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NEXT@CNN
Florida, Bermuda Rocked By Hurricanes; Animal Rights Activits Rescue Mink From Farm; A Look At Technology That Could Replace CDs, DVDs
Aired September 6, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: Today on NEXT@CNN, Florida and Bermuda bail out after a bout of tropical weather. We'll tell you about that, and about threats that remain even after the rain stopped.
Well, this cute little critter was liberated from a mink farm by animal rights activists. But did it do the animal more harm than good?
And you've finally replaced all of your LPs with CDs, right? And your videotapes with DVDs. Well, wouldn't you know that they will become obsolete as well? We'll talk with an expert who says it may be sooner than you think.
But first, although tropical storm Henri has been downgraded to a tropical depression, it packed a one-two punch, with flooding and storm surges along the Florida Gulf Coast. Experts say the storm could strengthen again as it moves back over the water later today.
And Bermuda is recovering from Hurricane Fabian, the worst storm to hit Bermuda in decades. It ripped the island nation with sustained winds of over 115 miles an hour and gusts that topped 130 miles an hour.
CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman is in Bermuda. He joins us on the phone with the very latest. Gary?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, we just talked to the premier of Bermuda, who is the government leader of this British territory, who told us, actually, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the winds, that they had a recording at their airport that showed the top gust was at least 143 miles per hour, and the wind gauge then broke, after it got up to 143. So it may have been higher.
You know, this hurricane was very powerful, a category three, the first category three hurricane to hit Bermuda since 1926. But what surprised a lot of people here was how long it lasted. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) six hours of hurricane-force winds, and much of those six hours were spent over 100 miles per hour.
Now, compared to other hurricanes, like Hurricane Andrew, for example, very devastating when it hit south Florida, and more powerful than this hurricane. But it didn't last that long. So that gives you an idea, if this hurricane was slightly more powerful, how much more devastating damage it could have caused. As it is, we toured the islands today that make up Bermuda. Extensive damage all over the various islands here in Bermuda, but not catastrophic.
And one of the main reasons for that is the very strict building codes they have here in this wealthy island territory. Per capita income of $71,000 allows them to be very strict about requiring people to build homes with eight-inch thick walls and buildings that can withstand gusts of up to 150 miles per hour.
We have seen very few homes total losses. We've seen a lot of roofs off, but that's about it.
Now, initially, they said there were no casualties. What we're being told that four people are missing and feared dead. Two cars that plunged off a causeway leading to the airport here in Bermuda.
The causeway is very old, it's about a mile-long stretch that links everyone to the airport. You now can no longer go to the airport, because the causeway was so heavily destroyed during the hurricane. And these two cars were flung off it by rising waters, a very sad story.
Authorities here are saying they are working on the causeway so they can have it temporarily open later today, and therefore have the airport also open later today.
Back to you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. A lot of work still to be done. Gary Tuchman, thanks very much.
Well, now for a look at some of the lesser-known but very real dangers associated with storm activities. CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano joins us now, and we'll have a look at the forecast that's out there. As you have quite a few named storms still churning out there, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are into the peak of hurricane season, Fredricka, and this one, Fabian, not only the worst one to hit Bermuda in decades, but also the worst one we've seen so far this year.
Now, Hurricane Fabian is not going to come close to the U.S. That's good news. But the winds have generated waves and swells that are going to hit the U.S. coastline, and that's going to cause some dangerous rip currents up and down the Atlantic seaboard as we go through this weekend.
Now, I mean, what exactly is a rip current?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice-over): They're sneaky, and they're deadly. Each year in the U.S., dozens of beachgoers fall victim to their awesome power. No, they're not sharks, but rip currents. JIM LUSHINE, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: We average about 100 drownings a year in the United States from rip currents.
MARCIANO: Also known as rip tides, they form when strong winds and waves force massive amounts of water toward the coast, where it gets trapped behind the sand bars close to shore. And as the water forces its way back out to sea, it digs a narrow channel through the sand, causing a rip current.
They are found worldwide and can occur at any time during the year. And although storms make them more powerful, it only takes a strong, steady breeze to cause one to develop.
LUSHINE: In Miami and south Florida, we get rip currents here in the wintertime and other times when there's no hurricanes. When the wind blows strongly directly onshore, that's when the rip currents will form.
MARCIANO: Experts warm swimmers that although rip currents are only about 10 to 30 yards wide, they can flow as fast as three feet per second, making it difficult for even the strongest swimmers to escape.
