Clips March 10, 2003

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips March 10, 2003

ARTICLES

Crime-Plagued D.C. Neighborhoods Ask for Cameras 
State prepares anti-terrorism plan of its own
CIOs face unique demands 
E-mail scam tries to fool PayPal users
Afghanistan to Launch Internet Domain
Labor stats office turns to new metrics tool 
Defense seeks bandwidth-busting vendor 
Homeland Security plans to issue firefighter grants 
First responders will test wearable computers 

*******************************
Washington Post Staff Writer
Crime-Plagued D.C. Neighborhoods Ask for Cameras 
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2003; Page B01 

Last month, a gang of young auto thieves was marauding through the Benning Ridge neighborhood of Southeast Washington, tearing up and down residential streets, then crashing the cars and disappearing into nearby public housing. Terrified homeowners knew exactly what they wanted: a police surveillance camera.

If D.C. police put a zooming, night-vision-equipped eye on the streets of Benning Ridge, the residents were certain the thieves would go away. But for now, that is not an option. Although the District has one of the most sophisticated police camera systems in the nation, the surveillance is focused on downtown and commercial areas in Northwest. The closest camera to Benning Ridge is five miles away, watching the plazas near Union Station.

That could change this year, as the D.C. Council considers a pilot program to mount police cameras in residential neighborhoods. Instead of watching for terrorists or unruly demonstrators, these cameras would look for the common crimes, such as drug dealing, vandalism and auto theft, that bedevil neighborhoods. 

Many city residents say they share the optimism of those in Benning Ridge, and believe that cameras could help restore order to their neighborhoods when police patrols are stretched thin. But despite their high-tech potential, the track record for cameras is mixed.

Some police departments have tried using surveillance systems but given up because they cost too much and get varied results. Other departments, including Baltimore's, have credited cameras with helping to cut crime when used in a targeted way. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said cameras could be useful but he cautioned residents against expecting too much.

Cameras already are widely used for various purposes in the District. D.C. police have 14 cameras in place. The U.S. Park Police force has cameras trained on the Mall. U.S. Capitol Police have cameras on Capitol Hill. The city has 39 cameras that take photographs of motorists running red lights and five mobile cameras that snap pictures of speeders. The D.C. government also uses video cameras to monitor traffic at key intersections.

No police departments in the Washington region use video surveillance to look for neighborhood crime; city officials in Richmond recently approved spending $375,000 to purchase as many as 30 such cameras for high-crime areas.

The pleas for cameras in Benning Ridge persisted even after police arrested seven people in the car thefts. Residents say they want to stop tire-slashing and window-breaking. In Northeast Washington's Lincoln Heights neighborhood, homeowners say they want a camera on a street where drug dealers run their business like a lemonade stand. 

Other residents want cameras to deter thefts and car break-ins.

"There aren't enough officers," said Kathy Smith, raising the prospect of putting cameras along busy Wisconsin Avenue NW in the Friendship Heights area. 

Kathy Chamberlain, who lives in the Hillcrest area, said a camera might help police catch people who dump cars and tires off Texas Avenue SE and prevent crimes near a neighborhood recreation center. 

"For crying out loud, we need one," she said. "If we had double the number of police that we have now, they still couldn't be everywhere at every time."

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said neighborhood cameras are attractive to many police departments, which are guarding against street crime and the threat of terrorism simultaneously. He said cameras can be "a force multiplier."

City officials have said that the current cameras cost $15,000 each to purchase and install. That's compared with the $39,644 starting salary for a rookie officer, plus tens of thousands of dollars for training. 

D.C. police cameras are turned on only during large demonstrations and times of heightened security. The cameras have zoom capabilities, and some also use night-vision technology. The department has more than 20 such cameras in storage, and officials say they probably would be used in any neighborhood surveillance.

When the D.C. police cameras are on, they are watched by officers in a high-tech command center at police headquarters. The cameras record images to a computer hard drive that can be checked later. The recordings are kept for 10 business days, or longer if needed for evidence. The command center also would monitor cameras posted in neighborhoods.

