July 9. 2003 by Del.

Stephen Marq - International Steinway Piano Artist: “With the release of ‘Time With You,’ his second CD, he was telephoned by Steinway & Sons Pianos, in New York, requesting his portfolio and a sample of his music compositions. Upon hearing ‘Time With You’, he was added to the Distinguished International Roster of Steinway Piano Artists, including Billy Joel, Harry Connick, Jr., George Winston, Bobby McFerrin, Roger Williams– Stephen’s inspiration as a young boy, and classical artists all over the world.”

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July 9. 2003 by Del.

NewsScan Daily: July 8, 2003

“SAFE & SOUND IN THE CYBER AGE WITH CHEY & STEPHEN COBB

This week, security consultants Chey and Stephen Cobb devote their NewsScan Daily column to the question: ‘Guess Who’s Got To Do Better?’

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Does your company Web site contain statements that assure consumers any personal information they impart to you will be secure and protected? Do you visit Web sites that offer such assurances? Well, those assurances had better be more than mere words, otherwise the Federal Trade Commission may come knocking. Which is good news for consumers, on whose behalf the FTC has become an Internet security watchdog with teeth.

And it’s also good news for companies that go the extra mile to get security right. The FTC has now established, very firmly, that it is not only unfair for competitors to gain an edge by skimping on the security budget, it is also illegal. The FTC accomplished this with three landmark settlements, the third of which was handed down last month, although the decision was somewhat eclipsed by excitement over the commission’s Do Not Call list.

The first of these settlements was with Eli Lilly (see NewsScan, December 12, 2002) and we should point out that Stephen and his colleagues at ePrivacy Group assisted the FTC in that case, helping to assess the problem and determine what form the settlement should take. That case involved the inadvertent disclosure of PII or personally identifiable information (specifically the email addresses of persons who had expressed and interest in Prozac). The second of the three cases was Microsoft, which was not accused of exposing PII, but”

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July 9. 2003 by Del.

NewsScan Daily: July 8, 2003

“COURT SAYS THUMBNAIL IMAGE LINKING IS FAIR USE

A federal appeals court ruled that a search engine’s display of miniature images of copyrighted works is allowed under fair use, upholding a similar ruling in February 2002. The plaintiff in the case, photographer Leslie Kelly, had sued image search engine firm Arriba Soft over thumbnail images of her works that were accessible via Arriba’s Ditto.com search engine. Yesterday’s decision, however, failed to confirm the legality of displaying full-size images in search results — a practice known as in-line linking or framing — and that case is now ordered to go to trial. ‘As to the first action (on thumbnails), the district court correctly found that Arriba’s use was fair. However, as to the second action, we conclude that the district court should not have reached the issue because neither party moved for summary judgment as to the full-size images,’ according to the opinion. The framing technique is used by a number of visual search engines, including Google, Lycos and AltaVista. Nevertheless, the ruling was viewed as a victory by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had filed a brief in favor of Arriba. ‘Web site owners can rest a bit easier about linking to copyrighted materials online,’ said an EFF staff attorney. ‘By revising its ruling, the court removed a copyright iceberg from the main shipping lanes of the World Wide Web.’ (CNet News.com 7 Jul 2003) http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1023629.html?tag=lh “

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