Clips April 5 through April 8

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips April 8, 2002

ARTICLES

Daschle friends, foes vie on Web
IBM to unveil antipiracy software 
Plugging a Very Porous Northern Border
FBI Survey Finds Computer Attacks Up 
More Government, Military Databases Left Exposed
Grants to bolster GIS, homeland
Overture Sues Google for Patent Infringement 
Global Tech Spending Heading Down In 2002 - Study
Pedophile Caught in Net Swoop Starts Life Term
Pentagon seeks scrutiny of big foreign deals
Groups Take Aim At Postal Service's E-Commerce Offerings
CIO Council issues a portfolio management primer 
Defense awards controversial telecommunications contract 
Agency Pushes Digital TV Shift 
Company to Sell Implantable Chip (FDA to Regulate Chip)
RI Mayor Snatches Web Site Domains 
One Alternative to Bloated, Pricey Microsoft Office 
Giving Disabled a Voice
HDTV advocates join copy-protection fray
Falwell says parody site violates his trademark
Chatty washer to give Maytag man run for money
VA awards 'peach' of a contract
Alaskan educators pair with Palm
Border station tests insect-ID tech
Blind Audience Is Aided by Audio Technology
Credit Cards That Beep for Attention
Federal officials push for defense, public safety airwave priority
Clinton backs tech war on terror
Computer crime 'soaring'
E-voting put to the test
Liverpool evict 'cybersquatter'
'You've got junk': Tips for slicing spam while traveling
Web talk lands some in hot water
GAO urges government to adopt XML programming language
U.S. must bolster its homeland defenses, lawmaker says 
White House: Vendors must improve on security protections 
Microsoft trying to move into movie, television distribution
Internet breathes new life into China's tomb festival


***********************
Washington Times
Daschle friends, foes vie on Web

  A Republican effort to demonize Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle for
political advantage  in the way Democrats once made then-House Speaker Newt
Gingrich their election-year Satan  has ignited a campaign fund-raising frenzy
with warring Web sites on the Internet.
     A Republican Web site called DumpDaschle.org has raised hundreds of
thousands of dollars since last October for radio and TV issue attack
advertisements and other political broadsides against the South Dakota Democrat
in his home state.
     Democratic political organizers have countered with their own Web site,
DaschleDemocrats.org, which has already raised more than $100,000 to repel the
assault and mobilize Democratic faithfuls against "a right-wing conspiracy."
     "Despite public calls for a 'changed tone in Washington,' conservative
Republican operatives are engaged in a cynical, coordinated effort to
personally malign and politically smear Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle,"
said an opening message on the home page of DaschleDemocrats.org, which became
accessible March 29.
     "Partisan Republicans have instructed their right-wing henchmen to
systematically denigrate the term 'Daschle Democrat' and to label Tom Daschle
an 'obstructionist,'" said DaschleDemocrats.org. "Boasting of a huge war chest
of funds, these conservative front groups are taking their vicious attacks to
the national media, the South Dakota airwaves and the World Wide Web."
     Started by former Daschle aides, DaschleDemocrats.org accused former
Gingrich pollster Frank Luntz of being the brain behind the attack, quoting him
as telling Republican leaders in a December memo: "It's time for congressional
Republicans to personalize the individual that is standing directly in the way
[of President Bush's economic stimulus and energy plans]. Remember what the
Democrats did to Gingrich? We need to do exactly the same thing to Daschle."
     The home page of the DumpDaschle.org Web site opens with a direct plea for
donors to "fight back"  "Tired of hearing that Senator Tom Daschle and his
liberal Democrats in the Senate are stalling George W. Bush's initiatives?
Donate to DumpDaschle.org and take the gloves off. DumpDaschle.org is dedicated
to defeating Tom Daschle when he runs for re-election in his home state of
South Dakota" in 2004.
     Both groups have used a loophole in campaign finance law. The loophole was
ignored in the recently passed McCain-Feingold and Shays-Meehan reform
legislation, and it allows independent nonprofit political groups set up under
Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code to raise unlimited amounts of money
for campaign-related advertising, educational materials and propaganda.
     The pro-Daschle effort has support from the Priorities Project, a separate
"loosely affiliated" fund-raising effort by two former Daschle aides  John
Podesta, chief of staff to then-President Clinton, and Washington lobbyist Joel
Johnson.
     The dump-Daschle effort has help from top Washington-area fund-raiser
Rebecca Donatelli of Hockaday Donatelli Campaign Solutions, an Alexandria firm
specializing in Internet fund raising. Political clients have included both the
Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign and the McCain for President campaign.
     Mrs. Donatelli said critics were wrong to call the anti-Daschle effort a
coordinated campaign to smear the Democratic leader. "It may be that someone at
the White House said 'go demonize Daschle,'" she said, "but this is a truly
grass-roots operation, very broad, with donations ranging from $5 to hundreds
of dollars" from communities in every state.
     Robert Moran, founder and president of DumpDaschle.org, works for
Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates, a Republican polling firm in Alexandria. He
could not be reached for comment.
     Cari Rudd, a former Daschle aide and spokeswoman for DaschleDemocrats.org,
said nine conservative groups are running TV, radio and newspaper ads against
the Senate majority leader in South Dakota, as well as DumpDaschle.org.
     "This is a concerted, coordinated effort to demonize Tom Daschle, and it's
reached an absolutely unacceptable level," she said.
     DaschleDemocrats.org said sponsors of anti-Daschle ads include American
Renewal; the Club for Growth; Common Sense Courts, a group started by Oklahoma
Gov. Frank Keating; Concerned Women for America; the Family Research Council;
the National Right to Life Committee; the Tax Relief Coalition; the United
Seniors Association and United to Secure America.
********************
Boston Globe
IBM to unveil antipiracy software 
Says it would stop illegal copying of entertainment files

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 4/8/2002 

IBM Corp., wading into the debate over the post-Napster structure of the online
music business, is set to announce today new software designed to prevent the
illegal copying of digital music and other data files. 

The company has spent five years working on its Electronic Media Management
System, or EMMS. But today's announcement, scheduled for the National
Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, is intended in part as a
response to recent legislative proposals that would force the electronics
industry to make antipiracy technology a part of every digital device, from
computers to game machines. 

Senator Fritz Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, has introduced a bill that
would require all digital devices to have built-in hardware to prevent users
from copying files. The legislation was drafted in response to complaints from
music recording companies and film production firms. They say they're losing
billions of dollars in sales because people can use computers to easily make
perfect copies of CDs and videos. They also want to sell their products over
the Internet, but are unwilling to do so unless buyers can be prevented from
making copies of the files they purchase. 

But computer industry executives have expressed alarm at the idea of a
government-mandated redesign of their products. ''We don't believe that the
government should be involved in designing IT [information technology]
solutions for industry,'' said Scott Burnett, director of digital media
marketing at IBM. He hopes that IBM's software technology, if voluntarily
embraced by media companies, software makers, and electronics firms, will go a
long way toward preventing the wholesale illegal copying of digital
entertainment data. 

With its EMMS technology, a music or video creator can wrap his files in a
digital ''package'' that can only be unlocked with a digital key. Such a key is
issued to the purchaser of the file. The buyer will be able to use the file,
but the key can be designed to ensure that the same file won't work when loaded
onto a different computer owned by someone else. 

Many people make multiple copies of music files for use at home, at work, and
in the car. The EMMS system is designed to let the creator of the file set his
own rules about copying. He could allow the purchaser to make no copies, or two
or three. He could allow the file to be copied to a portable digital music
player, but prevent the same file from being burned to a CD. 

Similar copy-protection software has been in the works for years, made by AT&T
Corp., Microsoft Corp. and others. IBM scientists say that theirs is more
robust than earlier versions, with features that would make it extremely
difficult for a data thief to intercept the digital signal inside the computer.


For example, a data pirate could replace a standard sound card with a device
that would capture digital music from the computer and send it to another
computer. 

IBM scientists say that wouldn't work with EMMS, because it recognizes the
digital signatures of legitimate sound card software programs. Any phony sound
card would have an incorrect signature, and the file would refuse to play. 

But Internet security experts are skeptical that any software-based antipiracy
system can ever be made perfect. 

Ed Felten, professor of computer science at Princeton University, has cracked a
number of earlier data-protection programs. He said that a pirate could write a
program that would send out the signature of a legitimate soundcard, even
though the computer system really used a music-capture card. By issuing false
identification in this way, the pirate could deceive the EMMS system. 

''I tend to doubt that you can build a system that's unbreakable in this
area,'' said Felten. 

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@xxxxxxxxxx 
******************
Washington Post
Plugging a Very Porous Northern Border 
Since Sept. 11, More Agents, Technology Patrol Stretches of Long-Neglected
4,000-Mile Line 

LYNDEN, Wash. -- A shallow ditch is all that separates Boundary Road, which
winds through the fields and farmhouses of this dairy community, from 0 Avenue,
a similar rural highway that parallels it just 12 feet away -- in Canada. If
not for a small stone marker with "United States" on one side and "Canada" on
the other, the border between the two nations here would be impossible to
discern.

Where Boundary Road ends, rows of raspberry plants run right to the border,
offering cover to illegal immigrants and smugglers toting backpacks filled with
marijuana.

Before Sept. 11, 57 Border Patrol agents were responsible for this 120-mile
stretch of border in Washington state. In fact, until the terrorist attacks on
New York and Washington, the Border Patrol had just 334 agents posted along the
4,000-mile northern border, a fraction of its 9,500-member workforce.

Since then, the U.S.-Canadian border has received the kind of attention that
authorities have long spent on the boundary with Mexico, where efforts to halt
the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants demanded it. Although the teeming
points of entry present their own kinds of problems, halting terrorists who
might try to cross these vast open stretches has become the focus of increasing
concern among homeland security authorities.

That puts the Border Patrol in a pivotal role: It is supposed to keep people
from entering the United States at places other than official checkpoints. It
is illegal to cross back and forth anywhere else, no matter how inviting it
seems.

The Justice Department's inspector general's office recently warned that gaps
remain along the northern border and said more agents and technology are
desperately needed. On Capitol Hill, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.),
chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has expressed concern about spotty
enforcement. As did Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.): "I am very concerned, and have
been for a very long time. I think the problems up there are large and need to
be dealt with."

Some former Border Patrol officials maintain that the Border Patrol relies too
heavily on cameras and sensors and has too few agents to fully utilize the
technology.

"I've never known a camera that can go down a pole and catch somebody," said
Eugene R. Davis, former deputy chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol
here. "It's far from being secure. If a person wants to come in, there are lots
of places for them to do it. There are still lots of holes." He noted that the
sensors can sound false alarms -- triggered by animals, for example -- and have
other limitations. He remembers that "about 50 percent of the time, we had
nobody to respond to the sensors."

In response, hundreds of Border Patrol agents, immigration inspectors and
Customs Service personnel have been shifted north, and more are on the way. By
year's end, the Border Patrol will have more than 600 agents along the northern
border, and the Bush administration wants to add 285 more in fiscal 2003.

About 700 National Guard troops recently began aiding inspectors at the 124
northern ports of entry and are assisting the Border Patrol with intelligence
analysis and helicopter patrols. From Washington to Maine, new tools are
arriving, including cameras, explosives detectors, radiation detectors and
dogs.

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge recently reached an agreement with
Canadian officials to share intelligence and expand joint enforcement programs
along the border. In addition, the Border Patrol is building closer ties with
leaders of Native American tribes that live on border reservations.

John C. Bates, deputy chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol here,
acknowledged that coverage has not been beefed up as much as he would like, but
said technology helps fill in the gaps. He said that sensors are hidden in
fields, trees and other places, capable of detecting movement. When tripped,
they sound alarms and illuminate computer terminals at a Border Patrol command
center in the nearby town of Blaine. 

In recent weeks, a $5 million camera system capable of scanning 40 miles of
border was installed on 32 towering poles, meant to complement the sensors.
Technicians at the command center can swivel the cameras and zoom in on objects
up to four miles away, helping authorities determine whether activated sensors
were set off by innocent farmers or schoolchildren, or by someone who appears
suspicious and requires immediate attention, Bates said. Surveillance aircraft
also patrol the area regularly, he said.

Agents respond in four-wheel-drive vehicles, some with infrared cameras mounted
on their roofs. Bates said only so many roads and trails lead away from the
border and authorities can cut them off. As he rode along Boundary Road
recently, Bates pointed to places where agents have caught illegal immigrants
and found drugs waiting for pickup, including backpacks filled with marijuana.
"We're able to get there," he said. "We use the technology and the people and
the information to get the job done."

There is no evidence that any of the 19 terrorists who struck on Sept. 11
entered the United States from Canada. But Canadian intelligence officials have
estimated that about 50 terrorist groups operate in Canada, including al Qaeda,
Hamas and the Irish Republican Army, and some allegedly have set up cells in
Vancouver, just 32 miles from Blaine.

Nevertheless, security along the northern border has been dwarfed by the U.S.
border presence in the Southwest for decades. In a typical year, the Border
Patrol apprehends 1.2 million people in the Southwest; 12,000 in the north.

The Justice Department's inspector general's office reported in February 2000
that the Border Patrol "lacks the resources to monitor illegal activity along
the northern border." The report also warned that "the porous nature of the
border, coupled with limited enforcement," limits chances of making arrests. In
a follow-up report released this February, the inspector general's office said
conditions are improving, but noted that chiefs of all eight of the Border
Patrol's northern sectors said they still needed more agents, support staff and
equipment.

Since Sept. 11, about 100 agents have been shifted from the southwestern border
and an effort to hire more has begun. Twenty of the transferred agents work in
Blaine, which now has a workforce of 77. Congress has cleared the way to bring
in even more cameras, sensors and computers.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which
favors greater restrictions on immigration, said the Border Patrol's strategy
is sound as long as it receives more agents. "The Border Patrol approach of
leveraging their personnel with technology is probably the way to go on the
northern border," he said.

