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kazama writes: "Toronto-based IMAX said that it had developed a new process called DMR (for "digital remastering") to digitally convert conventional 35mm films to the IMAX format without significant loss of detail. 'Our customers have been saying to us for years, "We want to see Star Wars on IMAX, we want to see The Matrix on IMAX." and DMR is the technology which is the enabler,' Co-CEO Bradley Wechsler told Reuters. 'That's going to be an increasingly important part of the company's performance.'" So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?

Dork King writes "The New York Time's Review of AOTC (free reg, yada yada) notes that Attack of the Clones doesn't look good for fans. Thankfully, I'm not a fan." Also, dw5000 writes "The BBC has a favorable review of Attack of the Clones on its news website, as well as an executive summary of what the UK papers are saying about AotC. The populist tabloids love it, while the broadsheets are giving cautious approval. Hmm. Maybe I won't wait for DVD ..." I also noticed Variety has a review up as well. Also, for those who have lost all hope for Star Wars, I submit to you the date of the Spider-Man sequel: May 7th, 2004. You should know that spoilers exist in one or more of these stories. Beware!

Peter Wayner writes: "A friend of mine who works as a public defender knows a thing or two about selling fear to the jury filled with doubts. Several months before December 31st, 1999, he asked me if we should be worried about the Y2K disasters. My answer was: The machines crash every day. Why should it matter if it happens on December 31st?" This time around though, the fears are of a different nature and scope: Peter reviews below Edward Yourdon's latest book Byte Wars, one aimed at everyone concerned about online terrorism in the post-9/11 climate. Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology author Edward Yourdon pages 300 publisher Prentice Hall rating 7 reviewer Peter Wayner ISBN 0130477257 summary Plainspoken but fear-centric advice for reducing the dangers of vandals or terrorists to online systems.

My friend who nodded as if this was the same game he played every day in the courtroom. If no one knew what was going to happen, the jury's instincts could be manipulated with a mixture of fear, sympathy and tribalism. Juries were always afraid of watching a good, relatively innocent man lose everything, he explained. Corporate executives were just as worried of the same thing happening to them.

The Y2K binge is long gone and the biggest effect on computers seems to be found in the bits representing the bank accounts of Y2K consultants. Gimmicks may fade but human nature and human fear remains the same. The destruction of the World Trade Center has given new life to the fear mongers who worry that someone may obliterate our electronic infrastructure. Edward Yourdon, the old school computer consultant who made plenty of noise about Y2K, is back with another book, Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11th on Information Technology .

When I say old school, I mean that he started programming and writing about programming in the mid 1970s and this shows in the way he spells ( "Obe Wan Kenobee") and talks about "paradigm shifts" instead of "memes." He comes from the age group that decided how much to spend on Y2K and he knows how to talk to the group that will control how much we spend on our fears of terrorism.

There is no mention of his record on Y2K on the book cover or the biography, but if you're interested, the net never forgets. The book does mention the scary days of December 1999 a bit in passing, but only to note that there was "very little awareness in the media" that some "small organizations did suffer moderate-to-severe Y2K problems." He also notes with some pride that many companies survived the turmoil after the World Trade Center attack because they made so many preparations for the turn of the millennium.

This time around Yourdon is blessed with a much more concrete threat and this both helps and hurts his cause. On one hand, no one can debate the power of airplanes as weapons in the same way we can still debate whether Y2K would make a difference to embedded controllers. On the other hand, it's not really clear what the latest attacks have to do with computer networks. He even notes that the DOD's computers were relatively unhurt by the destruction of the Pentagon. How many web sites or e-commerce sites can anyone knock out with a box cutter? One company I knew with offices on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center used a co-lo facility that survived. Their web site kept on pumping out hits even after their entire office turned to dust.

Yourdon dodges all of this by being politely vague and abstract. His chapter on risk management, for instance, counsels that we should find a "realistic assessment of risks" and weigh the probability against the danger. If we develop a process to deal with the risk, then we can ensure that the risks are shared between the stakeholders. Most of the chapter could have been written at any time about any risk , but he makes it all a bit more current by including a few references to kamikaze players who are shifting the paradigm.

Some of his advice gets so abstract that it's hard to know exactly what he is suggesting. He tells us to "examine the practical impact of increased security and decreased privacy." To him, that means warning people who rely upon the social freedom of "don't ask, don't tell" to realize that so much information about us will eventually be documented by the new security state. "Now is the time to think about such matters, not two or three years from now when you suddenly find that you can't get a job, or can't buy a house in a particular neighborhood." Should we rise up or acquiesce? Which side is he on? I'm still not sure. He does such a good job playing to everyone's fears.

