Congress Targets Social-Networking Sites

Following the European Union’s 2005 decision demanding Internet service providers to record and store activity logs, the United States government is pursuing a similar requirement aimed at assisting criminal investigations. In a recent hearing, House of Representatives members asked social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace the following questions: "Why can't data that links IP addresses to physical addresses be stored longer?" And, “How much would it cost your company to preserve those IP addresses?"… (CNET News.com)

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Microsoft's Office 2007 Hits Snag

First Vista, now Office. The release date has been moved from October to an ambiguous date before “the end of the year.” The software giant’s own internal testing results, as well as feedback from the beta version released for use by technical specialists, show problems with what Microsoft calls “product performance.”… (CNN.com)

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Ruling May Save Colleges Millions

As implied by a recent court ruling, higher education institutions will be able to spend less than the federal requirement ($30,000-$100,000) to update network equipment so the government can monitor Internet activity. Considering the new equipment is not even being made yet, some are wary of this estimate. "Until you see technical specifications, you can't be completely sure you're compliant," said the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s director of policy and planning... (Wisconsin State Journal)

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Windows 98 Users on Their Own

On July 11, approximately 70 million Windows 98 users will be exposed to hackers and crashes, as Microsoft discontinues service on this aging platform. Whether or not it’s a move to force consumers into upgrading, this writer urges us not to condemn Microsoft for abandoning those 70 million people because it’s “hard to argue with the logic that support for the aging platforms cannot continue into perpetuity.”… (iTWire)

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