ACM TechNews - Friday, April 11, 2003

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ACM TechNews
Volume 5, Number 481
Date: April 11, 2003

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Top Stories for Friday, April 11, 2003:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Standards Group Beats Back Patent Foes"
"Senate Introduces Bill to Can Spam"
"Patriot Act Extension Considered"
"Databases Ripe for Attacks"
"After Three Years of Wi-Fi, Hurdles Still Remain"
"Focus on Software Piracy Problem"
"Designing New Handhelds to Improve Human-Computer Interaction"
"India Builds Tflops Computing Cluster"
"A Self-Powered DNA Computer Redefines Small"
"Supply Chain Reaction"
"The Lowdown Download Blues"
"Benefits of Future Displays Debated"
"War on Electronic Privacy"
"Tech Giants Put Chips on Security Alliance"
"Painted LEDs Make Screen"
"The Ins and Outs of IT"
"Continuing the Fight Against Worms"
"The PC Factor"
"Rogue IT"

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

"Standards Group Beats Back Patent Foes"
The Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) intellectual
property rights working group has concluded there is no immediate
need to recharter rules allowing patented technologies in IETF
standards.  Rules currently on IETF books allow for reasonable ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item1

"Senate Introduces Bill to Can Spam"
Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced a
bill on Thursday that aims to reduce the amount of spam clogging
Internet users' in-boxes by requiring online marketers to include
valid return addresses in the messages, giving consumers the ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item2

"Patriot Act Extension Considered"
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) reportedly wants to permanently extend
the Patriot Act beyond its 2005 sunset provision, a development
that is opposed by civil liberty proponents and others.  Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse director Beth Givens says a permanent ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item3

"Databases Ripe for Attacks"
Reported online security incidents and confirmed attacks climbed
37 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002 to the first quarter
of 2003, according to a report from Internet Security Systems
(ISS).  ISS' Pete Allor says the Slammer worm outbreak in late ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item4

"After Three Years of Wi-Fi, Hurdles Still Remain"
Many of Wi-Fi technology's promised advantages have yet to be
realized, and the nonprofit Wi-Fi Alliance acknowledges that
security shortcomings, differing standards, product
incompatibilities, and a lack of Wi-Fi "hot spots" need to be ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item5

"Focus on Software Piracy Problem"
Hollywood's battle against digital piracy may have grabbed most
of the attention, but that does not make software piracy any less
significant, asserts Business Software Alliance (BSA) VP of
enforcement Bob Kruger.  He is concerned that college students ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item6

"Designing New Handhelds to Improve Human-Computer Interaction"
Professionals in the field of human-computer interaction gathered
in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this week to discuss the latest research
projects involving handheld devices.  The annual ACM conference on
human-computer interaction, CHI 2003, gave the world a glimpse of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item7

"India Builds Tflops Computing Cluster"
India has entered the international supercomputing arena with
last week's announcement of the Param Padma, a 1-teraflop
computing cluster developed by the Center for the Development of
Advanced Computing (C-DAC).  The cluster incorporates up to 248 1 ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item8

"A Self-Powered DNA Computer Redefines Small"
DNA computers combine the advantages of minuscule size and
potentially massive storage capacity, and now researchers at
Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science have tweaked that model
with a device that uses data as a power source.  An earlier DNA ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item9

"Supply Chain Reaction"
Pervasive computing was first promoted as a technology that would
create hyper-networks of interconnected devices, but a lack of
practical applications indicated that the idea was ahead of its
time.  However, some companies now plan to give the concept a new ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item10

"The Lowdown Download Blues"
The fall of online song-swapping service Napster, which helped
fuel the current battles copyright holders are waging against
technology companies and consumers, was predicated on a lack of
common sense and a cohesive business plan.  Shawn Fanning's ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item11

"Benefits of Future Displays Debated"
Proponents and backers of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs)
have claimed that the technology will lead to display screens
that are thinner, lighter, and more power-efficient than liquid
crystal displays (LCDs), but the current crop of commercial and ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item12

"War on Electronic Privacy"
Nearly 300 people from around the world--lawyers, activists,
technology enthusiasts, and others--gathered in New York City to
attend ACM's 13th annual Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP)
Conference, whose underlying theme was the protection of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item13

"Tech Giants Put Chips on Security Alliance"
Members of the Trusted Computer Platform Alliance (TCPA) declared
on April 8 that they have retooled their organization and renamed
it the Trusted Computing Group, which will license and
commercialize security hardware and software to be embedded into ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item14

"Painted LEDs Make Screen"
A Munich University research team led by Klaus Meerholz has
devised a process to fabricate full-color flat-screen displays by
covering a surface with light-emitting polymers and exposing them
to 125-micron spots of ultraviolet light, thus generating sharply ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item15

"The Ins and Outs of IT"
Enterprise technology is shifting like the sands of the desert,
says Cap Gemini Ernst & Young chief technologist John Parkinson.
He says one of the most distinctive and important shifts will be
toward a pervasive utility architecture, where approximately 100 ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item16

"Continuing the Fight Against Worms"
The sophistication and speed of computer worms, as demonstrated
by recent outbreaks such as Slammer/Sapphire, is growing, as is
their potential for inflicting damage.  Detailed analysis of worm
behavior, both expected and established, is key to understanding ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item17

"The PC Factor"
Computer chip and PC manufacturers are investing astronomical
sums in the redesign of their products' form factor and
functionality.  But a cool-looking device is no guarantee of
marketability, especially in a climate characterized by frugal IT ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item18

"Rogue IT"
Corporate executives are taking a dim view of "ghost IT"
projects--technology ventures carried out independently by
business units without the CIO knowing about it and often without
company approval--in order to avoid the burden of cleaning up ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0411f.html#item19


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