itif - Slashdot User

Think tank report says anti-piracy bill won't "bre-> 0

Submitted by

itif

on Wednesday December 07, @08:00PM

itif writes "A report breaks down all of the various arguments against the DNS filtering requirements in the Stop Online Piracy Act and explains why DNS filtering can work."
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Study finds Lost USB keys have 66% chance of malwa-> 0

Submitted by

Em Adespoton

on Wednesday December 07, @07:05PM

Em Adespoton writes "Sophos studied 50 USB keys bought at a major transit authority's Lost Property auction.

The study revealed that two-thirds were infected with malware, and quickly uncovered information about many of the former owners of the devices, their family, friends and colleagues.

Disturbingly, none of the owners had used any sort of encryption to secure their files against unauthorised snoopers."
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Strict Privacy Regs Will Harm the "Free" Internet-> 0

Submitted by itif on Friday September 10 2010, @10:36PM

itif writes "An overview of a new study on European privacy laws that demonstrates how stricter privacy regulations (like what Congress is now considering) will negatively impact the Internet.

The overview: http://www.itif.org/publications/stricter-privacy-regulations-online-advertising-will-harm-free-internet

A direct link to the study: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1600259"
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IT Could Minimize the Next Salmonella Egg-idemic-> 0

Submitted by itif on Friday August 27 2010, @03:15PM

itif writes "An untold story about the recent salmonella epidemic is the role that computers played in identifying the outbreak and responding. But holes still exist in the system. This article looks at how technology can and is being used to improve food safety."
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Google's WiFi Controversy Deserves a Slap on the W-> 0

Submitted by itif on Tuesday May 25 2010, @11:06AM

itif writes "Issues such as harm and intent should weigh heavily when judging a company's mistakes. And should the law protect data the same whether it is encrypted or not?"
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Google's WiFi Controversy Deserves a Slap on the Wrist, Not a Punch in the Nose->

by itif on Tuesday May 25 2010, @11:05AM

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The Internet Economy 25 Years After .com-> 0

Submitted by itif on Monday March 15 2010, @06:44AM

itif writes "ITIF is marking the 25th anniversary of the very first .com with a comprehensive report, "The Internet Economy 25 Years After .Com: Transforming Life and Commerce."

The report is being issued 25 years to the day in 1985 when symbolics.com was registered as the first .com in the world. The report quantifies the dazzling growth and economic benefits of e-commerce, especially in the last decade since bubble collapse, and recommends ways to ensure a growing and vibrant Internet in the years to come.

From its quiet beginning in 1985, the Internet has grown to 80 million .coms and well over 200 million websites. E-commerce is the driving force behind rapid innovations, new products, services and business models and redefining our roles as consumers and citizens. The 25th anniversary of the .com will be the subject of a policy forum headlined by former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday at Reagan Building in which ITIF President Robert D. Atkinson will participate, www.25yearsof.com.

ITIF’s new report arrives in an important week in the development of the Internet’s infrastructure, with the FCC announcing its long-awaited recommendations on the national broadband plan.

Among the findings in the report are the following:

* Of the roughly 250 million websites about 80 million are .coms. Even after the collapse of the .dom bubble, the number of domain names grows by an average of 668,000 a month.
* The .coms alone account for some $400 million in economic benefits to businesses and consumers and that figure will likely double in the next ten years.
* Despite high-profile failures in the dot-com bubble burst, typical survival rates for these new business were actually higher than normal and spectacular success stories have followed.
* While the U.S. lags behind in IT areas like broadband and health IT, it leads in e-commerce. But even so, , less than a third of Americans buy things online and only about half the small businesses in the U.S. have a website.
* Only about 25 percent of the world's 6.7 billion participate in the dot-com economy but is changing – 73 million Chinese became Internet users in 2007 alone.

In order to sustain the progress that has been made in empowering consumers, spurring innovations and boosting productivity, the report urges:

* Adoption of policies that allow for the deployment of technologies, like wired and wireless broadband, mobile payments platforms, health IT, and other Internet platforms.
* Removal of regulatory and legal barriers to the emergence of new e-business models.
* Creation of incentives for companies to invest in Internet-enabled business practices.
* Advancing digital literacy.

The full report is available here: http://www.itif.org/files/2010-25-years.pdf"
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Whack-A-Mole Security: Bad Policy, Bad Legislation-> 0

Submitted by itif on Friday November 20 2009, @01:22AM

itif writes "The recent disclosure of a confidential Congressional document has at least one congressman calling for a ban on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software, but a closer look at the problem reveals that this effort would merely be treating the symptoms, not the disease. Is banning P2P really the best answer?

http://www.itif.org/files/2009-memo-house-ethics.pdf"
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How to deal with sexism in the FOSS community-> 0

Submitted by ruphus13 on Wednesday October 14 2009, @07:29PM

ruphus13 writes "Here's an interesting take from an Open Source community participant, and former firefighter! From the article, "as a card-carrying member of the larger geek community, I have been been on the receiving end of sexist remarks about my advanced technical aptitude that have left me literally speechless...Sexism in FOSS is not new news. I don't know when it will meet its long-overdue demise, but I do know it will happen eventually. It's going to take a long time and a lot of patience to turn this ship around but the willingness is there, I can see it in both genders within this community. Total acceptance won't happen overnight, but women are a lot more accepted now than they were in our grandparent's generation. Our daughters and granddaughters have a lot more acceptance to look forward to. Lets not cannibalize each other while we wait.""
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A national certification for all infosec workers?-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2009, @07:26PM

An anonymous reader writes "Cybersecurity is finally getting increased attention in Washington; however, one problematic idea that appears to have gained some traction is the development of a national certification program for cybersecurity professionals. While ostensibly targeted at the public sector and to protect critical infrastructure, it will have broad implications for the private sector. Such a proposal, while sounding helpful, will offer few benefits, introduce burdensome costs to the government and the private sector, and not address the root cause of most cybersecurity vulnerabilities. This memo lays out the reasons why using professional certification is not effective for getting good security.

Read the memo: http://itif.org/files/WM-2009-05-certification.pdf"
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