Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (14686)	4/19/2006 9:59:09 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 46821

DJ EU Data Protection Watchdog Warns On Security Rules BRUSSELS (AP)--Europeans were warned Wednesday to "be aware" of a slew European Union security and anti crime rules, from the retention of telephone records to data collected on trans-Atlantic flights, which the E.U.'s data protection watchdog said had been recently rushed through without proper safeguards to protect civil liberties. "You had better be aware," said Peter Hustinx, the E.U.'s data protection supervisor, who analyzes all E.U. laws and regulations involving the use of information. He said a contentious agreement by E.U. governments last December to retain phone and e-mail data for use in security investigations offered "great potential for legal fights" in national and E.U. courts over the abuse of data privacy. Similarly, Hustinx said plans to rush through upgraded passports and visas across the 25-nation bloc with biometric technology, including a computer chip with finger print data, had the potential of abuse if privacy protection safeguards were not adequate. Hustinx, who presented his annual report Wednesday, said the general public needs know more about the implications of recent E.U. legislation - notably security measures passed in the wake of the Madrid and London bombings of 2004 and 2005 - on their rights. "We are online all the time, that is your mobile phone, your mobile laptop ..It brings with it an increasing potential for everything which ranges from abuse to sheer bad luck" of data confusion, Hustinx told reporters. He added most people blindly trust the technology, governments and operators will respect their rights. "There is too much of naivety," he said. "Most people are not aware, they do not insist," he said. Hustinx said he expected all E.U. governments to fall in line with the E.U.'s data protection rules by next year, when a grace period ends. He warned that he would use his powers as supervisor to take governments and regulations to the high court if they violated data protection rights. Hustinx has been vocal in his objections to recently passed security measures. He again raised questions whether the recently passed legislation requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone data and Internet logs was needed. Under those rules, telecommunications companies will have to retain data for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for investigations into terrorism and other serious crimes. The new legislation has drawn fire over privacy concerns. The telecommunications industry has questioned the feasibility and costs of maintaining so much data. "If this was going to be necessary we would need very strong safeguards and the directive is a little weak on that point," said Hustinx. He has also raised concerns over the E.U.-U.S. deal on sharing airline passenger data, which was dragged to court by the European Parliament, which claims the accord violates privacy rules. Interim arrangements already force airlines to transfer extensive passenger information - from credit card numbers to meal preferences - within 15 minutes of departure to U.S. authorities, however Hustinx said the deal violates E.U. privacy rules and could lead to unauthorized use of sensitive personal information. In March, Hustinx warned that a separate proposal for E.U. nations to share police information online - DNA samples, fingerprints or telephone records -also poses a threat to privacy and security. (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 19, 2006 09:34 ET (13:34 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 09 34 AM EDT 04-19-06

To: elmatador who wrote (14686)	4/24/2006 12:13:23 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

El Mat, I think I have found your next wireless frontier, and it's no different than what we discussed back in '99- '00: Indoor wireless extension. I say it can be done, even in basements and in the canyons between skyscrapers, regardless of what Ivan Seidenberg says to the contrary ;-) The question is, With all of the disparate forms of wireless in play today, which solution or solutions will work best for most or all of them? And secondly, Who, if not you, will do the plumbing? Aside from residential and commercial buildings, there are members of this forum whose interests extend into mines and tunnels, as well, where solutions that would extend wireless coverage are constantly being sought. Any thoughts on this topic are welcome. === Wireless And The Great Indoors By Ira Brodsky, Network World, 04/17/06 networkworld.com With mobile phone service available in more than 210 countries, blanketing most major cities, you might think rural areas are the top priority for extending wireless coverage. You would be wrong. There is an urgent need for better wireless coverage much closer to home. In fact, it's inside the home - and all other buildings. There are now more wireless phone subscribers worldwide than wireline phone subscribers. In developing countries, a mobile phone is often the user's first phone. In developed countries, a growing number of consumers and enterprises are making mobile phones their primary phones. In other words, what started as a car phone for the rich is now a personal voice/data communicator for roughly one-third of the earth's inhabitants. People take their mobile phones everywhere and expect them to work everywhere - in homes, office buildings, hotels, convention centers and even subways. Outdoor cell sites, by themselves, will probably never provide adequate indoor coverage. Office buildings often contain steel, thermal windows and other materials that attenuate radio signals. Homes can be obstructed by hills and foliage. Plus, high-speed services such as streaming video and downloading games require better signals, so a building with acceptable voice coverage may exhibit unacceptable data coverage. The network industry is responding to this challenge in different ways, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Companies such as ADC, Andrew Corp., Comba Telecom, Dekolink and LGC Wireless are providing coverage inside midsize to large facilities using repeaters and distributed antennas. The Nextel side of Sprint-Nextel has been particularly aggressive in convincing enterprises to use its mobile phones indoors. Push-to-Talk and Talkgroup features make Nextel's service an especially good fit for enterprise users. The firm works with infrastructure suppliers to ensure coverage throughout a customer's premises using repeaters or micro base stations. In addition, wireless LAN (WLAN) and mobile phone industries are jointly addressing the in-building challenge. WLAN makers are adding VoIP to their products while mobile phone manufacturers are adding Wi-Fi to handsets. Cellular infrastructure suppliers are developing solutions for handing calls and data sessions back and forth between mobile phone networks and WLANs. People are not only relying more on mobile phones, some are disconnecting their wireline phones. But they have to have coverage throughout the entire home - basement included. Ensuring mobile phone coverage inside homes is a unique challenge. WLANs are popular for sharing high-speed Internet connections in homes, making the converged approach attractive. Some vendors are developing pico base stations for homes, but these tend to be expensive. A third solution, using low-cost repeaters, can only be done in close collaboration with mobile phone operators because it's their licensed spectrum that's being reused. People spend most of their time inside buildings. So it's no surprise consumers and enterprise users demand seamless wireless voice and data coverage indoors and outdoors. What's surprising is that it has taken this long.