home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- Computer underground Digest Wed Aug 27, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 64
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
- Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
-
- CONTENTS, #9.64 (Wed, Aug 27, 1997)
-
- File 1--Wired News on the Politics of Netscape
- File 2--Sex is driving Internet progress, experts say (fwd)
- File 3--Commerce Dept encryption rules declared unconstitutional
- File 4--AOL Target of Credit Card Scam
- File 5--E-Mail Advertising (fwd)
- File 6--Novadigm Sues Marimba
- File 7--ADVISORY/Novadigm CEO Rebuffs Marimba
- File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
-
- CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
- THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 10:25:52 -0800
- To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
- Subject: File 1--Wired News on the Politics of Netscape
-
- Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
-
-
- From Wired Nnews: http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/6190.html
-
- Political Player Isn't Yet a Political Power
-
- by Ashley Craddock
-
- 5:10am 21.Aug.97.PDT In the heart of the digital universe,
- one thing seems clear: Although Netscape's once
- skyrocketing fortunes may be in turnaround, and its
- sometime stellar public profile is in the early stages of
- eclipse, CEO Jim Barksdale, the corporate guru who raised
- Netscape from squirrelly start-up to industry leader, is
- still striving to position the company as a heavy hitter. And
- he's doing it by working the smoky corridors of DC politics.
-
- Consider the evidence: Since Netscape's founding in 1994,
- Barksdale has dabbled in antitrust law, poked and prodded
- the Clinton administration about immigration policies, and
- toyed with tort reform. He's testified before Congress about
- the long-term folly of using export policy to choke the
- development of robust encryption technologies - and, by
- extension, the most booming sector of the nation's economy.
- And this summer, pairing with venture capitalist and
- Silicon Valley good ol' boy extraordinaire John Doerr,
- Barksdale did something heretofore unthinkable: From the
- center of the politics-wary world of high tech, he launched
- the Technology Network, the industry's first formal stab at
- creating a political organization to advance info-tech goals
- on Capitol Hill.
-
- But no matter how maverick Barksdale's political acumen
- looks from the Valley, the view from the Hill is more
- mundane: He's simply the CEO of a vulnerable start-up
- scrambling to protect his corner of the volatile info-tech
- boom. "What gave anyone the idea that Netscape is a big
- political player?" asks one well-known Washington
- Internet activist who doesn't wish to be identified. "Don't get
- me wrong, Netscape has played an invaluable role in the
- fight for stronger encryption, but on all the other big
- Internet issues, they've been pretty much invisible."
-
- Even in Technology Network's Palo Alto, California, offices,
- where several dyed-in-the-wool politicos have parked
- their stars, Barksdale's political aura seems to pale beside
- co-chair Doerr's notoriously intense wattage. "We still
- think the Gore and Doerr thing is a joke," says TechNet
- Republican consultant Dan Schnur, citing a recent New
- Yorker profile of the nominally Republican Kleiner,
- Perkins, Caufield & Byers partner. "But let's just say I
- wish we had someone like Doerr pushing our side of the
- agenda."
-
- Isolated victories
-
- Barksdale, who arrived at Netscape after stints at Federal
- Express and McCaw Communications, carried to the Valley a
- more intimate knowledge of the necessary intersection
- between politics and business than many of the Valley's
- homegrown execs.
-
- "Jim is far more seasoned than people like [Intuit's] Scott
- Cook, [Sun Microsystem's] Scott McNealy, and [Marimba's]
- Kim Polese," says Peter Harter, Netscape's public policy
- counsel. "At Fed Ex, he worked with labor unions and the
- trucking industry. He worked the FBI and the National
- Security Agency on issues about shipping packages. And at
- McCaw, he had to deal with the Federal Communications
- Commission. He knows the way Washington works, and
- people in Washington know he knows it."
-
- Since arriving at Netscape, Barksdale has used that
- experience to his company's benefit. He has won at least
- three significant individual battles in the looming Internet
- policy war. After several key pilgrimmages to DC, he
- obtained major concessions on the export of encryption
- embedded in Netscape Navigator, the browser that made his
- company's name and fortune. He influenced the free-market
- tilt of the Clinton administration's white paper on
- electronic commerce. And, in negotiations on the budget bill
- earlier this summer, Barksdale pushed for tax credits on
- research and development and software exports.
