Web Headlines

Headlines from around the Web for Friday, Feb. 8, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

TSA Changes Practice Based on Passenger Blog Comments

ComputerWorld

Less than a week after the Transportation Security Administration launched a new blog site to gather feedback from air travelers and respond to their suggestions, it halted a practice at some airports that required travelers to remove all electronic equipment from carry-on luggage during security screenings.

Airport Security Technology Stuck In the Pipeline

The Washington Post

In the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, government officials and industry leaders talked excitedly about how they expected technology to plug many of the gaps in airport security. But six years later, little has changed at airport checkpoints. Screeners still use X-ray machines to scan carry-on bags, and passengers still pass through magnetometers that cannot detect plastic or liquid explosives.

College Rolls Out IPv6 in Full Upgrade

ComputerWorld

Bucks County Community College is midway through a three-year, $750,000 network upgrade that depends heavily on IPv6 switching hardware that is used to support video collaboration applications. While IPv6 technology has been slow to catch on in business settings in the U.S., it is gaining ground in research and education settings such as the Bucks County two-year college in Newtown, Pa.

Major Tech Companies Join OpenID Board

InformationWeek

Google, IBM, Microsoft, VeriSign and Yahoo have joined the OpenID Foundation Board, a move that's expected to help the organization build mainstream support for a single-sign-on service for the Web, the foundation said Thursday. The idea behind the project is to relieve Web surfers of the need to remember and manage a variety of IDs and passwords.

D.C. Tax Office Computer Servers Found by Trash

The Washington Post

Federal authorities are investigating how two computer servers belonging to a D.C. office at the center of a corruption scandal wound up next to a commercial trash compactor in a Northwest Washington alley.

Worm Use to Steal Confidential Data Increasing in 2008

Government Technology

This year has begun with alarming data: in addition to Trojans, the use of worms to steal users' confidential data is also on the increase. According to data collected by Panda, while Trojans caused 24.41 percent of infections, worms accounted for 15.01 percent. This data contrasts with the 2007 data, in which attacks caused by worms were responsible for less than 10 percent of infections.

IT Seen Distrusting Remote Workers

CIO Insight

A new study conducted for Cisco by InsightExpress, released Tuesday, finds that a majority of IT departments think their telecommuters are becoming more lax in their online existence. And remote workers themselves say as much.

Audit Criticizes DOD’s IT Contingency Plans

Federal Computer Week

Mission-critical information systems operated and maintained by the Defense Department may be unable to sustain warfighter operations during a disruptive or catastrophic event, according to DOD’s Office of Inspector General.

Tech Execs Stump for Green IT on Capitol Hill

eWeek

Not so long ago, any sort of "green" discussion on Capitol Hill between the IT industry and lawmakers would have meant only one thing: the size of the political donation. But members of the Technology CEO Council, an IT lobbying group, were pitching a different green message this week: an energy initiative that leverages technology to achieve greater efficiencies in power consumption.

List of Voting Devices Grows

Albany Times Union

County election officials will now be able to choose among four machines to be available for disabled voters in the fall presidential election, according to a court order. Still, nothing is final. Two machines were added to the list with the new order, but another lawsuit, awaiting a decision on Monday, could add a fifth machine.