From Casinos to Counterterrorism
Washington Post (10/22/07) P. A1; Nakashima, Ellen
Las Vegas, with its wide adoption of data mining and surveillance, is
being viewed by some privacy advocates as a template for future U.S.
security, with its emphasis on preventing terrorist attacks. Cameras in
casinos--and sometimes facial recognition systems--monitor players and
employees, while surveillance specialists analyze the input and run it
against databases to uncover potentially suspicious activity. One program
developed for the casino industry, Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness, uses
link analysis to find evidence of collusion between gamblers and casino
employees, and the program was successful enough to inspire the Department
of Homeland Security to look into it as a tool for uncovering terror
networks. Bets are also tracked via RFID-outfitted casino chips, and
counterterrorism and Homeland Security officials are investigating the
embedding of RFID chips in various objects--passports and other IDs, for
instance--for the purpose of tracking people and their communications that
might lead to a terrorist network. Some say iris-scan technology will be
suitable for use in gaming in a few years. Center for Democracy and
Technology policy director James X. Dempsey is particularly troubled that
the use of such methods has spread to counterterrorism. "Finding a
terrorist is much harder than finding a card counter, and the consequences
of being wrongly labeled a terrorist are much more severe than being
excluded from a casino," he says. ACLU official Barry Steinhardt is
similarly concerned that the convergence of all these various technologies
is giving rise to a "surveillance society."
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Three Distinguished Technical Women Receive Awards
Business Wire (10/18/07)
Ceremonies were held on Oct. 18 at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women
in Computing to honor the work of Paula Goldman, co-founder of Imaging
Ourselves, and Mary Jane Irwin, a professor at Penn State University who
also holds the A. Robert Noll Chair in Engineering in the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering. Goldman received the Anita Borg
Institute for Women and Technology 2007 Technology Leadership Award, while
Irwin received this year's Social Impact Award from ABI. "The
accomplishments of Mary Jane Irwin and Paula Goldman demonstrate the
powerful and positive influence that women can have on shaping a brighter
future for all of us and in doing so inspire a whole new generation of
women," says ABI President Telle Whitney. "They are innovators and
trailblazers in technology and exemplify the individual's capacity to
excel, following their own vision while empowering others to define and
pursue their personal goals and aspirations." University of British
Columbia computer science professor Rachel Pottinger received the inaugural
Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award.
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Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web
New York Times (10/22/07) P. A1; Hafner, Katie
Offers from Google and Microsoft to digitize books into computer databases
have been rejected by several research libraries, who are objecting to the
restrictions the companies wish to impose on the digital collections. One
mandate is that the content cannot be made available to other commercial
search services. The libraries have instead opted to join the Open Content
Alliance, a nonprofit initiative whose goal is to widen access to their
materials without constraints. An attractive component of Google's program
is its offer to pay the libraries to scan the books, while the Open Content
Alliance splits the scanning cost between the group's members and
benefactors. But the alliance is more attractive to entities such as the
Boston Library Consortium, which is dedicated to digitally distributing its
content to the advantage of all. "There are two opposed [book
digitization] pathways being mapped out," notes University of California,
Berkeley professor Paul Duguid. "One is shaped by commercial concerns, the
other by a commitment to openness, and which one will win is not clear."
Open Content Alliance founder Brewster Kahle is concerned about what would
happen if private entities such as Google become the predominant digital
distributors of library materials, especially content that is in the public
domain. "Scanning the great libraries is a wonderful idea, but if only one
corporation controls access to this digital collection, we'll have handed
too much control to a private entity," Kahle says. Still, some libraries
have agreed to work with both Google and the OCA. "Many are hedging their
bets," says the Sloan Foundation's Doron Weber. "Taking Google money for
now while realizing this is, at best, a short-term bridge to a truly open
universal library of the future."
