinan witnesses said.
But Palestinian witnesses said the men were laborers in a nearby stone quarry who were shot without provocation.
Mohammed Manassa, a Palestinian who lives in the area, said he saw Israeli soldiers taking the men from the quarry and leading them down a hill. ``I heard shooting from about 200 meters (yards) away. I heard screams of pain and then it became quiet,'' Manassa said.
The army said it was checking claims the men were led away.
Israel has said the loss of civilian life is an unintended consequence of its campaign to stop suicide bombings. But some are asking if there has been a change in military policy giving soldiers more leeway when deciding whether to shoot.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo called for an end to recent talks with the Israelis that have included a tentative agreement envisioning Israeli pullbacks in the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for Palestinian assurances against terror.
``After each meeting with the Israelis a new massacre happens somewhere in the Palestinian territories,'' he said
The weekend violence came after Israeli tank fire killed four Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday -- a mother, her two sons and an uncle.
Speaking at a ceremony at the foreign ministry, Foreign Minister Peres insisted, ``We are not trigger happy.''
But Haim Ramon, a lawmaker from Peres' center-left Labor party, said he wants to know if there has been a change in the army's rules of engagement ``in the direction of leniency toward the finger that squeezed the trigger.''
He said the killing of innocent people threatens Israeli security because it ``damages our international standing'' and ``brings into the cycle of terrorism more people who did not previously intend to join it.''
Israeli newspaper columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily that the tentative contacts with the Palestinians should be given a chance to bear fruit.
``What is the use of heating things up by means of proactive military operations?'' he wrote. ``The Palestinians will respond with a wave of terror attacks.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html
Israeli soldiers, saying they had been warned of an attack, shot and killed four Palestinians near a Jewish settlement's vineyard in the West Bank on Sunday. The shootings brought the weekend Palestinian death toll to 11, including two children and several other civilians.
Senior Israeli officials apologized for the loss of civilian lives, while Palestinians and some Israelis charged the army has lost its sense of restraint in its drive to crush the Palestinian uprising.
``Our hearts are full of sorrow,'' said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. He called the civilian deaths ``very regrettable'' and said he was sure military officials ``will take every necessary step to prevent it from happening again.''
The army said the four Palestinians killed Sunday were trying to cut through a fence near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, outside Hebron. It said its soldiers had been warned that four Palestinians would attempt an attack in the area and opened fire when they saw the men. The four were killed near the settlement's vineyard, settlers and Palestinan witnesses said.
But Palestinian witnesses said the men were laborers in a nearby stone quarry who were shot without provocation.
Mohammed Manassa, a Palestinian who lives in the area, said he saw Israeli soldiers taking the men from the quarry and leading them down a hill. ``I heard shooting from about 200 meters (yards) away. I heard screams of pain and then it became quiet,'' Manassa said.
The army said it was checking claims the men were led away.
Israel has said the loss of civilian life is an unintended consequence of its campaign to stop suicide bombings. But some are asking if there has been a change in military policy giving soldiers more leeway when deciding whether to shoot.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo called for an end to recent talks with the Israelis that have included a tentative agreement envisioning Israeli pullbacks in the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for Palestinian assurances against terror.
``After each meeting with the Israelis a new massacre happens somewhere in the Palestinian territories,'' he said
The weekend violence came after Israeli tank fire killed four Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday -- a mother, her two sons and an uncle.
Speaking at a ceremony at the foreign ministry, Foreign Minister Peres insisted, ``We are not trigger happy.''
But Haim Ramon, a lawmaker from Peres' center-left Labor party, said he wants to know if there has been a change in the army's rules of engagement ``in the direction of leniency toward the finger that squeezed the trigger.''
He said the killing of innocent people threatens Israeli security because it ``damages our international standing'' and ``brings into the cycle of terrorism more people who did not previously intend to join it.''
Israeli newspaper columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the Yediot Ahronot daily that the tentative contacts with the Palestinians should be given a chance to bear fruit.
``What is the use of heating things up by means of proactive military operations?'' he wrote. ``The Palestinians will respond with a wave of terror attacks.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html
Victims in Israeli Strike Include 2 Children
Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a Palestinian vehicle driving through a West Bank village today, killing three men inside and two children who were outside their home.
Israelis also arrested the West Bank political leader of the militant Hamas movement in Ramallah, and Jewish settlers reported that a gunman had infiltrated the settlement of Braha, south of Nablus, seriously wounding three settlers before he was killed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the Braha infiltration.
According to Israeli accounts of the helicopter raid, the primary target was a leader of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a radical wing of Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement. The man escaped. Israel did not give his name, but Palestinians said it was Suliman Abu-Sayad.
Both Israelis and Palestinians said those killed were Rafat Daraghmeh, 29, a member of the Brigades, and two youths ages 16 and 17, neither of them combatants. Palestinians said another member, Jihad Sauafta, 27, had been severely wounded.
Another missile struck a nearby house, killing a 10-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl and wounding six bystanders, Palestinians said. Other accounts said the children had been killed by the exploding car.
Witnesses said an Israeli helicopter hovered over the villages of Tubas and Tayasir, south of Jenin, through much of the day. Then, about 5 p.m., two Apache attack helicopters fired the missiles, obliterating a black Mitsubishi sedan as it approached Tubas
The helicopter attack prompted immediate condemnations from the Palestinians. "I condemn this brutal act of murder," said Saeb Erekat, a minister in the Palestinian Authority. "This is a continuous policy of assassinations conducted by the Israeli government that aims to undermine all efforts to revive the hope of peace."
The mayor of Tubas, Diab Abu Khezaran, said, "What is the sense of hitting a building with no militants inside, only civilians?"
The attacks occurred as an American envoy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield, held a first round of talks with Palestinians, including the Palestinian Authority's interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, and Nabil Shaath, the minister of planning and cooperation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/international/middleeast/01MIDE.html
Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a Palestinian vehicle driving through a West Bank village today, killing three men inside and two children who were outside their home.
Israelis also arrested the West Bank political leader of the militant Hamas movement in Ramallah, and Jewish settlers reported that a gunman had infiltrated the settlement of Braha, south of Nablus, seriously wounding three settlers before he was killed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the Braha infiltration.
According to Israeli accounts of the helicopter raid, the primary target was a leader of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a radical wing of Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement. The man escaped. Israel did not give his name, but Palestinians said it was Suliman Abu-Sayad.
Both Israelis and Palestinians said those killed were Rafat Daraghmeh, 29, a member of the Brigades, and two youths ages 16 and 17, neither of them combatants. Palestinians said another member, Jihad Sauafta, 27, had been severely wounded.
Another missile struck a nearby house, killing a 10-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl and wounding six bystanders, Palestinians said. Other accounts said the children had been killed by the exploding car.
Witnesses said an Israeli helicopter hovered over the villages of Tubas and Tayasir, south of Jenin, through much of the day. Then, about 5 p.m., two Apache attack helicopters fired the missiles, obliterating a black Mitsubishi sedan as it approached Tubas
The helicopter attack prompted immediate condemnations from the Palestinians. "I condemn this brutal act of murder," said Saeb Erekat, a minister in the Palestinian Authority. "This is a continuous policy of assassinations conducted by the Israeli government that aims to undermine all efforts to revive the hope of peace."
The mayor of Tubas, Diab Abu Khezaran, said, "What is the sense of hitting a building with no militants inside, only civilians?"
The attacks occurred as an American envoy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield, held a first round of talks with Palestinians, including the Palestinian Authority's interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, and Nabil Shaath, the minister of planning and cooperation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/international/middleeast/01MIDE.html
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