Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 4, 2002 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 discussion (and voting) forums on current industry issues and the latest on ACM activities, 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 4, Number 394 Date: September 4, 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Site Sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company ( ) 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 Wednesday, September 4, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Hollywood, Tech Piracy Efforts May Curtail Choices" "Computer Recycling Bill Sent to Davis" "Attacks Yield New Surveillance Laws" "As Tracking Technologies Improve, We're Ever More Constantly Watched" "Hack Attacks on the Rise" "What's the Fall Fashion in Washington?" "Rapid New Understanding of Superconducting Compound" "Instant Message Goes Corporate; 'You Can't Hide'" "Hooked on Photonics" "Scientists Advance Search for New Semiconductor Insulators" "Net Traffic Mimics Earthquakes" "Letter from Ghana" "'Talking' Tax Forms for Blind Developed" "Super Robots Could Owe Their Mobility to a Cockroach's" "Whatever Happened to Virtual Reality?" "Researchers Lure Wi-Fi Hackers" "Cells Fuel Innovation" "See Me, Hear Me..." "Reality Redefined" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Hollywood, Tech Piracy Efforts May Curtail Choices" Proposals from Microsoft and other companies to introduce technology that would give copyright owners such as movie studios unprecedented control over their content has raised concern among opponents that such measures could erode consumers' fair-use ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item1 "Computer Recycling Bill Sent to Davis" Mere hours before the legislative session ended, the California state legislature passed a landmark bill that would impose a $10 fee on the purchase of new computer monitors and televisions that would be used to fund e-waste recycling efforts. A majority of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item2 "Attacks Yield New Surveillance Laws" A recent poll of international privacy standards from Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center concludes that governments around the world have passed laws designed to ensure safety from terror attacks by granting ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item3 "As Tracking Technologies Improve, We're Ever More Constantly Watched" The sophistication of electronic monitoring technologies is increasing, while proposals to connect myriad databases and electronic resources are being researched, and technologists and civil libertarians are worried that such developments will give ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item4 "Hack Attacks on the Rise" Security firm mi2g forecasts that 2002 will be a record year for cyberattacks, and Chairman D.K. Matai warns that more digital assaults could be launched against the United States and its allies in the war against terrorism as the one-year anniversary ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item5 "What's the Fall Fashion in Washington?" Legislators are expected to use the war on terror as leverage in order to increase budgets for dubious programs and extend law enforcement's surveillance powers, writes Declan McCullagh. Politicians often resort to the appropriations process to more ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item6 "Rapid New Understanding of Superconducting Compound" Researchers have quickly achieved an almost full understanding of magnesium diboride since it was classified as a superconductor a year and a half ago by Dr. Jun Akimitsu of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, and experiments by other researchers have ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item7 "Instant Message Goes Corporate; 'You Can't Hide'" Instant messaging (IM) is taking off as the new killer app for corporate communications. Perhaps even more importantly than allowing people to easily chat with one another, IM allows for "presence." That means IM users, unlike those relying on the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item8 "Hooked on Photonics" Photons have been tapped to replace electrons in a number of technological functions, perhaps leading to tremendously beneficial, and yet unforeseen, innovations. Currently, the low-power and super-fast properties of photonics lends itself to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item9 "Scientists Advance Search for New Semiconductor Insulators" Researchers from the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say they have found a better way to test new porous chip insulator materials. New materials are needed if the industry is to follow the International Technology ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item10 "Net Traffic Mimics Earthquakes" Japanese university researchers have found that the earth's fault systems and the Internet share many similar characteristics and behaviors, and that the Internet regularly experiences "Internetquakes." Scientists at Tsukuba and Nihon universities ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item11 "Letter from Ghana" A society of African hackers is growing and prospering in the Ghanaian city of Accra, despite the poor state of Ghana's telecommunications sector, which is hobbled by a lack of expertise and capital. The poverty of Ghana is characterized by ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item12 "'Talking' Tax Forms for Blind Developed" The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has rolled out new technology that allows blind people to use their screen text readers with PDF (Portable Document Format) files. The IRS, along with many other government agencies, commonly posts documents on the Web in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item13 "Super Robots Could Owe Their Mobility to a Cockroach's" Biomimetic robots that take their design cues from simple animals could be stronger, more adaptable, and more effective than current models, and the lowly cockroach shows promise as a template. Such robots can be built via the Shape Deposition ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item14 "Whatever Happened to Virtual Reality?" Experts such as Gartner's Jackie Fenn say that virtual reality technology is a victim of its own hype, and has lost momentum because it promised far more than it could actually deliver. The high cost of the hardware and research and development has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item15 "Researchers Lure Wi-Fi Hackers" In an effort to profile Wi-Fi hackers and their methods, Science Applications International (SAIC) has set up a honeypot--a system that exists as a false target designed to lure intruders. Hackers who penetrate the honeypot are sensed, tracked, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item16 "Cells Fuel Innovation" Micro fuel cells, which generate electric power from alcohol or hydrogen gas and are supposed to have 10 times more battery life than lithium-ion batteries, signify a notable advance in power supply technology. MTI Micro Fuel Cells recently introduced a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item17 "See Me, Hear Me..." The goal of current advancements in computer interface technology is to produce a computer that can intuitively interact with users and run operations without the need for typed instructions. Ted Selker of MIT's Media Lab says such machines will rely on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item18 "Reality Redefined" Augmented reality (AR), in which real-world environments are enhanced with computer-generated images, has become more refined over the last three years. The overlay of computer graphics onto the user's point of view is accomplished by a head-mounted ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0904w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue (there was no issue on Monday, September 2 [Memorial Day weekend]), please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/0830f.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@listserv2.acm.org 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@hq.acm.org -- 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@acm.org 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@acm.org ---- ACM TechNews is sponsored by Hewlett Packard Company.