The title says it all on this one:

Philips says copy-protected CDs have no future,
by Will Knight for New Scientist. (Thanks, John)

Philips, the inventor of the Compact Disc, does not expect controversial attempts by the music industry to introduce CD “copy protection” technologies to last very long, because of consumer complaints.

Philips is opposed to the use of copy protection systems. The technology is designed to stop CDs playing or being copied on personal computers but it can also prevent them from playing on many normal systems.

As inventor of the CD standard and the industry’s licensing body, Philips could refuse to license such copy protected discs as genuine CDs, or pursue some other legal obstruction to the practice.

But Gary Wirtz, general manager of the Philips Copyright Office at its headquarters in the Netherlands, believes that copy protection technology will fail all by itself.

Hmmm. How much you wanna bet Thomas E. White gets scapegoated for the whole thing? (see previous posting)

Just thinking outloud 🙂

Maybe President Bush fainted after he read this informative piece by Joshua Micah Marshall — which provides more than a few details about the Enron scandal.

Pardon me Josh for reprinting it here, but stuff like this is too good to keep quiet about.

Wondering how many Bush administration (Senate-confirmed) appointees owned stock in Enron? Or how much they owned? Or what business relationships they had with the company? Well, hey, you came to the right place!

Now it’s important to keep in mind that most of these folks listed below just owned stock in the company, which probably only means they got suckered and cleaned out by the company brass like a lot of other people.

But then if some of them cashed in their stock a few months ago (which next year’s disclosures will tell us) based on inside information … well, that would be another matter entirely.

Appointee: Kathleen B. Cooper
Title: Undersec. for Economic Affairs
Department: Commerce
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,001

Appointee: Thomas C. Dorr
Title: Under Sec. for Rural Development
Department: USDA
Relationship: (1) Enron stock $1,001-$15,001 (MG Dorr IFT), (2) Enron stock $1,001-$15,001 (Roth IRA)

Appointee: Emil H. Frankel
Title: Asst. Sec. for Transportation Policy
Department: Transportation
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Eugene Hickok Jr.
Title: Undersecretary
Department: Education
Relationship: (1) Spouse Katherine Hickok Rev. Trust: Enron stock $15,001-$50,000 value, $5,001-$15,000 dividends/capital gains; (2) Son Adam Eugene Hickok Trust: Enron stock $15,000-$50,000 value, $5,001-$15,000 dividends/capital gains; (3) Daughter Katherine C. Hickok Trust: Enron stock $15,001-$50,000 value, $5,001-$15,000 dividends/capital gains.

Appointee: Allen F. Johnson
Title: Chief Agriculture Negotiator
Department: US Trade Rep.
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: John H. Marburger
Title: Director
Department: Office of Science and Technology
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000 value, $201-$1,000 dividends

Appointee: Alice H. Martin
Title: US Attorney, Northern District of Alabama
Department: Justice
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Sandra L. Pack
Title: Asst. Secretary
Department: Army
Relationship: Enron stock less than $1,001 value, $5,001-$15,000 capital gains.

Appointee: Robert Zoellick
Title: US Trade Rep.
Department: USTR
Relationship: Enron stock $15,001-$50,000, Enron advisory fees $50,000

Appointee: Hansford T. Johnson
Title: Asst. Sec.
Department: Navy
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Donald H. Rumsfeld
Title: Secretary
Department: Defense
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: John E. Robson
Title: Chairman/President
Department: Export Import Bank
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Thomas Scully
Title: Administrator
Department: HCFA
Relationship: Enron stock $15,001-$50,000

Appointee: Martin J. Silverstein
Title: Ambassador to Uruguay
Department: State
Relationship: Enron stock $15,001-$50,000