LUSHINE: If you fight the rip current and go directly against it, you're going to get tired and perhaps drown.
MARCIANO: They urge caution, and say that swimmers should check the surf advisories either at the beach or on the Web before they enter the water to avoid being ripped away by this silent killer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: There have been a rash of rip currents across what's normally a calm piece of water, the Gulf of Mexico, this year, in part because of the active tropical season that we have seen down there. Tropical depressions, tropical storms have been rolling across the Gulf of Mexico near through Florida.
This is the latest, Henri, you may know to -- remember that Henri was a tropical storm. Now it's a depression. Winds dropped down to about 30 miles an hour. But it's kicking across the coastline of Florida, will be out over -- back over the open waters here later on today. It may strengthen again into a tropical storm, but we don't expect it to do much more than that.
Off to Fabian, with winds of 132 mile-an-hour gusts yesterday, it has weakened a little bit today, winds sustained at 110 miles an hour. It is 835 miles southwest of Newfoundland and is moving off to the north of east at 22 miles an hour, so it's really being picked up by the jet stream. That will help it weaken, but it's also moving it quite quickly.
The other order of business is Isabel. This just developed this morning, winds of about 40 miles an hour. It's way out there, this thing's not going to affect us for a good week. But probably going to strengthen into at least a strong tropical storm, if not a hurricane, over the next couple of days.
All right, let's talk a little bit more about rip currents. Fabian was around for a solid week, week and a half, with strong winds, and that kind of pushed that water out, causes those swells. Well, today, tomorrow, and through part of Monday, four- to eight-foot swells possible from Jacksonville through up through Cape Hatteras, maybe six- to 10-foot waves and breakers heading into the coastline, up and down the Atlantic seaboard.
As we mentioned in that piece, when that water gets pushed up, it wants to go back, and that's when we start to get those rip currents. So just beware, if you are heading to the beaches, and in some areas, especially across the Northeast this weekend, it's going to be pretty nice.
All right. So stormy seas. Just to wrap up what we've been talking about, Fabian now past Bermuda, but with those waves, it's going to look pretty dangerous across the Atlantic seaboard. And then Henri is over Florida but looks to reemerge. And, of course, we'll continue to keep an eye on Isabel.
The other point I want to make, Fredricka, is that now that we're past Labor Day, there's a lot less in the way of lifeguards. So if folks are heading to the beaches, most of them, or at least a lot of them, will be unprotected.
WHITFIELD: And that's why it's really important to heed that advice you gave them. If you do feel like you're getting caught in a rip tide, you need to swim diagonally toward shore.
MARCIANO: It's hard to think about that, but you have to, you know, almost parallel, just to out of the current. You can't (UNINTELLIGIBLE) swim against the current. You're not going to get anywhere, so it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
WHITFIELD: That's right. All right. Thanks a lot, Rob.
Well, for tips on how to deal with the dangers of the rip currents, tune in tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. An expert from the National Weather Service will be along to give us a few more pointers.
When we come back, how a simple misspelling can lead children to Web sites they should never see.
And later, military funerals enter the digital age.
Those stories and a whole lot more as CNN continues with NEXT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Ever worry about objectionable Web sites that your kids might stumble on while looking around the Internet? Well, it's a big issue for a lot of parents.
Daniel Sieberg joins us now with more of an online scheme designed to lure your kids where you don't want them to go, and the legal fight that could shut down any of these operations.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is something a lot of parents may not even be aware of, Fredricka. But federal prosecutors collared a man this week named John Zuccarini, who one judge previously called a notorious cybersquatter. He's been accused of registering literally thousands of deceptive Internet domain names designed to trick people, including children, to visit porn sites and other e-commerce sites.
And Doug Isenberg is here to help us understand what this is all about. Doug is with gigalaw.com.
You've also published a book, we should point out, that has an entire chapter dedicated to Mr. Zuccarini.
This seems like a big catch for federal authorities. Is that the case?
DOUG ISENBERG, GIGALAW.COM: Yes, I think that's a good way to describe it. John Zuccarini, as you said, has been labeled by the courts as a notorious cybersquatter. He has, by some counts, registered 5,500 or more domain names.
And these are not just domain names that he's using for any purposes, but they're typically domain names that are identical or confusingly similar to trademarks of well-known companies and others.
And in some cases, as we found out this week, he's been using them to deliver sex and pornography Web sites to unsuspecting people on the Internet.
