Clips January 8, 2003

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips January 8, 2003

ARTICLES

Mayor says Broward faces crisis with disorganized city elections
Protection One ends effort to get names of Internet critics
Northern Va. Likely to Be New Homeland Security Site
Proposed FCC Phone Change Draws Protests
EPA's technology chief moves to industry
USPS elevates Otto to CTO
EPA's technology chief moves to industry
Study: GOP candidates have bigger Web presence
Critics worry about privacy in cybersecurity plan
Canadians Burned by Blank-CD Levy
Internet publishers caught in legal web
WSJ: Powell Urges FCC to Ease Unbundling Rules
Poll: Majority Want to Make Spam Illegal

********************************
Mayor says Broward faces crisis with disorganized city elections
By Scott Wyman
Staff Writer
Posted January 8 2003

Broward County government may have to assume a major role in running the 
upcoming municipal elections just as it did in November because of the 
continuing crisis in the elections office, County Mayor Diana 
Wasserman-Rubin said Tuesday.

County officials have steadfastly maintained that their role in the 
November vote was a one-time deal to prevent a disaster during the closely 
watched governor's race. But Wasserman-Rubin said she is now convinced that 
Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant lacks the wherewithal to run even the 
smaller municipal vote and that the county is faced with another emergency.

At the same time, though, the possibility that voters will get a chance to 
reform Oliphant's office when they go to the polls in March died out. 
Proponents of a referendum backed down and said they will press for a 2004 
vote because a special countywide election would be too costly.

Wasserman-Rubin's change of heart comes after days of anxious conversations 
among her, leaders of the 16 cities having elections and Oliphant's office. 
Oliphant has told the cities that unless the county helps out, they will 
have to find hundreds of extra poll workers for her and pay for them.

"What I am hearing from her is she doesn't have the people power, the 
financial power or the technical ability to run an election, so she may be 
creating another emergency," Wasserman-Rubin said. "I don't see how we can 
avoid helping because it is coming so close to the February election. It is 
all dissolving around her feet."

Final cost figures released Tuesday show that the county spent $592,355 to 
assist Oliphant with the November vote. That includes $143,850 in overtime 
and $267,090 in staff time that county employees spent away from their 
regular duties.

More than 1,000 county employees were assigned to transport voting 
equipment, open polls and maintain the new ATM-style voting machinery 
during the November vote. Top officials coordinated the election effort 
from the high-tech "war room" in the Emergency Operations Center.

Oliphant could not be reached for comment, but County Judge Jay Spechler 
said he shares Wasserman-Rubin's concerns. He served with her and Oliphant 
on the election canvassing board during the September and November votes 
last year.

Spechler said he has little faith in the municipal elections running 
smoothly without the county's aid or the presence of Joe Cotter, the highly 
respected election administrator hired to run the November vote who has 
since quit.

"Before Broward County and Joe Cotter got involved, if I needed an answer 
or the public needed an answer, the supervisor never had it," Spechler 
said. "There was no second, third or fourth person in command to turn to. 
I'm concerned we will face a similar situation to what we had in September."

During the September election, Spechler was so concerned about problems 
that he voted against certifying the results. Polls opened late and closed 
early, many voters were sent inaccurate registration information and 
uncounted votes were discovered after initial tallies were sent to the state.

Weston Mayor Eric Hersh said he hoped the county would get involved. The 
League of Cities has joined the push to convince Oliphant to hire the 
manufacturer of the county's voting machines to help run the vote, but 
those talks are at a stalemate and Hersh said the county may be the only 
hope left.

"As a taxpayer, I think the county should stay out of it because we 
shouldn't pay the county to run an election we're paying the supervisor to 
run," Hersh said. "But as an elected official, I don't see how the 
supervisor can run an election in the current setup. To have the county 
come back is a Band-Aid, but then we need some long-term relief so this 
doesn't happen again."

County Administrator Roger Desjarlais said he remains convinced that county 
aid is not needed.

He described Oliphant's statements that the new voting machinery requires 
extra manpower and money as "ridiculous." He said Oliphant should be able 
to train her poll workers to fulfill the technical duties that county 
employees had in November.

But Oliphant has not presented a detailed plan for the February and March 
votes to the county and cities, except a work schedule spreadsheet. And 
Wasserman-Rubin said that even though Oliphant agreed in front of League of 
Cities officials to move up a scheduled Jan. 21 discussion of the election 
planning, Oliphant later called back to privately tell her to stick with 
the original meeting -- only three weeks before the Feb. 11 city primaries.

At that meeting, county commissioners and Oliphant will discuss her demands 
for more money, how she will handle this year's elections and what steps 
she's taken to address charges of widespread abuse raised in a 
county-ordered audit. City leaders wanted the discussion moved up to this week.

Instead, Oliphant has stepped up the rhetoric with the county. In 
back-to-back memos to Wasserman-Rubin on Monday and Tuesday, Oliphant 
charged that the county had "set a precedent" with its role in the November 
election and that the county was posing insurmountable obstacles to a 
successful election.

"Since we now know the increased labor and resource costs to run an 
election, it should be apparent to the County Commission, and the taxpayers 
of Broward County, that the supervisor of elections does not have the 
necessary funds, manpower or resources to effectively run the upcoming 
spring elections," she wrote.

With a crisis looming for the municipal elections, commissioners on Tuesday 
backed off suggestions of a March referendum to reform Oliphant's office. 
Commissioners will discuss the proposals next week, but any public vote 
would not come until spring 2004 at the earliest.

One idea was to ask voters to turn the supervisor of election's post into 
an appointed job reporting to the county administrator. Another was for a 
vote on placing Oliphant and the other three constitutional officers under 
the jurisdiction of the county charter and its stringent audit requirements.

Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, who proposed the charter idea, and 
Commissioner Lori Parrish, who proposed the appointive change, said they 
were concerned a March vote would cost up to $1.5 million and that turnout 
would be low.

"It's not that people wouldn't want to vote, but it's just too much money," 
Parrish said. "It will be a rocky year."

Scott Wyman can be reached at swyman\@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4511.
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Kansas City Star
Protection One ends effort to get names of Internet critics
By PAUL WENSKE
The Kansas City Star
January 8, 2003

Protection One, a Topeka-based home security business, has withdrawn an 
attempt to force Yahoo to reveal the identities of employees who posted 
criticisms of the company on the Internet.

