NewsScan Daily, 30 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 30 July 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       Intel Endures Annus Horribilis, But 'None of This is Easy'
       Will Bangalore Catch Up to Silicon Valley?
       Apple Accuses Realnetworks of Using Hacker Tactics
       Ad Remover Stirs Australian Networks
       Call to Ban Video Game in UK After Boy's Murder

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Worth Thinking About: The Pullman Porter
       Safe & Sound In The Cyber Age: Live From Las Vegas
       Mailbag: The World As We Find It

INTEL ENDURES ANNUS HORRIBILIS, BUT 'NONE OF THIS IS EASY'
     Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, is delaying the introduction of
its 4-gigahertz Pentium 4 chip until early 2005. Industry analyst Nathan
Brookwood of Insight 64 says, "To quote Queen Elizabeth, this is definitely
Intel's horrible year'' (referring to Queen Elizabeth II's description of
1992 as her "annus horribilis"). So far this year Intel has canceled a chip
code-named Tejas, issued a partial recall of a chipset code-named
Grantsdale, and delayed the launch of a chipset code-named Alviso. Intel
spokesperson Laura Anderson vows: "We are committed to putting our execution
back on track. Shifting this launch is part of that effort.'' Brookwood
sympathizes with the company: "Other companies have similar problems but
with Intel, because it runs like such a well-oiled machine, when they hit a
rough patch, people start wondering what's going on. None of this is easy.''
(San Jose Mercury News 30 Jul 2004)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9281760.htm

WILL BANGALORE CATCH UP TO SILICON VALLEY?
     As U.S. companies continue to expand their outsourcing arrangements,
some observers think that Bangalore, India, is on the verge of becoming the
new home to the world's largest concentration of IT workers. About 160,000
tech workers (100,000 in information technology and 60,000 in business
outsourcing and call centers) are employed by Indian companies like Infosys,
Tata, and Wipro. For comparison, there slightly more than 175,100 technology
workers in the Valley, which now seems to be reinventing itself in such hot
new areas as nanotechnology. Labor market consultant Ruth Kavanagh says that
Silicon Valley is experiencing employment growth levels similar to those in
boom years: "In recent months, we have seen significant improvement in the
jobs situation... The county is gradually gaining back some of the thousands
of jobs lost in the last couple of years." (San Francisco Chronicle 29 Jul
2004) http://tinyurl.com/7yljw

APPLE ACCUSES REALNETWORKS OF USING HACKER TACTICS
     Apple has accused RealNetworks, a provider of digital-media services,
of offering software that lets online music buyers play on a variety of
devices songs intended for use only on Apple's iPod devices. Apple says that
it's "stunned that RealNetworks has adopted the tactics and ethics of a
hacker to break into the iPod." The RealNetworks software in question is
called Harmony, which Real describes as "the world's first
digital-rights-management translation system that music buyers can use to
transfer music from one secure music device to another. It supports devices
made by Creative, iRiver, palmOne, RCA, Rio, Samsung, and others. Legal
experts seem to think that unless Apple can prove that RealNetworks
reverse-engineered Apple's iPod software, a case under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) would be very hard to win. But Mark Rasch,
former head of the U.S. Department of Justice's computer crimes unit (and
now senior VP of security services firm Solutionary Inc.) says:  "The
problem with the DMCA is that it gives more protection than copyright law
and it allows companies to skew the market with a form of protectionism. It
allows technological protectionism to be legally adopted, and it works to
prevent people from coming to market with cheaper compatible products."
(InformationWeek 29 Jul 2004) Rec'd fr. John Lamp
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=26100669

AD REMOVER STIRS AUSTRALIAN NETWORKS
     The commercial television industry in Australia is preparing to defend
its advertising revenue from new technology that will let consumers
automatically avoid commercials using digital recording systems. A company
called Faulconbridge aims to have the technology activated on 3% of
Australia's 17 million television sets within three years. For the cost of a
set-top box and a subscription fee, consumers will be able to avoid ads, to
automate the recording of shows, series or program genres for viewing later,
and to channel surf automatically during ad breaks. The technology can also
be used to prevent children from watching programs deemed unsuitable, reduce
the volume during ad breaks and remove ads when recorded programs are played
back. (The Australian 29 Jul 2004) Rec'd fr. J. Lamp
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10274693%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E
,00.html

