eWEEK Editorial Board

In 2005, the eWEEK editorial board attempted to carve out positions on important issues related to the growing cyber-civilization, touching on censorship, privacy, copyright, digital rights management and other matters. Those issues will not go away in 2006, and, in fact, the U.S. government will become more involved. It plans to enact, amend or extend […]

As 2006 dawns, we can look forward to a fresh start and a chance—be it resolved—to do things differently and better. But one thing that wont change in 2006, we predict, is the trend toward globalization in many fields, including IT. Looking back, globalization moved from hypothetical to mainstream in 2005. The subject was the […]

Five years into the new millennium, the questions of right and wrong in cyberspace are coming into clearer focus. This year, eWEEKs Editorial Board has turned its attention repeatedly to this broad topic, taking positions that we believe are in the best interests of you, our readers, and indeed of all cyber-citizens, present and future. […]

Its perhaps an overhyped claim that cyber-crime is more lucrative than illicit drugs, as supposedly became the case last year according to an adviser to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Even so, the mere comparison should be a wake-up call for anyone involved in offering, adopting, deploying, managing or using IT. Watching failed attempts […]

How do you compete with free? Open-source alternatives to cash-cow software products such as Microsofts Office and Windows are quickly maturing, and the darling of the tech world, Google, is raking in advertising profits while giving its services away. Both business models have to be keeping executives from Microsoft and other license-fee-supported software makers awake […]

Sony BMG Music Entertainments use of a rootkit to hide its digital rights management software deep and undetectably within the operating system of users computers was wrong on many levels. The fact that the Sony BMG rootkit is virtually uninstallable is a clear violation of Californias Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act, and as such, […]

The governments stance on VOIP is creating uncertainty for many network providers heading into 2006. Protesting that new federal wiretapping rules will stifle innovation and require re-engineering of private IP networks at a huge expense, universities, ISPs, libraries and privacy organizations, along with Sun Microsystems Inc., are going to court to overturn the rules. /zimages/5/28571.gifClick […]

Whats the best way to run the worlds information highway? This is a question to which all nations must give careful consideration. Indeed, during the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society last week in Tunis, Tunisia, much of the discussion was focused on the question of how to govern the Internet. /zimages/3/28571.gifTo read […]

Copyright laws and their place on the Internet have been the subject of fierce debate since Napster first came on the scene. But while the courts found music “sharing” was, in fact, “unauthorized copying,” Google Print seems to honor the copyright rather than exploit it. Copyright laws provide copyright holders with a means to profit […]

Among the most unloved quirks of the enterprise IT market is that software is licensed, not sold. Its a business model that dates back to when software was an accessory to a mainframe that was itself leased rather than owned. But buyers are beginning to question the practice of licensing software and in some cases, […]