-
- But those were isolated victories, and Netscape and the rest
- of the software industry have still barely cracked
- mainstream Washington's consciousness. The Congressional
- Internet Caucus has little real clout. And while
- administration officials note that the president's yen to
- improve his historical rank offers favor-seekers a perfect
- opportunity for political leverage, Silicon Valley seems
- strangely unprepared to act.
-
- The reason, says Oliver Smoot, executive vice president of
- the Information Technology Industry Council, is simple:
- Nobody in the Valley, including Netscape, wants to pay to
- play. Indeed, while technology executives account for 26 of
- Forbes' list of the 400 richest in America, only five show
- up on Mother Jones' list of the nation's 400 top political
- contributors. "In terms of its contribution to the national
- economy, the software industry is beginning to have very
- high visibility here," says Smoot. "But compared to a lot of
- less profitable industries, it doesn't really carry much of a
- punch."
-
- And for all Barksdale's nipping and tucking, Netscape, like
- its counterparts, seems content to hurl only a few strategic
- pitches a year. Indeed, as far as Washington presence, the
- company falls far short of the low-water mark set by an
- industry known for stashing its lobbyists in sunless
- backroom offices. Netscape employs only one full-time
- lobbyist, who doesn't even have a DC base. Since his arrival
- at Netscape fresh from a stint at an Ohio nonprofit, Peter
- Harter has peddled the company's somewhat meager
- influence from his Palo Alto office.
-
- Political Lobbyist
- Head Count
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Netscape
- 1
- Microsoft
- 6
- Intel
- 12
- IBM
- 24
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
-
- Of necessity, Harter is pragmatic about his position in the
- lobbyists' galaxy. "Say we identify five issues that are very
- important," he says. "As a small company, we may only
- have resources for three, so we'll look at what's ripe for
- resolution and focus on that." In the two years Harter has
- been working for Netscape, his main focus has been
- relaxing export controls on encrypted software so the
- company can expand overseas sales. Now, he says,
- priorities are shifting. Believing that the administration is
- about to hand down regulations Netscape can live with,
- Harter has shrunk his cryptography budget and is now
- turning his attention toward copyright and privacy
- concerns.
-
- Underdog seeks an upper hand
-
- As much as anything, Netscape's public-policy initiatives
- all stem from the need to protect and bolster an
- increasingly fragile bottom line. "Netscape is the underdog,
- so Barksdale is focused on ensuring that it's able to remain
- competitive," says the Internet activist, who worked with
- Netscape in the fight against online content regulations
- imposed by the since-eviscerated Communications Decency
- Act. "If that lines up with sound public policy, great. But
- that's not really what's driving any of the company's
- politics. In fact, as far as the CDA, Netscape's only
- significant action was to make sure that Internet access
- providers, i.e. browser-makers like Netscape, were
- exempted by the original bill."
-
- By signing on as co-chair of TechNet, however, Barksdale is
- explicitly leveraging Netscape's reputation as a catalyst for
- the Internet-driven new economy. Born out of a successful
- 1996 fight against California's Proposition 211, an
- initiative that would have lowered the barrier to
- shareholder lawsuits, TechNet was founded in July to
- endorse candidates, raise money, and lobby state and DC
- politicians. Since its founding, the nonpartisan
- Valley-based group - whose members include Polese, Cook,
- and McNealy - has wined and dined Jack Kemp, Al Gore,
- Senator Tom Daschle, and William Bennett, among others.
-
- In spite of Netscape's leadership role, there remain
- uncertainties about what the organization will do to advance
- the goals nearest and dearest to the company's heart. No key
- Internet issues - not access fees for service, not bandwidth,
- not free speech, not domain names, not even encryption -
- have so far lit the nascent group's radar screen. And, says
- Harter, they probably won't. For one thing, TechNet hopes
- to represent the biotech industry as well as software and
- hardware companies. For another, "All TechNet's member
- companies have different agendas when it comes to
- encryption," says Harter. "It's a divisive issue that TechNet
- probably doesn't need to touch."
-
- So far, TechNet's overall strategy - fighting for passage of a
- bill that would standardize regulations on state-level
- securities litigation, and lobbying for education reform -
- has worked like a charm. "People in Washington are
- fascinated by Silicon Valley's magic," says Mark Gitenstein,
- a lobbyist who worked on the 1995 Federal Securities
- Litigation Reform Act and is now TechNet's DC consultant on
- the issue. "TechNet's creation represents the industry's
- first real acknowledgement that no important sector in our
- economy can avoid government regulation. And god knows,
- this is an important sector."
