Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the December 9, 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 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 4, Number 432 Date: December 9, 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 Monday, December 9, 2002: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Communications Executives Endorse Security Regulations" "E-Mail Overload Is a Myth, Study Says" "Wanted: a Few Good Hackers" "Wireless Research Senses the Future" "Digital Copyright Law Up for Challenge" "Lawmaker Reviving Failed E-Waste Bill" "I.B.M. Plans to Announce Tiny Transistor" "ICANN At-Large Reps Can Keep Jobs" "Robot Space Cowboys" "Software Giants 'Trample Freedoms'" "New Year to Bring Nastier Viruses Yet" "Clothes Make the Network" "Is Big Brother Our Only Hope Against Bin Laden?" "When the Web Starts Thinking for Itself" "Feds Spark High-End Computing Resurgence" "Took a Licking, Kept on Ticking" "England Tests E-Voting" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Communications Executives Endorse Security Regulations" A 300-item to-do list released on Friday by the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council recommends what the communications sector should do to ensure network security against terrorist attacks. The panel said that these suggestions ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item1 "E-Mail Overload Is a Myth, Study Says" The Pew Internet & American Life Project says not as many U.S. workers feel overwhelmed by email as is widely thought. In all, around 60% of 1,003 workers surveyed by telephone reported getting 10 or fewer email messages per day. Just 4% of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item2 "Wanted: a Few Good Hackers" The federal government is eyeing hacking as a way to solve some of its computer security problems, including helping it find critical software vulnerabilities and stopping the trade of pirated digital content. White House cybersecurity advisor ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item3 "Wireless Research Senses the Future" Deborah Estrin, director of UCLA's Center for Embedded Network Sensing, foresees future applications of wireless technology that will dramatically change the way people handle resource management, transportation, and medicine, to name a few areas. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item4 "Digital Copyright Law Up for Challenge" With the deadline for submitting public comments on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to the Copyright Office coming up in less than a week's time, experts are advising people on how to best present their case for exemptions. Computer programmer Seth ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item5 "Lawmaker Reviving Failed E-Waste Bill" California Sen. Byron Sher (D-San Jose) intends to reintroduce a bill that would attach a $10 fee to the purchase of new computers monitors and TVs in order to fund national e-waste recycling programs. This comes on the heels of Hewlett-Packard's change of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item6 "I.B.M. Plans to Announce Tiny Transistor" IBM researchers this week will report on a transistor that measures just nine nanometers long; a typical human hair is at least 3,000 times wider than a nanometer. The researchers, led by Meikel Leong, will present their work at the annual ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item7 "ICANN At-Large Reps Can Keep Jobs" ICANN will extend the terms of its elected board members into early 2003 as part of the ICANN reform transition process. ICANN board member Karl Auerbach says that ICANN is doing so for appearances only, and he predicts that elected board members will ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item8 "Robot Space Cowboys" Wei-Min Shen and Peter Will of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) have proposed a project in which robots using "hormonal" software would assemble a space station without human intervention. Under the aegis of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item9 "Software Giants 'Trample Freedoms' " Richard Stallman continues to call for an end to proprietary software, and as president of the Free Software Foundation he is also leading an effort to develop the Gnu operating system that can be used without restriction. The open source movement has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item10 "New Year to Bring Nastier Viruses Yet" Virus expert Daniel Zatz, a consultant at Sydney-based Computer Associates, predicts that next year's viruses are likely to be more dangerous than ever. Some 250 viruses have emerged every month in 2002, while 400 per month were released in 2001, but the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item11 "Clothes Make the Network" Wireless wearable technology could spur the formation of what Lancaster University's Gerd Kortuem calls "ad hoc communities" in which people with similar interests and tastes can network and participate in social activities--resource sharing, gaming, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item12 "Is Big Brother Our Only Hope Against Bin Laden?" The U.S. Defense Department's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program is an ambitious effort to collate all personal data--business transactions, relationships, registrations, etc.--on foreigners and citizens in an effort to spot suspicious ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item13 "When the Web Starts Thinking for Itself" The semantic Web of Tim Berners-Lee is viewed as a way to fundamentally improve searching and data exchange on the Web. Using technologies such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Resource Description Framework (RDF), ontologies, and intelligent ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item14 "Feds Spark High-End Computing Resurgence" Speakers at ACM's recent Supercomputer 2002 conference said that federal agencies are focusing and investing in projects that could lead to renewed demand for supercomputers. Moreover, National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Rita Colwell emphasized that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item15 "Took a Licking, Kept on Ticking" On Oct. 21, the Internet's 13 root servers received a flood of useless information that was intended to crash the servers by boosting traffic levels to about 1000% above normal traffic. The four U.S.-based root servers--some of which are ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item16 "England Tests E-Voting" Nine jurisdictions in the United Kingdom tested remote electronic voting systems in May, and the results were generally satisfactory, according to Thomas Barry of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The technologies used included ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1209m.html#item17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2002-4/1206f.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.