Robin Lampe, a spokeswoman for Protection One, said the company had worked 
out an agreement with the giant Internet directory to remove the statements 
posted on a Yahoo bulletin board.

Lampe said the statements "crossed the line" from harmless criticism to 
"defamation and harassment" of lower managers of the company. She said the 
statements also gave confidential information that might be used to 
manipulate stock trading.

Lampe said the criticisms were defamatory because they included 
name-calling and described some of the managers' personal traits.

Protection One is a subsidiary of Westar Energy. A federal grand jury is 
looking into compensation packages Westar paid to David Wittig, its former 
chief executive officer, who also has been indicted.

Protection One also has been at the center of controversy because its 
purchase added greatly to Westar's huge debts. Westar lost $693.7 million 
in the first nine months of last year. Officials had hoped ownership of 
Protection One would allow Westar to expand its consumer services.

Anonymous postings on the Internet began criticizing the company's 
management. One Westar employee speculated about whether insider trading 
was responsible for sharp swings in stock prices and accused managers of 
being overpaid. Postings also talked about replacing some of the current 
management.

Protection One attorneys had filed a petition in court seeking a subpoena 
to force Yahoo to reveal the names of the Internet posters. The case was 
filed in Dallas, where Protection One's corporate attorneys have their office.

Public Citizen, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group, filed a 
petition opposing the subpoena on behalf of one of the anonymous employees.

Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy said the Internet case had "vital First 
Amendment free speech" implications. He said the company employees have a 
right "to anonymous speech unless there is good reason to believe the 
speech is harmful."

Levy contended Protection One withdrew its case because it realized it 
would be unsuccessful in pursuing a subpoena against Yahoo, which is based 
in California.

However, Lampe said the company withdrew its petition after Yahoo agreed to 
remove the statements from the site and to work with Protection One to 
prevent others from being posted.
*****************************
Washington Post
Northern Va. Likely to Be New Homeland Security Site
By Spencer S. Hsu and Neil Irwin
Wednesday, January 8, 2003; Page A01

The Bush administration has narrowed its search for a Department of 
Homeland Security headquarters to three sites in Northern Virginia and is 
pressing Congress for immediate approval, congressional sources said yesterday.

The intense search process, conducted in secrecy over the past month, is on 
track for a selection to be announced in the next two weeks, federal 
officials said.

Real estate industry and congressional sources said the leading sites 
include a Chantilly office park on Route 28 near the headquarters of the 
high-security National Reconnaissance Office. Also in contention are two 
Tysons Corner sites near the Dulles Toll Road and the Capital Beltway.

The imminent decision marks a major step toward the creation of a 
177,000-employee department by a Jan. 24 deadline set by Congress and, if 
Virginia becomes the agency's home, in the evolution of the metropolitan 
region. It would establish the first Cabinet agency outside the District 
since the Pentagon was completed during World War II.

Landowners have been told to be ready for the government to sign a 
seven-to-10-year lease and to begin moving in equipment and furniture Jan. 
17. The government has sought 275,000 square feet, space for about 1,000 
employees, with the first to move in as early as Jan. 24. The government 
also announced recently a demand for an option to double that space within 
six months for an additional 1,000 workers, part of the estimated 17,000 
employees who will be consolidated in the new department from 22 agencies 
across the Washington area. The remaining workers will be in offices in 
other parts of the country.

"The search has been narrowed down to three sites in Virginia," a 
congressional source said yesterday, speaking anonymously because of 
concerns about the sensitivity of the political battle for the headquarters 
among Virginia, the District and Maryland. A second congressional official 
corroborated that account.

Michael McGill, a spokesman for the General Services Administration, the 
federal government's real estate arm, declined to comment.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for Homeland Security secretary-designee Tom 
Ridge, said no decision on a "future, permanent headquarters" has been 
made. But, he added, "They're getting closer."

Separately, a House official said that Republican leaders were drafting 
language yesterday that would allow the administration to bypass a normal 
review by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and win blanket 
approval on the House floor for its plan to lease up to 575,000 square feet 
at an annual cost of up to $25.9 million. The measure would be added to 
emergency legislation set to pass by tomorrow to fund the federal 
government in the absence of a budget approval.

House Democrats and District officials yesterday assailed what they called 
a "rush to judgment" and a "midnight $250 million lease" but said they 
would be limited in their ability to prevent the administration from 
getting its way because of the GOP majority's control of procedural rules. 
Maryland officials also said they were unhappy at losing out on a potential 
economic windfall.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who said the department is worth $171 
million over five years, said the District was slighted by the search 
process but would lobby to host a government-owned department headquarters 
in the future, if one is built.

"The shame is that the Virginia sites were preselected . . . There was 
never a level playing field," Norton said. "The big loser here would be the 
District . . . but a permanent decision has not been finally made."

Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking member on the transportation 
panel, condemned the handling of the $250 million deal. "It's an effort to 
bypass standard procedure . . . and proper fiscal responsibility."

Officials in Virginia, where the high-tech industry implosion hit the real 
estate sector especially hard, declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) also declined to 
comment, and aides to the area's congressional delegation said little publicly.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) expressed disappointment at the elimination 
of the District from contention, saying the process ran counter to the 
interests of national security and the nation's capital. Asked if the 
District had been treated fairly, Williams said, "I would have to say I 
don't think so."

Although Homeland Security officials have indicated that the 
soon-to-be-chosen site will be their permanent home, members of Congress 
and District and Maryland officials said they hold out hope that the 
government eventually will build its own facility elsewhere.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) said she was preparing a 
letter calling on Maryland Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to wage a 
last-ditch effort to raise the prospects of local sites, a spokeswoman said.

Ehrlich's office did not respond to a telephone call for comment.

Sources in the real estate industry said that GSA and Homeland Security 
officials have been visiting sites and interviewing many landlords in 
recent weeks. They cautioned that the decision by GSA and Homeland Security 
officials is being made quickly, and the top contenders could change at the 
last minute.