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In Growing Job Market, IT Pros Get More for the Soft
Skills
InformationWeek (10/20/07) McGee, Marianne Kolbasuk
The IT sector is showing strong job growth again, but the list of
highly-desirable skills keeps changing, creating a turbulent market. A
report by Foote Partners shows that employers are paying higher premiums
for noncertified tech skills such as enterprise applications, e-commerce,
and process management than for verified skills. The difference in average
pay premiums is marginal, with noncertified skills averaging an 8.08
percent premium above base pay and certified skills averaging a 7.97
percent premium. However, Foote Partners CEO David Foote says the small
difference in premiums is actually a "huge difference in the world of pay
stats" and is part of a trend that is becoming more common as the IT job
market improves. Nevertheless, U.S. technology employment is expanding,
with the number of jobs rising 6 percent to 3.68 million at the end of the
third quarter, according to data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Meanwhile, tech unemployment was down to 2 percent, an improvement from 2.2
percent in 2006 and the eight-year high of 5.6 percent in 2003. Software
engineers, computer scientists, system analysts, and IS managers showed the
largest job growth, while the number of programmers and support specialists
declined.
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SC07 Conference Focuses on Higher Education
HPC Wire (10/15/07)
Higher education will be a focus at SC07 as the high performance computing
industry seeks to place an even greater emphasis on workforce development
and diversity. Scheduled for Nov. 10-16 in Reno, Nev., the international
conference will offer the Doctoral Showcase, a new event that will allow 12
Ph.D. students graduating within the year to present a short summary of
their work. SC07 is also targeting individuals from underrepresented
groups through its Broader Engagement Program, which will be a multi-year
initiative. Sponsored by ACM and the IEEE Computer Society, SC07 will
offer a special session during the Technical Program for the six finalists
of ACM's Student Research Poster Competition to present their work. Top
Ph.D. students with research in high performance computing, networking,
storage, and analysis will be honored during the ACM/IEEE-SC Fellowship
Program. Graduate and undergraduate students will also participate in the
Cluster Challenge, the Education Program, and as student volunteers. "SC07
will engage hundreds of educators, students, and underrepresented groups to
ensure they are able to fully participate in the use of computational
science tools to enhance learning," says SC07 conference chair Becky
Verastegui of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For more information, or to
register, visit
http://sc07.supercomputing.org/
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Hand-Held Supercomputers 'on Way'
BBC News (10/21/07)
Nanoscale wires behave very differently than bigger wires, say researchers
at the University of Edinburgh, who have created a computer program that is
able to predict the behavior of wires 1,000 times thinner than human hair.
The application will enable researchers to avoid problems with the wires.
"What we found is when we made these wires smaller and smaller they started
to behave in a very funny way," says Dr. Michael Zaiser, an engineer in the
Scottish university's school of engineering and electronics. The research
is promising because effective wiring is needed if mobile phones are to
become as robust as laptops and if handheld PCs are to become
supercomputers. Working with researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology in Germany and the University of Rome in Italy, the researchers
have also created a tool for developing smaller microchips that would make
use of thinner wires. "Holding a supercomputer in the palm of your hand
will one day be possible--and we are going to make sure all the wires are
in the right place," Zaiser says.
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What's Russian for 'Hacker'?
New York Times (10/21/07) P. WK1; Levy, Clifford J.
Russia has become a major breeding ground for hackers who use their
anonymity to inflict mayhem on the West, aided by the Russian government's
apparent indifference to their activities. The roots of Russian hacktivism
include the country's strong system of math and science education,
generally poor job prospects for graduates of Russian technical
institutions, and societal encouragement of rule-breaking as a form of
resistance against the strictures and despotism of the Communist regime.
This resulted in widespread corruption that has continued beyond the
collapse of the Soviet Union, of which hacking is one manifestation.
"There was always a great entrepreneurial spirit in Russia, but it has
always been directed at things that not only help people, but also hurt
people," notes Russian-American author Gary Shteyngart. Most Russian
hackers are driven by a desire to profit financially, and Russia has more
scammers than the United States and China. Rough estimates place 28
million Internet users in Russia, versus 150 million in China and 210
million in America. Russian hackers are considered by VeriSign to be the
worst type of hackers because of their links to organized crime outfits
that embezzle money with stolen bank and credit card information. Russian
Parliament member Aleksei Likhachev claims the lack of criminal hacker
cases in Russia is less a matter of indifference and more a matter of
officials facing a learning curve in enforcement and prosecution against
such activity.