SIEBERG: All right, well, let's talk about this -- the difference between typosquatting and cybersquatting.
I believe we have a list we can show people of some of the sites that he is accused of creating that would steer people in the wrong direction. We can see the list here, obviously intended at kids. Now, a cybersquatter might sit on a legitimate domain name in bad faith. A typosquatter is hoping you literally misspell something, right?
ISENBERG: That's exactly right, as you can see, for example, Dinseyland instead of Disneyland. That is something that somebody would not intentionally type, but perhaps because they're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) either a bad speller or bad typer. These are examples of some of the domain names that John Zuccarini is alleged to have registered.
And when somebody accidentally types in one of those domain names, they go obviously not to the Disneyland or Teletubbies official site, but in these cases, to pornography Web sites that John Zuccarini was actually making money off of. According to a court from a few years ago, anywhere from 10 to 25 cents every time somebody clicked on one of those Web sites.
SIEBERG: OK, and we're going to talk a little bit about the technology that was involved with keeping people on those sites. But first, we want to roll some sound. There was a press conference earlier in the week. John Zuccarini was arrested at a Florida hotel room. And we have a comment here from James Comey, one of the U.S. district attorneys involved with the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES B. COMEY, U.S. ATTORNEY: Few parents would imagine that there was someone out there counting on the fact that your child would likely misspell the word "Digimon," something very easy to do, or misspell 'N Sync, or misspell Britney Spears, or misspell Disney.
Few of us would imagine that there was someone out there who was, in effect, reaching through cyberspace to take that child by the hand to one of the seediest corners of the Internet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIEBERG: Mr. Comey talks about how it's being luring these kids. What penalties would Mr. Zuccarini face? Because he is the first person charged under this new act. Tell me a little bit about that.
ISENBERG: That's, that, that's exactly right. He has been sued probably dozens of times in the past. He's lost 98 out of 100 administrative domain name proceedings. But this is the first time that anybody has been charged under a new law. It just came into effect in April of this year, a federal law in the United States called the Truth in Domain Names Act.
And it makes it illegal to use certain misleading domain names, as the law says, to deceive people into viewing pornography or to deceive children into viewing material that is harmful to minors on the Internet. And the potential penalties are not only fines, but prison time of up to four years in jail.
SIEBERG: So quite a serious penalty here possibility. Is this sending a message out to other people out here who are doing the same types of things?
ISENBERG: Sure. And that's a good point. Mr. Zuccarini is certainly not the only person who has been doing this, although he's probably been doing it more significantly than others. But this certainly will send a signal to others that you cannot simply register domain names and trick people into viewing Web sites, particularly pornography or obscenity, and get away with it.
Mr. Zuccarini really avoided the law for years. Nobody knew where he was. As you pointed out, he was found in a Holiday Inn in Hollywood, Florida, where he apparently had been for the past 10 months. So finally the law has caught up with him, and it should probably be a warning signal to others.
SIEBERG: And some of the technology he used, we mentioned something called -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I don't know if we mentioned it, mouse-trapping, where it keeps you on the site and doesn't let you go away, and the clicks that you do provide him with some revenue. Is there some way that perhaps Internet service providers or the domain name registrars can stop this before it happens?
ISENBERG: Well, it's an interesting situation. In one case an FTC official a number of years ago said that he was investigating Mr. Zuccarini, went to a Web site that was similar to Anna Kornakova (ph), the tennis star, dot-com, with a slight misspelling, and up popped not one window but 29 windows.
It is never -- it may be difficult to prevent this practice entirely, because we all make mistakes when we type. So this activity is probably not going to go away, but this is probably a warning signal to others that there are stiff penalties for doing so.
SIEBERG: All right. Well, Doug Isenberg from gigalaw.com, thanks so much for joining us to talk about that.
And Fredricka, I guess it's just one more thing for parents to have to worry about when they're watching their kids online. They might be able to put some filtering software on, or just kind of look over their shoulder and see what they're doing.
WHITFIELD: Yes, but it's definitely good advice a lot of parents are taking heed of that now.
SIEBERG: Right, absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot.
SIEBERG: All right.
WHITFIELD: All right. When we come back, do tactics like freeing minks from mink farms and blowing up businesses really help in the fight for animal rights? That topic straight ahead.
