Tech Watch | InfoWorld Staff | February 2007

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February 2007

February 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Black Hat RFID talk goes forward after all

After much back and forth, Chris Paget of IOActive decided to take the stage at the Black Hat Federal conference in Washington D.C. to give an abridged form of his "RFID for Beginners."

Paget, who is flanked by ACLU attorney Nicole Ozer, is talking about RFID vulnerabilities and being very careful not to picture technology nor mention products from "a certain vendor" or "a certain three letter acronym." A discussion of disclosure of RFID vulnerabilities will follow.

As advertised, this is a bare bones discussion of how RFID technology works, different types of RFID implementations (proximity cards, implantable chips a la VeriChip, and so on) and the security implications thereof.

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 28, 2007 12:45 PM

February 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Another gap-toothed Black Hat Briefings

Another year, another gap-toothed Black Hat Briefings. Last time, as you remember, it was lawyers from networking giant Cisco Systems that forced show organizers to rip out materials concerning a security hole in Cisco's IOS operating system from the 2005 Black Hat Briefings in Las Vegas.

As InfoWorld reported, this time around, it was lawyers from secure card maker HID that prompted the excision of a presentation by Chris Paget of IOActive on security holes in HID's proximity cards, which are used as door access cards at many companies and government facilities.

Chris was enjoying a much deserved cigarette outside the beltway hotel where Black Hat is being held this year. He said the past few days have been a blur of activity, as he and IOActive struggled in vain to reach agreement with lawyers from HID that would allow Chris's presentation to go forward. With time running out and no indication from HID that a compromise of any sort was possible that wouldn't lead to some kind of litigation, IOActive CEO Joshua Pennell and Paget were forced to ask Black Hat director Jeff Moss to abridge the conference Briefings (above) and do a rush job reissuing CDs and other conference materials.

And Paget wasn't the only one feeling the heat from deep pocketed corporations. Word is that security vulnerability guru Dave Litchfield of NGS was also forced to withhold some details from his presentation of "Advanced Oracle Attack Techniques" at the company's request.

The increasing willingness of big corporations like Cisco and HID to use threats of legal action to block free and open discussions of security holes in commonly used technologies could threaten the very future of shows like Black Hat, DefCon and the like.

That's almost certain to happen if broad claims, like HID's assertion that any discussion of how to break their products violates their patent. "It's arguable that everything is patent and nobody gets to go to any show," Moss said in a press conference on Tuesday. "Either that or you only accept speakers who put up bonds or come from huge companies like IBM where their lawyers can just fight it out."

Ironically, much of the legal wrangling works at cross purposes to what the companies are trying to accomplish -- actually drawing attention to presentations that otherwise might have gone unnoticed and unreported.

"I get the sense that at these companies, the right hand is legal and the left hand is marketing," Moss said yesterday in a press conference to discuss the HID problem. "I saw it with Cisco, where the attorneys were doing one thing and the PR people were doing another."

While disappointed that he will not be able to give his "RFID for Beginners" presentation, Paget said that he is hopeful that the press attention to the dispute with HID will raise awareness of the problem of insecure proximity cards.

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 28, 2007 09:03 AM

February 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Star Trek-style health care envisioned

If an invention think tank founded by a former Microsoft CTO has its way, those Star Trek healing gadgets will become a reality.

Remember Star Trek III? When Dr. McCoy, sent back to 20th-century San Francisco with the rest of the crew, encounters a woman being readied for surgery at a hospital? He frowns on the whole idea of surgery, waves a wand over her and she is miraculously healed. This seems farfetched, but Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures actually is pondering development of technology along those lines.

Intellectual Ventures is a combination of a private equity firm and an invention "hothouse," as described by the Churchill Club, which hosted Myhrvold, the company's CEO, at a breakfast presentation Tuesday in Palo Alto, Calif. He worked at Microsoft for 14 years until 2000 and was CTO.

Intellectual Ventures seeks to inspire inventors. "We go to people before they have an invention and fund them to try to have an invention," Myhrvold said.

A couple of the company's ideas include development of Star Trek-like devices for health care that would manipulate a patient's body without movement. This includes a device that could break down the plaque in brain cells that is associated with causing Alzheimer's Disease. "That's sub-cellular surgery but it may not be impossible," Myhrvold said.

Another device under consideration is a helmet that would be used in ambulances to determine the type of stroke a patient has just suffered, to ensure proper treatment, he said.

The Intellectual Ventures business model is contingent on intellectual property and the company finding someone else to build the actual products. Asked about the issue of patents being used to stop innovation, Myrhvold said the company has not had occasion to sue anybody. The company has been licensing technologies and has had considerable revenues, he said.

Nurturing inventors, however, has its difficult moments. Intellectual Ventures has found that its hardest job is dissuading people with ideas that the company does not believe will fly.

"It's a little like the school principal that says, 'I'm sorry, but your little Johnny isn't very smart,'" Myhrvold said.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 27, 2007 11:40 AM

February 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Black Hat presentation pulled after patent infringement threats

A planned talk on RFID security by a security researcher has been pulled from this week's Black Hat Federal security conference after secure card maker HID Corp. claimed the talk violated the company's patent rights and threatened to take legal action against Chris Paget, the researcher, and IOActive Inc., Paget's employer, if the talk went forward.

The company decided to cancel the talk after all night negotiations with HID collapsed, said Josh Pennell, CEO of IOActive. In response, Black Hat organizers were forced to tear materials out of printed show proceedings and will instead present a discussion by a representative of the ACLU on the criticality of RFID security, said Jeff Moss, founder and director of Black Hat.

The decision follows tense negotiations and legal threats from HID after IOACtive did a demo of the RFID hacking device at RSA

More to come...

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 27, 2007 08:49 AM

February 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Serena gets new CEO

Serena Software announced on Monday the appointment of Jeremy Burton, a former Symantec and Oracle official, as president and CEO.

He takes over for Michael Capellas, who had served as acting president and CEO since December and who will return to his role as a senior advisor for Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm that acquired Serena. Capellas, a former Compaq chairman and CEO, had taken charge of Serena after Mark Woodward resigned.