-
- Why does the economic powerhouse info-tech industry
- insist on playing wiffle-ball politics? Essentially, while
- the nascent industry is bursting with cash, it's also
- bursting with competition. "The rebirth of Silicon Valley
- three years ago is different than anything that came
- before," says Jim Bidzos, CEO of RSA Data Security, the
- Valley's leading cryptography software firm. "You see tons
- of companies making tons of money, and you see tons of
- companies disappearing. It's all any CEO can do to keep up.
- And Washington is so far behind, it's hard to care what's
- going on except when some wrongheaded government
- initiative becomes a direct political threat."
-
- Other observers believe that Silicon Valley magic-makers
- like Barksdale may wield more influence in DC than several
- pots of gold. "If these groups stick to the high ground on
- developing the Internet as a public resource, they may be
- able to exert a lot of power without a ton of money," says
- Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Information Privacy
- Center. "Right now, the industry that TechNet represents is
- a policymaker's darling. They can ride that a long way."
-
-
- Copyright 1993-97 Wired Ventures Inc. and affiliated
- companies.
- All rights reserved.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 00:53:13 -0400 (EDT)
- From: "noah@enabled.com" <noah@enabled.com>
- Subject: File 2--Sex is driving Internet progress, experts say (fwd)
-
- 07:01 PM ET 08/18/97
-
- Sex is driving Internet progress, experts say
-
- CHICAGO (Reuter) - Sex is the most searched-for topic on the
- Internet and the quest for it is driving the net's technological
- advances, researchers said Monday.
- ``This is going to be the next sexual revolution. It's going
- to affect sex in a profound way,'' said Al Cooper, clinical
- director of the San Jose Calif. Marital and Sexual Center.
- Questions being asked range from whether voyeurism in
- cyberspace constitutes infidelity to whether meeting someone
- electronically before visually might lead to better long-term
- relationships, he said.
- Ray Noonan, a sexual researcher from New York University,
- said, ``The Internet is probably one of the most profound
- changes in world society history, with greater impact than the
- Gutenberg press and broadcast media...
- ``Sex drives the technology of the Internet and the World
- Wide Web,'' he added.
- The two researchers and others spoke during a panel
- discussion on the topic during the annual meeting of the
- American Psychological Association.
- Cooper said sex was the most searched-for topic on the
- Internet, even though the number of sites or user groups devoted
- to it represent a relatively small percentage of the masses of
- information available in cyberspace.
- Adult entertainment and sexually explicit material are the
- ''No. 1 income generator on the Internet,'' he said, adding that
- he believed they would drive telephone sex services out of
- business in a few years.
- The phenomenon will impact human sexuality by offering
- information, education, the chance of a ``first step'' for the
- otherwise timid and the possibility of linking those with
- similar sexual orientations and tastes.
- ``There is also a potential for better long-term
- relationships,'' Cooper said, if people get to know each other
- before physical attraction occurs.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 19:41:19 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
- Subject: File 3--Commerce Dept encryption rules declared unconstitutional
-
- Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
-
- A Federal judge in San Francisco ruled today that the Commerce
- Department's export controls on encryption products violate the
- First Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech.
-
- In a 35-page decision, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel said the
- Clinton administration's rules violate "the First Amendment on the
- grounds of prior restraint and are, therefore, unconstitutional."
- Patel reaffirmed her December 1996 decision against the State
- Department regulations, saying that the newer Commerce Department
- rules suffer from similar constitutional infirmities.
-
- Patel barred the government from "threatening, detaining,
- prosecuting, discouraging, or otherwise interfering with" anyone
- "who uses, discusses, or publishes or seeks to use, discuss or
- publish plaintiff's encryption programs and related materials."
- Daniel Bernstein, now a math professor at the University of
- Illinois, filed the lawsuit with the help of the Electronic
- Frontier Foundation.
-
- Patel dismissed the State, Energy, and Justice departments and
- CIA as defendants. President Clinton transferred jurisdiction over
- encryption exports from the State to the Commerce department on
- December 30, 1996.
