ACM TechNews - Friday, October 27, 2000

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ACM TechNews
Volume 2, Number 123
Date: October 27, 2000
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Friday, October 27, 2000:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Microsoft Computer Network Hacked"
"Federal Forum Tackles E-Commerce Regulation"
"Gee-Whiz Shortage at Internet Expo"
"G8 Seeks Tighter Internet Security"
"New Economy Takes Center Stage, But Not All States Are Well-Prepared"
"Law Helps U.S. Tech Firms Hire More Foreign Workers"
"On High-Tech Issues, Candidates Have Their Differences"
"Privacy Tops Concerns About Going Online"
"U.S. Remains Home to Most Domains"
"Critical Piece of the Puzzle: Attracting Women to IT Field"
"Net Standards Group Puts XML to the Test"
"Computer-Crime Treaty Evokes Criticism"
"Big Brother May Be Watching You"
"Doolittle Does Little to Harm Net"
"Lotus Pioneer Unveils New 'Groove'"
"Amdahl Gives Up on Mainframe Business"
"The PC Is Dead. Long Live the PC. Pick One."
"Labor Pains for the Internet Economy"
"The Pen is Mightier..."

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

"Microsoft Computer Network Hacked"
Microsoft has not said whether it believes hackers stole or
corrupted any of the software company's source code during an
assault earlier this week.  Microsoft's Rick Miller yesterday
said the attack was "a deplorable act of industrial espionage."  . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item1

"Federal Forum Tackles E-Commerce Regulation"
New regulations for the e-commerce industry may be forthcoming
from the FTC, the agency said Thursday at the opening day of a
two-day conference on consumer protection.  The FTC's focus is
trained on existing laws and how they could be applied to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item2

"Gee-Whiz Shortage at Internet Expo"
The technology on display at this year's Internet World trade
show lacked the innovation of previous years, with most new tools
aimed at improving the Internet.  Many companies exhibited
multimedia tools and software designed to help Web sites improve . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item3

"G8 Seeks Tighter Internet Security"
Representatives from government and industry met during the Group
of Eight meeting in Berlin to come up with a plan to fight
cybercrime.  The only real progress came on a
national-contact-point plan that would provide information on . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item4

"New Economy Takes Center Stage, But Not All States Are Well-Prepared"
Education is the top factor influencing a region's potential to
capitalize on the tech-driven economy, according to a recent
study from the Milken Institute.  The study ranked each state's
potential for high-tech growth based on criteria such as . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item5

"Law Helps U.S. Tech Firms Hire More Foreign Workers"
Tech firms are breathing easier now that a measure to increase
the number of H-1B visas issued each year has become law.  Many
firms depend on the visa, which permits highly skilled foreign
workers to stay in the United States for up to six years, to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item6

"On High-Tech Issues, Candidates Have Their Differences"
Presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush agree on many
issues that affect the high-tech industry, but the two nominees
hold different philosophical stances on technology.  Both
candidates support major high-tech issues such as an increase in . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item7

"Privacy Tops Concerns About Going Online"
The University of California-Los Angeles believes that its
recently released study of Internet use in the United States
could be used to help inform the government's approach to
Internet policy.  A key focus of the study is Internet privacy, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item8

"U.S. Remains Home to Most Domains"
Whois.net reports that 26 million names have been registered in
the .com, .org, and .net top level domains, and Network
Solutions' dotcom.com says 15 million of those names fall under
the .com domain.  Dotcom.com also reports that the United States . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item9

"Critical Piece of the Puzzle: Attracting Women to IT Field"
The IT industry should try to attract the interest of women as it
looks to fill a growing number of jobs with a limited pool of
workers, writes Craig Weidemann, vice provost of the University
of Maryland, Baltimore County.  Women are turning away from . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item10

"Net Standards Group Puts XML to the Test"
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has released its XML schema
specification as a W3C Candidate Recommendation, a process in
which the standards body encourages use of the specification in
order to gain feedback from other consortium members and the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item11

"Computer-Crime Treaty Evokes Criticism"
The Justice Department privately told industry executives during
this week's Group of Eight meeting that there is little that can
be done to change controversial provisions in the Council of
Europe's computer-crime treaty.  The DOJ helped craft the treaty, . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item12

"Big Brother May Be Watching You"
Privacy advocates are now turning their attention to the
increasingly popular company-subsidized computer purchase
programs, arguing that the computers employees bring home will
enable their employers to monitor what they purchase over the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item13

"Doolittle Does Little to Harm Net"
Wired News graded the members of the House of Representatives on
their propensity to regulate the Internet, based on their voting
records for seven key pieces of technology legislation.  Reps.
John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) were . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item14

"Lotus Pioneer Unveils New 'Groove'"
Groove Networks, founded by Lotus Notes pioneer Ray Ozzie, on
Tuesday announced its Groove software designed to let users
exchange data online without a central server.  Groove aims to
"strengthen the online connections among people who need to . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item15

"Amdahl Gives Up on Mainframe Business"
Amdahl last week announced that it is withdrawing from the
mainframe business and will instead focus on high-end Unix
servers.  The move disappointed users and analysts, who speculate
that IBM will have no need to lower its mainframe prices or . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item16

"The PC Is Dead. Long Live the PC. Pick One."
Analysts say Wall Street investors have overreacted to fears that
computer sales might plummet, leading to dramatically lowered
stock prices of Microsoft and Intel recently.  However, dealers
and vendors in the computer sales business contend that the . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item17

"Labor Pains for the Internet Economy"
The backlash against Internet startups has now extended to the
labor force.  Although Internet companies have laid off or fired
about 20,000 workers this year, the industry, particularly
startup companies, is still in need of workers.  However, those . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item18

"The Pen is Mightier..."
The limitations of mobile devices in terms of cumbersome controls
and small display size have inspired research in electronic pen
and paper.  British Telecom and MIT have built prototype digital
pens that track motions with semiconductor accelerometers, but . . .
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2000-2/1027f.html#item19

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