Serena specializes in software change management, which the company refers to as "change governance."

Burton most recently was group president for enterprise security and data management for Symantec, which he joined as part of the company's Veritas acquisition. Prior to that, Burton worked at Oracle in a variety of marketing, engineering and product management roles, Serena said. He founded Oracle's developer program, the Oracle Technology Network.

Serena has annual revenues of about $270 million and is profitable, said Matt DiMaria, Serena senior vice president of worldwide marketing. The company's change governance focus is about helping enterprises manage external change events, such as regulatory compliance requirements, in software, he said.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 26, 2007 03:41 PM

February 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Corticon links business rules, apps

Corticon on Monday plans to announce Corticon Business Rules Foundation, which enables embedding of business rules management capabilities within enterprise applications.

Business Rules Foundation features a library of model-driven business rules management system functions delivered as "headless" services that can be exposed in any form within any application, Corticon said. Through an SDK being released on Monday, developers can build decision automation capabilities into software. The SDK features APIs, Java materials, design documents, JUnit tests and prototype client code.

Business rules describe the logic of how decisions are made, such as approval of a claim or what price or product to offer a customer, said David Straus, senior vice president of marketing at Corticon. But development of business rules has not been synchronized with development of the application itself.

"Business rules management systems today typically provide a mechanism to describe logic associated with business decisions, but typically they do that all externally from the application," said Straus.

"More and more what we've heard is [Corticon business partners] really want to make business rules a very native part of what they do for a living," Straus said.

Corticon's product embeds its business rules software into other applications and can be used by corporate developers, ISVs or value-added resellers.

The Foundation product is the first release in the Corticon 5 business rules management system. Future Corticon products will be built around Foundation, the company said.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 26, 2007 06:28 AM

February 26, 2007 | Comments: (0)

IBM expands SOA wares

IBM on Monday plans to announce another expansion of its SOA software and services.

With Monday's unveiling, the company believes it is further enabling organizations to more easily embed integration capabilities within SOA-driven processes.

Featured as part of the announcement is IBM Service Oriented Modeling and Architecture (SOMA) Version 3, developed by IBM Global Business Services as an approach to implementing a long-term plan to move to SOA. The new version supports IBM's Information as a Service concept, which is a strategy to access information independent of the source and convert it into a specific business service.

SOMA offers a blueprint for incorporating data integration and master data management within an SOA, with models that help align an architecture with business goals.

Also to be announced is WebSphere Information Analyzer, which is a new module for the IBM Information Server that helps eliminate the risk of reusing bad data. Information Analyzer profiles data and understands the quality and content of data sources while creating a metadata map of source systems, IBM said. Information Server is an IBM data integration software package.

New capabilities in IBM Information Server, meanwhile, complement IBM WebSphere Process Server to enable tighter integration between information and business processes. These services activities within Process Server expose data integration tasks from IBM Information Server so they can support capabilities within business processes. Users can browse services and view and reuse metadata and ensure efficient interaction between Web services and data integration tasks, according to IBM.

IBM also will announce an extension to Rational Data Architect to help provide more value from IBM industry-specific data models. The Enterprise Model Extender helps organizations in banking, financial markets, insurance and other industries to get more value out of IBM Industry Data Models.

IBM has had a series of programs and products targeting SOA deployments. In October, IBM grew its SOA efforts with programs, services and partner incentives that included the development of SOA Specialty Wikis for vertical industries. Last March, the company launched efforts to bring small and midsized businesses into the SOA fold.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 26, 2007 06:18 AM

February 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Gosling lauded by Canada

James Gosling, a Sun Microsystems vice president and Sun Fellow who is considered the founder of Java, has been named an officer of the Order of Canada, the company said.

A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News report (CBC) said the Order of Canada designation recognizes lifetime achievements by Canadians from all walks of life. Gosling was named by the office of the Governor General.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 21, 2007 05:19 PM

February 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Sun speeds networking for multi-core chips

As the microprocessor industry has shifted focus away from raw megahertz in favor of multiple cores and symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), developers and IT managers have struggled to adapt to the new computing paradigm. Adding more cores is all well and good, but until the other components of the IT environment directly support multithreading, some of the touted performance gains remain largely hypothetical.

No company understands SMP as well as Sun Microsystems, having invested heavily in the technology since the 1990s. Sun's current UltraSparc T1 chips are the most multithreaded processor designs in the mainstream server market. Now Sun has turned its eye toward bringing network hardware up to speed with its new chip designs.

The Sun Multithreaded 10 Gig E Networking Technology, announced today, is the first networking hardware optimized specifically for parallel threaded environments, according to Sun spokespeople. By comparison, most current network hardware was designed to work with single-core, single-threaded processors, which creates a bottleneck in multi-core hardware. Sun's new design should benefit network-intensive applications, such as server virtualization or storage networking over iSCSI, running on multi-core x86 and Sparc processors.

The new network interfaces are available now, starting at $498 per port.

Posted by Neil McAllister on February 21, 2007 01:03 PM

February 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Cool graphical depiction of data theft incidents

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Now the folks over at IBM are proving it with their ultra-cool Many Eyes project. using information on the size of data breaches culled from attrition.org, Many Eyes is offering a visual representation of a few of the larger data breaches in recent years. you need to do a bit of clicking to link the circular blob back to the actual breach, but that big sucker in the middle of the graph with the June, 2005, date is CardSystems Inc.

Many eyes is a project of IBM's Visual Communications Lab, and provides free tools, via their Web site, for creating your own cool graphics using any data set you want.

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 20, 2007 08:20 AM

February 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Krugle adds Microsoft code

Krugle, which provides a code search engine for developers, will announce on Tuesday the addition of more than 6.5 million lines of code from Microsoft's shared and open source initiatives to the Krugle index.

By adding this code, Krugle users will be able to browse and share code from more than 500 projects hosted on the Microsoft CodePlex site. Users also will have access to code from the Microsoft Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) implementation, which features development tools, classes and code samples for the .Net Framework.