The D.C. Council first discussed using neighborhood cameras in the fall and considered a bill that would allow police to set up pilot programs in two residential areas for a year. The debate became heated, with some members saying they worried that government employees would use the cameras to play Big Brother -- or worse, peeping Tom.

The discussion probably will resume this year. At least two council members, Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) and Sandy Allen (D-Ward 8), said they plan to oppose the idea. 

"I'm not sure the Metropolitan Police Department is sophisticated enough to use them for the real criminals," Allen said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has argued against neighborhood cameras, citing privacy concerns. The ACLU and other activist groups also have raised objections about the current D.C. police cameras, which were first activated the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

Criminal justice specialists, meanwhile, say cameras are by no means a cure-all.

University of Florida law professor Christopher Slobogin, who has studied the issue, said criminals can shoot out cameras or commit crimes out of view of the devices. Police cannot always respond quickly enough to catch suspects, he said.

Some cities -- including Detroit, Miami and Oakland -- discontinued neighborhood camera programs because they were "not cost-effective," Slobogin said.

Then there is the tedium factor: Most of the time, nothing is happening for officers to watch.

Experts say the next generation of equipment will take boredom out of the equation by having computers keep track of the action, instead of police officers. Equipment sold by one Italian company watches for movement on video screens and can be programmed to spot someone leaving a suspicious package or a burglar going from car to car in a parking garage, the company says. 

Some police officials say the cameras are useful -- whether or not they are monitored.

At the Tacoma, Wash., police department -- which has been doing neighborhood surveillance for about 10 years -- the cameras broadcast images to a station house break room, and usually no one is watching. As long as criminals think they're being watched, Tacoma police say, the cameras have a deterrent effect.

In Baltimore, too, police say the cameras have curbed crime. Officers there use permanent cameras near the Inner Harbor and downtown and mobile cameras to look for street crime on the city's east side. John Pignataro, Baltimore's chief of information technology, said that he also supervised anti-crime cameras with the New York City police and that in both places, officers were able to watch drug transactions on camera, then send police to make arrests.

On Baltimore's east side, the mobile cameras are positioned according to crime patterns, and police reported a 30 percent decrease in violent crime in the neighborhoods where cameras were used.

During last year's debate in Washington, Ramsey told the D.C. Council that the police department's existing cameras had provided "limited anecdotal evidence" that they could stop street crime. 

The evidence is limited to one anecdote: During the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, before the 14 current cameras were operating, police hired a contractor to set up cameras around MCI Center. One camera showed a man breaking into cars, and officers arrested him. This is the only street-crime arrest that D.C. police officials credit to cameras -- so far.

"Part of the problem is unrealistic expectations," Ramsey said last week. "It's going to help us, [but] it's not going to be something that's going to eliminate all crime."

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
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Indianapolis Star
State prepares anti-terrorism plan of its own
Strategy reflects national home security efforts, outlines how agencies will cooperate.
 By Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert@xxxxxxxxxxxx
March 6, 2003
 

Indiana unveiled its new anti-terrorism plan Wednesday, calling for a range of steps that include establishing a terrorist alert system, bolstering bomb squads and taking steps to ensure intelligence-gathering doesn't infringe on the rights of citizens.

State officials say there is no way to tell how much carrying out the plan would cost, because many of the expenses will be borne by hundreds of local agencies. The single largest expense is likely to be $80 million to improve the state's emergency communications system.

Indiana is the latest state to unveil a plan in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Other states with similar plans include Iowa, Illinois, Texas and Louisiana.

"Indiana's Strategy for Homeland Security" by and large mirrors the national home security effort and outlines ways local and federal agencies will share information and join to track, disrupt and arrest terrorists who may be operating here.

"While we might weigh the odds of whether it will be us or somewhere else, it's not worth rolling the dice on," Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan said. "The consequences of us not being prepared, not being in the strongest position as possible to respond, are unthinkable."

A panel of law enforcement, public safety and military officials spent 18 months developing Indiana's plan. The blueprint acknowledges that all the planning and preparation can't head off an attack no one may see coming.

