Civil liberties groups have criticised moves by Europe and the US to strengthen email and Internet surveillance laws in the aftermath of the US terrorist attacks. On Wednesday, Council of Europe ambassadors ratified a convention on cybercrime that will allow police to seize electronic content and monitor people's Internet use. In the US, the Senate approved the expansion of the use of the FBI's email surveillance system, formerly known as Carnivore, to include the investigation of acts of terrorism and computer crimes. Several Internet Service providers have already installed Carnivore for the FBI.
"In the days ahead, we need to consider calmly and deliberately any proposals to improve security, with a determination not to erode the liberties and freedoms", a statement by the US-based Center for Democracy and Technology said. "Building government surveillance features into communications networks can reduce security and create new risks of vulnerability", it added. Irish Green MEP Ms Patricia McKenna added her voice to the criticism saying civil liberties may be overlooked in the rush to counter terrorism.
Giving on the web: Charities have reported that millions of dollars have been received in donations on the Web, after the US attacks. AOL has been greeting users with a window outlining ways to donate. eBay began a "$100 million in 100 days" campaign, while Amazon.com and Yahoo! are collecting money for major charities. The American Red Cross said more than a third of the $103 million it received or had pledged came over the Internet. ComScore found that charity sites collected $30 million between Tuesday and Sunday on the week of the attack. Over 70 per cent of this money went to the Red Cross, while about 10 per cent was donated from outside the US.
Travel sales down: Online sales were badly affected in the aftermath of the tragedy in America, dipping 35 per cent in the days following it. Online travel sales, in line with the aviation industry overall, were particularly affected, falling 55 per cent in the US immediately after the attacks.
Losing interest in sex: For the first time in the history of the Web search engines reported the word "sex" was knocked off the top ten most popular searches in the days following the terrorist atrocities in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. "Sex" dropped to number 17, replaced by search terms like "CNN", "News", "World Trade Centre", "BBC" and "Pentagon". Google also reported a surge in searches for news but added the number searches, for information on 16th century French astrologer Nostradamus, also rose sharply.
Don't readme.exe: One of the fastest-spreading computer viruses to date caused havoc across the globe last week. Nimda was caught unwittingly by computer users who were browsing websites and also spread by email attachments, as it mass-mailed from users email address books. Infected emails carry the attachment README.EXE. Dell, Microsoft, NTL were all reported to have fallen victim to the "worm". In Ireland life assurance company, Friends First and telecoms group Ericsson were forced to shut down their websites. Some departments in Trinity College were also badly affected. Nimda does not appear capable of erasing files or information but has shown itself capable of slowing down computer operations as it replicates.
Selling up: Despite the dotcom slowdown, small firms in Ireland have reported a 76 per cent increase in online sales, the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland's second National Survey reveals. The survey found that companies saw a one hundred and thirty per cent increase in online inquiries. Seventy per cent believe the cost of acquiring specialist e-business skills was the biggest obstacle facing them, the survey of 826 companies revealed.
Funding bloody funding: Only 42 per cent of Irish technology companies avail of State grant aid available to them, the Irish Software Association (ISA) has said. The Association says while over 90 per cent of software companies implement research and development projects, most do not take advantage of the £20 million State funding which is administered by Enterprise Ireland. Companies can access up to £350,000 of aid each under the Research, Technology and Innovation (RTI) fund, the ISA said. Application forms and guidance notes on RTI funding are available on the Enterprise Ireland web site at: www.enterprise-ireland.com/rti.
The doctor's away: A team of doctors in America has performed an operation by remote control on a patient 4,000 miles away in France. The New York team performed the 54-minute gall bladder operation using high-speed signals to robots. "Operation Lindbergh", named after trans-Atlantic solo pilot Charles Lindbergh, may pave to way for patients to avail of top medical expertise without travelling long distances. The procedure was headed up earlier this month by Dr Jacques Marescaux, of France's Research Institute Against Cancers of the Digestive Tract. He was in New York from where he monitored the patient on a screen and used tools connected to sensors. The procedure, the first of its kind, is detailed in the latest issue the science journal "Nature."
Modem World
aimovie.warnerbros.com Talk to Chatbot on the website of AI (Artificial Intelligence), the movie resulting from a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick.
www.spaceimaging.com Satellite imagery on the web. The lastest feature of the site shows detailed satellite images of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Diary
October 17th: Online Survival Lessons, a Web Intellect/Internet Education Company seminar in the Conrad Hotel Dublin. Info - www.webintellect.com.
Textbites
"The Web is ephemeral; it disappears before our eyes. But it's important for historical record. It's increasingly a part of the fabric of society, and if we don't capture it, we lose it" - Steven Schneider director of WebArchivist.org which is working with the Library of Congress and the Internet Archive in the US to preserve website coverage of the terrorist attacks.
"This worm bites you on the bum as well as on the nose - you can get stung by browsing the Internet or by opening an infected email. Don't let the scumbags who write these viruses win." - Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus speaking after the discovery of the Nimda computer virus.
Monitor column compiled by Patrick Logue