Clips March 14, 2003

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips March 14, 2003

ARTICLES

Face-Recognition Technology Improves
Congress mulls new P2P porn restrictions 
Homeland CIO outlines priorities
OMB honing privacy guidance
DMS progressing, not 'perfect'
Ahold Unit Threatens Web Site
Soldiers in Kuwait drive with satellite tracking, e-mail 
Progress on e-gov projects varies widely 
U.S. Navy formalizes XML management
HHS mandates bar codes on all hospital drugs
Aviation ID System Stirs Doubts 
Pakistani Pleads Guilty to Hacking U.S. Web Sites 
Researchers: Bio-terror sensors show promising results
Biochip would detect water supply contaminants
Stalkers, the merely curious troll for lost acquaintances online

*******************************
New York Times
March 14, 2003
Face-Recognition Technology Improves
By BARNABY J. FEDER

Facial recognition technology has improved substantially since 2000, according to results released yesterday of a benchmark test by four federal government agencies involving systems from 10 companies. 

The data, which is the latest in a series of biannual tests overseen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is expected to encourage government security officers to deploy facial recognition systems in combination with fingerprinting and other biometric systems for applications like verifying that people are who they claim to be and identifying unknown people by comparing them with a database of images. 

But the report also highlighted continuing shortcomings, like the poor performance of recognition systems in outdoors settings in which even the best systems made correct matches to the database of images just 50 percent of the time. And it cited outcomes that it said needed more research, like the tendency of the systems to identify men better than women and older subjects better than young ones. 

The report was strictly a technical evaluation and did not discuss any of the privacy or civil rights concerns that have stirred opposition to the technology. 

Because the results of the different companies are public, the testing is also expected to become a marketing tool for those who did best, including Identix, Cognitec Systems and Eyematic Interfaces. It is expected to be especially helpful to Cognitec, a tiny German company that is not widely known in the United States, and Eyematic, a San Francisco-based company best known for capturing data from traits like facial structures, expressions and gait to create animated entertainment. 

``Face recognition had been just a subdiscipline for us,'' said Hartmut Neven, chief technical officer and a founder of Eyematic. He said that domestic security needs had created a marketing opportunity that Eyematic was gearing up to chase. 

The results were not as positive for Viisage Technology, which had been among the leaders in 2000. Viisage said that the results, that it identified just 64 percent of the test subjects from a database of 37,437 individuals, were at odds with the strong performance it had been having with big customers, like the State of Illinois. While the government test is the largest for such technology, the number of images in the database was far below the 13 million that Viisage deals with for the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles, where the company says it has picked thousand of individuals seeking multiple licenses under different names. 

``We suspect there must have been human or software errors in how our system was interfaced with the test,'' said James Ebzery, senior vice president for sales and marketing for Viisage. While Viisage scrambles to explain its views to customers and chase down any potential problems in the test, it is taking comfort in the tendency of big companies and government agencies to perform their own testing on their own data before selecting Viisage or one of its rivals. 

The government's benchmarking was performed last summer but the results were not fully tabulated and analyzed until recently. The report singled out a finding that in ``reasonable controlled indoor lighting,'' the best facial recognition systems can correctly verify that a person in a photograph or video image is the same person whose picture is stored in a database 90 percent of the time. In addition, only one subject in 100 is falsely linked to an image in the data base in the top systems. 

The report also noted that performance has been enhanced by improving technology to rotate images taken at an angle so that the facial recognition software can be applied to a representation of a frontal view. 

The data examined whether facial recognition systems could help with the so-called watch list challenge, which involves determining if the person photographed is on a list of individuals who are wanted for some reason and then identifying who they are. Cognitec, the leading performer on that test, gained a 77 percent rating but its success rate fell to 56 percent when the watch list grew to 3,000.
*******************************
CNET News.com
Congress mulls new P2P porn restrictions 
By Declan McCullagh 
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 13, 2003, 10:37 AM PT


WASHINGTON--Members of Congress on Thursday said new laws aimed at restricting pornography on peer-to-peer networks might be necessary, as police vowed to step up enforcement efforts. 
During a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, politicians complained of two problems: The allegedly widespread distribution of illegal child pornography on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, and the ease by which a youth could stumble across sexually explicit files that may be legal for adults but inappropriate for minors. 

"We have a rating system for video games. We have a rating system for music," said Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fl., who suggested a government-mandated system would be appropriate for files on P2P networks. Otherwise, Putnam warned, P2P users could "prey on spelling errors of third graders looking for Pokemon." 

The hearing, which featured two secondary-school students testifying about their disturbing P2P experiences, was designed to showcase the release of a pair of reports on the topic. As previously reported by CNET News.com, the government reports warn that P2P networks are exploding with readily accessible pornography--much of which is legal, and some of which is not. 

John Netherland, the acting director of the Department of Homeland Security's CyberSmuggling Center, said his office would focus more closely on P2P networks. The center already is "expanding its investigative efforts to encompass this new technology," Netherland said. "Evidence is easily captured and preserved on a real-time basis...for these reasons peer-to-peer file-sharing investigations are likely to increase." 

Under federal law, it is illegal to knowingly possess or distribute child pornography. It generally is legal to possess "obscene" materials--defined by the U.S. Supreme Court as sexually explicit materials lacking scientific, literary, artistic or political value--but illegal to distribute them. Magazines such as Hustler or Penthouse are typically not considered obscene, but legal standards vary from state to state. 

Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the top Democrat on the committee, asked: "Can anyone on the panel tell us if pornographers are making money by putting pornographic files on the file-sharing programs?" 

P2P network operators are getting rich through aiding and abetting porn-swapping, suggested Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and another committee member told the chief executive of P2P file-trading network Grokster that "for all practical purposes, you're the pornographer. You're the vehicle by which people are doing these things." 

Grokster CEO Daniel Rung said his company had cooperated with federal law enforcement in child pornography investigations and would continue to do so. Rung also suggested that parents supervise their children and use filters that "can be set to screen out much of the objectionable materials from the search results." 

It's unclear how publishers of sexually explicit material could make money from P2P networks, because there is no mechanism to allow the creator to be paid. One possibility would be using P2P networks to advertise images or videos featuring the address of a Web site that requires a paid subscription. 

