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RAIN 8/21: Rotting Away, Skippy, Wireless Security, Pardongate



There are 25 stories in this posting.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8/20/01
Editorial: A matter of record
http://www.post-gazette.com/forum/20010820edarchive0820enp3.asp

You can tell a lot about a society by how it preserves its heritage. And the
City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are treating much of their heritage
like an odd relative who lives in the attic.
As described by Post-Gazette staff writer Marylynne Pitz in back-to-back
Sunday reports, volumes of local history are rotting away in what passes for
city and county archives. In the county's case, more than a million pounds
of records are packed in 50,000 numbered boxes in a former mattress factory
on the North Side. In city government, each department is responsible for
keeping its own records, predictably with mixed results.


Bloomfield Journal 8/20/01
State eyed for document preservation
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=2242479&BRD=1650&PAG=461&dept_id=1
2156&rfi=6

by Brian Woodman Jr
The Town of Bloomfield may for the first time receive funding from the State
of Connecticut toward the preservation of aged town documents. According to
Town Clerk Marguerite Phillips, the town may be receiving $2,500 toward
protecting older documents from the results of excessive handling and age.
Phillips said some of the land records, vital records and maps date back to
the nineteenth century. The oldest document dates to 1835.


Chicago Tribune 6/17/01
Dealers gain collector's trust, score multimillion bonanza
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-010617violins.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2
Dhed

by Howard Reich and William Gainers
On the last day of his life -- his hearing nearly gone, his body bent with
arthritis, his frame reduced to skin and bones -- Gerald Segelman found
solace close at hand. With no children to comfort him and no family to
gather at his bedside, Segelman turned to the objects he had spent a
lifetime pursuing: dozens of gleaming Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati violins
making up the world's most extensive private collection.



Daily Yomiuri 8/20/01
Credit union fiddled books, papers show
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20010820wo13.htm

Tokyo Shogin Credit Union extended 4.3 billion yen in additional loans to
its clients between 1993 and 1996 when the Tokyo Metropolitan government was
inspecting its books, according to Tokyo Shogin internal documents obtained
by The Yomiuri Shimbun on Sunday.


Business Today 8/20/01
Daughter of Skippy cartoonist fights for rights to peanut butter trademark
http://www.businesstoday.com/business/business/skippy08202001.htm

AssociatedPress
Creator Percy Crosby licensed Skippy to endorse dozens of products. But he
never licensed Skippy to sell peanut butter, and that's the crux of a
trademark dispute that has continued for 66 years.
ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) - In the 1930s, Skippy was one of the world's most
famous comic-strip characters, a mischievous tyke and a champion of the
little guy.
Skippy was also a shameless pitchman, hawking everything from cereal to
silverware. Creator Percy Crosby licensed Skippy to endorse dozens of
products.
But he never licensed Skippy to sell peanut butter, and that's the crux of a
trademark dispute that has continued for 66 years and escalated last week.
Joan Crosby Tibbetts, Crosby's daughter, filed a petition made public Aug.
10 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark for
Skippy peanut butter.


Denver Post 8/20/01
Insurance-case delay draws fine for lawyer
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E110349,00.html

by Mike McPhee
An attorney for a health insurance company delayed his case a bit too long
in federal court and was fined $10,000 Friday by U.S. District Judge John L.
Kane Jr.
Kane told attorney Matthew Rita that his failure to produce documents and
answer questions "is inexcusable" and shows "a reckless indifference and
disregard" for the rules of civil procedure.


Atlanta Business Journal 8/17/01
Document distribution service incubating here
http://atlanta.bcentral.com/atlanta/stories/2001/08/20/newscolumn4.html

by Mary Jane Credeur
Imagine leaving the latest draft of an earnings report on the copier machine
just before driving across town for a once-in-a-lifetime meeting with
potential investors.


MSNBC. 8/20/01
A Pardon Overhead
http://www.msnbc.com/news/616125.asp?cp1=1

by Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Bill Clinton's political antennae were, as always, on high alert. On Jan. 8,
with less than two weeks to go in his presidency, Clinton was speaking on
the phone with the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The subject: a
possible pardon for fugitive financier Marc Rich.
"I KNOW QUITE A FEW THINGS about that," Clinton interjected as soon as Barak
raised the matter. He had already gotten a long memo on it, Clinton
explained, and he was "working on it." But Clinton also understood there
were risks, possibly big ones. "It's best that we not say much about that,"
Clinton advised Barak on the subject of Rich. The Israeli leader understood.
"OK, I'm not mentioning it anyplace," he replied.



