Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the June 6, 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 504 Date: June 6, 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FREE ThinkPad Mobile Traveler bundle! Stay powered and connected. Buy select ThinkPadR notebooks and ask for a free ThinkPad Mobile Traveler bundle. Bundle includes ThinkPad nylon carrying case, IBM AC/DC adapter, and Tripp Lite 4-Port USB Mini Hub. A $207.99 value! Hurry! Offer ends June 16, 2003 or while supplies last. Visit http://ibm.com/businesscenter/acm or call 800-426-7235, ext. 3559 Offer available from IBM only in the US through 6/16/03. Not combinable with any other offer. Shipping and handling not included. Limit 10 per customer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Top Stories for Friday, June 6, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "SCO Suit May Blunt the Potential of Linux" "Mass. Could Be Fifth State to Adopt Anti-UCITA Law" "Packet Tracking Promises Ultrafast Internet" "Senator Wants Limits on Copy Protection" "You Make It, You Take It: PC Law" "What Internet2 Researchers Are Dreaming Up" "Storage Methods Come and Go, But Tape Holds Its Own" "Putting a Lid on Spam" "Cybersecurity Report Card--Serious Improvements Needed" "New Nanoscale Device Reveals Behavior of Individual Electrons" "Group Drafts a Truce in Flaw Dispute" "California Law Raises Bar For Data Security" "IT Boom Reverses Brain Drain" "India Fears Impact of Bid to Curb Jobs Exports" "Taking Technology to Extremes" "World's Smallest Robot" "Adolescent Angst" "Battle-Tested Tech" "The Post-OOP Paradigm" ******************* News Stories *********************** "SCO Suit May Blunt the Potential of Linux" SCO Group's insistence that Linux contains proprietary Unix code owned by the company has dampened corporate enthusiasm for the free Linux operating system while angering thousands of open-source programmers. Gartner recently warned firms to limit ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item1 "Mass. Could Be Fifth State to Adopt Anti-UCITA Law" Massachusetts may join Iowa, North Carolina, Vermont, and West Virginia in the adoption of "bomb-shelter" legislation designed to shield citizens and businesses from the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA). A hearing on the anti-UCITA ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item2 "Packet Tracking Promises Ultrafast Internet" Fast TCP from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) refinement designed to dramatically speed up the sending and receiving of data over the Internet without having to install new equipment on recipient ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item3 "Senator Wants Limits on Copy Protection" Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Ky.) has written a bill that aims to regulate digital rights management (DRM) systems, effectively limiting how copyright owners can control the distribution of digital content through copy-protection technology. "The ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item4 "You Make It, You Take It: PC Law" A bill authored by state Sen. Byron Sher (D-Calif.) and approved by the California Senate on June 4 would require electronics producers to formulate and fund a system for collecting, transporting, and recycling unwanted computers and monitors, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item5 "What Internet2 Researchers Are Dreaming Up" Internet2 (I2) researchers are experimenting with technologies that could radically enhance the network and open up a plethora of new applications. I2, which is supported by a nonprofit consortium of universities and corporate research and development ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item6 "Storage Methods Come and Go, But Tape Holds Its Own" Many storage experts predict that tape has a long and healthy life ahead of it, despite advances in hard disk drives, DVDs, and holography. One of tape's advantages over these alternate media is its storage space, thanks to the material's extreme thinness ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item7 "Putting a Lid on Spam" Thirty-three U.S. states have enacted anti-spam legislation, but Utah's stands out for the amount of litigation it has spurred. The Utah statute classifies spam as any commercial email sent to people with no prior business relationship with the sender, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item8 "Cybersecurity Report Card--Serious Improvements Needed" Dan Farber has furnished a report card gauging the progress made by the various parties working either for or against cybersecurity over the last year, and hackers received an "A-" thanks to their growing capability to thwart detection, the ease ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item9 "New Nanoscale Device Reveals Behavior of Individual Electrons" A new nanoscale device developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison allows researchers to observe the behavior of electrons in detail not possible before. Just 100 nanometers wide, the device is a thin membrane stretched over a ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item10 "Group Drafts a Truce in Flaw Dispute" The Organization for Internet Safety (OIS) issued a draft of bug disclosure guidelines on Wednesday in the hope of settling a dispute between software companies and security researchers over the best time and methods for publishing software vulnerability ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item11 "California Law Raises Bar For Data Security" A California law requiring U.S. firms to notify Californians in writing if their personal data has been compromised or corrupted as a result of database intrusions will go into effect on July 1. "It's a law that on its face purports to cover those outside ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item12 "IT Boom Reverses Brain Drain" As a result of the weakening U.S. IT sector, many Russian programmers and engineers are returning to their native country to seek jobs. Experts say 10 percent of high tech job seekers in Russia are recently retuned from aboard, including those who held ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item13 "India Fears Impact of Bid to Curb Jobs Exports" India is apprehensive about recent efforts by U.S. trade groups and legislators to stem overseas IT outsourcing as IT sector unemployment rises in the United States. More than 472,000 IT jobs will be relocated to foreign countries by 2015, according to ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item14 "Taking Technology to Extremes" Using a combination of off-the-shelf products and customized solutions, adventurers to the world's most remote places are using technology to keep connected. Smaller and lighter, technology today is becoming vital to exploration because it does ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item15 "World's Smallest Robot" Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories' Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center say they have developed the smallest untethered robot ever. Standing 1cm high, the robot features tank-like tread wheels that propel the robot at a speed of just ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item16 "Adolescent Angst" An InformationWeek Research poll of 274 business-technology executives who have been using the open-source Linux operating system for 12 months finds that the number of respondents who are extremely satisfied with the OS has fallen over the past year ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item17 "Battle-Tested Tech" Advanced commercial IT for enterprises is being put through its paces in the military; recent conflicts in the Middle East were a testbed for various technologies that emphasized a reversal of the technology development cycle, which traditionally moved from ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item18 "The Post-OOP Paradigm" Computer programming's sophistication has evolved from binary notation to assembly languages to structured programming to object-oriented programming (OOP), which has been the reigning programming paradigm for about 20 years. The wide adoption of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0606f.html#item19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0528w.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 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Site Sponsored by: IBM personal computers and software Purchase discounted IBM personal computers, servers, and hundreds of additional products and services as an ACM member. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -