Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the January 29, 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 451 Date: January 29, 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 Wednesday, January 29, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Internet Attack Shows Vulnerability of System" "Users Uneasy On SBC Claim To Patent On Web Tool" "Internet Worm Unearths New Holes" "H-1B Visa Awards Drop in '02" "Companies Test Prototype Wireless-Sensor Nets" "FBI's Computer Upgrade Develops Its Own Glitches" "More Trouble Ahead for Moore's Law?" "PSINet Europe Study Reveals Massive Vulnerabilities" "What Next for the Internet?" "Bell Labs to Collaborate on Flexible Displays" "File-Sharing Service Says Studios, Labels Misuse Copyrights" "Developers Turn to Linux, Stunt Microsoft Growth" "Out of This World: NASA Tests Mobile IP in Space" "Software Innovator David Gelernter Says the Desktop is Obsolete" "Viruses Get Smarter" "Simply Secure Communications" "Hidden Pitfalls" "Digital Dilemmas" "Information System's Roles and Responsibilities: Towards a Conceptual Model" "Internet Attack Shows Vulnerability of System" The Slammer worm, whose attack over the weekend represented the most serious online assault in 18 months, demonstrates the Internet is still highly vulnerable. The worm infected defenseless machines, reproduced itself, and sent out large ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item1 "Users Uneasy On SBC Claim To Patent On Web Tool" SBC Communications sent out letters last week claiming it holds the patent on a widely used Web navigation method; it asserts that any Web site that has a menu that stays on the screen while a user looks through other pages may have to pay ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item2 "Internet Worm Unearths New Holes" This past weekend's outbreak of the Sapphire worm demonstrates that the increasing linkage of computer systems to the Internet is creating unexpected vulnerabilities. The worm, which proliferated with remarkable efficiency using a well-known flaw ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item3 "H-1B Visa Awards Drop in '02" The total number of approved H-1B visas in 2002 was 79,100, compared to 163,000 visas the year before. Bob Cohen of the Information Technology Association of America says this drop-off clearly proves that the market "is self-regulating-that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item4 "Companies Test Prototype Wireless-Sensor Nets" Four years after it was proposed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the wireless-sensor network concept has reached the prototype phase and is being tested by over 100 groups worldwide, according to David Culler of the University of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item5 "FBI's Computer Upgrade Develops Its Own Glitches" The Trilogy project, an attempt to upgrade the FBI's antiquated computer systems, has run into trouble since it was launched with the blessing of Congress. A source close to the matter says the project's original projected budget of $458 million will increase ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item6 "More Trouble Ahead for Moore's Law?" Technical complications arising from smaller chip sizes may short-circuit Moore's Law, according to electrical engineering professor Laszlo Kish, who teaches at Texas A&M University. He says thermal noise and a lower noise-tolerance threshold work ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item7 "PSINet Europe Study Reveals Massive Vulnerabilities" Company networks and servers run the risk of being attacked randomly by hackers from the very day their Internet connections are established, while companies have not deployed the appropriate safeguards to shield their IT assets, according to a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item8 "What Next for the Internet?" The evolution of the Internet will be marked by diversity, and by developments that will serve business users and consumers alike, or offer advantages to one sector while negatively impacting the online experience of the other. Some 200 U.S. universities and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item9 "Bell Labs to Collaborate on Flexible Displays" Bell Labs will team up with DuPont and Sarnoff to develop thin and flexible displays that use organic light-emitting diodes, in a project funded through the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program. Bell Labs researchers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item10 "File-Sharing Service Says Studios, Labels Misuse Copyrights" Less than two weeks after U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ruled that American music labels can sue Sharman Networks, distributor of the software used by the popular Kazaa file-sharing service, for copyright infringement, Sharman has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item11 "Developers Turn to Linux, Stunt Microsoft Growth" Last year, a number of large IT vendors lined up behind Linux, which analysts say portends tough times for Microsoft in the enterprise-level of business. LinuxWorld 2002 featured large showings from the likes of IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sun ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item12 "Out of This World: NASA Tests Mobile IP in Space" NASA is using the space shuttle Columbia's orbital mission between Jan. 16 and Feb. 1 to test a mobile Internet protocol in space, notes Operating Missions as a Node on the Internet (OMNI) program leader Jim Rash. The shuttle's onboard Linux-based ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item13 "Software Innovator David Gelernter Says the Desktop Is Obsolete" Yale University computer scientist and veteran developer David Gelernter says he is now focusing on creating tools that make it easier for users to find "stuff" on their computers and otherwise improve the end user's computer experience. Gelernter says the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item14 "Viruses Get Smarter" Security experts warn that computer viruses are becoming more subtle and sophisticated, as well as more numerous. Polymorphic programs are one emerging threat, an example being megaworms, which target multiple vulnerabilities and can propagate using ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item15 "Simply Secure Communications" Virtual private networks (VPNs) can be clumsy and arduous to set up and use, especially for IT managers; in response, vendors are offering alternative access tools based on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology such as "instant virtual networks." Deployment ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item16 "Hidden Pitfalls" Companies that rushed to implement packaged enterprise applications in an effort to avoid expensive internal system development are feeling the pinch of hidden costs. There are five outlined layers of potential hidden costs for packaged apps ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item17 "Digital Dilemmas" In the same way previous technological breakthroughs such as the railroad and automobile produced economic bubbles and then rapid societal change, we can expect computer and Internet technologies to vastly change our world in the coming years. Economist legal ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item18 "Information System's Roles and Responsibilities: Towards a Conceptual Model" The information system development (ISD) process could benefit from a conceptual model that outlines the relationship between the concepts of information systems' (IS) roles and responsibilities. The definition of IS relevant to the model is ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0129w.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Monday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0127m.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.