Also ahead, just how polluted was the air in New York after the collapse of the World Trade Center? Questions of improper White House influence over air quality reports. That coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FINDING NEMO")
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, and I don't plan to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The movie "Finding Nemo" put Nemo and his species, anemone fishes, or what's more commonly called clownfish, in the public eye. Turns out these fish are quite the social climbers, according to a study released in the journal "Nature." Clown fish will do just about anything to get ahead, even change their sex.
According to University of California researcher Peter Busten (ph), clownfish live in groups. The larger the fish, the higher their social ranking. Only two in the group mate and reproduce. The breeding female is the largest and number one in the hierarchy. The breeding male is number two in size and ranking.
When the breeding female dies, the breeding male gets larger, changes its sex, moves up the social ladder, and becomes the breeding female. And number three in line, and the third largest in the group, grows and becomes number two, the breeding male.
According to the research, a clownfish that attempts to grow larger than its position allows is often seen as a threat and is likely killed.
Apparently these fish don't clown around when it comes to social status.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, by the way, "Finding Nemo," the movie, is the top money-maker at the box office this summer. It's brought in $330 million, and that's not counting the run on clownfish at the local pet stores.
Well, animal rights activists say they bombed a biotech company in California last week because the company does business with another company that uses animals in drug testing. It's been an unusually busy month for the more extreme end of the animal rights spectrum.
Here to give us background now, Brian Denson, a reporter at "The Oregonian" in Portland, Oregon.
Good to see you, Brian.
BRIAN DENSON, "THE OREGONIAN": Hi, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk specifically about this California case. Is this kind of evidence now that the animal rights activism is really being stepped up a notch, perhaps getting too close to extremism?
DENSON: Absolutely. It's beyond extremism. This is one of the very few bombings attributed to these folks in the last 20 years. In fact, there have only been about five or six attributed to either animal rights or environmental extremists in the United States since '93.
WHITFIELD: And the tactics are changing, not just targeting businesses such as that one in California, but individuals, specifically.
DENSON: That's right. And that's a followup to what's been going on in the U.K. For years, they've been just a little bit ahead of us in the ramping up and the violence from some of these very, very militant people, particularly the Animal Liberation Front, which formed there in 1976. So -- and the rhetoric there has been bad. In fact, they've actually been involved in some beatings of individuals involved with that very company you were talking about.
WHITFIELD: So Animal Liberation Front has been around quite awhile. But are you seeing that their tactics have changed most recently?
DENSON: Well, I mean, they're responsible for a great deal of arsons, like I said before, dozens and dozens of them over the last 20 years, and more and more of them, particularly in the year 2000 and right up until about mid-2001, it was really, really amazing.
But this August has really been a pretty amazing period for both the Animal Liberation Front and its cousin, the Earth Liberation Front.
WHITFIELD: Well, most recently, the Animal Liberation Front even claimed responsibility for the releasing of the 10,000 -- some 10,000 mink animals moving up north from California up in Washington state. Is it being alleged that they did a little bit more harm than good, since many of the mink were killed, many of them were not able to really fend for themselves, survive on their own, once they're released from the farms?
DENSON: Well, some of the most militant animal rights activists say that at least they're giving these animals a fighting chance at life. But what we see is that they're -- well, they're very vicious animals. They fight as soon as they get out of these pens. They get run over on the roadways. It's -- you know, it's kind of a mess.
And, you know, and they don't get water and food, typically. Although the animal rights militants say that there have been opportunities for them to at least get out, have a fighting chance at life, and there's been a study that they did that they said actually proves that they can live out there.
WHITFIELD: So the Animal Liberation Front says it's all about the animals, but the FBI is saying that really, this is about domestic terrorism.
DENSON: Well, that's right. They've listed the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front as their actually leading and most prolific domestic terrorist groups in the United States, despite the fact that neither of these groups has ever claimed responsibility for killing anyone.
WHITFIELD: Ecoterrorism is kind of taking on a new identity, isn't it?
DENSON: Well, in some regards, yes. I mean, you know, after 9/11, there was -- and just before 9/11, and then certainly right after, there were very few of these events, and now it's ramping back up. The animal rights community and the -- you know, the sort of -- the so-called tree huggers and the bunny huggers are really in the same camp and have been for quite a number of years. The ideologies are very much the same.
In fact, you find some of the environmental activists, the extreme folks -- and again, these are the most extreme of the extreme. They are very much -- you know, they're all vegans and look out for each other.
