Data security

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Think your family going green won't make a difference? Wrong, says a U.S. study released on Thursday that shows one household ditching paper statements for Web transactions would save 24 square feet of forest a year.

The PayItGreen Alliance said it believed this was the first detailed study commissioned to determine the contact of one individual household on the environment and it hoped to get across the message that every green step counted.

The study mould the average U.S. household receives about 19 bills and statements from credit card companies and banks every month and makes about seven payments by paper each month.

By switching to electronic bills, statements and payments, the average American household would save 6.6 pounds of paper a year, save 0.08 trees, and not produce 171 pounds of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of driving 169 miles.

The survey, whose results were vetted by the Environmental Protection Agency, said it would also mean avoiding the deforestation of 24 square feet of forest, the release of 63 gallons of wastewater into the environment, and save 4.5 gallons of gasoline used for mailing.

"Individuals who think they are only one person and have power to't really have every impact should re-evaluate their position. Even small contributions can have a impact when aggregated," said Craig Vaream, a member of the PayItGreen Alliance and JPMorgan Chase.

JPMorgan Chase is one of about 16 members of the alliance which is made up of financial services companies and also includes Bank of America and the Federal Reserve Banks.

The alliance is lead by NACHA, the non-profit electronics payment association, that represents more than 11,000 financial institutions who are encouraging customers to conduct more transactions online.

The group was adorn up in 2007 to promote the positive environmental impact of choosing electronic payments, bills, and statements instead of paper.

It found that Americans each year mail 26 billion bills and statements and 9 billion payments in paper form with the related production and transportation consuming 755 million pounds of paper, 9 million trees, and 512 million gallons of gasoline.

The survey found that if 10 percent of U.S. households, or about 11.4 million households, gave up paper bills and statements the results would subsist significant.

It would save 75,469,808 pounds of paper, 905,638 trees, avoid producing 1.96 million pounds of greenhouse gases which was the equivalent of vexation 162,861 cars off the lane.

It would also preserve 6,202 acres of forest from deforestation, avoid creating 719,800,685 gallons of wastewater which is enough to fill 1,090 Olympic-size swimming pools, and avoid filling 3,071 garbage trucks with waste.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Patricia Reaney)

Apple on Thursday said it is distributing the latest version of the Safari Web browser to Windows users through Apple Software Update, a rouse that reflects a more aggressive attempt to grab market ploughshare from Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Apple uses the update mechanism on this account that Windows for distributing the latest versions of its iTunes music store and for the QuickTime video player, which is a foundation technology for iTunes. With the release of Safari 3.1 this week, Apple in addition started oblation Windows users the option of installing the browser upgrade. Software Update is also used to update Apple software in Mac computers.

"We are using Software Update to make it easy and convenient for both Mac and Windows users to get the latest Safari update from Apple," company spokesman Bill Evans said in an emailed statement.

at the same time that of February, IE had 74.9% of the browser market in terms of usage, followed by Mozilla Firefox, 17.3%; and Safari, 5.7%, according to Web site analysis company Net Applications.

By shipping Safari via Software Update, Apple is taking a more aggressive approach to distributing its browser within Microsoft's home turf. In releasing Safari 3.1, Apple claimed its browser loads Web pages 1.9 times faster than IE 7 and 1.7 times faster than Firefox 2. Such claims are not unusual among vendors comparing products to rivals'.

Among the key improvements in the latest version of Safari, which is available at no charge, is support for additional Web standards. On that front, the upgrade supports new video and audio tags in HTML 5, and animations created through the use of cascading style sheets. The browser also supports CSS Web fonts.

Microsoft this month said it would configure the default settings in the upcoming IE 8 to render content using methods that give a utmost degree priority to Web standards interoperability. In choosing to favor standards, Microsoft recognized a "solidify benefit to Web designers if all vendors give priority to interoperability around commonly accepted standards as they evolve," Ray Ozzie, chief software architect for Microsoft, said in a statement.

A blog isn't just a bid welcome vehicle for journalists to escape the editor's red pen or for teens to get to be poetic about their latest crush. They can also be a great tool for promoting your business.

Whether it's computer security, San Francisco real estate or pretty much any other business venture under the sun, some of the best info you can find comes from pros who write their acknowledge blogs. Namely, people who be able to apply expert analysis and commentary to the latest trends and practices in their sector, and do just that in a blog format.

Whatever your business, odds are that you've had to become an industry expert in your department in the manner that expedient. And if you dividend that expertise on a blog, you'll help build trust in your brand as you show you know your business. You'll also put a personal face on your company.

