Week in review: EarthLink woes eclipse Wi-Fi plans

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Nonetheless, in announcing its plans to release Service Pack 1 early next year, Microsoft is noting that the milestone remains an important signal for some businesses that the operating system has reached a level of maturity.

Many analysts have consistently advised companies to hold off on Vista deployments until the first service pack's arrival. By talking about SP1, Microsoft hopes to sway some businesses that have yet to move forward in any fashion to start at least testing the OS.

Meanwhile, AutoPatcher, a 4-year-old project to distribute Microsoft patches and other updates to software that runs on Windows, has shut down because of a Microsoft request.

AutoPatcher had a variety of uses. For example, people with limited bandwidth could download patches once and install them on multiple computers, or people setting up new machines could apply security updates without having to expose the computer to network security risks. AutoPatcher could handle updates from Microsoft as well as third-party software such as Sun Microsystems' Java.

Microsoft said it "discourages" others from distributing supplemental software such as hot fixes, security patches and service packs, and that doing so infringes the company's copyright. "This policy is in place due to concern for the safety and security of our customers, as we can only guarantee the download's contents when it comes from a Microsoft Web site," the company said in a statement.

Piracy and privacy
A judge tossed out of court a lawsuit filed last year by TorrentSpy that accused the movie studios' trade group of intercepting the company's private e-mails.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper threw out the lawsuit TorrentSpy brought against the Motion Picture Association of America last year for allegedly purchasing copies of private e-mails belonging to TorrentSpy executives. Robert Anderson, a former business associate of one of TorrentSpy's founders, acknowledged "hacking" into the company's e-mail systems and rigging it so he would receive a copy of all outgoing and incoming e-mail correspondence. He later sold the information to the MPAA for $15,000.

TorrentSpy.com is shutting down access to users in the U.S. while awaiting a ruling by a U.S. district judge on whether TorrentSpy must turn over its user information to the MPAA. That group filed a civil complaint against the company last year, accusing TorrentSpy of violating copyright law.

Although TorrentSpy doesn't host any pirated movies on its site, the search engine helps users find unauthorized copies, the MPAA alleged in its suit. TorrentSpy has argued that the company has many legitimate uses and is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The MPAA's acknowledgment that it purchased TorrentSpy e-mail correspondence is significant because it comes at a time when the group is trying to limit illegal file sharing by imploring movie fans to act ethically and resist the temptation to download pirated movies. To critics, the revelation by the MPAA is a possible sign that the organization is itself not above adopting unethical practices in its fight against file sharing.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a proponent of strong privacy laws on the Web, has criticized the court findings and claim they pose serious threats to Internet users. Yet, the theft of the e-mails did not violate the federal Wiretap Act, according to Cooper. Kevin Bankston, an EFF staff attorney, said Cooper misread the law.

"Essentially, one can do ongoing surveillance of another party's e-mails without their consent and not violate the law," Bankston said. "Not only does this open the door to privacy abuses in civil cases but it also could lead to abuses by the government...It's an incredibly dangerous decision."

Also of note
After more than two years of minor tweaks to its most popular product, it looks like Apple is ready for new iPods...Microsoft settled a long-running and expensive lawsuit with Eolas Technologies, a start-up backed by the University of California that alleged Internet Explorer infringed a patent...Federal regulators slapped three wireless firms, including No. 3 operator Sprint Nextel, with a total of $2.83 million in fines for not meeting a long-passed deadline for equipping subscribers with enhanced 911 service...Apple and Volkswagen are reported to be in talks about an "iCar", which would connect the car to the home PC and entertainment systems...Teenage tech celebrity George Hotz, who unlocked the iPhone enabling it to work on any network, traded the hacked iPhone for three more 8GB iPhones plus a Nissan 350Z.

[Emilio2000]

Earthlink still the best for me!

I am sorry to hear of the troubles Earthlink is having. I wish the company all the best. For me, Earthlink still provides the best service. There are a number of things why I like Earthlink, but among the most important are:

1. FREEDOM OF CHOICE. It allows me the freedom to use any Internet browser, and any email client I want, as well as the freedom to check my email either on the web or by downloading it to my own PC. It doesn't narrow down my choices the way AOL or MSN does.

2. GROUP EMAIL. Earthlink allows me to send out an email message to 200 of my ski club members. Many other email service providers limit you to only about 50 email recipients at a time (like Comcast does, for example). Or limits you to only so many emails per hour.

The combined effect of both of the above freedoms means I can easily communicate with our club members, and maintain several distribution lists (or groups of contacts), such as one for each club trip. And, thanks to the fact that I can use Outlook Express with my Earthlink service, I can easily maintain backup copies of my Address Book, and synchronize my Address Book on two computers in such a way that all my groups (distribution lists) are synchronized too.

No other email program (other than Outlook Express) is capable of synchronizing distribution lists on two computers, at least not easily. Not even the email program that comes with the MSN service (even though both are made by Microsoft).

The more powerful MS Outlook is capable of such synchronization, but the process is so complicated and un-intuitive that it is almost unusable on a daily basis, ... and even when it works, it often leaves you with a duplicate copy of the group, instead of merging all the entries into a single group.

Other email clients are totally clue-less when it comes to synchronizing groups of addresses between two computers. I have tried switching to Mozilla Thunderbird multiple times over the years, but they seem unable to make distribution lists work properly and be backed up and restored properly. So, I keep coming back to Outlook Express. How come the people who designed Outlook Express solved this problem of synchronizing groups years ago, and nobody else can do it today?

For anyone who uses distribution lists of more than 50 people, the combination of Outlook Express and Earthlink is ideal. Everyone else is either imposing limitations on you or is incapable of providing a good backup and synchronization method.

[PegAllen]

What about overseas call centers?

I've had an Earthlink acoount since 1999 and recently tried to switch to them for DSL. The first person I reached was in India. The order was confirmed, but no modem arrived even though I authorized 2-day delivery. After a week, with Geek squad coming to try again to get new computer online, I canceled and stayed with local phone company (not that I'm happy with them!) This person was fine & I don't believe he was in India.

I think that companies that try and save money by outsourcing customer & technical services to another culture are going to lose business in the long run. Adding services to those of us in rural areas is great (took awhile for Earthlink to come here, which is why I made other choices first). However, those services require excellent customer service to retain these customers...