Weekly_November_16.txt The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, November 16, 2005 PT1 ******eBooks Readable By Both Humans And Computers Since July 4, 1971******* !!! WE ARE NOW 7/8 OF THE WAY TO 20,000 eBOOKS !!! *** Project Gutenberg's Progress Towards Our Current Goal Of 20,000 eBooks Imagine the 20,000 books have been separated into 8 stacks of 2,500 each, we have just now completed 7 stacks leaving just 1 stack to go: GRAND TOTAL 20,000!!! BOOKS DONE!!! _____ (__8__( 20,000 _____ _____ BOOKS TO GO!!! (__7__( 17,500 (__7__( 17,500 _____ ______ (__6__( 15,000 (__6__( 15,000 _____ _____ (__5__( 12,500 (__5__( 12,500 _____ _____ (__4__( 10 000 (__4__( 10,000 _____ _____ (__3__( 7,500 (__3__( 7,500 _____ _____ (__2__( 5,000 (__2__( 5,000 _____ _____ _____ (__1__( 2,500 (__1__( 2,500 (__1__( 2,500 GRAND TOTAL 20,000 BOOKS DONE!!! BOOKS TO GO!!! Editor's comments appear in [brackets]. Newsletter editors needed! Please email hart@pobox.com or gbnewby@pglaf.org Anyone who would care to get advance editions: please email hart@pobox.com * WANTED!

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* Wanted: People who are involved in conversations on Slashdot, Salon, etc. * TABLE OF CONTENTS [Search for "*eBook" or "*Intro". . .to jump to that section, etc.] *eBook Milestones *Introduction *Hot Requests, New Sites and Announcements *Continuing Requests and Announcements *Progress Report *Distributed Proofreaders Collection Report *Project Gutenberg Consortia Center Report *Permanent Requests For Assistance: *Donation Information *Access To The Project Gutenberg Collections *Mirror Site Information *Instant Access To Our Latest eBooks *Have We Given Away A Trillion Yet? *Flashback *Weekly eBook update: This is now in PT2 of the Weekly Newsletter Also collected in the Monthly Newsletter Corrections in separate section 41 New Public Domain eBooks Under US Copyright *Headline News from Edupage, etc. *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists *** *eBook Milestones* 17,527 eBooks As Of Today!!! [Includes Australian eBooks] ***510 eBooks Averaged Per Year Since July 4, 1971*** We Are ~88% of the Way to 20,000!!! 14,485 New eBooks Since The Start Of 2001 That's ~250 eBooks per Month for ~56 Months We Have Produced 2571 eBooks in 2005!!! 2,473 to go to 20,000!!! 7,657 from Distributed Proofreaders Since October, 2000 [Details in PT1B] We Averaged ~339 eBooks Per Month In 2004 We Are Averaging ~250 books Per Month This Year [This change is due to the opening of Project Gutenberg sites other than the original one at www.gutenberg.org] This Site Is Averaging ~57 eBooks Per Week This Year 41 This Week It took ~32 years, from 1971 to 2003 to do our 1st 10,000 eBooks It took ~32 months, from 2002 to 2005 for our last 10,000 eBooks It took ~10 years from 1993 to 2003 to grow from 100 eBooks to 10,100 It took ~2.00 years from Oct. 2003 to Oct. 2005 from 10,000 to 17,400 * ***Introduction [The Newsletter is now being sent in two sections, so you can directly go to the portions you find most interesting: 1. Founder's Comments, News, Notes & Queries, and 2. Weekly eBook Update Listing. Note bene that PT1 is now being sent as PT1A and PT1B. [Since we are between Newsletter editors, these 2 parts may undergo a few changes while we are finding a new Newsletter editor. Email us: hart@pobox.com and gbnewby@pglaf.org if you would like to volunteer.] This is Michael Hart's "Founder's Comments" section of the Newsletter *Headline News from Edupage [PG Editor's Comments In Brackets] UN MEETING TO ADDRESS CONTROL OF INTERNET The United Nations (UN) is hosting an international conference this week in Tunisia to address concerns about U.S. control of the Internet. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was set up in 1998 to oversee the Domain Name System, which reconciles Web addresses and directs Internet traffic to proper destinations. Despite an understanding that ICANN would become independent of any national ties, the Bush administration this year rejected such a move, and the organization still operates under the authority of the U.S. Department of Commerce. This situation has left many other countries complaining that the United States holds the power over a global resource, and nine different proposals for putting ICANN under the guidance of an international body will be addressed at the meeting in Tunisia, which will host as many as 15,000 delegates. Some individuals who were part of the work that led to the Internet have said that concerns over ICANN are misguided. Leonard Kleinrock, computer scientist at UCLA, said, "Everyone seems to think that the D.N.S. system is a big deal, but it's not the heartbeat of the Internet." Robert Kahn, one of the developers behind TCP/IP, said of ICANN, "There is nothing in there to control, and there are huge issues that the governments of the world really do need to work on." New York Times, 14 November 2005 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/14/business/14register.html [What is NOT mentioned is that this meeting addressed using the availability of information via the Internet to combat poverty, and that, in fact, this was a major, if not THE major, topic. The official name of the conference is: The World Summit on the Information Society "The hurdle here is more political than financial. The costs of connectivity, computers and mobile telephones can be brought down," said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.] GOOGLE FLOATS IDEA OF RENTING BOOKS Google has reportedly proposed a plan to rent books online. An unnamed publisher said that Google suggested the idea of letting consumers pay a fee, equal to 10 percent of the price of a printed copy of the book, to have online access to the text for one week. Rented books would not be downloadable or printable, according to the publisher, which said that although the fee Google suggested is too low, the notion of renting texts might represent a viable new model for content distribution. A spokesperson from