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 01-26-2001Web's Holy Grail: Internet Security and ReliabilityJonathan Nee NetCompass News Editor One Night...and 36 DaysNo diatribes. No liberal rhetoric. The election did little to instill or renew faith in our justice system or voting processes. Acrimonious, shaken, weary – all appropriate and bipartisan adjectives to describe voters and their experiences after this one. Perhaps there is a silver lining to this national ordeal. Whether or not you believe the Electoral College to be antiquated, this election saw voters take an interest in their vote beyond the booth, re-learning a process they probably had not examined since middle school. It also inspired a host of tech companies to throw their hats in the ring and develop new voting systems. With dollar signs in their eyes, Cisco and Compaq put $10 million into VoteHere.net only a week after the election. Based in Bellevue, Washington, VoteHere.net is a start-up developing secure online voting technologies. Not to be outdone, Unisys announced yesterday that it would integrate Dell and Microsoft technologies in a partnership to develop another novel voting system. With rock paintings and smoke signals comprising the primary ballot technologies in some counties, this task should not prove difficult. Internet Privacy Hot Topic in WashingtonU.S. Reps. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-California) have introduced an internet privacy bill providing basic protections in the use of personal information. The bill is similar to legislation introduced last year in the Senate by U.S. Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and John Kerry (D-Massachussetts) - legislation that assured I would no longer receive email touting the opportunity to "get a university diploma from a prestigious non-accredited university based on my present knowledge and life experience." These bills will dictate how internet users' personal information, such as email addresses, zip codes and financial disclosures, is used. Most Washington insiders agree that some form of privacy legislation will pass this year, but issues yet to be resolved include the weight of internet industry input and the user opt-in versus opt-out debate. State legislatures are also expected to introduce their own bills concerning internet fraud, identity theft and children's issues. Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Missouri are among the states that have initiated the process. Even the most basic governmental regulation will provide some relief from unsolicited correspondence, that is unless you're interested in a college with "no required tests, classes, books, or interviews!" And it just wouldn't be NetCompass if I didn't (get forced to) mention that Total Site's Mail Mule email list management application is an opt-in only solution. Dean Kamen's "IT"No, it's not a cheap take on a Stephen King novel, although the Harvard Business School Press just paid $250,000 for a book about IT. $250,000 and neither the Harvard B School, nor the literary agent even knows what IT is. In fact, only a handful of people know what Dean Kamen's IT, otherwise known as Ginger, actually is – and that's just the way he wants it. There has been so much speculation surrounding this scientist's new invention that Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Silicon Valley v.c. man, John Doerr, have all met with Kamen. Even these high tech moguls were stupefied by the project, Doerr going so far as to say that the inventor was part Henry Ford, part Thomas Edison. So what is IT and why the secrecy? Kamen is reportedly concerned that large corporations would either try to block, sabotage or appropriate his new technology. The concealment from big business has many speculating that it is a new transportation device or fuel cell. Here's a sample of the other clues as reported by several reliable news sources: Broken Site of the WeekAfter making no less than five phone calls to Qwest customer service this week for erroneous phone charges and as someone who never misses an opportunity for righteous indignation, my employer has requested the inclusion of qwestdex.com as the "broken site of the week." In its relentless pursuit of flawless customer service, qwest.com has failed to link its primary button "Residential Listings" to anything. Again, relentless. La-Z-Boy, Microsoft Launch Program to Increase Obesity in U.S.If Wednesday night's "Temptation Island" didn't clue you into the fact that the apocalypse is upon us, then maybe a look at the new "Explorer" chair will. The luxury recliner from Microsoft and La-Z-Boy maintains the familiar comforts of traditional recliners along with a drink holder and storage space for remote control and TV guide. Forging a recent deal with Beelzebub, however, has allowed La-Z-Boy to provide an electrical jack for laptops, as well as jacks for dial-up or DSL internet access. The chair also includes a Microsoft WebTV receiver, wireless keyboard and two free months of Web TV service. Over 50% of adults in America are considered overweight or obese. With more agreements like the one struck between Microsoft and La-Z-Boy, we should be able to bring that number up by next holiday season. Total Site Announces Web Mask Web Mask is a browser-based application that allows One Night...and 36 DaysNo diatribes. No liberal rhetoric. The election did little to instill or renew faith in our justice system or voting processes. Acrimonious, shaken, weary – all appropriate and bipartisan adjectives to describe voters and their experiences after this one. Perhaps there is a silver lining to this national ordeal. Whether or not you believe the Electoral College to be antiquated, this election saw voters take an interest in their vote beyond the booth, re-learning a process they probably had not examined since middle school. It also inspired a host of tech companies to throw their hats in the ring and develop new voting systems. With dollar signs in their eyes, Cisco and Compaq put $10 million into VoteHere.net only a week after the election. Based in Bellevue, Washington, VoteHere.net is a start-up developing secure online voting technologies. Not to be outdone, Unisys announced yesterday that it would integrate Dell and Microsoft technologies in a partnership to develop another novel voting system. With rock paintings and smoke signals comprising the primary ballot technologies in some counties, this task should not prove difficult. \ Internet Privacy Hot Topic in WashingtonU.S. Reps. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-California) have introduced an internet privacy bill providing basic protections in the use of personal information. The bill is similar to legislation introduced last year in the Senate by U.S. Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and John Kerry (D-Massachussetts) - legislation that assured I would no longer receive email touting the opportunity to "get a university diploma from a prestigious non-accredited university based on my present knowledge and life experience." These bills will dictate how internet users' personal information, such as email addresses, zip codes and financial disclosures, is used. Most Washington insiders agree that some form of privacy legislation will pass this year, but issues yet to be resolved include the weight of internet industry input and the user opt-in versus opt-out debate. State legislatures are also expected to introduce their own bills concerning internet fraud, identity theft and children's issues. Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Missouri are among the states that have initiated the process. Even the most basic governmental regulation will provide some relief from unsolicited correspondence, that is unless you're interested in a college with "no required tests, classes, books, or interviews!" And it just wouldn't be NetCompass if I didn't (get forced to) mention that Total Site's Mail Mule email list management application is an opt-in only solution. \ D.O.J. Not the Only Problem for MicrosoftLate Tuesday, a disgruntled worker - or employee - for software giant Microsoft made the error of reconfiguring the company's routers, bringing the company's largest web properties to their knees. The reconfiguration affected the Microsoft Domain Name Server network, limiting communication between the company's DNS servers and DNS servers over the internet. DNS servers match domain names like logosonline.com with an IP number such as 216.247.56.41. According to Media Metrix, 53.8 million people visited Microsoft web sites in December. A Microsoft spokesman said the mistake was operational and was neither the result of Microsoft products nor related to network security, which is nice for Microsoft, but doesn't change the fact that I haven't been able to check my email in two days. In keeping with company tradition, Microsoft claimed Wednesday evening it had fixed the problem, although as of 12:30PM MST on Thursday, msnbc.com, msn.com and hotmail.com were still unavailable. On Tuesday, a group of hackers known as Prime Suspectz vandalized Microsoft's New Zealand site. Reports from Attrition.org, a web site devoted to computer security issues, claim that Microsoft sites have been targeted no less than five times before, including the attack last fall when hackers gained access to source code for the company's proprietary technology, most likely stabilizing it. \ Dean Kamen's "IT"No, it's not a cheap take on a Stephen King novel, although the Harvard Business School Press just paid $250,000 for a book about IT. $250,000 and neither the Harvard B School, nor the literary agent even knows what IT is. In fact, only a handful of people know what Dean Kamen's IT, otherwise known as Ginger, actually is – and that's just the way he wants it. There has been so much speculation surrounding this scientist's new invention that Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Silicon Valley v.c. man, John Doerr, have all met with Kamen. Even these high tech moguls were stupefied by the project, Doerr going so far as to say that the inventor was part Henry Ford, part Thomas Edison. So what is IT and why the secrecy? Kamen is reportedly concerned that large corporations would either try to block, sabotage or appropriate his new technology. The concealment from big business has many speculating that it is a new transportation device or fuel cell. Here's a sample of the other clues as reported by several reliable news sources: \ Broken Site of the WeekAfter making no less than five phone calls to Qwest customer service this week for erroneous phone charges and as someone who never misses an opportunity for righteous indignation, my employer has requested the inclusion of qwestdex.com as the "broken site of the week." In its relentless pursuit of flawless customer service, qwest.com has failed to link its primary button "Residential Listings" to anything. Again, relentless. \ La-Z-Boy, Microsoft Launch Program to Increase Obesity in U.S.If Wednesday night's "Temptation Island" didn't clue you into the fact that the apocalypse is upon us, then maybe a look at the new "Explorer" chair will. The luxury recliner from Microsoft and La-Z-Boy maintains the familiar comforts of traditional recliners along with a drink holder and storage space for remote control and TV guide. Forging a recent deal with Beelzebub, however, has allowed La-Z-Boy to provide an electrical jack for laptops, as well as jacks for dial-up or DSL internet access. The chair also includes a Microsoft WebTV receiver, wireless keyboard and two free months of Web TV service. Over 50% of adults in America are considered overweight or obese. With more agreements like the one struck between Microsoft and La-Z-Boy, we should be able to bring that number up by next holiday season. \ Total Site Announces Web Mask Web Mask is a browser-based application that allows \ D.O.J. Not the Only Problem for MicrosoftLate Tuesday, a disgruntled worker - or employee - for software giant Microsoft made the error of reconfiguring the company's routers, bringing the company's largest web properties to their knees. The reconfiguration affected the Microsoft Domain Name Server network, limiting communication between the company's DNS servers and DNS servers over the internet. DNS servers match domain names like logosonline.com with an IP number such as 216.247.56.41. According to Media Metrix, 53.8 million people visited Microsoft web sites in December. A Microsoft spokesman said the mistake was operational and was neither the result of Microsoft products nor related to network security, which is nice for Microsoft, but doesn't change the fact that I haven't been able to check my email in two days. In keeping with company tradition, Microsoft claimed Wednesday evening it had fixed the problem, although as of 12:30PM MST on Thursday, msnbc.com, msn.com and hotmail.com were still unavailable. On Tuesday, a group of hackers known as Prime Suspectz vandalized Microsoft's New Zealand site. Reports from Attrition.org, a web site devoted to computer security issues, claim that Microsoft sites have been targeted no less than five times before, including the attack last fall when hackers gained access to source code for the company's proprietary technology, most likely stabilizing it. |
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