Krugle's capabilities include contextual searching. Last week, Krugle announced it would be providing code-searching on the Yahoo Developer Network.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 20, 2007 06:26 AM

February 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Woodstock project set for Web apps

Sun Microsystems announced on Friday the creation of an open source project providing JavaServer Faces components for Web developers to build enterprise applications.

Components featured as part of Project Woodstock contain design time code to enable their use in the NetBeans Web Pack 5.5. which provides visual Web development in the NetBeans IDE. Developers can use drag-and-drop functionality to organize applications as they build them.

The components provide capabilites ranging from navigation to date management. Wizard and Table components also are featured. Users are provided with an Example application to show developers how to use the components.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 16, 2007 01:57 PM

February 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)

DuPont employee steals $400m in trade secrets

You can file this one away in the "Worst Case Scenarios" folder.

Federal authorities are charging a former research chemist at DuPont with absconding with an estimated $400 million in trade secrets from the company.

According to this report,at Delaware Online, Gary Min, 43, plead guilty today to stealing trade secrets in November and faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Colm Connolly, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, unsealed the case today.

Min is a former Chinese national who worked for DuPont for 10 years before jumping ship in October, 2005, to a competitor, Victrex PLC, which is based in London and has operations in China.

Unfortunately, Min declined to tell DuPont about his new job for two months -- until December, 2005. In the meantime, Min developed a sudden and passionate interest in DuPont's intellectual property: downloading 22,000 sensitive documents and viewing almost 17,000 more in teh company's electronic library.

That activity tipped off the company, which hired a private investigator to look into Min. That investigation turned up reams of sensitive DuPont documents stuffed in the trash at Min's home.

Around 180 sensitive documents were transferred to a Victrex laptop after Min left DuPont, the story says. A raid of Min's home on Feb. 14, 2006 found him in the process of erasing data from his hard drive, and shredding DuPont technical documents and burning others in the fireplace. Ooops!

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 15, 2007 12:10 PM

February 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)

BEA stock option audit detailed

High-ranking BEA Systems executives will be repaying gains received from stocks, after an audit of the company's stock option grant practices found a multitude of issues.

The company in August 2006 announced that its board of directors had asked its audit committee to review BEA's stock option practices; BEA is one of many companies entangled in the issue of back-dating of stock options, with Apple Computer being another.

BEA expects to restate financial statements from fiscal 1998 through fiscal 2007 and that it will record non-cash compensation expense on a pre-tax basis of between $340 million and $390 million. The majority of this expense relates to grants made in fiscal 1999 through fiscal 2002.

As a result of the myriad of findings, a new human resources leader will be recruited at BEA and the current senior vice president of human resources will remain with the company through a mutually agreed-upon transition period. BEA did not name this person in its press statement on the matter and could not be immediately reached this morning.

Key BEA executives' names came up in the company's statement on the issue.

Alfred Chuang, a company co-founder BEA CEO since October 2001, realized a pre-tax gain of approximately $2.4 million on his partial exercises of approved grants made to him in 1998 and 1999. While the committee did not find Chuang was involved in mis-pricing of these grants, he has agreed to re-pay BEA all after-tax gains from these options. The audit committee and the BEA board of directors expressed continued confidence in the leadership and integrity of Chuang and the current executive leadership team.

Chuang also has agreed to a re-pricing of all of his outstanding options to prices determined by the committee. He has not realized any other gains as a result of option mis-pricings and will not realize any such gains in the future, BEA said.

William Coleman, also a co-founder who was BEA CEO from 1995 through October 2001, has agreed to pay BEA after-tax gains realized on options that the audit committee determined were mis-priced. The amount of such gains on a pre-tax basis was about $260,000.

William Klein, who served as chief financial officer from February 2000 through Feburary 2005 and as executive vice president of business planning and corporate development since 2005, has agreed to repay BEA after-tax gains realized on options resulting from mis-pricings. He had realized about $34,000 on a pre-tax basis.

Klein will no longer serve as executive vice president but will remain as vice president of business planning and corporate development.

Mark Dentinger, BEA executive vice president and chief financial officer since February 2005, has agreed to a re-pricing of outstanding options to the prices determined by the audit committee.

BEA's general counsel, also not named in the press statement, will no longer serve in this position but will remain as a vice president in the BEA legal department. The general counsel's stock options will be re-priced.

All current independent directors of BEA who received options have agreed to re-price all outstanding options to the price associated with the current measurement dates as determined by the audit committee. These directors did not realize any gain from the exercise of any mis-priced options.

BEA in December acknowledged it had been facing a delisting by the Nasdaq stock exchange for late filings of required reports, with the lateness tied to the stock option investigation. The BEA statement on Wednesday made no mention of Nasdaq.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also is looking into BEA's stock option grant practices, BEA said.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 15, 2007 09:22 AM

February 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Yahoo gets code search

Krugle has begun providing code-searching for the Yahoo Developer Network.

The network stores APIs and Web services for Yahoo Web properties such as Flickr, del.icio.us and Yahoo Maps, Krugle said on Wednesday. Through its deal with Krugle, Yahoo's network can leverage the Krugle search engine and interface enabling developers working with Yahoo APIs and data to share code written in six languages: ActionScript, JavaScript, .Net, PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), Python and Ruby.

Contextual information, such as documentation and bug reports, also will be provided. Krugle crawls, parses and indexes code in public repositories as well as approved private repositories, forums, blogs and Web pages.

Web developers looking for APIs and scripting information have become one of Krugle's largest user bases and the arrangement with Yahoo builds on that relationship, Krugle said.

Yahoo Developer Network features Web services and APIs intended to make it easy for developers to build applications and mashups that integrate data sources and make the Web more useful, according to the network's Web site.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 14, 2007 11:15 AM

February 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Building Security...Not!