Google said that although "Google Print is exploring new access models to help authors and publishers sell more books online," the company at this time has nothing to announce. Other publishers said they were curious about a rental program for books and are interested in hearing more details, as long as the program ensures that copyright holders are compensated. David Steinberger, chief executive of Perseus Books, also noted that for a rental program to be successful, it would have to augment physical book sales, not limit them. Wall Street Journal, 14 November 2005 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113192806168096032.html SNOCAP ADDS WARNER MUSIC TO QUIVER Online music service Snocap has reached an agreement with Warner Music Group, giving Snocap deals with all four major record labels as well as a number of smaller, independent labels. The company already had struck deals with Sony BMG, Universal Music, and EMI Group. Snocap was founded by Shawn Fanning, creator of the original Napster. The company uses "fingerprinting" technology to label electronic music, which gives consumers online access to music while giving record labels the ability to control how files are used. Copyright owners can register songs with Snocap and then use the company's management system to set properties for how each track can be used. According to the company, consumers who use Snocap can be assured of having only legal downloads of music, without the risk of litigation for illegal file trading and without the risk of downloading viruses or other malware that is sometimes included in music on P2P services. CNET, 13 November 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5949869.html CONGRESS EXAMINES CONTROVERSIAL PORTIONS OF PATRIOT ACT Members of a Congressional committee this week took up discussions of the USA PATRIOT Act, including two highly controversial sections of the law. Several provisions of the law are scheduled to expire this year, and the committee is charged with reconciling House and Senate proposals to extend those provisions. Expected to be the focus of the discussions are Sections 215 and 505, which greatly expand federal authority to obtain information such as phone and library records on individuals and which prevent those under investigation from revealing, even to their attorneys, that they are under investigation. Advocates for civil liberties have been pressing federal officials for details on how these key sections of the law have been applied, including a letter recently sent by five U.S. Senators to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, demanding data on how many so-called national security letters have been issued since the PATRIOT Act was enacted. Although federal officials have revealed few specifics, supporters of the legislation argue that "vigorous oversight by congressional committees has uncovered no instances of abuse," according to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kans.). Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) noted, "The very act of surveilling citizens who aren't even suspected of wrongdoing is an abuse in itself." Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 November 2005 (sub. req'd) http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/11/2005111101t.htm FEDS PUSH FOR STRICTER COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS According to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the Justice Department recently submitted a package of legislative proposals to Congress that would broaden the scope of laws to protect copyright and would strengthen law enforcement powers to investigate such crimes. Among the proposals are recommendations to allow enforcement of copyrights, regardless of whether they are registered; to hold those found guilty of infringement liable for compensation to the victims; and to allow the seizure and destruction of counterfeit goods, equipment used to make such goods, and property acquired with the profits from such goods. The proposals would also make it a crime to "attempt to infringe copyright." Groups such as the Business Software Alliance and the Recording Industry Association of America welcomed the proposed changes to copyright law, while those concerned about fair use rights expressed reservations. An organization called Public Knowledge said in a statement that it is "concerned that the Justice Department's proposal attempts to enforce copyright law in ways it has never before been enforced." CNET, 10 November 2005 http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5944612.html NEW GROUP ADDRESSES OPEN SOURCE PATENT ISSUE A new organization hopes to eliminate one of the major obstacles to adoption of open source technology: concern over patent and royalty disputes over shared code. The Open Invention Network (OIN), which includes IBM, Sony, Royal Philips Electronics, and Linux distributors Red Hat and Novell, will acquire and freely share patents that organizers hope will encourage broader adoption of open source tools, particularly Linux. Any organization that agrees not to assert its patents over those who have licenses with OIN will be permitted to use OIN patents for free. The business model for OIN represents a new arrangement in which patents are shared to promote the underlying Linux technology. Industry analyst Richard Doherty said, "A lot of lawyers are going to throw their hands up and ask, 'How do we make money from this?'" The answer, he said, is that they might not. ZDNet, 10 November 2005 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5943781.html You have been reading excerpts from Edupage: If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to: edupage@educause.edu To SUBSCRIBE to Edupage, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU and in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName or To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your settings, or access the Edupage archive, visit http://www.educause.edu/Edupage/639 *** News from