Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Thanks to SAGE: Grant Gross writes a dense article for IDG News about the pursuit of a model uniform software license in the USA. The UCITA provides a model with default terms and conditions for shrink-wrap/download software. Vendors like Microsoft and IBM support more uniform licensing, believing that differing state software-licensing laws increase expenses. But the Free Software Foundation and ACM believe consumer rights will be eroded with no room for negotiation. The American Library Association opposes UCITA. The American Bar Association refused to promote it. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law has withdrawn its support. Generally, it appears this sort of legislation won't see wide ratification this year. Extensive background: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,52964,00.asp http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109349,00.asp 2:57:47 PM    comment []

We lawyers need better uses of computer graphics to visualize our work. Lawyers typically don't think of graphs and charts, but we ought to find better ways to use this technology. Here are some places to start. http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/ Gallery of Data Visualization displays some examples of, what it calls, the Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics, with the view that the contrast may be useful, inform current practice, and provide some pointers to both historical and current work. Thanks to Peter coffee for identifying this site: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,895636,00.asp http://www.research.att.com/areas/stat/xgobi/ http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd/ http://www.ergogero.com/dataviz/dviz0.html http://www.mapinfo.com/free/index.cfm 2:48:45 PM    comment []

On April 1 at the City Bar building on West 44th Street in New York City, the Information Technology Committee of the City Bar is sponsoring a program to discuss corporate obligations and directors' responsibilities in connection with security issues. 6 pm Good lineup of speakers. Thanks to SANS Newsbites (14/15/16 February 2003) Following close on the heels of the elevation of the country's alert status to Code Orange, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has released the final draft of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. The strategy establishes five priorities: create a national security response system, work with private industry to reduce vulnerabilities, improve security training, secure government systems and develop strategies to improve security on an international level. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10274-2003Feb14.html http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,78562,00.html http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/21156-1.html Homeland Defense Web Page with relevant press release: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=87&content=450 The strategy may be found at: http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/National_Cyberspace_Strategy.pdf 1:22:20 PM    comment []

Slammer was extremely fast-moving. The full analysis is available at http://www.caida.org/analysis/security/sapphire/ http://www.silicondefense.com/sapphire/ http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~nweaver/sapphire/ 1:17:06 PM    comment []

Thanks to SANS Newsbites: The locus of the massive credit card security breach has been traced to a computer system at Omaha-based Data Processors International, a company that handles credit card transactions for catalogs and direct marketers. It appears the security breach was launched from the outside; information is being analyzed to see if there is a trail that will lead to the hacker. Data Processors International also handles American Express accounts. There have been no reported cases of credit card fraud so far, and it isn't clear if the hacker actually stole any information. http://www.msnbc.com/news/874307.asp?0dm=C236T http://www.msnbc.com/news/874907.asp?0si=-&cp1=1 http://money.cnn.com/2003/02/18/technology/creditcards/index.htm http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2246735 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2774477.stm 12:51:45 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Noel D. Humphreys.