Headlines from around the Web for Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender
'Hacker Safe' Seal: Web Site Shield, or Target?
ComputerWorld
More than 80,000 Web sites worldwide display a small green logo from the company ScanAlert Inc. that proclaims them to be "Hacker Safe." While ScanAlert asserts this logo is a valuable marketing tool for them, detractors say the logo gives customers a false sense of security and hackers a desirable target.
GSA Pushes the Identity Protocol for Sharing Credentials Across Organizational Lines
Government Computer News
Welcome to the world of federated identity management. Imagine a day when instead of setting up an account with each organization you do business with, you set up a single account that all parties can consult. Such a setup could be useful for federal agencies.
California Task Force Urges Broadband Bonds
CNET News
California should consider issuing debt to augment private investment in enhancing and expanding high-speed communications services, a state task force said. Better, faster and more available broadband capabilities would propel economic growth for the most populous U.S. state, where 96 percent of households already have access to basic high-speed communications.
What If the Internet Went Down ... And Didn't Come Back Up?
NetworkWorld
Imagine, if you will, a world with no Internet. No e-mail. No e-commerce. And no BlackBerrys. E-mail would be supplanted by snail mail; cell phones by land lines. Now imagine what the future would look like. Futurists say virtual business services of all sorts, accounting, payroll and even sales would come to a halt, as would many companies.
5 Disruptive Technologies To Watch In 2008
InformationWeek
While there are dozens of emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt current standards, five that have significant opportunity to lead to major implications for enterprises in the coming year are: virtualization, the role of Apple and managing cross-platform shops, managed data centers, video over IP networks, and presence-aware applications.
Study: Cutting Software Piracy Creates Jobs
InformationWeek
Cracking down on PC software piracy would create hundreds of thousands of jobs globally and boost economic growth and tax revenues, particularly in Asia where piracy rates are high, according to an IDC study.
SEC Urged Not to Revive 'Terrorist' Watch List
CNET News
Two business groups urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday not to reinstate a Web tool aimed at helping investors identify companies with investments in countries the United States designates as "sponsors of terrorism."
GSA Looking for Software as a Service for USA.gov
Federal Computer Week
The General Services Administration wants to jump on the software-as-a-service bandwagon through its Office of Citizen Services and Communications. The office issued two requests for proposals last week for Web analytics and online collaboration tools that call out SaaS as the intended way it will meet their needs.
Legislators Rush to Delete Computer Sales Tax
The Washington Times
The extension of the sales tax to computer services has become a $200 million point of contention in the Maryland State House, with Republicans and Democrats trying to build enough support to repeal it before the tax takes effect in July.
Security of Ballot in Maryland Not 100 Percent
The Baltimore Sun
Fear of hackers and lost votes that can never be recovered is forcing out the new technology and giving new life to old-fashioned scanning machines that read tried-and-true paper ballots. Before its $65 million touch-screen machines will be paid off, Maryland expects to be back on the paper trail, following states such as Florida and California.
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