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RAIN 03/04: Weekend Update Part 3 Government at work



The Times 03/04/01
Office workers told to take an e-mail holiday
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/03/04/stinwenws01034.html

by Rupert Steiner and Maurice Chittenden
YOU'VE got e-mail . . . but you had better not open it until first thing
Monday morning. Firms are telling their staff to junk electronic
communication on Fridays in a new technology version of dress-down day.
The click of the mouse is being banned as an experiment to see if staff are
more creative when they have to talk to one another face to face. E-mail
experts are divided on whether the idea will benefit businesses and their
employees.
Some scientists have warned of information overload as office workers live
virtual existences, sending and receiving up to 150 text messages a day.



USNews and World Report 03/05/01
Guard your genetic data from those prying eyes
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/010305/nycu/genetic.htm

by Dana Hawkins
Seven vials of blood is a lot. That was Janice Avary's first thought when she
heard that her husband Gary's employer, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe
railroad, was requiring that amount of blood to be taken after he filed
claims for a carpal-tunnel injury. As a registered nurse in Alma, Neb., Avary
says, her internal alarm was tripped. When she called the company for an
explanation, Avary was stunned to hear the words "genetic test."



ZDNet News 03/03/01
CIA using data mining to keep smart
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2692457,00.html

by Tabassum Zakaria
Reuters
LANGLEY, Va.--The CIA, faced with a daily avalanche of information, is using
new ``data mining'' technology to find useful nuggets within thousands of
documents and broadcasts in different languages.
The spy agency must sift through a barrage of information from both
classified and unclassified sources in varied formats such as hard text,
digital text, imagery, and audio in more than 35 languages.
The Office of Advanced Information Technology (AIT), part of the CIA's
Directorate of Science and Technology, is focused on finding solutions to the
``volume challenge.''



Calgary Herald 03/04/01
Random mail checks legitimate part of officials' job, says Customs minister
http://www.southam.com/calgaryherald/newsnow/cpfs/national/010303/n030304.html

by Lisa Schmidt
OTTAWA (CP) - Customs officials are just doing their job when they pass on
information after randomly opening mail, the cabinet minister in charge of
Canada Customs said Friday. Martin Cauchon acknowledged inspectors randomly
open mail entering Canada and pass on information to other government
departments.
But he denied Opposition charges that distributing details infringes on civil
rights.
"Goods may be subject to random checks, for example when a truck is coming to
the border," Cauchon said outside the House of Commons.



Federal Computer Week 03/05/01
Preserving e-history for all
Efforts to capture Web snapshots expose e-records dilemmas
http://fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0305/mgt-ehstry-03-05-01.asp

by William Matthews
In just two weeks, all federal agencies are supposed to have turned in
"snapshots" of their Web sites as they appeared in the final hours of the
Clinton administration.
The project is intended to preserve a picture of electronic government at the
peak of its evolution under the first electronic administration.
Thus, the National Archives and Records Administration expects an avalanche
of electronic data by March 20 - 21 terabytes in all, enough to fill about 14
million floppy disks, or roughly twice the amount of data contained in the
books of the Library of Congress.



Federal Computer Week 03/05/01
A new generation of laws
This season, lawmakers are busy revamping rules to complement the Internet Age
http://fcw.com/civic/articles/2001/mar/civ-comm1-03-01.asp

by John Stein Monroe
State lawmakers apparently have decided that while anything is possible with
the Internet, not everything is legal. The opening weeks of the current
legislative season have brought a spree of proposals to update old laws and
write new ones to keep states on top of the problems and opportunities
created by the Internet.
Several themes are not surprising. As expected in the wake of the contentious
presidential election last fall, lawmakers in numerous states - Florida among
them - are pushing for a closer look at Internet-based voting.



Federal Computer Week 02/05/01
Keeping records clean
Minnesota leads the way in developing trustworthy digital records
http://fcw.com/civic/articles/2001/feb/civ-trends-02-01.asp

by Paul Korzeniowski
Three years ago, Robert Horton, a state archivist at the Minnesota Historical
Society in Minneapolis, recognized an emerging problem. With the widespread
adoption of decentralized computing and the rapid rise of the Internet, state
employees were generating more electronic records (e-mail messages, Web
pages, online manuals) than ever before.
Agencies' reliance on such records grew despite the fact that little
consideration was given to their upkeep. In most instances, governments
simply archived all records for set periods of time and then purged them.
Little or no consideration was given to the accuracy of the data, its secure
keeping or the likelihood that it would be needed in the future.



Federal Computer Week 03/02/01
Virginia unveils e-procurement system
http://fcw.com/civic/articles/2001/0226/web-mall-03-02-01.asp

by Dibya Sarkar
Virginia plans to launch a Web-based procurement system this week that
officials say is easier, faster and cheaper for state agencies and vendors.
Bette Dillehay, the commonwealth's deputy secretary of technology, called the
system an "electronic mall" where agencies could shop for products and
services. The prices would be set, so agencies wouldn't have to negotiate
contracts themselves.
Future enhancements would include online auctions, and the system would be
available to local governments.



Nando Times 03/04/01
Navy investigates hacking theft of missile-guidance software code
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/0,1643,500459695-500700006-50380544

6-0,00.html

by D. Ian Hopper
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (March 4, 2001 11:38 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Naval
officials are investigating how hackers tapped into a computer at a Navy
research facility in Washington and stole the source codes to
missile-guidance software, officials said Friday.
The Navy has been working with the FBI and police forces in Germany and other
unnamed countries since Dec. 24, when officials believe the break-in
occurred. An FBI spokesman downplayed the theft, saying the software stolen
was unclassified.



South Bend Tribune 03/04/01
Efforts seek privacy on medical records
http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2001/03/04/local.20010304-sbt-MICH-D6-

Efforts_seek_privacy.sto

by Amy Franklin
Associated Press
Doctors and health-care providers would face a hefty fine for selling
patients' medical records under legislation being proposed by Attorney
General Jennifer Granholm.
Several legislators are working on bills with Granholm's office that would
keep medical records private and give patients access to their own records.



Stamford Advocate 03/04/01
Mapping out a plan to restore historic documents
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/stamford/2001-03-04/article23.shtml

by Tobin Coleman
Official Stamford maps and documents, some dating to the late 1600s, are
slowly deteriorating in cabinets, boxes and shelves in the Stamford
Government Center and in Old Town Hall.
But thanks to a new state law, Town and City Clerk Sally Serafino is
embarking on a program to restore the records and preserve them for future
generations.
"These were never cared for at all," said Serafino, standing before a rack of
maps rolled onto dowels and pigeonholed in cabinets in the basement of city
hall. "It's a sin. This is our history."



Tampa Tribune 03/03/01
Cigar family documents its history
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGA1G4K4WJC.html

by Jerome R. Stockfisch
TAMPA - It's not an uncommon American success story. An immigrant brings to
U.S. shores the skills from his homeland, builds a business, and his progeny
assimilate and prosper.
``There are thousands of stories like this,'' says Chris Corral, discussing
his grandfather, co- founder of Tampa's Corral Wodeska y Cia. cigar
operation.
``But this one will be recorded.''
Corral, 51, held a family reunion of sorts Saturday at his Palma Ceia home.
The three generations who gathered didn't just swap stories. At Corral's
request, they brought old photographs and documents





Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Richmond, Va
pakurilecz@aol.com

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