Occasionally, he doles out some practical advice that is close to the needs of managers worried about the aftereffects of 9/11. We are told that terrorists may be posing as "ordinary employees" or even government employees who've "risen to high levels of trust and authority." He reminds us that "hardly anyone watches the programmers." Is some terrorist slipping in a buffer-overflow loophole? Or maybe just a crook? One of the most practical suggestions is that corporations should do more code reviews.

He's also hip to some of the latest intellectual fads. Emergent organisms like Napster can be useful and resilient. He's a big fan of empowering employees by cutting away bureaucracy so the organization can evolve some emergent intelligence. Of course, we must also be ready for more scrutiny from the security bureaucracy checking to ensure that the emergent organism isn't evolving buffer-overflow backdoors. This gets a bit confusing and he waves away much of conflict with abstract calls for balance.

In the end, Yourdon can't offer many answers because there aren't many answers to give. We had risks, terrorism, info warfare, bombs and whatnot before September 11th and we'll meet them again despite the security. Anarchists detonated a horse powered wagon filled with explosives in front of the NY Fed in the 1920s. Not much has really changed and the book ends up being a distilled version of the inchoate fears that haunt us.

The real challenge is determining how much fear we should have. Yourdon is far from the only person who automatically assumes that the attacks on New York mean more attention to cybersecurity. All of the major beltway consultants near Washington are gearing up with the new tools. The more I read the book, the more I began wondering why. Why do some kamikaze hijackers mean that the web needs to be locked down? Who really has time to worry about some al Queda l33t d00dz owning my site when so many people are dying true deaths that can't be fixed with backup tapes?

At the end of one of the chapters, Yourdon exhorts us to get our act together and secure our home computers. Our old, pre-9/11 computing style was equivalent to "living in a house with the doors and windows wide open", he says, something that was "a pleasant way to live if you were in a small town in the 1950s."

Ah, the 50s. He and everyone else should rent a copy of George Lucas's pre-Star Wars classic, "American Graffiti." In one scene, the teenagers cheerfully drop a cherry bomb down the school's toilet. In another, they destroy a police car by wrapping a chain around the rear axle. The laugh track blessed both events in the movie, but all of us know that they would bring out the SWAT teams today.

The movie managed to avoid much of the discussion about Eisenhower, Francis Gary Powers, the Russian H-Bomb, or any of the other fears rippling down our spines. The 50's seem so much more fun after editing out the fact that the Russians had (and still have) fusion bombs on the tips of missiles. No amount of frisking by airport security can keep them out of our airspace. Yet we survived and managed to laugh about kids trashing police cars.

Another solution is not to quiver and worry about Osama bin Hacker's script kiddies. We can redefine the terms of engagement in much the same way that the cops in the "American Graffiti" just laughed at those impish kids. Hacked web sites are easy to restore if you have adequate backups. Denial of service attacks from zombies on cable modems sound threatening, but they rarely last longer than Friday evening rush hour.

It's hard to argue with much of the plainspoken, largely abstract advice offered by Yourdon. All of it makes good sense. The harder problem is finding the right attitude to carry us through the night. This book is filled with worry for our future and awe of the unseen l33t d00dz hiding under the bed. There are bits of light and a stab at optimism near the end, but most of the book trades on the thoughts that will keep us up well past midnight.

Peter Wayner has two resilient books emerging this spring: Translucent Databases , an exploration of database security, and Disappearing Cryptography: Information Hiding, Steganography and Watermarks , the second edition devoted to hiding secret messages in plain sight. You can purchase Byte Wars from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.

Captain Chad writes: "LucasFilm has donated some items to eBay's "Auction for America". They include a lightsaber used by Ray Park (Darth Maul) and a stormtrooper helmet used in The Empire Strikes Back and in Return of the Jedi. Check out the list of auction items! I think some of the bids will get astronomical. Would anyone be willing to give me a few hundred thousand dollars so I can get the lightsaber?"

tjansen writes "The Episode II Trailer is available. You need be a starwars.com member to watch it and must have installed the Quicktime plugin though." I guess thats 2 strikes against me. Glad I saw it in front of Monsters Inc.

tjansen writes "The Episode II Trailer is available. You need be a starwars.com member to watch it and must have installed the Quicktime plugin though." I guess thats 2 strikes against me. Glad I saw it in front of Monsters Inc.

