Web Headlines

Headlines from around the Web for Friday, Feb. 22, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

A Problem IT Can't Fix: Getting Students, Faculty to Sign Up for Campus Alerts

ComputerWorld

In a random check of five schools in the United States, participation rates range from about 31 percent at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to about 50 percent at New York University and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Boston College and Florida State University logged in with much higher participation rates -- about 68 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

Study: More U.S. Broadband has $134 Billion Economic Impact

NetworkWorld

A 7 percent increase in broadband adoption would create 2.4 million U.S. jobs, would save $662 million in health-care costs and $6.4 billion in vehicle mileage, among other savings.

Researchers Find Hard Drive Encryption's Achilles heel

ComputerWorld

Researchers at Princeton University have discovered a way to steal the hard drive encryption key used by products such as Windows Vista's BitLocker or Apple's FileVault. With that key, hackers could get access to all of the data stored on an encrypted hard drive.

Server Shipments Up Despite Fears of Economic Slowdown

InformationWeek

Worldwide server shipments climbed 11 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and revenue was up nearly 3 percent, despite fears of an economic slowdown, a market research firm said Thursday. There was no change in the rankings of the top vendors.

Colorado: Flap Over Electronic Voting Heats Up

Rocky Mountain News

The cloud over Colorado's electronic voting and tallying machines grew darker Thursday, as voting activists accused Secretary of State Mike Coffman of violating state law during his review of the equipment.

Army to Lift Ban on Public Access to Online Library

Federal Computer Week

Shortly after sealing off public access to the Web-based Reimer Digital Library, the Army has reversed its decision, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

FAA Sets Cybersecurity Center Buildup

Government Computer News

The Transportation Department's Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to recompete Northop Grumman's existing contract to operate the agency's IT security management center, which helps safeguard systems across the department. FAA plans to expand and improve the center so it will be able to provide IT security services to agencies outside the department.

State Workers in Ohio Back to 8-to-5

The Columbus Dispatch

Reversing a 1990 downtown traffic-congestion relief plan, Ohio's new personnel policy requires most state employees to work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with an hour for lunch, unless there is a job-related reason for a different schedule.

Politcal Opposites in PA Join to Fight Real ID

The Morning Call

One of the General Assembly's most conservative members and one of its most liberal have teamed up in a bid to block a federal program they say would put the personal privacy of millions of Americans at risk by creating a national identity card.