Caron Carlson

Many privacy guidelines and security standards are advocated today, and they often confuse, rather than help, network administrators who are trying to employ best practices, particularly with respect to commercial Web sites. In response, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development plans to release in September a set of security principles that might move the […]

In two separate forums in Washington today, regulators and lawmakers pointed to huge fines levied against the nations largest telephone companies as indications that it is more economical for the carriers to pay millions of dollars in penalties than comply with their obligations regarding public safety and competition. The Federal Communications Commission said it plans […]

Responding to a request from the Bush administration, IT and telecommunications industry representatives in Washington filed a plan with the government last week to improve the countrys critical infrastructure and cyber-security. Calling for improved information sharing and private- and public-sector coordination, the groups hope to ward off heavy-handed government mandates in response to the demand […]

In a ruling that consumer advocates hope will prevent a rise in the cost of telecommunications services, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the century-old RBOCs must abide by a federal pricing scheme when leasing elements of their local networks to rivals. The scheme, developed by the Federal Communications Commission following enactment of […]

Legislation to protect online consumer privacy is moving forward in the U.S. Senate, gathering majority support in its commerce panel last week. But it faces vigorous opposition from the IT industry, which sees it as discriminatory against e-commerce. The Online Personal Privacy Protection Act, sponsored by committee chairman Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., would require commercial Web […]

Senators charged with overseeing commerce and communications this morning approved legislation authorizing the federal government to establish baseline security standards for federal computer systems. Part of an initiative to increase funding for cyber-security research and development, the measure has the information technology community alarmed. The Cyber Security Research and Development Act would direct the National […]

Responding to a request from the Bush administration, the information technology and telecommunications industries representatives in Washington filed a plan with the government last week to improve the countrys critical infrastructure and cyber-security. Calling for improved information-sharing and public/private sector coordination, the groups hope to ward off heavy-handed government mandates in the quest for a […]

Despite its checkered past, DSL (digital subscriber line) service is growing steadily, according to research unveiled today by TeleChoice Inc. The U.S. DSL market has reached almost five million lines, which represents 12 percent growth over last year, according to TeleChoice. Incumbent telephone companies account for the preponderance of the DSL market – 89 percent […]

Looking optimistically toward the future, analysts at Infonetics Research Inc. are projecting that spending on wide area network and Internet services in North America will rise 26 percent by 2006, with more enterprises turning to a mix of connectivity options, including optical and Ethernet technologies. Infonetics released a study today that claims that the dominant […]

A senior Microsoft Corp. executive told a federal court last week that sharing information with competitors could damage national security and even threaten the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. He later acknowledged that some Microsoft code was so flawed it could not be safely disclosed. The bold statements and candid admissions were part of Jim […]