Randy Saaf, president of P2P-tracking firm MediaDefender, said his investigations of child pornography on P2P networks found over 321,000 files "that appeared to be child pornography by their names and file types," and said that "over 800 universities had files on their networks that appeared to be child pornography." 

But MediaDefender, and one of the government studies released on Thursday, reviewed only the file names and not the actual contents of the image files. A similar approach used in a 1995 article that appeared in the Georgetown University law journal drew strong criticism from academics for having a flawed methodology that led to incorrect estimates of the amount of pornography on the Internet. 
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
Homeland CIO outlines priorities
BY Judi Hasson 
March 13, 2003

The Homeland Security Department's (DHS) chief information officer outlined his top priorities today: help first responders do their jobs, develop better wireless systems and use geospatial technology to keep America secure.

Steve Cooper, the CIO at the new department, told an industry gathering that it is essential to move quickly to build DHS' infrastructure because "state-sponsored terrorists and al Qaeda are not going to wait until we have our act together."

He said that in the coming months, the agency would look for ways to develop better wireless systems for police, firefighters and other first responders. And he said DHS intended to tap visual technology to help do its job.

"Almost everything we do related to homeland security can be represented visually. A picture is worth a thousand words," Cooper told the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

He said he and his information technology team will complete an inventory of IT assets brought together by the merger of 22 federal agencies. It will be evaluated for "reuse, renewal, retirement or enhancement," and he expects to decide what systems to keep and what to retire by August.

In the next six weeks, DHS will issue a series of requests for information about wireless and geospatial technology to help officials decide how to create the best systems.

Cooper said the department intends to combine the Wireless Public Safety Interoperable Communications program, or Project SafeCom, which is designed to ensure that federal, state and local safety workers can communicate during emergencies, with the Public Safety Wireless Network, a joint program between the Treasury and Justice departments to replace aging land mobile radio systems used by 70,000 law enforcement agencies. 

"We need to build the highway upon which you need to put information," Cooper said.

He compared the information highway to the interstate highway built in the 1950s to protect America.

While the highway system was intended to move troops across the country in the event of an attack, it became the major source for transporting commerce and developing rural America. For every dollar spent, there was a $16 return, Cooper said.
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
OMB honing privacy guidance
BY Diane Frank 
March 13, 2003

Federal agencies should have new privacy guidance from the Office of Management and Budget by April, highlighting changes in requirements set out in the E-Government Act of 2002.

In Section 208, the act sets out the first major changes to federal privacy policies since the Privacy Act of 1974. It updates requirements for agencies to perform privacy impact assessments on every information system and program, and it codifies OMB's policy for agencies to put clearly marked privacy policies on their Web sites. 

The most difficult part of OMB's task is developing guidance on machine-readable privacy policies for Web sites, said Eva Kleederman, privacy policy analyst with the Information Technology Policy Branch of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. She was speaking March 12 at a meeting of the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board.

Machine-readable technologies enable organizations to post privacy policies that can be automatically read by a user's Web browser to determine whether the policy meets the user's privacy preferences. 

However, the technology is still in its early stages, making it hard for OMB to come up with a policy, Kleederman said. The World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences project is doing most of the work on machine-readable technologies.

"The intention is to disseminate a policy that allows for innovation and development in the field," she said.

Several groups in academia are also looking at privacy issues in online services and OMB can likely draw on their experience, said John Sabo, business manager for security, privacy and trust initiatives at Computer Associates Inc. However, "this is a very big can of worms that has to be looked at carefully," he said.

The biggest problem is that many groups are so focused on the front end and making sure that users see the policy itself that few are looking at the back-end issues of enforcing those policies and fixing problems when the policy is not followed, he said.
*******************************
New York Times
March 14, 2003
A Top Intelligence Post Goes to C.I.A. Officer in Spy Case
By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON, March 13  The C.I.A. officer who led the team that caught the Soviet mole Aldrich H. Ames is coming out of retirement to take charge of intelligence at the new Department of Homeland Security. 

The officer, Paul Redmond, the former chief of counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency, has been named assistant secretary of homeland security for information analysis, the White House announced today. 

The appointment ends months of speculation in Washington about who would take charge of the newly created  and highly sensitive  intelligence unit in the department. Even now that Mr. Redmond has accepted the position, questions remain about just how his unit will interact with the C.I.A., the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies in the government's sprawling intelligence community. 

"I'm very much looking forward to being back in the fray, facing all these challenges, having flunked retirement," Mr. Redmond said in an interview today. 

As Mr. Redmond's appointment was announced, John Brennan, the newly named chief of another newly created intelligence unit, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, told reporters that he believed his center would be a hub in the government's efforts to integrate terrorist-related information gathered by the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Homeland Security Department and other agencies. Mr. Redmond's intelligence unit plans to work closely with the new Terrorist Threat Integration Center to help policy makers determine the level of the terrorist threat facing the United States, a spokesman for the security department said. 

The creation of the domestic security intelligence unit and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center are part of a sweeping reorganization of the government's counterterrorist operations in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The threat center, which will begin operations on May 1, will bring analysts from the C.I.A. and F.B.I. together to scrutinize intelligence on potential terrorist threats.

Both the intelligence agency and the bureau will also be moving their entire counterterrorism operations to the same site in Northern Virginia as that of the threat integration center to work more closely together. The move to a single location for both threat analysis and counterterrorism operations has led some outside experts to question whether the reorganization is a precursor to the creation of a new, independent counterterrorism agency separate from the intelligence agency and the bureau. The current plans call for the officials in the new counterterrorism operation to remain employees of either the C.I.A. or F.B.I. 

But some officials have suggested that the decision to create the threat center and to move the counterterrorism operations of the F.B.I. and C.I.A. to a single site was a response to the bureaucratic pressures facing the intelligence community as a result of the creation of a potential rival power center, the Homeland Security Department. 

In addition, the move to closer cooperation in counterterrorism between the bureau and the intelligence agency can be seen as a response to the calls for the creation of a new domestic intelligence agency along the lines of MI-5 in Britain. 