The top candidate farthest from Washington is at 15036 Conference Center 
Dr. in Chantilly. The 275,000-square-foot site, now vacant, was acquired 
late last year by investment firm Carr Capital. Adjacent land is available 
for a second building with 250,000 square feet.

Also in contention are the McKinley Buildings in Tysons Corner. The two 
structures, at 7555 and 7575 Colshire Drive, are leased by Northrop Grumman 
subsidiary Litton PRC. The government contractor occupies one of the buildings.

The third contender named by industry sources was formerly occupied by 
Litton PRC. It is a single building, currently vacant, at 1500 PRC Dr., a 
short distance from the McKinley Buildings, and is owned by the Peterson Cos.

Representatives of the companies either declined to comment or did not 
immediately return a call for comment yesterday evening.

Staff writers Lisa Rein and Michael Laris contributed to this report.
*****************************
Los Angeles Times
Proposed FCC Phone Change Draws Protests
Groups say dropping rules enabling Baby Bell rivals to rent local networks 
would stifle competition.
By James S. Granelli
January 8 2003

State utility regulators, consumer advocates and long-distance companies 
lined up Tuesday to charge that proposals to scuttle federal rules on 
leasing phone equipment would wipe out six years of efforts to foster 
competition for local service and eliminate billions of dollars in 
potential consumer savings.

They plan to step up lobbying efforts at the Federal Communications 
Commission to block any significant changes to rules allowing competitors 
of SBC Communications Inc. and other regional Bell companies to rent their 
networks and equipment at steeply discounted rates.

"From our perspective, it would be a disaster if the [discounted rates] 
were eliminated," said Natalie Billingsley at the California Public 
Utilities Commission's Office of Ratepayer Advocates. "It is the only 
reason we have started to see some competition."

Members of the National Assn. of State Utility Consumer Advocates, which 
includes public utility agencies in many states, expect to talk by phone 
today to develop a response to the proposed changes, said Regina Costa, 
research director at the Utility Reform Network in San Francisco.

"We'll oppose any changes with all our might," Costa said.

Among changes being discussed, the FCC would severely curtail or eliminate 
the states' ability to regulate switch rates, or the price competitors pay 
the Baby Bells to lease equipment to route calls. The Baby Bells then would 
be free to set higher rates.

Competitors have said such a move would stifle further competition and 
could cause them to pull out of local markets, allowing monopolies to be 
recreated.

State utilities officials expect some change to rules adopted under the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996, which is aimed at fostering more 
competition, said Robert Nelson, a Michigan public utilities commissioner. 
But the officials are trying to "preserve a state role in the process."

"We have set pricing at reasonable levels and have allowed competition to 
flourish," said Nelson, who chairs the telecom committee of the National 
Assn. of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

California PUC Commissioner Loretta Lynch said she fears any major changes 
to the rules will be anti-competitive and that the states are in the best 
position to decide what part of the networks could be leased at regulated 
prices and what parts can be leased at market rates.

"The states know their networks best," Lynch said. "The FCC doesn't have 
the researchers available to decide state-by-state what's appropriate."

She worried that the federal agency may be "using a meat cleaver where a 
scalpel is needed."

Nelson hailed a report issued Tuesday by the Competitive Telecommunications 
Assn., a Washington trade group mainly for Bell competitors. The report 
projected that current FCC rules could save consumers nationwide $9.24 
billion a year in lower phone bills.

"If the FCC preempts the states [from their current role], you could kiss 
that $9.24 billion savings goodbye," said president H. Russell Frisby Jr.

Rivals to the Baby Bells have lured away about 8 million local phone customers.

For its part, the FCC tried to quell rumors about what rules adopted under 
the competition-focused Telecommunications Act will be changed in its 
yearlong triennial review, which is expected to be completed by mid-February.

"There are numerous proposals before the commission, and it is premature to 
say at this point what the commission will adopt," said spokesman Michael 
Balmoris.

There is no written draft that has been circulated among the five 
commissioners, one source said, and any final decision probably will be 
appealed to the federal court.

FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell has made it clear in public comments that he 
disapproves of the current system and that true competition can exist only 
when Bell rivals build their own phone networks.

A number of Wall Street analysts do not believe the FCC will adopt any 
proposal that significantly rolls back or eliminates the rules.

"We expect the status quo to be maintained," said Richard Klugman at 
Jefferies & Co. in New York.

"I suspect they're not going to be too cute. They'll come up with some 
reasonable compromise that would be logical, amenable to all parties and 
also can hold up in court."

Researchers at Jefferies, Kaufman Bros. and UBS Warburg issued reports 
Tuesday saying that they expect some level of discounted rates to continue.

AT&T Corp. said it has local equipment in place in major metropolitan areas 
and that it is using its switches for business traffic. It still must lease 
switches for residential customers.

The Baby Bells have long argued that they should not be required to lease 
equipment and access to local customers at below-cost prices.

But long-distance companies say they shouldn't be required to install 
equipment until they can build up enough of a market share to justify the 
expense.
*******************************
Washington Post
FTC Hits Funding Snag in Effort To Restrict Telemarketing Calls


By Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 8, 2003; Page E01


The Federal Trade Commission's plan to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls 
has run into a major roadblock: A key congressional committee chairman is 
opposing the agency's request for immediate funding to launch a national 
do-not-call list.

As a result, FTC officials said yesterday that the agency's goal of 
launching the anti-telemarketing registry by this summer may have to be 
delayed until next year.

Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce 
Committee, wrote agency Chairman Timothy J. Muris late last month -- just a 
week after the anti-telemarketing registry was announced -- saying he 
intended to block the list's funding until his committee had "adequate 
opportunity to properly review and evaluate" the plan.

"We have absolutely no objections to the national do-not-call list, but we 
are not going to give the FTC carte blanche authority to move forward 
without a vigorous review of its proposal," Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson 
said yesterday.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), ranking minority member of the committee, 
also signed the letter, but was less vocal in his opposition yesterday.

The first opportunity to discuss the plan will come today when Muris is 
scheduled to brief Tauzin's committee about the agency's effort. The idea 
is to let consumers sign on to the list by dialing a toll-free number from 
their home telephone and then punching in some numbers, or by signing up 
through the Internet. Telemarketers who then call numbers on that list risk 
being fined up to $11,000 for each banned call.