Federal Computer Week 8/20/01
Archives aims test at Nixon tape
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0820/news-nixon-08-20-01.asp

by Willman Matthews
The infamous 18.5-minute gap on "the Nixon tapes" continues to taunt
historians, nearly 30 years after the conversation that likely once filled
it was recorded and erased.
National Archives and Records Administration officials are preparing
experiments that offer a faint hope that new technology can recover the
conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman.


Federal Computer Wiik
Census' hunt for accuracy
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0820/news-census-08-20-01.asp

by Colleen O'Hara and Dan Caterinicchia
The Census Bureau kicked off a procurement Aug. 16 to modernize its database
of streets, houses and addresses in a move that agency officials say will
allow them to conduct a more accurate and less expensive census in 2010.
The bureau released a draft request for proposals to improve its Master
Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing
system, which it relies on to conduct the national head count and other
ongoing surveys.



Civic.com  8/17/01
Court Systems getting help
http://www.civic.com/civic/articles/2001/0813/web-case-08-17-01.asp

by Dibya Sarkar
Two national associations for state courts are drafting standards to help
the more than 16,000 state trial courts evaluate and upgrade their case
management systems, improve information sharing and streamline operations.
For the past three years, the Conference of State Court Administrators
(COSCA) and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) have been
jointly developing the information technology and data interchange standards
for case management systems. Those systems handle civil, criminal, domestic
relations, juvenile, appellate, probate and traffic cases.



Memphis Business Journal 8/20/01
FedEx embraces new technology
http://memphis.bcentral.com/memphis/stories/2001/08/20/daily1.html

FedEx Corp. says that it will implement the installation of a worldwide
electronic system to help it capture paper documents electronically to aid
customers in tracking package flow.
The company says the system will also help it faster process bills and speed
up customs clearances.
FedEx will use customized scanners in conjunction with software to produce
optical images of paper documents.



New York Times 8/19/01
Fueled by Internet, families vacation to research ancestors
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/national/19SEAR.html?searchpv=day01

by Peter T. Kilborn
Womelsdorf, Pa. -- This former cigar-making village in eastern Pennsylvania
is hardly a tourist site, but it gets a steady stream of summer visitors.
They stroll through the cemetery with its weather-pocked headstones, some
inscribed in German and more than 200 years old. At the edge of the
graveyard, the little Tulpehocken Settlement Historical Society is building
an addition to accommodate the rush of callers like Wayne and Beth Ilger.


Carteret News-Times 8/20/01
County prepares for tax information at a keystroke
http://www.carteretnewstimes.com/headln1.htm

by Beth Blake
BEAUFORT - Access to county tax information soon will be a computer
keystroke away.
County commissioners on Monday approved a contract with Geographic
Technologies Group Inc. of Goldsboro for development of Internet
applications to enable citizens to access tax parcel information, tax
billing and payment information and maps through the Internet.



USA Today 8/20/01
Houston citizens get free e-mail. Projects attempts to close 'digital
divide'
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010820/3556765s.htm

by Jon Swartz
In what may be the most ambitious project to narrow the ''digital divide,''
the city of Houston will launch a program today to offer free e-mail and use
of personal computer software to its 3 million area residents.
The service will start in three low-income areas, then spread through the
city.



Houston Chronicle 8/20/01
Judge's online filing idea may change court system
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1013533

by Harvey Rice
CONROE -- State District Judge Fred Edwards walked into a room full of boxes
and knew he was in trouble.
A complicated medical case involving scores of attorneys was generating
mountains of paper, all of it stored in the Montgomery County Courthouse.
Finding a document could mean hours or even days of sifting through growing
mounds of paper, and time is a precious commodity for a judge.



Ottawa Citizen 8/20/01
Secret files chill foes at government
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/010820/656993.html

by Jim Bronskill and David Pugliese
The credentials on Joan Russow's resume are rather impressive.
An accomplished academic and environmentalist, she served as national leader
of the Green Party of Canada.
The Victoria woman had also earned a reputation as a gadfly who routinely
shamed the government over its unfulfilled commitments.
But Ms. Russow, 62, was dumbfounded when authorities tagged her with a most
unflattering designation: threat to national security.