WHITFIELD: So we're mentioning a lot about the Animal Liberation Front. But there are other animal rights groups that, perhaps, may be getting a bad name as a result of some of the actions being taken by some of these more extreme groups, if you want to call it that, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, or the Humane Society.
What are these groups doing, perhaps, to try to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dissociate themselves from the actions of these so-called terrorist groups, if that's what the FBI is calling them?
DENSON: Well, PETA isn't really doing anything up front to distance itself. In fact, PETA actually financed the legal fees of several convicted Animal Liberation Front saboteurs. But, you know, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has long done, you know, very fancy campaigns, they're a terrific public relations agency. And they do a lot of above-ground direct action type of tactics.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brian Denson of "The Oregonian" in Portland, Oregon, thanks very much.
DENSON: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, the environment tops our NEXT news headlines today. A major (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- a major forest products company, rather, says it will no longer use wood from old-growth forests. Boise Cascade says it will stop cutting ancient forests in the United States next year and will stop buying wood from endangered forests elsewhere in the world.
Some customers, such as Kinko's and L.L. Bean, had stopped buying from Boise Cascade because of its logging practices. It's unclear whether the new policy will bring back those customers.
Since 1980, the Northern Hemisphere has been hotter than at any other time in the past 2,000 years. That's according to a study by an international team of scientists from the U.S. and U.K. published in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters."
Using data from tree rings, ice cores, and ocean sediments, the scientists determined that both natural and human factors are producing the hot results. Although some scientists remain skeptical about the findings, the study supports other published data about climate change.
A new report says the White House pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to water down the New York air quality reports following the collapse of the World Trade Centers. The report is from the EPA's Office of the Inspector General, which monitors the agency.
It also says the EPA didn't have enough data to declare the air outside ground zero safe in the days following the September 11 attacks. The EPA's acting administrator says the report mischaracterizes the agency's work. Still, Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation.
And the Pentagon has given the OK for taps at military funerals to be played digitally by a push-of-a-button bugle. The instrument, called a ceremonial bugle, has a recording device inserted into its bell. The operator pushes a button and holds the bugle to his lips as the device plays.
Real buglers will be used for funerals when available. But a chronic shortage has forced many funerals to play a recorded version of "Taps" on a boombox.
When we come back, kite-flying is wildly popular in India, and it usually happens this time of year. But sometimes the kites can turn killer. We'll explain.
Also coming up, a dramatic conclusion to the longest high-speed chase on record.
"Next at CNN" continues after a quick look at the headlines at this hour.
Mahmoud Abbas is out as Palestinian prime minister. His resignation was accepted by Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. It's not clear, however, what Abbas' action may mean for the Middle East peace process.
They're cleaning up in Bermuda, today, from the worst hurricane in a half century. 135 mile an hour winds lashed the islands and four people are missing and feared dead. Hurricane Fabian is now far north of the island with its winds weakening to category two strength, but east coast beaches are facing high waves and riptide warnings from the storm.
A volcano in one of Costa Rico's most popular national parks is spewing ash and lava. It's the biggest eruption in two years from the 5,000 foot high Arenal volcano.
More stories at the top of the hour. Now back to "Next at CNN."
Speaking of things that fly, it's kite season in India, and while the activity is merely a pleasant pastime for many, for some the competition is killer. Shashani Uni Hadar (SIC) report from New Delhi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHAS UNI HADAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ...ancient pastime crowd the stores in pursuit of the biggest and most colorful kites. Kite-flying's a sport that can get quite competitive, and many enthusiasts are out on their roofs to join in kite contests. The aim is to cut the string of other's kites.
A lot of preparation goes into making the toughest string called "manja," that includes a coating of powdered glass which helps cut your opponent's kite. But, the sport sometimes has unintended victims.
This is the emergency ward at Delhi's only bird hospital. Doctors here say they get 25 to 30 kite victims every day during the flying season. The Dr. Viji Cumar (PH) says you can tell that a bird's been hurt by a kite string if it has a long cut along its
DR. VIJI CUMAR (through translator): This will heal in a week or ten days, but sometimes we have to amputate their wings, and they can never fly again. Some even die.
HADAR: Business executive Anil Barthwal flies kites everyday at this time of year.
"I've heard about birds getting hurt," he says. "I just wish there were more bird hospitals we could take them to."
It's certainly crowded at the bird hospital's recovery room. So, as soon as their winged inmates can fly, the hospital sets them free. But, they often come back.
"Maybe they want to thank us," says the hospital's manager, "or maybe they just feel safe here," he says. "While kites flutter in the breeze above the city."
