Clips July 10, 2002

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips July 10, 2002

ARTICLES

Tech Cos. Push Terror Legislation
Militants wire Web with links to jihad
Study: Appalachia Lag in Technology
Cable companies cracking down on Wi-Fi
Gateway Plans Anti-Piracy Classes
Board makes smart-card specifications official
Computer Associates Files Suit Against Quest Software
US children stride digital divide
Getting tough with online fraudsters
Analysis affirms NMCI benefits
Pa. updates open records law
Career Channels
NIMA picks Northrop to make mapping app
House panel laments lack of progress on homeland security technology
House members voice concerns about Navy intranet project
IT workforce panel to focus on training
FTC pushing for stiffer penalties for ID theft
Homeland defense focus shifts to tech
Candidates turn to e-mail strategy
Federal task force in Sacramento created to handle cybercrime
Internet misuse costs firms E15bn a year


**************************
Associated Press
Tech Cos. Push Terror Legislation
Wed Jul 10, 2:02 AM ET
By D. IAN HOPPER, AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The companies making new homeland security devices, such 
as bomb detectors and biological weapon alarms, want the government to pick 
up the tab if their products fail and they are sued.


And in the midst of an aggressive lobbying blitz, they have found a key 
ally in Congress.

Rep. Tom Davis, the fourth ranking Republican in the House and head of a 
key subcommittee on technology and federal contracting, plans to have the 
provision attached to the Homeland Security authorization bill making its 
way through Congress.

His amendment would indemnify defense and technology contractors who make 
the devices so that the government would pick up the tab for any liability 
judgments that exceed the contractor's insurance coverage.

The industry helped draft a version of the plan, and has sent executives to 
Capitol Hill to make its case. The technology industry also has been 
generous to Davis  with more than $120,000 in donations going to him since 
January of last year. Davis represents a district in northern Virginia, a 
region that boasts numerous defense and technology companies.

The pitch from the contractors is straightforward  companies that develop 
new antiterrorism technologies with life-and-death consequences could be 
driven out of business if they are sued due to a product failure.

"There needs to be a backup mechanism from the government otherwise the 
company is betting the company every time it bids on one of these 
contracts," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology 
Association of America.

The trade group represents many of the government's largest contractors, 
including EDS Corp. and IBM.

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman, another backer of the legislation, 
said that it may not be able to bid on a Postal Service contract for a 
biohazard detection device unless the company is indemnified.

"The unintended consequence of even a single failure in a well-intended 
system or device we might provide could result in significant legal 
exposure that could financially ruin a company," Northrop Grumman president 
Ronald D. Sugar said in congressional testimony delivered last month.

Davis' office said his amendment is needed to ensure companies are willing 
to take the risk in developing and deploying new technologies critical to 
Americans' safety.

"Davis's legislation will be based on the premise that Congress should 
ensure the availability of technologies that could make people and 
facilities across the nation less vulnerable to terrorist threats," 
spokesman David Marin said.

There is no limit on what the government may have to pay out, but there 
would be no federal payment if there was "willful misconduct" by the 
contractor.

Consumer groups are wary about the message the plan could send to corporate 
America.

"I assume Americans want the very best out there," said Bob Hunter, an 
insurance expert at the Consumer Federation of America. "One of the ways we 
get the very best is that people are liable if they don't produce the best. 
To have the taxpayer on the hook instead of the company will lead to less 
quality."

Still, there is some precedent for the Davis legislation.

The government can already indemnify contractors against claims when it 
buys technology for its own use, such as in national defense. But there is 
no such protection if the products are sold to commercial purchasers  like 
an airport or office building  or to state and local governments.

Miller, of the technology trade association, said the legislation is no 
different than the payments made to the families of those killed in last 
year's terrorist attacks.

"The people would demand that the government pay for it anyhow," Miller 
said. "We might as well formalize the process up front."
******************
USA Today
Militants wire Web with links to jihad

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  One Web site urges Muslims to travel to Pakistan to 
"slaughter American soldiers." Another solicits donations to buy dynamite 
to "blow up Israeli Jews." A third shows new videotape of Osama bin Laden 
and promises film clips of American casualties in Afghanistan. As the 
United States and its allies hunt them in caves, mountains and jungles, 
al-Qaeda, Hamas and dozens of other militant Muslim groups are increasingly 
turning to the Internet to carry on their jihad, or holy war, against the 
West, U.S. law enforcement officials and experts say. It has become one of 
al-Qaeda's primary means of communication, they say. The groups use their 
Web sites to plan attacks, recruit members and solicit donations with 
little or no chance of being apprehended by the FBI or other law 
enforcement agencies, officials say.

This new cyber-battlefield is allowing al-Qaeda and other groups to stay 
"several steps ahead" of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, a senior U.S. law 
enforcement official says.

Most of the information on the Web sites is written in Arabic and 
encrypted, or scrambled. The encrypted data is then hidden in digital 
photographs, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to find or read, 
officials say. The groups regularly change the addresses of their Web sites 
to confound officials.

"Under the present circumstances of the global war against terrorism, the 
Internet has become a vital tool and, obviously, an easy one to exploit," 
says terrorism analyst Reuven Paz of the International Policy Institute for 
Counter-Terrorism, an independent think tank based in Herzliya, Israel. 
It's "the most efficient way (for terrorists) to spread their message on a 
daily basis."

U.S. officials have little doubt that al-Qaeda and other militant groups 
are using the Web to set up terrorist attacks against the United States. 
They tell USA TODAY that Abu Zubaydah, 30, a Palestinian who was arrested 
in Pakistan last March and is suspected of being bin Laden's operations 
chief, used a Web site to plan the Sept. 11 attacks and to communicate with 
the terrorists who hijacked jets and flew them into the World Trade Center 
and Pentagon.

Earlier this year, officials say, they found nearly 2,300 encrypted 
messages and data files in a password-protected section of an Islamic Web 
site that had been downloaded onto Zubaydah's computer. The messages began 
in May 2000, peaked in August 2001 and stopped Sept. 9, two days before the 
attacks, officials say. They declined to identify the Web site.

Volume of messages doubles

Lately, al-Qaeda operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted 
messages that have been hidden in files on digital photographs on the 
auction site eBay.com. Most of the messages have been sent from Internet 
cafes in Pakistan and public libraries throughout the world. An eBay 
spokesperson did not return phone calls.

The volume of the messages has nearly doubled in the past month, indicating 
to some U.S. intelligence officials that al-Qaeda is planning another attack.

Tuesday, al-Qaeda spokesman Suliman Abu Ghaith told an Arabic newspaper 
that the group's suicide militants were "ready and impatient" to attack 
U.S. targets in America and around the world.

Since Sept. 11, the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency say they have 
hired dozens more Arabic-speaking analysts and mathematicians to interpret 
and decode the information on the Web sites.

They add that there's little they can do to stop the terrorist groups from 
using the Web to communicate. There are no laws directly regulating the 
sites or preventing them from operating. Instead, officials must persuade 
the companies that host the sites to shut them down. But as soon as a 
terrorist site is taken off one Web server, it often appears on another, 
officials say.

In the past five weeks, al-Qaeda's Arabic Web site, alneda.com, has emerged 
on three different servers, in Malaysia, Texas and Michigan. The site was 
eventually removed from the servers after the Web hosting companies, which 
say they often don't screen or translate the sites, received complaints 
from the public and law enforcement agencies. U. S. officials are expecting 
the site, which began operating in January, to re-emerge soon.

"The U.S. enemy, unable to gain the upper hand over the mujahedin on the 
battlefield, has since Sept. 11 been trying to gag the world media," said a 
statement posted on alneda.com last week. "The more the United States tries 
to stifle freedom of expression, the more determined we will become to 
break the silence. America will lose the media war, too."

Hatred, hidden messages

There are dozens of suspected terrorist Web sites, many of which were 
started after the U.S.-led war on terrorism began last fall. Most of the 
Web sites are written in Arabic. All carry statements that express hatred 
for the United States and its allies and fatwas, or religious rulings, that 
call on militant Muslims to kill Americans and attack U.S. interests. USA 
TODAY examined many of the sites and had the information there translated 
from Arabic into English. Among the most prominent sites:

Azzam.com, a site that U.S. officials believe is linked with al-Qaeda, is 
urging Muslims to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight "the 
Jewish-backed American Crusaders," or U.S. soldiers. It gives such 
travelers tips on how to avoid raising suspicions of employers, diplomats 
and police.
"If you are working, either resign from your job and take a year off or 
request unpaid leave from your employer. Many large companies offer unpaid 
leave to their employees for periods ranging from two months to one year. 
That way you can fulfill your obligation (of jihad) and not have to give up 
your job," the site says.