-
- The Justice Department seems likely to appeal the ruling to the
- Ninth Circuit, which could rule on the case in the near future.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 13:42:38 -0500
- From: Jim Thomas <jthomas@well.com>
- Subject: File 4--AOL Target of Credit Card Scam
-
- The Chicago Tribune (27 Aug '97, p. 3) reported a scam that
- attempted to target AOL subscribers two weeks ago. The story
- describes how e-mail, disguised as official correspondence from
- AOL attempted to entice subscribers to divulge credit card numbers
- and other sensitive information. The scam worked by inviting
- subscribers to click on a link that took them to an official
- looking homepage, where a letter, ostensibly by AOL's CEO Steve
- Case described AOL's successes in fixing bugs. Subscribers
- where then asked to update their AOL accounts by supplying
- confidential information.
-
- When AOL users log on to AOL, a prominent note reminds them that
- AOL personnel will *never* ask for such information.
- It's not known how many users were victimized by the scam, and the
- fraudulent homepage was apperently up only for a few hours.
-
- Unlike sex-related crimes, there have been no screaming "INTERNET
- BLAMED IN SCAM ATTEMPT" headlines. That's encouraging. It's
- hardly a surprise that the Net contains predators, just as do
- churches, highschools, and police departments. The trick, which
- the media seem to be slowly catching on to, is not to create
- hysteria with clueless horror stories, but to stress a few basics.
- In this case, one of the cardinal rules pertains: Do not give out
- personal information to strangers on the Net. In this case,
- however, the scam was sufficiently clever that it could easily
- catch inexperienced (or even some experienced) netfolk. A second
- rule then pertains: Double check the sources - if something seems
- odd, avoid it.
-
- The text of "spam" letter setting up the scam was posted on The
- Well (a public access community in California's Bay
- Area--http://www.well.com for info) on August 12 by
- <amicus@well.com>.
-
- ============
-
- Tue 12 Aug 97 04:51
-
- I just got what is apparent Spam that would seem to go far
- beyond illegal... it purports to be from AOL (address is
- something like "ServerUpdate@aol.com") and contains a letter
- from Steve Case, along with a URL on an IP-address-only site.
- When you go to the site, you're in a secure form, purporting to
- be a reregistration form for you with AOL, asking for various
- confidential information. The page bears logos for both RSA and
- VeriSign... it seems to be crafted to *look* legit, for those
- folks who merely understand that the Internet *can* be secured,
- somehow. Checking headers, the thing seems to have come from
- UUNet (surprise!). For those who want to check it out, the URL
- is http://209.41.43.223/index.htm
-
- -------------
-
- here's what I got... NB the bogus domain (aoI.com) and the
- "Authenticated server is..." comment. Clever enough to catch
- newbies, certainly.
-
- <begin letter>
-
- From AOL-ServerUpdate@aol.com Tue Aug 12 08:22:50 1997
- Received: from relay6.UU.NET (relay6.UU.NET [192.48.96.16])
- by embassy.org (8.8.4/8.8.4) with ESMTP
- id FAA18670 for <director@embassy.digex.net>; Tue, 12 Aug 1997 05:24:13
- -0400 (EDT)
- From: AOL-ServerUpdate@aol.com
- Received: from mail.uu.net by relay6.UU.NET with SMTP
- (peer crosschecked as: slip129-37-52-122.ca.us.ibm.net [129.37.52.122])
- id QQdcgj02863; Tue, 12 Aug 1997 05:24:11 -0400 (EDT)
- Received: from mail.aoI.com (alt.aoI.com (207.34.342.246)) by aoI.com
- (8.8.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id GAA01943 for <ServerUpg@aol.com>; Tue, 12 Aug 1997
- 05:18:19 -0600 (EST)
- To: ServerUpg@aol.com
- Message-ID: <173840394782.GAA73847@aoI.com>
- Date: Tue, 12 Aug 97 05:18:19 EST
- Subject - Important AOL Information! Please Read. --)
- Reply-To: AOL-ServerUpdate@aol.com
- X-PMFLAGS: 34078848 0
- X-UIDL: 268493654736a37aeb4b67463529878e
- Comments: Authenticated sender is <AOL-ServerUpdate@aol.com>
-
- Special News Bulletin:
-
- August 12, 1997
-
- Dear Members:
-
- As you know, the number one priority for all of us at America
- Online continues to be meeting our obligation to provide you with
- the best possible service. We have been working day and night to
- fix the busy signal problem and to catch up with the incredible
- surge in demand for AOL. In this month's letter, I'd like to give
- you an update on how we are doing.
