Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the March 2002 issue

Assets

Bit Barrier

The Bush administration relaxes Cold War-era computer export rules. Now countries such as Russia, Israel, China, India, and Pakistan can get more-powerful boxes, but truly high-end computers still need approval.

Code Fed

The feds drop charges against a Russian computer programmer accused of violating copyrights on Adobe's e-book software. Dmitry Sklyarov, 27, endured the first criminal prosecution under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Devout Readout

God is alive and well on the Net, suggests a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Religious cruising, mostly for info, is more popular than gambling, banking, or trading stocks. Every day some 3 million U.S. adults find religious information online, up from 2 million in 2000.

Record Sieve

Big Brother may be watching, but he can't find anything. The National Archives and Records Administration concludes that most federal agencies can't handle electronic records. Feds may create documents in digital formats but then print them on paper and bury them in storage. And some formats, such as e-mail, are simply destroyed.

Spectrum Shift

Radio space slowly trickles out as the Federal Communications Commission frees more of the spectrum for real-world uses. Private firms say new ultra-broadband technology will be the fastest yet. But large chunks of air space are still wasted on clunkers like digital television.

Liabilities

Chips Ahoy

A Florida company designs radio-frequency chips that work inside human tissue. Applied Digital Solutions says its VeriChip can store information about a patient's pacemaker, defibrillator, or artificial joint. But the company has hinted at a more widespread use: implanted identification.

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