County jobless rate declines
Spokane County’s jobless rate dipped to 4.7 percent in September from August’s 5.2 percent.
Statewide, Washington’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, down from August’s level of 5.2 percent.
Nationwide the jobless rate fell to 4.6 percent, down slightly from 4.7 percent in August.
Spokane County added 5,500 jobs in the service sector from August to September, an increase of 1,100 over the same time last year. The spike is primarily a result of new and veteran teachers as well as support staff heading back to school.
Los Angeles
Russian Web site denies piracy
The operator of a Russian Web site that sells music cheaply went on a media offensive Tuesday to deny accusations that it violates copyrights on songs by major artists.
In an online exchange with reporters, representatives from Moscow-based Mediaservices, which owns the AllofMP3.com Web site, asserted it is running a legitimate business.
“The company has been unfairly characterized as a pirate Web site,” Vadim Mamotin, the firm’s director general, said through a translator. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
AllofMP3.com typically charges under $1 for an entire album and just cents per track. By contrast, an album at Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store and other licensed services typically costs about $10 and a song 99 cents.
Mediaservices maintains that it pays taxes in Russia and that 15 percent of every sale.
By paying royalties to the licensing group, Mediaservices claims AllofMP3.com is in compliance with Russian laws.
Spokane
ID management to be discussed
The Spokane chapter of the Information Systems Security Association will present a two-hour free session on identity management from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday at CenterPlace at Mirabeau in the Spokane Valley.
Delivering the presentation is Jerry Ketterling, co-founder and president of ESSI, a Bellevue, Wash.-based network security company.
The session is geared toward managers and technology directors at publicly traded companies, banks and companies in the health care industry.