As promised, InfoWorld has posted a demonstration of the RFID card clone device from IOActive that allows anyone to passively read, store and clone HID-brand access cards. As TechWatch blogged on Monday, IOActive had this device on display at the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week. The video, available here, shows Chris Paget, IOActive's director of R&D showing how the device can be used to grab access codes from a HID card, then store them on the device and play them back, tricking a HID card reader into thinking that a valid card has been presented. As I noted in my blog, Paget's device was able to clone the HID card in the video, but also my HID building access card for IDG's offices on 2nd street. So, while its not clear that every HID card is vulnerable to this kind of attack, we might presume that quite a few are. Advice: beware of strangers sprouting antenna!

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 14, 2007 05:59 AM

February 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Zune needs women (and men)

It's hiring time over at Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division (E&D), which has a pile of job openings in its Zune division. According to the Microsoft Web site, there are 34 openings for Zune, almost all posted since the beginning of January. Among the positions Microsoft is looking to fill:
Program Manager ("Seeking a talented and highly motivated program manager to help us deliver systems to take in various forms of content (audio and video), encode and package them in the right format, and serve them up to the user with the appropriate DRM licenses.")

Development Manager ("This individual will lead a group of developers by providing technical leadership, project and schedule management, and at times strong individual contribution towards product development. This individual will work closely with the Program Management, Hardware Development, and Test teams to deliver the product.")

As well as any number of hardware engineering, software engineering, Q/A, marketing and channel operations help.

This has "exodus" written all over it, but that could be dead wrong. It's also possible that Microsoft is in the midst of a major build-out of the Zune team and throwing more resources at the product.

The only ones who know for sure are current/former Zuners. Techwatch has its feelers out, but if you've heard anything, we're all ears!

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 13, 2007 02:45 PM

February 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

BlackBerry 8800 to restore RIM thunder?

RIM introduced on Monday the successor to its popular 8700 line, the trendy, but still business-minded 8800.

Our sister publication, Macworld, writes of the new phone:

The 8800 will debut later this month in North America through AT&T, the same carrier that will carry Apple's iPhone in June, starting at $299 with a two-year service commitment. It's also coming to Canada from Rogers Wireless.
Like the 8700, the 8800 features a full QWERTY keyboard and 320 x 240 pixel color LCD display. Like the Pearl, the 8800 features a trackball navigation system. It also sports a built-in media player and microSD memory slot for storage of music and videos.

The media player supports MP3 and unprotected AAC music files; it can also display MPEG-4 and H.263 video content. The phone supports polyphonic, MP3 and MIDI ringtones.

Okay, so RIM was reading my and obviously countless others' minds about staying competitive with styling and multimedia features now that Microsoft Direct Push leveled the push e-mail playing field for newer Palm and Windows Mobile devices. (See our 3GSM World Congress special report for more on Windows Mobile 6 and its Direct Push tech.)

It's no iPhone on style, but it takes some notes. But my Palm Treo 7100p may be looking old school but it's sporting EV-DO; not found on this GSM/EDGE device, to be sold by AT&T (formerly Cingular). And the iPhone is not out for months and it to does not harness Cingular's HSDPA high-speed cellular network.

What gives, RIM and Apple? Looks ain't all that if you're stuck on a poky EDGE network.

Posted by Mike Barton on February 12, 2007 06:31 PM

February 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Check out Woz's New Toy

As the co-founder of Apple, admitted gadget freak and tinkerer who helped create the Apple I and II, before becoming an evangelist for the uncertain new sport of Segway Polo, Steve Wozniak, we can presume, has his choice of cool new tech toys to play with.

So when InfoWorld heard that Woz was to be the recipient of a prototype RFID spoofer by Chris Paget, director of R&D at IOActive, and that Paget was demo-ing the device in a booth on the floor of the RSA Conference last week, how could we resist? The spoofer (video demonstration here) is one of two Paget created using what he described as around $50 in electronics. The other one -- yeah, that's right -- it's a gift for Woz, who sits on IOActive's advisory board.

The device, though just a proof of concept, is even cooler than it looks. At RSA, Paget demonstrated how it can be used to read the security codes transmitted by RFID proximity or "prox" cards manufactured by HID, one of the largest makers of secure cards. If that name sounds familiar, it should. HID has an estimated 300 million cards in circulation, so you've probably seen the company's logo on the door reader at your building and on the back of the contact-less door access card you're wearing around your neck like a dog tag.

You might have also seen some coverage of this announcement last week that HID's new Crescendo series smart cards will support Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 (ILM 2007) and the Windows Smart Card Framework. "As organizations realize that user names and passwords may not be strong enough to maintain their required level of logical access security, the use of proximity cards in conjunction with ILM 2007 will be an ideal solution to increase security by employing strong, multi-factor authentication technology," HID says.

Unfortunately, after HID customers find out that at least some of those secure cards send access codes in the clear to the reader devices, and that those codes can be passively read, stored and re-used by a simple device like Paget's, they might just want to go back to user names and passwords, not to mention deadbolt locks and keys.

In the demonstration, Paget holds a HID card under the spoofer, pushes a button to grab the security codes off the card, and then another to store them on the device. He then holds the spoofer over a HID reader, presses another button to "play back" the codes, and bam -- the HID reader detects the code. In the demo, the codes were simply displayed on a computer screen. In a real deployment, a door would open, giving the RFID hacker access to a building or data center or...you name it.

Just as a test, I gave Paget my own HID door card for IDG's 2nd street headquarters in San Francisco, and the device read the card with no problem and displayed the secure access codes on the screen. Creepy!

As Paget describes it, HID's secure cards aren't insecure of themselves, just poorly designed. Paget was particularly critical of HID's decision to have complete access codes transferred between card and reader, rather than, say, some kind of shared secret that would allow valid cards to identify themselves to the reader, but leave sensitive information secured.

The cloner could be used surreptitiously to grab data directly from RFID door cards, say by bumping up against a building employee, Paget said. And, with minor tweaking, the spoofer could be changed to work with any number of RFID cards, not just HIDs.

And creating devices like this will get a lot easier next week,after Paget gives a live demonstration of the spoofer next week at Black Hat Federal in DC and releases blueprints for creating your own RFID clone device.