Sohas Uni Hadar, (PH) CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: We have an update now, on a story we brought you last week. The dramatic three-week long chase in the Southern Atlantic Ocean has landed a boatload of suspected poachers. Authorities say the crew had poached more than 85 tons of a rare fish known as a delicacy in the United States. Cindy Strand has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CINDY STRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High drama on icy arctic seas. An Australian fishery's vessel chases a ship for 21 days around icebergs, through 10-meter waves in pursuit of alleged poachers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is the southern supporter. You have refused to comply with the lawful instruction issued by Australian fisheries off...
STRAND: The Uruguay ship, Viarsa One, was spotted in a remote Australian fishing zone and suspected of poaching rare Patagonian Toothfish. With the help of the South African tug, the John Ross, and the icebreaker SA Agollis, the longest high-sea chase on record ended as armed crewmen boarded the Voarsa One and arrested the captain and crew. The arrest was hailed as a courageous international operation against poaching.
WILLIAM EICHBAUM, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: Seeing this kind of cooperation is critical if we're to protect the rapidly disappearing marine resources of the high seas.
STRAND: On Friday, the Viarsa One anchored off the coast of Capetown to be re-supplied. The ship will be escorted back to Australia where the case will be tried. More than 85 tons of the highly prized Patagonian Toothfish, also known as Chilean Sea Bass, was found on board. Called "white gold," a shipload of the seven-foot long fish can be worth more than $3 million.
EICHBAUM: These fish take a very long time, because of the cold water and the depths that they live at, to reach maturity, and they've been under extreme pressure. It's a fish that really almost should not be fished at, at all.
STRAND: Poachers beware, the Australian high commissioners of South Africa warned, you can run, but you can't hide, even among icebergs.
Cindy Strand, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: When we come back, forget videotapes, even DVDs are becoming so yesterday. We'll talk with an expert about how we'll be getting our home video entertainment in the future.
Also ahead, the RIAA says it wants to give illegal music downloaders a break. We'll have details straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Do you think birds get divorced, or are they monogamous?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I don't think marriage in birds is legal.
KELLAN: Legalities aside, Oyster Catchers are evidence that birds, just like humans, get dumped.
Researchers from the University of Byrne in Switzerland spent eight years observing the Swiss version of these American Oyster Catchers. They reveal in the journal "Nature" that the bird that flies the coop first, usually the female, ends up better off with a nest closer to food and 20 percent more chicks. The one that's dumped ends up in the bad part of town and has to travel for food, leaving its chicks vulnerable to predators. Oyster Catchers aren't the only birds that quote "divorce." How does their divorce rate compared to other birds?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I'm kind of on the fence on this.
KELLAN: Which birds have the highest divorce rate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pigeon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robins. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Sparrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pigeons.
KELLAN: Not Pigeons, Flamingos.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Flamingos?
KELLAN: Yes, Flamingos. According to Cornell University ornithologist, Andrea Donk, flamingos have a 100 percent divorce rate. They find new partners every breeding season.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do they bother getting married?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess they're just like people, some are very colorful and flighty and move on, and some are stable and stick together.
KELLAN: Flighty, perhaps, but if the study is right, when a bird leaves its mate, it's moving on to greener pastures and a better life.
Ann Kellan, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: We have a few technology stories to tell you about, right now. The Federal Trade Commission released some mind boggling statistics, this week, on the problem of identity theft. The new survey shows more than 27 million Americans have been victims of ID theft in the last five years. Among other things, identity thieves steal credit card and security numbers, opening up accounts and running up bills, that for the most part, never get pain. The FTC says the losses to businesses and financial institutions totaled nearly $48 billion last year.
Fess up about illegal music downloading and you won't even get sued, says the Recording Industry Association of America. The group which represents the legal interests of the big record labels has already targeted more then 1,600 people with copyright subpoenas. In this latest offer of amnesty only applies to infringements suits moving forward as the RIAA is poised to file hundreds of new lawsuits next week.
And, speaking of downloading, that's one reason behind Universal's decision, this week, to lower the wholesale price of its CDs. The company says it hopes retailers will charge below $10 for top line albums. The goal is to revive CD sales after a three-year decline.
But, some are predicting that the CD may be headed for a permanent departure. Technophiles who once measured their music and movie collections by the size of their CDs and DVD libraries may someday just look at what's stored on their hard drives. Once again, Daniel Sieberg joins us with details on that -- Dan.