-
- When it became clear to us that unlimited use pricing stimulated
- more demand for AOL than we had anticipated, we announced a $350
- million expansion program and made four commitments to you:
-
- - To expand system capacity as quickly as possible
- - To serve our existing members before adding new members
- - To work extremely hard to maintain the loyalty of members
- who've had problems with busy signals
- - To communicate frequently about the steps we are taking to improve AOL
-
- So let me update you on what we're doing to meet each of those
- commitments, including the development of a new server which
- offers a higher system capacity.
-
- You may either take a moment to read in depth about the steps we
- have taken, or just complete the required update of your
- information on our new servers.
-
- Please Click <A HREF="http://209.41.43.223/index.htm">HERE</A> to
- Continue.
-
- All you have to do is click on the text above with your left
- mouse button and it will take you directly to our new information
- screen.
-
- Thank you for your Cooperation,
- AOL Member Services
-
- Below are the Headers used by AOL's newly developed servers.
- Please Disregard these they are of no importance.
- <end letter>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 11:56:33 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Larry Will <larry@idb.vitro.com>
- Subject: File 5--E-Mail Advertising (fwd)
-
- ((MODERATORS' NOTE: Normally, we don't reprint letters from spam
- targets to spammers, but the possibility of politicians spamming
- us every fall is a bit frightening. Larry Will's thoughtful
- response to the spam might dissuade potential pol-spammers from
- repeating this one's faux pas)).
-
- I sent the attached message to an unlikely spammer---a politician (or,
- more precisely, the politician's internet marketing firm). I've yet to get
- a reply from either the spammer or the candidate.
-
- Lw
-
- --
- Larry Will will@tracoris.com 301-231-2013
- 5305 Griffith Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20882-2020
-
- Software Engineer, Tracor Information Systems, Rockville, MD
- President, Capital Area NetWare Users, Washington DC
- <http://canu.ml.org>
-
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
- Date--Wed, 20 Aug 1997 10:36:42 -0400
- From--Larry Will <will@vitro.com>
- To--CManzano@ix.netcom.com,
- TGParker@worldnet.att.net,
- manzano@NYCT.NET,
- vinny@NYCT.NET
- Subject--E-Mail Advertising
-
- Dear Ms. Fields,
-
- I received the electronic message included below earlier
- this morning. Since my e-mail account name has been
- included, without my consent, in a database for use by
- organizations wishing to do mass mailing across the
- internet, I receive several such unsolicited messages a day.
-
- You may not be aware of this, but much of the internet
- community, including myself, consider unsolicited electronic
- messages to be annoying, a waste of time and energy, and
- contrary to established rules of etiquette governing conduct
- in the online world.
-
- Unsolicited commercial e-mail is also known by the
- pejorative term "spam", and those who spam are called
- "spammers". I believe that those in your campaign
- responsible for spamming have done your campaign a great
- disservice. Consider only that I live in Montgomery County,
- Maryland, and that this message arrived in my workplace's
- electronic mailbox, and that regardless of my political
- background I have no interest in the current Manhattan
- Borough President campaign.
-
- There are some in the internet community who retaliate in a
- very negative way to spammers and their sponsors. It is
- possible that your web site, e-mail box, and internet access
- provider may be subject to attack and abuse from some who
- have received this message, causing a loss or denial of
- service.
-
- I am not part of this crowd; but I feel it would be a
- disservice to you and your campaign if I did not bring these
- issues to your attention. I believe there are far better
- ways to advertise your campaign than resorting to spam.
-
- I am also sending this message to those responsible for
- Midtown Media Consulting and their internet domain
- midtownmedia.com.
-
- Thank you for your attention.
-
- Larry Will
- Software Engineer
- Tracor Information Systems
- Rockville, Maryland
- will@tracoris.com
-
- ----original message included below----
-
- http://www.midtownmedia.com/Fields97
-
- C. VIRGINIA FIELDS
-
- FOR MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT '97
-
- IMPORTANT NOTICE - DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY - TUES. SEPT. 9TH,
- 1997
-
- PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 08:56:10 -0400
- From: Dale Gardner <daleg@novadigm.com>
- Subject: File 6--Novadigm Sues Marimba
-
- The topic of push technology and differencing is heating up -- I'm sure
- you've been following the issues, including Marimba's announcement
- yesterday about the DRP. I wanted to make sure you saw the following
- release which outlines our position on the matter.
-
- Please give me a call or send an e-mail if you have questions.