Now that RFID has started popping up on next generation credit cards from Citibank and others, it wont' be long before criminals figure out that RFID is their ticket to easy street, and before the hoopla over multifactor access dissolves into a discussion of that old addage about a chain only being as strong as its weakest link.

So what's Steve Wozniak playing with these days? You're looking at it!

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 12, 2007 01:08 PM

February 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Open source helps housing effort

Open source software will serve at the heart of a project management system developed in a humanitarian effort to design housing for the needy.

Built on the drupal open source content management system, the Open Architecture Network Web-based system enables collaboration between building architects and designers.

"The primary focus is bringing [architectural] design services to communities who normally would not be able to afford it," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, which is spearheading the project. Sinclair won a 2006 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) prize to develop the application, which will be formally launched at this year's TED conference, being held in Monterey, Calif. March 7-10.

With the system, building architects and designers can produce projects and comment on architectural drawings, for example. Copyright-free designs, building plans and blueprints can be downloaded and uploaded. Best practices and worst practices also will be featured.

Architecture for Humanity projects are licensed under the Creative Commons Developing Nations license, meaning anyone in a developing nation can freely use the copyrighted designs.

Communities in areas affected by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami are intended benefactors of the system. One particular project involves designing inexpensive homes for Gulf Coast families in Mississippi. Also, designers in places such as Afghanistan, Angola and Chile are putting projects on the network.

Powering the application are Sun Microsystems Sun Fire servers and a Sun StorageTek storage system. Sun will support the project for a year. Advanced Micro Devices is hosting the application at its data center in San Jose, Calif.

Architects contributing to Open Architecture Network work on either a pro bono basis or for a reduced fee. Funding for the housing projects themselves usually comes from individual donors and companies. Architecture for Humanity is involved in projects ranging from housing and community centers to schools and health clinics in five countries.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 9, 2007 12:43 PM

February 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)

JBoss founder quits Red Hat

Marc Fleury, the founder of open source Java application server maker JBoss, is leaving Red Hat, which acquired JBoss last year, according to a JBoss spokesperson.

Fleury is leaving to pursue other interests, such as teaching, research in biology, music and his family, said spokesperson Chantal Yang. He had been on paternity leave since December and his resignation is effective immediately, she said

JBoss was acquired by Red Hat for $350 million, with the deal announced in April 2006 and completed two months later. Fleury, who was CEO of JBoss, became vice president and general manager of the JBoss division of Red Hat but "things didn't work out," as he thought they would, Yang said.

Red Hat released this prepared statement from Fleury on Friday:

"I have done what I can to help Red Hat succeed. People need to understand that open source is a tsunami that is transforming the software industry in its wake and its inevitability is now well beyond challenge or the force of individual personality," Fleury said.

Fleury's departure will not mean a change in direction for the JBoss middleware line, Yang said. The company will continue to invest in middleware and add people and technologies when appropriate.

Red Hat's CEO Matthew Szulik, in a statement released by the company, expressed gratitude to Fleury.

"Marc has made positive contributions to open source software. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to be the beneficiaries of his contributions, those of the JBoss community and those of our outstanding employees who joined Red Hat from JBoss," Szulik said.

Red Hat's acquisition of JBoss drew the headlines at the time. It had been speculated that Oracle would acquire JBoss but Red Hat became the successful suitor.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 9, 2007 06:51 AM

February 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)

QEDWiki: Collaborating on Mashups

Blending two central tenets of the Web 2.0 ethos -- an emphasis on community and the development of lightweight, integrated mashup apps -- IBM has taken the wrapper off QEDWiki, which the company describes as a "browser-based assembly canvas used to create simple mashups."

Written in PHP, QEDWiki -- which stands for Quick and Easily Done -- is a Wiki framework that enables business users and developers to come together to build ad hoc mashup applications quickly and collaboratively, using widgets developed within the framework as well as those exposed elsewhere on the Web.

The technology, which is part of IBM's alphaWorks Services, includes a rich AJAX-enabled architecture, meaning that each page of the Wiki is itself a rich, interactive app. The hope is that by inviting the developer and business user community at large to participate in the early stages of QEDWiki's development, IBM will be able to improve the technology's capabilities in a manner that better aligns with what its users ultimately want.

A demo of the technology has been posted by IBM on YouTube. From the looks of it, QEDWiki appears well worth a trial run.

Posted by Jason Snyder on February 8, 2007 06:10 PM

February 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Massive ID theft scam used Mortgage, Escrow Cos

A grand jury in Seattle has indicted six people in connection with a massive identity theft scam that used insiders at a mortgage and escrow firm to siphen around $335,000 from customers of Bellevue mortgage company, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday.

According to a recently unsealed indictment, two identity theft ring leaders: Charles Griffin and Bianca Bowler recruited a Seattle resident, Juanita Booker, who worked at a Bellevue, Washington mortgage company supply them with personal and financial information for numerous people who had applied for mortgages at company. They also roped in one Raynette Armstrong, who worked at a local escrow firm and also provided them with personal and financial information on clients of the escrow firm. That information was used to locate and tap bank accounts and create phony drivers licenses using the names and information of the victims, but bearing the photographs of the co-conspirators. Bowler and a third co-conspirator were caught with elaborate computer set-ups for manufacturing counterfeit drivers licenses when their Seattle home.

For anyone who has ever applied for a mortgage and had to fax off a big pile of tax returns, bank statements and W-2's to God Knows Who, this story is a nightmare come true.

According to the U.S. Attorney, after lifting the sensitive data, the conspirators traveled to various banks in Oregon and Washington to drain bank accounts, opened credit accounts and racked up huge charges at large stores such as Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart and jewelry stores such as Friedlanders and International Jewelers.

Apparently, the scheme came to light after one of the co-conspirators, who was on probation for another wire fraud scam, was paid a visit by probation officers, who discovered the elaborate fake-ID making setup.

In light of the recent hacks at TJX, etc. These kind of stories just remind us that, more often than not, low tech approaches to stealing data work perfectly fine: in this case: find a crooked insider or two, then pay them off to get the data you want.

