Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the September 8, 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 542 Date: September 8, 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 Monday, September 8, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "IT Links to Blackout Under Scrutiny" "Suits Could Clarify File-Sharing Rules" "Databases: The Next Copyright Battle?" "Computer Helps Translate Gap Between 'He Said, She Said'" "Worlds in Transition: IT in Eastern Europe" "With Networks, Slow and Steady Sometimes Wins the Race" "NTU Announces Multimedia Software Research Results" "Networking From the Rooftop" "Emerging Community Asks Big Questions About Accelerating Change" "MIT's RoboSnails Model Novel Movements" "Joining the Digital Ranks: Worldwide Computer Certification" "Rediscovering the Internet" "Internet Companies See Value in Misaddressed Web Traffic" "BA Predicts the Future" "They Know Where You Are" "Epidemic" "Big Bad World" "Technology and Human Vulnerability" "Call for ACM Award Nominations" ******************* News Stories *********************** "IT Links to Blackout Under Scrutiny" The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, the Homeland Security Department, and the private sector have been collaborating since Aug. 14 to determine the cause of the recent power outage but have yet to uncover any evidence clearly indicating that ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item1 "Suits Could Clarify File-Sharing Rules" Individual peer-to-peer file-swappers are under the gun in court, as the recording industry prepares to file suit against hundreds of people who have both downloaded and made available copyrighted files. The new cases will push the boundaries of copyright law ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item2 "Databases: The Next Copyright Battle?" The U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee and Judiciary Committee will conduct a joint hearing on a proposal to grant publishers of factual information protection from that data's unauthorized duplication, according to a Commerce ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item3 "Computer Helps Translate Gap Between 'He Said, She Said'" The Winnow computer program developed by researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology can determine whether anonymous messages are written by men or women with over 80 percent accuracy, and such technology could be used to increase the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item4 "Worlds in Transition: IT in Eastern Europe" Although the economies of Eastern European countries have been characterized by turbulence since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Ned Cabot of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency says Eastern Europe may be experiencing faster growth than any other region ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item5 "With Networks, Slow and Steady Sometimes Wins the Race" Ember CTO Robert Poor believes that slow and steady wireless networks, rather than the fast and smart networks supported by Such highly touted standards as Bluetooth and 802.11, may come out on top in certain situations. Such networks would consist of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item6 "NTU Announces Multimedia Software Research Results" A Taiwanese research group has developed advanced information storage technologies that work with MPEG-4 and MPEG-7. The Communication and Multimedia Laboratory at National Taiwan University (NTU), which includes more than 80 researchers, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item7 "Networking From the Rooftop" Multi-hop mesh networks, such as MIT's Roofnet, which consists of wireless nodes that can be either stationary or mobile, are much less expensive to set up than DSL or cable and can be used to surpass the "last mile" barrier and make broadband Internet ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item8 "Emerging Community Asks Big Questions About Accelerating Change" The first Accelerating Change Conference (ACC2003) is to be held Sept. 12-14 at Stanford University, gathering 24 futurists and prominent thinkers. Foresight Institute Chair K. Eric Drexler will speak about the long-term goals of nanotechnology ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item9 "MIT's RoboSnails Model Novel Movements" Researchers in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering have created two robots that mimic the locomotion of snails, and the findings derived from their performance could clear the way for new forms of movement in future systems. RoboSnails I and II ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item10 "Joining the Digital Ranks: Worldwide Computer Certification" Workers spend an average of three hours a week dealing with computer-related problems, and over 70 percent of that time is wasted because they lack fundamental computing knowledge, estimates a recent Cap Gemini Ernst & Young report. In an effort ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item11 "Rediscovering the Internet" Bob Frankston believes the Internet is at risk of returning to its primitive roots by re-establishing complex networks that tangle up infrastructure. Efforts to stop such developments only encourage people to interfere in the Internet even further, he ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item12 "Internet Companies See Value in Misaddressed Web Traffic" Internet companies, including AOL Time Warner and Microsoft, are banking on mistyped addresses to improve their business revenue by directing users to their search engines, which then display advertisements for products and services. Meanwhile, VeriSign ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item13 "BA Predicts the Future" Business analytics (BA) software focuses on future trends, not on summarizing and reporting historical data, as does business intelligence (BI) software. Both systems are linked to databases and allow analysis, and so have been confused in the marketplace; ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item14 "They Know Where You Are" New location-aware technologies, such as smart cell phones, GPS chips, and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, promise many benefits, including more efficient inventory management, real-time driving directions, and more responsive emergency ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item15 "Epidemic" The virus epidemics of the past summer should serve as a jolt for businesses, consumers, and the software industry to stop being complacent and take cybersecurity seriously. Combined with spam, viruses make routine computing a source of frustration for ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item16 "Big Bad World" According to the InformationWeek 2003 Global Information Security Survey, IT security threats and the measures used to combat them are pretty consistent worldwide, due to the spread of the Internet and global supply chains. Forty-five percent of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item17 "Technology and Human Vulnerability" Virtual realities supported by rapidly advancing technologies are starting to impinge on people's real-world perceptions. The way human-technology interaction is reshaping human identity and society is of central interest to Sherry Turkle, the Abby ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item18 "Call for ACM Award Nominations" Nominations are open for the 12 major ACM awards, the eagerly awaited annual event that recognizes outstanding technical and professional achievements in computer science and information technology. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0908m.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review the Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0905f.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