Web Headlines

Headlines from around the Web for Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008
Compiled by Melanie Bender

Court Orders Whistle-Blower Site Offline in U.S.

ComputerWorld

A California district court has shut down a controversial Web site in the United States that allows whistle blowers to post corporate and government documents online anonymously.

Study Finds Outsourcing Delivers ROI, But Not Innovation

InformationWeek

Too many businesses take a short-sighted view of their outsourcing contracts, concludes Deloitte. The consulting firm found that while most business executives it surveyed are satisfied with the cost savings they get from outsourcing, most said outsourcing relationships had not led to important innovations or transformations.

Tempe, Ariz., CIO Faces Wi-Fi Reality Check

ComputerWorld

Dave Heck, CIO for Tempe, Ariz., remembers when municipal Wi-Fi advocates talked four years ago about wireless networks as shining beacons that would bring the Internet to the masses. Today, in Tempe, that optimism is nearly gone. Tempe's city-wide Wi-Fi system went live in 2006, offering some 900 access points installed on city-owned poles; now, it's basically dead.

Washington State Reps. Pass Ban On RFID Skimming

InformationWeek

The Washington State House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill that would make it a felony to steal information from RFID cards. The bill would make it a class C felony to intentionally skim information from RFID-enabled identity cards for fraud or identity theft. The legislation, introduced by State Rep. Jeff Morris, provides exemptions for health care givers and emergency responders.

States Bolster FBI Gun Database

USA Today

More states are turning over records to a federal database of mentally ill people barred from owning guns, nearly tripling the number in the system since the massacre at Virginia Tech last spring, the FBI says.

D.C. Testing Gizmo to Ferret Out Meter Feeders

The Washington Post

Beware, all you parking meter feeders and restricted zone overtimers. The swift and unblinking eye of the mobile parking camera might be coming your way. The District's Department of Public Works is evaluating several systems that would enable parking officers to swing quickly through a neighborhood with a license plate reader or similar technology to catch violators.

Stolen Hardware Held DWP Employees' Personal Information

Los Angeles Times

Computer equipment containing the private financial data of every employee of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was stolen earlier this week, prompting the utility to pay for a credit monitoring service for each of its 8,275 workers.

NOAA’s Sensor-Laden, Web-Accessible System Makes Ports into Safer Havens

Government Computer News

PORTS, the Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System program, provides real-time oceanographic and meteorological data that can make the difference between smooth sailing and running aground or crashing into a bridge. With the addition in December of the Port of Mobile, Ala., PORTS is operating at 14 locations nationwide with more additions planned.

SB81 Requires E-Verify Checking for Workers

Desert Morning News

Utah's senators today are scheduled consider a key question: should the federal Internet-based E-Verify system be required for public employers and those they contract with. While supporters of that system say it does weed out most phony work documents, critics say the system isn't perfect and workers who are incorrectly marked as no-matches have the burden of proving their work eligibility.