FortKnox writes "Starwars.com has officially announced that Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones 'teaser' trailer will appear at the head of the new movie, Monsters, Inc. Other reports have the full trailer on Harry Potter, but this is still speculation. Ep-I DVD owners should be able to view the trailers on starwars.com once Monsters, Inc. hits theaters." Good thing I'm planning on seeing both of those movies anyway.

linderdm writes: "The official Star Wars web site has an article confirming reports about the release date of October 16th for the Phantom Menace DVD. It looks like it will be a double DVD set with 6 hours of additional material, plus 7 new deleted scenes added to the movie." Lucas should have an option to view it in Phantom Edit mode. If that's unrealistic, maybe releasing ep IV, V and VI would be feasible? Please?

BIGJIMSLATE writes: "Maybe these should be considered quickies due to the number of them, but they're all Star Wars. *Warning* There may be spoilers here for some of you, so read at your own risk. Anyways, here I go." Read on below for an interesting, eclectic (not to say, oh, I dunno, "obsessive") pile of links. Sheesh, the next one won't even be out for a while!

"First off, I'm sure many of you noticed that the Official Star Wars site has been completely redesigned. In addition to the Episode II Select picture number #40 (finally) being released, there's also some new pictures of some of the characters, specifically Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen (as Anakin), and (yowza!) Natalie Portman (as Padme Amidala). There are also small pics for Christopher Lee (as Count Dooku) and Temuera Morrison as "a bounty hunter" (read: Jango Fett).

"The official site has the first (of what appars to be many) "Making of Episode II" shorts. Although it mainly shows George, Rick, and some others talking about minor stuff, as well as "the camera" and the "Courscant street set".

"TheForce.net has some nice concept pictures of what the Clone troopers look like with a doctored pic, a fan-made rendering, and painting that looks almost like one of Ralph McQuarrie's.

" Also, The Criterion Collection is releasing Akira Kurosawa's classic, The Hidden Fortress (also known as Kakushi toride no san akunin) on May 22nd, with an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. What does this have to do with Star Wars? This IS Star Wars. George Lucas has (admitidly) taken this film, added some touches of Flash Gordon and WWII dogfighting films, world religions, and *bam*, Star Wars: A New Hope. It also contains an interview with George Lucas (or as I like to call him, "The Plaid One") describing the influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars.

"One final bit is still a rumor at this point, but its by far the best rumor, from the most reliable sources. The Episode I DVD rumors have been kicked around for a while, but we finally have unofficial confirmation from the top "spies", as well as Rick McCallum himself!. I usually wait for the official press release myself, but these rumors are coming from the best of the best, and even Rick himself implied that they've been completed. Still no word on the "classic trilogy" or Special Editions though...

"Hope that'll keep you busy until the trailer is released (estimated by November)."

BIGJIMSLATE writes: "Maybe these should be considered quickies due to the number of them, but they're all Star Wars. *Warning* There may be spoilers here for some of you, so read at your own risk. Anyways, here I go." Read on below for an interesting, eclectic (not to say, oh, I dunno, "obsessive") pile of links. Sheesh, the next one won't even be out for a while!

"First off, I'm sure many of you noticed that the Official Star Wars site has been completely redesigned. In addition to the Episode II Select picture number #40 (finally) being released, there's also some new pictures of some of the characters, specifically Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen (as Anakin), and (yowza!) Natalie Portman (as Padme Amidala). There are also small pics for Christopher Lee (as Count Dooku) and Temuera Morrison as "a bounty hunter" (read: Jango Fett).

"The official site has the first (of what appars to be many) "Making of Episode II" shorts. Although it mainly shows George, Rick, and some others talking about minor stuff, as well as "the camera" and the "Courscant street set".

"TheForce.net has some nice concept pictures of what the Clone troopers look like with a doctored pic, a fan-made rendering, and painting that looks almost like one of Ralph McQuarrie's.

" Also, The Criterion Collection is releasing Akira Kurosawa's classic, The Hidden Fortress (also known as Kakushi toride no san akunin) on May 22nd, with an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. What does this have to do with Star Wars? This IS Star Wars. George Lucas has (admitidly) taken this film, added some touches of Flash Gordon and WWII dogfighting films, world religions, and *bam*, Star Wars: A New Hope. It also contains an interview with George Lucas (or as I like to call him, "The Plaid One") describing the influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars.

