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Earmark Goes To Texas For IT Event
by Chloe Albanesius and Maureen Sirhal for Technology Daily
Uncle Sam is giving a belated holiday gift to the city of Austin, Texas.
Thanks to a provision in omnibus spending law for fiscal 2004, Austin will receive a $400,000 grant for renovations to the city's convention center, the venue for the 2006 World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT). The grant is part of $278 million for state and local economic development under the budget for the Housing and Urban Development Department.
The IT event "doesn't come to the United States that often," said Robert Hodge, director of the Austin Convention Center. "It's a huge event and will bring a lot of people ... to town. It's a win-win for every body."
Hodge said the money will be used to expand the convention center's technology infrastructure, including increasing its Internet capacity. The center also shares access to the high-speed Internet2 network via the University of Texas at Austin. The grant will help purchase new equipment to expand the amount of data that can be sent to that network.
WCIT is a major technology conference organized by the World Information Technology Services Alliance, a consortium of 59 IT associations. The conference is held every two years in locations worldwide and attracts leaders from businesses and government to discuss the latest issues surrounding the development of information and communications technology.
Fairfax County, Va., was the last American region to host the event in 1998. This year's event will be held May 19-21 in Athens, Greece.
"These conferences are there in part to demonstrate all the new technologies ... and we'll certainly be in a position to do all that" with these renovations, Hodge said. Local business and political leaders in Austin serving on the board of WCIT 2006, a nonprofit organization that is overseeing the development of the 15th World Congress, helped lobby for the funding, which was secured in the budget by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
The group currently is working with Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and other members of the Texas congressional delegation to obtain more funding in fiscal 2005, spokeswoman Karla Villalon said. The organization is trying to raise about $10 million to pay for the costs of hosting the WCIT. Those funds will be raised from a combination of sources, including government agencies and entities, private-sector firms, donations and fees for attending the conference.
The omnibus spending law and other appropriations statutes for fiscal 2004 also include funding for other state projects. Two earmarks through the Agriculture Department, one for $1 million and the other for $500,000, went to the Wisconsin Procurement Institute. The nonprofit helps Wisconsin companies, including the tech industry, secure federal, state and local government contracts. The $1 million earmark would go specifically toward an e-procurement system.
An e-recycling initiative in West Virginia, meanwhile, also was awarded $3.8 million under two separate earmarks. The Mid-Atlantic Recycling Center for End-of-Life Electronics (MARCEE) is a joint venture between West Virginia University and the Polymer Alliance Zone that evaluates e-recycling technology. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., pushed for the earmarks of $3 million through the Energy Department and $800,000 through the Environmental Protection Agency.
More Governors Push Technology Initiatives
Governors have continued their State of the State addresses this month, and some of the addresses mentioned tech-related initiatives.
Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, on Feb. 2 promised a $1,000 stipend for teachers who complete a math-development summer program and called on Oklahomans to make their state "a hub of research and development."
That same day, Tennessee Gov. Philip Bredesen, also a Democrat, requested "a modest investment [for] state-of-the-art computer technology in the classroom."
On Feb. 3, Alabama Republican Bob Riley called for a space initiative designed to improve partnerships between government and research universities, while Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, also a Republican, pushed a partnership between the state's Center for Science and Exploration and the Connecticut Education Network to provide virtual, in-classroom experiences.
States Warn Consumers About Online Scams
Consumer protection has been a major issue recently, as states have been targeting deceptive business practices and issuing warnings about Internet scams.
The office of Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran on Monday issued a cease-and-desist order to a man regarding false advertisement for adult-related Internet addresses on eBay. The ads of Jean Marc Anthony DeFague promised domain names, adult content, site support, ongoing assistance in operating the sites and profits of up to $500 per week. After buyers paid up to $3,000 for the sites, however, they never heard from DeFague.
In North Dakota, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem announced last week that the state would not pursue criminal charges against the telemarketing business WebSmart, but will pursue its owners in separate consumer-protection action. The owners are accused of not paying employees and not forwarding health- and life-insurance deductions to the appropriate providers. WebSmart also is accused of deceptive telemarketing practices that generated more than $64,000.
In response to cases like those, the attorneys general for Texas and Virginia last week issued warnings about the rise of credit-card and financial scams, particularly Internet-related crime.
"The speed, accessibility and low cost that make the Internet attractive to law-abiding Texans also make it appealing to scam artists who operate in other countries, and who are stealing millions of dollars in an ever-growing array of schemes," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a release.
"These scammers are preying on the trust that many people have in communications that appear to be legitimate," Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said of "phishing" e-mails that purport to be from familiar businesses but instead are from scammers seeking personal information.
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers also released a guide last week with information on how states can maintain the personal information of their citizens. And problems with Internet service providers (ISPs) moved into Washington state's top 10 list of consumer complaints for 2003, Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced. Complaints included bills for service not ordered or provided, or bills that continued after a service was canceled.
Group Criticizes Anti-Terrorism Database
The multistate anti-terrorism database known as MATRIX "represents a radical new trend toward mass surveillance, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Tuesday.
MATRIX, short for Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, "is fully capable of rooting through billions of records about the private lives of Americans," Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program, told Connecticut state legislators. Based on documentation obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests, ACLU argued that MATRIX is used to "mine" data on Americans and involves questionable security practices.
Steinhardt pointed to the 10 states that have dropped out of the program since its inception; six remain as participants. He acknowledged that law enforcement needs information about terrorism and crime but said, "Putting detailed dossiers [about the lives of Americans] at the authorities' fingertips is not how we do things in this country."
In other news, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Feb. 24 will participate in a town-hall meeting to discuss the threat of terrorism in Washington, D.C. The event will be taped at George Mason University and aired on the radio station WETA.
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