Web Headlines

Headlines from around the Web for Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007

Compiled by Melanie Bender

Municipal Wi-Fi: A Promise Unfulfilled?

InformationWeek

Cities around the country seem to be backing away from their promises of widespread, free municipal Wi-Fi services. Are they abandoning the idea of public Wi-Fi, or just retrenching?

Technology, Funding Gap Slow Boston's WiFi Effort

The Boston Globe

Boston's push for citywide wireless Internet access, delayed by technical challenges and slower than anticipated fund-raising, is no longer expected to meet the city's original goal of blanket coverage by the end of next year, project leaders conceded.

Atlanta City Council Approves $41.6M Digital Radio System

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to spend $41.6 million on a digital radio system city officials say will help police officers and firefighters better communicate with each other and law enforcement agencies in surrounding areas.

Fenty Drops Plan to Purge City E-Mails After 6 Months

The Washington Post

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) withdrew his executive order to purge the majority of city e-mails yesterday, hours after two D.C. Council members announced they would introduce legislation to delay the policy from being instituted in January.

Is Business Displacing IT in Deciding What to Buy?

CIO Insight

CIOs aren't the only ones buying IT for their companies anymore, new research from Forrester shows. And how IT executives respond to the shift could have a major impact on their standing in the front office. The yet-to-be-published findings reveal that 25 percent of executives outside of IT are directly selecting vendor tools entirely on their own or more than IT executives. Also, 25 percent of executives are negotiating directly with vendors or managing relationships with those providers.

Handhelds, Laptops Increase IT Security Worries, Survey Finds

Federal Computer Week

The increasing mobility of workers is creating big security headaches for information technology staffers, according to a new report. Portable devices, especially personal digital assistants and laptop PCs, are the leading concern, the Computing Technology Industry Association found in its study.

FBI to Bolster Employee Internet Access

Federal Computer Week

The FBI will begin issuing BlackBerry smart phones to an additional 18,000 employees this week, kicking off a series of initiatives that during the next two years will bolster the number of agents and analysts with Internet access at their desks.

Former Staffer Says Governor's Office Monitored Personal E-mails

Missouri News-Tribune

A former staff attorney for Gov. Matt Blunt claims Blunt officials monitored his personal e-mail account without his knowledge or permission after he was fired - an accusation Blunt officials strongly deny.

Experts Say West Can't Stop Web Radicalization

Reuters

A number of examples illustrate what Western authorities believe is the dangerous and growing role the Internet plays in spreading extremist propaganda and recruiting sympathizers to Islamist militant causes.

Feds Fight Ruling on Security Letters

The Associated Press

The U.S. government on Monday appealed a ruling that it shouldn't be able to get personal phone, e-mail and financial records without a judge's approval, as now allowed under the USA Patriot Act.