Asked if the reorganization of the threat integration center and counterterrorism operations at the intelligence agency and the bureau would inevitably create an MI-5 in all but name, Mr. Brennan said he was not looking to foreign governments for a model of how to run his new center. But he added that the intelligence community needed to be willing to "continually evolve and grow," in order to keep up with the threats facing the United States.

"I've been in this job for 48 hours," he said, "and I'm still trying to get a handle on how the U.S. government does this, so I don't want to look at foreign governments necessarily and say that's the way to go." 

Mr. Brennan added that while he expected his analytical unit to work closely with the operational side of the counterterrorism divisions of the intelligence agency and the bureau, he had still not worked out all of the procedures governing his center's relationships with other agencies. He said it had not yet been determined, for example, whether the threat center would take charge of putting together the daily terrorist threat matrix and other briefing materials provided to President Bush and other senior policy makers. 

Questions about his unit's new role also face Mr. Redmond. Not only will the intelligence unit be in charge of processing and analyzing intelligence provided by the threat center and other agencies, it will also be responsible for processing intelligence collected by agencies within the Homeland Security Department, like the Coast Guard, Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service. 
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
DMS progressing, not 'perfect'
BY Dan Caterinicchia 
March 12, 2003

The Defense Message System (DMS) is "not the poster child for perfection" but is progressing normally toward its next major milestone, according to the Defense Department's chief information officer.

John Stenbit, DOD CIO and assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence (ASD-C3I), said he has never personally reviewed the DMS program  which is designed to support secure communications worldwide  but that in general "it looks like most normal programs."

"It doesn't do everything right, but it's not cratering," Stenbit said in an interview this week. 

He acknowledged the program's troubled past, including nagging rumors that it is behind schedule and even technologically obsolete, but he said many of those comments were caused by "difficult bureaucratic negotiations," which often accompany programs involving all of the military services and DOD agencies. 

DMS messages travel on the Defense Information System Network, which distributes voice, video and data messages. The system is designed to provide writer-to-reader message services for classified and top-secret information to all DOD users at their desktops and, if needed, to other federal agencies and contractors.

Most DOD employees have a Microsoft Corp. Outlook client for e-mail. DMS messages look slightly different because of the strict security parameters. However, users can compose DMS messages at their desktops and then use a Fortezza card, which has a cryptographic token for securing messages, to sign and encrypt it, said Diann McCoy, the Defense Information Systems Agency's principal director for applications engineering. 

Verlin Hardin, DISA's DMS program manager, said the program is on schedule to replace the aging Automatic Digital Network (Autodin) when it is shut down Sept. 30. 

DOD approved DMS 3.0 Gold  the software's latest version  for deployment last summer, and "that milestone drove a stake in the ground" that showed the capabilities were in place "to make DMS a good, solid messaging solution," Hardin said.

However, last summer's milestone also included some "exit criteria" required by Stenbit's office, including directory and security enhancements, which DISA is now testing and completing, Hardin said.

Stenbit said the last DMS meeting he attended was focused on enhancing security and determining the best "timing and sequencing" for adding those capabilities. He added that some have asked why DOD continues to spend money on DMS in the age of secure instant messaging and chat rooms.

"The military is involved in very, very serious business" and must keep intricate records of orders, deployments and other information, Stenbit said. "The fundamental recordkeeping [system] of DOD has not been updated in a long time and that's what DMS is, the system of record for decisions."

That is why the department has remained committed to DMS, because it will serve as a "record system we can count on," he said.

"We need a rock-solid record system to record for posterity our actual operations," Stenbit said. "We're looking forward to DMS doing that." 

If for some reason, the system is not ready and Autodin shouldn't be shut down, "I'll make that decision, but I've not heard anything that would cause me to do that at this time."
*******************************
New York Times
March 14, 2003
Ahold Unit Threatens Web Site
By SUZANNE KAPNER

A Web site devoted to gossip about the food service industry has partly shut down after being threatened with legal action by U.S. Foodservice, the United States subsidiary of the Dutch supermarket retailer Royal Ahold, which is under investigation by federal authorities for accounting irregularities.

The Web site foodservicerumors .com started five years ago as a virtual water cooler where people employed by food service distributors and their customers congregated online to trade gossip. 

Steve Hoschler, a fifth-grade teacher in Sacramento who operates the Web site, received a letter by fax from U.S. Foodservice's lawyer, Robert S. Brennen, who asked that defamatory and confidential postings be removed. 

Mr. Hoschler, a former food service executive, said in an interview that U.S. Foodservice had not made clear which e-mail messages it wanted removed, so he had no choice but to close the main news page. He said he believed that the Web site, which is not profitable, was a forum for free speech, but was worried that on a salary of $34,000 a year he does not have the money to defend himself against a corporation.

U.S. Foodservice's objections center on postings that it considers defamatory and that also disclose confidential information. Since the accounting scandals erupted at Royal Ahold, including the company's disclosure that it overstated profits by $500 million in the last two years, foodservicerumors.com has posted several internal company memos, including one that asked employees to save documents in relation to subpoenas issued by the United States attorney's office.

Royal Ahold is under investigation by the United States attorney's office in Manhattan and by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Neither U.S. Foodservice nor its lawyer would comment on the postings in question. But in his letter, Mr. Brennen noted, "Through your Web site you are engaged in an effort to improperly interfere with USF's relationships with its employees by causing them to breach their duties to the company."

The incident puts the Web site in a position that is becoming common in the Internet age: while the courts have increasingly exonerated Web sites and Internet service providers for posting material by third parties, those rulings hold small comfort for individuals who cannot afford to take their case to trial. While many major publishing companies have teams of legal advisers, the operators of Web sites are often individuals without such resources.

"Oftentimes the intent of a libel suit is not to win at trial, but to stop a person from talking," said Russell Smith of the law firm of Smith Dornan & Shea. "The mere fact of having to prove your case and all the legal fees that incurs can inhibit freedom of speech."

When cases do go to trial, Web site publishers increasingly take refuge in a clause in the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

In other words, according to Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that protects digital rights, "if you are just the host to other people's speech, then you are generally exempt from liability."

Several cases have backed up that interpretation, Ms. Cohn said, including a ruling by the California Superior Court in 2000 that cleared eBay of selling bootlegged copies of a musician's recordings online.

