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New Powers
President George W. Bush signed into law an antiterrorism bill that gives law enforcement authorities sweeping new powers to conduct surveillance on Internet communications, including e-mail and Web surfing. A late change requires judges to oversee how authorities use an e-mail snooping device called Carnivore. Attorney General John Ashcroft said authorities will begin taking advantage of their new powers immediately.
Fighting Lawyer
The states suing Microsoft have hired a prominent Washington, D.C., trial lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, to be their chief lawyer. The move signals that the 18 states are ready to fight in court again, if current settlement talks between Microsoft and the federal government are unsuccessful.
Huge Loss
Lucent Technologies lost ground in its fight to restructure and recover, as it reported a loss of $8.8 billion for the most recent quarter. It was more bad news — and worse than anticipated — for the telecom equipment maker, which expects layoffs to top out at 62,000 people, about half its work force, by mid-2002.
Ratings Matings
Internet audience measurement firm NetRatings bought rival Jupiter Media Metrix, a struggling market researcher, for $71.2 million. In addition, NetRatings said it will buy the 80 percent share of ACNielsen eRatings.com — another Net measurement company — that it does not currently own for $16.4 million.
Big Stamp
Flarion Technologies, the developer of an IP wireless technology that competes against third-generation standards, got a stamp of approval from Cisco Systems, which participated in a $44.4 million round of funding to be announced Oct. 30.