Business software developers have started to see the value of sharing information online through Web logs (blogs), message boards, and other forms of communication from the outset in order to build a base of potential customers, not to mention fellow developers. Lotus founder Mitch Kapor explains that he started a blog to tell users about an personal information manager upgrade so as to solicit their ideas and get feedback while the project was in a very early developmental stage. "It's part of a long-term process of building a user community," he notes. Kapor keeps potential users up to date on the project's progress and new ideas he comes up with. [...] However, to take full advantage of blogging and other forms of communication, developers must be willing to sift through a lot of email, discussion group postings, and other submissions for good suggestions. They must also be able to set clear limits on tired or unproductive discussion threads.

The Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) project may have stalled due to opposition in Congress, but even if the effort goes forward, many computer scientists doubt the effectiveness of the technology. [...] TIA leader John Poindexter underestimates the complexity of understanding human behavior, especially since computers today still do not fully grasp language. The Information Awareness Office Poindexter runs contains 12 other programs besides TIA [...] Palo Alto Research Center computer scientist Francine Chen says that even a relatively accurate technology would produce too many false positives to be useful when applied to a population of approximately 300 million people. [...] Lunt concedes that no technology can provide 100 percent privacy protection.

The ETC group recently released an 80-page illustrated manifesto demonstrating the potential dangers of nanotechnology, if corporate research and development is allowed to proceed unchecked. Rather than fearing the popular scenario of the human race being inundated by tiny, self-replicating robots, ETC executive director Pat Roy Mooney envisions environmental damage and diseases brought about by the cumulative effects of artificial particles within biological systems. He does not believe nanotech is inherently evil, but he wants a moratorium declared on nanotech research and commercialization until international resolutions to evaluate and monitor its potential dangers are set up. [...] Roco and others insist that the potential environmental and health impacts of nanotech are being addressed, and advise against a research moratorium, arguing that it would hinder scientific research of existing nanoparticles and postpone the potential benefits of new nanotech-based products.