INTERNET
Experts Say Key Internet Servers Vulnerable to Attack (NYT)
Community Colleges Now Eligible For .Edu Internet Addresses (NTIA)
Comdex: Wireless Net Access Will Be 'Mostly Free' - Hawkins (WP)
Argentina Peeks Into E-Mail Laws (WIRED)
INTERNET
EXPERTS SAY KEY INTERNET SERVERS VULNERABLE TO ATTACK
Issue: Internet=20
It would not take much for a malicious hacker to shut down the =
Internet,
researchers at a meeting of the body that oversees Web address =
allocation
warned on Tuesday. An attack designed to flood the Web's master =
directory
servers with traffic ``is capable of bringing down the Internet,'' said =
Paul
Vixie, a speaker at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and =
Numbers
(ICANN) annual meeting. Researchers said they were worried malicious =
hackers
could attack the 13 ``root'' servers that direct computers to Web =
addresses,
or domain names, or the 10 top-level domain servers, all of which serve =
as a
kind of directory for the Internet. After the September 11 attacks on =
New
York and Washington, non-profit corporation ICANN pushed other agenda =
items
aside to concentrate the discussion on ways to keep the Internet safe.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-icann-security.html=
)
(requires registration)
COMMUNITY COLLEGES NOW ELIGIBLE FOR .EDU INTERNET ADDRESSES
Issue: Internet=20
Assistant Secretary of Commerce Nancy J. Victory welcomed =
representatives
from the higher education community to the Department of Commerce on
Tuesday, November 13, 2001 to celebrate EDUCAUSE's new role as manager =
of
the .edu domain name and the domain's expansion to include community
colleges and institutions that grant two-year degrees. EDUCAUSE is an
association of 1,800 colleges, universities and corporate partners
[SOURCE: NTIA]
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html)
COMDEX: WIRELESS NET ACCESS WILL BE 'MOSTLY FREE' - HAWKINS
Issue: Internet=20
Handspring co-founder Jeff Hawkins said the Internet, via wireless =
networks,
will some day have a billion or so communicators attached to it, and he
predicted that the future of personal computing will be the future of =
mobile
computing. Hawkins, speaking at the Comdex Fall 2001 trade show, said =
that
the most successful mobile computing device of all time has been the =
cell
phone. "Communications is going to drive personal computing in the =
future,"
he said, highlighting his company's focus on wireless. He also said in =
the
future it will be "mostly free" to access the Internet via wireless. =
The
cost of making wireless calls will continue to decline as network =
operators
amortize their infrastructure costs, he said. "The incremental cost of
handling one more wireless call will be essentially zero," Hawkins =
said,
which will make affordable wireless devices inexpensive to use in the =
future
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Adam Creed]
(http://www.washtech.com/news/telecom/13680-1.html)
ARGENTINA PEEKS INTO E-MAIL LAWS
Issue: Internet=20
If you illegally read someone else's e-mail in Argentina, you might end =
up
spending from 15 days to six months in jail. And sending spam without
identifying it as such, and including your real name, could saddle you =
with
a fine of more than $25,000. That's what may be in store for Argentines =
if
two bills presented by the Secretar=EDa de Comunicaciones (the local =
FCC) to
the Congress earlier this month are approved. The first proposed bill =
would
give e-mail the same privacy status as regular post mail, and it would =
be
protected by the Argentine constitution, which prohibits mail from =
being
opened or examined by anyone except its owner without a court order. =
The
second bill presented two weeks ago addresses spam. Whoever wants to =
send
publicity by e-mail must state so in the mail's subject, identify =
themselves
in the body of the message and give an e-mail address so recipients may
state they don't want to receive another message like it.[SOURCE: =
Washington
Post, AUTHOR: Ricardo Sametband]
(http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48291,00.html)
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