Tech News Roundup 8/18/2004
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS APPROVE E-MAIL WARNING
The California Assembly has given the go-ahead to a proposal that would require employers to warn employees when their e-mail is being monitored. From Reuters:
"If it becomes law, supporters said the bill would place the state at the forefront of protecting employee privacy online and may serve as a model for similar bills in other states. Critics said it would burden employers and is unnecessary because employees already assume online activities at work are monitored. Business groups also opposed the bill because any violation of it would be considered a misdemeanor."
RECORD LABELS GROOVE ON RINGTONES
From the International Herald Tribune:
"Ringtones, the synthesized melodies that are programmed to play when a cellphone rings, have proved to be such a lucrative side business for cellular phone companies that record labels in the United States have decided they want a piece of that revenue."
COLLEGE CLASSES ADDRESS HOMELAND SECURITY
This fall, college students across the country will enroll in classes on terrorism and homeland security. From Wired News:
"...students at the University of Richmond can enroll in Rhetorics of Terror/ism, Homeland (In)Security, and the State, which examines the root causes of terrorism and current United States security concerns. Rice University offers Jihad and the End of the World, a religion class that explores the concept of holy war in the Islamic world. Students taking the Urban Security course, at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, analyze blast loads and explosion mitigation in order to learn how to design buildings that can withstand acts of terrorism."
NPR'S DAY TO DAY ON WEB WORD MOGUL
The creator of Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com is making a fortune, according to an an interview on Day to Day.








