Users rebel at user-recommendation site
NEW YORK (AP) – Operators of a Web site that ranks and displays items based on recommendations from its users relented this week in allowing people to post information and links on breaking the locks on high-definition DVDs.
Digg.com initially said allowing such messages could subject it to liability under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Digg said that by law, it must respond to removal requests that came from the owners of the DVD copy-protection system.
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Click on the video above for a song about the rebellion

But in a signal that sites that give people control over ranking news items elsewhere also lose control over their own operations, users rebelled against Digg’s decision and simply posted the messages again every time they were deleted.
By late Tuesday, Digg co-founder Kevin Rose said the site would stop trying.
“Today was an insane day,” Rose wrote in a company blog.
He said Digg agreed to the removal to “avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down.”
“But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company,” he wrote. “If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.”
The key in question could be used to break copy protections on HD DVD discs. Although the group behind the security measures, AACS License Administrator, says it has fixed a flaw in its Advanced Access Content System, keys have already been circulating to break the locks on DVDs using the older versions of the system.

– Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer
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Products on Viacom shows now for sale
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The company that lets TV viewers buy everything from Stuart Weitzman slingbacks worn by Edie on “Desperate Housewives” to the cases toted by models on “Deal or No Deal” is expanding its reach to shows on cable channels MTV, VH1 and Logo.
Delivery Agent Inc. announced Wednesday a deal covering cable channels owned by Viacom Inc., adding to deals it already has with 100 individual shows on The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, General Electric Co.’s NBC and film producers such as The Weinstein Co.
The company’s Web site, seenon.com, sells products shown on TV shows and movies. Viewers of the British Open golf tournament, for instance, could buy the same type of shirt worn by players such as Tiger Woods.
Revenue from the sales is shared with the networks or producers.
Advertisers have for years been waiting for the promise of interactive TV, where viewers could buy clothing or products featured on TV shows simply by pushing a button on a remote control.
But that kind of interactivity has been delayed in part because of the high cost of deploying set-top box software that would make such transactions possible.
Delivery Agent offers a middle ground.
Someone with each show enters individual items featured on each episode into a massive database. The company then either stocks products in a warehouse and sells them directly, or it sends users elsewhere and gets a cut of the sales.
Delivery Agent, based in San Francisco, also announced Wednesday it has raised $18.5 million in a third round of funding, bringing the total raised since launching in 2001 to $35 million.
– Gary Gentile, AP Business Writer
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Transmitters from missing turtle sought
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Satellite transmitters glued to the back of a turtle released into the South China Sea last year are beaming signals from an Indonesian coastal town – and scientists are offering $500 to anyone who can find them.
They believe the turtle – one of 12 released as part of an experiment to monitor their behavior – was illegally captured and killed for its meat. Still, scientists want to retrieve the devices to learn more about the threatened sea creatures.
“We are interested in bringing closure to this case,” said C. H. Diong, a Singaporean zoologist taking part in the study. “We are only interested in the science, not the legality. We don’t want to frighten anyone.”
The Olive Ridley turtle, which can grow up to 2.5 feet long and weigh nearly 100 pounds, had two satellite-tracking devices about the size of a cigarette packet attached to its shell.
One gave out a final signal several weeks ago from a port town on the southern tip of Sumatra island, while the other continues to transmit from the coastal town of Krui, about 149 miles away.
The 12 turtles from three different species were raised in captivity and released to see how they would adapt in the wild. Findings will help in efforts to protect the creatures.
Diong said early data suggested that the animals did well in their natural environment: They had not lost their ability to swim long distances or dive deeply, and were headed in the direction of other populations of their species.
“We put them out there and they knew instinctively that it was their home,” he said. “It was great to see them swim off speedily without hesitation.”
The reward offer for “information on and return of the two transmitters” has been passed to wildlife officials in Indonesia, who plan to post flyers around Krui.
– Chris Brummitt, AP Writer

Penn St. drops Napster for Ruckus music
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – Penn State’s groundbreaking arrangement with Napster is over.
The university will turn to Ruckus Network Inc. this fall to allow all enrolled students at its 24 campuses to legally listen to the nearly 3 million songs available through the service. Penn State’s ties to Napster will be severed in May.
The Napster partnership was the first of its kind when it was announced in November 2003. Students got legal access to streaming music and limited downloads through the Napster 2.0 service and could permanently download a copy for a compact disc or portable device for 99 cents a song.
The idea largely was to curb music piracy on campuses.
Besides offering more features, such as movies and other video, Ruckus will help Penn State save money.
The university had funded Napster through student fees, which came on top of the 99-cent download fees paid directly by students. With Ruckus, students will still pay for permanent downloads, but the university won’t have to bear any other costs.
University spokesman Bill Mahon won’t say how much it paid for Napster at the company’s request.
Software maker Roxio Inc. launched Napster 2.0 in 2003 after acquiring the Napster brand from the ashes of the pioneer file-swapping service, which was forced to shut down in 2001 after a protracted legal battle with recording companies.
Other schools followed Penn State’s lead in 2004 in signing up for Napster. Ruckus Chief Executive Mike Bebel was president of Napster when Penn State signed the deal.
Napster spokeswoman Becky Farina declined comment on whether Penn State’s departure was a sign that the music service was bowing out of the colleges and universities market.
– Genaro C. Armas, AP Writer

U.K. privacy watchdog seeks more powers
LONDON (AP) – Britons are increasingly watched and monitored, and stronger safeguards are needed to curb a climate of fear and suspicion, the country’s official privacy watchdog said.
As technology allows ever-more sophisticated monitoring of individuals, the question of control – who watches the watchers? – is becoming more important, said Richard Thomas, who leads an independent body working to protect privacy. The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a mandate to help the public gain access to official information.
“Many information-gathering activities are essential and beneficial to modern life,” Thomas said Tuesday in a statement. “But balance is needed and there must be limits. No one wants their electronic footprint to expose every aspect of their daily life.”
Thomas told a committee of lawmakers Tuesday that his office should be given greater powers to inspect organizations that carry out surveillance. At present, Thomas needs an organization’s consent before it can be audited.
In a report released last year, Thomas said there were as many as 4.2 million cameras in Britain, one for every 14 people, and that a single person could be caught on more than 300 cameras a day.
The report also described the spread of other, less obvious, methods of surveillance, including scrutiny of consumer spending patterns, Internet surfing and mobile phone records.
The government says CCTV and other methods of surveillance are vital to fighting crime and terrorism. But civil liberties groups have criticized the government’s plans to introduce everything from national identity cards to CCTV cameras capable of listening in on conversations.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs, which oversees the judiciary, said it was in talks with Thomas about his request for more powers.
– Jill Lawless, AP Writer