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 8, 2007 12:33 PM

February 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)

X marks the spot for Unix

The X Window System may not be in the limelight like the Microsoft Windows interface, but it remains vibrant and developers continue to enhance it.

About 30 developers from companies such as Intel, Sun Microsystems and VMware are attending the X.org Developer's Conference in Menlo Park, Calif. this week to ponder the direction of the X Window System.

"The conference is [held] to get the most active developers together and push ourselves forward [and] just communicate better, because it's a globally distributed bunch of people who cooperate," said Stuart Kreitman, a Sun Microsystems software engineer who organized the conference.

The X Window System has been the graphical interface for Unix workstations since 1986, said Kreitman. It also is supported on Linux now, he said.

"It's like bricks and mortar. It's the foundation of single-user Linux and Unix workstations," Kreitman said.

Version 7.2 of the X.org source code distribution is in the works, featuring modularization, according to Kreitman.

Projects discussed Wednesday included MultiPointer X (MPX), which is intended to boost collaboration by allowing more than one mouse device to direct activity on a screen. Also discussed was RandR, for the Resize and Rotate extension, which is about enabling a screen to run at different resolutions.

Virtual Multihead, a virtualization technology championed by VMware, also was covered.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 7, 2007 02:58 PM

February 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Google Maps does scenic route in Sydney

The Sydney Morning Herald reports of an embarrassing gaffe with Google's new Maps for Down Under: The route for a three-second walk across the street from The Herald's offices -- it shares a building with Google Australia -- is a 10.4-kilometer jaunt, according to Maps.

Journalists at The Herald would know better - it's "the local", or closest pub, for the thirsty, hard-working journalists who frequent the Shelbourne. Heck, I know, I used to work there and take my breaks between editions of the paper over a schooner.

I don't think I'd be willing to pay the $3 bridge toll, but would not mind the cab ride for a breather.

The Herald reports:

The blame for the wayward directions appears to lie with MapData Sciences, the Sydney-based company that supplies the mapping data to Google.
It incorrectly locates 201 Sussex Street on the Western Distributor, one street south of where it should be.

A similarly inaccurate set of driving directions is given on the Telstra-run WhereIs.com mapping service, which uses data from a different provider. But the directions don't include crossing the harbour.

Some comments on the find on my former SMH boss's blog are worth noting:

"I asked [Google Maps] to give me directions to go from my home to work in Manly. Wow , was I surprised when I found out that there was a short cut that I have never known about. Alas upon further investigation my new short cut was through a bush walk track through the national park that was signposted at the entry to the park as a 1 hour walk! I think I will stick to the old less scenic route!" --Harvey

And a more sobering note from "bloody google":

Bloody google maps had me screwed while skiing in the US... I followed it to Squaw Valley, and rather than enter the turnoff it took me to the next exit, into a side road and a cull de sac... on a decline.. in 2 feet of snow. The van promptly bogged with no way of getting out.
Stuck I had to leave it there for the weekend.. got drunk on schnapps waiting for a snow taxi .. luckily the snow plow had dug me out by the time I had to leave..."

Posted by Mike Barton on February 7, 2007 11:18 AM

February 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Apple Inc. settles dispute with Apple Corps.

Barely an Apple lyric was spared as news agencies and publications around the world raced to announce the news that Apple Inc., the company that invented iTunes has settled its 25-year-old off and on dispute with Apple Corps., the folks who brought you the Beatles.

Here are just a few of the headlines gracing the Web sites and print media pages around the world:

E1 Online "Apple, Beatles Come Together"

Sydney Morning Herald "Apple and Beatles give peace a chance"

Cincinnati Post "End of a long and winding road"

Chicago Sun-Times "pple vs. Apple: We can work it out"

The deal itself will give Apple Inc. control of the Apple brand which in turn will license the name back to the record company.

The agreement replaced the 1991 agreement in which then Apple Computer was given the right to use the name Apple as long as it did not encroach on things related to music. Obviously all that changed when Apple introeduced iTunes.

Under the new agreement Apple Inc. owns "all of the trademarks related to 'Apple' and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corp for their continued use."

Posted on the Apple site, Steve Jobs was quoted as saying, "we love the Beatles and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks."

On behalf of Apple Corps, Neil Aspinall, manager of Apple Corps, said, "the years ahead are going to be very exicitng times for us."

Is there a hint there that Apple Corps, will finally license to Apple for distribution over iTunes the Beatle songbook? With two billion downloads so far iTunes looks like a pretty good distributor to me.

According to the NY Times, Apple Corps, needs to confer with EMI, owners of the song book before that happens.

Now, with the Apple versus Apple dispute out of the way we have only one more trademark battle left, the iPho9ne versus iPhone dispute between Apple and Cisco.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on February 6, 2007 01:19 PM

February 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Apple to music industry: Nix the DRM

"If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store." So says Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a lengthy message posted on Apple's Web site today.

DRM, of course, stands for digital rights management -- or digital restrictions management, as its stauncher foes would have it. The term refers to a collection of technologies designed to control the way that digital files can be copied or distributed. To its opponents, the way DRM has been deployed by media companies to restrict the use of digital media runs contrary to community interests and individual freedoms.

Jobs mostly avoids the thornier issues of Constitutional law in his missive. Instead, he concentrates on a more practical matter: DRM, he says, simply ain't all it's cracked up to be.

"Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it?" he asks. "The simplest answer is because DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy."

A variety of DRM systems have appeared over the years. Many of these, including the FairPlay system used by Apple's iTunes store, are proprietary systems controlled by a single vendor. Other systems are more open -- Sun Microsystems has even proposed a completely open source version. Few, if any, have managed to stand up to the efforts of hackers determined to break them. Most recently, tools have surfaced that can break the DRM encryption used on the high-definition HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc formats, which are only at the very early stages of consumer adoption.

According to Apple's Jobs, the expense and ill will incurred by the music industry's reliance on DRM technology hurts that industry more than it helps. But so far, the media companies aren't playing ball. The only way that Apple can feature major-label music and movies on its iTunes store is by demonstrating a willingness to lock down that content ... insofar as it is possible.