U.S. officials say azzam.com contains encrypted messages in its pictures 
and texts  a practice known as steganography. They say the hidden messages 
contain instructions for al-Qaeda's next terrorist attacks. Mathematicians 
and other experts at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md., are 
using supercomputers to try to break the encryption codes and thwart the 
attacks.

At least one known al-Qaeda operative has accessed the site, European 
officials say. German intelligence agencies, which broke into the site last 
fall, found an e-mail address for Said Bahaji, a suspected member of the 
al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that planned parts of the Sept. 11 
attacks. Bahaji, who was last seen in Germany, has since disappeared.

Almuhajiroun.com, an English-language Web site also linked to al-Qaeda, 
urges sympathizers to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The 
Web site, which pictures Musharraf, refers to him as "the American puppet." 
It calls U.S. troops in Pakistan and Afghanistan "soldiers of Satan."
"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and 
strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be 
murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on 
opposite sides or they should be imprisoned," the site says in apparent 
reference to Musharraf.

Qassam.net, a site U.S. officials believe is linked to the militant Muslim 
group Hamas, is appealing for donations to purchase AK-47 rifles, dynamite 
and bullets "to assist the cause of jihad and resistance until the 
(Israeli) occupation is eliminated and Muslim Palestine is liberated." It 
recommends donations of $3 per bullet, $100 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of 
dynamite, $2,000 for a Kalashnikov assault rifle and $12,000 for a 
rocket-propelled grenade.
Donors are asked to send an e-mail to an address on the Web site. Recently, 
they received a response telling them to transfer money to "Ahmed Mohammed 
Ali, Elbatech Bank, account no.: 38926/9/510 Arab bank  Gaza 
branch  Palestine." The account name and number appear to change every 48 
to 72 hours. "Dear Donor: Please tell us the field in which you prefer your 
money to be spent on such as: martyrdom attacks; buying weapons for the 
mujahadeen; training the youth; or inventing and developing missiles, 
mortars (and) explosives," the e-mail said.

U.S. officials say they are monitoring the site, which is hosted by an 
American company, to see who is using it to donate to Hamas. They say they 
intend to prosecute those Americans who contribute.

Until the site was taken down, alneda.com carried a warning from Abu Ghaith 
saying the United States should "fasten its seat belt" and prepare for more 
terrorist attacks. The site, which featured the words "No pride without 
jihad," also contained encrypted information that directed al-Qaeda members 
to a more secure site where instructions for attacks were given, U.S. 
officials say.

Other Internet sites, including jihadunspun.net, offer a 36-minute video of 
bin Laden, with four minutes of previously unaired footage; pictures of 
President Bush with his head in the sights of a gun; and other propaganda.

Not all the Islamic Web sites are calling for a jihad against the United 
States. The alsaha.com site has hosted chat rooms where members criticize 
bin Laden and al-Qaeda for their misuse of Islam. "(Bin Laden) is a 
disgrace to our religion and has made a mockery of everything we believe," 
said one comment posted on alsaha.com. "He is not an Islamist; he is a 
terrorist who deserves to be killed. God bless and protect America!"

Easy to set up

It's easy for terrorists to set up a Web site, officials and experts say.

In the case of alneda.com, al-Qaeda members used a made-up name, "The 
Center for Islamic Studies and Research," a bogus street address in 
Venezuela and a free Hotmail e-mail account to contact a Web hosting 
company in Malaysia called Emerge Systems, U.S. intelligence officials say. 
The group then wired $87 to a Malaysian bank to pay for the cost of the Web 
site for a year.

"Internet communications have become the main communications system among 
al-Qaeda around the world because it's safer, easier and more anonymous if 
they take the right precautions, and I think they're doing that," former 
CIA counterterrorism chief Vince Cannistraro says.

But al-Qaeda operatives now are urging their members to use caution. Just 
before alneda.com was pulled off its server, it warned its members that the 
site was probably being monitored by the FBI, CIA and Customs Service. It 
promised to e-mail members the new address of the Web site once it was in 
operation. It also told them they could find the address in chat rooms on 
other terror sites, such as Hamas' qassam.net.

"We strongly urge Muslim Internet professionals to spread and disseminate 
news and information about the jihad through e-mail lists, discussion 
groups and their own Web sites," says a statement on azzam.com. "The more 
Web sites, the better it is for us. We must make the Internet our tool."
*******************
Associated Press
Study: Appalachia Lag in Technology
Wed Jul 10, 2:58 AM ET
By JOHN RABY, Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Appalachia has been left out of the 
telecommunications revolution, with a shortfall of computers, Internet 
access and worker skills holding back technology gains in the mostly rural 
region, a federal study shows.


The study, conducted by two University of Texas professors, was 
commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission to gauge the 
availability and use of telecommunications in the 200,000-square-mile region.

The study, released Tuesday, incorporates data from the Federal 
Communications Commission ( news - web sites), a review of state regulatory 
policies, interviews with service providers and local case studies.

"This study demonstrates how crucial information and communications 
technology is to economic development," said Jesse L. White Jr., 
co-chairman of the ARC.

"We need to pay attention to the lessons it draws for us so that Appalachia 
will not be left behind, the way it was when the interstate system bypassed 
the mountains. It has taken over three decades and billions of dollars to 
remedy this deficit. We still have time to ensure that this does not happen 
again with the telecommunications infrastructure," he said.

This year, Congress reauthorized the ARC for an unprecedented five years, 
with a recommendation that funding for non-highway projects such as 
Internet access and entrepreneurship programs be increased by $10 million.

"The current status quo is clearly unacceptable," said Gov. Donald 
Sundquist, R-Tenn. "Appalachia should have the same access to 
telecommunications as any other region of the United States."

Among the studies' findings about Appalachia:

_The rates of home computers, Internet access and even basic telephone 
service is lower than the national average.

_Lower-cost broadband technology favored by small- and medium-sized 
businesses are not widely available. Many telecommunications providers' 
central offices are DSL ready, but many are not yet offering such services. 
More advanced technologies are not in the immediate future for the region's 
rural areas.

_Businesses have difficulty understanding and evaluating technology needs 
and choices, integrating new techology into their business plans, and 
implementing new technologies in ways that improve competitiveness.

This lack of information, combined with access barriers, limits the 
effective adoption of information technologies and services across Appalachia.

_Affordable advanced telecommunications is a significant barrier to 
economic development. Rural broadband access for business can cost up to 
$2,500 a month, while access in urban areas can cost as little as $150 per 
month.

There are few competitive pressures for the pricing of telecommunications 
services. Nine Appalachian states have average loops costs that exceed the 
national average.

_Employment in information technology industries grew just 46 percent 
compared with the national rate of 53 percent.

_Locally based manufacturing, service and trade sectors have been stifled 
by technology barriers. In manufacturing, branch plants have largely relied 
on parent companies to provide access in training, leaving small- and 
medium-sized businesses at a disadvantage.

_Limited telecommunications access and use is a problem for the health-care 
sector in rural communities. Both larger hospitals and rural health clinics 
have difficulty getting broadband access to offer new telemedicine services 
and meet the administrative demands of major provider networks.

Among the studies' recommendations include expanding technical assistance 
to small- and medium-sized businesses; encouraging communities to improve 
their bargaining power with telecommunications providers; monitoring state 
regulatory efforts to leverage improvements in infrastructure and service; 
supporting demonstration projects with alternative technology providers and 
the expansion of public institutions' roles in offering broadband access.

The research was conducted by Texas professors Sharon Strover and Michael Oden.
************************
Wired News
Cable companies cracking down on Wi-Fi
By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Broadband providers are cracking down on popular Wi-Fi networks, 
threatening to cut service to customers who set up the inexpensive wireless 
systems and allow others to freely tap into their Internet access.

Time Warner Cable of New York City has given 10 customers less than a week 
to stop using their accounts to provide a wireless local area network 
available to anyone within 300 feet. The letters are just an initial 
volley; Time Warner expects to send additional letters, while AT&T 
Broadband also is preparing similar letters for some of its customers.

The crackdown is reminiscent of the cable industry's attempts to target 
cable thieves in the 1980s, and it reflects the soaring popularity of 
wireless Net access. After being introduced just a couple years ago, 
so-called Wi-Fi "hot spots" that tap into cable or digital subscriber lines 
(DSL) are now in at least 15 million homes and offices.


The problem is that one paying subscriber can set up a local network that 
allows several other people to access the Net, for fun or for profit.

Hot spots have been set up by everyone from individuals just looking for a 
way to work in another part of their homes to businesses, cafes, hotels, 
airports and conference centers that cater to their tech-savvy customers. 
Some city governments have even stepped in, setting up networks in business 
parks or public gathering spots.

