ACM TechNews - Wednesday, March 8, 2000

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ACM TechNews
Volume 2, Number 27
Date: March 8, 2000
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Wednesday, March 8, 2000:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Report Criticizes Viability of Internet Oversight Panel"
"Internet Registrar to Be Sold for $21 Billion"
"Microsoft Boosts Salaries to Keep Talent in Hot Job Market"
"Alternative Net Protects Pirates"
"Intel's New Perk: PCs for Employees"
"You Assumed 'Erase' Wiped Out That Rant Against the Boss? Nope"
"Anti-Hacker Center Fights for Respect"
"Internet Access Over Power Lines Nears Reality"
"Europe's Top IT Official Expounds on E-Europe Plan"
"The Higher Stakes of Business-to-Business Trade"
"Can E-Commerce Police Itself?"
"Big Players Join Forces on Desktop Diagnostics Standard"
"Design for the Digital Revolution"
"Technology Issues Get Campaign Attention"
"Outsourced Security on the Rise"
"Stuck in the Middle"
"Meeting Online Can Save Money, Boost Productivity"
"Europe Dials Into VoIP"

******************* News Stories ***********************


"Report Criticizes Viability of Internet Oversight Panel"
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will face
a crisis during its September board election this year if the
organization fails to improve its plan that would give computer
users from across the globe the ability to participate in the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item1

"Internet Registrar to Be Sold for $21 Billion"
Internet security company VeriSign yesterday signed a $21 billion
deal to purchase Network Solutions, marking the most expensive
purchase of an Internet firm to date.  Many analysts question the
wisdom behind VeriSign's decision to pay such a high price for . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item2

"Microsoft Boosts Salaries to Keep Talent in Hot Job Market"
Microsoft has increased the salaries of its Silicon Valley
employees by 15 percent in an attempt to prevent turnover and
make the corporation more attractive to people playing the "job
lottery" in the area.  The "geographical differential" pay raise . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item3

"Alternative Net Protects Pirates"
A new open-source network is being developed that its creators
contend will offer utter anonymity when sharing documents and
files over the Internet.  Freenet does not have any centralized
administrative infrastructure of domain name servers and IP . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item4

"Intel's New Perk: PCs for Employees"
Intel has announced plans to provide all of its employees with
free PCs, printers, unlimited Internet access, and services for
home use.  After Ford, Delta, and American Airlines' AMR
announced programs to provide workers with home PCs and Internet . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item5

"You Assumed 'Erase' Wiped Out That Rant Against the Boss? Nope"
Corporate surveillance techniques now include software that
monitors and records every keystroke a computer user makes.
Although companies claim they monitor employee activities to
prevent abuse of corporate time and equipment, increase worker . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item6

"Anti-Hacker Center Fights for Respect"
The federal government created the National Infrastructure
Protection Center in 1998 as a way to safeguard the country's
computer networks.  However, security experts contend that the
agency, which is overseen by the FBI, can do very little with the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item7

"Internet Access Over Power Lines Nears Reality"
Utility companies could join telecommunications giants in the
race to dominate the high-speed Internet access market if the
powerline strategy of Germany's Oneline proves to be a success.
Through Oneline, the German energy conglomerate Veba and the U.S. . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item8

"Europe's Top IT Official Expounds on E-Europe Plan"
During a luncheon address given today, European Commissioner for
Enterprise and Information Society Erkki Liikanen discussed
strategies Europe should adopt to help close the Internet
commerce gap between itself and the United States.  Liikanen said . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item9

"The Higher Stakes of Business-to-Business Trade"
There is much debate over whether technology providers such as
software companies and dot-coms will play a commanding role in
the exploding B2B market, estimated to total $7.3 trillion in
transactions by 2004.  Analysts are unsure that the revenue these . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item10

"Can E-Commerce Police Itself?"
President Clinton reportedly recently told a group of Silicon
Valley executives that they needed to rapidly create an
industry-wide set of basic consumer privacy standards, or else
the government would have to step in with its own regulations.  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item11

"Big Players Join Forces on Desktop Diagnostics Standard"
IBM, Microsoft, and Intel have allied with PC diagnostic
toolmaker PC-Doctor to create a standards-based framework to
remotely identify computer problems.  The architecture, called
the Common Diagnostics Model (CDM), is intended to support all . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item12

"Design for the Digital Revolution"
As society functions in an increasingly technological universe,
designers need to understand how to create objects that
compliment humanity by simultaneously being beautiful, pleasing,
and useful.  The progress of digitization currently follows a . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item13

"Technology Issues Get Campaign Attention"
High-tech issues such as Internet taxes, privacy, security,
education, and immigration are playing a large role in the
current presidential campaigns.  "It is clear that technology and
technology policy are going to be critical in the next election," . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item14

"Outsourced Security on the Rise"
Following the recent wave of hacker attacks on several popular
Internet sites, many organizations lacking a large IT staff have
become more conscientious of threats to the security of their
operations.  Numerous providers of managed security systems have . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item15

"Stuck in the Middle"
The database protection debate appears as if it will be another
protracted battle between the old and the new world.  The
Internet is the source of the wedge that has been driven between
established companies and Net upstarts that is threatening the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item16

"Meeting Online Can Save Money, Boost Productivity"
Online conferencing is emerging as a valuable solution to
corporate communications and training, says Don Tapscott,
chairman of the Alliance for Converging Technologies.  The
usefulness of online conferencing was evident during IBM's recent . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item17

"Europe Dials Into VoIP"
International telecom companies were taken aback by the
introduction of Internet telephony by Israeli company VocalTec,
but once the technology's poor sound quality became apparent, it
was viewed as less of a threat.  Now, Internet telephony has . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/0308w.html#item18


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