"Increasingly, the majority view is that operating a message board or Web site where people post comments is like operating a telephone company," said Mr. Smith of Smith Dornan & Shea. "The phone company is obviously not liable for what people say over the phone lines."

The one distinction, said Victor A. Kovner of Davis Wright Tremaine, is when material is posted not by a third party, but directly by the Web site operator. For instance, Mr. Kovner said, when the Amway Corporation sued Procter & Gamble in 1998 for operating a rogue Web site that printed defamatory accusations about Amway and its employees, a United States District Court in Michigan absolved Procter & Gamble, but not the Web site operator, Sidney Schwartz, who posted much of the material himself. 

Mr. Kovner said it would be for a court to determine whether the food service postings were truly confidential, or merely embarrassing for U.S. Foodservice. As for the defamatory comments, Mr. Kovner said, "they may be mean and nasty, but if they reflect opinion, as I suspect they do on a `rumors' Web site, then they are not actionable."
*******************************
Government Computer News
03/13/03 
Soldiers in Kuwait drive with satellite tracking, e-mail 
By Dawn S. Onley 
GCN Staff

Hundreds of ground tactical vehicles in Kuwait have been outfitted with the Army?s Movement Tracking System, which uses satellites to transmit e-mail messages between troops and commanders and to show vehicle operators their precise positions. 

Although the eight-year, $418 million MTS contract was awarded in June 1999, the Army only recently has begun installing it on tactical vehicles such as Humvees, officials said. During the Army?s tests, a satellite message from Germany to Texas took less than 10 seconds to arrive, they said. 

Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. of Germantown, Md., built 5,600 of the systems for the Army. It takes less than an hour to install MTS equipment in most vehicles; larger vehicles take a little longer, officials said. 

Via global positioning and commercial satellites, MTS makes it possible to identify positions and track progress of tactical vehicles. ?MTS will help get logistics faster to where it needs to be to support the soldiers,? said Robert Straub, the deputy assistant project manager.
*******************************
Government Executive
March 13, 2003 
Progress on e-gov projects varies widely 

By Maureen Sirhal, National Journal's Technology Daily 


While the government is demonstrating progress in e-government, many of the initiatives championed by the Bush administration lack key oversight and that threatens the programs' potential benefits, according to a watchdog agency.

While many of the 24 e-government initiatives are showing tangible results, not all of them have made the same progress, Joel Willemssen, managing director of information technology at the General Accounting Office, said in a hearing before the House Government Reform Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census Subcommittee.

According to GAO's study, Willemssen said, about half of the agencies involved in the e-government initiatives have altered their cost estimates for the projects by more than 30 percent. Additionally, several of the agencies neglected to consider the needs of prospective e-government users and failed to adequately coordinate projects with their federal partners.

GAO also found "indications that important aspects of some of the initiatives had not been addressed and that for many of them, funding strategies and milestones were in a state of flux," he said. The fluctuations demonstrate a need for oversight, he added.

Mark Forman, associate director for information technology and e-government at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), acknowledged that many of the e-government projects face challenges. But he said they "are headed in the right direction." 

Forman told the House panel that the administration has made "significant" progress. He noted, for example, that 17 agencies scored high marks in the first quarter of 2003 for their progress in reaching e-government goals outlined in President Bush's Management Agenda. 

Additionally, dozens of Web sites have been launched to make it easier for citizens to find and obtain government services. New Web portals are helping businesses learn about and comply with regulations, and agencies are working to ease data-reporting requirements for businesses and state and local governments. And several cross-agency initiatives are helping to alleviate redundant government services and IT procurement.

OMB also began taking steps to ensure that faltering IT initiatives will not be funded unless they begin meeting goals and agencies can justify the need for the projects.

Forman said federal entities must improve efforts to modernize their business practices and not just automate them with new technologies. He also called on lawmakers to fully fund the president's fiscal 2004 budget request of $45 million for interagency e-government plans.

Patricia McGinnis, president and CEO of the Council for Excellence in Government, argued that the e-government agenda is in line with what citizens say they want. "What I see now is a lot of progress," she said. "[T]his cluster of initiatives centered around individuals ... businesses ... and state and local governments makes a lot of sense."
*******************************
Computerworld
U.S. Navy formalizes XML management
By DAN VERTON 
MARCH 13, 2003

WASHINGTON -- In a move aimed at making it easier for systems to exchange information, the U.S. Department of the Navy this week announced the creation of its XML Business Standards Council (BSC), the first of four working-level groups that will form the basis for the service's first enterprisewide XML governance structure. 
Next Thursday, Navy CIO Dave Wennergren will preside over the kickoff meeting of the BSC, which was formed to promote the use of common data elements and objects that make it easier for systems to exchange information. The BCS will coordinate XML component usage within and across the Navy's 23 functional areas, which include human resources and finance, as well as among the Navy and other Pentagon organizations and federal agencies. 

The BSC will eventually be joined by three groups that will focus on addressing technical standards, policy procedures and training and education. Together they will form the core of the Navy's XML Governance Structure, overseeing XML specifications to support more than 500,000 Navy IT users around the world. 

The formation of the BCS comes two months after Wennergren issued the Navy's first official XML usage policy and one month after the naming of 23 functional namespace coordinators responsible for developing and managing Navy XML vocabularies. Navy officials said the formation of the BSC will ensure that the entire Navy -- one of the largest organizations to create an XML-focused business structure -- remains interoperable in the future. 

"Early on, we realized that XML was starting to be implemented in different pockets across the Navy," said Michael Jacobs, chairman of the Navy's XML Work Group, which was formed in August 2001. "And we realized that a high degree of coordination would be required to have a successful implementation that improves interoperability, as opposed to hampering it." 

After studying the issue for a year, the Navy issued its formal usage policy, which Jacobs said provides comprehensive guidance on how to use existing specifications and calls for component reuse whenever possible. It also prohibits the use of proprietary extensions to industry specifications. 

"The new policy urges commands to use the specifications from the W3C [World Wide Web Consortium] and other consortiums such as OASIS," said Jacobs. OASIS is the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, a Boston-based e-business standards consortium. 

"And if there are conflicting specifications, the W3C takes precedence," said Jacobs. "We know there are reasons that developers might want to use other specifications, but for an enterprise that's trying to improve interoperability, that's just going to make it worse." 

Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS, said the Navy's establishment of an XML BSC is a reflection of the Navy's commitment to working with private industry on standards development -- something the General Accounting Office last April criticized the government for not doing often enough. As a member of OASIS, "the Navy is participating on multiple technical committees, they're developing new specifications, and they're using that activity to ... prevent duplicative efforts," said Gannon. 

John Gilligan, CIO of the U.S. Air Force, applauded the Navy's efforts and said the Air Force is working on similar policies and procedures for the use of XML. 

"We have not gone quite as far as the Navy in establishing a separate governance structure for XML," said Gilligan. "But our efforts to leverage XML are linked to our existing enterprise architecture and IT oversight processes. We see establishing information exchange standards as an integral part of the information architecture definition."
*******************************
Computerworld
HHS mandates bar codes on all hospital drugs
By Bob Brewin
MARCH 13, 2003

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has mandated that pharmaceutical companies put bar codes on all drugs dispensed in hospitals, a move HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson called a key step "in reducing medication errors." 
Though the regulations apply only to drug manufacturers and not hospitals, as a practical matter hospital pharmacists and vendors expect widespread use of bar code readers, and networks will be needed to support them in a majority of the nation's hospitals. 

The new bar-code regulations issued today by the Food and Drug Administration mandate the use of the National Drug Code, which identifies the type of medication and the dose. They will go into effect three years after the FDA publishes its final rules. That's expected to happen later this year, after the agency assesses comments filed in the next 90 days. 

The FDA said it expects the new rules to eliminate 413,000 medication errors during the next 20 years by using technology to ensure that the right patient receives the right drug in the right dose at the right time. 

Hospitals will have to bear a hefty financial burden to deploy the bar-code technology, with the FDA estimating the cost at $7.2 billion. Jeff Schou, director of worldwide health care markets at Symbol Technologies Inc. in Holtsville, N.Y., estimated that close to $1 billion of that would come from spending on wireless LAN technology to provide connectivity for nurses dispensing drugs at a patient's bedside. 

Schou said the bar code readers could function in a batch or disconnected mode, but he added that WLANs will be the best way to manage the system. In batch mode, the reader remains unconnected to a network until the user hooks it up. Users can periodically update information on several patients and their prescriptions at one time. 

Steve Rough, director of the Pharmacy Service Organization at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinic in Madison, agreed with Schou, saying batch mode doesn't provide nurses with real-time information, a key to medication management. 

The University of Wisconsin started deploying a medication management system, Admin-Rx from McKesson Corp., in December 2001. That system incorporates bar codes, and according to Rough, it will revolutionize patient care and safety. Rough said the hospital has experienced an 87% reduction in the number of medication errors. 

That's because the bar-code system provides multiple checks to ensure that a patient receives the correct drug. When nurses dispense medications, they first scan a bar code on their badge and then the code on the patient's bracelet and finally the code on the drug. All this information is sent to a back-end database, which contains patient and prescription information, and if something fails to match up, an audible alert sounds. 

Marybeth Navarra, director of patient safety at McKesson Automation Group, called the FDA's bar-code regulations a "huge step forward" in the potential elimination of patient errors. She said the regulations would also help break a standoff among drug manufacturers, resellers and hospitals about the use of bar codes. The manufacturers didn't want to use bar codes because the hospitals didn't have readers, while the hospitals didn't want to install the technology because so few drugs had the bar codes. 

Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals, said in a statement, "No other step could help bring about improvements in patient safety as immediately, and as effectively, as the use of standardized bar coding technology." 

Alan Holmer, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement that the industry has been "a steadfast proponent of the use of prescription drug bar codes to ensure hospital patients receive the right drug at the right time. Patients have a right to expect that the medicine their doctor prescribed is the medicine that they receive. Our industry led the drive in establishing the first bar-code standard." 
*******************************
Computerworld
GAO wary of biometrics for border control
By Paul Roberts, IDG News Service
MARCH 13, 2003

The U.S. General Accounting Office wants the U.S. government to plan carefully before deploying biometric identification technology at the nation's borders, saying questions about the cost of such technology and its effect on U.S. trade and personal privacy must be carefully weighed. 
That statement was made by Nancy Kingsbury, managing director for applied research and methods at the GAO, before two Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittees yesterday and published in a report released by the GAO (download PDF). 

The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over immigration and border security issues. 

Kingsbury's comments were based on a November GAO report that looked at the use of biometrics for border control and on an ongoing study of challenges facing border screeners at land ports of entry, according to a GAO spokesman. 

Joining biometric ID technology with automated screening systems may well assist U.S. border inspectors in reaching decisions about the admissibility of particular travelers, Kingsbury said. Biometrics might be used to create a watch list that identifies travelers who shouldn't be admitted to the country, or they could be incorporated in travel documents such as U.S. visas and passports to stem the counterfeiting and fraudulent use of those documents. 

However, biometrics aren't a panacea for the border security problem, said Kingsbury. Biometric screening at the nation's official points of entry would miss the estimated 275,000 illegal immigrants to the U.S. Even for travelers who do present themselves to border screeners, biometric technology would be just one piece of a larger system that ultimately determines whether an individual gains access to the U.S. 

The design of that system requires careful planning and forethought, Kingsbury said. 

Among the biggest challenges facing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in deploying biometrics is the need to define high-level goals for a redesigned border-control system. Before deploying biometric technology in a widespread way, DHS must develop a "concept of operations" that takes into account new processes needed to use the technology, the infrastructure necessary to support it and the limitations of the technology, Kingsbury said. 

For example, the largest database of biometric data contains 60 million records, well shy of the 100 million to 240 million records that will likely fill a biometric visa system. Performance requirements should be developed for any technology adopted, and detailed fallback plans will be needed for when that technology fails, according to Kingsbury. In addition, policies and procedures would need to be developed to govern how a biometric watch list is maintained and updated. 

Privacy and commercial concerns must also be considered, Kingsbury said. Unresolved questions remain about how biometric data collected by the government will be secured -- and about the potential for abuse when government agencies share biometric information. 