-
- Regards,
-
- Dale Gardner
- Director of Marketing
- +1.703.771.6075
- daleg@novadigm.com
-
- For Release 8 am ET
- August 27, 1997
-
- Novadigm Sues Marimba
-
- Patent Infringement Lawsuit May Impact W3C Protocol Submission
-
- Mahwah, NJ, August 27, 1997: Novadigm, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVDM) today said it
- has warned the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that elements of the
- proposed Distribution and Replication Protocol (DRP) may infringe its
- intellectual property rights. The company asked that the consortium
- defer consideration of the proposal, pending resolution of a patent
- infringement lawsuit Novadigm filed against Marimba Inc. in March 1997.
-
- The lawsuit alleges that Marimba has infringed upon Novadigm's existing
- "fractional differencing" patent, issued in December 1996. Based upon a
- review of documentation made public by Marimba and the W3C, Novadigm
- believes DRP may use techniques similar to its patented methods,
- including DRP's use of differential indexing. Neither company has
- previously commented publicly on the lawsuit.
-
- Novadigm said it will also notify the other companies involved in the
- DRP proposal of its claims against Marimba. Those companies are:
- Netscape Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: NSCP), Novell Inc. (NASDAQ:
- NOVL), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW), and @Home Network (NASDAQ:
- ATHM).
-
- "Standards are clearly a positive force in the industry, but the fact
- remains that this technology is not Marimba's to give away," stated
- Albion Fitzgerald, chairman and chief executive officer of Novadigm. "We
- have invested over six years and thousands of hours in perfecting the
- technologies needed to solve software and information distribution
- problems. This work has resulted in production implementations on a
- scale unmatched by any other vendor."
-
- "Marimba is a start-up which has garnered much attention, but apparently
- does not respect our property rights. We think that Marimba's sudden
- magnanimous decision to abandon their own patent process and donate the
- technology to open standards should be seen in the light of our already
- granted patent and the ongoing litigation as an exploitative action
- without regard to the obvious intellectual property issues involved. We
- own this technology and we're going to vigorously defend it, even as
- Marimba works aggressively to use and claim credit for it."
-
- Fitzgerald said Novadigm was surprised by Marimba's DRP proposal,
- announced yesterday, and is unable to say whether the partner companies
- knew of the infringement claim. "We've remained silent about the
- litigation in order to facilitate a resolution by the legal and patent
- processes we are all supposed to adhere to, but dragging the W3C and the
- Internet community unknowingly into the middle of the dispute is a
- particularly inappropriate tactic. We think Marimba either didn't inform
- the other companies and the W3C of the lawsuit or told them only one
- side of it," Fitzgerald said. "We are hoping the Wc3 and Marimba's
- partners will take an equitable and arms-length approach as the matter
- proceeds through the courts."
-
- Novadigm's counsel advised that the case is in discovery stages and that
- Novadigm is investigating the nature and scope of Marimba's alleged
- infringement.
-
- About The Patent
-
- Novadigm's Patent (Number 5,581,764) "Distributed Computer Network
- Including Hierarchical Resource Information Structure and Related Method
- of Distributing Resources" describes the processes needed to generate
- from a common reference model a unique content configuration for each
- target end user, and to "difference" the "desired state" configuration
- with the actual-state of the target, yielding highly granular and very
- specific updates to distributed content automatically. The patent covers
- two central areas:
-
- Desired state configuration - processes which incorporate essential
- elements of both "push" and "pull" distribution models. By generating
- from a common reference model a unique user configuration which
- describes the specific software or content a target user should have,
- producers can automatically 'push' content to specific servers,
- desktops, or users; or groups of users. In addition, the 'pull' process
- provides a means for users to control when the flow of information takes
- place, what information is delivered, and where it is stored.
-
- Fractional Differencing - processes for comparing and contrasting the
- desired state configuration identifying what components a target should
- have with the resources it actually has, resulting in a concise and
- highly detailed difference configuration describing what components are
- needed - or should be removed - to ensure the targeted user is properly
- configured with a minimum of network traffic.
- The technologies protected by the patent are incorporated into
- Novadigm's Enterprise Desktop Manager(tm) software management solution.
- That product is used by some of the most demanding and complex
- information technology organizations world-wide. They are also the basis
- for new Novadigm products which will address requirements for efficient
- desktop management in the Internet environment.
