Cyberspace Chief Named
As part of an attempt to beef up national security, President Bush last week created an advisory office to protect the countrys computers from attacks.
Richard Clarke, already Bushs national security coordinator, was named special White House adviser for cyberspace security.
Clarke is tasked with coordinating efforts to protect IS throughout the country, ranging from telecommunications and banking to manufacturing, health care and emergency services.
At the announcement of his appointment, Clarke pushed his idea for a secure computer network called GovNet that would be accessible only by government agencies and would transmit data, voice and video. Information carried on the network would be encrypted.
The government is looking for the high-tech industry to help in the creation of the network, with proposals due Nov. 21.
Online Music Deal Reached
The biggest players in the ongoing debate about the Internet and music last week reached what they called a “landmark agreement” on the licensing of musical works.
The deal involving the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Music Publishers Association and the Harry Fox Agency—a licensing subsidiary of the NMPA—allows for online subscription services to begin licensing thousands of musical works.
The RIAA and its member labels and licensees— including the services—will have access to every musical work licensed by the Harry Fox Agency, the largest in the industry for the licensing of musical works.
HP Opts Out of CD-RW Arena
For years, HP has been the top vendor of popular rewritable CD drives. That is why it was so surprising when the company announced last week it was getting out of that market in favor of rewritable DVDs.
This fall will be the final release of new CD-RW products from HP. Executives said the move was prompted by customer demand, but analysts said it was because of competition in the CD-RW market.
