Sex Sells, But We Knew That

Despite all the dot.com doom and gloom, obviously somebody must be making money on the Internet, and guess who? Figures from the settlement of a much-publicized cybersquatting case reveal that the online porn market is still going gang-busters, as it were.

A US District Court has ordered Stephen Cohen to turn over all assets from the popular Sex.Com to Gary Kremen, who first registered the domain name in May 1994, saying that Cohen's profits from the website were obtained by fraud. The profits, which could be as much as $250 million, are in addition to the 40 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages that Cohen has been ordered to pay Kremen.

Kremen, who also founded Internet dating service Match.com, registered the Sex.com domain name in 1994, feeling it would be a money-maker. Cohen, who was released from prison for bankruptcy fraud in 1995, sent a fraudulent letter to domain registrars claiming to be an executive with Kremen's company and that Kremen wanted to turn administration of the domain over to him.

Cohen, who authorities say sheltered most of the Sex.com profits in offshore accounts, argued unsuccessfully that he had legitimately bought the domain from Kremen, who contended the sales documents were forged. Cohen has been a fugitive suspected of being hidden in Mexico since before the verdict, and an arrest warrant remains in effect until he surrenders the Sex.com assets.

Suit Says "The Execution Should be Netcast"

Internet users may get an unprecedented look at a highly controversial sight online if a Florida company succeeds in its lawsuit. Entertainment Network has filed suit to force the state of Indiana to allow the execution of Timothy McVeigh to be broadcast over the Internet. Citing a First Amendment right to freedom of the press, the company says it will go to court to seek a restraining order and injunction barring the US Federal Bureau of Prisons from upholding its March 26 decision which denied the network access to the execution witness chambers.

A hearing in the case has been scheduled for April 17. McVeigh, who is currently set to be executed by lethal injection May 16, has said through his lawyers that he has no objection to the netcast.

MIT Goes Free--Online

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced this week that it would put nearly all of its course materials online for Internet users to access free of charge. The plan, to put lecture notes, course outlines, reading Lists, and assignments for over 2000 courses across the breadth of MIT's curriculum on the Web over the course of the next ten years, is meant to counter concerns about the "privatization of knowledge," according to MIT faculty chairman Steven Lerman.

The website for MIT OpenCourseWare will cost over $100 million to build, according to the New York Times.

Gotta Get a Message to You, G.W.

But it won't be by e-mail. President George W. Bush recently revealed at a press conference that concerns over personal privacy and the Freedom of Information Act have led him to give up the use of e-mail. He used to be "an avid e-mailer," by his own description, sending electronic messages to his parents and children, but now he fears that The Freedom of information Act will allow his personal messages to be put into the public domain, Bush told reporters.

AOL-Not-Exactly-Everywhere

Outages at America Online's popular AOL Instant Messenger left users fuming and the company scrambling to fix what it described as an "equipment glitch." An AOL spokesman blamed the problems on of a major regional power failure in Northern Virginia, or possibly sunspot activity but continuing troubles with buddy lists and an inability to send messages made it clear that other network factors were in play as well.

AOL Instant Messenger was down for several hours on Tuesday and again on Wednesday of this week, and many users continued to experience problems on Thursday as well. 25 million instant messaging users send 656 million messages daily according to AOL figures.

Net4TV WebLog

• Nostalgic for wax lips, Smith Brothers cough drops, or Dots? If you don't mind showing your age, you can visit Old Time Candy and pick up a memory or two.

• You gotta love them, even if you hate them. I'm talking Marshmallow Peeps here, the unofficial Geek candy. For once, a company isn't shrieking about infringements and the like with all the Peep Jousting and such going on, but actually embraces the weirdness. They even have Stuffed Peeps for sale at their website.

• Can't find enough online Star Wars material? Search out Bantha Tracks for probably more than you ever wanted to know.