Filthy robber barons exploiting prisine Internet.

CHICAGO, May 10 (UPI) -- Is the Web becoming "disruptive" once again? That is, is it vigorously stirring things up as it did when it first came on the commercial scene back in the mid-90s? Experts tell UPI's The Web that the second generation of the Web, the so-called Web 2.0, is indeed doing just that.

"The Web 2.0 is not about hype like the 'Bubble 1.0,''' said Robb Hecht, a new media marketing strategist for IMC Strategies. "But, rather, a true growth in the utilitarian value of the Internet." By Gene Koprowski

CHICAGO, May 8 (UPI) -- Integrating disparate data and voice networks -- broadband, mobile phone and WiFi -- into one unified network is promising to be a foremost technology trend in the next few years, one that could lead to totally personalized telecom services, experts tell UPI's Networking.

Experts at Gartner Inc., the IT research consultancy, indicate that by 2010 at least 40 percent of U.S. companies will have completely integrated their entire voice and data networks into a single network, and 95 percent of all large and mid-size firms will have at least started the process to do so. By Gene Koprowski

Mobsters hack computer networks.
CHICAGO, May 3 (UPI) -- Firewall? Forgetaboutit. Cyber-criminals, including the mafia, are now so savvy they can penetrate past these supposedly sturdy security measures and hack your computer network, whether you work at a university, Fortune 500 company or smaller firm, experts tell UPI's The Web.

"The firewall and the network perimeter are dead," Ted Demopoulos, author of the best-selling book, "Blogging for Business" (Kaplan, 2006), and IT expert based in Durham, N.H., tells The Web. "Firewalls offer less protection than before." By Gene Koprowski

There is a very dangerous phenomenon that seems to be occurring in the United States of America; something that I refer to as "the dumbing-down of the American mind," a nearly willful tendency for Americans to forgo reality in favor of believing what they want to believe. But how could such a thing have occurred in such a proud nation, one that, according to George Bush, has become known as a bastion of freedom and democracy, a bright light for the whole world to see?

Stupid corporations, with yet another excuse to buy more software that nobody really needs.
CHICAGO, April 24 (UPI) -- A gullible young employee sends out a confidential document -- over the Internet -- that should have been sent only by overnight courier. A spy, hired by a rival firm, snags the file, with a packet-sniffing device, as it transitions from the corporate network to the Internet. Trade secrets are divulged, and the company is ruined. Experts tell United Press International's Networking column that corporations, both large and small, are seeking to stop "information leaks," like that, with outbound content filtering software.

"When critical data escapes, either intentionally, or accidentally, organizations face financial, legal and reputational costs," a spokesman for Fidelis Security Systems, based in Bethesda, Md., told Networking. "As a consequence, the outbound content filtering market is experiencing exponential growth." By Gene Koprowski

The Web: WTO's gambling deadline missed
CHICAGO, April 19 (UPI) -- A deadline imposed by The World Trade Organization for the Bush administration to clarify its stance on online gambling passed earlier this month, without a public response from the government, gaming experts are telling United Press International's The Web column. "We haven't seen anything from them yet," Peter Marcus, a spokesman for online gaming company, Intercasino, told The Web in an interview from London Tuesday. "We're not really expecting anything either. This is an election year in the U.S. The world has to appreciate it."

The April 3 deadline came from a case the WTO trade court decided against the United States and in favor of the tiny Island of Antigua. Last April the WTO, based in Geneva, ruled that the U.S. government was violating international trade agreements by prohibiting U.S. banks and Internet service providers from dealing with offshore, cyber-gambling casinos. By Gene Koprowski

http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID=20060419-103505-5310r

Bill on colleges, immigrants advances

JEFFERSON CITY — Undocumented immigrants would be barred from attending public universities and colleges in Missouri under a bill the House gave initial approval to Tuesday.
The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14373519.htm

CHICAGO, March 27 (UPI) -- Computer networks can dramatically cut costs and improve customer satisfaction, but only for major Fortune 500 and Forbes 400 companies, right? Perhaps that was the case last century, but not anymore. Experts tell United Press International's Networking that technologies are now providing the same benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises -- and that this may be part of what is behind the productivity-based economic boom in the United States today.

"Today's small and mid-size companies are taking a cue from these larger organizations," Joe Hewitt, an expert on small and medium-sized business networking at Dimension Data, a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based computer consultancy, told Networking, "and are leveraging the power of technology for business advantage." By Gene Koprowski