The agency wants Congress to give it $16 million to start the registry in 
the catch-all funding bill that needs to be passed by the end of January to 
keep the U.S. government running. Ultimately, that money would be paid back 
from fees that telemarketers would be charged to gain access to the 
do-not-call list.

If Tauzin does block the request for initial funding, money for the 
do-not-call list would probably not be available until the next fiscal 
year, which begins Oct. 1, and agency officials said it would take at least 
four months after that before the list could become operational.

Tauzin spokesman Johnson said that among the issues that need to be 
resolved is the role of the Federal Communications Commission, which is 
reviewing its telemarketing rules to see if the companies it regulates 
should be directed to comply with the FTC's do-not-call list. That decision 
is a critical one because the FCC has greater authority over telemarketers, 
including those in industries the FTC rules can't reach, such as 
credit-card companies and long-distance firms.

Johnson's comments were similar to those made by executives in the 
telemarketing industry who have opposed the national do-not-call list. 
"Clearly, the FTC is trying to rush through appropriations to fund the 
list," said G.M. "Matt" Mattingley Jr., director of government affairs for 
the American Teleservices Association. "The FCC needs to do its job" before 
the funding is approved, he said.
*******************************
Government Executive
January 7, 2003
Homeland Security vulnerable to waste, taxpayer advocacy group says

By Amelia Gruber
agruber@xxxxxxxxxxx




An advocacy group representing 335,000 taxpayers warned in a report 
released Monday that lawmakers and oversight agencies must not allow the 
new Homeland Security Department to turn into a "costly agency that 
performs many tasks poorly and no single task well."


Differences in organization, culture, personnel management and technology 
among the agencies that are to merge into the Homeland Security Department 
will make the agency susceptible to waste and inefficiency, the report 
issued by the National Taxpayers Union said.


As the Homeland Security Department takes shape, the General Accounting 
Office and agency inspectors general need to monitor the growth of the new 
department to make sure that it develops clear management goals and finds 
ways to reach them without adding to the bureaucracy, Jim Tyrell, a NTU 
policy analyst and the report's author, recommended. He also suggested that 
lawmakers place a cap on the department's staff size and costs, to protect 
taxpayers and avoid micromanagement.

The department will have a hard time establishing a sleek organizational 
structure that avoids bureaucracy, the report said. For instance, some of 
the agencies that will be incorporated into the new department have 
headquarters in Washington but rely on offices in distant satellite locations.


Customs alone has 20 port offices, 20 Special Agents in Charge offices, 
seven science labs and 18 internal affairs offices scattered across the 
country, the report said, making the prospect of efficient coordination and 
information-sharing within the new department less likely.


Many of the agencies going into the new department already have problems 
with their own structures, the report added. The Immigration and 
Naturalization Service suffers from a confusing chain of command and wastes 
roughly $100 million each year by inefficiently managing the deportation of 
criminal immigrants, according to Tyrell.


Funding will also cause problems, because departments will be reluctant to 
relinquish budgetary control to a central authority, the report predicted. 
And in addition, the agencies will have to be willing to merge computer 
systems, some of which are already falling into disrepair. "Combining 
several computer systems that already fall well behind in critical 
technological necessities raises questions over whether a merger can 
possibly improve computer chaos or simply create more confusion," Tyrell 
wrote.


If these issues are not resolved, the new department might not be worth 
taxpayers' money, the report said. As evidence of the public's skepticism, 
Tyrell pointed to a recent Gallup poll that shows only 13 percent of 
Americans think a the new department will actually protect them.


But in the best scenario, the department will overcome potential pitfalls 
of inefficiency and waste, becoming a "miracle rather than a migraine for 
taxpayers," the report concluded.
*****************************
Government Computer News
01/08/03

Federal IT outsourcing projected to reach $15 billion by 2007

By Patience Wait
Post Newsweek Tech Media

Federal spending on information technology outsourcing will reach nearly 
$15 billion by fiscal 2007, up from $6.6 billion today, a new report projects.

"A combination of administrative pressures to compete non-governmental 
activities and difficulty retaining and replacing qualified technical and 
program management personnel is driving a significant increase in spending 
by federal agencies," said Payton Smith of Input Inc., which did the report.

Legislative obstacles to outsourcing that arose at the end of 2001 largely 
disappeared in 2002, said Smith, manager of public sector market analysis 
services at the Chantilly, Va., market research firm.

"Even though the subject remains politically sensitive, Input expects that 
the new congressional leadership will foster a generally favorable 
atmosphere for outsourcing vendors in 2003," he said.

There are several bellwether initiatives that will influence the 
development of outsourcing programs in the federal government, the report 
said.

"The Navy Marine Corps Intranet program at the Department of Defense and 
the IT Managed Services contract at the Transportation Security 
Administration will both play a significant role in defining future 
outsourcing projects in the defense and civilian agencies," Smith said.

NMCI is the eight-year, $6.9 billion outsourcing contract won by Electronic 
Data Systems Corp., Plano, Texas, in October 2000. Unisys Corp. of Blue 
Bell, Pa., was awarded the TSA's billion-dollar ITMS contract in August 2002.

The Input report said that the Navy's NMCI implementation in particular is 
having a significant impact on Defense Department spending, pushing the 
growth rate for IT outsourcing there to 19 percent over the next five years.
*****************************
Government Computer News
01/08/03
EPA's technology chief moves to industry
By Wilson P. Dizard III

Debra Stouffer, chief technology officer of the Environmental Protection 
Agency and president of the Association for Federal Information Resources 
Management, is leaving government to join DigitalNet Inc. of Bethesda, Md., 
as vice president of consulting services.

"I believe that DigitalNet can make a significant contribution in 
supporting e-government efforts," Stouffer said in an e-mail. 
"Understanding government's challenges, I'll be in a position to offer 
quality solutions to federal, state and local government organizations."

Stouffer said she would begin working with DigitalNet around Feb. 1. Her 
initial focus will be consulting on the Clinger-Cohen Act, capital planning 
investment control and enterprise architecture planning.

