A Colorado law professor argues that ISP surveillance, powered by deep packet inspection gear, represents an "unprecedented and invasive" danger. But laws to curtail may already be on the books.

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Ars takes you back in time and deep inside the inner workings of three popular game consoles: the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

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Netbooks, gadgets, and gizmos abound this week on Kit, along with price cuts from AMD and new chips from Intel. Samsung displays were hot news, but OLED technology, unfortunately, remains tantalizingly out of reach.

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PAX may be over, but the stories are still coming in. Our hands-on time with the promising Wii title The Conduit, as well as an argument over the 360's price cut and a mountain of content from PAX round out this week in game coverage.

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In this week's top Microsoft news on Ars, we cover the Gates-Seinfeld ad, The Ultimate Steal, Internet Explorer 8, the Zune, a new non-laser mouse, SkyMarket, and OneCare. See inside for details on what's new with these products.

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It was a shiny, happy week in the world of tech news with the launch of Google Chrome and all the hype that surrounded it. We recap the week's most important stories.

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The plans of flies, the evolution of flightlessness, and aluminum foam sandwiches all made the headlines in our little corner of the world of science.

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This week in the world of Apple, iPod fans got geared up after Apple sent out invites to its special event next week. Further iPod leaks, rumors about an iPhone gamepad, and an AT&T data service outage also got people fired up, among other interesting tidbits. Come check it out in case you managed to miss it all.

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A few years back, we wrote a post debunking the ridiculous notion spread by some that Craigslist was somehow "anti-capitalist" or not "maximizing profits" because it actually offered most of its services for free. As we noted, much of Craigslist's long-term success was because of these decisions -- which in all likelihood did increase overall profits for the company in the long run by building up further trust in the company. It may not have maximized profits for this quarter, but it most likely was doing a pretty good job in generating profits for the long haul by keeping customers happy, rather than trying to squeeze them for every immediate dime (and who was just saying that Silicon Valley doesn't have a long term view?)

Now we've got another similar story, as the LA Times is positively amazed that the popular virtual world Habbo Hotel limits its users to spending no more than $35/month, on the theory that many of its users are teenagers, who could get sucked into spending on stuff, which could lead to eventual backlash. Its CEO made this clear in a recent interview, saying: "We didn't want a situation where teens were raiding their parents' credit cards to be able to play.... We really don't want teenagers to spend more than the price of two movie tickets a month on Habbo."

So, how does the LA Times describe this decision? It points out, partly in jest, that "turning down money seems un-American." Again, even if this wasn't meant as a serious comment, it's similar to the silly claims about Craigslist. Habbo Hotel has simply made a strategic long-term decision on ways to best maximize its success for the long haul. And, part of that probably included the calculation that Habbo would have been in quite some trouble if news stories started showing up about kids bankrupting themselves buying virtual trinkets for their Habbo Hotel world. Limiting how much people can spend isn't anti-American or anti-capitalist or even anti-profit maximization. It's just taking a much longer term view of the best way to maximize profits over the long run.

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Remember all that hype about the paperless office? The paperless home? Heck, even the paperless life! Well, so do some Sony executives who think the persistence of paper proves that Blu-Ray discs is here to stay. Speaking at an expo in Denver, Sony SVP Andy Parsons said, "I'm fond of recalling the old visions of the past that the paperless office would completely obliterate the need for paper. It seemed like a very reasonable, logical prediction decades ago that turned out to be completely wrong." The only problem with this self-promotional position (besides the fact that recent research shows younger people aren't interested in using paper) is that it ignores the many formats of information that have come and gone. Paper is unique in its ubiquity, but Sony should know all about formats which die; after all, they invented a couple. While discs may be around for a while due to existing infrastructure, the clear trajectory is towards digital only as evidenced by the swing towards net-centric devices like Apple's MacBook Air, the iPhone and Dell's new netbooks. As bandwidth and net-connected devices increase, shiny pieces of plastic will disappear (for everyone but the collectors) along with their tape-based predecessors.