In Washington state, the National Guard now provides a helicopter and crew to
conduct surveillance and shuttle agents to remote areas. But the bulk of the
enforcement is concentrated on a 44-mile stretch east of Blaine where the new
cameras have been located and where most of the sensors, which are moved from
time to time, are placed.

Rick Holleman, a Lynden resident who owns a trucking company, said he can
attest to the sensitivity of the sensors. "I jog along the border every night,
and just my jogging can set off the sensors," he said. A couple of months ago,
a Border Patrol agent -- just transferred from San Diego -- asked him what he
was doing running alongside Boundary Road. "It does seem like there's more
Border Patrol around," Holleman said, adding that agents recently arrested two
New York men near his home after they were caught crossing the border with
marijuana. 

Carey James, who retired last year as chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol
in Blaine, said enforcers must worry not only about the land border but also
about nearby Puget Sound, where small boats zip back and forth from Canada,
often carrying drugs.

The challenges in the north go well beyond geography, according to John
Frecker, the Northeast regional vice president of the National Border Patrol
Council, the union that represents border patrol agents. Even when agents
manage to catch people crossing into the United States illegally, they have
limited options, he said. The criminal record checks they perform don't extend
worldwide and detention facilities are often so crowded that the INS releases
many illegal immigrants pending deportation hearings. Then they disappear.

In Blaine, Border Patrol agents cite the case of Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a
Palestinian who was caught three times in 1996 and 1997 in Washington state,
only to be released each time. He was sent back to Canada twice; the third time
he was released pending a deportation hearing. Mezer didn't show up for the
hearing but did turn up six months later in Brooklyn, New York, where police
arrested him in a plot to bomb subways. He was convicted of conspiracy and
sentenced to life in prison.

In the most famous case, Customs inspectors in Port Angeles, Wash., arrested
Ahmed Ressam in December 1999 with a trunk full of explosives. Ressam later
admitted that he was part of a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport
and other targets during millennium celebrations.

Security has been stepped up at Port Angeles, where inspectors are opening more
car trunks and looking at more trucks. That's also true at the two ports of
entry in Blaine, where the Customs Service received new equipment to detect
nuclear materials and explosives.

Trucks are guided through a large scanning machine that alerts Customs
inspectors to hidden compartments or suspicious cargo. A hand-held device can
be used to find hidden panels in cars and smaller trucks. The radiation
detectors -- worn like pagers -- are so sensitive that they are set off when
someone undergoing radiation treatments comes near.

Ronald H. Henley, Bates's boss and Blaine's chief patrol agent, said he
believes the extra security measures are working. He's divided the region into
13 zones, regularly analyzes information coming from the sensors, cameras, law
enforcement and the public, and is putting his agents in places where he
believes they can have the most impact.

"All I can say is I don't have any actual intelligence that hundreds of people
are going where I'm not," Henley said. 

*****************
Associated Press
FBI Survey Finds Computer Attacks Up 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Most large corporations and government agencies have been
attacked by computer hackers, but they frequently do not inform authorities of
the breaches, an FBI (news - web sites) survey finds.

  
The survey released Sunday found about 90 percent of respondents detected
computer security breaches in the past year but only 34 percent reported those
attacks to authorities.

Many respondents cited the fear of bad publicity about computer security.

"There is much more illegal and unauthorized activity going on in cyberspace
than corporations admit to their clients, stockholders and business partners or
report to law enforcement," said Patrice Rapalus, director of the Computer
Security Institute, which conducted the survey with the FBI's San Francisco
computer crime squad.

The seventh annual survey polled 503 American corporations, government
agencies, financial and medical institutions and universities. The names of the
organizations polled were not released.

Overall, there were more computer crimes than in last year's survey. But fewer
victims reported crimes to police than in 2001, reversing a trend from earlier
surveys.

A former Justice Department (news - web sites) computer crimes prosecutor said
there is frequently little incentive for a company to report computer attacks
or crimes.

"It tends not to help their bottom line, but hurt their bottom line," Mark
Rasch said. "What a company wants to do is solve the problem and move on."

When those companies are financial institutions or other parts of the nation's
critical technology infrastructure, however, more than the company's bottom
line is at stake.

The government is using partnership groups  such as the FBI's InfraGard
chapters in each field office  to persuade companies to report the attacks
directly to FBI agents without public disclosure.

"They need to use a mechanism to report these incidents and vulnerabilities
broadly so they can be fixed, but won't be attributable back to them," Rasch
said.

The survey respondents said they lost at least $455 million as a result of
computer crime, compared with $377 million the previous year. In both surveys,
only about half chose to quantify their losses.

The most serious monetary losses came from the theft of money or proprietary
information, such as blueprints for computer programs, and fraud, such as
failure to deliver services or equipment that have been paid for.

Despite concerns that foreign governments would begin using computer attacks as
a method of terrorism or war, most attacks on American companies still come
from individual hackers and disgruntled employees, the report said.

The survey also addresses the increasing frequency of attacks on Internet
retailers. There have been several reports of thefts of credit card data over
the past year, including some instances in which the thief threatened to
release sensitive data unless the victim paid a ransom.

WorldCom, The New York Times and others have had holes exposed in their Web
security, leading to unwanted intruders.

Thirty-eight percent of the respondents said their Web sites have been broken
into over the past year, and 21 percent said they were not sure. Eighteen
percent reported some sort of theft of transaction information, such as credit
card numbers or customer data, or financial fraud.

Seventy percent of organizations reported online graffiti, usually the simplest
and least damaging type of attack. A graffiti hacker replaces the Web site's
front page with his or her own text and, sometimes, offensive pictures.

Companies are also seeing problems from within. Seventy-eight percent said
their employees abused Internet privileges, including downloading pornography
or pirated software.

___

On the Net:

Computer Security Institute: http://www.gocsi.com

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov
******************
Newsbytes
More Government, Military Databases Left Exposed

For the third time in less than a month, internal databases owned by U.S.
government agencies have been found exposed to anyone with a Web browser. 

The latest government sites that allowed visitors to view private documents
include those operated by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the
Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA), and the U.S.
Navy's Distance Support Anchordesk. 

Two of the vulnerable agencies, DISA and the Navy Anchordesk, are charged with
providing information technology expertise to the Department of Defense,
according to their Web sites. 

Administrators of the sites, all of which were running IBM's Lotus Domino
database software, secured the systems after being notified of the
vulnerabilities Thursday by Kitetoa, a group of French security enthusiasts. 

According to Kitetoa, all three agencies had failed to set proper access
control lists (ACLs) on their Domino databases. 

Spokeswoman Julie Cram said the ITA database contained "proprietary but not
confidential" information and has been taken offline. She said the breach came
while the agency was in the midst of a redesign of its Web site, which includes
new security measures. 

Representatives from DISA and the Navy had no immediate comment on the security
lapses. 

In an interview today, Robert Dacey, director of information security issues at
the General Accounting Office, said information security problems in the
federal government are often the result of management and not technical
weaknesses. 

Most agencies have "stepped up efforts to secure their systems," said Dacey,
"but there are a lot of issues that are increasing the risks, including more
people with intent out there to do something to us as a country as the result
of 9-11." 

Newsbytes confirmed that the insecure DISA server allowed site visitors to
browse through documents in the agency's Joint C4I Program Assessment Tool
(JCPAT) database. 

The purpose of the JCPAT database, according to the DISA site, is to support a
Department of Defense initiative entitled "Interoperability and Supportability
of National Security Systems, and Information Technology Systems." 

DISA is a "combat support agency" and "the preferred provider of integrated
information solutions" to the Department of Defense and other customers,
including the president, according to its site. 

Among the items exposed by the Navy's Distance Support Anchordesk was a
database labeled "Fleet Support Requests." A message at the site described the
Anchordesk as the Navy's "single point of entry to answer technical questions,
solve logistics problems, resolve supply issues, address systemic problems and
improve equipment operability and maintainability." 

Cram said Commerce's ITA site allowed Web surfers to view a database of client
profiles used by the agency's Environmental Technologies Industries (ETI)
office. According to a cached version of the ETI site, which was unreachable
today, ETI assists in the export of U.S. environmental technologies, goods and
services. 

Last week, Kitetoa notified administrators of similar vulnerabilities with
Lotus Domino servers operated by the Commerce Department's STAT-USA/Internet
service, as well as the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory and the Federal Judicial Center. 

In early March, the U.S. House of Representatives committee leading the
investigation into Enron's collapse temporarily took its Web site offline after
Kitetoa informed administrators that internal documents in its Lotus Domino
database were exposed to anyone with a Web browser. 

The GSA's recent testimony on government computer security is at
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02470t.pdf . 

DISA's JCPAT site is at https://jcpat.ncr.disa.mil . 

The Navy Anchordesk is online at http://anchordesk.navy.mil . 

The International Trade Administration site is at http://ita.doc.gov . 

Reported by Newsbytes, http://www.newsbytes.com . 
***************
Government Executive
Contractors aim to win converts on service acquisition reform bill 

Federal contractors are gearing up to promote legislation that would radically
change how the government buys services. But they are already face opposition
from the Defense Department, a government watchdog group and the Office of
Management and Budget. 

The contractors are pushing H.R. 3832, the Services Acquisition Reform Act,
which was introduced by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., in March.


The bill would extend commercial reforms put in place by the 1996 Clinger-Cohen
Act to the field of service contracting, which has been overlooked in previous
acquisition reforms, according to Gary Engebretson, president of the Contract
Services Association. The 1996 act focused on contracting for products. Among
other measures, the bill would exempt certain kinds of service contracts from
stringent acquisition rules, promote share-in-savings pacts, which let
contractors and agencies split savings generated by new innovations, and create
a government-industry exchange program for contracting officials. 


OMB and the Defense Department?s inspector general oppose some of the bill?s
proposals. For example, OMB does not want to make share-in-savings contracts
permanent. The contracts were authorized on a pilot basis for IT projects under
Clinger-Cohen. 


The first step in writing such contracts is to develop a performance baseline..
If contractors exceed this baseline, they are rewarded with a portion of the
savings that result from their performance. But agencies still have trouble
defining the baseline, according to Angela Styles, administrator of the Office
of Federal Procurement Policy at OMB.


?The authority should remain as a pilot for IT until there are demonstrable
benefits,? Styles said at a March 7 hearing of the House Government Reform
Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy, which Davis chairs. ?To
date, we have not seen results.? 


But once OMB realizes how share-in-savings contracts can support its
competitive sourcing agenda, it will extend them, Engebretson said. Under OMB?s
competitive sourcing agenda, agencies will force some 425,000 workers to
compete with contractors for their jobs over the next five years. In his view,
the contracts give agencies an incentive to outsource work by allowing them to
keep part of the savings. ?In order to get the agency to do more outsourcing
and be comfortable with it, there has to be share-in-savings,? he said. 


Davis may add the share-in-savings provision to other legislation, according to
Marin. 

Styles and Defense Department Deputy Inspector General Robert Lieberman also
object to a section of the bill that would allow agencies to award
time-and-material and labor-hour service contracts under the procedures of part
12 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Moving these contracts under
part 12  designed to streamline acquisitions for commonly available goods and
services  would increase their use, a dangerous move because such contracts are
subject to cost overruns, according to Lieberman. 

?We believe the use of these contracts should be discouraged, not expanded,? he
wrote in a March 12 letter to Davis? subcommittee. ?These types of contracts
require a high degree of labor-intensive surveillance and are more susceptible
to cost growth.?


Lieberman said that equally problematic is a section that broadens the category
of commercial services that can be sold to the government under FAR part 12 to
include research and development services. As a result the Defense Department
would have to pay more for the same research currently provided under a
different section of the FAR, he said. 


Engebretson said the provision should be modified so that high-risk,
non-commercial services are not classified as commercial. He is optimistic that
further negotiations will overcome early critics of the bill, but admits that
some organizations might be beyond persuasion. 


The Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, criticized
the bill at the March 7 hearing and observers expect the largest federal
employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees, to oppose the
bill as well. 


?Now we know AFGE is going to try and tear it apart,? said Engebretson. ?But
this really has nothing to do with threatening their members. This is about
improving the contracting process.?


Engebretson, whose group helped write the bill, admits it still needs some fine
tuning and is unlikely to pass by the end of the congressional session. 


?My personal opinion is that we won?t get it through in this Congress,?
Engebretson, said. ?I think it will take another Congress to do it.?


Davis is considering a variety of ways to advance the bill, including attaching
pieces of it to other legislation, according to spokesman David Marin. The
congressman wants his subcommittee to approve the bill before Congress adjourns
for the summer.
****************
Federal Computer Week
Grants to bolster GIS, homeland

In the interest of boosting homeland security, ESRI  one of the leading
companies in the geographic information system field  has set up a $2.3 million
grant program to jump-start GIS initiatives in small cities and help set up
crisis centers for local government agencies. 

The company also will hold seminars on the use of GIS for homeland security in
various cities across the country and will issue a series of white papers
showing how GIS can be used as the backbone of a homeland security plan.

ESRI's GIS technology played a big part in the post-Sept. 11 recovery in New
York City, said Russ Johnson, the company's public safety information manager,
and also showed how cities could prepare better for emergencies by using such
tools as vulnerability analyses.

The grant program, along with the seminars and white papers, are meant as a way
to disperse more broadly the GIS knowledge and tools needed for homeland
security.

"There are a lot of cities of 100,000 population or less that are interested in
using GIS for this, but have no funds to get it started," Johnson said.

A city can earn a grant of GIS software, training and support by proposing a
homeland security process that uses GIS and that ESRI considers "reasonable,"
Johnson said. Grants also are available to 10 local government agencies that
can show they are already moving quickly to establish crisis command and
control centers for first responders.

Both programs were open for applications April 1 and will close Nov. 1. Awards
will be announced in two phases, on June 4 and Nov. 1.

For information on how to apply, go to www.esri.com/govgrants.

*******************
Reuters Internet Report
Overture Sues Google for Patent Infringement 

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Internet advertising company Overture Services
Inc. said Friday it sued search engine Google (news - external web site),
alleging that Google's system for featuring paid advertisements infringes an
Overture patent. 

