Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the August 22, 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 536 Date: August 22, 2003 Top Stories for Friday, August 22, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Marketers Say They Intend To Join Effort To Fight Spam" "Record Computer Infections Slow U.S., Private Work" "Technology Key to Anticipating Outages" "Strong Attackers, Weak Software" "The Global State of Supercomputers" "The Quiet War Over Open-Source" "Three Companies Reach Second Phase of Pentagon's Supercomputer Competition" "IT Security in Energy Sector to Come Under Scrutiny" "Patent Awarded for Method of Making Nanobatteries" "CIOs, Experts Cite Urgent Need for U.S. Infrastructure Upgrade" "Privacy Advocates Call for RFID Regulation" "Internet, Communications Networks Survive Massive Blackout" "Spam Technology Seeks Acceptance" "Total Information Overload" "Quantum Cryptography's Reach Extended" "Totally Random" "Information in the Holographic Universe" "Helping the Group to Think Straight" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Marketers Say They Intend To Join Effort To Fight Spam" The Direct Marketers Association (DMA) is appealing to members for extra funds for Operation Slam Spam, which would provide federal, state, and local law enforcement with reinforcements in their fight against spammers. In the letter to members, the DMA ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item1 "Record Computer Infections Slow U.S., Private Work" Computer viruses that have proliferated at record rates over the past 10 days appear to be tapering off slightly, according to security firms such as MessageLabs. However, this news hardly breeds optimism for federal agencies--the Small Business ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item2 "Technology Key to Anticipating Outages" It is hoped that the antiquated national grid will be upgraded to anticipate power failures such as those that caused the recent cascading blackout with the deployment of sophisticated monitoring technology, although such a vision is 10 years away ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item3 "Strong Attackers, Weak Software" Computer security experts posit that the recent upswing in fast-spreading virus epidemics is the apex of a long-gestating trend as the skills and daring of virus programmers increased, while the quality of software security decreased. A rise in ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item4 "The Global State of Supercomputers" Supercomputing projects are proceeding apace, partly thanks to NEC's Earth Simulator, which currently owns the title of the world's fastest supercomputer. Designed to model climate, the Earth Simulator takes up three floors and is comprised of 5,120 ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item5 "The Quiet War Over Open-Source" The general public is oblivious to a fierce battle being waged amongst companies, technologists, academics, and government officials over the place of open-source software in the world of intellectual property. This acrimonious debate flared recently ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item6 "Three Companies Reach Second Phase of Pentagon's Supercomputer Competition" The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded approximately $150 million to Sun Microsystems, IBM, and Cray to separately develop a high-productivity computer system that is faster, more versatile, and more powerful than any other machine. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item7 "IT Security in Energy Sector to Come Under Scrutiny" The recent cascading power failure that blacked out much of the northeastern United States and areas of Canada has added credibility to security experts' persistent warnings about the power grid's susceptibility to cyberattacks. Congress is ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item8 "Patent Awarded for Method of Making Nanobatteries" University of Tulsa chemistry professor Dale Teeters and former students Lane Fisher and Nina Korzhova have been awarded a patent for a process to fabricate, charge, and test nanoscale batteries. Thus far the research team has manufactured nanobatteries small ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item9 "CIOs, Experts Cite Urgent Need for U.S. Infrastructure Upgrade" Executives of energy companies and industry analysts are currently offering their opinions about what steps should be taken to prevent a repeat of the blackout that left millions of customers in Canada and the United States without power. First ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item10 "Privacy Advocates Call for RFID Regulation" Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Calif.) state legislative subcommittee chair on new technologies, recently held a hearing on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and its privacy implications in the commercial sector. Allusions to the futuristic movie ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item11 "Internet, Communications Networks Survive Massive Blackout" The massive cascading power failure that blacked out most of the northeastern United States and parts of the Midwest did not seriously affect the Internet and communications networks in those regions. The majority of IT systems were undamaged for the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item12 "Spam Technology Seeks Acceptance" Sieve, a proposed IETF standard filtering technology designed to organize email and mitigate message overload, is being tapped by vendors such as Brightmail and ActiveState as a tool that enables customers to write personalized spam filters. Sieve author Tim ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item13 "Total Information Overload" Privacy advocates allege that the Defense Department's Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) project would merge public and private databases into a vast "metabase" that would be mined to gather data on innocent American citizens, but Robert L. Popp of ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item14 "Quantum Cryptography's Reach Extended" Quantum cryptographic researchers are developing techniques to extend the range of entangled photonic devices, which leverage the strange physics unique to the quantum world to protect encoded messages. By repeating the entangled signal, researchers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item15 "Totally Random" Encryption by randomization is the linchpin of computer security, but producing the random number sequences that uphold data encryption is an arduous process that requires a random number generator (RNG). Existing computers are characterized as ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item16 "Information in the Holographic Universe" The holographic principle proposed in 1993 by Gerard 't Hooft of the University of Utrecht theorizes that the universe is akin to a hologram: The universe, which appears to be three-dimensional, could actually be composed of alternative quantum fields and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item17 "Helping the Group to Think Straight" Group decision support systems (GDSS)--software tools designed to enhance collaboration and boost productivity in face-to-face meetings--are growing more popular and rewriting the rules of decision-making on the executive level. GDSS encourages equal ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0822f.html#item18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review Wednesday's issue, please please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/0820w.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 () IBM is Serving Up Savings. 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