And it's easy. Free sites like blogger.com or wordpress.com get you up and running with your own online soapbox in minutes, and you can even cull a blog URL that incorporates your company name. For example, Roger Thompson of Exploit Prevention Labs has for years run a useful Internet security blog at explabs.blogspot.com. He links to it from his company Web site, and the additional name and brand recognition afforded by the blog no doubt contributed to Grisoft's recent purchase of his company.If you decide to take the digital plunge, here are a hardly any tips for online presentation.1. Be professional, but personal. It's fine and even expected to share your opinions on a blog.

2. Avoid the hard betray. By all instrument mention your company and/or products in the context of effort; labors news or commentary, but save the direct advertisements for your company site.

3. Write for the Web. Keep your sentences and paragraphs as clear and syllabus as possible. Most online readers will quickly abandon a page full of dense text.

EVANSVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - The controversial pastor who roiled Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign this week shook hands with former President Bill Clinton at the White House nearly 10 years ago, according to a photo published on The New York Times' Web site.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose controversial comments spurred Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, to give an emotional speech about drive swiftly in America on Tuesday, attended a prayer breakfast at the White House in 1998, the photo shows.

New York Sen. and former first lady Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign accused the Obama team of circulating the picture for political purposes.

"Less than 48 hours after calling for a high-minded conversation on race, the Obama campaign is peddling photos of an occasion when President Clinton shook hands with Rev. Wright," a Clinton campaign spokesman said.

"To be clear, President Clinton took tens of thousands of photos for the time of his eight years as president."

The Obama campaign shot back, accusing the Clinton team of pushing the Wright story to knock Obama's lead in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

"After their top surrogates pushed this storyline, and Senator Clinton's campaign outlined this as a central strategetics in her plan to overturn the will of Democratic voters, I can see why they wouldn't want a photo out in that place that shows the kind of hypocrisy we've all come to expect from their campaign," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in an e-mail.

He confirmed that the campaign had circulated the picture.

Clinton and her advisers have deflected questions about Obama's relationship with Wright all week. Clinton said on Thursday that Obama's oration on race had been weighty.

"I commend him conducive to making the speech. I thought it was a very important speech," she told reporters.

Obama sought to quell a political firestorm with his address after news outlets called attention to sermons by Wright at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which the Illinois senator attended for two decades.

Wright, who retired recently, has railed that the September 11 attacks were retribution for U.S. foreign policy, called the government the source of the AIDS virus and expressed anger over what he called racist America.

What better way to kick off a blog about business software than to talk one of the most forcible business productivity applications out there? Sometimes it seems like we writers spend entire days inside our word processors. But for the majority of you, I'm betting you might as well be married to Microsoft Excel.

A good spreadsheet is a powerful tool, but like anything, you have power to overdo it. It's like the old carpenter's adage: When the only cat's-paw you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. In my time as an IT manager, I saw employees trying to use Excel conducive to everything from storing complex databases to typing up entire reports, complete with fancy formatting. Often they would claim it was easier for them to shoehorn an inappropriate task into Excel than to learn a new program for the job.

It sounds harmless enough, but misuse of Excel may be more serious than you think. According to risk analysis sinewy Protiviti, productivity isn't all you stand to lose. Using Excel for tasks Microsoft never intended can actually open your company to alarming security risks.

The problem lies in how Excel applications are developed at most businesses. Programmers who build robust network-enabled software are trained to recognize potential security risks and minimize the chance of catastrophic errors. The business managers and other employees who code Excel macros, on the other hand, often have only enough knowledge to exist dangerous (as engineers are fond of saying).

When an amateur Excel spreadsheet is only running without ceasing a user's local desktop, the danger is minimal. Connect that spreadsheet to a mission-critical application like a networked ERP system, still, and alarm bells should start ringing. Unfortunately, too small in number companies recognize the danger before things start rupture prostrate.

Let's not forget that Excel itself is hardly a battle-hardened, secure application. Microsoft's most recent Office updates patched a security pit in Excel that attackers had been exploiting since January. Unfortunately, the same patch introduced a bug that causes Excel to miscalculate the results of certain kinds of macros. So while Excel is by no means the least secure piece of the Microsoft Office portfolio (that would be Outlook), it's not without blemish, either.

How are you using Excel in your business? Is it still just a spreadsheet, or have you shaped it into something more? How far do you think it can bend before it breaks? And is Microsoft doing enough to make security a top priority for its millions of Excel users? Sound off in the comments.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's loss bid for coveted wireless airwaves may prove a victory for the Web search cock of the walk as it still stands to get access to mobile networks without expenditure tens of billions of dollars to build one, analysts said on Thursday.

Wall Street analysts said the Silicon Valley Internet search and advertising giant has succeeded in forcing open network requirements upon winning bidder Verizon Communications via Google's apparent strategy of "bidding to succumb."

Verizon will sway the open network but will be required to sanction devices and applications from other companies to use it.

