ACM TechNews - Wednesday, March 21, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 179
Date: March 21, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Wednesday, March 21, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Love, Scorn, and Innovation Dominate ACM Conference"
"Fewer Patents on Methods Get Clearance"
"High-Tech Visa Approvals Down From Last Year"
"Cryptologists Discover Flaw in E-Mail Security Program"
"Geography Yields to Cyberspace as Firms Seek Talent"
"A Thorn in Hollywood's Side"
"The Broader Slowdown Isn't the Only Cause of Tech Industry's Ills"
"Microsoft Asks .Net Customers to Trust It With Personal Data"
"Dot-Com Bust Taxes Workers' Integrity"
"Wallets Slam Shut in Silicon Valley"
"India's Tech Firms Braced for U.S. Fallout"
"The Net's Letting U.S. Workers Do More From Home"
"The Dubious Digital Divide"
"From Russia With Code"
"Questions on Firing and Severance at Computer Associates"
"Rethinking the Internet"
"To Protect and Self-Serve"
"Three-Strikes Law"

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

"Love, Scorn, and Innovation Dominate ACM Conference"
While attendees at the Association for Computing Machinery's
"ACM1: Beyond Cyberspace" conference were greatly impressed by
new technology such as wearable communications technology,
deep-sea power plants, and Internet-enabled cars, speakers at the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item1

"Fewer Patents on Methods Get Clearance"
The percentage of business-method patents approved by the U.S.
Patent Office declined 20 percent in the quarter ending Dec. 31
of last year compared to the quarter ending last Mar. 31, from 56
percent to 36 percent.  The patents, which have become a key tool . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item2

"High-Tech Visa Approvals Down From Last Year"
The Immigration and Naturalization Service approved only 72,000
H-1B visa petitions between October of last year and early March,
a nearly 30 percent drop from the same period in 1999-2000, the
INS reported Tuesday.  The high-tech industry last year made a . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item3

"Cryptologists Discover Flaw in E-Mail Security Program"
Computer researchers in the Czech Republic yesterday reported a
flaw in the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encoding software
used widely to send secure email messages.  ICZ, based in Prague,
says its employees inadvertently found the bug, which would . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item4

"Geography Yields to Cyberspace as Firms Seek Talent"
The H-1B program, which gives working visas to nearly 200,000
highly skilled foreign workers each year, is still not enough to
meet the high demand for IT workers, explains Software
Outsourcing Research executive director Marty McCaffrey.  He . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item5

"A Thorn in Hollywood's Side"
The Motion Picture Association of America has its hands full
trying to stop what many computer programmers and users believe
is a free-speech crusade.  Carnegie Mellon University researcher
Dave Touretzky uses his Web site, "Gallery of CSS Descramblers," . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item6

"The Broader Slowdown Isn't the Only Cause of Tech Industry's Ills"
Some analysts fear that the slowdown for tech companies such as
Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Intel, and Cisco will only worsen in the
next year.  Many companies have already flushed out their IT
infrastructure because of heavy spending in preparation for Y2K . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item7

"Microsoft Asks .Net Customers to Trust It With Personal Data"
While columnist Dan Gillmor is generally positive about the
potential of Microsoft's new HailStorm Web-services initiative,
part of its .Net platform, he argues that the company has not
earned the consumer trust necessary to allow its ultimate vision . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item8

"Dot-Com Bust Taxes Workers' Integrity"
Many former dot-com employees are wondering if they should even
bother to pay taxes this year.  In many cases, the former
employees' companies went out of business without filing tax
forms with the IRS, meaning they never mailed W2s and other . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item9

"Wallets Slam Shut in Silicon Valley"
Various data from the Silicon Valley area suggest that the
dot-com downturn is having a definite effect on the overall
economy.  The vacancy rate for commercial property in San
Francisco now stands at 8 percent, up from only 2 percent last . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item10

"India's Tech Firms Braced for U.S. Fallout"
The drop in tech spending by U.S. corporations is resounding
around the world and threatening to dampen the fiery Indian IT
sector, which has seen 50 percent growth annually since 1991.
Indian software companies are confident that they will be able to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item11

"The Net's Letting U.S. Workers Do More From Home"
More than two-thirds of U.S. workers say they would like to use
the Internet to work from home occasionally, claims a new survey
Modalis Research Technologies conducted for WorldCom.  The survey
of 510 business managers and workers from a wide range of fields . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item12

"The Dubious Digital Divide"
Columnist Tim Jackson questions the wisdom of a plan from the
British government to provide 12,000 lower-income households with
Internet connections, and he wonders whether too much fuss is
being made about the digital divide in general.  Jackson argues . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item13

"From Russia With Code"
A forum held earlier this month in San Francisco focused on
Russia's potential to become an hotbed of IT talent and growth,
joining such countries as Israel and India as places where U.S.
firms want to do business and outsource important projects.  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item14

"Questions on Firing and Severance at Computer Associates"
Computer Associates employees laid off within the last few months
are raising serious questions about their recent terminations.
Lawyers for some of those laid off allege that their clients are
victims of a corporate cost-cutting scheme.  They argue that . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item15

"Rethinking the Internet"
Although the Internet appears to have lost its status as "The
Next Big Thing" destined to revolutionize every aspect of human
existence, many observers and analysts say the Internet industry
is doing much better than most people are aware and will succeed . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item16

"To Protect and Self-Serve"
Large tech companies, including IBM, Intel, and Toshiba, are
working to place what is known as content protection for
recordable media (CPRM) technology in the next generation
standard for storage technology.  Confronted by the media, the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item17

"Three-Strikes Law"
Columnist Doug Isenberg contends that the 107th Congress has
already become the most activist group of lawmakers in terms of
Internet legislation in U.S. history.  However, he warns that the
current crop of legislators should take a look at the failed . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0321w.html#item18

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