Web Browsing Tricks Make Your Smartphone Act Like An iPhone

Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, there's been a question of how big a role businesses such as airlines and banks should play in helping to identify terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security's headed in the right direction in wanting to take passenger screening over from the airlines.

Late last week, the Department of Homeland Security proposed that it begin doing the screening of passenger names against the government's terrorist watch list database. Today, DHS sends the watch list to airlines, and they do the screening. DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, speaking at a press conference, suggested he wasn't satisfied that airlines are consistent enough in how they update their lists. "If they're slow, or if they do it once a day or more slowly than that, they're going to be more out of date," Chertoff said. "This gives us a much closer connection to the real-time information."

This move is part of Chertoff's effort to implement DHS's Secure Flight program, a passenger screening project that's been marred by privacy mistakes and technical obstacles. He proposes the Transportation Security Administration start screening tests this fall using data from air carriers that volunteer to provide it. In another new regulation announced at the same time, DHS will require airlines provide the TSA with passenger data for all international flights in or out of the U.S. a half hour before a plane takes off. DHS will integrate that system into Secure Flight.

It seems to me that Chertoff's heading in the right direction. Secure Flight's had its missteps, with privacy problems foremost among them. Chertoff says the data will be checked against the watch list and "disposed of." Those privacy concerns are a place to watch. And any CIO who has to meet data-sharing requirements with the government knows integration can be difficult, and costly. But ultimately it's the federal government, not the airlines, that should be combing passenger lists for terrorists.

Chris Murphy
Cjmurphy@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com

Will Google Kill Its Enterprise Apps If The Business Doesn't Pan Out?
Techdirt today commented on Google's decision to kill its paid video service. The move effectively eliminates access to content Google users paid for. Mike Masnick is spinning the move as another strike against DRM -- and I don't fault his argument there. But, I see another issue this decision reveals.

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Novell's Victory Over SCO Could Have Downside For Linux Users
The free software world spent the weekend celebrating after a judge nixed SCO's ownership claims over Unix and, by extension, Linux. But the ruling did not specifically address SCO's charge that Linux is a Unix knock off--and a case that could have settled that question for good may now fade away as a result of Friday's decision.

Should Business Or Government Do Our Terrorist Screening?
Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, there?s been a question of how big a role businesses such as airlines and banks should play in helping to identify terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security's headed in the right direction in wanting to take passenger screening over from the airlines.

Groklaw's Pamela Jones On The SCO Decision
By now, everyone knows that the upcoming SCO vs. Novell trial is mostly moot, because Judge Dale Kimball has ruled that Novell owns the Unix copyrights. While the decision marks a welcome end to the three-year-long legal saga, it spotlights the wimpy nature of pundits and many in the computer industry, who cowered on the sidelines, fearful of recommending or adopting Linux while the litigation proceeded, lest SCO sue them, too.

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Could open source kill the golden egg that laid Google? If Wikia has its way, it just might.

Thumbs Surgically Altered For iPhone? Think Again
It's been a long week. More layoffs at Sun, Sprint Nextel's earnings down (again), the wheels finally coming off the municipal wireless bus, AT&T censoring Pearl Jam's anti-Bush lyrics (and then claiming it was unintentional), etc. etc. So when we saw this story, the editorial team at IW rejoiced.

Texting While Driving Redux
As a follow up to the story I wrote the other day about texting while driving, I decided to conduct a highly unscientific little experiment. I took a stroll around my New Jersey neighborhood and looked in each car as it zoomed past. You'd be surprised to learn how many people weren't paying attention to the road.

How to Succeed with Offshore Software Testing When Almost Everyone Else Fails
Offshore software testing projects fail at a greater rate than most other types of offshore projects. Most of the research into this problem points to very generic reasons. This paper identifies why offshore software testing projects fail, quantifies the impact of a failure and gives a list of actions that can prevent failure from happening.

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