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Thursday, February 15, 2001
As Internet Service Providers (ISPs) go out of business, a few large, well-funded providers are getting stronger -- and more willing to flex their muscle.
Verio is one of those large ISPs, and the company is flexing its muscles, not only in the marketplace, but also on the legal battlefield, as the company gets ready to take on the Motion Picture Association of America.
The MPAA has asked Verio to remove a Web site belonging to one of Verio's customers, John Young. Verio said no.
Young's Web site, Cryptome, is described as a free-speech advocacy Web site, and as such it has posted the code for CSS, the software that encrypts DVDs. So criminals who want to decrypt DVDs to copy and illegally manufacture them have a starting point.
The MPAA has demanded that Verio remove the Web site because it violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Young says the Web site does not violate the act, because he doesn't give away the code to decrypt the CSS. So Verio has sent him a letter, is satisfied with his reply and is letting the Web site remain active.
At the center of the controversy is how much liability ISPs have in assuring that the Web sites they host are complying with the law. The DMCA has made ISPs police of sorts. But the challenges of finding the noncomplying Web sites are daunting -- perhaps impossible to police. They are responsible for the content on their system -- but don't have to actively police their clients' Web sites. However, they must respond quickly to notices of violations. Otherwise they risk sanctions as if they provided the content themselves.
Q: When I print Web pages on my printer, the text is often obscured by the graphics on the background. Is there a way for me to make my printouts more readable?
A: Many Web site operators create visually appealing Web sites by placing a contrasting color background on the page -- or even background graphics or watermarks. They do it by embedding the graphic or contrasting color behind the text, so every time the page is displayed, the graphic is behind it. And it doesn't matter what text is being displayed at the time.
That can make it difficult for you. Pages that are white text on dark background are often difficult to print -- and even harder to cut and paste into a word processor for printing. In most cases, the white letters are interpreted by the printer as having no ink.
Depending on how the background is set up to print, you might end up with a page full of smeary black ink or a page with no printing at all.
Internet Explorer allows you to decide whether to print the background or leave it off your printed sheet. From the Internet Explorer menu, click on [Tools], then [Internet Options...]. Highlight the [Advanced] tab to bring up a long list of options that you can turn off or on with a check mark. In that list, find the icon of the printer. Right below it, you'll see a box labeled "Print background colors and images." Place a check in the box if you want your background to print. Remove the check to see only the text and foreground graphics.
You can change this parameter before any print job to meet the need of that specific job. You'll find that some pages will simply look horrible when printed with background; others will lose important information when printed without. So you'll probably need to adjust this parameter often if you print from your browser.
David Radin is host of the nationally syndicated radio show Internet Insider, a local version of which airs noon Saturdays on KDKA AM 1020. You can ask him a computer or Internet question by following the instructions at www.post-gazette.com/interact, where you can also find an archive of his previous Q&A columns.
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