The carriers have largely ignored the phenomenon, and the recent warning 
letters represent the first time the cable providers have taken action to 
punish people who set up the networks. Only one major company offering 
high-speed Internet access--Covad Communications--has a policy that 
addresses Wi-Fi, and it permits access from nonpaying customers without any 
extra fees.

For now, Time Warner Cable and AT&T Broadband appear to be targeting people 
whose locations are advertised by grassroots groups like NYCwireless and 
San Francisco's Bay Area Wireless Users Group, which identify and share 
information online about hot spots.

"They waived a banner in our faces and said, 'Look what we're doing!'" said 
Suzanne Giuliani, a spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable of New York City. The 
company wasn't actively looking for violators, she said, but only reacted 
when someone pointed out the NYCwireless Web site to them.

For now, the crackdown is a "one-time effort," Giuliani said, but the 
company hasn't ruled out doing it again depending on the situation.

The company's letter tells customers that they've been identified as 
sharing bandwidth and says they have a certain number of days to respond or 
their service will be cut off. The letter isn't likely to be a surprise, 
because most people submit their information voluntarily to these lists. 
But it is possible that some locations are listed without the paying 
customers knowing because there are "sniffers" that can locate and identify 
access points.

The free wireless network groups behind the Web sites are angry their 
customers are being targeted--but acknowledge that hot spots likely violate 
rules against redistributing bandwidth. And while some people set up hot 
spots with the intention to share their Internet access, there are plenty 
of people who simply set them up for their own use and can't control the 
fact that the access "bleeds" for about 300 feet, allowing others to 
piggyback on the service without the account holder even knowing.

"It's very shortsighted that they are developing such a hostile 
relationship with early adopters of their own technology," said Anthony 
Townsend, a spokesman for NYCwireless.

Giuliani said the company considers it not just theft, but a drain on the 
existing resources for other subscribers. There is also possible criminal 
culpability that comes from opening up a network for anyone to use without 
paying.

"Individuals utilizing (their subscription) in this manner to carry out 
criminal activity would be able to do so in an anonymous manner," the Time 
Warner Cable letter warns. "In such circumstances, when law enforcement is 
attempted to trace such activity, the trail would end with your account."

AT&T Broadband says its warnings will be dispatched in a matter of weeks. 
It's now actively searching public network Web sites, then sniffing for 
signals in a given area advertised as being part of a free network. It can 
prove to be an elusive hunt, though.

"With cable theft, you can follow wires and see someone physically tapped 
in," said AT&T Broadband spokeswoman Sara Eder. "Finding who's 
redistributing the signal through Wi-Fi is a little more elusive."

There is an easy way to block unwanted users. Access points from equipment 
makers D-Link Systems, Compaq Computer and Agere Systems have a way to lock 
up the network by demanding a password. But the security settings are 
turned off when the equipment ships from the factories to make it easy to 
install, said Rob Enderle of the Giga Information Group.

How do they do that?
The crackdown probably won't affect the robust cottage industry of 
so-called "wireless Internet service providers" (WISPs) that began 
sprouting last year.

WISPs, including Joltage and Boingo, are stitching together a nationwide 
network of hot spots. WISPs are for-profit concerns, though, charging for 
daily or monthly access to any of their locations.

So far, WISPs haven't reported any problems or threats from cable or 
broadband providers. Most partner with broadband providers with more 
relaxed policies about sharing bandwidth, then offer those services to new 
network members at reduced prices.

For example, Web provider EarthLink sells Wi-Fi access though a deal it has 
with Boingo. About 70 percent of Boingo's hot spots use the high-priced 
broadband services generally offered to businesses, premium subscriptions 
crafted to serve offices with hundreds of people on a single computer 
network. As a result, the sharing bandwidth policies are more relaxed, said 
Boingo spokesman Christian Gunning.

Joltage has a deal with Atlas Broadband, a reseller of broadband services. 
Joltage Chief Executive Michael Chaplo said new Joltage members are always 
told that their broadband provider must allow sharing of the bandwidth. If 
not, he said, Atlas Broadband services are offered to them as an alternative.

But that isn't stopping new hot spots from using any provider they want, 
Chaplo said. "We can't enforce our policy or guarantee it," he said. "But 
obviously we've got the answer; it's Atlas."

It's not clear if the high-speed Internet access providers will eventually 
turn their attention to more established companies that provide Wi-Fi 
access, such as airports and hotels. Last week, the Fairmont Hotel chain 
announced that all 38 of its hotels in six countries now offer wireless 
access in all public areas of the hotels.

Depending on their arrangement with providers, some hotels may have 
problems. Most hotels using wireless networks also have the more expensive 
commercial DSL services, which have limited or no shared-use policies, 
according to Mike Henderson, marketing director of StayOnline, which sells 
wired and wireless equipment to the hospitality industry.

"I've seen guys taking a regular cable modem and some equipment from (Wi-Fi 
maker) D-Link and stringing it up in their lobby just to say they have it," 
he said. "Those guys are the ones that will be in trouble."

For the average customer looking for free access, it's getting easier all 
the time to find hot spots. Aside from checking the grassroots sites, there 
is sniffer software, usually free, that tells a Wi-Fi card in a laptop or 
PDA (personal digital assistant) to search for the nearest network. A more 
low-tech approach that has caught fire in Europe is called "warchalking," 
where people chalk symbols on a sidewalk or building to indicate a nearby 
hot spot.

A simple solution to companies cracking down on shared access could be for 
Wi-Fi fans to vote with their wallets--and pick a high-speed Internet 
access provider that allows for Wi-Fi use, such as Covad or any of the 
smaller Web providers that have already approved Wi-Fi use, proponents say.

Adam Shand of the Personal Telco Project in Portland, Ore., said he's 
negotiated agreements with two small Web providers in the Portland area.

"Some ISPs say, 'What, are you crazy?'" he said. "Others, say, 'Why not? If 
it causes a problem, we'll let you know.'"
*************************
Los Angeles Times
Gateway Plans Anti-Piracy Classes
Computers: The free sessions will discuss legal ways to download music and 
copy CDs. Critics question their motives.
By P.J. HUFFSTUTTER and JON HEALEY
TIMES STAFF WRITERS

July 10 2002

Rip, mix, learn?

Computer retailer Gateway Inc. plans to provide free classes to consumers 
on the do's and don'ts of online music, showing how to download music and 
burn CDs without violating copyrights.

The three-hour classes--to be held at all 274 Gateway Country retail 
stores--may help deflect criticism from record-label executives. The 
executives argue that companies such as Gateway encourage consumers to 
pirate music and movies online to boost sales of their computers, CD 
recorders and related gear. Some music and movie industry leaders back a 
bill in the Senate to mandate anti-piracy technology in computers and other 
digital devices, a proposal Gateway opposes. Other groups want lawmakers to 
slap a special tax on the sale of computers, Internet connections and blank 
CDs to compensate copyright holders for piracy.

Computer firms including Apple Computer Inc. have infuriated the 
entertainment industry over the last several years, as hardware makers tout 
the power of their equipment to swap music and movies.

Gateway spokesman Brad Williams said the way to fight piracy is by offering 
consumers a compelling legitimate alternative. Although the music industry 
has "some very legitimate grievances" about piracy, he said, "we haven't 
seen much from the major labels in terms of educating consumers."

The classes "sound cool, but I'd like to see the training guide," said 
Hilary Rosen, chairwoman of the Washington-based Recording Industry Assn. 
of America, which represents the nation's five largest music corporations. 
"Call me cynical but optimistic."

Analyst Aram Sinnreich of Jupiter Research, a technology consulting firm, 
called the classes "a brilliant little piece of PR" that gives Gateway 
political cover "simultaneously as they're promoting the music-stealing 
ability of their machines."

Tension between Gateway and the music industry increased in April when the 
San Diego-based computer company launched a radio, television, online and 
in-store advertising campaign to rally support for consumers' right to 
download music from the Internet. The RIAA derided the advertising 
campaign, saying Gateway was using "misleading scare tactics" to frighten 
consumers into buying more of the company's products.

Williams said the free courses will encourage consumers to download music 
only when it's authorized by the copyright holders, such as at the artists' 
Web sites or from a subscription service such as EMusic. As for burning 
CDs, Williams said, Gateway believes that it's legal only when consumers 
are recording copies for personal use of CDs they already own.
**********************
Government Computer News
Board makes smart-card specifications official
By Dipka Bhambhani

The General Services Administration's Industry Advisory Board unanimously 
accepted smart-card interoperability specifications today.