  
The action follows a lawsuit by Overture, formerly known as goto.com, earlier
this year against a smaller search site called FindWhat.com over the same
issue. 

Overture pioneered the "paid listings" advertising business model, in which
companies buy certain search terms to assure their name will appear when a
consumer enters that term in its search engine. 

While other forms of Internet advertising have floundered, the paid listings
model has flourished as companies seek a relatively inexpensive way to reach a
targeted audience. 

Overture's search results, which lists ads on a variety of terms from "flowers"
to "porn," are featured on several popular Internet sites like AltaVista and
Yahoo. 

Overture, based in Pasadena, California, is profitable and its revenues are
growing rapidly. Recently other search sites have started offering paid
listings as a way to make more money from online advertising. Google, which
operates a popular Internet search engine offering noncommercial results from
all over the Web, also sells paid listings and more recently indicated it was
expanding that part of its business. 

In February, Overture stock suffered a steep decline after the Internet service
provider EarthLink Inc. decided not to renew a partnership with Overture and
signed up with Google instead. 

In a brief statement Friday, Google said that it was not surprised by the
lawsuit but that it had determined it did not "infringe any valid claim" of
Overture. 
***************
Newsbytes
Global Tech Spending Heading Down In 2002 - Study

Despite an ongoing economic recovery in the U.S., worldwide spending on
e-business technologies will decline from 2001 to 2002, according to a study by
Forrester Research [NASDAQ:FORR]. 

The research firm said it queried nearly 900 high-level "IT and business
decision-makers" at "Global 3,500" firms. The average technology budget at
these companies is expected to drop from $41 million in 2001 to $29 million
this year. 

Forrester said spending on technology will drop from an average of 3.5 percent
of revenue last year to 3 percent this year. 

While spending is declining, the amount of revenue companies are generating
online is increasing, Forrester said. Respondents said the Internet accounted
for 5.7 percent of corporate revenues in 2001. That figure is predicted to rise
to 7.3 percent this year. 

"In five years, online revenue will comprise 20 percent of total corporate
revenues," Tom Pohlmann, a senior analyst at Forrester, said in a written
statement. 

According to Pohlmann, many companies are much more "risk-averse" about
purchasing new technologies this year. 

"Most companies will curb the number and types of technology products that they
will consider buying in 2002," he said. 

The study found that corporate business units will have more influence over
technology strategy and direction this year compared to last year. 

Only 26 percent of respondents said their companies will consider buying
enterprise applications - including customer relationship management (CRM),
enterprise resource planning (ERP), procurement or supply chain. Forrester said
that figure was down from 58 percent last year. 

Of the companies surveyed, 61 percent said they will consider purchases of
hardware, software infrastructure or network bandwidth this year. The number of
companies that said they would pay for technology consulting and implementation
services was down 28 percent, Forrester said. 

"Despite the economic downturn, companies still believe technology will make a
huge difference in driving business results," said Pohlmann. 

Forrester Research is at http://www.forrester.com . 

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com . 

******************
Reuters Internet Report
Pedophile Caught in Net Swoop Starts Life Term 

NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) - A convicted pedophile was serving the first
full day of six life sentences Saturday after police tracked him over the Web
in what they said was Britain's first such Internet surveillance operation. 

  
David Randle, 40, was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to six charges
of rape, four of indecent assault and several of taking and distributing
"indecent images" of a young child, police in Nottingham, central England,
said. 

Police tracked Randle down and released his young victim after studying images
of his crimes circulated on the Internet. 

The operation was carried out with Manchester police's Abusive Images Unit
(AIU). 

"(The)...Unit became aware of a series of 14 images in circulation on the
Internet which depicted the serious sexual and physical abuse of a young
child," the police statement said. 

"This is believed to be the first ever UK detection of child abuse from the
Internet based entirely on image analysis." 

The statement said other pedophiles involved with the man have been arrested in
Europe, including one in Germany, but gave no details. 

The investigation, which involved analyzing the images to trace the child's
location and track down the abuser, also had help from Britain's National
Criminal Intelligence Service, Interpol and Europol. 

Randle, of Nottingham, was eventually arrested in January. "The crime scene was
confirmed and the child victim made safe," the statement said. The child was
not identified but media reports said it was a young girl. 

"By examining everyday items such as clothing and interior fixtures we were
able to make certain deductions," Detective Inspector Terry Jones of the AIU
said in the statement. 

"By solely following up these leads we established the geographical location,
the suspect and most importantly the child victim," Jones said. 
****************
Financial Times
Pentagon seeks scrutiny of big foreign deals

The US Defence Department wants all large foreign acquisitions of American
companies to be approved by a secretive national security committee, a move
designed to restrict access to sensitive US technology. 

According to draft legislation written by the Pentagon and obtained by the
Financial Times, all deals with overseas buyers valued at more than $100m would
have to gain approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, an
obscure interagency panel chaired by the Treasury Department and charged with
ensuring foreign acquisitions do not violate US national security. 

The proposal, included in the Bush administration's draft of next year's
defence authorisation bill, was circulated within the administration last week
and has infuriated officials at departments outside the Pentagon - particularly
the Commerce and Treasury Departments - who were apparently not consulted in
the drafting of the measure. 

"This is incredibly ironic, when this is the type of overly broad merger review
that the US has criticised the EU for," said one person familiar with the
dispute. 

Currently, CFIUS depends on a system of voluntary reporting and reviews, on
average, less than 10 per cent of foreign acquisitions each year. But in
addition to requiring reviews of all deals of more than $100m, the legislation
would mandate CFIUS approval on deals where the US company has had any Defense
Department contracts valued at more than $1m over the past three years. It
would also force reviews of any deals involving foreign firms owned or
controlled by a national government. 

There was no comment from the Pentagon, but according to insiders, the Defense
Department attempt ed to slip similar language into post-September 11
legislation several months ago but was foiled at the eleventh hour. 

The latest effort is seen as much more likely to succeed, as it is contained in
a stand-alone bill for approval by Congress, which has been increasingly
acquiescent to Pentagon requests. 

A year ago, CFIUS caused an embarrassing rift between the US and the
Netherlands after it held up Dutch group ASM Lithography's $1.2bn takeover of
American technology company Silicon Valley Group. It led the Dutch foreign
minister to warn of a "blemish" on US-Dutch relations, and ASM was forced to
sell off SVG's highly prized optics division before completing the deal.

********************
Newsbytes
Groups Take Aim At Postal Service's E-Commerce Offerings

Technology and taxpayer groups will stage a rally on Friday in anticipation of
the U.S. Postal Service's "transformation plan," to protest a pending rate hike
as well as the service's controversial e-commerce programs. 

The Computer and Communications Industry Association will join the National
Taxpayers Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and Citizens for a Sound Economy,
among others, in reviewing the plan, which comes on the heels of a General
Accounting Office report that the service lost $1.7 billion in fiscal 2001. 

CCIA and several lawmakers in Congress have expressed uneasiness over the
Postal Service's e-commerce offerings such as "eBill Pay" and electronic funds
transfer services, saying the USPS should not be allowed to compete with
startup e-businesses. 

"These are not proper activities for any government agency to undertake," said
Jason Mahler, vice president and general counsel for CCIA. "There is no
compelling reason for postal service to compete in this area, because there's
just no chance of any new entrants into the market when such a huge entity has
decided to occupy that space." 

"We're hopeful that as they examine their ongoing operations, they'll see this
as something that's extraneous to their core mission and move in other
directions," Mahler said. 

At the rate that many of the service's e-business offerings appear to be losing
money, there are some signs that the Postal Service may do just that when it
submits its transformation plan to Congress on Friday. 

Postal Service officials declined to elaborate on the specifics of the plan.
But according to the GAO report, the USPS projected that their e-commerce
initiatives would generate revenues of $104 million in FY 2001. Through the
first three quarters of 2001, the Postal Service had achieved roughly 1 percent
of that goal, the GAO said. 

Just two weeks ago, the Postal Service discontinued its two-year-old PostECS
international Internet message delivery service. The system allowed users to
digitally transmit and track documents and receive proof of delivery along with
sender and receiver authentication. 

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com . 
**************
Government Computer News
CIO Council issues a portfolio management primer 

By Jason Miller 
GCN Staff


Agencies with established enterprise architectures and agencies that integrate
IT management into their budgeting processes are more likely to succeed at IT
portfolio management than agencies that do not, according to a recent CIO
Council report. 

The Best Practices Committee issued A Summary of First Practices and Lessons
Learned in IT Portfolio Management to help agency officials improve their
capital planning and investment control process. 

The report describes nine lessons learned and includes private industry and
federal case studies for each. 

Officials at agencies with a set federal architecture will better understand IT
investment opportunities and their effects, the study said. Agencies without a
defined architecture should take stock of their systems and their IT projects. 

The report also found that agencies that integrate IT management with their
budget processes have structures and processes for incorporating IT into the
organization?s wide-ranging plans. 

Other subjects in the report cover differences between portfolio and project
management, defining and communicating the objectives of an IT portfolio, and
collecting and analyzing data to assess and fine-tune performance. 

This is the first in a series of publications of examples and practical
guidance for officials to manage and maintain their IT portfolios, the report
said. 

The study can be found at cio.gov. 
***************
Government Executive
Defense awards controversial telecommunications contract 

Nine months after the Defense Department rescinded a high-profile fiber optic
network contract awarded to now-bankrupt telecommunications firm Global
Crossing, the department announced Thursday that telecom giant WorldCom has
been awarded the work, which is valued at up to $450 million. 


The contract, known as the Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN), is
for a high-speed Internet link for more than 5,000 Defense scientists and
engineers across the country. Controversy has surrounded competition for the
contract ever since some of the nation?s biggest telecom firms alleged that
Defense had unfairly awarded the contract to Global Crossing in July. The
losing bidders, AT&T, Sprint, WorldCom and Qwest Communications, charged that
the department relaxed the contract?s terms so that Global, a relative newcomer
to the government market, had a winning advantage. 


The companies protested that Global Crossing and its employees failed to meet
certain security capabilities and clearances spelled out in the government?s
requirements. Officials with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA),
which oversees the contract, rescinded the award to Global Crossing rather than
submit to an audit of the procurement by the General Accounting Office. 


DISA officials have steadfastly denied that terms of the DREN agreement were
eased to favor Global Crossing. A new award announcement was expected on Jan.
25 but never came. Global Crossing declared bankruptcy three days later. DISA
then delayed the contract award once more. In the interim, federal regulators
began investigating Global Crossing?s accounting practices.

Telecom industry insiders had speculated for the last four months that Defense
would still award the contract to Global Crossing. But in the end, those
observers said, the financial and legal heat bearing down on the company was
too much for Defense to stomach. 


Industry executives and analysts had said that winning the prized DREN contract
could have given Global Crossing the financial wherewithal it needed to
continue operating and would have strengthened the company?s reputation in
Washington.


Global Crossing spent considerable amounts of time and money currying political
favor inside the Beltway, and DREN was the firm?s biggest foray into the highly
competitive federal telecom market. Led by Chairman Gary Winnick, a former junk
bonds salesman, the company contributed $2.9 million to political parties and
candidates during the 2000 elections, according to the Center for Responsive
Politics. That figure exceeded the $2.4 million in contributions made the same
year by bankrupt energy trading giant Enron Corp. But while Enron?s donations
tended to favor Republican candidates, Global spread its wealth evenly. In
1998, the firm split $3.6 million almost evenly among Democrats and
Republicans. 


The Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI continue to investigate
whether Global Crossing improperly accounted for sales of space on its massive
undersea network in order to artificially overstate its revenue. Global?s chief
financial officer Dan Cohrs told the House Financial Services Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations in March that the company accounted for those
sales using a model designed by Arthur Andersen, the auditing firm that the
Justice Department has indicted on obstruction charges for shredding documents
related to the accounting work it performed for Enron. 


Rep Billy Tauzin, D-La., has asked Global Crossing executives for all documents
and materials related to its bid for the DREN contract in preparation for an
upcoming hearing that will further examine the company?s accounting practices
and Washington operations. Defense officials had said the department wasn?t
looking into Global Crossing?s accounting standards in its evaluation of the
firm, but company executives confirmed that they had been asked to demonstrate
their financial viability to the government in the wake of the firm?s
bankruptcy filing. 


Natasha Haubold, a WorldCom spokeswoman, said executives at the now victorious
company ?never lost hope? during the DREN imbroglio that the company would
eventually emerge the winner. ?We?re very happy about the news,? she said. 


Last month, Global Crossing Chief Executive Officer John Legere told Government
Executive that the company remained confident that it still had a chance to win
the contract and that the firm had always had ?an inside track.? 


A Global Crossing spokeswoman reached Thursday said the firm had no comment
about Defense?s decision. 
****************
Washington Post
Agency Pushes Digital TV Shift 
FCC's Powell Cites Industry Delays 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell yesterday exerted
new pressure on the television industry to speed the rollout of digital
television, challenging it to meet a set of comprehensive deadlines.

In 1997, Congress mandated that most broadcasters convert to digital signals by
2006 and granted them an estimated $70 billion worth of new television spectrum
to do so. But the promise of digital TV -- sharper pictures, better sound, more
channels and interactive capability -- has been slow to materialize, with
broadcasters and TV makers blaming each other for the sluggish pace of the
changeover.

Broadcasters say manufacturers are dragging their feet in producing the TV sets
consumers need to enjoy digital broadcasts, while television makers say
broadcasters have yet to offer enough shows to make consumers want to buy
digital sets. Also slowing the rollout is the fact that many cable and
satellite television franchises are still upgrading their systems for digital
content.

Powell's proposals, the FCC said, are designed to put an end to the industry
bickering by giving all participants goals to meet.

The chairman urged the four major networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox -- as well
as the HBO and Showtime cable channels, to digitally broadcast at least half of
their prime-time schedules for this fall's season. The chairman also asked
network affiliate stations in the 100 largest U.S. cities to upgrade their
equipment to receive and broadcast digital signals by Jan. 1, 2003.

