NewsScan Daily, 21 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 21 May 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization
making significant and sustained contributions to the effective
management and appropriate use of information technology. NSD is
written by John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas, [email protected].
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Database Contractor Boasted of High 'Terrorism Quotient'
        Google and Microsoft Square Off?
        Semantic Web Enters Phase Two
        Cheap Storage Means Never Having to Say 'Enough!'
        Onboard Wi-Fi Could 'Put Bums on Seats'

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Worth Thinking About: Lifeless Politicians
        Mailbag: The World As We Find It

DATABASE CONTRACTOR BOASTED OF HIGH 'TERRORISM QUOTIENT'
      Florida database contractor Seisint apparently wowed federal 
officials during a demonstration of its "high terrorism factor" scoring 
system by flagging the names of 120,000 individuals who showed a 
statistical likelihood of being terrorists. Impressed by the scoring 
technology, the Justice Department followed up by investigating numerous 
people on the list, and ultimately appointed Seisent the sole contractor on 
the $12-million Matrix (Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange) 
project. Because the Matrix system includes extensive information on people 
with no criminal record as well as shadier characters, it has sparked 
criticism from many privacy groups and all but five states have now 
withdrawn from the program. Matrix claims to have removed the terrorism 
scoring system from its final product, but was unable to provide any 
documentation of that when queried by AP. According to documents obtained 
from Utah, which has since pulled out of the program, Seisent officials 
said the scoring system was developed by reverse engineering an unnamed 
"Terrorist Handbook" that describes how terrorists "penetrate and live in 
our society." The scoring algorithm factored in such data as age, gender, 
ethnicity, credit history, "investigational data," information about pilot 
and driver licenses, and connections to "dirty" addresses used by other 
suspects. (AP 20 May 2004)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040520/D82MGBU05.html

GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT SQUARE OFF?
      Google and Microsoft are staking claims in each other's home 
territory, but it's too soon to say how the confrontation will play out, 
say experts. Google is hard at work developing a downloadable file and text 
software search tool, code-named Puffin, that is designed to make it easier 
for Windows users to find information stored on their computers. And since 
last year it's been testing a deskbar that allows Web users to plug search 
terms into a box in the Windows taskbar. It's also launched a free e-mail 
service, dubbed Gmail, which offers far more free storage than is available 
on Yahoo or Microsoft's Hotmail. Meanwhile, Microsoft is building its own 
proprietary search engine, which it plans to include in Longhorn, the next 
version of Windows due out in 2006, eliminating the need for a commercial 
search engine like Google. But with vastly different business models and 
revenue streams, the two companies have different strategies in mind for 
their new products. "Microsoft is looking to protect the operating system 
and their control of the desktop," says dtSearch president David Thede. 
"Everything Google does on the desktop is about protecting their Internet 
advertising. I have yet to see a real clash of interests between Microsoft 
and Google." (Reuters 20 May 2004)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=3PO0CFZBZJUMGCRBAEZSFEY?type=technologyNews&storyID=5211501

SEMANTIC WEB ENTERS PHASE TWO
      The World Wide Web Consortium's Semantic Web is ready for the next 
phase, says Web creator Tim Berners-Lee, who predicts that with the recent 
approval of two key technologies -- Resource Description Framework (RDF) 
and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) -- work can now begin on new tools and 
languages based on those foundations. "We will see many new different 
applications and RDF and OWL will tie them all together. We'll see an 
extension of languages with variables and quotation," he told participants 
at the World Wide Web conference. However, to realize the goal of the 
Semantic Web, many more organizations must buy into the system, says 
Berners-Lee. "There is a culture gap there. A lot of the geeks are doing 
all kinds of stuff to their personal data but because enterprise data is 
hidden, there's that gap. Not many enterprises get the Semantic Web and I 
think that to bridge this gap, we have to figure out how to speak all the 
languages." (InternetNews 20 May 2004)
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3356531

