NewsScan Daily, 22 January 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 22 January 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
       Internet Voting Dispute
       Proving It's Serious, RIAA Files New Lawsuits
       Certification Give A Boost To Linux In Gov't Contracts
       In Search Of Lost Web Sites
       Divorce, Internet-Style

FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: The Inventive Mind

INTERNET VOTING DISPUTE
     An Internet-voting program written for the Pentagon by Accenture
eDemocracy Services for use by men and women serving overseas is being
fiercely criticized by security experts Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins
University and retired IBM researcher Barbara Simons. Rubin says, "It's not
possible to create a secure voting system with off-the-shelf PCs using
Microsoft Windows and the current Internet. History has shown that when
people have the opportunity to tamper with an election they do." On the
other side of the issue, R. Michael Alvarez, co-director of the CalTech-MIT
Voting Technology Project says: "The chance of a security threat has to be
weighed against the knowledge gained and the improved voting access for
those people. There's a widespread perception that Internet voting is going
to happen at some time. As scientists, we'd like to lay out some kind of
rational path that leads from punch cards and lever machines to that logical
future." (Washington Post 21 Jan 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36875-2004Jan21.html

PROVING IT'S SERIOUS, RIAA FILES NEW LAWSUITS
     The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music
industry trade group, has filed lawsuits against 532 people it's accusing of
illegally sharing music downloaded from the Internet. The lawsuits are
intended to show that the recording industry's drive against downloaders
will continue. RIAA says: "Our campaign against illegal file-sharing is not
missing a beat. We can and will continue to bring lawsuits against those who
illegally distribute copyrighted music on peer-to-peer networks." (San Jose
Mercury News 22 Jan 2004
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/7769107.htm

CERTIFICATION GIVE A BOOST TO LINUX IN GOV'T CONTRACTS
     IBM and Novell's SuSE Linux have won a security certification for their
combined systems, an achievement indicating that their products have been
tested against strict standards -- including security capabilities. IBM
executive James Sterlings says, "This further underscores government
confidence in Linux." (VNUnet News 22 Jan 2004)
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1152183

IN SEARCH OF LOST WEB SITES
     A University of Maryland NSF-funded project called "Keeping Found
Things Found" wants to help people who can't find Web sites that they'd
found once before but are unable to find again. The project hopes to replace
Web bookmarks, hand-written sticky notes, and a host of other tricks users
have devised to keep track of what they've found. One problem with
bookmarks, says Ben Bederson at the university's Human-Computer Interaction
Lab, is that the bookmark concept is inherently flawed "because it assumes
in advance that this is a page that you want to revisit, and you don't
always know that." (New York Times 22 Jan 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/technology/circuits/22next.html

DIVORCE, INTERNET-STYLE
     It's now as easy to get divorced on the Internet as it is to get
married -- i.e., pretty easy. Relevant sites include LegalZoom, the online
legal service center cofounded by celebrity defense attorney Robert L.
Shapiro, and for a fee of $249-299,the site guarantees document acceptance
by a court and offers peace of mind with customer service specialists who
can answer a divorce-seeker's questions. Some of the other sites are
FloridaDivorce.com, NevadaDivorce.net, and MexicanDivorces.com. Some
lawyers, however, are against using the Internet to obtain a divorce,
because people getting a divorce need more than downloaded information --
they need advice. New York attorney Sy Reisman says that mistakes made by
people who fail to get advice could haunt them for years. (Reuters/USA
Online 22 Jan 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-01-22-online-divorce
_x.htm

*****

FLASH CARD 
     "Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind
will break down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a
telephone book, and at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as
yesterday." (Christopher Hitchens)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE INVENTIVE MIND
    In this autobiographical sketch, the famous inventor Nikola Tesla
explained the way his mind works:
     "The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention.
It is the most important product of his creative brain. Its ultimate purpose
is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of
the forces of nature to human needs. This is the difficult task of the
inventor who is often misunderstood and unrewarded. But he finds ample
compensation in the pleasing exercises of his powers and in the knowledge of
being one of that exceptionally privileged class without whom the race would
have long ago perished in the bitter struggle against pitiless elements.
     "Speaking for myself, I have already had more than my full measure of
this exquisite enjoyment, so much that for many years my life was little
short of continuous rapture. I am credited with being one of the hardest
workers and perhaps I am, if thought is the equivalent of labor4, for I have
devoted to it almost all of my waking hours. But if work is interpreted to
be a definite performance in a specified time according to a definite
performance in a specified time according to a rigid rule, then I may be
worst of idlers. Every effort under compulsion demands a sacrifice of life
-- energy. I never paid such a price. On the contrary, I have thrived on my
thoughts.
     "I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once
building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make
improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial
to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. There is
scarcely a subject that cannot be mathematically treated and the effects
calculated or the results determined beforehand from the available
theoretical and practical data.  The carrying out into practice of a crude
idea as is being generally done is, I hold, nothing but a waste of energy,
money and time."

See Nikola Tesla, "My Inventions," Barnes and Noble Books -- or look for it
in your favorite library.

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