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TOP STORIES FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2002 Administration Tries to Answer Fears about Information System Justice Department Criticizes FBI IT Management Most Government Surveillance Would Use Existing Tools AND IBM Throws More Support Toward Open-Source Projects Two Groups Will Appeal Microsoft Settlement ADMINISTRATION TRIES TO ANSWER FEARS ABOUT INFORMATION SYSTEM In response to fairly vocal criticism of plans to create a system to monitor much Internet traffic in an effort to identify and prevent potential terrorist activity, the Bush Administration tried Friday to address fears that the system would compromise privacy and personal information. Richard Clarke, President Bush's advisor on cyberspace, said that the proposed system would not be used to scan and read individuals' e-mails. The plan, he said, "articulates a strong policy of protecting citizens' privacy in cyberspace." Some of the concern over the proposed system comes from a change from earlier drafts of the proposal, which specified that a monitoring center would be run by private board rather than by the government. The newest draft indicates that a monitoring center "could be operated by the private sector but could share information with the federal government through the Department of Homeland Security." Wall Street Journal, 20 December 2002 (sub. req'd) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB104042986788918113,00.html JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CRITICIZES FBI IT MANAGEMENT A report from the U.S. Department of Justice says that despite the increased need for effective management of IT resources following September 11, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has shown "major weaknesses" in that regard. The report is based in part on interviews conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO) and by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General with officials at the FBI, the Justice Department, the GAO, and the Office of Management and Budget. According to the report, "the FBI continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on IT projects without adequate assurance that these projects will meet their intended goals." The Justice Department said this problem results from continued insufficient management attention to IT investments. ComputerWorld, 20 December 2002 http://www.idg.net/ic_993491_1794_9-10000.html MOST GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE WOULD USE EXISTING TOOLS In light of the federal government's various plans to increase national security through electronic monitoring, some technology experts point out that many of the tools for such a program are already in place. Creating a dragnet to prevent terrorism, they say, would largely involve piecing together information that is currently collected and stored in disparate areas. From data concerning cellular phone calls to traffic records taken from passing through toll booths, the government has a potentially large pool of information to use from existing systems. Civil libertarians worry over possible abuses of the proposed data collection. Supporters suggest that an information system might coordinate data about foreign visitors taking flying lessons at different flying schools, for example, with airline reservation systems showing those same visitors with plane tickets for the same day. New York Times, 23 December 2002 (registration req'd) http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/technology/23PEEK.html AND ***************************************************** IBM THROWS MORE SUPPORT TOWARD OPEN-SOURCE PROJECTS IBM's upcoming Storage Tank software is designed to coordinate existing storage systems to allow users to store more information and have easier access to it. In an effort to encourage support for the Storage Tank application, IBM will release an open-source version of the software. IBM has been a notable supporter of several other open-source projects, including the Linux operating system and the Globus Toolkit, designed for supercomputing networks. The Storage Tank approach separates metadata onto its own servers, offering increased capacity and flexibility. By releasing details about how the software functions, IBM hopes to encourage others to write pieces of code called "agents," which are required to communicate with the metadata servers. IBM will also release details necessary for others to build their own metadata servers. ZDNet, 20 December 2002 http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-978641.html TWO GROUPS WILL APPEAL MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT The Computer and Communications Industry Association and the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) have indicated to the federal courts that they will appeal the recent settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and Microsoft. The two groups said that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia should question whether the settlement, approved last month by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, sufficiently addresses Microsoft's antitrust violations. An official from SIIA said the settlement "is not in the public interest." Two states involved in the Justice Department's prosecution of the software company, Massachusetts and West Virginia, have also said they will appeal the settlement. Reuters, 20 December 2002 http://news.com.com/2100-1001-978643.html ***************************************************** EDUPAGE INFORMATION To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your settings, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html Or, you can subscribe or unsubscribe by sending e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE Edupage YourFirstName YourLastName To UNSUBSCRIBE, in the body of the message type: SIGNOFF Edupage If you have subscription problems, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For past issues of Edupage or information about translations of Edupage into other languages, visit http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html ***************************************************** OTHER EDUCAUSE PUBLICATIONS EDUCAUSE publishes periodicals, including "EQ" and "EDUCAUSE Review," books, and other materials dealing with the impacts and implications of information technology in higher education. 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