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Computerizing Clothing at Tech
Collegiate Times (10/17/07) Oliver, Ashley
Virginia Tech professors Tom Martin and Mark Jones have spent the past six
years developing electronic textiles and clothing with embedded wires and
sensors. One such piece of clothing is a suit that can monitor the
movement of the person wearing it, including whether the person is walking,
running, standing, or sitting. "One student could even figure out what
dance you were doing," says Martin. The suit contains steel wires that are
so thin and lightweight that they feel and move like fabric, and the
sensors can be removed so the suit can be washed. Such technology may
eventually be used to make clothing that can be used to tell when a person
is about to fall, or to monitor a person's heart rate, blood pressure,
temperature, and other statistics. The collected data would be sent to a
computing device, possibly a home PC or mobile device, where it can be
analyzed and monitored for potential health problems. Currently, the
garments Martin and Jones are creating are not really suitable for wearing
in public because the researchers are focusing on computer engineering more
than aesthetics. However, the researchers have also designed a rug that
lights up in different patterns when stepped on. "It's a really good
example of what I call working in the margins with computer engineering,
textile design, and garment design," Martin says. "You really have to pay
attention to all three of them."
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BYU Computer Scientist 'Spills' Handheld Screen on
Table
Brigham Young University (10/16/07)
Brigham Young University computer science professor Dan Olsen has
developed an interactive projection system that synchronizes with a
handheld computer. Using the system, images are projected onto a custom
table and are manipulated using hand motions. A complete circuit is
created to control the images by embedding the table with a circuit that
runs through the user's body and into a conductive pad placed on the user's
seat to sense when someone is touching it. The handheld computer was
modified by adding a plate to the back. During a demonstration at the
TableTop 2007 conference in Rhode Island on Oct. 12, Olsen's students
played an electronic version of the board game Risk. The virtual game
board, which was about as large as the actual game board, could be moved
around and spun through touch controls. "It�s actually easier to play than
the physical game because we can move it around and use it comfortably,"
Olsen says. "With the board game, we'd knock over all the pieces by moving
the table." Olsen says the technology can be used for spreadsheets and he
expects to also make it work for word processing applications.
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To Maintain National Security, U.S. Policies Should
Continue to Promote Open Exchange of Research
National Academy of Sciences (10/18/07)
The United States should make the open exchange of unclassified research a
priority as it is essential to the science and technology research
necessary for maintaining national and economic security, concludes a
National Research Council report. "In the years following the Sept. 11
attacks, research institutions have established policies and procedures
that address concerns about security," says council co-chair Jacques S.
Gansler, vice president for research at the University of Maryland, College
Park. "However, both the security and scientific communities agree that
losing our leading edge in science and technology is one of the greatest
threats to national security. Unnecessary or ill-conceived restrictions
could jeopardize the scientific and technical progress that our nation
depends upon." While the National Security Decision Directive 189 was
enacted to ensure research remains open to the public and foreign
contributors, recent government policies and practices have essentially
reversed the directive. What is now needed is for the government to
establish a standing entity, a Science and Security Commission, to review
policies regarding the exchange of information and participation of foreign
scientists. The report suggests that the commission include
representatives from academic research institutions and national security
agencies, and should be co-chaired by the national security adviser and the
director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "The
U.S. security and research communities need to work together to weigh the
latest information about potential threats and ensure the continuation of
scientific research that could help mitigate them," says council co-chair
and president of Lehigh University Alice P. Gast.
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Robots Will Become Part of Daily Life
IDG News Service (10/17/07) O'Connor, Fred
Panelists at a recent discussion at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology believe that robotics will one day handle complex jobs in health
care, agriculture, and product production. "People underestimate the
long-term effects of robotics on society," says Rodney Brooks, director of
the MIT computer Science and Artificial Intelligence laboratory. "Robots
are getting closer to people. We need to see how robots and people
interact." Brooks says robots will play a bigger role in caring for the
elderly as the population ages. He says the Japanese already use robots as
companions for the elderly and notes that in one U.S. hospital robots are
used to move laundry and deliver patient's meals. Brooks also says robots
will be used more in manufacturing and for cheap labor as wages rise and
immigration enforcement cuts into the labor supply. North End Technologies
CEO Tom Ryden says that sensors capable of truly understanding the
environment and providing instant feedback at an affordable cost are needed
first. He cites the winning vehicle in the DARPA Urban challenge and says
that if it had been raining the car would not have made it 10 feet. Brooks
says that user interfaces need to improve as do artificial intelligence and
power supply technologies. Still, some technologies are basically ready,
specifically processing and memory. Kiva Systems CEO Mick Mountz says that
quad-core computing helps because each core handles a task, and Brooks says
that storage is no longer a problem, predicting that eventually a single
iPod will be able to hold every book in the Library of Congress.