"Google was never in this game to actually build out a telecom network. Their key goal was to open up closed networks," Cowen & Co analyst Jim Friedland said of the control that carriers hold over handsets and services on their networks.

Google's participation in the U.S. government's auction of wireless licenses is credited with helping to drive up the price Verizon paid to win a nationwide wireless license, giving it control of a major piece of the airwaves being vacated by TV broadcasters as they move to digital signals early next year.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, AT&T Inc and Frontier Wireless, a partner of U.S. satellite TV company DISH Network Corp, took the lion's share of new airwaves.

The auctions raised a record $19.12 billion for government coffers.

"By creating a system that is completely open, Google may obstruct carriers from using their monopoly position to drive users in a particular way to their services," Friedland said.

Google and rivals Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp have stepped up moves over the past year to help ensure that consumers will one day be able to use the Internet services on mobile phones in the way they now use computers.

Google believes making the Internet easier to use for billions of mobile phone users will translate into increased demand for its Web search and advertising services.

"Consumers soon should begin enjoying new, Internet-like freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones and other wireless devices," Google attorneys Richard Whitt and Joseph Faber said in a brief statement following the FCC auctions.

Earlier this year, investors had begun dismissing the idea that Google was seriously aiming to win licenses to build a nationwide U.S. wireless network as a way to expand its Web services business from computers to phones.

"Glad they didn't win it. Glad Google isn't going to be a wireless network operator," Global Crown Capital Martin Pyykkonen said. "Look at the margins of wireless operators!"

Google's extremely profitable business involves selling online advertisements alongside its Web pry into services. Building out and operating mobile networks could have jagged operating margins now in the high 30 percent range to network operator levels in the mid-teens or low-20s, Pyykkonen said.

What remains up for debate is the degree to which Google can make Verizon live up to auction rules that protect independent Internet services such as Google from being kept off phones and other devices by network owner Verizon.

"Whether or not Google can be charged for access to the devices or if customers can be surcharged for using Google applications remains unclear for now," Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay said in a inquiry comment.

(Editing by Gary Hill)

State Dept.: Three Federal Contractors Illegally Accessed Senator Obama's Passport Files

The State Department says it is trying to determine whether three contract workers had a political motive for looking at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's passport file. Two of the employees were fired for the security breach and the third was disciplined but is tranquillize working, the department said Thursday night. It would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined or the names of the two companies for which they worked. The department's inspector general officer is investigating.

2 fired extremely Obama passport file breach, MSNBC, March 21, 2008.

NY Law Would Restrict Tracking of Web Users

After reading about how Internet companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo collect information about people online and use it for targeted advertising, one New York assemblyman said there ought to be a law. So he drafted a bill, now gathering support in Albany, that would make it a crime punishable by a fine to be determined for certain Web companies to use personal information about consumers for advertising without their consensus. And because it would be extraordinarily difficult for the companies that collect such data to adhere to stricter rules for people in New York alone, these companies would probably have to adjust their rules everywhere, effectively turning the New York legislation into national law.

A Push to Limit the Tracking of Web Surfers Clicks, New York Times, March 20, 2008.

Maryland DNA Bill Faces Strong Opposition

A measure to expand the assemblage of DNA samples from people arrested for violent crimes and burglary has run into strong resistance from the NAACP and members of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, who walked out of a House caucus meeting Tuesday in frustration. Opponents are fighting the bill because they say it's too expanded and requires DNA collections from innocent people who haven't been convicted of any crimes. Initially the bill, which is one of Gov. Martin O'Malley's priorities this session, would have required that DNA samples be kept by law enforcement, even if people ended up being exonerated. The measure has been amended so that authorities would have to make known to someone of the right to expunge the sample, if the charges are dropped or the person is acquitted.

Maryland DNA Bill Runs Into Opposition, Associated Press, March 19, 2008.

San Francisco - Eight European countries have broadband penetration exceeding 22 percent, putting them ahead of the United States, according to the European Commission's 13th Progress Report on the Single Telecoms Market.

Denmark tops the list with 35.6 percent of households having access to broadband services. In Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden, it exceeds 30 percent.

The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg are also ahead of the United States, according to the Commission.

Bulgaria has the lowest broadband penetration of the EU member states, with 7.6 percent.

Last year, 19 million broadband lines were added, landing overall penetration at 20 percent.

But fixed-line broadband isn't the only communications service that grew during last year. Mobile penetration grew to 112 percent, compared to 103 percent in 2006. At the corresponding; of like kind time, 3G mobile penetration doubled and mobile data services grew 40 percent.

The EU plays an important role and can take more of the credit for continued growth, according to Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner.

But she also says her work isn't done. Incumbent carriers can expect to be put under else pressure.

"Competition is limited for access to the fixed network which is still provided to 86.5% of customers over the incumbent's infrastructure," said Reding, in a specification.