-
- About Novadigm
-
- Novadigm is a leading provider of distributed software management
- solutions that reduce the cost and complexity of managing client/server,
- packaged and Internet software. The company's products use a patented
- 'desired-state' automation platform to distribute software across
- thousands of desktops and servers without manual intervention. The
- company licenses its products to Fortune 5000 IT organizations, software
- vendors, and service providers around the World. Novadigm's common stock
- trades on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol "NVDM". More
- information on Novadigm, Inc. can be found on the World Wide Web at
- http://www.novadigm.com/ or by calling 800-626-6682.
-
- # # #
-
- Note To Editors -- Novadigm, EDM, and Enterprise Desktop Manager are
- either trademarks or registered trademarks of Novadigm, Inc. All other
- product, trademark, company, or service names mentioned herein are the
- property of their respective owners. Novadigm, Inc. is not affiliated
- with Novadyne Computer Systems, Inc. of Reston, VA.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 12:03:44 -0400
- From: Dale Gardner <daleg@novadigm.com>
- Subject: File 7--ADVISORY/Novadigm CEO Rebuffs Marimba
-
- MAHWAH, N.J.-- Aug. 29, 1997-- MEDIA ALERT
-
- Albion Fitzgerald, chairman and CEO of Novadigm, Inc.
- (NASDAQ: NVDM), today responded to comments by Marimba, Inc. CEO
- Kim Polese published Wednesday, August 27 regarding Novadigm's
- pending patent infringement lawsuit.
-
- "Ms. Polese not only termed our suit 'baseless', but called
- into question the acceptance of our technology in the market.
- Regarding the suit, we and our attorneys are confident of our
- position," said Fitzgerald. "Her response is nothing more than you
- would expect from a defendant in a case of this type, whatever its
- merits. Regarding our current market position -- hype aside --
- Novadigm's success relative to Marimba's is indisputable. In the
- last 12 months, we and our partners have generated nearly $50 million
- in revenues based on our proven technology. That's $15 million more
- than 1997 estimates for the entire push market -- which includes
- Marimba -- according to Forrester Research. And our customers are not
- simply experimenting with pushing content or Java applets to desktops.
- They are managing production, mission-critical applications across
- thousands of desktops worldwide."
-
- The controversy between Marimba and Novadigm heated up
- Tuesday, with Marimba's announcement of its submission (along with
- co-sponsors Netscape, Novell, Sun Microsystems and @Home Network) to
- the Worldwide Web Consortium of a new industry protocol (Distribution
- and Replication Protocol) designed to speed the distribution of
- information over the Internet. Novadigm contends that the technology
- on which the standard is based infringes on a Novadigm patent
- awarded in December 1996, and is the subject of a lawsuit filed
- against Marimba in March -- a fact that Marimba knew and did not
- disclose with its submission. Novadigm believes that Marimba is
- attempting to give away technology that it does not rightfully own
- and asked the consortium to defer consideration of the proposal
- pending resolution of the lawsuit.
-
- ------------------
-
- EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
-
- Novadigm's patent infringement lawsuit is available for downloading
- at http://www.novadigm.com/.
-
- For additional comments on Novadigm's leading technology or its
- patent infringement lawsuit against Marimba:
-
- Michael Barclay, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati Law Firm,
- (650) 493-9300
-
- David Coursey, Analyst, Coursey Communications, (415) 577-2545
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
- From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
- Subject: File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
-
- Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
- available at no cost electronically.
-
- CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
-
- Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line:
-
- SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST
- Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu
-
- DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS.
-
- The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-6436), fax (815-753-6302)
- or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
- 60115, USA.
-
- To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CU-DIGEST
- Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU
- (NOTE: The address you unsub must correspond to your From: line)
-
- Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
- news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
- LAWSIG, and DL1 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
- libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
- the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
- On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
- on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
- CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
- 1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
-
- In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
-
- UNITED STATES: ftp.etext.org (206.252.8.100) in /pub/CuD/CuD
- Web-accessible from: http://www.etext.org/CuD/CuD/
- ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD/
- aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
- world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
- wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
- EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/CuD/CuD/ (Finland)
- ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
-
-
- The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
- Cu Digest WWW site at:
- URL: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/
-
- COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
- information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
- diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
- as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and
- they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
- non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
- specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
- relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
- preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
- unless absolutely necessary.
-
- DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
- the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
- responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
- violate copyright protections.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Computer Underground Digest #9.64
- ************************************
-
-
-