Internet access at libraries benefitting us all; pictured above, students doing homework

For a period approaching almost a decade, most urban libraries have made Internet access available to the community. In 1996, when just 28 percent of all libraries across North America had PC’s available for public access to the Internet, in 2004 that figure has grown to more than 95 percent.

Internet-connected computers are clearly bringing more people into libraries. A year after computers are put in libraries that do not have them, visits rise 30 percent on the average and attendance typically remains higher, according to a study led by Andrew C. Gordon, a professor of public policy at the University of Washington. Over the last six years, visits to the nation’s 16,400 public libraries have increased more than 17 percent, a trend that can be partly attributed to the spread of computers with Internet access.

In a New York Times story, written by Steve Lohr, the contention is made that public library Internet access has helped to “close the digital divide” by “allowing minorities, immigrants, lower-income groups and people in rural areas” the same kind of broadband Internet access available to most urban, middle class North Americans.
Not only has the digital divide begun to close, the availability of public Internet access has succeeded in almost doubling library visits by teenagers, people over the age of 50, and members of ethnic minorities. Said one head librarian, “It’s a whole clientele that didn’t come here before.”

Front page stories in newspapers across the globe this past week warned that a flaw in the most popular communications protocol for sending data on the Internet could allow hackers to shut down the Net.
However, as the week progressed, Paul Watson, a security specialist working in Vancouver, British Columbia, stated that reports about the flaw were overblown. He referred to the media reaction as an “inordinate level of attention in respect to the amount of risk.”
Malicious code has been unearthed that can exploit the flaw, but experts say the risk of real-world problems remains fairly low.

Continue reading Tech Week in Review: The Internet Is Vulnerable To Collapse?
— Or Not — Depending On Whom You Believe →

It’s always cold and flu season in the computer world. Viruses are a fact of life for any computer connected to the outside world, and even AntiVirus software is no guarantee of a healthy computer, but knowledge is an important key to prevention. A relatively new site, called Viruslist.com, is an excellent source of information.
Although Symantec, the maker of Norton Anti-Virus, does a pretty fine job of providing information about viruses and other malware intruders, they’re not the only kid on the block. Security software vendor Kaspersky Labsmaker, who produce their own Anti-Virus software, have created Viruslist.com, an information and help centre which bills itself as ‘the biggest virus encyclopedia’.
At Viruslist.com, you’ll find a plethora of information on viruses, with entries sorted into categories of viruses and other nasties, ranging from DOS file viruses to macro viruses to Internet worms. There are even sections on Palm Viruses (just one of those exists so far, according to Viruslist.com) and virus hoaxes. The encyclopedia describes both the category and specific known examples of each.
Viruslist.com also provides updates on the latest virus threats confronting computer users, in the form of virus alerts, a monthly top-20 virus list (a Billboard-style chart that tracks virus ‘popularity’), and virus-related news stories. There’s even a calendar section that lets you check which viruses are designed to unleash their payloads on a given day.
And early today, from Sophos (another Anti-Virus company), discovery of the first virus capable of infecting JPEG graphic files.

Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee, the MIT scientist credited with inventing the world wide web, this week became the first recipient of the Millennium technology prize. The Finnish award, which comes with a $1 million (U.S.) cash prize, is among the largest of its kind.
In awarding the prize, committee members acknowledged Berners-Lee’s contribution “for an innovation that directly promotes people’s quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development,” underlining the importance of the scientist’s decision to never strive to commercialize or patent his contributions to the Internet technologies he developed.
Berners-Lee is credited with creating the world wide web in the early 1990s while working for the Cern Laboratory, the European centre for nuclear research near Geneva, Switzerland. His graphical point-and-click browser, World Wide Web, was the first client that featured the core ideas included in today’s web browsers.
Future prizes will be awarded every two years.