Stouffer became EPA's first CTO in May, 2002 (Click here for background 
story). Previously, she had been on detail at the Office of Management and 
Budget for 90 days and was the Housing and Urban Development Department's 
CIO beginning in 1999.
***************************
Government Computer News
01/07/03
USPS elevates Otto to CTO
By Jason Miller

Postmaster General John E. Potter this week shifted the Postal Service's IT 
organization around by naming Robert Otto the new chief technology officer.

Otto replaces Charlie Bravo, who became senior vice president for 
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality. Otto also will retain the title of 
senior vice president for Information Technology, essentially making him 
the CIO and CTO.

Potter announced the changes at the Board of Governors meeting in Washington.

In his new position, Bravo will be in charge of barcoding on envelopes, 
packages, sacks, trays, pallets and customer forms.
***************************
USA Today
Study: GOP candidates have bigger Web presence

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP)  Not only did Republicans notch some big wins in the 
latest elections, but Republican gubernatorial candidates were more visible 
on the Internet than Democrats, according to a new study.

Researchers at Plattsburgh State measured the Web visibility of candidates 
in 31 gubernatorial races just before the November elections, using four 
popular search engines. Internet visibility was measured by how many 
results came back after typing in each candidate's name.

The study found that winners of the gubernatorial races tended to have 
higher online visibility than losers.

Also, of the 20 winners who were number one in visibility, 15 were 
Republicans and five were Democrats. That would include George Pataki in 
New York and Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.

Also, Republicans had twice as many candidates who ranked number one in 
visibility compared to Democrats, according to the study.

Researcher Tim Clukey, a communications professor at Plattsburgh, said the 
study took into account not only official candidate sites, but the 
thousands of Web pages mentioning candidates found by search engines. That 
can include newspaper and magazine sites, as well as pages critical of 
candidates.

"You get everything good or bad," Clukey said. "This doesn't give you a 
qualitative measure of what's available."

Clukey offered no theories as to why Republicans have a greater Web 
presence. He had yet to do research on whether there was a link between Web 
presence and votes.

"That we'd like to explore," he said.
************************************
Info World
Critics worry about privacy in cybersecurity plan
By Grant Gross
January 7, 2003 2:02 pm PT


WASHINGTON -- AMID published reports that a pared-down Bush administration 
cybersecurity policy is circulating, critics of a previous draft of the 
"National Plan to Secure Cyberspace" are still worried about what's in the 
plan, and what has been left ambiguous.
[For the complete story see:
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/03/01/07/030107hncybersecurity.xml?s=IDGNS]
****************************
Wired News
Canadians Burned by Blank-CD Levy
02:00 AM Jan. 08, 2003 PT

Technology not taxation!

That's the battle cry of the Canadian computer industry in a war of words 
being waged among groups representing the nation's music, technology and 
retail industries.

The dispute centers around fees collected from technology companies to 
reimburse the music industry for losses incurred by music copying and 
swapping.

Canadians are legally allowed to copy music for personal use. In exchange, 
a small fee is added to the price of recordable CDs to compensate musicians 
and music publishing companies. Similar "royalties" are collected in more 
than 40 countries, including the United States under the Audio Home 
Recording Act of 1992.

But in the wake of the Canadian music industry's proposals for higher and 
broader levies in 2003, much of Canada's technology and retail industry is 
now calling for the levy's repeal.

In 2000, the levy per recordable CD was 5.2 cents (Canadian); in 2001 the 
fee rose to CN$0.21. The proposed fee for 2003 is CN$0.59.

In addition, the Canadian Private Copying Collective, the music industry 
group that collects the levy, has proposed new levies to be applied to any 
device that can store music, such as removable hard drives, recordable 
DVDs, Compact Flash memory cards and -- of course -- MP3 players.

Both sides will present their case to the Copyright Board of Canada later 
this month.

At the meeting, tech industry groups are likely to point out that the CPCC 
has not yet distributed a cent of the millions it has collected in fees 
over the years to musicians.

Since 1999, the CPCC has collected more than CN$28 million in copyright 
compensation fees. It expects to collect more than CN$100 million in levies 
next year.

The CPCC says the distribution of those funds is a complicated issue, (PDF) 
requiring as many as 12 separate payments per song.

"The CPCC is poised to begin making payments in 2003," a statement from the 
organization reads.

Fees are collected from product manufacturers, but the cost is passed on to 
consumers, according to Diane Brisebois, the president and CEO of the 
Retail Council of Canada.

"Most consumers are not aware of the levy, because the recording industry 
collective doesn't want to promote it knowing that awareness leads to 
outrage," Brisebois said.

And although the levy is not a government-collected tax, federal sales tax 
is applied to the full price of the item, including the levy.

Frustrated by the CPCC's latest proposal, the Canadian Coalition for Fair 
Digital Access, a 16-member group that includes Intel, Dell, 
Hewlett-Packard, Sony and Apple, as well as Wal-Mart Canada, Costco, 
Staples, Radio Shack and the Retail Council of Canada, has issued 
statements saying that consumers and businesses shouldn't have to subsidize 
the music industry.

"The coalition believes that copyrighted works should be protected and 
copyright holders should be fairly compensated for their work," said Doug 
Cooper, general manager of Intel of Canada. "However, technologies are now 
available to help accomplish both these objectives."

The CPCC requested the new levy increase after surveys indicated almost 
half of all recordable CDs purchased are used to copy music.

But the digital access coalition maintains that those numbers only prove 
that the levy penalizes the more than 50 percent of consumers and 
businesses who are not using the blank media to copy music.

The CPCC accuses the coalition of operating out of greed.

"It's not about fairness at all," said David Basskin of the CPCC. "If it 
was about fairness, these large U.S. multinational companies wouldn't be 
trying to deprive Canadian musicians of royalties they are legally entitled 
to."

But the Retail Council's Brisebois said the levy favors U.S. interests.

"Canadians may decide to shop in the United States where these products are 
generally levy-free," she said. "Also, there are certain products which 
would just not be introduced in Canada."
******************************
New Zealand Herald
Internet publishers caught in legal web
07.01.2003
By DENIS DUTTON*

The internet is rightly regarded as close to miraculous in its capacity to 
provide immediate access to information and opinion worldwide.

New Zealanders used to wait for weeks to lay their hands on overseas 
newspapers. Now, we can fire up our computers on any afternoon and read the 
British newspapers hours before Londoners have opened their paper copies 
over breakfast. By dinnertime, we can do the same with the New York Times 
and the Wall Street Journal.

