 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
Men Arrested For Jeopardizing Bandwidth
by Chloe Albanesius
Four Michigan men were arrested last week for selling stolen or illegally manufactured Motorola radios that were programmed to access the Michigan state police department's secure emergency bandwidth, according to Attorney General Mike Cox.
Two of the accused, James Werner and James Brunk, were MSP civilian employees, while another, Jerry Frick, was the chief of the Walkerville Fire Department. Werner and Brunk allegedly helped the fourth suspect, John Felde, program the radios to access the 800 megahertz band. Frick then purchased three of the radios at half price, in part with money awarded via a fraudulently filed invoice to one of the state's 911 centers.
There is no evidence that the incident led to any disruption of emergency communications, said Randall Thompson, Cox's director of communications. "They were caught prior to an escalation of criminality." The men were caught through a one-year investigation done by the Michigan police information technology department, the state police major-case team and Cox's office, Thompson said.
"In today's atmosphere where homeland security is paramount, law enforcement agencies must be able to communicate without the possibility that others can eavesdrop and hear communications to which they should not be privy," Cox said in a statement. "It's fortunate these events were stopped before any damage to the system occurred."
The men face charges that could send them to jail for up to 35 years.
In other news, Attorney General Jerry Kilgore announced Monday that former Portsmouth educator Kelly Karl Bowen has pleaded guilty to twenty-four counts involving child exploitation and pornography and agreed to be sentenced to 45 years. Bowen pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy, manufacturing child pornography, possession of child pornography and computer solicitation.
'Reverse' E-Auctions Help Cut Costs
In an effort to cut costs, a number of states are experimenting with "reverse auctions," a buyer's auction where sellers compete for business over the Internet in real time, and the practice is expected to grow 300 percent by 2007, according to a report from research firm Input.
Minnesota has been a leader in using reverse auctions, realizing 10.6 percent in savings since it started the practice in June 2001. Officials have purchased items ranging from vehicles and electronic devices to printing jobs, paper products, raw goods and uniforms.
A state or local government must get legislative approval to modify their procurement practices. As of fiscal 2005, 32 states had legislative authority to conduct reverse auctions, but only 13 of those 32 actually had used the process to acquire goods.
Florida recently saved 30 percent when purchasing $60,000 worth of office supplies and paper via online auctions, and Virginia saved 30 percent when buying storage-media products. Texas, however, has not had as much success, losing up to 8 percent because it used the process for commodities that proved to be unsuccessful, the report said.
Input predicts that one-third of the 19 states currently authorized but not using reverse auctions will do so by fiscal 2006. Some of these states are holding off on using the system while they wait to implement newer e-procurement systems, which may or may not be able to handle online auctions, the report said. California, Delaware, Iowa, New Jersey and Washington plan to conduct reverse auction pilot programs in 2005.
States analyzed by Input cautioned other states considering reverse auctions to make the process part of a "well developed procurement sourcing strategy, but not the primary method to acquire goods."
Feinstein Pushes For Risk-Based Security Grants
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Friday penned a letter to President Bush, urging him to consider several of her state's priorities when crafting his fiscal 2006 budget. Among the Democrat's requests was an increase to the $3 billion appropriated to California by Congress for fiscal 2005 and an assurance that grants would be given based on risk, not population. A system based on need would enable the country to more adequately address homeland security responsibilities, she wrote. The population-based system "minimizes the importance of threat and vulnerability assessments and strongly advantages small states over large states," she wrote.
Alabamans Worry About Kids' Use Of Internet
Alabama parents are worried that their children will fall prey to the dangers of the Internet, according to an Auburn Universitystudy . Of the 344 parents surveyed via telephone by the university's Center for Governmental Services, about 84 percent said they were concerned about the potential threat to their children of Internet pornography. In addition, 80 percent were concerned about the effects of unscrupulous merchandisers, a statistic that surprised researchers. "It indicates that parents feel threatened by anything, overt or not, which preys on their children," said pollster Robin Salter. Approximately 67 percent of respondents said their children have home Internet access, but despite the fears, 23 percent strongly agree that their Internet service provider is adequately protecting their children from danger, while 39 percent somewhat agree.
Court Upholds Internet Sex-Offender Registry
A New Jersey Superior Court judge on Monday rejected a challenge to the state's Internet registry of sex-offenders, AP reports. The public defender's office argued on behalf of seven sexual offenders who objected to having their identifying information placed on the list. Judge Andrew Smithson, however, ruled that "convicted sex offenders must not be allowed to hide their past [or] move about the general population with the potential of generating opportunities to prey on children and others in virtual ghostlike anonymity." The state started posting sex offender profiles online in September 2003 after a federal appeals court dismissed an attempt by the public defender's office to stop it.
FDA Dubs Importation Plan 'Risky'
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday dubbed the multi-state I-SaveRx program, which provides residents with access to low-cost prescription drugs from Europe and Canada, a "risky program," but did not say it would shut down the operation, AP reports. "The concept of public officials taking on the drug safety statutes is novel, and we have attempted to put our energy into persuading them about the legal and public health risks," said FDA associate commissioner William Hubbard. "It may come down to a lawsuit where we go to a judge and say, 'Look, we've come down to a clash of values here.' I just can't predict whether that will happen."
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
