Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the January 12, 2004 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 6, Number 593 Date: January 12, 2004 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Site Sponsored by AutoChoice Advisor Looking for a NEW vehicle? Discover which ones are right for you from over 250 different makes and models. Your unbiased list of vehicles is based on your preferences and years of consumer input. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Top Stories for Monday, January 12, 2004: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Congressional Leaders Promise Action on Tech Issues" "Kazaa Delivers More Than Tunes" "It Takes a Thief" "Privacy Progress at Homeland Security" "Top Networking Technologies for 2004" "New Software Has 'No Boundaries or Rules'" "MIT Media Lab Launching Consumer Electronics Push" "Internet 6.0" "Tapping the Grid" "Security Threats Won't Let Up" "The LWAPP Flap" "Rise of the Machines" "Nature's Tiny Helping Hands" "Not If, But How" "The Eyes Have It" "Identity Crisis" "Software for the Next-Generation Automobile" "Tracking the Digital Puck Into 2004" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Congressional Leaders Promise Action on Tech Issues" A panel of eight U.S. senators and representatives promised attendees at the recent Consumer Electronics Show that lawmakers will take coordinated action on some of the major issues the technology industry is concerned about, but cautioned those attending not to have unrealistic ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item1 "Kazaa Delivers More Than Tunes" Bruce Hughes of TruSecure discovered that 45 percent of almost 5,000 executable files downloaded via the Kazaa file-sharing program over the course of a month contained malware: The malicious code manifested itself as viruses designed to infect all files in a user's Kazaa download ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item2 "It Takes a Thief" There has been an increase in the number of schools offering courses in hacking and network penetration techniques, so that companies can bolster their defenses against such intrusions. "If we want to improve computer security, we have to teach how attacks work, how viruses work," contends ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item3 "Privacy Progress at Homeland Security" Terrorism experts complain that the Homeland Security Department's U.S. VISIT program, which requires foreign nationals entering and leaving the United States at airports and seaports to be digitally fingerprinted and photographed, will do little to prevent terrorists from penetrating the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item4 "Top Networking Technologies for 2004" Positioning technologies behind corporate firewalls, switching to more scalable servers, and carrying out global services assessments are just some of the technological trends expected to characterize the buildout of next-generation IT networks this year. Intel Communications Group CTO Tim ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item5 "New Software Has 'No Boundaries or Rules'" "No Boundaries Or Rules" (NBOR), the product of 10 years' work by composer and musician Denny Jaeger, is software that boasts an intuitive user interface for numerous PC tasks, including writing, drawing, and compiling multimedia presentations. NBOR transmits large files over the Internet ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item6 "MIT Media Lab Launching Consumer Electronics Push" MIT's Media Lab on Jan. 9 announced the launch of a consumer electronics research program as part of a collaborative effort between the facility and the Consumer Electronics Association. MIT Consumer Electronics Laboratory director V. Michael Bove pointed out that accessing technology from the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item7 "Internet 6.0" The new Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is quickly taking hold in Asia but faces a convoluted adoption path in the United States: For most U.S. individuals, businesses, and even government offices, IPv4 continues to be more beneficial, especially since they have far more IP addresses available ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item8 "Tapping the Grid" The SETI@home distributed computing project is the largest grid network in the world with 4.7 million volunteers offering spare computing cycles on their PCs; but perhaps the most important achievement of the project is not the 1.6 million years of computer processing time already logged, but the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item9 "Security Threats Won't Let Up" The state of information security, which took a hammering last year, is expected to worsen this year as security vulnerabilities increase in severity, the use of spyware grows, and spammers adopt hacking tools and techniques to distribute junk email. To bolster themselves against these ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item10 "The LWAPP Flap" A new Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard for centralized WLAN control is facing some opposition from Aruba Wireless Networks and a reticent Cisco. Proponents say that Lightweight Access Point Protocol (LWAPP), a standard for interoperable WLAN access points and switches, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item11 "Rise of the Machines" Advancements in autonomic computing, artificial intelligence, and other technologies are making IT workers fear for the security of their jobs, as is hardware commoditization and the proliferation of the Internet and Web-based software. Experts foresee more growth in offshore outsourcing to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item12 "Nature's Tiny Helping Hands" MIT materials scientist Angela Belcher is selectively breeding and genetically altering viruses that can help build super-small transistors. Her tailored viruses are little more than DNA in a protein shell, but they have special ends that attach themselves to gold source and drain ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item13 "Not If, But How" Increasing numbers of CIOs are seeing the value of open-source software--Linux in particular--thanks to a growing consensus that it is cost-efficient, reliable, and is supported by more and more vendors; the focus for CIOs now is finding Linux's proper place in their IT programs. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item14 "The Eyes Have It" Machine vision--and its ramifications for security both inside and outside the enterprise--is on the cusp of widescale implementation thanks to advancements in camera, lighting, and processor technology primarily sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Unlike ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item15 "Identity Crisis" Jeffrey Rosen, author of "The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age," notes that battle lines have been drawn over the design and implementation of a national ID card: On one side are advocates who recommend that the government be granted access to as much information as ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item16 "Software for the Next-Generation Automobile" A dramatic change in the way automakers design and build cars is necessary for manufacturers to remain competitive amid shifting consumer demands, and key to this competitiveness is the rollout of responsive, flexible software architectures that give customers a personalized driving experience ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item17 "Tracking the Digital Puck Into 2004" The Campus Computing Project's 2003 survey lists instruction and instructional infrastructure as a campus concern, a new emphasis on administrative systems, and long-term technology budget and resource pressures. The survey data reflect sizable college and university efforts ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0112m.html#item18 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- To review Friday's issue (January 9), please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2004-6/0109f.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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (c) 2004 INFORMATION, INC. 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