Powell wants cable providers and satellite companies, such as Comcast, Echostar
and DirecTV, to carry some digital programs by Jan. 1 at no additional cost to
subscribers. Finally, Powell suggested rollout dates over the next four years
for television manufacturers to step up production of sets that include digital
tuners, as well as set-top boxes for older TVs that process the digital signal.

Digital broadcast signals paired with digital televisions would allow viewers
to watch high-definition programs, see more channels and use their sets in
interactive ways, such as clicking their remote control to buy products shown
on the screen.

In addition to providing clearer, sharper pictures and sound, digital signals
allow broadcasters to send multiple programs on the same channel. For example,
during the recent NCAA men's basketball tournament, a CBS affiliate station in
Indianapolis carried four games on one channel, allowing viewers to switch
among games.

CBS sends out digital broadcasts of all of its prime-time comedies and dramas
and several sporting events, such as the upcoming Master's golf tournament. ABC
also broadcasts several shows digitally, while NBC and Fox do some.

Prices for high-definition digital television sets generally range from about
$900 to $7,000. Set-top conversion boxes typically range from $700 to $1,000.

Powell's proposals are the most vigorous yet from a chairman of the FCC, which
had been chided for not aggressively enforcing the rollout mandate. The
proposals are the result of several months of meetings between industry
representatives, lawmakers and the FCC's Digital Television Task Force, an
intra-agency group set up this past October.

In 1997, the FCC ordered network affiliate stations in the country's 10 largest
cities to begin broadcasting digitally over the next two years. The National
Association of Broadcasters estimates it will cost the nation's 1,600
television stations $10 million each to convert to digital.

Along with the proposals, Powell wrote letters to Sen. Ernest F. Hollings
(D-S.C.) and Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.), key figures in the mandated
changeover. The plan "is intended to provide an immediate spur to the
transition by giving consumers a reason to invest in digital technology today,
while we continue to work on resolving the longer-term issues," Powell wrote.

Additionally, he wrote: "The plan is purely voluntary but, as you can see,
contemplates that each relevant industry will play a significant role. I intend
to seek commitments along these lines in the near future."

The FCC said the chairman does not have specific enforcement measures in mind
if the participants do not meet his goals.

Martin Frank, executive vice president of CBS, applauded Powell's proposals,
saying they hopefully will end the bickering that has delayed the conversion to
digital TV.

"I give Powell a lot of credit for using the bully pulpit," Franks said.
"There's been enough arguing about whose fault it is."

Robert Iger, president of Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ABC, said in a
statement, " . . . the ABC television network hereby accepts your challenge to
provide HDTV programming for at least 50 percent of our prime time schedule
beginning with the 2002-2003 season."

Gene Kimmelman, senior director of Consumers Union, an advocacy group,
expressed guarded optimism about the plan.

"The real question is whether any voluntary plan will lead to joint action
across industry segments," he said. "Up until now, they've been playing chicken
with each other."

Powell's plan drew a mixed review from the National Cable & Telecommunications
Association, which said in a statement: "Chairman Powell has put forward some
thought-provoking proposals, several of which the cable industry is already
actively working to accomplish. Other of Chairman Powell's proposals warrant
further study."
******************
Associated Press
Company to Sell Implantable Chip 

WASHINGTON - A company plans to begin selling a computer ID chip that can be
embedded beneath people's skin, now that the Food and Drug Administration (news
- web sites) has said it will not regulate the implant as long as it contains
no medical data.

  
Applied Digital Solutions Inc. designed the VeriChip  about the size of a grain
of rice  to hold information that could be read with special electronic
scanners. The company has touted the chip as a potential way to hold a person's
medical records or security codes.

Applied Digital had held off sales pending discussions with the FDA of whether
an implanted chip would be considered a medical device. If the chip solely
provides identification, it needs no FDA clearance, the agency confirmed
Thursday  advice officials have long given others developing ID for tracking
children, prisoners or workers with top-security clearances.

But, "if they put medical records in, we would be concerned about the use,"
said the FDA's medical device chief, Dr. David Feigal, who made clear that the
agency could step in at that point.

If someone is unconscious in an emergency room and implanted medical records
are outdated, that could be more dangerous than if doctors had no information,
he said. Feigal urged companies considering such health-related implants to
consult with the FDA.

For now, the VeriChip will bear only an identification number, said David
Hughes of Technology Sourcing International, a consulting firm helping Applied
Digital in its discussions with the FDA. But that ID code could be
cross-referenced with a database to detail any kind of information.

The company said production would begin immediately.

VeriChip emits a radio signal and has been derided by some for its "Big
Brother" implications. Applied Digital has said it could prove invaluable in
emergency situations when someone is either unconscious or cannot otherwise
give information.

VeriChip is expected to sell for about $200. A scanner used to read information
contained in the chip would cost between $1,000 and $3,000. A doctor would
insert the chip with a large needle-like device.

Shares of Applied Digital rose 4 cents, or 8 percent, to 52 cents in late
trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
******************
Newsbytes
Movie Distributors Win Injunction In Online Previews Case

A U.S. District Court has granted a request for a preliminary injunction by
Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Miramax Film Corporation against video
preview company Video Pipeline. 

Last week, Judge Jerome Simandle, of the U.S. District Court for the District
of New Jersey, agreed with Buena Vista and Miramax's contention that
Haddonfield, N.J.-based Video Pipeline should cease streaming videoclip
compilations that copied scenes from Disney and Miramax movies. 

Buena Vista, a division of the Walt Disney Co. [NYSE:DIS], is the distributor
of home video versions of Disney movies. It also is the exclusive distributor
of Miramax's home videos. 

According to court records, Video Pipeline first drew the ire of the two
studios when it used movie trailers on the Internet. On Sept. 13, 2000, Buena
Vista told Video Pipeline that it did not have permission to use
studio-supplied trailers online, and requested that they be removed from Video
Pipeline's site immediately. 

The court said Video Pipeline returned the previews to Buena Vista, but then
made its own versions of "clip previews" from copies of videos of Buena Vista's
copyrighted motion pictures owned by its retailer clients. 

The clip previews are described as about 120 seconds in length, starting with
the Disney or Miramax trademark, followed by the film's title, two or more
scenes from the movie, then a repeat of the title. 

In the studios' request for a preliminary injunction, Buena Vista and Miramax
said Video Pipeline had created 62 clip previews, including such movies as
"Fantasia," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Pretty Woman." 

Simandle said movies and home videos enjoy "generous" protection under
copyright law, but the rise of the Internet as an online location for market
transactions, "has changed the traditional scheme of these exchanges and
provides the backdrop for this case." 

In framing the two sides' arguments, Simandle said Buena Vista and Miramax
allege that Video Pipeline's online streaming of clip previews to video
retailers violates Section 106 of the Copyright Act. Video Pipeline, on the
other hand, alleges that its clip previews do not infringe the copyrights of
the motion pictures in question. 

Video Pipeline claimed protection under the "first sale" doctrine under Section
109(a) of the Copyright Act, and by the "fair use" doctrine under Section 107
of the Copyright Act, the judge said. 

The Video Software Dealers Association and the National Association of
Recording Merchandisers filed Amicus Curiae, or "friend of the court," briefs
in support of Video Pipeline. The two trade organizations argued that the
public interest is served by receiving more knowledge about a movie prior to
purchase or rental. 

Video Pipeline further argued that Buena Vista and Miramax were attempting to
control the video retail market. 

In siding with the studios, Simandle rejected Video Pipeline's assertion of
control, based on his finding that Buena Vista and Miramax did not engage in
"egregious anti-competitive practices, such as overly restrictive clauses in
the parties' agreements, that are outside the bounds of protection granted to
it under the Copyright Act." 

The court rejected Video Pipeline's contention that the retailers' First
Amendment right to free expression would be restricted if the preliminary
injunction were granted. Simandle said copyright laws are not restrictions on
speech, and added the "public interest is also served by upholding the rights
of copyright owners." 

In deciding whether to grant an injunction, Simandle said a federal court judge
considers four factors: the likelihood of success on the merits; whether the
moving party would be irreparably harmed if it is not granted; the likelihood
of irreparable harm to the non-moving party; and whether the injunction serves
the public interest. 

Simandle concluded that the studios demonstrated a likelihood of success on the
merits, would suffer irreparable injury if the injunction was not granted, and
the public interest would be served by granting it. 

In contrast, Video Pipeline is, "unable to demonstrate any irreparable injury
that would result if an injunction were to issue," he wrote in his decision. 

Disney spokeswoman Michelle Bergman told Newsbytes the company is, "gratified
that the court recognized that the public interest is served by upholding the
rights of copyright owners." 

"This is a complete victory, not only for Disney, but for all those who rely on
copyright law to protect their creative works," Bergman added. 

Officials at Video Pipeline were unavailable for comment after business hours. 

Disney is at http://www.disney.com . 

Miramax is at http://www.miramax.com . 

Video Pipeline is at http://videopipeline.com . 
******************
Associated Press
RI Mayor Snatches Web Site Domains 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Miffed at a critical Web site calling for his resignation,
Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. has snatched the rights to Internet domain sites
registered in the names of prominent journalists.

  
Cianci said Wednesday that he paid $35 apiece for domains such as
jimtaricani.com, named after WJAR-TV's veteran political reporter, and
johndepetro.com, a radio talk-show host who frequently criticizes Cianci.

The mayor said he did it to prove a point: "To show how easy it is to take
someone's name and trade off it."

Last week, Cianci threatened legal action against the creator of
BuddyCianci.com, a Web site that uses his nickname. The site, sponsored by
Rhode Island Citizens for Ethical Government, is a sounding board for those who
think the mayor should step down.

Cianci was indicted last April on racketeering charges in an alleged City Hall
kickback scheme. He has denied wrongdoing.

Cianci's lawyer, Joshua Teverow, said the citizen's group can say whatever it
wants, but they can't use the mayor's name to do it.

"He doesn't have a legal leg to stand on, and it sounds like he's got his dance
card full," said Harold A. Meyer III, the creator of the Web site. "Buddy
Cianci has been our best publicist so far."

As for the journalists, Cianci said he'll sell them back their domain names for
$35  at least to those he considers "true journalists."

DePetro wondered whether the mayor's barbs were an attempt at subtle witness
intimidation. He has been subpoenaed to testify in mid-April about evidence
leaks in the racketeering case.

"I'm also just amazed that with two weeks before his federal trial, that he is
concerned with juvenile hijinks concerning me," DePetro said.
****************
Washington Post
One Alternative to Bloated, Pricey Microsoft Office 

Microsoft Office is cheap to use -- until you actually have to buy a copy.

That is, for the millions of users who get the productivity suite bundled with
new computers, Office appears to cost nothing. Many others get Office "free" by
taking a copy home from their workplace to install on their own PC.

But a fresh copy will cost you: $479 at the new-user rate, $239 if you're
upgrading from an older version.

Office users pay in ways beyond money, too. Office is a monstrously overbuilt
bundle of code, weighed down by a surplus of options most people never use. One
of those, its macro capability for automated operation, has made Office one of
virus authors' favorite targets.

There should be some sort of alternative -- especially for users who never use
any high-end Office features but still need to read the Office documents
everybody else sends them. But what?

The major commercial competitors to Office, Corel's WordPerfect Office and
Lotus's SmartSuite, also cost a fair amount (nearly $400 for a new user and
about $150 for an upgrade). Both of these suites, unlike Microsoft Office
itself, run only on Windows in their latest releases.

The open-source world has produced a few free Office-compatible suites, but
they, in turn, don't run on either Windows or the Mac OS.

ThinkFree Office, a $50 product from a Cupertino, Calif., developer
(www.thinkFree.com), would seem to bridge this gap. Written in Sun Microsystems'
Java programming language, it runs on Windows, the Mac OS and Linux. For that
price, you can download and install the program on as many computers, in as
many locations, as you want. You also get one year of access to ThinkFree's
CyberDrive, a 20-megabyte Web file-storage service.

After a year, you can pay $30 annually for continued CyberDrive use and
software updates. But any installed copy of ThinkFree will keep working without
a subscription.

I tried out ThinkFree as an Office alternative this week, using its
word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications (Write, Calc and
Show) instead of Office's Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

ThinkFree is easy to get started on, thanks to a near-lookalike interface that
keeps most commands where Microsoft users expect to find them. I didn't miss
most of the Microsoft extras this suite omitted for simplicity's sake -- except
the built-in thesaurus and the feature that flags possible misspellings.

ThinkFree Office also had few problems reading Microsoft Office files.
ThinkFree opened every Word file I threw at it, failing to handle only
Microsoft's revision-tracking option. It worked almost as well with Excel
documents, but it often lost headers and footers, the text at top or bottom
showing page numbers, dates, company logos and the like, in PowerPoint files.

Printing was another story. Word files printed from ThinkFree came out with
weird, unbalanced character spacing and too much air between lines of text.

This feat of partial mimicry wasn't pretty to watch, either. ThinkFree quickly
bogged down if given too many tasks and sometimes just froze, forcing me to
shut it down and lose whatever work I hadn't saved.

Opening and saving files was particularly slow on my work PC, where the "save
as" dialogue box once took more than three minutes to appear. (The company
suggested that might result from how the program detects networked drives.)

ThinkFree's Write -- the application I used most often -- also couldn't keep up
with some rapid-fire editing. And bogus, blank lines showed up whenever I
pasted more than one line of text from Write into another program.

With these flaws in mind, using ThinkFree evoked a strange sort of admiration:
I was pleased that the developers had gotten this thing to work, even though I
didn't always appreciate the fruit of their labors.

Likewise, the CyberDrive file-storage option (which required tweaking to work
over my office firewall) is intriguing but not necessarily useful. It makes the
most sense with broadband access at home and at work, where you could store all
your work online and forget about having to transfer documents back and forth.

ThinkFree's cross-platform compatibility isn't quite as complete as advertised.
The Mac and Linux releases are still at Version 1.7, while the Windows edition
is at 2.0. That doesn't sound like a huge gap until you notice that -- oops --
the 1.7 version of ThinkFree Write has no word-count function. 