New York Times 8/19/01
As wireless networks grow, so do security fears
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/technology/19WIRE.html?searchpv=day01

by John Schwartz
Avi Rubin did not mean to hack into the hospital's computer network; it
practically begged him to.
Mr. Rubin, a computer security expert at AT&T (news/quote) Laboratories in
Florham Park, N.J., had accompanied his wife, Ann, to the nearby Morristown
Memorial Hospital while she had minor surgery last month. He brought along
his laptop so that he could do some work while she napped during recovery.
But as he sat in her room, he noticed a green light blinking on the card
that he ordinarily used to connect his laptop to the wireless computer
network installed in his home.



New York Times 8/20/01
Licensing famous art, digitally
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/20/technology/20CORB.html

by Laurie J. Flynn
More than a decade ago, a tiny start-up called Corbis set out to buy the
rights to digitally reproduce many of the world's most revered paintings and
photographs. The idea, in the view of the company's owner and founder, was
that people would someday decorate their homes with digital artwork by
displaying the images on flat- screen monitors.



St. Louis Post Dispatch 8/20/01
Orthodontist is jailed over documents case, his wife says
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/D997535F6D3CE48086256
AAE004F0ADE?OpenDocument&Headline=Orthodontist%20is%20jailed%20over%20docume
nts%20case%2C%20his%20wife%20says

by Heather Ratcliffe
Federal authorities have jailed an orthodontist from Edwardsville for
allegedly refusing to turn over documents about his public aid patients, his
wife said in an interview.
Sergius A. Rinaldi, 66, has been missing from his practice since July 11.
Federal authorities refuse to comment about his whereabouts.



Washington Post 8/16/01
Storage devices expand capacity to make data more portable
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17577-2001Aug15.html

by Carlos A. Soto
Government Computer News
It might be the result of a promotion or a lease that's run out, but an
office move is inevitable for many workers. You can't trust your data to
movers, whether you are going to another floor or another state.
Not long ago, an individual employee's data consisted of a few kilobytes of
word-processing documents or spreadsheets. One or two 1.44-megabyte floppy
disks were enough for data transfer or backup of mission-critical data.



Sun-Sentinel 8/20/01
Web-site lets condo residents plug in for information
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-ybreal20aug20.story?coll=sfla
%2Dbusiness%2Dheadlines

by Robyn A. Friedman
Special to the Sun-Sentinel
When property management companies need to communicate with the residents of
the condominium or homeowners associations they manage, they send out
letters. Although mailing gets the word out effectively, it usually takes a
few days before everyone in the community is up to date.



Tallahassee Democrat 8/20/01
Computers do it cheaper, better, faster
http://web.tallahasseedemocrat.com/content/tallahassee/2001/08/20/local/0820
.loc.cotown.htm

by Bill Cotterell
Back when the idea of machines replacing people was still joked about, a
folk group did a comic update of the ballad of John Henry, the railroad
worker who "died with a hammer in my hand" in a hopeless race with the steam
drill.
The Brothers Four version of the fable had a Kennedy-era hero breaking his
brain, trying to outwit a key-punch computer.
Nobody would find that odd today. We're well into the second or third
generation of computers replacing people who replaced other people who used
other computers, who replaced other people who worked with pen and paper.
Before that, people probably insisted there was nothing wrong with the
abacus, papyrus scroll and ox-blood ink.


The Toronto Star 8/20/01
Private Information
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
le_Type1&c=Article&cid=998172116802&call_page=TS_Editorial&call_pageid=96825
6290204&call_pagepath=News/Editorial&col=968350116795

Every new mother is familiar with the flood of diapers, formula, baby
powders - and ads, ads, ads - that pour in after she's taken baby home.
It's like a welcome wagon, one that a lot of mothers look forward to.
But it has a darker side.
The out-going president of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Albert
Schumacher, made a very powerful point about that darker side at the
Canadian Medical Association meetings in Quebec city last week.



Wall Street Journal 8/20/01
Ghost in the machine: Sold computers from failed dot-coms tell their tales
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB998252103971418674.htm

by Rachel Emma Silverman
Three weeks ago, Jake Wilson bought a used laptop for $400 at a dot-com
liquidation auction. When he booted up the IBM ThinkPad 600E, he got a lot
more than he bargained for.
There, on the hard drive, was a folder containing sensitive data from a
now-defunct network software company called IPHighway Inc. In the file were
the social security numbers and salaries of at least 46 employees, payroll
information, employee termination letters, extensive minutes from executive
and board meetings and documents outlining strategic plans.





Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Manager, Records Management Group
Woodside Summit Group Inc
Midlothian, Virginia
Office: 804-744-1247 x23
Fax: 804-744-4947
mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com

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