CALL TO BAN VIDEO GAME IN UK AFTER BOY'S MURDER
     Pressure is growing for a bloodthirsty video game to be banned in the
UK after it was blamed for the horrific murder of a 14-year-old boy by an
older friend. Warren Leblanc, 17, faces life behind bars for repeatedly
battering the younger boy with a claw hammer and stabbing him to death after
luring him to a local park. The Leicester teenager has pleaded guilty to
murder. Outside the court, Stefan's parents said Leblanc had mimicked the
"Manhunt" -- described by its promoters as a "sado-masochistic" game in
which players gain extra points depending on the viciousness of their
killings. One of the skills involves sneaking up behind a victim before
attacking them. (The Age 29 Jul 2004) Rec'd fr John Lamp
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/29/1091068367643.html

*****

FLASH CARD
     "To Niagara in a sleeper, there's no honeymoon that's cheaper, and the
train goes slow...  We can have the Pullman porter turn the lights down low.
Off we're gonna shuffle, shuffle off to Buffalo." (Lyrics by Al Dubin. music
by Harry Warren)

WORTH THINKING ABOUT: THE PULLMAN PORTER
     In his book "Rising From the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of
the Black Middle Class," Larry Tye depicts the Pullman Porter who, as the
possessor of a lowly but secure job, rose from slavery to help shape today's
black middle class and intelligentsia:
     "He was a black man in a white jacket and sable hat. Having stepped out
of the cotton fields barely two years before, he now was stepping onto one
of the locomotives that had long symbolized freedom to slavehands across
America. He lit candles that illuminated the passenger carriage, stoked the
pot-bellied Baker Heater, and turned down hinged berths that magically
transformed the day coach into an overnight compartment. He was part
chambermaid, part valet, shining shoes, nursing hangovers, tempering
tempers, and performing other tasks that won tips and made him indispensable
to the wealthy white travelers who snapped their fingers in the air when
they needed him. It was the only real traveling he would ever do.
     "That much is known about the first porter to work on George Mortimer
Pullman's railroad sleeping cars. What is not known is his name, age,
birthplace, date of employment, or just about anything else about him. The
pioneering porter, in fact, was not expected to have human proportions at
all, certainly none worthy of documenting. He was a phantom assistant who
did not merit the dignity of a name or identity of any sort. That is
precisely why George Pullman hired him. He was an ex-slave who embodied
servility more than humanity, an ever-obliging manservant with an
ever-present smile who was there when a jacket needed dusting or a child
tending or a beverage refreshing. Few inquired where he came from or wanted
to hear about his struggle. In his very anonymity lay his value.
     "There was another reason George hired only Negroes, one that had to do
with the social separation he thought was vital for porters to safely
interact with white passengers in such close quarters. Women, after all,
were disrobing on the other side of a thin curtain. Riders were stumbling
into bed drunk, slinking into compartments of someone other than their
spouse, tumbling out of upper berths. Such compromised postures called for a
porter whom passengers could regard as part of the furnishings rather than a
mortal with likes, dislikes, and a memory. It had to be someone they knew
they would never encounter outside the closed capsule of the sleeping car,
someone who inhabited a different reality. It must be a Negro."
     [See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805070753/newsscancom/ref=nosim for
"Rising From The Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle
Class" -- or look for it in your favorite library. Note: We donate all
revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

