ACM TechNews - Monday, December 17, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 289
Date: December 17, 2001

Top Stories for Monday, December 17, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"National ID Card Gaining Support"
"Tech Investors Cautiously Return, Focusing on Hardware and Biotech"
"IETF Debates Lawsuit Risks of U.S. Copyright Act"
"IT Jobless Rate Hits 5.5% In November"
"As Chips Reach Speed Limit, Makers Tap Into 'Clockless' Logic"
"House Bill Would Toughen Cybercrime Penalties"
"Tech Designers Rethink Toys: Make Them Fun"
"Research Tax Credit May Be Expanded"
"Standards Advocates Move Into Hibernation"
"Intel Releases Software that Lets PCs 'See'"
"EU Plans ICANN Study"
"Is Open-Source Security Software Safe?"
"California Supreme Court Will Hear DVD-Copying Appeal"
"Enterprises Continue to Drive Wireless Applications"
"IETF Wraps Up Foreign-Language Domain Name Effort"
"Feds Fight IT Worker Shortage"
"GovNet Proposal Sparks Plenty of Ideas, Debate"
"Wanted: Wireless Know-It-Alls"
"The Transformed Workplace: How You Can Survive"

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

"National ID Card Gaining Support"
A system of national ID cards connected to a database is finding
more and more supporters.  This reflects a changing national
attitude toward privacy and security, with the latter becoming
more important to people, especially in the wake of the Sept. 11 ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item1

"Tech Investors Cautiously Return, Focusing on Hardware and Biotech"
Venture capitalists are returning to their core technology
investments and away from the retail Web sites so popular during
the dot-com boom.  Fields such as nanotechnology, wireless,
biotechnology, and security are all drawing investment dollars ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item2

"IETF Debates Lawsuit Risks of U.S. Copyright Act"
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is worried that its
members could be violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) by researching and developing online copyright security.
Many insights into developing tight copyright security are gained ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item3

"IT Jobless Rate Hits 5.5% In November"
IT job losses are increasing due to a faltering economy and the
effects of the Sept. 11 attacks.  In November, the unemployment
rate rose to 5.5 percent from 5.0 percent in September and
October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item4

"As Chips Reach Speed Limit, Makers Tap Into 'Clockless' Logic"
Asynchronous computer chip researchers are pushing for a new
computing paradigm that would process data apart from the steady
rhythm typical of clocked chips.  Because normal microprocessors
run at a steady speed whether or not they have work to do, they ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item5

"House Bill Would Toughen Cybercrime Penalties"
House legislators on Thursday introduced "The Cyber-Security
Enhancement Act of 2001," legislation designed to "promote
cooperation between law enforcement officials and the private
sector, add resources to combat cybercrime and cyber-terrorism, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item6

"Tech Designers Rethink Toys: Make Them Fun"
Toy designers are aiming to use state-of-the-art technology to
improve the play experience rather than complicate it.  They are
focusing on the successes and failures of past products to build
better, more innovative toys.  "Like the dot-com boom, it has ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item7

"Research Tax Credit May Be Expanded"
The IRS and the Treasury Department have proposed widening a
research tax credit that would allow firms to deduct more
development costs.  Software firms have pushed for the removal of
the credit's "discovery test" provision.  The provision sanctions ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item8

"Standards Advocates Move Into Hibernation"
The Web Standards Project (WaSP) is halting its operations.  The
advocacy group was created in August 1998 by a group of Web site
designers who wanted browser makers to adhere to World Wide Web
Consortium protocols.  The designers disliked having to code ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item9

"Intel Releases Software that Lets PCs 'See'"
Computers will be able to add depth perception to their
capabilities through new open-source software that Intel is
releasing to the public.  "Like speech recognition, giving
computers rudimentary functions of sight will make them more ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item10

"EU Plans ICANN Study"
The European Union's (EU) Information Organization plans to
conduct a study of ICANN, which to some signals a growing
interest by the EU in having a formal role in ICANN.  Many
countries, including European nation-states, see ICANN as being ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item11

"Is Open-Source Security Software Safe?"
Guardent, a security software firm, is bundling open-source
security applications in hopes of capturing some of that pricey
market with a low-cost security package.  Other large vendors,
such as EDS and IBM, are offering open-source security products, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item12

"California Supreme Court Will Hear DVD-Copying Appeal"
The California Supreme Court says it will review the case of an
out-of-state open-source programmer being sued by the DVD Copy
Control Association (DVD CCA).  That group is bringing charges
against a number of Web site owners who posted DeCSS code on ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item13

"Enterprises Continue to Drive Wireless Applications"
Corporate software development managers say wireless applications
are a more pressing concern than even B2B e-commerce applications
or network security, according to a new survey from Evans Data.
Although the study found only 38 percent of all developers ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item14

"IETF Wraps Up Foreign-Language Domain Name Effort"
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is wrapping up its
development of technical specifications for supporting
non-English language domain names.  The Internationalized Domain
Name (IDN) specifications will open huge markets in Europe and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item15

"Feds Fight IT Worker Shortage"
The number of federal IT employees needed to fill in vacancies
over the next decade is expected to reach 16,000, according to a
study by the National Academy of Public Administration.  The
report further estimates that 30 percent to 53 percent of the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item16

"GovNet Proposal Sparks Plenty of Ideas, Debate"
The General Services Administration is set to review industry
comments on creating a secure intranet for federal agencies,
GovNet, but some observers believe the federal government should
focus more on improving the security of existing systems.  "I'm ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item17

"Wanted: Wireless Know-It-Alls"
Many wireless companies are searching for programmers that are
skilled in more than one technology.  "We're finding that the
people we interview are skilled in one area of mobile and
wireless but not in others, and we want our resources to do more ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item18

"The Transformed Workplace: How You Can Survive"
Numerous market forces have radically changed the way the
American workplace is run in the last 20 years, including
globalization, technology and automation, antidiscrimination,
industry deregulation, shareholder activism, and mergers and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/1217m.html#item19

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