The group, made up of 14 members from federal agencies, voted to accept the 
Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification 2.0 released by the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology late last month.

"In my opinion, it was a blessed end to a whole year of a lot of hard work, 
not only by GSA but by the other partner agencies and industry," said 
Michael Brooks, director of the Center for Smart Card Solutions at GSA.

Under the specification, Defense Department contractors and vendors of 
governmentwide Smart Access Common ID cards for DOD and other government 
agencies must update their technology or rebuild according to the 
specification.

Brooks said accepting the specifications is an important step in making all 
smart cards interoperable, but more work remains in implementing the cards 
throughout government.

"This is going to take a while," he said. "This is not going to happen 
overnight."
************************
Reuters
Computer Associates Files Suit Against Quest Software

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Computer Associates International Inc. (CA.N) is suing 
rival Quest Software Inc. (QSFT.O), accusing the company and four employees 
of stealing the software source code the four developed while working for a 
company that Computer Associates bought in 1999.

Islandia, New York-based Computer Associates, the world's No. 4 software 
maker, is suing for copyright infringement and trade secret 
misappropriation. It asks the court to order destruction of Quest's suite 
of products that it says infringes on Computer Associates' property and 
seeks the profits Quest derived from them as well as damages.

``We have a right to protect our intellectual property and that's what 
we're doing in this case,'' Computer Associates said in a statement on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Irvine, California-based Quest said the company had just 
received the suit and was reviewing it. She declined to comment further.

Michael Friel, Deborah Jenson, Robert Mackowiak and Elizabeth Wahlgren 
worked for Platinum Technologies, overseeing the development of the source 
court for what would become Computer Associates' Enterprise Database 
Administrationsoftware product, according to the suit filed July 2 in U.S. 
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The news of the suit helped drive down Quest stock, which dropped as much 
as 35 percent to a record low of $8.12 on concerns about the suit and its 
upcoming earnings.

The stock pared its losses after the company set its earnings date, which 
many investors saw as a sign the company would not issue a warning about 
its results. Quest closed down at $3.03, or 24 percent, to $9.38 on the 
Nasdaq market.

The S&P Software Index was down nearly 4 percent or about the same as 
shares of Computer Associates, which lost 61 cents to $14.68 on the New 
York Stock Exchange.

The products developed from the source code allow database administrators 
to manage and automate many of the complicated tasks needed to oversee the 
different databases running on varied systems that a company may have.

After Computer Associates bought Platinum, the four went to work at Quest. 
The suit accuses the four of using the code they developed to create Quest 
Central, a suite of products that compete with Computer Associates' offerings.

Under the law, the code became the property of Computer Associates when it 
purchased Platinum for about $3.5 billion.

The suit also alleges that the four used the code to further develop the 
product to be used on with International Business Machine Corp.'s (IBM.N) 
DB2 databases.

According to documents filed with the court, in 1999 Wahlgren gave each 
member of Quest's new developer group a compact disc containing the EDBA 
and told the team members to use it to develop Quest's IBM database product 
``and were told to use the source code where necessary to help them meet 
their dates.''

The letter also says that the CDs were confiscated in the spring of 2000 
after Computer Associates sent Quest a letter stating that they believed 
the code was being used for Quest's products.
**********************
Government Computer News
FBI names new CIO

By Wilson P. Dizard III
GCN Staff

FBI director Robert S. Mueller III has named Darwin A. John as the bureau's 
new CIO. John follows Robert Dies, the agency's former CIO who retired 
earlier this year, and information resources manager Mark Tanner, who 
served as acting CIO.

John has been managing director of information and communication systems 
worldwide for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake 
City since 1990. In that job, he led construction of a genealogy Web site 
that went live in 1999 which has averaged nearly 8 million hits daily 
against the 900 million names in the system, the FBI said.

John will report directly to Mueller.

The FBI is revamping its systems amid criticism by the Justice Department 
inspector general, lawmakers and others for failing to replace its 
antiquated computers. The bureau has fielded thousands of new PCs to agents 
and is building a new case management system called Trilogy that will help 
agents coordinate their data [see www.gcn.com/21_2/news/17822-1.html]. The 
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts 
will conduct hearings on the bureau's IT problems.
**********************
BBC
US children stride digital divide

America may be one of the most wired nations in the world but there is 
still great disparity between the digital haves and have-nots.
A study conducted by a Baltimore charity, the Annie E Casey Foundation, 
looked at the access children in the US have to both computers and the 
internet.

It painted a picture of an on-going digital divide.

According to the report, while 95% of children living in the richest 
bracket of American society have access to a computer, only 33% of poorest 
have the same benefits.

Similarly, 63% of children living in a family with an income of $75,000 or 
more had access to the internet, compared with 14% in the $15,000 or below 
bracket.

Wired suburbs

The divide does not end there. The study showed a marked difference between 
what children in different backgrounds are using their computers for.

While well-off children use the PC for word-processing and homework, their 
poorer counterparts are more likely to use it for playing games.

There were also regional disparities, with 73% of all children living in 
the suburbs having access to a home computer, compared with 61% of rural 
children and 53% of children living in US cities.

While there is still a huge disparity between the number of black and 
Hispanic children who have computer access compared with white children, 
there are signs of improvement.

In 2001, 46% of all black children had a computer at home, compared with 
22% four years earlier.

Similarly, the rate of home computer access for Hispanic children has more 
than doubled over the same period.
*************************
BBC
Getting tough with online fraudsters

The UK Government is to get tough with rogue online traders in an attempt 
to make e-commerce more attractive to consumers.
Trading standards offices around the country are being given £500,000 to 
identify internet scams and fraudsters.

One will look at whether the easy access to loans and finance online has 
had an effect on consumer debt.

In Scotland, officers will investigate dot.com chemists in the UK and 
abroad that are selling potentially dangerous prescription medicines on the 
internet.

Consumer confidence

Another project will look at the impact of e-commerce via digital TV 
services. Six other projects will also share the funding.

The government is keen to make the UK the best place for e-commerce by 2005.

Consumer Minister Melanie Johnson believes that boosting consumer 
confidence will go a long way to achieving this goal.

"Consumers are often uncertain of their rights and of what to do when 
transactions go wrong," she said in a statement.

"We are determined to give a better deal for consumers. Trading standards 
officers all over the UK play a vital role in cracking down on cheats and 
identifying scams," she added.
**********************
Federal Computer Week
Analysis affirms NMCI benefits

The Navy's effort to create an enterprise network across its shore-based 
facilities will not save the service much money, but it will provide the 
Navy with capabilities that it would not have had otherwise, according to 
the third cost-benefit analysis of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet.

The analysis, conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton earlier this year, reaffirms 
the conclusions of a July 2000 study that there is a sound business case 
for NMCI.

Lawmakers and the Office of Management and Budget requested the study. 
Unlike the two previous business case studies of NMCI, this analysis 
focused only on costs and used actual cost figures based on data from the 
initial rollout of NMCI seats.

The analysis was presented to the Navy on April 26, but was just released 
this month.

The study found the average cost of a pre-NMCI seat to be estimated at 
$3,545 per year. The cost of an average NMCI seat, by comparison, was $4,179.

Although the NMCI cost was 18 percent more, "the price of an NMCI seat 
includes capabilities that are not available in the pre-NMCI environment," 
according to the study. Those include compliance with Defense Department 
mandated requirements, such as records management, public-key 
infrastructure and security upgrades.

If those capabilities were taken into account for the pre-NMCI environment, 
the seat cost increased to at least $4,286, which is 2 percent higher than 
the NMCI seat cost, the assessment concluded.

"The business case cannot be made without comparing pre-NMCI performance 
with NMCI performance," according to the study. "The decision to undertake 
the NMCI initiative was not based only on cost  it focused on performance 
improvements that the [Navy] would not be able to provide though the 
traditional information technology acquisition approach."

Despite the initial rollout of seats, many issues remain difficult to 
quantify, the study says, including project management risks. Although NMCI 
uses a seat management concept that is common in the commercial sector, the 
government does not have significant experience with those kinds of 
efforts, the study says. Managing those kinds of initiatives does not fit 
into the standard DOD acquisition program oversight format.

Furthermore, delays in the rollout schedule have increased costs, and the 
study also cites the Navy's legacy application problem as a risk.

"Legacy applications could have an impact on NMCI performance and schedule, 
although application security compliance is not fundamentally an NMCI 
issue," the report notes. Many of the legacy applications have become a 
problem because they do not meet DOD security criteria and therefore cannot 
be moved onto the NMCI network.
**********************
Federal Computer Week
Pa. updates open records law

Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker signed legislation June 29 to revise the 
state's Right-to-Know Law, requiring that public records be made available 
electronically.