But officials hope increased communication and intelligence-sharing among federal, state and local agencies will help spot terrorists and their likely targets in Indiana while improving the abilities of firefighters, police and others who will respond if something happens.

Among the plan's specific steps, the state would:

? Develop a daily report and warning system.

? Create a statewide crime reporting system to collect and share crime statistics and information.

? Bolster the 11 bomb squads in the state with grants for training and equipment, as well as making sure the squads are ready to help one another in an emergency.

? Develop an alert system similar to the national one. During the recent Orange Alert, Hawaii and Utah used their systems to remain at the lower Yellow Alert.

So far in Indiana, any possible terrorist threats have turned out to be hoaxes, says Clifford Ong, executive director of the state's Counter-Terrorism and Security Council.

Thomas V. Fuentes, special agent in charge of the FBI's Indianapolis field office and the supervisor of a joint terrorism task force for the entire state, said he is not aware of any terrorist plot that directly affects Indiana.

But Fuentes said agents are gathering intelligence from all corners of the world.

"Our job is to make sure that individuals who mean us harm don't get to do it," Fuentes said. "We will either arrest them, deport them, disrupt them, dismantle them -- whatever it takes."
*******************************
Boston Globe
CIOs face unique demands 
Must balance security and legal issues with free exchange of ideas
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 3/10/2003 

Daniel Moriarty oversees a Boston-area computer network that connects 100,000 computers and handles a half -million e-mail messages a day. Like any corporate chief information officer, Moriarty has to keep the servers up and running, and configure the network to handle the data with maximum efficiency. 

But few corporate CIOs must respond to a steady stream of mail from music recording companies and movie studios, complaining that someone is using an Internet address on their network to swap music and movies without paying. Moriarty does, and it's his job to stop them. 

''It's not a huge number,'' Moriarty says of the letters. But the number he receives has doubled since last year. And dealing with each letter takes up an inordinate amount of time. 

If Moriarty were the CIO of an ordinary business - a bank or a computer company, say - it would be easy for him to simply rig the network to block all file swappers. But Moriarty is the CIO of Harvard University, a place dedicated to the free exchange of information. Completely banning a particular way of sharing information would seem almost sacrilegious to many of Harvard's students, faculty, and staff. 

Yet Moriarty has to do something. Swapping music and movie files without paying is a violation of federal law, and the recording and film industries are demanding action against college students, who are among the worst offenders. Even Congress is chiming in. Last month, at a hearing in the House of Representatives, lawmakers urged universities to crack down on the practice, unless they want to see students hauled away in handcuffs. 

So each time a letter arrives, Moriarty and his staff identify the student or faculty member who's been abusing the network and gently warn him to cut it out. That's not quite the iron-fisted crackdown favored by many members of Congress, but then the lawmakers don't work at Harvard. 

If there's a computer job more challenging than being a corporate CIO, it's the job of the college CIO. Colleges, after all, perform most of the same functions found at any business, and need the same kind of robust, reliable hardware and software that businesses use. But colleges are also places where students live and study, and where faculty members teach and conduct research. Which means that the campus CIO routinely copes with problems and challenges that his corporate colleagues rarely have to consider. 

''Think about what a research university is,'' said Moriarty. ''It's all about discovering knowledge, about disseminating knowledge. And so access to information ... kind of [dominates] the way you think about the appropriate use of technology, rather than trying to secure, prevent, and protect as the dominant thing.'' 

That's why Harvard and other schools tolerate file-swapping software that would be banned in any workplace, why they risk hacker attacks by letting students and faculty members plug insecure computers into the network, why they reject strict standardization of hardware and software, preferring to let a hundred digital flowers bloom. 

''When I talk to private-sector CIOs, they tell me what a cushy job I must have,'' said Marian Moore, vice president for information technology at Boston College and a veteran of software maker SAS Institute and Wells Fargo Bank. In reality, the college CIO holds a job that combines great responsibility with limited power. Because she serves an academic community, Moore can't simply lay down the law on such matters as network security, music piracy, or the installation of unauthorized equipment on the network. 