"One final bit is still a rumor at this point, but its by far the best rumor, from the most reliable sources. The Episode I DVD rumors have been kicked around for a while, but we finally have unofficial confirmation from the top "spies", as well as Rick McCallum himself!. I usually wait for the official press release myself, but these rumors are coming from the best of the best, and even Rick himself implied that they've been completed. Still no word on the "classic trilogy" or Special Editions though...

"Hope that'll keep you busy until the trailer is released (estimated by November)."

BIGJIMSLATE writes: "Maybe these should be considered quickies due to the number of them, but they're all Star Wars. *Warning* There may be spoilers here for some of you, so read at your own risk. Anyways, here I go." Read on below for an interesting, eclectic (not to say, oh, I dunno, "obsessive") pile of links. Sheesh, the next one won't even be out for a while!

"First off, I'm sure many of you noticed that the Official Star Wars site has been completely redesigned. In addition to the Episode II Select picture number #40 (finally) being released, there's also some new pictures of some of the characters, specifically Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen (as Anakin), and (yowza!) Natalie Portman (as Padme Amidala). There are also small pics for Christopher Lee (as Count Dooku) and Temuera Morrison as "a bounty hunter" (read: Jango Fett).

"The official site has the first (of what appars to be many) "Making of Episode II" shorts. Although it mainly shows George, Rick, and some others talking about minor stuff, as well as "the camera" and the "Courscant street set".

"TheForce.net has some nice concept pictures of what the Clone troopers look like with a doctored pic, a fan-made rendering, and painting that looks almost like one of Ralph McQuarrie's.

" Also, The Criterion Collection is releasing Akira Kurosawa's classic, The Hidden Fortress (also known as Kakushi toride no san akunin) on May 22nd, with an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. What does this have to do with Star Wars? This IS Star Wars. George Lucas has (admitidly) taken this film, added some touches of Flash Gordon and WWII dogfighting films, world religions, and *bam*, Star Wars: A New Hope. It also contains an interview with George Lucas (or as I like to call him, "The Plaid One") describing the influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars.

"One final bit is still a rumor at this point, but its by far the best rumor, from the most reliable sources. The Episode I DVD rumors have been kicked around for a while, but we finally have unofficial confirmation from the top "spies", as well as Rick McCallum himself!. I usually wait for the official press release myself, but these rumors are coming from the best of the best, and even Rick himself implied that they've been completed. Still no word on the "classic trilogy" or Special Editions though...

"Hope that'll keep you busy until the trailer is released (estimated by November)."

BIGJIMSLATE writes: "Maybe these should be considered quickies due to the number of them, but they're all Star Wars. *Warning* There may be spoilers here for some of you, so read at your own risk. Anyways, here I go." Read on below for an interesting, eclectic (not to say, oh, I dunno, "obsessive") pile of links. Sheesh, the next one won't even be out for a while!

"First off, I'm sure many of you noticed that the Official Star Wars site has been completely redesigned. In addition to the Episode II Select picture number #40 (finally) being released, there's also some new pictures of some of the characters, specifically Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen (as Anakin), and (yowza!) Natalie Portman (as Padme Amidala). There are also small pics for Christopher Lee (as Count Dooku) and Temuera Morrison as "a bounty hunter" (read: Jango Fett).

"The official site has the first (of what appars to be many) "Making of Episode II" shorts. Although it mainly shows George, Rick, and some others talking about minor stuff, as well as "the camera" and the "Courscant street set".

"TheForce.net has some nice concept pictures of what the Clone troopers look like with a doctored pic, a fan-made rendering, and painting that looks almost like one of Ralph McQuarrie's.

" Also, The Criterion Collection is releasing Akira Kurosawa's classic, The Hidden Fortress (also known as Kakushi toride no san akunin) on May 22nd, with an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. What does this have to do with Star Wars? This IS Star Wars. George Lucas has (admitidly) taken this film, added some touches of Flash Gordon and WWII dogfighting films, world religions, and *bam*, Star Wars: A New Hope. It also contains an interview with George Lucas (or as I like to call him, "The Plaid One") describing the influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars.

"One final bit is still a rumor at this point, but its by far the best rumor, from the most reliable sources. The Episode I DVD rumors have been kicked around for a while, but we finally have unofficial confirmation from the top "spies", as well as Rick McCallum himself!. I usually wait for the official press release myself, but these rumors are coming from the best of the best, and even Rick himself implied that they've been completed. Still no word on the "classic trilogy" or Special Editions though...