Gov. Schweiker first called for such legislation last October during an 
appearance before the Pennsylvania Press Club.

"This is a law that has not been updated for 50 years," said David La 
Torre, a spokesman for the Governor's Office. The updated law makes it 
clear that it is a responsibility of state and local government to furnish 
records to the public.

The revised law also places reasonable deadlines on officials to fulfill 
requests. The old law didn't establish deadlines for requested information, 
La Torre said.

"The new law establishes needed deadlines as well as supplying information 
in both paper and electronic mediums," he said.

The electronic information will not be available via a Web site, however. 
Information will be sent from local government agencies to the public upon 
request via e-mail or mail.

Pennsylvania's open records law has left people with few choices if their 
request for information is denied. They can either drop the request or 
appeal the decision in court and face costly legal bills.

The new law will implement a new appeals system that will not require 
people to hire a lawyer. If a dispute does end up in court, Pennsylvanians 
may win reimbursement of their court fees and attorney costs. The 
government itself would face a fine if the court determines that the 
government willfully disregarded its open-records obligations.

The revised law received a unanimous vote in the state Senate and a 199-1 
vote in the state House. It will take effect in about 180 days.
***********************
Federal Computer Week
Career Channels
July 9, 2002 Printing? Use this version.
Email this to a friend.

Series/Grade: GS-1550-13
Position Title: Computer Scientist, Fort Huachuca, AZ (NS) (Request 
vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 585-DEU-02
Closing Date: August 02, 2002
Contact: Department of Army, WCPOC, Bldg. 61801, Box 12926, Fort Huachuca, 
AZ 85670-2926; Vicki Brown, 520-533-5261

Series/Grade: GS-2210-12
Position Title: Supervisory Information Technology Specialist, Placerville, 
CA (S) (Request vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: R503-329-02G
Closing Date: July 29, 2002
Contact: Department of Agriculture, ELDORADO NF, 100 Forni Road, 
Placerville, CA 95667; June Stroschein, 530-295-5652

Series/Grade: GS-335-5/7
Position Title: Computer Assistant, Washington, DC (NS) (Request vacancy; 
must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02-COHRO-DEU-065
Closing Date: July 25, 2002
Contact: Department of Justice, Prisons, 320 First St., NW, Room 161, 
Washington, DC 20534; Sharon Milam, 202-307-3135

Series/Grade: GS-335-6/7
Position Title: Computer Assistant, Washington, DC (NS) (Request vacancy; 
must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02-COHRO-DEU-066
Closing Date: July 25, 2002
Contact: Department of Justice, Prisons, 320 First St., NW, Room 161, 
Washington, DC 20534; Sharon Milam, 202-307-3135

Series/Grade: GS-2210-13
Position Title: Information Technology Specialist (Systems Analysis), 
Washington, DC (NS) (Request vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02-59
Closing Date: July 26, 2002
Contact: Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, Personnel Office, 
Washington, DC 20565; 202-842-6283

Series/Grade: GS-334-13
Position Title: Computer Specialist, Washington, DC (S) (Request vacancy; 
must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02-FESB-177
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Treasury, Public Debt, 200 3rd St., Room 207, POB 
1328, Parkersburg, WV 26106-1328; 304-480-6760

Series/Grade: GS-334-13
Position Title: Computer Specialist, Washington, DC (NS) (Request vacancy; 
must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02-FESB-177P
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Treasury, Public Debt, 200 3rd St., Room 207, POB 
1328, Parkersburg, WV 26106-1328; 304-480-6760

Series/Grade: GS-1530-14
Position Title: Statistician, Washington, DC (S) (Request vacancy; must 
address ranking factors)
Announcement #: HQOFO/02-024YTH
Closing Date: July 24, 2002
Contact: Department of Treasury, Customs Service, HRM Hqs Service Center 2 
4f, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20229; 202-927-3733

Series/Grade: GS-1550-13
Position Title: Computer Scientist, Fort Walton Beach, FL (S) (Request 
vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02MAR024010
Closing Date: July 18, 2002
Contact: Department of Air Force, Personnel, HQ AFPC/DPCTDC, 550 C St. 
West, Ste. 57, Randolph AFB, TX 78159-4759; 800-699-4473

Series/Grade: GS-1530-14
Position Title: Survey Statistician, Miami, FL (S) (Request vacancy; must 
address ranking factors)
Announcement #: C-NMF-02052.RDJ
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Commerce, NOAA, CASC/HRD, 601 E. 12th St., Room 
1737, Kansas City, MO 64106; Regina James, 816-426-5016

Series/Grade: GS-2210-11
Position Title: Information Technology Specialist, Robins AFB, GA (NS) 
(Request vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: WR149170
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Air Force, 78 SPTG/DPCSD, 455 Byron St., Ste. 610, 
Robins AFB, GA 31098-1860; Ms. Astle, 478-926-6846

Series/Grade: GS-334-13
Position Title: Computer Specialist, Atlanta, GA (NS) (Request vacancy; 
must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: 02-FESB-177P
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Treasury, Public Debt, 200 3rd St., Room 207, POB 
1328, Parkersburg, WV 26106-1328; 304-480-6760

Series/Grade: GS-1530-13
Position Title: Survey Statistician, Suitland, MD (NS) (Request vacancy; 
must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: ASF-02-101
Closing Date: July 17, 2002
Contact: Department of Commerce, Census, DEU/HRD Room 3037-3, 4700 Silver 
Hill Road, Stop 1407, Suitland, MD 20746; 301-457-6852

Series/Grade: GS-2210-11
Position Title: Information Technology Specialist, Kansas City, MO (S) 
(Request vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: KC-ITSTO-06-2002
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Agriculture, FSA, KCAO/Personnel Division, Employ Br 
Stop 8398, 6501 Beacon Dr., Kansas City, MO 64133; 816-926-6669

Series/Grade: GS-335-5
Position Title: Computer Assistant (OA), West Point, NY (S) (Request 
vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: BR02106004
Closing Date: July 16, 2002
Contact: Department of Army, NE Staff Div., 314 Johnson St., Aberdeen PG, 
MD 21005-5283; Pamela Barnabee, 410-306-0181

Series/Grade: GS-854-11/13
Position Title: Mechanical Engineer, Alexandria/Arlington, VA (NS) (Request 
vacancy; must address ranking factors)
Announcement #: OIG-02-3648-TB
Closing Date: August 02, 2002
Contact: Department of Defense, HRSC, AMC Bldg., 5001 Eisenhower Ave., Room 
2E22, Alexandria, VA 22333-0001; 703-617-0652
**********************
Government Computer News
NIMA picks Northrop to make mapping app
By Dawn S. Onley

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency has chosen a team of contractors 
led by Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop a commercial joint mapping toolkit 
for the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment.

The contractor will develop a suite of imagery software for the Defense 
agency, which will provide mapping basics for the DII COE. The toolkit is 
expected to improve the software NIMA now uses by combining commercial 
geographic information systems into the DII COE and other military systems.

Military units will use the software for terrain analysis, mapping 
information, gathering intelligence data and other geographically based 
functions, according to a press release issued by Northrop Grumman.

The common operating environment is the software infrastructure that 
enables Defense applications to interoperate.

The contract is worth $72 million. Northrop Grumman's IT division will 
develop the program. Subcontractor Environmental Research Institute of 
Redlands, Calif., will provide GIS and mapping software.
***********************
Government Executive
House panel laments lack of progress on homeland security technology
By William New, National Journal's Technology Daily

House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee members 
Tuesday voiced their frustration that federal agencies have not done more 
to develop new technologies to improve homeland security.

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., 
said the hearing was a continuation of a 10-month investigation that has 
shown the federal government has not provided sufficient assistance to 
entities working on homeland security technologies.

"Indeed, we have been unable to find any federal agency that believes it 
has the responsibility to do so," Greenwood said.

The subcommittee also found that government's research and development 
efforts are "not sufficiently focused and coordinated," with redundancy at 
various agencies, he said.

Cyberattacks are the biggest concern for critical infrastructure 
protection, said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La. 
"The next attack on America will occur today," said Tauzin, citing a radio 
report today that said the nation sustains an average of 30 cyberattacks 
per day. Some are attempts to probe for sensitive placements around the 
country that could be attacked, he said.

John Tritak, director of the Commerce Department's Critical Information 
Assurance Office, stressed that a robust economy is important to national 
security, and that the new department would create efficiencies.

Robert Dacey, GAO's director of information security issues, said it is 
necessary to develop a national critical infrastructure protection 
strategy, noting that one will be issued in the coming months. Also needed 
are better analytical and warning capabilities, improved information 
sharing, and addressing ongoing weaknesses in federal information security.

Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said the Homeland Security Department proposal 
"underemphasized" and is "unclear" on research and development. She 
cautioned against naming one agency to conduct all research and development 
for homeland security. Another "critical weakness" in the bill is its 
failure to address the long-term outlook for basic and applied research, 
she said.
***********************
Government Executive
House members voice concerns about Navy intranet project
By Molly M. Peterson, National Journal's Technology Daily
July 3, 2002

Inadequate testing methods and a failure to identify tens of thousands of 
existing legacy applications have hampered the Navy's efforts to transition 
all of its information systems to the Navy-Marine Corps intranet (NMCI), 
the House Appropriations Committee has said last week.

In a report that accompanied the House-passed fiscal 2003 Defense 
appropriations bill, H.R. 5010, committee members said they are "concerned 
that this problem has limited the current state of the [NMCI] network's 
capabilities to such a degree that the system has significantly impacted 
operations."

The spending bill would limit the rollout of the program to the 160,000 
NMCI "seats," or workstations, that already have been authorized by the 
Pentagon. The bill would prohibit the Navy from ordering more seats until 
many of the current NMCI problems are resolved.

Navy officials did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment 
Wednesday.

The Navy eventually plans to deploy 411,000 NMCI workstations, creating 
seamless interoperability among more than 300 Navy and Marine Corps bases 
in the United States, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, Iceland and Japan.

A key goal of the $7 billion NMCI project is to make the Navy and Marine 
Corps' critical infrastructures less vulnerable to cyberattack, while 
providing the civilian and military workforce with real-time, universal 
access to voice, video and data services.

Navy and Marine Corps officials have touted NMCI as a critical component of 
their "transformation" efforts to move the U.S. military into the 
information age.

But House appropriators said that despite making "significant progress ... 
in establishing the beginnings of the [NMCI] network," Navy officials--and 
their NMCI contractor, EDS--have encountered "unforeseen challenges" in 
their initial rollout of the network.

Committee members said in their report that they had heard "repeatedly" 
from Navy and EDS officials that efforts to deploy the NMCI network have 
been "severely inhibited" by a "failure to identify the existence of tens 
of thousands of legacy applications, and how or whether they could operate 
on the network."

The committee noted that in one office where NMCI is in the testing phase, 
dependence on legacy applications is so pervasive that more than half the 
workstations require two computer terminals--one for legacy systems and one 
for NMCI.

"While this problem exists, the Navy has proceeded with additional seat 
orders for additional locations, creating the potential for this crisis to 
grow exponentially," the committee said in its report.

In addition to barring the Navy from ordering more NMCI seats, the bill 
would require operational tests after a full NMCI transition for at least 
20,000 workstations.

House appropriators said in their report that "the delay in seat orders 
that will result will ... provide the Navy and the contractor much-needed 
time to address the legacy-application problems which will arise from the 
order of the first 160,000 seats."

Committee members added that in order for NMCI to succeed, "progress must 
be at a more moderately measured pace, and with far greater emphasis on 
understanding the networks' capabilities and limitations."
****************
Government Executive
IT workforce panel to focus on training
By Raya Widenoja
rwidenoja@xxxxxxxxxxx
July 3, 2002

A federal information technology panel will focus on providing the 
government's IT workforce with more training and a career "roadmap" to 
boost recruitment and retention, according to the panel's co-chair.


The Chief Information Officers Council, which has focused on pay and hiring 
issues for IT workers in the past year, is planning to make training for 
project managers and career development programs for employees high 
priorities, said Ira Hobbs, acting CIO at the Agriculture Department and 
co-chair of the council's workforce and human capital for IT committee.


Hobbs told reporters during a Tuesday conference call that he is working 
with an interagency team to develop an online roadmap to guide employees 
who want to improve their IT skills.


"We are looking for an automated tool that will help people.? They will be 
able to access it at their desktop no matter where they are in government," 
Hobbs said.


Hobbs comments came during a discussion about feedback on an August 2001 
study from the National Academy of Public Administration which concluded 
that the government needs to use more pay and hiring flexibilities to 
compete with the private sector for IT workers.


The NAPA report recommended that the federal government "establish a 
market-based, pay-for-performance compensation system" with broad pay 
ranges and raises based on increases in competency to attract and retain IT 
workers.


The NAPA report has received 31 comments so far, which have been summarized 
and are available through the CIO Council Web site. "The comments were very 
supportive--often personal horror stories of what is going on it their own 
organizations," Hobbs said. "By and large, they were very positive and very 
supportive of the report itself."


Hobbs said the committee would continue working with key organizations, 
such as the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and 
Budget, to promote NAPA's recommendations.
************************
Computerworld
FTC pushing for stiffer penalties for ID theft
By BRIAN SULLIVAN

The Federal Trade Commission has thrown its support behind a Senate bill 
that would increase the penalties for identity theft crimes.
The bill would add jail time for those who have committed other crimes and 
are in the possession of a false identity, and it wouldn't allow these 
extra penalties to be served concurrently. J. Howard Beales III, FTC 
director of consumer protection, testified Tuesday before a subcommittee of 
the Senate Judiciary Committee that Senate Bill 2541, co-sponsored by Sens. 
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and 
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) would help the commission investigate and prosecute 
identity theft crimes.

"The Commission supports [the bill] and embraces its goal of increasing the 
prosecution and criminal penalties when the identity theft facilitates 
particularly pernicious crimes," he said. When these crimes are committed 
under someone else's identity, it stigmatizes an innocent person who must 
struggle to clear his or her name from association with an exceptionally 
horrific misdeed.

"It is only just that such a crime should carry an additional penalty," 
Beales said.

However, at least one privacy group said the bill squanders focus and does 
little to prevent identity theft in the future.

"Enacting penalties isn't going to prevent the crime," said Chris 
Hoofnagle, legislative counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information 
Center (EPIC). "There are stiff penalties for all sorts of crimes that 
still occur."

Hoofnagle said he would prefer that Congress pass legislation restricting 
the use of Social Security numbers for identification. He noted that 
California and Georgia have already passed laws mandating that business and 
government handle Social Security numbers with greater care (see story).

Most identity theft comes from "dumpster diving," Hoofnagle said. Criminals 
rummage through trash seeking Social Security numbers to steal. If Congress 
would prevent businesses from printing Social Security numbers on invoices 
and require companies to shred documents instead of just throwing them 
away, a big part of the problem would be solved, Hoofnagle said.

The Senate bill doesn't cover either of those measures.

What the bill does is add at least a two-year jail term to the sentence of 
anyone who used a stolen identity to commit bank fraud, pension fraud, 
Social Security fraud, financial crimes, obtaining a false firearms license 
and impersonating a U.S. citizen. The bill would add at least five years to 
the sentence of anyone who uses a fake identity in a crime related to 
terrorism.

The bill, filed in May, is currently before the Technology, Terrorism and 
Government subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
***********************
MSNBC
Homeland defense focus shifts to tech
By Declan Mccullagh