Kevin Donovan is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Kevin Donovan and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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A court ruling in New Jersey doesn't seem all that surprising, but may lead to more legal questions in the future. The case involved an employee who was stealing from his employer. The employee was eventually found guilty of the theft, but argued that the evidence used against him was gathered illegally, in that it was in a password protected file on his company-owned laptop. It's actually a little more confusing, as the guy actually claimed the laptop was his, but that turned out not to be true. He had originally purchased the computer using his employers credit card... but then still pretended the computer was his personal laptop. Yet, later, he "sold" the laptop to the company -- so realistically, the company had bought the laptop twice.

So, then the legal question was whether or not the guy had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" for stuff stored on that laptop, especially in a password protected file. The court ruled no, that an employee does not have a reasonable expectation for privacy, and that, effectively, anything on the computer is fair game for the employer (even if it's password protected).

You can understand the reasoning there, as it makes sense that a company should feel free to go through the contents of a computer it owns. However, it does raise some other questions. Earlier this summer, we wrote about another case in which a company continued to read the personal email of a fired employee, because he had left his personal online email account logged in from the company-owned laptop. While that seems different, is it really that big a leap from data stored on the local hard drive, to data stored on a remote hard drive, accessed via a web browser? It does, however, start to become a much trickier question, especially as more data and apps move from the local laptop into the "cloud" and as work and life boundaries blur.

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Remember back about four years ago when all sorts of online publishers relied on bogus registrations and freaked out about services like BugMeNot that required registration? Over the past few years, BugMeNot has become a lot less essential, because a lot of publications have been getting rid of registration walls or at least providing real value for registering, rather than just forcing you to input bogus info. However, apparently the folks over at Facebook are so against the concept of BugMeNot they won't even let you mention it (via Slashdot. Apparently, if you mention BugMeNot.com in your status message, Facebook warns you that the "message contains blocked content." I guess that's what you get for relying on a messaging system controlled by someone else, but it still seems like a bizarre thing for Facebook to block.

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I wasn't going to comment on Microsoft's new ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates buddying around, but the response among the press and bloggers is almost universally negative -- often in extreme ways, and I don't get why there's such a virulent negative reaction. Just a few examples:

• Tip for MS: Fire the Advertising Agency
• MSFT Ad is to PC/Mac Campaign as Zune is to iPod
• Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld ad airs - Apple has nothing to worry about
• Internet disses new Microsoft commercial
• New Microsoft Seinfeld-Gates ad campaign starts with a dud
• What's the deal with this commercial? No, seriously.
• Microsoft Commercial Is Anything But Funny
• Microsoft Seinfeld Ad Not Exactly a Hit
• Bill Gates + Jerry Seinfeld = What?!!???
• Seinfeld-Gates TV commercial -- vague, baffling and unfunny
• Seinfeld Vista ad is out, and it's bizarre
• First Microsoft/Seinfeld Ad Bombs
• Seinfeld & Gates: Was this ad supposed to be funny?
• First Gates-Seinfeld ad leaves us scratching our heads

And that's just a quick sampling that I grabbed in a few seconds. It goes on and on from there. To be honest, I'm not sure I get this massive negative reaction. The ad itself is a little silly and barely mentions Microsoft at all, but isn't that bad at all. And, to be perfectly frank, you have to think that Microsoft is thrilled with the reaction. It's gotten a ton more people talking about the campaign than any normal ad program, and it actually does a bit to humanize Bill Gates. And, it fits in with what we've been discussing about how advertising needs to be content first and advertising later.

Also, I'm a bit surprised that none of the commentators seem to be comparing this to the very similar efforts that American Express did four years ago also with Jerry Seinfeld. They created a series of "shorts" somewhat similar to the Seinfeld/Gates episode, and people enjoyed them. Is it just because it involves Microsoft that people react so negatively? Already Microsoft has been able to draw people into the storyline (even if negatively), and it can now use future episodes to continue to entertain and educate. That seems like a good thing, not something to be so widely trashed.