"Hope that'll keep you busy until the trailer is released (estimated by November)."

linderdm writes: "It looks like, once again, we have been subject to misinformation concerning Episode II. According to the Official Star Wars Web site, Kenny Baker will indeed be returning to act in Episode II, making him and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), the only two actors to appear in all of the Star Wars movies to date." Good to hear that the old bit was just a nasty rumor.

linderdm writes: "It looks like, once again, we have been subject to misinformation concerning Episode II. According to the Official Star Wars Web site, Kenny Baker will indeed be returning to act in Episode II, making him and Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), the only two actors to appear in all of the Star Wars movies to date." Good to hear that the old bit was just a nasty rumor.

I'm here at Ottawa Linux Symposium, and I took the Quickies to the crowd and let them pick some of today's Quickies. Hope you like them. CitizenC told us to check out The Kama Sutra of Winnie the Pooh. Scary. alpha264 wrote in about a pegboard computer." Darkness Productions told us that Spaz Labs was back." Phrogman shared a huge collection of Space Images now available on Spaceref.com. kbolton told us to look at streaming anime for free. scampbell said that Yamaha Paper Craft has updated their rare-animal paper sculpture collection to include the Yellow-eyed Penguin. _endgame mentioned that voting has begun for the Freenet Logo." An anonymous coward wrote in about the Men of Sieg Hall calendar. I included that one for Telsa. cdlu wrote (from about ten feet away) about this thing that creates much annoyance from the console. MURL said that Christopher Lee has been cast in the role of a charismatic separatist in Episode II. And finally, I just wanted to mention that Dave Taylor from that company stopped by just to make sure that he wasn't mentioned in the Quickies. Teehee.

Ozten asks: "I am currently looking at GSP and trying to convince the big e-commerce company that I work for that Open Source technology doesn't mean more maintenance than large packages on the market, such as Blue Martini or IBM Websphere. I am looking for facts and firepower on GNU Server Pages, but info is sparse except for bit mechanics and its links. You would think that with a high profile site like the Star Wars Shop using GSP, it would get more notice. Any other facts out there? GSP seems like the best free software since gnu-SlicedBread, where is the hype?" Actually, I would like more facts than hype. With production sites using this technology, I would be interested in hearing how well the things have held up, in addition to any advantages and disadvantages over popular solutions like ASP.

In a world splitting increasingly into real and virtual geographies, who owns ideas? The free music wars are just the first in a series of political, cultural and legal struggles that are putting the very idea of copyright and intellectual property on the table for the first time. Read more.

Note:This is the first of a two-part analysis.

Who owns ideas?

It isn't an abstract or academic question. Some of the greatest prosperity in history has been created by an economic system -- capitalism -- which permits private parties to do business freely through a system of contract and property laws, agreements and understandings. Governments have always had a vested interest in defining rights to private property, and enforcing laws that protect it.

Private property is essential to creating a functioning system for economic relationships that -- theoretically, at least -- benefit everyone. No one has come up with a better or more efficient system.

But property rights have never been absolute, unyielding or static. There is no such thing as property rights that aren't at some point subordinated to other interests. Your car can't be driven at any speed over somebody else's lawn; your dogs may be turned over to the local Humane Society if you mistreat them; your house can be auctioned if you don't pay taxes.

Now, the Net and Web have put the idea of copyright and intellectual property on the table for the first time in centuries. At the moment, nobody can clearly define what these things mean in virtual space, let alone how they should be regulated or policed.

Cyberspace has also highlighted the differences between intellectual property and other kinds. "If you 'take' my idea," writes Lawrence Lessig in his book Code, "I still have it. If I tell you an idea, you have not deprived me of it. An unavoidable feature of intellectual property is that its consumption, as the economists like to put it, is 'non-rivalrous.' Your consumption does not lessen mine. Ideas, at their core, can be shared with no reduction in the amount the 'owner' can consume. This difference is fundamental, and it has been understood since the founding."

Contemporary "patriots" -- especially those who would who would restrict the free flow of intellectual property via the Internet, would do well to read Thomas Jefferson, who eloquently expressed one of his fondest wishes for intellectual property in his new country as follows:

"That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density at any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property."

