Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the January 17, 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 447 Date: January 17, 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 Friday, January 17, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Increase in Electronic Attacks Leads to Warning on Iraqi Hackers and U.S. Safety" "Justices OK Copyright Extension" "Senators Vow to Halt 'Data Mining' Project" "Spam Confab: Hackers to Rescue?" "Gadget Makers Join the Scramble to Zap the 'Power Gap'" "WSIS: Delegates Fail to Agree on Open-Source 'Support'" "Bouncing Signals Push the Limits of Bandwidth" "NASA, Universities to Launch Nanoelectronics Institute" "Quantum Bits Need to Catch a Virtual Bus" "Lack of a Viable Business Model Is Stifling Software Innovation" "UN Summit Could Spark Net Regulation Talks" "Senators Introduce Wireless Broadband Bill" "Grid Computing Good for Business" "Tech's Future--Smart Dust and Ratbots" "Feds Seek Public Input on Hacker Sentencing" "Consumer Electronics Show Panel Addresses E-Waste" "The Two Faces of Linux" "Will Innovation Flourish in the Future?" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Increase in Electronic Attacks Leads to Warning on Iraqi Hackers and U.S. Safety" An evaluation prepared last week by the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center warns that a national security crisis could be looming, as evidenced by a recent increase in electronic attacks on military and government networks. These ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item1 "Justices OK Copyright Extension" The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 this week that a 1998 federal law extending copyrights for another 20 years was constitutional, handing a big win to the entertainment industry, which still reaps large profits from icons and classics that are being ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item2 "Senators Vow to Halt 'Data Mining' Project" The Pentagon's Total Information Awareness project aims to build a database of electronic information on Americans and root out suspected terrorists via data mining, but this has raised the ire of civil libertarians as well as members of Congress. In ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item3 "Spam Confab: Hackers to Rescue?" Hackers are gathering at MIT this week in order to discuss anti-spam technology, since email spam has become the bane of the Internet, according to many users. According to a Harris Interactive survey, 74 percent of respondents favor legislation ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item4 "Gadget Makers Join the Scramble to Zap the 'Power Gap'" Mobile device manufacturers are struggling to power their gadgets, to which extra power-hungry features are being added all the time. Cell phones and handhelds now commonly feature digital cameras and color screens, for example. But while the need for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item5 "WSIS: Delegates Fail to Agree on Open-Source 'Support'" Delegates to the Asian Regional Conference, a precursor to the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society to take place in December, failed to agree on language "supporting" open-source software. The final draft instead "encouraged" open-source ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item6 "Bouncing Signals Push the Limits of Bandwidth" Radio spectrum may not be as constrained as once thought, since work at Bell Labs has uncovered a signal diffusion method that can dramatically increase transmission speed and quality. The Blast technology works on 3G cellular networks and is based on ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item7 "NASA, Universities to Launch Nanoelectronics Institute" The NASA Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing is a joint project between the space agency and six universities--Purdue, Cornell, Yale, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Florida. The facility, which will be officially ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item8 "Quantum Bits Need to Catch a Virtual Bus" Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say that most proposals for a quantum computer lack a key component--namely, a mechanism that can transfer quantum bits (qubits) between computer elements. NIST atomic physicist Carl ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item9 "Lack of a Viable Business Model Is Stifling Software Innovation" Serial software entrepreneur Dave Winer believes Silicon Valley will no longer serve as a breeding ground for software innovation because it lacks a business model for funding creativity in software development. The dotcom bust did not convince venture ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item10 "UN Summit Could Spark Net Regulation Talks" International Telecommunications Union Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi hopes an upcoming U.N. summit on the information society will spur talks on an international framework for intellectual property rights, tax, law, and individual rights on the Internet. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item11 "Senators Introduce Wireless Broadband Bill" Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) says the debate over broadband rollout has so far been limited to the two dominant technologies, cable and digital subscriber line (DSL), but that alternative technologies could provide a good solution. His Jumpstart ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item12 "Grid Computing Good for Business" Commercial interest in grid computing is picking up. The technology allows companies to share computing resources within their own firms, as well as with partners outside. Ian Foster, University of Chicago professor and co-leader of the Globus ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item13 "Tech's Future--Smart Dust and Ratbots" Smart dust, ratbots, and lily pads are three of nine technologies that could one day change peoples lives, according to IDC analysts John Gantz and David Emberely. Ratbots, for example, may help rats and other creatures send brain messages to a PC ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item14 "Feds Seek Public Input on Hacker Sentencing" The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) engaged the public for advice last week on whether prison or probation sentences for cybercriminals are adequate enough, or should be stronger. Michael O'Neill of George Mason University Law School says, "We ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item15 "Consumer Electronics Show Panel Addresses E-Waste" Electronic waste was the big topic of discussion Saturday during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The consumer electronics industry addressed the tough issue of e-waste with a panel on electronics recycling, which included representatives ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item16 "The Two Faces of Linux" The increasing popularity of Linux in corporate accounts makes it a more attractive target for hackers, and experts say the open-source operating system's security mystique is evaporating as a result. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) reports ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item17 "Will Innovation Flourish in the Future?" MIT physics professor Jerome I. Friedman writes that the future of basic research, which forms the basis of innovation that significantly impacts society and the quality of life, may be in doubt. He cites Walter Brattain, who co-patented the transistor ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0117f.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0115w.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.