Edupage, April 18, 2003

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TOP STORIES FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2003
  Homeland Security Appoints Privacy Officer
  Internet Law Forum Addresses Identity Theft
  FTC Cracks Down on Porn Spammer
  Duplicate Web Standards Efforts
  E-Government Faces Budget Shortfall
AND
  Investments in Distance Education Fell in 2002
  Survey Finds One-Quarter of Americans Are Offline


HOMELAND SECURITY APPOINTS PRIVACY OFFICER
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has named Nuala O'Connor
Kelly as its first privacy officer. Prior to her current role as
privacy officer and chief counsel for the Department of Commerce's
Technology Administration, she was the privacy officer for online ad
firm DoubleClick. As part of the DHS's creation last year, Congress
mandated a privacy officer to protect U.S. citizens' privacy rights.
Congress and privacy rights' advocates have expressed concern over
programs O'Connor Kelly will oversee, such as the Computer Assisted
Passenger Prescreening System II (CAPPS II) and the Pentagon's Total
Information Awareness (TIA) program. CAPPS II, currently being tested
by Delta Airlines, assigns a color-coded threat level to travelers and
runs background screenings that can include credit, banking, and
criminal background checks. Congress has temporarily blocked funding
for TIA, a data-mining program that seeks to track and capture
potential terrorists through "information signatures."
Internet News, 17 April 2003
http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2192521

INTERNET LAW FORUM ADDRESSES IDENTITY THEFT
Attendees at a meeting of state attorneys general focusing on
developments in Internet law spent considerable time discussing the
need to protect against identity theft. Lawmakers have introduced bills
to help curb identity theft, although none has yet passed in Congress.
Also, the Federal Trade Commission has censured several companies whose
security it deemed inadequate. Of particular concern to consumers is
the theft of personal information from large databases, such as those
maintained by banks and credit bureaus. In one case, three people were
accused of stealing personal information on 30,000 people from one of
the big three credit reporting agencies.
Wired Magazine, 17 April 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,58512,00.html

FTC CRACKS DOWN ON PORN SPAMMER
The Federal Trade Commission asked the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, to bar Ballwin (a
suburb of St. Louis) resident Brian Westby from sending e-mail
containing deceptive subject lines, false reply information, and
pornographic material designed to steer recipients to an adult Web
site. The FTC claimed that the pornographic spam operation has grossed
more than $1 million in commissions and prompted almost 50,000 consumer
complaints in response to a recent bulk e-mail campaign. The suit is
the first to target deceptive subject lines and the second on
"spoofing," which is e-mail that uses false reply-to or from
information that leads recipients to assume an innocent third party
sent the message.
ZDNet, 17 April 2003
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-997329.html

DUPLICATE WEB STANDARDS EFFORTS
Led by IBM, Microsoft, and BEA Systems, about 20 businesses plan to
propose the creation of a technical committee within the Organization
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) to
standardize the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services
(BPEL), which is used to automatic complex business processes. The
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is already trying to sort through
similar Web services proposals. The group of companies, which
originally authored BPEL, said others can use the language without
paying royalties to them as authors of the standard. In addition, the
proposal will include an update to BPEL. IBM and Microsoft executives
said their companies plan to implement the BPEL standard within their
products this year.
CNET, 17 April 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1013-997042.html

E-GOVERNMENT FACES BUDGET SHORTFALL
The Bush administration's E-Government Strategy aims to help federal
agencies communicate better with the public, modernize government
technology, and ensure that computer networks are safe from
cyberattacks. The $45 million requested to launch the program this year
was reduced by Congress to $5 million. The total budget request is $345
million over four years. A spokesman admitted that the shortfall is an
obstacle, while others asserted that the $5 million budget is
inadequate to accomplish the program's goals in 2003.
Washington Post, 17 April 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46483-2003Apr17.html

AND
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INVESTMENTS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION FELL IN 2002
A report by Eduventures Inc. shows a 45 percent decline in investment
in for-profit distance education, for-profit colleges, and other higher
education information technology businesses over the past year. In
2002, $92 million was invested in such enterprises compared to $167
million in 2001, despite record revenues reported for this sector in
2002. The report notes that private-equity investment took a back seat
to mergers and acquisitions. Two distance-education companies, Capella
Education Company and American Public University, received the most
funding, a combined $26.7 million from equity investors. According to
the report and other industry analysts, investors want to invest in
postsecondary businesses, which have outperformed nearly all other
business sectors during the current economic slump but which lack
opportunities. One of the authors of the report noted that many
barriers to entering the for-profit postsecondary market exist, "the
most important being accreditation."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 April 2003
http://chronicle.com/free/2003/04/2003041702t.htm

SURVEY FINDS ONE-QUARTER OF AMERICANS ARE OFFLINE
A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that almost
25 percent of Americans do not use the Internet. The number of people
dropping offline equals the number of new users, leading the
researchers to conclude that the 60 percent use of the Internet
measured in October 2001 is likely to persist. About 42 percent of
Americans say they do not use the Internet, but half have either used
it in the past or access it through other family members. Only 17
percent are classified as actual net dropouts, but this is an increase
from the 13 percent identified in a similar 2000 survey.
BBC, 17 April 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2956315.stm

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