The company says it will ship a 2.0 version of ThinkFree Office for Mac OS X in
the next few weeks, with an updated Linux version, based on the new, faster 1.4
version of Sun's Java "virtual machine" code, coming later.

I'd like to see how these new versions look and feel before committing my own
money to this product. Right now, it's too slow and too buggy.

But I hope there is room for a program like this: Office is overkill for most
users.

Consider the Office files I used to test ThinkFree's compatibility -- documents
I've received in e-mail from friends, co-workers, contributors and publicists
over the past few years.

Most of the Word files would have looked no different as "rich text format"
documents. Nearly all of the Excel files were nothing more than glorified
tables. Almost every PowerPoint presentation amounted to a minimally
illustrated, bullet-point list, and some only consisted of a single graphic on
a page.

It's a waste to use $480 worth of Office suite for such simple work. But it's
not a surprise either. To paraphrase what others have said: When Microsoft
Office is your only hammer, pretty much everything begins to look like a nail.
Or a thumb.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro at rob@xxxxxxxx 
*******************
Los Angeles Times
Giving Disabled a Voice
Small firms make most of the devices that enable people to speak and use a
computer.
By DAVID COLKER
TIMES STAFF WRITER

April 8 2002

Physicist Stephen Hawking owes his voice to Words-Plus, a Lancaster company
that makes communication devices for the disabled. Lou Gehrig's disease long
ago robbed him of speech, but the use of a highly sensitive pressure switch
hooked into a specially designed word processor has allowed Hawking not only to
write his best-selling "A Brief History of Time" but also to send e-mail,
lecture and hold conversations often spiced with his sarcastic humor.

Words-Plus devices have had a similarly liberating effect for thousands of
people worldwide, making the company one of the big-time players in the field
of technology for the disabled.

But Words-Plus has fewer than 30 employees and last year had annual revenue of
just $2.9 million--or about 4% of Microsoft Corp.'s average daily revenue in
its 2000-2001 fiscal year. Although the 33 million severely disabled people in
the United States make up more than 12% of the population, the firms that
enable the blind to surf the Web and quadriplegics to use a computer mouse are
primarily small operations with few employees.

Words-Plus is among the few publicly traded companies, part of Simulations Plus
Inc., which also produces pharmaceutical software.

"To put it frankly, there are not enough disabled people to make it worthwhile
for the big companies to get involved," said Larry Israel, executive director
of the Assistive Technology Industry Assn. "It's just not a big enough market."

At a recent trade show of high-tech companies serving the disabled, there were
so many exhibitors that the ballrooms of two hotels had to be used, with a
shuttle bus running between them. But with rare exception they were small, even
mom-and-pop companies. Some of the big names in electronics donated funds and
equipment to the show, organized by Cal State Northridge's Center on
Disabilities, but few had products on display.

The severely disabled are a highly segmented group, making them a difficult
target for a firm interested in mass markets. A company that makes products for
the partially blind is not likely to also manufacture devices for the deaf or
those in wheelchairs.

"The total industry just in augmentative communications, which is what we do,
is only on the order of $50 million a year," said Words-Plus founder and Chief
Executive Walter Woltosz. "If it was one company doing $50million, that would
still be a tiny industry in the eyes of Wall Street."

And the industry is service intensive. "Almost nothing except for a little part
is sold over the phone or through mail order," said Ron Creeley, marketing vice
president at Words-Plus.

The company and its competitors sell units that are highly customized through
meetings with clients and speech pathologists.

A Words-Plus setup, including a rugged laptop computer, can cost as much as
$11,000. The relationship with the client does not end there.

"The support requirements are tremendous," Woltosz said. "If someone has a
problem, it will probably be the caregiver who calls, and that person might not
be all that familiar with computers. A call can take a long, long time.

"There are customers we have lost money on because of all the support time.
It's another reason the big companies don't want to deal with this. They leave
it to the boutique companies."

Some of the products most prized by the disabled were not even made with them
in mind.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a voice-recognition program that works with
impressive accuracy. "People who are not able to type love this program," said
Jorge Sanchez, who does training at the Westchester-based nonprofit Computer
Access Center, which matches disabled people with appropriate technology.

"But it was meant for doctors and lawyers who wanted to dictate without a
secretary."

ScanSoft Inc., which makes the program, doesn't mention uses by the disabled on
its Web site.

Some firms that make products expressly for the disabled got into the field by
accident.

Origin Instruments Co. was founded in the late 1980s in a Houston suburb by two
former aerospace engineers--Melvin Dashner and Steve Bain--who wanted to market
an infrared tracking device.

"My partner was fooling around with the device to try and figure out how to
show its abilities," Dashner said, "and he made a computer mouse that could be
controlled with his head."

It consisted of an infrared unit, atop a computer monitor, that bounced an
invisible beam off a reflective strip Bain stuck to his forehead.

This "head mouse" was a novelty until Dashner heard a local radio program about
a group that provides computers for the disabled. He showed them the mouse and
an industry was born. Dashner would not disclose the income of the private
company, but he said the head mouse accounts for about half of it.

John Duganne III, who has cerebral palsy, uses the device daily. With a
reflective dot affixed to the end of his nose, Duganne can pick out letters
from an on-screen keyboard and draw graphics.

Duganne, 31, has a degree in animation from CalArts. The tracking device "got
me through school," he said.

But it did not get him a job--Duganne has not been able to find work in his
field. It's a situation that is not unusual, said Woltosz of Words-Plus. Even
the Americans With Disabilities Act--ratified in 1990 to make workplaces and
public areas accessible to the disabled--was not a help to many of the severely
disabled looking for employment.

"It was good for people with acquired disabilities," said Woltosz, referring to
those who already had jobs when they became disabled.

He said his company has outfitted devices for people in that situation at
several companies and institutions--including Intel, Shell and NASA--to help
them get back to work.

But it will take much more than technology to get those disabled at birth or a
young age into appropriate jobs.

"You can have all the devices, but if someone who is severely disabled goes
into a job interview with a resume on the back of a wheelchair," said Woltosz,
"it's very tough."
*******************
USA Today
HDTV advocates join copy-protection fray

The CD-burning, TV-recording public is about to get a stronger voice in the
intense debate over the future of entertainment and technology.

Forming this week at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las
Vegas: a high-definition-TV advocacy group spearheaded by HDTV Magazine
publisher Dale Cripps and editor in chief Howard Barton and communications
attorney Tedson Meyers.

The group reflects the concerns of HDTV owners, many of whom are upset about
the slow flow of high-definition broadcasts and the threat of new copy
protection measures that could erode the usefulness of the more than 2 million
expensive sets sold to date.

Early adopters "feel a little bit knifed in the back, and I don't blame them,"
Cripps says. The group, which expects to announce its name and plans later this
week, will lobby Congress and educate consumers about HDTV's benefits.

Less than a month ago, another advocacy group, DigitalConsumer.org, was formed
by a Palo Alto, Calif.-based group of technology entrepreneurs and executives.
They hope to get Congress to pass a consumer "bill of rights."

"We are trying to change the nature of the debate, because Hollywood has framed
it as 'You are either in the camp of the pirates or in the camp of Hollywood,'
" says co-founder Joe Kraus, who also founded the Web portal Excite.com. "There
is a difference between copying and piracy. Making a copy of a song from your
CD to take to the gym or in your car is not piracy."

The movie industry is pressing for strong anti-copy protection to prevent
piracy. Proponents say such protection would spur the digital TV transition.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell last week proposed
voluntary measures for broadcasters, cable and satellite operators to speed the
transition. And last month, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., introduced
legislation to require broadcasters, studios and equipment makers to develop
anti-piracy standards within a year to be incorporated into all home
entertainment equipment and PCs.

Lack of such an agreement, Hollings says, has hampered the development of
receiving equipment and quality content. Hollywood is concerned that movies and
TV shows will get "Napstered" as more homes gain high-speed Net access.
"Broadband entices and allows piracy of films and TV programs on a massive,
unprecedented scale," Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association
of America, said at congressional hearings in February.

But consumer advocates argue that movie studios and the music industry are
looking for a way to reduce consumers' traditional abilities to record music
and video that they purchase or receive for portability or backup.

The HDTV group is concerned about a proposal to let studios downgrade
high-definition signals received by equipment that doesn't include new copy
protections  that is, most equipment sold to date  to deter piracy. Other
initiatives could prevent time-shifting and archiving of programs.

Unless consumers get involved, new laws and technological measures will
adversely affect how they watch TV and listen to music, Kraus says.
"Historically, this has been a debate between the electronics companies and
Hollywood. Consumers aren't in the room."
*****************
USA Today
Falwell says parody site violates his trademark

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP)  The Rev. Jerry Falwell claims a Web site that spoofs his
views on the Bible and his fund-raising methods violates a trademark of his
name.

Falwell filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization
against the owner of the site which can be accessed at www.jerryfalwell.com and
www.jerryfallwell.com.

Falwell and The Liberty Alliance  a nonprofit organization affiliated with
Jerry Falwell Ministries  own the site www.falwell.com.

A section of the Web site called "How to follow the Bible" has an open letter
to Falwell, referring to his citation of biblical passages that speak against
homosexuality.

It asks Falwell to explain how other passages from the Bible should be
followed: "I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for
her?"

The complaint, filed in November, says the parody site violates a "common-law
trademark" of his name.

In a response filed last week, the site's owner, Gary Cohn of Highland Park,
Ill., says Falwell's name isn't entitled to trademark protection since he
hasn't used it "to identify certain goods and services."

Falwell "is trying to shut down a noncommercial Internet site that makes fun of
him for blaming the Sept. 11 bombing of American landmarks on the supposed
moral decline of America, and quotes the Bible at Falwell in the exact same way
that Falwell likes to quote it at other people," Cohen wrote.

The WIPO, based in Geneva, Switzerland, will appoint a three-person panel to
decide the case.

In the 1980s, Falwell sued Hustler publisher Larry Flynt over an off-color
parody in the magazine. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Flynt, saying that
even extreme forms of parody are protected by the First Amendment.
**************
USA Today
Chatty washer to give Maytag man run for money

CLEVELAND (Reuters)  Swedish appliance maker Electrolux has introduced a
washing machine in India that can communicate to its users in two languages.

Electrolux has begun selling its "Washy Talky" washing machine in that country
this month, the first market for the chatty washer.

The machine, the latest attempt by appliance makers to add high-tech features
in order to attract customers, uses a microcomputer to sense the weight of the
wash load, and automatically decides the best wash program, required water
level and wash time.

It can also voice simple instructions like "drop detergent, close lid and
relax," the company said in a news release from its U.S. headquarters in
Cleveland.

The current version speaks with a "warm female voice" in both English and
Hindi, the company said. It can also tell you if an error has been made by
saying things like "please close the lid."

The machine, developed in India, will be marketed under the Electrolux Kelvin
brand name there.

A U.S. spokesman said it has not been decided whether the machine will be sold
elsewhere.
*****************
Federal Computer Week
VA awards 'peach' of a contract

The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a $1.3 billion hardware and software
follow-on contract April 3 to four prime contractors in a move to standardize
equipment and drive down prices.

The Procurement of Computer Hardware and Software-2 (PCHS-2) contract, commonly
called "peaches," has a one-year base period with four one-year options.
Winning vendors include Compaq Computer Corp., Micron Government Computer
Systems LLC, GTSI Corp. and PlanetGov Inc.

"This contract offers us competition on every offering and gives us the
opportunity to buy at the absolute best price," said John Gauss, the chief
information officer at VA.

Gauss said the contract would allow the VA to spread its contracting needs
across multiple vendors, "who will be selling us standard configurations, which
fit in nicely with enterprise architecture."

The first PCHS contract was awarded in 1997 to Compaq's federal unit and Micron
Government Computer Systems, with a potential value of $741 million to each. So
far, the VA has done more than $631 million worth of business through the
contract.

While PCHS-2 looks like the older version of the procurement vehicle, Ray
Bjorklund, a vice president at market research firm Federal Sources Inc., said
it is important to see how the VA intends to use the contract.

"It's not so important that it's an old contract but what you do [with it] and
how you build a new enterprise architecture contract," Bjorklund said.

The contract will include information technology solutions, networks, security,
health care automation, software, e-business, online documentation and other
systems such as wireless technology and imaging.

The VA said that as the agency's enterprise architecture evolves, "changes may
be necessary in the products offered to ensure compliance with enterprise
architecture-approved initiatives."
****************

Federal Computer Week
Alaskan educators pair with Palm

By next year, Alaskan school officials want every public and private school
principal, superintendent, and administrator statewide to have a handheld
device so they could spend more time with students, faculty and colleagues.

Through a partnership with Palm Inc., educators can purchase the company's m500
Handheld at a reduced price and get free training. So far, about 300 people
have been trained in using the devices. In some places, all teachers and
administrators, such as the 150 educators at Lower Kuskokwim School District,
are using handheld devices. 

"It's going like wildfire," said Roxy Kohler, program manager for the Alaska
Staff Development Network (ASDN), a 20-year-old statewide, nonprofit
partnership among the state's 53 school districts, its state education
department, its universities and colleges and other education associations.

The handheld devices integrate documents, conference and meeting notes and
minutes, student databases, medical data, and student and teacher assessments,
she said.

"The search feature allows the user to look up a student or parent by name,
date, miscellaneous notes they may have made, etc., to allow fast access to the
information, without having to dig through piles of papers that may be six
months or more old," she said. "It organizes information as well as makes
information accessible instantly." 

A year ago, ASDN (www.asdn.org) and University of Alaska Anchorage informally
convened a 20-person "brainstorming team" to see what technologies worked and
come up with new ideas. They said handheld devices might be a way for school
administrators to maximize their time with students and colleagues without
being bogged down in the office.