''There's no way I can say, `You have to do this,''' Moore said. ''There is no mandating on a college campus. '' 

The problem often arose at Moore's previous post, at the University of North Carolina. For instance, Moore wanted to abandon Appletalk, an obsolete networking protocol used by Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh computers. Because Appletalk is incompatible with the standard TCP/IP protocol used on the Internet and most business networks, a corporate CIO might simply have banned Macs from the workplace. But Mac users on the faculty refused to replace their machines with PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, and there was no way a mere college CIO could impose her will. 

In the end, Apple's new OS X operating system came to Moore's rescue. It uses the standard networking protocol found on PCs and other computers. So Moore simply bought new OS X Macintoshes for the recalcitrant faculty members. Problem solved. ''You just have to figure out how to skin the cat,'' Moore said. 

The life of a college CIO isn't only about touchy professors and greedy file-swappers. In many respects, a college is like any other business, with payrolls to cover, supplies to order and track, and employee benefit packages to manage. ''It's a lot more like a big corporation than not,'' said Harvard's Moriarty. 

That's why the school has recently built a large data processing center that would seem perfectly at home at a Fortune 500 company. Security is tighter here than at other campus buildings. (Moriarty even asked the Globe not to disclose the address of the site.) But we can reveal that the building has redundant data connections, special computer cooling systems, and a backup diesel generator - the same sort of stuff you'd find at many corporate data centers. Harvard even has a contract with Sungard, a Pennsylvania company that runs remote data centers. The university's key business software is stored on ''hot box'' computers at Sungard, so it can all be run remotely in case the Harvard center goes down. 

Yet these days, most college computer systems are mission critical. Twenty years ago, except for science majors, students could go through college without ever needing a computer. These days, computer network access is ''like heat and light,'' said Moriarty. Professors distribute course materials to students over the Web. Students turn in assignments via e-mail and do research on Google. So the college CIO has to keep everything up and running. 

Indeed, college CIOs combat illicit file swapping not just because it's illegal, but also because it eats up scarce network bandwidth that's needed for legitimate college activities. Harvard has about 1.25 gigabits of Internet bandwidth, with more capacity on call. By comparison, Richard Grossman, director of networking and telecommunications at Emerson College, has to serve 6,000 students and faculty members with only about 9 megabits of Internet bandwidth. That gives him a special incentive to throttle back on inappropriate network usage. 

Students can use file-swapping programs like Kazaa, but the network only allows a sliver of available bandwidth to be used for that purpose. Far from complaining, Grossman said, most students applauded the bandwidth limits because traffic from Napster users was hindering their studies. 

Running a campus network poses some tough security challenges. Moore ran into one last October, shortly after she took the Boston College job. A student had installed monitoring software on dozens of campus computers. The student then intercepted the identification numbers used by other students for on-campus purchases of items such as food and textbooks. The student made $2,000 in fraudulent purchases before he was caught. 

Most campus security issues are less spectacular, but considerably more complex. For instance, how do you maintain a solid defense against vandals, both on-campus and off, while allowing the openness needed for academic research? 

It's a tightrope every college CIO must walk. Emerson College's Grossman, for instance, installed firewall software that let most any data leave the campus, but blocked nearly all incoming data except for e-mail and Web traffic. ''We resisted putting firewalls in place for a long, long time, and then it became too dangerous for us not to,'' Grossman said. 

But he hadn't anticipated the needs of some students working in a game programming class. They were designing a game to be played over the Net, and needed to be able to accept incoming data packets from off-campus testers. The firewall wouldn't let the data through. Network security was undermining academic accomplishment. 

Grossman got busy. He designed firewall rules that allowed the game data into the network, but only when it was directed to the specific machine being used by the students. The rest of the network remained isolated. It took Grossman about 10 days to install the ''fix'' needed to do that, and he seems to have enjoyed himself. ''That's why we get into this business,'' he said. ''We like puzzles; we like problem solving.'' 