Email and the web have abolished forever the tyranny of distance over New 
Zealand's access to global information. This is a remarkable benefit of a 
communication system originally designed by the American military to have 
so many alternative interconnections that it could survive nuclear war.

When we go online in New Zealand we also have access to exactly the same 
newspapers and magazines available elsewhere. At least until now. A 
disturbing Australian legal decision last month could change that.

Joe Gutnick, a colorful multimillionaire Australian goldmining magnate (and 
rabbi), sued Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and Barrons, 
for defamation. Barrons had carried an article alleging he had been 
involved in money laundering and tax evasion.

Everyone agrees that Rabbi Gutnick deserves his day in court. The crucial 
question is, which court? Will it be the Supreme Court in Melbourne, where 
Australian defamation laws give him a reasonable chance of winning, or an 
American court, where free-speech legal traditions built around the First 
Amendment of the United States Constitution would make success unlikely?

The High Court of Australia unanimously decided last month that Rabbi 
Gutnick may sue in Victoria, rather than the US, since it is in Victoria 
that his reputation was harmed. For any internet publisher, it's an 
alarming decision. The worldwide web is exactly that: interlocking 
connections that go everywhere from any place. There are perhaps 190 
countries on the internet, presenting a crazy-quilt pattern of penalties 
for such crimes as libel, blasphemy against the state religion, or 
criticising the country's rulers.

The Australian decision would in principle require any publisher with 
worldwide interests to water down the content of websites to be in accord 
with 190 different legal systems. Anything that breaks local laws 
criticising Islam, perhaps, or some backward country's president for life 
could on this Australian reasoning open the publisher to suits. If the 
publisher is a news organisation with local assets, such as an office 
building, these could be forfeit, even if a judgment were unenforceable in 
the publisher's home country.

One of the Australian judges, Justice Callinan, said: "Publishers are not 
obliged to publish on the internet. If the potential reach is 
uncontrollable then the greater the need to exercise care in publication."

He also expressed the view that Dow Jones was attempting to impose on 
Australians an American legal hegemony in relation to internet publications.

But before Australians start cheering the victory of local defamation laws 
over hegemonic, alien notions of free speech, they ought to think hard 
about who the real losers from this decision will be. Consider the 
following scenario.

If the Gutnick decision stands, Dow Jones can follow either of two 
strategies: first, it can have its articles and opinion pieces dealing with 
Australian companies and businessmen vetted by Australian lawyers before 
publication in order to fit Australian defamation law. This would be 
awkward and very expensive.

Alternatively, Dow Jones can continue its practice of robust reporting of 
Australian business, but do its best to block internet access into 
Australian jurisdictions, so it is not seen as intentionally publishing in 
Australia.

It would make much better sense for Dow Jones to follow this second path, 
offering information which is protected by the First Amendment in the US to 
its American readers, and to other readers around the globe where it is 
legal to do so.

But now, if you are an Australian investor, you will face an unsettling, 
potentially disastrous situation. Suppose Dow Jones, which is after all the 
most important business and financial information source in the world, 
uncovers dirt about some Australian tycoon that would incline investors to 
dump shares in the tycoon's company. Dow Jones will send the information 
(via an email alert or a Wall Street Journal article) worldwide except to 
Australia, where the story might be actionable.

Thanks to the Gutnick decision, American investors could then sell their 
shares first, probably to Australian investors who have been saved from the 
hegemony of American law and American free speech by Justice Callinan and 
his colleagues.

Scenarios like this give us an appreciation of why the likes of Thomas 
Jefferson and John Adams insisted on freedom of speech as the first 
principle to be ratified as an amendment to the new US Constitution.

Too bad the High Court of Australia does not see it that way. It wants to 
have it both ways: Australians should be able to sue for defamation on 
strict Australian criteria but also enjoy freedom of speech as guaranteed 
by the US Constitution and made available on the internet. It won't wash.

The Gutnick decision will be welcomed by dictators everywhere. Already in 
the last year, Zimbabwe set a nasty precedent by arresting a journalist 
whose crime was to write an article that was not published in Zimbabwe but 
could be downloaded in that sad land. Robert Mugabe can rightly regard the 
Gutnick decision as validating his state censorship.

Meanwhile, moving in exactly the opposite direction, a US court ruled last 
month that a resident of Virginia could not sue for defamation in her home 
state when the offending article was posted on the internet by a 
Connecticut newspaper.

The Pentagon's original aim to create an information system that could 
survive nuclear attack was successful. But not even the computer geniuses 
of the Pentagon could devise a system to survive the onslaught of lawyers 
and judges. If these censors have their way in Australia and elsewhere, we 
will all be losers.

The Gutnick decision must not stand. And if it does, it must not be 
imported into New Zealand law.

* Denis Dutton teaches in the department of philosophy at Canterbury 
University.
******************************
Network Digest
WSJ: Powell Urges FCC to Ease Unbundling Rules

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is drafting a plan that would gradually 
eliminate requirements that incumbent carriers provide their competitors 
with wholesale access to their local networks, according to a front-page 
story from The Wall Street Journal. The new rules would be "the most 
drastic changes since the Telecommunications Act of 1996" and would be a 
major victory for the four regional Bell companies. The biggest losers 
would be AT&T and WorldCom. According to the article, Powell's current 
draft plan calls for a two-year transition period before competitors would 
lose their discounted access to the ILEC switches. The incumbents would 
also be able to petition state regulators to remove other requirements for 
access to their networks. The FCC could vote on the plan as early as next 
month.
http://www.wsj.com
******************************
Earthweb
Poll: Majority Want to Make Spam Illegal
January 8, 2003
By Sharon Gaudin


A majority of users want the government to step in and make spamming 
illegal, according to a new Harris Interactive survey.

The Harris Poll shows that 80% of online users today find spam `very 
annoying'. Because of that frustration level, 74% say they favor making 
spamming illegal. And the poll shows that percentage holds independent of 
income level, gender and political affiliation.

