HOUSE APPROVES CYBERSECURITY BILL - After approval last month in
the Senate, the Cyber Security Research and Development Act passed the House
mid-November. It now goes to President Bush, who is expected to sign the bill. If
passed, the bill would provide nearly $1 billion for research and training for efforts
to improve cybersecurity. Colleges and universities would receive significant funding
to train students as network security experts and to support the migration of
technology and expertise from the academy to industry. For complete article see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47774-2002Nov13.html
(Washington Post, 13 Nov 02)

BILL WOULD FUND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS - A bill written by Rep.
Jim Barcia (D-Mich.) would use $47 million of federal funds to support in-progress
projects studying technology standards. Barcia wrote the bill after reading a report
written by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that attributes
losses of $1 billion annually in the US automotive industry to problems of
interoperability. Research into XML-based standards would likely see much of the
funding if the bill passes because, as Ric Jackson of NIST said, XML may be the
approach that leads to the grail of seamless interoperability. For full article see: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56287,00.html (Wired News, 11 Nov 02 - Edupage, 11 Nov 02