CHEAP STORAGE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY 'ENOUGH!'
      "There is very little reason for anyone to throw anything away," 
Microsoft research head Rick Rashid told participants at this week's World 
Wide Web conference, referring to the confluence of the latest Internet 
software, cheap memory storage and networked communication. Rashid said 
Microsoft is examining how to use personal "memory landmarks" to enable 
users to search for documents through various emotional connections a 
person may associate with them. One such project is called "Stuff I've 
Seen," which allows Web surfers to label and annotate all useful Internet 
content that they come across and then return to it later and find their 
annotations still intact. Rashid said a terabyte of data storage costing 
about $1,000 would enable consumers to "store every conversation you have 
ever had, from the time you are born to the time you die." With that much 
storage, users could snap a 180-degree fish-eye view of their surroundings 
for every minute of every day for the rest of their lives. Microsoft 
researchers in the UK have built prototypes of just such a life-recording 
device called SenseCam, and are gearing up to shrink the photo capture 
system to no bigger than a necklace pendant. "Obviously this raises a whole 
lot of issues about privacy and the control of one's personal information," 
said Rashid. "But this is where we're going. It's already the case that 
kids are walking around with camera phones taking a lot of pictures. This 
is just an extension of that." (Reuters/CNet 20 May 2004)
http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5217502.html

ONBOARD WI-FI COULD 'PUT BUMS ON SEATS'
      A survey in the UK found that 72% of business travelers would opt to 
take a train over a car or a plane if they could have onboard Wi-Fi access 
during their journey. They'd even be willing to pay for it -- up to £12 per 
trip, according to the poll of 1,600 people conducted on behalf of 
Broadreach. "This puts bums on seats," says Broadreach president Magnus 
McEwen-King. "It gets them off the road and out of the skies and on trains 
and that's good for everyone." Broadreach is working with five 
train-operating firms in the UK and is planning to install Wi-Fi on more 
than 700 trains over the next four years. "We believe that the connected 
carriage has arrived and will be leaving from a platform shortly," says 
McEwen-King. (BBC News 20 May 2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3729583.stm

*****

FLASH CARD
      "An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something 
disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, 
since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats." 
(George Orwell)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: LIFELESS POLITICIANS
      Now that we are in the information age, we should decide whether 
political speech is still as bad as the great English writer George Orwell 
said it was in his lifetime:
      "In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad 
writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer 
is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a 'party 
line.' Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative 
style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, 
manifestos, White Papers and the speeches of under-secretaries do, of 
course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost 
never finds in them a fresh, vivid, home-made turn of speech. When one 
watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar 
phrases--bestial atrocities, iron heel, bloodstained tyranny, free peoples 
of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder--one often has a curious feeling 
that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a 
feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches 
the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have 
no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A speaker who 
uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance towards turning 
himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his 
larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were choosing 
his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is 
accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of 
what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And 
this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate 
favorable to political conformity."
      See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156186004/qid=1085099916/newsscancom/ref=nosim 
for George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," from A Collection 
of Essays by George Orwell -- or look for it in your favorite library. We 
donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

NEWSSCAN HEROICS
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10606
      I missed the fact it was NewsScan's birthday! A decade is more than 
impressive in this market, it is heroic! Here's to another 10 years. (Mark 
Gibbs)

NEWSSCAN AND GOOGLE -- THE IPO
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10608
      This is another example of synchronicity at work: I finished Neal 
Stephenson's "Quicksilver: Volume One of the Baroque Cycle," which 
prominently features Christiaan Huygens as a major character, the day 
before you featured him as Honorary Subscriber. NewsScan thus reminded me 
to find out how to actually pronounce his name, something which I've 
neglected to research all these years. Google didn't fail me: typing in 
"How to pronounce Huygens" and hitting "I feel lucky" resulted in: 
http://frank.harvard.edu/~paulh/misc/huygens.htm. Instructions on how to 
pronounce the names certain Honorary Subscribers as a regular feature would 
be most welcome! (John Karabaic)

A SECOND TO THAT
      I have been quietly enjoying NewsScan for more than a year, ever 
since an intelligent friend told me about it. I especially like the Flash 
Cards and Honorary Subscribers.  Perhaps you could add one kindness: show 
the correct or preferred pronunciation of names of these 
"subscribers."  Many dictionaries and reference works have good articles 
but no clue about how to pronounce names such as Christiaan Huygens. Thanks 
for your work that brightens each day. (George Ivan Smith)

LEAVE THE LAWYERS OUT OF IT
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10621
      The author of this piece did not want to be identified, but we can 
assume this person is probably a lawyer.  Dear sir or madam:  Please take a 
look at the world and find one government program or regulation that 
doesn't completely stifle growth and innovation.  Let's look in my 
industry, the telecom sector, where for 60 years government regulations 
sponsored a monopoly where innovation never occurred because it didn't have 
to in the absence of competition, and since 1996, the laughable concept of 
"open competition" in the local loop, where regulations change daily making 
it impossible to implement any type of long term business plan, and most of 
the "competition" died off in the 2001-2002 technology collapse.
      Can we stop looking to Big Brother to fix all our little miseries, 
get a backbone, and take care of our own lives? There are security 
solutions available for anyone who wants to employ them.  If you don't know 
how, learn -- read a book or find a friend or associate who knows how to 
help, or goodness me -- buy some competent help from an unemployed 
technology professional. Lawyers and the Government generally take a 
difficult situation and make it impossible.  Lets leave them out of it. 
(Bob Weiss, MCSE)

