Mntsnow
02-08-2003, 12:22 PM
Worms aren't the only things raising security concerns on the Net. The Bush administration has pulled the plug on a .gov Web site, pending an investigation into the authenticity of the organization that controlled it.
Until recently, visitors to the AONN.gov Web site were treated to a smorgasbord of information about an agency calling itself the Access One Network Northwest (AONN), a self-described cyberwarfare unit that claimed the support of the U.S. Department of Defense. However, no federal agency called AONN appears to exist, and no agency with that name is on the official list of organizations maintained by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The General Services Administration, which runs the .gov registry, pulled the domain on Jan. 24, after a query from CNET News.com. The action could point to the first case of a .gov domain name hijacking.
The specter of Internet patents has raised its head again. This time a company called Acacia Media Technologies says it owns patents on the process of transmitting compressed audio or video online, one of the most basic multimedia technologies on the Net.
The company confidently says it holds sweeping patents likely to cover the activities of a huge swath of Internet multimedia companies, is asking companies buy licenses--and companies are complying. The patents could affect virtually anyone involved in the business of providing on-demand digital audio or video, from software companies to network service providers to the actual content companies.
Technical problems with a new Web-based system introduced last month by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for keeping tabs on foreign students are causing frustration among university and college administrators across the country. The new system, called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, has been so slow and buggy that the INS has extended a Jan. 30 deadline requiring American colleges and universities to begin using the site to Feb. 15.
Until recently, visitors to the AONN.gov Web site were treated to a smorgasbord of information about an agency calling itself the Access One Network Northwest (AONN), a self-described cyberwarfare unit that claimed the support of the U.S. Department of Defense. However, no federal agency called AONN appears to exist, and no agency with that name is on the official list of organizations maintained by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The General Services Administration, which runs the .gov registry, pulled the domain on Jan. 24, after a query from CNET News.com. The action could point to the first case of a .gov domain name hijacking.
The specter of Internet patents has raised its head again. This time a company called Acacia Media Technologies says it owns patents on the process of transmitting compressed audio or video online, one of the most basic multimedia technologies on the Net.
The company confidently says it holds sweeping patents likely to cover the activities of a huge swath of Internet multimedia companies, is asking companies buy licenses--and companies are complying. The patents could affect virtually anyone involved in the business of providing on-demand digital audio or video, from software companies to network service providers to the actual content companies.
Technical problems with a new Web-based system introduced last month by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for keeping tabs on foreign students are causing frustration among university and college administrators across the country. The new system, called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, has been so slow and buggy that the INS has extended a Jan. 30 deadline requiring American colleges and universities to begin using the site to Feb. 15.