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Research Shows Image-Based Threat on the Rise
Dark Reading (10/18/07) Higgins, Kelly Jackson
New research at Purdue University shows that steganography may now be a
more significant threat than previously thought. Once considered to be too
complex and conspicuous, some forensics experts now believe that
steganography is being used more frequently, particularly in child
pornography and identity theft trafficking. It is estimated that there are
about 800 steganography tools available online, many for free and with
user-friendly interfaces that allow for point-and-click use. Previous
studies that searched for hidden steganographic messages produced few
results, giving credence to the belief that steganography is not a
mainstream threat. However, the new Purdue study has found evidence of
steganography tools on convicted criminals' computers. Even if a criminal
removes a steganography program it leaves behind "footprints" so the
researchers can find evidence that the tools were once there. Previously,
Purdue researchers looked for images with embedded steganography images
online, but professor James Goldman realized that it would be easier to try
to prove whether criminals were using steganography tools than to find the
images. "Never mind finding the evidence of what they are sharing or the
secret message, but just proving they use it," Goldman says. "This is the
first time this has been done, I think." Goldman is working to discover
which steganography tools are the most popular so researchers can do more
"granular" work on popular tools and find more information on how they are
being used.
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Air Force's Future Lies in Cyberspace
Washington Times (10/19/07) P. A9; Waterman, Shaun
The Air Force's recent declarations that cyberspace is a "war-fighting
domain" have raised questions about U.S. military policy and doctrine. Air
Force Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder, who is in charge of the Air Force's daily
cyberspace operations, says the speed, range, and flexibility of the Air
Force relies entirely on the military's cyber-dominance. The Air Force is
currently establishing a Cyberspace Command to match its space and air
command, but Elder and other officials deny that the Air Force is making a
turf grab. Elder says that cyberspace is similar to maritime and air
domains in that each are used for commerce and daily life, but are
potential vectors of military action by or against the United States. The
legal framework and authorities on activities in cyberspace are hazy, and
the full implications of managing cyberspace as a war-fighting domain are
still unknown. Elder says the Air Force is working with civilian agencies,
law enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security to fill the gaps
between civilian and military authority in cyberspace. Elder says that
although some think that laws on cyberspace might need to be changed, no
consensus has been reached. Some Air Force officials believe current U.S.
military policy is too timid. "Legislation, policies, and international
law are lagging the technology," says Lani Kass, a senior advisor to U.S.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley. "The United States is
late to the fight."
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Virtual Surgery Becoming a Reality
CNN (10/17/07) Knight, Matthew
Virtual reality's growing role in medicine was demonstrated in early
October when two doctors in Argentina successfully completed their first
laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery while being monitored by their mentor
in Baltimore, Md.. The communication was made possible by the Remote
Presence Robot (RP-7), which makes possible high-quality, real-time audio
and video communication. The mentoring surgeon, Dr. Alex Gandsas, secured
a grant from RP-7's manufacturer so a RP-7 could be sent to Argentina. The
two doctors in Argentina spent two months training before the operation.
"The operation generated quite a lot of interest and setting it up took
quite a bit of time," Gandsas says. "But during surgery, the robot allowed
me to zoom in on the patient and on the monitors to assess the situation."
Gandsas also helped out with ward rounds after the operation and was able
to answer questions about post-operative symptoms. Two more remote
observation surgeries are expected to take place sometime in November.
Gandsas is confident that the RP-7 can be deployed on a broader scale,
hopefully to create a network of experts to help with any type of problem
anywhere in the world. In another case, virtual reality software was used
to perform life-saving surgery on a brain aneurysm. "We have a software
program available with one of our rapid CAT scanners which allows us to
generate 3D images and then rotate them in ways that is relevant to
rehearsing for a surgical approach," says Dr. Vini Khurana, who performed
the procedure. The 3D image was projected onto one side of Khurana's
eyepiece during the procedure. Other technologies still in development
include mixed reality operating theatres and a medical specialty called
interventional radiology that involves pinhole surgery using needles and
catheters that are guided by touch and imaging.
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Driving With Poor Vision Becomes Possible
ZDNet (10/17/07) Piquepaille, Roland
Spanish researchers at the University of Granada have developed a computer
simulator that allows the visually impaired to drive. The system is called
SERBA, an acronym that in English translates to "reconfigurable
electric-optical system for low vision." SERBA is an optoelectronic
platform based on reconfigurable field programmable gate arrays, which
means if a user's vision worsens he or she can download a new version of
the software instead of having to buy a new device. The system uses a
real-time video processing system and several image processing algorithms.