ASDN approached Palm about a collaboration and the company jumped at the
chance, Kohler said. Palm donated a three-day intensive workshop to train
"certified Palm trainers"  20 Alaskan educators who travel throughout the state
to train others. Users get two levels of training: one to get them started and
another to show how they can integrate the device with their school systems.

"[Palm's] staff has given us numerous hours of assistance with setting up new
deals, helping with ideas of other training, and solving problems with training
educators in Alaska," she said. A separate Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
grant helps pay for some educators to get training, she added.

Technology plays a huge role in Alaska, she said adding that a majority of the
state's 480 schools are located in rural areas, but most have computers.

"This alone has saved our leaders time and energy and allowed them more time in
the classroom, halls, and other places to be with students and teacher, to be
more effective," Kohler said.
*****************
Federal Computer Week
Border station tests insect-ID tech

A California border inspection station has successfully tested digital imaging
technology to identify insects found on trucks bringing agricultural products
into the state. The test could lead to other border stations using similar
equipment in two years.

In the 30-day pilot program that ended in February, high-tech equipment
transmitted images of insects from the Blythe Station, located near the state's
border with Arizona, to scientists who identified the creatures and determined
whether they are harmless or destructive, said Larry Cooper, a spokesman for
the California Department of Food and Agriculture (www.cdfa.ca.gov).

"When a truck comes in and we find insects on that truck and we're not sure
what they are or suspect they could be economically damaging insects, we test
them," he said. 

"We take a sample of that insect, put it under a microscope, and digitally send
that picture directly to our scientists at our state laboratory in Sacramento,"
he continued. "They immediately can identify and tell the border station within
an hour if that pest is economically damaging and what it is."

He said the identification procedure normally holds up shipments for days
because the insect itself would have to be sent to Sacramento for evaluation.
Cooper said if the insects are found to be harmless, then the trucks can
proceed to their destination. But if the pests are found to be economically
damaging, then the drivers can either return to the place of origin or fumigate
the trucks.

California has 16 border stations, and Blythe is the busiest, Cooper said. At
that station, about 20 truckloads a month are tested and proceed, while another
20 return to their state of origin rather than wait for testing and about eight
to 10 fumigate their loads rather than wait for the results.

Cooper said the equipment used in the pilot program costs about $23,000 and
consists of a set of microscopic Nikon Inc. lenses provided by Burlingame,
Calif.-based Technical Instrument San Francisco; a Diagnostic Instruments Inc.
Spot RT color zoom camera; and a Compaq Computer Corp. system. Depending on the
budget, the department hopes to equip each station within the next two years.
******************
New York Times
Blind Audience Is Aided by Audio Technology

The major television networks rolled out technology last week that allows the
blind to follow the action on television by listening to a narrator describe
what is happening.

The Federal Communications Commission approved rules for such video description
in 2000 as part of a broad plan to make telecommunications and technology like
wireless phones more accessible to people with disabilities. Of the 54 million
such people in the United States, 8 million to 12 million have severely
impaired vision.

The technology allows the user to turn on a secondary audio channel, on which a
narrator describes the action during pauses in the dialogue. (All televisions
made in the United States since the early 1990's have such a channel.) 

The F.C.C. rules required network-affiliated broadcasters in the top 25 markets
to begin providing the service on April 1, with roughly four hours a week of
either prime-time or children's programming. Cable systems and satellite
operators with 50,000 or more subscribers began narrating shows last week on
their most popular networks.

On March 31, Fox was the first to enter the game, adding spoken description to
"The Simpsons." Officials at Fox were assisted by WGBH, a public station in
Boston. 

In the opening segment of every episode, Bart Simpson appears in a school
classroom, apparently serving detention. The video description narrator
explains: "In a cartoon, words float through clouds. Inside Springfield
Elementary School, Bart writes on a chalkboard: `I will not bite the hand that
feeds me Butterfingers.' "

Later, a narrator sets up a scene in which the family's bumbling patriarch,
Homer Simpson, keeps his wife, Marge, awake with loud snoring. "As Homer's
snoring shakes the house, Marge lies wide awake next to him. On the night stand
an alarm clock and a lamp wobble. Marge covers her face with her pillow." And
so on.

Blind advocates of video description say the narration helps bridge what they
can hear and what many others have always seen. 
*****************
New York Times
Credit Cards That Beep for Attention

Credit cards are ubiquitous, and so are taxis in big cities. So why hasn't
anyone put the two together?

Amos Tamam figures the time has come. He has received a patent for a system
that allows people to pay cab fare with the swipe of a credit card. Mr. Tamam
says his invention would also make it possible for those who leave cellphones,
umbrellas, purses and other belongings in taxis to have an immediate record of
the cab's medallion or other identifying number.

Mr. Tamam, who lives in Great Neck, N.Y., designed a system that uses a
conventional taxi meter connected to a credit card reader and a wireless modem.
The modem links the system to the credit card's financial institution, where
the account is authenticated and the charge approved. The system, which could
accept credit, debit, smart or private banking cards, would also have a receipt
printer. 

The fare for distance traveled plus idling time would be displayed on the
meter, as is the usual practice in most taxi fleets. In places like Washington,
where fares are calculated by travel in or between geographic zones, the driver
and passenger would agree on the stated charge. Any tolls or other charges like
those for extra luggage could be added to the total. 

The passenger or the driver would then swipe the rider's card through the card
reader. The passenger could use a keyboard to add a tip to the total fare. 

"The approval or denial from the financial institution typically takes less
than 10 seconds," Mr. Tamam writes in his patent.

Once the charge is approved, the printer will provide a receipt of the fare and
tip, along with other transaction data that could prove useful. 

Harried taxi passengers who forget belongings in taxis rarely remember the
license number or the driver's name from the taxi they took. By the same token,
drivers who find lost items usually do not know the name of the last person who
rode in the cab. Mr. Tamam says with his system, both passengers and drivers
will have a record of taxi travel that can be used to match lost items with
their owners. 

The system can "contain different standard messages" about lost and found
items, the patent says. A passenger can report a lost item to the fleet owner,
the local taxi commission or other officials. Those agencies can then send a
message to the relevant driver. The message system will also work in reverse,
so a driver can report lost items. 

The wireless modem can also connect the system to a taxi company's base, with
other taxis or to the Internet. In that case, Mr. Tamam envisions that each
taxi will have its own Internet address, so messages or data can be relayed
among cabs via the Web.

Finally, Mr. Tamam says his system documents and reconciles driving records for
taxi fleets. A summary of credit card transactions would include the fare,
tolls and tips, the time and date of travel and miles driven. Cabbies could use
the system to generate a report of the day's total fares and to reconcile
credit card charges. Mr. Tamam received patent No. 6,347,739. 

Which Card to Use?
Listen for the Beep

Competition among the financial institutions that issue credit cards is fierce,
and one of the biggest rivalries involves customer loyalty. The card companies
want people to use just one credit card every time they open their wallets, no
matter how many cards they carry. 

So the institutions offer myriad enticements or awards for using cards  like
cash-back bonuses or frequent flier miles for every dollar spent. They also
issue cards with distinct physical attributes like a holder's picture, images
of an alma mater or theme illustrations like wildlife, celebrities or art
scenes. 

But three inventors at Walker Digital in Stamford, Conn., say those gimmicks
are not enough to remind card holders to use a specific credit card. 

Instead, they have patented a card with a sensor that triggers a circuit to
flash lights or beep sounds to attract attention when that wallet is opened. 

Because the patent does not belong to a financial institution, it presumably
could be licensed to more than one maker of credit, debit or smart cards. That
might leave a consumer who agreed to accept such cards with a wallet full of
beeping, flashing plastic.
The invention relies on a sensor in the card that detects physical changes
around it. 

"The predefined physical change may be, for example, a change in ambient light,
pressure, or noise," the Walker patent says. "Components for sensing these
types of physical change can include a solar cell, pressure sensor or a
microphone." 

The card can then emit "different tones or phrases" or "intermittent pulses of
light or light pulses produced according to a predetermined pattern." The
system would be powered by a solar cell or a thin film lithium battery. A
switch would allow the system to be set for sound or light. 

The patent was awarded to Jay Walker, Bruce Schneier and Magdalena Mik.

Mr. Walker holds more than 150 patents for sales, merchandising, vending,
telecommunications and electronic gambling. They include a 1998 patent for a
method of pricing options for airline tickets that was incorporated into
Priceline.com (news/quote), a Web site founded by Mr. Walker that popularized
so-called reverse bidding. 

The three inventors received patent No. 6,325,284.
*******************
Computerworld
Federal officials push for defense, public safety airwave priority

WASHINGTON -- Government agencies and commercial critical infrastructure
providers such as utilities and railroads believe enhanced national security
requirements following last year's terrorist attacks should serve as a litmus
test of any reallocation of limited radio frequency spectrum resources.

Speakers at the Spectrum Summit, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Commerce and began yesterday (see story), emphasized the post-Sept. 11 world,
saying it would dictate a change in the federal spectrum policies of the past
decade. That decade was marked by the sale of large portions of the U.S.
government spectrum to commercial wireless carriers. 

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration manages portions
of the spectrum allocated to federal users, while the Federal Communications
Commission manages the spectrum used by commercial interests, such as cellular
carriers. Together the two agencies oversee 43 classes of services, from AM
broadcast radio to mobile satellite systems, allocated among 1,000 radio
frequency bands from 300 KHz to 300 GHz (download .pdf). 

The most valuable portion of that spectrum in terms of range, reach,
propagation and potential throughput lies above the AM broadcast band and below
3 GHz. Large portions of that valuable real estate are already occupied by
television broadcasters, commercial fixed and mobile wireless services and
federal users. The Defense Department holds the largest piece of federal
spectrum, which is being hungrily eyed by the cellular telephone industry for
next-generation services. 

Congress and the FCC in the past have backed the sale of federal frequencies to
provide commercial wireless companies with the spectrum they need for business.
But at the summit federal, state and local officials, as well as electric, gas
and water utility executives, said a shift in national priorities in the past
year should lead to a re-evaluation of past policies. 

Jill Lyon, general counsel of the United Telecom Council, a trade group that
handles wireless issues for the utilities industry, said the events of the last
year "have made major changes in the way we look" at the allocation of
spectrum. Besides focusing on public safety, she said, federal regulators
should pay attention to the needs of "critical infrastructure industries,"
which use the spectrum to manage their widespread physical plants. 

Railroads, which collectively field a total of 300,000 two-way radios, also
have pressing safety-related spectrum requirements, according to Thomas Keller,
counsel for the Association of American Railroads. The National Transportation
Safety Board has placed "positive train control," which will use radio
frequencies to allow remote management and operation of trains, "on its Top 10
wish list," said Keller. 

Julio Murphy, a Treasury Department official who co-chairs the Public Safety
Wireless Network, said the increased emphasis on national security requires
that any new spectrum allocation be done "with a public safety filter in front
of everything else." Before the FCC and the NTIA make any spectrum decisions,
Murphy said, they need to ask: "Does it protect the critical infrastructure?
Does it enhance public safety?" 

Steven Price, deputy assistant secretary of defense for spectrum space and
sensors, said his department views spectrum "as our lifeblood," and over the
past few years it has been siphoned off to commercial wireless companies. Any
plans to shift more spectrum from the Defense Department to the private sector
should consider "the first national priority, [DOD's] constitutional mission to
protect national security," Price said. 

Nancy Jesuale, director of communications and networking for the city of
Portland, Ore., said that the Portland Police Department has experienced severe
interference problems from a commercial, mobile wireless system operated by
Reston, Va.-based Nextel Communications Inc. In her view, the spectrum battle
comes down to a simple issue: "Is it better to serve 'soccer moms' making a
wireless phone call or provide secure communications to public safety agencies
en-route to save 'a burning baby?'" 

Diane Cornell, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet Association, a Washington-based industry trade
group, suggested that public safety organizations could satisfy their wireless
communications needs -- and help reduce the spectrum crunch -- by contracting
out to commercial providers. 

That, Cornell said, would help both government users and commercial ventures
meet their different needs with the scarce spectrum resources available. 
***************
BBC
Clinton backs tech war on terror

The former US president said that information management systems similar to
those used by the big mass mailing companies could provide an early warning
about suspicious behaviour. 

"More than 95% of the people that are in the United States at any given time
are in the computers of companies that mail junk mail and you can look for
patterns there," he told BBC World's ClickOnline. 

But information security experts say that technology alone is not enough to
prevent further terrorist attacks like those of 11 September. 

Billions on technology 

Following the attacks, the US Government has become far more aware of the
potential to use technology against enemies of the state. 

President Bush's proposed budget for 2003 sets aside billions of dollars for
homeland defence. 

More than $50bn alone is being allocated to government information technology. 

With one eye on this money, corporations in recent months have inundated the
Office of Homeland Security with proposals about how their technology could
help fight terror. 

The most common idea being promoted by companies is a better analysis and
collection of information system for law enforcement agencies across the US. 

One company even suggested that its customer relationship management system
could have prevented the 11 September attacks. 

Targeting terrorists 

Former President Clinton sees a role for this kind of technology in fighting
terror. 

"A big part of dealing with this terrorist threat will be maximising the use of
technology for defensive purposes," he said. 

"Does someone with a Visa have 10 addresses? If they do, they are either really
rich or up to no good," he said. 

"Has someone that the CIA has alerted you to come into your country and are
they living in a place that's different from what they told you? If so, it
ought to be checked out." 

Fragments of data 

Experts agree that technology has a role to play in protecting the US from
terror attacks, but, they warn, much depends how that technology is used in
practice. 

"It's not a matter of technology. The technologies are available," said Dr Ruth
David, president of Anser, an independent research institution in the US. 

"It's a matter of knowing what information is relevant and what to share. We're
a long way away from having the problem solved," she told the BBC programme Go
Digital. 

In the aftermath of 11 September, it emerged that various government agencies
had information that could have helped prevent the attacks. 

But the problem was that the data were spread over different bodies and
different computer systems. 

"A piece of data in isolation may mean absolutely nothing, but put together
with other fragments of data, it may suddenly paint a picture," explained Dr
Ruth. 