In addition, the deployment of biometric screening could slow the border inspection process -- especially if equipment failures or large numbers of false positives increase the number of secondary inspections needed. 

A slower inspection process could have severe effects on the U.S. economy and U.S. international relations, prompting other countries to impose similar inspections on U.S. travelers, Kingsbury said. 

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), a member of the committee, released a statement calling for the hiring of additional personnel to perform border screening and for proper training on biometric technology when and if it's deployed. Kennedy also expressed skepticism about the use of biometrics. 

"The mass collection of information about all visitors to the United States isn't likely to be effective in catching terrorists, and may actually antagonize individuals whose cooperation we need more than ever," Kennedy said. 

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Government Information, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 
*******************************
Washington Post
Aviation ID System Stirs Doubts 
Senate Panel Wants Data on Impact on Passenger Privacy 
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 14, 2003; Page A16 


Criticism of an electronic airline passenger-screening network took on a new edge yesterday as the Senate Commerce Committee endorsed a plan to require the Transportation Security Administration to disclose how the system will work, including its impact on personal privacy.

Government officials consider the surveillance system, known as CAPPS II, to be a crucial part of plans to secure the aviation system from terrorist threats. But a growing number of critics believe the system will be overly intrusive and used by other law enforcement agencies.

"This is really the beginning of a debate of how our country can fight [terrorism] ferociously, without gutting civil liberties," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said after the committee accepted his amendment yesterday. It also would require the TSA to report how it will mitigate errors and enable appeals from passengers who believe they were incorrectly identified as potential threats.

The CAPPS II system will rely heavily on commercial data warehouses containing names, telephone numbers, former addresses, financial details and other information about nearly every adult American, according to documents and officials.

Under current plans, it will send a passenger's identifying information to a commercial information service and have the service construct a risk score, based on computer models provided by the TSA. Those scores will help determine whether a passenger can board a flight. Officials have said they're most interested in knowing whether someone is "rooted in the community."

Eventually, the TSA, which says it is building privacy protections into the system, intends to extend its use to screen truckers, railroad conductors, subway workers and others whose transportation jobs involve the public trust.

Civil liberties activists praised Wyden's amendment, but said it may not go far enough. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, questioned whether the system should operate at all. 

James M. Loy, undersecretary of transportation for security, has said the system will not draw in personal information to CAPPS computers, apart from names and a few other details gathered from reservations. He also has said his agency will not create a central file of passenger information. 

In a speech yesterday, Loy said the TSA also would create an independent oversight board for the screening system. "TSA is committed to the very American proposition that our rights and our security are complementary, not competitive or contradictory," Loy said. 
*******************************
Washington Post
Pakistani Pleads Guilty to Hacking U.S. Web Sites 
The Associated Press
Friday, March 14, 2003; 12:40 AM 

SACRAMENTO  A hacker who breached the computer network at Sandia National Laboratories and posted an anti-Israeli message on the Eglin Air Force Base Web site pleaded guilty to computer and credit card fraud charges, the U.S. attorney's office said Thursday.

There were no known political or terrorist overtones to the breaches of four computer networks by 18-year-old Adil Yahya Zakaria Shakour of Los Angeles, said Patty Pontello, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors.

Shakour penetrated the Florida air base's computer server repeatedly in April and May 2002, altering the Web page to denounce the Israeli advancement into Palestine and crediting the defacement to the "Anti India Crew."

Shakour is a Pakistani who could face deportation after he completes a prison term of up to 15 years, to be set at his June 12 sentencing. He agreed to make restitution of approximately $100,000 for damage to the computer networks.

More than $2,700 in damage was done to the Sandia Labs unclassified Web site in Livermore.

Shakour also hacked into a computer of Mathews, N.C.-based Cheaptaxforms.com, and obtained credit card information that he used to purchase more than $7,000 worth of items.
*******************************
USA Today
Researchers: Bio-terror sensors show promising results

TULSA (AP)  Preliminary tests of a sensor cluster that could detect biological, chemical and explosive agents has shown promising results, researchers at Oklahoma State University said Wednesday. 

The university recently tested a "multinose" sensor for the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism at Nomadics, a Stillwater-based technology and research firm partnering with OSU, Dr. Ken Clinkenbeard told the Tulsa World.

"The explosion detection is good and the chemical detection is good, but the biological sensor needs work even though it worked," Clinkenbeard said of the triple-sensing feature of the experimental device. 

Clinkenbeard, a faculty member of the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine, who is leading one of several research teams, cited security reasons for not commenting on the type of biological agents being tested. 

Nomadics program manager Robert Hilley said the OSU-Nomadics team is testing surrogate agents that effectively reduce the risk in handling such agents while still maintaining a molecular structure that can be detected by the experimental sensors. 

"At this point we are proving the concepts of our research and the device is detecting levels (of agents) well below what would be a lethal dose of any chemical or biological agent," Hilley said of the accuracy of the biosensor. 

The experimental test sensors are enclosed in an 18-inch, oblong box with openings for the sensors to do their work. 

While the experimental model can be handheld, researchers are working on a smaller version of the device, which could give OSU a competitive edge in the nationwide race to produce the next generation of biosensors, said Nomadics researcher Martin Leuschen. 

"The complaint that we have heard the most often is that first responders don't want to cart around multiple instruments or bulky instruments," Leuschen said. 

Founded in 1995, Nomadics employs 71 people and has an annual revenue of about $7 million, Hilley said. Nomadics focuses on the creation of small, lightweight, portable instruments and related products. 

A usable biosensor that would aid the U.S. government in its efforts to thwart terrorist acts is still two years away, Clinkenbeard said. 

Congress has increased research funding for its homeland security initiative in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The initiative includes money for sensors that can be used in airports, train stations, water sources and air ducts. 

OSU is slated to get $19 million in state funding that will be matched with federal funding for bio-sensor and explosives detection research. OSU is on course to garner about $40 million in antiterrorism funding that reaches back to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. 

OSU has taken a multidisciplinary approach to the development of biosensors and products that can stop or mitigate a chemical or biological attack. In addition to veterinary medicine, OSU researchers from physics, chemistry and various engineering disciplines are also involved. 
*******************************
USA Today
Biochip would detect water supply contaminants

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Scientists have begun work on an optical biochip to alert authorities when dangerous biological and chemical agents are introduced into a water supply. 