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@xxxxxxxxxx 
*******************************
CNET.com
E-mail scam tries to fool PayPal users 
By Alorie Gilbert 
March 7, 2003, 2:56 PM PT

PayPal subscribers are being targeted by a fraudulent e-mail scheme designed to con them into handing over their personal information. 
Over the past week, users of eBay's online payments service have been receiving e-mails masquerading as official PayPal alerts, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove confirmed Friday. The messages ask recipents to submit bank and credit card details.

Tricks involving bogus e-mail posing as legitimate messages from eBay and PayPal are nothing new. However, the latest spoof e-mail--which included a PayPal logo, links to PayPal's site and official-looking fine-print--appeared particularly convincing, said Brenda Frymire, a PayPal user in San Ramon, Calif., who received the e-mail Thursday. 


The e-mails tell recipients that their PayPal accounts have been randomly selected for maintenance and placed on "Limited Access" status. The message, which appears to come from info@xxxxxxxxxx, instructs the account holder to enter credit card and bank account numbers in an online form embedded in the e-mail. 

Pursglove said that the "spoof" e-mail did not come from eBay or its PayPal unit and that it is very likely a trick to rob people of private information. He said the company has received several complaints, but has yet to figure out who is behind the scheme. 

"We encourage people to notify us and not to respond to these e-mails," said Pursglove, noting that eBay makes it a practice not to request users' personal information via e-mail. 

According to Pursglove, it has proven difficult to catch the perpetrators of spoof e-mail fraud, which have also plagued Amazon.com and America Online, despite efforts by e-commerce companies and Internet service providers to identify and locate them. The eBay spokesman didn't know if anyone had actually been apprehended for such a scam. 

But eBay has taken steps over the past year to counteract such tricks, Pursglove said. For instance, eBay has begun notifying account holders by e-mail whenever they receive a request to change an account's password or user name. 

The San Jose, Calif., company is also testing a system designed to detect fraud and tampering. In addition, the company posts messages on its discussion boards about how to protect personal information.
*******************************
Associated Press
Afghanistan to Launch Internet Domain 
Sun Mar 9, 9:01 AM ET 

KABUL, Afghanistan - "Planting its flag in cyberspace," Afghanistan (news - web sites) will officially activate its .af Internet domain name on Monday for Afghan e-mail addresses and Web sites, officials and the United Nations (news - web sites) said.


The effort, a joint collaboration between the U.N. Development Program and the Afghan Ministry of Communications, marks a giant technological leap for a country where the Internet was banned for years during the former Taliban regime. But it is likely to be a long time before the average, impoverished Afghan citizen will be able to afford to explore the new possibilities. 


"Equivalent to a country code for telephone numbers, the .af Internet suffix has now been reserved exclusively for private and official e-mail and World Wide Web users in Afghanistan," UNDP said in a statement. 


"Afghanistan is officially planting its flag in cyberspace, gaining full legal and technical control of the '.af' Internet domain," the organization said. 


The .af domain was first registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority in October 1997 by a private Afghan citizen named Abdul Razeeq, according to Aimal Marjan, an adviser to the minister of communications. 


According the IANA Web site, however, Razeeq later disappeared and some services were halted to the .af domain. 


Efforts to relaunch it began again after the Taliban were ousted in a U.S.-led war in late 2001. 


"For Afghanistan, this is like reclaiming part of our sovereignty," Communications Minister Mohammad Moassom Stanakzai said in a statement on Sunday. 


So far, just two Web sites have been registered under the .af domain, one belonging to the Ministry of Communications, the other to UNDP. As of Sunday, the ministry site was still "under construction." 


Despite the Internet's spread around the world in the last decade, it remains a rarity in Afghanistan, which is still struggling to recover from more than two decades of near-continuous warfare.

A handful of Internet cafes have sprung up in the war-battered capital, Kabul, since last summer, but online time is too expensive for the average citizen, who typically earns less than a dollar a day. 
*******************************
Government Computer News
03/07/03 

Transportation fills long-empty CIO post 

By Dipka Bhambhani 
GCN Staff

The Transportation Department today named Daniel Matthews as its new CIO, filling a post that has been manned on an interim basis for more than two years. 

Matthews said he plans to keep the department?s infrastructure and e-government initiatives a priority. 