DANIEL SIEGERG, CNN TECHNICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka. I think I do both, actually, hard drive and CD and DVD collection. But will CDs really go the way of LPs and 8-tracks? What about cassette tapes?
SIEBERG: Well, joining us now, to talk about the virtual future is Josh Bernoff an analyst with Forrester Research, he joins us from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
SIEBERG: Josh, first of all it seems to me that every type of format eventually goes by the way wayside, whether we're talking about vinyl or eight-track or laser disk. What makes this shift or this trend that you're predicting so unique or different?
JOSH BERNOFF, FORRESTER RESEARCH: Well, we're not looking at CDs getting replaced with some other format; we're looking at all physical formats going away completely. We're in the world where the most active muti -- excuse me, most active music consumers can download the songs that they want right now illegally, but increasingly from legal services like Apple iTunes, and in a world like that, the idea that you have to keep your music on some sort of piece of plastic just doesn't apply.
SIEBERG: So, there would be nothing tangible for somebody. They would literally just have these files on their computer or wherever they might want to store them. We're also talking about on-demand TV.
So, I want to mention the findings in the research that said 33 percent of music sales will be from downloads by 2008 and revenues from CDs will be off 19 percent and DVDs about eight percent. I know you looked at a number of different reasons for this, but what the main factors that you saw in the study you did?
BERNOFF: Well, the main factors for CDs is really the piracy that's happening, now. The only way that the music industry can fight that is to create legitimate download services. But, the net effect of the piracy and those services is to just make CDs irrelevant. In the case of movies, the main force is video on-demand from your cable operator, which offers the same features as rentals in home video, but with a lot more convenience. And when you've got that, there's no reason to hang on to your DVDs.
SIEBERG: Well, let's plays devil's advocate for a minute, here. I know a lot of my friends who love their DVD collection, they like some of the special features, they like a lot of the offerings that they get with their DVD and having something to even to give as a gift to somebody, something tangible. How did you rectify that in this study with people who may really enjoy where DVDs are going?
BERNOFF: Well, first of all, if you compare that to CDs, we've heard that -- you know, people are in love with the cover art, but Kazaa proved that there's no love for the physical object, it's the tracks. In the case of DVDs, the special features you're talking about are going to be available in video on-demand, so you'll have the same experience, there. And I think that you'll see a slow, steady decline, here. We're not talking about -- you know, five years from now, there are no more DVDs. But increasingly, a lot of the business that's currently in physical objects, like DVDs, is going to be coming down the wire, and that's what's important here is the proportion of movie viewing that shifts to on-demand viewing.
SIEBERG: All right, Josh. We've only got about a minute left, but let's talk about some of the big losers and the big winners as this trend potentially goes forward. Who -- how is this going to shake out? How's this going to affect say, the entertainment industry or average consumer?
BERNOFF: Well, if you look at the music companies and movie companies, they have to make a shift here, but they can survive. It's great for consumers who get a whole lot more flexibility. The disaster that befalls somebody here, are the retailers because retailers are in the business of selling stuff, selling objects, and they're not going to be able to sell nearly as many CDs in the future, not as many DVDs. Blockbuster, Tower Records, people like that, are really in the position to lose the most, here.
SIEBERG: And Josh, we've only got about 15 seconds left. But, how much of this trend is being pushed by a youth movement or by young people?
BERNOFF: This is definitely a trend that's coming from youth. The young people do this the most, and when you go into Tower Records a few years from now, it's going to be all old people hanging out in there.
SIEGERG (LAUGHING): People like you and me.
BERNOFF: Um-hm.
SIEBERG: Josh Bernoff, an analyst with Forrester Research, thanks for joining us to talk about this trend.
And, Fredricka, I guess it's just a matter of time before our CD and DVD collections are, dare I say -- obsolete.
WHITFIELD: Oh, Dan, you're real old, yeah. OK. Thanks a lot.
Well, coming up in our next half hour, election frenzy is upon us, on the stump on the airwaves and on the web. We'll show you what the candidates are doing in cyberspace.
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WHITFIELD: Well, the 2004 presidential campaign may be decided by debates, money, and blogs. Blogs and political websites are making a big difference to some politicians. Technology correspondent, our old Dan, he's back now, with a look at the impact.
SIEBERG: Back again. Hi, Fredricka, that's right. You know, elections may not be decided just by those 30-second TV attack ads, anymore. Candidate websites are making an impact, this is for political junkies or supporters or just anyone just observing on the web.