other sources: and *HEADLINE NEWS AVOIDED BY MOST OF THE MAJOR U.S. MEDIA *DOUBLESPEAK OF THE WEEK "That's accurate," spoken by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, now restated in the official White House transcripts as "I don't think that's accurate," when he responded to the following: "Whether there's a question of legality, we know for a fact that there was involvement. We know that Karl Rove, based on what he and his lawyer have said, did have a conversation about somebody who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. We know that Scooter Libby also had conversations." Since then, the audio and video recordings of this have been analyzed by the various media, and The Congressional Quarterly and The Federal News Service have reported that Mr. McClellan said, "That's accurate," refusing the White House pressures to reverse their own transcripts. White House press office spokeswoman Dana Perino answered inquiries about the matter by saying, "the White House stenographer was in the room and I was in the room" and heard McClellan say `I don't think that's accurate.'" Source: Editor & Publisher, Nov 9, 2005 * United States military officials at the Pentagon finally admitted using white phosphorous as a weapon against soldiers as opposed to its official use for lighting targets and also providing smokescreens for other operations, after various official denials. Lt. Col. Venable, a Pentagon spokesman gave some details to the press, including white phosphorous was used as an "incendiary weapon against enemy combatants." It was also announced that the white phosphorous had been used to drive soldiers out of their bunkers by setting fire to them and via smoke inhalation, where they were then killed by a variety of more conventional weapons. Many classify white phosphorous as a chemical weapon when used against humans, as it sticks to soldiers and will burn through to the bone, also causing poisonous interactions with liver and kidneys. Source: BBC News and Bahrain News Agency, quoting Radio London Also, the Italian state 24 hours television news service RAI24 aired a documentary alleging use of white phosphorous in such a manner, and also in such an indiscriminate manner as to include many civilians. *PREDICTIONS OF THE WEEK The whole white phosphorous issue will be ignored. *STRANGE QUOTES OF THE WEEK "The U.S. Embassy in Rome issued a statement criticizing the documentary, saying any suggestion that U.S. forces used white phosphorous or any chemical weapons against human targets was simply wrong." Source: Navy Times, Associated Press *ODD STATISTICS OF THE WEEK *** Still hoping for more statistical updates and additional entries. "If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be: 57 Asians 21 Europeans 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America 8 Africans 52 would be female 48 would be male 70 would be non-white 30 would be white 70 would be non-Christian 30 would be Christian 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States 80 would live in substandard housing 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education 1 would own a computer [I think this is now much greater] 1 would be 79 years old or more. Of those born today, the life expectancy is only 63 years, but no country any longer issues copyrights that are sure to expire within that 63 year period. I would like to bring some of these figures more up to date, as obviously if only 1% of 6 billion people owned a computer then there would be only 60 million people in the world who owned a computer, yet we hear that 3/4 + of the United States households have computers, out of over 100 million households. Thus obviously that is over 1% of the world population, just in the United States. I just called our local reference librarian and got the number of US households from the 2004-5 U.S. Statistical Abstract at: 111,278,000 as per data from 2003 U.S Census Bureau reports. If we presume the saturation level of U.S. computer households is now around 6/7, or 86%, that is a total of 95.4 million, and that's counting just one computer per household, and not counting households with more than one, schools, businesses, etc. I also found some figures that might challenge the literacy rate given above, and would like some help researching these and other such figures, if anyone is interested. BTW, while I was doing this research, I came across a statistic that said only 10% of the world's population is 60+ years old. This means that basically 90% of the world's population would never benefit from Social Security, even if the wealthy nations offered it to them free of charge. Then I realized that the US population has the same kind of age disparity, in which the rich live so much longer than the poor, the whites live so much longer than the non-whites. Thus Social Security is paid by all, but is distributed more to the upper class whites, not just because they can receive more per year, but because they will live more years to receive Social Security. The average poor non-white may never receive a dime of Social Security, no matter how much they pay in. * POEM OF THE WEEK Mr. Postman I'm longing for that particular letter be it an i, an a, or an m which would open only one door, and it would be enough There, outside, the nose of the mountain would recognize the scent of myrrh and frankincense the waves of the sea would become stairs as he climbs. I'm waiting for Mr. Postman to knock on the door of this century Copyright 2005 by Simona Sumanaru and Michael S. Hart Please send comments to: simona_s75 AT yahoo.com & hart AT pobox. *** *Information About the Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists For more information about the Project Gutenberg's mailing lists, including the Project Gutenberg Weekly and Monthly Newsletters: and the other Project Gutenberg Mailing Lists: The weekly is sent on Wednesdays, and the monthly is sent on the first Wednesday of the month. 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