?Our efforts to strengthen the security of the department?s critical infrastructure must remain a primary focus,? he said. ?At the same time, we see a great opportunity to assist the public?s interface with DOT through enhancing the department?s e-government initiatives in areas such as the Business One-Stop.? 

Matthews succeeds George Molaski, who left in January 2001. Eugene ?Kim? Taylor had been acting CIO. 

Transportation spokesman Bill Mosely said the official position was vacant for so long because the department had simply not found ?the right person.? 

Matthews had been a senior vice president for Savantage Financial Services of Rockville, Md. Before that, he spent 22 years at Lockheed Martin Corp., previously Martin Marietta Corp., where was a vice president. 

?Dan?s more than 30 years of experience in information technology will be invaluable to the department as we continue to enhance the efficiency and security of our information systems,? Transportation secretary Norman Mineta said in a statement. 

Dan Mehan, CIO of the Federal Aviation Administration, said he agrees with Matthews? plan to focus on cybersecurity. He said he plans to work closely with him on FAA?s security projects. 

?With e-gov, cybersecurity and IT capital planning as important efforts for us, we expect the teaming to continue to achieve significant results for the FAA and DOT," Mehan said.
*******************************
Government Computer News
03/10/03 
Labor stats office turns to new metrics tool 
By Vandana Sinha 

By this fall, an office in the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to start using new metrics software to assess how field economists collect employee wage, earnings and benefits data from thousands of companies nationwide. 

The Office of Compensation and Working Conditions plans to add the product, which launched in January, to its 5-year-old toolbox of performance measurement software, all from Cognos Inc. of Ottawa. 

Already, the office uses Cognos Impromptu, Web-based software that draws and delivers graphic reports from the wage data, and Cognos PowerPlay, which analyzes the information against a cross-section of criteria such as time span and geographic region. 

Cognos Metrics Manager, the new program, will send the office?s upper-level managers scorecards on whether regional and national teams of economists are meeting milestones and gathering quality data from participating companies. 

The office plans to increase by 30 percent the number of companies it surveys quarterlywhich is now at 15,000and officials said the software will better highlight areas that need improvement. 

?It will help us spot any troubles before they develop,? said Randy McLin, computer specialist for the office?s IT arm. Before, ?different people had different measures for where we were.? 

The BLS organization also will upgrade its Cognos toolbox this summer to the most recent version, Series 7. This new version fuses all three software tools via an Internet portal. Prices for Cognos Series 7 range from $300 to $500 per component, and vary by user configuration and licenses.
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Government Computer News
03/10/03 
Defense seeks bandwidth-busting vendor 
By Dawn S. Onley 

The Defense Department on Friday issued a solicitation that brass said will let the department take the next step in expanding bandwidth to users DOD-wide. 

The Defense Information Systems Agency released a request for proposals for a switched optical network that will support 10-Gbps, OC-192 connections for the Global Information Grid-Bandwidth Expansion program. Through GIG-BE, DISA plans to roll out a ground-based voice, data and image backbone to expand the availability of high-capacity bandwidth to DOD users worldwide. 

DOD estimates it will spend $877 million on GIG-BE, which initially will serve 90 sites around the world and ultimately users throughout DOD, Defense CIO John Stenbit has said. 

DISA issued a series of functional specifications required for the fiber-optic cable to be used for GIG-BE. The winning vendor will have to establish fiber service delivery points as well as oversee network management, information and physical security, and commercial transport leases. 

The department said it might award as many as nine contracts or combine services under a single contract. It expects whatever contracts it awards to run for 10 years, with a two-year base period and eight one-year options. Bids are due April 8. Earlier, DISA had said it wanted to begin rolling out GIG-BE later this year.
*******************************
Government Computer News
03/10/03 

Homeland Security plans to issue firefighter grants 

By Wilson P. Dizard III 
GCN Staff

The Homeland Security Department today announced that it would begin accepting applications from fire departments for $750 million in grants, including funds for technology initiatives. 