``A look at these numbers and the rapidly growing anger at mass spamming, 
with the large majority in favor of banning it, suggests that -- if our 
elected politicians listen to their constituents -- spamming may go the way 
of mass faxing,'' says a Harris Interactive spokesman in a written 
statement. ``Unsolicited mass faxing was banned. Can mass spamming be far 
behind?''

The poll was conducted between November and December of last year, sampling 
2,221 adult Internet users.

Certain kinds of spam, according to the survey, anger users more than 
others. More than 90% of users are angered by pornographic spam; while 
mortgage and loan-related spam annoys 79%; investments 68%, and real estate 
61%.

But all is not bad. The survey shows that there have been some improvements.

The number of people annoyed by how long they have to wait for information 
to come up on their screen has fallen from 25% to 17% since a previous poll 
was done in March of 2000. And those who say they are `very annoyed' by the 
amount of time it takes to find the Web sites they need have fallen in 
number from 20% to 10%.

Holding steady though, are the percentage of users who are annoyed by the 
unreliable or inaccurate information found online -- that has stayed at 32% 
over the past nearly two years.
***************************


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Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the January 10, 2003 edition of ACM TechNews,
providing timely information for IT professionals three times a
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 444
Date: January 10, 2003

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Top Stories for Friday, January 10, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Graduate Study in Sciences, Engineering Fell During Decade"
"White House to Fill Cybersecurity Posts"
"E-Waste: Dark Side of Digital Age"
"Gentlemen, Start Hacking Your Engines"
"High Tech's Latest Bright Idea: Shared Computing"
"Keeping Ahead of DNS Attacks"
"Cheap Chips Seen Driving Next Tech Wave"
"Palo Alto Scientist May Fend Off Big Brother"
"W3C Releases Scripting Standard, Caveat"
"Wi-Fi: Still Room for Improvement"
"Macworld's Look at the Year Ahead in Macs"
"Aligned Fields Could Speed Storage"
"Computer Linguists Mix Language, Science"
"Cybersecurity Plan May Pose Privacy Problems"
"Studios Using Digital Armor to Fight Piracy"
"Disruptive Technologies"
"L1s Slip Past H-1B Curbs"
"The Next Plastic Revolution"
"Panel Finds that R&D Relationships Need to be Remodeled"

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

"Graduate Study in Sciences, Engineering Fell During Decade"
A recent study by the University of Washington found that the
number of college seniors intending to enter mathematics graduate
programs declined 19 percent between 1992 and 2000, while those
who planned to become engineering graduates slipped 25 percent.  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item1

"White House to Fill Cybersecurity Posts"
Government and industry technology sources say the White House
intends to nominate former Defense Intelligence Agency director
James Clapper as head of the Department of Homeland Security's
Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division, and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item2

"E-Waste: Dark Side of Digital Age"
In its third annual computer company report card, the Computer
TakeBack Campaign (CTC) found that U.S. computer firms trail
their counterparts in Japan in terms of worker health and safety,
recycling programs, and hazardous materials, using research ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item3

"Gentlemen, Start Hacking Your Engines"
Tech-savvy car enthusiasts who love to race are taking advantage
of their automobiles' onboard computer systems to boost engine
performance, and this in turn has created a market for high-tech
software, gadgetry, and other vehicle add-ons.  One supplier is ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item4

"High Tech's Latest Bright Idea: Shared Computing"
Experts predict that shared computing technology, which allows
companies or researchers to tap into and combine the processing
power in all machines so they can carry out major computing
chores rather than relying on expensive supercomputers, will ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item5

"Keeping Ahead of DNS Attacks"
The domain name system (DNS) mapping Internet addresses
requires a coordinated defense against attacks, such as the
denial-of-service attack last Oct. 21.  Paul Mockapetris,
inventor of the DNS, writes that the attack on the 13 root ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item6

"Cheap Chips Seen Driving Next Tech Wave"
Pervasive computing will drive technological innovation in the
coming years, predicted Institute for the Future director Paul
Saffo, speaking at the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials
International Industry Strategy Symposium on Tuesday.  Saffo also ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item7

"Palo Alto Scientist May Fend Off Big Brother"
Along with its controversial Total Information Awareness project,
the U.S. government is also spending money to develop
sophisticated privacy safeguards.  The Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded established ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item8

"W3C Releases Scripting Standard, Caveat"
The Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 HTML scripting
specification the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released on
Thursday will simplify the creation of Web pages with more
dynamic and functional elements, such as spur-of-the moment style ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item9

"Wi-Fi: Still Room for Improvement"
Wi-Fi technology, despite its fast rise to dominance in the
wireless LAN space, is still undergoing significant changes as
new flavors emerge and are improved upon.  Although the original
802.11b standard will remain the dominant specification for about ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item10

"Macworld's Look at the Year Ahead in Macs"
A panel of a dozen experts expressed their thoughts on notable
Apple products and developments that will emerge or unfold in
2003.  Macworld UK editor-in-chief Simon Jary does not expect a
spectacular rise in Apple's market share, and foresees problems ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item11

"Aligned Fields Could Speed Storage"
A team of German and Russian scientists has made a discovery that
could link magnetic and electronic data storage and increase the
flexibility of both techniques.  The breakthrough involves the
simultaneous imaging of a material's electric and magnetic ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item12

"Computer Linguists Mix Language, Science"
The job of computer linguists involves teaching computers to
comprehend spoken language, speak, and translate text, according
to Dr. Gary F. Simons of SIL International, formerly the Summer
Institute of Linguistics.  The Internet has spurred interest in ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item13

"Cybersecurity Plan May Pose Privacy Problems"
A White House internal draft of the National Plan to Secure
Cyberspace obtained by the Associated Press on Tuesday reportedly
cuts most private-sector recommendations, reduces the number of
proposals from 86 to 49, and makes the Homeland Security ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item14

"Studios Using Digital Armor to Fight Piracy"
Hollywood and the music industry are fighting digital piracy with
digital means--content controls that regulate how people consume
and use media.  Industry executives worry that, as they release
their movies and television shows in digital form, it will be ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item15

"Disruptive Technologies"
A series of disruptive technologies that will increase people's
access to information and trigger beneficial change that will
dramatically impact business and economic evolution are starting
to take root; their proliferation will translate into increased ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item16