What do you think? Will the combined clout of Apple and the more vocal opponents of DRM be enough to convince the media industry to change its ways? Or is the cat and mouse game between hackers and DRM companies something we're just going to have to live with? Leave us your comments, below.

Posted by Neil McAllister on February 6, 2007 12:41 PM

February 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Look out BlackBerry, Palm is back

Palm's dated OS is a love-hate relationship -- let's say familiarity comes at the cost of modernity. But with a new boost to its e-mail service, the old dog of smartphones has new tricks.

Look out BlackBerry? Well, maybe not, if RIM can just update its core devices line with some memory expansion, cameras and other multimedia features. But it still has the problem with its business-class pricing for data.

I just traded my BB 8703E on Sprint for a Palm Treo 700p and did the VersaMail update, and getting my InfoWorld Exchange mail and calendar via push was a snap.

Much is said of the BlackBerry, and its killer app -- its very pushy and addictive e-mail service, which usually beats Microsoft's Exchange to the delivery line in my experience.

Now the Treo 700p and 680 can do the same -- for much cheaper.

The clincher on my deal to trade phones over eBay was that I could not justify $30 a month for push e-mail alone ... no real multimedia features on the BB. But this agreement to exchange devices took place before I found out about the Palm updating its Active Sync with support for Microsoft Direct Push tech.

I was first charged $60 a month for BB data service from Sprint before haggling them down. And there is no option for a lesser service. Just doesn't work.

That's going to add up and SMBs for one are always keeping an eye on monthly costs.

But with the Treo, its $15 for unlimited because it's just a data connection, and the rest is done by Microsoft Direct Push, bypassing any network middleware, which drives up the cost of BB service.

With a Treo 700p, albeit more expensive, you get a camera for stills and video, digital music player, and the list goes on. But I could justify paying for those features if I could not get real push email and calendar functionality.

I have not used 700W (Windows), but what I've read is that it is pretty clumsy, and Palm with Docs to Go is better at opening MS docs than it. (Comment below if you do no share this take, or have a different experience.)

The other thing I've taken note of is some of the new interface in this AccessPowered device (OS not owned by Palm). But Treophiles have noted how the new UI only appears in certain apps which take advantage of it.

If Palm and Access spent some time further developing it, and even trimming down the Treo line, they'd be serious contenders again. For now I'm pretty happy with my XP in a Vista world-sort-of device. It's a bit old school but it gets the job done, and the brick-like device has a lighter side too.

I've done the opposite of Open Sources blogger extraordinaire Matt Asay; I've converted to Treo from BB. Matt, I'd love to hear if you are still in love, and if Direct Push won't bring you back. And I'll update as I've spent more time with the new-life Treo.

Posted by Mike Barton on February 6, 2007 11:48 AM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Google Maps for mobile does Windows

Wayward U.S. travelers wielding wireless Windows devices now have a new option for finding their bearings (or a place for dinner). Google announced today that Google Maps for mobile now runs on Windows Mobile 2003 and higher.

With Google Maps for mobile, users can view interactive maps and satellite imagery, find local businesses, get driving directions, and view live traffic updates, according to Google.

Further, the Windows Mobile 5.0 version of Google Maps for mobile is GPS-enabled, so users can view their current location on the map, and the service can take that location into consideration when users search for local businesses or request driving directions.

Google's move means the company is gaining some ground against rivals like Yahoo and Microsoft in the increasingly lucrative mobile-search space.

Microsoft has offered both a J2ME and .Net version of its Windows Live Search for Mobile for some time. The WLS for Mobile service provides white and yellow page searches, maps, driving directions, traffic conditions, and other features.

Meanwhile, Yahoo recently announced version 2.0 beta of its own mobile suite, which provides features such as local maps, news tickers, a mobile version of the Flickr photo management service, and e-mail.

To download Google Maps for mobile, go to www.google.com/gmm.

Posted by Ted Samson on February 1, 2007 03:44 PM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Laptop battery breakthrough ... maybe

The potentially most significant product introduced at Demo comes with a big caveat: It's great ... if it works as advertised.

Boston-Power's Sonata lithium-ion laptop battery is a battery that reportedly doesn't "fade." Fade refers to the loss of battery capacity that happens after repeated charges and discharge. It's why I have to get a new notebook battery at least once a year.

According to Boston-Power (no relation to Austin Powers), Sonata maintains full capacity after 1000 charges. That means you would, effectively, never have to throw out a laptop battery. In the demonstration, a HP representative came out first and offered a testimonial, and Boston-Power president Christina Lampe-Onnerud explained the product and its benefits. But there was no real demo, since it's not clear how you can actually demo a battery.

So we're taking Lampe-Onnerud at her word here. But this is what she pitched. In addition to the fade resistance, Sonata will not burst into flames (as some batteries have been known to do), since the safety and redundancy features are separate. The battery charges to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes (compared to 2-3 hours for typical lithium-ion batteries), and is compatible with current notebook formats. Reports say the maker -- in China, natch -- is reported to be environmentally friendly.

This wonder battery should start appearing in systems by this summer, with HP a likely client, though there have been no official announcements. The InfoWorld Test Center will be keeping an eye on Sonata and will report on actual results as soon as we're able to put it through its paces.

Posted by Steve Fox on February 1, 2007 03:09 PM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Interoperability key in 'iPhone' talks

The Cisco-Apple iSaga took a conciliatory turn today as the companies returned to the negotiation table to hash out an agreement over the coveted iPhone moniker.

In a tersely worded joint statement, the companies stated "Apple and Cisco have agreed to extend the time for Apple to respond to the lawsuit to allow for discussions between the companies with the aim of reaching agreement on trademark rights and interoperability." (The emphasis is mine; more on that in a moment.)

As you may recall, the captain of the iPod Mothership (i.e. Steve Jobs) announced plans [Video] at MacWorld to beam down an iPod cellular phone called the iPhone.

Shortly after, Cisco cried foul and filed a lawsuit against Apple for copyright infringement, arguing that it has held the trademark for the name iPhone since 2000. The company released VOIP phones with that name through its Linksys brand last year.