?Effective firefighters in every community are critical to America?s homeland security,? department secretary Tom Ridge said in a statement. ?We want to help the fire service to move quickly to develop and acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and equipment to respond to all emergencies, large and small.? 

The grant guidelines note that fire departments can request funds for computers used in training. 

The department noted that the program aims to promote interoperable communications for first responders and will award grants for integrated communications systems for base stations, computer-aided dispatch systems and communications gear. Applicants must describe how their project will promote interoperable comm, the guidelines said. 

Ridge last week sent the grant program guidelines to all governors. The application form is available online at www.usfa.fema.gov. Fire department must submit applications by April 11. Homeland Security plans to start distributing funds no later than July. 

The Fire Administration, a branch of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that has become part of Homeland Security, will administer the Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program. 

Last year, FEMA issued 5,316 firefighter grants totaling more than $334 million.
*******************************
Government Computer News
03/10/03 
White House updates federal e-gov site 
By Jason Miller 

The White House today launched a revamped Web site for e-government projects, organizing information about the 25 Quicksilver initiatives under one portal. 

The site, at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov, provides details about all the projects, such as brief and in-depth descriptions, status, coming milestones and links to their sites. 

The Office of Management and Budget also has posted an events listing and information about the E-Government Act of 2002, the original e-government strategy and other related laws and regulations, such as the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. It also for the first time listed the Quicksilver portfolio managers, their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. 

The General Services Administration ran the original version of the site at egov.gov. 

The GSA has moved its site to www.estrategy.gov, which continues to provide information about the smart-card and public-key infrastructure work it is doing as well as other e-government information.
*******************************
Government Computer News
03/10/03 
First responders will test wearable computers 
By Vandana Sinha 

A dozen public safety agencies in the Charleston, S.C., metropolitan area this spring will begin testing wearable computers for use by first-response teams. 

Under a $700,000 contract, 24 police, fire, emergency medical and sheriff?s office workers will strap Mobile Assistant V portable computers to their waists for disaster scenario exercises during the next year. 

By the middle of next month, Xybernaut Corp. of Fairfax, Va., will deliver its systems, loaded with first-response programs from Tactical Survey Group Inc. of Crestline, Calif., to the federal government group overseeing the pilot. The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, a research and technology limb of the National Institute of Justice's Office of Science and Technology, will then distribute the computers to the South Carolina agencies. 

By March of next year, the center plans to release a report evaluating how the wearable computers and software performed. Based on the findings, the center will recommend whether to expand the technology?s use beyond Charleston. 

?Hopefully, we?ll have lessons learned in developing this kind of response capability more effectively and efficiently over time,? said William Nettles, deputy director of the center. 

He said if the pilot goes well, the center would like it to spread the use of the computers to other cities, ?but obviously that will come down to funding.?
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ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 467
Date: March 10, 2003

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

"Military Now Often Enlists Commercial Technology"
"Digital Copyrights Challenged"
"Rising Threat"
"Bridging the Digital Divide"
"HP Tests Mobile Unit as Personal Navigation Tool"
"More Powerful, Longer-Lasting Lithium Batteries on the Horizon"
"Data Mining Software Digs Up Buzzwords"
"Tech to Help Drivers Brake Sooner"
"ACM's CHI03 To Offer Element of Persuasion"
"Internet Traffic to Keep Doubling"
"Tiny Computer Lock Simplifies Security"
"Unleashing the Dogs of Cyber-War on Iraq"
"Farewell to Floppies?"
"A Visa Loophole as Big as a Mainframe"
"Hear My Voice"
"Day of the Smart Mobs"
"Leading By Example"
"Complexity: How to Stave Off Chaos"

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

"Military Now Often Enlists Commercial Technology"
Whereas 20 years ago most information technologies were developed
by the U.S. military and later commercialized for civilian use,
today the flow has reversed, with the military adapting
commercial products such as wearable computers, global phone ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item1

"Digital Copyrights Challenged"
In response to consumers clamoring for exemptions to the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), more than half of whom are
complaining about DVDs bought overseas that will not play on
U.S. players, film and recording industry association lawyers ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item2

