Slashback: BBC, Crypto, Dummies [updated]

Slashback tonight with some rare bits of good news, at least for those who liked BBC Ogg Vorbis streams, or who use AES to protect data. Plus, a (final?) turn in the Greek gaming ban, and another visit to Dummies hell.

Let's get with it on those .ogg portables, OK? rassie writes "Checking back at what used to be one of my most visited sites, I noticed that I might start using it again very soon. The BBC is returning to streaming in ogg format. From the page:
Update (2002-09-24): Yay, the legal issues have been resolved. We now have rights to all the of the BBC's radio output. Hopefully we should start kicking off these streams soon."

Your email is still (probably) safe. BitterOak writes "A recent Slashdot story reported that AES might have been broken by the new XL attack of Courtois and Pieprzyk. However, it appears there aren't enough linearly independent equations for this attack to work against AES. Cryptographer T. Moh has a brief explanation here, and Don Coppersmith posted a comment on the NIST AES discussion forum (under General Cryptanalytic Attacks), which comes to the same conclusion. Coppersmith is one of the world's greatest cryptographers, so it seems safe to assume that AES has not been broken at this point."

Hey, now it's just like most of the U.S.! yoink! writes "The BBC is running the following story detailing the end of the short-lived electronic gaming ban in Greece. The Government realised that (hopefully) relatively little gambling was involved with those playing computer, and console games all over the country. The decision to clarify those games which are, in fact, electronic gambling facilities are the only forms of electronic gaming with which the revised legislation now concerns itself."

The lawyers sound like ... dummies. Blue Aardvark House writes "I am an author for the Slash site Slackers Guild. Recently Nastard, the owner of Slackers Guild received a threatening letter from Wiley Publishing concerning the site's Slacking for Dummies document. Nastard's reply is here."

Update: 09/27 03:31 GMT by T : Note: the Slacker's Guild website seems to have slacked, and the links no longer work. For the text of the letter sent by Wiley to Nastard, search below for comment #4340698 by SiMac; for the response, see comment #4340840 by decaying. Also, the "Slacking for Dummies" document link now points to Google's cache.

It's not the first time that Wiley has hunted down obvious parody works; they've even fired off similar mail because someone used "Dummies" in the subject line of an email.

Comments

Death to Realplayer!

[Zeinfeld]

I am not an ogg purist, but realplayer sure as hell is the suckiest piece of ad-ware, perster-ware and general nuisance-ware arround.

All the real streaming server does is to puke out bits on an IP pipe. That is not rocket science, but the cost is utterly ridiculous.

I always said that the biggest mistake we made with the Web (apart from makinf the CERNLib license terms require a credit) was not putting an uncompressed audio format in as a default. The point is that nobody pays for the compression, they pay for the ability to make noise. Make the ability to create noise free and the audio codecs become just an optimization.

Don't just whine on slashdot,

[Iamthefallen]

Let them hear it

To:
Kimberly Ward Skeel
Manager, Contracts and Intellectual Property
Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Dear Kimberly,

It recently came to my attention that you are, on behalf of Wiley Publishing Inc. threatening the creator and maintainer of some creative works on a certain website, www.slackersguild.com with legal action due to what you state to be infringing on your "For dummies" trademark.

I can appreciate your company's desire to protect it's intellectual property, but I feel it is also my responsibility to guard my, and others, right to free speech when it is challenged and threatened in a frivolous way by corporations or goverment.

I feel in the case of "Slacking For Dummies", aka "Slacking HOWTO" by Nastard, located at the website www.slackersguild.com, there is no risk of confusing the satiric works with the popular series of books you publish. Therefore your claim that it is infringing on your trademark is, in my eyes, ridiculous.

As a result, I can guarantee that I will not support your company in any way by purchasing your products.as long as you seem intent on persuing this or similar matters by trying to deny the creator his or her right to free speech by frivolous threats of legal action. I will also strongly urge anyone concerned to not purchase any of your products should they value their own, and the right of others, to free speech.