But the authors of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, under intense pressure from corporate lawyers and lobbyists to curb the spread of free music and movies, obviously didn't spend much time reading Jefferson. So the new, Net-spawned reality -- being played out most visibly at the moment in the free-music wars raging between the recording industry and millions of fans - has challenged traditional ideas about law, commerce, technology and culture.

In the Digital Age, can anyone own ideas? Apart from moral issues, is it even possible to own something that's distributed globally through a representational medium like the Internet? The question is unsettled whether institutions like Congress will ever grasp what geeks and corporatists both know is at the center of the growing collision over ownership of ideas: code.

Codes are the building blocks of cyberspace. Laws passed without comprehending of or considering of code and software can't possibly determine whether the new ways of life evolving online are moral or not, whether they should continue to exist. As Net scholars like physicist Paul Davies have written in books (such as Davies' The Mind of God, The Scientific Basis for a Rational World, the sudden existence of both a real and a virtual world -- a new kind of dual property -- is of "cosmic significance." With the advent of computers, the world is being reordered.

The structure of the Net, and of the Web in particular, is altering the way younger Americans view many traditional ethics and values -- the definitions of theft, content and property, among others. (To see one expression of this sensibility clearly, check out the Netropolis Collective, founded by the Open Chronicles Clan.) This collective describes itself as "an organized group of people who will not give up their culture to join the norm. The Collective is non-violent," declares its manifesto, "and would prefer to start revolutions in a fashion much like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

Another manifestation of this new sensibility is evident in an e-mail I received from from Elizabeth Durack, a Star Wars fan concerned because the series' official Web site (www.Starwars.com) has begun offering free Web sites on its subdomain fan.starwars.com. "This is seriously scary to me because it seems to be an attempt to lure fans into their territory in order to better control the content of fan Web sites."

In an insightful essay, Durack argues that fans paying for culture and supporting entertainment should be allowed leeway in the use of copyrighted and trademarked properties.

The notion of fan "rights" is a growing political instinct online, where people feel passionately about their culture, from ground-breaking representational experiences like Quake, Doom, Ultima and The Sims to followers of Star Trek, South Park, The Simpsons, and Star Wars. These games, movies and television programs transcend mere entertainment; they are an integral part of people's cultural experiences the same way music is. Durack's essay reflects the growing tension between "fans" and the companies that want to take their money -- but otherwise keep them at arm's length.

Durack's point of view is radical. It isn't widely held in political and media circles -- especially not in Washington.

"In your writings on the Digital Millenium Copyright Act earlier this week," e-mailed a Congressional aide, "you are obscuring the fact that the Internet is creating a generation of culture and content pirates. They steal other peoples ideas, and they don't pay for them, and they take no moral responsibility for that. People like you are celebrating and enabling and helping raise a culture of thievery that is not only institutionalized but which considers itself morally superior. We are a nation of laws and you seem to celebrate a nation of law-breakers."

A number of musicians have expressed similar feelings, accusing me and others of turning a blind eye towards an epidemic of online theft of intellectual property.

The DMCA, responsible for a growing wave of threats, legal assaults on free music and DVD code-sharing sites, codified this conventional legal, political and corporate wisdom into law. It holds institutions (like colleges) liable if they dont act to prevent the distribution of software that violates existing copyright laws.

For more than a century, copyright laws have governed the sale and distribution of many artifacts of culture. People who create music and literature have never been particularly good at selling their work, which tends to be collected and distributed by increasingly monopolistic corporate entities: publishers, record labels, Hollywood studios. Although such companies -- Disney, AOL/Time-Warner, Wal-Mart, Blockbuster Video -- sell and profit from the work of individual creators, they have organized into enormous corporatist collectives that are the antithesis of individualism and creative expression.

Corporations, from record labels, to book publishers, to the owners of TV networks, exclude idiosyncratic, individualistic or "non-commercial" voices. They directly and indirectly censor culture by pressuring artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians to produce bland, packageable entertainment suited to their synergistic marketing structures. The book (if there is one) becomes the Web site, then the movie, then the CD and video. The more inoffensive, the more lucrative.

These global conglomerates -- among the worlds most profitable and influential business entities -- earn billions of dollars by collecting various distribution and user fees.

The Net is beginning to dismantle this economic model of culture, and it isn't going quietly. Not only music, but also many other forms of information and entertainment -- from games and term papers to legal documents and movies -- are becoming instantly available to millions of people for free as broadband access spreads from institutions like universities and large corporations to small and mid-sized workplaces and to private homes via cable and high-speed phone lines.