WASHINGTON, July 10  Computer security is becoming an increasingly critical 
part of President Bush's proposal for a homeland defense agency. When Bush 
suggested the idea last month, he predicted that the future agency would 
aid in investigating Al Qaeda and thwarting disasters similar to those of 
last Sept. 11. In the televised address, he never mentioned the Internet or 
so-called cybersecurity. But as Capitol Hill scrutinizes the proposal, 
politicians are fretting about tech-savvy terrorists  and insisting any new 
agency must shield the United States from electronic attacks as well.
      "IF WE DON'T MAKE sure the Homeland Security department is prepared 
in this area of cybersecurity, we have failed in our duty," House Energy 
and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., said Tuesday.
       At Bush's urging, House Republicans have asked committees for any 
suggested changes to the White House-backed bill by the end of the week, 
and at least four committee votes are scheduled for Wednesday. On Thursday, 
a special panel chaired by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, will 
hold its first meeting to work out a final version of the plan.
       Until this week, Congress has focused on how the proposal would 
combine 22 agencies, including the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency into a massive Department of Homeland 
Security.
       Also included in the bill, and discussed at length in a pair of 
hearings on Tuesday, are equally radical changes for the U.S. government's 
Internet defenses. The plan would glue together nearly all computer 
protection functions, from the Commerce Department's Critical 
Infrastructure Assurance Office to the Computer Security Division of the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Federal Computer 
Incident Response Center.
       The complex reshuffling of bureaucracies, including twists such as 
the proposed department's half-acquisition of the FBI's National 
Infrastructure Protection Center, has prompted some politicians to ask for 
more time to examine the plan. Privacy groups also have raised concerns 
about database sharing and have suggested that the department be subject to 
traditional open-records laws.
       The House Science committee, for instance, plans to propose an 
amendment that would add an "Under Secretary for Science and Technology" to 
the department. Currently there are five proposed undersecretaries, a 
deputy secretary and allowance for "not more than six assistant secretaries."
       From Washington's perspective, the concept of cybersecurity remains 
somewhat murky and marked by exaggeration. Last year, the head of the 
Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress that Fidel Castro could be 
planning a "cyberattack" on the U.S., and White House cybersecurity czar 
Richard Clarke has spent years predicting of "an electronic Pearl Harbor."
      Nearly everyone agrees that any electronic-defense plan should 
anticipate attacks against both government agencies and important systems 
owned by private firms.
       "In the information age, the same technological capabilities that 
have enabled us to succeed can now also be turned against us," John Tritak, 
the head of the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, said Tuesday. 
"Powerful computing systems can be hijacked and used to launch attacks that 
can disrupt operations of critical services that support public safety and 
daily economic processes."
       President Clinton created Tritak's group by executive order in 
1998, and since then it's spent much of its time working with American 
businesses to beef up security.
       But on Tuesday, some politicians questioned whether that approach 
was workingand whether new laws and regulations were needed to bring 
executives to heel. Such requirements could include everything from design 
standards for backup power supplies to security rules for web servers.
       "Do you believe that efforts to regulate security across the 
private sector are warranted and are even likely to be effective?" asked 
Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., who chairs the Judiciary subcommittee.
       "I'd like to think we made some headway in reaching out to 
industry," Tritak replied.
       James McDonnell, the director of the Energy Department's security 
program, answered by saying he did not think new security laws were 
necessary, at least not yet.
       "If we go forward with our vulnerability assessments and find that 
industry are not using these or are not taking care of their assets, then 
maybe we need to revisit what regulations are required," McDonnell said.
      Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Minn., said he was tired of hearing excuses for 
poor performance by federal IT officials, and wondered if the massive 
proposed reorganization could exacerbate the situation.
       "None of the computers seem to be compatible in the federal 
government," Stupak said. "Every time we spend billions of dollars to 
upgrade a computer, it doesn't seem to work and we have to start all over 
again...Are we going to have another layer of computers that don't talk to 
each other while cybersecurity is endangered?"
       "It seems like there's more of a turf war; we won't trust this 
person with this information, or it's our information and won't go 
further," Stupak said. "I don't think it's all just computer-related 
problems or security-related problems but leadership problems."
       A report that congressional auditors published last year said that 
instead of becoming a highly sensitive nerve center that responds to 
computer intrusions, the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center 
(NIPC) had turned into a federal backwater that was surprisingly 
ineffective in pursing malicious hackers or devising a plan to protect 
electronic infrastructures. It highlighted the NIPC's turf wars and 
concluded: "This situation may be impeding the NIPC's ability to carry out 
its mission."
       David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information 
Center, said Tuesday that the proposed department should not be completely 
immune to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. Private firms 
have said that they need such an exemption to be sure that sensitive 
information they provide not be disclosed.
       "Any claimed private sector reluctance to share important data with 
the government grows out of, at best, a misperception of current law," 
Sobel said. "Exemption proponents have not cited a single instance in which 
a federal agency has disclosed voluntarily submitted data against the 
express wishes of an industry submitter."
************************
MSNBC
Candidates turn to e-mail strategy

July 8   In the Internet's early days, campaign managers played with Web 
sites as if they were new toys. Georgia gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes 
offered viewers a live Web cam of his headquarters  a harmless but 
pointless gimmick. Now e-mail strategies are overshadowing Web sites as 
political tools, with consultants designing "friend-to-friend" e-mail 
networks to keep candidates in touch with voters and to get them to the 
polls on Election Day.

      CANDIDATE WEB sites "are the yard signs of today's campaigns, 
they're worthless, they don't do anything  and yet everybody has to have 
one," said Seattle-based Democratic consultant Cathy Allen.
       Much of the creative energy among political Web site designers is 
now focused on what Allen calls the "faux campaign Web site" that uses a 
candidate's name but is run by his adversaries.
       For example Republicans have created "torricelliduck.com" which 
pokes fun at New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli and the Senate Ethics 
Committee investigation of gifts he received from a campaign contributor.
       But few people other than political junkies go to such sites. In a 
saturated media environment, with people besieged by advertisements, 
telemarketing calls, and overloaded e-mail in-boxes, candidates must find 
ways to reach the minority of the population that votes.
       It's becoming ever more difficult. Advertisers will drown consumers 
in more than 430 billion e-mail advertisements this year, according to the 
Wall Street Journal.

MAKING IT PERSONAL
       With so much junk e-mail being quickly deleted, Washington, D.C., 
consultant Joe Rothstein said, "We decided that it had to be much more 
personal. Who will you open an e-mail message from? A friend, a family 
member, a co-worker."
       Using Rothstein's Vote Connection software, a volunteer for a 
campaign will sign into the campaign website and select an e-mail address 
that includes their name.
      To take a hypothetical case, a volunteer, call him Bill Phipps, 
signs up to work for the Katie Powers for Senate campaign.
       Phipps gets an e-mail address  billphipps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  then 
imports a dozen names from his personal address book and sends those people 
personalized campaign messages.
       For instance: "Jim: There's been a lot of talk in the news media in 
the last week about Katie's position on Social Security. Just to set the 
record straight, here's where she stands. See you soon, Bill." Then the 
Vote Connection software would include a summary of the candidate's position.
       The theory is that the friends to whom Bill Phipps sends his e-mail 
are more likely to read a message from him than generic political spam.

'AUTHENTICITY AND TRUST'
       "The name of the game in politics is authenticity and trust," said 
Allen. "You trust friends. If a friend tells me they genuinely give a darn 
about a candidate, that in itself is unusual, that they'd take time out of 
their life to tell me something about a political candidate."
      Vote Connection allows the campaign to keep a record of the e-mail 
addresses that its volunteers sends messages to. That list is an invaluable 
resource for the campaign to use in sending reminders to people: to 
register, to take part in the primary election and to vote in the general 
election.
       Allen, who is working this year on campaigns in Michigan, Oklahoma 
and several other states, said, "We start building from Day One all the 
e-mail contacts we can so that we can use them to create our own media. For 
example, if we know there's going to be a story coming out in tomorrow's 
newspaper that's going to be critical or positive about our candidate, we 
can alert our base  and ask them to alert their base."

LAST-MINUTE REMINDER
       On Election Day, a campaign could also take the reports it gets 
from workers at polling places, who are checking voter rolls and making 
lists of party members who haven't yet voted by 4 pm.
       "The last thing many people do before they go home from work is to 
check their e-mail," Allen explained. "The campaign could e-mail those 
voters on the afternoon of Election Day and say, 'Please stop off and vote 
on the way home'  which is critical. The problem with leaving a phone 
message at home is that by the time they get home, most people say 'Nah, 
it's raining, I'm not going out again, the kids are home, I've got to make 
dinner.'"
       Republicans have something similar to Vote Connection in an e-mail 
application called "GOPTeamLeader.com" on the Republican National 
Committee's Web site.
       Grass-roots activists can sign up at GOPTeamLeader.com, get 
Republican talking points and forward messages to their own circle of friends.

WILL IT WORK?
       Will the new "friend-to-friend" e-mail strategies work?
       "I'll let you know in about 60 days," Rothstein said.
       Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Kelly Haney is using Vote 
Connection in his campaign leading up to the state's Aug. 27 primary. 
Several other candidates around the country are also using the software.
       Programs such as Vote Connection and GOP Team Leader may help 
persuade the conscientious, but undecided voter.
       "Some people will say, 'I'm pretty confused on the abortion issue, 
I looked at the candidate's Web site and I still don't know what to do,'" 
said Rothstein. "That response gives us all sorts of follow-up persuasion 
opportunities," such as having the campaign send a more detailed 
explanation of the candidate's position and following it with a phone call.
       "With e-mail, a person can get his questions answered," Rothstein 
said. "You can bring people up to different levels of engagement with the 
campaign. You can't do that with any other medium."
       Chuck DeFeo, the Republican National Committee's director of online 
communications, said "the ability to turn somebody around in real time is 
very exciting. It's better than phone banking or direct mail."
       E-mail programs allow a candidate to pinpoint his message  focusing 
only on those voters who are most interested in a specific issue, such as 
Medicare or school vouchers, avoiding the expense of buying advertising 
time on radio and television to reach a mass audience.
       "The core of targeting, which is the most important part of the 
science of this business, is figuring out who to talk to and how to make 
your message different from everybody else who just blasts it to everybody 
who voted in the last election," Allen said.

