INTERNET
The Perils of High-Tech Voting (NYT)
A New Trick Gives Snoops Easy Access to E-Mail (NYT)
A Cyberlab for Internet Behavior (NYT)
POLICY
Fifth Anniversary Of Telecommunications Act Offers Consumers Little
To Celebrate (CU)
BROADCASTING
Indian Country Radio Sends a Stronger Signal (NYT)
Doing Something Right (Washington Post)
JOBS
Dot-com union efforts put on back burner (USA)
INTERNET
THE PERILS OF HIGH-TECH VOTING
Issue: E-Voting
[Op-Ed] From the result of the Florida election has come a new interest in
better voting technology. But with even the latest voting technology, it is
important to ask, "while user-friendly, is it Fail-safe?" While paperless
technologies may eliminate voter error, they multiply the possibilities for
tampering. One can always tell if gears and bearings are rigged, but how
much more difficult is it to find the rogue source code in a million line
program? An automated teller machine has a backup audit trail verifying its
transactions, the equivalent auditing methods for electronic voting devices
would obviously violate the secrecy of the ballot. Here's the gist: voting
security specialists doubt that any electronic system can be both secure and
anonymous. Taking the next step to Internet voting compounds the risks. So
what can be usable, secure and anonymous? Paradoxically, it is the paper
ballot - a uniform, laser-printed ballot that would be both uniform and
clear. This hybrid system would not be cheap. It would not be flashy. But it
would work.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: Edward Tenner (author of "Why Things
Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences")]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/opinion/05TENN.html)
A NEW TRICK GIVES SNOOPS EASY ACCESS TO E-MAIL
Issue: Internet
A watchdog group has uncovered a new trick that enables someone to bug an
e-mail message, essentially eliminating the illusion that e-mail exchanges
are private. Today, the Privacy Foundation, an educational and research
organization based in Denver plans to provide public demonstrations of the
process, which the group calls "e-mail wiretapping" and believes to be
illegal. The group is calling for the major vendors of e-mail programs to
provide their software with JavaScript automatically turned off. Because
many e-mail users continue to hit "reply" during long e-mail exchanges
rather than initiating new messages, the JavaScript code could enable an
individual to eavesdrop on an entire conversation. The widely used e-mail
programs that are vulnerable to the exploit include Microsoft Outlook,
Outlook Express and Netscape Messenger 6. America Online users and users of
Web-based e-mail programs like Hotmail would not be affected. "What bothers
me is that in this case, my vulnerability is a function of what you do.I can
be careful, I can take every precaution, I can turn off JavaScript, and it
doesn't matter. If my neighbor isn't diligent and I send him an e-mail, I'm
still vulnerable," said Carl Voth, an engineer in British Columbia.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Amy Harmon]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/technology/05JAVA.html)
(requires registration)
A CYBERLAB FOR INTERNET BEHAVIOR
Issue: Internet
Donna L. Hoffman and Thomas P. Novak, professors at Vanderbilt University's
Owen Graduate School of Management, are working to develop an "eLab" that
will give researchers a chance to study the way people interact with Web
sites as they surf. Vanderbilt University has put up $1.05 million to start
the program, and the researchers hope to raise $20 million to keep it going.
Once the program is set up, students and researchers will create Web sites
that will be open to the outside world. As visitors wander through the
sites, their actions will be closely monitored, with small changes to the
sites to see reactions.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C3), AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/technology/05NECO.html)
(requires registration)
POLICY
FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OFFERS CONSUMERS LITTLE TO
CELEBRATE
Issue:Policy
On the fifth anniversary of the Telecommunications Act, a landmark law that
promised lower prices and increase consumers choice, the Consumers Union
(CU) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) say the anniversary offers
little to celebrate as a handful of huge companies continue to monopolize
the cable TV and local telephone industries. The two organizations note that
since the act became law on February 8, 1996, cable rates have risen nearly
three times as fast as inflation, and most of the local phone service market
still belongs to the regional Bell monopolies. CU and CFA urge policymakers
to enforce ownership limits that promote diversity competition if the
Telecommunications Act is ever to deliver on its original promises. "If
consumers are ever to see the promised benefits of competition in
communications markets, policymakers in Washington and the states must begin
to be genuinely pro-competitive and worry less about being pro-business,"
said Mark Cooper, Research Director of CFA.
[SOURCE: Consumers Union]
(http://www.consumersunion.org/telecom/teledc201.htm)
BROADCASTING
INDIAN COUNTRY RADIO SENDS A STRONGER SIGNAL
Issue: Radio
In December, KUYI-FM was launched in First Mesa, AZ as the 30th American
Indian radio station in America. Broadcasting to the 11,000 Hopis that
inhabit 11 villages on three broad mesas, much of KUYI programming is in
Hopi. Like most Indian stations, KUYI carries a mix of programming:
mainstream and American Indian music, information from tribal and village
governments; syndicated national news; community bulletin boards. Harlan
Nakala, the kikmongqwi, or chief and religious leader, of First Mesa,
explained its significance: "We can give news to elderly Hopi that can't
speak English. Some young don't speak Hopi, so now they can hear Hopi and
not be ashamed."
[SOURCE: New York Times 2/4 (34), AUTHOR: Catherine C. Robbins]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/04/arts/04ROBB.html)
DOING SOMETHING RIGHT
Issue: Journalism
The four-year-old Fox News Channel is reveling in its recent success, with a
major Newsweek story out today. Its total viewership was up 133 percent last
month over January 2000. And its prime-time audience was up 102 percent,
nearly four times the 27 percent boost posted by MSNBC amid accusation by
some Democrats who say Fox was "an avowed enemy of the Gore campaign." Fox
features such conservative or anti-Clinton commentators as Newt Gingrich,
Dick Morris, Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol and Tony Snow (Kristol and Snow both
worked in the first Bush White House). "During the past two months, if it
hadn't been for Fox, I don't know what I'd have done for the news," said
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott last week on "Fox News Sunday." The
perception of Rupert Murdoch's network as a conservative bastion is defended
by Fox News President Roger Ailes, who insists the accusation is way off the
mark. "Finally both sides are being presented," Ailes says. "I believe
anytime anyone's point of view is cut out, that's bias."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C01), AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26378-2001Feb4.html)
JOBS
DOT-COM UNION EFFORTS PUT ON BACK BURNER
Issue: Jobs
Before it ever got off the ground, the effort to unionize dot-com workers
appears dashed. Amazon.com this week slashed 1,300 jobs, including those of
400 customer-service representatives in Seattle who had been conducting a
petition drive for unionization. In San Francisco, workers at e-commerce
site eTown.com have postponed for up to six months a vote on forming a union
after dropping unfair-labor charges against management over layoffs. Now
that layoffs are mounting, experts see little chance of labor uprisings.
"People aren't willing to take additional risks during tough economic times.
The climate has chilled the effort," says labor lawyer Stephen Cabot.
[SOURCE: USA Today (Interactive), AUTHOR: Jon Swartz]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-02-02-union.htm)
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