One of the biggest complaints about Web services is the security issues. IBM and Microsoft just released specifications describing Web Services Security (WS-Security), or enhancements to SOAP messaging to provide quality of protection through message confidentiality and authentication. There is an developerWorks overview document and a whitepaper describing this Web service security model.

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The Chronicle of Higher Education - Virginia Tech Police Seize and Search a Professor's Computer in Vandalism Case.

Some faculty members at Virginia Tech say they're worried about their privacy and their intellectual-property rights following an incident last week in which campus police officers seized a professor's computer to search it for an e-mail message about a vandalism incident.

Martha McCaughey, an associate professor who is director of the women's-studies program, found two campus-police officers waiting outside her office door last Thursday afternoon. They entered and took her university-issued Apple Macintosh computer, she said. Ms. McCaughey said the officers would not let her make back-up copies of any files that she needed for her work. They returned the computer the next day.

[ ... ]

Mr. Hincker said that because the computer is owned by the university, the institution had the right to search the hard drive without the professor's permission. "The university reserves the right to copy or examine files on university systems," Mr. Hincker said.

He added that as legal precaution, university police had obtained a search warrant. Ms. McCaughey, however, said that no such warrant was presented to her.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Beware The Campus Police.

globetechnology.com: Copyright bill universally rejected.

A digital-copyright bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last month has inspired howls of protest from consumers and high-tech firms who say it could slow technological advances and dictate how consumers listen to music or watch videos at home.

Well connected lobbyists and everyday users alike have flooded Congress with faxes and e-mail over the past several weeks to lodge complaints against the bill, which would prevent new computers, CD players and other consumer-electronics devices from playing unauthorized movies, music and other digital media files.

Sen. Ernest Hollings' bill is backed by media firms such as The Walt Disney Co. These companies fear fast Internet connections and an array of digital devices such as MP3 players and CD burners will encourage consumers to seek free copies of hit singles and new movies.

[ ... ]

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which has also held hearings on the issue, has received more than 3,500 comments criticizing the bill, a spokeswoman said.

"We haven't received one e-mail in support of the Hollings bill," said Judiciary Committee spokeswoman Mimi Devlin. "It seems like there's a groundswell of support from regular users."

High-tech lobbying groups have weighed in as well, arguing that mandatory copyright-protection technologies would hurt their ability to innovate, and would encourage consumers to hold on to their older computers rather than buy new models that restricted their activities.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Copyright [CBDTPA] Bill Universally Rejected.