And, joining us now, from New York is Jim Nash, he's a managing editor at "InformationWeek" and he examined a number of the different websites that are out there online.
Jim, just of all, thanks for joining us. Let's talk a little bit about how the web has changed in playing a part in political campaigns, whether we're talking about the California recall campaigns or the presidential election. How has it changed?
JIM NASH, "INFORMATIONWEEK": Well, I think three or four years ago, you had people who thought it was going to be a money machine and, of course, it's not. Right now the people who are successful are building communities out of it. Getting supporters active themselves.
SIEBERG: And, how crucial is the internet or the web to any political campaign?
NASH: Well, especially for someone who's at a lesser recognition level than Bush, it's going to be very, very important to -- as another avenue to get the word out. But, also again, to get people to meet up to physically organize.
SIEBERG: All right, well, speaking of President George Bush, let's start with his website. He definitely has name recognition going for him and his website is here at georgebush.com. What can you tell us about this site?
NASH: Well, this is a monster of a site. It came out very, very strong. It has a lot of information, it might be overwhelming, but there's no place you can go and not find something to read about President Bush.
SIEBERG: And we mention -- I should mention the blogs off of the top, here, we said, where you can go to get -- what is a blog, Jim?
NASH: Well, a blog is -- it can be like a diary, but it's a two- way diary and a lot of the candidates, right now, are just having a travel diary, basically, of a blog. The more savvy candidates are having people write -- write in responses to what might be in that -- in that blog. And that, again, builds a sense of community.
SIEBERG: OK, well let's move on to some of the democratic candidates that are out there starting with Howard Dean. Is this site unique for any reason?
NASH: Well, it's not as technically advanced as you'd think it would be, but it's very good. He was one of the first to come up with -- or to use the Meetup service, which is a service -- online service in which people physically meet up for various purposes. In this case, it's to support Howard Dean.
SIEBERG: OK. And from there, let's talk about -- let's see if we can pull it up, here. There's John Edwards who's got a page; Bob Graham, there's a number of different sites. But, we wanted to mention Al Sharpton's page, a little different than his typical personality, let's say.
NASH: Right. Now, this is the site that, over the past month or so has not changed at all. Literally has not changed. However, it is so different from his personality as a street organizer. You expect something that's going to be sort-of revivalesque, and yet it's not. It's very stately it's -- and very state. It tells exactly what he's going to do if he's elected president and...
SIEBERG: Even a top-ten list, there. He's taken a page from David Letterman. All right, Jim, we're going to move on to the California election, if we can.
Gray Davis' page, he seems to have a number of different caricatures, up there. Is that working for him?
NASH (LAUGHING): I don't think so, but maybe it is. This is a disappointing site, very standard, not updated very often. Technically, it's not sophisticated, there's a barren volunteer page. It doesn't build the excitement that you want.
SIEBERG: OK, and what about -- just quickly, we don't have much time, but what about Arnold's page? Is he making an impact here?
NASH: Oh, yeah, definitely. He's using it very well. I have to say, he's got the Meetup page going on, so he's got people physically meeting up. What's funny is that they removed a link, earlier on, to Schwarzenegger's, quote, "entertainment site."
SIEBERG: So, maybe distancing himself a little bit from that. All right, well, a whole slew of websites out there and if you want to check them out, I guess, just jump online.
Jim Nash, from "InformationWeek," an editor there, thanks so much for joining us to talk about that.
NASH: Thank you.
All right, Fredricka, that's going to do it for me. So, if you want to check out any of your favorite political candidates, just hop online, there's lots to choose from, lots to see.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Dan.
Well, that's all we have time for, today. But, "Next" will be back tomorrow at 5:00 Eastern time.
Among the stories we'll be covering for you: Do you Google? It's a birthday party for the internet's No. 1 search engine. The company launched five years ago from a rented room in one woman's house. Well, we'll be having her live on the show. That story and more coming up, tomorrow. Hope you'll be watching and thanks for joining us, today.
Ahead, on CNN, "CNN Live Saturday" coming up at the top of the hour. In the "Dollar Signs" segment, we'll tell you how to clean up your credit. That's followed by "People in the News" at 5:00 Eastern profiling Shania Twain and Celine Dion. And, "CNN Saturday: 6:00 Eastern tune, tune in for a conversation with one of those Texas senators from his self-imposed exile.
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