"But if different individuals have the fragments and they never put them
together, then we will never paint that picture."
*****************
BBC
Computer crime 'soaring'

Most large businesses and government agencies in the US have been the victim of
computer crime which has cost them millions of dollars, researchers say. 
A survey by the Computer Security Institute and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation found that 85% of respondents had detected security breaches of
their computer systems last year. 

While most organisations were reluctant to put a figure on their financial
loses, a third said security breaches in 2001 had cost them $377m, compared to
$265m in 2000. 

"The results of this year's survey again demonstrate the seriousness and
complexity of computer crime," said Bruce Gebhardt, director of the FBI's
Northern California office. 

Theft of secrets 

For the survey, the Computer Security Institute interviewed 538 computer
security experts in business, government agencies, medical institutions and
universities.

As in previous years, the most serious financial losses occurred through theft
of proprietary information. 

"Theft of trade secrets takes place despite the presence of encryption," said
Patrice Rapalus, director of the Computer Security Institute. 

Virtually all the organisations had been attacked by computer viruses last
year. 

But one of the most common forms of attack was one of the least damaging. 

Some 90% of organisations said they had been victims of website defacements in
2001, a rise from 64% in the previous year. 

Another common breach was employees abusing their internet privileges, such as
downloading pornography or pirated software. 

"Net abuse flourishes despite corporate edicts against it," said Patrice
Rapalus. 

Fighting cybercrime 

He urged companies and the government to take a more aggressive and coordinated
approach to fighting computer crime. 

"Organisations that want to survive in the coming years need to develop a
comprehensive approach to information security, embracing both the human and
technical dimensions," he said. 

"They also need to properly fund, train, staff and empower those tasked with
enterprise-wide information security." 

The US Department of Justice is working with Congress to toughen existing
cybercrime legislation. 

In response to the growing threat from cybercriminals, the FBI has set up the
National Infrastructure Protection Center and regional Computer Intrusion
Squads have been created in several offices throughout the US.
******************
BBC
E-voting put to the test

An ambitious electronic voting scheme will be tested in St Albans during the
forthcoming local elections in the UK. 
Up to 10,000 St Albans residents will be able to cast their vote via the
internet, telephone or touchscreen kiosks in supermarkets and polling stations.


The trial is being conducted to see if more people vote when they have more
ways to do it. 

Tests of other technologies and voting methods are being tried out in 29 other
towns at the same time as the St Albans trial. 

Name and number 

The e-voting trial is taking place in two of the 20 St Albans wards due to vote
in the 2002 local elections. 



"It's worrying that there's so much apathy in this country 
 
Lyndsey Carter, St Albans voter  
St Albans District Council has set the technology the modest target of raising
turnout by 4% in the Verulam and Sopwell wards. 

The Sopwell ward has a large Bangladeshi population and it is hoped the trial
will attract voters from this community. 

Closer to the official polling period for the local elections, electors will be
issued with a 16-digit voter identification number and, separately, a
four-digit personal identification number. 

On voting day the combination of voter and personal ID number will be used to
identify voters and try to ensure that voters only vote once. 

Councillor Julian Daly said the chance to vote via the net could be very
important to many St Albans citizens because 60% of the city's working
population commutes out of the district to their place of employment. 

Five polling stations will be using the touchscreen voting kiosks alongside
traditional paper and pencil. One polling station will be at the Sainsbury's
superstore in the Verulam ward that will let people vote as they shop. 

Crash protection 

To encourage participation the period during which St Albans voters can cast
their votes between 25 and 27 April. This is earlier and for longer than the
rest of the country, which goes to the polls on 2 May. 

"The extended voting period is to do with making it more accessible, not just
in case the system crashes every time it is used," said Mr Daly. 

He added that the trial is very much an experiment to test the technology and
see which one voters like most. 

With research suggesting that 75% of people would be more likely to vote if
they could do so online, it is hoped the pilots will signal a changing in the
way that people vote. 

St Albans resident Lyndsey Carter who had a test drive of the kiosk hoped that
it succeeded in its aim of producing a better turnout. 

"It's worrying that there's so much apathy in this country," she said. 

But she said the council should do more to take the technology to the voters. 

"It needs to be everywhere not just in specific places," she said, "otherwise
it's just going to be like the old polling stations." 

The St Albans scheme is the most sophisticated of the pilots because it
involves so many novel voting systems. 

Parts of Liverpool and Sheffield are to test e-voting including mobile phone
text messaging and using local digital television. 

Parts of Crewe and Nantwich, St Albans and Swindon are trying internet voting
from home, local libraries and council-run information kiosks. 

Gateshead, North Tyneside, Stevenage and Chorley are testing all-postal
ballots. 

Caution urged 

The London boroughs of Camden and Wandsworth, as well as Chester, Rugby and
Broxbourne are trying electronic counting, early voting and extended polling
hours. 

The Electoral Reform Society has backed new voting schemes but urged caution
over security before holding large-scale online elections. 

The first binding political internet voting was in the Democratic primaries in
Arizona in March 2000. 

That experiment saw turnout jump by 676%, although only 41% of those voting did
so from remote internet sites. 

Opponents of online voting argue that it is too easily exploited by electoral
fraudsters and discriminates against those without internet access or who are
not computer-literate.
******************
BBC
Liverpool evict 'cybersquatter'

Liverpool football club has won its battle with a so-called cybersquatter over
the use of the domain name Liverpoolfc.com. 
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo), the body that arbitrates
internet address disputes, ruled that Liverpool businessman Andrew Hetherington
had registered the name in bad faith. 

Mr Hetherington had told the Wipo panel looking into the dispute that the
website was to be the home page for an online clothes store, Liverpool Fashion
Club. 

But the panel ruled on Monday that there was insufficient evidence to suggest
the domain name had been bought for any reason other than to make money by
selling it to the football club. 

Bad faith

Liverpool had offered Mr Hetherington £50,000 for the domain name in December
2000, but he had rejected the offer and demanded £125,000. 

Domain-name arbitration has proved a difficult and inexact science, with the
owners of the web address having to prove they acted in good faith at the time
of registration. 

Last year, the Wipo panel ruled that four domains incorporating the word nasdaq
had been registered in bad faith. 

But it also ruled in favour of found in favour of a Mr AR Mani, who had
registered the domain armani.com to use for his graphic design business, in a
dispute with the Armani fashion house. 

'Not credible'

Citing an earlier case involving former German soccer giants Bayern Munich,
Wipo said Liverpool was a well known club, and FC widely understood to stand
for football club, so internet users would expect the domain name to be linked
to the Premier League challengers. 

In that case, Wipo concluded that fcbayern.com could not be expected to be
anything other than a Bayern-related website, and that the original owner's
assertion that "fc" stood for "fans club" was "not credible, and irrelevant". 

The panel concluded in the case of Liverpoolfc.com that Mr Hetherington had no
legitimate interests in the name, and his involvement in the possible sale of
it "for potentially large sums of money" was evidence of bad faith in the use
of the name. 

It ruled that the domain name should be transferred to the football club's
official website company, Liverpoolfc.tv. 
*******************
San Francisco Chronicle
'You've got junk': Tips for slicing spam while traveling

There's no such thing as a vacation from spam. Junk e-mail can clog and even
incapacitate the Internet accounts you use to stay in touch on the road.
Fortunately, there are ways to cope with it. 

I once had a great system for managing my e-mail while traveling: I auto-
forwarded mail from my primary e-mail account to my Web-based address: michael
shapiro@xxxxxxxxxx I set up an automatic vacation response (click on "Options")
through my Yahoo Mail account that told anyone who contacted me that I was
traveling and would reply when I returned home. It worked like a charm until
recently, when a deluge of spam turned my system into a Kafkaesque nightmare. 

The problem: Every time a spammer would receive my autoreply, one of two things
would happen, both bad. The reply would tell spammers they'd reached a live
address, so they'd often send more spam and tell their spammin' friends to put
me on their lists. Or my autoreply would bounce back to my e-mail address,
cluttering my mailbox with error messages. 

I set up my tried-and-true vacation system before leaving for a trip to
Guatemala last month. After a week, I had more than 300 unwanted messages in my
Yahoo mailbox. The junk outnumbered personal messages by 10 to one! My Yahoo
box was nearly filled to capacity, meaning I could miss important messages
because I was about to exceed my limit. I promptly turned off the autoreply
from an Internet cafe, greatly decreasing the amount of clutter coming into my
mail box. 

A side note: Yahoo, Hotmail and others limit the amount of mail you can store -
based on total memory used, not the number of messages. So 10 messages with fat
attachments or photos could fill a Yahoo mailbox, while 100 text messages might
use just a small fraction of one's allocation. 

Although spam has become inevitable, several strategies can help you limit it
and manage your mailbox: 

-- Block some spam: Use your mail program's filters and blocking tools to keep
spam from filling your inbox. Yahoo Mail, for example, will let you block mail
from up to 100 addresses. If you frequently receive spam from the same address,
open the message and click "Block Address." Eudora, the mail program I use for
my primary account, lets me filter messages directly into the trash. Click on
"Tools," then "Filters," to direct messages from a specific address into the
trash or any other folder. To block messages in Outlook Express, click on
"Tools" and place your cursor over "Message Rules" - then select "Blocked
Senders List." Type or paste the address of any senders you want to block -
mail from these addresses will automatically be deleted. AOL users: type in the
keywords "mail controls" and then follow the instructions. 

-- Clear your mailbox: If you use a Web-based e-mail program (like Yahoo Mail
or Hotmail), delete all unnecessary messages before traveling to help prevent
your inbox from filling up while you're gone. If you're storing space- hogging
attachments or photos in a Web-based mail account, delete them or download them
to your hard drive. Also delete messages in your Bulk or Junk folders (Yahoo
and Hotmail dump some spam into these folders). Don't forget to empty the trash
- until you do, these files still claim precious memory. 

-- Cancel e-mail subscriptions: If you get daily mail from an e-mail list, say
SF Gate's Morning Fix, or you belong to an e-mail group that sends lots of
messages, consider unsubscribing while traveling. This is more important if you
use Web-based e-mail services, which limit the amount of mail you can store. 

-- Check mail online: You -don't need a Web-based account to check your
messages online. Most leading Internet service providers, including AOL, ATT
and Earthlink, let you check your e-mail by logging onto their sites and
entering your password. You can delete unwanted mail at these sites, so they -
won't be massed in your inbox upon your return. If you -don't use a Web-based
e-mail service, you can check your mail through ThatWeb (www.thatweb.com) by
entering your e-mail address and password. ThatWeb promises your account
information -won't be stored. For business accounts, check with your company's
system administrator. 

-- Know your limits: Web-based e-mail services store a limited amount of mail.
Yahoo offers three times as much storage as Hotmail. If you exceed your quota,
Yahoo will bounce an incoming message, returning it to sender. Hotmail
threatens to delete messages in your account if you're over quota - these
messages cannot be recovered. 

-- Check e-mail by phone: If you have a Yahoo Mail account, you can use Yahoo
by Phone (phone.yahoo.com) to check e-mail and voice mail and tap into your
other e-mail accounts. It costs $4.95 a month - check messages by dialing Yahoo
at (800) 699-2466. This number is toll-free within North America - it also
works outside North America, but it -isn't toll-free abroad. Another company
called j2 (www.j2.com) offers e-mail by phone as part of a package of services
(including sending and receiving e-faxes) for $12.50 a month. 

-- All-in-one service: OneBox (www.onebox.com) provides Web-based e-mail, fax
receiving, and voice mail. OneBox gives each user a toll-free telephone number
extension where others can leave voice messages, which are converted to sound
files you can check online or by phone. You can send e-mail by voice. OneBox's
advantage is that you can check and leave messages via the toll-free telephone
number. However, you -can't hear all your incoming messages, only those left as
sound files. The cost is $9.95 per month. 

-- Travel light: If you -don't need a laptop for business, leave it at home. 

While on vacation, check e-mail at Net cafes (go to Cybercafes.com). Sometimes
Net cafes are hard to find in the United States, but you can get online at
Kinko's, hotel business centers, libraries and universities. 
*********************
MSNBC
Web talk lands some in hot water

April 4   Fish hobbyists on the Internet have been gurgling about something
other than their tanks lately. It has to do with freedom of speech, and it
impacts all of us who log on.

