MacMegasite Archive
   


To reduce the database size and server load, all articles from 2004 or earlier are archived here.


Return to MacMegasite



       

Fri, 20 Dec 2002

Deep Links from EFF

Deep Links features noteworthy news items, victories, and threats from

around the Internet.




[] permanent link

Electronic Frontier Foundation Seeks Consumer Rights

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today urged

the Librarian of Congress (LoC) to recognize the rights of consumers

to skip past commercials on DVDs, view DVDs sold only outside the

U.S., and play copy-protected CDs on the players of their choice.

EFF has long sought exemptions from the Digital Millennium Copyright

Act's (DMCA) prohibition on bypassing technological protections used

to limit consumer use of DVDs and copy-protected CDs.



Public-interest advocacy organization Public Knowledge joined EFF in

filing the comments to the LoC, prepared with the assistance of law

students at the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic of

Washington College of Law.



EFF asked the LoC to create DMCA exemptions for four types of digital

media:



1) music on copy-protected CDs



2) movies on DVDs whose region coding restrictions prevent playback on

U.S. players



3) movies on DVDs which prevent skipping of commercials



4) movies in the public domain released on DVD



If granted, these exemptions will allow consumers to make full use of

the music and movies that they've lawfully obtained.



The entertainment industry encodes DVDs by region sold in an attempt

to control release and pricing of movies sold worldwide. Region 1

includes the United States.



"Many great films are available only outside the U.S.," said EFF Staff

Attorney Gwen Hinze. "We urge the LoC to allow film buffs to play

movies they've legitimately purchased outside the U.S. without fear of

breaking the law."



The recent distribution of "copy-protected" CDs has made some CDs

unplayable on PCs and DVD players. "The music industry intends to stop

copying, but the copy-protected CDs they sell are completely

unplayable in many PCs and newer disc players," said EFF Senior

Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "When I buy a CD, I

should at least be able to play it on my CD players."



The LoC has called for comments as part of a triennial process of

granting exemptions to the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.

Legislators charged the LoC and the U.S. Copyright Office with

reviewing the effect of the anti-circumvention provisions on the

public's ability to make non-infringing uses of copyrighted works

secured by digital protection technologies.



This rulemaking procedure allows the LoC and the Copyright Office to

grant limited three-year exemptions to the DMCA's blanket prohibition

on bypassing technological protection measures. In that way, users

could access particular classes of copyrighted works that are

protected by digital protection mechanisms.



Links:


[] permanent link

Script Editor 2.0 Beta

Apple has released a beta of Script Editor 2.0, a totally rewritten version of the AppleScript editor for Mac OS X.

New features include:



  • Simplified easier-to-use interface

  • Find and Replace in script text

  • Auto-wrapping of long script statements

  • Multiple undos

  • No 32K limit on script size

  • New Dictionary Browser with color coding and grouped events & classes

  • Application scriptability

  • Contextual Menu Scripts for faster script writing

  • Support for Application Services



For more information, visit http://www.apple.com/applescript/script_editor/. The beta can be downloaded here.

[] permanent link

PowerMail 4.1 Released

Designed as a robust and sustainable alternative to ordinary Macintosh e-

mail applications, PowerMail 4.1 is based on the PowerMail Engine(tm),

a robust foundation for cross-platform e-mail clients encompassing 10

years of mail and directory experience.

PowerMail 4.1 is available as a $29 upgrade for PowerMail 3 users. New features include:



  • "Recent Mail" interactive log window

  • Partial POP3 downloads

  • SSL security

  • Server-side mail management

  • Enhanced address book

  • User interface redesign

  • Text clippings

  • Mail schedulings and locations

  • Mac OS X 10.2.3 (Jaguar) compatibility

  • Inline spell-checking on Mac OS X 10.2 or later

  • Integration of the Apple OS X 10.2 address book (which itself

    synchronizes to Palm devices and cell phones using iSync)

  • Unlimited undo's in text fields

  • English, Japanese, French, German and Dutch plugins



A full list of changes for PowerMail 4.1 and 4 can be found at:



http://www.ctmdev.com/documentation/Read_me.htm



PowerMail 4.1 can be evaluated for 30 days; download it from:



http://www.ctmdev.com/download.shtml or


http://www.powermailtech.com/pm4.sit



* New copies of PowerMail remain priced at US$ 49 for now, and

can securely be purchased from:



https://www.ctmdev.com/sales.shtml



* PowerMail 4 is the first for-pay upgrade of PowerMail since

April 2000; all current registered owners of PowerMail are

eligible for an upgrade at US$ 29 per copy (with discounts

for site licenses of course). Upgrades can be securely

ordered from :



https://www.ctmdev.com/buy_pm3/start



I still prefer Jaguar's Mail.app, since it handles multiple email addresses better (you don't have to create an account for each address, you can list multiple addresses on one account), it has better spam filtering, and can filter messages to folders on an IMAP server, while PowerMail can only filter messages to local folders.

[] permanent link