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Mozilla has officially released Firefox 3.1 alpha 2. This version adds support for the HTML 5 "video" element, better tab dragging, and other new features.

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In an effort to become more relevant to a new generation of football fans, this Sunday on "NFL Countdown," ESPN anchors will interact with simulated football players created using EA's video game technology. Using Madden '09, ESPN's football analysts can model different variations of plays to demonstrate possible outcomes. So, instead of just drawing X's and O's on a telestrator, ESPN anchors will be able to interact with the virtual players on camera to illustrate various football strategies and outcomes. ESPN and EA forged a 15-year partnership back in 2005, and this move strengthens both brand's ties with their audiences.

As the video game has improved, using Madden to illustrate plays has been done increasingly over the past few years, but football spectating still has to cross the chasm of interactivity when compared to the video game experience. In the video game, you're able to change camera angles, slow down the cameras, and highlight things like passing routes and defensive coverages -- all at the click of a few buttons. EA's new system, EA Sports Virtual Playbook, loads in actual gameplay data from the previous day's game, with which ESPN's anchors can then replay and modify the simulation to become the ultimate version of a Monday morning quarterback. That's great and all, it would be even better to let fans download that data to their Xboxes, do their own analysis and then share that back with the community. Though, that scenario is most likely a pipe dream, considering that the NFL still freaks out about even sharing more than 45-seconds of game footage.

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As you probably have heard, the US will be shutting down analog TV broadcasts early next year, as the conversion to digital is complete. For most TV watchers, this won't matter one bit. For anyone who watches TV via cable or satellite TV, the change means nothing. It only impacts those who watch TV-over-the-air and who don't have a digitally-enabled TV or conversion box. So, as part of the effort to move the transition along smoothly, the gov't is handing out coupons to individuals that can be used to pay for a converter box.

Except, apparently, if you happen to live in prison.

Prison officials are getting quite worried that prisons that use over-the-air TV signals for their televisions won't be able to afford the converters, because the gov't won't give them the coupons. As South Carolina Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint notes: "We asked them for the coupons and they said they're only available for households. I said, 'We're the big house.' But they didn't buy it." Now, many might point out that this shouldn't be a big deal, as perhaps the gov't shouldn't be using taxpayer money to subsidize the TV watching habits of prisoners, but the prison officials are claiming that most people don't understand just how important television is in keeping the peace within prisons. The article includes some quotes from folks that suggest that television is a pretty important part of the prison experience in encouraging good behavior and keeping the prisoners connected to the outside world. Who would have ever thought that the conversion from analog to digital TV might lead to prison riots?

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Unofficial roadmaps are always fun, especially when the company is Intel, and the roadmaps in question cover quite a bit of ground. Educated guesses inside, for your Friday reading pleasure.

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It really was only a matter of time. For a while now, the entertainment industry has been using borderline extortion tactics with "pre-settlement" letters that promise individuals they won't get sued if only they pay a fee upfront -- ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. These letters have proven to be incredibly effective in getting people to simply pay up, so it's no surprise that other scammers have started copying the technique as well. Right now it sounds like they're simply calling people, but it's really only a matter of time until they start sending nearly identical "pre-settlement" letters on threatening letterhead, and getting folks to pay up as well. Of course, given the extremely flimsy nature of the evidence often used by the entertainment industry in sending out those letters, we'll once again note the very fine line between what these supposedly legitimate companies are doing and the out-and-out scammers are doing.

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Adoption of 3G in the US has surged in the past year. Thanks to more and cheaper devices, the US now has more 3G customers than Western Europe.

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Filmmaker Michael Moore plans to bypass movie theaters with the debut of his new film, Slacker Uprising. The movie will instead be offered online as a free thank-you to his fans, after which it will be sold on DVD. With more filmmakers experimenting with online distribution lately, major studios may be tempted to try it out too.

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