SPECIALIST HUMOR. Anticipatory Retaliation posts a list of 213 mostly amusing quips and observations from a, likely apocryphal, “SPC Schwarz stationed with the Army in the Balkans.”… [OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY]

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i was a specialist once, it is a strange rank. You are not a corporal, a jr. nco. yet you aren't a private either. I was as I recall the leader of an infantry team, which is more or less a corporal position, and then i left to go to grad school.

FTC and International Agencies Announce ãOperation Secure Your Serverä.

The United States Federal Trade Commission and 36 additional agencies in 26 countries have announced ãOperation Secure Your Server,ä an international effort to reduce the flow of unsolicited commercial e-mail by urging organizations to close ãopen relaysä and ãopen proxies.ä[see FTC Press Release]

The ITU Strategy and Policy Unit will soon be organising a workshop on Spam. Further information will become available at: http://www.itu.int/ni

[ITU Strategy and Policy Unit
Newslog]

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great idea, it probably won't make any significant difference, because if the money flows, spammers will find a way. you have to start by making spam unprofitable.

Experts say U.S. Telecoms Act set to be rewritten.

Total Telecom reports that Telcos and end-users have received their first warnings that a re-write of the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 [pdf] is on the horizon. “The Act mainly dealt with how the Bells would get into long distance and how the long-distance carriers would get local access,” said Greg Rothschild, who works for Dingle on the House Commerce Committee staff. “The 1996 Act has little to say about things like VoIP, DSL services, and cable modem.” The consensus is that the Act will come under revision sometime around 2010 or 2011.

According to the article, “one issue that may see action quickly is that of giving law enforcement easier or more sweeping access to the public networks. President Bush was clear in his State of the Union Address in mid-January that homeland security is a major priority. Yet current policy at the FCC as approved by Congress is to move away from government control of many areas of the network, especially broadband and wireless – two key areas law enforcement wants to monitor.”

[ITU Strategy and Policy Unit Newslog]

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i bet this is how thye will tax the internet, mmmm hmmm, some provision of this…