My response to that congressional aide: It's disingenuous to use terms like "theft" and "piracy," ancient notions of law and property, in the 21st Century. They have little contemporary meaning in cyberspace.

Artists, musicians, writers and other creators of intellectual property can still be paid fairly for their work. There are all sorts of options beyond conventional royalties. They can sign contracts with music distributors that draw revenue from Web site advertising or subscription fees, or that sell music and other cultural offerings in smaller, less costly units. They can offer contracts to cadres of music lovers who agree to pay for access if they're offered more choices at cheaper prices.

The fact is anyone who writes or designs on the Web understands immediately that culture can't be copyrighted online: there are simply too many means of transmission. The linkage inherent to the Web presents too many distribution channels to patrol. Music, open source software, cultural and political opinions are memes -- they travel to anyone who cares to partake, all over the Net, instantly.

And there's no taking them back.

End Part One. Tomorrow: Criminalizing access to technology, freedom and choice.

at0m writes "Here is an announcement on starwars.com denouncing the myths and rumors regarding casting speculations. It is in response to some bogus articles written about the casting process. A starwars.com newsletter also indicated that the first steps are being taken to begin creating Episode II."

at0m writes "Here is an announcement on starwars.com denouncing the myths and rumors regarding casting speculations. It is in response to some bogus articles written about the casting process. A starwars.com newsletter also indicated that the first steps are being taken to begin creating Episode II."

Anonymous Coward writes "Producer Rick McCallum answers the question, "So many fans want Episode I and then the Classic Trilogy on DVD. It doesn't make sense to us that you aren't going to release at least Episode I. What's going on?" at the official Star Wars site. " The answer is fairly predictable-Lucas hopes to do "something special" and doesn't have the time right now. I like the use of the word "exploit" in the answer - kinda what the VHS - DVD switch feels like.

Troed pointed us to final, official word that Lucas has opted not to release TPM on DVD. This is a poor move for many reasons: SW fans are gonna often be techies with DVD players. Besides that, nearly every movie released these days comes out on DVD and VHS. I can think of only 2 reasons: He might be afraid of piracy, but lets be honest, but I think he really is doing this so he can wait a year and release the DVD and sell it all again. I have stopped by VHS, and I'm pretty bummed: I would have bought this DVD the day it was released. I feel like I'm being extorted: I've been a pretty loyal fan both in terms of time, and buying SW Stuff (I even have a Darth Maul Lightsaber!) but this really hurts.

danimal wrote with news for the Star Wars buffs: From the NewsAskew site comes the tidbit that Star Wars Episode I DVD will be coming out in April of 2000. It's a tip from an anonymous source, but the official announcement is supposed to be coming Jan. 4 from the Lucas man himself. The announcement is midway down the NewsAskew page.

Andreas Pour sent linkage to a page where you can get the KDE mascot in T-shirt form (half the profits go to KDE). Hubert Figuiere sent us pictures from the Paris LinuxExpo if you weren't in France. Brian sent us How Stuff Works. Its actually not bad. cpfeifer wrote in to send us some spoofed book covers including Taking Down the Internet in 30mins for Dummies and IP Spoofing for Dummies. More here. An anonymous reader sent us Prozac Pez if you've been having a rough day. Dwonis sent us a point-form description of Geeks, Twits and Nerds, and the differences between them. aspodf wrote in to show us what happens when Red Meat and Star Wars come together at last. CowboyNeal sent us a link to Career Path which has a Personality Quiz that tells if you are a Jedi Master, or a Sith Lord. I think Neal ended up an Ewok *grin*.

Boy its Star Wars Hype Monday here as Jim Hall writes "I found the Star Wars Ep. 1 TV commercials They are spoiler-free! But they are very cool. " VH1 is supposedly gonna air Duel of the Fates (the Star Wars video) 6 consecutive times at 6pm EST, so get your VCR ready. I'ce heard the track already- its not the best track on the soundtrack, but its pretty sweet.

Patrick Berry writes "The Star Wars Online Shop has new Episode I posters for sale. It looks like the 'teaser' posters are gone forever but these may stick around a while longer. " The teaser poster scam bummed me out. I wanted the picture with Anakin & Darth's shadow so bad, but all I got was a cheesy 8.5x11 drawn poster of Star Wars. Not even prequel related. But I did see the trailer B last night. It was much better than the first one. A bit of a glimpse into the plot, and most of the fx were much smoother. Plus comments about Jedi's coming in pairs (Emporer & Darth, Obi-Wan & Luke, and presumably in the prequel, Anakin & Obi-Wan). Some great Jedi fighting shots too. I'm just to stoked. Guess I'll have to order the poster.