SAFE & SOUND IN THE CYBER AGE: LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS
                       [Stephen Cobb and Chey Cobb]
     In today's column, Chey takes up the story from the annual Las Vegas
gathering of security experts known as the Black Hat Briefings: I landed at
the world's best known airport casino on Tuesday night, close to midnight,
temperature 101 degrees. I love coming to Black Hat/Defcon each summer, but
always seem to forget that I'm likely to leave as a desiccated version of my
former self. 
     Suitably refreshed, I went along to the conference on Wednesday morning
to hear Sarah Gordon speak about anti-virus testing. For those of you who
not familiar with the name, Sarah is Senior Research Fellow at Symantec and
has been involved in the field of viruses for more years than she cares to
admit. She's also well-known for her work on profiling virus writers and has
continued with her behavioral work by assisting the FBI in profiling
computer hackers.
     Sarah's talk at Black Hat was not about the obvious need to keep your
virus database up-to-date (although that is extremely important). She
addressed the testing and certification of virus products and the intriguing
question of why the results can vary so greatly. I have more than a passing
interest in this subject. About ten years ago Stephen and I worked with
Sarah's husband, Dr. Richard Ford, in the first anti-virus testing lab put
together by the NCSA (now ICSA). Richard now teaches at FIT in Melbourne, FL
and is still considered one of the world's experts in viruses and malicious
code (see www.fit.edu/faculty/profiles/profile.html?value=228). But enough
reminiscing, and back to Sarah's talk.
     Sarah began with a series of reasons why people choose one anti-virus
product over another and the results were quite surprising. It seems a
majority of people decide to use Product XYZ because a friend, relative, or
co-worker recommended it. Some are even swayed by the design and color of
the product's box! Forget the fact that there are reports available that
describe a product's ability to actually catch viruses, it appears that word
of mouth holds more weight than product testing reports or magazine
articles.
     Sarah showed some examples of how magazines have read AV testing
results incorrectly (or didn't understand the testing results), and then
printed erroneous and/or misleading information. Sometimes a virus product
will fail in testing for some unknown reason, only to pass the tests in the
next round. This bad information is picked up and reported and sometimes
used as a basis in other people's work. This can result in the urban myth
that "Product XYZ is bad." But, when a product gets a bad rep for not being
able to catch viruses (true or not), the reputation hangs on for a very long
time.
     Sarah explained that anti-virus testing has a scientific methodology,
but some testers don't follow the correct procedures. She remarked that it
is difficult to test in "real world" situations because it's awfully
difficult to find owners of enterprise networks who are willing to act as
the "guinea pigs" for large-scale testing. Therefore, virus testing is
always on a limited scale. Can you imagine what could happen if your company
decided to infect the corporate network with all the viruses that are "in
the wild" in order to see if a particular anti-virus product worked? Not a
pretty picture, I assure you!
     There are a number of organizations, both academic and private
enterprise, that test anti-virus products and certify products which can
effectively catch all viruses. ICSA, Check Mark, and Virus Bulletin are all
well-known testing labs and products certified by these groups are allowed
to display a certification "award" on the product box. But, is this
certification stamp enough? What does that stamp actually tell you? You know
that a product has been blessed as "good," but what about the testing
process and the test environment. Aha! That's the catch. How do you know if
a particular product will work well on your system? There are many
unanswered questions here, which means you're going to have to do some
digging for information yourself.
     To make things a bit easier for you to sort out, I'm going to point you
in the direction of the Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.com). This is the one
testing group that explains how the tests were conducted and in what
environment. But, you still have to consider what your environment is like
and then evaluate the products that may fit your needs. Although some
products achieve the 100 percent certification (meaning that they caught all
of the viruses in the test), it may be that one of the other products is
better for you. As with any software purchase, don't follow the crowd and
use what everyone else uses; use what will suit your requirements. And, one
final note: home users and corporate users DO have different requirements.
Just because your company uses Product ABC doesn't mean you should use the
same product at home.
     Here are some more web sites for you to check out if you're interested
in learning more about viruses, virus testing, and behavioral studies:
www.badguys.org - Sarah Gordon's web site
www.virusbtn.com - Virus Bulletin (you can buy a subscription to their print
magazine)
http://www.badguys.org/papers.htm - Some of Sarah's papers on line
     There will be more from Black Hat in the next column.
     [Chey Cobb, CISSP, the author of "Cryptography for Dummies" and
"Network Security for Dummies," is a former senior technical security
advisor to the NRO. She can be emailed as chey at aug dot com. Stephen Cobb,
CISSP, is the author of "Privacy for Business" and can be emailed as scobb
at cobb dot com.]

