Craig Barrett, president and CEO at Intel Corp., is baffled by the stock market. He’s also bullish on Intel. Well, he would be.
Barrett was in town to give a speech at the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecom Asia 2000 conference and exhibition. As such things go, it was more of an Intel pep talk than an issue-laden keynote address, but all CEOs tend to do the same thing.
Last night, in an interview, Barrett offered some positive views on the technology revolution and said Intel is well positioned to be a leader in communications as well as computing, which are coming together, anyway. Look for Intel Everywhere, not just Inside.
He remains puzzled about Wall Street’s manic-depressive state. “One day you can be a buy for everybody and the next day be a sell,” he says. “I find it strange.”
I’ll have more of this interview here soon.
China’s Continuing Internet Controls
China’s authoritarian regime doesn’t get it. And, it seems, doesn’t want to get it.
The Minister of Information Industry, Wu Jichuan, said here yesterday at the telecom show that his government is working on a “better way” to regulate and control the Net. The purpose, he claimed, was to protect individuals’ privacy and reputations.
Trust us, he’s saying. This is for people’s own good.
Don’t buy it. This is for the Chinese government’s own good — for the continuing control over information in a land where freedom of information is viewed as a threat to the regime.
The Carnivore Review: Thin Gruel
Some of the most knowledgable people in the computer security and networking fields have taken a look at the “independent technical review” of the FBI’s Carnivore software, which law enforcement uses to spy on Internet users. Here’s what these top-flight experts say:
“The limited nature of the analysis described in the draft report simply cannot support a conclusion that Carnivore is correct, safe, or always consistent with legal limitations. Those who are concerned that the system produces correct evidence, represents no threat to the networks on which it is installed, or complies with the scope of court orders should not take much comfort from the analysis described in the report or its conclusions.”
Remember, when the FBI first started looking for third parties to review Carnivore, several begged off, saying the examination process was not transparent or open enough to ensure a genuine analysis. The FBI tried to keep secret the identies of the people it ultimately selected to do the review, but in a stupid technical mistake the names became public. Guess what? Critics said it was a stacked deck .
Come on. You didn’t really expect that law-enforcement people wanted a thorough and fair review, did you?
Somewhat surprisingly, key members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are asking hard questions (Reuters) about this spyware, too. Let’s hope that the Republicans who are so ardent about protecting civil liberties stay that way when George W. Bush’s Justice Department tries to shred the Bill of Rights.
Let’s also hope we end up with a system that doesn’t spit on due process. Given the attitudes of law enforcement these days and Congress’ tendency to fold when threatened with being “soft on crime,” I fear that may be a forlorn hope.
Happy Birthday, EditThisPage
Congratulations to the folks at UserLand Software on their one-year anniversary of EditThisPage, the service, based on the company’s Manila software, that has spawned a zillion weblogs including this one.