"L1s Slip Past H-1B Curbs"
The H-1B visa program that allows companies to import foreign
workers for IT jobs has attracted intense scrutiny, regulation,
and criticism from American professionals arguing that they are
losing jobs to people willing to work for less money.  The ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item17

"The Next Plastic Revolution"
Scientists are developing the next generation of display
technology that uses electrically charged organic polymers to
emit light.  While the special plastics lack the superconductive
qualities of the best silicon and other non-organic materials, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item18

"Panel Finds that R&D Relationships Need to be Remodeled"
At R&D Magazine's 4th Annual Independent R&D Organization (IRDO)
CEO Roundtable, panelists discussed how developments in the past
year and a half--the terrorist attacks, the economic recession,
and so on--have affected commercial research and development, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0110f.html#item19


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Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the January 13, 2003 edition of ACM TechNews,
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 445
Date: January 13, 2003

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Top Stories for Monday, January 13, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"At Big Consumer Electronics Show, the Buzz Is All About Connections"
"Telecom Is Betting Big on 2 Tech Advances"
"Spam? No Thanks, We're Full"
"Mega-Data Stored in Mini-Spaces"
"Digital Experts Swap Talk"
"Can the URL Be Improved?"
"Report: Internet Security Threats Will Get Worse"
"Dollars, Sense and the Cyber Security Act"
"Expert: Alleged Wi-Fi Risks Are Nonsense"
"Redefining the PC"
"Handhelds Go Multimedia"
"'Malaysian' Virus-Writer Vows Global Outbreak if US Attacks Iraq"
"Browsers Go Back to the Future"
"White House Tech Officials Race to Build Security System"
"'Gadget Printer' Promises Industrial Revolution"
"Grid-dy Determination"
"A Tech Rebirth?"
"Immobots Take Control"

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

"At Big Consumer Electronics Show, the Buzz Is All About Connections"
An array of technologies showcased at last week's Consumer
Electronics Association trade show focused on products that can
connect digital devices so that music, photographs, video, and
other digital content can be omnipresent.  Vying for attention on ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item1

"Telecom Is Betting Big on 2 Tech Advances"
The telecommunications industry is evolving to better service
customers using Internet technologies.  The convergence of the
wireless Internet and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) means
people in the future will have much more services available than ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item2

"Spam? No Thanks, We're Full"
Increasing numbers of people going online is triggering
astronomical growth in unwanted commercial email, to the point
that spam will overwhelm regular email sent to corporate
addresses by July, according to a MessageLabs report.  Jupiter ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item3

"Mega-Data Stored in Mini-Spaces"
IBM is developing new technology that allows smaller devices to
store much more data.  Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a
collaborative Hitachi-IBM venture, plans to debut a new version
of the Microdrive that can store more than 4 GB on quarter-sized ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item4

"Digital Experts Swap Talk"
Notable speakers at last week's Consumer Electronics tradeshow
said the debate over digital content ownership and limitations on
its download and distribution over the Internet is unlikely to be
settled in 2003.  StreamCast Networks CEO Steve Griffin, whose ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item5

"Can the URL Be Improved?"
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards (OASIS) has formed a committee to create a means for
data and Web services to be located online without a URL.  The
OASIS XRI Technical Committee plans to develop an OASIS ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item6

"Report: Internet Security Threats Will Get Worse"
Internet security problems will worsen in the new year, with the
biggest threats coming from new mass-mailing worms and rising
hactivism, according to a recent study by Internet Security
Systems (ISS). More incidents targeting consumer broadband and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item7

"Dollars, Sense and the Cyber Security Act"
The Cyber Security Research and Development Act (CSRDA) approved
by both Congress and President Bush last year earmarks almost $1
billion for research and education, but Eugene Spafford of
Purdue University's Center for Education and Research in ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item8

"Expert: Alleged Wi-Fi Risks Are Nonsense"
Cory Doctorow, Electronic Frontier Foundation outreach
coordinator and co-author of the popular blog Boing Boing, says
fears surrounding open Wi-Fi connections are largely unfounded.
Many people associate open Wi-Fi connections with spammers, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item9

"Redefining the PC"
Former Xerox Palo Alto Research Center researcher Gary
Starkweather, now at Microsoft, is convinced that an information
display revolution is on the horizon, and he wants to help usher
in that revolution with a computer featuring an enlarged and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item10

"Handhelds Go Multimedia"
Mobile computing and cell phone functions are already merging,
with each device-type taking on some of the features previously
reserved for the other.  Such cross-functional devices include
the Treo, any Pocket PC-operated phone, the Nokia 3650, or ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item11

"'Malaysian' Virus-Writer Vows Global Outbreak if US Attacks
Iraq"
Virus writer Vladimor Chamlkovic has threatened to unleash a
"megavirus" if the United States attacks Iraq.  Experts, however,
say they consider him a low threat due to his weak track record
in creating viruses.  Experts are also skeptical of his Malaysian ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item12

"Browsers Go Back to the Future"
Researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand have
altered the functionality of the Internet back button, which
accounts for 40 percent of all online clicks.  The current back
button logs only index pages, while the new version records every ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item13

"White House Tech Officials Race to Build Security System"
Technology planners in the Bush administration are working fast
to integrate systems for the new Department of Homeland Security.
White House Office of Homeland Security director of information
infrastructure Lee Holcomb said IT administrators had to navigate ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item14

"'Gadget Printer' Promises Industrial Revolution"
Industrial assembly lines could become a thing of the past thanks
to ink-jet printing technology that prints completely assembled
electric and electronic equipment.  Such technology is the goal
of a research project at the University of California in ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item15

"Grid-dy Determination"
Grid computing systems are computers or clusters of computers
linked via job scheduling or management software in order to
enable the sharing, selection, and aggregation of computing
resources.  The advantages of the grid computing model include ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item16

"A Tech Rebirth?"
Skyrocketing data consumption is boosting demand for storage
technologies from both consumers and businesses, and the falling
costs of those technologies will drive up demand even further.  A
survey of 700 analysts by International Data (IDC) finds that IT ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item17

"Immobots Take Control"
Immobile robots, or "immobots," use model-based reasoning to
obtain a clear picture of their internal operations and the
interaction of their myriad components so that they can
reconfigure themselves for optimal performance and avoidance of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0113m.html#item18


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