Dear ACM TechNews Subscriber: Welcome to the November 24, 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 575 Date: November 24, 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, November 24, 2003: http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html "Switching Allegiances in Computers" "Spam Pact Toughens Penalties, But Critics See a Lack of Muscle" "Computer-Security Experts Challenge Researchers to Focus on Long-Term Solutions" "E-Votes Must Leave a Paper Trail" "On the Web, Research Work Proves Ephemeral" "Proposed Spam-Blocking Technology Is a Long Way Away" "'Spyware' Steps Out of the Shadows" "EU Cybercrime Agency Gets the Go-Ahead" "The Future of Open Source in Security" "Computers 'Hamper the Workplace'" "Segway Robot Opens Doors" "What is WSIS Getting At?" "User-Friendly Gadgets in Pipeline" "IT on Wheels" "ISPs Take on DDoS Attacks" "Twilight of the PC Era?" "Labs Look Ahead" ******************* News Stories *********************** "Switching Allegiances in Computers" The Comdex PC supershow is shrinking while ACM's supercomputing conference (SC2003) held in Phoenix last week is takingoff: SC2003 is still just two-thirds the size of Comdex this year, but is growing rapidly while Comdex attendance dwindles. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item1 "Spam Pact Toughens Penalties, But Critics See a Lack of Muscle" Although the House has passed a compromise anti-spam bill that imposes tougher penalties against spammers and authorizes the FCC to create a no-spam list similar to the do-not-call registry, the commission reports that it has neither the technology nor the ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item2 "Computer-Security Experts Challenge Researchers to Focus on Long-Term Solutions" Purdue University's Eugene Spafford was one of five speakers at a recent Virginia conference who suggested strategies computer scientists could follow to implement long-term cybersecurity solutions. Spafford declared at a news conference that computer ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item3 "E-Votes Must Leave a Paper Trail" California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced Nov. 21 that all electronic voting systems in the state must be retrofitted to print out voter-verifiable ballots by 2006, enabling voters to ensure that their votes are properly recorded. ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item4 "On the Web, Research Work Proves Ephemeral" The Web's amorphous nature as an information repository--with Web pages expected to last only 100 days on average, according to the Internet Archive's Brewster Kahle--makes it an unreliable medium for scholars and scientists who reference articles and other ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item5 "Proposed Spam-Blocking Technology Is a Long Way Away" The Anti-Spam Research Group (ASRG), an alliance of consumer email providers, and other organizations are attempting to control spam by developing and implementing sender-authentication solutions, but many are finding the challenge much more difficult ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item6 "'Spyware' Steps Out of the Shadows" Computer security researchers and policy makers are increasingly concerned about spyware, programs that lurk behind the scenes on people's computers, serving up pop-up ads or recording computer activity to third parties. Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) has ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item7 "EU Cybercrime Agency Gets the Go-Ahead" A plan to form a European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) that would ease cooperation and data exchange pertaining to network and information security has gained the approval of European telecommunications and communications ministers. ENISA ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item8 "The Future of Open Source in Security" Open source tools help network administrators develop more robust defenses against electronic infiltration, according to academic and industry attendees at the second annual Open Source Symposium held at Seneca College in Toronto. Though proprietary ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item9 "Computers 'Hamper the Workplace'" An iSociety report published on Nov. 18 ends a year of study with the conclusion that technology in the workplace is causing more problems than it is solving, primarily because of a "low tech equilibrium" in which workers lack tech skills and guidance, ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item10 "Segway Robot Opens Doors" Cardea is a one-armed robot created by MIT researchers that can navigate hallways and open doors; it incorporates the base of a Segway scooter platform, whose dynamic balancing is essential to keeping the machine's arm practical, according to MIT scientist ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item11 "What is WSIS Getting At?" Susan Crawford, assistant professor of law at Cardozo Law School, questions the rationale for recent criticism of ICANN in relation to the planned WSIS meeting in December and worries that the organization is seeking too much control over the Internet. One ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item12 "User-Friendly Gadgets in Pipeline" Universities and electronics companies in Japan are working on user-friendly gadgetry, much of which is wireless and Internet-dependent. Sony Computer Science Laboratories has developed a CD player that can play CDs without removing them ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item13 "IT on Wheels" Fleet maintenance departments are taking advantage of telematics technology to build a reliable infrastructure to keep track of vehicles and other mobile assets. Such technology is being used to monitor driver behavior and vehicle location, both of which ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item14 "ISPs Take on DDoS Attacks" Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are increasing in frequency and intensity, but major ISPs expect to reduce the threat with new tools that anticipate and repel both true DDoS attacks and viruses and worms that mimic DDoS attacks. Paul ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item15 "Twilight of the PC Era?" The IT world is still reverberating from the shock of a 12-page Harvard Business Review article titled, "IT Doesn't Matter;" in it, magazine editor and freelance writer Nicholas Carr argued that technology has turned into a commodity and no longer offers ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item16 "Labs Look Ahead" EWeek Lab analysts note products and technologies that may generate a great deal of interest in the coming year as an economic recovery makes companies more willing to invest. Henry Baltazar writes that storage management software will be ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1124m.html#item17 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- To review the Friday's issue, please visit http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1121f.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 ... 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