INTERNET
Professor Who Once Found Isolation Online Has a Change of Heart
(NYT)
Report: U.S. Lagging in Fight Against Cybercrime (USA)
Dot-Info: The Race Is On (Wired)
TECHNOLOGY
AOL to Offer Bounty for Space on New PCs (WP)
Does Bush Care about Technology? (ZDNet)
INTERNET
PROFESSOR WHO ONCE FOUND ISOLATION ONLINE HAS A CHANGE OF HEART
Issue: Internet
Three years ago, Robert Kraut, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University,
gained media attention when he released a report finding that heavy Internet
users reported increases in loneliness and depression. Now Dr. Kraut has
been thrown into the limelight again with a more recent study that in many
respects contradicts his original research. The latest study finds that
Internet usage can actually foster social connectedness in some cases. Dr.
Kraut, said he thinks the shift in data may come from his finding that "the
Internet is a better place to be and live than it was in 1995," when many of
his respondents had no friends or family online. But until even more data is
available on the Net's social impact, he is going to refrain from making any
more generalizations. "I don't think the answer is in yet," he said.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Lisa Guernsey]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/26/technology/circuits/26SADD.html)
REPORT: U.S. LAGGING IN FIGHT AGAINST CYBERCRIME
Issue: Internet Security
A congressional report prepared by the GAO and released Wednesday found that
the federal government lacks the qualified staff and information from
private companies affected by computer attacks to effectively put the breaks
on cybercrime. The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, which
was founded in 1998 to network government and corporate businesses, has not
come close to reaching its potential, according to the report. The
Department of Defense, National Security Agency and private companies have
not been forthcoming about security breaches by cybercriminals for fear that
the information would be made public, the report found. Ronald Dick,
director of the National Infrastructure Protection Center, told the Senate
technology, terrorism and government information subcommittee on Wednesday
that he agreed with many of the findings of the report. "We're stretching
our resources as thin as we can, and we're going to have to do something
about it," he said.
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-26-us-lagging-cybercrime.ht
m)
DOT-INFO: THE RACE IS ON
Issue: Internet
On Wednesday, the starting trigger was pulled in the race to snatch up the
dot-info domain name suffix, but until August 27 only companies with a
registered trademark can purchase a dot-info domain name, a process designed
to prevent cybersquatting. The dot-info overseer Afilias is expecting to get
nearly half a million registrations from trademark owners. The process
Afilias is employing to register dot-info domains is drawing criticism.
"Many trademarks were common dictionary words long before they were given
new meaning in commerce," said Ellen Rony, co-author of The Domain Name
Handbook, who refutes giving exclusive registration privileges to trademark
owners, particularly of real words.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Joanna Glasner]
(http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,45514,00.html)
TECHNOLOGY
DOES BUSH CARE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY?
Issue: Internet Policy
President Bush has spent the first 200 days in office focused on drilling
for oil in Alaska, tax refunds and "faith-based" social engineering while
barely addressing the dying dot-com economy. The Bush administration has
attracted criticism from technology policy experts for waiting almost six
months to nominate an advisor in science and technology meanwhile neglecting
technology policy and the suffering economy. Defenders of the president
refute these claims by pointing to the early appointments of venture
capitalist Floyd Kvamme and Silicon Valley Republican leader Lezlee Westine
to powerful White House positions, and to the staffers that work hard daily
to formulate positions for the White House on technology. The White House
has not taken the leadership to drive controversial issues such as a
campaign against taxation of e-commerce and endorsements of privacy
legislation, nor has it taken a position on broadband legislation. "As for
broadband," Kvamme defended, "we're just getting our act together, you might
say, and gathering information. I've sat in numerous meetings trying to
figure out what role government could or should have there. It's not totally
clear right now. We're hoping to have a better idea in a few months."
Scholar David Hart of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
argued, "This is not a president with a strong interest in technology. His
philosophy leads him to think the government should stay out of it. So, in a
sense, the questions will be what kind of crises come up that will drag him
into it."
[SOURCE: ZDNet, AUTHOR: Doug Brown]
(http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2792724,00.html)
AOL TO OFFER BOUNTY FOR SPACE ON NEW PCS
Issue: Competition
AOL Time Warner is looking to take advantage of Microsoft's legal troubles
by initiating deals with PC manufacturers to maximize AOL's exposure on new
PCs -- at the expense of Microsoft's competing services. Internal documents
show AOL laying out a strategy that goes beyond the ubiquitous desktop icons
for AOL's online service. In return for the computer makers' cooperation,
AOL would pay them a bounty of about $35 for each customer they nab for
AOL's massive Internet access service. AOL developed an "XP Promotion Wish
List" -- XP refers to the new version of Windows OS -- that includes a
pop-up AOL registration module when a new computer is first powered up
offering AOL's free, three-month trial when they first boot up their new
computers, and a request that manufacturers "remove MSN as the default ISP,"
or Internet service provider. The wish list also requests an AOL icon on the
desktop: "If no one clicks on the icon, it will remain present for seven
days," the AOL document states. "If a user clicks on the icon at least once
within the first seven days, the icon will remain indefinitely."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A01), AUTHOR: Alec Klein]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51103-2001Jul25.html)
--------------------------------------------------------------