MAILBAG: THE WORLD AS WE FIND IT

WIKIPEDIA
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11073
     Thanx for the origin of 'wiki'.  Does everyone know of the wikipedia,
the free online open source encyclopedia? It is being built by over 80,000
contributors. I have found it a well-written and reliable primer on diverse
topics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page/.
(Gaving Moodie, Australia)

PENETRATION
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11060
     Regarding the Malaysia story, I'm really tired of seeing statistics on
national broadband penetration that don't note the relative population
density of the nations cited, which greatly affects the cost of deployment.
Although only 0.44% of Malaysia's population may have broadband, it has
about 189 people per square mile. Singapore, with 48% broadband penetration,
has about 14,570 people per square mile. The comparisons usually cite South
Korea, with 60% broadband penetration, which has about 1,229 people per
square mile.  The U.S., by comparison, has about only 81 people per square
mile. (Mike Barnes)

GIVE KIDS THE TOOLS THEY NEED
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11069
     Dan Hamilton writes in the mailbag: "A child is not an adult, so why do
we seek to thrust upon them tools and devices that are inappropriate to
their stage of development?" How do you know it's inappropriate to their
stage of development? What theory of cognitive development are you
following? My experience as a computer teacher in elementary (K-5) is that
students are far more ready for new technology than many adults are.
Technology motivates students unlike anything else. Of course, not in the
absence of good teachers and good teaching practices.
     He then writes: "There's no PowerPoint presentations, or Internet cut
and paste projects. I believe the children who are exposed to this
educational approach demonstrate more creativity, imagination and love of
learning than those inculcated in the tech-heavy public school system."
But creativity, imagination and love of learning have no connection with the
kinds of tools or medium we use to express ourselves. Your K-8 Waldorf
school may have a body of students who are creative, imaginative and love to
learn, but it's not because they don't have computers at school. It's
because they are members of a select population who have been taught to be
creative, imaginative and to love learning at home and whose families'
socio-economic status allows them to attend a private school.
     Is the real reason this school disdains technology is the belief that
it harms the student, or is it because it would cut into their profits if
they have to buy computers and software?
     For what it's worth, we don't do PowerPoint presentations or Internet
cut and paste projects either. We do 3D and fractal computer animations,
digital photography and videography, layered-media projects, music
composition, sound-, graphic-, and web-design. We are developing new ways of
using technology with the curriculum every year. The real problem in
education is the narrowness with which educators view the range of uses of
technology -- word processing, spreadsheets, slideshow presentations and web
searches. The computer is the most open-ended tool mankind has ever created.
Why limit its use in schools to a set of office worker competencies?
     I challenge anyone to prove any measurable benefit to the use of
computers at a young age. While the benefits are nebulous at best I think
the detrimental effects are clear.
     I have dozens of examples of student work which could never have been
created without technology. I challenge Mr. Hamilton to prove any measurable
detrimental effects to using technology in school. It seems absolutely silly
to deny children any tool which can help improve their learning.
     (Glen L. Bledsoe,Your friendly neighborhood educational technologist,
Oregon Writing Project at Willamette University)

MULTIPLE SETS OF LEDGERS
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=11063
     I'm sure many people have mentioned something like this over the past
several years, but is it possible or likely that if tax laws were
simplified, tax reporting made simpler and easier, tax rates lowered, and so
on, tax revenue would actually rise to cover the "short fall" that the IRS
complains about? If smaller taxes were easier to pay, some of the
underground economy would surface. Or maybe a switch from an income-based
tax to a consumption-based tax, with certain exemptions (e.g. food).  I'm
not an economist, but it seems as though a simpler system might be more
efficient.  But, then, simpler systems always seem to get complex over time
(encrusted with additions). And, a simpler system would mean "reallocation"
of certain tax system related jobs. But then again, more tax revenue
probably means more government spending, not less tax burden. (Michael Cook)

EXQUISITE PERFORMANCE
Re: 
http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=honorary_subscriber&id=814
     Thank you for selection Eva La Gallienne as your Honorary Subscriber --
it brought back such wonderful memories. I was fortunate enough to be in
Washington, D.C., during the stage run of "The Royal Family" (co-starring
Rosemary Harris, and George Grizzard in the role that Harris' ex, Ellis
Rabb, had in the television production that he co-directed.). If ever there
were a perfect performance, it was the one that I had the privilege of
seeing that night; absolutely exquisite. And I was just able to find a copy
on Amazon.com, through your link, so I'll be able to enjoy the DVD over and
over.  Thanks again! (Donna Luna)

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