The images are instantaneously replayed on a military-style transparent
view finder that sits in front of the driver's eye, helping the driver see
the road more clearly. Successful tests were conducted on eight patients
with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a visual impairment that reduces the field of
vision, and six patients with different pathologies that generate a loss of
vision clarity.
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BT 'Futurologist': AI Entity Will Win Nobel by
2020
IDG News Service (10/15/07) Moon, Peter
British Telecom futurologist Ian Pearson cites chess-playing computer Deep
Blue as an example of a new form of intelligence that does not need to
mirror human intelligence in order to match--or surpass--human
capabilities. He forecasts that conscious, self-aware machines will likely
emerge between 2015 and 2020, but their form of thinking will be beyond
people's understanding because some of the principal mechanics of
consciousness are outside the realm of human comprehension. Pearson
believes virtual environments such as Second Life could be enhanced with
full sensory capabilities that make such artificial worlds completely
immersive, but he does not anticipate a "Matrix-like" scenario in which the
people who inhabit such environments lose their sense of the real world.
"With the arriving of artificial intelligence, we could end up with some of
'The Sims' features with real conscience," Pearson speculates. "That will
be a very interesting situation, when you will have an imaginary
civilization living imaginary lives with a human point of view." Pearson
does not discount the possibility that the development of robotic weapons
could proceed to a point where the robots might override their commands and
turn against people, a la the "Terminator" films, but he notes that an
enormous developmental effort is necessary before this scenario becomes
viable. The futurologist says he agrees to a certain degree with former
Sun CTO Bill Joy on the perils inherent in the convergence of nanoscience,
biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science, in that
regulation is probably needed to prevent abuse.
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One of the 'Net's Most Powerful Women Lands a New
Role
Network World (10/17/07) Marsan, Carolyn Duffy
The Internet Society on Wednesday announced that Leslie Daigle will be
their first chief Internet technology officer. Daigle, who previously
worked for both Cisco and VeriSign, has served as the leader of the
Internet Society's Internet Architecture Board for the past five years.
The Internet Society works with the Regional Internet Registries and ICANN
to deal with the issues facing the Internet community. Daigle hopes to
foster a cooperative, open environment as the Internet gets larger, and
will reach out to the registries and standards bodies to work on a variety
of issues. Daigle says that internationalized domain names is one of the
most important issues facing the Internet today. "I'd like to see us
retain an environment where technical people come together and identify and
resolve problems in an open fashion," Daigle says. "I view the Internet
Society as an obvious place to make that happen. Specifically, what I
would like to accomplish in this new role is to bring different
organizations together to continue to help the Internet grow." She says
the main challenges for the Internet Society during the next few years will
be demonstrating "to the world that an open collaborative model for
Internet development and deployment still works in the current environment,
as the Internet expands in all directions."
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The Visa Shortage: Big Problem, Easy Fix
BusinessWeek (10/17/07) Wadhwa, Vivek
The shortage of visas for skilled foreign workers is a growing problem for
U.S. companies because significantly more foreign-born students complete
higher degrees in engineering than Americans, writes Duke University
adjunct professor and executive-in-residence Vivek Wadhwa. The American
Society of Engineering Education reports that foreign-born students receive
45 percent of masters degrees and 60 percent of PhDs in engineering. Large
corporations are unable to hire these highly skilled graduates and instead
must open operations overseas, and small businesses are unable to do
either. Cisco customer-support engineer Aaron McQuaid says there are
currently more than 1,300 openings at Cisco, that his team has been looking
for two engineers for more than three months, and barely 10 percent of
applicants from a recent career fair at Duke University were U.S. citizens,
none of whom had the necessary skill set. There is already a backlog of
more than 1 million skilled immigrants working in the United States waiting
for a yearly allowance of 120,000 permanent-resident visas. With such high
demand for visas there is no easy way for current international students to
stay in the United States, meaning they will probably return home
permanently, taking their education with them. Wadhwa says fixing the
problem is as simple as making more visas available to international
students who get job offers from U.S. companies, and that giving these
students permanent-resident visas instead of H-1B visas would be even
better.
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