Cisco argues that Apple was well aware that it owned the iPhone name and noted that prior to Apple announcing its own iPhone, it had approached Cisco on several occasions to discuss usage of the moniker.

In the lawsuit, Cisco asked for Apple to cover its legal fees and to surrender all profits eventually made from iPhone sales. The lawsuit also demanded that Apple eradicate all promotional materials associated with the iPhone.

However, since filing the lawsuit, Cisco CEO John Chambers has said the company is not looking for money; rather, it seeks "interoperability, or the ability of the Apple phone to work smoothly with Cisco product," according to bizjournals.com.

Interoperability, of course, is the operative word here; you may recall, it was part of Cisco and Apple's carefully worded press release. While all the hype about the iPhone has drawn attention to Cisco's Linksys-branded version (a product I'd wager few people had been aware of prior to the skirmish with Apple), the promise of having compatibility with Apple's oh-so-juicy end-user iBlank line is potentially more lucrative to Cisco than simply having Apple's iPhone disappear (or be renamed) all together.

Specifically, as noted by Stephen Lawson of the IDG News Service:

According to published reports, Cisco would have been willing to license the iPhone name in exchange for Apple making the handset interoperate smoothly with Cisco's products. Linksys is the biggest seller of consumer Wi-Fi access points and is expanding its home product line into the voice and entertainment realms. Apple's iPhone is equipped with Wi-Fi and includes audio, photo, and video player software.

Posted by Ted Samson on February 1, 2007 11:48 AM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Laptop lockdown from afar

Here's a clear-cut winner from the Demo 07 show: the Alcatel-Lucent Mobile Endpoint Management System (a more memorable name is coming, I'm told, when the product actually gets released). The telecom multinational with the ITT and Bell Labs pedigree may have solved one of the enterprise's most intractable problems: how to safely manage and secure laptops when they're not in the office. Any number of recent embarrassing incidents involving lost laptops can attest to the severity of the situation.

The system is a 3G-based PC card that IT managers can access 24/7 -- even when the laptop is turned off. The card itself, which is always on, has a 3G modem, its own processor, a Linux OS, and battery. Remove it, and the laptop shuts off instantly, and can't be restarted until the card is reinserted. As you'd expect, it does hardware encryption of the hard drive (the encryption key is on-card). Alcatel-Lucent also threw in GPS, a SIMM card slot, and a Micro SD slot for expandable memory.

IT managers will be able to do reliable remote patch management, deactivate the laptop if it's lost or stolen, backup the hard drive to the card, even remotely delete the encryption key, rendering the PC unusable if it goes missing. For another layer of security, a VPN agent on the card ensures all data is tunneled through the VPN. I'll be interested in seeing how reliably this works, since VPN management can be tricky, especially for mobile users who may be connecting to the Net using every possible connection and configuration option.

Company representatives say this product will be available in 2007, for a price to be determined. At this point, they are not sure how they will bring it to market. Many network managers who struggle with keeping tabs on their mobile workforce will be rooting it happens soon.

Posted by Steve Fox on February 1, 2007 09:00 AM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Bids for Boston bomb scare promo top $5,000

You all heard about the Turner Broadcasting promo for Aqua Teen Hunger force that went horribly wrong in Boston yesterday, prompting city-wide bomb scares and bringing roads and public transit to a standstill? Well, through the magic of the Internet you -- yes you -- can now own a piece of what will surely go down in the annals of PR as one of the worst gaffes ever, and a shining example of guerrilla marketing gone bad. One of the cartoonish, illuminated signs, which were placed throughout the city, is on auction at eBay. Current high bid: $5,000.

The signs depict a Mooninite, one of the characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force a late night animated special. As part of the promotion, the illuminated objects were placed on bridges and other infrastructure across the city, sparking concern...no...panic that they were explosive devices (in fun, day glo colors, no less).

The eBay user offering the sign says it was a posted on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, is "not a bomb, sorry :[" and that he's going to use the money from the sale to fund more public art in Boston. "it shouldn't take guerrilla advertising to make our public spaces more exciting."

Posted by Paul Roberts on February 1, 2007 08:58 AM

February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Symantec relies on reputation

From the Demo 2007 show floor: When you want to buy from a Web site or open a piece of mail, how do you know if you should trust the site or sender? Will thieves try to steal your identity, flood you with spam, or sneak malware onto your system? It's a nasty dilemma, and the wrong decision can have far-reaching consequences. One likely solution -- part of a Symantec's Identity Initiative -- relies on identity and reputation to help consumers make smart decisions.

A back-end platform and a desktop client (which will ship sometime this year as a yet to be determined part of the Norton 2008 product line), the Identity Initiative taps into Symantec's worldwide labs and response centers, which monitor spam attacks and collect information and make assessment on sites around the clock.

Here's how it works: When a site or email asks for personal information, the Norton client pops up with a rating of the requester's reliability and a recommendation about whether you should share your information. Ultimately users make the decisions, but the Norton client provides informed, up-to-the minute advice.

If Norton gives a green light, you can proceed with impunity. Similarly, a red light warns you that skullduggery is afoot. For those maybe-yes maybe-no cases, users can have the Norton client help manage their credentials and mask their identity. By clicking a checkbox, for instance, users can have Norton generate a site specific e-mail address (as opposed to their regular address), which they can supply when requested. Norton will then route the email as needed. Similar safeguards are planned for VoIP numbers and one-time credit card numbers (in cooperation with financial institutions).

Symantec plans to use other ID systems, including Yahoo ID and OpenID, to augment their reputation information. Pricing and distribution are not yet determined. Smart money says Symantec will release at least some version of this as a free download, with a paid enhanced version available as well.

We'll almost certainly be seeing a greater industry-wide emphasis on the concept of reputation as a means of circumventing fraud, and I think Symantec has its heart and head in the right place with this initiative. This app is a good start, even if it isn't the last word in identity management. Anything that gives nervous consumers a leg up on the bad guys, though, is more than welcome.

Posted by Steve Fox on February 1, 2007 12:53 AM

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