"This technology is a critical component in our ongoing efforts to protect our public water supply and to build a strong homeland security industry infrastructure in New York state," said U.S. Rep. James Walsh, a Syracuse Republican who announced the funding with Gov. George Pataki at a dinner in Syracuse. 

The project at the state College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse will get $300,000 in state and $725,000 in federal funding, officials said Wednesday night, and could create up to 450 jobs. 

College President Cornelius Murphy Jr. said the school's scientists are working with Illumination Technologies and O'Brien & Gere Engineers to develop the Sentinel LLC system to detect toxins in the water supply. 

Last summer, the federal Environmental Protection Agency began providing $53 million in grants to water systems to assess their vulnerability and come up with emergency response plans, beginning with those serving more than 100,000 people. By the end of 2004, smaller utilities must do so, too. 

For starters, officials should review personnel background checks, computer security, access to pump stations and water sources, and the safety of chlorine used to treat water, the EPA said. 
*******************************
USA Today
Stalkers, the merely curious troll for lost acquaintances online

NEW YORK (Reuters)  Savvy Web users are using Google and other powerful Web search tools to track down or keep tabs on long-lost acquaintances  be they former lovers, classmates, friends or enemies.

These searches, which once might have required hiring a private detective, have become increasingly easy as the amount of data available on the Web grows. Sites like AltaVista, which indexed about 20 million Web pages when it was founded in the mid-1990s, now has information on billions of pages.

"If you think of the needle in the haystack analogy, that haystack has gotten a lot larger," said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com.

Google's ability to return relevant information has made it the first stop for many searchers checking up on people from their past from a comfortable distance.

"This horrible guy I was dating at work (in New York) turned out to be a stalker and a freak," said Lynne, a newspaper editor in Washington, D.C., who asked that her last name not be used. "I heard from a friend that he had left New York and moved somewhere else, so I was all freaked out, like, what if he's following me?

"In paranoia, I Googled him," she said.

Lynne determined that the man was living in Chicago, after finding a link to a local newspaper there that quoted him in an article.

"The funny thing was his quote, which basically said 'I don't like women who are smarter than me,' " Lynne said. "So at least I know now why we didn't hit it off."

Going international

Juan Pousada, an information technology manager for a law firm in New York, has used Google and other search tools to track down acquaintances from his native Spain.

"I've been able to find a lot of school friends, a lot of whom moved after the European Union was created," he said. "You start thinking, 'Where are they now?' "

Pousada said using the Web site of the main telecommunications provider for any given country, like Telefonica in Spain, is often the best way to find people outside of the United States. But sometimes, even with the most diligent effort, searches can come up empty.

"I had a friend, I was the best man in his wedding, and I've completely lost track of him," Pousada said.

Google-proof

With more and more personal information flooding the Web daily, only the John Smiths of the world remain relatively immune.

Searchers are often foiled by common names. If their long-lost friend is named John Smith, for example, they'd have to wade through 402,000 Google results to find him.

To winnow the results, SearchEngineWatch.com's Sullivan suggested including key words like the person's hometown, middle name, or a former job in the search.

Using the right tools also helps. In addition to Google, popular search engines include Teoma (www.teoma.com) and WiseNut (www.wisenut.com).

"Alltheweb (www.alltheweb.com) may do just as well as Google if it's someone with an unusual name," Sullivan said. "But if you go do a search for, say, Bill Gates, Google returns his own personal Web site (as the first result), which is the kind of thing you'd want. You could have been directed to the 'I hate Bill Gates' Web site created by someone who hates Microsoft Word."

Indeed, if someone's public information has never been published on a Web site, even the best search engine won't help.

And, what if you don't want your information to be found?

"If you don't want people to know about your personal details, don't put them out on the Web in any way, shape or form," said Sullivan. "People say they can't believe their résumé is online, but they put it up on their homepage."

People who run their own Web site can insert codes that warn off the search engine "robots," as small computer programs that cull data from the Web are known. But not all search companies respect such standards.

Users can also contact search engines and ask them to remove results from their databases.
*******************************


From owner-technews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mon Mar  3 13:39:14 2003
Received: from sark.cc.gatech.edu (sark.cc.gatech.edu [130.207.7.23])
	by cleon.cc.gatech.edu (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id h23IdCK18963;
	Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:39:12 -0500 (EST)
Received: from postel.acm.org (postel.acm.org [199.222.69.7])
	by sark.cc.gatech.edu (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id h23Id7429829;
	Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:39:07 -0500 (EST)
Received: from postel (postel.acm.org [199.222.69.7])
	by postel.acm.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA23794;
	Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:23:46 -0500
Received: from LISTSERV2.ACM.ORG by LISTSERV2.ACM.ORG (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release
          1.8d) with spool id 0016 for TECHNEWS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Mon, 3 Mar
          2003 13:08:21 -0500
Approved-By: technews@xxxxxxxxxx
Received: from hq.acm.org (hq.acm.org [199.222.69.30]) by postel.acm.org
          (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA21882 for
          <technews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:07:24 -0500
Received: by hq.acm.org with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2656.59) id <17NTYS8D>;
          Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:22:27 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2656.59)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Message-ID:  <8DFA8DABC2E6FA438EDCFD26881380A5D379F4@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date:         Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:22:26 -0500
Sender: ACM TechNews Early Alert Service <TECHNEWS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: technews <technews@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:      ACM TechNews - Monday, March 3, 2003
To: TECHNEWS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Content-Length: 9337
Status: 
X-Status: 
X-Keywords:                   

Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber:

Welcome to the March 3, 2003 edition of ACM TechNews,
providing timely information for IT professionals three times a
week.  For instructions on how to unsubscribe from this
service, please see below.