LAZY DAZE AT THE COMPUTER
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10626
      I was not so much amused as outraged by Bob Futrelle's response to 
the comment by the Tech. Assoc. of America spokesman. Mr. Futrelle's remark 
that we "have to have at least MS level CS training to deal with a lot of 
home computer issues" is not only pure misinformation, but also the perfect 
excuse for home computer users to be lazy about taking basic precautions to 
secure their systems. Far from requiring any CS training, all that's needed 
is basic literacy and a modicum of critical thinking. For a Windows user, 
just click "Start", then "Windows Update", then click on the box that says 
"1 2 3 Protect your PC". If everyone followed the simple, basic advice in 
this article, we'd have a lot less spam and almost no viruses and worms 
circulating on the net.  We don't tolerate motorists who have no regard for 
the most basic rules of the road, despite the learning curve involved in 
learning to drive responsibly. I don't think we should be any more tolerant 
of Internet users who shirk their responsibility to other users of our 
public infrastructure. (Gilles Detillieux, Manitoba)

MAGIC DUST
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10608
      Letter to Mr. Greg Garcia, Information Technology Association of 
America, from Robert Emborski. Dear Mr. Garcia, regarding your recent 
statement ("Cybersecurity is everybody's responsibility, including the 
vendors, the users, enterprises and government agencies... No serious 
commentary will say that the user has no responsibility. We all have 
responsibilities to lock our doors in our homes and to buckle up when we 
get in cars."): What good does it do us to "lock our doors" if your average 
18-year-old knows that a specific brand of lock will spring open if you 
whistle "Dixie" in the keyhole? Aside from deflecting blame to the consumer 
for not replacing his locks every week or so, what are your member 
companies (especially the main lock manufacturer) doing to PREVENT that 
type of problem?
      Greg Garcia's reply:
      "Mr. Emborski, Thank you for your note and concern.  The AP story you 
refer to is off the mark, as that reporter routinely is. The actual report 
of the Business Roundtable, written mostly by user companies, says exactly 
what the vendor community says: cyber security is a shared responsibility. 
I have attached it for your benefit. The vendor community is innovating all 
the time for better cyber security.  The most simple task any user needs to 
do is click "yes" when the bubble pops up asking if you want to update your 
antivirus protection now. The rest is done for you automatically.  If 
everyone did that, we would have a much more secure cyber environment than 
we do now.  But at a deeper level, we have to acknowledge that technology 
is not magic dust that will solve all problems. It is a tool. One that is 
constantly evolving. And the hackers -- very smart innovators that they 
are, too -- keep finding ways to thwart the tool. But it is the constant 
striving of the cyber security vendor community, hardware and software 
manufacturers and systems integrators, to make it easier and easier for 
consumers (and enterprises) to protect themselves. It is complicated, with 
many different systems to interconnect securely, and it takes time.
       "For another set of recommendations developed jointly by user and 
vendor groups, including government representatives and academics, see: 
www.ncsp.org <http://www.ncsp.org>. You'll notice in the BRT 
recommendations a fairly loud echo of what was already said by these NCSP 
task forces. The bottom line is: there is no issue here -- just a reporter 
who's trying to manufacture controversy where none exists." (Greg Garcia)

TRACKER NOTIFICATION
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=10615
      I'm surprised that DidTheyReadIt.com claims that the e-mail is indeed 
secretly tracked. In the "How It Works" section of their website, they have 
the following question and answer: "Will my recipient know that I am 
tagging my e-mail? Ans.: No. Not unless you want them to know." However, 
this is completely incorrect. SpamAssassin was able to recognize the 
tracker immediately. I could even configure SA to "blacklist" any Email 
that contains such a tracker. I realize that many users would be unable to 
determine if an Email was being tracked, but third party software can 
easily address this privacy issue. It would be nice to see tracker 
notification technology seamlessly integrated into some e-mail clients in 
the near future. (Don Davies, Dubofflaw.com)

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We call our news section "Above The Fold" to honor the tradition of the 
great "broadsheet" newspapers in which editors must decide which news 
stories are of such importance that they should be placed "above the fold" 
on the front page. The NewsScan Credo: Be informative, have fun, and get to 
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