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New York Internet Enforcer Talks Privacy
by Liza Porteus
Although there is increasing debate over online privacy legislation at the federal and state levels, David Stampley, the assistant attorney general for New York's Internet bureau, said Wednesday that officials should see the bigger privacy picture, focusing as much on concerns in the bricks-and-mortar commercial world as in e-commerce.
"Why is everybody so excited about online data?" Stampley asked rhetorically at a Direct Marketing Association/Internet Alliance conference in Washington this week. "Look what's happening offline. ... A lot of people think they are very different."
Stampley added that the issue of data ownership is a "sticky" one, and as more and more technologies evolve that allow portable devices to "talk" to each other, "the more you increase the number of moving parts, the greater the chance for a replication of the data."
Stampley also said the issue of self-regulation by industry needs to be addressed. "Regulation itself implies there's a mechanism for following up to see if the promises and standards have been upheld," he said. "But at the end of the day, there has to be a checks-and-balances system."
He lauded industry for its tremendous efforts to be more consumer friendly and adhere to the fair-information practices of providing consumers notice about privacy policies, giving them the choice of whether to share their personal information, guaranteeing them access to the information that is collected about them, and providing security and enforcement. But he said voluntary privacy efforts should be geared more toward "the ignorant, credulous consumer."
"Is it enough to hear someone say, 'Here are my practices, trust me'?"
At the same event, Delaware Democrat Thomas Carper, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he hopes Hill hearings will be held after financial privacy language in a 1999 banking law takes effect later this year to pinpoint problem areas within industry. He said the Gramm-Leach-Bliley law is "a test run" and added that he would like to see one whole hearing devoted to the issue of state preemption of federal law in the privacy realm.
Carper also addressed the issue of Internet taxes, noting that states that do not collect income taxes may be more inclined to streamline their sales-tax systems in an effort to spur e-commerce taxation. Carper said states that have sales taxes but not income taxes "are hurting big time right now" and added that "economic pressure ... may push these states and local governments to be more accommodating" to a streamlined sales-tax plan.
Carper, a member of the New Democrat Coalition, stressed that moderate Democrats are strongly pushing for presidential trade-negotiating authority for the president, although some feel environmental and labor issues need to be addressed. "The administration is young, our new Democrats are young, and we've got some folks on either side of our party who don't want anything to do with this," he said. "Politically, it won't be easy."
Calling All Web Sites
The Center for Digital Government and Government Technology magazine are calling all entries for the sixth annual Best of the Web competition and are expecting to attract hundreds of entries from state and local government webmasters. The top 10 finalists will receive national recognition in Government Technology and at the center.
Applicants will be judged on innovation and use of online technology to deliver government services, efficiency, cost savings, functionality and ease of use. Applications are due July 1.
Each first-place state and local site will receive $5,000. Each second place site will receive $3,000 in cash, and third places sites will receive $1,500. An awards banquet will be held during an annual technology conference in Albany, N.Y., on Sept. 13.
Mayors To Tackle Worker Shortage
The U.S. Conference of Mayors will hold a regional skills summit -- the second in a series of three taking place -- May 4 in Long Beach, Calif. The first meeting was held in New Orleans in March, and the third will be in Boston.
At the Long Beach meeting, regional business and civic leaders will gather to develop specific policy objectives and goals for addressing the skills gap in the workforce. The event will feature education and technology as two driving forces in creating new job markets.
Recommendations from the summit will form the foundations for a national report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. The center will present its findings at the 69th Annual Conference of Mayors in Detroit on June 22-26.
Elsewhere, Governing magazine's "Managing Technology 2001" conference is scheduled for June 6-8 in Philadelphia and is expected to attract a broad spectrum of senior government officials representing the nation's cities, states and counties. The conference will address strategic organizational and policy topics like privacy and e-government.
Gates Foundation To Help Colorado Schools
Colorado has won an $8 million, five-year challenge grant to improve public high schools from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With local matching funds included, an estimated $20 million or more will be raised and spent on the Small Schools initiative.
The money will be used to create four new technology-rich high schools to enhance students' academic experience and to transform three academically struggling public high schools by splitting them into smaller multiplex schools that create intimate learning communities. A charter school network also will be created.
AOL Lends Arizona A Helping Hand
America Online has donated $30,000 to the University of Arizona to help it provide laboratories at Tucson-area high schools.
The labs will train students for careers in technology through Cisco Systems' Networking Academy program. The funds will allow the university to purchase Cisco training toolkits for Pueblo High Magnet School, Cholla High Magnet School and Tucson High Magnet School, all of which are located in disadvantaged communities in the Tucson area.
The Cisco training toolkits are high-tech labs consisting of routers, switches, cables and ports that normally retail for about $18,000. Through a discount agreement with Cisco, the Tucson Unified School District purchased each lab for $10,000.
The AOL Technologies University Relations Program, which made the grant, seeks to build relationships with colleges that support leading-edge technological research.
Novell Gets Smart In Utah
Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt, R, has announced that Novell will outsource technical support jobs to the Cedar City Smart Site at Southern Utah University; the first agreement with a major tech company for outsourcing jobs through the Smart Site initiative.
The sites represent rural Utah's connection to Leavitt's Silicon Valley Alliance. Through the alliance, companies from throughout the world can electronically outsource with the sites for services such as software testing, technical call centers, database management, data entry and Web-site development.
Intel Clubhouses Get Into Gear
Intel has announced the selection of two East St. Louis, Ill., nonprofit organizations as hosts for Intel computer clubhouses: the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys & Girls Club -- in partnership with the East St. Louis Housing Authority -- and the Christian Activity Center.
Intel will invest an initial $200,000 in startup costs for each site. Each center will be outfitted with advanced software and computer technology. Currently, Intel has no similar clubhouse sites in Illinois or the Midwest.
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