NewsScan Daily, 15 September 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 15 September 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"  
       New Search Technology From Amazon
       Privacy Complaint Against Airline Dismissed
       Maryland Rules Against Opponents of E-Voting Machines
       Copyright Case Goes to Australian High Court
       Spycam May Be Watching You Work
       Quantum Encryption

FEATURES           
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Lucy Wheelock

NEW SEARCH TECHNOLOGY FROM AMAZON
     Amazon is introducing an advanced search technology with
information-management features developed by A9.com. A9.com is an
Amazon-owned start-up owned by Amazon and its software is designed to offer
users the ability to store and edit bookmarks on an A9.com central server
computer, keep track of each link clicked on previous visits to a Web page,
and make personal notes on those pages for viewing on subsequent visits.
Amazon computer scientist Udi Manber says, "In a sense, this is a search
engine with memory." Manber, who heads the project, also led the development
of Amazon's "search inside the book" project that makes it possible to
search the complete contents of more than 100,000 books Amazon has digitally
scanned. Writer and consultant John Battlle says, "The ability to search
through your own history of personal Web searches is insanely powerful. This
is a big deal. But the question is will people get the habit of using
it?"(New York Times 15 Sep 2004)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/technology/15search.html>

PRIVACY COMPLAINT AGAINST AIRLINE DISMISSED
     Dismissing a complaint filed by the Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC) and the Minnesota ACLU, the Department of Transportation has
ruled that Northwest Airlines did not violate its own privacy policy when it
shared passenger records with the government as part of a secret airline
security project after the terrorist attacks in September 2001. EPIC and the
ACLU had argued that Northwest committed unfair and deceptive trade
practices when it shared the information with the NASA without informing its
customers, but the Transportation Department ruled that the language of the
policy says only that the airline won't sell the information and it did not
address sharing information within the government. (Washington Post 15 Sep
2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21559-2004Sep14.html>

MARYLAND RULES AGAINST OPPONENTS OF E-VOTING MACHINES
     Maryland's highest court has rejected demands to allow citizens who
distrust TouchScreen voting machines to use paper ballots to ensure the
paperless devices are accurate and secure. Ryan Phair, attorney for the
defeated plaintiff group called TrueVoteMD, complains: "We're basically
playing Russian roulette. We know there is vulnerability. It is just a
matter of time until it happens." TrueVoteMD vows to continue its legal
battle to force the state to use printers on electronic machines in future
elections. (AP/San Jose Mercury News 14 Sep 2004)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/9662979.htm>

COPYRIGHT CASE GOES TO AUSTRALIAN HIGH COURT
     A case on DVD and computer games copyright laws to be heard next year
by Australia's High Court could have far-reaching implications for consumers
and industry players. Last year Sony successfully sued Sydney-based mod-chip
trader Eddy Stevens, claiming he contravened the Copyright Act by selling
and installing chips for Sony Playstation machines. (Mod chips allow users
to overcome Playstation's security system so that they can play pirated or
copied games or make personal back-up copies.) The Court's decision will
impact a wide range of industry players, including video rental operators
and computer games manufacturers such as Sony and Microsoft. (The Australian
14 Sep 2004) Rec'd from J. Lamp
<http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,10762750%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5
E,00.html>

SPYCAM MAY BE WATCHING YOU WORK
     If you have a webcam and a microphone on your computer and a broadband
connection to the Internet, a hacker could be watching you from that PC in
your bedroom. Computer security experts are warning that a series of Windows
viruses released to the Internet are capable of taking control of the audio
and video accessories to spy directly on people at home or work. The worm,
dubbed W32/Rbot-GR, is "the equivalent to a Peeping Tom ... peering through
your curtains" says Graham Cluley of Sophos, the British-based anti-virus
company. Worms such as Rbot-GR can be neutralized by any of the several
anti-virus software packages available but these must be regularly updated.
Cluley warns: "If you are not using your webcam, unplug it." (The Age 14 Sep
2004) Rec'd from J. Lamp
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/13/1094927508372.html

QUANTUM ENCRYPTION
     Researchers at Harvard, Boston University, and BBN Technologies are
developing a quantum encryption system that uses light particles called
photons to lock and unlock information. Project scientist John M. Myers from
Harvard says, "It is really a futuristic technology. Its applications are
going to be a lot like the laser and the transistor, in that early people
could not think of all the possible applications and uses of it." Quantum
cryptography is based on the discovery that photons will be changed simply
by observing them; as a result, eavesdropping on the photons (e.g., by
setting up a photo detector to read the code) disrupts them, making the
codes unusable and alerting the network to the snooper. BBN chief scientist
Chip Elliott quips: "This is what every teenager wants: Instant messaging
protected by quantum cryptography. Don't tell my daughter."
(AP/USA Today 15 Sep 2004)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2004-09-15-quantum-crypt
o_x.htm>

*****

FLASH CARD
     "Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society. (Joan Ganz
Cooney)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: LUCY WHEELOCK (1857-1946)
     Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American educator Lucy Wheelock
(1857-1946), who was an ardent promoter of the Kindergarten movement, first
as a kindergarten teacher herself and then as a founding director of
Wheelock College for training kindergarten teachers.
     After teaching school in her hometown of Cambridge, Vermont, Wheelock
enrolled in Boston's Chauncy Hall School to prepare herself for admission to
Wellesley College. At Chauncy Hall she came under the influence of Elizabeth
Peabody who at that time was lecturing on the value of kindergarten
education, based primarily on the ideas of the German educational theorist
Friedrich Froebel. At Peabody's urging Wheelock abandoned the idea of
attending Wellesley and enrolled instead in the Kindergarten Training School
in Boston, where in 1879 she received her diploma and then became a
kindergarten teacher at Chauncy Hall. In 1893 Wheelock opened the
independent Wheelock Kindergarten Training School, and by 1899 was training
teachers for all the primary grades. In the 1920s the kindergarten course
had been lengthened to three years, and had expanded its training to include
the broader educational and socialization processes of which kindergarten
was only the beginning. By the time Wheelock retired as director in 1939,
the school had 325 students and 23 faculty members. Two years later it was
incorporated as Wheelock College.
     Wheelock was born into a family of early Vermont settlers. Her father
was a Congregational clergyman and the local school superintendent. Wheeler
received her early education at home from her mother, a teacher; to attend
high school, she had to live away from in Reading, Massachusetts. Her
further education at Chauncy Hall prepared her well for the education she
continued not as a Wellesley undergraduate as planned but as a kindergarten
teacher. 
     Wheelock accomplished much in support of kindergartens for America's
young children. In 1892 she worked on a National Education Association
committee to plan a national organization of kindergartners, helping to
found the resulting International Kindergarten Union in 1893 and serving as
its second president in 1895-1899.
     She was a progressive yet moderating force. Basically Froebelian in her
approach, she added many modifications based on her own experience,
sometimes in opposition to the strictly orthodox among Froebel's adherents.
Wheelock was also active in community work in Boston, establishing free
kindergartens in various poor neighborhoods and contributing to the work of
settlement houses and other organizations. In 1929 she was appointed to the
education committee of the League of Nations. Over the years she also
published a variety of books, including translations of Johanna Spyri's
famous stories for children, and writings intended for mothers and teachers.
Wheelock died in Boston in 1946.

See 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0766863158/newsscancom/ref=nos
im for "Beginning and Beyond: Foundations in Early Childhood Education" --
or look for it in your favorite library. Note: We donate all revenue from
our book and media recommendations to adult literacy programs.]

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