Appointee: William Winkenwerder
Title: Asst. Sec.
Department: Defense
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Thomas E. White
Title: Secretary of the Army
Department: Defense
Relationship: Former Vice-Chairman of Enron Energy Service; Enron Corp-common stock worth $25,000,001-50,000,000 that paid over $5,000,000 in dividends and capital gains; Enron Corp-stock options worth $25,000,001-50,000,000 that paid $100,001-1,000,000 in capital gains; Enron Corp Cash Balance Retirement Acct (Enron Stock will rollover into permissible property) worth $100,001-250,000 that paid less than $201 in dividends; Enron Corp-DLJ Private Equity Partners Fund II that paid $5,516,131.08 in salary; Enron Employee Stock Ownership Plan, Defined Contribution Plan Managed by Enron worth $1,000,001-5,000,000 that paid less than $201 dividends; Enron Phantom Stock Award worth $5,000,000-25,000,000 that paid less than $201 dividends; Enron Retirement Account (Enron Stock) worth less than $1,001 that paid less than $201 dividends; Agreements: Pursuant to provisions of employment agreement and routine practice of Enron Corp, given $1,000,000 in severance pay; The Phantom Stock Award in Enron (approximately 240,000 shares) were accelerated and paid out when he left Enron

Appointee: Mark Weinberger
Title: Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy)
Department: Treasury
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000 value, $201-1,000 dividends

Appointee: Vicky A. Bailey
Title: Assistant Secretary, International Affairs & Domestic Policy
Department: State
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Alexander Vershbow
Title: Ambassador to Russia
Department: State
Relationship: Enron stock $50,001-$100,000 value, $201-1,000 dividends

Appointee: Marcelle M. Wahba
Title: Ambassador to the UAE
Department: State
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Steven M. Colloton
Title: US Attorney (S.D. Iowa)
Department: Justice
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: Richard J. Egan
Title: Ambassador to Ireland
Department: State
Relationship: Enron Partial Sale
Value: $250,000-500,000
Dividends: $5,001-15,000
Capital Gains: $100,001-1,000,000

Enron Corporation (SOLD)
Value: Less than $1,001
Dividends: $201-1,000

Egan’s spouse: The following is owned through his wife’s Lawhill Capital fund for the year 2000:

Enron Gas & Oil
15,679 US G/L

Enron Corp.
Lost 12,429 US G/L

Appointee: Donald W. Washington
Title: US Attorney (W.D. Louisiana)
Department: Justice
Relationship: Enron stock $1,001-$15,000

Appointee: John Prince
Title: Ambassador to Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles
Department: State
Relationship: Enron stock through four direct/indirect sources: (1) less than $1,000; (2) $15,001-$50,000; (3) $1,001-$15,000; (4) $15,001-$50,000.

Appointee: William Schubert
Title: Administrator, Maritime Administration
Department: Transportation
Relationship: Project Consulting Services for Enron, paid over $5,000

Appointee: Bruce Carnes
Title: CFO
Department: US Dept of Energy
Relationship: Enron Stock $1,000 – $15,000

Appointee: John S. Wolf
Title: Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation
Department: Dept of State
Relationship: Enron Stock $50,000 – $100,000

Appointee: Linnet Deily
Title: Deputy
Department: Office of the Trade Representative
Relationship: Enron Stock $15,000 – $50,000

Appointee: Nils J. Diaz
Title: Commissioner
Department: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Relationship: Enron Stock $1,000 – $15,000

Appointee: George L. Argyros
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Spain and Andorra
Department: State
Relationship: Enron Stock $100,000 – $250,000; $1,000 – $15,000

Appointee: Charlotte L. Beers (Beadleston – married name)
Title: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
Department: State
Relationship: Enron Stock $100,000 – $250,000

Appointee: Stephen F. Brauer
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium
Department: State
Relationship: Enron Common Stock $50,000 – $100,000

Maybe reporters covering the relevant departments should ask some questions.

— Josh Marshall

I’m asking Josh. I’m asking.

A slight mishap involving a president and a pretzel at the white house:

President Faints at White House, by Ron Fournier for the Washington Post.

Here’s another good link for Enron ammo:
Oliver Willis’ EnronGate. (Thanks, Cory.)

Is there room for the Freedom of Information Act in U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s America?

