INTERNET
Americans Need To Be More Skeptical About Health Info Online, Study
Says
Broadband Competition 'A Myth'
FirstGov Site Gets High Marks
Visions Of a Wild and Wireless Future
PRIVACY/SECURITY
Gov. Ventura Signs Internet Privacy Bill
Consortium Created To Improve Software Reliability
INTERNET
AMERICANS NEED TO BE MORE SKEPTICAL ABOUT HEALTH INFO ONLINE, STUDY SAYS
In a study released by the Pew Internet & American Life project, it was
found that just a quarter of Americans who research health information
online check the source and timeliness of the information. Half of the group
studied rarely or never followed recommended procedures to check information
quality. Seventy-three million Americans have gone online for health
information. Among those surveyed,17% used online health information to
diagnose or treat a medical condition without a doctor. Lee Rainie, director
of the Pew project did point out that, "A lot of people are going back to
their doctors when they have questions or checking with other authoritative
sources. There's no evidence people are doing completely whacky
self-diagnoses." The study was conducted primarily through telephone
interviews with 500 individuals who commonly seek health information online.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal; AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1022097055982379720,00.html?mod=technolo
gy_main_whats_news)
BROADBAND COMPETITION 'A MYTH'
According to analyst firm IDC, European subscriptions to high-speed Internet
services are increasing due to aggressive marketing campaigns by incumbent
operators rather than true competition. "Incumbent operators have a majority
share of broadband connections in most countries," said IDC research manager
Jill Finger. IDC attributes the lack of a competitive broadband environment
on the failure to unbundled local-loops. Says Finger, "The local-loop
unbundling process is simply too complex and politically preoblematic to
create a competitive broadband access market within a reasonable timeframe."
[SOURCE: BBC News]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2002000/2002160.stm)
FIRSTGOV SITE GETS HIGH MARKS
A recent redesign of the government Web site FirstGov has resulted in
increased customer satisfaction. Michael Messinger, FirstGov's marketing
and communications director said since the redesign, "We know that traffic
has been going up on a monthly basis." The new site organizes information
for citizens, businesses, and other levels of government into three "user
channels". It was designed to ensure that users would find the information
sought within three clicks. Most importantly, there has been a dramatic
increase in the number of first-time visitors who say they will visit the
site again. Before the redesign those numbers were extremely low.
[SOURCE: USA Today; AUTHOR: William Matthews]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/fcw1.htm)
VISIONS OF A WILD AND WIRELESS FUTURE
What does one of the founders of the Internet think about how it is being
uses and where it is going? Robert Kahn, co-inventor of the TCP/IP protocols
(the foundation language of the Internet) says "It's the tip of the iceberg
now. Kahn believes in the future of the Internet, despite the Internet
bubble burst and problems with new technologies. The creative potential for
the Internet, he feels, is limitless in part because "The Internet is an
architectural philosophy, rather than a technology." One of the biggest
failures of the Internet, says Kahn, is the untapped potential for
education. "We've made," he says, "almost no progress with regard to the
Internet and education."
[SOURCE: Washington Post; AUTHOR: Shannon Henry]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60488-2002May22.html)
PRIVACY/SECURITY
GOV. VENTURA SIGNS INTERNET PRIVACY BILL
Governor Jesse Ventura on Wednesday signed legislation that makes Minnesota
the first state to enable Internet users to decide how ISPs handle personal
data. The bill, which was overwhelmingly approved by state lawmakers,
requires Internet service providers to notify subscribers that they can
control whether their data is disclosed and how it is to be used. Internet
giants like America Online and Yahoo remain strongly against the legislation
as it imposes new liabilities on companies that are victims of online fraud
or hacking.
[SOURCE: Newsbytes; AUTHOR: Dick Kelsey]
(http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176737.html)
CONSORTIUM CREATED TO IMPROVE SOFTWARE RELIABILITY
Eighteen organizations are joining Carnegie Mellon University to improve
software reliability and security. The Sustainable Computing Consortium
(SCC) includes Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, American International
Group (AIG) and NASA. The National Research Council recently released
statistics that last year U.S. companies spent $12.3 billion to repair
systems affected by computer viruses and $175 billion on damages caused by
software defects. William Guttman, director of the SCC said, "Software
systems have become the critical infrastructure of our nation and economy.
Unreliable software has profound consequences."
[SOURCE:USA Today; AUTHOR: Dan Verton]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cw1.htm)
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