ACM's MemberNet is now online. For the latest on ACM
activities, member benefits, and industry issues,
visit http://www.acm.org/membernet

Remember to check out our hot new online essay and opinion
magazine, Ubiquity, at http://www.acm.org/ubiquity

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 464
Date: March 3, 2003

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
Site Sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company ( <http://www.hp.com> )
     HP is the premier source for computing services,
     products and solutions. Responding to customers' requirements
     for quality and reliability at aggressive prices, HP offers
     performance-packed products and comprehensive services.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -

Top Stories for Monday, March 3, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"IETF Creates Antispam Research Group"
"Pondering Value of Copyright vs. Innovation"
"Pentagon Spy Database Funding Revealed"
"Securing a Digital Lock"
"German Copyright Levy on PCs Worries Many"
"NIPC Leadership, Protocol Questioned"
"Senator Seeks Full Copyright Disclosures"
"Way to Control Electron Spin with Electrical Field"
"Is Vigilante Hacking Legal?"
"Cerf's Upbeat on Net's Future"
"Overclocking Poses Risks to PDAs"
"To Trap a Superworm"
"DOD Deploys High-Tech Arsenal"
"Civil Liberties and Combating Terrorism: Legal Principles and
 the TIA Program"
"The Net Comes Home"
"Think Tiny, Think Big"
"Flash Drives Arrive"
"Computer Security's Early Warning Systems"

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

"IETF Creates Antispam Research Group"
Finding new ways to stem the growing tide of unsolicited junk
email, or spam, will be the task of a new panel organized by the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).  The Anti-Spam Research
Group (ASRG) will operate under the aegis of the IETF's Internet ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item1

"Pondering Value of Copyright vs. Innovation"
The debate between copyright owners' right to protect their
products and researchers' need to disassemble such products in
order to improve them and invent new products was the theme at
several California conferences that took place this past weekend. ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item2

"Pentagon Spy Database Funding Revealed"
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on Thursday
forced John Poindexter of the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) to disclose a hefty document detailing some 26
grants awarded to academic and private-sector research projects ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item3

"Securing a Digital Lock"
Researchers at the University of California Davis Computer
Security Lab (SecLab) are working on a number of solutions to
protect computer systems from external Internet-borne attacks and
internal security breaches.  However, senior researcher Jeff Rowe ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item4

"German Copyright Levy on PCs Worries Many"
German copyright holders' society VG Wort is fighting for a levy
on new PCs that manufacturers say would unfairly raise the cost
of new units without adding value.  Fujitsu Siemens Computers,
Germany's largest PC maker, is lobbying the German Patent Office, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item5

"NIPC Leadership, Protocol Questioned"
The National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) moved
from the FBI to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's
Directorate for Information Analysis and Infrastructure
Protection (IAIP) on March 1, but not everyone whose job  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item6

"Senator Seeks Full Copyright Disclosures"
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) feels that vendors of products equipped
with anti-copying safeguards should alert customers to such
restrictions by clearly labeling such items as
copyright-controlled.  Wyden believes that informed consumers ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item7

"Way to Control Electron Spin with Electrical Field"
David Awschalom of the University of California at Santa Barbara
and Jeremy Levy of the University of Pittsburgh have made a
significant breakthrough in the field of spintronics by being
able to manipulate electron spin using electrical fields, rather ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item8

"Is Vigilante Hacking Legal?"
Attorney Curtis Karnow said Feb. 27 at the Black Hat Security
Briefings summit in Seattle that federal nuisance laws might be
extended to legally allow counterattacks to halt Internet
hacking.  "It has a lot of promise...if we can get the court to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item9

"Cerf's Upbeat on Net's Future"
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf offered a generally positive outlook
on future Internet developments at a recent function organized by
the U.S. Embassy in Wellington, Australia.  He acknowledged that
Internet content is a combination of junk and useful material, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item10

"Overclocking Poses Risks to PDAs"
Wibble-wobble.com and Revolutionary Software Front are offering
handheld users a cheap way to ratchet up the performance of their
personal digital assistants (PDAs) by boosting processor clock
speed beyond the vendor's specified rate.  However, analysts and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item11

"To Trap a Superworm"
The threat of superworms jumped from theory to reality with the
release of Slammer in late January; more virulent than earlier
worms such as Nimda and CodeRed, Slammer exploited weaknesses in
Microsoft SQL database products to launch buffer overflow attacks ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item12

"DOD Deploys High-Tech Arsenal"
Battlefield tactics are being transformed by information
technology developed over the last decade in order to give
American forces an edge and minimize casualties.  The cost and
reliability of IT have respectively fallen and risen since ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item13

"Civil Liberties and Combating Terrorism: Legal Principles and
 the TIA Program"
Research on developing the Total Information Awareness (TIA)
project and new technology for the anti-terrorism program should
continue, even though some members of Congress have expressed
concerns about its potential impact on individual privacy in ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item14

"The Net Comes Home"
The Internet 0 project at MIT's new Center for Bits and Atoms
aims to create an open-source standard for a building automation
network connected by electrical cables.  The network would offer
the simplicity, reliability, and elasticity of a global Internet ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item15

"Think Tiny, Think Big"
Under the aegis of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI),
federal scientists and industrial and academic researchers are
forging ahead to develop new technologies that have the potential
to revolutionize advanced materials and manufacturing, computing, ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item16

"Flash Drives Arrive"
By taking advantage of the ubiquity of the universal serial bus
(USB) connector, sales of USB flash drives surged from $39
million to $125 million in 2002, according to Web-Feet Research.
"This was one of these markets that's been pulled through by the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item17

"Computer Security's Early Warning Systems"
To combat the threat of more sophisticated hackers exploiting
unknown or unpatched network weaknesses, a cadre of vendors and
research groups are implementing early warning systems to give
network administrators a heads up hours or even days before an ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0303m.html#item18


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- To review Friday's issue, please visit
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0228f.html

-- To visit the TechNews home page, point your browser to:
http://www.acm.org/technews/

-- To unsubscribe from the ACM TechNews Early Alert Service:
Please send a separate email to listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
with the line

signoff technews

in the body of your message.

-- Please note that replying directly to this message does not
automatically unsubscribe you from the TechNews list.

-- To submit feedback about ACM TechNews, contact:
technews@xxxxxxxxxx

-- ACM may have a different email address on file for you,
so if you're unable to "unsubscribe" yourself, please direct
your request to: technews-request@xxxxxxx

We will remove your name from the TechNews list on
your behalf.

-- For help with technical problems, including problems with
leaving the list, please write to:  technews-request@xxxxxxx

----
ACM TechNews is sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company.