"Rising Threat"
As war draws nearer, government and companies responsible for the
nation's critical infrastructure are cooperatively strengthening
their cyber-defenses.  The recent Sendmail vulnerability that put
over 1.5 million email systems around the world at risk is a good ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item3

"Bridging the Digital Divide"
University at Buffalo researchers are working on a optical
character recognition (OCR) tool that would make a vast library
of Sanskrit and other Devanagari-based documents searchable
online.  The Center of Excellence in Document Analysis and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item4

"HP Tests Mobile Unit as Personal Navigation Tool"
Hewlett-Packard's Websign project aims to test the usability of a
palmtop that can allow users to locate places, people, and
services by wirelessly picking up Web pages or "signs" created by
vendors.  These virtual signs could include basic information ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item5

"More Powerful, Longer-Lasting Lithium Batteries on the Horizon"
Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed
silicon/graphite composite anode materials that could
significantly boost the power and longevity of rechargeable
lithium-ion batteries while reducing their size.  Sandia ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item6

"Data Mining Software Digs Up Buzzwords"
Predicting trends by studying the frequency of words or phrases
that appear online could become easier thanks to the work of
innovators such as Cornell University associate professor Jon
Kleinberg, who has devised software that can search documents to ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item7

"Tech to Help Drivers Brake Sooner"
Using a $50,000 grant from MIT's Deshpande Center for
Technological Innovation, professor Eric Feron plans to integrate
the Global Positioning System (GPS), in-vehicle wireless
communications technology, and advanced traffic-flow models into ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item8

"ACM's CHI03 To Offer Element of Persuasion"
The upcoming ACM Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) conference
will spotlight three intertwining themes: persuasion, mass
communication and interaction, and the effectiveness of e-learning.
The annual conference, to be held April 5-10 in Fort Lauderdale,  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item9

"Internet Traffic to Keep Doubling"
The amount of information transmitted over the Internet will go
on doubling each year for the next five years, reaching 5,175
petabits per day by 2007, up from last year's 180 petabits per
day, according to new research from International Data (IDC).  ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item10

"Tiny Computer Lock Simplifies Security"
Sandia National Laboratories has unveiled the Recodable Locking
Device, a combination lock about the size of a dime that uses
microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology.  The lock has
six tiny gear wheels that resemble the locking system on a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item11

"Unleashing the Dogs of Cyber-War on Iraq"
If a U.S.-led war with Iraq is imminent, Iraqi Internet
professionals expect the first strike will be against the
country's Internet access via hacking, computer viruses, and
electromagnetic pulse bombs.  However, blocking Iraq's Internet ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item12

"Farewell to Floppies?"
There is a movement among the world's leading computer
manufacturers to phase out floppy drives in desktops by replacing
them with superior alternatives.  The elimination of floppies is
more important than the replacement technology, according to IT ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item13

"A Visa Loophole as Big as a Mainframe"
With Congress prohibiting the replacement of American employees
with foreign workers holding H-1B visas in 2001, more
cost-conscious companies turned to the less well-known L-1 visas
to bring in low-wage labor.  "Is my government telling me that if ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item14

"Hear My Voice"
People who are physically incapacitated to the point where they
cannot perform the slightest communicative gestures, either
because of paralysis or degenerative disease, can use a
thought-controlled interface called the Thought Translation ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item15

"Day of the Smart Mobs"
The White House and Congress learned first hand the power of the
smart mob last Wednesday as more than 400,000 antiwar protesters
flooded their switchboards with phone calls, faxes, and emails,
part of a national virtual demonstration.  Smart mobs have also ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item16

"Leading By Example"
Although federal agencies have suffered notorious security
breaches are often criticized for their weak information security
practices, many federal agencies are now taking cybersecurity
more seriously, and some are on the cutting-edge of computer ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item17

"Complexity: How to Stave Off Chaos"
IT complexity is increasing:  42 percent of nearly 500 IT
executives polled by CIO Insight in January reported that their
IT systems were excessively complex, and added that, on average,
29 percent of their IT budgets were spent on maintenance and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0310m.html#item18


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