See: On the Public’s Right to Know
The day Ashcroft censored Freedom of Information, an SF Gate Editorial Opinion. (Thanks, John)

No one disputes that we must safeguard our
national security. All of us want to protect our
nation from further acts of terrorism. But we must
never allow the public’s right to know, enshrined in
the Freedom of Information Act, to be suppressed
for the sake of official convenience.

Here’s another quote from the same piece:

Consider, for example, just a few of the recent
revelations — obtained through FOIA requests —
that newspapers and nonprofit watchdog groups
have been able to publicize during the last few
months:

• The Washington-based Environmental Working
  Group, a nonprofit organization, has been able to
  publish lists of recipients who have received billions
  of dollars in federal farm subsidies. Their Web site,
  www.ewg.org, has not only embarrassed the
  agricultural industry, but also allowed the public to
  realize that federal money — intended to support
  small family farmers — has mostly enhanced the
  profits of large agricultural corporations.

• The Charlotte Observer has been able to reveal
  how the Duke Power Co., an electric utility,
  cooked its books so that it avoided exceeding its
  profit limits. This creative accounting scheme
  prevented the utility from giving lower rates to 2
  million customers in North Carolina and South
  Carolina.

• USA Today was able to uncover and publicize a
  widespread pattern of misconduct among the
  National Guard’s upper echelon that has continued
  for more than a decade. Among the abuses
  documented in public records are the inflation of
  troop strength, the misuse of taxpayer money,
  incidents of sexual harassment and the theft of
  life-insurance payments intended for the widows
  and children of Guardsmen.

• The National Security Archive, a private
  Washington-based research group,

• has been able to obtain records that document an
  unpublicized event in our history. It turns out that in
  1975, President Gerald Ford and Secretary of
  State Henry Kissinger gave Indonesian strongman
  Suharto the green light to invade East Timor, an
  incursion that left 200,000 people dead.

• By examining tens of thousands of public
  records, the Associated Press has been able to
  substantiate the long-held African American
  allegation that white people — through threats of
  violence, even murder — cheated them out of their
  land. In many cases, government officials simply
  approved the transfer of property deeds. Valued at
  tens of million of dollars, some 24,000 acres of farm
  and timber lands, once the property of 406 black
  families, are now owned by whites or corporations.

These are but a sample of the revelations made
possible by recent FOIA requests. None of them
endanger the national security. It is important to
remember that all classified documents are
protected from FOIA requests and unavailable to
the public.

Yet these secrets have exposed all kinds of official
skullduggery, some of which even violated the law.
True, such revelations may disgrace public officials
or even result in criminal charges, but that is the
consequence — or shall we say, the punishment —
for violating the public trust.

Looks like the first scandal of President Bush’s career is going to be a doozy.

Keep your eyes out for one word in the headlines over the next few months:
drumroll please…
Enron (link goes to CBS Marketwatch page).

See an enlightening editorial on the subject by David Callaway for CBS MarketWatch.com:
Enron is not Bush’s Whitewater: It will be worse.

Don’t expect to see either Bush or Vice President Cheney directly linked to the financial shenanigans that brought Enron down. They won’t be. This is not about finding a smoking gun, as much as some Democrats might wish it were.

What it is about, and what the public will get to hear and read about in wrenching detail over the coming months, is how business gets done down in Texas. How a small group of business leaders exert enormous clout over Bush and his team in getting the rules changed to their benefit.

It will explain why Bush has locked up presidential records, locked out any voices opposed to his pro-business agenda and rammed through an expensive economic plan that wiped out the budget surplus but to date hasn’t had any positive effect on the economy.

It will explain what influence Enron Chief Executive Ken Lay and his advisers had with Cheney and his energy task force when they met six times last year while the vice president was putting together the administration’s energy policy.

And it will explain why Bush is now thinking about acting on a proposal from that very task force that seeks to roll back a key provision of the Clean Air Act that helps keep factory pollution down by requiring new controls when old plants are upgraded.

There’s a long overdue Patent System Reform conference going on at the UC Berkeley Campus March 1-2, 2002.

The conference is hosted by
The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
and
The Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

I’ll be there with bells on! Hope to see you all there!