NewsScan Daily, 12 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 12 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Intrusive Video Cameras
       Video Games and Beyond
       Cisco: 'The Economy is Up'
       Kazaa Chiefs Tackle VoIP
       New Microsoft Windows Security Flaw
       Panel Criticizes New FBI System

FEATURES        
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Joe Foss

INTRUSIVE VIDEO CAMERAS
     A new bill before Congress would make it illegal to videotape,
photograph, film, broadcast or record a naked person, or someone in
underwear, anyplace where a "reasonable person would believe that he or she
could disrobe in privacy." It would be a federal crime to sneak photos of a
person's "private parts" when "their private parts would not be visible to
the public, regardless of whether that person is in a public or private
area." Congressman and former FBI agent Mike Oxley says: "No one should have
to go through the embarrassment of being secretly taped by an electronic
peeping Tom, or seeing those pictures turn up on the Internet." Susan Howley
of the National Center for Victims of Crime feels the same way: "Discovering
you've been a victim of video voyeurism puts you in fear and unrelenting
anxiety, and you are suspicious then everywhere you go." (AP/New York Times
11 May 2004)

VIDEO GAMES AND BEYOND
     Two new products from the video game industry: Nintendo DS, a successor
to the GameBoy Advance handheld, and Sony's PSP, a portable PlayStation.
Nintendo, as a game company, remains tightly focused on games, whereas
consumer electronics and entertainment company Sony seeks a much broader
market beyond just gamers. Both the Nintendo and Sony products will include
WiFi wireless-Internet receivers to allow players to connect with, and
compete against, one another. (Washington Post 11 May 2004)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19069-2004May11.html

CISCO: 'THE ECONOMY IS UP'
     Networking giant Cisco, which industry analysts use to determine the
health of the technology industry, is adding 1,000 jobs (mostly in sales and
engineering in the United States), in a move that represents the biggest
surge in its workforce since the Internet boom. Cisco CEO John Chambers
says, "Most of our customer CEOs are beginning to be more optimistic not
only about the economy, but also about their own industries and companies."
(San Jose Mercury News 12 May 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8648136.htm

KAZAA CHIEFS TACKLE VOIP
     KAZAA creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis are planning paid VoIP
services that will integrate with local telephony networks. (VoIP stands for
Voice-Over-Internet protocol.) The eight-month-old company Skype, which has
five million registered users is moving to take on veterans such as Vonage,
Packet8 and VoicePulse to provide local dial. Skype is free at present but
can only connect to other Skype users on PC or pocket PC. Zennstrom says the
paid service will allow access to standard telephony: "We allow people to
make free phone calls because we don't have the same costs as the phone
companies. We will make money by upselling value-added services. Shortly, we
will allow people to make landline calls." (The Australian 11 May 2004)
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,9524843%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,
00.html rec'd from John Lamp, Deakin U

NEW MICROSOFT WINDOWS SECURITY FLAW
     Microsoft has identified and released a Windows software patch for a
new flaw that could allow hackers to take control of a PC by luring users to
a malicious Web site and getting them to take certain actions there.  The
security flaw affects the latest versions of Windows, including Windows XP,
and software for networked computers such as Windows Server 2003. A user
would be vulnerable to the security flaw only by visiting the attacker's Web
site and performing several actions there. (Reuters/USA Today 12 May 2004)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-05-12-ms-patchtime_x
htm

PANEL CRITICIZES NEW FBI INFORMATION SYSTEM
     A group of scientists asked by the FBI to review its $600 million
systems upgrade has reported that the software won't support the bureau's
new counter-terrorism mission and that it should be redesigned. The
scientists, led by former IBM senior vice president James C. McGroddy, say
the software was geared toward helping criminal investigators rather than
counter-intelligence experts. Noting that the software was conceptualized
before the attacks on New York City and the Pentagon (and before
intelligence and counter-terrorism became the bureau's top priority),
McGroddy says the system simply does not deal effectively with what is now
their primary goal -- counter-terrorism. (Los Angeles Times 12 May 2004)
http://tinyurl.com/3a4xs

*****  

FLASH CARD 
     "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which
difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." (John Quincy Adams)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: JOE FOSS
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the Marine fighter pilot Joe Foss
(1915-2003), who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in
World War II. During the battle for Guadalcanal, Foss shot down 26 Japanese
Zeros, becoming the first World War II pilot to equal Eddie Rickenbacker's
World War I record.
     Guadalcanal was the battle that turned the tide against the Japanese in
the Pacific theatre, and to celebrate its importance President Roosevelt
sent Foss on a national tour to sell war bonds, encourage military
enlistments, and motivate workers in war plants. Following his military
service, Foss became a two-term governor of South Dakota and later the
commissioner of the American Football League. Foss's later years were marked
by controversy for the views he expressed on his television series about
life in the outdoors and the anti-gun control positions he espoused as
president of the National Rifle Association.
     Foss was born in 1915, on a farm near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At age
12, he met Charles Lindberg who had flown the Spirit of St. Louis into a
nearby airport as part of his national tour following his historic flight to
Paris. Foss experienced his own first flight four years later, when he took
a $1.50 sightseeing ride in a Ford Tri-Motor. Just before Foss turned 18,
his hopes for a career in aviation were put on hold, when his father was
killed in a lightning storm accident. Together with his brother, Cliff, Foss
had to help out on the family farm and work at odd jobs to earn money for
occasional flying lessons. He also found time to attend the University of
South Dakota, where at age 25 he earned a bachelor's degree in business
administration. 
     Still wanting to be a pilot, Foss joined the Marines and won his wings
in March of 1941. A year and a half later, he landed his Wildcat fighter on
Guadalcanal, where he would perform the heroic exploits that would make him
a genuine American hero.
     After the war Fosse returned to Sioux Falls, where he and a friend ran
the Joe Foss Flying Service, building it into a venture with 35 airplanes.
He also organized the South Dakota Air National Guard and commanded a
squadron. When the Korean War broke out, the Marines recalled him to serve
in a pilot training program.
     At age 39, Foss was elected the youngest governor in the history of
South Dakota. He served two two-year terms, and then ran for Congress,
losing to George McGovern, also a highly decorated World War II pilot, who
was seeking a second term in the House of Representatives. In November 1959,
the American Football League selected Foss as commissioner to lead them in
their struggle against the long-established National Football League. Foss
was instrumental in convincing the AFL to unite with the NFL under a single
commission, while still keeping their separate identities.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671757350/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for Joe Foss's autobiography -- or look for it in your favorite library.
(We donate all revenue from book recommendations to adult literacy
programs.)

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