       WHEN DAN RESLER complained last May on the Aquatic Plant Digest about a
bad experience he had with PetsWarehouse.com, he didn?t know it would cost him
$4,150. Nor did he know he?d become a symbol of the right to speak one?s mind
on the Internet.
       Now Resler, as well as the others named in a lawsuit filed by the
PetsWarehouse.com owner, is just that  living, breathing proof that what you
say online can come back to haunt you.
       ?Avoid Pet Warehouse plants,? Resler wrote on May 15, 2001, in a message
to other APD members that detailed how an order he placed arrived later than
he?d expected, and with higher shipping charges than he?d been told at the time
of sale.
       Another list member, Jared Weinberger, who maintains his own Web site
about planted tanks, told the list in his post that he was going to put a
warning about PetsWarehouse.com in his site?s links section.
       Still others weighed in with similar bad experiences with the company,
and even pointed to the company?s poor Better Business Bureau rating  not
unlike a group of friends sharing stories about the bad service at the local
restaurant.
       WHEN DAN RESLER complained last May on the Aquatic Plant Digest about a
bad experience he had with PetsWarehouse.com, he didn?t know it would cost him
$4,150. Nor did he know he?d become a symbol of the right to speak one?s mind
on the Internet.
       Now Resler, as well as the others named in a lawsuit filed by the
PetsWarehouse.com owner, is just that  living, breathing proof that what you
say online can come back to haunt you.
       ?Avoid Pet Warehouse plants,? Resler wrote on May 15, 2001, in a message
to other APD members that detailed how an order he placed arrived later than
he?d expected, and with higher shipping charges than he?d been told at the time
of sale.
       Another list member, Jared Weinberger, who maintains his own Web site
about planted tanks, told the list in his post that he was going to put a
warning about PetsWarehouse.com in his site?s links section.
       Still others weighed in with similar bad experiences with the company,
and even pointed to the company?s poor Better Business Bureau rating  not
unlike a group of friends sharing stories about the bad service at the local
restaurant.
        The initial papers, filed in federal court, asked for $15 million in
compensatory and punitive damages.
   Novak claimed humiliation, emotional distress, libelous statements and the
dilution of his trademark as a result of the APD posts, which have led, he said
in court papers, to ?headaches, nausea, nervousness, anxiety, embarrassment,
humiliation, and mental distress.?
   As news of the case spread around the Internet, fish tank enthusiasts from
around the world began donating to the APD Defense Fund, to help those named in
the suit defray legal costs. Banners were posted on various fish hobby Web
sites directing various people to another site created about the case.
$15 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
   Novak claimed humiliation, emotional distress, libelous statements and the
dilution of his trademark as a result of the APD posts, which have led, he said
in court papers, to ?headaches, nausea, nervousness, anxiety, embarrassment,
humiliation, and mental distress.?
   As news of the case spread around the Internet, fish tank enthusiasts from
around the world began donating to the APD Defense Fund, to help those named in
the suit defray legal costs. Banners were posted on various fish hobby Web
sites directing various people to another site created about the case.
  Rather than continuing on with his pricey legal defense, which could have
risen to anywhere between $75,000 and $100,000 dollars, Resler agreed to the
cash settlement, which was half of what Novak said it cost him to repair his
computer system.
   ?It was a hard pill for me to swallow,? said Resler.
   Said his attorney, Hilary Miller, ?Everyone has to learn the hard way that
freedom of speech is not free.?
   Meanwhile, another amended suit was filed by Novak in late March, and
continues.
   ?They have a license to defame until they?re shut up by the court,? said
Novak. ?It?s just not right what these people are doing  they?re going
overboard. These are worse than the people who stand in front of these labs
where they test primates.?
   Meanwhile, John Benn, an attorney in Sheffield, Ala. who has been working
with the APD group and maintaining the defense fund and associated Web site,
says it is Novak who is going overboard.
   ?You can write about Enron without violating the Enron trademark. He doesn?t
want anyone to say anything negative,? said Benn. ?Free speech, trade
infringement, the responsibility of the ISP. If you want to find a legal issue
involving the Internet, this case is it.?
   And if you want to find a case that shows we dwell in litigious waters, this
case is it, too.
   What it all proves, says Miller, Resler?s attorney: ?It?s a fundamental
feature of our judicial system that anyone can sue anyone for anything. There?s
no gatekeeper at the door to determine if it?s a meritorious claim.?
   And once you?re sued, you?ve got to answer the claim  which could cost a
fortune. Says Miller, ?I have no idea if what they said was true or valid. All
I know is that Mr. Novak got them to spend a lot of money to defend
themselves.?
   So the lesson is we all have to watch what we say?
   ?How could that be bad advice, anyway?? Miller said.
****************
Government Executive
GAO urges government to adopt XML programming language 

The General Accounting Office on Friday recommended that the director of the
Office of Management and Budget, in concert with the Federal CIO Council and
National Institute for Standards and Technology, take steps to expedite the
federal government's adoption of Extensible Markup Language (XML). 

XML is a flexible, nonproprietary set of standards designed to facilitate the
exchange of information between disparate computer systems. 


Requested by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the report, "Electronic
Government: Challenges to Effective Adoption of the Extensible Markup
Language," (GAO-02-327) assessed the overall development of XML standards to
determine if they are ready for government-wide use. 


The report also pinpointed challenges faced by the federal government in
optimizing XML to promote information sharing and system interoperability. The
report calls for private-sector input on the implementation and development of
a plan for expanding the CIO Council's XML efforts into a government-wide
resource.
******************

Government Executive
U.S. must bolster its homeland defenses, lawmaker says 

The United States is not doing enough to confront potentially devastating
threats, including attacks with weapons of mass destruction, to secure the
homeland and protect the continuity of civilian-government operations, former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday.


As a member of the Hart-Rudman Commission--also known as the U.S. Commission on
National Security/21st Century--that identified serious threats facing the
country, Gingrich said that United States, even after post-Sept. 11 procedures
were implemented, should take stronger actions to address scenarios worse than
airplanes crashing into buildings.

Citing the Hart-Rudman report, which said that the United States likely will be
the target of a weapon of mass destruction such as nuclear or biological
attack, Gingrich told attendees of a one-day conference on disaster recovery
that the nation needs to be focused on the "real threats" it faces and "think
through what needs to be done."

"The more connected we become, ... the more vulnerable we become," said
Gingrich. "The more people with computers, the more hackers there will be," he
told attendees of a conference hosted by the National Institute for Standards
and Technology. Those threats are going to require "building systems and
security which are an embedded in the way we behave and not add-ons," he said.
"You want to make sure that security is the natural part of the modern world."


Increasingly, opponents are becoming irrational, and their actions will
threaten the nation in ways unimaginable, he said. These rogue opponents may
not actually kill people, but could easily attack civilian infrastructure,
critical to survival, such as water pipelines and financial-data systems. For
example, Gingrich said that the nation could be the target of an overwhelming
electromagnetic pulse, which would not likely kill people, but would wipe out
all electronic devices within a given area.

Therefore, companies and government agencies at all levels need to begin
contemplating security implications from a number of worst-case scenarios and
build security or contingency plans into strategic planning. Gingrich urged the
development of teams that would be employed solely to test the security of
America's systems, including its information-technology security and critical
infrastructures. "It would force us to a much higher level of self-awareness,"
he said.

Additionally, the homeland security director, which the Hart-Rudman Commission
recommended elevating to a cabinet position, should conduct annual reviews to
assess the status of government security and continuity planning in the face of
a crisis.

But such plans often require additional funding to build redundant
communications capabilities and hire necessary personnel to implement the
strategies, he noted. Gingrich stressed that the costs of protection have to be
weighed next to the level of risk. "You have to be ready to state in a stark
manner the costs of not [creating security measures]," he said.


Businesses and government officials need to seize the "afterglow" of Sept. 11
to keep the minds of private- and public-sector leaders focused on the
importance of maintaining security and homeland defense. This includes areas
like boosting performance in math and science education, Gingrich said, to
ensure that the nation is ahead of its opponents. 
********************
Government Executive
White House: Vendors must improve on security protections 

Federal technology vendors must do a better job of building privacy and
security protections into their software, two top-ranking White House officials
said Thursday.

"Technologies that achieve interoperability while protecting societal issues
are where you, as a community, need to start focusing," Mark Forman, the Office
of Management and Budget's associate director for information technology and
e-government, told industry representatives during a conference sponsored by
the National High Performance Computing & Communications Council.

Forman said privacy and security must be key components of the "enterprise
architecture" blueprints that are guiding agencies' efforts to integrate their
systems, reduce paperwork, and accomplish tasks in "minutes or hours, rather
than weeks or months."

As that transformation occurs, federal agencies must take steps to ensure the
accuracy of shared information, and prevent its misuse. "We have to balance the
benefits of [information sharing] with privacy protection, civil liberties and
intellectual property rights," Forman said. "After the events of September 11,
I don't think there's any question that we're going to grapple with that."

Forman noted that although "very little" interoperability currently exists
between federal agencies, information-sharing will increase dramatically over
the next few years as a result of top-priority initiatives related to homeland
security. "We have to address both the opportunities and threats of a networked
environment," Forman said.

Federal agencies must team up with the private sector to address some of the
key threats, according to Howard Schmidt, who serves as vice chairman of
President Bush's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board.

Schmidt, who formerly served as chief security officer for Microsoft, said
White House officials are working with industry leaders to develop a new set of
"standards and best practices" for federal IT procurement. Schmidt said those
standards would help ensure that when the government purchases a software or
hardware product, cyber-security protections would be built into the product
and "come right out of the box," instead of being added to the systems later at
an additional cost.

Schmidt added that lawmakers should modify certain laws to make it easier for
the private sector to help federal agencies protect their critical information
systems. He said legislation providing narrow exemptions from the Freedom of
Information Act (H.R. 2435, S. 1456) for example, would make it easier for
private companies to tell federal agencies about potential system
vulnerabilities--and how to fix them--without exposing themselves to potential
litigation.

In the meantime, Forman said, the Internet will continue to play a crucial role
in federal agencies' efforts to modernize and integrate their systems. "We
cannot disconnect from the Web," he said, noting that agencies rely on the
Internet to communicate with other agencies, federal contractors and the
public. "I cannot see that changing. We will continue to become more
interconnected." 
********************
Nando Times
Microsoft trying to move into movie, television distribution

SEATTLE (April 8, 2002 8:07 a.m. EDT) - Microsoft Corp. is moving ahead with
its efforts to court entertainment industry companies as it tries to move into
yet another new market: movie and television distribution.

At the National Association of Broadcasters industry conference Monday in Las
Vegas, the software giant is announcing that several behind-the-scenes audio
and video production companies, including Adobe, Avid Technology and Thomson
Grass Valley Group, will make some of their products compatible with
Microsoft's Windows Media Player format.

Consumers already use a less advanced version of the Windows Media Player to
play music and video over the Internet. But Michael Aldridge, a Microsoft lead
product manager, said the company wants to release a more advanced version of
the technology, code-named Corona, by the end of 2002.

Microsoft believes the new technology eventually will allow companies to
distribute movies to theaters more cheaply, using a PC-based system rather than
the current, costly movie reels. A similar system could later be used for
cheaper TV transmissions, he said.

Microsoft still has many major hurdles in its effort to court this new market,
said Phil Leigh, a digital media analyst with Raymond James & Associates -
including delivering on the promises it has made about Corona.

"It's the old story of vaporware," Leigh said of Corona, which Microsoft has
demonstrated at a couple events but has yet to let industry experts try out.
"You can tell us what all these things are going to do, but do they work?"

If Microsoft can deliver on Corona, Leigh said the software giant may find
itself with an attractive consumer product offering that can compete fiercely
with rival RealNetworks' RealOne player.

Like Microsoft, rival RealNetworks also has been touting its digital rights
management system for music and video, but the company has been less vocal
about its plans for film distribution.

Mark Donovan, a group product manager at Real, said Friday the company is very
interested in the idea but believes it will take several more years to address
"huge security concerns" and the industry's general aversion to new technology.

"It's something that will undoubtedly happen over time, but we believe that's a
very long time," Donovan said.

But convincing the entertainment industry to adopt a new technology for
something like movie distribution is another matter.

The entertainment industry anticipated that such digital distribution options
would be available "about the same time that NASA opened a hotel on Mars,"
Leigh said.

And, after having seen how free music swapping services like Napster threatened
to undermine the music industry, Leigh said movie industry companies are wary.

"The biggest concern that they have is that, if the media content gets into a
digital format, then it can be transferred anywhere on the Internet and they
can lose control," Leigh said. 
*****************
Nando Times
Internet breathes new life into China's tomb festival

Agence France-Presse 


BEIJING (April 5, 2002 3:02 p.m. EST) - Millions of Chinese turned to the
Internet Friday to observe an ancient custom of honoring dead family members,
using the Web to donate virtual flowers and post online messages.

While the Tomb Sweeping Festival has been part of Chinese culture for centuries
if not millennia, it has been given a boost by the 21st century technologies.

"For people on the move in the modern world the tradition is difficult to
observe, and the Internet has become the ideal alternative," the official
Xinhua news agency said.

The festival, one of the few traditional Chinese holidays that follows the
solar calendar and which always falls in early April, calls for people to clean
family tombs and offer gifts to ancestors.

Now the same can be done online via Web sites such as cn.netor.com, where
visitors can click on one of 11,000 "memorial halls" for the dead, light
virtual candles or joss-sticks, and send cyber-flowers.

"The Internet is not real, but it has neither rain nor wind," a grieving son
wrote in a message to his deceased father posted on the site. "Dear Dad, I can
talk to you here whenever I want to."

Many of the deceased honored on the site are famous throughout China, some of
them deriving their celebrity status from martyrdom.

The memorial hall for Wang Wei, a Chinese fighter pilot who died in a mid-air
collision with a US surveillance plane on April 1, 2001, is the most visited
with 157,345 visitors as of Friday.

Wang's popularity, already fueled by strident Chinese nationalism, has seen a
surge both because of the recent anniversary of the incident and also because
Saturday would have been his 34th birthday.

Mourners with a literary taste can even visit the e-tombs of fictional
characters, such as Lin Daiyu, the female heroine of a famous Qing Dynasty
novel.

The Web site also features the late mathematician Chen Jingrun, whose research
remains world-leading even six years after his death, according to Xinhua.

His widow You Kun was overwhelmed by the interest in her late husband.

"I was amazed to learn that so many people still remember my husband," she told
Xinhua. "I wanted to log onto his Web site, but failed because too many people
are visiting his memorial."

Authorities are happy to keep as many festival-related ceremonies as possible
limited to cyberspace, because of the harmful environmental effects of some of
the activities if they are performed off-line.

Chief among these is the custom of ensuring the material comfort of deceased
relatives in the next world by burning gifts such as "Hell money" or cardboard
models of expensive sedans.

The problem with this tradition is the air pollution it creates and the
increased risk of fire, the China Daily said.

However, people in the countryside are particularly reluctant to part with
these ancient practices.

Officials in eastern Zhejiang province have tried to solve the problem by
setting up their own virtual memorial Web site, the paper said.

But even in Beijing, which has one of the highest concentrations of Internet
users in China, many people think a mouse-click is not the same as a real visit
to the family tomb.

City authorities said 60,000 people physically paid respects to their deceased
kin on Thursday, and the number was expected to rise to more than 80,000
Friday, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

"Without a personal tour of (the place) where your loved one is buried, how can
you show your filial piety in a sincere way?" said Li Yonggui, a Beijing
resident.
****************** 



Lillie Coney
Public Policy Coordinator
U.S. Association for Computing Machinery
Suite 507
1100 Seventeenth Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036-4632
202-659-9711