There's a hole in the bucket... 

Major privacy hole in Window/MSN Messenger by Thomas C. Greene

A nifty feature in MSN and Windows Messenger which apparently was intended to identify IE users (without their knowledge or consent) on Microsoft Web sites can easily be abused by any Webmaster with a bit of Javascript or VBscript, a clever empiricist has discovered.

The feature allows anyone to obtain a surfer's Messenger username and those of his contacts, according to Richard Burton in a post Monday to the BugTraq mailing list.

Worse, if a username is not available, the e-mail address of the surfer and those of his contacts are displayed instead. [read more]

It's dangerous out there!

Privatize Libraries? 

The Corporate Takeover of Libraries by Ruth Rikowski

The expansion of capitalism is rapidly accelerating throughout the world. This is 'global capitalism'. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) need to be seen within this context. These areas have been explored in other articles in this journal. GATS functions to open up public services to corporate capital. This has direct implications for libraries and information, which I shall explore in this article, focusing in particular on public libraries (although many of the arguments can be applied to other types of libraries as well). As Angela Watson in the Best Returns report on Best Value in public libraries says:

"Government does not believe that it is in the public interest for any single supplier to dominate service provision, either locally or nationally. It is looking for variety in the way services are delivered, and a mix of service providers from the public, private and voluntary sectors. The aim is to improve the performance and competitiveness of services, not create a particular mode of provision." (2001, p.8)

Where will the logic of global capitalism take us? It would appear that it leads to the commodification of all that surrounds us. Within this context, the privatisation and commodification of libraries and information will be a small part in the overall trajectory; yet a vital part nonetheless. [read more]

Newsstand 

Vol. 7, Number 2 - February 4th 2002 First Monday

Intellectual Freedom 

Intellectual Freedom Round Table

The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) provides a forum for the discussion of activities, programs and problems in intellectual freedom of libraries and librarians; serves as a channel of communications on intellectual freedom matters; promotes a greater opportunity for involvement among the members of the ALA in defense of intellectual freedom; promotes a greater feeling of responsibility in the implementation of ALA policies on intellectual freedom.

Book Repair Manual 

From Preservation Services, Dartmouth College Library, A Simple Book Repair Manual