TV ADS STILL DOMINATE
       According to Allen, in a typical Senate or gubernatorial campaign, 
75 percent of the communications budget goes to television ads.
       Television is an inefficient and expensive way to reach voters, 
because political ads reach many viewers who have no interest in politics.
       Why then do campaigns still rely so heavily on TV ads?
       "Hot media are more persuasive" than other forms of communication, 
Allen said. "Radio, TV and cable are all hot media," ranking second in 
persuasive power only to the candidate himself going door to door, 
persuading voters one on one.
       Yet even while campaigns stick with the old-fashioned mass-market 
strategies, Allen, Rothstein, and others are using e-mail to fashion 
micro-market strategies, slicing the electorate into small, select 
sub-audiences
       "Campaigns are going to become the product of dozens of targeted 
segments, rather than one single homogenous message," Rothstein said.
***********************
Nando Times
Federal task force in Sacramento created to handle cybercrime SACRAMENTO, 
Calif. (July 9, 2002 11:50 a.m. EDT) - The solicitation that popped up on 
thousands of computer screens sounded too good to be true.

Tri-West Investment Club offered a guaranteed high return with no risk of 
loss by purchasing "promissory bank notes."

Nearly 13,000 people from more than 60 countries jumped at the offer. 
Instead of becoming rich, they had become victims who had invested $60 
million in what would turn out to be one of the largest Internet investment 
fraud cases in the country.

The proliferation of fraud cases like Tri-West and other computer crimes 
motivated the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento to form a task force 
that specifically targets high-tech violations.

Cary Alyn Waage, the 26-year-old son of the alleged mastermind behind 
Tri-West, recently pleaded guilty to charges relating to the scheme, 
federal agents said. His sentencing, which had been scheduled for Monday, 
has been postponed.

Meanwhile, a Costa Rican court has ordered his father, Alyn Richard Waage, 
to be extradited to Sacramento.

The case is being prosecuted in Sacramento because the first complaints 
came from the area.

Internet fraud is just one aspect of the task force's work, U.S. Attorney 
John K. Vincent said. The division also will prosecute computer intrusions, 
virus and worm proliferation, telecommunications fraud and intellectual 
property offenses, such as copyright and trademark infringement, software 
piracy and theft of trade secrets.

"We have been focusing on cybercrime for some time now," Vincent said. "It 
is an area of growing concern, however, and we intend to attack it more 
aggressively."

The Eastern District of California, which is a 34-county region that 
stretches from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, is home to numerous 
high-tech companies, major universities and military bases, and it has 
become a popular target for cybercriminals.

In Sacramento, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Sonderby will head up 
the effort with the help of Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark L. Krotoski.

Sonderby has prosecuted significant Internet and computer fraud cases, 
including the first Internet shill bidding case in the country involving 
the sale of a fake painting on eBay.

"People who may have been using mail to commit crimes are now using 
computers," Sonderby said. "It gives them a veil behind which to commit 
crimes."

In 2001, the Internet Fraud Complaint Center received 49,711 complaints 
that include unsolicited e-mail and child pornography.

The most reported offense is Internet auction fraud, which accounts for 
42.8 percent of the calls.

"What we are trying to do, and what the U.S. attorney's office is trying to 
do, is reach out to the community to increase awareness of our role and our 
effort to fight and prosecute these types of crimes," said Nick Rossi, a 
special agent in the FBI's Sacramento office.

The federal unit will work closely with members of the Sacramento Valley 
Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force, a nationally recognized investigative team made 
up of officers from various law enforcement agencies.

For example, the two divisions are working on the April 5 breach at the 
state data center, which may have exposed personal identity information of 
265,000 state employees.

Lt. Mike Tsuchida of the Sacramento Valley task force said it has had a 
relationship with the U.S. attorney's office for a number of years.

"Sometimes computer evidence is the only evidence," said Tsuchida, with the 
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. "We're right out there on the 
cutting edge."

Without going into detail of how criminals are tracked, Krotoski said, "A 
lot of what we do is trace the electronic fingerprints."

Krotoski's cases include the prosecution of suspected Russian hacker 
Aleksey Ivanov, who is charged with hacking into computers at a number of 
companies, as well as a case involving thousands of bootlegged videotapes.

Krotoski said sometimes the culprit can be halfway around the world.

In the Tri-West case, FBI agents caught up with the younger Waage at an 
airport in Dallas, Sonderby said. He was on his way to see his father in 
Costa Rica.

"Now," Sonderby said, "they'll have a different type of reunion - in 
federal court in Sacramento."
**********************
Euromedia.net
Internet misuse costs firms E15bn a year
10/07/2002  Editor: Cathy O'Sullivan

Internet misuse is costing U.K. businesses more than GBP9.6 bn (E15bn) 
annually in lost productivity, according to employee internet management 
company Websense Inc.

According to the latest figures, nearly one in five companies have sacked 
personnel for viewing internet pornography while at work. A survey of 544 
large HR departments conducted by Websense found that a quarter of firms 
have sacked workers for internet misuse. In the majority of cases staff 
were for internet pornography.

75 per cent of companies have dealt with incidents of internet misuse at 
some point. Use of chat rooms or excessive personal emailing are also cited 
in the survey as common problem areas. 23 per cent of firms have sacked 
staff as a result of internet misuse.

Companies are resorting to the ultimate sanction despite the fact firing 
staff for internet misuse is costly, and could put the firm at risk of 
unfair dismissal lawsuits .
Software filtering company Websense, who commissioned the survey, said 
companies can help reduce the problems - and their legal liability - by 
introducing filtering and monitoring of employee computer behaviour.
******************
News.com
Studios sue defunct $1 movie site


By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
July 10, 2002, 12:00 PM PT


The movie studio's trade association filed suit Tuesday against Film88.com, 
a would-be Internet video Web site that has allegedly popped up in several 
incarnations around the world.
Calling the site a "piratical, virtual 'video-on-demand' business," the 
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its member studios sued 
the company and an individual allegedly associated with it in a California 
federal court.

The suit largely appears to be aimed at stopping the site's owners from 
reappearing online in another incarnation. Film88 itself, whose operations 
were allegedly based at least partly out of Iran, has already been shut 
down and replaced with a message board and a note from the company's owners.

"We have made clear many times that we are not pirates," Film88.com's site 
now reads. "We have proposed to major studios in Hollywood to pay 30% of 
our movie rental price as copyright compensation...However, Hollywood has 
reacted negatively."

According to the MPAA's complaint, the same company, called Broadband 
Universal, allegedly has been responsible for two sites. The suit also 
names a Malaysian businessman, Alex Tan, and his California-based 
corporation, called MasterSurf.

The cat-and-mouse saga of Film88 provides a daunting window into the 
difficulties faced by movie studios, record labels and other copyright 
owners as Internet piracy takes on an increasingly international flavor. 
The film industry's trade association has successfully shut down 
movie-streaming sites at least twice. But as countries that lack strong 
copyright laws upgrade their network infrastructure, that type of 
enforcement action could become more difficult over time.

Film88's original incarnation, the lawsuit alleges, was based in Taiwan 
under the name Movie88. That site, which launched in February, provided the 
most sophisticated video-on-demand site seen to date on the Internet.

While the studios themselves were struggling to create similar sites, 
Movie88 allowed viewers to stream movies with a high video quality for just 
$1 apiece, using RealNetworks technology. The company offered hundreds of 
Hollywood movies to viewers.

Working with the Taiwanese authorities, the MPAA was able to shut that site 
down. Then Film88 appeared in June.

In an earlier interview, Film88 operator Hail Hami told News.com that the 
new company was separate from the older venture but had recruited staff and 
taken ideas from Movie88. Iran was chosen as a base partly because the 
country did not respect foreign copyrights, the company said.

But that site was also quickly shut down, after MPAA contacted an Internet 
service provider in the Netherlands that was hosting Film88's content.

Film88 representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. A 
message on Film88's site, addressed to "valued users and geeks," says that 
it has ceased operations for technical reasons and criticizes Hollywood for 
responding negatively to its 30 percent revenue-sharing offer.

Mark Litvack, the MPAA's worldwide legal director for anti-piracy efforts, 
said the site had never contacted his organization, although it might have 
approached individual studios. But that didn't matter, he said.

"To steal first and offer to pay later at a price that you determine 
unilaterally is not acceptable," Litvack said.
**********************

Lillie Coney
Public Policy Coordinator
U.S. Association for Computing Machinery
Suite 510
2120 L Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20037
202-478-6124
lillie.coney@xxxxxxx