A bunch of people wrote in about it, but trailer #2 is out there-weighing in at 25 megs uncompressed, it's in Quicktime format, and supposdly takes a more general view of the plot line then the previous trailer did. Get it before the server dies *grin*. Update: 03/11 08:41 by H :The rumour is that this is the /last/ trailer before the release of Episode I. I'm salivating. Update: 03/11 08:41 by H : Does anyone else find as funny as I do that the bad guys seem to be named "The Federation?"

Jon Hedley writes "While the perpetrator remains unknown, Lucasfilm's Star Wars Web site was the victim of its first crack today. The vandalism consisted of a list of names, presumably those of the hacker's friends, according to Lucasfilm. News.com reports that there are 20 - 30 crack attempts a day to the site. " Geez. I'd think anyone smart enough to do this would be smart enough not to...

For those of us that live in the vast majority of the world, mpegs of the Star Wars Prequel trailer have appeared all over the place- mirrors are hard to grab, but you can hopefully get it from here, here or from starwars.com. Also, Ped Xing sent us a link to a page containing several pictures from the Prequel. Ewan looks awesome, and check out the double ended Light Saber. What I need is to speed up time and.. oh, nevermind.

drix writes "Quite possibly the only reason any of you would even consider seeing Bug's Life (The Phantom Menace trailer) was originally due out November 20... this has gotta be the only time I've seen so many people excited about the release of a two minute film clip. Anyways, if you live in any of these cities, the force really is with you, because they're advance screening it tomorrow before and after showings of Meet Joe Black and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Is it really worth the price of admission? " Yep, it might be time for a move tonight. Update: 11/17 09:10 by CT : Michael Wilson wrote in to say that you can call 1(800)405-9800 for a free Star Wars poster.

danimal writes "Over at StarWars.com they have posted pictures of the ST:Episode 1 teaser sheets. The only thing that comes to mind is "why did they put 'Episode 1' on the sheet and not 'The Phantom Menace'?"" The image is pretty sweet. Does anyone know what movies the trailer will be attached to later this month? The Pixar/ILM/Lucas connection says Bugs Life, but I wanna know- hell they could attach it to some terrible romantic comedy starring the chick from Ally McBeal falling in love with block of velveeta cheese and I'd pay to see the trailer anyway. Maybe I have issues?

CrusadeR writes "The Star Wars official site posted that the trailer to Episode I: The Phantom Menace will be in theaters on Nov. 20th in the United States and Canada." Anyone know what flicks it'll be attached to? Does Bugs Life open that weekend?

Peter Williams writes "The second and third prequels for the Star Wars saga are to be filmed in Sydney Australia, in the renovated former showground studios. Filming is set to begin in 2000. The studios have really only been used for the forthcoming Keanu Reeves vehicle, The Matrix and the Babe sequel. Pig in the City. "

Indomitus writes " For those Slashdot readers who are interested in the upcoming Star Wars prequels, the title of Episode 1 has just been announced officially on Starwars.com. The title of the movie? Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Some people like it, some don't. For a good explanation of the title in context of what we know of the plot, check out AICN."

Yoda writes "The official Star Wars site just launched a new RealVideo series called ""Making Episode I". The first segment has George Lucas talking about the new Star Wars movie on the day he sat down to write its script in 1994. It's entertaining without giving any of the story away. "

Yoda writes "The official Star Wars site just launched a new RealVideo series called ""Making Episode I". The first segment has George Lucas talking about the new Star Wars movie on the day he sat down to write its script in 1994. It's entertaining without giving any of the story away. "

Matthew Miller sent us this link where you can read about one of the cooler things to happen to Lego's recently. Not only are they robotic, computer controlled, toys, but next year they will be based on Star Wars. I can't believe that I still have another year to wait until the first prequel.

A new topic here at Slashdot is the Star Wars Prequels. I don't know about you guys, but I eat up every nerdy tidbit I can find, so I felt I should share the big ones with the rest of you. Harry Knowles has some great spoiler scoops on his site. Don't follow the link unless you like the spoilers. These aren't big plot spoilers, but there are some pretty interesting notes about the charachters. My roomate and I watched the entire Star Wars trilogy every weekend for like a year and half while doing homework. In 10 years I hope I can watch all 6 movies the same way.